The Lutheran Hour
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"God’s Ladder of Success"
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Text: Luke 14:11
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed. The Savior who was born in a stable; who lived His life in humble service so that sinners might be saved, has risen from the dead and in glorious resurrection comes and invites us to follow Him in faith. By the Spirit’s grace and power may we, with humble hearts, do so. Amen.
It was a couple of years ago that I had the opportunity to ride on The Lutheran Hour float in the Rose Bowl parade. That week was a wonderful time filled with pleasant memories during which I met thousands of Christian volunteers who work on our float, along with many others. It was fantastic going to the pre-parade events and seeing warehouses filled with flowers whose names a trained florist would be hard pressed to recall. If you haven’t ever ridden on a Rose Bowl Float, I’d like to tell you about the experience. First, for obvious reasons, the night before you don’t drink a lot of fluids. Then, long before the crack of dawn you’re awakened, shuttled to the nearest parade parking lot, walk some distance to your float, and get buckled into your position for pictures and television interviews. After that, you sit… you sit for an hour or two until the parade gets rolling. Then, as you drive by a million plus people you smile until your jaw hurts, you wave until your hand is ready to fall off. And when the parade comes to one of its intermittent stops along the route you talk to the people who are camping out on the curb of the street. I remember one of those folks that I talked to, a man from North Dakota, who with his wife and three children were making a once-in-a-lifetime dream trip to see the parade. I asked him, “How long have you been camping here on the street?” He replied, “On and off for about a day-and-a-half.” When I asked, “Was it worth the wait?” without any hesitation, he said, “Absolutely.” Imagine, a day-and-a-half waiting for a parade to begin. That’s what you have to do if you want to get a good seat on the street.
As I’ve traveled around I’ve seen other people waiting. You see, when I go out to speak I usually try to catch the local TV news. More often than once a community had been preparing to host a big name band or a well-known singer. Before the ticket booth opens, it’s customary for the local news team to interview the folks who are waiting in line to buy good seats. It’s almost a bit predictable as the newscaster goes to the first person in line and asks: “How long have you been waiting?” The longest time that I’ve heard anyone give as a response to that question was: “Seven days.” Seven days of an individual’s life invested just to make sure they could get a good seat at a concert. Amazing. We who are from an older generation shake our heads at such a waste of time; just as the folks from a younger generation shake their heads when they hear we’ve paid $10,000 to reserve a good seat at a dinner where some important political personage is speaking.
You know, as I look back at my ministry, I can’t think of a single time when anybody waited for seven days to hear me preach. I’m even pretty sure that North Dakota family didn’t camp out so they could see a chubby preacher waving and smiling. They had come halfway across the country to see the floats and listen to the bands. Similarly, I can’t recall anybody ever having paid $10,000 to have dinner with me. I think I would recall it if they had. Indeed, there are only two services of the church year when I can remember Christians lining up to get a good seat. The first service where seats were at a premium was the Easter sunrise service. The other occasion an individual had to get to church early was for the annual Sunday school or parochial school Christmas service.
The rest of the church year most Christians are content to arrive in the split-second before the service begins. Most worshippers have calculated, to the minute, how long it’s going to take them to get to church. They’ve got it timed, to the second, what they have to do if they’re going to be seated before the end of Sunday’s opening hymn. I’m not the only pastor who has started the service singing a solo. Almost miraculously, by the time I had completed the fourth verse of that hymn, always starting from the back, the church was full. I’ve often wondered what would have happened if I had ever selected a hymn which had 12 verses.
Those who are unfamiliar with the fine points of worship have concluded, quite unfairly, that people sit in the back of the church because, if the sermon is boring, the pastor won’t be able to see them sleeping. That’s not true. It’s pretty hard for a pastor not to see a head which is bobbing around like a yo-yo. Some think churches fill from the back because the worshipers want to watch and criticize all the other people who are coming in. That’s not true, either. I’ve even heard one critic of Christian worshipers say people sit in the back so they can be close to the door. That way, after the service is over, they can make a hasty retreat and get home in time to watch the football kickoff. That’s not true, either. A lot of people in the back of the church don’t even like football.
So, you may wonder: Just why do Christians sit in the back of the church? The answer is this: They’ve read what happened in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. In case you’ve forgotten that story, let me refresh your memory. Jesus had been invited for Saturday dinner at the home of a Pharisee. While I can’t tell you if Jesus was the guest of honor at that banquet; I am able to say the other people who were invited, especially the snobbish Pharisees were keeping a close eye on Him. They were giving Jesus the same kind of evil eye a father might give to the fellow who is picking up his daughter for her first date. Theirs was a look which said, “You step out of line just the least little bit and you are going to be in s-o-o-o-o much trouble!”
Although Jesus was, and is, the all-knowing Son of God, He didn’t have to be omniscient to realize He was being inspected. Perhaps, in part, that is why He did a little inspecting on His own. As these men had been coming in for dinner Jesus noticed how they had been jockeying and jostling to get a good seat at the banquet table. Each of them wanted to make sure he wasn’t being ignored or slighted; each wanted to be certain he got every bit of honor that was his due.
Seeing this bit of human foolishness, Jesus told a parable. He said something like this: Boys, you know, when you get invited to a wedding, I would encourage you to find a seat by the swinging kitchen doors or behind a post. Pick a spot that nobody else wants. That way, when the host of the wedding sees you behind the post, he’s going to come up to you and say, “What are you doing here? You’re an important person. Come on, get a seat up here at one of the head tables.” Jesus continued: that’s a whole lot better than sitting at the head of the table and having the host come up and say, “And just what do you think you’re doing up here? This spot is reserved for the really important people who are coming to this wedding. Please, if you don’t mind, could you go over there and get a seat behind the post?” Jesus explained His story with the comment, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Jesus’ point was simple: God’s people should be humble. Because they want to be humble, that’s why Christians sit in the back of the church. They don’t want to call attention to themselves by parading up the aisle. They don’t, like the Pharisee in another of Jesus’ stories, want to call attention to themselves.
Jesus says we’re supposed to be humble. That kind of thinking flies in the face of just about everything we know, everything we’ve been taught, everything we believe. Go to any library and they can show you shelf after shelf filled with books that tell you how to be the best gardener, the best carpenter, the best public speaker, the best auto mechanic, the best hummingbird caller. In the same library ask them to take you to the “How To Be Humble” section and you’ll leave the building without a book, magazine, or pamphlet on the subject. Jesus says we’re supposed to be humble, but that doesn’t sound right to modern ears. For 20 years, recruits have been enlisting in America’s Army because they believe that branch of the Service will help them be all that they can be. On the other hand, I haven’t seen anybody joining a group which promises “We’ll make you humble as humanly possible.”
Jesus said we should be humble. That’s a difficult concept to grasp. Parents in the suburbs spend their days shuttling their children to soccer lessons, piano lessons, computer lessons, and etiquette lessons. I haven’t seen anyone lining up their little ones for lessons in humility. Watch the winners of any high school, college, or professional athletic competition and you will see a lot of jumping around, a lot of shouting and a lot of index fingers pointing in the air as the chant goes out, “We’re number one! We’re number one!” Nobody is yelling, “We lost, but winning isn’t everything!” Almost everybody wants to be number one, to have a position of honor. Almost everybody wants to be the best, the smartest, the richest, the handsomest, the most beautiful, the most popular.
Humanity’s blind loyalty to being number one has consistently caused us problems. Some unspecified time after the world was created, Satan decided he wanted to be number one and tried to overthrow the Deity. When he failed at that, he convinced Adam and Eve that eating the forbidden fruit would make them number one, right up there with their Creator. Pick a sin, any sin, it doesn’t make much difference. Prejudice, hatred, theft, terrorism, gang wars, greed, envy, lust, all have their beginnings in sinful human hearts which say: “I want to be number one and I’m willing to do whatever is necessary to get and hold on to that spot.” It’s a dangerous thing to do.
Now, before I go any farther, you should know that when Jesus says we should be humble, you shouldn’t think, not for a moment that the Savior is encouraging people to be fake in their humility. God isn’t pleased when his people slither around like the slimy villain Uriah Heep from the Charles Dickens’ book David Copperfield. You remember that scoundrel who took great pride in boasting, “I’m the ‘umblest person going.” Nor should you think that when Jesus urges humility He’s urging His followers to dumb down their abilities and strive with all their might to be mediocre. God has given gifts to His people and He wants those gifts to be used wisely and well.
What Jesus wants is for us, in honest humility, to acknowledge God as the giver of every good and perfect gift. He wants us to recognize that everything we are comes from Him. He is the one who has made us, preserves us, enables us, strengthens and saves us. If, by His grace and wishes, we do become the best at anything, we need to humbly acknowledge, He is the one who has given us that ability. The book of James (4:10) says it this way, “Humble yourself before the Lord and He will lift you up.” With those words God lets us know that He has a different ladder of success than the rest of the world. We are humble because it’s right, not because of any reward we will get. We are humble because that’s what the Savior has asked us to be.
When Jesus said: “Humble yourself so God can exalt you,” He wasn’t urging us to a life which He wasn’t willing to live. Neither I, nor any preacher, can accurately tell you what heaven looks like, but I feel safe in saying that it is a better, more beautiful place than was the Bethlehem stable where Jesus was born. I cannot say whether the streets of paradise are paved with 24-karat gold, but I am certain heaven’s highways are better than the dusty, rocky, roads of Palestine where Jesus walked. I cannot comprehend the dishes which sit on the banquet tables of heaven, but I do know the fare there is more tasty than anything which was served at the Pharisee’s home the day Jesus was there for dinner. I can only guess at the loyalty and love of those redeemed who stand before God’s throne, but I know that they are more faithful than the disciples who deserted Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, more loyal than the traitor who betrayed Him with a kiss. I cannot imagine what the angel chorus sounds like, but it must certainly sound better than the crowds which called for the Savior’s crucifixion.
Look in God’s Word and see the Son of God who lived in humility. Hundreds of years before the events of the Gospels were lived out, the Prophet Isaiah spoke of Jesus’ life. The words of Isaiah 53 are filled with words which describe the pains the Christ would humbly endure. Before He came to earth, Jesus knew what would be expected of Him. Isaiah wrote: “[Jesus] had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed… the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53 excerpts).
That was Isaiah’s inspired forecast concerning the humble life Jesus would lead. After Jesus had ascended into heaven Saint Paul summarized what Jesus had done. To the church in Philippi, Paul wrote: “[Jesus] made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:7-11). To the church in Galatia, that same apostle gave some insight as to why Jesus had humbled Himself. He writes: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem [to buy back] those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons….you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:4-7 excerpts).
Yes, Jesus humbled Himself so you might be lifted up. He was accused and convicted so on Judgment Day you might be found innocent. And because Jesus has done this, because Jesus has humbly kept the laws we had sinfully broken; because Jesus declined to accept Satan’s suggestions to set aside the sufferings which were to come; because Jesus was willing to die the death that our pride and arrogance has earned, today I am able to say that anyone who believes on Him as their successful substitute is saved.
It would be wrong of me, before this message concludes, not to speak a moment to those of you who are saying, “I know a lot of Christians. The ones I know are as proud and selfish as anybody else. In fact I’ve stayed away from churches because they’re filled with hypocrites. Why should I believe in a humble Jesus when He doesn’t produce any humble followers?” Friend, I know such Christians too. I heard of one elderly church lady who was so full of herself she thought she should get a personal invitation to the church picnic from her pastor. When she didn’t get it, she was furious at the slight. When the pastor was told, he called her up and tried to calm her down. She would have none of it. She said, “Pastor, your words aren’t going to do any good. Not now. You don’t want me there, fine. I’ve already prayed for rain.”
Yes, I know such folks in the church, but as a pastor, working and seeing what goes on behind the scenes, I’ve seen “the others.” I’ve seen teenagers visiting the elderly, and men in their suits shoveling the church sidewalks at 5 a.m. on a snowy Sunday. Although they have no children of their own, I’ve seen men and women teach Sunday school year after year. I’ve seen a widow picking up broken glass from a playground so the children won’t fall and get cut. I’ve seen children make sure everyone in their class gets a valentine; and I’ve seen coaches make sure all the kids get to play in a tournament game, even if it costs them the championship. I’ve seen “the others.” And for those of you who haven’t seen these other humble Christians… well, you wouldn’t, would you. They’re humbly doing what they’re doing because they’ve seen the Savior. If you would like to meet these “others” and the Savior they serve, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for September 2, 2007
TOPIC: Is There A God and Who Is He?ANNOUNCER: Now, Pastor Ken Klaus responds to common misconceptions about God, faith, and other spiritual issues. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: Regular listeners to this part of The Lutheran Hour might note, Mark, that you introduced things a little bit differently today.
ANNOUNCER: Some time ago, the Lutheran Church-Canada began what they called a national “open-house” – an outreach emphasis in which they are trying to introduce seekers to the Lord.
ANNOUNCER: And we’ll define “seekers” as people who are looking for answers to the common questions most of us ask at some point in our lives.
ANNOUNCER: Part of this “open house” program was the development of a website dealing with those questions. You were invited to respond and write answers.
KLAUS: And after I finished working on them, it occurred to me that some of the questions were the very same ones we deal with every week on this segment of The Lutheran Hour.
ANNOUNCER: So, during the month of September, we’re going to base our Q&A discussions on a few of those questions. Anything else we need to say as background?
KLAUS: Maybe we can give people the address of that website. Any of our listeners can check in at: www.whatyoubelieve.net or www.whatyoubelieve.ca. All right, let’s tackle some of those topics.
ANNOUNCER: Often, a seeker will say they believe in God, but they’re not really sure who He is.
KLAUS: That’s understandable, Mark, since both Science and Christianity agree that God cannot be discovered or His existence proven by scientific testing.
ANNOUNCER: Of course there are a lot of other things can’t be measured or proven in that way either. I’m thinking about things like bravery, hope, love.
KLAUS: Which is why, if you’re going to meet God, you’ve got to look in the places where He shows Himself.
ANNOUNCER: And where’s that?
KLAUS: I’d feel comfortable in saying God reveals Himself in nature. A complex, orderly creation says there is a Creator. God also reveals Himself in the human conscience. Every culture in every age has a knowledge they’ve sinned or broken universal taboos. God has placed that same conviction inside each of us.
ANNOUNCER: And that’s our conscience.
KLAUS: Exactly… our conscience which tells us God isn’t pleased with what we’ve been doing.
ANNOUNCER: Nature and conscience have always directed people to believe in a god of some sort. But those natural roadmaps don’t tell the whole story, do they?
KLAUS: No, they don’t. In order to find God’s complete revelation, you have to look to God’s Word, to the Bible, which contains God’s plan of salvation which begins and finishes in Jesus’ crucifixion and victorious resurrection.
ANNOUNCER: But what would you say to that person who says, “I believe God is whoever I want Him to be.”
KLAUS: Over the centuries, humankind has fashioned their gods out of stone, wood, paper, and their own imaginations. But here’s the problem with that. First, the “god” that people invent may bear little resemblance to the legitimate and true God who exists beyond our imaginations. Second, the “god” that people invent is usually something of a chameleon.
ANNOUNCER: A chameleon. In what sense?
KLAUS: When people invent god, they find out that when they’re feeling good, their god is smiling and benevolent. When they’re upset, their god is one of anger and revenge.
ANNOUNCER: In short, the god they invent is going to look a lot like them… with both good and bad qualities.
KLAUS: Exactly, which makes me ask, “If our god has the same limitations we humans do, how much good is he? We need a god who is better than we are; a god who is perfect enough to judge us, loving enough to save us, consistent enough to stay with us and bring us to heaven. Only the Triune God, only perfect Jesus with His cross and resurrection, has the ability to do all that.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. And for those who would like to take a look at other seeker questions like these, those websites are www.whatyoubelieve.net. or www.whatyoubelieve.ca. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“Come Down, O Love Divine” arranged by Henry Gerike. Used by permission
“God Be in My Head” arranged by Carl Schalk. From Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice by the Concordia Seminary Chorus (© Concordia Seminary Chorus) Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“Entrust Your Days and Burdens” From Every Voice a Song (© 1995 Concordia Publishing House)
“Komm, heiliger Geist” by Dietrich Buxtehude. From Richard Heschke at the Hradetzky in Red Bank by Richard Heschke (© Arkay Records)