Honor & The Fear Of The Lord
I.
Malachi 1:6-A son honors
his father and a servant honors his master If I be a father where is my honor,
if I be a master where is my fear; He starts off by saying a servant honors his
master, but then he says if I be a master where is my fear; We see a connection
between the honor of God and the fear of the Lord
A. Walking in the honor of
God and the fear of the Lord is something that believers are supposed to
do-Hebrews 12:28
1.
If
God is your father then you should honor him and if he’s your master you should
reverence him
B. When we honor God He and
His things are weighty to us, they are important to us, they’re big to us and
we treat them in such a way that reflects that; When we dishonor God He and His
stuff is light, unimportant, trivial and we treat them as light
1.
Honor-To be heavy, To be
weighty (Weighty-Important, big,
serious, momentous, important, significant, meaningful)
2.
The
opposite of weighty is light-having
little weight, not important, slight-of
no great importance, negligent, not done with effort, trifling-being of small value or importance, trivial, acting
and talking with levity, without seriousness
3.
Isaiah 24:20-The earth
shall reel to & fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage;
& the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall
fall, and not rise again.
4.
Genesis 18:20-And the
LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their
sin is very grievous;
5.
Job 6:2-3-Oh that my grief were throughly weighed,
and my calamity laid in the balances together! 3 For now it would
be heavier than the sand of the sea
6.
Genesis 12:10-And there
was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
7.
Exodus 5:9-7 Ye
shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go
and gather straw for themselves. 8 And the tale of the bricks, which
they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought
thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice
to our God.9 Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they
may labour therein; and let them not regard
vain words. (He wants this work to be the heaviest thing in their life, not
sacrificing to their God)
8.
Ezekiel 27:24-25-These
were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work,
and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy
merchandise. The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the
midst of the seas. (As they loaded it down, it was heavy, more valuable, more
significant)
C. Without the honor of God
being in place reverence for God will never be fully demonstrated
1.
When
something is really weighty to you it inspires awe which then leads to respect
and reverence
a. When something is weighty
to you, you will treat it with reverence and respect
2.
In
these verses God started with honor because that’s why there was no
fear/reverence
a. God and his things were
light to them and that’s why there was no fear/reverence/respect
3.
The
weightier God and his stuff becomes to you the more respect you will show them
a. You will treat disrespectfully what you regard lightly
b. This attitude and mindset
that it’s not big deal is giving birth to disrespect
D. When honor is not present
the fear of the Lord will be absent
1.
They
despise God’s name-Regard
with contempt; To slight; To neglect as unworthy of regard, esteem, respect;
Worthless
2.
They
said the table of the Lord was contemptible-Unworthy
of regard, esteem, respect; To slight; Worthless
3.
God’s
stuff wasn’t as weighty to them as it should have been, it’s light to them and
that led to them disrespecting the Lord
a. It was so light to them
that it wasn’t even worth the good bread and the good sacrifice
E. If God’s stuff will
become more weighty to us our fear/reverence/respect for Him will be
demonstrated at a higher level and therefore developing in the honor of God
will yield the fear of the Lord; If God’s stuff is as big of a deal as it
should be the respect will be there
1.
Magnifying
the Lord has to do with seeing God bigger and making a big deal out of Him and
His things and that is honor
a. Acts 10:46-Magnify-Esteem highly, Deem great
b. Psalm 34:3-Magnify-Become great or important,
Praise
2.
Romans
11:13-I magnify my office (honor,
hold in honor, cause the worth of a thing to be acknowledged)
a. The respect for your
office won’t be there if you’re honor for the office is absent
3.
Daniel
11:36-38-He magnified himself and in His eye is the biggest thing, heaviest
thing in his life
a. He has magnified himself
in his own mind until what he wants is the most important thing in his life
b. He doesn’t regard
(esteem) God and regards himself above God
c. Magnify-Make great or important
d. Proverbs 12:9-Honoring
yourself, Make yourself heavy
F. 12-You have profaned my name (made it
common, dishonor); It should have been weighty to you, but it became just
another thing
1.
They brought these
offerings everyday and at some point what was once heavy/weighty to them became
light, it became common to them and when it became light the respect dissipated
2.
In
a routine it is easy to lose honor because what we do over and over again
becomes common and it’s easy then to let your standards of how you treat this
thing to slip
3.
Some
are put God on the scale and there’s no difference between Him and everything
else that goes on in their life
a. That means the scales
balance; They put God and their job on the scale and it balances, God and the
family and it balances, Church and baseball practice and it balances
b. And if that’s your
attitude then God is going to get the same level of reverence that everything
else gets and He’s going to be asking you where’s my honor, where’s my fear
(What have you given it to instead of me because I don’t have it)
4.
12-This
disrespect is most greatly demonstrated in how we treat God and His stuff, not
in what we say
a. They didn’t actually say
this with their words, but they are “saying” this by how they are treating God
and His things
b. Matthew 15:8-This is an
area where there is the greatest distance between what we say and what actually
is
5.
Because
this wasn’t weighty to them irreverence/disrespect manifested in how they
treated God and His stuff; Going through the motions is very disrespectful and
they are doing so b/c to them this is no big deal (They’re still bringing the
sacrifice and the bread)
a. 11-The Lord said I’m
going to find somebody who my stuff is weighty to (Great-In importance)
b. Acts 13:46-It’s a
principle in the scripture that God’s going to find somebody who honors him,
who his stuff is weighty to
G. What that tells me is
that without honor in place your prayer life will be unfruitful
1.
9-TAY-You recite, “God be gracious to us!” But when you bring that
kind of gift why should he show you any favor at all
2.
This
is an epidemic in the body of Christ today; People that have no time for God,
people to whom his stuff is not weighty and means little to praying and asking
God to be gracious to them and give them a happy life
3.
If the Kingdom of God is
not first in your life, then you are not positioned to reap the benefits of it
for your life
II.
Weighty vs. Light
A. 2 Samuel 6:20-22-How glorious was the king of Israel
today; She thinks he’s devaluing himself in the eyes of the people, that the people
will think little of him if they see this; David said they won’t think lightly
of me for seeing his they will think more of me when they see this
1.
Vile-To slight, trifling,
lightly esteemed, make light, treat with contempt, bring dishonor; Base-Low
B. Isaiah 43:4-When
something is very valuable to you, precious to you it’s weighty, it’s important
to you
1.
Precious-Esteem, valuable, highly
valued; Honorable-Weighty,
Heavy
C. Leviticus 10:1-3-When the
fire of the Lord is devouring people for offering strange fire before the Lord,
which the Lord commanded them not to, it’s going to cause the Lord to be more
weighty among the people; this would cause God and His stuff to be weighty
D. Isaiah 43:5-6-The prophet
said I will be glorious (heavy) in the eyes of the Lord – The Lord
esteems me highly
1.
God
said to him it’s no light (little, insignificant, treat with contempt and
dishonor, to make light of) thing to be my servant
E. Isaiah 23:8-9-The Lord is
going to make light of the honorable of the earth (those who are weighty in the
world’s eyes)
1.
God’s
going to cause the “weighty” of the earth to be Contempt-Little, insignificant, make light of, lightly
esteemed)
F. Haggai 1:8-Their stuff
was weightier than God’s and God said if you put me first and build my house I
will be heavy (glorified)
G. Nahum 3:10-They cast lots
for her honorable (heavy,
weighty) men and all her great
(in importance) men were bound in chains
H. Isaiah 3:5-The base (lightly esteemed) against
the honorable (weighty,
heavy)
I. Lamentations 1:8-All that honored (weighty) her, despise
(Light, insignificant) her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea she sighs
and turns backwards; She used to be a big deal, weighty, buw not she is insignificant
J. Psalm15:4-In whose eyes a vile person is contemned (Despise,
worthless, regard with contempt) but he
honors them that fear the Lord
K. Jeremiah 30:19-I will glorify (Heavy, Weighty) them
and they shall not be small
(Insignificant)
III.
1 Samuel 2:12-30-In your
life, if anything is weightier than the Lord and His things irreverence is
going to manifest
A. God and his stuff was
light to them, He and His things were no more weighty than anything else and
therefore we know that irreverence and disrespect is going to show up
1.
Knew-Discriminate (Observe
the difference between), Distinguish (To know or ascertain difference) Consider
(To have regard to, to respect) acknowledge (To receive with respect)
a. They didn’t observe the
difference between God and everybody else; to them God was common
b. They didn’t ascertain
that God has His things were weightier than everything else; to them God and
His stuff was no more weighty than anything else
2.
They
didn’t regard Him-To attend
to with respect and estimation, to value; To esteem; to hold in respect and
affection
3.
Belial-Base, worthless, good
for nothing (Belial is light)
B. Because God was light to
them irreverence manifested; They abhorred the offering of the Lord [Abhorred-To contemn (To slight;
To neglect as unworthy of regard), Despise, To Spurn, Neglect (To slight, to
not treat with attention or respect)]
1.
They
treated it lightly, but it was not a light thing to the Lord
2.
29-They
are kicking at the offering of the Lord, the trample upon it and treat it with
contempt
3.
Judges
20:34-Here you have something that is very heavy, weighty but they didn’t know
it was weighty
C. Honor your sons above
me-Nothing in your life should be weightier, heavier than God and His things
1.
He
put his sons and God on the scale and His sons were heavier than the Lord
2.
Whoever,
whatever is heavier than the Lord will be respected above the Lord
a. Malachi 1-Where’s my
honor? Where’s my fear? – That’s literally God saying who’s heavier to
you than me
b. If you misplace where
your honor you’ll misplace your respect
3.
To
Eli’s sons they were weightier than the Lord; they put themselves on the scale
with the Lord & they went down and the Lord went up
a. So then when it came to
the best part of the offering in their eyes they were worthy of it and God was
not
D. To live a life of reverence
we have to locate the things in our life that are weightier than Him and lose
some weight on those things and gain some weight on God and His things
1.
When
you put God on the scale He should never go up, nothing is bigger than Him,
nothing is more important than him and that type of honor is going to yield
this life of reverence
E. 30-Isaiah 58:13-14-If
God’s stuff is weighty to you and you honor him and treat Him with respect he
will honor you
1.
The
way you treat something that is important to the Lord reveals your respect for
the Lord
a. The Sabbath is honorable-heavy, weighty
b. Holy-It is sacred, special, set apart
2.
It’s
too weighty to just be treating it like it’s another day and doing your own
stuff