Sunday Service – Today Jesus 98

13/8/06
<Luke 14:12-14>

YOU SHOULD INVITE THOSE WHO CANNOT REPAY YOU

• God is talking to us and working among us. We will be able to hear His voice
when we humble ourselves. And when we are humble in God, the image of
Jesus Christ will be displayed on us
• We can be joyful in any situation if we are humble in the presence of God
• God would want to remind us that our lives on Earth are very short and He
would want to ask us “what do we want to do for the rest of our lives?”
• God would like us to live out the royalty (尊贵) that He had placed in our lives.
Only then, will men live as men and not as animals or other things
• We should live our lives by blessings the people beside us
• A lot of people do not like themselves and do not have joy because they had
not known the God who truly loves them
• When we are humble before God, we will heart God’s voice. Thus, we will know
what we should do, what we should talk about and who we should love, etc

Read <Luke 14:12-14>

• The verses we read today talks about giving a banquet (摆设筵席) and inviting
people to it.
• What is the meaning of ‘giving a banquet’?
• ‘To give a banquet’ means ‘to help others’
• However, if we do not read the verses correctly, we might end up very busy,
helping everybody that comes along our lives but without really knowing what
the will of God is.

1. We must diagnose others’ problems before helping them

• When we help others, do not expect any favour or rewards to be returned
• When we help others, do not do it like what other religious people are
doing.
• We should only help those whom God wants to help. Therefore, when we
want to help others, we must know who we should be helping
• When we help others, we should only share with them the only answer that
can truly help them and that answer is the precious blood of Jesus Christ
• Thus, when you help others, you must know how to help them correctly.
They must gain their provisions from God Himself and not from any other
person
• When you do it correctly, you will be “repaid at the resurrection of the
righteous”. It does not mean that we will be repaid by God only when we
die. In fact, we will receive greater rewards / blessings in our daily lives
• Before we help anyone, we must first understand people.
• There are four types of people, in general:
1) Their concerns and focus are only on the material / physical things.
They are always thinking of ways on how they can gain more fame,
money, better human relationships, or love from others, etc
• However, the people around them will not really like them
 • They will behave like old stubborn men when they lose their
status/fame/wealth. When that happens, all their friends will leave
them
2) The goal of their lives is to be able to live a peaceful life and have just
sufficient money to spend.
• They will not want to get involved with other people’s businesses.
• They will not want to bother about what’s going on around them, as
long as they are okay
3) They are very righteous. Thus, they will help anyone whom they see as
poor or in need
• However, they are also very keen in expressing their views and
debate with others.
• These are the ones who will write to forums or send complaints
letters whenever they see things that are not right. For example,
little kittens being abused by people.
• A lot of religious people fall into this category of people
4) They are like the righteous and willing to help others. However, they
know that they are not perfect and have yet to love God and people
enough.
• They know that even if they had helped others, they will not
become more righteous
• They possess attributes of the “beatitudes” (八福人). E.g. those who
are poor in spirit; those who mourn; those who are meek; those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness, etc
• They know that they are limited. Thus, they want to read the Bible
and get closer to God
• In today’s verses, God told us to invite those who cannot repay us. Only
the forth type of people are capable of doing so and truly help others
• Though the third type of people will help others, they tend to get into
argument with others. A lot of church goers are like them. They will not be
able to love or forgive the brothers or sisters in the congregation who are
weak or imperfect
• Good qualification or career is not of utmost important for the fourth type
of people. Good qualification or career is more of a tool for them,
something that he can use more advantageously. Their main concern is
still on the life of people. They are more than ordinary (超越凡人)
• If a person who becomes a preacher has not become more than ordinary, it
is very likely that others will be oppressed by their message
• Only after we’d restored this eyesight that the people whom we’d helped
will receive our blessings. If not, others will not benefit from our help and
we will get disheartened too

2. Help those who God wants to help

• The people whom God wants to help are placed all around us. They are our
siblings, parents, spouse, colleagues, friends, etc.
• If you want to help your spouse or loved ones, you must do it with the right
purpose
• Do not look forward to getting a reward from the person whom you’d
helped or blessed. You should look forward to getting a reward from God
instead.
• When you help a person correctly and with the correct purpose, God’s
reward will be bestowed upon you from Heaven
• Very often, we will receive greater peace and God’s delight when we have
blessed our spouse
• As parents, we do not expect our children to give us any rewards when we
shower them with blessings. Our joy and rewards come when our children
grow up to be fine people who will follow God and are willing to help others
• See <Matthew 6:1-4>. Jesus had warned us against doing “acts of
righteousness before men.” God looks at we have done in secret and
will reward us accordingly
• See <Matthew 25:32-46> Jesus told us that in the end days, He (the
shepherd) will come to separate the sheep from the goats. The goats are
the bigger group, while the sheep is the smaller one.
• God will give His rewards to the sheep, but they were puzzled why they
were rewarded as they had not done anything for the Lord
• Jesus revealed to them that the things they’d done on those beside them
are things done for Him. Therefore, those people beside them had
represented Jesus Christ
• Not only had God seen the deeds that we’d done, He had also seen the
problems, hardships that we’d been through. Thus, He knows what we’ve
done and will also helps us when we are in need
• We should have less focus on the things of this world. Our focus should be
on the lives of people, and how we can bless others
• God will give us His message when we need them because we are always
thinking about lives, touching lives and helping lives
• We must understand what it means by repaying (报答)
1) We can be fearless (坦然无惧) in front of God
(1) We can have peace when standing in the presence of God. We will
have a blissful heart. If not, we will become worried very easily
(2) Our lives will be meaningful and we will have a satisfied heart
(3) The person whom we’d helped will really receive the help he needs
We should continuously see the love of God around me and in me.
When we are fearless in front of God, we can thank God even for our
enemies. We will not become stronger if we do not have any enemies.
2) We will receive the five great strengths (五大能力)
• God will give us His Spirit that convicts our hearts and gives us
faith
• God will give us wisdom so that we know how to talk or correspond
with others, including our bosses
• God will give us good health and longevity so that we can do His
work
• God will provide us with financial blessings when we want to help
others
• God will also provide us with people who will co-work with us or
help us along the way
• Paul was able to see beyond his hardships when his focus was on the lives
of people
 • Sometimes, when we are encouraging people, do we feel like telling them
“can’t you take on this hardship for the sake of your (future) disciples or
children?”
• There are four types of people whom we should like:
1) Those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness
2) New believers (i.e. those who had just received Christ)
3) Those who want to be disciples and want to be used by God
4) Those who had received greater blessings and grace than us, so that
we can receive more grace from them
• In the past, we might have friends whom we can have fun with, be merry
and drink together. However, the friends whom we are still in contact with
slowly are left with only these 4 types of people

• Our love and blessings should be showered upon those who are in pain (痛
苦)
• Our perspective must be correct when we help others
• A lot of countries are receiving donations and aid from the United Nations
and others. However, these countries will not have less problems or
disasters because they are religion-based countries
• We must know that what they really need is to enter the Noah’s Ark. Apart
from that, nothing can save them
• It’s okay that we have a merciful heart and help those who are really in
need but we must help others beyond just giving them financial aid. The
help we give to others should be in all aspects: Help people in their spirit,
soul and physical (灵/魂/体)
• Jesus had told us to enter the villages and town to share the Gospel with
the people there. However, we should leave and even sweep the dust off
their feet if they reject the Gospel
• Therefore, we should not be joining other religions in praying together or
doing charity work
• We should just do what God has asked us to do; help those who God wants
us to help, no matter how weak that person is

3. How do we help others? We must acquire the evidence of God’s doing (神伪的
证据)
• When we want to help a person, we must help him completely. We do this
by helping them restore the relationship with God
• A correct ministry is one that makes a person believe and restore his
relationship with God. It is not because of human factors, but because that
person has seen the evidence of God’s love, protection, blessings, help
upon him/her personally
• There are people who believe in God because they are under pressure or
because of human-factors (e.g. children), etc. This is not the type of
ministry that God desires
• When we share with others, we must tell them how God is leading us in
reality. These are practical evidence of God working in our lives
• When we testify, we are not manifesting the work or faith of a person.
Instead, when we testify, we should bring out how God’s love and grace
are working in a person’s life.
 • We can discover God’s reasons/answers in every hardship and problem.
When we’d done that and testified it, others will understand the love of
God and will restore the relationship of father/son, master/servant, and
teacher/student.
• Those who continue wanting to hear such testimonies are the people who
God wants us to help
• We must be clear of our goal and purpose of evangelism
• How can we ask people to stop pursuing their studies by telling them that
evangelism is more important than educational pursuits? Nobody will do
that (i.e. stop their studies) if they do not understand the purpose
• Before we do evangelise, we must establish the Covenant with God and
accept God’s Promises for us. We must pray and receive the answers from
our prayers. Only then, we can testify
• Therefore, we should not be doing any evangelistic work in our schools or
companies hurriedly. We must first find out who are the people God wants
to love and bless
• No matter how much theological training a person had received, he/she
will not be able to help others if he/she has not experience the above
before.
• Before we can give a banquet, we must have all the food and drinks first.
Likewise, before we can help others, we must get equipped first.
• And when we help others, do not expect any rewards from them. Let God
be our rewards

PRAYER AND SHARING TOPICS

1. In today’s passage, the Lord told us that “when you work, do not do
so in hope of gaining rewards from man; do so in hope of getting a
reward from God”. Do the motives and purpose of my thoughts,
speech, living and serving able to win God’s favour? Do I often see
God’s reward in return? How to sustain it and have more?

2. God had prepared a group of people around me and had also allowed
me to meet new faces. The eternal inheritances that I can acquire are
all hidden among the interpersonal relationships surrounding me.
How is my current interpersonal relationship? What are the factors
that I should emphasise when determining the closeness of my
relationships? Who are the people I should help currently?

3. The ultimate goal and purpose for helping others is to allow them to
“restore a relationship with God, makes him/her delight in prayers,
glorify God, benefits others and building God’s kingdom”. Therefore,
how should I help others in order to achieve this result? Do I have a
systematic method that can build up a person’s life? How do I get
equipped?