Lessons over dinner. Luke 14:1-24 Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Text - Luke 14:1-24
Subject - Humility
Theme - Humble invitation.
Thesis - Jesus teaches that the way to truly honor God is through humble invitation—by humbling ourselves before Him and extending grace to those who cannot repay, reflecting God's inclusive love and invitation to all.
Principle - Christian, be humble and generous in your relationships, seeking to serve others selflessly and inviting those in need, just as God has graciously invited you into His kingdom.
Intro
Intro
Last week we began in this section of text where Jesus is attending another meal with a group of Pharisees and this occasion is on the sabbath.
It appears that the Pharisees are attempting to set Jesus up.
At the dinner is a man with dropsy - which we know today as edema.
Swelling caused by an accumulation of fluids.
This man, according to the Pharisees rules of cleanliness should not have been there.
Jesus know their hearts, and having compassion for this man, once again assaults the Pharisees hypocrisy regarding the sabbath, and brings restoration to this man by healing him.
The pharisees had lost the fact that that is what the sabbath is really all about.
It is about restoration.
The weekly sabbath was rest to restore the body.
The 7 year sabbath was about restoration for the land.
The year of jubilee was about restoration for the people.
All acts of mercy.
Jesus performs an act of mercy in healing this man on the sabbath.
The room became silent, not a whisper, not a grumble.
Jesus had their attention fully.
As I mentioned last week as well, I pray Jesus has your attention right now as he had the attention of these men.
Jesus begins to teach them through parables.
Jesus uses the story of a wedding feast and a great banquet to show that the way to combat religious hypocrisy is with true humility and that that humility must also be extended to others.
As Christians we learn that we must be humble and generous in our relationships, seeking to serve others selflessly and inviting those in need, just as God has graciously invited you into His kingdom.
Christian, you are called to be humble and generous, serving others selflessly and welcoming those in need, just as God has welcomed us into His kingdom."
7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” 12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” 15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’ ”
The parable of the wedding feast. 7-11
The parable of the wedding feast. 7-11
Jesus begins his teaching with a parable about a wedding feast.
Jesus was one of those people who when he walked into a room, he took notice of everything.
We all do well to continually remember that Jesus notices everything we do.
He even notices the motives of our heart which are the things that motivate us to do what we do.
One of the things he noticed as he was coming into this party was a typical clamor for the best seat in the house.
This is common practice, even for us today.
I don’t know when the last time you went to the movie theater was, but where is the best seat in the theater?
A few rows up right in the middle. You get the best sound, the best view.
Or concert tickets, even for our kids sporting events and concerts.
There is normally a rush to get the best seats for the best view.
At some restaurants there is a desire for the best seats in the house.
Places with the best view or the fastest service.
Background Cultural Context Note:
The western culture of America and much of Europe is based upon an innocence and guilt mindset.
Yet the majority of the people in the world today understand the world through the concept of honor & shame;
an understanding which has been passed down for thousands of years.
The Mediterranean culture of Jesus’ day as well of the culture of ancient Israel was based upon honor & shame.
For them, it was more important to live and die with honor than anything else.
Proverbs gives us examples of this -
35 The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace.
Warren Wiersbe in his commentary writes that experts in management tell us that most people wear an invisible sign that reads, “Please make me feel important”; if we heed that sign, we can succeed in human relations.
On the other hand, if we say or do things that make others feel insignificant, we will fail.
Then people will respond by becoming angry and resentful, because everybody wants to be noticed and made to feel important.
Jesus day was no different.
There were status symbols that helped to enhance and protect their standing in society.
Today we think of designer clothes, fancy suits, Rolex watches, expensive cars, Gucci bags, getting reservations for the hard to get into restaurants.
In Jesus day, if you were invited to the right homes, if you were seated in the right places, you would know how important you really were.
The emphasis was on reputation rather than character.
In reality, not much has changed in that regard.
It was more important to sit in the right places than to live the right kind of life.
Every young child knows how to place this game -
The daddy/mommy look at me, watch this.
What is normal for a child seeking attention from their parent though is quite embarrassing when an adult is still playing it.
The whole point is to make sure that everyone sees and admires you.
The easily seen examples of this today are celebrities who fall out of the public eye doing something off the wall the gain the public’s attention again.
What Jesus saw was men competing for better seats at a banquet.
Seating in those days was ordered.
The seats closest to the host were the best seats, and the guests looking for recognition tried to secure them.
The closest thing I can think of today would be seating at a wedding reception.
You have a table where the bride and groom sit with their wedding party.
Then the tables closest are often reserved for other honored guests.
Nowadays, hosts often place cards for seating or reserve tables for people rather than embarrass someone by moving them publicly.
I am sure each of us can imagine and have likely felt what the people sitting next to the host must have been feeling as Jesus was teaching this.
The contrast between pride and humility.
The contrast between pride and humility.
8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.
Jesus is using a negative principle here in his teaching.
Remember the honor shame culture.
Depending on when the person is asked to move, they may find all of the other good seats occupied and forced to take the lowest place, in front of the entire gathering.
All of us have been ashamed before others at some time in our life and can envision this person "sulking" down to the seat of least honor.
The way of pride will ultimately lead to shame and disgrace.
If where we sit makes us important, then we are not very important!
It is what we are, not where we sit that really counts.
It is only the little man who is self-important!
Proverbs 25:6–7 (ESV)
6 Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, 7 for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.
Albert Einstein was recorded as saying
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. He is considered successful in our day who gets more out of life than he puts in. But a man of value will give more than he receives.
Jesus continues in the verses that follow to show the contrast of living in a humble manner.
10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.
A scheming and insincere mind would use this for their own agenda.
They would then seek out the lowest seats in hopes of being moved up to look better.
That person is still operating out of pride.
Jesus though is not promoting a selfish conniving scheme as to how one could end up in the first seat by first choosing the worst seat.
Jesus point that he is trying to get across to these important men is that every one before God ought to feel that the lowest place is the proper place for him.
This is the upside down, inside out kingdom.
Jesus had already been teaching about this truth.
We saw it back in chapter 13.
30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
Especially in Christian service, there is something wonderful about knowing that God has raised you up,
instead of you raising yourself up to prominence of some sort.
(In contrast) When we get our own position, either through outward or subtle pride,
we can even say, “It was the Lord, it was the Lord”—but in our hearts we know it was us, our own calculation, our own schemes, our own grasping.
George MacDonald a Scottish writer, poet, and minister is quoted saying
In whatever man does without God, he must fail miserably—or succeed more miserably.
MacDonald believed that true self-denial means seeing things as Christ saw them, and taking God's will as the life of one's being.
He believed that getting only what one wants is succeeding miserably, and that true success is found in losing one's life for Jesus' sake.
To help us to determine how much pride we are carrying, I ran across a test called the P. Q. (Pride Quotient) Test. If you want to see what your P. Q. is, just answer “Yes” or “No) if any of these statements applies to you:
1. I enjoy being the center of attention.
2. I think I deserve the best.
3. Much of my conversation is filled with “I”.
4. I find it difficult to admit that I'm wrong.
5. I seldom pass a mirror without looking at myself.
6. I'm stubborn – I don't like to be corrected or challenged.
7. My feelings are easily hurt.
8. I am impatient with other people's mistakes.
9. I don't get enough appreciation for all I do.
10. I'm offended if I render a service and don't receive a “Thank You.”
11. I seldom ask for help, because I can do the job better myself.
If you have one or more “Yes” answers, it reveals the presence of Pride in your life. If you don't have any “Yes” answers, it simply reveals you are lying to yourself about yourself.
Pride is hard to see in ourselves, but we can easily see it in others.
Humbling yourself does not mean you view yourself as a piece of trash.
Truly humble people compare themselves only with Christ,
realize their sinfulness,
and understand their limitations.
Humble people recognize their gifts and strengths and are willing to use them as Jesus guides and directs.
One aspect of being humble means placing others before ourselves.
Battling the pride that wells up inside of ourselves thinking we are big and important when we are really only so in our own little worlds.
Another aspect of being humble is assessing ourselves and our commitment to serve Jesus and serve others.
Humility is a fundamental principle in our lives.
And yet it is often so elusive.
Often, if you know you have it, you have lost it!
It has well been said that humility is not thinking meanly of ourselves.
It is simply not thinking of ourselves at all.
Jesus is the greatest example of humility, and we would do well to ask the Holy Spirit to enable us to imitate His example.
What is often at the heart of pride and humility is a concept of value.
Jesus is teaching that in the kingdom of heaven, people are valued differently.
What makes a person valuable?
What makes a person valuable?
The world tells us, and I would say especially our western and american culture tells us that you don’t have value if you aren’t at the top of the list.
There is a pressure in school to be the best and brightest.
The fastest and the toughest.
Some of that is self imposed, but it is a cultural reality.
Who gets the most scholarships?
Is it wrong to try for these things?
Absolutely not.
It is good to put forth effort, to use and grow in the abilities that God has given you.
That is being a good steward.
But when that becomes the sole focus.
When all you want to do is to have the best seat at the table, that is when pride sets in.
What makes us truly valuable in God’s eyes?
Love, kindness, godly wisdom, gentleness, helpfulness, holiness, unselfishness, and Christlikeness.
These are qualities that make an individual a person of value.
On the other hand, when we exalt ourselves, like these guests, we damage our testimony for Christ and hurt other people.
Humility – Or, Rising Downward!
Not only draws others to us, but if we are following Christ, draws them to God.
Imagine a world where everyone competed to out-serve the other.
The Ultimate example of Humility (Philippians 2:6-11)
The Ultimate example of Humility (Philippians 2:6-11)
Where do we learn to live with this sort of humility?
We learn it from Jesus.
The one who took the lowest place that anyone has ever taken, and as a result, is now exalted to the highest place in all of God’s kingdom.
Paul writes
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
God the son set aside everything it meant to be God to share in our humanity.
But he went further.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
So complete was Jesus humility that he was willing to die the most disgraceful, the most embarrassing of deaths.
In that shame/honor culture, he became the epitome of a shamed individual upon the cross.
As a direct result of his dying humility, we receive the forgiveness of our sins.
But that is not all.
Jesus himself receives something: he receives glory for his humility
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus went from the lowest place on earth to the highest place in heaven.
Humiliated in his death, he was exalted in his resurrection.
Therefore, his saving work is the ultimate proof of his own claim that
As he says in Lk 14:11 that “he who humbles himself will be exalted”
In order to go higher up, you have to first go lower down.
One day everyone who believes in Jesus Christ—everyone who humbly trusts in his crucifixion and resurrection—will be lifted up to his glory.
How amazing will it be when God elevates those who believe to a place infinitely greater that we deserve.
And infinitely more glorious than we can even imagine!
Humble we must be, if to heaven we go;
High is the roof there, but the gate is low.
- George Herbert