True virtue - Gratitude

 We are in a study called True Virtues and today we are going to look at what might be the one virtue that can change everything in our lives and make it better.  And I really do mean everything.  Studies continue to show that the virtue of gratitude has the power to transform everything in our life.  Giving thanks on a regular basis can improve our health, strengthen our relationships, improve our situation at work, set us free from depression and anxiety, lead us closer to God, and change our culture.  

An article in a recent Harvard Business Review said, 

The research is clear: Gratitude is good for you. It improves wellbeing, reduces stress, and builds resilience. It can even make you more patient.  (Amy Gallo, Giving Thanks at Work, Harvard Business Review, November 24, 2021)

The Harvard Medical School has said, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.  (Harvard Health Publishing, August 14, 2021)

And Robert Emmons, the premiere researcher on gratitude from Berkeley University, has said that a practice as simple as a gratitude journal, where people keep track of things they are grateful for, can make a huge difference in as little as three weeks.  In Greater Good Magazine, published by Berkeley, Emmons said, 

We’ve studied more than one thousand people, from ages eight to 80, and found that people who practice gratitude consistently report a host of benefits:

Physical

● Stronger immune systems

● Less bothered by aches and pains

● Lower blood pressure

● Exercise more and take better care of their health

● Sleep longer and feel more refreshed upon waking

Psychological

● Higher levels of positive emotions

● More alert, alive, and awake

● More joy and pleasure

● More optimism and happiness

Social

● More helpful, generous, and compassionate

● More forgiving

● More outgoing

● Feel less lonely and isolated.

I could go on and on quoting studies and articles about how the virtue of gratitude can improve everything in our lives, but none of this should be a surprise to us because the science backs up what the Bible has said for generations.  Gratitude improves everything.  

Today we are going to look at 4 things the Bible teaches us about gratitude and the first one comes from Psalm 100:4-5

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Gratitude is the door to God’s presence.  If we want to enter into the presence of God, we do it through gratitude and praise.  If we want to experience the love and grace of God, the door by which we enter is thanksgiving.  If we want to have a deeper relationship with God and know God more fully, we start with gratitude.  

Every day we should begin with gratitude.  Thank you God for a new day to live and breathe and move.  Thank you for another day to experience your beauty and your grace.  Thank you for another day to experience your mercies and love and faithfulness to me.  Every day should begin with gratitude and every prayer should begin with or include gratitude.  While there is no one right way to pray and our prayers can take many different shapes and forms, gratitude, thanksgiving and praise needs to be consistent elements.  

Any practice of gratitude like a journal or list, needs to include all those things God gives us that make our lives good.  From family to friends, to forgiveness and freedom, God blesses us with many good things and as we give thanks we are drawn closer to God.  Gratitude is the pathway to a deeper relationship with God and the doorway to experiencing God’s presence.  

The second thing the Bible teaches us is: Gratitude brings freedom.  As we enter into the presence of God and experience the spirit of God we experience freedom.  The Bible says, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  2 Corinthians 3:17.  

One unexpected place where we find freedom coming from gratitude is in the story of Jonah.  We looked at the epic tale of Jonah this summer and if you remember, God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell the people living there to repent.  Nineveh was an evil city with violent people and Jonah didn’t want to go there so he got on a boat going in the other direction.  As a storm tossed the boat on the sea, Jonah was thrown overboard where a large fish swallowed him.  From inside the belly of the fish, Jonah prayed, and part of his prayer was gratitude and thanksgiving.  Jonah thanked God for hearing him call out in distress and rescuing him, even if it meant he was now inside the belly of a big fish.  At the end of his prayer, Jonah said, 

But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you.

What I have vowed I will make good.  I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”  And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.  Jonah 2:9-10

Did you see what happened?  When Jonah gave thanks to God, he was set free.  It was shouts of grateful praise that led to the fish vomiting Jonah out onto dry ground.  No matter what might be holding us back, gratitude can bring freedom.  And let’s be clear, we aren’t always grateful FOR the circumstances we find ourselves in, some of them are just as horrible as being on the inside of a fish.  We aren’t thankful FOR all circumstances, we are thankful IN all circumstances.  When we can practice gratitude no matter what we are going through, we find freedom.  

Going back to all those studies done by Harvard and Berkeley, gratitude has been shown to bring freedom physically from aches and pains.  It can boost our immune system, reduce heart disease, and lead to better sleep.  We can be set free from stress, depression and anxiety by practicing gratitude.  We can be set free from fear and experience more joy.  Gratitude leads us to the spirit of the Lord and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  

We see this play out in a very dramatic way with Paul and Silas in the New Testament.  Paul and Silas had been sent by God to share the good news of Jesus as the Savior and establish churches all over Asia Minor.  You would think if God was sending them,  the road would be easy and success would greet them at every stop, but that was not at all what happened.  Paul and Silas often met obstacles and persecution and in Philippi they were thrown into jail.

From jail, you might think Paul and Silas would be cursing God for not helping them, or pleading with God to rescue them.  Neither was the case.  Paul and Silas were praising God.  

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.  Acts 16:25-26

When Paul and Silas sang hymns to God, when they praised God and gave thanks to God, their chains fell off.  They were set free, but did you notice what else happened?  Their gratitude set others free!  Gratitude doesn’t just lift us up emotionally and set us free, it lifts others up and sets them free as well.  

Going back to the Harvard Business Review article, it talks about the positive impact gratitude has on those around us.  Professor David DeSteno said, when people feel grateful, they’re willing to devote more effort to help others, to be loyal even at a cost to themselves, and to split profits equally with partners rather than take more money for themselves.  

In time, our gratitude can help other people.  Our gratitude can lift others up, make their lives happier, and help set them free from depression, stress, and anxiety.  Gratitude has the power to set us free and to set others free.  That’s what we see with Paul and Silas.

The other lesson on gratitude we see from Paul and Silas is: Gratitude is a daily choice.  Of all the people in Philippi that night, Paul and Silas had lots of reason to be angry, disappointed, and bitter.  They were doing what God called them to do.  They were following Jesus with all they had, and this was the result.  They could have chosen to be angry and hold a grudge toward God, but they chose instead to be grateful.  

Gratitude is a choice that we have complete control over.  We can’t control our circumstances, but we can always control our attitudes and decisions we make in those circumstances.  Even if everything around us is falling apart, we can still choose to be grateful because as we face the fiercest storm, we are not alone.  God has made us this promise.  

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  For I am the Lord your God,   the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.  Isaiah 43:2-3

This is why we can give thanks in even the worst of circumstances, because God is there.  God is always there and so at all times and in all places we can choose to give thanks.  We may not be grateful for the circumstances, but we are grateful for the One who walks with us in all circumstances.  When we make the choice to be grateful, we see that God is with us, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom and that freedom isn’t just for us, but for all those around us as well.  

Gratitude has the power to change so many things in life and gratitude gives us the power to forgive and experience forgiveness.  Gratitude and grudges cannot co-exist, we either hold tight to one or the others.  So which will we choose?  

Sometimes it feels good to hold onto a grudge.  It feels good to be angry and know that we were right and they were wrong. While we might want to hold onto that grudge, it will only keep us inside the belly of a fish.  Holding on to our pride, our anger, our frustration and bitterness literally holds us hostage in prisons of darkness and decay.  It keeps us in the stink-hold of a fish’s stomach.  Letting go of a grudge and practicing gratitude instead, sets us free to experience the joy of freedom and life.  Sometimes we do have to let something go in order to practice gratitude, but making that choice is worth it.  

One of the wonderful things about gratitude is that it is a virtue that can be cultivated in our lives, it simply takes practice and perseverance.  Let me share with you some ways we can develop gratitude in our lives.  

#1 Keep a Gratitude Journal.  This is as easy as keeping a list handy and writing down all the things you are thankful for each day.  Don’t try and make it profound and don’t worry about being creative, simply write down what you are thankful for during the course of the day.  Family.  Friends.  Food.  God.  Forgiveness.  Music.  Pumpkin Spice.  Apples.  Cool weather.  Football.  Whatever it is, write it down and watch your attitude change.  

#2 Send a Thank You note.  Sending a note of thanks not only changes you but it helps change those around you.  Getting a note of appreciation helps others feel appreciated and valued.  It lifts others up and encourages them to keep going.  Getting those notes at just the right time can make all the difference in someone giving up or moving forward.  It can change everything.  The practice helps us look for people, places and practices for which we are grateful and puts our gratitude muscles to work.  

#3 Pray.  I love that publications from Harvard and Berkeley include prayer in their practices of gratitude.  Prayers of thanksgiving and hymns of praise can change our perspective.  They help us be mindful of not only what we have but the One who has given it all to us.  Prayers of gratitude also lead us into the presence of God where we experience freedom.  So prayer is an important practice for us to consider.  And if you need words for these prayers, read through the book of Psalms which is filled with prayers of thanksgiving and praise to God.  

#4 Use your senses.  Each day, use your sense of touch, sight, smell, taste, and hearing to give thanks.  Give thanks for the beauty of the season you can see or smell.  Give thanks for the refreshing taste of something you eat or drink.  Give thanks for the beauty of music, or the sound of a familiar and loving voice.  Use all 5 senses to give thanks.  

#5 Use visual reminders.  Put something that you are grateful for in a place where you will see it every day as a reminder to give thanks.  Put a new picture of your family on your fridge or in your car.  Put a treasured item that reminds you of good times or good people near your door so you see it as you come in and go out.  The people of God were told to write the word of God on the doorposts of their homes to remind them of God as they went in and out each day.  Set up a visual reminder to give thanks every day.  

#6 Practice, Practice, Practice.  Practice saying thank you again and again and again.  I’ve shared before that when we were growing up it was drilled into us to say thank you.  When my family went out for dinner, which wasn’t often, the waitress would always comment because anytime they filled our water glass, brought us food, removed the plates, or did anything else, there would be three kids who would each, say, thank you.  So practice.  Whichever gratitude exercise you choose, keep it going.  The more we practice gratitude, the more grateful our hearts will become.  

God calls us to a virtue that not only reflects His goodness and grace, but has the power to improve every area of our life.  If you want to have a better experience at work, better relationships at home, a deeper connection with God, or a stronger mind and body, gratitude can help.  And we have so much to be thankful for because when we turned away and our love failed God, God did not fail us.  God came to us in Jesus to forgive us, to heal us, to save us from our sin and at times from ourselves, and God brings us freedom, hope, and eternal life.  In Jesus alone we have so much to give thanks for and that might be the best place for us to focus and start giving thanks.  

Next Steps

True Virtue - Gratitude

Name one thing you are grateful for from this past week?  

Cultivate gratitude with one (or more) of these practices:

#1 Keep a Gratitude Journal or Count Your Blessings

In a journal or on a list, keep track of all the things you are thankful for each day.  Set aside time at night or in the morning to add items to the list.

#2 Send a “Thank You” note

For one month, send a thank you note each week to someone that you value or has blessed you.

#3 Pray

Begin each day with a prayer of gratitude for the opportunities to come, or end each night with a prayer of gratitude for all the blessings you received.  Read the Psalms in your prayers

#4 Use your senses

Each day, give thanks for something you have seen, tasted, touched, smelled or heard.  

#5 Use visual or digital reminders

Set a reminder on your phone to give thanks every day or set an item you treasure at your door to remind you to give thanks as you come and go each day.  

#6 Practice, Practice, Practice

Make the above practices an ongoing part of your daily life.  Choose to do these things every day.  

For further reading on gratitude, check out this article:  greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_gratitude_is_good

True Virtue - Integrity

 If you are a tennis fan, then you know the US Open is finishing up and this year there has been some great play from US athletes. The last time an American man won the US open was when Andy Roddick won it 20 years ago.  What you might not know about Andy Roddick is that at the Italian Masters in 2005, Andy had been declared the winner by the chair umpire on a serve called “out” by the linesman, but Andy knew the serve was in.  

As his opponent, Fernando Verdasco, made his way to the net to congratulate Andy, Andy was calling the chair umpire to come down and look at the mark on the court.  The ball wasn’t out, the call was overturned, and the game continued.  Verdasco got another serve, and he won the point.  He went on to win the game, the set and then the match.  Andy Roddick lost hundreds of thousands of dollars that day, but he walked off the court with his integrity.  

Integrity is another True Virtue that matters to God.  A great picture of integrity is found in Psalm 15.  King David was asking the question, who could experience God’s goodness and dwell in God's presence, and the answer was, those with integrity.  

The one whose walk is blameless, 

who does what is righteous,

who speaks the truth from their heart; 

whose tongue utters no slander,

who does no wrong to a neighbor,

and casts no slur on others;

who despises a vile person

but honors those who fear the Lord;

who keeps an oath even when it hurts,

and does not change their mind;

who lends money to the poor without interest;

who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Whoever does these things will never be shaken.   Psalm 15:2-5

This is what integrity looks like.  It looks like doing the right thing even if it is difficult and painful.  Integrity is not being perfect; it is being consistent and whole.  The word integrity actually comes from the mathematical word integer which means whole.  An integer is a whole number and a person with integrity is the same person in every area of their life.  In all of our lives we have a professional area, a family area, a social area, a spiritual area, and a private area. 

 While how we live in some of these areas might be the same, we might also think, speak and act differently in different areas.  We might treat people at work better than we treat people at home. We might say things at home that we might not say when we are at church or in our small group.  And then there are the things in our private personal life that no one knows about and we want to keep it that way.  

A person with integrity still has all these areas, but they strive to have Jesus guide them through them all.  If we will allow Jesus to give direction to all our thoughts, words and actions in each of these areas, then as Psalm 15 says, we are going to find a solid foundation in life.  We will never be shaken.  

If integrity is being the same person in every area of life, the opposite of a person with integrity is a hypocrite.  The word hypocrite comes from the Greek word hypokrisis which refers to acting on a stage.  In the Greek theater, actors wore masks to portray who they were supposed to be in any given scene.  That is really what a hypocrite does, they put on a mask and play the part in any given situation.  They pretend to be one person when they are at work, another at home, and someone else at church.  They say one thing and yet live very differently.  We know integrity matters to God because some of the harshest criticism Jesus had wasn’t for tax collectors and prostitutes, it was for hypocrites.  

In Matthew 23, Jesus calls out the religious leaders for being hypocrites 7 times. Here is one example.     Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.  Matthew 23:27-28

God really does care about who we are on the inside and not just how we look to others on the outside.  God cares about who we are and how we live when no one is around and looking.  God wants our behaviors to match our beliefs not just when we are in church, at work, with our family or friends, or in the public eye, God wants our behaviors and our beliefs to match all the time.  

Again, this doesn’t mean we will be perfect, because we won’t.  There will be those times when we fail and it is in those moments God is looking to see how we will respond.  Will we confess our sin?  Will we ask for forgiveness from God and others?  Will we own up to our failures and shortcomings and learn from them so that we can do things better the next time? Every choice and action is an opportunity to learn and grow. 

You may have heard the story of a contractor who told his company that after 40 years of work he was going to retire.  Every month he made sure they knew he was leaving and finishing up projects on his list.  A few months before he retired, the owner of the company came and asked him if he would build one more home for the organization.  The man was a little upset because he had been clear when his retirement was and that he was finishing up projects not adding new ones to his schedule.  

The owner of the company pleaded with him to build this one last house and so he agreed, but his heart wasn’t in it.  The contractor cut corners.  He didn’t use the best sub-contractors, and he went cheap on all the appliances and fixtures.  While the house looked good on the outside, the inside was not well built.  When the house was finished and the contractor retired, the owner of the company said, because of your faithful service for all these years, our final gift to you is this, and they handed him the keys to that house.  

Here’s why this story is important: each one of us is building our own home.  Every decision we make will determine what kind of life we will have.  Will we choose to be generous or selfish?  Will we choose to do the right thing, or cut corners and take advantage of others?  Will we honor others or dishonor them?  Will we offer grace to people or judgment?  Will we tell the truth or be filled with lies?  Every choice we make is part of who we are today and who we will be tomorrow and if we live with integrity, our home will be solid and secure.  We will be unshakable.  If we have integrity, then nothing else matters.  But the opposite is also true, if we don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.  

Integrity matters and it is a virtue we need to develop in life.  If you want to become a person of integrity, the place to start is to be bold and pray this prayer.  Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  Psalm 139: 23-24

It’s not an easy prayer because if we ask God to search our hearts and point out the areas where we are struggling to be honest and faithful, God will point them out.  Now the truth is that we probably already know the areas where we lack integrity and want to overlook them and move on, but if we are serious about integrity and this prayer, God will point out those areas to us again and again until we confront them.

If you do pray this prayer and want God to show you the areas where you might be struggling with integrity, one place to look would be at those places where you get the most defensive.  Getting defensive when we don’t need to might be a sign of our vulnerability.  There might be places where our desire to project ourselves as being better than we are causes us to exaggerate or lie.  Instead of getting defensive when we are challenged in some area, maybe we need to quietly search our heart and see what lies behind our anxiety and fear.  

A second place for us to look would be all the areas where we are critical with others.  Is our criticism of others masking some weakness in ourselves?  Are we critical of others because it helps us overcome our own insecurities and makes us feel better about ourselves?  Instead of being critical in those situations, what if we examine our own heart and ask God to show us what lies behind our critical feelings. Is there something in us that needs to change?

The third and most difficult area we might want to examine would be to think about all the things about ourselves that we don't want others to know.  Are there things we are hiding from others?  Are there things we are trying to hide from God?  The more we try to hide things in life and live our personal lives in the shadows, the less integrity we have, and the less secure our lives will be.  

What we need to remember about these dark areas is that they are not dark to God.  God knows about them, and God loves us in spite of them.  What God wants is for us to be honest with Him about them, to walk in the light of His love and grace and move from darkness to light in our own lives.   

Once we ask God to search us, the next prayer we probably need to be ready to pray is a prayer of confession. While confession is not easy, it is important to acknowledge the areas where our actions have been inconsistent with our beliefs.  Maybe we exaggerated the truth to make ourselves look better than we are, or we gossiped about others to feel better about ourselves.  Can we acknowledge that, make amends as we need to and learn from it?  Maybe we have cheated on our taxes or cut corners in our finances or made ourselves look super spiritual to others when we know what lies in the hidden darkness of our hearts.  Can we be honest and confess our sin to God and others?  Confession is the first step in healing and becoming a whole person.  There honestly isn’t going to be any integrity with confession and seeing forgiveness because we simply will never be perfect.   

Living with integrity takes courage and faith because it can be risky.  Doing the right thing doesn’t mean you always win the game, Andy Roddick will tell you that, but it does mean you will win in life.  There are times that integrity will mean doing what is right and leaving the results to God.  This is what Jesus did.

Jesus was a man of integrity.  In the garden of Gethsemane, in the early morning hours on the day Jesus would be crucified, Jesus had a choice to make.  He knew that to be faithful to God would mean dying on a cross, and he honestly didn’t want to experience that pain. So he prayed with integrity, My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.  Mathew 26:39

To do what God was asking Him to do was going to be painful.  Jesus would have welcomed another way out, and he honestly told His father that, but to walk with integrity meant dying on a cross.  While Jesus believed his death would be productive and redemptive, ultimately, He had to do what was right and trust God with the results.  Jesus did what was right.  He submitted to God, carried a cross, took on our sin, and died our death.  Jesus did what was right and let God do the rest.  And God did.  God raised Jesus to life on the third day letting us know that we are forgiven and that the power of sin and death have been forever destroyed.  

If we will do what is right, if we live with integrity and trust God with the results, things might not be easy, things might not work out the way we would want them to here and now, but ultimately, we will experience the abundance and fullness of life.  Integrity leads to a life that is good, secure, and faith filled.  If we have integrity nothing else matters because we have everything.  If we don’t have integrity, nothing else matters because we have nothing.  Integrity matters to God.  It’s a true virtue that can make all the difference in our lives.  

Next Steps

True Virtues - Integrity

Read Psalm 15.  

● In what ways is this a good definition of virtue?  

● What would you add to a definition of integrity?

● Who is the most integrity-filled person you know?

How do your beliefs and behavior differ in the different segments of your life?

 

The first step toward increasing integrity is to uncover areas of hypocrisy and darkness.  To do this, use this prayer: Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. (From Psalm 139: 23-24)

Three areas of life to examine:

1. Where do you get the most defensive?

● What do these things reveal about your own weakness and vulnerability?

2. Where are you most critical of others?

● What do these things reveal about your own strengths and failures?  

3. What are those areas in your personal life that you don’t want anyone to know?

● If there is hidden sin, confess it to God and ask for the grace and power to overcome it

● Consider sharing your personal struggles with a trusted friend.  

True Virtue - Honor

 Some people say we are living in an age of perpetual offense where people are looking for ways to feel offended.  Well, here’s the good news for them, if you are looking to be offended, you will always find what you are looking for.  It used to be that we only looked for these kinds of offenses from our elected leaders and public figures.  If there was someone we didn’t like or disagreed with, we could usually find an opportunity to cut them down or cancel them, but now we are looking to cut down and cancel everyone.  

If we don’t like what a teacher or coach says, let’s get them fired. We don’t like what a friend said or posted on facebook, we can silence or unfriend them on social media and in life.  For the past decade or more, there have been articles that provide talking points on how to deal with family members who didn’t vote the way you did when you are all together for the holidays.  Of course, some people just don’t invite “those family members” for the holidays.  

It’s sad that we can’t simply disagree with one another anymore.  Instead, we live in a culture where we work to disgrace those we disagree with or dismiss and destroy them.  It is in to this very culture that God challenges His people to live a radically different life.  It is into this “cancel” culture that God calls us to honor one another.  Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.  Romans 12:10.

Honor is an important and overlooked virtue that matters to God, and it begins our new series on true virtues. True virtues are attitudes and actions that ultimately that are important to God and make a positive difference in our life.  Jesus was both honored and dishonored, and a great example of what both these things look like is found in the gospel of Mark.  

In Mark 5, Jesus was approached by a Jewish leader named Jairus.  Jarius begged Jesus to come and heal his daughter who was about to die.  Jairus honored Jesus.  He fell at Jesus' feet because he respected Jesus' power and authority.  He may not have known everything there was to know about Jesus, and many religious leaders weren’t happy with Jesus and His teaching, and while we don’t know how Jarius felt, he honored Jesus.  Jesus went with him and when they arrived, the girl had died, but Jesus raised her to life.  

Immediately after this, Jesus returned to the town He grew up in, Nazareth.  At first the people were thrilled to have their hometown boy home.  News of Jesus’ miracles and power had spread through the entire region and the people were excited to see Him at first, but then things began to changed.  Mark 6:2-6

When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.  

The people were offended by Jesus.  He was without honor and that Greek word is atimos.  Atimos means to treat as ordinary or common.  To all the people in Nazareth who watched Jesus grow up, He was ordinary.  There was no great value or regard they had for Jesus because He was just the kid who grew up down the street from them.  He was common and without honor.

The word time means to honor, to value and hold in high regard.  It means to respect and to treat someone as precious.  That is how Jairus treated Jesus.  He saw the value and dignity in Jesus and respected Him.  He knelt before Him.  He honored Him.    

So, dishonor finds offense and devalues people.  It assumes the worst in others and seeks to tear them down.  Honor sees the value in people, assumes the best and works to lift people up.  

Honor also improves relationships because as we honor people, we make them more honorable.  If we are constantly dishonoring others, if we are constantly tearing people down and finding fault with everything they do, not only do we become hard and bitter, but we make them angry and defensive.  On the other hand, if we honor people, if we lift them up and highlight the value they have, then in time they become more honorable and so do we.  

But, you might say that the person doesn’t deserve to be honored, that’s why we are so critical.  There may be truth in that, but while respect is earned, honor is given.  We are told to honor one another not because people have done honorable things but because we have all been created in the image of God.  We are called to honor one another because we all have value and worth in the eyes of God.  Honor doesn’t mean we have to agree with others, honor doesn’t mean we have to like or approve of what people do.  Honor has more to do with how we treat people than how they treat us.  In many ways honor is a reflection of our heart and mind and spirit.  

While Romans 12 says we are to honor one another, there are four places where God calls us to specifically show honor.

1. God.  You might have guessed this one.  3 of the first 10 Commandments tell us to honor God. We are to have no other God before Him because He is the highest and the greatest.  There is no other God like our God.  We are not to make any idols or images of God, and God is so holy that we are to even honor God’s name.  We honor God simply because of who God is.    

There is also not one right way to honor God, in fact, there are several ways we can honor God.   We can honor God through our worship.  Our songs of praise, our prayers, and our attention to God’s word are all ways we honor God.  And in worship we don’t honor God with our lips, or by just going through the motions, we honor God with our hearts and lives.  Honoring God through worship means allowing worship to touch our hearts and change our lives.  

We also honor God in our giving.  Proverbs 3:9  Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops.

Giving honors God because God is the One who first gave.  God first gave life in the creation of the world.  Then God gave us life.  Then God gave us all we need for life and for life to be good.  Then God gave us Jesus to reconcile and forgive us when we turned away.  We honor God by living the way God does and that includes our giving.  In giving, we can honor God by giving our first and best.  We can also honor God by giving a portion, or a tithe, of what we have.  Sometimes we honor God by giving to others.    

2. Parents.  If we go back to the 10 Commandments, we again see that we are called to honor our father and mother.  Exodus 20:12

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Honoring our parents is so important that it is the only command given with a promise.  If we honor our parents, then God will honor us.  Now let’s be clear, honoring our parents doesn’t mean submitting to abuse, and parents are also called to love and honor their children, but children of all ages need to learn what it looks like to honor their father and mother.  

As parents age and their needs change, honor looks like offering care and support.  When we are younger, honor means listening to and respecting the authority of our parents.  It’s always a little troubling when parents are made to look like buffoons on TV and in movies. We need to return to a culture that honors parents, and if we do, maybe parents learn to love and give in ways that are honorable.

3. Those in Authority.  In Romans 13, the Apostle Paul says specifically that we are to obey those in authority over us and give them honor.  Remember that the Romans were oppressing Christians when Paul wrote this, but we still called for leaders to be honored.  Looking around at our own country and culture, how are we doing with this?  

This might be the one place where we see the most dishonor. I don’t know why anyone would want to run for any kind of public office.  People will pick apart every word, statement, action and even perceived thoughts of a politician.  It is a thankless job and if nothing else, we need to say thank you and honor them.  

We are honored, and I do mean we are honored, to have some public servants as part of our congregation.  A state representative, school board members, a previous mayor of Bellefonte, county commissioners, county workers and judges are all part of our congregation.  I am so thankful for their willingness to jump into the chaos and criticism of public service and try to make a difference.  We need to honor our leaders and maybe if we honor them more, even the ones we may not like and disagree with , they might become more honorable.

4. Pastors. The 4th area where the Bible says honor is due is to our spiritual leaders.  The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.  1 Timothy 5:17

Now I want to be clear that I am not sharing this because I think I need to be honored or deserve any kind of double honor. I have always been honored and valued by all of you and serving here continues to be one of the greatest blessings of my life.  If we look at this passage as a command to honor all those in spiritual authority and leadership, then we might want to include all those who serve in the church.  There are so many quiet, hidden people who serve in and through Faith Church that deserve honor and even double honor.  

One group I think of right now are all those who serve in our media room and make sure I look and sound good both here and online.  Our media team is the best and they do an amazing job, and many of these volunteers are youth.  If you want to work with some amazing young people, talk with Justin and work with our media team, they deserve our honor.  

And then there are the volunteers who work with our children and youth. We have some amazing and dedicated leaders in these areas and the work they do is so important. They are teaching the faith to children who are growing up in a culture that really is not Christian anymore.  

I personally want to honor all the volunteers who will come this Friday night for the 5th quarter.  Everyone has their areas of ministry they love and those that they really don’t love.  As much as I love children and youth, the 5th quarter is just not my thing.  I love that we host this ministry, and it is so vital in so many ways and the volunteers should receive double honor!

And then there is our mission team who are willing to reach out and serve those from our church but also those in our community.  Just this past week I heard someone say that angels really do have names and 2 of them are Doug and Larry.  These are two people who actively serve through our toolbox ministry, and there are so many more.  You can serve with them during our mission work week and you will be honored working alongside them.  

Then there are the women from our PQM who seldom see the love and encouragement that the work of their hands brings to others, but they faithfully use their gifts to help people.  And how about our Sunday School teachers and small group leaders?  Have you honored your leader in some way recently?  And what about the crew that comes in each week to cut grass and the few people who weed our courtyard and flower beds.  

Those are all people behind the scenes, but then there are some amazing people who offer their gifts of music and hospitality and leadership every Sunday.  We have so many amazing leaders and while Paul highlighted those whose work is preaching and teaching, I want to offer double honor to all those who serve in a variety of ways to make the church and Faith Church what it is.  

While these 4 areas are set aside for honor, God is clear that we are to honor one another and if we do, not only are they blessed, but so are we.  As I said earlier, honoring our parents is the only one of the 10 Commandments that comes with a promise, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.  But in all relationships, there is a blessing that is ours when we honor others.  

Let’s go back to the stories of Jesus we heard from Mark.  When Jarius honored Jesus and asked Him to heal his daughter, Jesus raised her back to life.  When Jesus was in his hometown and was dishonored, it said He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.  

I don’t know why Jesus could not do any miracles because of the dishonor among the people, but He couldn’t.  What we do know is that where there is no honor, there is no blessing.  If we don’t honor God, then we don’t open the door for God to be involved in our lives.  If we don’t honor our parents, the fabric of society begins to fall apart, and life isn’t as good as it can be.  When we don’t honor our leaders, they begin to rule with a heavy hand instead of a loving heart and everyone struggles.   

When we honor others, however, there is always a blessing.  There is a blessing for us because honoring others makes us more faithful and more like Jesus. There is a blessing for others as they often grow into more honorable people, and then there is the blessing of stronger families and relationships.  

If we look at our culture today and lament the criticism, condemnation, and cancellation we see all around us, maybe it’s because we are not honoring one another before ourselves.  Living out this one virtue in all our relationships could have a domino effect that might bring a blessing our world needs.  I want to invite you to join me in honoring one another.  Specifically, find one person, or one group of people, that you want to honor this week and then let them know how valuable and loved they are.  Hold them in high regard.  Love them.  Honor them.  

Next Steps

True Virtue – Honor

Read Mark 5:21-6:6.

• How was Jesus both honored and dishonored? 

• What impact did this honor and dishonor have on the people?

God calls us to honor in these 4 specific places: 

God: Exodus 20:1-8. Proverbs 3:9

• How does our worship honor God?

• How can you show more honor to God?

• How can your giving honor God?

Parents: Exodus 20:12

• What does honor look like when parents are older?

• How can we teach children to honor parents?

• As a parent, how can you live a more honorable life?

Those in Authority: Romans 13:1-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-4

• Do you find it hard to honor leaders you disagree with?

• What would it look like to honor leaders you don’t like?

• This week, practice honor and pray for a leader you strongly disagree with. 

• Find one way you can honor a local or state leader.  

Those in Spiritual Authority: 1 Timothy 5:7

• Pastor Andy mentioned several groups of church volunteers who work hard behind the scenes: 

media team, landscaping and mowing crew, prayer quilt ministry, children and youth ministry volunteers.  Find a way you can honor one of these volunteers (or groups of volunteers) this week.  

• Honor a church staff or volunteer who has made a difference in your life.  

• Pray for Faith Church staff and volunteers this week.