GRACE BIBLE CHURCH

This little word certainly has a lot of meanings. The Dictionary immediately lists about 11 or 12 different suggestions. We can't look at them all, but basically the word suggests deference, respect, privilege. We use it to proclaim things like, "I wish to honor his name." Or, "It is my honor to introduce the speaker." Or, "On my honor I tell you this." Comedian Rodney Dangerfield made everyone laugh with his celebrated expression, "I get no respect." To honor someone is surely to respect that person.

The Bible uses the word scores of times. It tells us to "honor our father and mother." "Those who honor me, I will honor." "He enjoyed long life, wealth, and honor." "Honor one another above yourselves."

We jokingly say, "there is no honor among thieves." Society cannot truly function without respect and deference to one another. "Nothing is useful except what is honorable." (John Jay, The American Revolution, Citation, Christian History, no. 50) How we treat people is reflective of what we believe. Civility is something of a lost trait in much of our daily living. Certain parts of the country pride themselves in never making eye contact with people as one walks down the street. Other parts go out of their way to be friendly, warm, respectful and civil. You don't have to be madly in love with people to be respectful. When I stand up to preach I try to remember that in the audience are people who suffer, people who have had a bad week, people who are discouraged, people who perhaps have not had an encouraging word recently from anyone. Be an encourager; try to honor your neighbor.

Respect will open doors. It will give you an opportunity to witness. It will present an occasion for you to offer to pray for someone, and sometimes all of this begins by the simple act of respect. Honor, civility, respect. These all relate to people, to the country, to the laws, to the great figures of the past. We do not always have to agree with these things, but they do demand our respect. In the Bible we read these basic and straightforward words. "fear God, honor the king." (I Pet. 2:17) The vertical challenge is to respond to God as He deserves, the horizontal challenge is to give due respect and honor to our human relationships.

The key to all of this is to get our priority straight. Honor belongs to Christ the Lord. Those great paeans of praise that ring through the last book in the Bible remind us of the One to Whom all honor belongs. "You are worthy, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power---"(Rev. 4:11) "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise."(Rev. 5:12) "To Him that sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever."(Rev. 5:13)

My seminary professor, the revered and renowned theologian, Dr. Carl F. H. Henry, wrote, "A cheer for Jesus is no substitute for the Apostle's Creed."(Reformed Journal, 1989, Christianity Today, Vol 33, no 13) Light and frothy exclamations do not necessarily reflect honor and respect. The highest and best are due to the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. We honor Him by serving Him. We honor Him by the lives we give to Him in sacrificial devotion. He alone is worthy.

"We pay God honor and reverence, not for His sake(because He is of Himself full of glory to which no creature can add anything), but for our own sake." (Thomas Aquinas, medieval theologian, from Men of Integrity, Vol. 1, no. 1.)

It is God's will that we honor Him, that we respect each other, and that His name is foremost in our daily experience.