Open 475 RR Luke 14:7-14 NKJV "Social Climbing" Close 579 LUKE 14:7 So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: 8 "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; 9 "and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 "But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. 11 "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." 12 Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. 13 "But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. 14 "And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just." 14:1 Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. 2 And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. 3 And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" 4 But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. 5 Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?" 6 And they could not answer Him regarding these things. This event probably took place on one of the last Sabbaths before Jesus' crucifixion. That in itself gives meaning to this story. And Jesus was not invited for His good looks. Verse one tells us that they were watching him closely. They were probably trying to get some evidence against him for the trial that they knew they would eventually have. So their motivation was not to enjoy an afternoon of pleasant fellowship with some friends. Rather it was hopefully an opportunity to catch Jesus in some violation of the law. I don't know if you have been in a situation where people were watching you closely to try to find something wrong. I have. In my first district, after being there for a year, the members of one of my churches all of a sudden took an interest in recording my sermons. Being naive at the time, I felt good about it. I later found that they were combing through them to try to find something against me. Interestingly enough, later they were telling me about that, and said, that the sermons were really not that bad. I guess that's half of a cup.. Anyway Jesus was under scrutiny. Verse 2 tells us that there was a man there with dropsy. Now does anyone here know what dropsy was? From what I can gather, it would be what we would call, advanced congestive heart failure. Swelling of legs, hands, and feet. Enlarged abdomen. Difficulty breathing. Someone who would have been very uncomfortable to be there much less wanting attention brought to him. Except for the fact that Jesus was there. The man was probably lured to the feast with the hope that Jesus would heal him on the Sabbath day, and give them a reason to bring charges against him. The next verse shows Jesus in character. He wanted to relieve disease. Physically or spiritually, it is Jesus' greatest joy is to heal. So he asks the lawyers and Pharisees if it is legal to heal on the Sabbath day. In reply is a defining silence. They had been asked a question that they should have been able to answer. I believe that they did know the answer. But they were trapped. If they said yes, then Jesus would heal the man. In that case they would lose their argument against Him. If they had said no, then Jesus would have healed the man anyway and the people would have been upset with their leaders for showing their true hardness of heart. So they kept silent, and made plans to use Jesus' response against Him no matter what He did. Jesus tells them in essence, after healing the man, that they had compassion on their livestock. Was this man not worth more than livestock? He asked them what they would do if their sheep fell into a ditch. Again they would not answer. They knew that any answer that they gave would get them in trouble with the people. It is noteworthy, though, that while they were watching Jesus, he was reading their hearts. Which end of that situation would you rather be on? 7 So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: This verse says that he noted, he paid attention, marked, what was going on. And what was going on? He probably had to hide a grin somewhere as he watched the childish way that the guests manipulated their ways around the table to find what they thought to be the most exalted place at the table. It had to be done in a decorous manner, with all of the artificial politeness and craftiness that was their specialty. As we look through scriptures we find that at least once before upbraided the Pharisees about this type of activity. Luke 11:43 "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Watching what is going on, once the hubbub settles down, he dispenses some good advice. Not just good spiritual advice, but good political advice. 8 "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; 9 "and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. I don't know if any of you have committed any grave social blunders. I have once or twice. It can be quite embarrassing to be, as they say, put in your place. Perhaps while sitting there, Jesus had seen some social climber manipulate himself towards one of the more desirable places, only to watch as someone firmly moved him back to where they thought he belonged. It is often the case even in our churches, that people tend to struggle for the most exalted position. And that is not necessarily a physical place. It may be a place of office in the church. Elder or deacon, or deaconess. Treasurer or SS Superintendent. It may be a place of respect that someone struggles for. A place where ideas and opinions strive for the most exalted status. Perhaps we are even sure that everyone knows of our pious humility. But these are not the ways of the follower of Christ. Jesus continues teaching in: 10 "But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. The Apostle Paul gives us a picture of how Jesus the Christ followed His own advice. Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. 14 Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Look carefully at verse 15 again. 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, Is it too much to draw from this that if we are striving for supremacy over anyone else that we cannot be a servant? If we are sure that our ideas are the best, our theology the greatest, that we cannot be of help to another? In our teaching is it our desire to draw people to Jesus, or to ourselves? Are we more interested in winning an argument, or winning a soul? How do you think that Jesus' life answered that question? Jesus took the lowest of positions to reach us that He might elevate us to a position above where we were before sin. And Jesus' teaching was with authority not because He demanded it, but because the Spirit of God was manifested through it. Moving back to the text, Jesus relates another parable, or perhaps more appropriately,a bit of advice for Christians. 12 Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. 13 "But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. 14 "And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just." I just about passed on these verses, but changed my mind. Because these words are really practical application of the previous parable. They deal with true service. I do not think that Jesus meant that we should never invite friends and family to share a meal with us. Fellowship is important. The Book of Acts describes frequent times of fellowship of different kinds throughout. Here Jesus advises us, when you invite someone to dinner, invite someone who is really needy. I see this as one of those, this ought ye to do but not leave the other undone. How many people could we meet if we asked them over the next time we had a special event at our house. Notice that Jesus ties this directly to salvation at the resurrection. He said: for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just." I just wonder if a spiritual application might be appropriate here. How much of our time spent talking "religion" is spent talking with those who are presumably already converted? To how many of the gospel feasts do we invite those who have gorged to the point of being jaded on the latest theory, or thought, or speculation? How much of our time is spent reaching out to people who are really hungry but might not know for what they are hungry? What is Ellen White's take on this parable? In this parable the Lord shows us that he disapproves of the efforts of men who seek to be thought the greatest. The spirit that urges men to seek the highest place, is accompanied with pride, selfishness, and self-esteem, and the result will be that he who struggles for the highest position will find himself in the lowest. Nothing will make a man really great except to be truly good. But he who is wholly consecrated to God does not have the exaltation of self in view, but the glory of God. Amid the scenes of daily life, character is developed and made manifest. As we seek to bring the truth into practical life, we shall see the importance of taking heed to ourselves. The Christian is to imitate Christ. He is not to be careless of the proprieties of life; in so doing he places himself where he will reveal human attributes, and misrepresent the character of Christ. But wherever Christlike religion is manifested, it will work a blessing, and every detail of life will be made fragrant by the influence of the divine Spirit. {RH, October 8, 1895} Brothers and sisters, if we are to be useful to God in these last days, we need to live the Philippians 2 lifestyle that Jesus lived. If we are to help prepare a people to meet Jesus, we need to live, love, and care like Jesus did. We need to learn that they way up is down, and the way down is up. As we near the end of our talk today, I have a little quiz for you. If any of you can answer any of these questions, please raise your hand. 1. Who taught Martin Luther his theology and inspired his translation of the New Testament? 2. Who visited Dwight L. Moody at a shoe store and spoke to him about Christ? 3. Who worked alongside and encouraged Harry Ironside as his associate pastor? 4. Who was the wife of Charles Haddon Spurgeon? 5. Who was the elderly woman who prayed faithfully for Billy Graham for over twenty years? 6. Who financed William Carey's ministry in India? 7. Who refreshed the Apostle Paul in that Roman dungeon as he wrote his last letter to Timothy? 8. Who helped Charles Wesley get underway as a composer of hymns? 9. Who found the Dead Sea Scrolls? 10. Who personally taught G. Campbell Morgan, the "peerless expositor," his techniques in the pulpit? 11. Who were the parents of the godly and gifted prophet Daniel? There are many places around the table that need to be filled. God has made that place for us, for our talents and abilities. If we do not fill that place, a Luther, a Carey, a Finley might never preach the word of God. There are many seats that we may aspire to in which, instead of helping God's cause, we might actually hinder it. Today, I am going to ask you to join me to kneel and ask God to show us our mission in life, and give us the willingness to be obedient to that mission.