The Upward Call to Downward Mobility

       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.