Sermon Extras

SERMON NOTES

May We Honor- Week 1- Romans 12:9-10 

INTRO> I got to have a proud parent moment this week! Roman got in the car and gave me this paper (PIC) Roman had made honor role! We are very proud of him. I asked each of my kids what the word honor meant. Roman– It means like good and respect or reward. Andie- Honor means to honor them. Piper– I don’t know… why are you asking me dis, you know i don’t go to school. I also did an official Facebook survey using people what they thought honor was: 

• “makes me think admiration” 
• “I feel like honor requires more action than respect” 
• “ I tie the word loyalty to the word honor.”
• “ Honor comes from such a deeper level within than respect does. You don’t need honor to get respect, but you have to have respect to get honor.”

APP> I think this is a word that we have trouble actually defining. We see it all the time, when a bride walks down the isle and we stand up, when a judge enters into a courtroom, when at a funeral for a solider, when in other cultures people bow, or when there is a seat at the head of the table… The O.E.D. defines honor has HONOR-great respect and admiration for someone.

CONTEXT> When it comes to scripture, this word honor is a big deal! 

• The word is mentioned over 170x in the Bible (PIC) 
• This word is such a big deal that God uses it in his top ten list, “Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the  Lord your God is giving you.” – Exodus 20:12
• Honor – τιμή (timē) – to value, respect, or highly esteem; to treat as precious, weighty or valuable. The word is also extremely close and finds it roots in the word for “money” “You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 7:23

Big Idea > Honor is the act of holding people and positions in high value. 

“Honor is a decision we make to place high value, worth, and importance on another person by vowing them as a priceless gift and granting them a position in our lives worthy of great respect; and Love involves putting that decision into action.” Gary Smalley, The Gift of Honor pg 9 

*ILL> We need a deep theological illustration as to how this actually looks, what does this practically look like by it’s definition? For that, we turn to the theologically in depth movie…. the Lion King. Remember the scene when Simba is born and everyone is gathered at the rock and then the best moment of the movie. He holds him up high. (PIC) Then notice… everyone else gets low… 

CONTEXT> Now, that’s exactly the picture that the Apostle says of what a NT church looks like in these verses. “Paul here reflects the early Christian understanding of the church as an extended family, whose members, bound together in intimate fellowship, should exhibit toward one another a heartfelt and consistent concern.” Douglas Moo, Romans Commentary pg 777 

• Can I say something important here? The trait of honor is such a big deal, that one historian says that it was one of the main reason that Christianity spread in the Roman world. Why? Christians honor all people as created in the image and likeness of God. Rodney Stark, a non christian historian said that what separated Christianity and made it so attractive was, it taught that all people, regardless of status and stature should be shown honor. “In the fourth century, the emperor Julian launched a campaign to institute pagan charities in an effort to match the Christians. Julian complained in a letter to the high priest of Galatia in 362 that the pagans needed to equal the virtues of Christians, for recent Christian growth was caused by their “moral character, even if pretended,” and by their “benevolence toward strangers and care for the graves of the dead.” In a letter to another priest, Julian wrote, “I think that when the poor happened to be neglected and overlooked by the priests, the impious Galileans observed this and devoted themselves to benevolence.” And he also wrote, “The impious Galileans support not only their poor, but ours as well, everyone can see that our people lack aid from us.”- Rodney Stark pg 83-84

APP> In a world of hostility, God is calling his people to live by honor. 

APP> The Apostle Paul would say it another way in Philippians, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Phil 2:3-4 There are two things I want to pull from this verse that will help us with understanding Honor… 

1. Honor flows from humility. “The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.” Proverbs 15:33
2. “You” before “me”, that’s humility.  “…in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”

APP> So here is my question for us today… 

• How would my relationships change if my main concern became expressing how much I value that person? 
• How would West Side look if we actually became competitive in honoring each other?
• What’s stopping me from starting now?

Big Idea > Honor is the act of holding people and positions in high value.