This morning we're turning God's Word to Luke chapter 14, page 873, and the Bible's there in front of you, Luke chapter 14. On the matter of humility and self-forgetfulness, what would Jesus say and do today if he were physically present? That was a question that was running through my mind this week as I took in this week's news stream. It's been another roller coaster week. Plenty of material to stir up fears and bring confusion, test patience, and just generally remind us that we're not able to control the things that happen in the world. We're not able to control the world, let alone our own daily experiences. As I studied Luke 14 this week, I think I received some answers to my question. And why do I say that? Well, because Jesus lived in a dynamic and fast-changing culture as well. We want to look to him and say, well, what was he saying and doing then? That would give us insight into what he would be saying and doing now. It wasn't technologically advanced like we might experience. It was perhaps not as much of a global community where we can communicate with anyone, anytime, anywhere, and yet there were foreign-sounding ideas. There were changes in power structures. All of these things were happening. This has happened throughout human history. Words were coming. Questions were coming. Situations were happening all around Jesus. He would have known what it was like to live in a world of uncertainty just as we do, at least uncertain in so far as we understand what's happening next. We don't know what's happening next. God controls that. We do not. And as he hears about all of these things and he's threatened by people around him, he's unfazed by these things. And I think that's what we want to think about as we answer that question. What would Jesus say? What would he do today? Well, he would do today and say today what he did and said back then. He was unmoved by the message he had to bring. not shaken by things that were said. Look at the end of chapter 13 with me just for a moment. You'll see one of the Pharisees said to Jesus that Herod wanted to kill him. They were trying to intimidate Jesus and they said, you need to get out of here. And what they were trying to do is move him to a new place so that they might get their hands on him and kill him. Well, that's a little unsettling, I would think, right? And what does Jesus do? He's not phased. He continues to press on to Jerusalem. He continues to speak what needs to be said, and that's the teaching that we consider today, along with all of his other teaching. He's fearless. He knows that he's immortal until his work on earth is done. He knew that his labor was not in vain. Those are some things we want to tuck away in our minds this morning too as we listen to this passage. this knowledge that we're immortal until our work on earth is done, that our labor is not in vain, brings a measure of humility and self-forgetfulness, which is needed for us to live rightly before God. He continues, that is, Jesus continues to live boldly among his enemies, fully trusting his Father to protect him until his work is done, and he continues to urge his hearers to listen to what he was teaching them. He says in verse 34 of chapter 13, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it, how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you were not willing." He continues to call even though there is continual resistance. Well, let us look then at those first 24 verses of chapter 14 as we hear the reading of God's unholy word. One Sabbath, when Jesus went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? They remained silent. Then he took the man, and healed him, and sent him away. And he said to them, 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? And they could not reply to these things. Then he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor. Lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, give your place to this person. And then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, friend, move up higher. and you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. And he said also to the man who had invited him, when you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. But he said to him, A man once gave a great banquet and invited many, and at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, Come, for everything is now ready. But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame. And the servant said, sir, what you commanded has been done and still there is room. And the master said to the servant, Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet." So far, the reading of God's own Holy Word. May He add His blessing to the reading and proclamation of it this morning. Let me start this way. In a time when truth is so compromised, it's nearly impossible not to be labeled as a hater or as a disturber of the peace when we humbly proclaim the truth. Humility doesn't mean that we're not going to face resistance. I want us to just understand right out of the gate this morning, Jesus was not one who was harsh unnecessarily or blunt in a way that was troublesome, and yet they labeled him revolutionary. One has said, speaking truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act. Well, we are in a that definition, we are in a revolutionary time to speak truth in a day when deceit rules the day. Then all it takes to be labeled revolutionary is to simply, humbly state the truth. And Jesus did that. He did not turn aside. He was not concerned about what men thought of Him. He wanted them to know the truth. Jesus was a revolutionary, they said. He spoke the truth in a time. He came into the world at a time when God's people had turned away from the Word, or they had distorted the Word. He came into the world when Rome had come to power, and there was a great fixation on the empire, and on the emperor himself, and worship of the emperor. And He came declaring that all alike were under God and were to worship Him and Him alone. And so he was targeted on all sides. He was targeted by the very religious who said he didn't understand or wasn't serious enough about his religious convictions or his practices. And then on the other side, the Romans would come and they said to him, they were threatening him with death because they said they want to make you a king. The righteous, the religious wanted people to worship them and their laws. I always have a hard time stating this, because I don't know how to state it, but the secularists, but they weren't really secular, they were just worshipping a different god, they were worshipping the state, and they would say, because you're not worshipping the state, you're a troublemaker. Well, Jesus comes first to the very religious, or in this context, in our passage today, really He's before the religious the entire time. He's not speaking to the government. He's speaking to the religious, and He's invited into the home of the Pharisee for Sabbath dinner. He's under intense scrutiny from the moment He enters in. They watched Him closely. The passage states, and almost as if there's a man planted, and some commentators say he was indeed planted there. A man with dropsy, with an illness, is planted in front of him, and they want to see what he's going to do. It's the Sabbath, after all. Jesus knew the rules of the Jewish authorities, the rules they had made. It was unlawful to do anything on the Sabbath. You couldn't even treat someone who was ill on the Sabbath unless they were near death. Well, this man was dealing with dropsy, which is a buildup of fluid within the body and against all of the tissues and the organs, and it could very easily create suffocation and lead to cardiac arrest. This man was in need, and yet was the Sabbath. And so he, that is Jesus, was not to touch the man or to show any compassion to him. Jesus knew what was on their hearts, but they didn't say a word, but he knew, and he says in verse 3, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? He wants them to speak. No one answered, and Jesus then took the man and healed him and sent him away. What an amazing display of power. This man is instantaneously healed. Amazing power. and they won't say a thing. Luke even writes in verse 6, they could not reply to these things. The word in Greek gives the indication of that it would be costly, it was impossible for them without losing face, without finding themselves in a difficult situation. It wasn't that they couldn't speak, it was that they didn't dare to speak. Their religion had so boxed them in that they would not give thanks to God or honor him. They saw Jesus as one who dishonored God by not keeping their Sabbath laws. You can read more about that in John 9, verse 16, where they talk about him that way. Jesus asked them another question. Verse 5, 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? Now he knows the answer to that. If a son, one of their sons had fallen into a well, or if one of their prized oxen, one of their prized an ox that they prized had fallen into a well on a Sabbath, they would have certainly pulled out that son or pulled out that animal. And he's revealing their hypocrisy, how their system had led to put them in a place where they were seeking praise and in so doing, rendering them disobedient to God. They loved their rules. That's what they loved. They loved their rules. They loved their praise in the synagogue. They loved the best seats in the synagogue, as we read Jesus' words in Matthew 23. Their system focused praise on them and was tailored to give them the glory now. You see, none of us wants to wait for the promised glory. We want glory now. We want that wonderful influx of blessing now. And if we can set that up somehow, and we of course have a definition of what we think that would be most glorious, namely us first, then we work toward that. And it leaves us then at odds with God's law and boxed in such that when God does a work, we're too proud to say, praise be to God for that. Thanks be to God for his work. We say, that didn't go the way it's supposed to go because, well, I don't think it's supposed to go that way. Jesus is revealing their hypocrisy. That's what sin does, friends. Sinful heart wants glory for self. And it steals glory from God, and God himself says in Isaiah 42, I will not share my glory with another. It's dangerous, if we want to put it in the terms of this man's physical condition as he stands before Jesus. Sin is dangerous. It suffocates. It can kill, and Jesus wants to heal. This sin can lead us to die, and Jesus says, I won't let that happen. I'm too gracious. And the religious leaders say, no. No, you're sinning by doing that, by telling that person, or by healing that person, in Jesus's case. You can't do that. And Jesus says, you don't understand the grace of God, and you don't understand your need of it. You see, we want to be approved for what we do. We do not want to submit to God and live for His glory in our darkest moments, whether very religious or having a religion of the state. Both are rejecters of God. Both live for self-glory and at enmity with God's call to humble ourselves before Him and recognize our need. Christians should not live like this, and yet as sinners, We often make our own rules to establish our goodness and to seek approval, even if it's only self-approval. These leaders had lost touch with the need for God. They were not humble, but proud. And it was not only them that were proud. After Jesus sat down or reclined at table at the banquet, he noticed, he looked around and he noticed how the people had chosen, the guests had chosen places of honor And he told the parable to address their actions. Because they wanted to be noticed at the feast. They wanted to be sitting with this ruler of the Pharisee, or closest to him, as close as possible to say, yeah, we know him. Name drop, right? Well, I know so and so, or he invited me first, or I had two invitations, or I had eight invitations, and I had to turn away people, and on and on it goes. Jesus tells a parable and he says to the guests, when you're invited by someone to a wedding feast, I'm reading verse 8, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him. And he who invited you both will come and say to you, give your place to this person, and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. When you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, that when your host comes, he may say to you, friend, move up higher, and you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. Brothers and sisters, we need to remember that the invitation is by grace. And we are not to take the place of honor. The host is to determine our place. Remember, it's an honor to be invited to the banquet. It's God's grace and His love that leads to the invitation to the banquet. And Jesus makes the lesson very plain. St. Owen misses it, verse 11. He says, In the coming kingdom, God will determine the place of each one. We don't earn the invitation. We humbly rejoice that He's invited us in. And because He's invited us in, we rejoice that this invitation cannot be taken away from us, for He's sealed it. The blood of His Son can't be taken away. That's where the lesson of humility comes in. We don't need the world to take notice of us. We trust that God in Christ takes notice of us and invites us. That's very hard, isn't it, young people? Just came through basketball season. You have basketball practice afterwards, and what happens? Okay, we're going to pick teams. Here's a captain, here's a captain. You know what happens. People get picked. Who wants to get picked last? Nobody. Nobody says, oh, I want to be known as the one who gets picked last. It's difficult. And we make judgments on ability and, you know, who's going to be on my team and all that. And so when we think about that, we're thinking, oh, I don't want that. I'd rather shoot free throws and determine who gets in. Then at least there's some, you know, and then when everybody shoots and everybody misses, then we just all split up in how they try to make it even. But it isn't fun being picked last, is it? But here, what God is saying is, I determine who enters in, and I determine where they are placed. It's not on anyone's ability, it's according to my goodness, to my love, to my mercy. And we humbly then submit to God, and we give thanks to Him for the invitation. And we don't try to get close to move up at the awards banquet and say, well, yeah, I'm looking for that trophy. Or I'm looking for this or that. But rather, thankful for the opportunity to play. And just the application would be that we had to think about that when we're functioning in team sports and those sorts of things, is not to think only about when we get picked, but the opportunity to play. participate Here the guests are trying to get to the head of the table and They should rather take the lowest seat and Wait upon the host to determine where they sit What we're going to see is God gives the invitation to all verse 23 he wants the servant to go out and give the invitation to all and We must humbly accept that invitation. The most humble thing we can do is to respond in faith to the host's invitation and then rest in him. We don't need to be clamoring for the top. He's faithful to his promise to bring us into the banquet he has prepared for us. When I watch children at the fellowship dinners here at church, I don't see them sitting closest to any one person in particular. They just want to go first in line for food. And we're all at the banquet, right? And sometimes just that humbleness, well, hey, we're just happy that we got a dinner. We're just happy we're here. We don't need to sit close to so-and-so or name drop. Well, I'm at this table or I'm at that table. Just this childlike receptivity to the fact that God has been gracious to invite us to the banquet. That's the attitude that Jesus calls for here as he's speaking to the guests. We live humbly, not needing the world's notice because we know we're immortal until our work on earth is done. It's a testament to his strength, to his promise, not to our own. We're going to talk about that strength in us tonight. We talk about how we resist temptation. Jesus' teaching is clear. Entrance into the kingdom is by invitation only, and no one can boast that he earned his way in any more than one can pick his place in the coming kingdom. We're called to live humbly in our homes, in our churches, in our schools, in our workplace. God will reward his own and he will protect us as we do so. We need to hear that one of the most revolutionary things in the world's mind, but one of the most humble things we can do is to live out the truth. Why is that humble? The world says, well, you just don't stop talking. You just sound so confident, so bold. There's nothing more humble than saying, it's not my authority. It's not my word. I'm submitting to the word. It's God who's speaking. And he says that whosoever does submit will be saved and whosoever does not will be damned. The Lord speaks through his word and we humbly proclaim that we must live under it. Each day we're to celebrate what God is doing in us. We don't look for the seat of honor in the coming kingdom. We live now so that others might know of the kingdom and the God of the kingdom. In the coming wedding banquet, the spotlight will be on Christ who gathers people in. The catechism says it that way, right? Who is the one who – what do we believe when we confess the church? That the Son of God, by His Word and Spirit, gathers, protects, and preserves the people for Himself. He is the one who does so, and He is the one who's going to be at the focal point of that great day to the glory of the Father. And He will take note of us. For He has taken note of us. He speaks to us, calls us, and we will be overwhelmed by His love, by His inclusiveness, by His kindness. It won't be who's going to get in line first, but all humbly receiving His kind words, not guilty. Well, tied closely to the theme of humility is the matter of self-forgetfulness, which we see in Jesus' further teaching. As we serve, we don't do it to receive what we need from others. Oh, I better serve this person because then they owe me or they can get something back. Now Jesus speaks to the host of the banquet in the next set of verses. There in verses 12 to 14, he said also to the man who had invited him, when you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors. Incidentally, you can do that. That's not the point. You just have to ignore your family and relatives. But he's making a different point. We don't have time to look at that this morning, but listen carefully. He says, it's about I'm saying this that you would not do it so that they might invite you in return and you be repaid into verse 12 in verse 13 But when you give a feast invite the poor the crippled the lame the blind you'll be blessed because they cannot repay you For you will be repaid, but it's that delayed glory isn't it you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just as you demonstrate your faith your humble your humility and your self-forgetfulness in this life and That's how you display your faith. And this is a word for us all, for we all have the riches, we all have riches to share with others, to show without favoritism. We can share the words of life. These riches are not ours and they can be shared and are to be shared with everyone. And we don't share based upon self-interest. Oh, if that person would join our church, that would be good for the reputation of our church. Oh, if that person joined our church, just think of what the general fund would look like. No, we're not inviting people to a building. We're inviting them to Christ, to worship with us, to live for Him, for the eternal glory of God. We're inviting people to come and to worship Him with us and to live in hope for the eternal glory, that coming glory, that wonderful glory that will happen at the resurrection of the just. Think about Jesus gave. He knew what humanity would do to him, and yet he gave. He went to the cross. He opened the way for anyone to come to the Father through him. The service was not self-seeking. He gained nothing from man. In fact, he was reviled and persecuted, and he knew he needed nothing from man. His father would provide everything. He wasn't grasping after this and worried about that. He said, my father will provide. There's a self-forgetfulness in him. He's saying, I don't need to worry about provision. My father provides. In the midst of his crazy times, Jesus had a wonderful self-forgetfulness. He did not fear the response he would receive to his message, thinking, well, if I say that, I may not get dinner. Or if I do that, I might not get invited to that banquet. There was a self-forgetfulness in him and a great and deep desire to serve his Father. He was unafraid to speak truth for he wasn't looking to please man or to gain something from man. And we're to be faithful in speaking. We don't shape our message to gain prestige from man. There's nothing on earth that we desire more than God. The world cannot give us the life that we need. God has given us the life that we need. That includes a love for those in the world. It doesn't mean that we cut ourselves off from them, it means that we have a love for them. We care about them. Our message is the message of the cross, that message of reconciliation. Come, join us, be brothers, sisters with us in worship of our God, which is why we were created, which is why we exist. We want others to know this. without consideration of what it might mean for us. What can we gain from it? Or what can we lose? Determining whether we speak or not. And then Jesus says, and the time is near, the banquet's ready, verse 17. He says, it's like a man who sends out his servant and says to them, tell them the banquet is ready. Come, for everything is now ready. And someone who's listening wants to lighten the mood. You can imagine this is a very awkward dinner situation. Jesus has said to the guests, you guys are acting foolishly. He says to the host, you're acting foolishly. Can we eat? No, actually, I'm thinking it's time for you to leave. Then he goes on and he says, ah, but the feast is now ready. You must respond. And someone says, can we just, here, let me say something. Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God, verse 15, he says. And that's true, but Jesus presses the point. He declares that the only ones who will be eating of that banquet are those who respond to the invitation given by Him to repent of their sins and believe in Him. They thought everybody was going to be in the banquet, at least all of those good people there at the ruler of the Pharisees' home. They thought, well, we're in here, for sure we're going to get into the heavenly banquet. I mean, how much higher can you get? And Jesus is pressing upon them that the invitation is now to repent and believe that you might enter. If you do not, you will miss it. And Jesus said many gave excuses for why they will not receive the invitation. He goes on to tell the account there in the parable. They say, well, I bought a field. I have five yoke of oxen. I need to go examine them. I've married a wife. I can't come. But no excuse will be accepted for refusing the master's invitation. The only thing left for those who refused him was judgment. Verse 24, he says, I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. Because they will not be identified with me. They're making excuses. Book of Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews says something very strong to those who are thinking about going back to the old covenant ways, the old system. He says in Hebrews 10, 26, if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem. He's urgent. His urgency is increasing. He's saying, you need to understand something. You are not reconciled to God unless you believe in the one whom he has sent. I don't care what banquet you get invited to. I don't care who you know. I don't care what name you drop. You must humble yourselves. Come to Christ. And then you are freed up to enjoy life. Because when you realize that you can do nothing but God will provide everything, then you humbly say, Lord, provide. Give us this day our daily bread. Lord, I am not thinking of self. I am self-forgetful because I know you will keep me. I'm immortal until my work on earth is done. I don't have to. Name-drop. I don't have to be close to certain people. I don't have to depend on others To make sure I get in the right places and and get that degree from this institution or or be recognized by that board of for certification and on and on Jesus has urgency in his teaching, and his urgency should be ours today. We must tell others about Christ. Time is short. There's no room for excuses or delay. I'm joking here a little bit, but it drove me crazy this week. I was thinking about the children's song. Do you know the wedding banquet song, I Cannot Come? One of the lyrics, I tried not to sing it at all because it gets in your head and it drives me absolutely bonkers. I cannot come. I cannot come to the banquet. Don't trouble we now. I have married a wife. I have bought me a cow. I have fields and commitments that cost a pretty sum. Pray hold me excused. I cannot come. It's got this little bouncy little... It is the absolute worst lyrics and music combination ever. It's a bouncy light song about excusing oneself from the banquet. Like this is something, oh, I've made a good decision. I'm having a good time. It should be a heavy song. It should be a weighty music put to these lyrics. This is not something we should be excited about and happy that we're just dancing through life, missing out on the invitation. If you want good children's music, parents come see me. We've been through all of this and we don't play that one at our house. You may, and you may come to me and argue with me about why you think the song is good, but we can have that discussion. But you see the point. This is not something to be missed. This is not something to write light music to. This is serious. The master hears the excuses and he's angry. And he says to his servant, go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame. And the servant said, sir, what you commanded has been done and still there's room. And this is where the wonderful and glorious kindness of God is seen in the master. And the master said to the servant, go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in that my house may be filled. He wants his kingdom full. He doesn't want anybody to miss out. He doesn't want anybody to refuse the invitation. He invites you to come. And I pray that not a single person here has or will refuse that invitation to repent of sin and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's eternally important. The invitation is today. It's for now. And if you haven't trusted in Christ, don't wait. For there's room in the Master's kingdom for you. Amen. My dear Father, we thank you for your patience, your kindness, for your clarity and your compulsion. These words are heavy words. We can only imagine what that must have been like to be at that banquet, what these very religious people would have been thinking, how they would have been grinding their teeth, angry, when in fact the word of life was being spoken, the invitation was being given. Don't be proud, don't be arrogant, but humble yourself and come. We thank you for letting in, for welcoming in, for inviting in people from all walks of life, from all backgrounds. May we too have such a heart that extends the invitation to whomever we meet. May you then by your spirit have prepared them to respond or may they be seeds planted that they in turn would come to another and Respond and bear much fruit. For we want you to be glorified. Help us to be humble and self-forgetful, knowing that nothing can take this life from us, but knowing also our enemy is a roaring lion, as we're going to hear tonight, who is very crafty. Protect us, Lord. Strengthen us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.