The Chair at the Head of the Table

that sometimes I think that there’s
a lot of truth in that old quip that the chapter verses and divisions
were done quite unscientifically. One person even suggested that
they were done while one scribe was riding on the back of a horse.
They seem to be that indiscriminate. This is one of those chapter
divisions that certainly you had to divide the chapter, I
suppose, somewhere. But sometimes in dividing our
chapter divisions, we lose the context, we lose the flow, if
you will. And there is much in this chapter
that is really just a continuation of what Jesus had already faced.
If you look back over your shoulders, and I’m not going to take you
specifically back into chapter 13, But the connection carries
forward from chapter 12 and 13 to chapter 14 in tracing the
ongoing hostility of the crowd, Christ’s adversaries, some of
the followers that were in his midst. It’s really not that different
in chapter 14. We know that ultimately it’s
only going to intensify until they put Christ on the cross. In chapter 13, Jesus had chided
Herod, essentially calling him to come and witness the miracles
that he was performing. And in chapter 14, we open the
chapter with another miracle. There was this ongoing controversy
that Christ was embroiled in with the religious elite, the
Pharisees, regarding the Sabbath and what was lawful, what was
legal, in their understanding for him to do on the Sabbath,
an ongoing question about healings. And so, there is much in this
chapter that is really not new. It’s part of the continuing context
that Christ was facing. There is, at the head of our
family table, the place of honor. In fact, Most people think of
it, typically speaking, that head chair, that chair at the
end of the table is the chair of honor. It’s the seat of honor. And yet, there’s nothing inherent
about that chair that bestows the one who sits in it with some
honor. It’s a cultural thing. It’s a
seat of honor. Most times, my father occupied
that chair. Usually the heads of households
often do. But it’s an interesting thing
that there is nothing inherent in that chair that bestows honor
on the one who sits in it. And yet, sometimes those chairs become unceremoniously lobbied
for. And essentially, that’s what
we see in this little passage. We see a very solemn, special,
precious occasion that others in their pride turned into one
of these opportunities for recognition. It’s a deep passage. And I think it’s a passage that
the Lord took purposely, a scene that the Lord took purposely
to instruct His own disciples to instruct even the Pharisees
that were in his hearing, and ultimately to instruct us about
the nature, the real nature of the Seat of Honor. That’s what
we want to look at this morning. And if you would, let’s just
begin by reading the passage, beginning in chapter 14, verse
1, where we see this unfolding development. Not an entirely
new context. but a sudden lesson, a sudden
opportunity to proclaim a solemn lesson about humility. It happened
that when he went into the house of one of the leaders of the
Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him
closely. And there in front of him was
a man suffering from dropsy. And Jesus answered and spoke
to the lawyers and Pharisees saying, is it lawful to heal
on the Sabbath or not? But they kept silent. And he
took hold of him and healed him and sent him away. And he said
to them, which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into
a well and will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?
And they could make no reply to this. And he began speaking
a parable to the invited guests when he noticed how they had
been picking out the places of honor at the table. And he was
saying to them, 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. 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. Such is the seat of honor We’ll
look at that seat in a moment. But I want to take you back to
the context. It was a solemn occasion. It was a wedding. And as part of this wedding feast,
there certainly seems to have been some luncheon provided to
which Jesus was invited. It was in some Pharisee’s home
and it seemed to be in combination of some sort with this wedding.
Go back to verse 1, if you would. It says that he went into the
house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath
to eat bread. And you notice immediately about
Christ that he wasn’t afraid to go and to meet with those
who were his declared enemies, those who constantly sought to
trip him up. This wasn’t the first time even
in Luke’s gospel that we’ve seen it. In chapter 7, verse 36, One of the Pharisees was requesting
to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined
at the table. This was another one of Christ’s
typical acts of mercy. To go even to his enemy’s house
and to dine with him and to have the hope of turning his heart. Several chapters back, in chapter
11, verse 37, Luke records there, when he had spoken to Pharisee,
he asked him to have lunch with him and he went in and reclined
at the table once again. Christ didn’t shy away from his
enemies. He didn’t give up on them. Rather,
he pursued them graciously and mercifully. He wasn’t going to
be turned by their hearts. He hoped to turn theirs. But note, the sinister occasion
begins to unfold in front of us. They were watching him closely. It was the Sabbath. He had already
run into this issue of healing on the Sabbath, and it certainly
seems, if we can’t even begin to conclude, that they were trying
to set him up. He had healed others on the Sabbath.
We’ve looked at it before. He healed the man near the pool
of Bethesda. Recorded there in John chapter
5. That was the first of Jesus’ Sabbath healings. And Jesus took
nothing but grief because of that. There was another Sabbath
healing in the synagogue. A man with a withered hand. Both
Matthew, Mark and Luke all record it. The response to that Sabbath
healing was that they wanted to destroy him. And it wasn’t
the last Sabbath healing. He healed the woman who was caused
by a sickness. We studied that passage in Luke
chapter 10. That occurred in the synagogue
on the Sabbath. And as a result of that, all
of Jesus’ accusers were being humiliated because they didn’t
have a word to say. John 9, perhaps the most famous
of all of Jesus’ Sabbath healings, was the man born blind. And so
you begin to conclude that this wasn’t just happenstance. This
wasn’t an accident. This was something that Jesus
was purposefully doing. That’s what we concluded before. Jesus wasn’t being set up. He
was allowing it to happen. And Jesus seized hold of the
opportunity every time to heal on the Sabbath. Because he wanted
to correct their false thinking. That the Sabbath, this day, had
somehow become more holy and more important than people themselves. That’s what the Pharisees had
turned it into. And they were watching him closely. The invitation
was a plot. It was a trap. It was part of
this ongoing, elaborate series of spying that was going on on
Jesus, watching His every move, hunting for some kind of line
of heresy that they could accuse Him of. It was all part of their
declining spirituality, exposed by the very words of Christ. And suddenly, Jesus comes face
to face with this man. We don’t know for sure. We don’t
have enough data to know whether the Pharisees set him up by putting
this man who was suffering from dropsy. Now, at first glance, I thought that
this is what I suffer from. That my wife is certain that
I suffer from this clumsiness that seems to be endemic to the
male species. Every time I open a closet, I
have to end up accusing my wife of of what I call booby trapping
because things come spilling out on top of me. But it really
it really was a pretty serious disease. In fact, in reading about it,
essentially what I liken it to is what we modern day what we
might call in our own modern day is edema. If you’re not familiar
with that, it’s the organs and tissues of the body, the brain,
the liver, the heart, the kidneys, even the flesh itself that begins
to retain water at an alarming rate. Usually there is some kind
of underlying cause, either heart failure or kidney failure, organ
failure of some sort. And so in that sense, it may
not have been the only disease the man suffered from, but often,
usually, in fact, most times it resulted in that day and age
in death. It was an unsightly disease.
The person would swell, become tremendously uncomfortable, would
be either reddened in the skin or even yellowed because the
liver was not functioning. It was regarded not only as uncurable,
but the Jews held it to be a mark of being cursed, as they did
with so much other disease. Part of that was because in the
book of Numbers, this passage was recorded. The Lord will make
you a curse and an oath among your people by the Lord’s making
your thigh waste away and your abdomen swell. And this water
that brings a curse shall go into your stomach and make your
abdomen swell and your thigh waste away. So the Jews took
from that that anybody that suffered from this so-called edema or
dropsy was cursed by God. We can’t conclude for sure that
they placed this man in front of Christ for a reason, but we
can sure suspect it. Perhaps they did it as an impossible
situation, an incurable disease that they knew that they believed
in their heart that Christ couldn’t touch. But at the very minimum, it was
a setup for another Sabbath healing. And they wanted to have the goods
on Christ. They wanted to be able to accuse him with great
clarity for breaking their precious law. In verse three, it records
that Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees,
saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? He had
asked the question before. He had stumped the crowd before.
And here again, they refused to answer. These Sabbath disputes that were
really at the core of the Pharisees’ hatred of Christ, because they
had accumulated all kinds of man-made formalisms and turned
the Sabbath into a national institution which excluded almost all around
them. Jesus knew their hearts. And
Jesus begins to rebuke them. And he asks this simple question. And their silence is a rebuke
in and of itself. They had nothing to say. Verse
four says they kept silent. This simple question defeated
their whole plan. Because they said if they said
it’s not lawful, they immediately would expose themselves before
the people. as having no heart, which was
the typical accusation levied at the Pharisees. And Jesus would
have had all the more data. But if they said it is lawful,
then their plot would have come to nothing. And so they sat back,
squirming themselves, essentially attempting to make Christ squirm. And Christ did the only thing
that a loving and merciful God could have done He took hold
of him at the end of verse 4 and healed him and sent him away.
And he said to them, which one of you will have a son or an
ox fall into a well and will not immediately pull him out
on the Sabbath day? And how, he says, is this any
different? How is it any different? And
they could make no reply to this. They were stumped once again.
Christ had shamed them once again. And now Christ is the one in
the seat of observation. Christ is the one in the position
of observing their behavior. Note verse 7. He began speaking
a parable to the invited guests when he noticed how they had
been picking out the places of honor at the table. They immediately
scrambled from this healing and began playing some kind of sick
version of musical chairs. Each one lobbying for the most
important seat. In studying this, typically tables
were laid out in a U-shape. A small table surrounded by nine
chairs on three sides. And the middle chairs were the
seats of honor. That’s where the important rabbis,
the scholars, the scribes, the kings sat. So as to be surrounded,
as it were, by others. But regardless of how the table
was structured, you can even think of our modern day tables,
those long tables at the head of which typically sits the father
or the head of the household, the grandfather, the seat of
honor, if you will, which is sometimes relinquished to a high
and honored guest. There are many ways of honoring
our guests, aren’t there? Perhaps some of you have even
seen in the culinary shops and kitchen shops the red plate,
right? The plate of honor. Perhaps some
of you even own one. There are many ways of honoring
our guests. Giving them a special place.
Giving them the spoon that hasn’t been through the disposal. Giving them the nice glassware But this struggle for precedence,
as everybody was clamoring now and struggling for a chair, immediately
exposed their ambition. It immediately exposed their
pride. And it gave Jesus this golden
opportunity for one of the most frequently repeated lessons in
all of Scripture, a call to humility. A call to humility. In fact, this passage mirrors,
not identically, but mirrors the opening of Matthew chapter
23, where Jesus issues His most pointed rebuke at the Pharisees
and scribes. He closes with many of the same
verses that are in this passage, ultimately closing with that
little phrase, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. and
he who humbles himself will be exalted.” One writer, Puritan, commenting
upon this scene said this, he said, we see that inconsistency,
ostentation, and love of preeminence among the professors of religion
are especially displeasing to Christ. They did all their works
to be seen by men. The Pharisees loved to have the
chief seats given to them in the public places and to have
flattering titles addressed to them. You know what? Luke had already noted this tendency.
He did it in chapter 11, verse 43. In chapter 11, verse 33,
he rebuked them by saying, Woe to you, Pharisees, for you love
the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings
in the marketplaces. They’re in the synagogue. They
love to sit up front where everybody can see them. And up front, they
sat facing all the people so the people could see just how
important they really were. I’ve likened it to what I called
in our own day and age, those church thrones, right? You’ve been perhaps in some of
those churches oftentimes are painted white with red velvet.
And here sits the ensconced one. up on top of the stage, as it
were, for all to see in full view of everyone. That’s what
these men were like. They wanted to be seen by everyone. Chapter 20 of Luke’s Gospel,
Jesus returns to this image and He says, while all the people
were listening, He said to the disciples, beware of the scribes
who like to walk around in long robes. This was their attitude.
They loved attention. They had to be at the center
of everybody’s vision. They loved to walk around in
long robes and they loved respectful greetings in the marketplace.
Oh, it’s the very right reverend. And the chief seats in the synagogues
and places of honor at banquets who devour widows’ houses and
for appearance sake offer long prayers. Jesus said their heart
isn’t in any of it. It’s all a show. The person at this special seat
enjoyed an advantage of being near the person who was being,
perhaps who was hosting the party. They essentially were the focus
of the table. And Jesus rebukes them. He calls
them to humility. William Law, one of my favorite
Puritan writers, urged humility when he said it this way. He
said, hate and despise all human glory, for it is nothing else
but human folly. Even if everybody should fall
at your feet, William Law says it’s empty. It’s worthless. He goes on to say it is the greatest
snare and the greatest betrayer that you can possibly admit into
your heart. Love humility in all its instances. Practice it in all its parts,
for it is the noblest state of the soul of man. It will set
your heart and affections right towards God and fill you with
every temper that is tender and affectionate towards men.” Don’t
love pride, essentially, is what he says. For these scribes, it
wasn’t in sitting in these chairs. It wasn’t in sitting in the chief
seats. Essentially, that Jesus even
begins to condemn. It was their love of those chief
seats. It was their love of those places.
And it was the feeling of resentment that they had if they didn’t
have them. What Jesus rebukes is that essentially
they were making an idol of themselves. It was the worst kind of idolatry.
They wanted everybody around them to fall down and worship
them. The disciples were the Jesus
had around him. They were used to it. They were
used to this religious atmosphere where the Pharisees exalted themselves
and they expected everyone around them, God included, to accept
them as being the truly exalted ones. But God didn’t see them
the way they saw themselves. And it’s in this context that
Jesus told this little parable. We’ve seen before that a parable
is a it’s a truism. It’s a truism that has a deeper
meaning, it lies alongside of a much deeper truth. Verse seven
says he began speaking a parable to the invited guests when he
noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the
table. It’s Jesus observing them now. I want to look at the true
nature or rather the nature of the true place of honor. What
is the place of honor and to whom should it be given? Is it
merely to sit at the head of a table that gives us honor?
Does that bestow some kind of honor upon us? That somehow if
we seize the plate, the red plate and sit in the primary spot,
does that somehow bestow some kind of honor upon us? I don’t
think so. What I’ve isolated out this morning
is four observations that describe the place of honor. First of
all, a place of honor is by degree part of our invitation. It is by degree part of our invitation. There is honor in having been
invited to a place regardless of where we sit. But for the
Pharisees, that wasn’t enough. Look at verse 8. Jesus says,
when you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, skip down
to verse 10, where he says, but when you are invited. And Jesus
there points out a completely overlooked fact by not only the
Pharisees, but by most of us. Because we often count it as
some kind of a divine right to be in attendance at every soiree.
At every party that’s thrown, we have our nose bent at a joint
if we don’t get invited, right? What? How come they went? Jesus observes this marriage
feast, not because a feast is better or is a better image of
the kingdom of God. Really, because those kinds of
occasions, there is more formality and notice is given and taken
by the guests and the hosts of who sits where. Perhaps you’ve
been to those weddings where you arrive, you’re a guest and
there’s a name tag, there’s a place already designated where you
are to sit. They’ve thought it through already.
They’ve tried to pair the tables up the way they wanted. It’s
not arrogant. It is to be the part of the hosts. Now, think of the context, people.
The Pharisees received honor just by being invited to this
wedding. If you or I received an invitation
in the mail, regardless of where we sit, inherent with that invitation,
there is honor. The sad thing is for us, it’s
not enough. Oftentimes, is it? It certainly
wasn’t for the Pharisees. But you know what? Look below.
Look deeper than just that lesson of the wedding. Not only was
it not enough for the Pharisees to be merely invited to this
wedding, it wasn’t enough for them to be among the people of
God. No, they had to set themselves
up in the chief seats. They had to set themselves up
as the elite. They weren’t thankful that God
had had mercy on them and saved their souls. And you know what?
It’s the same with us. Pride has a tendency to creep
in and to grow like a cancer within us and to make us think
that we’re more worthy than we are. To make us think that others
ought to recognize us and others ought to honor us. Some weeks ago, we were talking
about our church situation with another friend, and the friend
was criticizing and wondering why I wasn’t more critical of
our church situation, that I was having to go back to work. And
you know, by God’s grace, what my response was, I’m happy not
to be in hell. I’m not critical of our church
situation. I’m happy not to be in hell. And that’s what the
Pharisees forgot. They considered it some kind
of divine right to be in the public focus, the public spotlight
all the time. And the minute, the minute that
people took their eyes off of them, they were indignant. A.W. Tozer years ago urged for what he called a therapeutic Rather, he called it, he urged
us to thankfulness as a moral therapeutic. Pardon me. Essentially,
what he said was this tendency to find fault and to be critical
and to criticize and to scoff at things and to make fun of
others and to look down our noses at others, to essentially let
pride begin to take root. What Tozer recommended was thankfulness.
Cultivate a heart of thankfulness. Thankful that God has saved us. Thankful that God has had mercy
upon us. Isn’t it enough? Isn’t it enough
for you just to have been invited? Isn’t it enough that if even
no one ever recognizes a single thing that you do all the rest
of your days, isn’t it enough to be a child of God? Isn’t it enough to be in His
service? Isn’t it enough to love and know God Himself? People, even Christian people,
are so eager for recognition. I’ll never forget the time when
an individual came to me and challenged me to recognize his
daughter for having served these six months in the nursery. Isn’t
that just like us? We serve and we want to see who
notices. Who’s watching? When are they
going to give me a trophy? When are they going to give me
some kind of recognition? And that was the heart of the
Pharisees. People, there is honor. There
is honor just in knowing Christ as our Savior. There is infinite
honor just in that. Even if no one ever recognizes
a single thing you do. Secondly, A place of honor is
not only by degree part of our invitation, but a place of honor
is relative to who else is in attendance. It depends on who’s there and
it depends on what the occasion is all about. Look at the end of verse 8. He
says, when you’re invited by someone to a wedding feast, do
not take the place of honor. For someone, now I know this
is hard to imagine, someone more distinguished than you may have
been invited by him. That’s tough for us to imagine,
isn’t it? Someone more distinguished than
me? Haven’t we all been in those
uncomfortable situations? Maybe it’s our birthday and we
go and there’s a party planned and we just know that somebody’s
going to come out at any minute with a cake and they’re going
to sing to us. And isn’t it going to be, oh, you know, we’ll have
to go through that thing where, oh, you shouldn’t have. And then it doesn’t happen. Because
the party wasn’t about your birthday. It was a retirement party for
Jim and his faithful service of 35 years. It wasn’t about
you at all. Maybe there is the occasion where
you are the most successful businessman that this community has ever
known. And a party is planned and you’re just certain that
it is in your honor. And suddenly, the lights dim The volume of
the microphone picks up and it isn’t you in focus at all. Perhaps
someone in their service to Christ is in focus. Maybe it is in that
situation at all. Maybe it’s an anniversary. Maybe
it’s your anniversary and you’re just sure that they’re going
to recognize you’re sticking it out with what’s-her-name
all these years. And it isn’t you in focus at
all. Whether it’s faithful service.
Whether it’s a graduation. Whether it’s some great accomplishment
that God has gifted you and privileged you to be a part of. Maybe you’ve
been part of a heroic rescue. And you’re certain that you are
to be the guest of honor. And suddenly the tide shifts. The spotlight is off of you.
And someone else steps into full view. Haven’t we all? I mean,
don’t we, in the recesses of our mind, dig back and all of
us… I’ll never forget. Everybody
asks me, from time to time, you know, you do these icebreakers.
Life’s most embarrassing moment. What was your most embarrassing
moment? Well, I’ll never forget. I’m not going to give you all
the details, but essentially, I’m in a picture, right? And I’m
taking this picture with these other people, and suddenly comes
into the picture somebody else, and I was supposed to exit stage
right, and they were supposed to come into the picture and
take my place. Only everybody forgot to tell me. Until finally
the cameraman had to ask me, would you please, we’ve taken
your picture, would you please step out of the picture? I wasn’t
in focus. I wasn’t the person to be honored. And I know it’s
hard for us to think, but depending on the context, depending on
the host, there may be in our midst someone more distinguished
than ourselves. The Pharisees couldn’t imagine
it. And the sad thing about the Pharisees, think of who was in
their midst. It was Christ. It was the Messiah. It was God Himself in human flesh
standing in their midst. And if anybody ever at any table
ever should have had the seat of honor, shouldn’t it have been
Christ? Shouldn’t it have been Christ with the red plate? Shouldn’t
it have been Him that was seated first? Him that was in the spotlight? Not in their eyes. When Puritan urged these words,
he said it should check our high thoughts of ourselves to think
how many there are that are more honorable than we. Not only in
respect of worldly dignities, but of personal merits and accomplishments. And instead of being proud that
so many give place to us, it should be humbling to us that
there are so many that we must give place to. If you really
thought about it, he says, If you really thought about it,
shouldn’t we humble ourselves before others as being more honorable
than ourselves? Not the Pharisees. Here was Christ
in their very midst. They should have heeded the words,
give honor to whom honor is due. There was never one more honorable
than our Lord Jesus Christ. But not to them. Thirdly, A place of honor is
not only by degree part of our invitation and relative to who
else is in attendance. But thirdly, it is the prerogative
of the host. It’s the prerogative of the host. Look at verse nine. Pick it up
in verse 8. When you’re 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. Oh, I hope it’s never happened
to you. I call it life’s most embarrassing
moment. It was my most humiliating moment.
I crawled out of there. I wanted to just leave and flee. If I’d had a ride, I probably
would have. I hope it hasn’t happened to
you, but it happened to them. Jesus paints the scenario where the
host of the party sees someone sitting in the chair of honor.
And rather than just glossing it over, perhaps like we would
saying, oh, well, we’ll fix it next time. Not this host. This host says you’re not going
to unseat my honored guest. And he goes and he moves them.
Give your place to this man and look at what happens. It is musical
chairs and in disgrace, they have to proceed to occupy the
last place because all the other chairs are taken. All the other
chairs are taken and there’s no place left for him to go.
It’s the prerogative of the host to do this. It’s the prerogative
of the host of a wedding to pick the table that you sit at I learned that lesson the hard
way. Flew back to do one of our college kids wedding years ago.
Did the wedding. Enjoyed the wedding ceremony
itself. Went to the reception afterwards. Number of details
we were taking care of. Signing a license. I was one
of the last ones to walk in. I didn’t expect to sit at the
head of the table. That’s the wedding party. I certainly didn’t
expect there. But I thought there might be
a seat for me. And in some kind of unfortunate
oversight, I know it wasn’t intentional, every guest had a seat. Every
guest had a name card but me. And the Lord used it to begin
the process of humbling me, which process is still underway, to
remind me that I was not the guest of honor. First and foremost,
it was the bride and the groom and then the parents and then
the wedding party. And all the others. And as a servant of Christ,
shouldn’t I have been last in line? Shouldn’t I have been last
in the minds of even the hosts? It is the prerogative of the
host to pick our chairs. And it’s the prerogative of God.
It’s the prerogative of Christ to see who He honors. What took
place was this arrogant version of musical chairs. And what Christ
said, it shouldn’t have been that way. These shouldn’t have
been clamoring for some kind of honor. We shouldn’t be clamoring
for some kind of recognition or honor. We should allow God. We should allow God to honor
whom He will and when He will. Fourthly and finally, place of
honor is not only by degree part of our invitation relative to
who else is in attendance, prerogative of the host. Fourthly, it is
only an honor to whom it’s bestowed. Somebody else who sits down in
that chair is going to be flatly dishonored, as we’ve just seen. Then in disgrace, you go and
proceed to the last place. Essentially, what Jesus was doing
here was echoing the thought of Proverbs 25. It reads like
this. Proverbs 25.6, Do not claim honor
in the presence of the king. and do not stand in the place
of great men. For it is better that it be said
to you, come up here, than for you to be placed lower in the
presence of the prince.” Essentially the same thought. Charles Bridges
said of that scene, let each of us lay himself to the work
of casting down our high tower of conceit. He said every one
of us has this tendency to build ourselves up in pride. To think
that we deserve the recognition, the honor. It says, let us cultivate a deep
sense of our utter worthlessness and carefully ponder that example
which is at once our pattern and our principle. Oh, think
of Him who is fairer than a man, being the most humble of men.
Him who is infinitely more than man, making Himself the lowest
of men. It just points us to Christ. Christ, of all people, could
have ran in and seized hold of the highest seat of honor of
all. But He didn’t. He had humbled Himself, taking
the form of a man, and ultimately humbled Himself to the point
of the cross. Look down at verse 10, though. It is only an honor
to whom it is bestowed. At the end of verse 9 it says,
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. That’s when God himself
bestows the honor, not us. It’s not an honor that we’ve
seized for ourselves, it’s an honor that God in his mercy has
bestowed. People, can we say it any more
clearly? Pride goes before destruction. One Puritan said it this way,
humility is the passport to promotion in the kingdom of God. That we
cannot move up unless God moves us up and we will not be moved
up unless we are humble before him. And Jesus closes with that very
common axiom, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, not
maybe. Maybe God will get around to
knocking him down a few pegs. He will be humbled. And note
the equal and opposite portion of that axiom. He who humbles
himself will be exalted. Jesus wasn’t saying, boy, if
you just go through the motions and act humble, sooner or later,
somebody is going to exalt you to a high place. I mean, what
would that have done? It would have made proud men
all the prouder. Jesus says, true humility. Don’t
even think about the place of honor. Don’t even think to expect
the place of honor. J.C. Ryle quoted Richard Baxter
by saying, church greatness consists of being in great service to
the church. You want to be great in the eyes
of all the people? Humble yourself and serve the
people of God. And let God pick the timing and
the place if He should choose to exalt you. The desire of the
Christian, said J.C. Ryle, must be to do good and
to give himself and all that he has to the service of others.
Let us seek the grace of humility every day. No grace is so beautiful. No grace is however much despised
by the world. No grace is such an evidence
of saving faith and true conversion to God. No grace is often so
often commended by our Lord. Humility. And once more, through all the
pages of Scripture repeated so often, humility is once again
urged upon us. Don’t think more highly of ourselves
than we ought to think. Matthew Henry said it this way
in closing. Humility is that adornment which in the sight
of God is of great price. God places high value on humility. In this world, the humble have
the honor of being accepted with the Holy God and respected by
all wise and good men, of being qualified for and often called
out to the most honorable of services. For honor is like a
shadow which flees from those who pursue it, but follows those
who flee from it. People, let’s not clamor for
the seat of honor. Let’s bow. O gracious God, we examine our
heart before You and we plead that You would examine our hearts.
And where that root of pride has come and begun to take root,
we pray that You would uproot it. that You, Father, would eradicate
the pride that is so common to us, lest we be just like these Pharisees,
clamoring for a chair that does not belong to us. Father, humble
us that we may be usable and serviceable to Christ our Lord. We thank You and we praise You
for Your mercy towards us. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Thank you.