For the Love of the Lower Room American society is, characteristically, a self-promoting society and that is an inviolable ethic in the pursuit of what is called “success.” The motivating incentives for a “high place” are fame, wealth, prestige, and power and the methods employed in attaining these things are political maneuvering, protection of one’s place and position, innovation and seeking out of different kinds of self-relevancy, and various forms of self-advancement. This character is what drives business, politics, government, extended family relations, and, unfortunately churches and church denominations, para-church organizations, and associations. Self-promotion is not Christian; is not biblical. Now, before someone says “But it isn’t forbidden in the Bible and you’ve got to function in this world, etc.” let me head that one off at the pass. Romans 12:16 says, “Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.” If you lived by this in American society, you would not succeed, – not from and American point of view. Anxious competition requires a mind that is not like that of others, but is individually different and working in a different sphere from all the rest, that of self-promotion. Minding high things is absolutely necessary to worldly success. One is not in the game if one is not on the edge of developments at all times. Condescending to men of low estate contains no success capital. Men of low estate are useable and expendable; going “down to their level” is not advancement. And one must be wise in one’s own conceit in order to succeed; one must be fully knowledgeable of all that is needed to promote oneself. This passage really eliminates the grasping attitude of self-promotion, but it is not a lone idea in Scripture. Rather it is a theme that runs throughout Scripture and is exemplified majestically in the life of Christ. Jesus did not promote himself, was not trying to desperately hold on to a position, was not overrunning people to get to the top, was not worried and anxious about how he would hold his place, did not always have his finger wet and to the wind of current thinking and feeling, did not tend to think that the vast majority of “underlings” were not even worth thinking about. Everything in the life of Christ was antithetical to the patterns of American life. So much of what Americans call self-evident rights and privileges or American Dream is driven by a mind-set of self-promotion. Now, I will not critique what the wicked do; the wicked promote themselves and, in their unnatural state of nature, can do nothing else, but the regenerated Christian is a disciple and must follow his humble Master (one must read John 13, “The servant is NOT above his Master.”) Self denial is the core essence of discipleship. Jesus defines His disciples in Matthew 16:24, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” He who denied himself for our sakes requires of us that we deny ourselves in order that we may follow him in his self denial. This is the true road to “success” for we are told, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” (James 4:10) “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6) The road to success for the Christian must be traveled by faith because it goes contrary to the way of the world. Hear what Jesus instructs us from Luke 14:7-14: “So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: 8 When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; 9 and he who invited you and him come and say to you, Give place to this man, and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, Friend, go up higher. Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. 11 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. 12 Then He also said to him who invited Him, When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.’” This is not the worldly path, but the heavenly one. “Go and sit down in the lowest room” and wait for the Master to call you up higher. This is the way of faith, the way of discipleship, the way of the Christian, and the pathway that was trodden by Christ. Do not say, “But we must borrow from this world,” rather commit that the life you live in this world is this road on which Christ leads you. We do not bring Jesus to our 21st century experiences; we take our life back to his life, his suffering, his humility, and his exaltation. Until he bids you come up, learn to love the lower room for the loving of humility is the impetus for God-glorification and the hedge against self-promotion. - Pastor Tim Price
Posted on: Wed, 30 Apr 2014 19:40:56 +0000
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