We
human beings apparently have a deep need to be recognized, appreciated and
honored. I supposed it goes with
the turf of being human. However,
as important as this might be, Jesus seems to raise a point that says to his
disciples, BE CAREFUL with
that kind of need. It
can be rise up and bite you if not harnessed and controlled.
In
this we need to remember that Jesus isn’t calling us to be slothful or
unmotivated or lazy but He is calling us to be careful. Our desire to win, to be first, to get ahead, can be so
strong that it pushes even God to the side in it’s zeal to claim the
prize.
In Luke 14:7-14
Jesus speaks a parable that tells us that the so called “Prize” may not be all
its cracked up to be; and, He instructs His disciples not to be persons who
seek out the place of honor and recognition. He seems to call His people simply
to live their lives in humility and honesty, before God and man, without a
sense of fanfare and crowd appreciation.
Look
at verse 8-9
When you are invited by someone
to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more
distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you
both will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this man,' and then in
disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place.
Several
months ago Michaele and Tareq Salahi crashed a party at the Whitehouse, causing
more distress with security forces than we can imagine. Why did they do that? They had a need to be recognized, a
need to be in the in group, a new for place, honor and recognition. Jesus tells us not to crash the
party. If we’re invited go ahead
and go but don’t play the “I’ve got clout” card. Just find a place, and enjoy the event. If they want you up front, they’ll call
for you.
Look
at verses 10-11.
But when you are invited,
go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you
comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will have honor in
the sight of all who are at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
We
ought not to be about the business of exalting ourselves. We ought to just go about being who we
are, being grateful that we’ve been invited; not pushing ourselves on people so
that we can get the really important seat.
Then
look at verses 11-14 where Jesus takes this thought to an even deeper
level. In these verses He says,
For everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
And He also went on to say to
the one who had invited Him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not
invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors,
otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment.
But when you give a reception,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since
they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the
resurrection of the righteous."
Do you see where
Jesus is taking us? He is taking
us to the place of servanthood and faithful living. Don’t just matriculate with the wealthy, the haves, the
powerful, the rich. Remember that
Jesus came to touch the lives of the poor, the needy, the broken, the hurting,
the marginalized. He treated
everybody the same and most of His close friends where from the poor or working
class. He didn’t hobnob with the
powers that be. He simply took His
place with the folks, and considered them to be as important as anyone else on
the face of the earth.
The
key verse in all this seems to be Luke 14:11 where Jesus says,
“Everyone who
exalts himself will be humbled;
and he who humbles
himself will be exalted.”
This
is not quite the way the world operates is it? The world seems to operate like
this to some degree or another:
Don’t
be humble or people will walk all over you.
It’s
every man for himself; I like you but don’t get in my way.
It’s
the survival of the fittest, so get fit or get out.
Or,
maybe it’s just, “I’m going to get to the top of my world no matter what it
takes.
But
have you noticed how differently Jesus does life and how differently the life
is to which Jesus calls us?
The truth is that we followers of Jesus ought to be doing
life a whole lot differently than those who do not follow Jesus. We live in a different kingdom by a
different set of values. The old
songs says, ‘I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause.” A true disciples of
Jesus knows exactly and precisely what that means.
And
remember this, too. It’s not that
Jesus calls us to beat up on ourselves or to feed our low self-esteem or to
develop some unhealthy self-destroying philosophy of life. Just the opposite in fact.
Jesus
calls us to greatness. He has
gifted us and equipped us to do amazing things with our lives. There is no debating it , and to play
it down or to deny it would be insulting to God, our Creator. False humility is not humility at
all. It is a slap in the face of
the cross, and a denial of a Biblical truth expressed by David when he said in
Psalm 139, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (14). You are, and don’t you ever forget
it.
What
Jesus is doing is calling us to live out our creation and our creative
capacities from within an arena of His incomparable love. In I Corinthians 13 Paul says, “Love…does
not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly…does not seek its own” (vs. 4-5). Love goes about its business, doing
what it does and doing it in the Mind and Spirit of Jesus who “humbled himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8). It was in and through His self-giving
that Jesus brought grace into the deepest needs of the human being. Now, we are called upon to live in the
same of humility.
In
that act of obedience we are free not to be overly consumed by worldly concerns
but free to live to the glory of God.
We
are free to be the kind of person this world desperately needs.
We
are free to manifest the life of Jesus in us.
We
don’t have to have the accolades.
We don’t have to set at the place of honor. We don’t have to be recognized. Instead, we go about our faithfulness business living for
God and God alone.
We’ll
quietly take our place and if they want us, they’ll call us. And, if they don’t call us we’ll enjoy
the party from the back row, which is where most of the fun takes place anyway. They know our phone number and they
know our address and if they need us, they’ll find a way to get a hold of
us. In the mean time, we’ll just
enjoy our relationship with God.
We’ll live in the glory of the grace that has come to us in Jesus. We’ll live in the power of the Holy
Spirit and experience His gracious fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
There
is a wonderful word from Jesus in John 12:26 where He says, “If anyone serve
Me, the Father will honor him.” Isn’t
that, in the end, the most important thing to us, not to be honored by men so
much as to know that the Father is in our story, that He is pleased by our
passion to serve Jesus, and that our lives are in a place where true honor is
bestowed, the kind of honor that God gives? Don’t you want to hear God say to you someday, “Well done,
good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25: 21, 23 – NIV)?
What
Jesus is talking about in Matthew 25 and in Luke 14 is a life of true
humility. Disciples who go about
their business without fanfare and the need to be recognized do more good for
the kingdom of God then we could ever imagine. Somebody said one time that there was no telling how much
good could be done if it didn’t matter who got the credit. But, credit matters in this world,
doesn’t it? There is an ego need
to make sure what is mine is recognized as mine. The theme for many people is, “I want what I want when I
want it, and if I don’t get, I’ll find a way to get it anyway.” That kind of attitude ought to be light
years away from anybody who names the name of Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
As
you may know for many years Sir Walter Scott was the leading literary figure in
the British Empire. It was agreed
upon by most people that no one could write as well as he. Then, one day, the works of Lord
Byron began to appear, and people began to recognize their greatness. Not long after Byron works began to
appear an anonymous critic praised his poems in a London newspaper. The anonymous critic declared that in
the presence of these brilliant works of poetic genius, Sir Walter Scott could
no longer be considered the leading poet of England. It was later discovered that the unnamed critic had been
none other than Sir Walter Scott himself!
Humility
is an awesome trait. In the
kingdom of God it’s a mark of a true relationship with God. It is a sign that one has truly
connected their lives with God, and that the life of God lives in them. In that place one can go about life
with a freedom that can’t be matched. There is no agenda to defend, no sides to take, mo thrones to
pursue. In Christ, life is filled
with the glory of God, and we go about being who we are knowing that there is
only one honor we seek and that is the honor that comes from God. We’ll be faithful in what we do and we
can to another day when Jesus will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
All
my life I’ve tried to be faithful to what I know to do. I suspect that is your story, too. Sometimes I succeeded and sometimes I
failed. I suspect that is your
story, too. The world will only
look at the success and failure columns.
It can’t see inside your heart or mine. Only God can see us at that level. God knows our heart and He sees the longing of our soul to
be who He wants us to be and to do what He would have us to do. So it is, the world could easily
say to us, you have failed and at the same time God will be saying to us, “Well
done, good and faithful servant.”
You
see we haven’t been called to be successful but we have been called to be
faithful. And faithfulness means
that we have placed our lives into the hands of God. That’s where we live.
So, we don’t have to take the place of recognition. We don’t have to crash the party to
feel our worth. We don’t have to
sit up front to feel that we matter.
We don’t have to have the honor of the crowd. We simply go about our business living our lives and doing
our work in the name that means more to us than any other name, the name of
Jesus. And, we do it knowing the
promise of Jesus, “if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him” (John
12:26). Isn’t that a remarkable
promise that, in and of itself, is enough for us.
It
is enough for us isn’t it?
Jesus
is Lord in our lives, and that is enough.
The
Holy Spirit fills us with the life of God, and that is enough.
God
has come into our brokenness and made all things new, and that is enough.
Anything
short of the honor that comes from God is unimportant. God has called us to Himself and Jesus
Is our Lord.
What
is it the old Irish hymn says?
Riches I heed not,
nor man’s empty praise.
Thou mine in
inheritance, now and always.
Thou and Thou only,
first in my heart,
High King of Heaven,
My Treasure Thou art.
