I was reading in Luke 14 this morning and the parable that Jesus
told about taking a lesser seat at a wedding feast caught my attention. He concludes
with these words in verse 11, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” It made me think of the shameless
promotion and exaltation that I see among pastors and church leaders today. We
need people to know our titles. We need people to know our education level. We
need to be seen as someone important. We need to be respected and listened to. Yet
Jesus’ most common way of referring to himself was son of man, not son of God.
Jesus didn’t seek attention. He didn’t seek crowds. He didn’t send out his
disciples saying, “Let everyone know I’m coming to their town so they will be
ready.” He said, “Preach the gospel of the kingdom.” There was no
self-promotion by Jesus. He didn’t feel the need to impress people.
God has called pastors and church leaders to a role of
service. That’s what the word ministry means. We are servants, not masters. I
don’t see the exercise of Pastoral Authority in the scriptures, but I do see
God calling us again and again to humility and service. As we lead, may we take
the lesser seat.
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