Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus

Church services aren't supposed to be tailored exactly to specific people, and we shouldn't get upset if the music is not to our liking or the pastor doesn't preach the sermon we want him or expect him to, but this morning's sermon and service were just excellent.

The Law was preached not to club other people with, but to convict listeners of their sin and to guide them in their lives of sanctification. The Gospel was preached as the solution to that sin and as a power to follow that guide and live a sanctified life. It was expository preaching from scripture, centered on Jesus Christ. There was Holy Communion, too. For those keeping score with your Small Catechisms, there was lots of means of grace in Word and Sacrament. Oh man, it was excellent.

Your three lessons for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost:

Proverbs 25:6,7

Do not exalt yourself in the king's presence,
and do not claim a place among great men;

it is better for him to say to you, "Come up here,"
than for him to humiliate you before a nobleman.

James 2:1-13

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

Luke 14:1,7-14

One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Before the service, I said to myself, "Here we go. A service on humility. A little boring, but it's a virtue and one I'm in need of, certainly."

The opening hook of the sermon started out cheesy. In the Grand Tradition of Sports Metaphors, Analogies, and Allusions, it was: "Are you ready? Are you excited? It's only one week away. It's almost time...for Football season! You may be waiting to find out which teams are good, which players are good, which coaches are the best. Not me. No, I'm excited to watch the touchdown celebrations. A running back or wide receiver will score for his team, and he'll do a dance or pull a stunt to let everyone know that he is a superior athlete, that he is the center of attention, that he should be on all the cameras and be talked about on TV."

Okay. *rolleyes*, right? Yes, we should all strive to be humble and not makes fools of ourselves on national TV. Good moral of the story, see you next week (provided the Packers have the late game).

But it got better- much better. The pastor explained exactly how it tied in with the scripture readings. How the guy who wrote Proverbs, King Solomon, had seen God in a vision or dream, and how God had told him that he would give Solomon anything he asked for. And rather than ask for power or money or influence or notoriety, Solomon asked for wisdom. Quite a humble request! So we have a bad example and a good example of humility so far.

Then the pastor tied in what Solomon wrote into what Jesus said in the Gospel reading. It's practically the same idea just expressed twice: if you take an important place for yourself, the king/guy holding the feast (God) will make you move
for a more distinguished guest. But if you take a humble place, God will exalt you. The pastor explained that this is entirely contrary to our way of thinking. We are important! We are good! We deserve a place of honor! Pride is self-centered, and self-exalting. The world expects us to be prideful, even encourages us to be prideful. We aren't relying on God, but on ourselves.

Using the Law to convict the congregation of sin? Check.

Then, he asked a very important question: why should we be humble? Because God tells us to? That's one reason, and a good one, but it wasn't what the pastor focused on. We should be humble because Jesus, the only begotten Son of God was humble. It was because of our pride and our sin that he humbled himself. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords was heralded by angels, who said that the promised Messiah had come down from Heaven to Earth and had been born not in a palace, but in a stable. The everlasting unchanging God grew in wisdom and stature. The faithful God who had led the Israelites out of captivity was betrayed by one of his closest friends, denied by another, and abandoned by the rest. He was crucified for our sins, died, and was buried. He descended into hell.*

But he rose from the dead as the only proof we will ever need that our sins are forgiven and we will rise one day too if we have faith in him.

So that's why we should be humble: because Jesus was. When we are humble, we are confessing that God was humble enough to become a man and take our place. When we are humble enough to rely entirely on God's grace instead of our own efforts, that's exactly when we are most strong. And we have the power to be humble because of what he did for us.

Fin.

What a great sermon. It was genuinely surprising, it got better as it went along, it tied the readings together, it was focused on Christ, it preached Law and Gospel, it understood sanctification. It's the second I've ever heard him preach (and I think the third he's given here- his installation was last month). If they're all going to be this good, I think St. Mark's is in capable hands for a long, long time.

*Sidenote: I remember being taught that the descent into hell was part of Jesus' glorification, not humiliation. It was declaring the victory that he had accomplished through his death; it didn't involve suffering.