I really enjoyed Jon & Emma’s seminar on Sunday (check the podcast!) – especially all the things about honouring each other that they were sharing. I heard a brilliant teaching about honour when I was down in Cardiff last month (Yeah, good old B.Johnson again!). Here’s what I got from it:
The basic principle is that honour releases supernatural power (e.g. 5th commandment). Or, to look at it differently, we limit what God can do in and through our communities when we refuse to honour each other; when we refuse to recognise the gifts, talents and anointings that God has placed on other people (i.e. not just ourselves!)
Take Luke 4 as an example. Jesus has come out of the wilderness and is now at the synagogue in Nazareth. The scene is set for that seminal moment where Jesus stands up to read from Isaiah 61 and announces that he himself was the fulfillment of the scripture just brought forth – in other words, Jesus is proclaiming himself the Messiah.
Now when we think of Nazareth, we think of it as a by-word for unbelief on account of the rejection that Jesus is about to receive. But check out the first thing that is recorded after Jesus has made his claim, Luke 4:22a:
“All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.“
Some translations render this, “all bore witness to him.” In other words, they were impacted by what Jesus said – their spirits came alive; their hearts leapt at what he was saying. On a spiritual level, they believed Jesus. This has parallels with a story in John 6 where Jesus tells the people they must “eat his flesh and drink his blood“. Many people leave Jesus because of such a hard teaching yet the disciples respond by saying: “Lord, to whom would we go.. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69) – they chose to believe even though they didn’t necessarily understand. Their spirits bore witness to the truths Jesus was sharing.
Switch back to Nazareth. The hearts of the people are pounding – could this be the Messiah?? But then the doubts kick in, 4:22b…
“‘How can this be?’ they asked. ‘Isn’t this Joesph’s son?’“.
So what happened? Well, suddenly everyone remembered that they’d seen Jesus grow up. Their rational minds overtook their spiritual understanding – how could the boy next door, Mary and Joseph’s son, be the Chosen One of God? Ultimately, they did not honour the anointing that was on Jesus’ life.They shut down the witness of their heart and as a result missed out on a potentially massive move of God in their area.
In 4:25-27, Luke records Jesus listing examples from the Old Testament where the same thing happened. Like Jesus, neither Elijah nor Elisha were honoured by their “home town” (a.k.a. Israel) and, because the people did not recognise the anointing that these prophets carried, God witheld from Israel His supernatural supply.
The people of Nazareth had the greatest opportunity for supernatural release, but that same opportunity was also the greatest stumbling block – namely, that they had seen Jesus grow up and therefore there was an absence of honour in their attitude towards him.
We need to get better at celebrating each other; at recognising the grace/spirit/anointing that we all carry. But so often we let things get in the way of that: maybe paranoia of human worship or even our own insecurities – not wanting to consider others above (“better than”) ourselves. Or maybe we look at people and see them like the Nazarenes did Jesus – we see people we’ve grown up with, people who we’ve seen stuff up and make mistakes. But regardless of the obstacles, we need to overcome them.
So the challenge is this: honour other people and what God is doing in their lives. Celebrate their victories. Rejoice when God prospers them. Recognise their gifts and talents. Choose to believe what your spirit bears witness to in another person rather than what your rational mind argues back. Finally, understand that it’s not all about you and consider that how you view other people may just be the most accurate way of determining what your heart really looks like.
It could all be one of the keys to what God wants to do in Manchester…
UPDATE: Bill recently preached about this again at his church, Bethel, in a sermon called ‘Discerning the Lord’s Body’. You can listen to the podcast for free. Click here!
