In his sermon 'Creating a Culture of Honor,' Mike Davenport explores the fifth commandment, 'Honor your father and your mother,' as a foundational tenet for developing a culture of honor that extends beyond the family. He emphasizes that this commandment is part of the broader scope of loving one's neighbor and that it begins with honoring God, who is worthy of all honor. Davenport explains that honoring God involves not only verbal acknowledgment but also a heartfelt reverence that influences how we live, including our observance of the Sabbath and stewardship of possessions. The sermon stresses the importance of cultivating this culture of honor in the home, where children learn to honor their parents, spouses honor each other, and honor is shown to all family members. In the church, honor is due to elders and fellow believers, including those deemed less honorable, promoting unity and love within the body of Christ. Outside the church, honor extends to the older generation and those in civil authority, regardless of personal opinions. The sermon concludes with three principles: recognizing God's authority, seeing God's image in others, and adhering to God's revealed will. Davenport argues that these practices are essential for fostering a pervasive culture of honor in homes, churches, and society.

Well, if you would turn with me in your copies of the Scripture to Exodus chapter 20, Exodus chapter 20. Lord willing, we are finishing up the fifth commandment here in our series on the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20 and verse 12. Honor your father and your mother that your days may belong upon the land Which the Lord your God is giving you Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Oh gracious God, we thank you for your goodness to us. Lord, you have created us.

You know our frames that we are dust. And so we ask in this hour, having sat for quite some time today and having our stomachs now filled with food. We pray that you would just give us a sense of urgency and alertness both to speaker and hear alike. Lord, that you may receive the glory from this very hour. Thank you for your goodness to us.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well at the outset of our study on this commandment we noted that the extent of honor is required and it goes well beyond simply what children owe their parents. Jesus declared that the first table of the law has to do with our relationship to God. And when he turned the attention over to the second table of the law, with whom did he say that is related to?

Our neighbor. And then Jesus goes on to demonstrate, practically speaking, that everyone we come into contact with is our neighbor. So this commandment, dear one, is the very first commandment of the second table, and so Jesus' summary teaches us that it is covered in the simple command of loving our neighbor as ourself. Loving our neighbor has everything to do with the culture of honor found in this commandment. Now although sufficient enough to prove the point, this fact does not stand alone as the only reason to argue for the broader scope of the commandment.

A quick perusal of a handful of text would reveal that this commandment envisions a creation of a culture of honor, and that culture, my friends, starts in the home. Well, consider what scripture teaches us in regard to our duty to show honor. First consider the fact that we are to honor the Lord. We are to honor the Lord. Honoring the Lord is an expression of our love for God and the first four commandments are about expressing that love for him by giving him the honor that he is due.

And this is where we must start. We must start with honoring the Lord. Isaiah 29 13 says, Therefore the Lord said in as much as these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the commandment of men." This text teaches us that we are to honor God not only with our mouths, our lips, but also with our hearts. It must be a heart honoring of God. And this honor also involves a right fear of God.

We learn from the text. The fear that causes one to operate under the revelation of who God is and what God has done. My dear friend does does he have your heart as well as your lips? Does he have your heart? We kind of saw that in the text this morning did we not?

That if or since you call God your Father, do you honor him? And if you remember our study in Isaiah 1, Isaiah 1 opens saying, the donkey, he knows who his master is. The ox knows where his food comes from. But he calls heaven and earth the witness that these children don't honor him. His own do not honor him.

Isaiah 58, 13 and 14, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath from doing your Pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight the holy day of the Lord honorable and shall honor him, not doing your own ways nor finding your own pleasure nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord." We have sought here in this place in recent weeks to to recalibrate how we approach the worship of our God, but it must go farther than just the hours spent here in this place. Honoring God requires of us that we honor his day not his hours not simply the public worship but his day his day spending the Lord's day in our own way is to dishonor him our Father in heaven. Are you robbing God of honor in the way you spend his day? Proverbs 3, 9, honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase. Honoring the Lord also means that we acknowledge the fact that all we have is not only from him, It's his.

It is his. Honoring him means that we return to him a portion and gratitude for his abundance to us that that we give to his work and his interest in this world. So are you honoring God with the first fruits of your increase? All that you possess, is he the Lord of your possessions? You see, it's my duty and it's your duty to honor the Lord.

And what we have seen in regard to honoring the Lord in our time and in the first part of Revelation, do you remember it? Revelation 4, 5, and 7? You see, unlike any other to whom honor is due and should be given, the Lord and He alone is worthy. He is worthy of all honor from all creatures both now and forevermore. He's worthy.

But not only is there to be honor given to the Lord, but flowing out of that honor, there must be also honor expressed in the various spheres of our lives. Consider first the sphere of the home since that is exactly what Scripture holds forth to us right on the surface of this very commandment. Honor in the home. First honor your father and your mother. Here we have it right here in Exodus 20 12.

The very sphere that is given as a representative of all the spheres where honor is due, it's the very first relationship that we have when we come into this world. It's the parent-child relationship. Honor is to be first taught and first learned in the home. If a culture of honor be not required, if a culture of honor be not acquired here, then most likely there will be an absence of honor permeating the entire life of that child even into adulthood. Parents, it's your duty to require honor from your children and you children it's your duty to acquire a spirit of honor.

But what if my mom and dad aren't deserving of honor? Well you honor their position, you honor the relation even though you might not always be able to honor every decision or every occasion. It's very important to understand that. It will aid you in all other spheres. Secondly, honor in the home is seen women are to honor their husband.

Honor your husband. 1st Peter 3 verses 1 through 6, I'm just going to pull out a little from there, wives likewise be submissive to your own husbands for in this manner in former times the holy women who trusted in God also adorn themselves being submissive to their own husbands as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord whose daughter you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. How does a wife show honor to her husband? Submissiveness. Submissiveness.

Even the text says when he himself is disobedient to what God requires of him, Even though you as a wife may feel vulnerable, there is a vulnerability. He talks about it right here. And go back and study the example of Sarah. Abraham put her in some pretty bad spots but she trusted God. She trusted God and was able to follow him.

The passage tells us here that the wife who trusts God, even as the holy women of old, that's the wife who's able to show honor in being submissive. You have to trust God. You have to trust God. Only by trusting in the Lord is a wife actually able to honor a husband whose actions may not be all that honorable. But also in the home.

Men honor your wife. Honor your wife. 1 Peter 3 7. Husbands likewise dwell with them with understanding giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers may not be hindered. Likewise, likewise, give honor.

Give honor to whom? To your wife. To your wife. What? I'm supposed to honor her?

Yes. Well, how do you do that? By dwelling with her with understanding. What kind of understanding? Well, the understanding that recognizes that while in this world, the Christian woman will be identified as both a weaker vessel in relation to creation and yet a joint air in relation to the new creation.

Neither of these two detract from the reality of the other. So it's not such a weakness as to diminish her portion of the inheritance to be found in Christ, nor such a calling in Christ that negates the role given to her in the Garden of Eden and in which she must continue to conduct herself while in this world. So men, if we are to dwell with our wives with understanding, if we're to give them honor, we must see them as twofold daughters of the living God, His daughters by creation and His daughters by the new birth. And to dwell with our wife without the understanding required here is to take the gift of the Lord lightly. It's to dishonor our wife in so doing to dishonor the Lord.

And what response should we respect or should we expect out of this? Well, God will hear our prayers. God will hear our prayers and if we dishonor our wives by not dwelling with them with understanding God says our prayers will be hindered in the Greek cut off cut off God will turn a deaf ear to our petitions Well let's move from the sphere of the home to showing honor in the Church of Christ. Honor in the Church of Christ. First honor your elders honor your elders and as our brother Vodi Balkan would say I didn't write the letter I'm just delivering the mail 1st Timothy 517 let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor especially those who labor in the Word and doctrine.

So if indeed pastors are Christ's gift to his bride, stated in Ephesians 4, If indeed they are stewards of the things of God, Titus 1.7. If indeed they are required by God to be overseers and shepherds in the church, Acts 20.28. And therefore required to give account for each soul under their care, Hebrews 13-17. If these things be so, then as we have already stated, there is honor due for no other reason than for the position, for the relation, even though you may not always be able to honor the decision or the occasion or the exposition or the application. Do you remember the promise that goes with the fifth commandment as summarized in Ephesians 6-2?

That it may be well with you. That's what's held out. Children, honor your parents. It'll be well with you. What does God say to encourage the church to honor the elders that he's ordained?

He says, when honor is given to those men, Hebrews 13, he declares it profitable to you. It'll go well with you. It's profitable to you in a culture of honor. But we also have honoring our brothers and sisters in Christ. Honor your brothers and sisters.

Romans 12 10 says, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in honor, giving preference to one another. You see, our duty in the Church of Christ is in terms of honoring, it's not limited to the elders. It's not limited there. We are to honor one another. We are to give preference to one another.

And note here how honoring one another is in reality being kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love. It's loving one another as we also noted in Jesus summary of the second table of the law. It's a matter of love. Now, we may feel naturally inclined to give honor to some in the church. But the question may arise, does this honor apply to everybody?

Does it apply to everybody here? Well consider also that we are to honor the less honorable. In the midst of the church of Christ, we are to honor the less honorable. 1 Corinthians 12, verses 20 to 26, but now indeed there are many members yet one body and the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you nor again the head to the feet I have no need of you no much rather those members of the body which seem to be weaker as necessary, are necessary, and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor. And our unrepresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need.

But God composed the body having given, God Himself having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care, same care for one another." I think this text answers that question, if such honor is due to everyone in the body. Indeed it is. In order that there be no schisms, there be no divisions, no lack of care. Brothers and sisters, am I and are you showing that same level of care for each and every person in this congregation? Are we?

James 2 opens with the scenario that we really need to consider afresh. You have two men that walk into the church. One's rich man, he's well dressed. The other, a poor man with filthy clothes. The rich man, he gets the best seat.

He gets the attention. The poor man with the filthy clothes is ignored. James said, if that happens in our church, we have dishonored that poor man. We've dishonored him. And he says, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

You do well. But if you show partiality, You commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. And dear Miss, what have we already seen this morning from 1 Peter? God's a judge without partiality. Shall we show partiality in the church?

God forbid. So, brothers and sisters, are we guilty of choosing whom we will show honor to? Are we showing partiality within the very walls of this church. If so, we're not like Christ and we're not seeking to be what he has called us to be. Well, we've seen honor in the sphere, the family, and of the church.

Consider the third and final sphere, honor in society. Honor in society. First, honor the older generation. Honor the older generation. Leviticus 1932.

You shall rise before the gray-headed and honor the presence of an old man and fear your God I am the Lord." I've always found it interesting how the Lord couples the exhortation of rising before and honoring the presence of the gray-headed old man with fearing him, fearing God. He couples those things together right here in this text. Have you ever noticed that before? And note that the gray hair and the old age is the only prerequisite given here for giving this honor. It doesn't say, well, let's name a few things.

He needs to fit this. It doesn't say that here. You know, one of the easiest ways for us to show honor to those more advanced in years than ourselves is simply to acknowledge them, to acknowledge them. You young people, do you acknowledge the gray heads here? Or do you walk past them on a beeline for your friends?

Do you acknowledge them? See we live in a culture that puts youth and youthfulness at the center of everything. They put it at the center of everything. And dear ones, that's not a culture that you'll find in Scripture anywhere. You will not find it.

It's not there. And we must not be conformed to the image of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds from what this book tells us. Mom and dads, are you teaching your children to honor those with gray heads? Are they made to show honor to those who are advanced in years? And are you yourself modeling such honor before their watching eyes?

Next honor those in civil authority. Honor those in civil authority. The last phrase of 1 Peter 2, 17 says honor the king. Honor the king. And I would argue that the principle that lies in this statement is intended to exhort us to honor all those in authority over us in the civil realm in fact in verses 13 to 14 Peter states therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme or to governors as to those who are sent by him.

So you see the whittling down as you work your way down to the local authorities, Peter's covering it all, those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. Now, we're all probably more familiar with Romans 13 in more recent weeks, months, than we probably have ever been before. And in verse 7 of that chapter, the Apostle Paul says that we are to render therefore to all their due. He's talking about civil realm here. Taxes to whom taxes are due, custom to whom customs, fear to whom fear, and honor to whom honor is due.

We have here before us the same principle that we have seen over and over. Honor is to be shown for the position at minimum with increasing measures of honor given to those who show themselves to be truly honorable in the sight of God by God's standard of righteousness. And as we wrestle through this exhortation, the following is an important defining statement we are never free to dishonor God in an attempt to honor man you must understand that And that applies even to the home and the church. We're never to dishonor God in an attempt to honor man. 1st Peter 2 and Romans 13 are full of the following clarifying language for the Lord's sake.

Fear God. This is the will of God. As bond servants of God, There is no authority except from God. The authority that exists are appointed by God and they are the authority that is God's minister, literally God's deacon to you for good. So brethren, we must learn how, we must learn how to disagree with civil authority and maybe even rebel against unjust and unrighteous laws.

But such disagreement and such possible necessary rebellion does not carry with it the freedom to dishonor the one who holds the God-given authoritative office. We have much to learn from the many biblical examples of interactions with civil authority that we find throughout Scripture. Go and study that before you go out on your own and raise your flag. Study how God's men interacted even with the men they disobeyed. It's important.

Honor your employer. Honor your employer. 1 Timothy 6, 1, let as many bond servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed. Now We certainly live in different times in many aspects. And just as with the previous case, honor the king.

Well, we have no king. We don't have a monarchy. So here with this text, we must not ignore the principle being taught simply because the scenario doesn't fit us perfectly. I believe it can be argued that the principle here is that we are to honor those to whom we are employed, those who are over us in the day in day out activities and whatever field that we work in. Men, young men, do you show honor to your employer?

Do you show honor to your employer? Note that the testimony, the testimony of God and the doctrine of God rises or it falls in conjunction with your honor or lack of it shown or displayed towards your employer. Now having considered these many texts you may be thinking if this culture of honor applies to a specific individual, there's maybe somebody that comes into your mind, do I need to honor them? Certainly, certainly the expectation of honor doesn't apply to them. Well consider what Peter calls us to in 1st Peter 2 17 the very first clause honor all people honor all people Now the word people is in italics it's not in the original so if we took it out it would say honor all but then the word all is actually the first word of the verse in Greek and it's placed there I believe for emphasis so it literally is saying all honor the word all means a certain definite whole literally everyone and anyone so I ask you does it sound like Peter has that person that you were thinking of in your mind?

Does he have them in mind here? Everyone and anyone? Honor? This call to honor found in this commandment is to permeate the culture of our homes and of our church and of our culture. So I ask you, does it?

Does it permeate the culture of your family? Does it permeate the culture of your family? Does it permeate the culture of our church? And then are we allowing that spillover into the culture as we engage it? How serious is this command to develop a culture of honor?

How serious is it? Well, I think one text would suffice to show us the seriousness with with which God God sees it Second Kings 2 23 and 24 says then Elisha went up from there to Bethel and as he was going up the road some youths came from the city and mocked him and said to him, go up you bald head, go up you bald head. So he turned around and looked at them and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the Lord, something God deal with you. Two female bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the youths. That's how serious God takes it.

He sent two bears to maul 42 youths. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never... It's a culture of honor dear ones, it's a culture of honor. So I just want to wrap up the instruction on this fifth commandment just touching upon three principles quickly. First, Honor recognizes the realized authority of God.

Honor recognizes the realized authority of God. God in his sovereign providence has ordained and placed into position every authoritative figure in our lives, every single one of them. He has not made any mistakes. And as Jesus told Pilate, those in authority would have absolutely no authority if it had not been granted from God. So honor is extended when God's authority is realized.

Secondly, honor recognizes the reflected image of God. Honor recognizes the reflected image of God. None of us are worthy of honor in and of ourselves. Honor as set forth in exhortation in Scripture also recognizes the reflected image of God in our fellow man. So how can we even begin to honor the man who's not actually an authority over us.

He's our peer, he's our equal, or he may be somebody who works for us. How can we honor them? Well, I think we can begin by seeing in them a reflection of the image of God. Third, honor recognizes the revealed will of God. It recognizes the revealed will of God.

Brothers and sisters, God has spoken. He's spoken. He has made it clear. He wants a culture of honor permeating our church and our home. Scripture has revealed His will concerning the broad scope of it throughout.

James Durham in his exposition of the Ten Commandments states the following, this command in its scope respects the duty that we owe to all relations whether they be above us, inferior to us, or equal with us, and so it takes in all the duties of honor that everyone owes to another whatever be their place there is a duty of honor and respect called for from everyone to everyone. Well may we strive by the power of the Spirit and in obedience to the Word of God to truly cultivate such a culture of honor in our homes and here in our church. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for your Word. Lord, your Word is clear.

Lord, if there are any issues, it's not your Word. It's the own sinfulness of our hearts. Lord, you know how our hearts desire for our own honor, our own praise, our own autonomy. So Lord, give us grace to take this command seriously and to truly build a culture of honor in our homes. We pray these things in Christ's name.

Amen.