Humble Yourself; Exalt Your Neighbor
 |
| White trash dudes ushered out of Queen Elizabeth II’s reserved seats for the baseball in The Naked Gun: From The Files of Police Squad! (1988) |
Click here to listen to this sermon.
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).
Grace and
peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Aimee and
I went to a concert at the Denny Sanford Premier Center a couple of weeks ago.
The tickets were a gift and we got really nice seats on the floor only a few rows back. During the concert there was a little commotion as a security person
followed a couple up toward the front. The security person spoke to the couple
who were seated, looked at their tickets, said a couple of words, and then they got up and sheepishly made
their way to the nosebleed section that they were supposed to sit in. I
imagined the irritation of the couple who needed to have someone from security open
up their seats. But even more, I thought of how embarrassing it would be to be
caught in seats that were obviously much better than the ones you had paid for.
Now consider this scene: You’re still out of breath and a little
lightheaded from walking all the stairs up to your seat located in the far, top
corner of the stadium. The players warming up on the field look like action
figures, and you can’t see where the ball is without looking on the large
screen. You’re startled when one of the ushers taps you on the shoulder. He
tells you that your seat number was drawn and you are today’s lucky fan of the
game. You need to come with him because he has another seat for you. Down and
down you go until you come to one of the VIP suites. You’ve been invited to be
a personal guest of the team owner. He greets you at the door and invites you
watch the game with him. He points you to the large selection of snacks and
beverages and tells you to help yourself. It’s a seat you could have never
afforded yourself. And you most certainly would have been thrown out if you
tried to sneak in. But here you sit, experiencing the game in a way that you
never imagined was possible.
Jesus attends
a meal at the home of a Pharisee. He notices how the guests choose the place of
honor for themselves. Then as now, the place where one was seated during a
banquet indicated social rank. In the absence of assigned seating, guests were
expected to give way to those of higher rank of society. Everyone knew that the
most prestigious places near the head of the group were for the VIPs.
The
principle that Jesus enunciates here seems to be the same as that from our
passage from Proverbs: “When in doubt, err on the side of humility.” Or as my
Grandma would say, “Make sure you don’t get too big for your britches!” The
perils of overestimating one’s importance are far greater than the pitfalls of
underestimating it. In this scenario, the person who actually deserves the seat
is disrespected. The host is also put out, since now he has to come over and
play the role of bouncer with one of his invited guests.
There is
a spiritual application here: When we get out of place by acting haughtily, we
not only offend a more deserving neighbor, but also the Lord, who has
established each in his own station. It’s hard to accept one’s comeuppance
under any circumstances; however, bearing public humiliation is the worst way
to undergo ego reduction. Long before Jesus, Solomon wrote: “One’s pride will
bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor” (Proverbs
29:23). The word picture Jesus paints here perfectly illustrates that truth.
Everyone
who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
This is the classic expression of Luke’s great reversal theme. While this
dynamic plays itself out on a daily basis, it will ultimately be realized on
the Last Day. Then, those who humbly confessed their sins and trusted in Christ’s
forgiveness will be raised up in glory. Hus noted that Jesus’ disciples took
this admonition to heart and followed Jesus in His example of humility: “[The
apostles], like Christ, began to do good by excelling in good works and not by
receiving kisses, given as unto God. For they despised mundane honors.”[i]
For his
part, Calvin stated that Christian humility is rooted in the awareness that
anything good within us is a gift of grace:
It is a manifestation of pride to boast
of the gifts of God, as if there were any excellence in ourselves, that would
exalt us on the ground of our own merit. Humility, on the other hand, must be
not only an unfeigned abasement, but a real annihilation of ourselves,
proceeding from a thorough knowledge of our own weakness, the entire absence of
lofty pretensions, and a conviction that whatever excellence we possess comes
from the grace of God alone.[ii]
Jesus
illustrates how pride leads to a fall, while the humble are brought up to a
higher place. We should take this lesson to heart: It is better to let others
applaud and promote you than to claim honor and praise for yourself. No matter
what others say or do, our greatest promotion will come when the heavenly
Father calls us to join Him at the great messianic banquet in heaven. “For everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Having
criticized the behavior of the guests, Jesus then turns to the host:
“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. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the
blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be
repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:12-14).
Jesus does not issue an absolute prohibition
against including family and friends in parties. Rather, He criticizes the
custom of inviting only those people with whom one has a quid pro quo
arrangement, that is, people who can invite you in return and you be repaid. Such
invitations are not true generosity, but merely loving those who love you
already.
When people show true generosity, without an eye to
what they might receive in return, they will delight to share with those of a
lower social status and without the economic means to pay them back. And yet,
Jesus says, such generosity will be richly rewarded—though not necessarily in
this age, but in the one to come. Just as the “great reversal” is only fully realized
on the Last Day, so also will the faithful have to wait for this promise to be
fulfilled.
Commenting on this passage, Bengel contrasts the
rewards God will bestow with the measly returns we get when we always play
tit-for-tat:
Who is there
that would wish that all his acts in this life should be recompensed according
to their desert? And yet there are not wanting persons, who wish that
everything whatever, which they give or lend, should be most quickly,
abundantly, and with accumulated interest, repaid to them…. One might suppose
that there was no resurrection at hand or recompense of men’s deed, nay, indeed
as if nothing is to be taken away (wrested) from those who practically deny
their faith in things future by their unbridled panting after things present.[iii]
“Humble yourself and exalt your neighbor.” That’s
the essence of the law in today’s text. But it’s hard to be humble, isn’t it? For
we are, by our fallen nature, prideful, selfish sinners. And the moment you
start thinking about humility, you’ve already started to think about yourself. And
as much as that principle applies to daily life, even more it applies to our
life in God’s kingdom.
Like the
guests at the Pharisee’s home or the couple who tried to move into better seats,
we are tempted to seat ourselves in God’s presence based upon our works or
merits. Our kindness toward others. Our identification with a particular church,
our faithful attendance, our giving to the church, or out serving on a church
board. A perceived obedience to God’s commandments. A belief that faith is or
our own doing, something we should be rewarded for attaining.
Like the
host Pharisee, we often see ourselves as above others. Self-help books preach that
if we want be winners, we should only spend time with winners. We see the
others and rationalize that they don’t really have anything to offer us, to
further our pursuits or goals. It would be embarrassing to be seen with some of
them, certainly inconvenient. Others will not think highly of us if they see us
spending so much time with the downtrodden and outcasts of society.
Self-glorifying
seems so natural in our world, which constantly tells us: “Hard work will get
you moving up the ladder.” “You’ve earned it or you’ve deserved it.” “If you
try as hard as you can, you should be rewarded.” Or that old stand-by: “You’re
not near as bad as the people sitting next to you.”
But God’s
Word says different. “All have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “For all who rely on works of the law are
under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all
things written in the Book of the Law, and do them’” (Galatians 3:10). “You are severed from Christ, you who would
be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4).
“We have all become like one who is
unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade
like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away” (Isaiah
64:6).
These
words put us in our place. It’s true! We are guilty! Suddenly, we remember
countless ways we’ve fallen short. We’ve failed to humble ourselves, and we
certainly haven’t done much to exalt our neighbor. Forget having one of the
higher places are the heavenly banquet in the resurrection of the righteous, we
don’t even deserve to sit at the kids’ table in the room off to the side. Stranded
in our sin and banned from the eternal banquet, we are confronted with and
humbled by our inability to seat ourselves in God’s presence based upon our own
merits. We can do nothing but confess our sins. Before God, we slink to the
lowest place.
Well… not
quite the lowest place. That one, He took for Himself. Jesus “made Himself
nothing, taking the very form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point
of death, even death on the cross.” Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and
bestowed on Him the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:6-9). Christ
clothed Himself in human flesh so that He might defeat death and the devil and
deliver us from their power. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God was made like
us in every way so that He could satisfy God’s wrath for our sins (Hebrews 2:14-17).
He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses but maintained the righteousness
we cannot (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus, the Lamb of God and Scapegoat allowed Himself
to be placed “outside the gate” (Hebrew 13:12), literally driven out of the
city and crucified, to sanctify us by His blood.
For Jesus’
sake, God graciously seats you in His kingdom. The Lord clasps you on the
shoulder with His nailed-scarred hand and bids: “Friend, move up higher! Come to
the font and be washed in the baptismal waters and be joined to My death and
resurrection. Friend, move up higher! Hear My Word,
repent, and allow My Holy Spirit to create in you a new heart. Friend, move up
higher! Eat and drink at My Table. Receive My true body and blood for the
forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith. Friend, move up
higher. Remain in My presence forever, never be separated from Me again, and
rejoice in the unending life I have given you. You are forgiven for all of your
sins.
In the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Unless
otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English
Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Comments