Values Series: Honor Is Our Commitment

Values: Honor Is Our Commitment

Today we’re kicking off our Pinewood Values series. As a church we have 7 core values. Jesus is our message, connection is our culture, generosity is our privilege, excellence is our pursuit, servant leadership is our calling, love is our motivation, and honor is our commitment.

We are a mission and values driven church. What you value dictates what you do, where you spend your time, how you spend your resources, and what you put your energy towards. This is true not only in the church, but in every area of life.

Our values point toward the core of who we are as a church. If you want to understand our culture, look to our values.

Opener:

An honoring spirit is both a skill to learn and an attitude to master. It initiates both the mind and the heart. An honoring person is not concerned about receiving honor, but is filled up when they see others honored and when they give honor to others.

The purpose of honor is to build up and lay a truthful foundation for others in your life, it’s not meant to puff up and weigh them down with vain ego. Genuine honor is to highly respect and admonish others. Receiving honor leaves you feeling a greater sense of humility, while puffing up leaves you with a greater sense of pride and arrogance.

Honor = from the heart, truthful, builds up, looks to others’ future

Flattery = self promoting, lies, puffs up, looks to your future

Title: The Weight Of Honor

Passage: Mark 6:1-6

He left there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. “Where did this man get these things?” they said. “What is this wisdom that has been given to him, and how are these miracles performed by his hands?

3 Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” So they were offended by him. 4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his household.”

5 He was not able to do a miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief. He was going around the villages teaching.

Pray: (Pause 3-5 seconds)

Background:

Jesus had already begun His ministry and was going around teaching, healing, and even casting out demons. After having taught His disciples for a time, He brought His disciples to His own home town, Nazareth. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but He was raised in Nazareth.

Nazareth was not a prominent or prestigious town, it was actually a small town that didn’t have the best reputation. A man named Nathanael, who had heard about Jesus coming from Nazareth actually says in John 1:46 “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Some of you may have hometowns like this… Maybe it’s a small town that doesn’t have the best reputation. You try to play it up better than it really is to your friends, but when they want to visit you’re like “NAH!” This was Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth.

Main Points: Common Culture (dishonoring culture)

1. Celebrated At First
   1. “...and many who heard him were astonished.”

   2. Question: Have you ever experienced this before in your life?

      1. Maybe you just got a job and everyone was ecstatic about you at first. They had balloons, welcome to the team letters, or maybe a celebratory luncheon for you. Then after a little bit things began to change.

      2. When you once felt celebrated, now you feel degraded, put down, and taken advantage of. You haven’t changed, but you begin to realize that the atmosphere was never really about honor, but more about self preservation and a prideful spirit.

         3. Their astonishment is almost degrading in itself. Jesus is supposed to be a common carpenter. An ordinary Nazarene. What makes him so special?!

      3. Have you ever got the “Who would have thought!” You get the job you’ve always wanted and you go tell your friends and they say “who would have thought!” What?! Thank you I guess…

      4. Honor never says “Who would have thought”, because true honor brings about potential. This was Jesus!!! They knew Him! It should have been a genuine celebration! Of course you’re going around healing people, of course you’re full of wisdom and your teaching is like nothing we’ve ever heard, I’ve seen this in you since birth!

      5. Dishonored After A Minute

         1. “So they were offended by him.”
         2. The people of Nazareth were offended (Skandalon) by Jesus. Literally meaning they “stumbled over him.”
         3. Illust: We can be most dishonoring to the people we know the best. We can be most discouraging to the people we love the most. Isn’t that true?

      6. Why is this? The words of those closest to you carry the most weight. It may tingle a little for a stranger to dishonor you, but you soon forget about it and move on, but if a spouse, a close friend, or family member dishonors you, you carry that for life.

      7. Mark wrote in Greek, but the Old Testament Hebrew word for honor is Kabod, which literally is interpreted as “to give weight to someone” Which was a symbol of value and respect. Are your words giving value to others or taking away value from others?

         4. They had a spirit of familiarity:

      8. You’ve heard the old maxim “Familiarity breeds contempt” I would actually say that a little different, “familiarity breeds contempt among contemptible people”

      9. Contempt definition “the feeling that a person or thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn.”
      10. When you get close to something, it can often become common. This isn’t always the case, but think about this as it relates to your relationships, your marriage, your kids, and even your church.

      11. Illust: The Flatiron Mountains

          1. Look at those around you with a fresh perspective, even though it may be familiar, you can still see things through a lens of honor. Then when you see it, say it. Don’t keep it to yourself, use your words. 5. Story: A tourist, eager to see everything in the art gallery, fled from picture to picture, scarcely noticing what was in the frames. “I didn’t see anything very special here,” he said to one of the guards as he left. “Sir,” the guard replied, “it is not the pictures that are on trial here - it is the visitors.” - Warren Wiersbe 6. I don’t believe in a “common culture”, I believe in an “expectant culture.” A culture full of faith and expectancy, because we serve a God of impossibilities. 7. What is happening here is not common, it is not ordinary…
             5. There’s a better way: Biblical Honor...
                1. Looks for the purpose in someone’s past
                2. Looks toward the potential in their future
                3. Looks at the promises over their circumstances
             6. A spirit of honor makes…
                1. The mundane, miraculous
                2. The ordinary, extraordinary
                3. The common, supernatural
          2. Rejected In The End
             1. “And he was amazed at their unbelief.”
             2. Jesus was rejected where He should have been respected the most! This is sad for them, but it should be a wake up call for us!
             3. The moment you start honoring someone and genuinely caring for them is also the same moment you start receiving from them. Here’s how I’d apply that: it’s hard to receive from someone you do not honor. The formula goes like this, honor and receive, or dishonor and reject.

      12. Honor brings life to the giver, but it also gives fresh perspective on others watching. Imagine how this story could have looked so much different had there been a people of honor.

Closing:

At Pinewood our honor is not passive, it’s aggressive.

It’s not accidental, it’s intentional.

It’s not broad, it’s specific.

It’s not corporate, it’s personal.

C’mon Pinewood Church, do you believe tonight that God has called us to establish an atmosphere of honor?

Walking Points:

1. Honor in humility

   1. “Before his downfall a person’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.” - Proverbs 18:12
   2. “A person’s pride will humble him, but a humble spirit will gain honor.” - Proverbs 29:23

   3. Honor with words

   4. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” - Proverbs 18:21

   5. “So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” - 1 Corinthians 12:26

   6. Honor with honesty

   7. “Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies.” - John 7:18

   8. “Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Outdo one another in showing honor.” - Romans 12:9-10