Most things in life have to be learned. You can do things naturally but you’ve had to learn how to talk, behave, eat, dress, etc. Some people take all things for granted and have an attitude of knowing it all but in fact there are always new things that we have to learn in the area of our relationships. If you think you know everything about Church or about God you may end up losing your faith and even your salvation. In a race athletes can start well and run in the first positions but sometimes they give up and don’t cross the finish line.
Today I want to talk about something really important for your spiritual growth, for a better relationship with God and others and to enhance your life at all levels.
The Protocol (the ethics) of honor
If you go to a real five star hotel, and I am not talking about a five star in Acapulco or in a tourist resort, but if you go to Monte Carlo or to a fancy place in Dubai you will not be allowed to enter the restaurant without the proper attire. They may require either a suit with tie or a tuxedo since there is a dress code to obtain access to the club areas. You will not enter there with shorts of cheap clothes since there is a high standard and a protocol. There are complicated rules of “etiquette” when you start going to high class places. These rules are based in honor and respect and they set limits and boundaries to what you can and cannot do. If you are an outsider you will be easily spotted because eventually you will break protocol.
In God’s Kingdom there is a “Protocol of Honor”. If you expect God’s blessing you need to start by honoring God, respect his Word and behave accordingly. This includes respect by everything that is Holy, God himself, his Word, the Church and the men and women of God that he places on your path.
Proverbs 3 (AMP)
7Be not wise in your own eyes; reverently fear and worship the Lord and turn [entirely] away from evil.
8It shall be health to your nerves and sinews, and marrow and moistening to your bones.
9Honor the Lord with your capital and sufficiency [from righteous labors] and with the firstfruits of all your income;
10So shall your storage places be filled with plenty, and your vats shall be overflowing with new wine.
The Bible talks about “reverent fear” and worship. This is mentioned as a lifestyle since you do it by turning away from evil. This first action involves a promise of inner healing and physical healing. Then it proceeds to Honor. When you honor God with the firstfruits of all your income God promises to bless you to a place of overflow. Honoring God includes giving financially.
My message today is not about giving but it’s about raising the bar in our life. God wants to give you inner peace; healing and financial wellbeing but there is something we have to do if we expect him to reward us with these blessings.
Many people today expect to be blessed without honoring the Lord. Some others expect to be healed both emotionally and physically without having a reverent fear for the things of God.
Honor is the value of something – Causes everything around it to elevate
Dishonor is to treat something as common – Causes everything around it to go down
Honoring God is not something that happens naturally. You need to learn how to be in God’s presence. There is a protocol of access that has little to do with just exterior manifestations of honor. Some Churches show respect by silence in the house of God. Others by covering the altar and the temple with Gold and Silver. Some Christians have a complicated way to do a Church service using incense and complicated protocols of standing, kneeling and repeating prayers. Today I am here to tell you that I don’t want to devalue these things but that reverent respect starts in your heart and not in a ritual that is done in Church.
Raising the Bar in our Honor
The year is 550 BC and everything was going in a down spiral, moral was down, lifestyle was deteriorating, God spoke through a prophet named Malachi and asked where was the honor due to him.
Malachi 1 (AMP)
6A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is the [reverent] fear due Me? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise My name. You say, How and in what way have we despised Your name?
So you see that God is asking them the honor that we owe to Him. Even the priests have arrived to a state of dishonor and disrespect and they don’t even know it. The priests are surprised because they keep doing the ritual but it became to them a habit and not an act of worship.
I lived several years in a house that was close to a small train station. Every morning at rush hour the train will stop and the road intercession was cut. A red light and a bell flashed and ringed for about 5 minutes while people entered and leaved the train. This repeated several times a day and when I moved to that house I was really disturbed by the trains. With time something happened. I stopped hearing the train. I mean the train was still there several times a day and nothing was wrong with my ears but I became used to that annoying noise and just ignored it. When people visited me they woke up with the train but I just kept sleeping like a baby.
You can stop seeing the things of God as worthy of honor and respect and just like the priests described in the book of Malachi be surprised by this message because you still come to Church and you still do all things right but the question is; “where is your honor?”
Malachi 1:11-13 (The Message)
11"I am honored all over the world. And there are people who know how to worship me all over the world, who honor me by bringing their best to me. They're saying it everywhere: 'God is greater, this God-of-the-Angel-Armies.'
12-13"All except you. Instead of honoring me, you profane me. You profane me when you say, 'Worship is not important, and what we bring to worship is of no account,' and when you say, 'I'm bored—this doesn't do anything for me.' You act so superior, sticking your noses in the air—act superior to me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! And when you do offer something to me, it's a hand-me-down, or broken, or useless. Do you think I'm going to accept it? This is God speaking to you!
Here is the list of things that God’s people where doing and that displeased God.
1. They said that worship is not important (coming to the Church is not my top priority)
2. They affirmed that God didn’t care about their offerings
3. They said that they were bored and that there is no advantage in coming to Church
4. They acted superior sticking their noses in the air (arrogance and lack of respect by authorities)
This is just one of the lists of things that Malachi, the prophet, brought to their attention.
Malachi 3:7 (AMP)
7Even from the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, How shall we return?
8Will a man rob or defraud God? Yet you rob and defraud Me. But you say, In what way do we rob or defraud You? [You have withheld your] tithes and offerings.
9You are cursed with the curse, for you are robbing Me, even this whole nation.
10Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Here we see how God is telling them how to reverse the down spiral fall in their lives. Honoring God includes tithing and God sees our giving as a way to honoring him. Their lifestyle was going down and down. Financially they where in trouble, their worship was boring, Church was a drag, everything was going down and the cause was the lack of honor given to the things of God.
You see, honor elevates and dishonor brings everything down.
Jesus said in Matthew 15:8
“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
Conclusion
You can be one of these people that chose to follow God with your lips but not with your heart. The fact that you can come to Church and talk like a Christian is relevant to God but the bottom line is do you honor God with all your life. If you retain what belongs to God he will not bless you.
Honoring God includes honoring his prophets.
Matthew 13:57
And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”
Jesus was honored everywhere but the people of his hometown saw him as “the son of the carpenter”. They where not able to see his greatness.
A few years ago in Washington DC a man took his place on the street against a wall. He pulled a violin from a case and began to play. For this performance he chose six selections from Bach. Several thousand people walked by as he began to play. Some stopped and listened briefly and moved away, some even gave sympathy money. On several occasions little children would stop to listen but every time they did it the parent would pull them on. Maybe it was just childlike curiosity or maybe the children just sensed something different. Because it was something. The beggar on the street that morning was the World renowned Joshua Bell. The instrument that he played was a violin valued at 3.5 million dollars. Just 48 hours earlier peopled packed the Boston Theater at an average of more than $100 per seat to listen to him play. Today his concert gave him an honor of $32 most by sympathy. When he finished there was no applause, no standing ovation asking for more. There was nothing to acknowledge the magnificent power that has been on display. Then the music stops, the violin goes back into the case and the master leaves the place. For nearly one hour there have been grandeur there but no one noticed it. For nearly one hour there have been greatness there but no one recognized it or valued it. People just rushed by, unaware, and my guess is that this gets to happen every day and everywhere. Greatness and grandeur happens and goes unnoticed. Grandeur and greatness is in our presence and yet we don’t recognize it. Greatness and majesty is in our presence and yet we are unaware of it.
How can we keep ourselves from being unaware of greatness? The magnificence, the grandeur that comes into our lives? There is a concept in our society that causes everything around us to become common. People keep comparing the Word of the living God with Science books written by men. People compare those that God anointed as their servants with themselves. Others compare Church to a show or a little theater and grandeur is missed, honor is missed and then everything spirals down to a place of curse. We need to bring honor back into our lives.
Some man disrespect their wives and don’t even notice them. One day another man comes and starts flirting her and she likes the compliments. The husband then gets jealous and starts making a scene or buys her some flowers and a ring. When you love your wife you should acknowledge that relationship by giving her honor. Saying nice things and giving nice presents. You take time alone and show that respect and that honor and by doing so your marriage is greatly blessed. You see dishonor brings relationships down but honor elevates things.
I would like to challenge you today to re-examine your protocols of honor and to start treating the things of God with honor; begin by honoring also the men and women of God that serve in your local Church and treat them respectfully; bring honor to your marriage by showing your appreciation for your husband, for your wife and children.
Romans 12:10
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor
The violinist can be playing right now and my question is, do you recognize grandeur? When Jesus was born only a few recognized that they were in the presence of a King. They bowed down and honored him with gifts. Let us take time to honor the Lord in the first place and also learn how to honor others.
