Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Episode 714: In this episode, Chris and Jeff dive into the theme of humility as they explore a passage from Luke 14. They discuss the cultural context of Jesus' time, where seating arrangements at a banquet were a significant indicator of one's social standing. Jesus advises guests to take the lowest seat at the table to avoid embarrassment and to allow the host to elevate them, emphasizing that those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Whether you’ve been following Jesus for years or you’re just starting to ask questions, there’s a seat for you here.
Join Jeff and Chris for honest conversations about Scripture, faith, and the everyday stuff we all navigate. With humor, personal stories, and plenty of back-and-forth, The Bible Guys explore what the Bible says and how it connects to your life.
Subscribe, bring your questions, and get to know the Bible one conversation at a time. Head over to TheBibleGuys.com for more information!
You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, guys, welcome to the Bible Guys. We are Chris and Jeff and we are excited to. Be here today. Man, it's good to be here. Yes, and we are on the Heritage stage. If you're just tuning in for the first time and you're saying, hey, what's with the studio, I thought your studio was different than now. We have some studio changes coming in the future. Yeah, we do, which we're super excited about. But between here and there, we're in transition. Yes, and so we're sitting on the stage. That's right. That's right. And that's by the way, that's if you're watching. If you're listening, then you don't care. So today listening, imagine amazing stage. That's right. That's right. Well, today we're actually jumping to Luke because we're in the middle of a series what if Jesus had a podcast and we're talking about famous sayings of Jesus. Yes, but before we do. Desiree has actually written for us a brand. I think this is a new segment. Yeah, I don't think so I don't think I've ever seen this before, and I'm a little concerned because I only have one sentence. I think you have a bunch of stuff at all, But mine just says same thing. That's oh, you just have this. So you start a sentence and I complete it in unexpected ways. Yeah. And by the way, I used to do this all the time in high school, did you. Yeah, so I would. I would memories a tellow and I would sit in biology class and we would write words and we would take turns to form a sentence one word. Of the fine. And it was hilarious. It was a really fun game. Okay, and so I'm not always great at these. Okay, ready for this. You'll never here's a sentence. Here's a sentence. Start. You'll never believe who I ran into the other day when? And then I finished that sentence. Maybe i'll take, I'll take, I'll take away the word when, I'll. Take when when it's good, when it's good. Uh. So you said you'll never believe who I ran into the other day when, and I say. Uh. Uh uh, when I was getting out of jail. Okay, yeah, yeah. Who was it? Who'd you run into? Yeah? I don't know. Let me see. So you'll never believe who I ran into the other day when I was getting out of jail dot dot dot, I ran into. Oh geez, these are terrible. Uh Zach Geffron. Nice, there you go first thing at it? And Chris Pratt and who's the other one that you get? And and uh, Jerry Underwood. There you go. I ran it all three of them. And by the way, uh, somebody who listens to the Bible guys regularly gave me a gift on Sunday. Yeah, oh, this was great. And it was a. DVD as if people watch DVDs anymore, which I do. By the way, I do watch DVDs. I don't even have a DVD player in my house. You're not really, I'm still a VCR my house. Wow. Yeah. But anyway, but he gave me a five movie collection of z Jeff Fron. It's hilarious, which is so funny. He's a dear friend of mine. So the other day on the podcast, you mentioned having guests on the show, and we made fun of Zach front because this is a recurring joke, and then you mentioned Chris Pratt and Carrie Underwood. Yes, that's right, So what were you in jail for, Chris? That was you. You're the one in jail. I'm starting, you started, you're finishing. You're starting a sentence, right. You said you wouldn't believe who I ran into the other day. When okay, come on, here we go. We're gonna we're Oh wait, is the segment over? I think so? I think that's it. Oh, I'm gonna do another one, do another one? Okay, yeah, because I thought that took some work. I'm gonna accustomed to this idea. How about this? Okay? Yes. When I was little, probably one of my most embarrassing moments. Was, oh, boy, wedding my brother's bed. Wow, excellent? Is that true? It's for you not me. You started the sentence. Oh I see, I'm viewing it for you. And yeah, yeah, yeah, you start the sentence. You know, I'm just finishing your sentence. You No, this is typical. This is typical. What is it is that that narcissistic, narcissistic minds that we. Both have, or something like I'm viewing it like it's your sentence, and you're viewing it like you're completing myself. You started off saying, I well, because I'm setting it up for you. No, but I thought it was your sentence no, and I just had the privilege of finishing it for you. I'm not sure I've ever wet my brother's bed. I'm not sure I've ever done that. Now, did I wet my bed? I was a kid. Yes, a couple of times I did do that. And by the way, when you wet your bed as a kid. At least this was for me. This is true for me. I dreamt that I was going to the bathroom. Oh oh yeah, like I dreamt. I'm like, oh, I have to use the restroom. I dreamt and just didn't get up, and I. Just didn't get up, and I wet myself. All right. Well, so I'll tell you a country boys story. Yep, along those lines. So, country boys, a lot of times you learned how to use a tree. Right, Sure, when you're outdoors. Sure, we're way back on the back end of the property or whatever, and it's just country boys. Do you don't really need a tree? So, no, you don't need one. But that's it. So my dad, I was a young boy, maybe like five or six years old. We were way back on the back of the property. We were doing some work all that kind of stuff. I needed to go and my Dad's like, hey, just use a tree. This is what men do. You use a tree? So I go over and use a tree. So then I was afraid of the dark. Yeah, and so I didn't want to use the tree. I didn't want to walk through the house in the dark. We only had one bathroom in our house, so I didn't want to walk through the house in the dark. It was scary. But there was a hole in my floor, and so I just started using that. I would go down the register and no, I didn't know what it was. And we rarely ever used our furnace. Yeah, and so then it got really cold. We didn't have any firewood in the house. Several months later, I'd been using that every night and my dad turns out on the front as the whole house smells just horrible. What's going on? And then they tracked the rust on the on the on the dock works all the way from my room all the way down. To be fair, to be fair, like, nobody told you it was a hole on the floor. It was you were a kid. That's hilarious, isn't terrible? Well, that's a story right there. That's a country boy story right there. That's really because we never used the furnace, so I didn't really know what that hole on my floor was for, right, I didn't know it was for. Yeah, we heated the house with firewood fireplace. Yeah, I got a lot of trouble ruined the furnace. Well, yeah, did you really ruin it for real? Yeah? Like they like they could heat exchangers rusted out. That's what happened in. Why You Have Rustic Proper. Wow, that's hilarious. Yeah, so that was a very humbling moment. Sure. And speaking of humility, Jesus talks about humility in Luke chapter fourteen. He does, he does, big big fan. He's a big fan of humility. You've done every transition this week? Have I? Yeah? So far? No, Well you got that one. We both started at the same time and then yeah you finished it. H Yeah, that's hilarious. Sorry about that. No, no, no, no, all I meaning is your I just get so excited about it. I can't finish your sentences, but I can transfer the. Reason why I always when Kyle's on and it's cale and I I went through the whole week and didn't do something transition. I forgot because you always there reminded. What's one of our goals is to have terrible transitions, And that was pretty bad. So we are in Luke, chapter fourteen, verse seven, and the Bible says that when Jesus noticed that all who had come to dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice. When you're invited to a wedding feast, don't sit at the seat of honor. What if someone who's more distinguished than you has also been invited. The host to come and say, give this person your seat, and then you'll be embarrass and you have to take whatever seats left at the foot of the table. Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. And then when your host sees you, he'll come and say, friend, we have a better place for you. And then you'll be honored in front of all of the other guests. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. And then he turned to his host. When you put on a luncheon or a banquet, he said, don't invite your friends, brothers, and relatives and rich neighbors, for they'll invite you back, and that'll be your only reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the righteous God to reward you for inviting those who could not repay you. Wow. Yeah, yeah, Well it's definitely a story about humility, it is, and it's about you know, I mean, you know, for those who don't know the culture of having somebody over for dinner, in some ways it's similar then. You know, like, for instance, you're inviting us over when. Tomorrow, right, just a couple of days. Yeah, and so you're hosting us, and then another couple, a few couples, a few couples and uh and so yeah, you'll you'll do some of these things, right and uh. But but back then it was a little bit different because when you were invited, it was actually a great honor to invite anybody into your home because what it meant was there was like an approval, there was acceptance, and then where you sat at the table was huge, right, it was it was everything. It was back then. It was if you were the firstborn like today, firstborns don't mean much right, right, But back then, firstborns meant everything, right, and and so there's just different. Things about the culture. That just was very very a big deal. That is not a big deal today, And where you sat at a table was a very very big deal. So people walked in. The room and uh, immediately they just wanted to be the most important, like look at me, like, based on base, based on everybody here, I'm the most important. Yeah, And they're like yes, And they took pride in that there was some statue and you know, a stature in it. I bet you maneuvering. I bet you that there was even you know, the Pharisees. You always give them credit and say they were well intentioned a lot of times. I bet you that this was probably even a brand new teaching for the Pharisees. Yeah, for Jesus to say, no, don't do that, because the Pharisees would have probably been one of the first people to walk in and be like, of course, I'm going to sit at the head of the table. The desire for success and respectment that you had to climb. They were self promoters, just like influencers are today, looking for that opportunity to just get a little bit more visibility because they believed in their message, they believed in the work that they were doing, and so they're always looking for more visibility, looking for more Rabbis would kind of scramble to see who could get to speak and teach first, all that kind of stuff. It was normal. It's a normal part of society. It still is today. People are looking for more likes and clicks and all that kind of stuff, and it's not inappropriate to try to move your influence and impact forward. That that's not inappropriate. It's it's that scrambling for pushing everybody else down in order for you to get up. That that's really what he's talking about there. So he's not saying in the second so he's giving two lessons. He's giving a lesson to the people at the party, saying, hey, it's kind of embarrassing when you put yourself at the top and then they have to move you down. Right, be humble, and it's way better if you get noticed and they move you up. That's way better. That's all he's saying. He's not saying, don't sit at the head of the table if you're the featured guest that's where you. Should say, just don't just don't, don't do it yourself. Yeah, don't assume that you're coming in and taking over the space. Right, be humble and let people invite you up. So that's one side. The other side is he teaches to the hosts, hey, listen, you know, when you throw parties, you don't always have to throw a party just for the insiders, right, how about the people nobody ever thinks about? What about them too? He's not saying never ever throw a party for your friends. He's saying, have you ever thought about throwing a party for the people nobody else cares about? Because there's no real reward other than the party itself for you and your friends. But there is great reward when you step out of your comfort zone and you start caring about the people nobody else cares about. That's what he's inviting them to. I think I've told this story before on the podcast many many months or years ago, but I was, you know, I went to college on a music scholarship. I had a brass a scholarship for playing trumpet, and among my world, I was the best trumpet player in my world. And then I had a number of years where I was a worship leader, leading worship and doing all music and stuff in my career. But I began to realize I didn't know any non Christian musicians. And I had an opportunity to join this brass group that was fairly well known, and they were looking for a couple different people, but one of them they were looking for the lead trumpet player. I played cornets, but it is the same, and so they invited me, Hey, you want to come and try out for this band, and I knew some of the people in the band. I said yeah, sure, And as I'm driving into the parking lot, the Lord reminds me of this, don't sit at the head of the table. Sit at the back of the table. It's better to be invited up than it is to be asked to go down. The table because first chair is different than second chair. Yeah. Yeah, and they were looking for first chair solo, so this is the leader. Yeah. So I come in and I think I probably could have played at that level certainly, but for whatever reason, the Lord told me, hey, remember this, go sit at the back. So when I walked in, the director was thrilled I was there, and he goes, oh, man, Jeff, Hey, I have your music for it. I said, you know what I was thinking, I'd love to just assess the band. And he has a really high view of me, and so I. Said, would this be orchestrac as you keep saying band? No, it was a band. It was a brass band, okay. And so he says he had a high view of me based on reputation or whatever other people had told him things about me. And so he said, hey, I got this first chair solo music for you. I said, why don't you give me third chair. Let me go sit at the end and let me just assess what the band needs and maybe I can I can help you out that way. And he goes, oh yeah, wow, yeah, that'd be great. And so he thought, what I was trying to do is figure out what does all that need? And is this? So I go and I sit at the end. We go ripping through this music. It was unbelievable, just the very first piece. We hadn't even warmed up, just block go ripping through this thing. We were done. I lean over to the guy sitting next to me. He's a retired colonel in the US Army. I lean over to him and I'm like, my gosh, that was incredible. I've never played that music before. And he looks at me kind of shrugs and says, none of us ever played the music before. We're all slight reading it. And so I went, whoa, this is a tough band. This music's hard. The whole rest of that rehearsal was ripping and tearing. I could have played the first chair music if I'd practiced and practice and practice and practice at home, right, But I could not have just re through that music sight seeing, site reading. So when it was all done, I went up to him and I said, hey, this is really great. You know the director, I said, this is really great. I love this music is incredible. The level of musicians are phenomenal. But what do you really need more than anything else. What is the hardest thing you're having a hard time recruiting for. He goes, oh wow. He said, I'm looking for a tenor horn player. I can't find somebody who played tennreor hoorn. And I said, well, I said, I don't have one, but if you gave me one, I learn how to play it. He said, you're kidding me. I said, if you let me be in the band. Yeah, I'd love to play that. He goes, wow, Okay, I said, I'm looking for a new challenge. He said great, So he gives me this like three thousand dollars horn and I said, give me a few weeks. I'll figure this out. So it took me a few weeks. Next thing, you know, I did like fifty six concerts with one of the best groups I've ever been a part of. We did twelve different events with the Detroit Symphony, fifteen thousand people a night. It was phenomenal. We did so many great things, and I remember just sitting in the middle of this band, thinking I don't belong among these amazing musicians. But they didn't know, right. He was just thrilled that I took this. So taking that back seat gave me an opportunity for him to elevate me into another area, rather than me taking that first seat and realizing I probably really don't belong there. Right, And that's what Jesus is saying. It's way better to be invited up than it is asked to be to be asked to step down. So that's one side of it. But I'll be honest with you, there's been times I've walked into a room knowing that maybe I could sit closer to the top of a room than the bottom of the room, and I walk in and sit at the bottom and don't get asked to move up either. So there's always risk on that I didn't assert myself and didn't have the opportunity to come to me and I'm not talking to music and lots of things right, right, So it's not that this is a law of the Bible that if you sit at the end, God will always move you up, right, But it is saying that it's better to be asked to move up than it is to be asked to move down. Well, yeah, because it demonstrates humility. And I think that every person listening can probably relate to this. When you see a great leader demonstrate humility, it is one of the most attractive traits. So it doesn't just it doesn't matter. It's across the board. It's every nation, every culture, right, somebody who you know deserves to be, you know, revered, and yet. They won't take credit. And and you'll be like, you're amazing. He's like, well, we have a really good team around us, you know, And they demonstrate humility, and they don't want to take credit and and and uh, you know, their behavior, their posture, their demeanor is all about humility. It is one of the most attractive things. And there's a reason for that. It's because God placed that in you. The reason why you admire that and the reason why you think it's great is because that's in you. You see a little glimpse of Jesus in that perces a little bit of glimpse of Jesus. Not fake humility, right, but when genuinely. Be genuine humility. Yeah. And there's a reason why, because the spirit of God is in you, whether even if even if you're not even a Christian, it's in you because of that reason, because you're because you're made by God and designing His image. Now, the other side of it was you know you ever hear that message Andy Stanley gave what do you do when you discover you're the most important person in the room? Yes, phenomenal message because because the one side, if you only hear this side of it, then you would think, well, you just take a humble position and hope somebody discovers that you're the leader, are the most important person room. But Andy Andy gave his message and you talked about when you discover your most important person in the room, lead right, that's what you do. You lead, lead humbly. And so there are times when you walk into a room and you are the one that has the answer, you know the answer, You are the one that can lead this group forward or whatever. It's not wrong for you to step in and say, I have an idea, right, let me offer this and if it is a substantial solution, and if it's a and if you have worked on the relationships with everybody in the room, you should have a little bit of influence. Then that influence and that genuine care for the people in the room, combined with the fact that you have a legitimate solution, gives you the opportunity to step into the position of the most important person in the room, even when at the beginning maybe people didn't realize it, and offer real solutions for people. That's not a power move at that point, that's a stewardship of the gifts God's given you. So you're taking a humble position even as you choose to take a leadership role. So it's not wrong to choose, as a matter of fact, in the Book of Fir Timothy. Paul says, he's talking to a young man. Paul's an old man, great leader, Apostolic leader, and he is talking to this young man who's aspiring to leadership. And he's sending Timothy off to go appoint elders in this next town. And he says, listen, if a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good thing. I've always thought that was interesting, Paul saying, it's not wrong to desire this role. Right. But then Paul says, but let me give you the qualifications, just so you know whether or not he's qualified. Right, he's going to be the husband one wife. He's not going to be a drunkard. He's not going to be violent, he's going to be hospitable. Uh. He says, don't lay suddenly, don't don't suddenly lay hands on a novice or a new person. Right, And so he gives all these these qualifications for the kind of person. But it's not wrong for somebody to aspire to those rules. If a guy desires this role, that he desires a noble thing. So then there have been times where young leaders have come to us and said, how do I get to the next level. And I'm inspired by that. I'm not offended by that. Instead, I say, okay, well, these are the next steps. Here's your next five or six steps. You and I just had a conversation recently about somebody. We gave them like six or seven key steps if you want leadership, these are the things we're gonna expect from you. And they took a fence at it, right, right, They took a fence at it right. Okay, Well, then they're not ready for leadership. That's not a humble position, but a humble person. They desire something greater. And then the leaders above them say all right, well here's the six or seven steps it's going to take for you. And they go all right, and they start attacking those things in their life, developing character, getting some skills, having some experience, learning to put others first, serving others. They start moving those directions. It's a good thing to aspire and desire leadership if that's been designed in you. It's bad when you just go assume it and just take it and demand respect. And that's what Jesus is saying, is the bad side of this. Yeah. Yeah, And also I just want to say that whenever you. Whenever you demonstrate pride, and you know, the person who walks around and thinks they're important. I have to say for me personally, I should have said you. I'd say, whenever a person does that, it is one of the most off putting things to. Be around, don't you agree? If you ever been around a person that just really thinks a lot of themselves, you know, they're puffed up, they really they actually believe they're important, and by the way, they actually could be. And that's fine. But a person who actually is important, who's humble is the person you want to be around. They're very attractive. A person who's important is not humble, You're. Like, yeah, well, and then there's people who actually think they're more important than they are. And that's the worst kind of person to be around. And those kind of leaders attract more like them, and so then they're kind of their their cluster, their group just becomes jerks. Yeah, right, that's the role they have. That's a they're just not humble servant leaders, and they just they attract you attract what you are, and and they begin attracting and so then all of a sudden, that whole group they just hurt people. They're just bulldozing people. Just you know, both Peter and James wrote about this idea of humility and how God gives grace to the humble, and matter of fact, I think it's James says that God opposes the proud but gives grace and favor to the humble. Right, and so a man alive life is already hard. Leadership is hard. Last thing I need is God a right right. What I need is this favor, And the easiest path towards favor is to take a path of humility. So, just like yesterday when we talked about you know, there's a choice for love. God is doing this thing. And as God is making you loving, God is making you more complete, and at the same time you have to choose it. It's the same thing here. God is if we're going to become like Jesus as a leader, God is making us humble. But at the same time we have to choose humility, even when it's not easy, it's a conscious choice. By the time people hear this podcast, we will have already had heritage at the hill. Oh yeah, and as hundreds of but we're. Baptized or excuse me, we're recording this actually five days before it, and at the end of our DLT meeting, you said, hey, it's a great reminder for us all in this room to recognize because we're celebrating the blessings. We were excited about the numbers we're over. To going to baptize over two hundred people. Yeah, probably most likely. Yeah, yeah, that's incredible. That's incredible. And so we dismissed. You said, hey, let's all remind ourselves God is doing this, not us. Yeah, right, and so we get to be a part of it. Yeah, it's hard work. I mean, we're setting up the speakers. Yeah, we'll show up at four o'clock in the morning. Yeah right, there's a lot of work to be. Done there, and more specifically, not me and you, yeah, yeah, exactly, the other people. Yeah. But God's the one that's actually changing the hearts, that's right. God's the one that's drawing him. So we get to be a part and we put in the work to be a part of what God's doing. But it's it's in spite of us, not because of us. That's what he's doing. That's right, that's right, And we get to be a part of it, so we need to be holy, we need to be humble, and need to be helpful. Right, those are the three things that we talked about there. Yeah, yep, that's awesome. All right. Well, hey, that's all of our time, so hopefully we will see you tomorrow on the Bible guys,