[A personal message inspired by the Lord for your prayerful consideration in Jesus Christ]
And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ’ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’. For many are called, but few are chosen.”
(Matthew 22:1-14)
These words of Christ, are amplified in some ways through the various other passages written through the Apostles Peter, Paul and John, with the wedding being a symbol of the completion of God’s plan to reunite His people to Him, becoming one with Him in covenant, the picture of marriage between Christ and His Bride – the church (ecclesia).
On Thursday night (28 May 2026) after the attending a City Mission meeting, driving home, and only a minute away from my destination on a country road, all of a sudden my car flashes up a ‘Traffic Incident Alert’ on the dashboard, and words suddenly come through the cars audio saying, “You see my friends, you need to invite them into the kingdom of God.” This has never happened before in the eight year history of the car, nor since, and the radio had been intentionally turned down so you could not hear it. I checked this was still the case when I parked the car. It became very apparent that this message was being raised to my attention.
It was as if Jesus was saying, “You see My friends, you need to remember to invite them into My kingdom”. In fact that is what the words continued to say before I stopped the car!
Some may see this as a curious oddity of an older car, however the reminder was clear, and the means unforgettable…and poignant given I had just came a City Mission meeting. The mission for the city, is to make the invitation.
At its inception, the core of why the City Mission was created was to do exactly that, invite people into the kingdom of God through Christ, to make Him know in word and it also followed in deed.
On the 5th of January 1854 the first meeting was held to form this Town Mission (later to be called a City Mission…when the town became a city). At this meeting the first resolution stated, ‘That this meeting, believing that a large number of the inhabitants of this town are living in neglect of religious ordinances, considers that this fact is a loud call for additional exertions on the part of the Christian public; that an attempt should therefore be made to establish an institution similar to the London City Mission. That this meeting pledges itself to support an institution of this description.’
The second resolution was ‘That a town mission be forthwith commenced’, which also included rules in its Constitution such as: The object of the institution was to extend the knowledge of the gospel among the inhabitants of the area and its vicinity, without reference to denominational distinctions or differences of church government; The missioners were to be employed and they were to distribute religious tracts, and urge upon all the necessity and obligation of attending public worship and chiefly to labour among those living in non-observance of divine ordinances; and, the object was to extend the knowledge of divine truth…and to declare the Lord to those around them.
The Chair of this meeting was the mayor, and many on the first committee went on to become parliamentarians, aldermen, and there were ministers of the faith, business leaders etc. The leaders of the city had foreseen the need to preach the gospel, and to make Christ known, to extend the invitation to the kingdom of God.
In the first couple of years the Town Missionary would report of tracts distributed, people visited, prayer meetings, ships visited, people who confessed Christ and salvation, and assisting with the welfare of the poor. Over those years in the 1800s and in to the 1900s the focus was still on prayer meetings, worship services, gospel tracts, salvations, but as was their understanding preaching the gospel also meant alleviating the need of the poor and those vulnerable, who had often been left to die, good deeds also became a large part of the work.
In our world today, where according to the latest Census data Tasmania has the lowest percentage of people in any state declaring they are Christian (going from mid 70s% in the 1990’s to around 38.4% in 2021), and our weekly church attendance figures would suggest that the number is probably around 4.7%. In many ways we definitely are in the same position that was of concern to our founder in 1853/54 – and in fact in probably in a worse state.
Also knowing many are still facing hard times, with increasing homelessness, loneliness, mental health issues, broken family, and cost of living pressures.
God is continuing to remind each of us of our why, and calling us back into His heart, where in the end He seeks us to love Him, follow Him, go and make disciples of nations, going to the highways and by ways, to the good and the bad, to declare and make know Christ and our Heavenly Father…to extend the invitation on behalf of God.
This is not about bashing people around the head with Bible, rather being ready in season and out of season to share in the reason for our hope in Christ. Inviting them into to this hope. And it is not about taking away from the works of faith in the form of helping the vulnerable and those in need….for that is God’s love in action. The preaching of the gospel means both (Matthew 25:31-46).
For some, being inspired by the life and teaching of Jesus Christ means helping to meet with physical, mental, and spiritual needs of those around us and so being part of God’s work. That same inspiration is also the reason for the making invitation to the kingdom of God by others. These come together to form our Heavenly Father’s mission.
This late night alert was simply a reminder about starting from the place of the of invitation to the kingdom of God, and what we understand to be the heart of the mission of our Lord, the love of Christ compels us to invite others to Him, and to help them.
Remembering these verses from Matthew 22.
“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.”
God calls His servants, that is us, to go into the highways and by ways of life and invite the good and the bad to come and join the wedding feast of the Bridegroom (Christ Jesus, the Son of God), and the Bride (His church). We are not called to judge who we invite, that is His business. This is consistent with our heart to treat all equal.
In the inviting we do as Jesus did/does, and declare (make known) who is giving the invitation, that is God. He did this through words which revealed how through Him we could come to the Father, showing us what the kingdom of God was like, and revealed God through actions. We call many of those actions miracles or signs of God, however their end is to reveal who our Lord is, and the way of His kingdom.
He reveals Himself through: Healing (for He is Jehovah Rapha – the God who heals); Miraculous provision and help (for He is Jehovah Jireh – the God who provides); Being present – for God is with us (Immanuel or Jehovah Shammah); Sharing His word (for He is the Word); and the Creator, Saviour, Redeemer, and so on. God in us empowers us to shows others who He is through these abilities.
God sent Christ to redeem us to an intimate relationship with Him, one best represented by the wedding of eternity, between His Son and His Bride (the church…His body..us), and through His Son He opened the door for us to participate. A place where God makes His home in us, and we become citizens of His kingdom. This is at the core of the gospel of the kingdom of God…an invitation into this eternal realm.
This is what we are called to do…invite others into the kingdom of God, seeing followers of Christ, disciplining nations. This invitation was the inspiration for the inception of the City Mission. This is what we are called to remember…we are to go into the highways and by ways, to invite the good and the bad to the great wedding feast….to taste of the kingdom of God.
Our’s is not to judge whether they are worthy. Sure we can encourage them to be clothed with the righteous of Christ, the wedding garments, through faith in Him, but in essence the invitation always comes first. Only Christ will truly know if they are to participate. We are to trust in His grace and the power of His word; to love, be forgiving, and forgiven, and reveal Him through the power of His Spirit through us.
In essence, we are the fancy wedding invitation sent by God to a dying world. He chooses interesting packages I guess, but precious in His sight they are. His message is written on our hearts, and He even deposits Himself into us to reveal the invitee…and simply asks us to allow Him to speak through us using words, thoughts, and actions all inspired and powered by the Holy Spirit.
And this same inspiration will also mean we will look to help those in need, for time and again Jesus showed He cared for the poor, the broken, the rejected, the one bound, the prisoner, the hungry, the hurting, the homeless, and the naked.
Transformed lives are renewed such that they are able to join the eternity with Christ, and from the inside out see our life here become more like Christ’s. Such a transformation working through us body, soul, and spirit. In doing so we acknowledge that is not our actions that necessarily reveal our heart, it is what we believe, and we know we are still a work in progress.
So then our Lord has reminded each us individually, that His mission for a city, town, or hamlet, is to invite the inhabitants to a great feast, where God celebrates His relationship with us through Christ. In doing so, we do not look beyond their needs, but we remember that we are His invitation to His kingdom of hope, faith, love, peace, and eternity in His presence.
Kingdom Blog 