Transcript
Jesus says, “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who
humble themselves will be exalted.”
Today I’d like to talk about humility. What does it mean to be humble?
We know that the opposite of humility is pride, which is the root of all sin. Humility, then, may be the root of all virtue.
The great writer and speaker John Stott once said, “Pride is your greatest enemy, humility is your greatest friend.”
I have three points for you today:
Humility is Positional
Humility is Truthful
Humility is a Virtue
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Humility is Positional
In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus tells two stories about humility. But first, notice the setting. Where is Jesus at this moment? Luke 14:1. It says, “One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.” Now you might hear that, and it just rolls over your ears. But look more closely. Luke layers at least 5 important details, showing that this is far from an ordinary scene. One sabbath – most holy day of the week. Jesus went to eat – mealtime fellowship was highly valued in that culture. In the house – to be inside someone’s home was the pinnacle of hospitality. A pharisee – the pharisees were among the most respected members of society. Prominent – not just a pharisee, but a leader; culturally speaking, Jesus’ host is the best of the best.
If I were to translate this into our time. We might say, “So and so was invited, on Thanksgiving Day, to eat a seven-course gourmet meal, in a New York penthouse apartment, with two A -list celebrities, named… Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift.”
That’s what Jesus is doing at this moment; and Luke says, “he was being carefully watched.” Well, duh.
So that’s the setting. What happens next? Our lectionary passage actually skips over a few verses, in which Jesus heals a man, right there in the house. So that’s interesting: first he heals, then he teaches on humility.
But ok, the two stories. Both stories about parties; both about humility; and both about how we as people – watch this – position ourselves.
First story. Jesus says, imagine you go to a wedding banquet. What seat do you take? If you take a very good seat, someone more important might come, and you’ll be asked to move. (I knew a couple in Washington DC who went to a lot of political functions and talks, and they told me that this exactsituation happened to them one time. They sat down at a head table, and partway through the event they were literally asked to give up their seats, in front of everyone. They said they can laugh about it… now.) Anyway, Jesus gives advice: take the worst seat at the wedding, and then maybe you’ll be invited to move to a better seat later. But the good news is that, either way, you don’t have to worry about losing your seat.
It's kind of like wearing an old shirt – you don’t worry about it getting stained. Or an old pair of shoes – you don’t worry about them getting scuffed. But a new shirt, or new shoes, you always thinking, “Be careful…”
Second story. Jesus says, you throw a dinner party. Whom do you invite? Do you invite all your friends, family, and rich neighbors? You might. Because they can pay you back with a future invitation. See, in Jesus’ culture, invitations were a major thing to keep track of. Honor shame society… it was all about who owed what favor to whom; what honor or dishonor had taken place. Everyone knew. The whole family knew. Generations knew. They kept track. (I mean, thank goodness we don’t do that today, right?). But they did it even more.
So Jesus says, invite the poor or the crippled, those at the bottom of society. Why? Because they can’tpay you back. And so… there’s nothing to keep track of.
What’s the point?
It’s so easy, in life, to be constantly thinking about, and stressing over, our positions in life – in relation to others. Do I have a good seat? Well, better than those people’s seats, but not as good as those. Do I have a good job? Well, I make more money than that person, but not as much as that person. Do I have a good church? Well, we have better worship than that church, but not as good as that one. Do I have exciting plans for Friday night? Well, I’m hanging out with these cool people, but maybe not as cool as those people.
Jesus says: stop. Just stop. Stop stacking yourself up against others and trying to figure out where you fall on the scale. You will be so much happier when you resist the urge to see everything in terms of position. In fact, go ahead and take the low position – no stress. Jesus says you will be blessed. Exalted. In this life, and in the life to come. If you humble yourself.
Humility is Truthful
Humility is having a right view of oneself. It’s being grounded. It’s being in touch with reality. There is an article by Thomas Tarrants of the CS Lewis Institute, and he says, “If pride is an exalted sense of who we are in relation to God and others, humility is having a realistic sense of who we are before God and others. We must not think too highly (or too lowly) of ourselves. Rather, we must be honest and realistic about who and what we are.”
This is so helpful. Humility is about reality. Look, if someone came up to me and said, “Are you good at tennis?” and I said, “I’m the best you’ve ever seen.” That would be prideful; and not based in reality because I am actually quite bad at tennis. But likewise, if someone came up to Senera Williams and said, “Are you good at tennis?” and she said, “Well… I’m ok.” That would, in a way, be prideful too – because it’s not true.
The humble path is the path of truthful perception. Who are you? Well, I am a sinner saved by grace. What are your gifts? Well, I am good at some things and bad at other things. What’s your life journey? Well, I’ve had some real blessings, and I’ve made lots of mistakes. What does the future hold? Well, I pray that God will bless me and I’ll bless others, but mostly I just want to serve him.
Humility is, in the end, so freeing. That’s one reason why Jesus says, “The truth will set you free.” Humility.
Humility is a Virtue
Rick Warren wrote, in Purpose Driven Life, “A pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life.”
It means that humility is not just an attitude; it’s a way of living. And that’s really good news. Because it means that you can develop the ability to be humble.
The virtue of humility is something that you can cultivate. That’s a farming metaphor. You can grow a virtue just like a farmer grows a well-tended plant. Or to use another metaphor, you can develop a virtue just like a musician develops a skill for an instrument.
The Holy Spirit will help you. The grace of the Holy Spirit helps us grow in virtue. As you practice a virtue, it comes more naturally to you. You see progress.
Just a few signs that you’re growing in humility.
-You’re able to apologize more quickly.
-You’re able to see when other people have better ideas than you do.
-You’re more understanding when people let you down.
-You’re be able to laugh at yourself when you’re wrong.
Super quick story. I’m at the Phillies baseball game recently. There is a statistic on the scoreboard for each player called W.A.R. The person I was with said, “What’s W.A.R.?” I actually knew the answer, and I was sort of proud of myself, so I said, “Wins Above Replacement.” Now that’s when I should have stopped talking. But I continued, “I think a good WAR is like 3, and bad is like 1. But I’m pretty sure that you can’t have a WAR below zero. Yeah that’s right, you can’t have a negative WAR.” The very next batter – I’m not making this up. The very next batter gets up, and they show his W.A.R. It’s negative 1. Negative 1. Right after I said, in my wisdom, that that’s impossible.
Thank you, Lord, for teaching me humility.
Now please don’t remember that as the point of this sermon.
Because of what I want to say next. The ultimate example of humility is Jesus Christ. As the second person of the Trinity, the entire universe was created through him. As a human being, Jesus lived a perfect life.
And then, he willingly endured total humiliation.
Philippians chapter 2
And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.
Jesus took the lowest position possible. Jesus was totally honest about who he was and what he came to do. Jesus lived with perfect humility.
To save us.
And to bring us into that same life of joyful obedience. Joyful freedom.
Be humble.
Practice a life of humility.
And you will be blessed. In this life and the next.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
