Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. We're continuing in our series
named A Call to Honor. A Call to Honor. Everybody
say A Call to Honor. A Call to Honor. This is
week number three in that series. Honor is important.
Honor is mentioned in the Bible. The concept
of honor is mentioned in the Bible over 300 times.
So if something's in the Bible that many times,
it must be important to God. What do you think?
Do you agree with me? All right. Thanks for talking
to me. Honor is important to God. It's very important
to God. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 2 .30, this
is God speaking, and he says, I will honor those
who honor me, and I will despise those. who think
lightly of me. Who wants God to honor them? Well,
if you want God to honor you, you need to honor
God. And that's what we talked about last week.
We just specifically talked about honoring God.
This is in context with Eli, who was a priest,
and his sons were serving as priests. And his
sons weren't doing right. They were not doing
right at all. They were stealing from the offerings.
I mean, the priests were allowed certain parts
of the sacrifices that were brought, but they
were stealing above that, not doing right, not
handling the offerings correctly. They weren't
treating the people correctly. They were even,
I guess everybody in this room could understand
this, they were even taking advantage of women
as being a priest. They were taking advantage.
of women who would come to the temple. So they
weren't doing right. And Eli would not correct
his sons. Eli knew it was happening. He wasn't
blind to it. He knew it was happening, but he
wouldn't correct his sons. And here's what God
said to Eli. God said, you've honored your sons
more than you've honored me. How many of you
know that's a bad thing? He honored his sons
more than he honored God. And as a result, God
took away the priesthood from Eli and his family.
He despised those who thought lightly of him.
That's what took place. God said that he will
honor those who honor him. So it's important
to honor God. That word honor, we... We think
we know what it means, but maybe we don't fully
understand what it means. The Hebrew word is
kavod. It means to be heavy, to make weighty.
It means to honor, it means to glorify, and it
means to value. I think it's easier for us to
understand what honor means when we think of
the word value, right? Because when we value
something, then we honor it. If we value a person,
we honor that person. Now to be heavy, to be
make weighty is, because sometimes this word
in the Old Testament is even translated glorify.
To glorify God means that you're honoring Him,
that you're valuing Him as worthy. Right? So
we honor him, we value him. But to be heavy,
you get the idea of a scale. Not a scale with
numbers on it, but a balanced scale. And during
this time, most of the transaction was done with
a balanced scale. The value of an item would
be placed on one side and weight. you had to
equal that value in order to purchase it on a
balanced scale. So we honor what we value. You
can't separate honor and value. It can't be separated.
And then when we think of the word despise, just
in our minds, in our normal conversation in English,
when we think of the word despise, we think that
that's like next level hate. When you think of
that word, I despise you. I mean, that's like
even beyond just saying you hate somebody if
you say that you despise them. But the word in
the Old Testament doesn't mean the next level
of hate. Right? Sometimes our understanding of
English words and understanding God's word can
be two different things. So to despise means...
to look down on with disrespect or to regard
as worthless. So Eli's sons looked down on what
they were supposed to be doing for God and honoring
God, the instructions that God had given them.
So they just despised that. They knew what they
were supposed to do. Eli knew what he was supposed
to do. But, you know, they just were casual about
it. They looked down on it with disrespect. They
regarded that as worthless. They didn't honor
the position that God had them in. So it was
taken away. In the New Testament, when we read
verses in the New Testament, they use the word
honor. It could be a verb, a noun, or an adjective.
Timao, the verb, is to prize something, to revere
something. The noun, time, Represents a valuable
or something valuable. Esteem of the highest
degree. And then the adjective temios is valuable,
costly, honored, esteemed, beloved, or precious.
So honor has to do with a perceived value or
worth. Perceived value or worth. Even when you're
purchasing something, You've got to think it's
worth what it costs before you will make the
purchase, right? So in honor, it's a perceived
value or worth. The value, weight, or honor that
is willingly assigned to something. Willingly
is important. It's what you assign, right? The
value, the weight, or honor that you assign.
Honor includes the ideas of worth, esteem, dignity,
and price. Whether we're talking about God, whether
we're talking about Jesus, whether we're talking
about other people, whether we're talking about
material goods. And I want you to not forget
this part. Even if you took notes on it last
week and the week before, don't miss this part.
The term honor always measures value, and it
calls for a response. proportionate to that value.
So that's why the series is called A Call to
Honor. Because when you honor something that
is valuable, there must be an act or a response
proportionate to that value. If not, it's just
lip service. Alright? It's just lip service and
not honor. So, the first week we talked about
Honoring what God honors. Who was here the first
week? Talk about honoring what God honors, the
things that He honors. The Word, the Church,
the Kingdom were the three things that we focused
on. Last week we talked about honoring God, because
ultimately that's where our honor is due. But
when we honor what God honors, we're also honoring
Him in the process. Today we're going to be talking
about honoring people. Honoring other people.
Now this slide is going to come up a lot. Because
I want you to remember this. How many of you
would agree with me that our society today needs
more honor? Can anybody remember a day where
there was more honor than there is today? I know
I can. And we're going to find out why, I believe
in our study today, why there's less honor in
our society. But to demonstrate honor to another
person means that you will speak highly of them.
So when you do not speak highly of someone, you're
not honoring them. We can take the negative side
of this too. So to honor someone is to speak
highly of them. Always speak highly of them.
then you are honoring them. Another way to demonstrate
honor is showing generosity towards another person.
We're supposed to be generous people. People
of God are supposed to be like God, and God is
generous. Hallelujah, amen. I'll amen myself.
Okay? Demonstrating honor is having a high respect
of someone. High respect of someone. And it's
also submitting to leadership. Submitting to
the leadership of is a demonstration of honor.
And we can look at our society today, and sometimes
we can even look at our own lives and see this
list of how to demonstrate honor and figure out
that maybe we're not honoring other people as
much as we should. Anybody got an oh me or an
amen or something like that? Here's where we're
starting. Honor should be modeled in the home.
I'll say that again. Honor should be modeled
in the home. The first thing God instituted was
the family. Long before the church was ever instituted,
the family was instituted. And honor should be
modeled in the family. It should be modeled in
the home. And we're not going to read Ephesians
5. We're not going to read these verses because
I'll be up front with you. The word honor is
not in these verses. But, everybody say but.
But, demonstrations of honor are in these verses.
Right? So you can look it up for yourself. Write
it down if you want to read it. In Ephesians
5, it talks about the home and how the home should
be structured and modeled. And it says this,
Wives should love and submit to leadership of
the husband. Don't get mad at me. That's what
the Bible says. Okay? Y 'all got to deal with
it. If God said it, then you've got to deal with
it. Don't get mad at me. Deal with it in your
soul. Wives should love and submit to the leadership
of their husband. But husbands, we're not off
the hook. Husbands should love and esteem. That's
one of the definitions of one of the Greek words.
Esteem and sacrifice. Okay? So, we all, each
one of us, need to model these things in the
home. And just in case you forgot, a lot of those
things are exactly what demonstrations of honor
are, if you want to look at that, right? Speaking
highly of. Spouses should always speak highly
of the other spouse. Say oh me or amen or something.
Okay? We're supposed to speak highly of each
other. This works both ways. Showing generosity
towards. That falls more in the husband's category
than the wife's, but we should show generosity
to each other. We should have a high respect
of each other, even though the husband is directly
told. To highly esteem. We should have high respect
of each other. We should submit to the leadership
of under submitting to Christ. Because the role
of the husband says we need to be like Jesus
in the home. We need to be at that level of who
we are and how we act and what we say and what
we do. Oh, me, yeah. I'm not letting the guys
off one minute in this. Let's take a look at
the next part of the home that it actually uses
that word, honor. Exodus 20, 12. And this is
one of the Big Ten. Everybody say the Big Ten.
It's one of the Big Ten commandments, right?
Honor your father and mother. So that you may
live long in the land the Lord your God has given
you. What, a commandment? Right? And what? A
promise attached to that. It's quoted again in
Ephesians 6, 1 -3. Children, obey your parents
in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father
and mother, which is a first commandment with
a promise, so that it may go well with you and
that you may enjoy long life on the earth. So,
who wants your life to go well? Who wants to
enjoy a long life on the earth? Not just live
a long life on the earth, but enjoy a long life
on the earth. When honor is displayed by the
parents, because that's where it's got to begin
in a home. When honor is displayed by the parents,
a culture of honor is built in the home. And
when the culture of honor is built in the home,
it can be easily nurtured in the children. But
if the children do not see, The husband honoring
the wife and the wife honoring the husband, they're
not going to get it. There's going to be no culture
of honor. Now, some people try to beat it into
the kid. Some of you laughed, some of you got
quiet. Some people try to force it, but if it's
not modeled, it's not going to be... Easily received
by the children. Honor is more easily caught
than taught or demanded. That's a good one to
remember too. Honor is easily caught. It's more
easily caught than just being taught. Because
if you just try to teach it without... modeling
it, then it's like, do what I do, do what I say,
not what I... Don't look at what I do, just do
what I say to do, right? So honor is more easily
caught than taught or demanded. And again, honor.
I don't want you to forget this. Honor is speaking
highly of. So children should always speak highly
of their parents. Even when you're grown and
on your own. If you're obeying God's word, you
speak highly of your parents. You show generosity
towards. You have a high respect of. You submit
to the leadership of. Here's the deal. Honor
is recognized and rewarded by God. When we honor
the way God calls us to honor, when we honor
other people, God notices. Look at the person
beside you and say, God sees it. God sees it.
God sees it. Honor is recognized and rewarded
by God. And then this was one of the promises
that we focused in on already. It may go well
with you and that you may enjoy long life on
the earth. So God sees. God sees. Here's something
else we're going to talk about today. Throughout
the Bible, honor and love are often connected
together. Side by side in verses in the Bible.
Honor and love. They work together. They work
together. Look at the person beside you and say
they work together. Honor and love works together.
Matthew 19, 19. Honor your father and mother.
There it is again. In case you thought it was
only there one time and you could get by. Here
it is again. Honor your father and mother and
love your neighbor as yourself. Who's your neighbor?
Who's your neighbor? Well, when they asked Jesus
who the neighbor was, Jesus told the story of
the Good Samaritan. And the Samaritan wound up
being The greatest neighbor to the Jew who despised
the Samaritans. Hello? Jews hated Samaritans.
They didn't want anything to do. Some Jews would
actually pray. Real religious Jews would pray
every day. God, help me to not even see one of
those dog Samaritans today. And then when...
A good Jew asked Jesus, who's your neighbor?
He told the story of the good Samaritan. And
then he asked him, he said, now, who is the neighbor?
And the good Jew had to say, well, the Samaritan
was the good neighbor. So, a neighbor is not
just your favorite person who might live next
door or down the street. That's not your only
neighbor. They are your neighbor, but that's
not all. Love your neighbor as yourself means
to love everybody. That's why a minute ago when
I said God loves people and I love people, that
should be our motto as followers of Christ is
that we love people. Even the people who might
not be easy to love. Does anybody have someone
in their life that's not easy to love? Well,
we've got to love them too if we're going to
be like Jesus. And He will help us and He will
empower us. The fruit of the Spirit, you know,
we talked about that in our last series of self
-control, but the fruit of the Spirit is also
love. And that's the number one, this mission,
is love. So we can love even the people we...
view as unlovable when we're empowered by the
Spirit. When we acknowledge Him, we can walk
in love. Y 'all got quiet when I said you got
to love your enemies. Jesus said love your enemies.
He said do good for the people who did bad to
you. Do good for them. To those who despitefully
use you, love them and do good. It sounds impossible.
But all things are possible with Christ. All
things are possible being empowered by the Spirit.
We can be different. We can be different than
the world. We're called to be different than
the world. Somebody smile or something. You're
frowning at me too much. Makes me want to stay
on this topic that wasn't even in my message.
The more you frown, the more I'm going to stomp
on it. Honor should be displayed by the church.
And it should be displayed in the church. Like
I said, we're supposed to be different. We've
been born again. We have God in us. Empowering
us. Filling us. People need to say, if people
are not followers of Christ, when they see you,
and I'm talking about every single one of you,
not just a preacher, when they see you at work,
they ought to see something different about you.
The main thing they're going to see is your love.
The main thing they're going to see is your honor.
Right? Should be displayed by the church. The
church is us. The church is called out ones.
It's not an organization or a meeting. That word
church is a compound Greek word that means called
out ones. Somebody raise your hand and say, I'm
a called out one. I've been called out. So we
should display honor to the world. Sometimes
I've done acts of honor towards people and they've
laughed at me. You know, I'll never forget. Sometimes
when we go to different parts, I don't know if
I'm not against people who are not from the South,
but go to different parts and you start saying
yes ma 'am to somebody older than you and they
just look at you like you're crazy. They visited
our church before, but the first time I went
to their house and they come, you know, four
or five times a year, I was saying, yes, ma 'am,
and she looked at me and said, why are you calling
me ma 'am? She was a school teacher. Nobody had
ever called her ma 'am. Nobody in her family
had ever called her ma 'am. I was the first one,
when she's 70, I was the first one to ever say,
yes, ma 'am, to her, and it freaked her out.
But that's an honor. It's a term of respect.
Right? Glad I got two little amens. Romans 12,
10. Love each other with genuine affection. Listen,
and take delight in honoring each other. I'll
read it again. Love each other with genuine affection.
And take delight in honoring each other. I'm
not telling you that we all have to walk around
and say, yes ma 'am, yes sir. I mean, it's more
than that. It's more than just words. It's more
than just words. We need to honor. Offering a
seat. Opening a door. Whatever it is. Honoring
each other. Preferring other people over ourselves.
See, genuine honor busts selfishness. And we're
supposed to honor everyone. Again, just like
we love everyone, we're supposed to honor everyone.
1 Peter 2 .17, respect, in the New Living it
says respect, but it's the same word that's translated
honor. Respect or honor everyone and love the
family of believers. Respect and honor everyone
and love the family of believers. Now do you
know how to demonstrate that honor to everyone?
Have you figured it out yet? Well, it's going
to come back up in just a second. Because I've
already said it twice. That's why it's up like
four times in this message. 1 Timothy 5 .17 Let
the elders who rule well be considered worthy
of double honor. Especially those who labor in
preaching and teaching. Who are the elders? Those
who lead with wisdom and integrity with a focus
on God's Word. I'm just going to read that and
leave it there. So how do you honor? How do you
honor everyone? How do you honor everyone? Well,
you speak highly of them. When you're talking
to somebody else, see, this bust gossip, there
is no such thing as gossip when you're honored.
Because you always speak highly. I'll never forget
the little Haitian choir when I was a teenager
doing a mission trip in New Jersey, and they
said, tell it like it is, and if you don't tell
it like it is, don't tell it at all. That was
their little song. Well, If you can't speak highly
of someone, keep your mouth shut. It's better
to not speak at all than to trash somebody. It's
better to not speak at all than to trash somebody.
So, don't... trash the preacher at lunch after
the service. My dad was a pastor and it was like,
you know, so many people, when they got together
at lunch, boy, they would run the preacher down
the road because he preached too long or he preached
too hard or he preached too, right? And he's
a double honor person, right? So especially don't
speak lightly or lowly of the, but that's everybody.
It's everybody. Everybody. So guard your tongue.
Look at the person beside you and say, guard
your tongue. If you're going to honor somebody,
you're going to speak highly of them. You're
going to show generosity towards them. Generosity
is not always about money. It's being a generous
person with your time, with your resources. Huge
generosity from Robert and Alyssa for us being
here today. Huge generosity. Because they've
got people back here in the kitchen working.
But when I asked, he said, sure, let's do it.
That's huge generosity. Having a high respect
for somebody. So if you're going to honor everybody,
you've got to respect everybody. And again, this
busts selfishness. Selfishness has no place in
the life of a follower of Christ. Having a high
respect of submitting to leadership up. 2 Kings
2, 1 -8. I'll share a story with you. When the
Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in
a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were traveling
from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, Stay
here, for the Lord has told me to go to Bethel.
But Elisha replied, As surely as the Lord lives,
and as you yourself live, I will never leave
you. So they went down together to Bethel. The
group of prophets from Bethel came to Elisha
and asked him, Did you know that the Lord is
going to take your master away from you today?
When Elisha and Elijah got there, the other prophets
started saying, Hey Elisha, you know God's taking
Elijah today, taking him to heaven, don't you?
And what did he say? Of course I know, but be
quiet about it. Of course I know, but be quiet
about it. Then Elisha... Keep getting tongue
-tied and crossed up here. Then Elijah said to
Elisha, stay here for the Lord has told me to
go to Jericho. But Elisha replied again, as surely
as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will
never leave you. So they went together to Jericho.
Then the group of prophets from Jericho came.
to Elisha and ask him, did you know that the
Lord is going to take your master away from you
today? He said, of course I know. But be quiet
about it. I'm not happy that it's happening today.
Because I've been following Elijah. I've been
honoring Elijah. I'm dedicated to him, to helping
him. To our friendship. Then Elijah said to Elisha,
stay here for the Lord has told me to go to the
Jordan River. But again, Elisha replied, as surely
as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will
never leave you. So they went together. He wanted
to spend as much time as he possibly could, right?
Fifty men from the group of prophets also went
and watched from a distance as Elijah and Elisha
stopped beside the Jordan River. We've looked
at different groups of prophets that supposedly
respected and honored Elijah. There were more
prophets. He wasn't the only one, but the other
prophets, I mean, they even had schools of prophets.
But here's what we're finding out through what
we're reading. Elisha honored Elijah more than
any of the other prophets. Everybody say honor.
He respected him more. Followed him more. Then
Elijah folded his cloak together and struck the
water with it at the Jordan River. hit the water
with his coat. The river divided, and the two
of them went across on dry ground. It wasn't
even soupy. It wasn't even wet. It was dry. Just
immediately split. Water's dry. They walk across
dry ground across the bed of the Jordan River.
When they came to the other side, Elijah said
to Elisha, Tell me what I can do for you before
I'm taken away. Look to the person beside you
and say, genuine honor is always rewarded. Genuine
honor is always rewarded. Tell me what I can
do for you before I'm taken away. And Elisha
replied, please let me inherit a double share
of your spirit. And become your successor. Double
portion. You have asked a difficult thing, Elijah
replied. It's actually something Elijah himself
could not give him. See, his honor is rewarded.
His honor is acknowledged. His honor is seen.
By God. And it will be rewarded by God. You have
asked a difficult thing, Elijah replied. If you
see me when I'm taken from you, then you will
get your request. But if not, then you won't.
As they were walking along and talking, suddenly
a chariot of fire appeared. Drawn by horses of
fire, it drove between the two men, separating
them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into
heaven. What a way to go. What a way to go. I
mean, Enoch walked with God and was no more earlier
on in the Bible. I mean, he walked with God so
closely that God said, just come on home with
me today. Right? There was no funeral. There
was no grave. There was no body. He just went
home with God that day. Walked so close with
God. Well, we got a fiery chariot with fiery
horses. Came and picked up Elijah. Carried by
a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha saw it and cried
out, My father, my father, I see the chariots
and the charioteers of Israel. What did Elijah
say? If you see me go, your request is going
to be granted. So his honor was recognized. His
honor, Not only to God, but his honor to Elijah
was recognized and rewarded by God. Elisha received
that double portion of Elijah's prophetic anointing.
And it's even recorded in scripture. We have
seven recorded miracles in Elijah's prophetic
ministry. And we have 14. Everybody say double.
14 miracles recorded in Elisha's ministry, in
his prophetic ministry. So honor is important.
It didn't happen for all the other prophets.
They went to two different places, right? They
went to Bethel and Gilgal. There were other prophets
there, but they didn't honor Elijah as much as
Elisha honored him. And God saw that and rewarded
that. So how do we show honor? Everybody say
one more time. How are you going to show honor
today to other people? Because when we come to
church, it's not just about our religious concept
that we're talking about. It's not just, right?
It's not just rub a little Bible, rub a little
Jesus on our life. And check off something in
our calendar. Hey, I went to church today. Wow,
God must be thrilled that I went to church today.
And I might see him again next week. I might
not. Depends on if we get a better offer or not.
Right? Come on. Don't shout me down while I'm
preaching, good. So how are we going to apply
this? The Bible says be doers of the word, not
hearers only. It's not just about us acquiring
more spiritual head knowledge. It's about us
doing it. Doing it. So, how are you going to
show honor? How are you going to show it? The
rest of the day, tomorrow. This week, next week,
how are you going to display honor? How are you
going to show it? It's going to have to do with
your words. You're going to have to speak highly
of people. And not just your favorite people.
It's easy to apply it when it's easy to apply
it. Speaking highly of people. We're going to
show people honor. We're going to be the body
of Christ. We're going to represent the kingdom
of God. We're going to speak highly of people.
We're going to show generosity in our lives.
We're going to be generous people. We're going
to respect other people. We're not just concerned
about ourself all the time. And us getting first
and getting best. We're going to prefer others,
right? We're going to have a high respect of
other people. We're going to submit to leadership.
I want you to come back next week. Jeffrey's
going to be talking about that a little bit more
in detail. So, he's going to be finishing us
up next week. Remember, next week we're going
to be back at Citrus Ridge Academy. The week
after that, we're going to be back here. Back
here at Honics. Let's pray together. God, thank
you for your word. Thank you for your truth.
Thank you for each person that you've brought
to this place today, and I pray that your word
will be planted in their hearts in such a way
that the roots grow deep and grows into maturity
and produces a harvest of honor in our lives.
Thank you for your promises to us. When we honor
other people, you will notice... Our honor. And
you will reward us. And we thank you for that.
Help us to be obedient. Help us to submit to
you. Help us to honor you and esteem you. Highest
of all. In everything we do. In everything we
say. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.