“It’s not what you know. It’s who you know.” Ever heard those words? Though cynical, they are not entirely unwarranted. We all have encountered someone whose position exceeded their abilities or whose friendship with the boss brought preferential treatment. We have seen jobs we felt like a shoo-in for based on our experience go to a candidate with an inside track. Those situations can be really draining when you are committed to being fruitful and might even teach us the wrong lessons. Desperate to get our career moving more on our timeline, we can be tempted to jump-start things by assuming the role of the shallow schmoozer rather than the genuine, productive co-worker of God we are called to be.
Jesus gets it. At a dinner party hosted by a ruler of the Pharisees, He told a parable that could just as easily have been spoken in a modern business meeting:
Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:7-11).
Jesus says that real honor does not come from flattery but character. Instead of basing our identity on our seat at the table, we see ourselves as God’s children. This empowers us to consistently do the right thing, even when it seems to go unrecognized. We form relationships with people from a place of humility, truly caring about them instead of using them. We have a quiet confidence to keep moving forward while others play games, trusting God’s way will always be best.
So, in a way, I guess it really is about Who you know. If you are a Christian, it just so happens that you know Jesus: what an honor that is.
Ready to work with God everyday? Check out our sermon series “Don’t Quit Your Day Job: Glorifying God from 9 to 5”!