Jesus’ Humility Makes Us Humble

October 9, 2022

Jesus’ Humility Makes Us Humble

Trinity 17 T Luke 14:1-11

INI

 

We are the creature, and God is Creator.

Creatures cannot usurp and overthrow their Creator.

Yet, this is what the Pharisees, and we, attempt to do.

Whether we try to shift and redefine Scripture to say what we’d like,

Or our actions fail to meet the way we’re called to live,

We reject God’s blessings,

and we fall into the sin of pride.

 

Overthrowing God is a first commandment issue.

We don’t fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

We either don’t trust what He’s told us in Scriptures,

Or we don’t trust the way God tells us to conduct ourselves.

 

This is our problem with pride.

We’d rather follow our own way that makes us happy,

Rather than following God-pleasing ways.

The introit teaches us:

“Blessed are those whose way is blameless,

who walk in the law of the Lord!

Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,

who seek him with their whole heart.”

But pride bolsters up one’s own ways,

rather then trusting in the ways God has prepared and taught us.

 

We see that with the pride of the Pharisees.

They invite Jesus to eat with them on the Sabbath,

Just to try and catch Him doing something unlawful.

 

But as they were eating, a man with dropsy –

a condition that led to water retention and swelling in tissues and organs –

appeared before them.

“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath” asks Jesus.

They thought “no” but answered with silence.

Previously in the Gospel, they were upset that Jesus healed on the Sabbath.

Sabbath was supposed to be for rest, and healings were considered “work”.

 

Jesus challenged their understanding of the Sabbath –

He asked, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”

They couldn’t answer. Of course they would save the son or ox!

Even though it might be considered a “strenuous work”!

Because saving that life fulfills the law of love,

where you love your neighbor as yourself.

 

And so the point and conclusion Jesus leads them towards is this:

If the work that goes into saving someone who’s fallen into a hole on the Sabbath is deemed as acceptable work, why should healing, which labors little, be refused on the Sabbath? Both show the law of love.

 

The Pharisees had forgotten that Sabbath was made for man,

not man for the Sabbath.

The Sabbath was built into creation for them to rest, just like God did after His work,

Yet their legalism completely rejected the law of love.

They put their pride in Sabbath observance above the law of love that they neglected.

 

Jesus then told them the parable of the invited guests.

The point is that its much better to be told “Friend, move up higher”,

Rather than being told to go sit at the lowest place.

It’s like at Thanksgiving meals when you move up from the kids table.

It’s an honor to be told to move up to the adult table,

But it’s shameful to begin sitting at the adult’s table,

To then be told that you’re in the wrong spot,

and you need to move down to the kids table.

 

Jesus concludes the parable with a re-telling of the 1^st commandment issue:

“Everyone who exalts himself (that is, above God) will be humbled,

and he who humbles himself will be exalted (that is, by God).”

Jesus uses the parable to describe the Pharisees –

Their pride led them to usurp Jesus as the Master and creator of the Sabbath.

They followed their own teaching,

instead of humbling themselves before God’s teaching

 

At times, we’re prideful too.

We usurp God and His teachings.

Some may shift and redefine Scripture to say what we’d like.

The Pharisees certainly did that with their legalistic look at the Sabbath,

Where they inserted the doctrines of man with the teachings of God.

 

Doctrines of man can be created by those within the church, and outside the church.

“The battle for the Bible” was a term coined in the mid-20^th century to describe the teachings that questioned the validity of the Bible.

They denied that the entire Bible was the inspired and inerrant Word of God,

Because it was written by sinful men. Thus, there must be errors,

and not all teachings in the Bible could be trusted as “God’s Word”.

The fruit of this “battle for the bible” has led some in Christian churches to the theological liberalism of today.

Today, some teach that traditional teachings on marriage, gender distinction and roles within the church, sexuality –

That those were just antiquated cultural ideas,

And not truly what God’s teachings were.

This is an example of man’s pride usurping God as Creator,

as He has chosen to reveal Himself to us.

 

And now, attempts are made to redefine God altogether.

A friend of mine is reading a book called “Women and the Gender of God.”

The whole premise is that even though God is described as Father and Son in the Bible, that doesn’t actually mean God is masculine.

And that Jesus, though looking like a man, was gender fluid.

 

To be clear, this teaches nothing from the Bible.

It’s cultural philosophy impressing itself upon the clear word of God,

To rearrange God’s Word to fit what it wants to hear.

It denies how God has chosen to reveal Himself to us,

And completely misappropriates God’s marriage to His bride, the church.

God is who He is.

And He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

 

Pride is the opposite of humility.

These are examples of pride usurping what the Scriptures say and teach.

Yes, citing examples such as these may be low-hanging fruit,

But they need to be taught lest we fall into pride in this way.

To such things, it’s easy to react in anger.

But anger comes from pride, not humility.

So take a cue from Paul –

“Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”

And so, when engaging these exaltations of pride above Scripture,

How you engage someone is just as important as what you say.

Do so with gentleness, patience, bear with them in love –

And maintain the unity of the Spirit with those professing Christians who err.

Deal with them graciously,

for our Lord has been patient and dealt graciously with you.

 

However, pride doesn’t just affect how one sees the teachings of Scripture.

Even the most orthodox Christians are vulnerable to being prideful too.

It can come in one of two ways: false humility, or legalism which lacks love.

 

False humility is appearing humble,

But only doing so to get a reward.

As Church-ed folk, we know Jesus’ teaching –

he who humbles himself will be exalted, and he who is exalted will be humbled.

 

It’s sort of like the kid who approaches the age of being allowed at the adult’s table at thanksgiving, when he says to mom and dad –

“Okay! Look at me! I’m sitting at the kid’s table!”,

With the expectation he’ll be called up.

It’s a humility that has an aim and objective in mind,

Not a humility that truly recognizes who he is.

The goal of this humility is to be exalted, and will fake it to get what it wants.

It’s like child who after getting in trouble, acts cute, innocent, and whinny,

But you know there’s no remorse, but only the appearance of humility and sorrow,

And maybe they’ll get what they want.

 

Before God, false humility makes excuses for sin –

Like Adam who blamed Eve, or Eve who blamed the serpent.

True humility recognizes who we are, and what we deserve because of our actions.

 

True humility is something worked within one’s heart,

Unlike Pharoah who exalted himself above God.

God told Pharoah to let His people out of Egypt,

But Pharoah hardened his heart to the ways of God.

One who is truly humbled listens to the Word of God,

Because they recognize who God is as Creator and Sustainer.

And the creation, that’s you and me,

trust that His Word and promises are good and true.

 

But pride can also lead to a lack of showing love towards those in need.

And so, pride has the disguise of humility, repentance, and change.

But pride has no intention of following God’s ways of love and mercy –

Just as the Pharisees let legalism get in the way of showing mercy to the man with dropsy.

 

You can tell what true Godly repentance is by this:

“Christians look inwardly with the aim of repentance over what they may find there; whereas pop psychology invites us to look inwardly to indulge and accept whatever is found there.”

The way of humility and repentance is rejecting what the sinful desires are,

Which are often against the way of love, mercy, patience,

And are involved with destruction, disorder, and unrighteousness.

 

The Pharisees lacked love of God –

for they usurped God’s teachings with their own.

They also lacked love for their neighbor – for they used their godly observance of the Sabbath to decline helping the man with dropsy.

That’s pride. They’ve exalted themselves above God

Yet, they will be humbled.

 

But God calls the humble to move up higher.

This is what He did with the man with dropsy –

He was humbled by his illness.

Yet, Jesus came to Him to heal and love him.

He did the same for you, me, and all mankind on the cross.

 

And through the preaching of the Word,

God calls those who truly repent of their sins,

Who seek reconciliation and forgiveness,

Who are subordinate to His teachings,

Who believe that Christ’s death,

His Sabbath rest in the tomb,

And His resurrection from the grave,

Justifies sinners from the guilt of their sin,

And frees sinners from slavery to sin,

to live sanctified lives in service to God.

He calls us to humble ourselves to His work.

 

Humility then, lends to love –

We see that humility in our Lord Jesus.

For He humbled Himself, becoming a servant,

Being obedient even unto death, even death upon a cross.

 

His humility makes us humble.

And so, we live in humility and service to others,

For the Father has called us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling we have in His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

INI