How Widely Can You Invite?

“Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.”       Matthew 22:9

The good news of Jesus is a far-flung, wide-open, come-one-come-all invitation.  You can see it all over the place in the gospels. Think Parable of the Sower and his wild farming practices. Or even more poignantly, consider The Wedding Banquet in Matthew 22. See Jesus, shouting out on the last day of the feast in John 7, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink!” Wide invitation is fundamental to God’s good news.  This news changes everything and everyone needs to know about it. The gospel was meant to be broad-cast.

The Gospel Story was meant to be broad-cast

“Inviting widely” is a growing conviction among our IVCF community of staff and students.  In our training of brand-new staff, one of the first things we press them on is their view of the gospel and how wide it’s supposed to be flung.  For too long we have adopted a quietistic, hunker-down-and-hope-someone-sees-us-being-nice kind of good news policy.  And then we’ve excused our disobedience in a variety of ways–don’t want to impose, don’t want to be like those other guys, don’t want to reinforce stereotypes, etc.  When really, it’s because we’ve lost our nerve–our confidence in the gospel–and we don’t know where to find it, or if we even should.

That’s the core problem, I think.  We don’t actually believe the gospel much anymore.  The good news, well, doesn’t seem that good and frankly it’s not news anymore.  We’ve forgotten the Story and the power of the the Story to transform lives and initiate change that matters.  We need to re-hear the invitation by Jesus to us, back to the party he’s hosting.  We need to walk among the sinners-come-saints, grinning ear to ear with new found hope and love, boisteriously laughing over some new song. We must hear the bustle of gathered prodigals, still dusty from the long return, eager to receive, eager to tell.  We need to feel the pulsating energy of the new community of freedom and power.

We need to re-awaken to the Good News Story, the Story that alters everything.

When we experience that, who could help but invite widely, who wouldn’t run shouting from the house into the highways and alleys, compelling all to come, caring not who laughs or fears or dismisses you.  You know what really matters. You know and you are not afraid to tell it.

The party’s started. Invite widely.