Community (Part 3 – The honor of community)

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Community

(Part 3 – The Honor of Community)

 

Welcome back to Jesus Church: Here and Online

• We are in the middle of a series on community
  • And the emphasis Jesus puts on community in his ministry
  • Which then translates into the 1^st century church
• Last week we looked at Jesus concept of family
  • Jesus said his family are those “Do the will of God”
  • Meaning that family is much larger than your blood relatives
  • Our family is the entire community of Christ
• And in any healthy family there are healthy family practices
  • Eating together… Valuing time together
  • Protection one another… Forgiving one another
  • Challenging each other… Encouraging each other

And as the family that Jesus has called us to be – We don’t get to pick

• If God truly is our Father… All those adopted into his family
  • Every one of them are your Brothers/Sisters
  • We don’t get to chose based on who we like
• We b/c of that – We are called to walk these things in community
  • And the question is are we willing to living that out
  • Not just with our blood family… with our church family

Roman 12:9

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal but keep you spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Romans 12:10b

Honor one another above yourselves.

[PRAY]

Honor is a word we do not hear very often today

Growing up I lived in Seattle… melting pot of culture

• Friend whose family was from China… A few of us went to her house
  • For whatever reason I didn’t notice everyone had shoes off
  • I walked in – Clueless
• Her dad started yelling in mandarin
  • I had no clue… but in their culture that was so dishonoring
  • I was tracking the filth of the world into his home
  • And that’s actually more common culturally than not
    • But He felt I had dishonored his house…

From an Eastern Philosopher

I am blown away how Americans track dirt, mud and filth into their friends homes all the time. It is so dishonoring.

• To me that seems like an odd word to use… sorta extreme
  • Annoying sure… gross ok… messy ya I’d agree
  • But the last thing that comes to my mind: I was dishonoring him
  • Its just not something that I’m use to hearing/thinking about

A few years later living up in Olympia… very liberal city

• There was a mural of Jesus… words that said “Jesus is alive”
  • Remember seeing “alive” crossed out “Jesus is a ______”
  • And how sadly dishonoring is that
• Whatever you thinking about God or religion
  • No one would ever say that about Buddha
  • No one would ever say that about Socrates
  • Its just so dishonoring

For must of us in our culture: Honor is foreign concept

When I hear the word honor… think honor roll… honor father/mother

• In our world there is little to no value for honor in our culture
  • We do have Mother’s day… honor mom with a lunch
  • And we have Father’s day… less honor for sure
  • Veteran’s day… most of us maybe put up a flag and BBQ
• When I think of a culture of honor in the church
  • First thing that comes to most minds is the abuse of honor
  • A pastor saying they use private jets to not mingle with common
  • Or using the concept of honor to gain power over others
• It happens so much – Many of us just ignore the concept of honor
  • We ignore the New Testament teachings on honor
  • In doing that… we play right into the enemies hands
    • B/c If we can understand the biblical concept of honor
    • Reshape how we view community/culture from ground up

TAG: Jesus teaches a community of Honor… live in culture of contempt

Rom 12 – Passage is Paul’s vision for community in love

Paul writes Romans – Chapters 1-11 are all theology

• Chapters 12-15 are the conclusion on how to live in light of that
  • And Paul’s focus is living as this new “Family” of believers
  • How all ethnicities (Jew & Gentile) come together in this family
  • Which is surrounded and enveloped by love
• And so Chapter 12… verse 1 we start with this big “THEREFORE”
  • And goes into things on the worship/gifts in the church
  • And then you have these verses we read today… super dense
  • 13 commands on how to live together in community of love
• Scholars believe all 13 commands are variations of the 1^st command
  • And that command is to love… which shouldn’t be surprising
  • Problem is love is sorta an empty word in our culture

But once you nail down what Paul means by love

• It starts to actually grow into something we can grasp
  • So question it: How do we become a community of love
  • One of the best concepts: Is this idea of honoring mom & dad
• Honor (Tamae) and it means: Value or Price
  • Originally was used as a financial word
  • To give someone a gift in keeping with their value or status
  • So to honor someone is to assign value to them
    • Recognize their value to your life and community

So another word that goes with Honor is Glory (means essence)

• When Moses is on the mountain with God
  • He says SHOW ME YOUR GLORY
  • Which means… show me the essence of how you are
• Glory: Implicate value someone has… it’s the weight of their person
  • Honor is the value WE assign to a person
  • Meaning that God has glory with or without our honor
• But when we worship God… that is a way we give Him honor

Rev. 5:11-13 (glimpse into heaven right now as we speak)

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands and ten thousands times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealthy and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!

• What’s going on in heaven right now…
  • A multitude in heaven is recognizing the VALUE of God
  • They are recognizing the contribution of God to the world

Now Rom. 12 – Paul’s command is that we HONOR one another

• Which is recognizing the value & contribution of each to community
  • So it’s not flattery… brown nose boss… love you bro
  • Its when ur heart recognizes the value of everyone around you
• And Paul’s command isn’t honor a celebrity or pastor or rich person
  • No its just honor everyone
  • Why: Because according to God…they have value

Study on understanding workplace value through email analysis

• Looked through 10×1000 of email data from massive company
  • You can find out how important someone is in workplace
  • By how long it takes people to respond to them
  • More important… quicker email – Less important… slower email
    • If I haven’t emailed you back… don’t read into it please!!!
• Paul is saying we are to treat every person as the most important
  • That the weight of how we honor each other would be at the top
  • Regardless of who they are or what they do

C.S. Lewis

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal

• That guy next to you named Joe in flipflops and Tshirt: He’s immortal
  • The person to your left blowing their nose… not a mere mortal
  • The kid kicking the seat behind you is… Eternal

When I lived in Seattle – Went to a church for a bit with some Seahawks

• Weren’t there a lot… but when they were
  • You knew they were there… and it felt really cool
  • I’m praising Jesus with the Seahawks
  • See people looking down the row… There’s Larry Fitzgerald
• But what if we were to treat everyone that way
  • Hey… that’s Jessica: Mother of 3 kids with one on the way
  • Are you serious… Jessica: Mother of 3 kids is here right now
  • Wow… I need to meet this Jessica – Amazing
• We laugh – But we fall into this mentality of circumstantial honor
  • And when we look and Jesus and the disciples starting the church
  • Some versions even say “Out do” one another in showing honor
    • Idea of just fighting to honor one another

And there are a ton more commands to honor those in community

Ex. 20:12

Honor your father and mother, children should honor parents

1 Pt 3:7

Husbands are to honor their wife

• Notice that last line: So that nothing will hinder your prayers (wow)
  • Peter saying if you dishonor those you’re in relationship with
  • Especially a soulmate – You create blockage b/w you and Heaven
    • That is crazy strong language on honor right there

1 Tim 6:1

Slaves are to honor their masters

• What we think of slavery is different than trans-continental slavery
  • Wasn’t based on race at all… more like indentured servanthood
  • It was rarely for life (not that it was good – just different)
  • In Paul’s framework: Slaves or Employee must honor their boss
• Now think about the griping we do towards our bosses
  • And we are suppose to honor those we work for

1 Thess 5:12-13

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among. You, who care for you in the Lord (pastors) and admonish you.

(Honor) Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.

• This is about your church leadership…
  • But watch that it doesn’t stop there – It goes both ways

1 Cor. 12:21-23 (Metaphor of church as a body)

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are INDISPENCABLE, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.

• I love this analogy of using a foot
  • How many of us woke up this morning saying: Foot I honor you
  • I am grateful for my contribution to my life
• But have you ever had a foot injury… ya it’s a pain
  • No idea how dependent we are on things we don’t think about
  • And there are people are in our community – we take for granted
  • But if they were to step out… we would feel pain
• The main people who bring health to our church
  • Relational giants that bring people together in community
  • Rally people around a cause for Jesus
  • But we are to honor each other not just those upfront

1 Cor 6:18-20 (Honor God with our bodies)

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who in in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

• Wow – Talk about a text that destroys the cultural narrative
  • I mean just take the catch phrase we here against abortion
  • “My body my choice”… no its not
  • That’s actually God’s body and we honor God with our body
• How many view sexual immorality through lens of dishonor to God
  • But we absolutely should

Ps. 8:5(And beauty is we don’t only honor God… he honors us)

You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory (intrinsic value) and honor.

• And Jesus says: My father will HONOR the one who serves me
  • That’s a promise! Call him on his word
  • If you serve Jesus and his Kingdom – God will HONOR you
    • Doesn’t say how… but it will happen

And honestly it shouldn’t surprise us… Trinity is a relationship of Honor

• Father Honors the Son > Son honors the Father > Spirit honors both
  • That is the model we have and should reflect in our lives
  • This is the template how all relationship in family of God work

John Tyson

Honor is the operating system of the Kingdom of God. A community of honor brings value, love, humility, grace, respect, gratitude, trust, compassion and understanding (empathy) between all its members.

TAG: But that’s not the culture that we live in today… A culture of honor

We live in a culture of Contempt (dishonor)

Def: The feeling that a person/thing is beneath consideration, worthless or deserving of scorn.

• Contempt in many ways is the opposite of honor
  • If Honor is respect… Contempt is disrespect
  • If Honor is gratitude… Contempt is entitlement
  • If honor is values someone…Contempt is lower value in their eye

Psychologist put contempt on same level as: Anger & Resentment

• But there are distinct differences between the three…
  • Resentment directed towards higher status person (boss/leader)
  • Anger directed towards equal status person (spouse/coworker)
  • Contempt directed towards lower status person
• So when we show or speak with contempt – belittle/demean/judge
  • Because we are trying to lower their value in our minds

We take people – View all of who they are through a 100% negative lens

• And we do this today… it’s the myth of “pure evil”
  • Believe that world is either black or white
  • One side is innocent and victim
  • Other side is evil victimizer
• We know that this is rarely the case… not 50/50 but there are 2 sides
  • But we just want to divide people into good & evil… us & them
  • Because then we feel we are better & right & good
  • And other people just get labelled bad and are thrown away
• We compare ourselves not to real person… but what we made them
  • So when we show contempt
    • Lower that person’s value
    • Raise our own value
  • This is the opposite of what Jesus means by honor others

We do this because we live in a culture of Contempt (and we like it)

• Just think of how we obsess over scandals in the news
  • It’s basically half of what’s on tiktok, twitter and youtube
  • Scandal is enticing because it allows people to feel contempt
    • Gives us a sense of moral superiority
    • While asking nothing of us in return
• Listening to a twitter space on the epidemic of negativity
  • Had someone who was always positive … posts good all the time
    • One day they were in a bad mood – Went off on somebody
    • Got more engagement that anything they’d done before
  • Set them down a road 4 years… that engagement led to followers
    • Every like they got was a hit of dopamine in their brain
    • Literally became addicted to negativity
    • And that is how we find ourselves in a culture of contempt

Point: Live in a culture that could care less about Honor

B/C dishonor feels just too good… but that dopamine fix you get

• I’ll argue its nothing compared to what honor actually gives you
  • B/C look at just 1 difference b/w honor & contempt in Jesus life

Matt 13:54 (Jesus is on fire with teaching… everyone blown away)

Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” They asked…

• So totally blown away – Greatest TED talk ever

Matt 13:55-58

Isn’t this the carpenter’s son (very sarcastic/not nice label) Isn’t his mother’s name Mary (remember the whole virgin birth thing) and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things? And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home. And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

• Look what they did… they refused to honor Jesus’
  • Because they didn’t like that he was doing something with his life
  • So they had to bring him down in their own eyes
  • Couldn’t touch his glory… withheld his honor
• And because of that… they missed out on the flow of blessing
  • When we honor people – we are opened up to blessings of God’s
  • And whatever blessing those people have to give
  • When I honor you… I get access to God’s blessing through ur life
    • Wisdom
    • Encouragement
    • Friendship
    • Prophetic Words
    • Discernment
    • Opportunity
• When you honor someone… you get access to what they have to give
  • When we dishonor – We cut ourselves off from that
  • And we miss out on what God wants to use them to offer

Think of the commandment Paul talks about in Ephesians

Eph. 6:1-3

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.

• This is the only commandment in OT that has a promise
  • Not murdering someone… doesn’t get a you a reward
  • Same with adultery or lying
• Honor is the only commandment that gives you a blessing
  • Paul is saying if you honor people
  • You open your life to the flow of blessing

Honor one another… and see how your life is changed