Sermon Notes: "Feast or Famine?"

Our sermon passage came from Luke 5:27-38.  The pictures are from my neighborhood, and I thought in some ways they kind of go along with the scriptures.  Let's see:

27:  "After these things He (Jesus) went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."

28.  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.

29.  Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  
30.  And the scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"

31.  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
32.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

33.  Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"

34.  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?

35.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."

Notes:

• Jesus said, "Get up and follow Me" to Levi (who became known as Matthew) the Tax Collector. 
• Levi invited Jesus to a feast.
• The first thing Levi did was introduce others to Jesus.  He didn't wait around, nor did he have to be told to do this.  He wanted others to meet this Man called Jesus.
• John Wesley said "No one person ever went to heaven alone"..You either find friends, and you introduce them to Jesus, and they introduce others to Jesus...and you will take them with you to heaven!
• Jesus came along and came into the lives of lepers, tax collectors and sinners. Then someone called the Pharisees and complained that Jesus was eating and drinking with sinners.
• Jesus told them that "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
• Jesus was saying to treat others as loved ones...we CAN make a difference. 
• Share the love of Jesus with them.
• Jesus' party looked like a bus stop...all kinds of people. He brought everybody in...all sat down together...and that upset the Pharisees who were the "keepers of the law".
• Jesus gives us a Messianic Banquet where everyone is invited.
• When we get involved with Jesus, times are changing...the bus is filled with sinners and He changes them...He makes all things and all hearts new.

In verses 36-38 we see a "New" parable...and I think I finally understand it better than ever before.

• 36.  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.
• 37.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.
• 38.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

When we accept the free offer of salvation that comes from knowing Jesus Christ, we become a new creature in Christ.  (see II Corinthians 5:17).  Jesus is not a legalist. Christianity is all about GRACE...love, forgiveness...new life springing up out of death.  When we become a New Creature in Christ, we can't go back to the old ways of trying to earn our salvation by keeping the old law. 

When we live our lives for Christ, we can't be gloomy at the "wedding celebration". It is time to celebrate.  We do everything to glorify Christ. We seek God's face and His vision for us as we reflect on our "new life".  What is God about to do?

• The Pharisees tried to fit Jesus into their way of thinking, but He just didn't fit.  
• Jesus is doing NEW things all the time.
• Will we allow ourselves to be changed and renewed every day?
• God is doing new things...are we going to join the "party", or pout because these "Christians" are doing something different?
• Will you allow yourself to be changed, renewed...or will you stick with the old?

Dear Lord, please go before us. Prepare the way. You've called us to the celebration. Invite us in, and help us to welcome others to the feast.

"God prepares the table for us, offering us a feast of abundant love.  Our cups overflow with the bounty of grace for our Shepherd knows us as no one else can...restoring our souls, healing our brokenness, nourishing us with bread and cup for the life of ministry. Come to the table and feast with the Shepherd."  

Please Note : I want to repeat this disclaimer here...the notes, outline, and content included here are based upon my own personal understanding of the message that was being given.  I am not attempting to completely quote or reproduce this message or any other message I've shared previously.  Just as each person reading these notes may glean insights and thoughts that seem to directly apply to one's own situation and interpretation, my own delivery of these messages is skewed by my hearing and translation of what is being said.  Some may read my notes here and wonder if they were hearing the same message as I...and I say, God speaks to each of us as He wills...there are things He is trying to get across to each individual that may be entirely different than what the person sitting next to you in the pew is needing to hear...  That is how the Holy Spirit works! He knows what we need to hear and how to apply it to our hearts.  So it is with that understanding that I present these sermon notes to you.

Sermon Notes from FUMC, Interlachen, FL., 11/11/2018, Pastor A.C. Myers.