Contempt or Honor | Culture Clash | Brian Aulick

Yeah, you can sand your feet if you'd like. But we're going to teach you a new song in just a moment. It's called "Him of the Pilgrim." And our team just wrote it, and I really love this song so much. The words are deep and rich and will encourage your hearts. But it really comes out of a song that is one of my favorite songs in the Bible. And then a Psalm 84. And as we go into this song, I want to just read a few verses of Scripture over you, and then we'll reflect on those. Verse 5, Psalm 84, verse 5, it says, "Blessed are those whose strength is in you and whose hearts are set on pilgrimage." As they pass through the valley of Baca, or the valley of weeping, they make it a place of springs. The autumn rains also cover it with pools. It says, "These people, the ones whose hearts are set on pilgrimage, they go from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion." To reference to meeting Jesus on Judgment Day. And so the reason why I like these lyrics that we're about to sing so much is because what I know at any given time as we gather as a church for worship, I know there are all kinds of us that are going through difficult things. There are challenges. There are hardships. There's suffering going on. And can I tell you the way that a Christian, the way that a Christ follower gets through suffering, isn't to try to just get the suffering to go away.

It's not to try to ignore it and compartmentalize it and pretend like it isn't there. It is to say, even in the midst of my suffering, I have a greater treasure, and that is Jesus Christ. Even in the midst of my suffering, I recognize that this life at this time is not the end of me, but someday I will meet Jesus face-to-face when he welcomes me into paradise, and I will spend my eternity in the goodness and glory of the presence of God. And so my encouragement to you is as we sing these words, let them be a reminder of your heart, to your heart. This world is not all there is. But if you are in Christ, there is a glory, and that glory is Jesus. Y'all, before we get into it, I'd love for us to sing this chorus together and almost learn it so that when it comes up, you can feel a little bit more familiar. So this chorus goes like this. ♪ Christ, my poor sheep ♪ ♪ Christ forever ♪ ♪ Be the soul through joy and pain ♪ ♪ On this side of grace ♪ ♪ Keep my heart my gaze on me ♪ ♪ 'Til I see your face ♪ ♪ 'Til we see your face in ♪ ♪ We fix our lives in you ♪ ♪ ♪ Off to wonder ♪ ♪ Through the valley ♪ ♪ When I seek blood ♪

♪ Carry me ♪ ♪ Our spirit turns on me ♪ ♪ Vision toward me ♪ ♪ We ever lastly came ♪ ♪ ♪ Earth in the seas ♪ ♪ Frilling broken ♪ ♪ Baring treasure ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Pain is dry ♪ ♪ We feel your glory ♪ ♪ Take your purpose ♪ ♪ For Christ my poor sheep ♪ ♪ Christ forever ♪ ♪ Be my soul through joy and pain ♪ ♪ On this side of grace ♪ ♪ Keep my heart my gaze on me ♪ ♪ 'Til I see your face ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Like the fires ♪ ♪ Come before me ♪ ♪ Counting all through ♪ ♪ What is lost ♪ ♪ Where she stole my haters from ♪ ♪ Christ my God, spread out my fortune ♪ ♪ Christ forever ♪ ♪ Be my song through joy and death ♪ ♪ On this idle break ♪ ♪ Keep my heart and my days on deep ♪ ♪ 'Til I see your grace ♪

♪ Christ my fortune ♪ ♪ Christ forever ♪ ♪ Be my song through joy and death ♪ ♪ On this idle break ♪ ♪ Keep my heart and my days on ♪ 'Til I see your place, just so you can fall, Christmas morning, rise before me, rise beside me, rise for all my days. My salvation, rise of heaven, rise for heaven, rise before me, rise beside me, rise for all my days. My salvation, rise of heaven, rise for heaven, rise for heaven, rise for heaven, rise for heaven, rise for heaven. Rise by abortion, rise forever, read my song through joy and death. On this side of grace, keep my heart, my days on, 'til I see your place. Just so I see your place alone. On your side, oh wait, every tear, hides away. Faith has brought, unto your own, how I see your place to go. Oh now I see your place, just so you can fall. Well one thing I love about that song is how it reminds us that on this side of eternity the journey we're on is not always going to be an easy one, but God's always present and always with us. And so I don't know where you are on your journey, whether you're having a mountain top experience or you're coming in the valley or somewhere between, but I want you to know the Lord is good and He's near to you. Let's pray together that we'll experience that nearness. Father, as your children, as your sons and daughters, we love that when we speak towards you, we have your ear. As a father, thank you for being here with us this morning. Father, in this church family, those of us gathered in this room, we're all over the place with the highs, with the lows, with even the mundane, but father for the lows, we thank you that your affection for us isn't always reflected in our circumstances. And if we want to know how you feel about us, we look at the cross. You love us, you've chosen us, you've redeemed us, and Father, if we're here, we're just having a mountain top experience. May we just praise you for those blessings here today. Father, for all of us, may we leave here changed because of your love and because of your grace. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You go ahead. Come on, this is the day the Lord has made and let us rejoice and be glad. Come on, did you come ready to rejoice with the Lord today? Jesus, we just fix our eyes, our hearts, and our minds on you right now.

[music] You are so worthy of our worship. You are worthy of honor. You are worthy of glory. In Jesus, we really love you in this place. We are madly in love with you, Jesus. And we pray that you would come down from your throne, send your spirit right here. Your spirit is in the room and we just pray that you would begin to stir in this place. Thank you, God. [music] Now, let the centre of the throne, the will come soon. See it in the Lord. In Jesus, in the other sky, the world, our own body, lived in the shadow, and holy, holy, holy is the Lord, oh my, I'm worthy, worthy, worthy, you are Lord, oh Lord, I'm ever worthy, worthy, worthy, you are Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord I'm worthy, worthy, you are Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord I'm worthy, worthy, worthy, you are Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord I'm worthy, worthy, worthy, worthy, you are Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, I'm worthy, worthy, you are Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord, oh The Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord My worthy, worthy, worthy You are the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord You are the Lord, the Lord, the Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord My worthy, worthy, worthy You are the Lord, the Lord I'm never a girl trying to sing in my voice I'm never a girl trying to sing in my voice [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] So I stand, it's on the side of your heart, I've been in it, but I won't look at it. So I'm so, you know, it is your, it is your, it is your, it is your, it is your.

So God, you're so good, you're so good, you're so good, you're so good, you're so good. Come on, if the Lord's been good to you all your life, give it up, you're here to see. Be God, be your, it's so good, be good, you're so good, you're so good, you're so good. Be God, be your, it's so good, you're so good, you're so good. Be God, be good to you, you're gonna be the good to you all your life. I will bless the Lord at all times, come on, you ready to praise the Lord? Are you ready to bless His needs today? Come on, can He get, can He get to let you give us for 30 seconds? Lift up your voice, bless His name, bless His name. Take your Lord, come on, He's been good to you, lift up your voice. Give a praise, we wish Him your life. Take it Jesus. Come on, the cross-rook, He believes like this. Hey! Come on, stick to this together. I was ready for the hell I tell you, ask Him to be. I was stuck in my shape, but now I've been saved. And now I've been saved, but now I'm ready for the hell I tell you, ask Him to be. I was stuck in my shape, but now I've been saved. And now I've been saved, but now I've been saved. I was stuck in my shape, but now I've been saved. I believe in Jesus' name. I believe in God's name. On the cross, He cleared my name. This is an amazing place. I believe in life the day that He walked right out of His name. For the life within my reign, He wanted to get exactly. And I was standing for the hell I tell you, ask Him to be. I was stuck in my shape, but now I've been saved. I bring down that it's my home for all eternity.

I was stuck in my shape, but now I've seen. I believe in Jesus' name. I believe in God's name. On the cross, He cleared my name. This is an amazing place. This is an amazing place. This is an amazing place. This is an amazing place. This is an amazing place. I've been led to the man on the middle ground, 'cause he did it with the dead, but he paid it all. And he rode away the stone, now I'm getting up. I'm getting up, so I'm getting up. And all he did to the man on the middle ground, 'cause he did it on the dead, but he paid it all. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] And so if you haven't checked out Made to Advance yet, let me encourage you to check it out.

Like sometimes, I don't know when I'm driving, when I'm working out, I'll put on a podcast and I'll just be like, man, encourage about what's on there. And so I wanna encourage you to check out Made to Advance. And there's stuff we never have time for on Sundays and stuff. I'm like, man, I wish we could go further with that. And so that's what we're doing increasingly on Made to Advance, just another resource to help you grow in your own relationship with Jesus. Today, as we start this series called Culture Clash, I wanna really talk about what does it look like to treat other people with respect and with honor, even when we disagree with them. I know it's not hard for you. Some be like, oh, it's easy to treat people with respect. Yeah, how easy is it to treat people with respect though, when they're totally opposed to the thing you wanna do? That's when it gets tough, right? And can I tell you, Church, I think right now, we're living in a culture that has kind of adopted a spirit of contempt. We don't know how to respectfully disagree anymore, it seems like in our culture. It seems like our culture's rule of thumb is, you either agree with me, or I am free to mock you, caricature you, ridicule you, dismiss you, even cancel you. And I think this is a especially good time to talk about it when they're midst of an election cycle.

It seems like people just lose their minds sometimes during elections, and how many of you know God calls us to honor people, even when we're in disagreement with them, right? And so the first thing I wanna do is talk about the subject of what does it mean to treat people with honor and respect, because of our culture being so off-kilter, it's not hard to see how broken our culture is when it comes to this subject. But the second reason why I wanted to open the series by talking about honor and respect is because as we'll see the scriptures teach that part of our witness as Christ followers is how we treat people who disagree with us. Part of how we witness to people the power of the gospel and the truth of the words of Jesus is treating people with honor, whether they're our friends or whether they may disagree on some things. And so I just believe we've got an incredible opportunity here by talking about what does it mean to treat those around us with honor and with respect to give witness to the truth of Jesus. And listen, listen, I'm excited for any kind of election coming up, man, I encourage you, go out there, vote according to a Christian worldview, vote according to biblical convictions, all that for sure, that's great. But can I tell you more important than an election to me is that our lifestyle and behavior is pointing to Jesus Christ.

And so that's why we're talking today about what it means to live in a spirit of honor, to live with a spirit of respect towards anyone from any background. I wanna read our passage of scripture that we'll launch off on and then we'll pray. First Peter two, verse 11. Peter says, dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles. Can I tell you, if you're a Christ follower, that's what you are, you're a foreigner, you're an exile, you're a pilgrim, this world is not your final home, your citizenship is in heaven. I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. What kind of good deeds is he talking about? Verse 17, show proper respect to everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God, honor the emperor. Let's pray. Father, thank you for our church family today. Thank you that we get to gather in all kinds of different locations here in West Michigan and around the country

and even world to study your word and to lift up the name of Jesus. Today, I pray for the person who does not yet have a relationship with you. They're hearing this word. They're gathered in church today because you are seeking them out. You love them and today is the day for them to come home. I pray they would in Jesus' name. I pray for those God who already have given their lives to following Christ, that this would be a day as we talk about what it means to live with a spirit of honor that you would help grow us. We're not here to go through the motions of church. We say, Holy Spirit, we're listening right now. Would you speak to us? We pray it with faith and we pray it with expectation in Jesus' name and all God's people said. Amen. I wanna begin today just talking about where we get the entire concept of honor from. You hear people say, give honor, we're honors do. Phrases like that. Where does the idea of honor originate? And for that, we have to go to the scriptures. I wanna start with a verse from the end of the Bible. Revelation chapter four, this is describing they are saying, you are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and what? Church, glory and honor and power, for it says, you God, you created all things, and by your will,

they were created, and have their being. Paul says this to 1 Timothy, and 1 Timothy 1 verse 17, "Timothy, he says, 'Now to the king eternal, to the king immortal, to the king invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.'" The concept of giving honor stems from is based on God's worthiness to be honored. The word for honor in Greek is Tamau. Everybody say Tamau. You sound all right, not great, all right? Somebody sound like tomato. It's Tamau. Everybody say Tamau. That's much better, right? Tamau literally means to show value to something. Sometimes Tamau is used to talk about how much something is financially worth. We're going to show, oh, that car is worth this much Tamau, this much honor, this much value, okay? That is the word being ascribed to God here, friends, and the idea in Scripture is, listen to me now, God is so great, he is so holy, he is so worthy, he is the only wise God, both for now and for never more, and therefore the only proper response to a God such as the one we worship is to give him honor. Do you believe it, Church? And so I was reading a story this last week of a dignitary that was visiting the United States in 2003. The President of Argentina was here to visit with our President, who was President Bush at the time. And as custom when a dignitary comes from a different country, they usually bring a gift. And in this case, it was an interesting gift the President of Argentina brought. He thought it would be a good idea to give President Bush 300 pounds of sliced lamb meat. Nothing says honor like lamb meat, right? I mean, I love euros, but 300 pounds, it's a little much, all right? But why would this man bring and fly over 300 pounds of sliced lamb meat? He is trying to show the President of the United States honor. Here's what I pray every time we gather as a church family. Every Sunday, I don't pray necessarily that we would sing loud, I don't necessarily pray that our hands would be raised high before God. The thing I pray more fervently and regularly than anything else is that when you and I gather as a church family for worship, we would bring God an offering of honor that he is due. I pray that we would come into this place and that we would not give God a casual worship, but we would recognize his holiness, his glory, his worthiness, his eternality, and there would be something deep in our soul says, the only thing that I can give a God like that is my very best worship offering. It's a song of praise that says, "God, you're worthy of glory, you're worthy of honor." This is how we respond to the God of the Scriptures, and this is where we get the concept of honor from. Now, maybe you're asking, okay, if that's the basis for giving honor to God, where do we get the

basis of showing honor to people? That's a good question. I'm glad you asked that. So, I want to take you to another Scripture here where this is Genesis 1, 27, very beginning of the Bible. It says, "God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them." The reason why we honor people is because the Scripture say the image of God is uniquely present in people. Notice when you read Genesis 1, 27, it does not say some people have more of the image of God than others. God doesn't say, "Oh, I can tell this section of the room has more successful people. You must have a little bit more of the image of God." There's no witness like that in Scripture. There's nothing in Scripture that's like, "Oh, I can tell this side of the room. You guys are just a little bit more attractive than that side of the room." You must reflect just a little bit more of the glory of God than those guys over there. No, the witness of Scripture is every human being is uniquely entrusted, uniquely reflects the image of God and therefore is a reflection of the glory of God. I want to just encourage somebody today who's on that treadmill. trying to prove your worth by how you look, trying to prove your worth by how much money is in your bank account, trying to prove your worth by who you hang out with and who you are seen with. Can I tell you none of those things or are a proper or healthy way to derive your own sense of value? You matter, your life matters because you are made in the image of the living God. That's where your value comes from. (audience applauds) Doesn't matter where you've been. Doesn't matter what you've done, your life matters because you are made in the image of God from the very moment you were conceived

in your mother's womb, you reflected the image of God. This is the testimony of Scripture. This is why 1 Peter 2, verse 17 says, "Show proper respect to who church." Everyone, not just some people, not just your favorite people, show proper respect to everyone because everyone reflects the image of God. Now, there is some nuance in the text. So if we read on, he says after show respect to everyone, he says, "Love the family of believers." The idea here is that yes, you and I ought to owe each other respect for being part of the same church family, but if you're brothers and sisters in Christ, y'all also show some affection towards each other. It's more than just honor, it's also affection. He says, "Love the family of believers." Then he says, "Fear God." Now, why is he calling for fearing of God here because he's saying, "God is not just worthy of the same honor that you give everyone else. God is worthy of a holy kind of reverence that reflects the fact that he is God." And so it's, "Love the family of believers." But, oh man, you gotta fear God because God stands above all of the family of believers and it's because of his glory, friends, that we even have anything to revere in the first place, all right? So, "Love the family of believers," he says,

"Fear God," and this next phrase is interesting. He calls us to honor the emperor. Of course, we're talking about first century times when there was an emperor. The word here in Greek is, again, Tamau, the same word he's calling us to practice for towards everyone else, Tamau, the emperor. This command is interesting for two reasons. Number one, it was quite common in the first century to be calling for not honor of the emperor, but to worship the emperor. We have inscriptions still to this day that regard the emperor as worthy of being worship. There were cults being built around emperor worship of that time, and the Bible is subversive in its message here. It is not worship the emperor, it is honor the emperor. And so the scriptures are subversively bringing the emperor down around saying, we owe the emperor the same and no more honor than the rest of all of humanity receive. Honor the emperor, but even this would have been difficult in the context it was written in, particularly for Christians. The emperor at this time was emperor Nero, and Nero was not a good man. In AD 59, Nero had his own mother executed for political gain. Nero was known for political executions and eventually would become known

for persecuting Christians. So can I tell you Nero was not a good guy, and yet the scriptures are calling us to honor calling Christians to honor Nero. Why would we honor Nero? Because he's made in the image of God. The scripture is not calling us to agree with Nero. It is not calling us to endorse Nero. It is not calling us to always obey Nero. It is calling us to honor Nero, because once again, regardless of all of the wickedness that was present in Nero's life, he was still made in the image of God. And I know sometimes you hear something like that and you imagine, I mean, just imagine what it'd be like to be in those Christian seats. This emperor is assassinating his own mother. This emperor who would be famous for how he persecuted Christians and some of you are thinking it right now. There's no way I could honor someone like that. There's no way I could give respect to someone who behaves so utterly wickedly. But can I remind you your life and heart were in the same condition before God when he found you? This is what the scriptures say about any one of us before we meet Jesus. Romans chapter five, God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still what church? Centers, while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us. Goes on in verse 10. we were reconciled to him through the death of his son. How much more having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life? Can you just think about this for a moment? When God found you, you weren't just a sinner. The word of God says you were the enemy of God. You were opposed to his purpose. You said, I want to control my life and I'm gonna do my thing my way. And frankly, Jesus, I'm not interested in what you have to say. And in exactly that place of our rebellion, exactly in that place of our sin, God says, I love you so much that I'm gonna show value to your life by giving the life of my son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross for your sins and for mine. How many of you know that's honor when you're God's enemy church? And it's when we trust in him that we receive forgiveness and grace and mercy. And it's all because God was willing to show value to us when we were opposed to him. Try this. Next time you're struggling to show honor to somebody that you don't like. Next time you're struggling to show honor to somebody that you disagree with,

just remember for a little bit what Jesus showed you when you were opposed to him. And see if God doesn't do something in your heart where he prepares you to show honor to somebody that you feel like doesn't really deserve honor. Amen church. This is how the gospel, this is how grace changes us. We internalize grace and it shifts something in our heart that the person we used to say, there's no way I could give him honor. There's no way I could show her respect. Oh, that's right. God, look at what you did for me. I guess I can do the same for somebody else. Amen. Now, once you understand this idea that we show honor to people because they reflect the image of God, you will be so shocked at how broadly this principle is applied in the Bible. I want to give you a few examples today. Exodus chapter 20 verse 12. It says, "Honor your father and your mother "so that you may live long in the land "that the Lord your God is giving you." I know so many of you thinking right now, thank goodness it just says honor your father and mother and not your father-in-law and your mother-in-law, but listen, I think you can include them, all right? Honor your father and mother

so that you may live long and the land the Lord your God is giving you. This is the fifth of the Ten Commandments and here God is calling us to honor our parents. And I want you to notice as you read the text, this is the only one of the Ten Commandments that is accompanied by a promise. Basically, God says if you choose, and it's always a choice, if you choose to honor your mom and dad in the supernatural, the blessing and the grace of God is gonna be on your life in a unique way. The text does not make exception for like, oh, but if you had parents you didn't particularly care for, like you don't need to worry about honoring them, right? There's no little clause that says yeah, honor your parents when they buy you the bike or the car or the whatever you want, but like the rest of the time, don't worry about no. It's just simply honor your mom and dad when you choose to honor your mom and dad, God's hand of blessing is on your life. Now, let me ask you a question. How many of you have a living mom or dad right now, a hand in the air, a living mom or dad? We're all kids at some level, right? And so God's word to you, if you add your hand in the air is honor your parents. Let me show you another example.

Leviticus chapter 19, verse 32, it says, "Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God." And so here, notice God is making synonymous, honoring him with honoring those who are a little bit more seasoned in life in our midst, honoring the elderly. The other day I was at the grocery store, I saw the most beautiful thing. There was a woman who was grocery shopping and I presume it was either her dad or her grandfather, I'm not sure, but he was easily in his late 80s, I would say early 90s even, very frail. And he's making his way very slowly down the grocery store aisle. And he would simply point to something on the shelf and the woman that was with him would grab the thing that he needed and she would put it in the cart and she would continue pushing along and then they would kind of keep moving very slowly and he would point to another thing, couldn't reach very high, he'd just point to it and she'd grab it. I thought what a beautiful picture right here of honoring someone who's a little bit further in life. This is not like, no, I don't have time to hang out with you. This is no, I'm not gonna move as slow as you wanna move, something you've been behind, people that drive, like that man was shopping, all right? And you're ready to lose your business right there

on the street and here's this woman walking ever so slowly with him, just in a spirit of honor let me give you another example of honor in the Bible. First Timothy five, verse 17. The elders who direct the affairs of the church, well, are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. That's a weird verse to read right there, all right? I'll just acknowledge it. But the reason why I wanted to read this one is it's talking about honoring church leaders. Last week we had a little bit of time where we talked about Pastor Appreciation Month. Friends, it's not something that like, our church just came up with 'cause we said, "Hey, how do we make our pastors and church leaders feel good?" No, this is something we're just trying to live out what the Bible talks about when it comes to honoring those who are leaders in the church. One last example, first Timothy five. Paul says, "Give proper recognition or give honor to those widows who are really in need." And so here God is calling us to honor vulnerable populations. First Corinthians 12 verse 23, Paul actually says, "We should give special honor to those the world often overlooks." One of the things I love here at Igeti that I've noticed, and this is not anything I taught or encouraged,

but from the very first day that we started streaming our church services to jails and prisons around the country. From the very first day, when I welcomed those prisoners on the stream, everybody just started clapping. And I was like, man, that's such a cool thing. I didn't call for it, I didn't ask for it, but intuitively you just knew. Here is a population that is forgotten. Here is a population that is largely overlooked. They're just behind bars somewhere we don't know where. And our church said, "Hey, if you join us in church, we're gonna begin church by honoring you." What a beautiful example, right? What a beautiful picture that is of saying, "Hey, we see you, we see you, we're gonna honor you." And so here's what I wanna say. After looking at those different examples in the Bible, cover to cover, listen to this, biblical honor is indiscriminate. It reaches upward to leaders, sideways to peers, backwards to parents and elders, inward to spouses and church family, and downward culturally speaking to the weak, to the poor, and to the overlooked. From God's perspective, no one is beneath being honored. Did you hear me church? From God's perspective, no one is beneath being honored. From God's perspective, no one's opinion is so wrong,

no one's lifestyle is so aberrant, no one's culture is so backwards that they are worthy of contempt. Every single human being is made in God's image, and therefore every single human being is worthy of our honor. (audience applauding) This is what we stand for as a church, and it's so different than what our culture does. Honestly, this picture I just gave you of honor is so much more beautiful than what the culture is living out. Our culture says, if you wanna know someone to honor, honor the rich, if you want somebody to honor, honor the powerful, honor the beautiful, honor those who agree with you, honor those who can help you get ahead in life and reach your life goals. If the person around you isn't in that, in any of one of those categories than they are, worthy of indifference at best, maybe even contempt or something worse. But God says, because every single person shares his image, we honor everyone, especially those that are often most overlooked. And can I tell you, when you choose to live honor this way in your life, you point people to Jesus. Amen? This is the witness of scripture. And so what I wanna do with the remaining amount of time

we have is I just wanna get practical and talk about what it means to actually live in this way. What does it mean to show honor? And here's a very important principle you've gotta remember today. Offer, honor that is not shown is not honor. Honor that is not shown is not honor. Why do I say that? Because frequently what happens is we judge ourselves by our feelings instead of our behaviors. And so if I feel like I honor you, then surely I must be honoring you. But the witness of scripture is honor is not real until it's been expressed. And so what I wanna do with the remaining amount of time is just give you practical ways that you can show honor to the people around you. So here we go, y'all ready? All right, five ways to show people honor. Number one, I want you to know that honor speaks well of people. Honor doesn't flatter people, but it also doesn't take shots at their character. Words like he's so self-absorbed or she's so vain or he's so ignorant have no place on the lips of a Christ follower. To show honor to some people. And I'll just tell you, I've made a little bit of a game out of this in my life because I know some people you're like, you just feel like, how can I ever speak honor over that person? And I've made it a challenge in my life to go for even the person like is most frustrating to me.

What can I highlight in their life and call forth and highlight is worthy of honor? Because what I found is if they're made in the image of God, there's something there. If they're made in the image of God, I can speak a positive word into their life. The only exception to this, the only exception is if you are in a place of leadership or management at times, obviously, when you have to evaluate people, you have to talk about strengths and you have to talk about weaknesses. But can I tell you, for most of us, most of the time, we're either going to speak well of people or what we're going to do church, not speak anything at all, right? This is what honor does. It chooses to speak well over the people around us. Number two way you can show honor to people is by expressing gratitude. Expressing gratitude is such a powerful way to show somebody honor. Expressing gratitude means you look for the people in your life who are making contributions. You look for the people in your life who are making a difference. You look at your people in your life who are making sacrifices and you say, I am going to call attention to your sacrifice. I'm going to celebrate what you are doing to give back to others. One of my favorite pictures of this is when I'm at an airport and I'm waiting for my flight to arrive, and as I'm sitting there, a flight comes in that carries a number of U.S. soldiers. And they get off the plane and they're walking through, and I've seen this so many times, they begin to walk through the terminal, and as they're walking, everybody in the terminal stands their feet and starts clapping for their soldiers as they walk by. What are they doing, showing honor? Saying, I'm going to celebrate the sacrifice that you have made on behalf of all of us. Now, can I tell you, friends, to show honor and to be able to express gratitude, this isn't something that has to be limited to big moments. You can express gratitude in your home, you can do it in church, you can expect it, you can do it on your job. All kinds of ways to express gratitude. Here in Getty, every time we meet for Monday morning prayer, our staff meets, we get together and pray for each other. Before we do any of that, we have a few minutes. We just call attention to two things. Number one, where we saw God show up in our church in the last week, and number two, we highlight team members who make unique sacrifices that week. It's just a practical way to say we honor you. We see why you did this, we good job, and we clap for that person. Expressing gratitude is a powerful way to honor someone. Here's another one. This one's a little bit harder, but I know you're tough crowd, so I'm going to give it to you anyway. I know you can handle it. Honor learns to disagree respectfully. Honor, I think this is especially important during

an election cycle. Honor learns how we can criticize people's ideas without criticizing their personhood. We can debate ideas, we can debate claims without attacking somebody's character. Let me give you an example of what I mean. It is one thing to say, for example, socialism is wrongheaded and a very bad idea for humanity. It is another thing to say, anyone who believes in socialism is a clueless idiot. You see the difference, church. One criticizes ideas, the other attacks character. If you're somebody who is going to show honor to another person, even if they believe something very different than you, we don't attack their character, we don't attack their personhood, we can debate their ideas. Part of what honor does is it learns how to disagree in a way that honors the image of God in the person we disagree with. We give you a fourth way to express honor, and that is to bless someone in tangible ways. It's interesting in the passage we saw earlier about double honor that actually that passage was being discussed in a context of talking about financial blessing. When Paul was writing about widows, again showing them their respect, he's talking about tangible or financial blessing. And so any time you want to show somebody that you honor them, friends, you can figure out tangible ways to say thank you, tangible ways to say good job, tangible ways to say, I see you. Here's what we do in our church, on our staff. Once a month, we have staff meetings where they're like longer kind of all staffs. And what we do is we pick two or three people amongst the staff for special honor. And we'll call them by name, and then we have them come up there, and Pastor Josh, who's playing the keys right here next to me, good to have you, Pastor Josh. And Pastor Josh will have that person come up, and he'll say words about them, things that we specifically want to call out to say, man, we see you, good job, way to go, we honor this. And after he speaks those words, Now this bag has two things in it. Number one, they get a can of rockstar, 'cause they are rockstars, all right? I honestly hope they don't drink it. I'm pretty sure this is toxic, but needless to say, it's a good visual. And then they get a card from our church with a financial gift in it

that helps them treat themselves to something nice. What are we trying to do? Honor them. Do you see a church? Trying to honor them in tangible ways. That's why we do rockstars once a month. Now, there's one last thing I want to say about how we show honor, bless tangibly, but this is the last principle. What does it mean to be a person who has a heart of honor? And it is this, honor goes first. Honor goes first. Here's what happens. This is where a little bit of our culture sneaks into the church. Many times people get a mentality of, oh, I'll honor that person when they start to honor me. Oh, I'll show some appreciation of that person's sacrifice when finally somebody calls out all, I've been doing for everybody around here. But so long as I don't hear anything, man, you bet I'm not showing any honor. Friends, can I tell you, if you're waiting for somebody to honor you before you express honor, that is not a heart of honor. A heart of honor says, I recognize the image of God in the people around me. I see the sacrifice they are making. I see the potential in them. And so regardless of what anyone may say or do for me,

I am going to express honor to that person because they are deserving of honor. Honor goes first. Let's be a church, friends, that doesn't wait to show honor to somebody else until we've gotten ours. Hey, that phrase, I'm gonna get mine. Forget getting yours. How about we just choose to show honor that we might honor Jesus? Say amen. So here's what I want to do. I'm gonna give you a couple of honor exercises, all right? I'm gonna start off with one, it's really easy. I want you for 30 seconds here. I want you to simply say, Holy Spirit in your own heart right now, Holy Spirit, who would you have me honor today or this week? I asked the God, just put a name or a face on your mind. Could be a mom or dad? Could be a friend? Could be somebody that's made a difference in your past? Watch this. It could be somebody who's made life very difficult for you. Holy Spirit would just speak to us right now. We're listening. As God would give you a name or a face, write it down. Make sure you don't forget, I want to challenge you today or this week to show that person honor some way somehow.

We had people who are straight up right in church texting people notes of honor. It's one of the rare times I'll say you can start texting in church, all right church? If you got somebody on your heart right now, you can send them a message and honor them. But I want you to figure out one person in your life who is worthy of honor. And whether they've shown you any honor at all, whether you think the culture would say they deserve it or not, if God puts their name on your heart right now, I want you to set their name aside and say, I'm going to honor them this week. Can we do that church? Can we do that? I'm going to show some honor. But the other part of this exercise of honor that I want to do is just give honor to some very special groups. And so first, I want to ask anyone who is age 65 or older to stand to your feet if you could. Age 65 or older. There we go. All right, they're getting up there. (audience applauds) There we go. We want to give you honor. All of our senior saints, we want to give you honor today. We want to say we are grateful for your faithfulness.

We want to say we are grateful that you are following Jesus even in this season of your life and that you are a model for all of us. God bless you, we honor you. All of our senior saints, you can sit down. Want to ask all of those who are 29 years of age and younger, 29 and younger. It says Jesus honored the young people in his day, 29 younger, stand your feet. Stand your feet, 29 and younger. We want to honor the next generation in the room. You'll continue doing all kinds of things with your time, but it is Sunday morning and you are worshiping the name of Jesus Christ. We honor you next year for being faithful to Christ in your life. (audience applauds) You can have a seat. All those ages 30 to 64, tough luck. You're just going to have to wait, all right? (audience laughs) Next group I want to ask if you would stand your feet, is anyone who is serving or has served in the military or who is serving or has served as a first responder? Could you please stand your feet? Military or first responders. We want to honor you today. Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you that you serve in ways we can't even begin to comprehend.

Thank you for the difficult things you've seen so that you can serve to encourage and strengthen those around you. We honor you today. You can be seated. This next group I'm not. I wanna speak to anyone who has been part of what feels like an overlooked group. It could be that you're a widow. It could be that you're a single parent. It could be that you are or you were incarcerated. It could be that you are economically marginalized and you are struggling or have struggled to barely survive. But the scripture says you wanna honor the parts of the body that are most overlooked. And so, you don't need to stand to your feet, but we want you to know right now, we are gonna honor you if you've been part of any of one of those groups. If you've ever felt overlooked, we honor you. We want you to know God sees you. We celebrate you. We recognize that you have a special place in the kingdom of God. The last group that I wanna ask if they would stand to their feet, is anyone who has or is serving in ministry leadership. I'm talking about people who've been on church staffs and volunteers, those who have led life groups, those who have led teams, those who have led

any kind of ministry. If you've been a ministry leader, could you stand to your feet right now, whether it's volunteer or staff, stand to your feet right now. If you've been a ministry leader, we wanna honor you and we wanna say thank you. Thank you for leading in the kingdom of God. Thank you for putting the priorities of Jesus Christ first in your life. Thank you for being willing to sacrifice to say that God's purposes in our generation would be advanced. We honor you in Jesus name and you can be seated. Now there are so many other people that I could choose to honor. The scripture calls us to honor those who are in leadership supervision over us. The scripture calls us to honor employees. The scripture calls us to honor anyone who serves in the church. The scripture calls us to honor those who work for government or work in the public sector. But friends, the point for me today is that we just wanna choose right now to be an honoring church. We don't wanna be a church that's giving cheap shots. We don't wanna be a church or we don't wanna be Christians who are posting stupid things on social media. We do not wanna be Christians who are talking badly about others.

We want to be the kind of church that practices Romans chapter 12 and verse 10 where it says, "Outdo one another and showing honor." Should we make that the kind of competition we're having in the church? Let's outdo one another and showing honor. Let's compete with how we can show somebody else how much they value to us. How much we wanna esteem them. That's the kind of church that I wanna be a part of. And I believe that as we live into that competition, not only will we create a better culture, but more and more people will be pointed to come home to Jesus Christ. Amen, let's pray. Father, thank you today for the opportunity we've had to study your word. First and foremost, God, we wanna honor you. You are the king, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God and you are worthy. God, we honor you. And Father, we wanna thank you for the value that you have put on us. Thank you that you came to us when we were sinners and your declared enemies. Thank you that you honored us so much as to give the life of Jesus Christ on the cross. To die that he would take the punishment for our sins. Thank you for that honor. Out of cross-shaped lives and gospel-changed hearts,

would you help us to choose to honor all those around us, even those that we disagree with passionately? Would we be people, Father, who see the image of God in others? Would we disagree well? Would we express gratitude? Would we speak kindly and affirmingly to others? And would we bless them tangibly? And might we be the kind of people who take the lead in doing such things, not waiting first for them to come to us? And saying in this place of prayer, perhaps you're here today and you've not yet given your life to Jesus Christ. And I just wanna say, God's coming to you even right now. Even as a sinner, even as somebody the scripture says, as opposed to the purposes of God, and he says he wants a relationship with you. And so if you're here today and you wanna give your life to Christ, then in just a moment, I'm gonna give you a chance to just raise your hand as a way of saying before God. Today is the day that you wanna ask Jesus Christ to forgive your sins, and you're gonna start following him with your whole life. And so one, I want you to know that God loves you so much, Jesus died on the cross for you. Two, I want you to know that that same Jesus who died on the cross was raised three days later, so that as he would win victory over death, you could put your trust in him and experience his victory in your life.

And three, if you wanna give your life to Jesus, could you just put your hand in the air wherever you are right now? Who else is there? I see you good job. God bless you. Who else is saying I see you awesome anybody else who's saying today is the day I want to give my life to Christ. I want to ask him to forgive my to him to my sense all the way in the back awesome And I'm gonna pray if you had your hand up you can agree with this prayer father even in this very moment Would you forgive my sins through the blood of Jesus? Thank you for your love that would come to me even right now And father now as a child of God, I'm gonna begin living living for you letting you lead my life Jesus from this point forward empower me that I would show you honor first with my life I pray in Jesus name and all God's people said Amen, can we make some noise and celebrate new life for the house? I'm so excited for those who just took that step if you all stand your feet right now We're gonna end this day and worship today Get it off all right. Hey, listen if you just made a decision to give your life to Jesus Oh, we got a Bible to want to give you and I've got a special book I want to put in your hands to help you get started So our ushers are gonna walk down the aisles would just wave to them as they're walking back and they're gonna send a Bible right now To you, but they're they just want to give you that free gift But for the rest of us let's end this day by lifting up the name of Jesus just as high as we can God your worthy of our greatest honor who are worthy of glory Thank you Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh

Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh

Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh I'll never go time to save my heart without my heart to blow I'll never go time to save my heart without my heart to blow I'll never go time to save my heart without my heart to blow Every crown and it's me, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Everybody, we bring all the angels in the air Every nation will sleep all the way through the air All the way through the air And the church of the realm of the living air And I'm racing the ground all the way through the air And it's making the sound of all the way through the air Take your place out of the air Walk your way (dramatic music)