Honor Is Due

Acrostic of “HONOR”

H = Help them help you

Jerry McGuire recap

• Down-on-his-luck sports agent.
• One client – spoiled, egotistical, entitled NFL player nearing the end of his career.
• Negotiating the last contract, something they both desperately need.
• Cuba is making it difficult.
• Tom confronts him in the locker room.

Play clip of movie

I wonder how often Pastor Matt feels like that standing up here, looking out at all of us on a Sunday morning.  Like I said, he just wants to make sure we make heaven – and that involves a lot of pain and frustration we’ll never fully realize.  But he wants to get all areas of our lives moving in a direction that leads us closer to God.  Why do we make it so difficult for him to do his job?

• We are like Saul before he became Paul – “kicking against the goads”.
• Goads are long, slender pieces of wood with a point.
• Used to prod ox to move them in the right direction.
• The ox would kick back, only causing more pain.

Why do we also act like this?  Why do we let our pride and selfish desires get in the way of what the Lord wants to do in our lives through the guidance of our pastors?  Why do we also insist on “kicking against the goads” as Pastor Matt endeavors to move us down the narrow road?  

• You wouldn’t flail around while a nurse draws your blood.
• You sit as still as possible because fighting back only makes it worse.
• You don’t leave and fire off texts and emails about how bad they did their job and your last doctor was better.
• Accept the minor amount of pain and discomfort to get to a better place.
• Understand your doctor just wants you healthy and celebrates with you.

It’s no different with our pastors who care deeply about our spiritual health.  We can honor them by working WITH them and not resisting as they dole out the medicine that will make us better.     

O = Obedience is not optional

People don’t like this statement.  It’s where they start to bristle.  It’s where they stand up on the chairs, shake their fists and say, “You can’t tell me what to do.  You ain’t my mom!”.

• It’s not about being a mindless puppet.
• We’re not a cult.  Pastor Matt is not some Supreme Leader

I am talking about what the Bible says in Hebrews Chapter 13.

Heb. 13:17 “Obey your spiritual leaders and do what they say.  Their work is to
  watch over your souls and they are accountable to God.  Give them
reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow.  That would certainly
not be for your benefit. (NLT)

Pastor Matt’s job is to watch over our souls.  Again, he just wants to see all of us make heaven.  He will give an account to God for how he does that.  And he will be held to a higher standard for it.

James 3:1 “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we
shall receive a stricter judgment”.  (NKJV)

(The King James Version says “receive the greater condemnation” – it’s serious business.)

• We will give an account for how we follow.
• Middle school youth are told how they obey parents will be how they obey God.
• Same is true for us as adults.
• We don’t submit because we don’t trust
• These things don’t benefit Pastor Matt
  • Fix his marriage
  • Better finances
  • More integrity
  • Break chains
  • Get him saved
    
    
• Same is true for Pastor Crystal
  • She can speak to me down on the floor
  • Can’t speak to everyone from the platform??

We can honor our pastors by obeying what they teach us – and by doing it with a good attitude that gives them joy as they continue in their work.

N = Never forget their sacrifice

Trump/McCain Story

• Vying for the 2015 Republican presidential nomination.
• McCain was a Vietnam vet held and tortured for 5 years.
• 30 years in Congress.
• Trump criticized him – called him a loser for getting captured.
• Tried to get people to stop talking about his captivity.

Heb. 13:7 “Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of
God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their
conduct”. (NKJV)

• Our Pastors also deserve to be honored and remembered for their sacrifice.
• The early years – bi-vocations w/ 60+ hours a week.
• Pastor Crystal had to support, encourage and do ministry and raise a family.
• It took a toll.

All of us get to call FVC our church and our family – #1 because of the grace of God.  But #2 because Pastor Matt and Pastor Crystal have stayed faithful to their calling.  Because they didn’t give up, because they didn’t just say “it’s not worth it”.  

It’s easy to look at where someone is now and forget where they’ve been and what they’ve been through.  It’s easy to dismiss the hardship of the past because all you see is the here and now.  Pastor Matt and Crystal have a blessed life.  They have two grown children that love and serve the Lord.  They have a beautiful, healthy grandson.  They have many friends all around the country who love and respect them.  They have a good life, but we need to remember it’s not an easy life.

• Remember the struggle of the early years, even if we weren’t there.
• Remember they have been used, disparage, and abandoned (2019).
• Even now, people leave the church because they “failed”.

I think it would be callous, heinous and dishonoring to dismiss John McCain’s sacrifice.  I think it’s the same thing when we are flippant about Pastor Matt and Crystal’s.

I don’t know if any of us here can fully comprehend and appreciate the depth of that pain.  But we can all acknowledge it.  And we can honor them by remembering what they’ve gone through and the sacrifices they’ve made so that we can all be here today.  We can also honor them by committing that we won’t be the ones to add to their struggle. 

O = Overcome offense

I feel like that statement stands on its own!  But let’s talk about it for a just a minute.

If you want to honor your pastors, get rid of offense in your life.  Especially when it comes to them.  Keep in mind, they are not perfect.  They are going to make the same mistakes we all do.  And sometimes that means unintentionally causing offense. 

• Pastor Crystal saying, “if you’ve been here for any decent amount of time, I’ve probably offended you”.

I love that our pastors are very self-aware.  They realize that even they can cause offense at times.  It’s going to happen.  But unfortunately, too many times too many people hold on to the offense and it ends up changing how they view Pastor Matt and Crystal and can lead to so much destruction.  Gossip, bitterness, envy, distrust and even division within the church.  

Prov. 19:11 “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook and offense”.  (ESV)

Col. 3:13 “Make an allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who
offends you.  Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive
others”.  (NLT)

• Maybe that’s not you.  Maybe you haven’t been offended by our Pastors.
• What about other people in the church.
• Pastor Matt’s job is not to babysit.
• There’s no peace for a parent if the kids are fighting.

Back to the verse in 1 Thessalonians – it tells us to appreciate, recognize, esteem and honor our pastors.  But the very last part says to live in peace with one another.

We can honor our pastors by learning to rid our lives of offense.  Learn to forgive.  Learn to let things go.  Learn to talk things out and not hold onto grudges.  It’ll benefit you and them!

R = Righteous or Rebellious

Like pretty much everything that has to do with our Christian walk, honoring our pastors comes down to a heart condition.  And our heart condition is revealed by our motives – which can either be righteous or rebellious.  

Prov. 1:2 “People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their
motives”.  (NLT)

• God knows why you do what you do.
• What are our motives for giving honor?
  • To suck up
  • To gain standing in the church
  • To have influence in their lives

Honor that is manipulative isn’t honor.

• We need to have pure motives when issues arise and need addressed.
• This isn’t about Pastor worship
  • Unfair to them because of unrealistic expectations.
  • Damaging to you because you’ll be disappointed.
  • Leads to offense.

Every once in a while, something might come up that needs to be worked through.  That’s ok.  Again, it’s just like regular life.  Relationships can be hard, and they take work.  But what is your motive for sending that text or email or requesting that meeting?  Is the purpose to gain understanding and build a closer, stronger relationship?  Or is it to tear them down and prove them wrong?  

• It was bragged to me that Pastor Matt and Crystal need to be “Biblically corrected”.
• Revealed a heart condition and how they saw themselves.
• It wasn’t about clarification or understanding.  It was about chastisement.
• Caused a lot of damage.

Nobody is above the possibility of needing correction – even pastors.  But the honorable way would’ve been to recognize the ecclesiastical structure that is in place here.  Pastor Matt is the head of this church and there is a chain-of-command.  If that sort of reprimanding is required – and I can tell you it absolutely wasn’t in that case – then that’s why we have an Elder Board.  That’s the role of Pastor Jay, Pastor Todd and Pastor Kevin.  It’s not our job to walk around looking for ways to straighten out Matt Krachunis.   

So, let’s not be like that.  Let’s have pure motives in how we give honor and let’s show the proper respect and grace in how we deal with conflict.  Let’s strive to always be righteous and not rebellious.    

My last scripture is this…  

1 Tim. 3:1-7 “This is a trustworthy saying: If anyone aspires to be a church leader
(meaning overseer or pastor), he desires an honorable position.  

  So, a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach.  He
must be faithful to his wife.  He must exercise self-control, live wisely,
and have a good reputation.  He must enjoy having guests in his home,
and must be able to teach.

He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent.  He must be gentle, not
quarrelsome, and not love money.  

He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and
obey him.

For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care
of God’s church?

A church leader must not be a new believer, because he might become
proud, and the devil would cause him to fall. 

Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will
not be disgraced and fall into the devil’s trap”.  (NLT)

• I grew up in church and around church circles my whole life.
• Pastor Matt lives up to these words as well as anyone.
• We are blessed to have him and Pastor Crystal leading us.
• They are rare and special. Let’s make sure they know that.