{"id":152,"date":"2022-06-22T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-22T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=152&2022"},"modified":"2022-06-20T18:00:14","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T00:00:14","slug":"rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\/","title":{"rendered":"Rejecting the Invitation: Luke 14:7-24"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Focus Passage: Luke 14:7-24 (GW)<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\"><p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">7<\/sup> Then Jesus noticed how the guests always chose the places of honor. So he used this illustration when he spoke to them: <sup class=\"versenum\">8<\/sup> \u201cWhen someone invites you to a wedding, don\u2019t take the place of honor. Maybe someone more important than you was invited. <sup class=\"versenum\">9<\/sup> Then your host would say to you, \u2018Give this person your place.\u2019 Embarrassed, you would have to take the place of least honor. <sup class=\"versenum\">10<\/sup> So when you\u2019re invited, take the place of least honor. Then, when your host comes, he will tell you, \u2018Friend, move to a more honorable place.\u2019 Then all the other guests will see how you are honored. <sup class=\"versenum\">11<\/sup> Those who honor themselves will be humbled, but people who humble themselves will be honored.\u201d <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">12<\/sup> Then he told the man who had invited him, \u201cWhen you invite people for lunch or dinner, don\u2019t invite only your friends, family, other relatives, or rich neighbors. Otherwise, they will return the favor. <sup class=\"versenum\">13<\/sup> Instead, when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the handicapped, the lame, and the blind. <sup class=\"versenum\">14<\/sup> Then you will be blessed because they don\u2019t have any way to pay you back. You will be paid back when those who have God\u2019s approval come back to life.\u201d <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">15<\/sup> One of those eating with him heard this. So he said to Jesus, \u201cThe person who will be at the banquet in the kingdom of God is blessed.\u201d <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">16<\/sup> Jesus said to him, \u201cA man gave a large banquet and invited many people. <sup class=\"versenum\">17<\/sup> When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, \u2018Come! Everything is ready now.\u2019 <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">18<\/sup> \u201cEveryone asked to be excused. The first said to him, \u2018I bought a field, and I need to see it. Please excuse me.\u2019 <sup class=\"versenum\">19<\/sup> Another said, \u2018I bought five pairs of oxen, and I\u2019m on my way to see how well they plow. Please excuse me.\u2019 <sup class=\"versenum\">20<\/sup> Still another said, \u2018I recently got married, and that\u2019s why I can\u2019t come.\u2019 <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">21<\/sup> \u201cThe servant went back to report this to his master. Then the master of the house became angry. He told his servant, \u2018Run to every street and alley in the city! Bring back the poor, the handicapped, the blind, and the lame.\u2019 <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">22<\/sup> \u201cThe servant said, \u2018Sir, what you\u2019ve ordered has been done. But there is still room for more people.\u2019 <\/p>\r\n<p>\u00a0<sup class=\"versenum\">23<\/sup> \u201cThen the master told his servant, \u2018Go to the roads and paths! Urge the people to come to my house. I want it to be full. <sup class=\"versenum\">24<\/sup> I can guarantee that none of those invited earlier will taste any food at my banquet.\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\r\n<p class=\"passage-read-more\">Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Luke 14:7-24&amp;version=gw\" title=\"Read the passage on BibleGateway.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"hyperlink-underlined\">Luke 14:7-24<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>Of all the different characters included in our passage\/parable, let\u2019s turn our attention to the original invitees; those who were first invited but who blew off their invitation.<\/p>\r\n<p>The one thing that really stands out in my mind about this group is that these people are who we could call \u201cconvenience friends\u201d \u2013 friends who are only friends when it is convenient for them. They seem to be friendly with the man who was hosting the banquet occasionally, but the friendship was pretty low on their priorities. They seem to have placed other tasks ahead of attending.<\/p>\r\n<p>However, what happens if we turn this around onto us. How \u201cconvenience friend-like\u201d are we being with God\/Jesus? Are we only interested in doing our own thing, but then at the moment we need help, we are praying and asking for assistance? Or are we willing to put the tasks aside to enjoy the friendship?<\/p>\r\n<p>While the spontaneous invitees only have to accept the invitation to be included, these \u201cconvenience friends\u201d seem to have to reject the invitation to be excluded. The way they exclude themselves is that they have placed other priorities ahead of God. In the three excuses, we see three categories that often can take precedence over our relationship with God.<\/p>\r\n<p>In our lives, do we let our material possessions come first? Like the man who wanted to go check out a piece of land (that he already bought), are we constantly needing to check out our balance sheet like it is a score-card for our success? This man gives up a relationship with God for some stuff. Is this a path we really want to head down?<\/p>\r\n<p>However, what if we let our career come first? Like the man who needed to test out his new oxen, do we place our focus on how much we can accomplish, or how much status we can acquire with what we do? This man gives up a relationship with God for a bigger paycheck. Is this a path we really want to head down?<\/p>\r\n<p>The last original invitee is a little trickier, because what if we place our family and spouse ahead of God? Like the person who simply didn\u2019t want to come because he just got married, are we more interested in spending time with our spouse than spending time with God? Are we really thinking that these two relationships have to be in conflict? Is there any logical reason that the host who invited this person wouldn\u2019t have also extended the invitation to his new wife? This man gives up a relationship with God for a relationship with a person \u2013 someone who he could have easily had a relationship with as well. Is following this man\u2019s example a path we really want to head down?<\/p>\r\n<p>I hope your answer is \u201cNo\u201d to each of these three paths. Instead I hope that you choose to place having a relationship with God as the highest priority in your life. The myth that we can easily fall into is that having a relationship with God doesn\u2019t allow for these other successes. Instead, <strong>God is interested in being first in our lives, and helping us be the best we can be in these other areas.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--152\" class=\"aj-wrap-up\"><p><em>This thought was inspired by studying the <strong>Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, <a class=\"underline\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/\" title=\"Check out Reflective Bible Study!\">click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p><p><em><a class=\"underline\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\" onClick=\"rbs_aj_inline_subscribe(this, '152');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of all the different characters included in our passage\/parable, let\u2019s turn our attention to the original invitees; those who were first invited but who blew off their invitation. The one thing that really stands out in my mind about this group is that these people are who we could call \u201cconvenience friends\u201d \u2013 friends who [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rejecting the Invitation: Luke 14:7-24 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rejecting the Invitation: Luke 14:7-24 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Of all the different characters included in our passage\/parable, let\u2019s turn our attention to the original invitees; those who were first invited but who blew off their invitation. The one thing that really stands out in my mind about this group is that these people are who we could call \u201cconvenience friends\u201d \u2013 friends who [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reflectivebiblestudy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-22T09:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cam\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@godstruthhisway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@godstruthhisway\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cam\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3\"},\"headline\":\"Rejecting the Invitation: Luke 14:7-24\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-22T09:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1020,\"articleSection\":[\"Written Journal Entries\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rejecting the Invitation: Luke 14:7-24 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-22T09:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rejecting the Invitation: Luke 14:7-24\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/\",\"name\":\"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\",\"description\":\"Your Life. God&#039;s Truth. His Way.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3\",\"name\":\"Cam\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/avatars\\\/2\\\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/avatars\\\/2\\\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/avatars\\\/2\\\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Cam\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rejecting the Invitation: Luke 14:7-24 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rejecting the Invitation: Luke 14:7-24 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","og_description":"Of all the different characters included in our passage\/parable, let\u2019s turn our attention to the original invitees; those who were first invited but who blew off their invitation. The one thing that really stands out in my mind about this group is that these people are who we could call \u201cconvenience friends\u201d \u2013 friends who [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\/","og_site_name":"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reflectivebiblestudy\/","article_published_time":"2022-06-22T09:00:00+00:00","author":"Cam","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@godstruthhisway","twitter_site":"@godstruthhisway","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\/"},"author":{"name":"Cam","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3"},"headline":"Rejecting the Invitation: Luke 14:7-24","datePublished":"2022-06-22T09:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\/"},"wordCount":1020,"articleSection":["Written Journal Entries"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\/","url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\/","name":"Rejecting the Invitation: Luke 14:7-24 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-06-22T09:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/rejecting-the-invitation-luke-14-7-24\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rejecting the Invitation: Luke 14:7-24"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#website","url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/","name":"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","description":"Your Life. God&#039;s Truth. His Way.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3","name":"Cam","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/2\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg","url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/2\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/2\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg","caption":"Cam"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}