Do not claim honor in the presence of the king, and do not stand in the place of great men; for it is better that it be said to you, “Come up here,” than for you to be placed lower in the presence of the prince, whom your eyes have seen. (Proverbs 25:6-7)
It’s usually not hard to spot self-promotion. In Luke 14:7-15, Jesus notices a case of self-promotion at a dinner party at the house of a prominent Pharisee. He comments on it to some of the guests, using a parable drawn right from Proverbs 25:6-7.
A. Context
Luke explains the situation that sets up Jesus’ commentary. The Pharisees were “watching him closely” to see whether He would heal a man with dropsy, on the Sabbath. He performs the miracle in order to set up the parable. Jesus heals the man to expose two things:
1. Their foolish thinking about the kingdom of God.
2. Their foolish thinking about how we enter and advance in the kingdom.
There’s a problem with the kingdom: it doesn’t work the way we think it should. It is in fact a countercultural revolution, the upside-down kingdom. Jesus sets out the logic of His revolutionary kingdom with this principle: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).
B. This principle raises at least five questions:
1. What is self-exaltation?
Why do we exalt ourselves?
2. Where does self-exaltation reveal itself?
Self-exaltation reveals itself in three places:
a. In what you think you deserve.
b. In relation with other people.
c. In relation with God
3. When will the self-exalting be humbled?
4. When will the humble be exalted?
“Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time” (1 Peter 5:6).
5. How do you humble yourself?
