The death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is reputed to have been caused by a seizure suffered at a meeting of the Presidium, the Communist party executive committee. Livid with fury, Stalin leaped from his seat, only to crash to the floor unconscious. While other Presidium members stared at the prone figure, scheming bureaucrat Laverenti Beria jumped up and danced around the body shouting, “We’re fee at last! Free at last!” But as Stalin’s daughter forced her way into the room and fell on her knees by her father, the dictator stirred and opened one eye. Beria at once dropped down beside Stalin, seized his hand, and covered it with kisses.
Stalin didn’t deserve any honor, but Jesus deserves all of our honor. It’s sad when Christians act honorable at church, but don’t show any honor to the Savior at home. Christ is a loving master, not a dictator; He deserves honor. Mark Twain said, “We’re all like the moon: we have a dark side we don’t want anyone to see.”
The dark side is our dishonorable side. With the moon, one side faces the sun and the other side doesn’t. Face the Son. . .of God. Our dark side isn’t dark to the Lord.
This is fake honor. On the outside, one appears to be honoring God, but that is not his motive on the inside. Nothing dishonors God more than to put on a show of honoring God.
Rogers states that this sin produces four terrible results:
--It is an affront to God, and a kind of mockery
--It grieves the Spirit of God
--It is a spiritual disease
--It argues the loss and non-acceptance of our prayers
We’ve all had fake honor before. Example: pledge allegiance to the American flag at a sports game; singing out of the hymnal.
Three deadly truths about fake honor:
FAKE HONOR IS ONLY HALF-COMMITTED
Ex: King Saul
I Samuel 15:13-23.
Saul did not value God’s honor as much as he did his personal gain. If he obeyed God, he would have gotten nothing out of it, but he would have honored God. If you’re going to honor God, you cannot be selfish.
Saul thought he could obey God partially and still honor Him—he was half-committed to God. He also blamed the people, but he was in charge of the people. Read verse 30. Saul wanted to be honored.
Saul made three mistakes:
--He disobeyed God
--He lied (v.13)
--He blamed the people (v.15)
Saul’s life went downhill from here. He became obsessed with killing David, he almost killed his own son, he became hasty in his decisions and actions, and he even sought a witch to get a dead man’s advice. What happened to Saul? He had so much potential. This is what happened to him: he lost his honor for God. He didn’t have enough honor to obey God 100%. He obeyed God 90%.
When you come to the point where you only do 90% for God, you have lost your honor for God; and your life will only go downhill from there. You might say, “I read my Bible 90% of the time, I pray 90% of the time, I go to church 90% of the time, I tithe 90% of the time; Lord, you can have 90% of my heart!” You’ve lost your honor for God!
Psalm 119:10- “With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.”
Do you see David’s desire in this verse? It is a whole-hearted desire! God wants your whole heart. Saul died a dishonorable man; but did you notice that David always honored God with his whole heart? He fell into sin; but he always came back to God with his whole heart. David lived a life honoring to God.
Mark 12:30- “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”
FAKE HONOR IS MORE CONCERNED ABOUT THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE
Ex: The Pharisees
Matthew 23:27-28.
The Pharisees acted very honorably; they were prideful and picky in their spirituality. All they cared about was how spiritual they looked. How dishonoring to God this is!
Kohler lists seven types of Pharisees who were extremists:
1. The “shoulder” Pharisee, who paraded his good deeds before men like a badge on the shoulder.
2. The “wait-a-little” Pharisee, who would ask someone to wait for him while he performed a good deed.
3. The “blind” Pharisee, who bruised himself by walking into a wall because he shut his eyes to avoid seeing a woman.
4. The “pestle” Pharisee, who walked with hanging head rather than observe alluring temptations.
5. The “ever-reckoning” Pharisee, who was always counting his good deeds to see if they offset his failures.
6. The “God-fearing” Pharisee, who, like Job, was truly righteous.
7. The “God-loving” Pharisee, like Abraham.
The Pharisees never honored Jesus. They questioned Jesus; they criticized Jesus; they tempted Jesus; they ridiculed Jesus; they attacked Jesus, but they never honored Him.
We’ve all acted like Pharisees before: self-righteous, proud, but it was all on the outside. The outside doesn’t matter to God.
I Samuel 16:7- “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”
The Pharisees strutted around like peacocks in vain; God doesn’t look on the outside. They looked really spiritual on the outside, but they were filthy on the inside. Jesus ran into a lot of problems with the Pharisees.
Matthew 12:34-35- “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”
The Pharisees’ honor for God went as far as the words from their mouths; it didn’t come from their hearts. They had replaced genuine honor for God with false-front spirituality. Pharisees would even wear Scripture on their foreheads, but although the Word was on their head, it was not in their heart. The Word was on the surface and no deeper; sometimes our honor for God is only surface-deep.
J. Vernon McGee tells a story of a young type of Pharisee: “Years ago I heard the story of a very fashionable church in Edinburgh that wanted a pulpit-supply; so the seminary sent out to them a very fine young man who was brilliant in the classroom at the school. He had never had any experience, and he was filled with pride at ministering in this great church. When he got up before that group of people, he was struck with stage fright. He forgot everything he ever knew. He had memorized his sermon, but he forgot it. He stumbled through it and left the pulpit in humiliation, because he knew how miserably he had failed. A dear little Scottish lady went up to him and said, ‘Young man, I was watching you this morning, and I’d like to say to you if you had gone up into that pulpit like you came down out of that pulpit, then you would have come down out of that pulpit like you went up into that pulpit.’ He had gone up with pride, but he had come down with lowliness and meekness.”
That young man had plenty of honor for himself, but none for God. The best way to honor God is to humble yourself. We don’t deserve any honor, so don’t walk around as if you do. God deserves all of our honor. Honor God from the inside, and let it work its way to the outside. Don’t be a stinking whited sepulcher.
FAKE HONOR ATTEMPTS TO STEAL GOD'S HONOR
Ex: Ananias and Sapphirah
Acts 5:1-10.
Ananias and Sapphirah wanted to look honorable in front of the whole church. But in order to do that, they lied about their sacrifice. God’s wrath struck them dead. Why did God do this? Ananias and Sapphirah had committed a horrible sin. What did they do? They stole honor that they didn’t deserve.
Zechariah 7:4-7.
Israel had committed a serious offense against God; they fasted only because the pagans were fasting to their gods. God tells them that they were doing it for themselves. Why did Ananias and Sapphirah sell their land? So they could get some of the money. They were doing for themselves, not for God. This is nothing more than stealing God’s honor.
Isaiah 42:8- “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”
God is a jealous God; He is the only true God! How wretched of us to give honor to anyone or anything else! God wants you to give Him His rightful honor.
Revelation 4:11- “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
CONCLUSION
What is it that honors God? How can we honor Him today?
—Humility honors God
Pro. 15:33, “The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is
humility.”
—Seeking God honors Him
Jer. 29:13, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
—God makes a promise to those who honor Him
I Samuel 2:30, “…but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”
This world needs to see some Christians who will live with genuine honor in their hearts for God. Don’t be like King Saul, who was half-committed to God; don’t be like the Pharisees, who honored themselves by outward appearance; and don’t be like Ananias and Sapphirah, who tried to steal God’s honor. Live a life that seeks to glorify the only One who deserves all honor and glory.
