8.28.22 Proverbs 25:6–7
6 Do not honor yourself in a king’s presence. Do not stand in a place reserved for great people, 7 because it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than for you to be humiliated before a ruler.
In Order to Be Exalted, I Need to Be Humbled
Where’s my seat? You go to a wedding and look for the seating chart. Will I be served or last? Who will I be sitting with? You really don’t have much choice in the matter. Forget about the front table, the most important question is, “Who gets first in the food line?” It’s not like going to a concert or on a plane where you can pay for reserved seats. But that wasn’t the way back in Jesus day. You sat where you thought you belonged, up front or in the back. Then they might make adjustments after that.
This all sounds rather trivial I suppose, but there’s more to it when you put this Proverb in context. Back in the Old Testament this was dangerous business, being in the presence of a King. There was a man who went into David’s presence with Saul’s armor, claiming that he killed Saul. It was a dangerous proposition. David wasn’t impressed. Instead of commending the man or giving him a reward, he had the man put to death for his impudence. Think of Queen Esther. She was terrified of going before her own husband, King Xerxes, without permission. But an edict had been made that the Jews, her Jews, were going to be exterminated. She needed to do something, but entering into the King’s presence without an invitation could mean death. She had no choice. She had to put herself forward. Her life and her people’s lives depended on it.
Then you had Haman. He loved being in the King’s presence. He wanted to be noticed and praised by the king. He felt special and important, like a powerful big shot. All he could talk about was how tight he was with the king and how the king was going to promote him. He wanted nothing more than to be promoted to the king’s right hand. On the other hand, Ahithophel killed himself when he no longer had the trust of Absalom. His power and prestige were gone. Their lives revolved around the king.
Then we think about the shadow of truth hidden behind these Proverbs. There’s more to it than some fine advice on how to live. Jesus said these Proverbs also talk about HIM. So when we talk about how to approach a King, we also think about how to approach Jesus, our King? Think of Mt. Sinai, how scary it was when God spoke from above. Even Moses was scared, as we learned last week. How can sinners enter the presence of a holy God? On Judgment Day people will pray to the mountains and ask them to cover them just so that they don’t have to face Jesus. Why would we even THINK of trying to exalt ourselves before Him?
First of all, it’s their desire for POWER. Even though there’s power, scary power, people are willing to risk it to be one step closer to the king. Think of how many people try to get in close with Presidents or their children in order to get sweetheart business deals. Think of how many love to glom onto celebrities so that they can brag to their friends about who they party with. It makes them look important and prestigious. They want a piece of the glory and the power.
Some think of God the same way. If they get the inside track with God, they can ask God for whatever they want and God will give it to them. They can name and claim it because they are so close to the King. The closer they are to Him, the closer they are to His gifts and His glory.
The disciples had this desire too. James and John had their mom ask Jesus for the highest seats in the kingdom of heaven. The disciples were obsessed with this concept. They talked to Jesus about how they left everything to follow Him. They wanted good seats, close to the King, in heaven. But they weren’t for Jesus to give.
Secondly, they forget their own sinfulness and they forget His holiness. That’s not how God works. You’re not going to bloviate yourself to the top. He won’t be impressed.
Jesus repeats this Proverb truth in today’s Gospel. Then He lays out the Hard Truth. “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Where? In heaven, before God. It’s a topsy turvy theology, the exact opposite of what nature would tell us. If I want to get ahead and get noticed in this world, I have to be my own publicist. I can’t wait for someone to do it for me. I have to exalt myself. Jesus says, “No, that’s not how it works, at least in heaven.” But we live in both worlds, in heaven and on earth, by faith and by sight. Yet even here on earth, the Proverb seems to say we shouldn’t promote ourselves on earth either. We shouldn’t have two different theologies, a practical theology for earth and a heavenly theology for heaven. We live in both realms. These should, in some senses, apply in both realms. That takes faith to believe and faith to live.
There’s a fine line here on earth. Think of the mini-kings. The boss at work. The coach. The popular person at school. How do I get noticed if I DON’T put myself forward and promote myself? The very nature of applying for a job means I have to have a resume and talk about myself. What do I say? How do I say it? Will the coach notice you if you don’t show a little flash? Do a chest bump? Ask questions in an effort to get him to see that you’re interested? It depends on the boss or the coach. It depends on the situation. It depends on the competition. Don’t I have to promote myself? Will I miss an opportunity?
I know of a man who put years of faithful work in at his employment. He wasn’t a flashy guy, not a self promoter by any means. A young up and comer came in who talked a good game and was a yes man. When a position came available for a promotion, the young buck got the position, and the faithful quiet man was passed over for the apple polisher. He was upset. What good did the faithful service do in comparison with the apple polisher?
There’s some trust involved here. If I’m doing my job faithfully and well, I should be noticed sooner or later. If I don’t get the promotion, God can still bless me without it, and God can still see my faithful service and reward me in other ways. God’s word says that “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Can I be content and thankful with knowing that I’m doing well at where I’m at now, whether I’m getting promoted to the top or not? When you do your job faithfully and quietly, people notice more often than you think. And more importantly, God notices too. Your reward isn’t always, maybe isn’t USUALLY on this side of heaven. The quiet man, I don’t know exactly how his situation turned out, but I know he’s still alive and well and prospering. The lack of a promotion didn’t kill him. It hurt, but he was able to move on and he stayed in the faith through the process.
If you’re constantly obsessed about getting more power and higher prestige, it starts to become evident to people. You start stretching yourself out and getting desperate. You no longer do the job you have faithfully because you try to do more than you should. Some of your life starts lacking behind because of an unhealthy focus on power. You start sticking your nose in your boss's business and telling him how to do his job. You obsess over how badly your superiors are doing their work, and you become a miserable person to be around. You think you’re better than those around you. The more you try to put yourself forward, the more you get rejected. You become repulsive. You become dishonorable.
Think also about our selfie obsessed generation. The “look at me” generation. People constantly wanting attention and likes on Facebook or Instagram or Snapchat . . . . so obsessed with how they look online that they become inattentive to anyone in their own family or circle . . . not caring about them . . . always looking outside of themselves for approval and making themselves invisible to those closest to themselves . . . working their way up the social ladder of popularity and becoming empty in the process. . . their king becomes a thumbs up button or a number on a screen. They try to spread themselves out to a thousand online friends and offer nothing of themselves to the flesh and blood closest to them . . . everybody knows them and yet nobody knows them. Or they become someone they never were before, someone they know they shouldn’t be, just for the positive feedback from random strangers.
God works in the exact opposite way. John the Baptist is such an interesting example. He was a miracle baby, born of Elizabeth and Zechariah. He became a well known prophet in the land. People were coming from all around. He was in some senses a spiritual rock star . . . Yet when Jesus came on the scene, all of John’s disciples starting going to Him, and John’s disciples were not happy. How did John respond? John was more than happy to fade into the background. “He must increase, I must decrease.” Later on, John would be imprisoned and end up dying at the whim of a drunk and desire of an adulterous woman. Such an infamous ending for a great man - in this world. Who knows of the next? Did John struggle with this or was it just his disciples? We don’t know. Nonetheless, he was definitely humbled.
And what of Jesus? Far from exalting Himself, He humbled Himself to death, even death on a cross. He made Himself nothing, and allowed Himself to be treated as if He were the worst criminal in the world and the only sinner in the world. He laid Himself bare at the cross, and put His soul into the Father’s hands. As a result of His perfect submission and sacrificial death, His sacrifice was accepted. The sins of the world were paid for. We know His ending. He was raised as the King and victor over sin, death, and the devil. Now who has the name above all names? It is Jesus, the Son of God, risen from the dead. Jesus has been exalted with the power of heaven and hell. He is the One we answer to on the Final Judgment.
It is Jesus who lays down the ground rules for the Kingdom, His Kingdom, who will be recognized and who will be ignored. This is a hard thing for us. He says, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Should it be any surprise? The last thing Jesus wants to see is people who try to come into His presence with pride and arrogance, trying to boldly take a place they have no right to sit at. The Holy God cannot exalt those who exalt themselves. It is the very nature of grace and mercy that you have to be knocked down and helpless in order to be helped and lifted up.
So oftentimes God has to knock us down to size, by telling us what sin is, and who we are as sinners. He keeps on attacking our conscience with what we’ve done wrong. The law doesn’t let us off the hook. It doesn’t say, “No big deal.” No, it says, “You messed up! You deserve everything you get, and worse! You deserve hell.” We look around at how we’ve treated our parents, our spouses or our children. We see the lackluster jobs we do, our laziness, how much time we spent wasted . . . and we know who we are and what we deserve. He humbles us.
That is the way life works even apart from the Word. Think of how many times you embarrass yourself in life. There’s not much pride in looking back at your life of failures and sins. The relationships you ruined. The things you said and did to hurt people. Your selfishness. Your pride.
If you live to be old enough, you will be knocked down and humbled. There’s not much pride in having to be helped to the bathroom or needing help to put your shoes on. There’s not much pride in having someone speak to you slowly and loudly because you can’t hear well and it takes a little longer for things to sink in.
Who are you to stand before God and say you deserve the right or the left hand in the kingdom, the prestigious spot? It’s a harsh realization to come to. But that’s ok. Jesus Christ came to save sinners, Paul said, of whom I am the worst. Paul realized it, and so do we. We need to be humbled, to remember who we are, so that we can then remember who we NEED and who we HAVE in Jesus Christ.
6 Do not honor yourself in a king’s presence. Do not stand in a place reserved for great people, 7 because it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than for you to be humiliated before a ruler.
Just think how beautiful it will be on Judgment Day. He sees me on my knees, humbled after a lifetime of failures and lost dreams. He sees me hurting and embarrassed. He stretches out His nail stained hands and says, “Come up here. Let me hold you in my arms of grace. Here’s a nice seat I’ve prepared for you. It’s right where you belong.” And in the end, I don’t care where that seat is. “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” (Psalm 84:10)
Imagine a big block of clay, all hard. The potter takes it, gets it wet, works it with his hands, makes it soft. He then puts it on his machine and shapes it from a block into a bowl. Now it can be useful. Now it can hold food or soup or liquid. So it is with us. When we are full of ourselves, trying to exalt ourselves before the King, we only make fools of ourselves. Pride by its nature cannot hold grace. So God breaks us down. He washes us with His blood. He humbles us in life, so that we can lift us up in His gracious hands, fill us with His love, and seat us in His heavenly kingdom. It’s a hard thing to go through, but it’s a necessary thing. “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Amen.
