This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to our look together at Luke chapter 14, as we continue to walk through
week three, day four of our look together for the Gospel of Luke, chapter a day.
This is a chapter, Luke 14, that's all about confronting and confounding the
conventional wisdom of that day. And as I read through this chapter, I'm
reminded that we have a lot of conventional wisdom in our day, just ways of
thinking that everybody has, but that just aren't right.

And Jesus has a way in our hearts and our minds of confronting those things.
Even as he confronts the wisdom of that day, you might find yourself feeling him
confronting some of the wisdom in our day, some of the wisdom in your life. When
we think we've got it all put together and we know it all, we've got it in a
neat little package, Jesus often likes to come in and interrupt that way of
thinking.

For instance, Jesus speaks in this chapter to those whose conventional wisdom
said you could not heal on the Sabbath. Why? Because it didn't fit their list of
rules.

What does Jesus have to say about this? Verse five, then he asked them, if one
of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you
not immediately pull him out? Jesus says, wait a minute, you can't heal on the
Sabbath day, but if one of your children falls into a well, if even an ox, an
animal falls into a well, don't you pull them out?

So why is it that you can't heal, but you can save? I mean, if you're saying you
can't do any work on the Sabbath, why can you do that work? You can help an
animal, but you can't help your neighbor?

What sense is there in that? This is confronting conventional wisdom. And when
Jesus does this in my heart and your heart, we need to listen.

It's hard to listen because conventional wisdom is conventional. Everybody
accepts it. It's hard to go against it.

People look at you strange when you have a different idea, a different opinion.
But the conventional wisdom that poor people are poor because they don't work
hard enough. And so why should I help them?

That's conventional wisdom for those who may have too much and don't want to
help the poor. And when you show up and begin to have the heart of God towards
the poor, people may look at you a little strangely, but you're listening to the
heart of God. You're listening to the way that God looks at things.

You're looking at things the way that God looks at things. Jesus also talked
about the conventional wisdom, and this one certainly fits our day, of those who
sought their own importance. What an easy thing to fall into.

Verses 7 to 11, here's what Jesus said. When he, Jesus, noticed how the guests
picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable. 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. If so, the host
who invited both of you will come and say to you, "Give this man your seat. "
And then, humiliated, you'll have to take the least important place.

But 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. " And then you will be
honored in the presence of all your fellow guests, for everyone who exalts
himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

I have to tell you personally, I am constantly challenged by Jesus' words, "Take
the lowest place. " Truth is, I don't want to take the lowest place. And the
even more honest truth is, if I take the lowest place, I certainly want others
to notice.

I want other people to give me the highest credit for taking the lowest place. I
hope that we together can be on this lifetime pursuit of genuine humility. And
it's a lifetime pursuit because we all have to face genuine pride in our lives.

I certainly do. I've always loved what C. S.

Lewis said about this, "If anyone wants to be humble, the first step," he says,
"is to admit that one is proud. " That's where it begins. Admit that we have to
deal with pride in our lives.

Jesus says, "Take the lowest seat. " What does that mean for you today? What
does that mean in your family?

What does that mean at your school? What does that mean in your office? It
certainly doesn't mean you do it for the notice, because the notice is the
problem.

It means you do it because you love other people. It means you do it because you
have a sense of confidence in your relationship with God that goes above and
beyond needing the notice of others. You notice others' needs rather than
needing others' notice.

Jesus says it this way, "Exalt yourself, you're going to be humbled. Humble
yourself. You're going to be exalted.

" Now, you might think, "How does that play itself out? I've seen a lot of
people who exalt themselves, and they seem to be more and more exalted in this
world. " Well, Jesus isn't just talking about this world, he's talking about
eternity.

And those who most highly and pridefully exalt themselves in this world, they
face an eternity of humbling before the awesome majesty of God. And those who
humble themselves, and I often think it may not be myself who happens to live in
a very prosperous place in this world, it may be those who live in very, very
simple places who don't have much to live with, but are still serving God with
all their heart. Those who humble themselves in this world, in eternity, they'll
be exalted.

They'll be put in places of highest honor and privilege, not for their own
pride, but for the sake of the glory of God. That's Jesus' wisdom towards those
of us, all of us, when we seek our own importance. Jesus also has some wisdom to
give to those who bank on God's blessings.

Those of us who feel like, and those times in our lives when we feel like,
"Okay, I've got God's blessing in the bank. I'm settled on this one. " Jesus in
verses 15 and then all the way down to verse 24, here's what he has to say,
"When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, 'Blessed
is the man who will eat at the feast of the kingdom of God.

' Jesus replied, 'A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many
guests. At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had
been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready. ' But they all alike began to
make excuses.

" And then down in verse 23, "Then the master told the servant, 'Go out to the
roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house may be full. ' I
tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.
" Some people think that they're on God's A-list.

No matter what happens, I'm in, whatever I choose to do. And so maybe you give
excuses to not be involved in the things of God, not follow the invitations of
God in your life, because your heritage, your culture, your background, your
morality, your intelligence, whatever reason, your education, you feel like
you're on God's A-list. Be careful, Jesus says.

It's not about what list you think you're on. It's about how you respond to
God's invitation and God's love. And the question I have every day of my life
is, how am I responding to God's invitation and God's love?

Some people think they're on God's D-list, ignored by God, never invited. Be
encouraged, Jesus said. It's not about what list other people think you're on.

It's about how you are responding to God's invitation and God's love. Jesus has
one final confrontation of the conventional wisdom in this chapter. He converts
the wisdom of those who love the excitement of it all.

They're always there for the crowd. They're always there for the thrill, verses
25 and 26. Large crowds were traveling with Jesus and turning to them, he said,
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and
children, his brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my
disciple.

" I've often wondered what it would have been like to be one of Jesus's first 12
followers and to watch these moments. The crowds are getting bigger and bigger,
the excitement is growing, and all of a sudden In the midst of this, Jesus turns
around and says, "You know what you need to do? You need to hate your mom.

You need to hate your dad. You need to hate your own life. " The disciples
sometimes must have thought, "Jesus, what are you doing?

Just when the crowds are getting bigger? Just when the excitement is growing? "
Jesus shows up with a statement like this because he knew that it was what
people needed.

Now it brings a lot of questions for us. Hate my mom? What does that mean?

Hate my life? First, this word hate in the Hebrew language, the Aramaic that
Jesus spoke it in, has the idea of to love less. It's more of a priority word
than the relational word that we would put in.

It's not about being bitter towards your parents, it's about loving them less.
Even your own life less than the life of God. But having said that, this is also
a very strong challenge.

Jesus is saying to me, to you, to this crowd in that day, to all the crowd
since, are you in it just for the excitement of the moment? For the thrill? Or
are you really thinking about what it means to follow me?

Jesus says if you're thinking about what it means to follow me, here's what
you'll do. You'll carry your cross and you'll count the cost. You'll carry your
cross, verse 27, and anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be
my disciple.

And you'll count the cost, verses 28 and then down to 33. Suppose one of you
wants to build a tower, will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see
if he has enough money to complete it? Verse 33, in the same way, any of you who
does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

Let's pray together. Lord, help me to do that. I might just say that to him,
help me to do that.

To learn what it means to carry my cross and to count the cost. To not just be
in it for the moment or the thrill or the excitement, but any and every
circumstance of life, whatever's happening, to carry the cross, to realize that
I'm carrying into every circumstance of life the truth of who you are, Jesus,
and your sacrifice for me, and a commitment that's willing to give it all for
you, a willingness to do whatever it takes to put you in first place in my life.
Lord, help me to count the cost, not to pretend like it's not going to cost
anything, to count the cost in my finances, in my relationships, in my time, in
my commitments.

Lord, in those moments when you're challenging me to give up something and it
seems like I can never give that up because that's where my life is found,
remind me that the only reason you'd ask me to give it up, whether it seems to
be something good or I know that it's a sin, the only reason you'd ask me to
give it up is because you know that you have more life to give me than there is
in that thing. Help me to carry the cross, help me to count the cost. In Jesus'
name I pray, Amen.