We recently visited another church and the pastor preached all over the basic theme that my husband has been preaching for over a year. But that makes sense. If God has a word for His people, then men of God all over the world will be hearing that word and passing it along to those listening.
The message we have been hearing is it's time to get involved with those we are trying to reach. The same love, grace and salvation that Christ extended to us, in the midst of our sin, He wants to give to others. Sin is messy and we may get dirty, as we reach to pull someone out of the muck and mire, it may be uncomfortable but God never called us to comfort in this world; He called us to a life of mission, a life of action, a life of snatching people from the very gates of hell.
There is a parable in the Bible of a man who invited a lot of people to a special event, a feast in his home. His servant went out to let everyone know it was time to come over because the meal was ready, but everyone he had invited began to make excuses. Excuses that included needing family time, buying new property and dealing with new equipment. These were people with whom the man regularly rubbed shoulders; they lived in his neighborhood, shopped the same places, did business together. The man was angry with his friends, co-workers and society colleagues who refused his invitation, so he told his servant to go find people who were poor, maimed, lame and blind to bring to the feast. The servant did that but there were still empty chairs at the table so the man took it a step further and said, "Ok, now go into the highways and byways and compel them to come." He had already invited the upper and middle class neighbors who chose to not come, then he invited those considered by society as less fortunate. Who do you suppose the servant would find in the highways and byways? Who is in our highways and bushes, our underpasses and vacant buildings?
There comes a time when the engraved invitations to the feast (the commercials on TV, the newspaper ads, the bulk mailings to announce programs with catchy slogans, and special events with laser lights and fog) just will not do the job. People so saturated with the busy-ness of this life have no time to attend just another function that blocks out their availability on their personal calendar, and so they quit responding to the invitation; they quit coming to the table. This beautiful table of abundance Jesus prepared just for us is sitting here with very few people around it. So much to enjoy, so many empty chairs. There comes a time when we have to go out into our cities, hospitals, rehab centers, AA halls, prisons and yes, even the streets and underpasses and not just ask them, but compel them to come to the table Jesus has prepared. How do we compel someone dying with a chronic disease or addicted to meth, serving a 20 year prison sentence for crimes committed or disassociated from society because of depression, to come to the table? Not by a well placed ad on TV or in the newspaper.
To compel - to urge forcefully or irresistibly, to persuade, to entreat.
Scripture tells us that no one comes to the Father except the Spirit draws them. If we are filled with the power that Jesus sent to us, the Holy Spirit, and we reach out and touch people where they are, the Spirit will compel them. If we love them in their unlovable condition, the Spirit will compel them. If we share our own testimony of being pulled from satan's grasp, into Jesus' protective arms, the Spirit will compel them. If we refuse to give up on them because there is still room for them at the table, the Spirit will compel them. If we become the hands of Jesus, in their lives, holding their hands, wrapping them in a warm hug or placing our hands on them in prayer, the Spirit will compel them. If we share with them the very good news of Jesus Christ: love, forgiveness, divine substitution, key-taking, resurrection and the transfer of power and authority through restoration and the Holy Spirit, to a personal relationship with God, the Spirit will compel them. But none of this is done from a distance. None of this is done through a beautifully worded tract that can be passed out or discreetly laid down. All of this is done through close, face to face contact, reaching beyond the facade presented to the world, into the brokenness of their soul, with the love with which Jesus loved us.
Christians, church - it's time. It's time to go out into the streets and thickets, to find those who need Jesus so much and to irresistibly entreat and persuade them, through the drawing of the Holy Spirit, to the table of life. But no more pretty invitations to pretty events; it's time to get as real as their sin and mess and brokenness is. Show them Jesus; broken for them, dying for them, rising for them, offering them everything He has access to, so they can live. Forever. With Him.
It is a compelling offer.
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