CrossFit - 6

CrossFit - 6

Introduction

In his book, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, John Ortberg tells the story of three men, named Leon, Joseph, and Clyde. The three of them were all psychiatric patients who suffered from the same great delusion. All three of them thought that they were Jesus Christ reincarnated.

The psychologist working with them got so fed up that he designed a new way to deal with their problem. He put them in the same room together. They ate together, played together, everything together. He hoped that by rubbing off on each other, they would realize they were not actually Jesus after all.

Ultimately the experiment did not work as planned, but it did lead to some very interesting conversations. Once, Leon said, “I am the Messiah, the Son of God. I am on a mission. I was sent here to save the earth.” The psychologist, somewhat amused at this, asked him, “Well, how do you know?” Leon replied, “God told me.” To which Clyde responded, “I never told you that!”

Though we might laugh at their delusion, we all in some way share their delusion—in one way or another, each one of us has had the idea that we are God and we can take His place. We are surrounded by a world full of Leons, Josephs and Clydes. Everyone wants to be all-powerful and all-knowing. We all want to be more than we know we really are.

Today we conclude our series called CrossFit, looking at the idea of becoming spiritually fit.

- 8 “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” 9 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it. 10 This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.

Physical fitness can be so challenging for people because some of the exercises are simply crazy to attempt.

- [pic] Iron Cross - 2nd hardest exercise - 39.23 seconds

- [pic] Human Flag - #1 hardest exercise

It is no different for spiritual fitness. We close out the series by looking at one of the more challenging spiritual exercises to do…the discipline of humility. This one is hard for us because our world is build on pride. In fact, pride might just be the signature sin of the human race. Been true since the beginning.

, a group of men get together to build a city. As the plans came together, they decided to put a huge tower in their city. As they started to plan this tower, the Tower of Babel, they revealed their motivation for wanting such a monument to stand. - “Let’s build a great city with a tower that reaches to the skies—a monument to our greatness.”

Even the first two human beings struggled with this. Satan tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit and said, “When you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.” Humanity fell because of pride.

TS - Thankfully, Jesus shows us how to understand our place in the world. To take steps in our faith, we can practice the discipline of humility.

In , Jesus is invited to dinner at the home of a leader of the Pharisees. It is on the Sabbath and a man with a some health issues comes in. Jesus will heal him, creating controversy because the Pharisaical tradition held that you couldn’t do any work (including healing) on the Sabbath. Though they would want to confront him, Jesus will silence them with his teaching. The room is now full of tension as Jesus will speak again. The text we are going to look at today is three snapshots of interactions at this dinner. Let’s walk through those and come back to them for some application takeaways.

- 7 When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: 8 “When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? 9 The host will come and say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! 10 “Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. 11 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Don’t exalt yourself. Don’t prop yourself up in the position of influence. Why? Because it might not be yours to take! You may not see yourself the way others see you. You just might have a higher view of you than others do.

If you exalt yourself, you run the risk of being humiliated and asked to take a lower seat, in front of everyone. But humble people don’t get humiliated. They already have a right view of themselves. They haven’t propped themselves up so they tend to not get knocked down.

Jesus gives us a great picture of humility here. He confronts our misconceptions about humility. We sometimes can confuse humility with looking down on ourselves or having low self-esteem. Not at all what Jesus says. Humility is simply the right view of self. It is choosing not to see my importance by trying to look important. My value is not found in where I sit.

In their culture, value was found in where you sat. The big boys sit at the head of table, closer to the host. If you want a seat there, you go hijack it. But Jesus presents humility as the ability to take any seat. Humility isn’t thinking you deserve the lesser seat but acknowledging you aren’t owed the head of the table.

- 12 Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. 13 Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”

Notice these words are addressed to the host himself. Jesus is calling out the man who has just fed him dinner. The host isn’t gracious, he’s selfish. He’s invited people who can pay him back as part of a “mutual admiration society.” You invite me to your party and I’ll invite you to mine, and then we will both be considered popular and important.

This host is buying recognition. He isn’t showing genuine hospitality, but doing all this for selfish gain.

One of the most nefarious things about pride is that it will have us do selfless things for selfish reasons. Jesus dealt with this in as he taught on fasting, prayer, and even giving. Pride can hijack good and godly spiritual disciplines and turn them into things we want people to notice about us.

To me, this is one of Jesus’ most challenging teachings because he asks questions about motives. How can I ensure my motives are pure? Jesus helps us here…invite people who can’t pay you back. Invite those who drive you crazy. Surround yourself with people you have to serve. That has a way of draining pride and forcing us to learn humility.

If you hang out at the head of the table you have to present your credentials and pretend as if you belong there, watching everything you say and do because it’s all being judged by those around you. They’re trying to find a reason to take your seat. But if you hang out at the foot of the table with all the lowly people, no one cares about that stuff.

Study after study has confirmed this. [pic] Multiple studies have confirmed…do you know which person on the winner’s podium is the happiest? To our surprise, it’s not the gold. Definitely not the silver, they’re just the first loser. It’s the bronze. Because they almost missed out on a medal and they are just happy to be on the podium. Happiness isn’t found in being first, but by humbly not caring what place you’re in.

TS - Now after Jesus has already created tension in the room, he makes it worse by calling out the host for impure motives. Lots of tension, incredibly awkward. One guy in the room decides to cut the tension.

- 15 Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!”

So how about heaven, huh? He’s trying to change the subject but Jesus won’t have it. Jesus turns into and embraces the awkwardness. Before we look at his response, let me remind you about this room.

Jesus is hanging out with a group of Pharisees. They believe if they do the right things, God will owe them. They are so prideful that they think they deserve a place in heaven. Jesus destroys that idea.

- 16 Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. 17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ 18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 Another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 21 “The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ 22 After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ 23 So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. 24 For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’”

When invitations to a banquet went out, they confirmed the date of the event, but not the time. The banquet was then based on the RSVP. Sufficient bread was baked and animals were slaughtered. When all was ready, a servant was sent to inform them. These people have already agreed to attend and are expected to do so. It is incredibly rude to turn down at this point.

These people have now made excuses out of pride. What I’ve got going on is more important than your banquet. Don’t care about the host. Doesn’t matter that they already agreed, something better has come along.

The host’s response is telling…fine, if you don’t want to attend the banquet, I’ll get those who do. Servants, go out and get the undeserving. Bring in those who can’t pay me back.

There is much going on here and we will talk about practical application in a minute. But we need to pause here because Jesus is slapping his audience in the face again. This kind guy has tried to alleviate the tension in the room…how about that heaven, huh? Jesus says, yeah, about that…you’re not going. God sent invitations to the people of Israel. His covenant people were told about the Messiah and that he would come to usher in this banquet. But here Jesus is, right in front of them, and they have rejected him. They decided that what they had going on was more important than him.

So Jesus will go out into the alleys of the world and call those who cannot repay. He will invite those who will respond in gratitude and in humility because they know they don’t deserve to be there.

Luke has been clear already that this is the mission of Jesus. He’s been telling us throughout his entire Gospel account. Jesus will come for those with the humility to accept the invitation.

- 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

    for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,

    that the blind will see,

that the oppressed will be set free,

19 and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

- 31 Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. 32 I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”

TS - Jesus has just taught about humility in a way that would have humiliated everyone in the room. A lesson they will not forget. As we think about the discipline of humility, how do we practice it? Jesus is apparently very serious about this. We want to grow in our faith and humility is foundational. What does it look like for us to choose humility? Let’s walk back through these three snapshots:

CHOOSE TO SUBMIT

I don’t need to worry about my seat or about my place at the table. Why? I know the Master of the banquet. I trust him. I’ll let him put me wherever he wants.

- 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

Practicing the discipline of humility means that I let God be the one who does all the exalting. If I am going to be lifted up, he will be the one to do it. Jesus not only teaches this, he also serves as our example of it.

- 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

2. CHOOSE TO SERVE

This Pharisee host is doing a good thing for selfish reasons. He’s not serving others, he’s serving only himself. Jesus tells him to purposely look to others to serve them. Servanthood is the antidote to pride. Again, Jesus not only teaches, but models it.

- 12 After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. 17 Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.

3. CHOOSE TO SHARE

God has prepared a great banquet. While there are some who will, and have, declined that invitation, the Master still wants to bring others into the feast. So he has sent his servants out to get the undeserving and invite them to his banquet.

Friends, we are those servants. We are sent out to invite and bring others in. When we share our faith it is an act of humility because it is us pointing to someone else. We are pointing to the King who has invited me to the banquet even those I do not deserve it. Even though I could never pay him back.

You know, one of the reasons people struggle in sharing their faith is because they are afraid of being embarrassed or humiliated. But humble people can’t be humiliated as we point to the one who invites the undeserving.

Conclusion

You need to know…God has prepared a great banquet and you’ve been invited. You don’t deserve it. You can’t earn it. But because of his grace and his generosity, you can be on the guest list.

On November 23, 1899, D.L. Moody, the great evangelist, preached his final sermon just weeks before he died. He stood up on a platform at the Civic Auditorium in Kansas City, holding himself up with the organ to keep from falling over as his body was failing him. was his text that night. He preached a sermon called “Excuses” calling out people for the excuses they may offer to God for not responding to his invitation. No excuses are legitimate. No excuses are accepted. The invitation has been sent out. Will you respond?

Believe/Repent/Confess/Baptize

Communion