Meeting Jesus - The Most Important Person In The Room

In 1998, I was in my final year and a half of school at Austin Peay State University.

During my college days, I was involved in multiple ministries. I was involved with FCA, the Navigators, and the Baptist Student Center. I was a volunteer at the church where I had surrendered my life to Jesus. I was leading the student ministry on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. Back on the college campus, I was investing and discipling other younger men to help them to follow Jesus.

On top of all of this, I was still a college student and at one point I was working three jobs. The Baptist Student Center invited me to run for President of the Baptist Student Center. Since I was already involved in many ways on our campus I thought, “Why not? The title “President” would look good on a future resume. During my interview with the Campus Pastor and the other “officers” of the BSC. 

The Campus Pastor asked me, “Would you be willing to serve in a lower position if you were not selected to be President?” 

I stuttered for a moment and said “No.”  

The moment I said “No” I knew I was wrong. I knew it did not reflect the words that Jesus taught on leadership. But I refused to backtrack. I wanted the title of “President” because I wanted to be the most important person in the room. I was already ready serving in a variety of way on campus, and in my mind, the title of President would somehow give validation to what I had been doing and could impress other people in the future.

The rest of the story: I was not selected to be President.

For many followers of Jesus, we need to learn to tame the beast within us that growls, grumbles, and yearns for recognition. In today’s passage, Jesus tells us exactly who the most important person in the room always is and how we need to treat them to keep our relationship with him strong. Let’s read Luke 14.

Luke 14:7-14 (NLT2) 

7  When Jesus noticed that all who had come to the dinner were trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table, he gave them this advice: 8  “When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the seat of honor. What if someone who is more distinguished than you has also been invited? 9  The host will come and say, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then you will be embarrassed, and you will have to take whatever seat is left at the foot of the table! 10  “Instead, take the lowest place at the foot of the table. Then when your host sees you, he will come and say, ‘Friend, we have a better place for you!’ Then you will be honored in front of all the other guests. 11  For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” 12  Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. 13  Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14  Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.” 

The very first lesson I want us to draw out from this passage is extremely practical when it comes to our relationship with God and with people. Remember, Jesus communicated the two greatest things we could ever do is to Love the Lord with all of our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. And one of the ways we can love our neighbor as ourselves “in life” is:

JOYFULLY GIVE OTHERS YOUR FAVORITE SEAT

This passage begins with a very comical scene.  A Pharisee threw a party and invited other religious leaders to attend. The chairs around the banquet table indicated how important the person was. The nearer you sat to the Head of the Table, the more prestigious and important you were.  The seats further away lost their significance. Each of the religious leaders wanted to get the most important seats near the head of the table. As I read it, I imagine all the guests are behaving like the three-stooges fighting over a chair. Poking others in the eyes, bonking others on the head, shoving one another…

It wasn’t just a few of these Pharisees who were fighting for the seats of honor look at verse 7…it was ALL the guests! Everybody wanted the best seat in the house. They all wanted to be “the most important person in the room.”

So, Jesus gave them some simple advice that we would do well to practice in life. Joyfully give others your favorite seat. In church, in life, at the movie theaters, in the grocery lines, in traffic, at sporting events…choose to allow others the “best seats” in the house.

If you have ever been a victim of a seat-bully in church, I am sorry. A seat-bully walks over to somebody and says, “You can’t sit there. That’s my seat.” I know I don’t have to say it about Beach Church, but I will.  Its okay to sit in another seat.  Our purpose is to lead people to a life-changing relationship with Jesus.  Everybody is always welcome to sit wherever they would like.

Joyfully, let other people sit in your seat. In life, that means:

Hold the door open for other people.

Spontaneously, volunteer to help carry heavy loads for others.

Wash the dishes.

Fold the laundry.

Fill the car up with gas.

Joyfully give up your time, your preferences, and your schedule for other people.

Wherever you go, develop the attitude that other people are always more important than you are. You don’t mind serving and sacrificing for others, because they are always more important than you are. Now, I am not talking about having a “low view” of yourself.  I am not talking about having a poor self-image or a low self-esteem.

If you are a follower of a Jesus, meaning you have come to a moment in which have a surrendered your life to Jesus because you believed that he died on the cross to pay the price for your sins, that he rose from the dead, and one day he will return, then you know who you really are.

You know you have been created by God.

You know you have been chosen by God.

You know you have been adopted into the family of God.

You know God has given you a gift to use to strengthen God’s family.

You know you are protected by God and the evil one cannot touch you.

You know you are blessed and highly favored.

You know God promises to provide for your every need…

And since your value and worth is not derived from what other people say to you or think about you…since you find your value through what God’s Word says about you. Then you know you can give up your “favorite seats” in life, because you do not need fame, recognition, or notoriety because you… have got JESUS!

This banquet was a party thrown by a religious leader and the invited guests were religious leaders.  This was a leadership event and they were all scrambling to get the best seats. If you are recognized as a leader in our community – please don’t lead like these Pharisees did.

THE BEST LEADERS EAT LAST

Not only did those closer to the head of the table receive honor and recognition, they also were the first people served food first and ate first. A few years ago, a leadership book hit the New York Times best sellers list and the title of the book was, “Leader’s Eat Last.”  The author described that in the military at mealtime, the higher your rank, the later you ate. And the commanding officers always ate last to make sure the people under their command were taken care of.

In verse 10, when Jesus said: 

“…take the lowest place at the foot of the table.”

He flipped the script on what the religious leaders perceived a leader to be.

• The religious leaders believed the best leaders took the best seats in the synagogues and at banquets. 

• The religious leaders believed the best leaders received recognition and greetings when they were in a crowd.

• The religious leaders believed that wherever they went, they were the most important person in the room. 

They would be served before anybody else. They would eat before anybody else would eat. They would be greeted first. So, Jesus used this banquet to teach them what real leadership looked like. Taking from others is not leadership. Leadership is measured by how you make people feel. Do you make people feel like they are the most important person in the room by the way you treat them?

Since you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, let the fruit of the Spirit flow out of you:

Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT2) 

22  … the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23  gentleness, and self-control…

Lead others with love.

Lead others with peace.

Lead others with patience.

Lead others with kindness.

Lead others with goodness.

Lead others with gentleness.

Lead others with self-control.

Like many of you, our family has been under a great deal of stress. We have a lot of changes, a lot of madness we call life…and I blew it in some higher moments of stress.  Rather than responding with love, peace, gentleness, and kindness…I acted more like a selfish brat that didn’t get my way. And, I had to apologize.

Hey dads, remember that as you eat last and lead your family, you are going to blow it at times.  Show yourself grace and lead by apologizing.

We have talked about joyfully giving others your favorite seat, the best leaders eat last, and finally as followers of Jesus…Remember to:

BLESS THOSE WHO CANNOT BLESS BACK

Luke 14:12-14 (NLT2) 

12  Then he turned to his host. “When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,” he said, “don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. 13  Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14  Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”

Not only did Jesus challenge the religious leaders to view leadership differently, Jesus challenged them to party differently as well. If you were invited to a banquet, and you attended the banquet, it was expected that one day in the future you would reciprocate, throw a party, and invite the person that invited you. Now, the entire community – including the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind could attend as well.  If they showed up, they wouldn’t be turned away, but they were never invited.

Jesus now tells the leaders; stop only inviting people who can pay you back. Intentionally invite people who could never pay you back in a million years. If you want to receive reward from God, show kindness to those who can’t show it back.

A few years ago I received a call from a person in my family that was having a difficult time making ends meet and their electricity was going to be cut off.  I gladly got them caught up on their bill, and I set up auto-pay to pay their electric bill every month until they were able to take care of it themselves.

But I had one caveat.

I said, “I do not want to be paid back. This is not a loan. If you insist on paying me back, I am not going to do it.  I never want the expectation of being paid back to grow into a divisive wedge. So, that agreement lasted over six months until one day they called and said, “We are okay now. Thanks for being a blessing to us.”

As you follow Jesus, follow Jesus’ teaching in your life about kindness. 

Bless those who cannot bless you back.

Joyfully give others your favorite seat.

And remember, the best leaders eat last.