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Luke 14:7-24 7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” 12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” 15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” 16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ been done, but there is still room.’ 23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’ “
Luke 18:9-14 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Philippians 2:1-11 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Having the Mind of Christ: Humility
This morning we continue in our Lenten series of Having the Mind of Christ and today we will talk about humility.
I want to tell you about Heidi Baker who is an American missionary based in Mozambique, Africa. Each year she goes on a speaking tour to raise money for her missionary work. I have heard her speak twice now. The last time I saw her speak the message she brought was about going low. Going low before God, bowing down in humility. She told us that God told her once, “I want you to come up to the lowest place.” She is calling the church to humility as the way to get intimate with God. Heidi started out kneeling before us and delivered most of her sermon flat out on her face before God. We are invited to do the same, prostrate ourselves before our Father who loves us. She said those who want to be used by God must learn to relinquish power, to go low, and want to go lower still—into a place of humility where the presence and power of God can be known. Heidi herself is a very humble woman who spends her time ministering to orphans and the poor in Mozambique. She is ordained and has a PhD in Systematic Theology. She could have sought power with a large ministry following or taught in a university. Instead, she works among the poor in a country not her own.
Paul said, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” Now this is quite contrary to what the world would tell us. The world says we are to get out there and climb the corporate ladder, knocking aside anyone who would get in our way. Humility is not exactly popular in our culture today. I found a few examples for you. I don’t follow country music but apparently there is a country song that goes, “Lord, it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way.” Ted Turner has been quoted as saying, “If I had a little more humility I would be perfect.” This is nothing new though. Let’s go back in time, oh, about four thousand years ago, to Moses. Listen to Numbers 12:3, “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” Sounds great until you remember that Moses is credited with writing the book of Numbers so he wrote this about himself! If we have pride about our humility then we really haven’t made it to humility!
Henri Nowen, a renowned spiritual writer said, “Our lives in this technological and highly competitive society are characterized by a pervasive drive for upward mobility.” He described the way our lives are structured around climbing to the top of whatever we define as the ladder of success. He wrote, “Our very sense of vitality is dependent upon being part of the upward pull and upon the joy provided by the rewards given on the way up.” This is the opposite of what Paul said. If we are the have the mind of Christ, then rather than strive to go up we need to in Heidi Baker’s words, “go low”.
The gospel does not promote the upward life, instead it promotes the downward life. Nowen goes on to say, “The story of our salvation stands radically over and against the philosophy of upward mobility. The great paradox which Scripture reveals to us is that real and total freedom can only be found through downward mobility. Jesus came down to us and lived among us as a slave. The divine way is indeed the downward way.”
Let’s spend some time looking at what humility is and what it is not. Humility means properly valuing ourselves and loving ourselves in contrast to pride. This does not mean we are a doormat upon which everyone else wipes their dirty feet. The key term in the definition is properly. We are to love and value ourselves. After all, God does. But we are to keep it in balance. We aren’t to compare ourselves to others. We are to keep our eye on Jesus not on others and then we will know how to act properly. As Paul said in Romans 12:2-3, “2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God– what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
Humility is not about false piety in which we pretend we don’t value ourselves. Jesus is not turning an inferiority complex into a virtue. Remember Paul said, “think with sober judgment.” In today’s language we might say, “Be self-aware.” Know your own good and bad points, we all have some of each. Humility is not humiliation.
In Paul’s day and culture as in our own today there is an underlying assumption that everyone ought to assert themselves; that this is the right and proper thing to do. Paul is shouting an emphatic NO to this. “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.” Here is yet another example of the upside down kingdom of God. Christians are to humble themselves, “regard others as better than yourselves.”
Let’s see what we can learn from Jesus’ parables in Luke that were read earlier. In the first one, Jesus is present at a banquet and is observing the guest’s behavior. Apparently there is much jockeying for position, everyone seeks the highest, most honored position. Jesus tells them a parable. It’s one of contrasts, do this, don’t do this. Basically He says that if you seek a higher place you may be asked to move and so be humiliated. Instead, He recommends you should sit at the lowest place then the host will move you up to a higher place and you will be honored. He ends the parable with, “11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” We choose our actions, but we do not choose the consequences of those actions. And Jesus said that the actions and the consequences move in precisely the opposite directions. Those who exalt themselves, who actively puff themselves up, will be humbled; but those who actively humble themselves will ultimately be exalted.
We see this again in the second parable with the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee is very proud of himself. In his prayer he was basically telling God how good he was. The tax collector, in contrast to the Pharisee was very humble. He stood at the very back, he wouldn’t even look up at heaven but begged God for mercy. Jesus ended by saying, “I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” The same words he used with the first parable.
Our verses from Philippians contain the most beautiful description of the nature and character of Jesus, and one of the most demanding challenges to those who would be His followers. Paul tells us, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death– even death on a cross.” Jesus emptied Himself of rank, privilege, and rights. The incarnation included humiliation, weakness, and obedience. Verse 8 states, “he humbled himself.” The call of Christ is that our ultimate concern must be for others, and that concern leaves no room for self-indulgent self-concern. It has been said that Jesus is the second Adam. The first Adam sinned by grasping for equality with God; Jesus renounced equality with God to become man. It is clear that to have the mind of Christ we need to be humble people.
So here are two guidelines for when it come to being humble, first: Don’t take yourself too seriously. Don’t overestimate your own importance. I grew up listening to many of the great old Broadway shows. How many of you remember “My Fair Lady”? In it there is a song, “Without You” in which Eliza Dolittle sings to Henry Higgins, “There’ll be spring every year without you. England still will be here without you. There’ll be fruit on the tree. And a shore by the sea. There’ll be crumpets and tea without you. Art and music will thrive without you. Somehow Keats will survive without you. And there still will be rain on that plain down in Spain, even that will remain without you.” Eliza’s point was the Henry Higgins was not essential to the world and guess what, none of us are either.
Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life”, said that one of the biggest problems for many of us is that we take ourselves too seriously and don’t take God seriously enough. He pointed out that the words humor and humility come from the same root word, and he said that if we learn to laugh at ourselves, we will always have plenty of material!
G. K. Chesterton once said, “One ‘settles down’ into a sort of selfish seriousness; but one has to rise to a gay self-forgetfulness. . . . It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light. Satan fell by force of gravity. . . . Angels can fly because they take themselves so lightly” So don’t be heavy, lighten up.
The Second guideline: Do treat others as royalty: Treat every other person as if he or she were the guest of honor at your table. Turning back to our reading from Luke 14 Jesus makes this point by giving some rather odd instructions for the invitation list for a dinner party: When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet,, instead invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Jesus goes on to tell a story of a banquet to which the invited guests didn’t come. In the story God is the host and we can either be the self-important guests who don’t have time to come or we can be the ones dragged off the street. We can either be proud like the Pharisee or humble like the tax collector who begged for mercy. The choice is ours. But know this; we will not swagger into the heavenly banquet boasting of our accomplishments. The only ones who will be around that banquet table are those who know they actually have no real place there but have been welcomed by the extravagant mercy of our God. We will not be there because we are good but because God is good.
Let us pray. Almighty and ever-living God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen