Luke
14:7-14
The White House just last night had a dinner where
many in the media, entertainment, Hollywood, and others industries were all
invited as guest of the President of the United States. Many were seated on the
stage in closeness to the President based on the honor bestowed to theme by
their own industry and the White House itself. The guest list I image was a
variable who’s who list of those our secular society considers the elite in
their fields. Some of the invited guest even engaged in politics to gain a
highly honored seat at the affair.
The owners of various sports franchises pay their
homage to some of the rich and famous in the secular culture by giving them
luxury suites at their stadiums and arenas to watch their sports teams perform
while they dine of the finest foods and indulge in every alcoholic beverage
their hearts could desire. Even some of the society’s visibly elite clergy or
the popular preachers of today are invited by some of these people and given celebrity
treatment. Many of the Popes of the Catholic Church over the years have always
been received by the heads of foreign Nations with royal status.
Our Lord (a Man that did not even own a home) witnessed
how the other Pharisees coveted the best seats at this large and important
feast and gathering on the Sabbath day and spoke this parable to these leaders
after He had just left the house of a Pharisee for dinner. The apparent intent
of the Pharisee in inviting our Lord was not that he was seeking to know the
truth about the Kingdom of God from our Lord, but that they might watch our
Lord closely. They intentionally brought a man with the infirmity of dropsy
into the Pharisees home on this Sabbath day to see if our Lord would heal him
so they might again have something to accuse Him of being dishonoring by not
keeping the Sabbath day holy. This may have been the same time as recorded by
John Mark where our Lord after asking them was it lawful to heal on the Sabbath
that He turned and looked at them with anger because of the hardness of their
hearts toward this afflicted man. How foolish these men to stand in the
presence of such pure and holy majesty and power and yet they associated our
Lord’s power with the devil. They did not deny His miracle working and healing
power but perverted it, what stupidity. This same stupidity continues today.
This dropsy was another horrible affliction that
caused swelling from excessive accumulation of watery fluid in cells, tissues,
or serous cavities and must have made this man’s appearance very unappealing
and even a bit frightening especially to little children. Obviously our Lord
would not look upon a man in such condition and not be moved with compassion to
free him from his affliction. The indifference of these Pharisees was truly
appalling that they would care so little about this man as to use him as a mere
prop revealed their extreme lack of lowliness, compassion, and humility. Their
indignation for our Lord along with their jealousy of Him took them to the very
bottom of miss-guided religious zeal, pride, and arrogance.
Our Lord sat and watched how these men pushed and
shoved their way to the place of highest esteem in the house of this ruling
Pharisee while they were simultaneously dishonoring and using this man afflicted
with dropsy. It is the entire purpose and design of this parable from our Lord
to show them their foolishness in trying to impress others of their status by
where they are seen in relation to the ruling Pharisees and not by showing gratitude
by even being invited and taking whatever low place is available. It is not the
heart’s desire of one who seeks another’s glory to be seen or known, but only
to honor others before receiving honor to him. Self-exaltation is not honorable
to God but on the contrary it is revolting to God and it is probably on par
with luke-warmness that makes our Lord want to vomit.
These men felt that their indulgence of their many
material blessings were a proof that God had and is looking on them with favor
though they never ever did anything for any of their fellow Jews that lived in
poverty. These men saw poverty as God’s judgment on the people for their lack
of piety or keeping of the Law of Moses and saw their earthly wealth as God’s
favor and blessings to them for their religious faithfulness to the Law of
Moses. For some reason they did not think God the Father saw how they would rob
widow’s houses as our Lord would point out to them in Matthew Chapter 23.
Our Lord wanted to squash that line of belief or
understanding about the Father by telling them in this parable that God the
Father is not honored by their excessive indulgence with no regard for fellow
Jews that did not even have bread enough to eat. This word from our Lord struck
down their warped view of the God they thought they were honoring and
worshipping by their lavish indulgence at the expense of the poor who could not
even afford the lambs required to make their temple sacrifices. It is analogous
to those health, wealth, and prosperity prostitutes of the gospel going to the
continent of Africa and telling people in those countries that live on less
than $3.00 per day to give them their money and watch God bless them with a 100
fold increase. Our Lord did not speak this parable with the understanding that
it would change their behavior, but it was more done as a rebuke to their
behavior and still stands for all who follow and believe the health, wealth,
and prosperity scheme being spread all over the world this very day.
It is not what other human beings think about you or
me but it is what God knows about every person’s heart and their motives and
intent when anything is done because our Lord sees not only the outward actions
but He sees the purpose, the priority, and the purport of the action, even why
one obeys His Word. He is not fooled by the outward man but His concern is the
real man that lives in the body, who and what is he truly like. Does that man
want to please Him, honor Him, and glorify Him in everything he thinks, says,
and does this will be the one our Lord lifts up in the end and it may never
occur on this earth. Remember Anna the true Prophetess, no one even knew who
she was but the Scripture says, “She served God with fastings and prayers night and day”, surely she was not
only praying for herself during all this time but for the Nation of Israel and
for individual Jewish people, and for the glory of God. Though she was never exalted
or lifted up perhaps by men on this earth, you better believe our Lord has
lifted her up by honoring her in His word that abides, continues, remains, and
stays forever. This is the true lowly place our Lord speaks of in this parable.
Psalms
18:27 For You will save the humble people, But will bring down haughty looks.
NKJV
Psalms
138:6 Though the LORD is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the
proud He knows from afar. NKJV
Proverbs
3:35 The wise shall inherit glory, But shame shall be the legacy of fools. NKJV
Proverbs
14:31 He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, But he who honors Him has
mercy on the needy. NKJV
Proverbs
15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom, And before
honor is humility. NKJV
Proverbs
19:17 He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, And He will pay back what
he has given. NKJV
Proverbs
25:6-7 Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king, And do not stand in
the place of the great; For it is better that he say to you, “Come up
here,” Than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince, Whom
your eyes have seen. NKJV
“Do not desire to be the principal man in the
church. Be lowly. Be
humble. The best man in the church is the man who is willing to be a doormat
for all to wipe their boots on, the brother who does not mind what happens to
him at all, so long as God is glorified.” Charles H. Spurgeon
“Oh that I was lowly in heart! Honor and dishonor, good report and evil
report would then be alike, and prove a furtherance to me in my Christian
cause.” George Whitefield
“The man who has no opinion of himself at all can
never be hurt if others do not acknowledge him. Hence, be meek. He who is
without expectation cannot fret if nothing comes to him. It is self-evident
that these things are so. The lowly man
and the meek man are really above all other men, above all other things.” Henry
Drummond
“Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by
the awareness of his lowly state
until he has compared himself with God’s majesty.” John Calvin
“When I pastored a country church, a farmer didn’t
like the sermons I preached on hell. He said, ‘Preach about the meek and lowly Jesus.’ I said, ‘That’s
where I got my information about hell.’” Vance Havner
If
you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this
from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear
Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I
believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from
the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn
from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control
of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely in Christ,
Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you
Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus
Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and
Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple
I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader,
Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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