Honor in a Cancel Culture

How many of you have returned at least one thing you received this Christmas?  It’s great, isn’t it?  Don’t you just love doing returns?  Yeah, nobody likes the hassle of returns.  Over Christmas, I ordered some items for my truck from Walmart but found out they were on backorder after ordering them.  So, I chatted with a Walmart representative and asked them to cancel my order and refund my money.  Sounds simple enough, right?  It took three chat sessions to figure it all out.  Not only that, but after all that chatting.  The items I canceled showed up last week at my house.

Frustrating!

But something interesting happened when I was chatting with the customer service reps.  When my first chat was done, she sent one final message and thanked me for being kind and patient.  She said you are the kindest customer I’ve had all day. It has been a long day, and you are my last chat for the evening.  It’s good to end my day on such a good note. I hope you have a Merry Christmas.

The thing is, I wasn’t particularly kind or patient.  I just wasn’t rude.  I said please and thank you, and when she said this would take a minute to process, I said no worries.

What struck me about her message is how showing just a little bit of honor, treating her like her feelings mattered, and being just a little bit patient impacted her.  It’s not that I went out of my way to be nice.  She had just been treated so poorly all day that a little bit of honor had a big impact.

I read her message, and I wept.  How broken is our culture when showing the smallest bit of honor to someone has such a big impact?

I had to chat two more times with customer reps to sort things out and all three times I got a similar message at the end of our chat.

How crazy is that?

I’ve read some people who say we’re living in “The Age of Perpetual Offense.”

We are quick to judge, quick to criticize, quick to condemn, and quick to cancel anyone who offends us.

And it doesn’t take much to offend us these days.  A single event can send us over the edge. When we don’t get what we want when we want it, if we don’t get the service we think we deserve, we lose it.  Even with our loved ones and friends, we are easily offended. Maybe you have a friend who didn’t vote the way you think they should have voted, or you disagree on some issue or some other petty thing, and you get offended. Now, you’re willing to walk away from a relationship because of your offense. “That’s it, I’m done with you.”

If you’re on a continuous search to be offended, trust me, you’ll always find what you’re looking for.

But I want to remind you this morning that God’s kingdom operates on a very different principle.  This is for everyone sitting in this room this morning.  It doesn’t matter if you are a junior high student or getting ready to retire.  Scripture teaches us about a different way to live and, most importantly, a different way to see, value, and honor people.

Rom 12:10 (CSB)—Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another.  

Now, understand the context here: Paul is talking to the church in Rome.  He is talking about honoring one another within the community that he is addressing.  But this principle of honoring one another extends beyond the church’s walls.

Let me remind you of Jesus’ words in Luke:

Lk 6:32-35 (CSB)—If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do what is good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. For he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil.

So, how are you doing “honoring one another?”

The title of my sermon this morning is Honor in a Cancel Culture.

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I want to begin by looking at a passage in Mark 6.  Here is the context: Jesus has just come from a region where He had driven out a legion of demons who possessed a man for many years.  Then he healed a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years, and then he raised the young daughter of the local synagogue leader from the dead.  After doing all of that, He heads to His hometown of Nazareth.

Mk 6:1-5 (CSB)—He left there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.  When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. “Where did this man get these things?” they said. “What is this wisdom that has been given to him, and how are these miracles performed by his hands? Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” So they were offended by him.  Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his household.” He was not able to do a miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

It says Jesus was without honor in His hometown.  The Greek word for Without Honor is atimos (at’-ee-mos); it means to dishonor; to treat as common or ordinary.

The opposite of that is the word used for Honor in the Greek is the word time (tim-may’); to value, respect, or highly esteem; to treat as precious, weighty or valuable.

So what does honor do?  What does it look like?  Honor esteems, cherishes, values, builds up, and believes the best in someone. But dishonoring someone means treating them as common, tearing down, devaluing, and assuming the worst about them.

A great example of this is marriage.  When dating the person who will become your spouse, you often show them lots of honor.  Guys, you open the door for your girl, bring her gifts, compliment her, and show her that she is valuable.  Girls, you post pictures of your great guy.  You talk him up, encourage him, and show him he is valuable. 

But, now that you’ve been married for a while, you begin to treat your relationship not as something special but as something ordinary. You begin to take for granted something that is actually a precious gift. Some of you treat the dog with more honor than your spouse.

Want a special God-honoring marriage?—Then take the lead in honoring one another.

Want a common marriage?—Treat each other as ordinary.

When you do, what was once special quickly becomes not so special!

If my wife treated me a little better, I might show her more honor, you might say.

But here is the lie we often believe about honor: when you are honorable, then I’ll show you honor. 

But the truth is this: when you honor someone, they will often become honorable.  Why? Honor builds up, but dishonor tears down.  If you want to build someone up, if you want them to become someone special, honor them.  Dishonor them, and you tear them down.

The people of Nazareth said,  Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” So they were offended by him.

This guy is just a carpenter; He’s nothing special; He’s just ordinary.  And because He was just ordinary, they scoffed at Him, were offended by His words, and dishonored Him.

My point is this: when we view people as nothing special, as common, ordinary, and not valuable, we easily dishonor them.  It becomes easy for us to tear down a child, a spouse, a friend, a waiter, or a customer service rep when we don’t highly esteem them or treat them as precious, weighty, or valuable.

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So, who does Scripture say we are to honor?

Honor God

• We honor God by demonstrating the high regard we have for Him. 
• We do this when we give Him praise and worship.
• We honor Him by being sexually pure (1 Cor 6:15).
• We honor Him with our wealth by giving Him our income (Prov 3:9).
• We honor Him by living lives devoted to Him (Rom 14:8). 
• It is not enough to merely honor Him outwardly. God desires honor that comes from our hearts. We honor Him with our hearts (Isaiah 29:13). 
• We honor Him when we delight in Him (Psalm 37:4).
• We honor Him when we seek Him in everything we do (1 Chronicles 16:11; Isaiah 55:6).

Our Parents

Eph 6:1-4 (CSB)—Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land. Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. 

Parents, don’t think your kids will ever honor a boss or a spouse if they don’t honor you!  Teach them to honor.

Those in Authority

Romans 13:1-7 tells us this.

Over years, I’ve liked some leaders more than others. I have often disagreed with leaders, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still show them honor. You can disagree without dishonoring.

Pastors and Spiritual Leaders

1 Tim 5:17 (CSB)—The elders who are good leaders are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

Paul says those who oversee the church are worthy of double honor.

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Why Does Honor Matter?

Honor is not just the right thing to do; it’s not only that scripture tells us to show honor; we must also realize that dishonor hurts us.

Mk 6:4-5 (CSB)—Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his household.” He was not able to do a miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

It doesn’t say that He would not; it says He could not; it says He was not able to do so.

Jesus had just driven out a legion of demons, healed a woman and then raised a dead girl to life but He could not do the miracles that He wanted to do in His hometown because of dishonor.

I don’t fully understand how a lack of honor limited what Jesus did in Nazareth, but I wonder if a lack of honor is causing us to miss something God has for us. Jesus went to Nazareth with the intention of doing miracles but the people missed the powerful and awesome things that Jesus wanted to do.  I believe God has awesome and powerful things for us.  Let’s not miss them because of a lack of honor.

Rom 12:10 (CSB)—Take the lead in honoring one another.

Rom 12:10 (ESV)—Outdo one another in showing honor.

Jesus quotes from Isa 29 when he points out a problem with honor in Matt 15

Matt 15:8 (CSB)—This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 

When you give God lip service, you treat Him as familiar, common, and ordinary.

He is not the Big Guy Sky, he’s not your Homeboy, and he is not a 6lb, 8oz tiny baby in a manger.  

He is the risen and soon returning, conquering King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

He is the Prince of Peace, Alpha and Omega, Lion of Judah, and the Lamb God!

He is my Redeemer, Savior, Lord, and King!

If we want to honor Him, we must honor what is important to Him.

That means honoring His creation, His human family, because His name is on them. Even if they have not yet confessed His name and are not yet redeemed, they are His creation.

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Babe Ruth is considered one of the greatest home run hitters of all time! His career homerun record stood for 40 years.  (Picture on screen)

“The Great Bambino” and “the Sultan of Swat” as he was often referred to, autographed tons of baseballs but only autographed seven homerun bats. One of those seven bats vanished for decades but then resurfaced in 2006.  The bat was the prize for a 1923 homerun contest. It was given to Victor Orsatti, a high school senior who led his city in home runs.

Orsatti treasured the bat for more than 60 years. Before he died in 1984, he willed the bat and some of his personal items to Marcia Tejada, his home healthcare nurse. Clueless to its value, Tejada stuck the bat under her bed, where it remained for 18 years.

When she retired from nursing, she dreamed of opening a restaurant but didn’t have enough money.  She thought of the bat under her bed and took it to a local memorabilia shop. The owner was shocked when he verified it was the missing Babe Ruth bat.

In 2006, she auctioned the bat for $1.3 million. She used a portion of the money to start her restaurant but donated most of it to a foundation for children close to Babe’s heart.

“The bat was only valuable because Babe Ruth’s name was on it. Since he made it valuable, the only reasonable thing I could do was something that would honor his life.” 

—Marcia Napoli-Tejeda

If you are a follower of Jesus, you are valuable because you bear the name of Christ. The Holy Spirit lives in you and has left an indelible mark on your life.  You belong to Him.

Our only reasonable response is to honor Him and live in a way that honors him. How do we honor him?  By honoring one another and honoring the things that are important to Him.

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Let’s foster the Spirit of Honor in our homes, church, marriages, children, and people we work with and go to school with.  Let’s honor the opposing team’s coach, the waitress who gets our order wrong, and the Walmart customer service rep.

Is there someone in particular you have a hard time honoring?  Ask God to help you see that person the way He sees them.  Ask Him to empower you to impart the same value for them that He has.