Honor2 -Honor is to regard and respect, to treat as sacred. Believers in Christ are taught to honour men, most importantly those in authority. The list includes ministers, fellow believers, those in authority and much more. This is a Christian virtue. Honour is to receive men and respect them as unto the Lord. Let us examine the following explanation made by Jesus. Matthew 10:11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. 12 And when ye come into an house, salute it. 13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. 15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. We are not to choose whom to honour. We are to honour those whom God chose and sent. When we reject them, we reject God. His blessings aren’t received. We remain the same. We are judged. 40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. 41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophets reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous mans reward. 42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. This description is very apt. You can’t claim to honour God without honouring men. It is deceit. We must receive men in their offices, not as cousins, neighbours. We must receive them as God has chosen them. We may need to look at the men Jesus refers to here. Peter- disloyal and ambitious. Judas Iscariot- Betrayer and Thief. Thomas- Did not accept the faith message. He doubts Jesus. Matthew- Tax collector who was not in the good books of many. James and John- Siblings who held their colleagues in contempt. We are not to respect their character flaws or copy them. But we are to honour their work- their duties; their ministry. Paul puts it this way. 1 Thessalonians 5:12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake. And be at peace among yourselves. We are to ESTEEM THEM VERY HIGHLY. Thats not in the dictionary of many folks today. They have very little regard for ministers. They read newspapers authored mostly by non-believers to be lectured on how to treat God’s servants. That is foolishness. Many are offended at ministers and thus their ministries. What they hardly know is that God’s blessings are ministered by men. Salvation is ministered by men. Healing is ministered by men. Insights into the Word are ministered by men. When you are offended you dont receive, you remain the same. You dont have to admire men to receive their ministries; you only need to be a doer of the word. Let’s see this scenario again. Mark 6:1 And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. 2 And when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. 4 But Jesus, said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching. Serious matter! Jesus marvelled at their unbelief. This was not about whether they believed in God or not. They refused to accept Jesus ministry. He was ordinary to them - one of their own. No mighty work could be done by God. Wow! How we have at times wondered why God’s power is not moving as it should. Have we done the honour check? Have we checked the blogs we wrote on? Or Facebook walls to wrote your mind? The things we jokingly said in our offices. Have we checked how we easily believed soft sell magazines as though they were written by Prophets of God! Then we should judge ourselves! We have disrespected the Men God appointed. We cannot be serious about revivals or the move of His power! God needs no one’s endorsements as touching who and whom He uses! So we better stop attempting to think it’s on our terms! God’s servant could be your student, brother, wife ,husband ,classmate..etc. You must respect them! Hypocritically some of us respect authors of books we read ,televangelists,whom we have never seen and disrespect ministers who labour over our lives. Simply out of familiarity (just as was the case with Jesus townsmen), we treat our immediate leaders as ordinary. We have sinned. The Jews rejected Jesus the same way. They claimed to respect Moses, Elijah and the prophets, men who were dead, and rejected Jesus. Funnily those same men were rejected while alive! Hypocrisy! If Jesus were to pastor a church today, many news magazines will write many and different opinions about Him! Many believers won’t like His manners, His style. They would wonder as well like John-Are you sure you are anointed! Did God send you? Let’s look for another! I repeat, you can’t claim to honour God and dishonour men! You can’t claim to love God and not love Men! When we choose to honour, we do it AS UNTO THE LORD! This story in the Old Testament touches my heart. Hannah was praying to God. She was falsely accused by Eli the Priest of God (Men of God are NEVER infallible). Eli had a bad public record. His kids were out of order. He had lost control. 1 Samuel 1:14 And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? Put away thy wine from thee.. What an accusation! Today she would have grumbled, gone to court to sue for defamation. She would have called him silly, stupid. A man of God? She would have posted on twitter or Facebook. No wonder his kids are bad! But she was too much in faith not to receive. She chose the path of the word, not the secular. No matter what was said about Eli, she knew God’s blessings are ministered by men. Imperfect men! 1 Samuel 1: 15 And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. 16 Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. She answered with honour. She used the right words- My Lord, Your handmaid. She didnt say a so called man of God ! She didnt have to be foolish . She was wise ,spiritual . God blessed her. His servant ministered to her. She received her miracle. God would later judge Eli. But that was not Hannahs jurisdiction. Hers was to receive the man God had sent. Honour is faith in action. Let’s do an honour check today. Do you honour men whom God placed over you? Do you have any at all? If not, there is trouble! Blessed? I honour God’s servants and treat them as sacred. I receive from God’s servants for all things are mine (1 Corinthians 3: 20-. Jesus is Lord,We Win!
Posted on: Tue, 27 May 2014 05:38:47 +0000
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