Discipleship: Be Humble (2 Samuel 7.18-29 and Luke 14.1-11)

Introduction

Imagine a dozen radio sets all tuned to different stations and all playing at the same time. Many competing voices, some clearer, some muffled, some louder, some quieter, but all talking over each other. And each is telling you two things; how you should live and how you should see yourself. 

·         Education says, “Be curious. Expand yourself.”

·         Religion says, “Be good. Behave yourself.”  

·         Humanism says, “Be important. Believe in yourself.”

·         Consumerism says, “Be fulfilled. Treat yourself.”

·         Facebook says, “Be attractive. Market yourself.”

·         Ego says, “Be confident. Assert yourself.”

That’s our world. And amid all these voices, and many more, Jesus says, “Be my disciple. Humble yourself.”

What Is Humility?

How do we humble ourselves? Some people think that humility means putting themselves down. But being humble is not self-degradation. It’s a realistic self-assessment and a willingness to serve others.

In Philippians 2 it says, “Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought.”

Humility is ‘not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less’.

Humility is actually attractive. It’s cringeworthy when people sing their own praises. We warm much more to modest winners and unassuming heroes.

It’s said that the great boxer Muhammad Ali was once asked by a stewardess to buckle up as the plane was about to take off. Never inhibited about publicising his greatness, Ali is supposed to have replied, “Superman don’t need no seat belt.” She just smiled and said, “Superman don’t need no airplane!” So, with a few sniggering passengers looking on, the story goes that he meekly did as he was told and buckled up.

Christ Exalting, Self-Abasing

None of us would talk to a stewardess like that I’m sure, but pride can be a massive issue for Christians.

I have personally witnessed church leaders boast in just about everything: size of congregation, prominent members, church architecture, heritage, musical tradition, liturgy, vestments, lack of vestments, influence, finances, diversity of activities, and the name they have made for themselves...

But God shares his glory with no one. If we seek to make a name for ourselves instead of him he may have to humble us. Humility is one of the defining marks of discipleship.

David’s prayer in 2 Samuel 7 is beautiful. I love it. It’s a response to God who has just made fantastic promises. He’s going to anoint David and establish him as king. He’s going to bless his royal line forever.

And David is overwhelmed. He says, “Who am I that you want to give me all this? I’m a nobody from a nothing family in the middle of nowhere. Every good thing I have is only because of your kindness and grace.”

He magnifies God’s greatness and stresses his own unimportance. Without God he has nothing. He humbles himself as needy and exalts God as all-sufficient.

When he was a student, the American radical Christian Shane Claiborne phoned the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta asking if could visit one summer as he explored his faith and sought meaning and purpose in life.

He calls at 2 a.m. so it would be daytime in India. The phone answers with a simple “Hello.” Thinking he might have the wrong number, he launches into a long spiel and when he eventually pauses for breath there’s a muffled, ”This is the Missionaries of Charity. This is Mother Teresa speaking.” And she simply says, “Come!”

He spent ten weeks there. In his book The Irresistible Revolution he says this: “People often ask me what Mother Teresa was like. Sometimes it’s like they wonder if she glowed in the dark or had a halo. She was short, wrinkled, and precious, maybe even a little ornery, like a beautiful, wise old granny. But there is one thing I will never forget – her feet. Her feet were deformed. Each morning I would stare at them. I wondered if she had contracted leprosy. One day a Sister explained, ‘Her feet are deformed because we get just enough donated shoes for everyone, and Mother does not want anyone to get stuck with the worst pair, so she digs through and finds them. And years of doing that have deformed her feet.’ Years of loving her neighbour as herself deformed her feet.”

That’s extreme humility and, to be honest, none of us will ever hold a candle to Mother Teresa. But when I was growing up, if people were asked about the person whose life they most admired, the answer was usually ‘Mother Teresa’.

But her life was one of self-denial, not self-promotion or self-fulfilment. And in that, she was so like Jesus.

What Does Jesus Say?

In our Gospel reading, Jesus is invited to a dinner party. It says it was at the house of a prominent Pharisee. It will have been a cold buffet, because cooking was classified as work and that was not allowed on the sabbath.

These kinds of events were commonplace. The host would invite a whole bunch of well-connected guests, (no plebs, no riffraff, no poor people, no great unwashed), and everyone would be working the room, making sure they were hobnobbing with people of influence, elbowing their way in to be seen with the great and the good.

People in our day are just as eager to raise their social status, by being with the right people, dressing for success, being seen with the latest phone or showing off a new trophy wife. This is a snare. Do you seek to impress people rather than serve them?

It is surprising to see Jesus on the Pharisees’ turf after he had denounced them so many times. But he is not afraid to face them even though he knows their purpose is to trick him.

It’s a set up. Jesus is being closely watched. They bring in a disabled man for a bit of sport. He’s got oedema, an abnormal accumulation of fluid in bodily tissues which can cause severe pain. 

Will Jesus rise to the bait and heal this poor man on the holy day of rest? Of course he will. In the Gospels, Jesus is always willing and able to heal. 

But before he does, he asks a confrontational question. Is there anything in the Bible that says you cannot heal someone in pain on Saturdays?

If you look, there’s nothing in here about it at all. There’s a shedload of man-made rules outside the Bible that they could quote chapter and verse on.

So the ambiance at this fancy soiree gets a bit awkward. Jesus shames them for their hard-heartedness. Twice, (v4 and v6) it says it all goes quiet as people look at their shoes.

Not for the first time, Jesus spoils the party. He is discourteous to his host, he ruins the atmosphere and he makes everyone feel uncomfortable.. I expect some of those high society guests were thinking “Who invited him?”

We need to understand this. Almost all self-respecting people in his day found Jesus thoroughly offensive. Half an hour into every high society bash Jesus was invited to, the host had already made up his mind he’d never be invited back!

But he never once humiliated the poor and lowly. What he did was humble the arrogant and sanctimonious.

I labour the point, because some people imagine that if Jesus came to tea, he’d be wonderfully tactful, and just affirm everything that makes me feel good.

Wait; if we invite him into our lives, he will point out attitudes and hypocrisies in us and say, “What about this then? This needs to go doesn’t it? I can fix this. Let me help.”

As today, table etiquette in high society was complex. Imagine going to tea at Buckingham Palace; how at ease would you be?

I’d be sneakily looking at all the posher-looking guests for a steer. Which cutlery do you use for what? How do you hold the spoon? Are you allowed to wipe the leftover sauce on the plate with your bread roll? How do you eat peas; do you scoop them up or mash them?

The Queen’s father, George VI, was once invited to a banquet not far from here and, on his right, was seated the General Secretary of the Durham Miners’ Union.

One of the courses was fruit, for which there was a bowl provided to rinse the fingers. Well, the gentleman to the king’s right had never seen anything like it. After eating the fruit with his soup spoon, he picked up the finger bowl, put it to his lips and noisily slurped the water.

There was general embarrassment, the odd gasp and a few sniggers, but straight away, George VI picked up his bowl and did exactly the same. That’s class isn’t it?

Incidentally, someone wrote a poem about the best way to eat peas, which I think settles the matter.

I eat my peas with honey, 

I’ve done so all my life. 

It makes the peas taste funny, 

But it sticks them to the knife. (Anon).

In Jesus’ culture, there were no name cards on the tables or seating plan. So everyone would be jockeying for the best places. The nearer the host you sat, you more important you would look. 

In v7 Jesus notices that some people are making for the most prestigious seats. On several occasions Jesus mentions to his disciples that the Pharisees loved to have the places of honour and the important seats.

So he tells a simple story about a wedding reception. You're going to look a right Charlie sitting down at the top table, reserved for the bridal party aren't you? The best man is going to tell you to get lost in front of everyone and you’ll be left with the plastic folding chair from IKEA in the corner.

And Jesus says it clearly in v11; in God’s kingdom, service is more important than status. “All those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” he says.  And Jesus tells you this because he loves you.

This is a running theme in Scripture. Psalm 138.6, Proverbs 3.34, 1 Peter 5.5, James 4.6 all say it. “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God resists the proud but lifts up the humble.”

So if you want God to obstruct you, to close doors in your face, and frustrate you – here's what to do; strut around like the great I Am and never apologise or admit you're wrong. Do that and you’ll find spiritual progress frustratingly elusive. 

God is looking for disciples who are unassuming, modest, unpretentious and down-to-earth, who aren’t snooty about the company they keep, who open their doors to everyone.

These are the people he invests in. “God raises up the humble.”

Ending

You may be wondering to yourself, am I humble? Am I proud? It’s not easy to self-diagnose. So I thought I’d end with five statements. I wonder where you’d put yourself on a scale of 1-10?

1 means “this is nothing like me at all and 10 means “that is just totally me.”

1.     I feel I am a better person than others

2.     I like lots of attention 

3.     I get annoyed when people do not applaud my achievements

4.     I feel jealous and critical towards successful people

5.     I find it hard to admit I’m wrong and have to win arguments

If you’re tending to score highly, Jesus wants to change that and he can. Maybe you’d like to pray about that with someone at the end of the service.

If you’re scoring low, good, you are becoming like Jesus…

…who though in his very nature fully God,

took the very nature of a servant…

and humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – 

even death on a cross!

Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…

and every tongue acknowledge 

that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 5 August 2018