By John Bevere
Last week we began to look at “Double Honor”. For those of you who weren’t able to make last weeks study, please message me after the study and I can get part 1 to you, as it is not on the site yet.
Tonight I will start with a couple of experiences the John shares that apply to the Honor that we have been discussing, and how it can effect our lives and the lives of those around us.
“When I was youth pastor, I had an interesting encounter with a fifteen year old named ‘Tim.’ Before I joined the ministry, Tim had been involved in the previous youth pastor’s group. The pastor had built the group through activities, outings, and sports. Problems among the young people included insubordination, teen pregnancies, and other moral issues. As time passed the senior pastor had to release him, and I was brought on. The former youth pastor went a few miles down the road and started his own church with a handful of young people. Tim was one of those who did not go with him.
Even though most of the young people stayed, I had to lay a new foundation. The Lord instructed me to spend the first six months doing nothing but preaching, praying, and worshiping. In those months I planned no social activities whatsoever. Needless to say, I was a package many were not expecting. As a result, the sword of the Lord passed through. Some left, others stayed out of curiosity, and still others responded enthusiastically; many are in ministry today.
I’d been in that position for approximately four months when I spoke with Tim one evening after service. He asked sincerely, ‘Pastor John, will you be my buddy? My last youth pastor was my buddy.’ I did not fit his desired package.
His question was not to be taken lightly, and I looked inside to hear how I should respond. The answer quickly came in the form of a question: ‘Tim, Jesus said, “He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward” (Matt 10:41). Well, this applies to a youth pastor as well. If you receive a pastor in the name of a pastor, you will receive a pastor’s reward.’
I continued, ‘Tim you have a lot of buddies, don’t you?’
He responded, ‘Yes, sir.’
‘But you have only one youth pastor, right?’
He responded, ‘Yes, sir.’
I asked, ‘What do you want: a buddy’s reward, or a youth pastor’s reward? Because the way you receive me is what you get from God.’
It was as though a light went on inside him. I saw his eyes register the revelation, and he quickly answered, ‘I want a youth pastor’s reward. I see what you’re saying.’ He flourished from that point forward. He moved a few years later, but he still sought me out whenever I came through his city.”
“My heart breaks when I see the way people have not received from God because they do not honor His servants by receiving them. In the ministry I’ve seen this countless times: those hardest to reach are those who take God’s servants for granted. I have found them often in churches and in Christian schools in the United States. They are already filled to a level of drowsiness from a constant buffet of ministries passing through, and I am but one entrée in their long line of choices.
Quite possibly the easiest people to preach to are those in the military with and understanding of authority. Next would be prisoners or people in developing nations because they are desperate and hungry. God spoke to Ezekiel in similar terms:
You are being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house if Israel … Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the house of Israel is not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel is hardened and obstinate. (Ezek. 3:5-7)
To Israel, Ezekiel was yet another prophet, and he was sterner then the others, who preached what the people wanted to hear, so they did not receive him.
God confused me one day with this declaration: I am going to send you to places that will not receive you.
I questioned, ‘Wait a minute. You’re going to send me to places that before You send me, You already know they will not receive what I have to say. Why?
The Lord responded, ‘They will never be able to say I did not give them a chance.
I have gone to those places, and while I was there I thought, ‘Why did they even invite me? They are acting as if they don’t want me here.’ Other times I have gone to places where – from the moment I was picked up at the airport until the time I was dropped off again – I was met with excitement and treated with kindness and honor, both before and after the services. I was welcomed to my hotel room with a beautiful basket filled with fruit and snacks, and I was constantly asked, ‘Do you need anything?’ I often felt like a broken record, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine.’ Looking back, I see that the greatest testimonies of lives or churches being changed came from such places. At first I was uncomfortable when I was treated so well, or applauded when I was introduced. I thought, ‘I am just like the rest of you. Don’t do this.’ But I soon learned it was not about me.
Bit by bit, God showed me, ‘Allow them to honor you for their sake, not yours.’ It became easier when I realized they were honoring not me, but the gift of God on my life. Their positive response opened their hearts to receive from Jesus what He had to give them through me as a vessel. Instead of pride I felt a deepened sense of humility and dependence developing within me. I knew it was His choosing, not my ability. I would direct their honor to Him and acknowledge my dependence on Him immediately. The ones who gave honor received easily; those who didn’t were harder to reach.”
What does Paul say about giving honor? “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine” (I Tim 5:17). Paul said ‘double honor’ or twice the honor you would give for a secular leader.
If we look at the scripture in the context it was written, we see that it’s talking about finances. In verse 18, he said, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” The Amplified Bible makes it a bit more clear: “Let the elders who perform the duties of their office well be considered doubly worthy of honor [and of adequate financial support], especially those who labor faithfully in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says… The laborer is worthy of his hire.” (I Tim 5:17-18).
If church members take care of their pastors and leaders, who work to serve you, then businessmen and other members will prosper and are blessed. If people are stingy and hold back, have found themselves complaining of theft or lack in finances or complaining of poor economy.
On the flip side, there are times, unfortunately where ministers have abused this truth. All they talk about is money and material things. These are the people who have lost the heart of ministry. This has actually hurt those who are under them, as some have withheld finances due to seeing the abuse and miss the truth presented in a good and right manner.
Here is another of John’s stories showing us how financial giving can affect not only an individual, but an entire church.
“I was at a small church of a little over a hundred members. The meetings went well, and the people were precious. We stayed with the pastor and his wife and realized things were tight.
She worked full-time as a flight attendant and was not able to minister to the people, as she desired. She didn’t want to quit and draw a salary she felt would be too much from the church. I understood where they were coming from. The pastor and I were formerly employed by the church I mentioned earlier.
Our pastor there was exorbitant with teaching on finances and offerings. Both of us were cautious, not wanting to do the same, and without realizing it we leaned too heavily in the other direction. However, God was teaching me that extremes either way were not good. He wanted a truer balance.
The meetings had begun Sunday morning and continued through Wednesday night. The first three were good, but something seemed to be holding the church back. All day Tuesday the Lord dealt with my heart about this man and the way finances were being handled. I couldn’t shake it, yet I wondered what I could possibly do.
Right before the service the pastor told me he wanted me to receive our ministry’s offering that night. His exact words as he turned over the service were, ‘I give you liberty in the offering.’
I was delighted. I realized God had opened this door so I could do what He had dealt with me about. That night I ministered along the lines of what I’ve been writing. We read the scripture in I Timothy, and I told them this pastor and his wife were not being properly cared for financially.
I made it clear to the church that the time had come when it was wrong for her to fly out every three or four days in order to support their family. I shared how the pastor had given me liberty in the offering, but we would not be receiving it for our ministry. We wanted the offering to go to the pastor and his wife instead.
The people became really excited about this opportunity to bless their pastor and responded in turn. The offering that night was three times the largest one ever received! The pastor’s wife was in tears, and he was stunned.
You’d be amazed if I wrote all the breakthroughs that happened over the next twenty-four hours. One couple received a ten-thousand-dollar check the following day; another found an envelope in his door with a fifteen-hundred-dollar check in it.
That was only the beginning. By the next Sunday morning, the testimonies were so great and numerous, the pastor never preached. The entire service consisted of people testifying what God had done in their businesses or personal lives that week financially. The pastor later sent me the tape of the unplanned service.
The church exploded with growth the next two years. They bought a new building and grew to five hundred. They had hovered around the one hundred mark for several years. This and countless other examples have taught me that God wants us to honor those who labor among us for our sake.
I have been in developing world nations and nearly wept when I saw the way the churches treated me. Monetarily, it may have been small by American standards, for I’d received much larger offerings at some of the churches that were indifferent in America.
What touched me the most was the widow Jesus said gave more than all the rest, even though the amount she gave was the least. She honored God with her gift. These precious saints honor and appreciate the servants God sends to them. Let this permeate your heart. Seek to honor the men and women who labor among you in the Word of God.”
As we finish up here, I will share with you a story from the bible, showing how we need to honor those that God has placed in the positions that He has put them. The story of Naaman is a good example.
Naaman was a commander in the Syrian army. He had leprosy and as many of you know there was no cure for the disease. His servant girl told him about a prophet in Israel who could heal him through the power of the God of Israel. When Naaman went to see Elisha, Elisha told Naaman to go to the Jordan River and to wash 7 times.
“Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.’” (2 Kings 5:9-10)
When Naaman heard that, he became angry. “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy’” (2 Kings 5:11).
He thought that Elisha should have come out himself, not one of his messengers. He felt he was an important person and thus should deal with Elisha directly. Not have to deal with a lower level person. But that very attitude toward the messenger could have cost him his healing.
What happened though was that his servant convinced him to do what he was told. And on the seventh time, received his healing. Even though Naaman received the word through a messenger, it didn’t lessen Naaman’s healing. The messenger, although not Elisha, was a person who had delegated authority. He was under a man of God’s authority.
You know people have a problem with or lack of understanding of delegated authority, when in a church the numbers drop because people know the pastor is going to be away. We should be able to receive the word just as much from an associate pastor, or traveling minister, or missionary, as we would from our head pastor. These people have been appointed by the pastor and have delegated authority, which is of God.
As Christians we should honor civil leaders, employers, teachers and others who are appointed to authority. We should honor parents or husbands, and when we do, we are promised a reward. And we need to remember to give double honor to those who serve in the ministry, especially those who labor in teaching and ministering the Word of God.