Week 41: Dressed for Success
Weekly Reading:
Matthew 16 - Mark 5
Opening Prayer
Father God,
Thank you for this day. Thank you for the blessings that you provide to us every day. You provide for us just like the lilies in the field, just like the sparrow. We pray that you open our hearts and our minds to your word today.
Amen
Study
“Jesus also told them other parables. He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son. When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come! “So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!’ But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business. Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them. “The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply. Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Matthew 22:1-14 NLT
God created his kingdom in Jerusalem: a beautiful temple built by Solomon for his people. When God invited His people to join, they were not faithful and in the parable, they did not come to the feast God prepared for them.
So, the King sent his servants to go tell His people: all has been prepared, come! But the guests ignored the king’s servants, just as the Lord’s prophets were sent by God to His chosen people. Some people seized His messengers and murdered and insulted His servants.
The king was furious and sent His army to destroy the murders and burn their towns just as we saw during the Assyrian/Babylonian slavery of the Israelites where God punished the surrounding nations.
Since his chosen people did not come, the King told the servants to invite everyone to the kingdom: Gentiles and Jews (Galatians 3:28). When the King surveyed the guests.
He saw one man not properly dressed for the occasion. When the King asked the man why he was not ready for the kingdom, the man had no reply. We must know that being united with Christ means we will have to put on new clothes (Galatians 3:26).
We see that God speaks of our new clothing (Colossians 3:5 through 15)
“Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.”
Colossians 3:12-14 NLT
When the King saw that the attendant was not bound with Christ through faith and was not bearing the fruits of Christ, clothed properly, the King banished the attendant to outer darkness.
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Matthew 22:14 NLT
We must be ready when the King comes to call by binding ourselves to Christ by faith and by bearing His fruit. It is not by works or anything we can do, but by our faith in Christ and by God’s grace may we enter the kingdom.
Closing Prayer
Father God,
We are coming to you full of faith, dressed in faith ready for Your Kingdom. Father, continue to work on us, teaching us, correcting us as we grow in You. Father, guide us and embolden us to learn more and spread Your love.
Amen
Homework
Are you fully ready for Christ?
Is your faith in God and our Lord Jesus Christ? If not, is there someone you can reach out to?
