Cultivate Humility

[0:00] Please turn your Bible to Luke chapter 14. Our attention this morning will be directed to verses 7 through 11.

[0:16] ! And each of these sermons is really intended to help us to cultivate a particular Christian value.

[0:37] The first one was cultivate humility. The second, cultivate servanthood. The third was cultivate generosity. And the fourth was cultivate respect.

[0:50] And this fifth one, again, is cultivate humility. There's one remaining one, cultivate gratitude, which I think we have in December.

[1:06] I hope to allow for some questions and answers at the end. So if you have questions along the way, just make a note of them. Luke chapter 14, beginning in verse 7.

[1:17] I'm reading from the English Standard Version. Now he told the 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.

[1:40] 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.

[1:57] 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.

[2:08] 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.

[2:26] Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word this morning. And Lord, we pause in this moment because we need your help.

[2:40] We need your help to open our eyes to the truth of your word, to open our hearts to receive and to obey your word.

[2:52] And so we ask, Lord, that all over this room you'll do this for us. Would you grant me the grace to be faithful to your word? And Father, I pray that I would be more aware of your spirit and help than of myself.

[3:12] I pray that we would all hear your word as we should. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I'm sure you've heard that it is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.

[3:30] And what that really means is a picture can communicate so much more than a whole lot of words. And I've been thinking recently as I was preparing this sermon in particular that also a good illustration is worth a thousand words.

[3:51] And I was reminded of a very good illustration about pride that I heard some years ago as I was sitting with a pastor friend from another country. And we were talking about pride and how difficult pride can be in our lives as we seek to see it and as we seek to fight it.

[4:11] And one of the things he said was, as he was trying to illustrate a point as we talked, he said, pride is like an onion. When you peel one layer off, there's yet another layer under it.

[4:24] And that has really remained with me because it vividly communicates how pride in particular is an ongoing reality for us that we have to be addressing in an ongoing way.

[4:45] And the truth this morning is that pride is an issue for all of us, from the youngest to the oldest. It doesn't matter who we are this morning, whatever our station is, every one of us has to deal with pride in different ways, to different degrees, in different circumstances.

[5:08] This is a message that's relevant to all of us this morning. A lot of times people would ask, you know, what's wrong with the world or what has gone wrong with the world?

[5:22] And they set about to try to give reasons, suggest reasons as to what is wrong with the world and what went wrong with the world. But few people would mention that the root issue in the world, the root cause of all that has gone wrong in the world and is wrong in the world is sin and the consequences of sin.

[5:48] And even fewer would mention that the root of sin is pride. The root of all sin is pride because ultimately sin is a rebellion against God.

[6:06] And it is only out of a heart of pride that we rebel against God. And this is why we who follow Christ should be seeking to cultivate humility because in the process of cultivating humility, we fight pride.

[6:28] In this passage that we read earlier, Jesus teaches us to cultivate humility. And what Jesus says to us is this, learn to humble yourself because God will exalt the humble and he will humble the proud.

[6:46] So Jesus is saying to us from this passage that we just read, learn to humble yourself because God will exalt the humble and God will humble the proud.

[7:04] I want us to consider these words of Jesus more closely and for those of you who are taking notes, I've organized my thoughts around two simple points. And the first one is this, in this passage Jesus teaches us about humility at functions.

[7:20] He teaches us about humility at functions. This is quite a fascinating parable and I've never preached on it before. I've read it any number of times but I found that as I studied it, I saw something that I just had not seen before.

[7:38] I used to think that this was a parable that Jesus told in general as he told a lot of his parables. But when you look at it and read the words and not read over them, verse 7 tells us that Jesus told this parable to those who were invited to a feast, a wedding feast.

[8:04] when he noticed how they chose the places of honor for themselves. So I kind of imagine that. Jesus is at this feast, I guess invited, and he notices people going and taking places of honor and he speaks this to them.

[8:25] He talks to them at the wedding feast. Not a general parable, but he specifically addresses his parable to these individuals.

[8:37] Let's look at verses 8 and 9 again. 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.

[8:51] 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.

[9:03] What is interesting about this is that Jesus starts by saying to them, and really to us, what not to do when you are at some function like this.

[9:18] And of course, when we read about this wedding feast, immediately we should tell that the feast that we have, wedding receptions that we have, they're quite different. Most times there are ushers who will put us in the areas where we need to sit.

[9:35] But evidently, this, in this culture, and the custom was, that the seating, though there was designated seating for places of honor, they knew what seats were places of honor, places that were not so honorable.

[9:50] people, but no one was really guarding these seats as it were. So at this wedding feast, people just went and they took the seats that they wanted. It would also appear that the bridegroom is not immediately present because I imagine if he was present, he would tell them, no, no, no, don't sit there, you come over here.

[10:10] Evidently, the bridegroom would come later and he would adjust the seating as he deems necessary. And so, Jesus notices how people just assume this place of honor.

[10:28] And as I thought about this, what's interesting is this was a widespread occurrence. This was not just one or two persons doing it, but this was just a widespread occurrence of all these people taking the seat of honor and assuming that they deserved it.

[10:53] Jesus says, don't do that. He says, the reason you shouldn't do that is because someone more honorable than you may have been designated to sit in the seat that you have taken and when the bridegroom comes, he says to you, come, you need to move and then you have to do the walk of shame in front of all the people who are already gathered and you have to go and take a lower seat.

[11:18] He says, don't do that. But he also tells us in verse 10 what we should do. Look at what he says in verse 10. He says, 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.

[11:36] then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. I thought about this and, you know, Jesus doesn't say it will happen.

[11:47] He says it may happen. So imagine the person who says, well, you know, I'm going to take the lowest seat because they want to get to the highest seat. You know, they're going to be upset the whole time if the host doesn't say, well, come up to the highest seat because that's what they really want.

[12:01] They want the highest seat, but they don't want the embarrassment of being turned away from it. And so they desire a higher seat. I think when we consider this parable that Jesus taught on this occasion, in some ways it doesn't really fit us.

[12:23] It doesn't fit us because most official functions that we go to, they kind of have seating arrangements and it's kind of rare that we find ourselves in a kind of situation like this.

[12:38] But I do think that the same kind of self-importance that these people generally had, we also have. And one of the ways it's manifested in our culture, in particular, I thought about this, is sometimes they have these events and they have regular seats and they have what they call VIP seats.

[12:59] The VIP seats are more and in a lot of cases they're not much different from the regular seats. But you know that pride in us many times caused us to buy the VIP seat because of what it says about us.

[13:17] I'm a very important person. When at the end of the day, the value is probably not there at all.

[13:34] But I believe that in this parable, if our attention is only focused on the first part of it and the occasion of this wedding feast in that culture, I believe we can really miss how we ourselves can have a sense of self-importance which really is a matter of pride.

[13:57] And so what Jesus wisely does, Jesus does not just really address this very specific event in a specific culture. Jesus not only tells us how we are to conduct ourselves and show humility at a function, but Jesus also helps us to see how we are to show humility humility in life.

[14:28] Not just humility at a function, but also humility in life. And this is my second point. And I believe that this is the most important part of the parable that we need to hear.

[14:44] Look at what Jesus says in verse 11 as he concludes. He says, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

[14:59] Jesus doesn't look at the audience and say, you know, you who exalts yourselves, you're going to be humbled when the bridegroom comes and tells you to move out of these seats that you're in.

[15:11] No, Jesus lifts his gaze beyond that audience. And he makes a universal statement. He makes a rule. He states a law.

[15:24] He says, everyone, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. If anyone exalts himself and is not humbled, or if anyone humbles himself and is not exalted, Jesus lied.

[15:50] Jesus is everyone. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

[16:04] This is an unbreakable rule. It is an unbreakable rule about pride and humility and the reason it is a rule is that God himself sees to it.

[16:18] God himself sees to it. Listen to how James says it in James 4 verse 6. He says it this way. He said, God opposes the proud and he gives grace to the humble.

[16:32] You know, I said this, when you really think about it, it is better for the U.S. government to be opposing us than to have God opposing us.

[16:48] It is better for all the world powers to be pursuing us and trying to be against us than to have the God of the universe to be in opposition to us.

[17:02] And I think one of the things that can cause us to believe that this is not a universal law is that sometimes we don't see the evidence of this right away.

[17:18] But we can rest assured that God in his own way and in his own time exalts the humble and he humbles the proud whether he does that in this life or in the life to come or in some measure in both of them.

[17:37] But we must take very very seriously. We get away with nothing when we are proud. And we will not be overlooked when we pursue humility.

[17:52] Sometimes we pursue humility for example and we complain because we feel God is overlooked. No, he has not overlooked. He has promised those who humble themselves will be exalted.

[18:07] pride. And we will not have you realize that pride looks different in different people's lives. Pride is mediated through our different personalities.

[18:21] And so for example, if you think about seats and who want to have the seat that is very visible to say look at me, there are some people who don't want that.

[18:32] They detest that. They'd rather be in a corner where nobody looks at them. But does that mean that they don't have pride? Not at all. They just don't like to be in the limelight.

[18:46] There is a kind of I want to be left alone pride. It's quiet and there's a kind of loud I want to be the center of attention pride.

[18:57] Pride. And this is why every one of us, whether we are shy or outgoing, whether we are male or female, whether we are young or old, whether we are Christian or not, every one of us needs to hear these words of Jesus.

[19:16] Because they are addressed to everyone and they are addressed to us in all of life. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

[19:29] And so we would all do well to cultivate humility. And how can we do that? How can we cultivate humility in our personal lives, in our families, and in this church family?

[19:48] I believe that the place to start for all of us is to do honest evaluation with the help of others and with the help of the Holy Spirit.

[20:00] And I want to suggest this morning three particular areas in which we can evaluate ourselves and seek to repent of pride and to cultivate humility.

[20:11] The first area is how we view ourselves. We need to evaluate how we view ourselves in relation to others based on whatever we place value, or emphasis on our gifts and abilities, our advantages and opportunities, our possessions and our accomplishments, our positions and our privileges.

[20:35] We need to consider these and we need to think about how we view ourselves in relation to others based on the things that the world makes much of.

[20:47] and we need to consider whether we have embraced the world's values about gifts and abilities and advantages and opportunities and possessions and accomplishments and positions and privileges.

[21:08] the world's values are to brag and boast about these things and to think of ourselves more highly than we should.

[21:22] And people in the world view themselves in relationship to others in light of these things. and we all know that the result is you begin to feel superior to people because of what you have and they may not have.

[21:42] And the root of it all is pride. And there are sometimes when we who are followers of Christ, who are not as discerning as we should be, we end up embracing these values about these things and we become proud.

[22:03] But listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4-7. He is writing to a bragging boasting church, the Corinthians, and he says to them, what do you have that you did not receive?

[22:16] In other words, what do you have that really you can truly say I have this because of my own might, my own power, my own smarts, my own anything? He says everything that you have, the gifts you are boasting about, you have received them, they are gifts given to you.

[22:36] And brothers and sisters, the same is true for us. Any worthy thing we have this morning, any gift, any ability, any advantage, any opportunity, every possession, every accomplishment, every position, every privilege, is a gift from the hands of a gracious and providential God.

[23:01] It comes from his good providential hands. All that we have, we have received. And it's not because we're anything special.

[23:14] And we should remember that there is no gift or ability or advantage or position. There's nothing that we have that we hold permanently. and all we need to do is think about life and we can see people who are in similar places and they have experienced incredible reversals and change of circumstances.

[23:38] One visit to the doctor can change so much of what we place so much emphasis on. now why is it that we allow our gifts and our abilities, our advantages and opportunities, our positions and privileges, the things we possess and the things we accomplish, why do we allow these things to cause us to be proud and have a sense of superiority?

[24:13] Why do we do that? I think the reason we do it is because we really don't maintain a biblical view of ourselves.

[24:25] We don't see ourselves in light of what scripture says to us in an ongoing way. And there are three particular biblical descriptions of ourselves that we would all do well to remember.

[24:42] And the first one is in scripture we are called dust. Genesis 3, 19, by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall return.

[25:03] And second in scripture we are called or we are likened to grass. 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 24 says for all flesh all flesh is like grass and its glory like the flower of grass the grass withers and the flower falls.

[25:31] And then third scripture likens us to a breath. to a breath. Psalm 144 verse 4 man is like a breath his days are like a passing shadow.

[25:54] These three words dust grass and breath give us a very biblical view of ourselves.

[26:05] They remind us that we are here today and we are gone tomorrow and therefore why should we be proud? Why should we be people who are filled with pride when this is really who we are at the end of the day?

[26:20] And this is why funerals are so helpful for us. I attended one on Thursday. Just pondered the brevity of life. Funerals remind us that we are dust, that we are grass, that we are a breath.

[26:33] funerals remind us, you read in the obituary all the things that people accomplish and when we know some of them, we are able to see some of the things and they leave it off.

[26:50] They leave it off. We don't take our gifts and abilities and our advantages and opportunities and our possessions and accomplishments and our positions and privileges.

[27:05] We don't take them to the grave with us. We leave them behind. And so I want to ask us this morning, how do you view yourself? How do you, how do you, in your heart of hearts, how do you view yourself and in particular, how do you view yourself in relation to other people?

[27:27] Are you proud because of your gifts and your abilities? are you proud because of the advantages and the opportunities that you have, the things you possess, the things you've accomplished, the position that you hold, the privileges that you enjoy in life?

[27:51] Are they things that cause you to think more of yourself or are they things that direct your a grateful heart to a gracious God? If they aren't, they should.

[28:11] The Apostle Paul says, I know that within me dwells nothing that is good. Any good that we have comes from a good, a gracious, and a kind God.

[28:22] and he gave them to us to cause us to be grateful, not proud. When we are proud because of what God has done for us, it is an inversion, it is a distortion of the blessing, of the gift.

[28:46] It's not to get us to look at ourselves and compare ourselves to others, it is to get us to look up to a kind, and a good, and a gracious God.

[28:59] On the other hand, pride can also work in our lives, even when we may not have or see the gifts and abilities that others may have, and advantages and opportunities and possessions and accomplishments.

[29:19] Sometimes pride can work in our hearts in terms of jealousy, where we make much of those things. We don't see them in our lives as we want, and therefore we become jealous of the advantages, the privileges of others.

[29:35] What Scripture reminds us of is that we are to be content with our lives. We heard it in the exhortation as Lyndon was encouraging us as we prepared to give.

[29:48] we are called to be content with our lives. We are called not to compare our lives to other people, because at the end of the day, our lives are what they are because of a sovereign, a good, and a wise God who causes the boundary lines of our lives to fall in very pleasant places.

[30:13] And whether we believe that or not, based on what we see we can accept the truth of Scripture, because that's what Scripture says to us. So, brothers and sisters, let us begin our self evaluation with how we view ourselves, remembering that a biblical view of ourselves will help us to humble ourselves no matter what trappings of life we have, because we will see ourselves as dust, as grass, and but a breath.

[30:50] And then second, we need to evaluate, not just how we see ourselves, but we want to evaluate how we serve others. This is a very good measurement of humility or pride.

[31:07] How we serve others is a helpful yardstick to measure humility in our lives. And the reason is that by nature we are people who would rather be served than to serve.

[31:20] We're not naturally servants. We're not born looking for the first thing to do. We're born looking for someone to do things for us, to serve us in particular ways.

[31:33] And we learn pretty quickly from a very young age that if you're going to be a servant, you're going to sacrifice. If you're going to be a servant, it's going to require that you humble yourself to serve others.

[31:46] Because in the world it is understood that the greater ones are served and the lesser ones serve. We have a very moving account of serving in the gospel of John.

[32:07] In John chapter 13, I want you to turn there with me. The gospel of John chapter 13, Jesus was nearing the end of his life on earth.

[32:20] He would have been a very short time away from his crucifixion. He would have been hours literally away from being crucified.

[32:34] And John gives us this account a only place we find it in the gospels. And I want to read it and make a couple of comments on it.

[32:46] Beginning in verse 1, John chapter 13. Now before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

[33:05] during supper when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper, he laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel tied it around his waist, and then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

[33:40] He came to Simon Peter who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, what I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.

[33:53] Peter said to him, you will never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me.

[34:06] Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. And Jesus said to him, the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean.

[34:23] And you are clean, but not every one of you, for he knew who was to betray him. That was why he said, not all of you are clean.

[34:37] When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, do you understand what I have done?

[34:49] You call me teacher and Lord and you are right for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet.

[35:04] For I have given you an example that you should also do just as I have done to you. Truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

[35:19] If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. in a nutshell, this account has to do with the fact that evidently when Jesus and his disciples were having this last supper and they went into the room, it was customary that there would be a slave in such settings to wash the feet of people who would have come through dusty areas wearing sandals, their feet would be dirty and it was customary to have the slave to wash their feet.

[35:56] Evidently there was no slave. Evidently their feet were unwashed and they were going to eat. And so what Jesus does is Jesus takes the role of the slave, takes off his clothes, puts on the towel as a slave would and he comes and he washes their feet.

[36:19] Notice what John tells us about this account. John tells us in verse 3, Jesus knowing that the Father had given him all things into his hands and that he had come from God and that he was going back to God rose from supper.

[36:47] Brothers and sisters, it is not until we understand who we really are that we are able to truly condescend and to serve others.

[36:59] Jesus had no complex about who he was. He knew who he was and yet he took on the role of a servant and he served his disciples in ways that they needed to be served but none of them was willing to do they were all too proud to do what Jesus did and so here you have their lord and master he condescends far more than any of them would have had to condescend to wash each other's feet the God of the universe who came down to this earth became God in the flesh he became a servant to them in that moment and washed their feet and it's very clear that he was doing because he said to them what I'm doing you don't understand they knew he was washing their feet as a matter of fact Peter couldn't stand it that Jesus would just wash his feet as a slave he says

[37:59] Lord you know my hands and my head as well bathe me and Jesus says no I'm just going to wash your feet because he was already bathed is clean there's some churches that have taken this as a ritual and they see it as an ordinance and they treat it as the Lord's Supper and they actually wash feet but Jesus says that's not what he was doing he was not merely washing feet he was setting an example and what he calls us to do in a broad and generic way is he calls us to serve one another he calls us to humble!

[38:39] ourselves and to serve each other in our areas of need and in order to do that we have to know who we are in Christ we have to know we are as scripture says we are dust and we are grass and we are but a breath if we're going to be servants so I want to ask you this morning what does serving look like in your life are you a servant or are you more willing to be served that is your posture that people will serve me or are you a servant and what do you think family members would say what would your wife your husband your children your parents your brothers and sisters what would they say to the question if they were asked if you were a servant how would they answer that would they say that you are a humble servant or you are a proud person who loves to be served what would co-workers say what would schoolmates say what would members of this church say and when

[40:24] I talk about serving in the context of this local church church!

[40:57] would be to move and floors to be swept and bathrooms to be cleaned I'm talking about when we have announced work days and the opportunity is to labor and serve brothers and sisters in this local church would we be among those who would serve especially when we have the opportunity to do so I recognize that we are not all in the same set of circumstances some of us have particular impediments that will prevent us from serving in particular ways or different times but putting those aside what does serving look like in our lives and brothers and sisters the root of an unwillingness to serve especially when it comes down to doing less than desirable tasks is pride it's the root of it it's pride we have a distorted view of ourselves we have a distorted view of life and it's manifested in the things that we choose to do or we choose not to do and so if we're going to cultivate pride if we're going to repent of humility so if we're going to cultivate humility and repent of pride then we have to honestly evaluate where we are and we need to pray to

[42:37] God and we need to invite others to help us I think it is instructive to all of us that the Lord only gave us eyes in front we don't have eyes to the side and to the back but we have the eyes of others that can help us to see and so we need to invite others into our self evaluation let's ask family members let's ask friends those who know us well let's ask our co-workers let's ask fellow students let us ask brothers and sisters in this church and as we do let us listen let us not defend let's ask clarifying questions but let's not defend and the third area that we need to evaluate as we seek to grow in humility as we seek to cultivate humility we need to evaluate how we receive correction when we don't receive correction well it is a sign of pride the humble person welcomes correction and critique and I think what we need to do is we all need to think about what goes on in my heart when

[43:59] I'm corrected or critiqued by something I've said or something I've done what goes on in my heart honestly before the Lord what goes on in our hearts when we are corrected or critiqued by what we have done or said are you honestly inclined to receive the correction receive the critique and consider it or is our inclination more to push back on it to defend or worse to attack I think one of the reasons that we try to exempt ourselves of what we do and say from correction or criticism is once again we have an unbiblical view of ourselves we're not perfect and therefore it should stand to reason that because we aren't perfect that we should be open to correction and to critique and we must remember again these words of

[45:16] Jesus back in Luke chapter 14 verse 11 for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted when we resist correction God resists us because correction resisting correction is an indication of pride now it doesn't mean that we have to agree with every correction we receive not every single correction that we receive is right but we have to be honest in our own heart whether just the mere idea of being corrected or critiqued causes us to resist and to actually push back and here again we need the input of others we need the input of those who know us those we live with those we work with those we serve

[46:25] God with and remembering that God when God says in his word that he will resist the proud is not to shame us is not to shame us God wants us to grow in humility and that's why he resists the proud that's why Jesus promises everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted it's not to punish it's to help us to grow so that we can exhibit more Christ likeness the apostle Paul wrote the letter of Philippians to the church at Philippi a church in which two prominent women won an open disagreement these were two women who co-labored with

[47:26] Paul in the gospel and they were having this open disagreement and Paul writes to this church no doubt their disagreement had affected people on different sides of the disagreement and brought about disharmony in the church and here's what the apostle Paul writes to this church very early on in the letter you don't need to turn this can be projected for you in Philippians chapter 2 verses 3 through 11 this is what he writes do nothing from rivalry or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves let each of you look not only to his own interests of others have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but made himself nothing taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross therefore

[48:42] God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father the attitude of Christ that we need to have in terms of humility as expressed in verses 6-8 he was in the form of God but he didn't count equality with God as something to hold on to but he made himself nothing he took on the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even the worst death of that time a death on the cross and the result is in verses 9-11 therefore

[49:42] God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father why is Jesus highly exalted and given the name above every other name because he more than anyone else in all of history he being God humbled himself more than anyone else ever could coming to this earth as a servant dying on the cross as a criminal and therefore God has highly exalted him because more than anyone else he has humbled himself and he gives us an example in his own life you know that we cannot have the mind of

[50:50] Christ and be proud at the same time and verse five calls us and as a matter of fact it it says it in an accessible way it says it to us in verse five have this mind among yourself which is yours in Christ Jesus in Christ this mind belongs to us we need to be aware of it we need to keep it to the fore of our thinking this parable in my mind concludes in a very fascinating way the reason I say this parable concludes in a fascinating way is that it appears that after Jesus spoke nothing remarkable happened I believe that if people heeded Jesus they would have left the seats of honor and they would have all been scrambling for the lowest seats and

[51:53] I believe that Luke would have been told and Luke would have recorded it and so it does appear that since that's not recorded now I know I'm perhaps imagining here but it seems to me that if that had happened it would be so significant!

[52:13] Luke who was investigating this would have been told man after Jesus was finished and people ran from those seats of honor and they went to the lowest seats!

[52:25] it appears that they didn't it appears that they looked at Jesus and was thinking well he must be talking to those other people not to me you know sometimes sometimes people when they are wrong they pretend to be right and they don't move and they don't budge and it seems like that's the reaction that Jesus received seems that these words of Jesus fell on deaf ears as I thought about that I realized it could be the same for us this morning we can hear these words of Jesus we can have active pride in our lives in different ways and circumstances and we can hear these words and make no adjustments but if indeed the people responded the way that they did and did not move brothers and sisters let's not do that let us be moved let us be moved by the words of the

[53:38] Lord let us be moved by the example of the Lord in his self sacrifice in coming to not just serve us but to save us in a way that we could never do for ourselves you see some of the ways that we serve one another if we don't do it somebody else can do it but in the ultimate way that Jesus served us by coming to die for us no one else could do it an angel couldn't do it wouldn't be good enough no human being none of us could do it God himself!

[54:23] and the person of his son and so may we be moved may God help us and you know what I'll say this and I'll close and take some questions if you have any as we cultivate humility as we repent of pride it will surprisingly be the solution to many of the relational conflicts that we face whether at home or at work or at school or in the church and elsewhere surprisingly it will be the solution to many of those relational conflicts!

[55:19] One of the benefits is we will grow in peace with God because he will not be resisting us he will be giving us grace as we grow in humility let's pray!

[55:33] to to go to to! go