Honor One Another

Yeah, national prayer event.

The National Day of Prayer was May 7, but tomorrow is a national prayer event at the National Mall.

They are expecting over a million people there.

To pray for the United States of America.

This is part of the 250-year celebration that is taking place.

There will be thousands of Seventh-day Adventists there.

Handing out these backs.

Inside there's a magazine about the United States in Bible prophecy.

Inside there's a great controversy.

Inside there's another small book, I don't remember what it is, and then inside there is a uh Religious Freedom 250 card which has a QR code on it that you can scan which will take you to a lot of

fantastic resources.

We pray that the thousands of bags that get handed out tomorrow will get into the right hands.

And people will be seeking greater interest in a relationship with God.

Now you know what tomorrow is.

Do you know what today is?

Donald Trump declared today to be known as National Shabbat Day.

Shabbat 250.

The event is part of the what is designated to honor the 250 anniversary of the United States.

our independence.

It is to be observed, it says, from sundown, May 15 to sundown, May 16.

Encouraging friends, families, and communities of all backgrounds to come together in gratitude for the nation

This day is to recognize the sacred Jewish tradition of setting aside time for rest, reflection, and gratitude to the Almighty.

Yeah, Amen is right.

Can you say hallelujah for this?

I'm just sharing this with you because it seems to me, now maybe it's not true, but it seems to me that God is putting a spotlight

On the Sabbath at this time.

He that has an ear, let him hear.

Do you know what yesterday was?

National Peace Officers Memorial Day.

Flags yesterday were flown at Half-Mass to honor National Peace Officers.

Do you know what July 4 is?

Independence Day.

How many years?

Two hundred and fifty years.

July four falls on a Sabbath

Your church board this last week decided to have an ice cream social for the community on July 5.

We want to invite the community to come here to continue the celebration of the 200 and

religious freedom, 250 years celebration, to come here for an ice cream social.

Do you know what that means?

We need some ice cream.

There you go.

You got it right.

Not only do we need ice cream, but we hope to have

You guys already cleaned us out of the first 50 we bought, so we are planning to get another hundred of these that we can give out to the community on July 5, that same weekend

So I invite you to keep these things in prayer.

Let's bow our heads for prayer.

Our gracious Heavenly Father, you are an awesome God.

We thank you for the holy Sabbath day that you have given to the world.

And Lord, we are celebrating with our Jewish friends today, with the friends and families that are celebrating together this Shabbat 250, Lord.

We thank you for the religious freedom that we have in this country.

We thank you that you are shining a spotlight on your Sabbath.

Lord, we pray for us as a church family.

We ask that you would help us to be the light to our community that you would have us to be.

And that you would grow us together as a family, as a church family, so that we can be united together in service for you.

I pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

One another.

We've been looking at this at the last couple of weeks.

This one anothering.

It's um

Not a hard concept for us to understand.

Last week we focused specifically on this one anothering of what?

What was it last week?

Kindness, yeah.

Be kind one to another.

And some of you have received an email every day this week.

encouraging you, giving you some practical tips, some things that you could do to remind you to be kind to individuals.

Well, I know for me, sometimes I get that email and I think about what I'm going to do that day.

And sometimes in the middle of doing things, I think, Dale, that's not very kind

Other times I do things intentionally just to be kind, hoping that it will become a habit.

And I hope it becomes a habit for all of us.

Be kind one to another.

Last week's sermon title was Spread Kindness Like What?

Confetti, yeah, I like that.

Today we're talking about what?

You haven't picked up on it yet?

You were not listening to the children's story?

Ah, honor, yeah.

You were not reading the bulletin?

You did not see the sign out front?

Oh my.

All it says is a simple

Honor one another.

Turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 12, verse 10.

Romans 12:10

Romans chapter 12, verse 10

Romans 12:10

And I am sure when I put that on the computer, it was much larger than that.

Be devoted to one another in love.

Honor one another above yourselves.

Honor one another how?

Above yourselves.

Sometimes I think that we don't know exactly um

What honor is.

I tried to look up honor.

You know what I mean by look up.

Do a Google search.

What is honor?

And when I said asked how do you honor someone, the things that it came back with was plant a tree for someone.

I thought, yeah, okay

Donate to a charity in someone's name.

Yeah, that works.

Uh

give them a uh a a plaque or a a diploma or a ward of some kind that that you are honoring them or or make a nice speech for them or as our children's story says

run before their chariot, saying, The king wants to honor this person.

And sometimes I think that's

All we have as a concept of honor.

And while those are part of honor, I don't think that's what Paul means here in Romans

12 when he says tells us to honor one another above yourselves

Honor is a little bit larger than that.

I'm not sure that when the scripture says honor your father and mother, that it means to give them a plaque.

Right?

That's what it means, isn't it?

I mean, last week for Mother's Day, some of you got cards.

You were honored as a mother?

But honor is more than just receiving the card.

Honor is much more than than what happens on that that specific day of the year.

For Mother's Day.

Honor is what happens throughout life

Oh man.

Sometimes things pop in my head that uh

We had a young couple there in Vietnam that they wanted to become Christian.

They wanted to become Seventh-day Adventist.

And

He lost his job because he wanted to become a Christian.

The people where he worked were not happy about him becoming Christian, and so he was released from his work.

They wanted to become Christian, and the biggest thing that was holding them back from becoming a Christian was their parents.

Because family is really important there.

And

They didn't know the how the reaction of their parents was going to be.

And so they they had all of us praying about it.

They had used it.

thinking about it.

They had us giving them advice on how to to break this news to their parents.

And they went one weekend to to his parents.

And said, we want to become Christians.

And the parents were like, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

That's not a good thing.

You you can't become Christians.

And well, why not?

Well, if you become Christians

Who's going to honor us when we die?

Because there in Vietnam, honor after death is very important to them.

In every home there's a a um

Shelf there, all of a sudden the name left me.

Um altar that they have there that they have the family pictures on, and they put offerings to their family.

They're on the altar and they pray to their family and the worry of the parents is who's going to honor me?

After I die.

And the response of this couple to their parents was, mom and dad, we really want to show you honor now while you're alive.

We want to show you honor now while you know that we are honoring you.

The Bible tells us.

To honor our parents.

And after that explanation, the parents said, okay, you can become Christians.

You have our blessing.

Honor is much more than a plaque.

Honor is much more than a simple gift.

Honor is

It's a lifestyle.

It's a way that you you go about treating other individuals.

When I said oh no, something popped in my head.

That means I have to change my sermon outline.

I have some things written down that I really want to say and some that aren't as important as others and I just used an illustration that I didn't have written down

This idea of honor for for us here in the West, we we don't

We don't really have a good understanding of what it means because we often think it means the plaque.

or the nice words that we say in a speech honoring somebody, or even the unkind words that we say when we roast somebody in their honor.

It's

Not ingrained in us like it is in the East.

In the in the East, in the the Middle East

in the Far East, they have this this whole concept.

Their whole world is based upon.

How do I say, their whole world is based upon shame and honor?

If you have shame, you're down here, and if you have honor, you're up here.

Here in the the West,

In the United States and in Europe and in Australia, we have this whole concept of right and wrong, good and bad.

The East doesn't really put it in good and bad, right and wrong.

They put it in shame and honor.

We used to have a little bit of understanding here in the United States about shame.

I mean, here in the I'm gonna say it's even before my time.

It used to be shameful to get a divorce.

It used to be shameful to have a child out of wedlock.

It used to be shameful to not be able to feed your family.

It used to be shameful to squander your family's money.

And for them to have to beg.

Today it doesn't seem to be shameful to be out on the streets holding up a sign.

It's a legitimate way for work.

Some of that shame departing from those actions

Can be good, but we've kind of lost a little bit of our understanding of shame.

If you oh man now I'm far, far away.

Oh, I'm sorry, Cheryl.

This is dangerous.

You were studying the Sabbath school lesson today, right?

Or this last week?

Daniel chapter 9.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

Oh, let's see, Daniel chapter nine.

We were reading it this morning in Sabbath school and I saw it twice and I said, Oh, I can mention that.

Twice here in Daniel chapter 9.

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

Daniel mentions that we have shamed ourselves as a nation.

Let's see, verse 7.

O Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us, shame of face, as it is this day, to the men of Judah

to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to all Israel, those near and those far, in all the countries to which you have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against you

And he talks about it a second time.

He talks about shame that it was brought on to them as a a nation.

Daniel understood the concept of shame.

And in their mentality, shame is the opposite of honor.

So if you shame, if someone is ashamed, if you shame someone, that means you are not.

And there's a continuum.

Shame, honor.

Up and down.

You can be be along the scale here somewhere.

Which person is supposed to get the most honor?

God.

Or if you think of it on earth, which person gets the most honor on earth?

We have this concept, and they did too a little bit.

The most important person.

Who's the most important person in their mind?

The king.

Shortly under the king is the scribe.

Shortly under the scribe are the teachers.

And those individuals got to like the honor.

And they were beholding for, I mean, wanted to get the honor.

Jesus said not to have that kind of honor.

John 13, he girded himself.

He took the towel.

He wrapped it around himself, and he bent down on his knees and he washed their feet.

An act that was in their mind.

Here he was, the Messiah, and he was acting

Shameful.

This is why Peter said, no, no, no, no, don't don't don't wash my feet.

Don't you can't do, I can't let you, I can't put you under me

I can't let you have that kind of shame.

Oh my, can't I get back on track?

Uh

Yeah, we'll go to here Philippians chapter 2, our scripture reading.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

That'll get us back.

Philippians chapter two three and four was our scripture reading

Notice what it says.

It says, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than themselves.

Let each of you look out not only for your own interests, but what?

But for the interest of others also.

Now that doesn't mean don't take care of the details that you need to take care of in your life.

You still have work that you need to do.

You still need to go to school.

You still need to take care of your marriage or you need to take care of your family.

You're still responsible for those things.

But it says, in addition to taking care of those things, look out for what?

The interest of others.

Now some of us get pretty good about that, sticking our nose where it doesn't belong.

And we say, well, I'm just taking care of the interest of others.

Well, are you?

Verse 5: Let this mind be in you, which is also in what?

Christ Jesus.

Paul kind of helps us to focus on how we're supposed to do this.

How we can focus on

Looking out for the interest of others, not just for the inter our own interest

Continue reading there, verse six, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation.

taking the form of a bond servant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Think about that.

Who is Jesus?

The creator of the universe.

The one that spoke and it happened.

The one who knelt down on his knees and formed man out of the dust of the ground.

The creator of the world, God.

And he descended to come to this earth because he loves us.

Because he cared about us.

Because he desires a relationship with us

Paul told us verse 5, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

Are you willing to leave your heaven?

The palace that you have prepared for you, the the domicile that you you live in, are you willing to leave that in order to look after someone else's interests

It said that Jesus came as a bondservant in the likeness of men.

He left heaven and came to this earth as a babe.

The creature that he had created was now taking care of him.

Was now making sure that he had the necessities of life.

And it wasn't the necessities of life that would be in a palace,

It wasn't the kingly mansion that he was able to live in.

It wasn't the place where you would send Jesus, the creator of the world.

He was born to peasants, the lower working class.

The ones that could only afford the two turtle doves to bring for his dedication.

That wasn't the upper class.

It wasn't the upper middle class.

It was the people that went far, far away and lived in the town of Nazareth.

And we know what scripture says about that.

Nothing good came out of a town like that.

That's where Jesus grew up.

That's where he lived.

So when it says that he came like this, and it says he knew he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondster, and coming in the likeness of men.

humbled himself and became obedient.

Obedient to the point of death.

Death on the cross.

An excruciating way to die.

No honor for a person that dies upon a cross.

Cursed is the man who hangs on the tree, Scripture says

Everybody was wagging their head as they went by and saw him hanging there on the cross.

There was no honor for him whatsoever.

He was now in the lowliest point of shame.

And he took that shame because that's what I deserve.

It's what you deserve.

You say, wait a minute, I I don't deserve that.

Yeah, that's what we deserve.

We deserve that kind of shame.

Jesus took that for us.

Why did he do that?

So that he could honor us.

The text there says, therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name.

That is the name of Jesus.

Every knee should be

bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Beautiful text there.

But we understand that's what Jesus did because he loves us.

The question though that I have is, what does that look like?

How do we put that in practice when you and I are supposed to honor one another?

Turn back in your Bibles, John chapter 21.

John 21 · chapter mention

You already know this already in John 21 because we talked about it a few weeks ago.

John 21 is that story it says there Jesus came to serve the disciples breakfast by the sea.

Several days after the cross, several days after the Passover had finished, and the disciples had made their way back to Galilee.

John 21, you know that story there.

How Peter said, I'm going fishing.

He went out in the boat.

They caught nothing all night.

Someone calls out to them about morning, Do you have anything to eat?

No.

Put the net on the other side of the boat.

And as they cast the net on the other side of the boat, suddenly the fish hit it.

Hundred fish, 150 fish.

And John realizes at that time, that's Jesus.

And he says the words, that's Jesus, and Peter is out of the boat, making his way to Jesus.

He is excited to see Jesus.

Because in Peter's mind, Peter remembers the last night they were together.

When Peter told Jesus, don't wash my feet.

When Peter told Jesus, even though all the others may deny you, I will not deny you.

When Jesus told him, Peter, you're going to deny me three times by the time the rooster crows.

Oh, Peter says, no, no, I'm willing to die for you.

Peter goes out that night with a sword attached to him.

Jesus asked Peter, James, and John, will you pray with me for an hour?

They fall asleep.

Second time, wait, just an hour, Jesus said.

They fall asleep.

These are the things I imagine Peter thinking about as he's out there fishing and catching nothing.

Replaying it over and over and over again.

So when John says it's Jesus, he's excited to see Jesus because the word had come to him.

From the ladies that had had had seen the angels go tell the disciples and Peter

That Jesus will meet them in Galilee.

And so Jesus, Peter is looking forward to this meeting in Galilee.

They sit and eat the food, the breakfast that Jesus has prepared for them.

And then Jesus turns as they're sitting there and he turns to Peter and says, Do you love me?

Peter sitting there with the other disciples around him.

What's he supposed to say?

I know we looked at this a few times

weeks ago you know the story but this is in in the the the this is this is jesus restoring honor to peter

Peter is down here in the honor category.

He has shame all over him.

He has brought shame all over his face.

That prayer that Daniel prayed in Daniel 9, that should have been the prayer of Peter at this time, or even lower.

Because Peter could have prayed it personally.

Daniel was praying on behalf of the nation.

Peter had experienced it for himself.

He had cried out, I don't know the man.

Jesus says to Peter,

Do you love me?

Now Jesus is doing this to restore the honor, not just in Peter's eyes

Jesus is doing this to restore the honor, not for his own sake, because he already knows Peter's heart.

Jesus is doing this because he's trying to restore honor to Peter in the eyes of the fellow disciples.

I mean when they were out there in the boat.

And for the last several days, what do you think they were thinking about Peter and the possibility of his leadership?

Yeah, you know Peter talks before his brain engages.

You know Peter, impulsive.

You know Peter.

What are they supposed to think about?

And when Jesus does this in front of the disciples.

What is Jesus doing?

He is restoring Peter's honor.

He is restoring Peter's honor.

That's what Jesus does.

Jesus restores people's honor.

He's done it for you.

He's done it for me.

Paul says though, we are supposed to honor one another.

Turn back a few pages.

You're in the book of John.

Turn back to John 4.

You guys know the story in John 4.

I'll try to cover this quickly.

John 4.

This is the woman at the well.

How much honor did the woman at the well have?

I mean, it says there in verse 4, John 4, verse 4, it says Jesus needed to go through Samaria.

John 4:4

Why did Jesus need to go there?

There was a woman there that needed her honor restored.

You know the story.

Jesus sits there and he begins to talk with her and he says, give me a drink of water.

Now, just by asking the question, give me a drink of water, what is Jesus doing to this woman?

You see, she's down here.

But if a Jewish man talks to her

Do you see her honor going up?

That didn't happen.

She makes a point of it.

What are you doing talking to me

She doesn't understand it yet, but her honor is going up.

Jesus spends some time talking to her about water.

And then he says to her, go call your husband.

And she cringes at the thought.

Cringes.

She says, I don't have a husband.

Is she telling the truth?

The whole truth and nothing but the truth?

You better go read the chapter and thoughts from the Mount of Blessings that we studied this last week.

Or you can just read Matthew 5.

She says, I don't have a husband.

And Jesus says, You are correct.

You've had five husbands

And the one that you are now with is not your husband.

And we here in the West, we think, oh, this is a loose woman.

They didn't think that they're in the East.

What they thought in the East was this a woman who has been tortured all of her life.

Because a woman cannot divorce a man.

The man had to give a letter of divorce.

Five had divorced her.

And probably, scripture doesn't tell us all the details, but probably sent her out

With no way to take care of herself.

Which means that she was supposed to go back to her father

or find another place to live, which it seems like she found another husband.

She had been abused.

This was a woman that had been abused.

She had been through five husbands.

And now she could not find another one to marry her, but she found one that would let her live with him.

and take care of her, causing so much shame in her life that she had to come to the well at noonday

What is Jesus doing here?

Jesus is opening up the wounds in her life.

She tries to change the topic and she tries to talk theology with him.

And he gets to the place in the story, uh, let's see, John 4.

Come down here.

Um verse twenty-six

twenty-five.

The woman said to him, I know the Messiah is coming who is called Christ.

When he comes, he will tell us all things.

And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He.

This is early in the ministry of Jesus.

Very early in the ministry of Jesus.

Now, John the Baptist had said, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

But this is the first time Scripture recorded

The words coming out of the mouth of Jesus, and he tells who?

The lowest

I mean, not only is is I'm gonna say this harshly, it's gonna sound like, is she a woman because

Her testimony is not taken into court, not acceptable in court.

But not only is she a woman, but she's a Samaritan woman.

I mean, if you were going to go into that society and you were going to tell people that you are the Messiah of the world, who would you choose to tell first?

Peter, yeah, that's a good answer.

Let's tell Peter because we know if we tell Peter what's gonna happen?

Everybody's gonna know.

Or if you don't tell Peter, maybe you should, you know, slide in with the the the the priest as they're ministering in the in the temple and and get some of the priest and and I

Tell them who you are.

Give them your credentials.

Or maybe not the priest, maybe you want to do the scribes, the one that are the teachers.

The ones that are writing the law, the ones who understand the scriptures.

Maybe talk to the scribes.

Or maybe some of the teachers, the rabbis, tell them, but to tell a Samaritan woman that is disgraced in her society.

What is Jesus doing here?

What's he doing?

He is restoring her honor.

Those words come out of his mouth and the disciples show back up.

And they begin a conversation with Jesus, and this woman disappears, and she goes back to the village where she is shamefaced to go.

But she doesn't go back shamefaced.

She goes back and she tells the village people, this man has told me everything about me.

He knows everything.

Think about that for just a moment.

Maybe there were five men that had been married to this woman that were leaders in that town.

They want to know what this man told her.

What their conversation entailed.

What is Jesus doing here?

He is taking the worst of the worst, the evil things, the bad things, the hurtful things, the bitterness that you have in life.

He is taking that.

And it is being raised up here.

So that hurtful, that bitter, that shameful thing that you have experienced, that you don't want to talk about.

That you don't want anybody to know about.

He has taken that and she does not even care about that anymore.

Her honor has been raised so that she is the one announcing the Messiah.

Ah a little louder, okay?

She is the one that is announcing the Messiah.

This this this

I don't even know what words to use to describe her.

Yeah, this nobody.

That's a good one.

This nobody has been raised out of her shame.

To a place of honor.

So that even the shame that she has had in her life, she doesn't care about.

So much so that she is willing to testify about her shame in order to point her city

To the Messiah

Verse thirty nine.

Oh, sorry, it's not thirty nine, it uh

Yeah, verse 39, that's where I am.

And many of the Samaritans that that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified.

He told me everything that I ever did.

Is that amazing

They believed because of her testimony.

So when the Samaritans had come to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed with them two days.

And many more believed because of his own word.

And they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of what you said.

For we ourselves have heard him, and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.

Not only has she been restored in her own eyes, not only has she been restored in the eyes of Jesus, but she has been restored in the eyes of.

Her community.

You remember the community where she lives?

That she was embarrassed to go and get water with the women in the morning?

Afraid to go and get water with the women in the evening?

Now where does she sit?

They are coming to her and they are saying, Thank you.

For sharing your testimony.

Thank you for introducing us to the Messiah.

Oh, you talk about shame and honor.

Friends, this is what it means for us to honor someone.

It's not just giving them a plaque, it's not just giving them a card, it's not just just saying sweet words of kindness.

It is all of that.

And more.

Jesus wanted to honor Peter

He wanted to bring him back to take away his shame.

Jesus wanted to honor the woman at the well.

He wanted to take away her shame.

How can we honor each other?

How can we

overlook the shame that we see in one another.

Because most of the time what we talk about is we talk about each other's

Faults, right?

Oh, Jesus didn't remind Peter of his faults out there.

Peter already knew about his faults.

Now Jesus talked about the faults with the woman.

Talked about that hurtful part.

Talked about that pain that she had in order to

What do they say that in the medical field when you open up the wound and you're cleansing out all that white pus and stuff, it's it's

It's yucky, it's painful, it's healing for the body

That's what Jesus was doing with this woman there at at the well.

If I say the word, no, I probably won't say it right.

Oh, I won't even say the word.

Yeah, I'll say it

If I say the word kinzugi, do you know what I'm talking about?

If I give you a hint that it's a Japanese word, kinzugi?

Can you imagine what it was like if you break a thousand dollar clay pot?

How would you feel

In the 15th century, shogunashiga Yashimasa sent a broken Chinese tea bowl for repair.

And the repairs that he got back, the staples that he got back, and that T bow were unsatisfactory.

So he decided to get his workmen working on a new process.

Which is called kinzugi.

A process of collecting and cleaning the broken pieces.

A process of bonding the fragments of Eurisha.

Bonding the fragments together with Eurisha lacquer.

Filling the gaps with this lacquer.

With clay andor flour, dusting and painting the seams of the precious metal is called golden repair

You know, this process, kinshiki, has become so popular that there are people now that are taking these valuable clay pots.

And they are breaking them on purpose.

Why do they break them on purpose?

So they can glue them back together again.

and make works of art out of them so that they will be more valuable than they were before.

Friends, what can Jesus do with us?

With our brokenness, with our pain, with our hurts.

He can glue us back together so that we are better than we were before.

Not only that though, he wants to use us.

He wants to partner with us.

in ministry, for us to work with him in this process of bonding people back so that we can honor them

So that they can be more valuable than they were before in our eyes and in their eyes.

In our eyes and their eyes and the eyes of the community.

Oh friends, we need this Kinseki.

We need to honor one another.

More than we desire honor for ourselves.

Did you hear that?

We need to honor one another

More than we desire honor for ourselves.

I encourage you this week.

Honor.

One another.