In Everything, Honor

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again, radio friends. How in the world are you? Yes, that little greeting establishes the fact that this is indeed your friend, Bob Cook, and I’m glad to be back with you. I look forward to these times when we can share from the Word of God. All of my days are structured around looking forward to being able to share God’s Word with you, I do declare. That’s really what counts, isn’t it? “The Word of God,” it says, “Liveth and abideth forever. Heaven and earth shall pass away but My words will never pass away.” A million years from now, the Scripture verses that you learn today or during your lifetime will still be meaningful and precious. The precious promises will still be precious a million years from now in the glory. You wanna think about, chew on that for a little while? [chuckle]

Oh, the Wall Street conditions won’t be significant then, the political arena will have been quieted and stilled then. The small talk that we engage in which takes really so much of our day’s time will not matter then, but the Scripture that you have placed in your heart and mind and memory, and which you have implemented in your life, God’s Word will still be meaningful when the ages are rolling along. That’s why I look forward to sharing His Word with you, because it counts and lasts.

Well, we’re in 1 Timothy 6, winding up this chapter. Soon be done with it, won’t we? And we’re in the middle of this beautiful benediction of the Apostle Paul. “Who only hath immortality,” speaking of God now, “Who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see.” Now, remember, everyone of these represents a human impossibility. “Immortality,” we’re mortal. “Dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto,” we are in darkness normally and we can’t stand the light of God. “Whom no man hath seen nor can see-” you can’t humanly envision the glory of God. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ, through the indwelling Holy Spirit of God after you’ve yielded your life to Him and had been born again, what happens? The Lord Jesus Christ makes you the very object of eternal life. You and I are going to be living, praising God, working, doing His Will in the ages to come because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto. You and I beholding as in a mirror the glory of God are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. “Now are ye light, children of light, walk,” He said, “As children of light.” Jesus said, “Let your light so shine in the world.”

See, the Lord Jesus implements all of the impossibilities of Deity in your life. Isn’t that something? So that you become an extension of what God is because of the Lord Jesus Christ and because of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Now, we come then to the last part of 1 Timothy 6:16, “To Him the honor and power everlasting.” Interestingly enough, the choice of words in God’s Word, because it’s inspired by the Holy Spirit, always fits the subject matter that surrounds it. To Him be honor. Honor. “Them that honor me, I will honor,” God says.

I used to have in my college days a friend who was a barber, Jack Richards. Thoroughly saved and filled with the Spirit of God, he was eager to share the Truth of God with everyone he could, and when I came to get a haircut, he would really work this young preacher over. Very frequently I would hear him say, quoting the verse, “Them that honor me, I will honor,” God says. And then he would whirl the chair around until he was looking right into my eyes and he would say, “And Brother Bob, the more you honor God, the more He’ll honor you.” [chuckle] And then he would proceed with the haircut. [chuckle] I never forgot that.

Yes, unto Him be honor. Now, why? Well, because He’s the only One that deserves it. And because you and I are lost without Him, so we honor Him. And because He’s our Heavenly Father and so we honor Him. And because He’s the source of all of that which we know about time and eternity, so we honor Him. And because He has deigned to reach down in infinite mercy, and love, and to save us, and forgive us, and adopt us. “He’s foreordained us to the adoption of children,” it says, “By Jesus Christ to Himself.” He’s adopted us into His family, so we honor Him.

Now, let me talk with you just for a moment, if I may, about this matter of honoring God. How do you honor God? Well, you don’t do it the way we do with people- you give them a medal or a plaque or you make a speech about them or whatever. How do you honor God? Well, it’s a very simple matter. You honor Him by obeying Him. You honor Him by obeying Him. “These people honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me,” God complains, speaking through the ancient prophet. You honor Him by giving Him your heart. You honor Him by bending your will in His direction. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. How do you honor God? You start loving Him. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost Who has given unto us.” Open your heart and mind and body to the blessed Holy Spirit of God Who came to dwell there when you trusted Christ the Savior. Let Him fill every room in your heart house so that there’s love for God in every department of your being. That’s the start.

And then because you love Him you’ll want to obey Him. “If you you love me,” Jesus said, “Keep My commandments.” Obey me. It’s that simple. Disobedience dishonors God, obedience honors God and obedience comes out of a heart that loves God. You follow that? It’s very simple logic. But, oh, how it will transform our lifestyle if we allow it to do so. Honor. How do I honor God in the family? Do I walk around with a solemn face and be very severe and religious looking? Not necessarily. Unless you’re ill, that is. [chuckle] When you try to look religious, you only end up looking bilious [chuckle] and ridiculous. Don’t do it! [chuckle]

No, how do you honor God in your family? Well, you honor Him by being a person who manifests the attributes of the Holy Spirit of God, what the Bible calls the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. You honor Him by obeying Him in what involves your family.

How do you obey God in relationship to your family? Well, let’s start with going to church, for one thing. Go to church with your family, go to Sunday School with them. Or do you send the kids to Sunday School? Go to Sunday School with your family. Go to church and sit with your family. How else do you honor God with your family? How about reading the Bible and praying with them when they’re gathered for dinner? Family worship is a great cement that binds a family together. Not in vain do we have that saying, “The family that prays together, stays together.” How do you honor God in the family? Pray, read the Bible with them. How do you honor God with your children? Express love to them and love for God with them.

Children don’t have organized perceptions, but they are exceedingly sharp. You don’t fool the kids. They know whether or not you’re putting on something, whether you’re faking it, as we say. I look back into my own childhood, I have very sharp memories of my own childhood. Mother dead when I was just a baby, sister running the family for father and me, starting as a little girl, really, in her early teens, barely out of… I guess she was 11 or 12, whatever it was. Starting to help keep house, a monumental task for a little child. And there we were. I have sharp memories. I have memories now as an adult of what I perceived then with a little bit of perplexity of some of the human nature faults that I saw in my father and in others. I didn’t organize them, I didn’t reflect on them, didn’t have any logic about them, but I was aware of them.

I also have memories of waking up at 5:00 in the morning and hearing my father pray for his boy, this would be later on when I was in high school and he would be on his way to work within a very few minutes. But there he was kneeling beside the old rocker praying, “Lord, bless my boy today. Keep him from sin,” and so on. I have memories of that.

How do you honor God? You walk with the Lord in reality and in honesty in front of your children and your wife or husband. That’s how you honor Him. And when there’s a choice of something, shall I/shall I not? It’s a very simple matter to say, “Well, will this honor the Lord or won’t it? Will this fit with the concept of honoring God? Does it honor the Lord or doesn’t it? It’s not a matter of is it religious? You can’t be religious about some things, you know that.

You can’t be pious about everything. I have a little saying that goes, “If you find a man who’s always pious, you have to watch him because he’s apt to lie about other things too.” [chuckle] You can’t be pious or religious about everything, but you can honor God in everything. Business dealings, conversation, small talk, telephone calls. Somebody calls and you don’t want to talk with him, the secretary says, “Mr. Blow is on the phone,” and you’re tempted to say, “Tell him I’m out.” Well, perhaps you may be. Honor God. Honor God in your telephone calls, and in your business dealings, and in the way you pay your bills, in the way you treat your competitors, in the way you treat your customers, in the way you deal with the IRS, in the way you deal with people of the opposite sex, honor God. Oh, it shows up everywhere, doesn’t it? To Him be honor.

Something to think about, isn’t it? It doesn’t mean you have to be pious and religious all the time, I repeat that. Some people feel that in order to honor the Lord they have to put on a kind of a religious front. Don’t do it, that makes a hypocrite of you. Just ask the question when you make a decision, “Will this honor my Lord?” Ask the question momentarily when you’re about to speak with someone, or write a letter, or sign a contract, or take a job or leave one, and whatever it may be, “Will this honor my blessed Lord?” And I can tell you something, you will find that the results are tremendous, the results are tremendous. They will give you an entirely different attitude toward life and you’ll be enjoying the ordinaries of life because you have connected them by faith with your loving Heavenly Father. Honor God. “Them that honor me,” He said, “I will honor.” And remember what Jack Richards said, “The more you honor God, the more He’ll honor you.”

Dear Father today, grant to us to give Thee the honor in everything, Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today, and be a blessing!