Taking the Lowest Place Luke 14:7-11 - Frank Brancato

When we look to the method of parabolic teaching that Jesus

did when Jesus walked on this Earth, before he was crucified,

we find that there was many reasons why or many different

circumstances or settings that Jesus chose the method of

parabolic teaching, for example, this morning shot.

He was talking about the kingdom and how Jesus spoke to his

disciples concerning various aspects of the Kingdom.

For example, in the, in the thirteenth chapter of The

Gospel, according to Matthew we find that Jesus taught his

disciples about the kingdom in Parables.

Also, we can go back to the last week of the life of Jesus.

For example we can look to the 21st chapter of The Gospel

according to Matthew on a very significant day and that was the

day that all of those enemies of Jesus were more bold than they

had ever been in any day prior to that time.

And you remember that those enemies confronted Jesus and

they asked Jesus by what Authority.

Do you do the things that you do and who gave you that Authority

and Jesus responded to them? And then he gave them the

parable of the two sons but there were casual settings that

Jesus taught in Parables as well.

For example, one time in a fair seas home.

You remember that? Jesus was there in a woman that

was known and I don't know what it was that she was guilty of in

her life because the Bible says that anything really that goes

against the teachings, it's found in the word of God is a

sin and we don't have degrees of sin.

Even though today people try to categorize or classify sins as

great or small or somewhere in between all we know is there was

a woman and that woman was known in society as a sinner, whatever

it was that she was guilty of And you remember that as Jesus

was there in the house of that Pharisee, this woman enters the

scene with an alabaster box at she falls down at the back of

the feet of Jesus and she while weeping with tears that flowed

so much so that she washed the feet of Jesus with those tears

and she took her own hair and she wiped his feet and she

kissed his feet and she anointed his feet as well.

Remember when the Pharisee was thinking among himself or

speaking to himself? He said, truly, this cannot be a

prophet because if Jesus was a prophet, he would know the

character of the woman that is at his feet.

What did Jesus do? He gave a perfect sermon, the

parable of the two debtors, what was he illustrating?

He was illustrating that those that are forgiven much love much

another time. A lawyer's It was asked to

Jesus, you remember that Jesus was asked by this lawyer, he

said, Master meaning teacher, what must I do to inherit

eternal life? And Jesus said what, saith the

law and how readest thou. And that lawyer said that thou

shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy

soul, with all thy strength. And with all thy mind, and thy

neighbor as thyself. And Jesus said those How sayest

well, he said, thus do and thou shalt live.

But if all the points of clarification, this man asks, he

asks, who is my neighbor? Jesus responded with a parable,

the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Do you remember this time when Jesus settled a family dispute,

the think about it by way of context.

Jesus is preaching maybe some of his most powerful significant

sermons he's preaching about the T of Christ's, I talked about

that a little bit this morning. He was preaching about Jesus

Christ as being the Son of God. He was preaching about,

blaspheming the Holy Spirit. He was talking about heaven, he

was talking about hell. Oh, these are great subjects

that anyone you would think would like to hear and sit at

the feet of the master while he preached in those days.

But there was a man that came on the scene, a young man and he

said, As he interrupts Jesus during these great sermons and

he says, wait a minute. Now would you tell my brother to

divide the inheritance with me? And Jesus said, man, I am not a

judge who made me a judge or a divider over you and such

matters. Like that and Jesus warned the

man. He said, Beware of covetousness

because the mark of a man is I paraphrase or a man's life is

not determined by the abundance of Of the things that he

possesses and then Jesus gave the masterful sermon about the

rich fool. But today we're going to talk

about something that happened in the house of a ruler of a

Pharisee. You know, I studied various

Scholars along this line and Mr. Bowles said this, about those

about this, man being a ruler or a chief among the Pharisees,

some say that he was, perhaps one of the great men in the

Sanhedrin, some say that he was Chief or ruler over certain

aspects of being a Jew. I don't know.

And Really, what he said is it's impossible to know to what

extent this man was a chief man or this man was a ruler.

All we know is this was an educated man and this was a man

of some importance in his life. This man.

No doubt at heard of the fame of Jesus, he had heard about the

reputation of Jesus, he had heard that Jesus was one who

could heal those that were sick. And so, one day on the Sabbath

day, Day. He invites.

Jesus over to his house to eat bread.

Then the Bible says, there was a certain man, you know, there's a

whole sermon in that phrase, you know what, it says that there

was a certain man that was brought there and this man was

afflicted with the Affliction of the dropsy.

One scholar said that when it says a certain man, it's talking

about something that perhaps, this man was invited

deliberately, for the purpose of testing Jesus.

This didn't just happen by happenstance.

Stan's this man. This Chief among the Pharisees

this ruler of the Pharisees. This man invites Jesus over to

his house on the Sabbath day and also invites a man that was

afflicted with a horrible condition as the King James

version. Renders it the dropsy First of

all, what's the dropsy? Maybe you've always known.

What dropsy was? I did not.

I didn't always know what the dropsy was.

I'll tell you what I've read, though.

It was something that was a condition that involved

retaining water under the skin. Another words in various parts

of the body, the body would retain water.

And one scholar said it'd be kind of like congestive heart

failure. Another words, the dropsy or

this blowing up of your body in water was really it was really

the outcome of another disease. In other words, it wasn't

curable either. You know, I've known people that

have had congestive heart failure and I'm sure you've

known folks. Like that to where their leg

swelled up. My father, had that his legs

would swell up. I mean, really, really big.

I've seen some other folks that had blown up so much that the it

actually the water came out the skin.

This was a horrible condition. It was very painful.

You can just imagine the heart of this Pharisee.

Is he brings this man before? Jesus?

Not, because he wanted Jesus to have pity on the man to heal the

man, not because he cared at all, because he wanted the test

Jesus on the Sabbath day, Jesus living under the Old Law, as a

Jew. He wanted to find out what Jesus

really going to do another words.

If Jesus would look upon this man, and he would walk.

And heal this man, then they would say now, wait a minute.

Do you really think that? It's lawful to heal a man on the

Sabbath day? After all, if you're going to

heal someone, you're going to perform some Act of work and

that's not to be done on the Sabbath day.

They also had phase two, I would say, or here's Plan B.

If Jesus came on the scene and looked at this man and didn't

heal the man, they can accuse him of being fearful of the

people. Oil.

And secondly, they can accuse him of not being compassionate.

They can accuse him of not being understanding, they can accuse

him of not being loving and of all things.

If he really had the ability to heal the man, he was holding

back and deliberately not doing it.

You know it's amazing to me. What's amazing to me is the one

that walked the face of this Earth for about 33 years that

lived his life in perfect sinless Perfection.

He knows their hearts. He examines their intentions and

he knows exactly why he is there.

You know what Jesus does, he doesn't heal the man right away.

In fact Jesus is going to ask the question first.

He says, let me ask you, do you really think that it's lawful to

heal the man on the Sabbath day? And the Bible says they could

answer not a word. You know what I thought about

the first thing that popped into my mind of another instance

where Jesus was preaching a sermon of where there were those

that could not answer a question that we talked about.

The day of controversy, you remember, when they were

challenging Jesus. You remember, when Jesus says, I

will answer your question. If you answer one of mine, the

baptism of John, was it of God or of, man?

And the Bible says that they reason one with the other and

they deduced, wait a minute, it's a lose-lose proposition.

Because if we say that it's of God, then he's going to say, why

didn't you follow him? Why didn't you listen to him?

And number two, if we say it's of, man, he said many, they

feared the people because many considered John Be a prophet.

So they said, we do not know but there was another time to

remember, when Jesus gave the parable of the of the wedding

Feast, when Jesus talked about that wedding ceremony.

What about the guy that comes in to the wedding ceremony and he

comes and sits down at the table without a proper wedding garment

on you. Remember when the king comes

out, the marriage of the King's son and when the king comes out,

he says why Aren't you wearing your wedding?

Garment and the Bible says that the man just stood there and

said nothing. Somebody said one time is kind

of like penguins they just look they just stare Kind of picture

it like that. And on this occasion, this was a

man. These, these were individuals

when Jesus asked them. The question, they said not a

word. We can just picture as they

stared back. Maybe with their mouths open.

They weren't expecting Jesus to say what he said.

Then the Bible says that Jesus heals the man now along the

line, the show, their inconsistency, After Jesus

healed the man, he says, which one of you shall have an ass or

an ox fall into the ditch on the Sabbath day and straightway

would not go down and pull him out of the ditch.

What he was saying was this you're being extremely

inconsistent here in the 12th chapter of The Gospel, according

to Matthew, Jesus dealt with a very similar thing.

In fact, the language is a little different there but it's

very similar and Jesus talks about a man and that has one

sheep a sheep and the Sheep falls into the pit or falls into

the ditch Jesus says, you know, good and well you're going to go

and pull that animal out of the pit on the Sabbath day.

Now what's Jesus is point, his point was they were accusing him

if he would heal this man on the Sabbath day of performing an act

of work thus breaking the Old Testament law.

Jesus Says, by way of your inconsistency, I know that you,

if one of your prize animals, would fall into the ditch would

go and bring him out. You wouldn't wait until the

Sabbath day was over and then go and get him.

What was his point? His point was number one.

You are placing the value. You're placing the value on an

animal more than the value of a human being.

You want to talk about being hit right in the face with it.

You are placing the value of an animal and knowing that if you

go down to bring an animal out of the pit, it's going to take a

whole lot of work and not only that, chances are you're going

to have to go get your neighbors.

You're going to have to get several people, and you're going

to have to all collectively work together to get the animal out

of the pit. Out of the ditch, whatever it

is. Completely inconsistent.

The Bible says, they could not answer to that question either,

but, you know, little did they know Jesus was brought there and

Jesus knew this. He was brought there for the

purpose of being examined by the Pharisees.

He was being examined by these individuals that day.

Little did they know though? When Jesus got there, he began

to watch them and he began to examine them as well.

And as he noted, he noticed that there were those Is that were

invited that were selecting the very best places to sit.

You know, what's interesting McGarvey says about the tables

and so forth that were chosen or used at that time, the Grecian

tables. He says this McGarvey said the

Grecian table, then in use had three sections, which were

placed together. So as to form a flat-bottomed,

you the space enclosed by the table was not occupied.

It was left vacant so that the servants might enter it.

It and attend to the wants of the guests who reclined around

the outer margin of the table. Now, on the outside with, in all

three, sections was a place of honor.

What did Jesus notice? He noticed that as he came there

that day on that particular social Gathering.

There were those among the sect of the Pharisees that were

trying to have the very best place to sit.

You ever done that get there early.

So you can have a good seat Friday night, Tina and I and the

kids went to a high school football game and I got to tell

you it would have been great if we got there earlier to have a

better seat. I didn't even get one at all.

In fact, they got a place to sit and I'm standing on the rail on

the steps that would have been a perfect indication or a perfect

time when I needed to get there earlier so that I can get a

seat. That's not what I'm talking

about. Because when I'm talking, when

I'm talking about a high school football game, I'm talking about

a place that you can go sit anywhere you want to and when

you get there first it's not a place of honor.

Its first come first serve you find a seat.

You get there early and that's your seat, good for you.

But Jesus was talking about something else he was talking

about. Something that was an

invitation. He was talking about that in the

invitation, there would be honored guests.

That would be bidden to come to, and those honored guests, that

were bidden would have places of honor and special places that

they might sit in. You know what?

Jesus recognized though, he recognized that there was people

from whatever Walk of Life that were showing up there that day

that we're all trying with Petty positioning.

Going to find the best place of honor that they might sit there

and Jesus saw them and Jesus responded in this way.

This Petty positioning the setting, he gives a parable.

Now the setting is a wedding feast and the Bible says, or

talks about the the common social event of a wedding feast.

In fact, I think I read one time when Jesus referred to a

wedding. At least eight times in the New

Testament. A time or place of Happiness.

Fellowship, Joy, Good Times a social setting places, where

people of Honor would be bidden to come.

Jesus says, well, there's this thing called A Wedding feast and

he warns when you get bidden to a place like that, don't sit

down in the best of places. He says, don't do that.

Now, this was an invitation-only event.

You know what? Jesus says, the reason for it is

he said the reason for it is if you go and you choose the very

best seat and you sit in a place of honor, then all of a sudden,

people are going to be coming in.

What are they going to do? You're sitting in the very best

seat. So the next guy comes in and

just maybe with Petty positioning, he chooses the next

best right next to you and then the next best and the best after

that. Incidentally these tables these

chair, they weren't chairs like We have around tables.

They were as one scholar said, he referred to him, simply as

couches. They reclined around the Outer

Perimeter of this three-section table.

The inside was left open for the servants to come and serve all

the guests. What's going to happen?

Jesus says, Jesus says, what's going to happen is that people

are going to come in and all of those seats are going to fill

up. and then, all of a sudden, There's going to be a fellow

that arrives at that setting that was the the the honored

guest and that man's going to come in and the man that invited

you and they're both going to walk up to you and say excuse me

Frank could you please get out of that seat?

That seed is not for you. That seat is for Bob Smith.

What did Jesus say? He says, what are you going to

do? You're going to get up and with

shame you're going to walk away. And guess what?

You've spent all this time and a seat that was not yours to have.

So by the time that all of this transpires, the only thing that

is left is the lowest place. And you are going to with shame

have to go and sit in the lowest place.

Long time ago, I thought about the lowest place. and that's

kind of, like, Right field at Dodger, Stadium behind the pole.

That's kind of the worst seat in the house.

You're you're you're now in the worst seat of all It didn't have

to be that way. But you went down and plopped

down in somebody else's seat that was not yours sold out.

Crowd filled up now, now you got what's left over.

Jesus makes the comparison if you elevate yourself to the

place or position of Honor, that is not for you to have.

Somebody else is going to come and somebody else.

Going to tell you to leave out of that place, and you with

shame are going to have to go limping off as it were to the

lowest of all places, and that's your C.

Seat. Jesus says, In verse 10.

But when thou art didn't go and sit down in the lowest room that

when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee friend, go

up higher, then shalt thou have Worship in the presence of them

that sit at meat with me. So what does he say?

Don't sit in the high place. Don't put yourself or Elevate

yourself in that position because what's going to happen?

You're going to get asked to move.

You're going to ashamed. Go take the worst seat in the

house. Now Now, what does he say to do?

Go and walk in and take the lowest place.

I want to make a point here. Mr. Bowles said something that I

think was great, reading it to this afternoon.

I want to share it with you. He said, Jesus did not mean that

you choose the lowest place. Look how humble I am.

I'm just going to give up my seat.

Look at me. Look at the humility that I

possess. In fact, this is what he said,

Mr. Bowles said that the height of arrogance is showing too much

humility. I didn't say having too much

humility. I said showing too much

humility. Now we might think I don't know

anybody like that when Jesus is talking about arrogance and he's

talking about pride and he's talking about humility and he's

talking about all of that, we don't know anybody like that.

Well, I'll tell you something, folks.

When we start thinking When we start thinking and demonstrating

to other people that we want other people to look at us and

think. Wow, they are really, they are

really humble people or a person that all of a sudden thinks that

they get something that nobody else has gotten their

discipleship, means more to them than anybody else that they get

it now. And, with tear filled eyes.

Look at my humility, All About Us.

How many times do we use this phrase, folks?

There's no other way to put it. That is arrogant.

Melody and the height of arrogance is the over

demonstration of humility drawing attention to yourself.

Jesus says, with the right heart with the right perspective, with

the right spirit with the right attitude, no, I'm going to give

that seat up to Bob. I'm going to give my seat up the

shot. Hey, What's going to happen now,

I'm sitting in the lowest seat. I was bidden to this place.

I was bidden to come to this place.

But the man that did the bidding, he shows up and says

women Frank, you're in the wrong seat.

No. Come over here with me how many

times that actually happen in life.

You go and plops it down somewhere somewhere and you kind

of sit back and you have humility and you are humble in

your heart and you're not trying to take the best seat from

somebody else. Somebody's going to say hey come

sit with us. What does Jesus say?

You're going to have worship with those that are there.

It's going to be a good and happy occasion.

And listen. What would you rather?

Have happened. Would you rather have somebody

say you're in the wrong seat? Frank get out of there and go

find the lowest place and you have to walk in front of

everybody with shame to do it. Or would you rather have

yourself over here that you placed yourself in?

And somebody says, no, why don't you come over here with me and

sit in the better seat, and we're going to enjoy this

outing. We're going to enjoy this

function, this Gathering. You know, Jesus concluded with a

maximum, there was a maximum given.

What is a maximum a maxim by definition is It's a fundamental

principle. It is a general truth, it is a

rule of conduct. A maxim is a fundamental

principle, a general truth or a rule of conduct.

This is one of the Lord's favorites.

What did he say for whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased

and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Jesus also dealt with this very thing when he talked about the

Pharisee and the Publican will not go in To that.

But Jesus dealt with that very thing.

He said that the Publican he was a man that was a sinner was

known to be an extortioner. And he all he did is he can't

even look up toward the heavens. He has so much humility in his

heart. That the Bible says that he

smote his breast as an outward sign of an inward, anguish and

sorrow and repentance. And all he can say is God, be

merciful to me a sinner. You know what Jesus said there

that's amazing. Remember the Pharisee and all

the things that he says, oh, I think they either.

I'm not as other man or extortioners and but be all for

even as him. You know what Jesus said?

Jesus said that one man went away Justified.

The other did not. The word Justified means to have

acquitted. That's like when you go into a

court of law and you're on trial, if you're acquitted,

you're acquitted of the crime that Publican was acquitted of

his sinful crime, the other man he went away with all of his

wonderful attributes, but he also took something else with

him too. He took his sins with him.

Jesus said it there again about humbling ourself or exalting

ourselves. And it was spoken, when Jesus

was teaching his disciples, not to be like the scribes and the

Pharisees, in Matthew chapter 23, it is also found in the Old

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

Testament, scriptures, as well in Proverbs chapter 18 and verse

Proverbs 18 · chapter mention

12. The Bible says Before

Destruction, the heart of a man is haughty and before honor is

humility in Proverbs 29 and 23. A man's Pride shall bring him

low but honors shallop old the humble.

In spirit. It was also repeated in the New

Testament in James chapter 4 and verse 6, where it says, but he

James 4 · chapter mention

giveth more grace wherefore, he saith God, resisteth the proud,

but giveth Grace, unto the humble.

Well lastly let's apply the parable, you know, there's an

application to every single Parable, every single sermon

that Jesus ever preached and if we miss the application, we

missed the whole meaning of the entire sermon.

Here's the application. We learned number one, the

dangers of Pride. How many times have we heard?

Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 18 quoted like this Pride goeth

Proverbs 16 · chapter mention

before a fall? Well, that's a true statement.

But that's not what the Bible says.

It says something. That's even words that are

harsh. More harsh than that, more

severe than that more strict than that.

It doesn't say. Pride goes before a fall.

It says Pride goeth Before, Destruction and a haughty spirit

before a fall. They think about it.

I don't know what you think about when you think about

destruction. But I think blown up, I think

destroyed I think ruined. I think completely obliterated

Pride goes Before Destruction. It says, and a haughty spirit

before a fall, the danger of pride is not just in Social

settings either as per the parable, but especially in our

relationships with God, the Lord hates Pride.

Proverbs 8:13 says, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil pride

Proverbs 8:13

and arrogancy and the evil way and the froward The froward

mouth. Do I hate there are things that

God hates. He hates Pride, he hates it.

When Brethren sow, Discord, among Brethren he hates lying

tongues. There's many things that the

Lord hates And we talked about God, we're talking about a being

that it's impossible for him to lie.

It's impossible for him to sin and when you and I have hate, we

need to be careful. That's a different kind of hate.

We have hate that's different than God.

We're not on the same plane or level with God, but God hates

Pride. We also find that Jesus would

say in Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 through 30 to on the great

Sermon on the Mount that this Pride will defile a man.

Jesus said not every one that says to me.

Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that

doeth, the will of My Father, which is in heaven.

Jesus said, many will say to me in that day, Lord, have we not

prophesied in thy name and in thy name, cast out devils.

And in thy name, done many wonderful works.

And Then will I profess unto them?

I never knew you depart from me. Ye that work iniquity.

Folks, we must always remember. First John chapter 2 verses 15

1 John 2:15–17

through 17 says that pride is not of the father but pride is

of the world. Secondly, we learn that from

this Parable. The flip side of all this and

that is the importance of humility.

People don't say that today. People say you got to take care

of number, one people say in society, if you don't take care

of yourself and if you don't support yourself who's going to

do it, now, I don't believe for one minute that we need to walk

around in life with no confidence whatsoever.

I don't think that's a Biblical principle at all.

And when the Bible talks about lowering our self and submitting

to somebody else, it's not saying that we are floor.

Mats. We throw ourselves down the

ground. Beat ourselves up and hate are

self. That's a sin by The way to Hate

Yourself. Nowhere in the scriptures.

Does it say that you have to have no confidence whatsoever in

yourself? What it says is that humility is

what we need to try to achieve in our life as opposed to Pride

and when it talks about preferring one another, it

doesn't mean that I want to hang out with Terry which I do

doesn't mean. I'd rather hang out with Terry

than somebody else. It means if I prefer Terry I am

putting Terry before me. And that's exactly what Jesus

talked about. In this Parable.

Put yourself aside step aside, step out of the equation.

Put somebody else first Always be like that in your dealings,

with your brethren with your fellow man.

The Lord blesses, those that are humble in Proverbs chapter 3 and

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

verse 34, the Bible says surely, he scorned with the scorners but

he giveth Grace unto. The lowly humility.

Also is a mark of wisdom. Now, I know that goes against

the grain of today but humility is a mark of wisdom.

Now, that doesn't mean that's not false.

Humility. That's not.

Look, I'm really I really I'm really wise really humble?

No sincere. Humility is the mark of wisdom.

I don't know about you folks, but I'll tell you this.

Every single time in my life, that I thought that I had all

the wisdom that I needed that, I thought on a particular subject.

Whatever. That is any time that I thought

that I had any particular subject, all figured out that I

had come just as far as I could go along that line.

I don't know about you, maybe that's not the case in your

life, but every single time when I had that mentality and that

attitude life, Slam me right back to the ground and I came to

the realization. I didn't know half of what I

thought I knew. When we think that we've got it

all figured out, whether it's in anything in life, life has a way

of slamming us right back down and to the ground, putting our

feet back on the ground life. Does that?

But never ever let it be that we allow that kind of a heart or an

attitude or Spirit enter us. When we talk about our

Christianity, especially when we think we've got, it figured out

more than somebody else. Because I'm going to tell you

something, folks. There's a whole lot of babes in

Christ. And if it's true, that a person

has to be a member of the Lord's church for 25-30 years before

they get it, and they get it now and they didn't get it before.

That means no babe in Christ to go to heaven.

No, babe in Christ can be a disciple of our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ. And that goes against the grain

and the teachings that are found in the New Testament, every babe

in Christ, that is following this pattern at to the best of

their ability. All the way up to someone that

can endure strong meat meat of the word to the very best of

their ability. They get it.

They understand it and they're trying to serve God and I'm at a

something you never graduate ever.

You never do. There is no diploma there is in

heaven. That's it.

If there's a diploma or degree to be given, it's the reward

that we will all have that none of us will ever earn, but it's

the reward that we will all have on that last and final day when

Jesus says, this one was mine, When I, when we hear the

wonderful words, well done, thou good and faithful servant enter

into the joy of thy, Lord, and forever.

Be with the Lord, that's graduation day.

If anything in the world, that's it, that's the ceremony. because

folks, if we ever think that we just reach a point in this life,

when we've got it, all dialed in, That's the height of

arrogance. And man we got so much more to

learn if nothing else about humility that Jesus spoke about

a long time ago. We thank you for listening to

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information, or you would like to receive a free Bible

correspondence, course by mail. Please email us at info at her

Church of Christ Bakersfield.com.

Our service times are on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and

Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. Please make plans to join us.

We would love for you to be our honored guest.