Text: 1Sam.2:30, Mal.1:6, Rom.13:7
1 Sam 2:30
30 Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.
Mal 1:6
6″A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts. To you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name
Rom.13:7
7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
INTRO
Honour is esteem, value and respect given to another. There are people in our lives that we are expected to honour i.e Spiritual Leaders, Parent, Spouse and Fellow brethren. To these ones, honour is due.
The phrase ‘honour is due’ is based solely on relationship and authority. All these people listed are people we have a relationship with or they are authority figures in our lives.
What the bibles is simply saying is that by the time we honour –treat with respect, value and esteem highly all these people in our lives, it will unlock to us spiritual as well as physical success.
SPIRITUAL LEADERS- 1Tim.5:17
17 Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.
These have been placed by God as shepherds over us- They do the work of tending for our souls under God not as hireling but as shepherds- so we owe them the duty of reverence and honour in regard to their office. So that the word of God can have a free course among us.
We are to love them for the sake of the work they do.
We honour them because of the position they hold- regardless of whether we agree with all of their decision. “as we obey the prescription of the doctor though it may be bitter, so obey the counsel they give through their reproof be bitter and their rebuke shape”
Maintenance: 2King 4:9-11 the woman’s gracious provision for the man of God resulted in the coming of a precious son into her life.
PARENTS – Exo.20:12
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
Deut.5:16
16 ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
It is the first commandment with a promise attached
To live in peace for generation in the promise land, the Israelites would need to respect authority and build strong families.
This will not happen by just paying lip service to the issue of honour, it has to be practical.
You have to love them
Speak well of them, and politely to them. God places a curse on anyone who dishonours his parent as he does for committing other abomination-Exo.21:17,Prov.20:20
Whoever curses his father or his mother, His lamp will be put out in deep darkness.
Provide for their needs
The most abusive authority in the world will not make it ‘unwell’ with you. You make it “unwell” with yourself when you do not understand the principle of honour.
SPOUSE – 1Pet.3:7, 3:1
7 Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
1 Peter 3:1 –
Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives,
Husbands are to honour their wives – while the wives have to submit to the authority of the husband – by nature the wife is just more delicate and frail.
So the husband must
Protect her
Provide for her
Take the led
The husband is not to be a tyrant, not dominating and enslaving her to serve and meet his need. He is to honour her as a fellow heir of God.
Failure to honour the wife hinders the prayer of the husband. God will not answer the prayer of a husband who dishonours his wife no matter who he is.
What God hears is the sighs of the wife.
He is going to hear the broken and contrite heart.
Both husband and wife must love one another and live as God says to live, both fulfilling their duty to one another, if they wish God to answer their prayers.
FELLOW BRETHREN –Rom.12:10
10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;
We as believers are to prefer others above ourselves.
Desire one another’s good -1Tim.2:1
Rejoice in one another prosperity –v15
Forgive one another’s injuries –Matt,6:14,15
Help one another’s necessities – 1John 3:17
WHY DO THIS?
We are commanded by God –John 13:34.
This is true religion – James 1:27
Because we are all brethren
As Christians submission to proper authority brings order and order results in increase and progress.
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