In Case You Missed It, Too: God’s Grand Invitation Is All-Inclusive

He wants you to RSVP for the event of a lifetime

It wasn’t the remnants left on the trays that so distressed me. It was the full platters covered in plastic unearthed from the refrigerator that did me in.

I had forgotten to give the caterer the final head count — 60 less than the 200 we’d envisioned.

So at the end of the event, my colleagues and I were madly emptying trays of food into white styrofoam boxes and stuffing them inside the refrigerator.

The two kegs — still nearly full — went back to the caterer’s walk-in refrigerator. We would have to find a way to empty those, too.

The leftovers were a tribute to my inexperience.

The event of a lifetime

Six years later, I am mere weeks away from an annual event I hope will draw 250+. I am reminded, again, of the need to convey the grandness of this exclusive invitation so my guests RSVP yes and put their bodies where their yes is.

But I know I’m in good company. God, too, has trouble getting “yes” RSVPs. And His grand invitation to all people is not to an annual event but to a lifetime – eternal life – with Him.

As I’ve read through the scriptures this year, I see God’s grand invitation – over and over – to all who would come. I used to think His invitation was for His “chosen people,” Israel. An exclusive party for one genealogy.

But in the Old Testament, where I once saw the Israelites as His “chosen people,” I now see He chose them not for exclusivity — but rather to point outsiders to Him.

God started the nation of Israel with Abraham, who produced the promised heir, Isaac, who fathered Jacob, whom God renamed Israel. It seemed a slow start to nation-building.

But God promised all three He would make of them a nation of people more numerous than the stars in the sky, as He told Abraham here:

“I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.“

(Genesis 22:17, ESV)

That promise of descendants more numerous than stars in the sky must have seemed like pie in the sky to Abraham and Isaac. Both struggled with infertility before producing sons, but Jacob was prolific. He had 12 sons, whose lineages would become the 12 tribes of Israel.

Little more than 1,000 years after that promise to Abraham, counting the number of descendants of Israel was like trying to number the stars (1 Chronicles 27:23-24).

We can be stars, too

But even with a nation so large, God wanted more – and that was His plan all along. Not just genetic descendants of Jacob. All of us.

Read what David wrote:

May God be gracious to us and bless us
    and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
that your way may be known on earth,
    your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
    let all the peoples praise you!

(Psalm 67:1-3, ESV)

David prayed God would be gracious and bless Israel – so His saving power would be known all over the planet. He wanted “all the peoples” to praise Him.

It’s a common refrain throughout the Old Testament, but I had never noticed. Now I can’t not notice. I can’t unsee the truth: God wants us all.

In Exodus 12:48-49, for instance, Moses told the Israelites strangers who wanted to keep the Passover to the LORD “just” had to let their males be circumcised to be considered a native.

(I say “just” because it does require uncomfortable surgery – a more significant commitment than picking up a loaf of unleavened bread on the way to dinner.)

In Ezekiel 47:21-23, as Israelites were divvying up the promised land, God instructed them to treat resident aliens who had made themselves at home among them as if they were born there.

In Isaiah 56:1-3, God told the prophet, Isaiah, “Make sure no outsider who now follows God ever has occasion to say, ‘God put me in second-class. I don’t really belong.’” (MSG)

In fact, as Isaiah hoped for the return of the Israelites to their homeland, God said he was thinking too small:

“But that’s not a big enough job for my servant—
    just to recover the tribes of Jacob,
    merely to round up the strays of Israel.
I’m setting you up as a light for the nations
    so that my salvation becomes global!”

(Isaiah 49:6, MSG)

God’s grand invitation

Over and over, scripture in the Old Testament issues a grand invitation to outsiders – and the Israelites, as did I, likely missed it.

The Apostle Paul suggested as much in his letter to the Ephesians:

“… None of our ancestors understood this… The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God.

They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.”

(Ephesians 3:4-6, MSG)

Jesus, ultimately, was the goal of God’s promise to Abraham. He was the star among the uncountable number of Israelites in Jacob’s lineage.

His death on the cross to pay the penalty of our sin – as both a sinless man and God, Jesus could do that – made the great event of salvation available to everyone.

Those born in the line of Israel as well as outsiders, such as me. And maybe you. That invitation – God’s grand invitation to be His chosen one – is inclusive.

But it’s also exclusive, directed at each of us individually. No mass save-the-date or repeated e-vites until you RSVP. God calls you, sharing His invitation through nature or inviting you where you are in a way you can receive it.

What do we all get if we accept God’s grand invitation?

We get forgiveness for our sins and Christ’s righteousness, 24-7 access to the one true God, a sealed guarantee of this eternal reward and power to live from our internal life coach, the Holy Spirit.

All because we say “yes.”

Kind of takes the lavishness out of my invitation to a two-hour event with awards, appetizers, alcohol, networking, and a commemorative take-home glass, doesn’t it?

Even so, I continue to improve the event each year, hoping to expand my “yes” guest list. How? In part by so blessing those who attend – they shine a positive light on the event to others.

Just as the Israelites – even in their often-lackluster pursuit of God (and perhaps because of it) – showcased God’s infinite love, mercy, and power.

I want to do that, too. But with luster, what the dictionary terms “a glow of reflected light.”

God’s light.

By the way, that disaster of leftover food and alcohol?

I still have my job.

Turns out my boss had been wanting a social event for the entrepreneurs in our building – and our leftovers were just the thing to entice them from their labs into the lobby for one.

The impromptu gathering was a success – despite the beer exploding all over the floor (and one of my colleagues) when we inexperienced types tapped the keg.

It was the start of a monthly event drawing hundreds of entrepreneurs.

Because God is so, so gracious.

It’s your turn

Had you, too, missed the expansiveness of God’s grand invitation in the Old Testament? Had you also thought it was directed only at His “chosen people” until Jesus came onto the scene? Or have you ever seen God turn one of your failures into a roaring success – despite you?

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