HONOR

The New Testament teaches us that all spiritual truth comes to us in seed form. Honor, as a value, has been sewn into the fabric of Go To Nations from our inception. For many years we did not fully recognize what we are acknowledging in this hour as a Divine Call to Honor. We are seeing those seeds coming to fruition and we are confident that in the coming season the value of honor will be an identifying factor in Go To Nations culture, resonating through our leadership, staff, field force and ministries world wide. 

Our founding President, Dr. Daniel Williams taught us to honor God by being stewards of the ministry that is Go To Nations today. Daniel embodied honor by continually giving God credit for this ministry and our results around the world. 

As Dr. Jerry Williamson took the mantle of President, he avidly petitioned us to honor ‘The Church’ in a way that very few missions organizations like ours understood at the time. By putting the Church in the place of honor scripture decrees, it enabled GTN to serve and empower a rising force in the earth. Those two values are now foundational in our core DNA and significantly impact who we are becoming today.

As Tim and Nancy Lovelace, our former Vice Presidents of Ministry, carried the world and travelled extensively as we expanded globally, they also cared for Nancy’s aging mother in their home until her graduation. Honestly, I don’t know how they did it; but, they exemplified a conviction that many of us carry to honor our parents. Their season was a tangible reminder that the first commandment with a promise is to honor our mothers and fathers (Exodus 20:12), that our days may be long in the land(s) God is giving us. Just how valuable is Honor in reaching our nations? 

Perhaps our previous Executive Director, Dr. George and his wife Janet Meyers, who will eternally hold a place of esteem in our hearts and countless others, became the best living examples of just how honor should function. There was never a meeting, event or gathering in which Dr. George or Janet did not personally recognize anyone and everyone that made any contribution, great or small, to our current success. You never left a meeting, personal or corporate, with either Dr. George or Janet present, without feeling valued and essential to the family of God and the future of the Kingdom. 

What God has taught us in the last decade about leading as spiritual fathers and building teams as spiritual family units, all establish honor, value and worth in our members. All of this is now woven into who we are steadily becoming. I would even go so far as to say that honor rest at the heart of each or our four Core Values. 

Lordship honors who Christ really is in every conceivable way. Empowering others honors the call on our lives and theirs as we serve each new generation. Advancing the Kingdom honors the primary mandate of scripture to bring closure. Partnership honors the Church, the body of Christ and the stewardship God has given us. Not a single one of our core values is even remotely possible unless they are rooted in, activated by, and operate out of a clear intent to HONOR. It is time for each of us to recognize the Kingdom value of honor that is already deeply at work in us, to embrace what that truly means, and to learn to express it in all that we say, think, express and endeavor to do. 

What do we know about honor? “Honor” in the Greek means “to highly value, to prize, to NOT take lightly, to esteem, to give weight to, to ascribe worth.” It is worth noting that the word “Glory” in the New Testament often carries the same definition. Glory comes with weight, worth, influence and recognition that draws attention to God (Parish, 28). Honor does the exact same thing.

Honor is the native language of heaven. Read through the book of Revelation. The Bride gives honor to the Son. The Son gives honor to the Father. The Father gives honor to the Son. The Son returns honor to the Bride. The giving of glory and honor are never ending in heaven (Parish, 32). If we are believing for a greater manifestation of “The Lords Prayer” in Matthew 6:10 (KJV), “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,” then honor is going to be increasingly integrated into the fabric of our lives, the essence of our language, the cause of our actions and the nature of our leadership and ministry culture.

1 Peter 2:17 charges us with an incredibly simple, yet profound command to “Honor all…” To understand the command to honor all means we must look past all the externals we often use to judge others as we acknowledge what scripture declares in Psalm 8:5 (NIV), “You have made them (creation) a little lower than the angels, and crowned them with glory and honor.” Honor is inherent in all men because all men are created in the image of God. We are all God breathed. No matter how marred the image is, at the core of every man, woman and child is the fingerprint of divinity, the God of the universe. As we are transformed by the kingdom value of ‘honor all’ we will increasingly find ways to fulfill our charge. 

Honor defers. Romans 12:10 (NAS) says, “…give preference to one another in honor.” That works UP the chain of command, down the chain of command and laterally as well. Honor just knows where everyone fits. Not long ago I was travelling with a significant spiritual leader from the US who was our invited guest speaker for the Bible School graduation in Northern Thailand. He has travelled the world and works with major ministries on several continents. It was an honor to have him join us and pour into our team and graduates. As our time together was coming to an end he said to me, “Craig, I have been with you now through several days of school, the final ceremonies and graduation, and I have to say I cannot figure out just who is in charge here. I know you are the Regional Director, Ariel is the Team Leader, Arthur is in charge of the ministry the students are being trained for, and Arthur’s father-in-law is the Apostle that started the work. But you men shift in and out of authority roles so often I can’t tell WHO IS REALLY IN CHARGE.” EXACTLY! HONOR is in charge! Honor doesn’t need a flow chart– it just flows! Honor knows who is in charge of what and when, and there doesn’t need to be a why. Honor prefers and defers seamlessly. Honor does not need a title or personal recognition. Honor brings order. 

After first writing about honor a couple years ago, the Lord used those seeds and my limited understanding to begin to school me in just how deep honor runs. We have solid Christian neighbors on both sides of our home. One couple had been in lay ministry in their early married years, but the addition of children and duties has changed things. In the last two years I don’t know that we have ever seen their vehicle leave their driveway on a Sunday. The wife’s wardrobe for about half the year, coming or going, is pretty much what single women wear to work out at the gym. (And they don’t mow their grass very often!) One day I started to voice my ‘observations’ to Sandra and the Lord quickly shut me down. He made it clear to me that my observations dishonored who that couple is as HIS creation. WOW. Not only that, it dishonored who HE is as their Creator. OUCH. Furthermore, it dishonored who He has created me to be. By dishonoring others, I dishonored my position in the royal family, AND if I shared my observation with others, I dishonored the listeners as well. God did not value my judgments when they were rooted in dishonor. 

In a similar way, moving into nations without learning the language or coming to some understanding of culture does not honor who God created that culture to be. One of our team members in Thailand shared that when they invited one Thai friend over for a meal, that friend often brought along several more friends. They were extremely frustrated over this repeated inconvenience. It so happened that my wife Sandra had been reading the Culture Shock Thailand book on the plane and had just read that if you invite one Thai, they will often bring others as sort of a social way of ‘sharing the love, or relationship.’ What was a valued honor in the Thai culture was dishonored because we had not learned the culture. We must learn to see what God sees in lives, cultures and individuals or we have not honored our Creator or His creation.  

Some of our newer team members are challenging us in the way we communicate the stories and testimonies of those that have come from sinful or shameful backgrounds. To truly live in a culture that honors all, someone else’s story should not be told in a way that connects them to the shame of their past. If they want to tell their story and honor what God has done in their lives, then they retain personal ownership of their story. We honor them, maybe for the first time in their lives, by allowing them to maintain their dignity and value as a new creation. 

Honor above all, acknowledges the value God gives to every man, woman and child. Honor recognizes and verbalizes the contributions, efforts, sacrifices and service of every team member at every possible opportunity. Honor is a FORCE and when it is activated it begins to increase exponentially. Honor creates an atmosphere that emphasizes the recognition and value of individual contributions. That recognition raises the self-worth of those individuals, AND it raises their significance among their peers and leaders. Everyone in that environment is lifted, and when that principle is caught it will be re-released and re-energized again and again. It is the model of heaven released into the atmospheres we inhabit with INCREDIBLE power to change those very atmospheres. Honor is always, always looking for ways to acknowledge and express appreciation and ultimately bring God glory by honoring what He is doing through the lives of others. 

Questions for Consideration: Honor

1. Have you seen Honor lived out as illustrated in this article? 
2. If much of honor is recognizing and verbalizing the contributions of every team member, staff member or worker, how can you or your team do a better job of creating a culture of honor within your team or sphere of influence?
3. Do you recognize any challenges, difficulties or hindrances to creating a culture of honor in your team? How can you address those and work together towards creating that culture?
4. What are some ways we can show honor to people where we live and work?