Proud Men Don't Accept Jesus
The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God (John 5:15-18).
The Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus. He had healed a man on the Sabbath day, and had said God was His Father. They were so filled with pride and envy; they refused to accept Him as God's anointed.
Jesus Receives No Honor From Men
We see in John 5:37 and 38 that Jesus rebuked the self-righteous Jews for their stubbornness, pride and unbelief. He said to them, "... Ye have neither heard (the Father's) voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not."
He tells them in verses 39 and 40 that they read the Scriptures trying to find eternal life, but refuse to come to Him that they might have it. He says: "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life."
Then in verse 41 He goes on to say, "I receive not honour from men." He does not mean that He refuses honor. He means, "I am not receiving any honor from men - that no one is honoring God and His Word by coming to Me."
Jesus Refused To Play the Honor Game
"But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive" (John 5:42-43).
In these passages, Jesus is pointing out to these men that He will not play their honor game.
What's the honor game? Giving each other "honor" or medals or titles in order to boost one's own sense of self-worth. I'll give you rank so you can give me privilege, etc. That is pride and greed, not honor.
Jesus is not saying that men should not honor other men, because the Word of God says we should give honor to whom honor is due (Rom. 13:7). It is a wonderful thing to honor the hard work and diligence of other men. It is, however, a dishonor to God to seek the honor of others rather than that which comes only from the Lord.
You and I cannot demand that we be given honor. For instance, we must not demand that others call us "doctor" or "teacher" or "master." This is the very thing Jesus is talking about to the proud Pharisees of His day - and to us in our day. Jesus won't play honor games.
Seek God's Honor
"How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?" (John 5:44).
Notice the word "only" at the end of this sentence. There is honor that comes from God only. You cannot give it to me, and I cannot give it to you. I can tell you about it, but I cannot give it to you.
For instance, I cannot give you the kind of honor that conveys authority over the devil. I can tell you about your authority over Satan, but it is God Who has given that authority to you. How did He give it to you? By giving you His Name.
I cannot give you God's Name. I could give you my name and enter into some kind of covenant agreement with you. I could adopt you, thereby bestowing my family name upon you; but that act would not give you authority over the devil. It might give you authority over my earthly possessions, but not over the enemy of your soul.
Only God can give you that power and dominion. Only God's Name has authority over the evil one. There is an honor that only God can give. Jesus spoke about this honor in a passage of Scripture from Mark's Gospel.
A Prophet Without Honor
In Mark chapter six Jesus said that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown. When He went back to Nazareth where He had grown up, He found that there was certainly no honor for His ministry or for God. The total lack of honor and appreciation in the people of that city meant that He could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief.
To believe God, then, is to honor God. Jesus said to the Jews, "If anyone honors Me, he honors the One Who sent Me." (John 5:23.) When He said that a prophet is without honor in His own land, and that He received honor from no man, He was not saying He refused to receive honor from men. He was saying He did not receive the honor of men because none was being offered.
There is a big difference between the two. He was referring to the fact that many of the people of His own area did not come to Him to honor God or His ministry. In fact, they dishonored God by refusing to believe the Word that Jesus preached.
Receiving Honor of Men Rather Than of God
"But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, seek not the honour that cometh from God only?" (John 5:42-44).
These men were playing the honor game with each other. That is why they would not recognize Jesus for Who He was and render to him the honor due Him as a Prophet of God. They chose their own honor rather than that which comes from God only.
Honor that comes from God only is something that belongs to God. It does not belong to men.
Jesus was talking about all the aspects of God's honor that we discussed in the last chapter - power over the devil, power over our bodies, spiritual communication, eternal life, etc. God is the source of all these honors. I could preach to you about receiving them and promise them to you, but they can only come from Jesus. He has been given all authority in heaven and earth.
I have the honor and the authority that comes from God to minister to you, to tell you about the honor and to allow His gifts and honors to flow through my spirit, and even at times through my hands. Yet, they do not come from me, but from Him.
Counterfeit Honor
Another part of the honor game is using counterfeit honor instead of the real thing. Counterfeit honor is false honor - nothing but pride.
Did you ever hear someone say, "I'm a man of honor; our family fights for its honor"? He is not fighting for honor, but for pride - the kind of honor that once was used to justify two men dueling at daybreak because of a supposedly insulting remark.
Today, that kind of honor will provoke one person to attack another because he doesn't ride the same kind of motorcycle - or maybe because he does. It will cause gangs of young people to square off against one another. They get in the middle of a vacant lot or even on a crowded street with chains, knives, bats and guns just because someone is found on the wrong turf.
That's not honor. That's the pride of a fool. It's the counterfeit of the real thing and it's deadly.
If you recognize that as counterfeit honor, if you know from where it comes, you can take the negative side of it, flip it over and recognize the real thing.
Communicating True Honor
Since the real nature of honor largely has gone untaught, caring and knowledgeable Christians have fought an uphill battle. Far too many of us have been trying to teach honor using religion as the basis. The concept of honor has become lost in the translation. Many people today have no foundation for receiving spiritual teaching.
Part of this problem is that the Church is divided into so many different denominations, associations and affiliations that we no longer speak the same language. Through the years we have developed different vocabularies as well as different doctrines and practices. The result is that we have different terminologies for different things.
Various groups of Christians speak different languages. They speak the language of Protestant, Catholic, Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Pentecostal, and on and on.
To effectively teach honor - real honor - to someone else, we must learn to speak his language. We have to learn to interpret our message in terms that he can understand. We must base the teaching we are trying to impart to him on something he knows.
When I preached the blood covenant this way in Africa, some of those people sat on the edge of their seats. And they didn't stay there! They jumped out onto the floor. I was talking about the foundation of their culture - their life.
When I began to talk to those people about honor coupled with that kind of covenant, I presented the gospel in a way they could understand. In their culture they would rather die than dishonor a covenant. They would rather give up their lives than criticize or curse somebody who is in covenant with their family. It is a matter of honor. In fact, these people are taught that they will die if they dishonor a covenant.
Covenant Honor
Look at the Old Covenant sometime to find out how dishonorable people fared. A man who dishonored his family was put to death. That got their attention! That kind of thing will make people fairly honorable whether they want to be or not.
In the New Covenant, our honor comes from God, Who not only watches over us but dwells within us. Our honor comes from within. If we will act in honor, then the power of honor within us will support and sustain us, regardless of whether we seem vulnerable to others. Being vulnerable has no bearing on it. If we only are honorable when we are not vulnerable, we are into situation ethics or situation honor.
Being honorable only as long as it is to our advantage is not honor at all. A person who regularly practices situation honor will usually decide at some point that practicing any honor any time is too expensive. He will soon lose his honor.
When we lose our honor, even it it's in just a few situations, we lose the preciousness of life. It is really even worse than that. The things we do are eternal. We live with them forever. We need to look at everything we do that way.
Do you realize that if we adhere to God's Word and treat brethren in honor, preferring one another, we will rarely have to make a decision? It has been made for us. There is no question about the "right" thing to do.
I don't have to decide whether I want to speak to you again. You don't have to wonder how you should relate to me. We don't have to stop and think how we are supposed to treat one another. It is already decided. We are already committed to it. The decisions are already made for us.
Living by God's Word, His code of honor, is the simplest way to live on the face of the earth. Why do we fight it so?
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka: Kenneth Copeland Ministries
For the last 50 years Kenneth and Gloria Copeland have been passionately teaching Christians all over the world how to apply the principles of faith found in God’s WORD to their lives.
