Jesus says when He returns that there will be a marriage feast uniting together Himself as the Groom and the Church as His bride. What a day! Can’t wait!

But be warned: there will be no wedding crashers (Matthew 25:1-13).

 

How can you tell someone is a wedding crasher? Here are some tips:

–          He’s with grandma. These are people who attend the wedding and they sit next to a distant relative or try to pretend they are one of the distant cousins sitting next to grandma.

o       In the church world that means the person only attends church to please a family member or friend. They do not have sincere faith.

–          His stories keep changing. You ask, “How do you know the wedding couple?” They don’t but they make up a story which keeps changing depending on who’s asking.

o       In the church world, these are the religious people who reveal little about themselves and deflect everything. They are not vulnerable and especially avoid confessing wrongs or sins. It’s always about what other’s do wrong.

–          He’s larger than life. This is the person at the wedding who is talking to everyone and they can’t wait to get on the dance floor to party.

o       In the church world, these are people who know the talk but do not live the walk. They are religious fakers and hypocrites.

–          He came in late… or is first eating the food. This is the person who tries to sneak in the back door. Or perhaps they try to rush through the food line by getting in first so they can leave quickly after they had their fill.

o       In the church world, these are those who come for the social aspect rather than the spiritual content.

–          He doesn’t have an assigned seat. This is the person who is always roaming around the room. They can’t sit down because they were never assigned a seat.

o       This is the religious person who takes up space on the pew but refuses to serve others. They don’t have a ministry and are not connected to the body of Christ.

–          He never came to the ceremony. This is the person no one knows or even saw at the ceremony but they show up at the reception. Free drinks, free food, free, free, free.

o       This is the person who never was converted to the gospel and therefore lack the ceremony of believer’s baptism.

 

There you have it… are you a wedding crasher? You do not have to be. In fact, you are invited to the party. All you have to do is open the mail to discover your invitation. Jesus says, “Here is the bridegroom, come out to meet Me!” (Matthew 25:6). He says, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and fat calves have been prepared, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!” (Matthew 22:4).

 

Receive the invitation and respond with faith in Jesus Christ. Trust His promise that He has accomplished everything necessary for your entrance into God’s kingdom. He lived a perfect and righteous life in place of our imperfect life. He paid the consequences of our imperfect and unrighteousness by dying on the cross. Because of His death we are forgiven. We can be cleansed and made new. Our past does not have to define our future. Our identity is “in Christ” and not in our own ability or action (or inaction). All we have to do is turn away from trusting in our own path and begin the journey of walking with Jesus Christ.

 

Are you coming to the wedding?