"They Made Light of It"

The king prepared a wedding feast in honor of his son. With enthusiasm for the upcoming event, the king sent his servants to invite special guests for the dinner. He killed the oxen and the fatlings. Everything was prepared just right--you know, with all the fixings. To the king's surprise, those invited refused to come. In fact, "they made light of it." Consequently, the king had all of these killed. In their place, the king sent his servants out into the highways and everyone that the servants saw were invited to the wedding feast.

This little story was told by Jesus in Matthew 22:1-14. It was a parable intended to show the importance of setting the right priorities in view of the coming judgment. You'll notice that in the midst of this little parable, when the special guests refused to come to the dinner, it was said that they were making light of the king's invitation. For the purpose of our study, let's use that expression as a springboard for our essay--"They made Light of It."

My friends, when we refuse the commands of the Lord, we are making light of divine inspiration. So, let's discuss some of the ways in which we make light of that holy book--the Bible.

We make light of it when . . .

We fail to faithfully attend all the worship services of the church.

First of all, let me clarify what I'm saying. By all I simply mean whenever it is sacrificially possible to attend. If I'm on a bed of affliction, then the Lord will not hold me responsible for not attending Sunday's, Wednesday's, Gospel Meeting's, and other periods of worship specifically designated by the Lord, or our elders. The Lord will not hold me responsible if I'm unavoidably detained at work. However, I must not be a slave to my job. So what I'm saying is this, use common sense.

However, when I put family, friends, ball games, vacations, above faithfully attending the services of the saints, then I'm making light of God's word (Heb. 10:25).

We refuse to rectify personal offences.

The Bible says that If I have some problem with a brother, then I need to go to him (Mt. 18:15). Furthermore, it's impossible for my worship to be accepted on Sunday if I'm boiling with anger on the inside because a brother sitting on the other side of the auditorium has offended me. The Bible says, "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift" (Mt. 5:23,24). That's going to mean swallowing your pride. But remember, two souls are potentially in jeopardy if you do and say nothing--your's and your brother's.

We are not active in trying to bring souls to Jesus.

For souls to be saved, for church buildings to be overflowing, and for heaven's gates to be full one day, it 's up to every Christian to be evangelist's. Did you know that statistically and biblically speaking, only one out of every four souls who hear the Good News, will be saved (Mt. 13:1-9). Then there are all the souls that have never heard the Word. Brethren, WE have OUR work cut out for US. Let me get into your heart. By name, who is one person that you have talked to about Jesus this year?

We cease to be students of the bestseller of all time--the Bible.

The Bible contains "facts to be believed, commands to be obeyed, and rewards to be received." While visiting a congregation of the Lord's church I noticed in the foyer of their building a bulletin board. On it was a picture of a Bible and beside it were these words, "Only sin can keep you from this book, and only this book can keep you from sin." *The Bible contains the answer to man's most thought provoking questions--where did I come from, why am I here, and where am I going? It answers man's greatest question--what must I do to be saved? The Bible tells us to study in order receive divine approval (2 Tm. 2:15). If you want to enjoy life, read your Bible. If you want to know how to act as a parent, child, husband, wife, employer, or employee, then read your Bible.

We don't faithfully execute church discipline.

It's called the "forgotten commandment"--withdrawl of fellowship. I think it would be better called the "ignored commandment." By ignored I mean it is not consistently practiced in the Lord's church. But it's also important to note that the commandment is ignored when we don't take the withdrawal seriously.

I find it amazing that when one is withdrawn from, he/she will sometimes be invited to a "fellowship meal." Did not Paul say, "with such an one know not even to eat" (1 Cor. 5:11)? On occasion, if there is a special function or activity the withdrawn from member will be invited to participate. This will be done under the guise that "we're including him so perhaps he'll come back." With respect to erring brethren, did not Paul say, "have no company with him, that he may be ashamed" (2 Thes. 3:14)?

Brethren, when we fail to yield to the divine handbook for Christian living, then we've made light of God's word.