Christian Humility Is Christ-like Selflessness!

15th Sunday after Pentecost, 9/5/10
Luke 14:1, 7-14


Christian Humility Is Christ-like Selflessness!
I. In your attitude
II. In your actions


Have you noticed how works of charity in our modern world have become opportunities for self-promotion? Hardly a day goes by in which you don’t see a famous musician, athlete, film star or politician doing a film or photo opportunity at a charity event. I realize that many of them want to publicize what they’re doing to draw attention to the cause and to encourage others to support it, but I also wonder how often such publicizing is done out of selfish motivations. Is it to make themselves look better in front of their fans or voters? Have they been told by their publicists that media coverage at this charity event is positive publicity that few could afford? In other words, is participating in supporting this charity fully an act of charity or is it image-polishing? We wonder, don’t we? After all, if it really is an act of charity, couldn’t it be done without anyone else knowing? Take that a little further. Shouldn’t it be done that way?

But selfish acts aren’t limited to the famous. We’re all selfish by nature. We’re born with a sinful nature that daily bows before the unholy trinity of me, myself and I.

But Christ has changed all that in us. By faith in him we now have a new person living within us that is selfless just as Christ was selfless. It’s living the way Jesus lived—always concerned about others first.

And that’s what Christian humility is all about. It’s not about looking out for Number 1. It’s not about self. It’s about selflessness. Christian humility is Christ-like selflessness. Jesus shares just what that means as he explains it in the home of a prominent Pharisee as reported to us here in Luke 14.

Part I.

Your attitude certainly has a lot to do with the way your day progresses, doesn’t it? For instance, when a co-worker arrives at work with a terrible attitude, you know that the day is going to be rough for that person and everyone who comes into contact with her. On the other hand, if they arrive with a bright and cheery disposition, you know things have a good chance of going well. And that’s not just true at work. You find the same thing holds true in just about every endeavor of life.

But our attitude also tells others much about ourselves. Is it all about me, or is there room for us to be concerned about others as well?

Our Savior Jesus saw attitudes on display at a social event to which he had been invited. Our text says, “One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. He noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table.” Notice that Jesus wasn’t just in the home of any Jew, but the home of a Pharisee, one of the elite among the Jews. And this wasn’t just any Pharisee. Luke says it was a prominent Pharisee. It’s likely that this man held one of the 70 positions on the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews. To be invited to his home on a Sabbath for a meal was a huge deal. Sabbath meals among the Pharisees were often elaborate feasts and that seems to be the case with this meal.

Our text says Jesus noticed the guests. It’s easy for us to imagine him standing off to the side of the room quietly watching what was going on. And what was happening didn’t please him. You see, there weren’t little name cards on the table indicating where each guest should sit. Instead, it was up the individual to take the place he thought he deserved. Recall that in Bible times people reclined on low, backless couches with their heads at the table, leaning on their left arm. That made the place at the far left of the table the most prominent because that place afforded you a view of all the other guests.

Luke tells us, “[Jesus] noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table.” They revealed their attitude about themselves by the place they chose at the table. Imagine 20 or more guests vying for two or three places at the table and neither of them willing to back down or do the polite thing and defer to the other. If it weren’t so sinfully pitiful it would be comical.

Being the perfectly loving teacher that he was, Jesus grabbed this teaching opportunity. He told them a parable about choosing places at a wedding feast. How embarrassing to assume you’re more than you really are and get humiliated. How much better to chose a lower seat and then be honored by being told to take a higher seat!

His point is this: Christian humility is Christ-like selflessness and that humility flows from your attitude about yourself.

Someone once told me, “Humble is so much more attractive.” I think you’d agree. There are few things as annoying as being around an arrogant person who constantly reminds you in words and deeds that they think the world revolves around them and how much better and more important they are than anyone else. It’s always about them. In other words, their pride and the selfishness go hand in hand. And we can’t stand it. But we struggle with it, too. As I mentioned when we began, we all have a sinful nature that leads us to bow daily before the unholy trinity of me, myself and I. And our arrogance, if unchecked, turns us into the ugly self-centered brutes we all detest. But thank God we have Christ! Thank God we have him first as our Savior. His selflessness moved him to enter our world and leave his glory behind, to humble himself and become one of us, to live for us instead of for himself and to die for us. He did all that to forgive us and make us his own. We have Christ as our Savior! And now we also have him as our example and our power. His love instills in us a humble, selfless attitude. May it be evident more and more each day as we live for him!

Part II.

More than once Jesus said some things that are difficult for us to understand. For instance, a little later in this same chapter of Luke he said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes even his own life—he cannot be my disciple” (Lk. 24:26-27). Really? Hate them? Next Sunday we’ll talk about what he meant.

He says something difficult for us to understand in the verses before us as well. He says, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors.” Really? We shouldn’t invite our relatives and friends to our house for dinner? That doesn’t seem right at all. What does he mean?

First, you have to understand the situation. It was clear that this was a high society event. That Sabbath day the “who’s who” among the Jews were present at this dinner. Only a fool would think that the host was doing this simply out of the goodness of his heart. He had ulterior motives.

And Jesus, knowing all things, wasn’t fooled for a moment. He knew that the man had invited these guests and arranged for this lavish meal with the intent of getting something in return. Who knows what that was? It could be a return invitation to the next high society event. It could be a favored position among the Jews. It could be some business deal. Whatever it was, he was expecting a pay-back.

Instead, Jesus told the man to invite the people of that society who had nothing to give him in return. Invite the people who can’t offer you an invitation to their home for a meal. Invite people who can’t offer you a higher position in society or a business deal in return.

So why invite them at all? The unstated reason Jesus offers is simply out of love. You see, the host wasn’t really serving his guests a meal that day because he loved them. He was trying to use them for his own benefit. Jesus called for the host to do something selfless simply out of love for those who are less fortunate than himself.

But then Jesus told him, “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” So there is a repayment? But what is Jesus talking about? For the answer recall the words Jesus spoke during Holy Week about Judgment Day. He said he will separate believers from unbelievers. And then he will point the believers to their fruits of faith as evidence of their love for him—he was hungry and they fed him, he was thirsty and they gave him something to drink. And when the believers ask, “Lord, when did we do these things for you?” he will answer, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt. 25:40). On the basis of their faith as evidenced by their deeds of love for others, he will invite them into his heavenly kingdom. That’s the reward Jesus spoke about to the host of this meal. That’s the reward that comes to those who display Christian humility in Christ-like selflessness.

That’s not easy to do, especially in our world. After all, if we don’t look out for ourselves, no one else will. In fact, it seems like the moment we let our guard down, someone is taking advantage of us. We tell ourselves that we have to be concerned about ourselves if we want to survive.

But that certainly isn’t Christ-like. Jesus came to serve, not to be served. He came to live for us, not for himself. He came to die for us to reward us with eternal life, not to reward himself. In fact, by his life and death he has made us his own and turned us completely around in our focus. Our focus isn’t on this life, but the life to come. It’s not on us, but first on Christ and then on others. The work of Jesus as your Savior was completely selfless and he did that work by humbling himself even to death on the cross.

Jesus is not just your example. He’s the very power for Christian living. Christian humility is Christ-like selflessness. May that attitude thrive in us and be evident in our lives. Amen.