Seeking The Lowly Place

Good morning. Lord, grateful to be here today. Lord, that we would serve with gladness and humility of heart.

Thank you for your many blessings in Jesus' name, amen. Turn to Luke in chapter 14. Verse 7, and he told a parable to those who were invited when he noted how they chose the best places, saying to them, When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down at the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him.

And he who invited you and him come and say to you, please give this place to this man, and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go sit down at the lowest place. So when he who invited you comes, may say to you, friend, go up higher.

Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Then he said to him, when you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends or your brothers or your relatives nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back and you be repaid.

But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the lame and the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just. You know, so much of what we do in this life is for honor. And sometimes we think we can use reverse psychology on God, and we think that we're humble, and we go and we take a humble spot, waiting for someone to exalt us, and then it doesn't happen, and then we can get bitter about it.

But when you are little in your own eyes, you're little in your own opinion, you're not concerned about that. You're considering others' interests better than yourself. So you're giving way to others, you're giving way for others to have an opportunity, for others to experience something, a blessing.

And a lot of times we do things, our good works, you know, when we read, Zach has shared about having love toward family and toward others. And we read in 1 Corinthians 13, it says that we can give our bodies to be burned and have not love. Or we can give all of our goods to feed the poor, or to help people in need, but have not love.

It profits nothing. So how can it be that we make all this sacrifice to give people this or that, or this or that, and have not love? Because God looks at the heart. How is it that we can give an offering and put much money into the plate, yet the widow who puts two mites into the pot, Jesus says this one is put in more than all the rest, because she gave out her need.

You know, we easily deceive ourselves and trick ourselves into thinking that we're in a good way. But we're not. We do some righteous deeds, some good act to justify ourselves.

But our heart is not for the Lord. Our heart is not for Him. Because when He invites us to spend time with Him, we're not willing.

But if someone invites us who's honorable, oh, there we'll go and we'll try to get as close to that honorable person as we can to be associated with them. That's the flesh. That's the sinful nature.

If we keep reading in the passage in verse 15, now it says, well, in verse 14, no, verse 15, Then one who sat at the table with Him heard these things and said, Blessed is he who shall eat the bread in the kingdom of God. What does it mean to eat bread in the kingdom of God? Well, for us who are on the earth, we share something called communion. The breaking of bread.

The fellowship of the brethren. When we get together and we break bread, we're talking about spending time one with another. And when we spend time with one another, what do we talk about? We talk about all the drib of the world or do we talk about Him? In Malachi chapter 3, it talks about when they that feared the Lord got together.

The Lord hearkened in. He listened in to hear the things that they were talking about Him. They that feared the Lord.

When we get together, do we talk about Him? Do we share about what's going on in our lives? Are we really sincere in opening up our hearts and breaking bread? Many times we bring out a plate here and we'll say, Well, you know what? We're going to break bread this morning. We're going to have communion. But our hearts are all over the place.

You know, and so for a moment, we're like, okay, we don't want to eat, drink judgment. So we just like quickly asking some forgiveness, hoping that, you know, we're not going to get sick or something bad is going to happen because we're coming in an irreverent manner. But we're supposed to always be watchful and serious in our prayers.

We're supposed to always be ready to give an answer of the hope that we have in Jesus. If you spend time with Jesus, then you have a testimony. Everybody who came and touched the hem of His garment had a testimony.

Have you touched the hem of His garment? Have you put an effort in to get to Him? Everyone who got to Him and they said only if they could just touch the hem of His garment, everyone who touched the hem of His garment was healed. Have you put the effort in? Have you sought life and death necessity to get to Him? Not blessed is he who eats bread in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus goes on from there.

He said a certain man gave a great supper, invited many. He said, you know what? My supper is ready. But there's not many willing.

And you know what? Even today, He brought me to His banqueting table and His banner over us is what? Love. But we're not willing. Why are we not willing? Because we're distracted.

The cares of life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for pleasures and other things. They distract us. We'll exchange the king of kings beautiful meat for chips, pop and junk food.

In terms of carnal things. He says in Isaiah 55. Oh, everyone who comes, everyone who thirsts, let him come.

Why do you spend money on what is not bread? And you're on things that don't satisfy. Now, He gives us all things richly to enjoy, but we don't live for those things. And if we start to live for those things, He gets our attention.

And He slows us down so we have time to reflect on our priorities. You know, if we've been given a job or a task at work and we get distracted, it happens to me. You know, I don't stay focused on the task.

There's the one task I want to do. Then I go into the barn and I see all kinds of stuff laying around and it's like, oh, I can't even. I start trying to organize or I call my wife and I can't find.

And next thing you know, I don't get nothing done in a day or very little done in a day because I got distracted. From the cause. From the goal.

We have to be focused on Christ. We have to be focused on eternity. We have to say all the things that we're doing in this lifetime, how does that impact the eternal perspective? And if we lose focus on the eternal perspective, we'll find ourselves focused on the cares of life, on the deceitfulness of riches, and on the desires for pleasures and all the other things that God gives us richly to enjoy.

You know, many times we get so excited about the gifts and the blessings that God gives, we forget God. And he's given us the creation to remind us of an eternal Godhead in the heavens and how it was created and how it came to be and his divine nature and his glorious attributes and all of the things that he is able to do. He's beautiful.

And then we get out in nature and we enjoy his creation, which he wants us to do. But we forget about him. You know who does that? Children do that.

Babies do that. Christmas time, the gifts come out, those of you celebrate Christmas or have celebrated in the past. And then there's the tree, we don't have the tree anymore, but there is the tree and the gifts.

And the children just like, they just can't wait, they're chomping at the bit to get up the gifts and they just want to rip them open, you know, and then kind of the adults want to make it last a little bit and they want a little bit of order and, you know, we kind of want to, you know, enjoy everybody getting a gift. And it's good to give gifts. And then they open the gift and my gift's not as good as your gift.

And then they're fighting over the gift and then they break the gift even before the night's out. And very little thought goes into who gave the gift. The sacrifice that was made, the time that was spent to go out and find something special for that person.

We do that. We forget the Lord because we don't see him. He's not right there in front of our face.

You know, always we say, okay, guys, did you say thank you to grandma and grandpa? Did you say thank you for the gift? Oh, yeah, yeah, okay, I did or okay, yeah, I will. You know, oh, thank you, a little hug and then back to the gift. We're so short-sighted that we miss the giver of the gift.

The one who's given us all things richly to enjoy. He said a certain man gave a great supper and he invited many. Now when he talked about being humble and opening up our homes, who do we invite? We invite people who invited us, we invite them back.

That's normal. The heathen do that. The worldly people do that.

I've gone to the Sikhs. They're more hospitable than most Christians and they'll just give up everything they have. I've gone to Haiti, the people, the poorest of poor and they'll have three chickens in the backyard.

They'll kill one and make us a chicken barbecue. The ungodly do these things. But he says when you have a supper, who are we to invite? He said don't invite your friends and your brothers and your relatives and your rich neighbors.

Lest they invite you back and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind and you'll be blessed. First off, Christians must be hospitable.

When is the last time you invited the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind, spiritually speaking, to sit at your table and be a blessing to them? Because Jesus asked us to do these things. If we're Christians, these are the people that we're to invite into our homes to show the love of Jesus. Someone who says he's an elder and he doesn't have anyone into his home is not an elder.

I question whether he's even saved. It's selfishness, pride and greed. The Pharisee types.

This is not the spirit of Christ. If you truly have the love of God abiding in you and your relationship with God this way is right, how do we love God? How do we know that we love God? Sophanus put it out there. When we keep his word.

When we're keeping convictions that the Holy Spirit gives us. We're obedient to those. And that relationship this way, our prayers go up.

They don't hit the floor. Then our relationship with others is pure. I'm not inviting Buddy because I need to get a contract signed with him.

I'm not taking him to lunch because I need to buddy up to him because my wages depend on it or my sales depend on it. Or my social status depends on it. Or who I rub shoulders with.

Those are impure motives. To love from a pure heart, from a good conscience and from sincere faith. And we cannot know what love is unless we first love God.

That's why the greatest commandment is this. To love the Lord your God with all your heart. With your soul.

With your mind and with your might. And out of that flows love towards your neighbor. But if you give your body to be burned.

For a cause. Or if you give all your goods to feed the poor. Because there's poor.

But you want to be seen by men or you want to justify yourself before God. And you don't want to obey God. You'd rather put money in the plate.

That doesn't commend yourself to God. If you don't have love. Love is first patient.

And kind. And gentle. It doesn't envy, doesn't boast.

There's no boasting. It's not proud. It's not self-seeking.

Keeps no record of wrongs. Thinks no evil. Love delights in the truth.

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things. Love never fails. We sometimes sing the love of God.

How do we express the love of God to hurting people around us? By shutting them out? When we see lepers, do we shout, unclean, unclean? Jesus didn't shut himself out from lepers. He dealt with the lepers. When we see what sin does, you want to know what it does? It makes your heart numb to the word of God.

It makes your heart callous to the convictions of the Holy Spirit. That's what drugs and alcohol do. They numb you out to the word of God and to the convictions of the Holy Spirit.

The physicians also prescribe medications. When you're very anxious and very depressed or very, you know, stressed out. They'll give you medications to numb you out.

So you don't experience the overwhelming flood of emotion from all those things that are going around you and the demonic and all that. Pharmakia. There's a way of dealing with all these things in one way or another to numb out.

You spiritually become a leper. You start to become dull of hearing. Your hearts become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

And then we try to deal with the problem by masking it with band-aids. It's a temporary solution to a spiritual problem. We can say, invite the people to your house.

But you know what? Those people will frustrate you. Those people will make you mad. Those people will leave you disappointed.

If you're doing it of your own strength. But if you're doing it because the Holy Spirit's led you. And he gives you grace to love the unlovables.

Then you'll be doing it for him. And that's sometimes the challenge. Between being selfish and doing what's right.

Knowing what you should do. And doing it with a good heart. I think of Mary and Martha.

We talked about this the other night. We talked about what the Lord hates. One of the things he hates.

He hates laziness. And he associates laziness with wickedness. So when one was given five talents.

They worked it and gained five more. Another two, they worked it and gained two more. Another one, buried it in the ground.

Because they knew the Lord to be a harsh taskmaster. And they didn't want to risk it. Without risking something.

You can't please God. Without taking a risk. You know how you spell faith? R-I-S-K.

You have to take a risk. You have to take him at his word and take a risk. No, he said, I knew you to be hard.

Here's your one talent. He said, you lazy, wicked servant. You knew that I reap where I haven't sown.

And I gather where I haven't scattered. We don't want to become lazy. Naturally or spiritually.

He says, I went by the field of the lazy man. And there it was, all overgrown with thistles. And I considered, the stone hedge broke down.

Everything's dilapidated. There's one thing that really bothers me is when things get run down and dilapidated. And I say, you know what, no one cares about this property.

No one cares about that house. Look at the face, it's all rotting. Nobody's put any effort, no investment into it.

No care. The temple of God was in ruins. And everybody's building their own house.

And their houses are all in good shape. But the temple of God in ruins. In Haggai.

But how about our temple? We're very careful to eat our veggies. And to make sure we put the right things in our body. And do things such a way.

But we're very careless when it comes to that which God says is good for us. Because we are his temple. Mary was there sitting at Jesus' feet.

And Martha thought she's being lazy. We can judge unrighteously. There's a time to serve.

And to labor. And there's a time to rest. And to listen.

First we're supposed to hear. And we're supposed to listen. And then we're supposed to do.

Many people are doing a lot of things before they've heard. Had a guy one time. He's always running around doing stuff.

What are you going to do? Just make it more mess. He's very zealous and dastardly. He's always doing the wrong thing.

We need to hear. And then we need to do. We need to learn to be at his feet.

Before we go and do his biddings. And if we start doing a lot of things before he's spoken. Those are dead works.

And the evidence of that was grumbling. Martha was serving. Was it wrong? Is it wrong to serve? No, you need to serve.

Because he didn't come to be served but to serve. The problem was. Martha was grumbling in her serving.

She could have been serving. And listening to what Jesus was saying. Because obviously there were things that needed to be done.

But she was more concerned that Mary was doing nothing. And that made her very upset. And Jesus rebukes Martha and says.

You're concerned about many things. And Mary's chosen the better part. Spend your time with Jesus.

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. Then all the other things he's going to add to you. You might not get done what you think you should get done in a day.

But you know what? Your heart's going to be good in it. We might strive and do all kinds of things. And then like this week.

I struggle with. You haven't spent your time with the Lord. Because I can't afford to.

Because there's so much piling up. And then what happens? You get angry. Things break.

You fix one thing. Three things go wrong. And you realize you got the order backwards.

The cart was before the horse. You can't afford not to make sure. That your life is in order.

And that your heart is right before the Lord. And you've spent your time with him. You can't afford not.

He's going to take care of the rest. We have to give some room for him to do some miracles. You say, well, if I don't do anything, nothing will happen.

Yes, but you know what? We can say, well, you know what? I'm going to go to town. I can push the car there. I can use the little pedal and get there with some gas.

You're both going to get there. Just one might take away longer. If you do it his way.

You'll learn what he wants you to learn in it. Even if there's trials along the way. You'll learn what he wants you to see.

It wasn't everything that broke that made you angry. It was there. It was in the heart.

And the Lord wanted you to see it. So that I could repent of it. Confess it.

And take it to him. He brought us to his banqueting table. His banner over us is love.

A certain man gave a great supper. Verse 16. He invited many.

He sent his servant at supper time. Saying to those who were invited. Come, all things are now ready.

The communion supper is ready. The banquet meal is prepared. But they all began to make excuses.

Not some of them made excuses. They all made excuses. And who is he speaking of here? He's speaking of the Jewish people, the Pharisees.

He sent John the Baptist to them. And the Pharisees, the leaders. They didn't come.

I have bought a piece of ground. I must go and see it. Well that sounds like a blessing.

If you have the ability to buy a piece of ground. And the Lord is giving you that ability. To have a farm.

To place a home for your family. What a blessing. And then we get tied up.

We get tied down to the blessing. We have no time for the Lord. That's not his intention.

He didn't bless us with it. So we would have no time for him. They all began to make excuses.

I will come. But I need a rain check. Please have me excused.

I can't come now. And another said. I have bought five yoke of oxen.

And I'm going to test them. Please have me excused. I got some new equipment.

I have bought some things. And I just need to make sure. Everything is working good.

Because if it's not. I need to make sure. They are willing to exchange.

Or take back. And we get distracted with natural things. That the Lord blesses us with.

All the gifts that he gives us. We start getting all consumed by them. And we forget the giver.

To spend time with him. To walk with him in the cool of the day. To fellowship with him at his table.

I think of David. And he made a covenant with Jonathan. And they covenanted.

And they entered oaths. And they also spoke curses. One toward another.

If you didn't keep your word. We don't understand covenant. The way they understood covenant.

Our words don't mean much. You know I remember when we were growing up. We would say stuff and it's like.

Sorry I had my fingers crossed. That doesn't count. Or we say stupid things like that.

We break our word. And from young. Our word didn't mean much.

But in the old days. Your word was your bond. If you give your word.

You don't have to sign on paper. And then when Jonathan had passed. Along with his father Saul.

It came into David's heart. And he left from his household. Who's still alive.

And he said there is one. Who's lame in his feet. Mephibosheth.

He was a young lad. And when there was war. He was escaping.

He fell from the wall. He damaged his feet. And there were people who were watching.

Out for his things. And it was Jonathan's son. And David said call him here.

And he was terrified. I want you. His servant to farm it for him.

And take care of it for him. But Mephibosheth. I want him to eat continually at my table.

And he said why. Do you even regard me. Like a dead dog.

I'm like a nothing. I'm like a dead dog. I don't even deserve the least.

Spot at your table. You see David was doing what the Bible says. In bringing the lame.

To eat at his table. Because of the covenant. That he made with his father.

Is it in your heart. To do it because the covenant. You made with your father.

Continually. He would eat at my table. When I think of that verse.

He brought me to his banqueting table. And his banner over us is low. Just because of who he was related to.

Gave him the right to eat at that table. As a lame man. Because of covenant.

Still another. He married a wife. Please hold me excused.

I cannot come. You should sing that song. In the Mennonite Church.

Long time ago. I don't know why we sang it. But we did sing it.

We would have Fasbah in the evening. Sunday night. In the basement at the church.

And then they would sing a song. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. But sometimes they would sing this song.

I cannot come to the banquet. Don't trouble me now. I have married a wife.

I have bought me a cow. I have fields and commitments. That cost a pretty sum.

Please hold me excused. I cannot come. There's a hundred reasons.

To make an excuse. Why you can't come. And spend time with Jesus.

But there's one reason. Why we should. He gave his life for us.

So that we might have life. He gave his life. In exchange for ours.

Should we waste our life. On the blessings. Or have we been bought with a price.

I mean what could be better. Than finding a wife. When you love your wife.

More than the Lord. And you start to compromise. What God has called you to be.

And the purpose and the call of God for your life. And the direction for your family. If you start to neglect your personal life with the Lord.

And you start to just. Pour everything into your wife and your family. Without first pouring your life and your heart toward the Lord.

You're going to lose them. And Jesus said in another passage. He says if a man comes to me and does not.

Hate. His father and his mother. His wife, his children, his own life also.

He cannot be my disciple. That's a strong word hate. Who's ever hated their own flesh.

Their wife and their children. But you know what. There's always demands and pulls.

For things going on around us. But you cannot neglect. Your love for the Lord.

And now the passage says. If you don't love the Lord more than. Father, mother, wife, children.

And some occasions it looks like hatred. Then you say sorry honey. Lord's called me to this.

I trust you'll understand. And we get that order right. And you know what.

Your family will become sound. Solid and blessed. We can't look past the few little children.

That we have sitting at our table. We have four left now. We have to look to the next generation.

The grandchildren. Have the children that we've raised. Are they raising their children.

To fear God and to love him first. And our grandchildren. Are they following in the precepts.

That we taught our children. And our great grandchildren. You see when the Lord made covenant with Abram.

And he changed his name to Abraham. He told him that his descendants. Would be as the stars in the heavens.

As the sand of the seashore. And he said also David. He gave him a covenant.

And he told him about his house. That he would always have a man to sit on the throne. And that from his own body.

Would come a son. Who would build a house for him. And he said Lord you have spoken of your servant.

For many decades and generations. For many years. Who am I that you're mindful of us.

Of me. We need to think. Of the big picture.

From one man's genuine faith. Comes a nation. God can bring a nation.

From one man who fears God. A generation. Doesn't mean they're all going to follow God.

But you know what my prayer has been. For many years. That the Lord would raise up one of my sons.

Or daughters. That will fear God and walk in his ways. So that my line will not die.

Some people think. That not having a family is a blessing. And I understand.

That some people are called. To follow the Lord. And to be single.

But you know what. Many people become born again through them. And so they have family.

It's not the natural people. That make us family. It's the spiritual seed.

In Isaac your seed shall be blessed. So maybe you don't have children. But you know what.

You can disciple those. And your line will not wipe out. So that servant came.

Verse 21. And he reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house.

Being angry. Does the master get angry? Why was the master angry? You know what makes me mad? When we invite the family. To come over for a dinner.

And nobody shows up. Or maybe one or two. Makes me mad.

Because we've poured. 30, 40 years into the children. And they're all distracted.

Doing their other things. And that's just a natural thing. They don't want to see their dad.

They don't want to see their mom. They don't want to see their younger siblings. Can be discouraging.

And then I get mad. And then I have to calm down. Everybody has their own life.

But I see here. That when we as the children of God. Are distracted with many other things.

It makes them angry. And so many times what we do. When we have extra seats at the table.

We invite people who have no family. We get on the phone. We start calling and say.

Hey you know. We made this prime rib. Or we made this meal.

Would you. You got time to come. And there's certain ones I can call.

And they always say. Sure. They're eating McDonald's or whatever at best.

They'll come. And this is kind of what this is speaking of. But not in a natural sense.

In a spiritual sense. So being angry. He said to his servants.

Go quickly into the streets and the lanes. And bring in there who. The poor.

The maimed. The lame. And the blind.

And the servants said. Master it's done as you commanded in the still room. And the master said to the servants.

Go into the highways. And the hedges. And compel them to come.

That my house may be filled. For I say to you that none. For all made excuses.

Of the Jewish people of the nation. Of those who were invited. All made excuses.

Asked for a rain check. But he said none. Of those men who were invited.

Shall taste my supper. That next passage that I already quoted. He said.

Now great multitudes went to him. And turned to him and said. If anyone comes to me.

And does not hate his father and mother. His wife and children. Brothers and sisters.

Yes his own life also. He cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross.

And come after me. Cannot be my disciple. Because you know what.

There's a cost to count. In following the Lord. There's a cost to count.

It's not going to cost you 10%. It's the cost of your life. You've been bought with a price.

If you bought a house. And somebody else was squatting in it. You would be very disturbed about that.

If you didn't authorize it. You'd do everything you could to get him out. That's your house.

If you bought some equipment. And your neighbor came without asking. And he borrowed it.

And you come home from a week vacation. It's out in the field. And he's working with your equipment.

That's disturbing. If you would have asked. You might have lent it to him.

But because you just took it. That's not his equipment. And if your sons.

If they come over. And they take your sons. And you gave them a whole bunch of work to do.

That would disturb me too. And that's what happens. The devil comes and robs our sons and daughters.

And gets them caught up doing all kinds of things. And we're not doing our father's biddings. When we've been bought with a price.

So I want to encourage you. We can't change what we did yesterday. We can change the direction and the course of today.

Today if we hear his voice. We can say this. Whatever.

Just another sermon. Or we can say, you know what? Something spoke to me there. I'm going to be intentional and purposeful.

To make some decisions. About seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness. About making Jesus a priority in my life.

About loving him wholeheartedly. You know I shared some of this parable. From Matthew 22.

At Josh's wedding. But you know what? The same bread that was fresh then. Is still fresh now.

Even if it sits seven days. Like the show bread in the temple. It's still fresh.

The priests still eat it. And they delight to eat it. Because God has ordained it for them.

The word of God is not boring. It's fresh when it comes from the Holy Spirit. May the Holy Spirit.

Quicken his word unto us. And turn that natural word. Which we read.

Into life. That it would become part of us. Bone of our bones.

And flesh of our flesh. That it would change our life. Give us a hunger and a thirst for him.

For righteousness. Hunger and thirsting for doing what is right. May the Lord give you ears to hear.

And understand what the Lord is saying to us this morning. Amen.