Honor: What Is Honor?
Foundation Statement: People who walk in the
fear of the Lord honor Him and value Him and His things. – John 5:23
I.
Honor vs. Despising
A. We are to honor God (John
5:23, KNOX-Reverence, WE-Respect)
1. Honor (Greek word timios)
– Estimate or attach a value
to something, to reverence, to honor somebody as sacred or special, to value as
of great price, precious, esteemed (valued), to hold especially dear
a. To honor something is to
value it, to see it as precious, to hold it especially dear
2. 1 Samuel 2:30
a. BAS-Those who have no
respect for me will of small value in my eyes
b. NCV- I will honor those
who honor me, but I will dishonor those who ignore me.
c. NLT- I will despise those
who think lightly of me.
d. Honor (Hebrew word Kabad)
– (1) Weight, heaviness, great,
abundance, (2) To be heavy, be
weighty, be rich, be glorious
e. In those days when you
went to buy something they had scales and how much something was, was
determined by a weight
(1)
If
something is really expensive you had to pile a lot of precious metal on that
scale to buy it
(a) The more valuable it was
the heavier the price
(2)
To
honor has to do with something that is heavy or weighty and by implication
something that is precious or valuable
3. When we honor God it has
to do with valuing Him and His things in that they mean a lot to us
a. If something is valuable
to you, you treat it differently (with respect)
b. When you’re honoring
something it’s valuable to you, it’s important to you, it has priority in your
life
(1)
Things
that aren’t important to you aren’t valuable to you and consequently they don’t
have priority in your life
B. Dishonor or Despise
1. In the Bible the word
used opposite to honor is despising
a. 1 Corinthians 4:10
(1)
Despised
(The Greek word atimos which is they opposite of the Greek Word timos which is
honor)
(a) Despised-Without honor,
dishonor, of less esteem or value
(2)
Honorable
(Endoxos) – Held in great esteem or value
b. 1 Samuel 2:30
(1)
Despise
(bazah) – To despise, disdain, to be vile, worthless, (insignificant, of
no value), esteem something lightly, make light of something, neglect, to fail
to appreciate, to fail to acknowledge the importance of
(a) God is revealing to us
that honoring is to esteem or value highly and despising is to esteem or value
lightly
(b) When you esteem something
highly it’s valuable to you and when you lightly esteem something it’s of
little importance
(2)
To
esteem lightly takes us back to the weights and scales and if something is
light its not very valuable
c. Lamentations 1:8 –
Honor and despising
2. It dishonors God when we
make light of (don’t value as important) Him, His things and the things that He
values
a. It’s irreverent to esteem
lightly God and His things
b. We honor God by valuing
what He values and despising what He despises
(1)
God
values His Word (2 Peter 1:4)
(2)
God
values church services (Hebrews 10:25)
(3)
God
values His gifts to the church (Ephesians 4:8-12)
(4)
God
values the love commandment (Matthew 22:38)
(5)
God
values His spirit and the anointing (John 16:7)
(6)
God
values our faith (2 Peter 1:1)
(7)
God
values the trying of your faith (1 Peter 1:7)
(8)
God
values the hidden man of the heart (1 Peter 3:4)
(9)
God
values His son Jesus (1 Peter 2:4)
(10) God values the blood of
Jesus (1 Peter 1:19)
(11) God values your body (1
Corinthians 6:20 – Timos, 1 Thessalonians 4:4)
(12) God values marriage
(Hebrews 13:4)
(13) God values wisdom
(Proverbs 3:15)
(14) God values the lips of
knowledge (Proverbs 20:15)
c. You can’t honor God or
value Him highly and not value His things and what He’s doing
II.
We see your honor for a
person or thing in the time, energy, and resources that you invest into it
A. You honor a person or
thing by investing your time, energy, and resources into
that thing (Proverbs 5:7-13)
1. When you value something
as important and it leads to you investing your life into it
2. 7-Who’s words you attend
to and follow you honor
3. 9-Honour (splendor,
majesty, vigor)
a. Vigor – Physical or
mental strength and energy; intensity or forcefulness in that way something is
done
b. Splendor – The
condition of being magnificent, impressive, or excellent
c. Where you invest your
effort, energy, and excellence is what you value
4. 9-Where you invest your
years (life) is where you are showing honor
a. What you spend your time
doing is what you honor or value
b. This Greek word timios is
translated honor and it’s where we get our word time; Where you give you time
you give honor
5. 10-What you spend your
money on is what you honor or value
6. 12-They took lightly
correction and they didn’t value it
B. Many times we’re honoring
God with our lips, but our lives say something different (Matthew 15:8)
1. Where you invest your
energy your effort, you excellence, where you invest your time and where you
invest your money is where you have placed your honor. Don’t
misplace your honor.
III.
Our honor has been
misplaced and we need to do a much better job of fixing the proper value on
things
A. Jesus honored the Father
(John 4:34, 5:30, 8:29)
1. What’s important to God
is what’s important to Him
B. Fixing the proper value
1. Matthew 13:45-46-This is
more valuable to me than anything
2. Luke 14:16-23,26,33-They
said there are things more valuable to us than you; They dishonored him
a. When something is
valuable to you, you’ll drop everything
3. Philippians 3:1-10
– This is honor and valuing what God values
a. He values: 1) The
anointing, 2)The knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord, 3) Being found in him, 4)
Not having my own righteousness 5) Knowing him and the power out flowing from
his resurrection
C. There’s two different
value systems
1. 1 Samuel 16:7 – You
value the outward appearance I value the heart
2. John 5:41,44 – You
value men honoring you, I value God’s honor
a. Jesus valued pleasing the
Master
3. Matthew 7:6-Hogs don’t
honor pearls because they don’t understand the value of them
a. What you do understand
the value of you won’t honor; it becomes vitally important then that we see the
true value of things
4. What men see as important
often times God sees as meaningless
a. What God sees as
important often times men don’t have
time for it and don’t value it and see it as valuable
b. Open up the eyes of our
heart and help us to see the real value of things
IV.
We honor God by giving
him our best (Malachi 1:6-13, 2:5, 3:14)
A. 6-God uses honor and fear
(reverence) almost interchangeably
B. 6-Give honor to whom
honor is due (Romans 13:7)
1. If you call him Master,
if you call him Father then you should reverence Him, honor Him, and value Him
and His things
a. If this is the place I
have in your life then why aren’t you honoring the place; “The Place” of Master
of Father is due honor
(1)
A
child should honor their father and a servant their master
2. They way you owe the
government taxes is the way you owe God honor
a. He is due honor
C. 7-They dishonored God by
not giving God their best
1. They gave him the bad
bread and the blind, lame, and sick animals because to them He wasn’t worthy
(worth) of the good stuff
2. One major way we honor
God is that we give him our best
a. We give him our best in
time, our best in money, our best in effort
b. It’s dishonorable that
when it comes to the things of God you don’t give it your best
c. We give his things our
best focus, our best attention, our best effort, and demand excellence out of
ourselves
d. Revelation 3:16 –
Get in or get out
(1)
In
God’s eyes cold is better than warm
3. We give God our best
because He and His things are very valuable and important to us
D. 7-They didn’t give God their
best because they esteemed the things of God lightly
1. The table of the Lord is
contemptible (Same word “despise” as 1 Sam 2:30)
a. That just means you don’t
honor it, you don’t value it, you esteem it lightly and that’s why giving it
second best is okay to you
2. When believers esteem
Him, His Word, His Spirit, His services, and His gifts lightly it’s okay to
them to give it second best
E. 8-God says to them, “Go
out in the world and try to give them what you give me and see if they accept
it?”
1. You wouldn’t try to pass
that stuff over on your governor, but you’re going to try to pass it over on me
a. That shows you honor him
and his things more than you honor Me
(1)
Whoever
is getting the best of you is who you honor the most
b. EX: There’s people that
would do anything for their kids, but won’t do as much for God (They honor them
more than God)
2. It’s dishonorable to say,
“That’s good enough for God or for the church.”
a. EX: Show up to work
whenever you feel like it, in the same way you come to church and see if your
boss accepts it. Get up and leave
the room during a meeting at work like you get up and leave the service during
church and see if your boss accepts it.
b. If anybody deserves our
best it’s God
F. 13-You made it seem like
some annoying inconvenience to give me your best
1. You sniffed at it and
thought it’s not big deal; you didn’t value or honor it
2. MSG – 12-13
“Instead of honoring me, you profane me. You profane me when you say, 'Worship
is not important, and what we bring to worship is of no account,' and when you
say, 'I'm bored—this doesn't do anything for me.' You act so superior;
sticking your noses in the air—act superior to me,
God-of-the-Angel-Armies! And when you do offer something to me, it's a
hand-me-down, or broken, or useless. Do you think I'm going to accept it? This
is God speaking to you!
G. 2:5,9-His covenant was
you honor me and I’ll honor you with a life of nothing missing and nothing
broken
1. 1 Samuel 2:30 – He
honors those that honor him and esteems them lightly that despise him
H. 3:14-They didn’t attach
great value to serving God
1. They said what difference
does it make if we do what God says
2. 16-18-Those that honor
him, He will honor
I.
4:2-3
– Honoring and fearing him will lead to us taking this Earth back from
the wicked