There Still is Room
“Seat check!”
Living in a dorm taught me one thing. If you want to keep your seat in the TV room, you have to you yell, “Seat check!” Otherwise, when you get back from fetching your popcorn, someone else will be in your seat, and there won’t be any room to sit.
Have you wondered if there’s still room for you at church? Maybe you’ve been away for a while, and you didn’t yell, “Seat check,” the last time you were there. Now, you don’t know if you’ve been replaced or forgotten, or if there’s any room left for you.
Maybe it’s been a really long time since you’ve attended church. As in never. And you wonder if there’s room for a person like you among all the people who’ve been going to church the whole time you haven’t.
Good news! There still is room!
There still is room! His house is not yet filled;
Not all the guests are there.
Oh, bring them in! Their hunger shall be stilled
With bread, yes, bread to spare.
Go, call them from the lanes and byways,
From winding roads and crowded highways.
There still is room! There still is room!“There Still is Room” - Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal #565, stanza 1
Jesus told a parable of a great banquet (Luke 14:15-23). A man invites many guests to his banquet. He sends out his servant to tell his guests everything is ready.
All the guests make excuses!
When the man hears this, he is furious. He sends his servant out to find the poor and needy, the beggars, the lame, the blind. He wants guests to come to his banquet.
When even that doesn’t fill his banquet hall, the servant tells him, “There still is room.”
And he sends out his servant again to find anyone who wants to come to his banquet.
Jesus sends out his servant to you. He invites you to come to his banquet. He wants you to trust in him for forgiveness and life. He will not throw you out. He will let you in.
There still is time! The Master’s voice still rings,
And all his heralds plead:
“Oh, hide beneath the shelter of his wings
Against the time of need.”
The gracious call is still extended;
The day of grace is not yet ended.
There still is time! There still is time!“There Still is Room” - Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal #565, stanza 2
“But what if it’s too late?”
What if you have been gone too long? Hasn’t the banquet already come and gone? Has the invitation expired?
We hear in Hebrews 4:
Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.
Today is the day of God’s invitation. As long as you have breath, he calls to you: “Come in! Come in!” He wants you to be here. He still extends his invitation!
Now is the time! How fast the moments fly!
How soon each hour is gone!
You virgins, hear and heed the midnight cry;
Look for the break of dawn.
The Bridegroom comes; prepare to greet him.
Rise! Trim your lamps! Go out to meet him!
Now is the time! Now is the time!“There Still is Room” - Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal #565, stanza 3
Though there still is time, we don’t know how long the time will be. The days are short until Christ comes again.
Jesus told another parable about ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). They were waiting for the groom to come for his bride. They were going to be part of the bridal procession.
It was late at night. Five of the virgins brought lamps with extra oil. The other five brought lamps but no oil. The groom took so long to show up, they all fall asleep.
When he finally arrived, they all got to their feet and lit their lamps. But the lamps of the five who brought no oil started going out right away. They asked for oil from the others, but there wasn’t enough. They had to go find a place to buy oil in the middle of the night.
Meanwhile, the groom arrived. The five virgins with oil for their lamps followed him to wedding venue.
Later, the other five arrived at the door. The knocked and knocked. The groom answered. “Let us in,” they said.
“Truly I tell you, I don’t know you,” he replied.
Jesus is coming soon! There still is room, and there still is time, but now is the time. Come in before the door is shut. Jesus’ invitation to you is genuine and sincere. He calls you out of this dark world into his wonderful light. Hear his voice. Follow him to his great banquet.