I'm going to let you be seated in light of the length of our text tonight. It's a little bit lengthy, so just out of mercy to you, I'll let you rest your legs. Sometimes I think the length of our sermon text is more conducive to sitting. You can pay attention better if you're sitting, if it's a long one. Our text tonight actually covers more than just one parable. We've been, the last several months, going through the parables of Christ, and tonight we're in a text that touches on two, maybe even three parables, depending on how you interpret it. So I'm cramming two or three parables into one sermon because they belong together, these parables. They're all part of the same conversation in Jesus' ministry, a conversation Jesus had with some religious leaders over lunch one afternoon. Not only are they part of the same conversation, they also seem to be making very similar points, or at the very least, related points. And so I think they belong together. They all relate to sins of the heart in some way, more specifically to the sin of pride. All that to say our text tonight is a little bit long. It covers more than just one parable, but I think we do well to keep this text intact. and let this narrative have its cumulative effect on us tonight as we listen to Christ's teaching. So Luke chapter 14 is where we're at, and we're going to read together at the outset here, verses 1 through 24. Luke 14, beginning at verse 1. One Sabbath, when He 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? But they remained silent. Then he took them 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. Now he told a parable to those who were invited when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, when you were invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the 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. Then 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. 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 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." This is the word of God. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for giving us the opportunity tonight to worship together as your people and now to hear your word. Holy Spirit, we come again asking You to illuminate Your Word, to cause it to make sense to us, to show us how it applies to our life. Lord, I pray that we not just understand Your Word, I pray that You would give us a heart to obey Your Word, to do what You're asking of us, to change our way of thinking, to change our attitude. Lord, in this case of this text tonight, to humble ourselves, under the mighty hand of God. Lord, your word is assaulting our ego tonight. And so I pray that you would give special grace that we might see and honor the truths that you would have us see and obey. Lord, your word is able to see the intense intentions and thoughts of our heart. to expose the ways that we have rebelled against you, the ways that we're running from you, the ways that we've even deceived ourselves into thinking we're more spiritual than we are. I pray that you'd open our eyes tonight. Let us see ourselves as you see us. And Lord, not respond to that sight with despair, but with humility and with the grace that runs to Christ for cleansing, for forgiveness, for covering. Or may we be a people that humble ourselves before you and a people that trust you to exalt us in due time. Holy Spirit, you are welcome here tonight, and it's in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Well, as we walk through this text tonight, we're going to look very briefly first at the setting in which Jesus instructs these religious leaders, and then we'll spend the bulk of our time looking at the actual content of Christ's teaching. A teaching that I believe gives us three lessons about three heart sins. These three heart sins, if left unchecked, are devastatingly destructive. in our lives. But with each warning, Jesus gives a solution. He gives an alternative to these sins of the heart. So with that in mind, let's just spend the next few moments sitting at the feet of Jesus and listen in on the way He probes the hearts of some first century sinners. I think we're going to discover that 21st century sinners are not all that different. But first, let's look at the setting. Luke begins by establishing the circumstances surrounding this conversation that took place between Jesus and some religious leaders. Verses 1 through 5 tell us that Christ had been invited over to a leading Pharisee's house for Sunday dinner. On their case, Saturday dinner. It was the Sabbath day. They had been at the synagogue that morning. as was their custom. Now it was time to eat. So this prominent Pharisee invites Jesus to join him and several of his friends for lunch. But very quickly we discover there's an ulterior motive of these religious leaders. Verse 1 says, they were watching him carefully. That's a loaded statement. They weren't just watching him. They were watching him in hopes that they might catch him in some fault, some violation of the law, in order to discredit him. Well, right there in front of Jesus appears a man who is sick with dropsy. I had to look that term up. Dropsy is evidently just an old term for several different illnesses that cause swelling in the soft tissue of a person's body. I think I had dropsy a few weeks ago. I had swelling in the soft tissue of my body. That is not really pertinent to the story though, but some Bible interpreters believe that this fellow with drops, he was a plant. The religious leaders put him there specifically in front of Jesus to test him, to catch him in a fault. And if we think about it, there may be some credence to that. He doesn't really fit in with the rest of the crowd. This is a bunch of hoity-toity religious leaders, wealthy men, and here's this social outcast with a dropsy, invited to the dinner. The religious leaders had already had several run-ins with Christ over the issue of healing on the Sabbath. And so I think that he probably was a plant. But whether he was or not, Jesus jumps right on into the conflict. He doesn't avoid it. And he says, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? They don't answer him. They don't answer Him not because they don't know what they believe. Of course they think it's unlawful to heal on the Sabbath. They remain silent because they want Jesus to violate their interpretation of the law. It appears they have a greater zeal for finding fault than for upholding God's law. Well, Jesus does heal the man, but then He asks the religious leaders a question. He says, which of you wouldn't help your own child or your own animal on the Sabbath if they needed your help? He exposes their double standard. So verse 6 says, they could not reply to these things. That's interesting. In verse 4, they're speechless because they want to trap Jesus. In verse 6, they're speechless because they themselves have been trapped. They've been caught in their own inconsistency. Well, thus begins the dinner party with Jesus. Don't you know that was an awkward party to be at? But it was about to get even more awkward because Jesus was not done offending the social sensibilities of these men. Everyone is seated for their meal and Jesus makes an observation. You see, not only had the religious leaders been watching Jesus, Jesus had been watching them. And he noticed how they chose to seat themselves in the best seats. They chose the places of honor for themselves. Now, we don't have the cultural context to really get a picture of what's going on here. First century sources describe for us the elaborate seating arrangement at dinner parties like this one. Now, try to follow me here. This is a little bit confusing, but if you can picture a dining room with three couches arranged in a U-shape around the table. The most honored seat, and each of these couches seats three people, okay? So we've got nine seats around the table. The center couch was the most honorable couch. On that couch, the center seat was the most honorable seat. The seat to the left of center was the second most honorable seat. To the right of center, the third most honorable seat. The next most honorable couch was the couch to the left. And on that couch, the center seat was the most honorable, the left was the next, the right was the next. And then the lowest couch was the one on the right, center seat, left seat, right seat. You see the pattern, see the arrangement? So from one down to nine, we have a ranking of places of honor. So the center couch, center seat was the most honored position. Every seat is ranked from one down to nine. How complicated is that? Can you imagine the scrambling that must have gone on in this room as each man tried to claim the honored seat? Must have been like playing musical chairs when the music stops. And Jesus observes this ridiculous display and sees not just bad etiquette, He sees bad morals. This was pride at its worst. And so He uses the opportunity to teach a lesson to the guests about the sin of pride. And that's our first point tonight, a lesson to the guests about the sin of pride. Jesus teaches this lesson by means of a parable in verses 8 through 10. In this parable, Jesus describes a social setting that's very similar to the one in which he and his hearers currently are. It's a wedding feast, a dinner party. And he says, when you were invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished, more noble, higher up the social ladder than you are, Be invited 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, then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. So in this short parable, Jesus is addressing pride as it relates to how we view ourselves. Pride as it relates to how we view ourselves. These men were vying for the best seats because they thought of themselves as being worthy of the honor of the best seat. Their ambition was to get the middle seat on the middle couch. And it was grounded in a self-perception that says, I'm the best. I get the most. I get to go first. And who does that sound like? Sounds like a two-year-old, doesn't it? Sounds like a room full of nursery kids. Doug pointed out a couple of weeks ago that there are certain behaviors, certain attitudes among human beings that simply don't have to be taught. Things that come naturally to us. Self-centered pride is one of those things. The Bible's full of examples of proud people. People who viewed themselves as more important than they really were. Nabal comes to mind. Remember the story of Nabal? He was a rich man with a pretty wife. When David's men asked him for provision, he turns him down saying, who is David? He's a nobody. I'm a somebody. And in the end, Nabal would pay dearly for his pride. Jezebel comes to mind. Been hearing about her on Sunday mornings when her husband was coveting Naboth's vineyard. Jezebel in her pride said, I can get that vineyard. Naboth's a nobody. I'm a somebody. Jezebel too would pay for her pride with her life. King Nebuchadnezzar comes to mind. One day, Nebuchadnezzar was walking in his royal palace. He swells up with pride and he says, is not this great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty? And no sooner had these words left his mouth than the Lord struck him with an insanity that would last for seven seasons. Herod Agrippa comes to mind. One day, we read in Acts 12, he put on his royal vestments, he sat down on his throne, and before the people, he delivers an eloquent oration. When he was finished, the people were so impressed, they began to shout, the voice of a God and not a man. Scripture says he was immediately struck down because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms. Folks, God takes pride very seriously. And when we behave as if we're more important, more prestigious, more exalted than we truly are, we're playing with fire. We're making an idol out of ourselves. And it's a dangerous, dangerous thing. Well, Jesus doesn't just leave us with a warning. He gives us a solution in verse 11, and it's the principal point of the parable. It says, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Do you realize how frequently that principle is repeated in Scripture? I really didn't realize until I started looking it up. Let me just read several of the occasions where it appears in Scripture. Proverbs 29, 23. One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. Job 22, 29. For when people are humbled, you say it is because of pride, but God saves the lowly. Matthew 23, 12, whoever exalts himself will be humbled. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Luke 18, 14 says the same thing. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. The one who humbles himself will be exalted. James 4.6, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 1 Peter 5.5, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Over and over and over, the point is made. God hates pride. God loves humility. So the question then is, how do we pursue humility? We pursue humility by intentionally putting ourselves in the low place. allowing ourselves to be disregarded, overlooked, unappreciated, unnoticed, and being okay with that. That's what humility looks like. This can happen at a dinner party, like in Jesus' parable, but it can happen anywhere, really. We can take the low place at work in the way we carry our seniority or our position. We can take the low place at home after a long day's work and the dishes need washing. We can take the low place at church when someone else's act of service gets praised and mine gets overlooked. Humility is choosing the low place on purpose. And as we do this, we're trusting that at the right time, in the right way, God will legitimately exalt us. So Jesus begins with a lesson to the guests about the sin of pride. But He doesn't stop there. He continues to upset the proverbial apple cart with, secondly, a lesson to the host about the sin of partiality. A lesson to the host about the sin of partiality in verses 12 through 14. And if Jesus' first lesson about pride has to do with how we view ourselves, this second lesson has to do with how we view others. So think back to the setting of the story. Christ is having lunch with a group of men who each think of themselves as the honored guest, based on how they set themselves. There's some serious ego happening around the table. And it suggests the party is made up of prominent, wealthy men who are accustomed to being the big fish in the pond. This isn't a room full of underprivileged, average kind of guys. It's a room full of bigwigs, movers and shakers. CEOs and PhDs and VIPs. So Jesus turns his attention to the host and says, verse 12, when you give a dinner party 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. Jesus looks around this room and notices that every person invited to the dinner that day has the same social status, the same theological views, the same friends. They're all rich, educated fraternity buddies who refuse to mingle with anyone outside of their group. And so Jesus, in pointing this out, exposes how pride views other people. Proud people want to be stroked. Proud people want to be affirmed. And so they surround themselves with people like themselves. Educated people who will recognize my intellectual prowess. Rich people who will be able to return the favor of my hospitality. But folks, just because a person shows hospitality doesn't mean he or she is hospitable. If their hospitality is characterized by partiality, prejudice, favoritism, and neglect of certain kinds of people, it may be an indication that they have a pride problem. Now, I know that our culture makes a big deal about diversity. And a lot of times our culture's preoccupation with diversity is unhelpful, if not downright ungodly. If I have to see another Disney movie with a plot line about a bunch of animals from different species coming together to make a family, I might lose it. But don't let our cultural baggage cause us to miss the point. When it comes to hospitality, to charity, to benevolence, diversity is a virtue. Our relating to other human beings with grace and love Generosity ought to be able to transcend ethnic differences and class distinctions. And yes, there are class distinctions in the United States. If I can only mingle with people like me, I probably have a pride problem. But the ability to mingle with people who are different from me, particularly when their social status or financial class or academic achievements are lower than mine, is very likely an indication of humility. Humility is not held captive by partiality. Now, let me just mention in passing that I don't believe Jesus is absolutely prohibiting us from socially mingling with people like us, people that share our interests and our experiences. It's very natural for us to be drawn to people with similar backgrounds. That's not an inherently bad thing. I think it's very natural. The warning, I think, is simply to not habitually show hospitality only to people like you, only to people who can pay you back. Even the verb tense in verse 12 suggests this. It says, when you give a dinner or banquet, do not invite. And the verb tense of that word, invite, involves continuous action. Do not continuously invite. Habitually invite certain types of people, while habitually ignoring other types of people. So don't go home tonight and feel guilty about having dinner with your friends and family. Just be careful that in your hospitality, you're not ignoring those who need your hospitality the most and deserve it the least. I think what Jesus is doing here is He's just peeling back layers of the onion to expose the hypocrisy we hide behind so often to convince ourselves that we're good, that we're not proud. And Jesus does this by pointing out that merely conforming to the social customs of the day does not make you a charitable person, a hospitable person. Humility is best displayed when I love others impartially. The last thing Jesus says about this particular heart sin is that we overcome our proud partiality by dwelling on God's treatment of the truly hospitable. Verse 14. You will be blessed because they cannot repay you for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. If a person serves and loves others without a thought to how he will be repaid by them, it's an indication that he has his mind fixed on a different reward. The reward that God, who sees in secret, will give one day to the righteous. Pride looks to be repaid by men. Humility looks to be repaid by God. Pride wants others to notice its charity. Humility is content to only be seen by God. So Jesus has exposed pride, first, as it relates to self. It's always vying for position, for praise. Secondly, He's exposed pride as it relates to others. Proud people are always showing partiality. Finally, Christ gives a lesson to a guest about the sin of presumption in verses 15 through 24. And this last lesson illustrates pride as it relates to how we view God. Verse 15, 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. When this particular guest, this objector, heard what Jesus said in verse 14, he got a little bit indignant. Are you suggesting, Jesus, that there will be different levels of reward in heaven? Even if there are, it really doesn't matter. I mean, just being there will be reward enough. That's essentially what this objector is saying. And when I read that, it reminded me of an old gospel song I heard years ago. It said, I don't care for the fine mansions on earth sinking sand. Lord, build me just a cabin in the corner of glory land. I think that was the attitude, the sentiment of this man. He's saying, Lord, even if there are different rewards in heaven, who cares? Just being there is enough. Just give me a cabin in the corner. I'll be happy. In response to that, Jesus tells a third and final lesson about the sin of presumption, presuming upon the grace of God. This man was dismissing Jesus' teaching about heaven on the grounds that he was simply glad he'd be in heaven. To which Jesus replies by means of a parable, don't be so sure you're going to be there. The sin of presuming upon the grace of God. The parable went like this. A man invited a great number of people to a fine banquet. They initially accepted his invitation, but when the time came, they failed to show up. When they were summoned, they each gave excuses, some pretty poor excuses. I bought a field and must go see it. You think he hadn't already seen the field if he's already bought it? I bought a cow and must go see it. I've married a wife. so I can't come to the banquet." If you're married, you can't participate in any social gatherings. When the master found out he'd been stood up by all his friends, he said to his servants, go out into the streets, invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and lame, those who weren't expecting to be invited to the banquet. Those who certainly didn't deserve to attend such a fine banquet. And as the hall began to fill with people, there was still room for more. So the master sends his servants back out again to invite more, to keep inviting people until the hall is filled. And then Jesus makes the crucial point in verse 24. And this is Jesus talking, not the master in the parable. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. Just because you've heard the Gospel, and just because you've verbally accepted the invitation of the Gospel, doesn't mean you're coming to the banquet. To put it another way, just because you profess faith, doesn't mean you possess faith. This man at the dinner party with Jesus, who said essentially, I'm just glad I'm going to be in heaven, was assuming a whole lot. Pride had blinded him to the point of believing he was at peace with God, when in fact he wasn't. And you know, perhaps that's the epitome of pride. You see, it's one thing to be so full of pride that you view yourself as being above everyone else, always grabbing that place of honor in public. It's one thing to be so prideful that you view others with partiality and prejudice, reserving your generosity only just for a select few deserving people. But it's a whole new level of pride to think your relationship with God is fine and dandy. when your energy and your affections and your time are given to a hundred other things. The people in the parable had to go look at a field, or go count their cows, or go spend time with their wife. None of these things were bad things. They were good things. They may even be necessary things, but the problem was that these things were displacing something more important. One commentator said, the excuses in the parable illustrate the alibis we come up with to explain away our lack of interest in the things of God. I think that's a good description. They're not bad things, but they're alibis we use to excuse away our lack of interest in the things of God. We are masters at making excuses when it comes to our walk with God. I remember this reality dawning on me as a teenager. I had been really struggling with consistency in my prayer life. I don't mean to say I don't struggle with it now, but I remember God teaching me this lesson when I was a teenager, just really struggling with consistency in my prayer life. Prayer is a hard discipline. And so many other things were crowding out my prayer time. But rather than admit that I just didn't care enough about prayer to bother praying, I convinced myself I was just too busy with school and church activities and chores. And the fact is I was busy with those things. But what I ignored was the fact that I still had time for TV. I still had time for basketball and for sleeping in. But I couldn't very well tell myself, you don't pray consistently because you're too busy watching TV. It doesn't sound very spiritual. But I could tell myself, you're too busy to pray because you're so involved with church stuff, ministry. That sounded a lot more spiritual. That kept my pride intact. I think we do this sort of thing a lot more than we realize. One of my frustrations as a minister is when lesser things take precedent over corporate worship. I've had many conversations with people over the years about why they're not able to attend worship on Sunday. And you know, folks never say it's because they want to stay home and watch TV. They never say it's because they wanted to go to bed early. It's usually something like work has just gotten in the way this week. It's been a really busy week. Or Sunday is really the only day we have for family time. You see, family versus corporate worship doesn't sound as bad as TV versus corporate worship. Work versus corporate worship sounds a lot better than napping versus corporate worship. And yet I'm fully convinced that what we do every week is what's really important to us. We will find time to invest in that which we value. And oftentimes our spiritual health, stirring up our affections for eternity, investing in God's people, simply doesn't rank very high in terms of what's important to us. Simon Kistemacher said, When the interests of this life demand our undivided attention, we make our excuses and say that God should understand that we have to take our responsibilities seriously. Our obligations, connections, and relationships frequently go contrary to our promise to love and serve God. So we honor our own interests and hope that God will give us a second chance. I've got a field. I've got a cow. I've got a wife. God, you'll have to wait." We reject God's invitation to banquet in His presence, and yet we're confident He'll understand. He'll excuse our divided hearts. It's the sin of presumption. Another manifestation of deep-rooted pride. So Christ warns those at this dinner party of three sins, and He teaches three lessons. First, there's the sin of pride as it relates to self. Those who are prone to self-exaltation, self-praise, gloating, bragging, self-glory, need to remember verse 11. God will humble the proud and exalt the humble. Secondly, there's the sin of partiality. Pride as it relates to others. Those who are prone to befriend only those who are like them have a pride problem. I need to remember verse 14. God sees the acts of love that no one else sees and will reward accordingly. And thirdly, there's the sin of presumption, presuming upon the grace of God. It's pride as it relates to God. God will excuse me from being faithful because what I'm doing is important. The person struggling with this attitude needs to remember verse 24, a verse that tells us God rejects the worldly minded. Folks, pride is an ugly, destructive thing. It's probably the sin we detest the most in others, and yet so often it's the sin we detect the least in ourselves. Jonathan Edwards called it the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those zealous for Christ. By the same token, Edwards said, nothing sets a Christian so much out of the devil's reach than humility. What we have in Luke 14 is a litmus test for pride. If you want to know whether or not pride is a problem in your life, then hold yourself up to the scrutiny of this passage of Scripture. Does pride manifest itself in how I view myself? Well, ask yourself these questions. Do I squirm to be noticed by others? Noticed for my looks, my talents, my intellect, my position, my wealth? Maybe even noticed for my suffering and hard life. Am I desperate for attention? Do I get easily offended when people don't ask my opinion? Does my Facebook page Reveal a preoccupation with my accomplishments, my importance, my successes. Does it give the impression of an unrealistically perfect life? What about pride as it relates to how I view other people? The sin of partiality. Ask yourself these questions. Am I always surrounding myself with people who affirm my importance and value by their likeness to me? Do I tend to give more of myself, my time, my energy, my hospitality to those who can give something back? Am I quick to be critical of those whose status is lower than mine? Or of those whose talents are greater than mine? What about pride as it relates to how I view God? The sin of presumption. Do I make excuses for my disobedience? Do I justify unfaithfulness? Do I tolerate idols of the heart that draw my affections away from the things of God? Do I give the impression that I'm further down the spiritual road than God knows me to be? Folks, pride is a formidable foe. And I don't want to pretend that you can go home tonight and do away with the pride in your heart simply by asking yourself a few of these diagnostic questions. But I do believe that if you'll let Jesus' teaching on pride begin to expose the true condition of your heart, you'll be in a great position to begin eradicating the sin from your life. Someone once said, confession of pride signals the beginning of the end for pride. Confession of pride signals the beginning of the end for pride. With that in mind, I want to encourage each of us to go before the Lord and ask Him to search us and try us and begin the process of killing the pride that's in us. Jesus didn't die and redeem us so that we could be people who walk around gloating about how wonderful we are. He saved us that we might be a people who exist, Paul said, for the praise of His glory. And as we learn to live for His glory rather than for our own, only then will we begin to experience the fullness of joy that God intends for His children. Let's pray. Father, I suspect that this scripture tonight that we've been thinking about for the last half hour has stepped on some toes. It stepped on my toes. Praise Holy Spirit that you would soften us enough to be able to see ourselves as you see us. Lord, pride is so deceptive. I'm always surprised when I see it myself. When I see the depth of it. And what I'm disgusted by it. It's almost easier to ignore it, pretend it's not there. But Lord, we're all guilty of pride. We're guilty of pride in how we view ourselves. We're guilty of pride in how we view the people around us. Lord, we're even guilty of pride before you, presuming upon your grace, presuming that we're so important to your kingdom that you will excuse away our unfaithfulness, our disobedience. Lord, forgive us. Pray that you would give us the grace to humble ourselves before you, to be okay with the ninth seat, the lowest place. To not feel like we have been overlooked, dishonored, disrespected simply because we're in the lowest place. Lord, make us servants. Lord Jesus, you are the perfect example of this. You emptied yourself to become a man and to even die on a Roman cross for sinners like us. And you have told us to have that same mind in ourselves. Lord, to esteem others better than ourselves. Help us to do that. We cannot do that without your grace. We won't do that. We're too rebellious. We're too proud. So Lord, give us grace to walk in humility. Lord, I have no doubt that as we learn as a church, as individuals, as families to walk in humility, our joy will increase. The stress of life will decrease because we're resting in you and your honor and your glory. We're pursuing those things instead of trying to scramble for an honorable seat. God, thank you for this word. Help us to think about it this week. And Holy Spirit, continue to massage it into our hearts for the rest of our lives. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.