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It was customary to invite the
“visiting preacher,” in this case, Jesus, and other guests to dinner
after the synagogue service. However, the details given indicate that
this occasion was staged. The
people there were observing him carefully…He was a curiosity piece, to
say the least. They were more interested in evaluating Jesus than eating
dinner.
This scene is a typical setup
by the Pharisees to build, or at least add to, their case against Jesus.
But Jesus went anyway. The Pharisees had their purpose and Jesus had
his. He used the occasion to teach about
humility and
generosity, using accepted
practices surrounding “formal dinners,” as examples of how not to
behave.
Once again, notice the
brilliant way Jesus taught. He told a simple little parable of people
sitting down at a wedding feast, and then He applied the spiritual
principle.
I.
For all who exalts themselves
will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
This is one of the wonderful
paradoxes of Jesus that is ... totally contrary to the way the world
thinks. The world says if you want to climb higher and be somebody you
must push, fight, claw, and work your way to the top of the heap. The
world says the way up is up! But Jesus says just the opposite. He says
the way up is down. In other words, if you try to promote your prideful
self, you’ll end up humbled.
And He also says the way down
is up. The Bible says specifically in James 4:10 “Humble yourself before
the Lord and He will lift you up.” So, contrary to what the world is
teaching you, the way up is down and they way down is up.
You don’t find a lot of people
who are asking the question, “How can I be more humble?” They are
asking, “How can I succeed?” Or “How can I climb to the top of the
heap?” Go into a Barnes and Noble or any bookstore and ask to be
directed to the section on “how to be more humble.” They will look at
you like you’re from another planet. Yet the Bible speaks over and over
about the value of humility. Humility is actually a wonderful honor.
Proverbs 29:23 says, “A man’s
pride will bring him low; but the humble in spirit retains honor.” Let
me share with you three characteristics of true humility so you can
understand it better:
True humility is seeing myself as God sees me. Humility is not having a
poor self-image of thinking you are a worthless wimp. It’s having an
honest evaluation of who you are–as the Bible describes you. On one hand
I am a sinner who deserves death and hell–yet I am a child of God.
Humility is found in the tension and the balance between those two
realties.
Paul writes in Romans 7 about
what a wretched creature he is who cannot refrain from sin. He says the
good things he wants to do, he doesn’t do them. And the bad things that
he doesn’t want to do, he does them. What a picture of a failure! But in
the very next chapter he writes about how we are deeply loved as
children of God–heirs of God with Christ. Was he confused? No, he
understood the balance. He wrote,
“I know that nothing good lives in me...those who are led by the Spirit
of God are children of God.” (Romans 7:18; 8:14) Another way to look at
it is to remember Jesus said, “Without me you can do nothing.” (John
15:5) That will prevent pride.
Yet the Bible says, “I can do
all things through Christ who loves me.” (Philippians 4:13) That keeps
you from being an emotional failure who never attempts anything great
for God.
Someone once said, “God has wisely designed the human body so that you
can neither pat yourself on the back, nor kick yourself in the seat.”
There is a fascinating short
story about the donkey Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The
donkey was so overjoyed at being chosen, he held his head high as they
entered the city. He drank in the songs of praise and enjoyed walking on
the palm branches underneath his hoofs. He relished the attention and
the ardor directed toward them. A week later, the little donkey wanted
to enjoy it again, so he pranced out to retrace his steps–but this time,
the people didn’t pay him any attention. He said, “Where are the palm
branches, don’t you know who I am?” The people who heard him threw rocks
at him instead. The donkey neared the city of Jerusalem, and said,
“Where are the songs of praise for me? Don’t you remember me?” Inside
the city, nobody paid him any attention, they just shooed him away from
their stalls in the streets. The little donkey went home dejected and
humiliated. When his mother saw him she said, “Foolish child. Don’t you
know without Jesus you are nothing?” That’s true for each of us. Without
Jesus we are nothing, but in Christ, we can do all things. That’s
humility.
True humility is revealed by how I treat others. Humility is not some
kind of badge you wear. The only way to reveal your humility is if you
treat others more highly than yourself. It’s the old formula for joy,
J.O.Y., which is Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself third. It is
pride that makes you want to rush to get the best seats at the table. It
is pride that makes you rush to the front of the line so you can eat
before anyone else. It’s pride that makes you reach into a loaf of bread
and get the soft piece in the middle so someone else can take the stale
one at the end. Pride keeps “I” at the center of the universe and it
constantly is looking out for #1. Humility has replaced “I” with
“Christ.”
And Jesus Christ was the most
humble man who ever lived. The Bible says, “Do nothing out of selfish
ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than
yourselves...your attitude should be that of Christ Jesus who, being in
very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be
grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very form of a servant...”
(Philippians 2:3-6) Jesus humbled Himself to step down from the throne
of heaven to become one of us–a human being.
Two of the greatest preachers in England in the 18th Century were John
Wesley and George Whitfield. They disagreed over a point of doctrine
concerning salvation. Whitfield embraced Calvinism, which says God saves
those whom He will and we have no choice in the matter. Wesley leaned
toward the Armenian side, which said we have to choose to accept Jesus
to be saved. Their disagreement and debate was a matter of public
record. There was great animosity between their followers over this
debate.
Once a newspaper reporter
wanting to stir up the religious debate, so he asked George Whitfield
the following question. “Do you expect to see John Wesley in heaven?”
Whitfield replied, “I don’t expect to see Mr. Wesley in heaven.” The
reporter gleefully wrote those words down knowing it would fan the
flames of controversy even higher. Then Whitfield continued. “No, I
don’t expect to see John Wesley in heaven because He is such a faithful
servant of God that he will be so close to the throne of God and I will
be so far away, I don’t expect to see him.” That was an answer that
revealed Whitfield was a humble man.
Martin Luther said, “We need goat sense.” He tells of seeing two goats
meeting on a path on a mountain ledge. Instead of butting one another,
one of them laid down and allowed the other one to pass over him. How
are you treating others?
II. Who Belongs at the Table
In Luke 14 Jesus gives the parable of “who belongs at the Table?”
We see the unconditional love of Jesus in going to eat at the home of
those who were out to get him. They were looking for ways to discredit
Jesus, yet he joined them for dinner.
The Pharisees could not understand why the common people, outcasts of
society followed Jesus who claimed to be a Rabbi and Teacher. The kind
of people Jesus ate with and fellowshipped with would not be tolerated
in their homes. In Jesus’ day a righteous person would not sit down and
eat with a common person – people of the land – they don’t know the
Torah.
Jesus did not go along with the Jewish customs of His day. He invited
all to His Table. There is room
for all at God’s Table. This was in direct contrast to the Pharisees who
believed that only certain people are welcome at God’s Table.
Do you have a list of people you would sit down with and a list of
people you would not invite to your table? Do you have a list of people
who deserve to sit at God’s table?
John Ortberg the teaching pastor at Willow Creek Church in S.
Barrington, IL told of going to his mother’s hair dresser. After talking
to her he thought she had some interest in knowing more about God. He
told his mother that he thought she wanted to know about God.
His mother responded: “No way!
She is on her fifth husband and is living in sin.” John said: “Mom the
next time you get your hair done at the beauty salon ask her if she is
interested in spiritual things?
The next time she went to have her hair done she prayed in her heart as
she was taking a seat in the beauty shop chair. “God you know I don’t
want to talk to her about her faith because she’s not the kind of person
I want to associate with.
If you want me to talk to her
then have her ask me first.” The first thing the beauty operator said
when she approached was, “I understand you and your husband have a Bible
study. Do you mind if I come sometime?” She said that her mother was
Jewish and her father a Roman Catholic. Her mother made ... her go to
the synagogue on Saturday and when she came home her dad made her take
the rosary and make confession of her sin.
She grew up confused and
turned to alcohol for comfort and she could drink with the best of them.
To get help she went to AA meetings but could not think of her “higher
power” as God so she called her “higher power” Ralph. At one of the AA
meetings a guy came in half drunk. He stood up and said; “My name is
Ralph and I’m an alcoholic.” The hair dresser said at that point in her
life she wanted to know the true God. She and her husband started
attending the bible study of John’s parents.
Who do you give up on? Who are the people you wouldn’t invite to the
table? What people don’t come up to your standards? Who are not worthy
to come to your table?
Tony Compolo is a professor of sociology at Eastern College in St.
David’s Penn. He is a prolific writer and is in demand as a speaker. He
tells of one trip to a conference in Hawaii. He arrived in Hawaii in the
evening and with the time change from the East he had a difficult time
going to sleep. He walked from his hotel to a coffee shop for coffee at
3:30 AM Hawaiian time. As he was sitting at the counter a group of
street ladies – prostitutes came in for coffee.
He overheard one of the ladies
say that the next day was her birthday and that she had never had a
birthday party given for her.
After the ladies left Tony Compolo asked the restaurant owner who the
lady was that was having a birthday. He said her name was Agnes. Tony
asked if the ladies came in every night at that time. The owner said
that they did. Tony said, "I would like to give her a birthday party
tomorrow night." The owner said he would bake the cake.
The next night Tony Compolo
arrived back at the restaurant at 2:30 AM to decorate for the party. At
3:15 the ladies started coming in. Word had spread and it seemed that
all the prostitutes in Honolulu heard the news and came to the party.
Tony said there he was in a Coffee Shop in Honolulu surrounded by
prostitutes. At 3:30 Agnes walked in and they surprised her and sang
“Happy Birthday Agnes.” Agnes was taken back and was in shock. Her knees
almost buckled and she had to be helped to a chair.
Harry said, “Agnes, blow out the candles and cut the cake. The candles
were blown out and then Agnes paused and said: Can I keep the cake. I
only live a couple blocks from here. Can I take it home? Tony and Harry
agreed and she carefully carried out the cake to her apartment. After
she walked out there was complete silence. Then Tony felt led to say,
“What do you say we pray.” He prayed for Agnes and her salvation. He
prayed for God’s love for her and all her friends.
After his prayer Harry leaned over the counter and said, “Hey, you never
told me you were a preacher. What kind of a church do you belong to.”
Tony wasn’t sure what to say, he said: “I belong to a church that throws
parties for Prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.” Harry said: “No you
don’t if there were a church like that I’d join it if there was.”
III. Real generosity is giving to those who cannot
give back.
In eternity everything we have
given away will be returned to us in a different form.
We can fake humility. We can
pretend to have a lower opinion of ourselves that we really have in our
hearts and tell others how humble we are. How would anyone know
otherwise? It is really the way we treat others that shows whether or
not we are truly humble. Humility is simply having the same opinion of
ourselves as God has of us. God has his “rank,” his order of preference.
Jesus has told us that true greatness consists in service to others.
However, if we serve the poor
but still look down on them as less worthy, less important, less human
than ourselves, we are not truly humble. “Poor” is an economic term, not
a religious one, unless, of course, we mean “poor in spirit.” Many
people help the “poor” but also look down on them. Indeed, helping the
“poor” gives them an even greater sense of pride in themselves.
During holidays like
Thanksgiving and Christmas, oddly, never at Easter, we frequently see on
TV and read in the news churches sponsoring a big meal for the “poor.”
Why is that news? Because that is the only time these churches do so.
Are not the “poor,” hungry every day? Who cares for them and feeds them
the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the days after that?
Jesus does not forbid throwing
parties for one’s friends. He commands that we also do the same for
those who really need a meal and need one every day. If it is an
everyday occurrence it will not make the news because it is the good
news in action, not a rare event but a real one.
Each one of us needs to see to
it that we are supporting those who cannot return the favor. They could
also be relatives and friends, but need not be. We do so not only to
help meet their needs but to meet our own needs as well. When Christ is
alive in us we simply need to share with others.
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