Luke: The Greatest Invitation

Living the Faith in Luke: The Greatest Invitation of All Time!

I read live accounts of evangelism on Melbourne’s streets in the late nineteenth century. I was shocked at how bullying and aggressive it was. No doubt the street evangelists were convinced that in the Christian society of the time where it was assumed that all good citizens were Christian that it was only the most hard hearted of sinners who were yet to hear the good news.

But I didn’t hear about Jesus that way. I was introduced to Jesus by people who cared about me and really thought he would enrich my life. I heard this as a kind of “invitation” to something really good.

These days people who are involved with evangelism often refer to Jesus’ gracious invitations to join him in meals. This parable of the Great Banquet is a beautiful example …

When one of the guests sitting at the table heard this, he said to Jesus, “How happy are those who will sit down at the feast in the Kingdom of God!”
Jesus said to him, “There was once a man who was giving a great feast to which he invited many people. When it was time for the feast, he sent his servant to tell his guests, ‘Come, everything is ready!’ …
The master … said to his servant, ‘Hurry out to the streets and alleys of the town, and bring back the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
Luke 14

Evangelism is different now.

Now, it is marked by faith, love and hope. Faith in Jesus to bring about great things in non-Christian lives, love for our friends and relatives that motivates us to invite them on the greatest adventure of their lives, and hope that the Holy Spirit will work in people’s lives.

I naturally warm to the sort of evangelism that is about friendly invitations rather than nervously harassing.
I think it fits in naturally with the way we do things at LFC. I loved hearing about people being invited to the women’s retreat, to Cafe Church, to worship and to some of our study groups.

In fact any group or event in our church can be an opportunity to invite people either to that group or into another group that may take people further in discovering more about Jesus.

Who would you love to invite?

Graeme