from Dining with Jesus
One Sabbath, when he went in to eat at the house of one of the leading Pharisees, they were watching him closely. There in front of him was a man whose body was swollen with fluid. In response, Jesus asked the law experts and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” But they kept silent. He took the man, healed him, and sent him away. And to them, he said, “Which of you whose son or ox falls into a well, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” They could find no answer to these things.
He told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they would choose the best places for themselves: “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, don’t recline at the best place, because a more distinguished person than you may have been invited by your host. The one who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in humiliation, you will proceed to take the lowest place.
“But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ You will then be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back, and you would be repaid. On the contrary, when you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
When one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
Then he told him: “A man was giving a large banquet and invited many. At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’
“But without exception they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’
“Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me.’
“And another said, ‘I just got married, and therefore I’m unable to come.’
“So the servant came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’
“‘Master,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there’s still room.’
“Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, not one of those people who were invited will enjoy my banquet.’” Luke 14:1-24
Even sincere Christians can fall into the trap of behaving like a Pharisee. A dear man I know personally, who is now in heaven, illustrated this for me. He was a careful scholar, a prolific author and president of a wonderful reformed seminary. He was a winsome Bible teacher, well respected and rightly so.
One evening as he was speaking informally with a small group of us, the question was asked, “Have you ever been in a place where the Holy Spirit began to move in such a remarkable way that it caught you by surprise?” Without hesitation he responded, “Yes. I was speaking to a group of InterVarsity workers in Europe, and I’ve never experienced anything like it. I’d been teaching from the scriptures and as we were talking together afterwards, the Holy Spirit’s presence became so overwhelming that I quickly ended the meeting. I was afraid things might get out of hand.”
He didn’t say it with any discernible remorse, or embarrassment, but as if we would all understand. I hate to admit it, but the fact is, I’m afraid I do understand.
You see, if the Holy Spirit begins to move freely and do supernatural things, people might start talking, and I don’t just mean in other languages. People might start talking about us, suggesting that we’ve gone too far. They’d say we’re kind of weird. “I think he’s a little unhinged, too emotional, a little unbalanced. I mean, it’s great to love God, but you’ve just got to keep things in balance. Got to keep it in check.”
I don’t have the same concern that plagued Jesus’ host, resenting a healing on the Sabbath. But I can definitely relate to the discomfort that can arise when God does something outside the ordinary.
Honestly, if somebody came to me and said, “You know, I’ve decided God wants me to give away everything. Everything I own, I’m giving it all away, the house, the car, the furnishings, my wardrobe, everything. I’m giving it all away. I just believe God has led me to do that.”
The first thought that would occur to me is that this person is having some sort of emotional breakdown. But why? I know that Jesus told the rich young ruler to do that, but surely He wouldn’t ask anybody else to do that nowadays.
Why not? Why is it so important to me to believe that Jesus wouldn’t ask anybody else to do that? Perhaps because I don’t want Jesus to ask me to do that! And if He asked you to do that, then what might He ask of me?
So, I’m immediately going to think in terms of helping you see the error of your ways. “Well, now, tell me about what’s going on in your life. How is your marriage?” I wonder if perhaps he’s doing this to punish his spouse. After all, we have to take into account the impact our decisions have on others. No doubt the rich young ruler was single.
When I told the family that I was leaving the pastorate to move to Tennessee to start Wears Valley Ranch, I had three children at the time. The oldest one was handicapped. He had a lot of medical needs. They came with a lot of financial pressures. I was walking away from a nice salary to a position with no guaranteed salary and at least a fifty percent pay cut.
My youngest son was nine years old. He said, “Dad, I’d be willing to wear rags and live in a shack, if we can move to the mountains.” He now works for the Ranch and loves the life God called us to. My oldest son was thirteen. I won’t tell you exactly what he said, because he said some very nice things about me and I’ll just leave that to your imagination. But he concluded by saying, “If that’s what Dad believes God wants us to do, then that’s what we ought to do.” I thought that was priceless.
My middle son, who is now an attorney, was 11 at the time. He said, “What? How much money are you going to get?” I replied, “There’s no promise of a salary at all.” He said, “Well, I don’t even think that’s biblical. What is that verse that says, ‘A man who doesn’t provide for his family is worse than a what?’” I said, “Infidel.” He said, “Exactly!” and walked out of the room.
I am happy to report that the attorney son is a godly man who has repeatedly turned down lucrative job offers to focus on developing an outstanding ministry to the inner-city poor.
Still, following Christ requires a daily decision to die to self. We are naturally inclined to think in terms of what makes us comfortable, what keeps us feeling safe, insulated and protected from the storms of life. So when Jesus says, “Come follow me,” we think, “Well, first, let me go and bury my father. First, let me go back and take care of this or that.”
I have been around ministry leaders my whole life. I have known some wonderful, humble men and women who serve sacrificially. I have also been broken hearted by the up-close view of some who think they are celebrities and deserve to be treated like it. In our flesh, we are very much like the people Jesus describes, who are invited to the banquet. Jesus says this: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, don’t take the place of honor.” In other words, don’t seek your own honor, your own advantage. “The one who seeks to exalt himself will be humbled, the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Jesus was saying what the Father told Him to say, and the Father was telling Jesus something too and that is the one who humbles himself, is going to be exalted.
Philippians 2:6 says Jesus didn’t consider equality with God something to be grasped, but He emptied Himself and became a servant and was humbled even to the point of death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name, which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord.
Jesus humbled himself. Jesus tells us, “I want you to follow My lead. I want you to humble yourself.”
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