RSVP

Matthew 22:11-14 (From the Parable of the Wedding Feast, Matthew 22:1-14)

But when the king came in to see the guests,

he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.

"Friend,” he asked, “how did you get in here without wedding clothes?”

The man was speechless.

Then the king told the attendants, “Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside,

into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

For many are invited, but few are chosen.

This is a hard truth from the teachings of Jesus Christ.  How could a person get into Christ’s wedding celebration and dinner unless invited?  Why would bouncers toss someone out the door, simply because of wearing the wrong cloths?  Doesn’t the Bible say, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” (Rev 19:9)?

Yes, everyone is invited, but invitations need a response.  The King ordered his servants to go everywhere and invite everyone (v 9), good and bad people alike, no one is left uninvited.  We must respond to the invitation, the invitation came with a RSVP.  The term RSVP is a French expression "répondez s'il vous plait," meaning “respond please.”  Only by giving a RSVP to God’s invitation can we become an official part of the wedding, and receive the King's gift, the proper wedding cloths.  It is crucial that we accept and reply to the Lord—we must RSVP.

  

You’ve been invited, now, “please respond” to the invitation. God does not want “anyone to perish” (to perish is to be thrown into darkness and weeping (v13), or hell), God wants, “everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9).  To RSVP is to repent or turn to God by faith in Christ, to confess by mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and that he rose from the dead (Rom 10:9-10, Eph 2:8).  Without that, without the RSVP, you will not have received the right cloths to wear to the wedding.  Wanting to be part of the wedding is not the same as giving a RSVP to the wedding invitation.  Let God clean and dress you in His glory.  

RSVP,

Owen <><