Come to the Banquet

Come to the banquet!  That is the call from Wisdom from Proverbs 9.  It’s beautiful.  Jesus loves you!  He forgives you!  There are some who hear that call and they think, that’s not for me.  Scripture makes it look black and white at times.  The abstract truth of who a Christian is and what a Christian does.  I call, your God calls you to live that every day.  But we don’t.

I always wonder what makes a person who hears this call from our God to think, he doesn’t mean me.  What have you done that you think – foolishly – that wisdom’s call is not for you?

Folly can help us out here – 17 “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” Stolen water is sweet.  Does a candy bar really taste better if you didn’t pay for it?  Is sex outside of marriage really more fun than the way God planned it?  Is that A on the quiz better if you cheated in school to get it?  “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!”  This is the forbidden fruit.  Did God really say that you shouldn’t eat from it?  You will not surely die.

18 But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.  The word here is sheol – it can mean grave, but it’s also translated as hell.  Unrepentant sin only leads to eternal destruction.

Let me go back to the question I asked, why don’t people believe the call of wisdom?  I think it’s because it’s impossible, if it weren’t for the power of our God.  The guilt that we foolishly carry for all the times that we have sinned is crushing.  We can’t deal with that guilt, not on our own.  It’s crushing for me to think the times I’ve failed as your pastor, Jenna’s husband, or as a father to my children.  Wisdom says come.  6 Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.

God’s love for me is boundless.  He forgives me completely.  I am free to live for him.  If you don’t believe that about yourself, I would love to talk with you more.

Want to hear more?  Watch this Sunday’s message taken from Proverb 9: Come to the Banquet.