This evening’s message is entitled “A Head Table Mentality,” and it’s taken from a parable that discusses the valued position of the meek and lowly. This parable promotes Christ-like leadership over the worldly model of leadership in which power and control seems to be the normal style. Kenneth Gangel states of Christ-like leadership that it “rejects that kind of authoritarian control. As a matter of fact, in defiance of the culture of the time, our Lord says that the one who is greatest in the church actually behaves like the younger, and the boss behaves like a worker.”(1)
Robert Dale says, “The statement that the person who wishes to be greatest must become a servant, appears at least seven times in the gospels.”(2) This information tells us that Jesus felt it important to emphasize the attitudes of meekness and humility. He wanted to reveal something important concerning Christian leadership. So, what did Jesus want us to take to heart that’s so important to our ministry in the kingdom? Well, that’s what we are going to find out!
Don’t Take the Place of Honor (vv. 7-9)
7 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.”
Verse 7 shares how Jesus told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted that some of them chose the best places. The question arises as to who was invited, and to what were they invited? Luke 14:1-3 tells us that Jesus was eating bread in the house of a Pharisee, and that there were many lawyers and Pharisees who were present. Therefore, we understand that Jesus was speaking to the lawyers and Pharisees; and what they were invited to was a Sabbath day meal.
Now, if Jesus was eating a Sabbath day meal, then why did He begin in verse 8 telling the lawyers and Pharisees about a wedding feast? Jesus wasn’t implying they were eating a wedding meal, but that they were sitting in the presence of the groom. Jesus’ time on earth was drawing to a close, and He would soon ascend into heaven. Once in heaven, the very next time Jesus returned would be when He gathered the wedding guests for the marriage ceremony of the Lamb, when He would finally be wed to His bride, the Church.
In verse 8, Jesus said that when a person is attending a wedding meal, he shouldn’t sit in the best seat. He was talking with the lawyers and Pharisees, who were very pompous and arrogant. The “Pharisees” were prideful in their strict adherence to God’s law and in their own religious works. The “lawyers” were boastful of their knowledge of the Scripture and Mosaic Law. Both the lawyers and Pharisees were supposed to provide religious leadership for the people, but they weren’t going about it the correct way.
Jesus was sharing an important message concerning pride, arrogance, and dominance in leadership. Pride and arrogance were not just leadership problems in the New Testament world, but they also exist in today’s time. The visible religious leaders of today are pastors, deacons, Sunday school teachers, missionaries, etc. These are the religious leaders seen in the forefront, but we must not dismiss the fact that all Christians are leaders. Believers are called by God to perform a very critical function; which is to abide in the presence of the Lord, receive revelation from Him, and then feed the spiritually hungry and the lost.
When Jesus was speaking to the lawyers and Pharisees about being invited to a wedding meal, He was saying that religious leaders are called to stand in the presence of the groom in order to fellowship with Him. We, as Christians, need to realize that we are to be continually standing in the presence of the groom. Also, Jesus is more honorable than we are, so we need to be careful about attempting to exalt ourselves to the status of God. We are not heads of the table; for the head of the table is Jesus Christ. We need to remember at all times to behave as humble guests of the King of Kings. If we aren’t humble, then we will be humbled and put to shame, as verse 9 reveals.
Wait Until You Are Asked (vv. 10-11)
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.”
In verse 10, Jesus implied that those who are invited to be Christian leaders should take the lowest place. C. Gene Wilkes, in his book Jesus on Leadership, presents a good discussion on this passage. He speaks of the role of Christian leaders as servants. The task of leaders acting as servants is called “servant leadership,” a term that sounds much like an oxymoron. Servant leaders are supposed to be both servants of Christ and servants of the people. Now, keeping this information in mind, what lesson of servant leadership can we learn from this passage?
Wilkes says that many people have a head table mentality. “When given a position, we happily accept the status that goes with it and somehow believe we no longer need to go near the kitchen . . . [We accept] the myth that those who sit at the head table are somehow more important than those who serve in the kitchen.”(3) He also says that head tables have replaced the towel and washbasin as symbols of leadership among God’s people.(4)
For example, those who are seen at the head table, like the pastor or deacons, sometimes feel that they’re special and won’t associate with the congregation. They view the congregation as servants under their subjection; and they forget that the ones they see as servants are the legs on which the church stands. The opposite is true with the ones in the “apparent” servant position. Members of the congregation may feel that they’re unimportant, and that there’s nothing they’re good at; believing they have no value or worth, and that their presence is unwanted.
Can you see how this can destroy the effectiveness of a church’s mission? There is division in the ranks. There is dissention, and jealousy created by this head table scenario. If we cannot grasp the concept of servant leadership, then we will be ineffective at carrying out kingdom business. Wilkes tells us, “Our culture is wearied of the leadership models of Attila the Hun and rogue warriors. We are seeking leaders who consider us more than a means to an end.”(5)
In verse 10, Jesus said that if we take the lowest seat then we might be asked to move up to a higher one. Wilkes says that Jesus saw something that we fail to see. As long as leaders worry about who sits at the head table, they miss something extremely important that’s going on around them. What is it they miss? Wilkes explains, “As long as leaders worry about who sits at the head table, they have little time for the people they are called to serve. We don’t see opportunities for service while our eyes are fixed on the competition.”(6)
If we feel called to serve Christ – and all who are born again Christians should – then in order to be of use to Jesus, we need to serve Him without any hope of recognition or reward. We shouldn’t worry about receiving glory in the eyes of men, or competing for glory with our fellow brothers and sisters. We need to take the lowest seat, and wait to be moved up to recognition in the eyes of Christ.
Some Important Facts of Life
Wilkes tells us that Jesus points out two important facts about life. The first fact of life comes from Luke 14:8, and it is this: “A person more distinguished than you may have been invited.” “Wherever we go, someone is more distinguished than we are. It’s better for us to realize and accept this fact than to be fighting for prestige we don’t have.”(7)
The second fact of life comes from Luke 14:9, and it is this: “If you assume more honor than you have, you will end up embarrassed in front of your friends.” Don’t take the best seat. “When you take that back seat, you’re actually trusting God instead of your own efforts to push your way through.” Being exalted in the eyes of the Lord can only come by the power of God, not by our own measly efforts.(8)
Time of Reflection
What we have learned tonight from this parable is that we, as Christians, are leaders; but that doesn’t automatically make us the honored guests. We are to take the lowest seat at the table. We are to lead people in the ways of Christ, but in doing so we need to lower ourselves to the level of a servant. In this way, we will be sincerely concerned about the welfare of the people whom we serve.
Worldly leaders are more concerned about themselves than others. They seek to be seen in the eyes of men, and so they flaunt their status for all to behold, and they trample on anyone who gets in their way. This behavior is not Christ-like; and if we seek to be exalted in the eyes of men then we will disappoint our Lord, and we will be nothing in His eyes. Only if we take the lowest place will we have the opportunity to be moved up to a higher position. If we assume the highest seat, then this exemplifies a prideful spirit, and Christ will move us down lower.
We read in Philippians 2:5-9, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God . . . made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name.” Jesus entered into the ultimate act of servant leadership on our behalf when He went to the cross and died for our sins.
The Bible says in Romans 10:9-10, that if you will just accept His sacrifice, and confess Jesus as Savior and Lord, then you will be forgiven of your sins and receive salvation and eternal life.
NOTES
(1) Kenneth Gangel, Team Leadership in Christian Ministry (Chicago: Moody Press, 1997), 71.
(2) Robert Dale, Pastoral Leadership (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1986), 25.
(3) C. Gene Wilkes, Jesus on Leadership (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1998), 13.
(4) Ibid., 14.
(5) Ibid., 15.
(6) Ibid., 36.
(7) Ibid., 37.
(8) Ibid., 37.
