Table Talk

Jesus teaches that those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. In this message from Luke 14, Emily invites us to examine our motives, embrace humility, and extend Christ’s invitation to the table of grace.

Transcript

This is my first time up here since the first of the month when we had the installation service. And I don't want to take up much time, but it was so personal to me. If you remember, Pastor Marshall shared about Saul, Paul and Lydia. He spoke about Lydia. And what Marshall didn't know is the significance of Lydia to me.

And maybe we'll have some time in a fellowship time where I might can share with you why that is so significant to me. But it was between me and the Father and it was a love gift to me when he spoke and brought up Lydia and you. Harvest Point are a love gift to me and I am praying for every one of you. So as we start today, we're in Luke chapter 14. And just before we get to the text, you might remember a few weeks ago, we've been journeying with Jesus.

And Pastor Marshall said a phrase. He said, we have been road tripping with Jesus this summer. And I love that. Doesn't that seem like a journey? You want to be on a road trip with Jesus.

And for those of you that, like, chosen like me, you can almost visualize the disciples and Jesus as they're journeying together on this road trip. And In Luke chapter 8, it writes that Jesus was going from town to town, sharing, proclaiming about the good news of the kingdom of God. And then it says in the next chapter, chapter nine, that Jesus set his face for Jerusalem. He knew exactly where he was going. He knew exactly why he was going there for us.

And as he is journeying to Jerusalem, he is teaching. And some of his truths can be hard to swallow. You remember a couple weeks ago when Pastor Marshall was preaching in that text that says, I came to bring fire. I came to bring division. And remember we talked about the wildfire, that you don't control where it goes.

We want a God who is so big, so great that we can't control or manipulate him. And he says, I come to you because I want all of you. I am a consuming fire. I want radical disciples for the kingdom of God. Hard truth sometimes for us to swallow.

And yet, as I think about road trips and I think about in our, the Moore family road trips, we get so excited. And then you're packing and you load the car and you get all the snacks, and then you're like, oh, this was a bit stressful. And then you get in the car and you begin to journey and like, okay, we got music. Okay, they're going to sleep. Hallelujah.

Things are calming down. And then all of a sudden, somebody needs to go potty. And then you stop. And then, oh, you've had too much coffee, we're cutting you off. We had to stop again.

Oh, oh. And then so. And so gets car sick. That's great. And then you keep going, oh, now we're hangry.

Anybody ever been there? And so now it's time to eat. And so we stop again. Okay. Then things get better and we're journeying.

And then we have a flat tire. And then you're stopped. And then, okay, we got that fixed. Help us, Jesus. And then we get back on the road and we're going.

And then traffic. Has anybody ever been on a road trip like this? And then finally you get to your destination. Hallelujah. And the destination is worth the journey.

And what I would say to us today, if we are road tripping with Jesus, there are times when it is difficult, and there are times when we are hangry, and there are times that don't feel good, but in the end, the destination is worth the journey. And I would say that even the journey is pretty incredible. Right? Right. So today we are going to turn to our text, Luke, chapter 14.

And it's going to start in verse one. And it says, on one occasion, when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely. And then, if you skip down to verse seven, when he noticed how the guest chose the places of of honor, he told them a parable. When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host. And then the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, give this person your place.

And then in disgrace, you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your hosts come, he may say to you, friend, move up higher. Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. And now, as we exalt, will you stand with me?

And then we continue. He said also 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, in case they may invite you in return and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, 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. And let us pray.

Jesus, thank you for your word. Thank you for this journey you're taking us on. God, will you speak to every heart in this place, for every heart that listens by way of the Internet Today, God, have your way within us. We surrender to you. We love you, Father.

Amen. And you may be seated. That verse one is packed with information. It says that he was at the house of a Pharisee. Now, the word Pharisee, it comes from a Hebrew word meaning separated ones or the set apart ones.

And we know that the Pharisees were the ones that were taking the rules. And then the rules had been given to someone else. And then they. They broke down those rules and they kept adding. And the Pharisees said, I am going to live to the letter of all these extra rules.

This Pharisee is hosting a dinner on what day? The Sabbath. Aha. On the Sabbath day. And the Pharisee invites who?

Jesus. Jesus on the Sabbath day. And it says that they were watching him closely. Now, when you hear watching him closely, you think, oh, good job, guys. But actually, if you look at this word, it means they were watching him with evil intent to watch him insidiously.

It's the idea of watching like a criminal who is going to take something and he's stalking to look. So then he knows when's the perfect time to snatch the purse. You see what I'm going. They're watching closely, but it's a negative watching. So you may ask yourself, what was their motivation in inviting Jesus to come to their dinner?

Why were they watching him closely? Well, it was a trap. It was a trap. They're watching him, but they're wanting to catch him over and over again. You'll see in the Gospels how they try the Pharisees to set Jesus up.

They'll ask him a question. They're trying to build their case and against him. And Jesus, of course, always answers and knows exactly what to say. He knows before he goes that it's a trap. And in those verses that we're not reading today, it actually tells us that there is a man there who is suffering.

They use the term dropsy, which actually is an old term, but meaning edema fluid, maybe congestive heart failure. He is suffering. And Jesus says, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? And Jesus heals the man and says, you can go, sets him free and heals him on the Sabbath. You see, the Pharisee knew Jesus had healed on the Sabbath.

And as he was trying to build a case, he invited Jesus on that day and had a plant, if you will, someone there that needed healing just to see what Jesus would do. And you know what Jesus does? He still heals anyways. Aren't you glad that our God heals anyways? He says, I will heal on Sunday, Saturday, Friday, it doesn't matter.

I come in compassion. And it was lawful. It was lawful because it was an emergency situation. Someone needed help and he did that. But my question is, who are you watching closely?

What is your intention for watching him closely? Side note, if you look to your phone more often than you look to Jesus, we might have an issue. If you have seen engagement pictures this past week more than you have seen the scripture, we might have an issue. If you have seen Taylor Swift's ring this week more than you have seen Jesus, we might have an issue. Nothing wrong with looking at our phone.

But if we're looking at our phone to get approval or pleasure or advice, instead of looking to Jesus who has it all, we might need to check our heart. Who are you looking at? And it's interesting. It's not just them that are watching you. Drop down to verse seven.

Who else is watching? And Jesus. Jesus is watching. It says, Jesus is watching. And if you're like me, do you like to watch people?

You ever just sit at the airport when you have some downtime and you just like to watch people? It's fun. It's fun when you watch people show mercy. It's fun when you watch people show compassion and kindness. It's embarrassing when you watch people that, you know, just kind of lose their cool.

When you're walking around Disney World, it's really fun to go to Disney World. When your kids are older, it's fun to go because they have less meltdowns. And so when they get older and you go to Disney, you can watch for meltdowns and it's funner. So we like the Moore's because we're a little weird. We like to watch for meltdowns now.

Not kid meltdowns, but parent meltdowns. So those moments where mom and dad have had enough and they're hangry and they. And it's easy to spot. And that's in the moments and you think, oh, that's what I look like. That's what happens to me.

Or when you're at a soccer game and you see other parents and you're like, oh, that's what it's like. You know when they lose it and you see other people, Jesus is watching people, but he's watching how they act. It says that he's watching them and they're vying for seats, the best seat at the dinner party. Now, the dinner party, you've seen a picture of the table, and they were of course, recline as they're laying there. And there are seats.

This is just a picture, but in this picture, the head of the table would be in the middle, and then the lowest seat is the one farthest away. So if we're going to the dinner party, these people were kind of elbowing, trying to get the best seat, seat or the place of honor. Jesus is watching this, and so he's thinking, okay, and he takes a moment and begins to teach. Now, thank you guys for the picture. When you watch people vying for the best seat, it's never attractive, it's never good.

When you watch people try to place themselves in positions that God didn't put them in. Okay, when we're striving, you think about kids, kids, birthday parties, kids. I'm not saying they have any evil intentions, but have you seen kids? When one kid begins to open gifts, what do all the other kids do? They circle in and they get so close because they're so excited.

And you have to say, okay, back up. Because they can't even open the gift because they're all trying to get close, close, close to see the gift. Right in this time, I envision that these guests are all trying to push their way because they want the place of the honor. They want to be next to the one who's in charge. They want to put their self.

Have you ever. Not you personally, but you see, what is your motive? What is your intent for the actions that you're doing? For instance, volunteering at the school so you can be close to the teacher. Volunteering to host the baseball swim part party.

What is your intention for doing what you're doing?

What is our intention? So Jesus then uses a parable and he says about the wedding feast. And if you're invited to a wedding banquet, don't sit down at the place of honor. It's important for us to pay attention when he says, do not. And in this parable, he says, do not sit.

Sit at the place of honor or you will be disgraced. Disgraced. Loss of reputation, shame, disgrace. He says, instead, go and sit down at the lowest place. Now, doesn't that sound like Jesus?

Doesn't that sound like Jesus? This idea of kind of vying for the best seat. It kind of gives mama of James and John, doesn't it? When she says, God, when you take your throne in heaven, let my babies be on either side of you. He said, that's not my place to give the humility of Jesus.

He says, go sit at the lowest place. It's interesting. Jesus doesn't say, well, go take your seat a few seats beside the honor place, like take a couple seats down. He says, go take the lowest place. You're so far from the bread, you're getting no appetizer.

That's the place I want for you. Take the lowest place. Humility over arrogance. Humility, take the lowest place. Jesus is going back to this principle of humility.

If you remember when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew, chapter five. What does Jesus start with? He starts with the Beatitudes, the attitudes that you be. How's that for grammar? The attitudes that you be.

The Beatitudes. Jesus starts there. And do you remember what the first one is? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The poor in spirit.

This is humility. When Jesus starts his sermon, Jesus, greatest hits, if you will. He begins with the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Why is this important?

I recently heard a teaching on the Sermon on the Mount, the whole thing, and it was wonderful. But it's so interesting that when Jesus says, you want to know what the kingdom of heaven is like, he doesn't start with rules.

Is that different than how you remember hearing about Jesus and the kingdom of God when you were little? He doesn't say, if you want to be a Christian, do this, don't do this, do this, don't do. Jesus starts with the Beatitudes. This is who you are. This is who you are.

This is if you want to know what the people of heaven look like. The humble, if you want to know what the kingdom is like, they're peacemakers. If you want to be like the people in heaven, then you're going to learn meekness. He starts with an actual disposition of the heart rather than a rule.

After that, he then gives some rules from a positive standpoint. But he says, settle your differences. He says, love your enemies. He says, keep promises. He says, trust me, trust God.

But he starts with the Beatitudes. And why this is so important to me is because some of us believe that if we just start with rules, eventually it changes our heart. But rules don't change our heart. Rules aren't designed to change who we are. Instead we need somebody to change our very heart, to change us.

Then we follow the rules. But just doing the rules doesn't change us. Does that make sense? There is freedom when God changes our heart. And then we can give up and take the lowest seat.

Not because we're following a rule, but because our heart is different, because our heart is humble, because our heart has been changed. Changed. It's really hard to love your enemies when you're not humble. It's hard to love your enemies when you're not a peacemaker. But if your heart has been changed, then that's who you are.

When you wake up in the morning, that's who you are. On a good day, that's who you are. On a bad day, it's who you are.

Change our hearts, Lord, Change our hearts. So the rules do matter. Of course. The rules just don't come first. Rules don't change our character.

And sometimes in discipleship, we pay a lot of attention on doing rules and not enough attention on the disposition of the heart. Help us, moms and dads, to encourage our children to have hearts that are pure, pure in heart, hearts that have been changed by God the Father. And that affects how we live our life and what we do and what we don't do change our hearts. So he says, take the lowest seat. Because it's not about self promotion, it's about God being high and lifted up.

God being the one that's magnified. So, God, if you want us at the lowest seat, then by all means we take the lowest seat. Because it's yours, God, God, this is yours. And he does that special line, the teaching of Jesus, when he says, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Does your Bible say all?

Yes. That means all of us. If we exalt ourselves, we will be humbled. It's going to happen, brother and sister. It will happen.

But if we humble ourselves, we will be exalted. We will be elevated. What does humility look like? Humility is not putting yourself down. You've heard people say it's not thinking less of yourself.

I'm only this. I'm only this. But it's thinking of yourself less, thinking of yourself less. Humility. How do I humble myself?

To humble myself is to acknowledge God's authority over my life. And I submit to that, to his will, to his direction, to his authority. I surrender myself under your authority. You be high and lifted up, and I surrender to you. I no longer seek to honor myself.

But to honor Him. And if I'm seeking to honor him, then I'm going to be looking to honor Others first. Peter 5, 6 says, Humble yourselves under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. In due time. What is due time?

It's up to Jesus. If he wants to exalt us here, hallelujah. If he wants to exalt us there, hallelujah. It's his time. In due time, C.S.

lewis. And we are studying mere Christianity in the hour before. And you are all welcome to come at 8:30 on Sundays. But CS Lewis once said, a proud man is always looking down on things and people. And of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

As long as you're looking down, you can't see who is above you. You won't see him. Proverbs 16:18, the verse that many of us know. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Humble look for the lowest seat.

When you're looking for the lowest seat, you'll see the needs of others that sometimes you don't see. You'll look for others that are hurting.

Are you vying for the best position, the most likes, voted, most popular? If so, why? Why do we not trust that the Father has our very best? Why do we not trust that the Father knows what he's doing? Why do we not trust that if we open our mouth wide, He.

He will fill it?

He can fill us in a way that we can never feel ourselves. We will always fall short. He says, I have everything you need. I trust in God.

He will never fail. Are those just words that we sing, or do we mean that where you're living right now, it may be very hard, it may be very lonely. But he says, I will never fail. Open your mouth and I will feel it. No matter how many times a day, he will feel it.

And then part two. Jesus is not done teaching. This is a pretty tense dinner party. So he's done this teaching and then he turns his attention to the Pharisee himself, the one who has invited him, the one that has brought the plant. And then he teaches him and he says, when you give a lunch, when you give a dinner, don't invite your brother or your rich neighbor or the ones that you think are going to invite you back over and give you lobster.

No, instead, invite others who cannot repay you. He gives those words. He says, I want you to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Wow. He's saying, why don't you invite the beggar?

Why don't you invite the one that's disabled? Why don't you invite the one that's just limping along? Why don't you invite the one who cannot see whether that is spirit, spiritual or physical or mental, they are blind. In my profession with neurology, I have a lot of group home patients that come to me. They are in a wheelchair, they are non verbal, they don't communicate, they have to be fed, they have to be changed.

You can look into their eyes and sometimes they don't even track you. God says you invite them to my table.

Jesus, help us.

Who are you inviting to the table?

He says that individual will never be able to repay you. And blessed are you.

He says you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. Oh, you're going to have to wait, but you will be repaid later. Humble yourself, see those who are hurting and invite them to my table. It's his table. Hallelujah.

It's not our table. He says invite them to me. What's your motive behind your invitation?

What's your motive? Who are you inviting? Or better yet, who do you not invite? Who do we not invite? Who's on our guest list?

Remember what Jesus taught when he said, don't store up for yourself treasure in heaven. I mean, excuse me, don't store up for yourself treasure on earth where the moths and thieves, they destroy it. But where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Store up the treasures in heaven that will never grow old, that thieves can never destroy. Those are what matter when you think about your loved ones that have passed on.

It's not what they've left us. I mean, that's great to hold onto, but what they've left us, what they've imprinted on our heart, that's what lasts. The way they squeezed you, the way they loved you, that no one can ever take away.

I'm going to invite the worship team up and they'll go ahead and be playing. I want to read to you some words and I want you just to receive these words. These are words about Jesus. Jesus our Father, from Philippians. Philippians chapter two.

It says, do nothing out of selfish ambition. Nothing. I want you to think about yourself. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather in humility.

Value others above yourselves. Not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interest of others in your relationships with one another. Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature, God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage, but rather, what did he do? He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, Jesus, when he took on humanity and he left heaven for us, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on cross. Jesus humbled himself, and that is our example.

When you think of Jesus, when you think about his obedience, when you think about his servanthood, when you think about what he took on for us, he says, have the same mindset that I had, because I'm giving it to you. Would you give yourself for me, for the interest of others? Can I tell you, brother and sister, that we're the beggars, we're the disabled, we're the crippled, we're the ones limping, we're the ones that were blind. But hallelujah, someone invited us to the table.

Did we earn our way to the table? No. Were we good enough to sit at the table? No. Jesus said, I want every one of you at the table.

Go invite others to the table. Would you stand with me? I want you to think about what Jesus might be saying to you today. He might be asking, who are you serving and why? He might be inviting you to the table for the first time.

He might be speaking, he wants you to go invite others to the table. He might be saying, what is the disposition of your heart?

Not the rules that you're following, not okay, I'll always take the lowest seat because that's what the Bible says. No, the disposition, the change of your heart. Is your heart turned to Jesus himself? Has there been a heart change? And I would invite you to get intimate with the Father.

Can I tell you that the Father wants you to bring everything to him? Some of us may think, okay, I can't tell God that because God is holy and I can't. God says, tell me everything. Because it's only in those moments where intimacy between you and the Father, and that's where change happens. So in the next few minutes, you might pray, set me free of selfish motives.

Set me free of any selfish desires where I'm trying to vie for something. Search us until there's nothing hidden from you, Father. And change our hearts for your glory. Because we want to sit at the table with Him. Amen.

Let's sing the song of worship.