Knowing Jesus The Humility of Christ Luke 14:7-24 3/17/2019 Main Idea: Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted Lesson Objective: Find your true identity in Jesus Christ. FARMSTEAD BAPTIST CHURCH 1
Introduction As your class time begins, use this section to introduce the topic of discussion. Daniel DiPiazza writes: When you make friends with successful people the sky s the limit. This is how partnerships are made, handshake deals are done, and new audiences found. And it s not as difficult as you might think The biggest reason why connecting with people benefits you is simple: It allows you to extend your reach further, which in turn allows your ideas to make a much bigger impact. The result is that you achieve your goals a lot faster with a few key friends to help you out than if it is just you, banging your head against the wall. Additionally, the more successful people you re connected to, the more likely you are to be successful yourself ( You re the average of your five closest friends ). DiPiazza suggests the following steps: 1. Find people with mutual interests and make them love you 2. Now that you ve started that friendship, it s time to give, give, give 3. Reap the rewards of real friendships He concludes "... Now imagine doing this for decades. You could go anywhere you want, have access to almost anything you desire, and know that in an instant, you d have the resources to solve your toughest problems. Your friends become your biggest assets." 1 As with virtually everything else, God s Kingdom operates by its own set of principles. Rather than looking for the 5 most successful friends we can find, Jesus example would have us get as close to as many losers as we can find! For it's only then that we can be sure that our motives are pure and that our service is pleasing to God. 1 How Making Friends With Successful People Will Help Your Career, by Daniel DiPiazza / Entrepreneur, Dec. 1, 2015 FARMSTEAD BAPTIST CHURCH 2
Humble Attitude Luke 14:7-11 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. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. We live in a culture that encourages people to do whatever it takes to get ahead. However, in God s kingdom, the person who humbles himself/herself will be exalted by God. Of course, Jesus did not advise adopting a veneer of humility to gain honor from God to do so would be seeking the Father out of selfish ambition. Humble people draw their sense of self-worth from their relationship with God. They don t seek or need honors bestowed by humans. They know who they are God s children and are secure in that confidence. Such solid self-identity carries with it the strength to serve others in Christ s spirit. In our passage for today, we find Jesus once again sitting at the table with the scribes and Pharisees in attendance. They sought to trap Jesus with some sort of law infraction on the Sabbath day, but with two penetrating questions he reduced them to frustrated silence. Then, over the table he mercifully reached FARMSTEAD BAPTIST CHURCH 3
out to those proud, social-climbing status seekers, undressing their concealed, half-forgotten motives and laying them out on the dinner table. 2 Jesus noticed that there were people present who were seeking to sit in the seats of honor. We don t know exactly what the table looked like during this meal, but more than likely it was a triclinium (A rendering of what a triclinium is located at the end of this section). The Tricliniums were very popular in major festivals and feasts during the time of Christ. This table was a U-shaped table, and the head of the table was the couch set at one end. The places of honor would have been to the right and left of the person hosting the meal. The rest of the people at the meal would have been seated in descending order of importance from the places of honor all the way to the lowest person, who would have been considered a servant at the table. Jesus looked around and obviously saw people jockeying for the position of honor at the table. He gave some practical advice which led to a spiritual principle. Of course, His concern was not simply how one behaved at banquets but rather how one behaved in real life. 3 The practical advice would have been something like: You are invited to a wedding reception. You are among the early arrivals. How do you choose where to sit? Normally, you take the best seat, the one closest to the host, don t you? Listen to me. Do not do that. Why? You have not seen the entire guest list. Someone with VIP credentials may show up later. The host will have to seat that person in the choice place. He may ask you to move down the table to make way for this important guest. All 2 R. Kent Hughes, Luke: That You May Know the Truth, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998), 113 114. 3 Mark C. Black, Luke, College Press NIV Commentary (Joplin, MO: College Press Pub., 1995), Lk 14:7 10. FARMSTEAD BAPTIST CHURCH 4
the places being occupied, you will have to move to the worst seat in the house. What an indignity! You will be humiliated. Listen! Here is a better strategy, Jesus continued. When you arrive early, seek out the worst seat in the house. Then the host will come and ask you to move up closer to him. You will gain honor in front of all the guests. The guests rushed for honor, but everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. The meaning of all this is simple. If you try to gain honor for yourself, you will be humbled and humiliated. But if you show humility, then you will receive great honor. So act with humility, not pride, in every situation. The point that the danger of arrogantly taking the best place at a banquet was that the person who invited you here representing God could ask you to move to the lowest place at the banquet table, causing humiliation rather than honor. It was wiser to sit in the seat of the humble and then be asked to move up to a seat of higher honor. The point was clear: If you try to gain honor for yourself, you will be humbled and humiliated. But if you show humility, then you will receive great honor. According to these verses, why should followers of Christ be humble? What was Jesus motivation for teaching His disciples about humility? When have you encountered situations similar to the wedding party in Jesus parable? In those situations, how did you (or the other people involved) respond? FARMSTEAD BAPTIST CHURCH 5
4 4 Image taken from : https://rel-tour.blogspot.com/2015/04/reclining-in-upper-room-jerusalem.html FARMSTEAD BAPTIST CHURCH 6
True Heart Luke 14:12-14 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. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version After Jesus spoke with the guests of the meal, He then turned to the host. He was not, as it might first sound, discouraging normal hospitality with family and friends and loved ones. In fact, He regularly accepted invitations to such gatherings. What Jesus is against is the social quid pro quo. This action limits the invitation to family members and friends who are able to repay with a reciprocal dinner. He forbade what makes up so much of an elite modern social life an endless round of giving and getting in return. As believers we are rescued from the self-glorification and greed driven culture. We are now members of a new kingdom, one that seeks to put things back into their original order. The world thrives on elitism. This belief reveals a selfish, proud and shriveled soul. Jesus pointed out that reciprocation as a primary goal of doing good to one another was the product of an immense selffocus. The host s reciprocal pay-me-back hospitality revealed an immensely selfish heart that would suffer loss at the resurrection. If we do not reach out to others who cannot benefit us (and we should not limit this to dinners), we must ask ourselves if we are true believers. FARMSTEAD BAPTIST CHURCH 7
Jesus challenged the people to demonstrate true humility by acting on the basis of what others needed rather than on what others could do for them in return. He explained that God Himself would repay such humility. By reaching out to those who could not repay the act of kindness, the host would not expect to receive anything in return. The payoff to the generous host was immense he or she would be resurrected as one of the righteous at the end of the age. And he or she is blessed now. This reward was long ago prophesied by Daniel: 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever (Daniel 12:2-3). He or she will shine forever in the kingdom of God! But by this action he would be inviting a much greater reward, God s special blessing. This blessing will occur at the Return of Christ, when God will bless/repay. Jesus s belief in the resurrection coincided with that of the Pharisees as opposed to the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection. They all presumed to be in the kingdom but were in fact lost. Jesus was saying that how we live reveals the authenticity or absence of our faith. A proud, me-first lifestyle (no matter how deftly hidden) indicates we are not part of the kingdom. A selfish quid pro quo social life is not a kingdom life. True members of the kingdom love God and are learning to love their neighbors as themselves (Leviticus 19:18). 5 In dying on the cross for our sins, Jesus demonstrated such humility to us; love requires that we demonstrate the gospel by following His example. 5 Hughes, 113-114. FARMSTEAD BAPTIST CHURCH 8
Why do you think people tend to give preference to one of the groups Jesus listed in these verses over the other? What actions might we take to implement Jesus s teaching in verse 13? How does Jesus s view of honor vary from that held by others at the meal? How does it differ from our culture s view? FARMSTEAD BAPTIST CHURCH 9
True Honor Luke 14:15-24 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 Holy Bible: English Standard Version Jesus s teaching drew a comment from the crowd. A dinner guest pronounced a blessing on those who joined the heavenly banquet. Luke again does not concentrate on the man or his motive. Jesus remains center stage. The metaphor of the feast speaks of the messianic banquet and refers to participating in the resurrection of the righteous mentioned in verse 14. This is another way of describing salvation and the inheritance of eternal life (cf. 18:18, 25-26). While sounding devout, the statement assumes that God s kingdom is a distant abstraction rather than, as Jesus had been teaching, a present reality brought about by his coming. FARMSTEAD BAPTIST CHURCH 10
The host issued invitations. Then according to custom, at banquet time with the meal ready, he sent servants to remind the invited guests. Obviously, the gossip line had found something amiss with the banquet. Everyone quickly found an excuse not to come. The host was thoroughly snubbed. No one came. The excuses were ridiculous. You do not make financial deals of such magnitude without having assessed the value of the property purchased. You do not accept an invitation to a banquet in conflict with a wedding. Jesus was showing how easy and absurdly finances and family matters get in the way of more important things. They can cause you to miss God s final heavenly banquet. The host s response was predictable: rage. Still, he said, we will have a glorious banquet. Go out in the streets and get anybody you can get to come. Those people in rags invited as second thoughts are the very ones Jesus had earlier instructed the host to invite (5:13). Inviting them robbed the host of any social standing in the community or with his family. He placed himself on the same social plane as the new invitees. The servants could not immediately find enough of this class to fill the host s banquet hall. So he sent a second invitation. The upper class required two invitations to the banquet. The simple people on Jesus list came immediately. The second invitation was issued only in order to find more people. The message of the parable comes from the flow of the parable. First, we see a great banquet was given (the messianic banquet/god s kingdom had now come). Next, the invited guests refused to come (the Pharisees and religious elite of Israel rejected the Messiah and his teachings), followed by the outcasts of society that were brought in as guests to the banquet (the least in Israel entered God s kingdom instead of the religious elite). Finally, the even more FARMSTEAD BAPTIST CHURCH 11
distant outcasts were brought in as guests (the Gentiles entered God s kingdom instead of Israel). 6 The banquet host must represent God. The banquet is the inauguration of His kingdom. The original hosts are the upper-class Jews who were so tied to their social status, financial business, and family matters that they snubbed God. God rejected them and turned to the very ones the Jewish leaders looked on with contempt to find adequate guests for the heavenly banquet. Those who think they have a place reserved and assured in the heavenly feast find themselves on the outside looking in. Jesus took this opportunity to stress another characteristic of the gospel s humbling affect on the heart. When you see that the Creator God is offering you the banquet feast of grace, you want in. You don t care where you are sitting, and you don t make excuses. When you see how lavish God s grace is, you drop everything and run to Him. What does this passage teach you about the differences between kingdom values and social values? How do things like status and customs get in the way of loving others in your family? Church? Work place? Community? Which of the characters in this parable can you most identify with? Why? How would you feel as one of the people mentioned in verse 21? What religious habits, rules, traditions might you be prioritizing above showing love to people in need? How can you confront these tendencies? What excuses do you use not to do kingdom work? How might Jesus respond to them? 6 Robert H. Stein, Luke, vol. 24, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 391 392 FARMSTEAD BAPTIST CHURCH 12