He Who Humbles Himself Will Be Exalted

He Who Humbles Himself Will Be Exalted

The juxtaposition of a Humble King

It seems like in the Kingdom of God, that so many things are backward from what we would normally expect.  “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.”  “Love your enemies” and from the parable of the wedding feast (below), “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.”

Of course, it is not God who is backward here, but us. We are so turned around by original sin that we don’t trust the one who created us, saves us, and has promised to come back for us, to adequately meet our need for recognition. Instead, it is “only natural” that we would claim the credit for ourselves, isn’t it?

No, and that’s the point here. We are instead to take a lowly station, trusting that Jesus will raise us up when the time is right.

What else should we expect from a Messiah who, although he was God, humbled himself to become man and die on a cross.  Not for himself, but for us.  In a lowly, meek and humbled state, he suffered and died for us. Yet, he is our glorious king and LORD, serving us to the point of death so that we may join him in life.

Thanks be to God for his humility and love for us!

Here is today’s sermon text from Luke 14:

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?” But they remained silent. Then he took him 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.

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

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 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. 10 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. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Parable of the Great Banquet

12 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. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

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Announcements

Vacation: Pastor Jenson is taking a well-deserved, extended vacation until September 18th. If a need arises, please contact one of the Deacons (Loyd Harris, Sean Poe, Doug Helwig, Andrew Berg, and Bruce Selin). Their contact information is printed in the bulletin and in our church directory.

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