Articles
The Father's Heart
What is it about the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame that has so captured the heart of God? When Jesus visited the home of a prominent Pharisee for a meal, he confronted the way in which we normally host a party in order to teach us a principle about the Kingdom of God. Isn't it something that we ought to invite people to our home for a meal that have no way of repaying us? To make sure of that, we are to invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. Due to the advancements and prosperity of our nation, people that now fit some of those descriptions fare much better socially and economically than they did in Jesus' day. Regardless, there are people all around us that have little to no way of ever repaying us if we were to treat them to banquets in our homes or some other form of extravagant help.
In the context of Luke 14, someone went ahead and made the leap to the spiritual when they said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." Jesus took that softball pitch and laid the foundation for the invitation into the Kingdom of God through the parable of the Great Banquet, verifying the eternal spiritual truth in what he was trying to teach them by more natural means. The ones given first invitation to the Great Banquet found better things to do. They were captured by their investments, by their means of making money, and by human relationships. In context, of course, the Jews were given first invitation and their initial rejection of the Messiah has allowed us Gentiles to be grafted on. However, in addition to this truth there is a revelation of the heart of a Father that is ready to shine forth for all who want to see.
The Master became angry at the rejections to his invitation, and ordered the servant to 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' This was done, and there was still room at the Banquet tables. So the Master told the servant to 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full'. In the King James Version, it says to 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled'.
Go ahead and meditate on that verse if you want to gain understanding about God's heart for people and a renewed sense of energy and purpose to be a witness for Christ. There is something contained in the sharing of the good news with people in great need because that sharing is a more reflective picture of God's love. Then, there is also something contained in the receiving of that godly love because the person in great need is a more reflective picture of our actual standing before the Lord of the universe. Ultimately, we are all poor, crippled, blind, and lame apart from a relationship with our Creator. That's why Jesus taught in Matthew 5, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven". If we don't first recognize our state of spiritual poverty, we can't receive the blessed state of salvation Christ wants to give us. The poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame are on God's heart because from His perspective that encompasses all of us. Not one of us is deserving of sitting at the table in the Great Banquet. No one can pay God back for the ticket to enter that banquet, because it cost Him the life of His Son to put the banquet on. When God plants His compassion within us we find ourselves wanting to reach out to people around us as an expression of the love Christ has shared with us.
It is now time to go out into the streets and alleys, into the roads and country lanes and compel people to come into the Kingdom. Remember that Jesus taught us to look around and see that the fiields were white unto harvest. Why is it in our Christian lives, many of us haven't seen the white fields? We believe it is because we need to have our spiritual eyes opened to see things as God sees them. We need to ask God to give us the compassion He has for people, especially the hurting because the Scripture says that God is near to the broken-hearted (Isaiah 61). When we reach out in Christ's love to the most needy as an extension of his hands and feet, the Lord moves. Remember his teaching that says if we only abide in him, as the branch abides in the vine, we will bear much fruit. If our on-going experience isn't what we would call much fruit, then we'd be wise to examine our abiding. Or, said differently, is our abiding bringing us to the place of walking as Jesus did? According to 1 John 2:6 this is what is necessary for anyone who claims to believe. That's a tall order. That's why Jesus said he would send us the Holy Spirit.
In order to actually launch out in witness to the needy or to anyone else, we need to understand and have confidence in what it is that we bring to them to help meet their needs. That's a tall order too. That's why Jesus said he would send us the Holy Spirit. We need to understand who God is, who we are, and what He desires to do through us. There are many issues inherent to walking as Jesus did, but for now we trust that the Lord has touched you with some portion of this writing and is inviting you to further study and prayer in that area. Therefore, we will end this writing with a prayer we encourage you to pray with us:
Father, I want to have a fresh revelation of who you are. I ask you to open my spiritual eyes, to increase my understanding of you, to plant within me the love and compassion you have for people, and to give me a burden for the least of these all around me. Lord, teach me to abide in you. I want you to bear much fruit through my life. Father, please open your Word to me so I can see it clearly and that I can know you better. Jesus, I want you to be exalted in and through my life. I want to die to myself today so you can use my spirit, mind, body, and soul to live your life through me. I ask you for a fresh touch from your Holy Spirit to lead me in this process of aligning my life to your life and your will. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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The Father's Heart
