"Where My Party People At?"

Maybe you know this song by Nelly featuring Fergie?  It’s one of my favorites and it is my ringtone I set for my friends who are my “Party People.”  But there is another group of “Party People” that are also my friends and I am always looking for more to include in on the party.  In fact, this party that I am going to is a party to end all parties, it is going to have the absolute best food, with everyone wearing the most stylish clothes and everyone should be talking about it (if they aren’t already)! …You have gotten the invite haven’t you? …well, maybe no one has told you yet, but you are invited….let me tell you a little more about it….

In Matthew 22:1-14 Jesus talks about what the kingdom of heaven is like.  He compares it to a wedding banquet, or a wedding reception.  I like to call it a party. 

The king is having a major wedding reception to celebrate his son’s wedding.  So he invited a group of people, but they refused the invitation.  When the king sent his servants to tell them that everything is ready for them (the best food that you could possibly imagine), and to just come to the party, they ignored the invite!  The people just kept on with their everyday activities; working at their job everyday, facebooking, driving their kids to their endless activities and so on.  Some of the people even abused the servants who were delivering the message of the invitation and some were murdered. 

The people, who were refusing the invite, just didn’t pay any attention to what the servant was saying and the ones that paid attention decided they were offended and wanted the message to stop being delivered to the point of killing the servants.

Well, of course this made the king mad, so he decided that he would destroy those murderers and the place that they lived.  The king then told the servants to open the invitation up to everyone.  He told his servants to go out and stand on the street corners, telling everyone about this fabulous party and that they are all invited.  Every single person was invited this time, not just a select group. So they found all the people both good and bad and invited them to come into the wedding hall to wait for the party to start. The hall is a place of gathering together, but not the place where the party really was happening, no, that is just into the next room.  Everyone was waiting, waiting for the king, the host of the party, to open the doors for the party people to come in and get this party started! 

Just as the king came in to the hall, he noticed a man there who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for the party.  The king called out to the man, “Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?”  The man was speechless.  He was totally caught off guard.  He thought he was dressed properly, he thought he was prepared for the party just like all of the other invitees.  The king then told the attendants to kick the man out of the party outside of the palace walls while everyone else went in to the party of a lifetime.

So there it is, the party that everyone should be talking about.  So what about those wedding clothes???  I for one don’t want to get kicked out of the party right before it starts! Galatians 3:27 (NIV) “for all of you who were baptized into Christ, have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Baptized simply means to be fully immersed.  As long as you are fully into relationship with Jesus Christ, then you are wearing the proper wedding clothes.  –and believe me, I’m sure this type of clothing is the most fashionable clothing you will ever wear.

The man in the parable obviously thought he didn’t need a relationship with Jesus to enter into the party.  Most likely he thought he could get in by wearing what ever he wanted; by his own way of salvation.  What could that “own way” look like?  I believe it is simply by believing that there is another way to God besides through relationship with Jesus. 

The party I am going to, I hope, is the same party you are going to.  “Where my party people at?” is what I am asking now, so who’s going to party with me for eternity?  Are you going to be there?  Do your friends know that you are going and do they know that they are invited too?  So next time you hear that song, “Where My Party People At?”, I hope you think of the upcoming party and pass along the invite to everyone that will listen.