Now he told a parable to those who were
invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast,
do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you
be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give
your place to this person,' and then you will begin with shame to take the
lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that
when your host comes he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will
be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.” Luke 14:7-10 ESV
What
Jesus is teaching here is the opposite of nearly everything we hear today about
success.
It is not easy advice easy to take, because according to Jesus…
It is not easy advice easy to take, because according to Jesus…
1.
The Best Seat in the House is NOT the Lazy Seat.
Whales really do communicate with each other. I know that
because one day a whale sounded the following caution to his mate in whines and
clicks: "Better watch it; when
you get to the top and start to blow, that's when you get harpooned!"
In all this, it might be tempting to some to say, "Well, Jesus is saying that
climbing the ladder of success is not what I’m supposed to do, then I’ll just
settle back and sit on the bottom and never aspire to be all I can be.”
That kind of laziness is not what
Jesus is teaching here. He isn’t condemning progress or moving up. He’s
teaching against our natural tendencies toward arrogance and making out like
we’re more than we really are.
Paul said in Romans 12:3, "I say to every man among you not to
think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have
sound judgment…"
There is nothing
wrong with working hard to move up. Just
let others do the promoting. Don’t do it yourself. Let your works speak well of you, not your
mouth. Jesus isn’t condoning laziness here. This isn’t a verse for slackers.
God wants us to get a return on what we’ve been given. This passage in Luke isn’t condoning laziness
or lack of initiative. It’s speaking of
our means of progress. Want to go to the
top? Head for the bottom! You see starting at the bottom allows us to
progress naturally, at the speed of our true abilities. Starting
at the top puts us into a position where we must constantly try to be what we
are not by lying and deceit and misrepresentation and the humiliation of
others.
What happens when, in our arrogance and self importance, we
suddenly get a glimpse of Jesus, the Son of God from Philippians
2?
Scripture to Claim:
Do nothing from selfishness or empty
conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than
yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also
for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in
Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard
equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form
of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in
appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of
death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and
bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of
Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under
the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:3-11
