Leading The Way

Dr. Michael Youssef: My beloved friends, as I get on the road and I meet so many of you and you tell me how long you have been watching or listening to Leading The Way for years and you've wanted to give financially in support of this ministry and our global impact for the gospel of Jesus Christ, but you haven't been able to focus on it or take the time to write the check or go online and make the donation.

Now, I'd like to ask you to stop and do that right now. Our ministry together is more important now than ever before. Our greatest opportunity to make a real lasting impact and difference for the cause of Christ is now.

As you know, this is my labor of love. I have no financial consideration with Leading The Way whatsoever. I give it all of my time now, full-time literally. So, would you join me in worshiping the Lord through giving? Souls will be in heaven because of our partnership. I encourage you to give right now. You won't regret it. In fact, it will bring you great joy to know that your dollars are impacting lives. Thank you in advance. God bless.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Leading The Way, the place you normally come to hear the teaching of Dr. Michael Youssef. In a moment, Dr. Jonathan Youssef, the youngest son of Dr. Michael Youssef, will share today's message. In this Leading The Way series called Enduring Wisdom, Dr. Youssef is very particular who teaches in his stead. Since Jonathan holds that same passion for truth of God's word as his father and he's impassioned for reaching and equipping the church of today, he is a natural choice, especially in this series. So, lean in now and let's all carefully listen as Jonathan teaches today's powerful message on Leading The Way.

Dr. Jonathan Youssef: Well, we're continuing our series on enduring wisdom from Luke's gospel. The Pharisees were devout and extremely zealous for the Law of Moses, the Mosaic law, and for their own extra-biblical laws. Now, their theology in many ways was biblically correct. They believed in the resurrection, they believed in angels, they believed in demons, they believed in predestination, they believed in human responsibility, and they believed in the Messiah's earthly kingdom.

But while having good theology, they failed to live up to their own standards themselves, which is why Jesus calls them hypocrites. They wanted the respect of people, and they wanted the respect of God. Jesus was revealing their hypocrisy because they were refusing the very message of the gospel.

So, we enter into this dinner party where it is the Sabbath and Jesus has been invited as a participant of this dinner. Verse one says they were watching Him carefully. What a strange line to put in there, right? The Pharisees were wanting to find fault with Jesus. They were wanting to find a reason to bring Him down. They found plenty, but they weren't legitimate reasons. They were when He would go against whatever their man-made law was, whatever the tradition that they held to, whenever He was teaching against the power that they were going after that they shouldn't have been.

Then in verse two, we read, and behold, there was a man before Him who had dropsy. So, here it is, it's a Sabbath and here comes this man. What will Jesus do? Remember, there is nothing preventing healing on the Sabbath in the Law of Moses. The only place you find that restriction is in the traditions of the elders, in their own traditional writings.

Jesus speaks before He does anything, almost like a disarming maneuver. It's brilliant. Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day or not? If it was a straightforward answer, I'm sure they would have responded, but they were silent because they know the Law of Moses doesn't condemn this. Then He took him, the man with dropsy, and healed him and sent him away.

He said to them, which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out? And they could not reply to these things. What is Jesus showing in this healing? He is showing the character of God, that God is a merciful God. God is less concerned with what the religious leaders think. He's not concerned with what the man-made laws of the Pharisees say. He's concerned with a man who is suffering. What better day than the Sabbath to display the God of creation's authority over His creation?

He is not violating the law. He is violating their law that they have created. Sometimes we can do this as well. We can create a law by which we think God should operate, and when that law is broken, we feel violated by God. Well, if you remember earlier, I told you that the Pharisees wanted the respect of people, and one of the people groups that they wanted the respect from most was each other.

So, we read in verse seven, now Jesus told a parable to those who were invited when He noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, when you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down at the place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, give your place to this person, and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.

But when you are invited, go and sit at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, friend, move up higher. Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Now, this could be interpreted as a self-serving strategy for achieving recognition, that you fake self-deprecation, that you have a false sense of humility. Oh, who me? Oh, okay, I'll sit in the seat of honor, and you recognize that I was humble. How wonderful! It's a double-edged sword. Jesus, you're brilliant. I'm using this.

But that's not what He's talking about here. He is advocating genuine humility that waits for eschatological vindication in dependence on God's gracious gift. Now, you see, I've used big theological terms to impress you with how smart I am, and now I'm going to break it down for you so you can see how humble I am. You're catching on, I see.

You can be humble when you recognize your value. Your worth is not wrapped up in what you know or anything that gives you a false sense of identity. You can be humble when your identity is secure in Christ. You don't need the impressive seat among the group because you know the actual value in the grand scheme of things is not that great.

The recognition here that is made at the end, the being recognized for your humility, is likely describing the recognition that takes place with God in the heavens at the end of days. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Then Jesus moves from the rejection of self-interest as a guest to the rejection of self-interest as a host, if you're following along with our banquet theme here. He said also to the man who had invited him, when you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.

What is the lesson here? The idea here is reciprocity. It's this mutual exchanging back and forth. The question here is what do you value? What is of value to you? Do you seek to advance your own status and your own agenda? Then by all means, spend your time and your energy with those who will benefit your status and your agenda in the here and now. By all means.

But if you seek to serve the role that the humble person takes, then you will seek the benefit of those who may not benefit you in this life, in the here and now. The poor brothers and sisters, those without material means. Jesus healed a man with dropsy at the beginning of this chapter. I would assume that he was a man of little means. I wonder if the Pharisees would think differently if he was a man of extraordinary means, or if he was a person with great political connections, or if he was a person who was good at repaying a favor.

Jesus says, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. Do not focus on the here and now. Consider eternity with your actions while you're in the here and now. So, your actions in the here and now, are they setting up for treasures in heaven, or are you only trying to reap back what you can here? Your humility and your deeds will be recognized and repaid in the afterlife.

Well, if you have not noticed, this has been a terribly awkward dinner party so far. Jesus sees what may be a set-up and He addresses it at the forefront in regards to mercy and the Sabbath, and then they could not reply to Him. They couldn't answer any of His questions. Then He tells a parable addressing the very thing that they're doing at the dinner party, how they're seeking honor in the here and now. I would imagine the guests are wondering, why would this guy invite Jesus to this party? He is clearly a big party pooper.

Well, then Jesus mentions, as we've just alluded, the resurrection of the just or the righteous. And one of the guests—and I love this and I really hope this is true because I can't say for certain that this is what he's done, but if he's done this, he's brilliant—he sees the opportunity to change the subject. Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!

It's an expression that assumes that the kingdom of God is in the very distant future. It's a safe and it's a pious utterance to say, okay, we've talked about that enough, let's talk about something else. He's probably hoping that Jesus will say, exactly, this is exactly what I'm talking about, I'm so glad you said something, come have a seat in the seat of honor. Just kidding.

But essentially, what this man has just done is handed dynamite to Jesus to absolutely blow this discussion even deeper, as if it could go even further. Because Jesus seizes the opportunity to dig in even further with these religious leaders to destroy the strongholds of religious formalism and hypocrisy.

Oops, because everyone at this dinner party thought for sure that when the day came at the end of the age, they would be at the feast in the kingdom of God. For sure they would be there because they had ticked all of the religious boxes, because they had all of the right associations and titles.

Jesus says, if this is how you think, let me tell you a story. A story about a man who prepared a great banquet and he invited many guests. Now, I think it's important here that we note that Jesus uses this illustration of a banquet or a feast to describe heaven. It is a thing of great joy. He doesn't describe it as a waiting room or a holding cell. No, it's a great family get-together, a great family affair. It's a feast.

So, a general invitation goes out that there will be a banquet. This was customary to do this. It would be like a save the date for us today. At some point, we're going to have a big feast and we want you to come. The feast that the man at the dinner party brings up, possibly to change the subject, is the very feast or banquet that Jesus is now referring to.

The imagery of the general invitation as it relates to the kingdom of God, these people in the room were recipients of that general invitation. The general invitation that had come from the prophets like Jeremiah and Isaiah that said there's a feast coming and you need to be ready. There is a kingdom being established and you are invited.

The people at this dinner party couldn't miss this point that Jesus is making in verse 17. And at the time for the banquet, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, come, for everything is now ready. It was no longer that the kingdom was coming, it was that the kingdom is here now. The invitations went out. Now the question was whether you are coming or not.

Again, we cannot miss the point that this is something of great joy. It's not a bad thing, it's a wonderful thing. God is graciously inviting us to His banquet, His heaven, greater than anything that we could dream of. And now the decision is whether you go or not. You begin to realize that the excuses that are given here in relation to the banquet are representative of the kinds of response made by men and women when invited into the kingdom of God.

The first person says, I just bought a field and I must go see it. You cannot wait until tomorrow to go and look at this field? I mean, that's how silly this is. I've just bought five yoke of oxen and I need to examine them. Listen, coming from a Middle Eastern family, brother, ain't nobody buying oxen without examining them and getting a deal. That's not an insult, that's a compliment. But it's not a good reason here. It is an excuse.

The best is the third one. He doesn't even say please excuse me, I realized in the third one, he says, I can't come, I just got married. Okay, why not? It's my wife, she won't let me come. Excuses, excuses, excuses, and they aren't even good. They aren't even good. They sound silly and ridiculous.

Every excuse is saying to the host, I have something better to do. I'm sure we've all been invited to parties that we've thought, uh, maybe not. And then you have to be creative with something and you don't want to lie, so then you say, I've got important green things I have to take care of or something, and you're just cutting the grass.

It's saying to the host, I have greater desires than spending time in your company. And this fits with our theme of humility and exaltation from our earlier verses. The excuses are made because attendance at the banquet—please don't miss this—the excuses are made because attendance at the banquet requires humility.

Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount says blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the ones who recognize their spiritual poverty. There is humility in that. The exaltation is not in the here and now, which is what the guests at this party wanted. That's why they're all gunning for this seat of honor. They want the exaltation now. They don't want to wait until later where they think it'll be even greater later. And so, they miss out on just how amazing it is to have been invited to the banquet. They are missing how gracious the host was to think of them. And these are the excuses that men and women give when invited into the kingdom of God.

Is it any surprise that the host of the banquet becomes angry? But you see, he doesn't respond in a vengeful way, but instead he responds with more grace. What a loving and gracious host. So, he orders the servant to go into the streets and the alleys to bring in the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame. He wants to share his blessings with whoever will come.

Do you think the host is justified in being angry? When the general invitation was extended and the response was yes, we will be there, but when the time came for arrival, the invitees didn't want to be there. God looks down from heaven having made admission free and at the expense of the death of His son has sent out His servants to invite you to come and take your place at the feast.

The responses come in, I'm sorry, I have something else to do, or I really have something I think better to do. I have a family. I have things to look after. Your banquet doesn't actually look all that impressive as the initial invitation made it sound. Historically, this is a message to the righteous, those who had the benefit of looking for the coming of the Messiah to usher in the kingdom of God.

But the excuses come, so the servants bring in the poor and the blind and the crippled and the lame. People that don't often get invited to these types of things. People that don't have a field to look after, they don't have oxen to examine. This is the tax collectors, this is the prostitutes, the sinners that Jesus went to.

But there is still room at the banquet, and so it is that the Gentiles are brought in by the highways and the hedges. What is the lesson through this? What is the lesson through this parable? I think it is twofold. One, if you have had the benefit of growing up with the familiarity of Christ—and I know there are those of us in this room that this is the case—and you have perhaps mistaken familiarity with what He said for a genuine repentant trusting faith in what He did. This explains the disconnect between what you say and what you do.

Are you empowered by the spirit of God putting your trust in the son of God? Not all who profess Jesus will continue to the end and be saved. The Bible makes that clear. Many will cry out, Lord, Lord, we performed miracles in Your name, and Jesus will say, I never knew you. The confidence you can have is if you have put your trust in Christ and recognize your invitation to the banquet, that your salvation is by grace alone through Christ alone.

You see, the Pharisees, as we said earlier, they wanted to impress people and they wanted to impress God. How? By keeping the law. But you cannot keep the law. I hate to break it to you, you cannot keep the law. The point of the law was to show you your failure and your need of grace. But accepting grace requires humility. I cannot keep the law. I need some other means by which I can be saved. That requires humility, that you cannot do it in yourself. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.