Luke 14:1 (NIV) One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, He was being carefully watched.

Luke 14:1 (NIV) One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, He was being carefully watched.

Believe it or not Jesus was known for eating with Sinners (Matt 9:10; Mark 2:16), but He was also known to eat with the Self-Righteous Religious people as well (Luke 7:36; 11:38).

Jesus eats with everybody.

Revelation 3:20 (NIV) 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

The chill atmosphere of suspicion did not freeze the flow of His gentle beneficence and wise teaching. His meek goodness remained itself in the face of hostile observers. The miracle and the two parables are aimed straight at their errors. - Alexander Maclaren

Luke 14:2-4 (NIV) 2 There in front of Him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? 4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, He healed him and sent him on his way.

Dropsy: A disease produced by the accumulation of water in various parts of the body; very distressing, and commonly incurable, and was usually caused perhaps by a type of cancer or possibly liver or kidney problems.

Luke 14:5-6 (NIV) 5 Then He asked them, If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out? 6 And they had nothing to say.

Pride leads to Hypocrisy

Pride leads to Hypocrisy Humility leads to Healing

Luke 14:7-11 (NIV) 7 When He noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, He told them this parable: 8 When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, Give this

Luke 14:7-11 (NIV) person your seat. Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, Friend, move up to a better place. Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests.

Luke 14:7-11 (NIV) 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

If a man is forever concerned first and foremost with this own interest then he is bound to collide with others. If for any man life is a competition then he will always think of human beings as enemies, or at least as opponents who must be pushed out of the way and the object of life becomes not to help others up but to push them down. - William Barclay

Pride leads to Humiliation

Pride leads to Humiliation Humility leads to Adoration

The devil s darling sin is the pride that apes humility. - Alexander Maclaren

Luke 14:11 (The Message) 11 What I m saying is, if you walk around with your nose in the air, you re going to end up flat on your face. But if you re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.

Proverbs 25:27 (NLT) 27 It s not good to each too much honey, and it s not good to seek honors for yourself.

James 4:10 (NIV) 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.

1 Peter 5:6 (NIV) 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.

Luke 14:12-14 (NIV) 12 Then Jesus said to His host, When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

Luke 14:12-14 (NIV) 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

Pride leads to Selfishness

Pride leads to Selfishness Humility leads to Selflessness

The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Luke 14:15 (NIV) 15 When one of those at the table with Him heard this, he said to Jesus, Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.

Luke 14:16-24 (NIV) 16 Jesus replied: A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, Come, for everything is now ready. 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.

Luke 14:16-24 (NIV) 19 Another said, I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me. 20 Still another said, I just got married, so I can t come. 21 The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and

Luke 14:16-24 (NIV) alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. 22 Sir, the servant said, what you ordered has been done, but there is still room. 23 Then the master told his servant, Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.

That raises a terrible question. How is it that people who are quite obviously eaten up with Pride can say they believe in God and appear to themselves very religious? I am afraid it means they are worshipping an imaginary God. They theoretically admit themselves to be nothing in the presence of this phantom

God, but are really all the time imagining how He approves of them and thinks them far better than ordinary people; that is, they pay a penny worth of imaginary humility to him and get out of it a pounds worth of Pride towards their fellow-men. - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Matthew 6:33 (NIV) 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Pride leads to Prohibition

Pride leads to Prohibition Humility leads to Promotion

Philippians 2:1-11(NIV) 1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make My joy complete by being likeminded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

Philippians 2:1-11(NIV) 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Philippians 2:1-11(NIV) 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; 7 rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross!

Philippians 2:1-11(NIV) 9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The real test of being in the presence of God is, that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether. - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Pride is the diabolical nature that has blinded this world and enslaved it to lust after itself.

Humility is the God-like nature that gives revelation to this world, and brings freedom to love others.