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Where's My Seat? Where's My Place?
Luke 14:7-11
Jesus came in the usual way but He didn't come to the usual place. We are born either at the hospital or at home. I can imagine those in Jesus time were born at home with a midwife available to help with the delivery. Jesus was born in a stable and placed in a feed trough. Although his parents were not wealthy they may have had the means for a proper birth given a normal situation. Carpenters couldn't have been so low down on the pay scale that they were poverty stricken. Jesus was not to have a place under the sun to call His own. He didn't have a seat here on earth to call His own. His was a special time and a special place.
In this account we read, Jesus instructs those who will listen that they shouldn't look for the best seats. They should be looking for the seat that would put others before themselves. We can tell they were a selfish bunch, looking for self-exaltation and gratification. Their self-gratification came, no doubt, at others expense. These were the teachers and leaders of the small Jewish community centered in Jerusalem. They didn't have overwhelming numbers to rule over but they thought they were God's gift to the world. The God of heaven and earth was trying to tell them differently though. They were being warned about selfishness and their ungodly attitudes toward their own people. I don't think it says but I hope at least some of them were humiliated. That means those humiliated might have a chance at eternity in heaven. Humility in the face of a rebuke can show a selflessness seldom seen in the world. Although it doesn't say, my opinion is they became angry at these statements and further showed their selfishness.
My concern is how do we respond to someone who tells us where our place is? How are we going to take someone that tries to teach us from the Bible how to order ourselves in the church? That is, where is our place?
God gave a certain order to His creation. He expects things to react in the same way all the time. They are to be in their places. He has also or
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