The Trouble with Success

One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Then Jesus said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.’ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.’ Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.’”

-Luke 14:15-24

The Trouble with Success - Condensed Video Version

Can you imagine a football team so dominant that its fans grew bored and stopped attending games? During some games over the past few seasons, the University of Alabama football team played at home in a sold out but partially empty stadium. Fans were so certain of a blowout victory that they chose not to attend, allowing their tickets to go unused. The coaches assembled a group of talented players who worked day and night to improve and as they dominated opponents their fans grew bored. The privilege of watching one of the premier college football teams execute a high level of play was not enough – the fans desired drama before victory. As strange as it sounds, the program’s success drove fans away. Sometimes, even success causes problems.

On a certain Sabbath day, Jesus ate in the home of a prominent religious leader. Jesus noticed a man suffering from a physical condition causing his body to swell. After healing the man Jesus questioned religious leaders about Sabbath customs asking, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a Sabbath day?” (Luke 14:5). He then taught about seeking honor. In response, another invited dinner guest said, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” It was a pleasant attempt to divert the conversation back to civil discourse, but it was loaded with presumption – the speaker presumed that he and the others eating at the table would be among those invited to eat bread in the kingdom of God – but Jesus would not be diverted.

Jesus responded by discussing the trappings of success. He described material blessings preventing people from experiencing the wholeness of full relationship with God. In the parable, various people were invited to a party and many chose not to attend because they were too busy with their blessings. One was busy with his land, another was busy with oxen, and a man who recently married was busy with his bride. They were blessed and their blessings kept them away from the party, but the people who, by society’s standards, appear to be outcasts – the poor, crippled and lame people – heard the invitation. Jesus does not mention whether they attended, but His silence suggests that they did indeed attend. They were invited to a party they never imagined being able to attend, and they happily, joyously attended.

Do our blessings keep us away from God? Are we so busy living our lives filled with material blessing that we fail to experience spiritual wholeness?

In Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert’s book When Helping Hurts, the authors encourage us to see poverty through holistic eyes. While we often consider poverty as exclusively an economic condition, when viewed through a holistic lens we see poverty as economic, emotional, relational, physical and spiritual. While some people suffer from economic poverty, others suffer from poverty of human relationships, poverty of self-image, poverty of relationship with God, or many different manifestations. As friends return from mission trips to economically impoverished places, I commonly hear them express amazement at the peace and joy revealed through the people they met during their trip. The locals they encountered experienced severe economic poverty, yet they enjoyed a wealth of community and a deep spiritual connection with Christ Jesus.

It is possible that our view of success focusing on economics and our pursuit of goals driven by that view may be shoving us towards spiritual, emotional and relational poverty. Is your pursuit of economic success hindering your relationships with God and other people, is it hindering your walk towards sanctification, is it causing you to ignore God’s call in your life? Is it causing you to miss the party God invites you to attend?

May you take the time to breathe in the Holy Spirit. Allow Him to fill you with His vitality and to heal you and your relationships.