Trinity 17 September 26, 2021
Luke 14:1-11
On Grace and Pride
v.11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Dear friends in Christ, our Lord, while attending a feast at a Pharisee’s house, witnessed, once again, that most distressing human trait—pride. And so He tells them a parable that has two lessons: one that deals with social manners (pride before men) and another that deals with self-righteousness (pride before God). Now pride in social settings, such as choosing the spot of honour for oneself at a party can, as Jesus so aptly illustrated, wind up with us being rather publicly embarrassed—as those with more prestige arrive and we are asked to take the lowest seat left. It would be something like having an adult sit at the kiddie table. No one wants to sit there! However, pride before God has much more drastic consequences, as it leaves us dead in our sins before a holy and righteous God, for, as He says, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.”
Now pride is nothing new for us as fallen human beings. Indeed, the very first sin in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, was that of pride—arrogance—as they sought to place themselves higher than the Transcendent God. They rejected His Word and substituted their own, which of course didn’t turn out too well for anyone—them nor us. For pride leads to humiliation and ultimately condemnation and God’s eternal wrath, as we discover that we can never be equal to nor higher than God. That He is the one in control—and when we forsake Him, we will be severely punished.
Now that being said, is it wrong for us to take pride in a job well-done? Well, yes and no. It is a very fine line to walk for our pride must always take a backseat to humility, which in our case, doesn’t happen very often. For, in our own arrogance and pride we seek to praise and promote ourselves at the expense of others—becoming snooty—looking down our noses at others because “I’m the best,” and “the world would be a better place if everyone just listened to me in the first place.” Social media has made this an epidemic in our society today.
Indeed, we rather enjoy dictating to others how things should be. Pride leads us to think and speak and act rudely and meanly to others—to criticize harshly, and often unnecessarily, their work and activities. Think about that for a moment! What gives you or me the right to criticize anyone about their job as if we know it or could do it better? All too often we simply, and rather ignorantly, spout off about the work of the politicians, the tradesman, the teachers, etc. when we know nothing at all about that type of particular work. Yet in our pride we assume that we know best about everything—which can lead to our own humiliation when it comes to light how ignorant we truly are. This is particularly true for us as we live in a time of pandemic—when new information is constantly informing our views as it relates to the scientific evidence. We ought to be humble in our interactions with others—not looking down at those who don't believe as we do—who think differently than we do about these things.
Indeed, Christ here, and indeed throughout the Scriptures, exhorts us to be humble—for “he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Now the humble in heart raises others up before oneself. What is more, the humble in heart is also the contrite in spirit who confesses one’s sins before God. For the humble person will be subject to the Word of God, confess their sins to the Father, and trust only in Christ for forgiveness and life. And it is this person that the Lord will exalt—it is this person that the Lord will raise up on the Last Day, whereas the proud and the arrogant will be cast down into the pit of hell to suffer for all eternity.
Dear friends, this should well give us some pause—indeed, it should terrify us—as we look deep into our own hearts and see the stubborn pride and sin that resides there so readily. For God neither wants nor is able to endure pride. As Peter says, “God opposes the proud.” (1 Peter 5:5) Those who seek to exalt themselves—who seek to boast in the self—their own accomplishments, talents, etc.—will be humiliated by the power of the Most High God who does not suffer arrogant fools. Beware, for if you glorify yourself, the Lord will make you lowly because you have sought to take away from Him what is rightfully His. For your salvation, your life, your righteousness—comes not from you—but from Him. He is due the praise and honour for those gifts that He gives—not you.
Indeed, all your gifts, talents, power, possessions, etc. all come from Him. You and I have nothing to boast of whatsoever. Even your good works—works like raising funds to help brothers and sisters in Christ in around the world—works like simply obeying those in authority over you—all these things and many more—though they be good in the sight of God—yet they are made good—and are worked through you— purely by His grace as His Spirit moves you by the preaching of His Word to do those things that are pleasing to Him.
Therefore, dear friends, grace is a word that we need to know and understand. Grace means, “the undeserved favour of God.” As we, in Christ, know and believe that on account of our grievous sin—our pride and arrogance—before both God and man—we must humbly look to the cross of Christ alone for our salvation and forgiveness and life. Indeed, humility leads to life and salvation for the Exalted One, the Living God from heaven chose to humble Himself by taking on frail human flesh and living the perfect life of humility and service that you and I cannot. Though all-powerful, Jesus never boasted of His strength. Though all-knowing, He never flaunted His vast knowledge and wisdom to deride and scorn those around Him with contempt. Rather, He freely shared both with those around Him to heal, and comfort, and give hope and peace and joy to all.
Jesus would then humbly bow before the will of His Father by subjecting Himself to a sinner’s death—even death upon a cross. A death He in no way deserved—yet He embraced it—for by it He knew He would undo the sentence of death that hangs over each and every one of our heads. Then, rising three days later He has won, in all humility, greater praise and adoration than anyone will ever receive. For He has defeated our enemies. Not because He had to. But because He chose to serve us with His own life, death, and resurrection, thereby earning for Himself a holy people—washed and redeemed in His own shed blood and covered by faith with His own perfect holiness and righteousness.
Dear friends, when we view our lives—our salvation—our situation in this life—from this perspective—it is easy to see that neither arrogance nor pride has any place in our lives. Rather, we should do as St. Paul in quoting Jeremiah, saying, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:31) Pride has been killed by the Humble One on the cross. Christ’s humiliation and death on the cross is the only thing that we as Christians ever boast of—for it is there that our hope, our peace, our joy truly rests. In Jesus and all He has done for us.
And it is by Him and through Him that you are raised up. When you are wracked with guilt over your own multitude of sins, when you are caught in the trap of despair, depressed, dejected, and terrified—then let the Word of Christ wash over you. Let the Holy Spirit rule and govern your hearts. May His Word of absolution pierce your heart to the quick—leading you to look to Jesus Christ, and Him crucified for your every need.
When the devil comes calling and whispering his deadly lies into your ears, flee to the cross. Put no stock, no faith, in your strength or resistance—for apart from Christ you are nothing—but in Christ—the Devil cannot harm you—nor can he rob you of your most precious gift—life in Christ. For the Humiliated One has been Exalted on High and all must bow before Him. He holds you in His hand—you are the apple of His eye—His dear brother or sister—a child of the same heavenly Father—and an heir with Him of all the glorious riches of the Kingdom of God.
Indeed, though the “high and mighty” will be brought down to their own destruction, yet the “humble and lowly” will be lifted up on the Last Day—by He who was lifted up on the cross in our stead. In all humility we trust in the pure and free grace of God. For we know that we have fallen into the pit of sin and death and cannot get ourselves out—there is no pulling us up by our own bootstraps (an impossible task, by the way). Rather, we are rescued, saved by our gracious Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He has reached out to you—in Baptism—in the Supper—in the sermon—in absolution—to save you and set you free. For the one who has conquered all pride, sin, and death—has given that victory to you.
It is He who gives you a humble heart. And just as God cannot abide pride and arrogance, nor can He suffer humility or leave it alone. For He always seeks to exalt the humble. That is His nature and He cannot act otherwise. And so He goes after and cares for those who humbly confess their sins and Jesus Christ as Lord, promising to exalt them with His Son on the Last Day, for all eternity. Paradoxically, those who are humbled by the Law to confess the living Christ are then immediately raised by faith in Him to the heavenly realms, where all the greatest gifts of forgiveness, life, and eternal salvation await. And all this is given as a gift, by grace, through the Lord Jesus who acted in humble service to save sinners like you and me. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Luke 14:1-11
On Grace and Pride
v.11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Dear friends in Christ, our Lord, while attending a feast at a Pharisee’s house, witnessed, once again, that most distressing human trait—pride. And so He tells them a parable that has two lessons: one that deals with social manners (pride before men) and another that deals with self-righteousness (pride before God). Now pride in social settings, such as choosing the spot of honour for oneself at a party can, as Jesus so aptly illustrated, wind up with us being rather publicly embarrassed—as those with more prestige arrive and we are asked to take the lowest seat left. It would be something like having an adult sit at the kiddie table. No one wants to sit there! However, pride before God has much more drastic consequences, as it leaves us dead in our sins before a holy and righteous God, for, as He says, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.”
Now pride is nothing new for us as fallen human beings. Indeed, the very first sin in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, was that of pride—arrogance—as they sought to place themselves higher than the Transcendent God. They rejected His Word and substituted their own, which of course didn’t turn out too well for anyone—them nor us. For pride leads to humiliation and ultimately condemnation and God’s eternal wrath, as we discover that we can never be equal to nor higher than God. That He is the one in control—and when we forsake Him, we will be severely punished.
Now that being said, is it wrong for us to take pride in a job well-done? Well, yes and no. It is a very fine line to walk for our pride must always take a backseat to humility, which in our case, doesn’t happen very often. For, in our own arrogance and pride we seek to praise and promote ourselves at the expense of others—becoming snooty—looking down our noses at others because “I’m the best,” and “the world would be a better place if everyone just listened to me in the first place.” Social media has made this an epidemic in our society today.
Indeed, we rather enjoy dictating to others how things should be. Pride leads us to think and speak and act rudely and meanly to others—to criticize harshly, and often unnecessarily, their work and activities. Think about that for a moment! What gives you or me the right to criticize anyone about their job as if we know it or could do it better? All too often we simply, and rather ignorantly, spout off about the work of the politicians, the tradesman, the teachers, etc. when we know nothing at all about that type of particular work. Yet in our pride we assume that we know best about everything—which can lead to our own humiliation when it comes to light how ignorant we truly are. This is particularly true for us as we live in a time of pandemic—when new information is constantly informing our views as it relates to the scientific evidence. We ought to be humble in our interactions with others—not looking down at those who don't believe as we do—who think differently than we do about these things.
Indeed, Christ here, and indeed throughout the Scriptures, exhorts us to be humble—for “he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Now the humble in heart raises others up before oneself. What is more, the humble in heart is also the contrite in spirit who confesses one’s sins before God. For the humble person will be subject to the Word of God, confess their sins to the Father, and trust only in Christ for forgiveness and life. And it is this person that the Lord will exalt—it is this person that the Lord will raise up on the Last Day, whereas the proud and the arrogant will be cast down into the pit of hell to suffer for all eternity.
Dear friends, this should well give us some pause—indeed, it should terrify us—as we look deep into our own hearts and see the stubborn pride and sin that resides there so readily. For God neither wants nor is able to endure pride. As Peter says, “God opposes the proud.” (1 Peter 5:5) Those who seek to exalt themselves—who seek to boast in the self—their own accomplishments, talents, etc.—will be humiliated by the power of the Most High God who does not suffer arrogant fools. Beware, for if you glorify yourself, the Lord will make you lowly because you have sought to take away from Him what is rightfully His. For your salvation, your life, your righteousness—comes not from you—but from Him. He is due the praise and honour for those gifts that He gives—not you.
Indeed, all your gifts, talents, power, possessions, etc. all come from Him. You and I have nothing to boast of whatsoever. Even your good works—works like raising funds to help brothers and sisters in Christ in around the world—works like simply obeying those in authority over you—all these things and many more—though they be good in the sight of God—yet they are made good—and are worked through you— purely by His grace as His Spirit moves you by the preaching of His Word to do those things that are pleasing to Him.
Therefore, dear friends, grace is a word that we need to know and understand. Grace means, “the undeserved favour of God.” As we, in Christ, know and believe that on account of our grievous sin—our pride and arrogance—before both God and man—we must humbly look to the cross of Christ alone for our salvation and forgiveness and life. Indeed, humility leads to life and salvation for the Exalted One, the Living God from heaven chose to humble Himself by taking on frail human flesh and living the perfect life of humility and service that you and I cannot. Though all-powerful, Jesus never boasted of His strength. Though all-knowing, He never flaunted His vast knowledge and wisdom to deride and scorn those around Him with contempt. Rather, He freely shared both with those around Him to heal, and comfort, and give hope and peace and joy to all.
Jesus would then humbly bow before the will of His Father by subjecting Himself to a sinner’s death—even death upon a cross. A death He in no way deserved—yet He embraced it—for by it He knew He would undo the sentence of death that hangs over each and every one of our heads. Then, rising three days later He has won, in all humility, greater praise and adoration than anyone will ever receive. For He has defeated our enemies. Not because He had to. But because He chose to serve us with His own life, death, and resurrection, thereby earning for Himself a holy people—washed and redeemed in His own shed blood and covered by faith with His own perfect holiness and righteousness.
Dear friends, when we view our lives—our salvation—our situation in this life—from this perspective—it is easy to see that neither arrogance nor pride has any place in our lives. Rather, we should do as St. Paul in quoting Jeremiah, saying, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:31) Pride has been killed by the Humble One on the cross. Christ’s humiliation and death on the cross is the only thing that we as Christians ever boast of—for it is there that our hope, our peace, our joy truly rests. In Jesus and all He has done for us.
And it is by Him and through Him that you are raised up. When you are wracked with guilt over your own multitude of sins, when you are caught in the trap of despair, depressed, dejected, and terrified—then let the Word of Christ wash over you. Let the Holy Spirit rule and govern your hearts. May His Word of absolution pierce your heart to the quick—leading you to look to Jesus Christ, and Him crucified for your every need.
When the devil comes calling and whispering his deadly lies into your ears, flee to the cross. Put no stock, no faith, in your strength or resistance—for apart from Christ you are nothing—but in Christ—the Devil cannot harm you—nor can he rob you of your most precious gift—life in Christ. For the Humiliated One has been Exalted on High and all must bow before Him. He holds you in His hand—you are the apple of His eye—His dear brother or sister—a child of the same heavenly Father—and an heir with Him of all the glorious riches of the Kingdom of God.
Indeed, though the “high and mighty” will be brought down to their own destruction, yet the “humble and lowly” will be lifted up on the Last Day—by He who was lifted up on the cross in our stead. In all humility we trust in the pure and free grace of God. For we know that we have fallen into the pit of sin and death and cannot get ourselves out—there is no pulling us up by our own bootstraps (an impossible task, by the way). Rather, we are rescued, saved by our gracious Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He has reached out to you—in Baptism—in the Supper—in the sermon—in absolution—to save you and set you free. For the one who has conquered all pride, sin, and death—has given that victory to you.
It is He who gives you a humble heart. And just as God cannot abide pride and arrogance, nor can He suffer humility or leave it alone. For He always seeks to exalt the humble. That is His nature and He cannot act otherwise. And so He goes after and cares for those who humbly confess their sins and Jesus Christ as Lord, promising to exalt them with His Son on the Last Day, for all eternity. Paradoxically, those who are humbled by the Law to confess the living Christ are then immediately raised by faith in Him to the heavenly realms, where all the greatest gifts of forgiveness, life, and eternal salvation await. And all this is given as a gift, by grace, through the Lord Jesus who acted in humble service to save sinners like you and me. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.