INTRO: Out of the sun, packed in a diamond formation and flying as one that day, the Minute Men dove at nearly the speed of sound toward a tiny emerald patch on Ohio’s unwrinkled crazy quilt below. It was a little after nine on the morning of June 7, 1958, and the destination of the Air National Guard’s jet precision team was the famed Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, just outside Dayton.
On the ground, thousands of faces looked upward as Colonel Walt Williams, leader of the Denver-based Sabrejet team, gauged a high-speed pullout. For the Minute Men pilots – Colonel Williams, Captain Bob Cherry, Lieutenant Bob Odle, Captain John Ferrier and Major Win Coomer – the maneuver was routine, for they had given their show hundreds of times before millions of people.
Low across the fresh, green grass the jet stream streaked, far ahead of the noise of the planes’ own screaming engines. Judging his pull-up Colonel Williams pressed the microphone button on the top of his throttle: “Smoke on – now!” The diamond of planes pulled straight up into the turquoise sky, a bush tail of white smoke pluming out behind. The crowd gasped as the four ships suddenly split apart, rolling to the four points of the compass and Minute Men’s famed “flower burst” maneuver. For a minute the crowd relaxed, gazing at the tranquil beauty of the huge, white flower that had grown from the lush Ohio grasslands to fill the great bowl of sky.
Out on the end of his stem of the flower, Colonel Williams turned his Sabre hard, cut off the smoke trail, and dropped the nose of his F86 to pick up speed for the low-altitude crossover maneuver. Then, glancing back over his shoulder, he froze in terror. Far across the sky to the east, John Ferrier’s plane was rolling. He was in trouble. And his plane was headed right for the small town of Fairborn, on the edge of Patterson Field. In a moment, the lovely morning had turned to horror. Everyone saw; everyone understood. One of the planes was out of control.
Steering his jet in the direction of the crippled plane to race after it, Williams radioed urgently, “Bail out John! Get out of there!” Ferrier still had plenty of time and room to eject safely. Twice more Williams issued the command: “Bail out, Johnny! Bail out!”
Each time, Williams was answered only by a blip of smoke.
He understood immediately. John Ferrier couldn’t reach the mike button on the throttle because both hands were tugging on a control stick locked in full-throw right. But the smoke button was on the stick, so he was answering the only way he could – squeezing to tell Walt he thought he could keep his plane under enough control to avoid crashing into the houses of Fairborn.
Suddenly, a terrible explosion shook the earth. Then came a haunting silence. Walt Williams continued to call through the radio, “Johnny? Are you there? Captain, answer me!”
No response.
Major Win Coomer, who had flown with Ferrier for years, both in the Air National Guard and with United Airlines, and who had served a combat tour with him in Korea, was the first Minute Man to land. He raced to the crash scene, hoping to find his friend alive.
Instead, he found a neighborhood in shock from the awful thing that had happened. Captain John T. Ferrier’s Sabrejet had hit the ground midway between four houses, in a backyard garden. It was the only place where he could have crashed without killing people. The explosion had knocked a woman and several children to the ground, but no one had been hurt, with the exception of Johnny Ferrier. He had been killed instantly.
A steady stream of people began coming to Coomer as he stood in his flying suit beside the smoking, gaping hole in the ground where his best friend had just died.
“A bunch of us were standing together watching the show,” an elderly man with tears in his eyes told Coomer. “When the pilot started to roll, he was headed straight for us. For a second, we looked right at each other. Then he pulled up right over us and put it in there.”
In deep humility, the old man whispered, “This man died for us.”
A few days after this tragic accident, John Ferrier’s wife, Tulle, found a worn card in his billfold. On it were the words “I’m Third.” That simple phrase exemplified the life – and death – of this courageous man. For him, God came first, others second and himself third. True to his philosophy, John Ferrier sacrificed his life for people he had never met.
Let’s review what we’ve learned this far about honor.
-Honor means to put value to something, it’s precious, weighty, to respect.
-Dishonor – treat as common, ordinary, disrespect, no value.
: When we honor someone, honor will go before us as a guide. (Romans 12:10)
: We are to outdo one another in showing honor.
-Literally to take the lead, we are to show others how to do it.
: Honor is something you give and not take. (Matthew 23:6)
: We can move from a vessel of dishonor to a vessel of honor by cleansing (separating) ourselves. (2 Timothy 2:20-21)
: The author of Hebrews (probably the apostle Paul) asked the saints to pray that they would continue to have a desire to honor others.
: Authorities will show us if we truly understand honor.
TITLE: Honoring Others – Part 4
TEXT: 2 Peter 3:11-12
Peter was a man who did great things for God. Jesus even commended Peter and told him that he would build Christ’s church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it.
Peter is coming to the conclusion of his life and he writes many things. He talks about the day of the Lord (judgment of God) and that everything will be laid bare.
With this coming event in mind he tells us how we ought to live – holy and godly lives.
TS: To live a godly life is a very general concept. To get more specific we’ve been looking at honor and what that means.
Throughout Peter’s writings he talks about honor over and over again.
: Honor believers
: Honor wives
: Honor the king
: Honor everyone
Point: So when you’re honoring others that is a part of living a godly life.
I. What happens when we honor others.
A. It speeds up the Lord’s judgment. Peter is teaching us a principle here – that is we have a part to play in the timing of God’s decision.
-We can speed its coming or we can delay it.
1. Take for example the children of Israel. God delivered them from Egypt, wanted them to go into the Promise Land (Canaan), but at Kadesh-Barnea all except Moses, Joshua, Caleb rebelled against God and refused to enter the land. As a result God had them wander in the wilderness for the next 40 years.
-They delayed the blessings that God had for them.
2. Think about it – you can either speed up or delay God’s intervention into your life.
Thought: Somewhere in the mystery between God’s sovereignty and man’s free choice, I have a part to play in the time of God’s intervention.
3. Let me illustrate - make it practical. Let’s say I’m being mistreated by an authority (boss/employee, husband/wife). Rather than depend on God I take matters into my own hands and get even or get some sort of revenge to make me feel better. What I’m doing is delaying God intervention.
Personal note: I can’t tell you how many times I have delayed God’s intervention in my life because I’ve taken matters into my own hands, with the attitude I’ll just do it.
Remember what Peter says - as we look forward to the day of God let’s quicken his coming by living holy and godly lives, honoring others.
TS: Second thing that will happen when we learn how to honor others.
II. Inherit a blessing. 1 Peter 3:9, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”
A. Peter tells us to bless others no matter what they’ve done to us.
1. Bless carries the idea of honor in the original language. (So when others do evil against us we are to honor them.) To this we are called.
-As we accomplish this task Peter tells us we will inherit a blessing (divine favor, a large amount).
2. So the next time you are being treated unfairly look at it as an opportunity for a promotion.
Example. I was working in the business field, recently finished a business finance degree. I was resisting what God wanted me to do, that was to go in the ministry. I finally relented and chose to follow God.
So I traveled to Minneapolis to attend NCU. I had an old junky car, $800 to my name, and a toddler who had heart problems. The Lord was faithful, he opened doors for jobs. One of them was caretaking, got rent free. The terms were agreed on, things were set, but the manager and owner above us who we thought were our friends turned on us and changed the conditions of our arrangements because they found out our financial condition and knew we had nothing else.
We had nowhere to go so we made the best of it. The Lord was faithful during the next 1 ½ years, taught us many things. The greed between the owners grew so much that they went to court over a dispute. The end result - the one owner who was taking advantage of everyone lost it all. The managers above us got demoted. Tammy and I got moved to Minnetonka (one of the richest suburbs), free rent, a pool outside our patio door, and all I had to do was work 3 nights a week showing apartments. God gave us a promotion.
B. The apostle John warns us – to watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you be rewarded fully. (2 John 8)
1. Idea that there is
: Full reward
: Partial reward
: No reward
2. A story that shows us an example of this is the parable of the 10 minas, Luke 19:11-27. [Read]
a. King was going away, so he called 10 servants and gave each the same, 1 mina (3 months wage). They were to put the money to work.
b. The king returns and calls his servants to see what they’ve done.
i. 1st servant – earned 10 more minas.
-Notice the king’s response - well done my good servant, rewarded ruling 10 cities.
-He got a full reward.
ii. 2nd servant – earned 5 minas.
-Notice king’s response - you take charge of 5 cities. The king did not say well done my good servant, also the reward was half of the first servant’s.
-This servant got a partial reward.
iii. 3rd servant – earned no minas. The king calls him a wicked servant and has his mina taken from him.
-This servant got no reward.
Question: Today if we stood in front of the king what would our reward be - a full reward, a partial reward, no reward?
-The apostle John tells us to watch out you don’t lose it.
In Conclusion: When we honor others -
-We speed the Lord’s judgment (for him to intervene).
-We will inherit a blessing.
: The question - is it a full reward, partial reward, no reward.
-That all depends on our faithfulness.
-One quick thought: We can inherit a reward not only in the next life but also in this life because our heavenly father is a giving dad.
