PENTECOST
September 5, 2010
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Luke 14:1, 7-14

“JESUS MAKES THE DIFFERENCE”
1. In the attitude of His followers.
2. In the expectations of His followers.

Luke 14:1, 7-14(NIV) “One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 7When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8"When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. 11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." 12Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

People are watching you. That’s something that’s often very important to remember. For instance parents, if you choose to sin against the Lord by drinking too much, you need to remember that people are watching you, little people, your children who are learning to sin that way too. On the other hand if you are reading your Bible, going to church, those same little people are watching and learning as well. Having people watching is nothing new. In God’s word here we are told that people were watching Jesus. It was the Pharisees and the experts in the law continuing their never ending but fruitless quest to catch Jesus in the wrong.
But the Pharisees and experts in the law weren’t the only ones watching people. Jesus was watching people too. He noticed how they picked the places they sat at. As Son of God He also knew why people were doing what they were doing and so Jesus spoke some parables that taught His followers to be different. Different in their attitude and different in their expectations.
The parables Jesus tells are not the kind we are used to. It doesn’t deal so much with a story as with a situation. "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests.” The parable is a picture of what people think of themselves. The people Jesus spoke to had probably just seen it in action. It’s a formal banquet, a wedding feast. Where you sit matters. Most important guests closest to the wedding party. But Jesus isn’t being the wedding planner here. He’s addressing attitudes, a common attitude, where people think more highly of themselves than they ought. Its’ called pride.
You can tell that Jesus is addressing more than this party when He says, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." That’s the same saying Jesus used when He taught His disciples to be different religious leaders than the Pharisees. It’s the same saying Jesus used when he talked about the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple. In all cases Jesus was addressing the attitude of man’s heart called pride. It’s pride that causes some sinners to think they are better sinners than other sinners which of course just proves they are better at sinning than other sinners. It’s pride that causes a person to think their sins don’t need quite as much forgiveness as other people’s sins. It’s pride that powers such common phrases as “Me first!”, “It’s all about me!” and “What’s in it for me?” It’s pride that leads people to reject Jesus and leads to the humbling of Hell.
Jesus makes the difference though. He teaches His followers to have a different attitude, a humble attitude. That humility shows when the sinner prays, “God have mercy on me, the sinner.” It shows when we think of other’s needs before our own and when we can be happy for their successes and blessings instead of jealous. But what about me? Let’s face it, you know how this world works. Who’s going to watch out for me if I don’t watch out for myself? Who better to watch out for me than me? How about Jesus? For the follower of Jesus He makes the difference. Jesus did that when He humbled Himself. He became human, a servant, a servant who would die a degraded death on the cross. He did not look out for his own interest but others and trusted His father to watch out for Him and He did and now God has exalted Jesus and given Him the name that is above every name. We can follow Jesus by believing His promise that whoever humbles Himself will be exalted by God Himself. Jesus makes the difference in the attitudes of those who follow Him enabling us to live humble lives.
He makes the difference in our expectations too.”Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." Here Jesus addresses another attitude that no one has to teach us, an attitude that comes along with our sinful nature, an attitude that mars something that starts out and looks so beautiful like being kind or giving. It’s the old give to get mentality. You know, I invite you so now you have to invite me. Maybe children you’ve thought of inviting other children to a birthday party in order to get more presents. Maybe you’ve read what God has said in His word about Christian giving and generosity where you can’t out give God and a part of you thinks, “You know, I’m starting this business so I better give an offering so my business does well.” Give to get. Again Jesus is not telling us who we can and cannot invite to a party but is instructing us about our expectations.
What do you expect when you do something nice for another? What do you expect when you give a gift? Are you expecting something nice in return? A gift of like value to come your way? That’s the way of the world, the sinful world. Jesus makes a difference in the expectations of His followers. We see how He gave Himself for the world without expecting anything. In fact He knew that most people would reject His sacrifice, His gift. Still He marched to the cross to die. He trusted His Father. Now we can too. We can do nice things for others without expecting anything in return. We don’t have to live the worldly way of being nice to people in order to get make alliances to get power or our way or something else. We don’t have to worry about getting anything from anybody because Jesus says we will be blessed.
We just need to remember that people are watching, or maybe should I say better, a person is watching. The most important person to every believer and that is Jesus. He makes the difference. He’s watching what I do and why I do it. That means I have all kinds of opportunities every day to please Him. It doesn’t matter what other people do or think if Jesus is pleased with us. Have you been feeling unappreciated lately? Taken advantage of? Maybe you’ve been trying to be a good friend to others and you’re not getting that good friendship back in return. Maybe you feel you are surrounded in life by takers who leaching the life right out of you. Remember Jesus. He makes the difference. He’s promised that those who humble themselves will be exalted and those who give to give will be blessed. And because He said so, we can live it. Amen.