Fake Honor

The death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is reputed to have been caused by a seizure suffered at a meeting of the Presidium, the Communist party executive committee. Livid with fury, Stalin leaped from his seat, only to crash to the floor unconscious. While other Presidium members stared at the prone figure, scheming bureaucrat Laverenti Beria jumped up and danced around the body shouting, “We’re fee at last! Free at last!” But as Stalin’s daughter forced her way into the room and fell on her knees by her father, the dictator stirred and opened one eye. Beria at once dropped down beside Stalin, seized his hand, and covered it with kisses.

Stalin didn’t deserve any honor, but Jesus deserves all of our honor. It’s sad when Christians act honorable at church, but don’t show any honor to the Savior at home. Christ is a loving master, not a dictator; He deserves honor. Mark Twain said, “We’re all like the moon: we have a dark side we don’t want anyone to see.”

The dark side is our dishonorable side. With the moon, one side faces the sun and the other side doesn’t. Face the Son. . .of God. Our dark side isn’t dark to the Lord.

This is fake honor. On the outside, one appears to be honoring God, but that is not his motive on the inside. Nothing dishonors God more than to put on a show of honoring God.

Rogers states that this sin produces four terrible results:

--It is an affront to God, and a kind of mockery

--It grieves the Spirit of God

--It is a spiritual disease

--It argues the loss and non-acceptance of our prayers

We’ve all had fake honor before. Example: pledge allegiance to the American flag at a sports game; singing out of the hymnal.

Three deadly truths about fake honor:

FAKE HONOR IS ONLY HALF-COMMITTED

Ex: King Saul

I Samuel 15:13-23.

Saul did not value God’s honor as much as he did his personal gain. If he obeyed God, he would have gotten nothing out of it, but he would have honored God. If you’re going to honor God, you cannot be selfish.

Saul thought he could obey God partially and still honor Him—he was half-committed to God. He also blamed the people, but he was in charge of the people. Read verse 30. Saul wanted to be honored.

Saul made three mistakes:

--He disobeyed God

--He lied (v.13)

--He blamed the people (v.15)

Saul’s life went downhill from here. He became obsessed with killing David, he almost killed his own son, he became hasty in his decisions and actions, and he even sought a witch to get a dead man’s advice. What happened to Saul? He had so much potential. This is what happened to him: he lost his honor for God. He didn’t have enough honor to obey God 100%. He obeyed God 90%.

When you come to the point where you only do 90% for God, you have lost your honor for God; and your life will only go downhill from there. You might say, “I read my Bible 90% of the time, I pray 90% of the time, I go to church 90% of the time, I tithe 90% of the time; Lord, you can have 90% of my heart!” You’ve lost your honor for God!

Psalm 119:10- “With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.”

Do you see David’s desire in this verse? It is a whole-hearted desire! God wants your whole heart. Saul died a dishonorable man; but did you notice that David always honored God with his whole heart? He fell into sin; but he always came back to God with his whole heart. David lived a life honoring to God.

Mark 12:30- “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”

FAKE HONOR IS MORE CONCERNED ABOUT THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE

Ex: The Pharisees

Matthew 23:27-28.

The Pharisees acted very honorably; they were prideful and picky in their spirituality. All they cared about was how spiritual they looked. How dishonoring to God this is!

Kohler lists seven types of Pharisees who were extremists:

1. The “shoulder” Pharisee, who paraded his good deeds before men like a badge on the shoulder.

2. The “wait-a-little” Pharisee, who would ask someone to wait for him while he performed a good deed.

3. The “blind” Pharisee, who bruised himself by walking into a wall because he shut his eyes to avoid seeing a woman.

4. The “pestle” Pharisee, who walked with hanging head rather than observe alluring temptations.

5. The “ever-reckoning” Pharisee, who was always counting his good deeds to see if they offset his failures.