Guess Who's Coming To Dinner!

Aug 2, 2026 • Pastor Tim McCalmont

For the next short period of time, I'll be with you as a pastor, a bridge to something new ahead.

You know, and as I was thinking about this service today and this message,

I've been through a lot of situations this last spring and summer where we've had parties.

Anybody here who doesn't like a good party, a good celebration?

I know you'd be embarrassed to raise your hand, but that's okay.

But I remember a film back in the day, and this dates me and maybe it does you too, but you remember the film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

I hear a lot of yeses.

Thank you for making me feel at home.

With Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy, and Katherine Hepburn.

What a lineup.

But it was this party, and they were surprised to find who was coming to dinner.

That's the context we find ourselves in in Matthew chapter 22.

Jesus is attending the great Passover celebration.

In Jerusalem, it's a national holiday and there's thousands in the city.

And Jesus is teaching his disciples and the leaders in the Jewish community.

And he teaches by these teaching devices we call parables.

He called them that too.

But they're actually stories, imaginative stories that on the surface are interesting, but if you delve into them, they're really, really reflective.

Stories about God's kingdom that is now being revealed.

about lost sheep who were found, a son returning home after running away, a seed disappearing into the soil, seemingly dead, but then alive as never before.

Jesus was a prophetic preacher who told of a vast abundant way of living and of a major event that was about to take place

when the Messiah would do His work, when evil and death would be destroyed, a sign that all of creation would one day be restored.

His kingdom of peace would eventually reign over all, and God would make His full-on presence known.

And the parables do something else as well.

They present the hearers

with a decision to be made, a choice.

And here he advises us to be people on the alert.

Pay attention.

Heads up.

And so we read from Matthew 22, the first 14 verses.

We see them on the screen.

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.

He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.

Again, he sent other slaves, saying, Tell those who have been invited, Look!

I've prepared my dinner.

My oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready.

Come to the wedding banquet."

But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and even killed them.

The king was enraged.

He sent his troops,

destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

Then he said to his slaves, The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy.

Go, therefore, into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.

Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad.

So the wedding hall was filled with guests."

But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man who was not wearing a wedding robe.

And he said to him, friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?

And he was speechless.

Then the king said to the attendants, bind him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

for many are called but few are chosen this is the word of the Lord each parable we find Jesus speaking to persuade people to become more authentic

persons in God's kingdom, even partners with God in His developing, revealing kingdom.

First of all, what does this parable tell us on the face of it in its historical context?

The king, the leader of this country, whose son is about to be married, he is so excited

Remember that day, parents, when one of your kids got married?

You were all in.

I hope most of you anyway.

There were elaborate plans for these events, and these events were days long, sometimes weeks long.

And it was customary, as the parable shows us, to send out invitations.

Not like today where we have party planners and we have social media.

We even have party apps, right?

We put on our phone and we design the party and everything's taken care of.

In that day, in ancient society, the host sent out word of mouth announcing that the time is coming.

It was a general announcement advising guests to make your plans.

And then was a second round of announcements that followed later that told them to prepare immediately.

And then the third round went out, the food's on the grill, come now.

And all those invitations were expected to be received with great joy and anticipation and gratitude.

So the king follows the protocol, very excited.

He sends out his first invitations to family and friends, important, influential people, and nobody RSVPs.

Our text in the parable picks it up after the first invitation had been sent out.

And so the second one goes out.

and nobody responds, again.

Then the third round of invitations are sent.

The animals have been slaughtered, the food's prepared, everything's ready.

Now, come on, let's go.

But when the invitations come, the invitees make light of it all.

They go on with their lives.

Others even chase down the messengers

they abuse, and they kill them.

Can you imagine how furious the king would be?

So he sends his army, destroys them all, burns down their properties, and he sends his servants into the streets, instructs them, invite everyone you see.

So they go out, they found street folks,

the homeless, the strangers, and it says, the good and the bad.

And the wedding hall is filled.

Then there's this curious twist.

The king comes in after the party started, and he's excited to see a full house.

But you know, there's an interesting cultural piece here.

there was a man not wearing appropriate clothing.

Because in those times, especially at royal weddings, when the guests arrived, the hosts supplied everyone with both food and garments.

Guests would receive a beautiful robe at the entrance, regardless of their status.

They would get this beautiful robe.

But this guest had deliberately rejected the garment that was offered to him.

He had entered the celebration without the provided robe.

He apparently felt his own clothes would be adequate and it would be fine.

So when the host is glad handing everyone and welcoming everyone, he sees this man and he says, friend, how'd you get in here without a robe?

The man doesn't know what to say.

He's speechless.

He has no defense.

So the king calls for security.

They're instructed to bind him up, throw him out.

And then in cryptic fashion, Jesus adds the famous words of warning.

For many are called, but few are chosen.

We've heard that many times.

This is the context.

So what can we take from

this parable most of us I think when we receive party invitations we ask ourselves three questions they may not be in this exact form but they're in a form of this who has come who is the host and why are they throwing the party second question who's coming third question is how am I going to respond so the first question

Who is the host and why are they throwing the party?

Well, the host in the parable, as we learn, is our loving, gracious, and mighty God.

The God described in the 103rd Psalm, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

Bless His holy name.

As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear Him.

Scriptures tell us our host is so good and so gracious.

In fact, from Genesis all the way to the end of Revelation, it's about this loving God whose deepest desire is to provide a restored creation and be in fellowship with the people He's made to steward that creation.

The text we read earlier from Isaiah 25 foretells us of this grand celebration.

For those of all nations, the shroud of death will be destroyed forever.

Tears of death will be wiped away and disgrace will be no more.

This is a party I'd want to be part of and a host I would want to RSVP to with a bold yes, I'll be there.

So that's the first question.

Now, a couple more questions we need to ask.

Who's coming to the party?

Are the people coming those I would want to be with?

Well, as we learned, they're coming from every neighborhood.

The poor, the disadvantaged, the difficult people.

It says in the text, the good and the bad.

Bad people have received the same invitation.

And the word that's used in the Greek in that parable, ponero, and it's the same word they use for ruffians when the church is trying to meet in, I believe it's Corinth or Ephesus.

There's a group outside that's trying to destroy their fellowship.

Same word that's used, ponero.

They're invited to the party.

This is describing the people who are going to be there.

The only requirement, the only requirement is that they want to come.

The invitation isn't based on status or wealth or education or who you know.

The king in the parable learned his lesson.

The only thing is you must want to be there and take part.

Now this could be a challenge for us.

Do we really want to be a partner in this celebration with this community of God's people?

These people we're to be open and willing to show love and understanding for

All who have come to the banquet celebration.

We're partying together.

That's not an easy thing to do.

We know in the church, don't we?

Especially in the church.

We come and a lot of people are like us, but then there's different people.

People not quite like us.

They're from different backgrounds and cultural experiences and they might even not share a common language with us.

These are God's people.

They've come to the party.

And I believe that this is God's church.

Our prayer must be, Lord, help me to have a large enough heart to embrace any and all who receive and respond to your invitation.

It's going to be quite a party because that's the church.

And by the way, I want to say thank you to Sydney.

This is her last Sunday for a while.

She's headed to Nashville.

And you're going to find a new kind of a church experience in Nashville.

Let me tell you, it's going to be warmer, a little more humid as we talked about earlier.

But there's going to be different kind of people from the South.

And that's a whole other culture.

And so to be open, to see what has God, who has God invited us

to this party?

What kind of music do they make?

Do they sing classics?

Or do they sing folk?

Do they sing rock?

What do they sing?

What are they like?

This is the church.

But then there's a third question we need to ask.

How should I prepare for this celebration?

Now that's assuming I choose to attend.

What steps do I take to be ready

And this is for us today, this is the thing we need to really pay attention to.

This is our to-do list.

We need to, first of all, promptly respond and respectfully respond to the invitation.

I'll mark the date and the time and make any arrangements needed and make plans to dress appropriately and have the right attire.

I need to do that.

God has issued each and every one of us an invitation to the celebration, the greatest celebration of all.

And we need to make our plans carefully.

We need to respond and then make our plans.

And then we need to think about what we're going to wear.

That may be something, ladies, that you think about more than guys.

That's a really sexist comment.

I'm sorry.

I don't mean to say that.

Because I think guys are really concerned about that too.

But this fellow did not take this invitation seriously.

He disrespected the host.

And as a result, when he comes, the host throws him out.

What's this about?

As we think about going to a party, wardrobe is important

But on a deeper level, where Jesus and this parable take us, it's not what shirt or dress or pants or shoes we'll wear.

In the Bible, clothing is used as a metaphor for our way of living and relating to each other.

How am I outfitted for Christ, to follow Christ?

Am I willing to be transformed and renewed?

Am I willing to change clothes?

Am I willing to take a look at my values and attitudes, my priorities and affiliations?

Or do I simply want to go along for the ride?

Even when God provides the resources for that kind of a change.

When God invites us to His celebration, He offers to provide for us new clothes, a new way of living, a new way of relating to one another and to our Lord.

And if you're serious, if we're serious about our commitment and responding to this invitation, it will put in motion a wave of change that will eventually

change all of us, everything about us.

And it's a willingness, with God's help, to identify and remove old parts of us that don't align with what it means to follow Jesus and put on new ways that do.

Paul talks about that in Ephesians 2.

And he challenges Christians in Ephesus to take off, literally, same language, take off the old self and put on the new self.

And then in Colossians chapter 3, he says this, As God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion,

kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Bear with each other.

Forgive one another as the Lord has forgiven you.

And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

This man was removed from the celebration because he insisted on his old ways, because he hadn't taken the invitation seriously.

This I think represents those who refuse to close themselves in the righteousness of Christ.

I can do it on my own.

I don't need God's provisions.

And when we refuse to be clothed in the life qualities of living that come from the Holy Spirit, we're not going to be part of the celebration.

We're going to be a drag on the party, like a wet blanket that will put a damper on the festivities.

Not because he's a bad person, but because he is openly refusing to be in the flow of all the good that's coming down.

This, I think, focuses on those affiliated with the church, but who are not committed to following Jesus.

Some who may enjoy the people, they might be inspired by the music and encouraged by the messages, but Jesus says we must repent and trust in Him.

And at that point, we are filled by the Holy Spirit.

who enables us to become the person God has intended us to be.

And as we grow up into Christ, we will grow into the character of Jesus in every hour of our life.

All of us gifted by our gracious God with His invitation.

True faith believers want to be righteous personally, actually, not as a basis for standing before God.

Only Christ can do that on the cross, but as evidence of us wanting to please the Father who's been gracious enough to invite us to the celebration and give us this gift of the Holy Spirit packaged with faith

who moves believers to deeply desire to be holy.

And in true parabolic form, this parable stands as a warning.

I've seen many people here in this fellowship.

You're wearing the right clothes.

You're being outfitted as we speak.

All of us are.

And now is a time in your life as a congregation, I believe, for each of you, each of us, to reassess, to step back during this bridge period.

Take a look.

What is God doing in my life?

Am I in the process of putting on new clothes?

Am I taking off the old and putting on the new?

I think that requires time in the Scriptures.