Parables | The Invitation Still Stands | Connor May

Devotional

Day 1: When the Bulls Are Killed, the Feast Is Ready

The kingdom isn’t a distant hope but a present reality, like smelling smoke from a freshly slaughtered feast. God’s invitation comes not when we’re “prepared,” but now—amid laundry, commutes, and ordinary moments. To ignore it isn’t neutrality; it’s rebellion. The king’s lavish preparation demands urgency. What’s ready isn’t theoretical blessings but tangible grace, served hot. [02:50]

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.” (Matthew 22:2-3, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you treated God’s kingdom like a future event rather than a current invitation? What ordinary moment this week could become a “feast” if you recognized Christ’s presence there?

Day 2: Thumbs-Up Emojis and Unanswered Texts

Ignoring divine nudges isn’t passive—it’s choosing farm chores over the king’s table. Distraction masquerades as productivity, while God’s invitations pile up as unread notifications. The man checking cattle and the woman silencing her conscience both trade eternity for empty urgency. RSVP requires closing the browser tab of the soul. [07:47]

“Do not quench the Spirit.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19, ESV)

Reflection: Which “thumbs-up emoji” have you given God lately—polite acknowledgment without true engagement? What one distraction must you name to reclaim space for holy interruptions?

Day 3: Street Corners Don’t Discriminate

God’s messengers haunt parking lots and break rooms, not just pulpits. The banquet hall fills with mismatched chairs: recovering addicts beside seminary graduates, skeptics arm-in-arm with deacons. No bouncers check theological resumes—only willingness to trade isolation for a seat. The king’s guest list scandalizes proper etiquette. [20:40]

“Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find. And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.” (Matthew 22:9-10, ESV)

Reflection: Who have you unconsciously deemed “unfit” for the banquet? How might your lunch table or group chat become a “street corner” for unexpected invitations?

Day 4: Viking Festivals and Ill-Fitting Clothes

Surrender isn’t a ticket stub but a tailored garment. Half-hearted presence insults the host—like wearing sweatpants to a coronation. The man ejected wasn’t underdressed but unyielded; his clothes revealed his heart’s refusal to be clothed in Christ’s righteousness. Proper attire chafes against self-sufficiency. [27:55]

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.” (Matthew 22:11-12, ESV)

Reflection: What part of your life still wears the “hoodie” of self-reliance? Where does obedience feel like an ill-fitting costume rather than your true identity?

Day 5: Downloading Games, Changing Destinies

Kingdom work isn’t grand gestures but stupid-small yeses—texts sent, rides given, apps shared. The holy Spirit economizes nothing, turning playground conversations into revival. Your most mundane act, baptized in obedience, becomes a battering ram against hell’s gates. Stop waiting for the sermon; start seizing the study hall. [32:29]

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20, ESV)

Reflection: What “insignificant” invitation have you dismissed? Who needs not your eloquence but your iPod touch—your ordinary availability to Christ’s extraordinary purpose?

Sermon Summary

Matthew 22 places Jesus in Jerusalem during the last week before the cross, speaking to religious leaders whose hearts were wrapped up in status, money, rules, and tradition, and to spiritually curious people still trying to figure out whether he really is the Messiah. Jesus tells a story about a king who throws a great wedding feast for his son, and the picture lands with weight because Scripture had already spoken of God like a faithful husband pursuing an unfaithful bride. The wedding banquet says the kingdom is ready. The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed. Everything is ready.

Jesus makes the kingdom of God present, not just future. The kingdom is not something hidden far away, waiting for some dramatic someday moment before it matters. Christ brings the kingdom near, and the Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of those who belong to him. The invitation is not only to be saved one day, but to partner with the kingdom each day through obedience, kindness, courage, compassion, and surrender.

The invited guests reveal the danger of refusing what God is offering. Some guests ignore the messengers and go back to the farm or the business. Others insult and kill the messengers. The prophets had carried God’s word to Israel, and Israel had often rejected that word because sin and idolatry felt easier than surrender. The same pattern still shows up when God gives daily promptings and people get too busy, too distracted, too afraid, or too comfortable to respond.

The king does not cancel the party when the first guests refuse. The king opens the invitation wider. The servants go to the street corners and bring in everyone they can find, good and bad alike. The prodigals, skeptics, sinners, ashamed, guilty, and overlooked people are not outside the reach of the invitation. God sees people others have written off, and a small act of kindness can become the doorway to someone’s whole life changing.

The man without wedding clothes reveals that being in the room is not the same thing as being surrendered to the king. The issue is not a church dress code. The issue is a heart that wants the benefits of the banquet without honoring the king. Jesus warns against going through the motions, doing the Jesus things, and staying close to church while refusing surrender. The invitation still stands, but it still demands a response.

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Key Takeaways

1. The kingdom is already among us The kingdom of God is not treated as a far off religious idea in Matthew 22. Jesus announces that the banquet is ready, which means God’s reign is breaking in right in front of the people hearing him. The Spirit does not only wait for special moments to move, because the kingdom is already active wherever Christ is received and obeyed. [13:15]
2. Daily invitations often look small The invitation of God is not always loud, dramatic, or wrapped in something that looks spiritual from the outside. The Spirit may nudge a person toward kindness, courage, encouragement, or a hard conversation that would be easier to avoid. Small obedience matters because the kingdom often advances through moments that seem simple at first. [18:06]
3. Everyone is still invited The king’s response to rejection is not to cancel the feast, but to fill the room. The good and the bad alike are brought in, which means shame, skepticism, distance, and past failure do not place anyone beyond the reach of God’s invitation. The people others write off may be the very people God is already preparing to draw in. [22:06]
4. Closeness is not surrender The man without wedding clothes shows that a person can be near the banquet and still dishonor the king. Religious activity, church familiarity, and spiritual language can exist without a surrendered heart. Jesus presses the deeper question, not whether someone is in the room, but whether that person has yielded to the King who gave the invitation. [31:09]
5. The invitation demands a response The invitation still stands, but it is not meant to be postponed forever. Delay can sound reasonable when life is busy, but postponed obedience can slowly train the heart to ignore God’s voice. The call of Christ asks for more than awareness, because the kingdom invitation is something to answer.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:30] - Matthew 22 and the Wedding Banquet
[04:28] - Different Responses to Invitations
[08:42] - The Context of Jesus’ Parable
[11:15] - The Kingdom of God Is Among Us
[15:19] - Everyone Has an Invitation
[17:42] - Daily Promptings From God
[20:20] - The Invitation Goes to Everyone
[22:53] - A Small Act That Changed a Life
[26:14] - The Response Matters Most
[29:13] - In the Room but Not Surrendered
[31:09] - Closeness Is Not Surrender
[32:29] - The Invitation Still Stands
[34:26] - Prayer of Surrender

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 22:1-14
“And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, ‘See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.’”
[02:29] [02:39] [02:50] [03:06] [03:15] [03:28] [03:36] [03:41] [03:47] [03:56] [04:02] [04:09]

John 14:6
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
[16:37]

Matthew 22:14
“For many are called, but few are chosen.”
[04:09] [27:02]

Observation questions

In Matthew 22, what are the different responses people have to the king’s invitation, and what do those responses reveal on the surface of the story? [08:14]
What details in the parable show that the banquet was not a last-minute idea, but something fully prepared and ready?
Who ends up being gathered into the wedding hall, and how does Jesus describe that group? [20:43]
What does the parable say about the guest without wedding clothes, and what is his response when the king questions him? [26:37]

Interpretation questions

Jesus says the banquet is ready. What does that suggest about the kingdom of God being present now, not only something people wait for later? [13:15]
The first invited guests were distracted by ordinary things like a farm and a business. How can everyday responsibilities become a way of resisting God without a person openly rejecting him? [19:33]
The king tells his servants to invite everyone from the roads, both bad and good. What does that reveal about the kind of people God welcomes, and why might that be hard for religious people to accept? [22:06]
The guest without wedding clothes was present at the banquet but not rightly honoring the king. What is the difference between being around the things of God and actually being surrendered to him? [31:09]

Application questions

What kinds of daily invitations from God are easiest to ignore right now—kindness, courage, repentance, encouragement, serving, or something else? What tends to drown out that invitation in this season? [18:06]
Life gets noisy very quickly. Where does busyness seem to be shaping the heart more than the kingdom is shaping it right now? [19:33]
Everyone is invited into the kingdom. Is there a person who has been quietly written off, avoided, or assumed to be too far gone? What might it look like to move toward that person instead of away from them? [26:04]
Small acts of obedience can open surprising doors. What is one simple act of kindness or initiative that could be taken this week for someone who may need hope? [32:29]
Closeness is not the same as surrender. Is there any area where spiritual routines are present, but full surrender is missing—time, relationships, habits, reputation, or obedience? [31:09]
The invitation still stands, but it still calls for a response. Is there something that has been put off with thoughts like “later,” “when life settles down,” or “when the moment feels right”? What would it look like to answer now instead of delaying again? [33:08]
Jesus is not only the host of the kingdom invitation; he is the way into it. For those who already belong to him, what would it look like this week to live more like a citizen of that kingdom than a product of the surrounding culture? [16:37]

Sermon Clips

53s

“``Some of us have heard the invitation for a long time. We've been close to church. We've been in godly community. We've gone through the motions, but closeness closeness is not the same as surrender. Jesus would say, don't confuse being in the room with being surrendered to the king. Others of us have been treating the invitation as something will respond to later. We've been putting off the the nudges that god has been putting in our heart. We've been saying, I'll get to it later. I'm busy right now. I I I'll wait for the right moment opportunity but the invitation isn't something for us to postpone.”

57s

“But the king does something that's rather interesting instead of closing down this party instead of shutting it off and saying, no, if they don't get it, I'm no one else is going to get it. I'm not inviting anyone. He opens up the invitation And he tells the messengers and the servants to go and invite everyone. Go to the street corners, the public places, and bring everyone to the wedding banquet. So, what does this mean? King doesn't cancel the banquet. He he fills the room and even though some reject the invitation, god continues to extend it further than anyone expected. The good and the bad invited. In other words, no one is outside the reach of the invitation.”

54s

“So, what does this mean? King doesn't cancel the banquet. He he fills the room and even though some reject the invitation, god continues to extend it further than anyone expected. The good and the bad invited. In other words, no one is outside the reach of the invitation. This means the the prodigals, the skepticals, the the people that are far from god, the sinners, the the people that think they don't belong, the the people that struggle with with being in the presence of god. They they they don't feel like they they can measure up. They have shame and guilt. Those are the exact people that god invites to be a part of the kingdom.”

59s

“There's invitations that we all receive to do the work of the kingdom. But I think I'm not the only one. I think we've all been there. We've all heard these invitations from God, and we've all have let distractions of life get in the way. You know, we have jobs. We have sports. We have school. We have hobbies. We have relationships. We have goals that we're trying to achieve in life. But how often do we actually take a step back and actually ask the question? How are these these things of life actually shaping who I am? Am I becoming a citizen of the kingdom or am I becoming a victim of the culture of noise and busyness around me? Am I becoming too distracted by the things of life instead of keeping my eyes focused on the kingdom work that god has put in front of me?”

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Parables | The Invitation Still Stands | Connor May | Centerpoint Church