Where's the Beef? | Matthew 22:1-4

[00:00:00] We'll truth, Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:00:30] The whole wedding is the food. Now when I show up for a wedding, I immediately look at

[00:00:37] the buffet and I've got to say okay what kind of beef are they going to offer here?

[00:00:41] Ooh, some crab meats and lobster, some steak, you know, maybe some salmon. Oh, look

[00:00:50] at that. There are some roast beef. I mean, I often when I shop to a wedding I say where's

[00:00:54] the beef. Not that salmon is beef. But I love protein, right? So in Matthew chapter 22,

[00:01:05] remember Jesus is telling this parable about this master, this king who wants to have a

[00:01:11] wedding feast for his son and he invites all these people to go and invite them and then

[00:01:16] he tells them, hey, everything's ready, come and eat and they decline. And so this is what

[00:01:20] it says in verse 4, again he sent out another servant saying, tell those who are invited

[00:01:25] see up a parable listen to this. My dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered

[00:01:31] and everything is ready, come to the wedding. Now what's it's talking about? This is talking

[00:01:38] about the celebratory feast of the kingdom of God with Jesus and his love and forgiveness

[00:01:45] as the main course and the people of Israel down through the years and even during Jesus

[00:01:50] day had rejected the promise Messiah, had rejected the mercy demonstrated through Jesus coming

[00:01:57] to plant it earth. And so they had rejected that. And even though they said, okay, Jesus may be

[00:02:03] the Messiah but we don't want to have anything to do with them, right? And so they were rejecting

[00:02:08] this feast and that's the point of the parable. Now we have, we have this incredible guilt

[00:02:15] that we feel because of our sin and oftentimes people are afraid of death and that's a hunger

[00:02:22] pain that can't be satisfied by anything the world offers guilt over our sin and the fear of death.

[00:02:31] And here's the thing, eventually if people don't satisfy that hunger with the love and the mercy

[00:02:37] of Jesus Christ, they aren't hungry anymore. Here's the thing, we hunger because we are guilty

[00:02:43] of our sin, we hunger for forgiveness, we hunger for eternal life because of the fear of death.

[00:02:50] And here's the thing, God demonstrated His own love for us in this while we're still sinners

[00:02:56] Christ died for us. He went to the cross, He laid down His life, He paid for us in, He defeated

[00:03:03] death through His resurrection and now through faith in Jesus Christ, we can say, where is the beef?

[00:03:10] There was Wendy's commercial years ago about that. Where is the beef? Here's the beef. The beef

[00:03:15] is forgiveness of our sin, forgiveness for our guilt and shame. The promise of eternal life

[00:03:22] for all those who fear death. This has wrapped up in Jesus Christ and offered to us as a free gift.

[00:03:30] And you're probably thinking, well, Pastor Dave, you've talked about this a lot. Yes, I have

[00:03:35] because the gospel is the pre-dominant theme of the New Testament. It's the predominant theme

[00:03:41] of the entire Bible. And so when we say, I need beef. I need protein. There is no better spiritual

[00:03:49] protein than the forgiveness of sins and the promise of a better life to come. And it comes all to us

[00:03:55] through what Christ has done. So when the Master says, hey, all is prepared. I've killed my

[00:04:01] oxen. I killed the fatten calf and I want to celebrate. Here's what I'm offering you. It's a lavish

[00:04:07] feast for goodness. Peace. He turned a life given to us. And how do we eat of it? By faith.

[00:04:14] By faith. We put our trust in Jesus. We say, I'm sorry for my sin. I believe in you, Jesus.

[00:04:20] And then we've partake of this lavish feast. Oh, my goodness and my goodness. As you're a believer in

[00:04:28] Jesus Christ, isn't it satisfying? Isn't it nourishing? Isn't it soul-satisfying? Absolutely, it is.

[00:04:38] And so we don't have to say, hey, where's the beef? The beef is given to us through Jesus Christ.

[00:04:46] So eat up my friend. Eat up. It's as good as any food could ever get. And that is today's

[00:04:55] daily truth. Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for tuning in to daily truths

[00:05:01] with Dave Olman. The Master Dave Olman is the pastor of Mount Hochurch in Boulder, Colorado. If this

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