As we learn about the culture of honor in our church, I know there are many misconceptions about this subject floating around. It’s very easy to be critical of the things we don’t fully understand. Misconceptions always appear to be delusional; we’re always inclined to view them through the filters of erroneous belief. That is why we are taking much time to teach on the “Whole subject of Honor.”
It’s obvious that there are pastors and leaders out there that teach a “one-way” approach to honor. The motive behind this is seemingly selfish and self–serving. They want to be honored by their people instead of serving their people first and allowing God to convict the people to honor them. Doing this is an obvious dishonor to God.
I recently read a popular blog from a very prominent church leader and consultant. He wanted to “expose” how the culture of honor was hurting churches. And although I understood his point on the abuse of leaders desiring to be served instead of first serving their people, I think his deliberation was incomplete. He said, “Honor is supposed to go both ways.” Although this seems to make sense, it’s not fully accurate. Honor is not a two-way street, it’s a five-way avenue.
The culture of honor doesn’t only apply to pastors serving people and people honoring pastors; it’s way more complex than that. I’ve narrowed honor to flow in five ways:
- Honor God (This is prerequisite and preeminent)
- Honor His Word
- Honor His Church
- Honor His Leaders
- Honor Each Other
If any one of the five is missing, then there’s great disorder and misunderstanding. These five avenues of honor aren’t interdependent of each other, rather they work cohesive and contingent on one another. It’s the misunderstanding of honor that will cause people to think pessimistically about building a culture of honor in churches. And it’s this very deception that causes us to build a Culture of DISHONOR.
It’s all five working collectively and simultaneously or none at all.
