Up, Down, All Around

Well, who's thankful to be in church today? Come on, is anyone thankful to be in the house of the Lord on Sunday? It's a good day to be here. And I wanna look in the camera and say welcome to all those who are with us online. I wanna welcome all of our first-time guests that are here. And I wanna give our best welcome to the men and women watching from a correctional facility. Calvary Church, like you never have before. Can we welcome those who are watching behind bars in a correctional facility? We love you guys. Honored that you're with us today. All right, well, we're closing out our series, building a house that lasts. Mother's Day to Father's Day, we've been talking about the family. And we've been saying this phrase, we started the series off with this phrase that as a family, we're not just a Christian family in name only, we're a Christ-centered home. And as for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord. A Christ-centered home is different. It's not just attending church on Easter or Christmas or Father's Day. A Christ-centered home is somebody that says I'm planted, I'm rooted, I'm all in with Jesus. And that's why for these last couple of weeks,

we've been studying the Beatitudes because Jesus wasn't just teaching us what to believe, he was teaching us who we can become if we apply these principles to our life. And today we're studying one of the most overlooked Beatitudes, Matthew chapter five, blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Now meekness is not weakness. Meekness is strength underneath control. And I would argue that one of the clearest expressions of meekness is to be able to give honor because honor says I don't have to win every single argument. Honor says I don't always have to be right. Honor says I don't always have to get even. Honor says I don't always have to tear someone down to make myself feel better. Honor is meekness in action. And so today as we conclude our series, I wanna talk about a value that is disappearing in our culture, but that is absolutely essential if we're gonna have a Christ-centered home. Today I wanna talk about the value of honor, the value of honor, the value of honor. The Bible calls us as followers of Jesus that we're not to look and to live like the values of this world and by the what the world deems as important or okay, but we're called to live in a different way. Come on, someone say amen there if you believe that.

We cannot be like culture around us. Come on, in our culture today, we are so quick to condemn. We are so quick to criticize. We are so quick to gossip. We are so quick to cancel. Come on somebody, as followers of Jesus, we're called to live differently. And I wanna start today with Romans chapter 12 and I want you to read it with me. I want you to read it with me aloud today. Every person in person and online, read it with me aloud today. Notice I didn't say a soft, I said every voice aloud. All right, let's all read it out loud together. Romans chapter 12, here's what it says. Honor one another above yourself. It even tells you how we're supposed to honor every person, not just the people you like, not just the people that are also Christians, not just the people that are in the same political party as you, come on somebody. Honor one another above yourself. One translation says honor everyone and to do it in the same way as you would want honor yourself. This is the standard and the ethic of the Bible. Jesus teaches this principle in Mark chapter six. Now note with me the context of Mark chapter six is this. Jesus had just finished doing some pretty amazing miracles.

Mark chapter six, one through four, the text says now that Jesus has done all these amazing miracles. He left part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth. Nazareth was his childhood hometown. It wasn't where he was born. Of course he was born in Bethlehem, but he grew up in Nazareth and the Bible says that the next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue and many who heard him teaching were amazed. They asked, that's a pretty amazing guy right there. Where'd he get all that wisdom from? Where'd he get all that authority from? Where'd he get all that power to perform such miracles? But watch what happens. I mean they went from literally like I like you, you're amazing, you're awesome, Jesus, Jesus, he's our man. If he can't do it, nobody can. To the next line says they scoffed about him. Look at what it says. Then they scoffed. And I think that's just a beautiful picture of what our world is like right now. You meet someone and five minutes later they're like, oh my gosh, you're awesome. You're the best thing in the world. I'm gonna follow you. Like, like, like, like, like, like on all of your posts. You post one thing, you're amazing.

You're my best friend. And then you do one thing that they don't like or you say one thing that opposes their viewpoint. They go, ah, I don't want anything to do with you. Canceled you. Done with you. And they pick at the littlest of things. And the text says that this of Jesus, after he just finished doing all of these amazing miracles, signs and wonders and teaching, He scoffed and said, no, no, no, no, no. He's not anyone special. I guess he's just a carpenter. The son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters were right here and they lowered who Jesus really is. In fact, it goes on even further in this text and it says that they were deeply offended by Jesus. I mean, I tell you, I think there are people today in our culture that are actually looking for offense today. And I'm just gonna say this to you. If you're looking to be offended in our world today, trust me, you are gonna find what you are looking for. And then because you're offended, I warn you, every time you get offended, you have an inability then to receive what is actually good from that person. And so Jesus responds,

and notice how he responds to the toxic comments and remarks. Notice what he says back. He says, a prophet is honored everywhere, except, one translation says, he has no honor. He's without honor everywhere except in his hometown and amongst his relatives and his own family. In other words, there are places where he gets honor and then there's places where he doesn't get honor. Now in the Bible, there's two words in the Greek for those that don't know, those that are maybe new to church or new to the Bible. The New Testament is written in Greek in the original language. And so anytime I want a little bit deeper understanding of what the text means, I go back to the original language. And so there's a word in the Greek for without honor, one word, and then there's a word in the Greek for honor. And I wanna show it to you. So the word for without honor in the Greek is the word atimos. Everyone say atimos. Atimos, and it means to dishonor, watch this, to treat as common or ordinary, to make them less than they really are. To honor, on the other hand, is the word, it looks like time, but it's actually pronounced tima, and it means to value, to respect, to highly esteem, to treat as precious, weighty, or valuable. In other words, when you see people,

you're gonna have to train your eyes, even if you don't want to naturally, even if it doesn't look like they're a person of honor, even if their actions do not necessarily look like the most honorable actions that they're doing, you're gonna have to train your eyes to see them in another way. Let me say it this way. Honor means to value, to see something's worth, and then to add weight to it. Let me say it one more way today. Honor elevates, dishonor decimates. Honor elevates, dishonor decimates. And I think that describes the culture that we live in today, this culture that just wants to tear down, this culture that wants to critique, this culture that always wants to make less of leadership and authority, this culture that always wants to rip apart on social media. But come on, someone, God's not called us to be like culture, but to be people of honor. We honor up, we honor down, and we honor all around. Can I hear a good amen, somebody? And so here's what I'm gonna do in the rest of this message today. I'm gonna teach you two biblical truths, and then I'm gonna challenge you with something to do this week that I think could change your entire week if you do it,

and then I'm gonna try to model it for you how to give honor today, all right? Two principles out of God's word regarding honor, if you're taking notes, and I sure hope you are. Listen, the first is this. Honoring begins with God's view of them and what God claims about them. Honoring begins with how God views them and what God's claim is for them. See, what we fail to do is if we're only seeing people through our own natural eyes, we're not seeing them of the view of who they actually can become in Christ. Now, we have a right view of others. I'm not saying that we should not be honest with people in areas that they need to grow. I'm not saying that we justify their sins or justify the things that they're doing wrong. That's not what I'm saying, but I'm saying as followers of Jesus, we need to see people as they can become in Christ. Have you ever realized this, that people have a way of becoming who you and I encourage them to be? And the beautiful thing about our God is that God has this unique ability about him to see people both in their depravity, in their sin, but also in their dignity, who they can become in Christ at the same time. Oh, you didn't hear what I said.

Our God is so good that he knows everything you've ever done past, present, and going to do in the future. He sees all of your filth and all of your mess, but he also sees all that you can become, the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus at the same time. And that should encourage you very much. You ought to be giving God some praise for that today and thank him that he doesn't judge you based on what you did, but who you can become even if you're not there yet. He's watching you even right now. Watch out. He's like Santa Claus. You better not cry. Santa Claus knows everything that you're doing in this moment, and so does God our Father. And yet he still loves us in that same way. He sees you in your depravity and your dignity at the same time. And God is calling our church to be a church of honor and to do the same. That when we go out in the world, we don't say, you know what, they did this to me and they did that to me. and I don't like my boss, so I'm gonna treat them as less than, I'm gonna talk about their backs behind them whenever they do something, and then this and that. No, no, no, as followers of Jesus,

we're called to see people for who they can become and honor them even in the midst of their depravity. Depravity and dignity at the same time. Let me show this to you in scripture. Here's what Romans chapter eight, verse 30 says. It says, to those that God predestines. Now by the way, some people teach predestination as the wrong theology, that God has written this play, that God has written the script and he's left some people out of it, and that is not true. Predestination means this. It means that God had a predestiny for you and that predestiny for you was good. So before you ever got there, he already saw it. He already saw something good for you. Here, I'll illustrate it for you this way. My parents had six kids. Someone say that's a lot of kids right there, right? My parents had six kids, and for each of us growing up, before we ever graduated from high school, they saw us graduating from high school and they prayed that God would continue to bless us as we were studying. They saw that we were gonna graduate high school one day, even before we did it. And then they saw us and they prayed for us and they urged us towards having healthy families

and strong marriages and kids far before we ever had families and kids, before we ever had jobs, never had a source of income. They saw us having jobs. They saw us having livelihoods. They saw us buying houses. They saw us and they prepared for us. They said, whatever we can do to help you become successful in that area, we're gonna do because we're your parents and we're gonna pave the way because we see good things for you. We see you graduating. We see you making money. We see you having a job. We see you having a family long before it ever happens. Listen to me today. God has a predestination for every single person in this room today and online. He has good plans for you. Come on, someone. If I know my father, I know my father has good plans. My God is a good, gracious God who longs to bless his children. My Bible even says he even takes the bad things of this life and for those who love Jesus, he'll work them together for his good. Listen to me today. He sees you in your calling even though you might not be walking in it right now.

He sees you as chosen. He sees you as justified and he sees you as glorified, that he's got something for you in your life that is good. Now, whether you do it or not, that's on you, but our God can see both at the same time. And that's why I'm encouraging you today that we need to see the dignity in others even if we're just seeing depravity in front of us right now. I learned that very early on when I was a youth pastor. When I was a youth pastor, a couple months into the job, I had all the students coming up to me telling me all the bad things that they were doing. Now, I'm gonna tell it like it is kind of person. If someone's doing something right, I'm gonna say that it's right, but if someone's doing something that's wrong, I'm gonna tell them to their face that it's wrong, especially if it's against the word of God. Come on, someone. You know the truth and the truth will set you free. And I learned very quickly for me to just say, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, didn't change them. They already knew what they were doing was wrong until one day I learned this phrase and I started saying it and I think it started changing the way they see it. I would start saying to them, hey, I know that's what you did and that's wrong,

but that's not who God says you are. That's not who God says you are. He says you're chosen, he says you're redeemed, he says he's got plans for you. And when I started saying that and my perspective and language towards them started changing, suddenly I started to see their lives changing and the students started to walk into who God called them to be. Are you seeing the point that I'm trying to make today? By the way, can I just pause right now to say to every single person in the room and online that God sees everything that you did, but he does not judge you based on what you've done, but who you can become in Christ. Someone say thank you, Jesus, right there. And now because of that gratitude and because of what Jesus has done for us, we need to see people that same kind of way. First Peter 2, 13 through 14 says these words, submit yourselves for the Lord's sake. In other words, it honors God when you do this. To every authority, whether you agree with them or not, we give honor up, we give honor down, we give honor all around. By the way, Peter would have written this when Rome had an emperor that was named Nero. And Nero was a man who killed people for fun. He loved seeing blood spill so much

that he actually considered it a sport. And Peter comes along and says, even him, Nero, honor him and honor every authority instituted amongst men, whether to the king, to the supreme authority, or to the governors who were sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to condemn those who do right. Say this last part with me. For it is what? It is who? It is God's will. I'm just trying to teach you God's will today. That by doing good, even to the meanest of people, you might silent all of that ignorant talk on social media. Come on, somebody. I know what's in the Bible somewhere. I think it's in the Greek right there. I'm just kidding. That we live as free men and women. In other words, we don't use our freedom to cover it up for evil. We live as servants to God. So what do we do? We show proper respect to, to who? To everyone, to everyone, to everyone. Honor up, honor down, honor all around. Even if I can't see it in that person, I'm gonna add value to them. I'm gonna see the weight in them. See the weight in them.

Could it be just maybe, just maybe, that this is what God is calling us to do as a society and as a people right now? Let me give you one more thought on this, is that when you ascribe honor to someone, they often become more honorable. When you ascribe honor to someone, they often become more honorable. In other words, don't wait for them to deserve it, to give honor. Anyway, one more thought tied to this right here. And that is this, that honoring is not just for the person on the receiving end of the honor. I think you actually get more honor by giving it than receiving it. Every time I give it, I think it just blesses not only the person that I'm trying to honor, but I'm telling you, it also does something inside of me. It does something good for me. And this is the rest of the teaching, Mark chapter six. Let me pick up from earlier before. Jesus says, a prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown and amongst his relatives and his own home. Watch what he says next. And therefore he could not do any miracles there except lay hands on a few sick people and heal them. Did you hear what that verse just said? So Jesus, the great power of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of God, the same God that is going to die

and pay the price for humanity, the same God that could speak to mountains and they will move is weakened of his power because of the attitude of the people who were listening. Check that out. It doesn't say that he would not, it says that he could not. Oh, you didn't hear that. It doesn't say that he would not, it said that he could not. And I wonder how many prayers, maybe even dare I even say, at Calvary Church are not being answered because there might be a spirit of dishonor in some people's hearts today. Your language, your attitude, the words that you're speaking about people, could that be just maybe, just maybe, just maybe, even in our own church service today, there's a lack of honor and it's quenching the spirit of what he could actually do. God wants to answer prayers. God wants to heal bodies. God wants to raise the dead. God wants to move in power. But maybe our lack of honor could be quenching what the spirit is doing. That's a scary verse right there. Conversely, Ephesians chapter six, you can honor. Here's what it says. Honor your father and your mother. Today's Father's Day and we honor all of our dads. Come on, can we honor all of our dads today

in this room today? Can we say thank you to all of our dads? We honor you today, dads. Maybe you're here today on this Father's Day and you're saying, well, I didn't have a good dad. Doesn't matter. We're not honoring him for him. We're honoring him for you. Listen to what that scripture says. Honor your father and mother that it may go well with you. And then listen to this promise attached to it that you may enjoy long life on earth. Do you want to live a long life on earth? Honor your mother and father. I've actually seen this happen in my own life. And again, I'm telling you this story very truthfully today because I don't need applause. I don't need an attaboy. I don't live for that. Honestly, I like a piece of encouragement every once in a while. But I found very, very quickly in my life, come on someone, if you live for the approval of people, they're gonna die at their disapproval. I'm just trying to fulfill what God has for my life, okay? But I've been in places on missions trips often. You get the great honor of getting to preach on missions trips often when you lead a trip or get to go. And most missions trips I've been on in my life at some point I'm asked to preach.

We just got back from Uruguay a couple months ago. I got asked to preach three times in one week. Come on someone, I was preaching a lot. We went to these churches and I'm telling you, just the culture in Latin America, it's so much different than America. They see the pastor and their eyes light up. Oh, pastor, we're so glad that you're here. And they escort you to their room and they sit you down and they ask you if they can get you water. And these people have nothing to their name. They have no money whatsoever, yet they're giving you everything that they have and they're talking to you. And they're saying that they're watching your services online. I mean, they can quote the messages better than you people can, because they're watching. That's just in Uruguay. And I imagine three times that happened and then they got the special seat for you. You got to sit at the special seat and then they call you up and they give you the standing applause. You preach and everybody's taking notes. Hey, the godly people take notes at Calvary Church, that's all I can say, all right? And then you said every how bow and every eye closed and everybody gives their life to Jesus and the altars are flooded

and people are getting slain in the spirit. And then they come up to you after the service and here's what they say. They go, Pastor Dan, that had to be the best message I've ever heard preached in my life. I'm telling you, that makes you feel kind of good. You walk away and go, wow, I did pretty good today, huh? I just got back from the trip in Uruguay. I called one of my buddies. They were actually there a couple months before him and his church built another church in Uruguay as well and he preached as well. And I said, Keith, tell me a little about the trip. Tell me all that you did. And he said, we went to this place and that place. We spoke at this church, and I also preached at this place, and I said, how did it go preaching at that church? He said, it was amazing. It was awesome. You should have seen the way they greeted me, and the way they treated me, and what they did, and how they blessed us. And they even walked up after. I must have preached a pretty good message, because they said it was the best message they ever heard. I said, hey, they must just say that to every pastor that preaches, right? But listen to me, listen to me. They mean it. They mean it. And what are they doing? They're posturing their hearts to be able to receive. Let me say it this way. The more I value something, the more I'll get value from it. And I'm asking you today, what are you valuing? Because we're a people of honor. We're a church of honor. Ready for your assignment? I mean this so sincerely today. I want you to go crazy this week with honor. I want you to just text people this week. I want you to love on people this week. I want you to encourage people this week. When you have an opportunity to slander your boss and everybody else that's at the job, I want you to speak well and encourage your boss and to tell them what a great job he's doing

leading your team. And I'm telling you, you're going to come back and say this is the best week of your life. This was the most fun you had this week. Why? Because you did what the Bible said to do. In a world that's always looking to tear down, you honored and built up. You built up. Here's one more verse. Different translation of an earlier verse that I read. Here's what it says. Try to outdo one another in honor. Like try to beat one another. Like when you go out to lunch today, get the check. And if someone else tries to get it, you run to the front of the restaurant and you say, no I'm getting a check. And if somehow they've already beat you and pay for the check, you just buy the whole restaurant. Just pay for everybody there, all right? Don't do that. Now like when you're at the restaurant today, bless that server with a good tip. They're probably working two or three jobs to live in New Jersey and then make it. Bless that person. Bless that person. I woke up this morning and I had a heart of honor just in prep for this message. I texted six or seven people. I honor you. Happy Father's Day. You've made such an impact on my life. I'm so grateful for you. You have no idea this example that you've set in this area that took me two minutes of my day. But how many know I just got to honor some people this morning? And today I honor all of our dads. One more time. I honor all of our fathers today. To every man watching, we honor you. We honor you. In a world that loves to make you the punchline of every single joke, I'm just telling you, you know it's true. Come on. You tell a joke against a woman, watch out guys, you're in trouble. But we're almost expected in our culture to pull men down. And today, sir, we see how hard you work. We see everything that you do for our families. We love you. We value you. We honor you. You are men of God here at Calvary Church. You're leaders. And we honor you today. Come on, give them a good hand. Honor our fathers today here at Calvary Church. And I'm wrapping up this message today. But before we do that, I told you I'm going to model it for you today. I wanted to show you how you can give honor. How you can give honor in a world that loves to tear down. First and foremost today on Father's Day, I wanted to honor my dad. I believe they got a picture of my dad that they're going to throw on the screen. This is my dad. Father of six kids. One of the most hardworking men that I know. Loves Jesus. Loves the Bible. Great steward of funds and resources. Come on, my parents had six kids. They were never in debt. They sent their kids off to college. Paid college. Never had any debt. Come on, you got to be a good manager of funds if you have six kids that are able to do that, right?

And I honor him. Him and my mom, they didn't let us miss church. They said, as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. And I would say I'm in ministry today because of the example of my parents. He survived cancer once. He's got it again. And I know that God is going to bring him through. And I honor my dad today. You're a great grandfather to your grandkids. Thankful for you. I honor my brother today who's been a mentor to me. He's nine years older than me, so he kind of holds that figure of an older father figure. Brother in my life as well. He's planting churches in your way. Vision of 100 churches that he's going to plant. And leaders and pastors being raised up. Calvary Church, we just gave them money for church number 35 and went and built it. And I honor your example to go all in and to give everything you have and move to a country where you know no one to see one more person honor and receive Jesus. I honor you today, Steve. I honor Jerry Terry. This is my pastor of my home church where I gave my life to Jesus at five years old. And he just celebrated. He's the guy right here with the plaque that he's holding. He just celebrated at the New York Ministry Network Conference for the Assemblies of God, 50 years of full-time ministry and 30 years of serving as leadership in the state of New York. And I honor him for his leadership and legacy, the church that he planted and started, Calvary's Love Assembly of God, where I gave my life to Jesus and was called into ministry. And I honor him today. Today I honor our founding pastor, Pastor Paul Jackson. Come on, who's thankful for our founding pastor? Pastor Paul and his wife Karen and his daughter Kelly, who 41 years ago came out to the state of New Jersey and they didn't know anyone. a vision that God placed in their heart for Calvary Church. And they started with just a few families in a funeral home. And how many know they counted everybody living and dead in that funeral home when they first started. But here we are, thanks to their faithfulness and their sacrifice and their legacy and their leadership, and they're serving even when no one showed up. And they're giving and they're praying. Here we are, Calvary Church, with what the Lord is doing. He's been doing great things and the best is still yet to come.

Come on and give honor to where honor is due and thank Pastor Paul for his leadership and his life and his influence and his legacy. We honor you today. And church, I'm asking you to do the same. That we're gonna be a church that never speaks bad of someone. We're gonna pour out love and affection in the name of Jesus. Today I honor God. God changed my life. My heavenly father changed my life. God loved me so much. You know how much he loved me? That he let his one and only son die for me. I can't even fathom that kind of love. What kind of love is this? That the father should send his one and only son. I have two kids. And I'm telling you, it doesn't matter how good of a person you are, I'm never sacrificing one of my kids for you. Just telling you. But that's how great the father's love is for us, that while we were still sinners, enemies to God, Christ died for you and for me. And you know who else I honor? I honor those of you today who are far from God. Because just like God, we see you in your depravity and your dignity at the same time.

And I look at you today and I say, it doesn't matter what you've done and it doesn't matter where you've been. It doesn't even matter what thoughts you're thinking right now. We embrace you here at Calvary Church. We always wanted to have a church designed for people who were far from God, who could come in here and sit in here and say, you know what? It doesn't feel like they're judging me here. You know what? It actually feels welcoming here. We see you in your depravity and we see you in your dignity. And I invite you now into the journey of following Jesus. Listen to me, Jesus is as real as you will allow him to be. I'm not saying you can stay in that depravity. The gospel will call you to change, actually. I'm just saying we see you in your depravity and we see you in your dignity at the same time. And if you allow your heavenly father into your life, he can really change your life, just as he has mine. And I honor you today. Heads bowed and eyes closed in this room. Let me quickly close this service. If you're here today and want God to change your life and you want to just receive what he did, his love, want to start a relationship with Jesus or recommit back to him

because of what Jesus did on the cross, I'm asking you in this moment to release control of your life and to give it over to the Lord. Every heads bowed, every eyes closed. I'm gonna count to three, if that's you. I'd love for you just to lift your hand in this place. No one's looking around, it's just between you and God. What is the Lord doing in your heart right now? Where do you need to surrender? You need to make God your father. It's the best decision you can make. Takes you out of your sin and your shame and your mess. And he offers you life and purpose in him. Ready, heads bowed, eyes closed. One, two, three. Come on, is that you? Just lift your hand right now and you just surrender to Jesus. Fantastic. See those hands that are lifted in this place today. Fantastic. You can put them right down. Just repeat after me. Come on, everyone pray, pray together so that no one prays alone. Say Jesus, say thank you for dying. You weren't supposed to die, but it was for me. Say the cross was for me, so you paid my sin. And today I repent.

I'm giving you my life. Say this to him. Say thank you for seeing me in my depravity and also in my dignity. And then say today I receive what you have for me. And say it out loud. Say I will follow you, I'm gonna follow you with all my heart. In Jesus' name I pray. Come on and everyone sit.