Luke 14 - Remaining an Effective Servant of God

In the fourteenth chapter of Luke, we learn that God expects us to contribute to His Kingdom unless we want to be removed from it. In the fourteenth chapter, Jesus shows us why some people become ineffective in their work for God and will lose their place in His kingdom.

The chapter opens with Jesus dining with the Lawyers and Pharisees, the religious leaders of Israel. He heals a man of dropsy, fluid built up in the system, which causes an often fatal malfunction of the liver or heart. After asking if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath, a recurring message from our Lord, He asks a question much like His comments in the prior chapter:

And 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. (Luke 14:5-6 ESV)

This time, they did not rebuke Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, but neither were they willing to admit that He was right. The refusal to receive correction from established practices and traditions is the fruit of the sin of pride because it stems from not wanting to look bad or be wrong. The sin of pride, preventing us from receiving correction, is what will keep us from all that God has done through His son, including our place in Heaven. Why is pride so bad?

He sees everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride.” (Job 41:34 ESV)

God reveals the army of Satan to Job in the forty-first chapter of the Book of Job. The description ends with declaring that he is the “king” over all the “sons of pride.” The word Satan is usually attributed to the archangel Lucifer, who is leading a rebellion against God, but in the Old Testament, it is a Hebrew word that actually means adversary. When we are operating in pride, we are in agreement with God’s adversary and the army of His adversary. This is what may cause us to be rejected by God and miss the narrow door mentioned in Luke 13, despite working for Him, even as a minister or priest.

But He gives more grace. Therefore, it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:6-7 ESV)

The word “resist” is the Greek word antitassō (an-tee-tas'-so), which means to range in battle with, to go to war with. When we are acting with pride, God will battle against us. Humility is the opposite of pride. When we are humble, God will give us grace, which means unmerited, unearned favor. This is why pride will keep us from all that God has for us: He is actually battling against us as we are siding with His adversary.

The next thing Jesus says to the religious leaders confirms that pride is at the root of their rejection of His corrections. The Lord gives a parable about being humble:

Now He 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 in a 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 in 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.” (Luke 14:7-11 ESV)

Jesus noticed how careful they were to choose their seats; in that day and time, sitting next to the host was a place of honor. Every person knew how to be socially considerate and carefully considered where to sit. A parable is a story that reveals a truth through a metaphor: it is not literal. This is about a wedding feast, a very important banquet. Jesus uses it to illustrate the dangers of placing ourselves in a higher position.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. (Romans 12:3 ESV)

Jesus isn’t saying to literally take a lower spot when dining with others. He is warning them to be careful about placing themselves in a higher position within society and within God’s church structure. The religious rulers had exalted themselves so much, they were receiving so much honor from others that they were used to having the “best seat” in society. Because of the glory and honor they were wrongly receiving from people, they forgot that they were waiting on a guest more important than they were.

When the Messiah came, it was as if they were being asked to take a lower seat. As in the parable, it is very humiliating to be asked to have a lower seat within the structure of Israel. The sin of pride caused them to reject the Son of God, despite the miracles He was doing.

The principle of the necessity of humility and removing pride was enforced as Jesus turned to speak directly to the host of the dinner:

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.” (Luke 14:12-14 ESV)

This was a continuation of the parable, the metaphorical type of speaking. “Inviting to dinner” means to contribute to the support of that person. We know this is the right meaning because it is something that can be “repaid.” When you dine with someone, their reputation and yours increase by the association.

The Pharisees and Lawyers were currying favor with one another instead of trying to help the less fortunate, the lame, blind, and poor, because those at the bottom of society would not add to their prestige. Of course, those descriptions are also metaphors for those in sin - the lame (unable to walk in righteousness), the blind (unable to see God’s truth), the poor (those who have little spiritual knowledge)

The truth of this interpretation of the metaphors can be seen in the next parable presented by Jesus. One of the Lawyers knows that something deeper is being discussed through the parable and exclaims, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” (Luke 14:15). Jesus provides the answer about who will be eating with God in Heaven through another parable.

But He said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 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.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’” (Luke 14:16-20 ESV)

God is the one giving the banquet because the topic was eating food in Heaven. Those invited are the people of Israel who were invited into a relationship with Him, through which they would enter Heaven. This parable describes the current state in Israel when Jesus came the first time, and unfortunately, much of Christianity, as Jesus will soon come again.

Those who were invited to the banquet were all of Israel. God’s people were “too busy” to come when He called them. The metaphors show three areas that will keep us from entering Heaven:

• Going to look at a new field: a new field: is a new business venture

  • focusing on increasing our business.

• Examining Oxen: Oxen were what they used to work with

  • focusing on work

• Having a new wife: In Israel, a new wife excused you from all duties for a year

relationships that dominate our lives.

None of these items are sin until they are placed above learning God’s way, walking in them, and working for God’s kingdom. If we use them as an excuse for not doing what God says to do, these actions and attitudes become idols in our lives. We see how God feels about this as the parable continues.

So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ (Luke 14:21 ESV)

Israel was refusing to listen to God and instead became preoccupied with the material things of this world: increasing their business, their work, and their relationships. This angered God, so He sent Jesus to call the lame, blind, poor, and crippled. The disciples were not learned men. They hadn’t studied the scripture. Their jobs were not glamorous; they were at the bottom of society.

Jesus used the same words in the prior parable about who should be “invited to dinner:” the poor, blind, and lame. This connects the two parables. They are essentially talking about the same thing. God used many of those with low standing and of no learning:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:26-29 ESV)

When the spiritual leaders were grounded in pride, leading them to reject correction, God used the spiritually poor, those whose walks were crippled or lame (like the tax collector Matthew), and even those who were spiritually blind (like Paul), who couldn’t see Jesus as the Messiah until the Lord appeared to him and literally blinded him. As Jesus continues the parable, there is good news for the rest of us as we see the fate for most of Israel.

“And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’” (Luke 14:22-24 ESV)

So few in Israel were willing to accept Jesus as the Messiah that God sent His servants, the disciples, out to the “highways and hedges,” meaning out to the rest of the world. It was through Israel’s rejection of Jesus that allowed us to be brought into the Kingdom of Heaven. Unfortunately, those who have rejected Jesus will not enter Heaven.

After recounting the events at the dinner, Luke continues with Jesus addressing the crowd that continued to follow Him. The statement He makes speaks to the prior parables.

Now great crowds accompanied Him, and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple… So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:25-27, 33 ESV)

Because of the translation of the Greek word “hate” this sounds horrible. In fact, if we take that word at face value, it contradicts what the Lord said previously: those who hate others are guilty of murder (John 3:15). Because of this, we know it is the conveyed meaning of the word miseō (mis-eh'-o), which means to esteem less, to slight, to disregard. We must disregard the feelings of our family; we must esteem or honor Jesus more than we honor our parents or any other human being.

In Israel, that was a very important message. People were taught to honor their parents, who had a great influence in their lives. By accepting Jesus against their parents' or family’s advice, they were going against the traditions of honoring their parents. They had to honor Jesus more.

Carrying your cross was a metaphor that all in Israel could relate to. When someone was found guilty of a crime, the most severe punishment was being hung on a cross: they were brought outside Jerusalem for this treatment. A person had to carry their cross outside the city, symbolic of their sin and guilt, through which they were cast out of society. Today, we might say, “Is this a hill you are willing to die on,” meaning is this point worth dying over.

Offending others in our lives is a burden we have to carry. It is the hill we must be willing to battle for, even if we die on it. In Jesus’ day, His disciples would literally become social outcasts and be considered criminals. Many of them were literally crucified.

Today, we may be cast out because of the way we honor our Lord, because we esteem His ways more highly than our family traditions. We must consider this cost as we take Jesus as our Lord, which is what He explained next by comparing discipleship to building a castle or winning a war. In each case, you have to know what you stand to lose or how much it will cost before beginning the endeavor. We must be sold out, willing to lose everyone and everything in our lives when we take Jesus as our Lord. If you did not count the cost when you said the salvation prayer, it may be good to do it again with this in mind! Are you willing to learn and follow God’s ways over your family and even your country's traditions?

The final warning in this chapter shows us what will happen if we have not considered the price and let pride get in the way of listening to God and doing what He says:

“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Luke 14:34-35 ESV)

Unlike today, in biblical times, salt was a precious commodity. Not only was it a main flavoring for food, but it was also used to preserve food. In manure, it converts ammonia that would be released in gaseous form into two solid components, carbonate of soda and muriate of ammonia, both useful to plant growth. We are called to be as salt on this earth.

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltiness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men. (Matthew 5:13 AMPC)

Losing saltiness is a process. Time is a big factor in salt losing its potency through chemical reactions when mixed with other elements upon dissolving or moisture exposure, leading to clumping and dilution. The religious leaders of the day were drawing together, which would be clumping, clinging onto one another and their positions. They were also refusing to be refined, removing elements that had crept in, causing ineffectiveness. If either of these conditions is in your life or the lives of your church leaders, you are in danger of losing all rights to Heaven:

• Do you accept correction? Or are you offended when someone brings a correction concerning long-held traditions?

• Are you ready to remove impurities that are sin from your life?

• Are you clumping together only with certain Christians and unwilling to discuss the word with others?

Once we have continued in pride for a period of time, God will remove us from His kingdom. We can verify this from what Jesus says through John in the Book of Revelation. The final words are echoed to the churches:

He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches; To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the middle of the paradise of God…He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches; He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death…He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches; To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows saving he that receives it… (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17 AKJV)

The instructions to the other four churches simply end with, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches…” Because Jesus says this to all churches, we know that we need to pay attention and correct what we’ve done wrong when we hear these words. Perhaps looking at the corrections given to the churches is a good place to start! There is a set of classes about that at RebeccaLynnHardy.com: Churches of Revelation.

We must be willing to continually grow and learn with God to fulfill these promises:

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD. (2 Corinthians 3:18 KJV)

How can we change into the image of Jesus? He walked perfectly in God’s ways, so we must continually apply those ways to our lives if we want to go from one level of glory to the next. This enables us to continue to be an effective servant of God and to do good works for Him. Are you ready to begin learning and applying God’s word today? There are free online classes at the OnlineChristianChurch.com and RebeccaLynnHardy.com to help you with this!