The Git er Done Gospel

 

July 10, 2022                               NOTES NOT EDITED
The “Git ‘Er Done Gospel”
Luke 14:15-35

SIS—Filling God’s church with new believers who are loving and serving God is Church’s “top priority.

I planned to start a new sermon series this Sunday titled, "Battle for Your Mind." I don't feel quite ready to launch that series this week so I'm going to set it aside for a while.

Instead, I'm going to preach on a text that has been foundational for me throughout my ministry: "Go out into the highways and hedges and COMPEL people to come in that My house may be full" (Luke 14:23).  In this story about a Great Banquet and the Master giving the banquet and some guests gave Him excuses for why they couldn’t come. It is a story about “getting lost people saved,” or as Larry the Cable Guy liked to put it about the task at hand, “Git “er Done!”

I’m not sure exactly what this term means and I’m not sure the comedian Larry the Cable Guy, who made it famous, really knows what it means.  In a short clip, Larry the Cable Guy give three possible interpretations of the phrase.  This should clear things up:

 RUN CLIP

 The Urban Dictionary gives a few interpretaitons.  One meaning we can apply to “reaching lost people for Christ.”  “Git ‘er Done can mean, Having the ability to do the extraordinary.

In our message today we will explore the extraordinary mission of the Church:  reaching lost people with the gospel and filling up God’s Church.  How can we “Git ‘Er Done?” 

LUKE 14:15-24

Now, many sermons have been preached regarding the broadness of God’s invitation to salvation, and rightfully so.  In this parable God is represented as a man giving a great banquet.  That invitation represents an invitation to eternal life.  It is almost unfathomable to me that anyone could reject an absolutely free invitation to eternal life—but many, in fact most, have and will continue to reject that offer.

I want to focus on the passion for souls that characterizes God’s character, as evidenced by the fact that in verse 23 God, represented by the master of the house, declares in what seems to be forceful language:

²³ “Then the master told the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and lanes and make them come in, so that my house may be filled. 

The word, “make,” in verse 23 in the CSB comes from the Greek word, “anagkazō (ἀναγκάζω). According to a major Greek dictionary it means, “to cause or compel someone in all the varying degrees from friendly pressure to forceful compulsion” (TDNT).  It is a compound word formed from “agKalē” which means “arm as in bended.”  The prefix, “an(ag)” refers to repeated action or intensity.  Our common expression in English, “twisting someone’s arm,” is a colloquial equivalent of anagkazō.  The KJV has a better translation using the word, “compel.”  Fulfilling God’s will to fill up His church with new believers is a serious mission that requires making others “uncomfortable” at times.

This gives mankind insight into the very heart of God Almighty.  What really drives passion of God?  God is so moved by His love for us that the Bible says,

“For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son.” 

The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter declared boldly:

^{2Peter 3     9} The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish  but all to come to repentance. 

From Genesis to Revelation the Bible unfolds the passion that God has for saving souls.  At the Cross—on the cross—the passion of God for reaching His lost children reaches its zenith. 

Nothing drives the heart of God more than His love for His lost children.  This is the message woven throughout this Parable of the Great Banquet.  God values the souls of mankind so much that He watched His own Son die a horrible death on the cross.

Knowing this, a church with more pew than people is an affront to God, Himself.  The truth of the matter is that filling God’s church with new believers who are loving and serving God is Church’s “top priority.

THREE COMPONENTS TO WINNING LOST SOULS

1.  There is a SPIRITUAL Component (v 15)

¹⁵ When one of those who reclined at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “The one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God is blessed!” 

The background for the Parable of the Great Banquet is an actual meal at the at “the house of one of the leading Pharisees” (14:1).  They were reclining around a low table as was the custom of the day.  When Jesus spoke about a “person being blessed who eats bread in the Kingdom of God,” the Pharisees would have naturally assumed that “Jesus is talking about US!”

There were no people on earth at that time that were more “religious” and “righteous” than the Pharisees.  Now, everywhere in the N.T. Jesus interacts with the Pharisees, for the most part, it is not a pleasant interaction.  In fact, some of the harshest condemnations Jesus ever spoke, He spoke to and about the Pharisees.

But, and this is important, Jesus did recognize that the Pharisees highly valued righteousness and were fastidious about religious details.  In one text Jesus remarks:

^{Mat5:  20} For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 

Let me outline just how “righteous” the Pharisees were.  They were:

1.  evangelistic:  You travel over land and sea to make one proselyte,  and when he becomes one, you make him twice as fit for hell  as you are! (Mat 23:15).

2.  tithers:  You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin (23:23).  The Law of God required everyone to give a “tenth,” or a tithe, to the work of God.  Even if a wild herb, like mint, dill, or cumin sprouted up along the walkway of a Pharisees home, he would pick one out of ten and take it to the temple for an offering.

3.  ritualistic:  You clean the outside of the cup and dish. (23:25). The Pharisees followed every ritualistic requirement of their faith—and there were many.  There was even a debate as to whether it was more important to clean the inside or the outside of a cup—and we are talking about “religious” practice, not a hygienic one.  The Pharisees were rigid in their pursuit of religion, and their practice far exceeded all others.

In the first century, if one turned to the Webster’s Dictionary under the heading, “righteous,” there would be a picture of a Pharisee.

Now, Jesus declared that one’s righteousness had to “EXCEED the righteousness of the Pharisees” in order to get into heaven.  I want to suggest strongly to you that there is “no way” you are going to compete with the Pharisees when it comes to “ritualistic righteousness.”  But, let me go back to our text in verse 15:

Jesus said, “The one who will eat bread in the Kingdom of God is blessed.”  Jesus said this to a Pharisee, and it was a rhetorical question of sorts.  Jesus was using irony and sarcasm to suggest that “none of the Pharisees” would be “eating bread in the Kingdom of God.”

You see, blessing, or being in the Kingdom of God is not something we “earn” or “gain” through our religious activities.  Entrance into the Kingdom of God is a “spiritual” matter, not a religious one.  True righteousness is a “spiritual righteousness,” not a “self-righteousness.”  In theology it is called, “imputed” (credited, assigned, put into) righteousness. It is something done “to us and for us” not “by us.”   2Corinthians 5:21,

He made the One who did not know sin  to be sin  for us,  so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

So, obedience to God—righteousness—it has a SPIRITUAL component.  It is a matter of complete and total surrender to God and obedience to His Holy Spirit on a day-by-day, moment-by-moment basis.  If we do not “get Spiritual”—and I capitalize Spiritual to refer to the Holy Spirit—then we are NEVER going to fill this sanctuary up with new believers who are loving and serving God. 

The “spiritual component” involves activities like prayer, Bible study (including a daily quiet time and Scripture memory), participation in the fellowship of God’s church as spiritual servants, and evangelism but it is not dependent upon these activities. It is a matter of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9:

(NLT) ⁹ But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)

2.  There is, also, a HUMAN component (vv 17, 21, 23) 

Three times in this passage, the Master commands the servant to go.

1.  ¹⁷ At the time of the banquet, he sent his slave to tell

2.  ²¹ Then in anger, the master of the house told his slave, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame!’

3.  ²³ “Then the master told the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and lanes and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.

God has limited Himself to work through—and only through—human instruments to accomplish His will (miracles being the sole exception and even some miracles in the Bible had a human component).  Recall Brother Rob’s sermon on stewardship. As Rob taught us, a steward is somebody that manages somebody else’s resources and affairs. This has been God’s plan since Adam was given “dominion” over all Œcreation. We are not only stewards of God’s creation, and stewards of His material gifts entrusted to us, but also, we are the stewards of ŽHis plan of Redemption for Mankind.  We are God’s hands and feet and mouth through which He moves and speaks.

Mark 6:35–37 (NLT) ³⁵ Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. ³⁶ Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.” ³⁷ But Jesus said, “YOU FEED THEM.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”

The history of God’s involvement in humanity is a history of God choosing and using people to accomplish His purposes.  He used men like Noah, Abraham, David, Ruth, Esther and on and on.  He even used pagan people like Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus and Pilate. He used righteous men and woman like Mary and Joseph, and reprobates like Judas Ischariot.  The history of the world is the history of God’s self-limitation in using men and women to accomplish His plan of redemption.  It is still that way, today.

One of my dear evangelism professors once said to a group of us “preacher boys” (which is what he affectionately called us),

Boys, you must never forget that the gospel came to us on its way to someone else. 

Paul pinned down the principle of the gospel’s Human Component.  Look at Romans 10:14-17:

¹⁴ But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him?  And how can they hear without a preacher?  ¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those  who announce the gospel of good things! 

Then the matter is summarized in verse 17: So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ. 

Reaching lost people and filling up God’s House has a HUMAN COMPONENT—You and I are those “humans.”

You say, “But I can’t.”  God says, “But we must!”  We simply “must” do everything within our power to see that our church is filling up with new believers who are loving God and serving Him, or we are “just flat out living in disobedience.” 

Reaching the lost has a spiritual component and a human component.  It also has

3.  a FINANCIAL component (vv 25-27)

²⁵ Now  great crowds were traveling with Him. So He turned and said to them: ²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me  and does not hate  his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not bear his own cross  and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 

Then it is summarized in verse 33: Therefore, every one of you who does not say good-bye to  all his possessions  cannot be My disciple. 

Unless you are willing to give up your possessions, you cannot be saved.  I don’t know how Jesus could have made it any plainer.  All too often instead of giving our money, we give God our excuses.

Verse 18:  The Œfirst rejection came by someone who “had to take care of his own field.”  Verse 19:  The second excuse came from a man who “had to take care of his own livestock.”  Verse 20:  the Žthird one doesn’t really say why, but for some reason “he could not come to God’s banquet because of his family responsibilities.”

I won’t debate why these excuses were “legitimate” or not because in my view, anything that prevents us from fully following Christ is legitimate by definition.  There is NO GOOD EXCUSE for disobedience.

When it comes to life you can either choose to be someone who makes excuses, or you can be someone who makes a difference.

Reaching Lost People has a financial component.  Ministry takes money.  It’s that simple.  It is true, “God owns the cattle on a thousand hills,” but it is also true that many of His followers are “cattle rustlers.”  Many believers have God’s cattle locked up in your barn! 

There is a saying in the English vernacular that describes a person of great generosity.  We say, “He’d give you the shirt of his back.”  Well, a chiropractor in Tampa, Florida in 1994 did exactly that for his ex-wife.  He had been paying alimony for many years, but finally the last alimony payment came due.  It would be for $182, not a staggering amount in itself but it represented years of grudgingly paying his ex-wife.  He decided to not only make the payment, but make a statement as well.  He made an arrangement with his local bank. He purchased a brand new, pinstriped shirt.  On the back of the shirt he drew a large scale check, complete with account number and routing number.  In the memo line of the check for $182 he wrote this message:  Here it is—the shirt off my back!  His ex-wife took the shirt to the bank and cashed it.

Well, we should never give to God’s work grudgingly as this man gave his wife alimony. We should do it willingly, even gleefully, but most certainly, generously.  I wonder, however, how many of us would be willing to give God, “the shirt off our back.” 

Simple question:  “Are we willing to GIVE MORE to GET MORE people saved?”

Reaching lost people is our TOP PRIORITY as a church.  Our effectiveness in this regard is easy to measure:  are we baptizing people and seeing them grow into fully functioning followers of Christ?  This is easily answered with a simple, “yes” or “no.” Our mission to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ has three essential components:  a spiritual component, a human component, and a financial component. God has clearly told us what He expects:  “go out into the highways and by-ways and compel them to come in, so that my house may be full.”  If we are not involved passionately in doing that, we are living in disobedience and can expect no blessing from God.

Let’s join together to "Git 'Er Done!"