What's The Big Deal?
I.
To live a life of honor what’s
important to God MUST be important to us
A. 1 Samuel 16:1-10-There
are two different value systems; What the Lord regards and values and pays
attention to is different than what a man regards, values, and pays attention
to; What’s important to man and what is important to the Lord differed
a. Man looks on (regards,
values, pays attention to) the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the
heart
b. Samuel saw Eliab and
said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is
before me,” because he valued appearance and height
2.
When
the Lord saw Eliab He didn’t see height and stature, he a heart that was
lacking
a. God refused Eliab-Refuse-Despise, Regard lightly
1)
1
Samuel 2:30-Apparently Eliab doesn’t respect God and His things and because he
doesn’t he is being lightly esteemed
b. He’s good looking, He’s
tall and yet in the eyes of the Lord he is regarded lightly and that’s simply
because the Lord doesn’t value appearance or height; Those things aren’t
important to the Lord even thought they may be important to man
1)
Countenance-Appearance; Stature-Height
c. When Samuel saw Eliab he
regarded him, but when the Lord saw him He didn’t think much of him
1)
They’re
not seeing the same thing and they don’t value the same thing
2)
God’s
not looking for somebody tall and pretty when it came to selecting a king,
because to Him that meant nothing and it wasn’t important to Him when it came
to selecting a King
3)
Because
Samuel values height and appearance in a King he regards Eliab and because God
does not value those things he does not regard Eliab
3.
The
Lord told Samuel to not regard or pay attention to his looks or his height
because those things mean nothing when it comes to selecting a King (Look Not-Respect, Show regard
to, Pay attention to, Consider)
a. God’s telling Him don’t
regard and value and pay attention to stuff that’s not important
b. Samuel’s value system is being recalibrated – Our value
systems need to be recalibrated
c. The Lord regards and pays
attention to and considers a man’s heart
d. Look-To regard, give attention to, Consider
B. Why does God look at the
heart? – He looks at your heart to find out what’s most important to you,
what you value the most-Matthew 6:21
1.
When
God looks at your heart, he discovers what you treasure or what’s important to
you
a. The most important thing to God is to find out what’s most
important to you
2.
When God sees your heart
what you want Him to see is a heart like His, that values what He values
a. Acts 13:22-David was
selected b/c His heart was like God’s, He valued what God valued; This was what
the Lord valued in King
1)
1
Samuel 13:14-The Lord has sought him a man after his own heart
2)
God’s
looking for someone who is pursuing what’s most important to him
b. David was after what was important
to the Lord because if you are after God’s heart you are after what He values
1)
CEB-A man who shares my
desires; EXB-A man whose heart is like mine; MSG-Whose heart beats to my heart
3.
When what’s important to
the Lord becomes the most important thing to you, THEN you’ll be honoring Him as
a man after His heart
a. What’s important to God
needs to be what’s important to you and what’s not important to Him shouldn’t
be important to you
C. 1 Samuel 15:1-When what’s
important to the Lord is not important to you, you will dishonor Him and then
you will be lightly esteemed
1.
1
Samuel 16:1-Saul was rejected-despised
so apparently Saul dishonored the Lord and what was important to the Lord
wasn’t important to him and because of it he was despised, lightly esteemed-1
Samuel 2:30
2.
1-Hearken-He needs to regard these
words from God; these words from God should be important to Him and mean
something to him
a. 2-3-It was important to
the Lord that Amalek and all they had be destroyed for what they did to God’s
people
b. It was important to the
Lord because He made promises to His people regarding enemies that came against
them
3.
7-9-What
the Lord wanted and what was important to the Lord wasn’t important to Saul;
something else was more important
a. What was more important
to him was being praised and honored by the people; He wanted to come back and
be celebrated
4.
17-In
his eyes He became bigger than the Lord and what He wanted was more important than
what the Lord wanted; He honored himself above the Lord (Little-Small,
insignificant, unimportant)
5.
23,26-Saul
rejected-despised the word of
the Lord; He regarded it lightly, it meant little to Him, God’s word was no big
deal to him
a. Something that should have been a big deal to him, he treated
as no big deal
b. I bet Saul thought that
what he was doing was this was no big deal (What’s that matter, I mean the
thing is we won and most of what they had was destroyed, we just kept some of the
good stuff for ourselves)
6.
30-He
wanted to be honored by the Lord while he dishonored Him
II.
When what you value and
what the Lord values is different disrespect and dishonor is inevitable because
you’re going to treat something that is important to him with disesteem and the
reason is because it is not important to you; it’s only when what you value
mirrors what He values that you will live a life of honor
A. Luke 14:16-What they
valued and what their master valued differed and because it differed dishonor was
inevitable and they treated something that was very important to their master
with disesteem and in doing so they dishonored/disrespected him
1.
This
dinner was a big deal to the Lord, but it meant nothing to them (Great-Things esteemed highly for their importance)
B. Matthew 22:5-Never make
light of something that is weighty to the Lord
1.
This
means that they said something was no big deal, that was in fact a big deal to
the Lord
2.
What’s
the big deal?
3.
There
are things that are so weighty and precious to the Lord and so valuable to Him
and when we see them, we think ho hum
C. It cannot be that things
that mean very much to Jesus mean very little to you and things that mean very
little to Jesus mean very much to you; this is the foundation to a life of
dishonor
1.
Stuff
that is not a big deal to the Lord has been too big of a deal to us and stuff
that has been a big deal to the Lord has been no big deal to us; Beware of
having a different value system than the Lord has
2.
When
you’re value system is different than the Lord’s it’s impossible to live a life
of honor
III.
We need mind renewal
about what’s valuable and what’s not; We have to see the true value of things
and attach the proper value to things
A. If you’re value system is
off your honor is going to be misplaced (Stuff will be important to you that
shouldn’t be important at all)
1.
We
need to begin to see through his eyes and value what he values so that we don’t
treat something that he esteems highly with disrespect-(1
Samuel 16:7-The Lord sees not as man sees)
2.
The
cry of our heart should be Lord open my eyes to what is truly valuable and to
see the true value of things
3.
Light of what’s truly
valuable is paramount in living a life of honor
4.
John
5:41,44-The honor of men was important to them, the honor of God was important
to Him
a. Matthew 12:11-12-Are we
to value a sheep more than we value a man
B. What you don’t see the
value of you will not honor; if something is valuable, but you don’t see it as
such you will not treat it as such
1.
Luke
14-This dinner was of great value, but they didn’t see it as such and as a
result they didn’t treat it as such
2.
Matthew
7:6-Dogs don’t honor that which is holy and hogs don’t honor pearls because they
don’t see the value of them
C. Philippians 3:1-10-His
value system was reset and these things that used to be important to him no
longer are
1.
Before
stuff that was really important to him meant nothing to the Lord and stuff that
was really important to the Lord meant nothing to him, but now what he values
is lined up and in agreement with what the Lord values
D. A characteristic of
children is they don’t see the true value of things; spiritual immaturity is
revealed in that you don’t know what’s truly important
IV.
In layman’s terms this is
what honor does, it makes a big deal of things that important to the Lord
A. 1 Samuel 2:17-If it’s a
big deal to the Lord, then you need to make a big deal out of it
1.
They
abhorred, despised, made light of the offering of the Lord and they thought
what they were doing was no big deal
a. Abhorred-Spurn, despise, contemn – This offering meant nothing
to them, but it was a very big deal to the Lord
2.
This
was a very big deal to the Lord, but it was no big deal to them (Very great-Exceedingly important)
a. What they value is very
different from what the Lord values
3.
The
outrage is that they think this (what they’re doing, how they’re treating His
things) is no big deal
a. EX: It was probably this kind of language, “Oh what’s the big
deal, it’s just meat, after all what we’re taking is just being burnt off
anyway and there have been thousands of a sacrifices to the Lord so what’s it
matter if we take the fat of these offerings.”
4.
In a life of dishonor
people demean the importance of things so that they don’t have to be honorable
and treat them with respect
a. You can tell yourself
that it’s not a big deal, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not a big deal; You
can act like it’s not big deal, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a big deal; I
know people like to act like it’s not a big deal so then it requires no honor
of them
B. In a life of dishonor
everything is common, everything is casual, nothing is sacred, nothing is
special, everything is light
1.
In a life of honor there
is some stuff that is really big deal that should be treated as sacred and
special
a. When you truly do honor something you make a big deal out of
it, it means something to you and there is certain behavior and certain talk
that you’re just not going to let happen in regards to something or someone
whom you honor
b. In an atmosphere where nothing is a big deal dishonor is
running lose
2.
The
opposite of making a big deal out of it is this word CASUAL and this attitude
that it’s no big deal
a. Casual-Informal, unceremonious,
unconcerned; Made or done without much thought; Off the cuff; Do something in a
halfhearted way, unfocused; Lacking plan, purpose, or enthusiasm; Acting
without sufficient care of thoroughness; Without formality in particular of
clothing suitable for everyday wear rather than formal occasions, informal,
everyday
b. Our approach to God and to His things should never be casual
1)
You are doing nobody a
favor if you act like treating the things of God casually is okay
2)
If your approach to God and
His things is casual then you don’t truly know who or what you are approaching
c. People have tried to make
Christianity more casual to draw the masses, but if the masses aren’t willing
to treat it as something other than casual then they are worthy to be apart of
it
1)
We
are trying to make something that’s not for everybody for everybody (It’s
available to everybody)-Matthew 7:13-14
2)
Should
I conform to your carnality to draw you? Should I start treating precious and
holy things as less precious to draw you? “I’d come if you didn’t preach so
long,” you’re not worthy to partake of it if that’s your attitude because what’s
going on here is so precious that you should be willing to give as much time to
it as it takes. – Should I conform to that carnality to draw you and if I
do then when are we going to change because that attitude about the things of
God is unacceptable.
C. We need to see God and
His things as greatly important and make a big deal out of them
1.
Romans
11:13-I magnify (honor, hold in
honor) mine office (I see it as a big deal)
a. The assignment is big because of who gave it to you, not
because of the details of the assignment
b. It’s not a big deal because of WHAT it is, but WHO it is that
gave it to him
c. You can’t magnify the Lord and not magnify his things (You
can’t tell God how important He is to you and then despise His Word, His
services, His assignment on your life, His people)
2.
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
3.
Things
that are so huge to him are often seen as very little to flesh-Zechariah 4:10
D. Make sure that you’re not
saying stuff is no big deal, that is a big deal to the Lord; You have to get
what’s going on in this people’s hearts and minds; To them these things aren’t
that big of deal, and they don’t matter that much; They would have probably
said, “What’s the big deal? What’s
it matter?” (Luke 14, 1 Samuel 2, Malachi 1)
1.
Luke
14-This dinner was important and they made light of it
2.
1
Samuel 2-Being priests and the house of God and this offering was important,
but they made light of it
3.
Malachi
1-This offering was important and they might light of it
4.
Matthew
22:10-13-Something was worth getting cleaned up for, just not the Lord’s things