Honour Can Take You Where Your Skills Cannot

Sermon outline

Honour, the highest form of reverence and respect shown by listening to and believing those God has placed in our lives, opens doors that skill cannot, while dishonour and familiarity shut us out of what God would give us through them.

1. Honour can take you where your skills cannot

   Someone saved for twenty years may not have grown, while someone saved a few months grows fast by catching kingdom principles. Every believer is a steward who must be found faithful. Honour is giving someone the highest form of reverence and respect, and it is a bridge to the other side of your breakthrough; dishonour leaves an odour and your name is forgotten. Not everyone receives the same level of honour, but honour is to be rendered where it is due. Learning to honour those above him at work propelled him faster than his peers.

   Illustration: He recalls his previous message on Absalom, who turned on the authority that would have raised him up, and traces the stages of dishonour: an independent spirit, criticism, offence, passivity, open rebuke, open rebellion, and finally execution.

   “Honor can take you where your skills cannot take you.”

   • 1 Corinthians 4:2
   • Romans 13:7

2. 1. Honour the Father

   God is in a class of His own, and honouring Him cultivates every other relationship. Those who honour Him He honours, and those who think lightly of Him He despises. In Malachi's day the people said the altar was not important and brought lame, sick and stolen animals, and God refused them. Whatever you bring Him, finances or your own body, bring it whole.

   “If you bring an offering, whether it's finances, whether it's your own body, you must bring it whole.”

   • 1 Samuel 2:30
   • Malachi 1:11-14

3. 2. Honour Jesus

   Whoever receives those He sends receives Him; receive a prophet as one who speaks for God and you receive a prophet's reward, and even a cup of cold water to the least of His followers is rewarded. The woman with the alabaster jar poured out perfume he reckons at about R800,000 in today's money. The disciples called it waste; Jesus called it a great and noble thing. The family at Bethany who honoured Him saw Him raise Lazarus.

   Illustration: A parent loves all their children, but the one who is glad to see them come home and makes them a cup of tea stays closest to their heart.

   “Honor can open up supernatural doors in your life.”

   • Matthew 10:40-42
   • Matthew 26:6-13

4. 3. Honour the Holy Spirit

   Welcoming the Holy Spirit, acknowledging Him and spending time with Him is honour, and it opens doors in your spiritual life. Dishonour Him and revelation is shut off, because you are dishonouring the One Jesus sent in His place.

5. 4. Honour the prophets

   In His home town they were first amazed at Jesus, then scoffed: is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary? Their familiarity meant He could do few miracles there, and He marvelled at their unbelief. People who know your background will limit what they can receive from you; a friend may never receive a prophetic word because "it's only Tommy speaking".

   “Jesus was not amazed at their offering, but he was amazed at their dishonor to what he had to offer.”

   • Mark 6:1-6

6. 5. Honour your father and mother

   It is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and you may live long, and the Holy Spirit chose the womb through which you came. Speak harshly to parents or to a boss and promotion will not come. Honour is an attitude: Cain and Abel brought sacrifices, but only one honoured God. Joseph of Arimathea honoured Jesus by burying Him when Jesus was not there to see it, but the Father saw.

   Illustration: He tells of a pastor who shouted at his spiritual father on the phone and slammed it down, and whose life, the story goes, was cut short within months.

   “The Holy Spirit chose that womb which you will come to this earth.”

   • Ephesians 6:2-3
   • John 19:38-42

7. 6. Honour your pastors and leaders

   Elders who rule well, especially those who preach and teach, are worthy of double honour, the only place Scripture speaks of it. You honour them by supporting and believing in what they do, with material substance, and by reverencing the office. Be responsive to your pastoral leaders and make their work a joy, not a grief.

   “Imagine my wife told me, "Tommy, I love you, but I don't believe nothing that you tell me."”

   • 1 Timothy 5:17
   • Hebrews 13:17

8. 7. Honour your husband

   Queen Vashti refused the king's command in front of his guests and lost her position, because she dishonoured the authority over the land. Where a request is within the word of God, learn to yield. Daniel and his friends accepted new names in a foreign land, honoured the king and increased. Judas and Absalom dishonoured and were destroyed; those who walked in honour were elevated. Humility comes before honour, and you cannot correct upwards.

   “Dishonor will let your name be replaced and even be forgotten.”

   • Esther 1:10-19
   • Daniel 1:7
   • Proverbs 29:23
   • Proverbs 22:4
   • Proverbs 18:12
   • Romans 12:10

In this message