“Get Low“, by Rev. Mike Holly

Sermon Series: Path to the Empty Tomb

One thing we all begin to recognize as we walk with God and grow into a deeper relationship with him is that pride becomes a stumbling block along the way. Not only does it create a wedge in between ourselves and God, it also has the potential to become a barrier between ourselves and others. If we think too highly of ourselves, we begin to dictate to God what we deserve and what we do not deserve. And if we think too highly of ourselves, we begin to judge others for the specks in their eyes, neglecting the logs in our own.

In the second chapter of the New Testament book of Philippians, we discover that Christ “humbled himself,” taking on the human body and condition for our sake. He didn’t think too highly of himself. He didn’t barricade himself away from the sinners and low lifes. No, he humbled himself and came down low to us all.

The third stepping stone along the Path to the Empty Tomb is the step of humility. We learn to not think so highly of ourselves, trusting that as Jesus says in Luke’s Gospel: those who humble themselves will be exalted. Discovering who we really are is humbling, but it also creates the potential for more meaningful relationships with God and others as we cast pride aside

~Mike Holly

The Word

Luke 14:7-14

When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down 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 all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

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