THE INVITATION

 THE INVITATION

I was probably about to turn seven or eight when Mom and I began to talk about having a party to celebrate. We talked about all the important things: who to invite among neighbors’ and friends’ kids, and those from my class at school; what kind of cake I wanted; what games we would play. 

When Mom talked about sending out invitations, I insisted we didn’t need to do that.  I would just tell my friends the details and they would remember.  Mom was very skeptical, but she let me have my way.  Thinking about it now, it’s surprising that she didn’t just figure out a way to get those invitations out without my knowing.  Maybe she was teaching me a life lesson! 

Sometime during the week of my Saturday party, I did tell everyone, but when the day arrived, not a single one of those kids came!  If you know any seven or eight year olds, then you know they are not especially good at remembering things, and certainly not dates and times for a future birthday party with no invitation to help their moms remember.  Whether or not Mom was trying to teach me a life lesson, I did learn a lesson: Invitations are really important!  If you want people to come, you have to give them more than just a passing invitation they will probably forget five minutes after you tell them!

Thanks to Covid (there have been some reasons to be thankful for covid isolation), I spent a lot more time this Christmas season thinking about the coming of Jesus and all that it means to me.  This was the first year in a while that I read through all of the book, O Come All Ye Faithful, a wonderful book I bought years ago, with devotionals related to the season and the words of the carols, and their history.

I thought especially of the invitation God Himself gave to the shepherds at the birth of His Son, from Luke’s gospel, chapter 2, beginning at verse 8:

Now there were in the same country (the city of Bethlehem), shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shown around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be for all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be the sign to you: You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. 

And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men.’

God’s invitation for the birth of His Son was of such vital importance, He didn’t leave it to chance.  He sent an angel to announce it!  And then he followed it up with a multitude of angel hosts and the shepherds couldn’t forget it!

I would have loved to have been there among those shepherds.  Imagine having an angel deliver an invitation from God Himself to announce news you’ve been waiting generations to hear?  But what would have been truly mind blowing was to then see the heavens rolled back to reveal a multitude of heavenly host!  Whoa!

Pastor John MacArthur, in his devotional about this carol, says:

The word “host” is from a Greek word used to describe a military encampment.  Christ also used military imagery to describe angels in Matthew 26:53 (“legions of angels”).  Revelation 5:11 suggests that there is an angelic number too large to count.

He says the use of military imagery suggests a host of angels, not in celebratory garb, but in military fatigues! 

That certainly puts a different slant on the image of a heavenly host of angels, doesn’t it!

The shepherds didn’t waste a single second, as we read in John 2:15 and following:

So it was, when the angels had gone away from into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.’

And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe, lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.  And those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

The shepherds not only responded to the invitation of the angels, they gave their own invitation to everyone they met concerning this Child, Jesus, their long awaited Messish.

Invitations to follow Jesus by faith fill the pages of the New Testament.  Here are just three:

1.    In John’s gospel, when some disciples heard Jesus speak, they followed Him and asked where He was staying, to which He replied, Come and see, and they did!  They spent the day with Him and later told others, We have found the Messiah (the Christ). And they brought them to Jesus, and they followed Him as well.

2.    John’s gospel, chapter 4 records a conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at the end of which Jesus reveals that He is the Messiah she and her people have been waiting for, and she leaves to tell the others.  Verse 39 says:

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman . . .and they urged Him to stay with them.  And many more believed, not just because of the testimony of the woman, but because of His own word about Himself.

3.    One of the most precious of the invitations, given by Jesus Himself, is given in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 11, verses 28-30:

Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

When was the last time you received, not just an invitation, but a life changing invitation?  I’m guessing never.  The invitation of Jesus to “come and follow” Him is that kind of invitation.  Just read about His disciples in the gospel accounts, and that of the Samaritan woman and her neighbors – meeting Jesus filled them with joy, assured them of forgiveness for their sins, gave them confidence for the future – that Jesus would never leave or forsake them and would welcome them into His kingdom as His very own child.  Want that?  The invitation to put your faith in Jesus still stands.

I echo the invitation of the disciples:  Come and follow my Jesus.

This is the end of 2020 and many of us are saying: Good riddance!!  Maybe you have had a heavy burden to carry this year.  Maybe you have lost your job, had covid, nursed others with covid, lost someone to covid, are feeling the strain of reduced hours with reduced salaries, or no salary, feel stressed from trying to do your job from home, and home schooling your children too.  Maybe you have carried your burden alone with no one to walk beside you.

Jesus tells us in the Matthew verses that He can help us carry the burden.  First and foremost, Jesus wants us to know Him as Savoir from our sins.  He died in our place to free us from the burden of sin’s penalty and daily power. As His child, He walks with us through life’s trials, carrying the yoke of it with us, making it lighter.  Because He becomes our strength, He gives us His rest in the process. 

Your invitation has been issued – by Jesus Himself – who says “come and see”.

Read through the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testament of the Bible) and find out who Jesus is for yourself. 

Your invitation has been issued by the disciples of Jesus and the woman of Samaria who did come and see and found in Jesus the very One whom they were waiting for – the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior.

Your invitation comes from me because I know Jesus as they did and want you to know Him too.

You may never hear an invitation from a host of angels, but you don’t need one.  Jesus Himself issues the invitation:  Come to me, come and see. 

Like coupons you get in the mail however, this invitation does have an expiration date.  One day Jesus has promised to return as judge. Those who have accepted His invitation will be invited into His presence forever, for He died in payment for their sin, and they stand before Him forgiven and made right with God. Those who have refused to trust in Jesus and His sacrifice for them will be condemned to an eternal life separated from Him forever.  It will be an eternal life of darkness and pain.

You see, your response to the invitation of Jesus, to come, to believe, to trust in His death endured for your sake, is not one to be taken lightly, like a missed party invitation.  It’s a life or death decision, a life changing decision with an expiration date.

I can tell you from personal experience, you will never regret trusting in Jesus in this life – and you will have all eternity to enjoy Him and the blessings of heaven. However, to refuse to trust Him, results in an eternity of regret.