Learn to Honor Others (Romans 12:10b)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.480 I'll start by reading the verse that I'm preaching on this morning, Romans twelve 2 00:00:04.759 --> 00:00:11.750 ten B. It's the second half of that verse, but after reading that 3 00:00:11.949 --> 00:00:15.990 I'll go back and read this whole section. That way we can keep reminding 4 00:00:16.030 --> 00:00:21.940 ourselves of this most immediate context and and also, over time, hopefully begin 5 00:00:21.980 --> 00:00:27.059 memorizing this a little more. So Romans twelve ten, the second half of 6 00:00:27.100 --> 00:00:32.700 the verse, is out do one another in showing honor. A remarkable phrase 7 00:00:33.100 --> 00:00:36.770 as well as fairly simple. But let's go back to verse nine now and 8 00:00:36.890 --> 00:00:41.570 read this section, from nine to twenty one. Let love be genuine. 9 00:00:42.090 --> 00:00:46.729 Abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good, love one another 10 00:00:46.810 --> 00:00:53.079 with bread brotherly affection. Out Do one another in showing honor. Do not 11 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:58.799 be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord, rejoice 12 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:03.790 in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer, contribute to 13 00:01:03.829 --> 00:01:10.709 the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute 14 00:01:10.750 --> 00:01:14.829 you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, 15 00:01:15.430 --> 00:01:19.980 weep with those who weep, live in harmony with one another. Do not 16 00:01:19.099 --> 00:01:23.340 be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own 17 00:01:23.459 --> 00:01:27.579 sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what 18 00:01:27.739 --> 00:01:33.049 is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it 19 00:01:33.129 --> 00:01:38.530 depends on you, live peaceably withal beloved. Never avenge yourselves, but leave 20 00:01:38.569 --> 00:01:44.090 it to the wrath of God, for it is written vengeance is mine. 21 00:01:44.129 --> 00:01:49.280 I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy 22 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:52.599 is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to 23 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:56.760 drink, for by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head. 24 00:01:57.640 --> 00:02:04.629 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. They God 25 00:02:04.670 --> 00:02:13.789 indeed bless his word to us. You may be seated. So we're now 26 00:02:13.830 --> 00:02:17.860 in the fourth week of an extended series moving through Romans twelve, and this 27 00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:22.780 is, of course, after a even more extend a series moving through chapters 28 00:02:22.860 --> 00:02:28.860 one through eleven. We're taking our time right now to consider the very practical 29 00:02:29.740 --> 00:02:37.009 implications of Christ's death and resurrection. What does it mean that Jesus came into 30 00:02:37.050 --> 00:02:42.129 the world to save sinners, and how does that affect our lives? What 31 00:02:42.250 --> 00:02:46.960 does it mean that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation for those 32 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:51.800 who believe. And what about right now? What about how we live? 33 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:55.560 Another way we might put it is that we're taking time to see how God's 34 00:02:55.599 --> 00:03:00.789 spirit is powerfully at work in us through the work of Jesus Christ, the 35 00:03:00.870 --> 00:03:05.710 Gospel of Jesus Christ. Or, to put it yet another way, we're 36 00:03:05.909 --> 00:03:14.699 taking time to consider how faith in Christ produces obedience to Christ. So when 37 00:03:14.699 --> 00:03:20.219 we started here, in verse nine, we first thought about how love must 38 00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:23.819 not be false but genuine. Then we thought, in the next part, 39 00:03:23.860 --> 00:03:28.449 about how we must cling to the good and abhor the evil, and how 40 00:03:28.530 --> 00:03:34.569 that all begins with clinging first and foremost to Jesus Christ. Then, third 41 00:03:34.689 --> 00:03:38.889 we considered how Christ's love for us, this was last time, makes us 42 00:03:38.930 --> 00:03:43.520 a loving family, how his love poured out on us, on these individuals, 43 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:49.240 unites us together as brothers and sisters under one father, through the son. 44 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:54.120 Today, as we consider Paul's words, outdo one another in showing honor, 45 00:03:54.280 --> 00:04:00.990 we consider how the honor that we receive from Christ creates a church in 46 00:04:00.110 --> 00:04:08.509 which we honor others above ourselves. Or, to use the to borrow a 47 00:04:08.509 --> 00:04:12.460 little bit from the last verse, we sang in our him. Oh what 48 00:04:12.659 --> 00:04:17.500 wonder, how amazing Jesuy, Jesus, Glorious King of Kings, daigns, 49 00:04:17.579 --> 00:04:23.779 to call me his beloved, lets me rest beneath his wings. It's this 50 00:04:24.019 --> 00:04:29.129 expression, that of wonder at how much he has exalted us, how much 51 00:04:29.170 --> 00:04:32.050 he has lifted us. That the king of Kings, the Lord of Lords, 52 00:04:32.170 --> 00:04:39.160 the Glorious Eternal Son, would take sinners like us and crown us with 53 00:04:39.319 --> 00:04:46.279 eternal life is most certainly an honor and it has an effect on how we 54 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:54.350 treat one another in the church. And so we are to honor one another, 55 00:04:55.269 --> 00:05:00.389 we are to outdo one another in showing honor. Now, as I 56 00:05:00.430 --> 00:05:02.790 said, have been I started the meaning of this command. I think is 57 00:05:02.949 --> 00:05:09.259 is fairly simple, but it is remarkable, I think the way that he 58 00:05:09.379 --> 00:05:14.899 puts it. Usually, when we talk about striving and outdoing someone in something, 59 00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:18.060 it's to elevate yourself. Right. This is sort of the normal way, 60 00:05:18.060 --> 00:05:21.730 at least in English, that we use and have this consider this idea. 61 00:05:23.329 --> 00:05:26.970 Go Work Hard, you need to show yourself, you need to strengthen 62 00:05:27.089 --> 00:05:32.250 yourself, you need to lift yourself up. But then Paul sort of turns 63 00:05:32.290 --> 00:05:38.160 it a little bit. He says out do one another in showing honor. 64 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:45.519 It's like being being the master of being a servant. It's that kind of 65 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:50.670 idea. Usually people strive to distinguish themselves so that they can receive an honor, 66 00:05:50.709 --> 00:05:56.589 a promotion, a metal or something. But God wants us to work 67 00:05:56.709 --> 00:06:00.310 hard in order to give honor to others, to distinguish ourselves in a sense, 68 00:06:00.389 --> 00:06:06.540 in being servants, in giving honor, to repurpose a common phrase, 69 00:06:08.379 --> 00:06:13.740 to use it in a different way than it's usually used. Jesus imagines not 70 00:06:13.899 --> 00:06:16.740 a race to the top, but a race to the bottom. He wants 71 00:06:16.779 --> 00:06:21.889 us to outdo one another in giving honor to others. So this sort of 72 00:06:23.009 --> 00:06:30.209 simultaneously everybody lifting everyone else up now saying that we of course, that this 73 00:06:30.329 --> 00:06:34.600 doesn't mean that we should do a poor job in anything, but it does 74 00:06:34.759 --> 00:06:41.199 mean that we should have a poor spirit in everything. You remember Jesus's first 75 00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:44.040 words in the sermon on the mount he said, blessed are the poor in 76 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:48.550 spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the ethic of 77 00:06:48.709 --> 00:06:53.589 his kingdom, this is the foundation of it, this is how it works. 78 00:06:55.110 --> 00:07:00.110 Now someone might ask, perhaps to get out of obeying or perhaps, 79 00:07:00.459 --> 00:07:06.379 hopefully, to understand. How do we think about outdoing one another when we 80 00:07:06.500 --> 00:07:14.660 have God ordained distinctions between inferiors and superiors. For example, Paul tells US 81 00:07:14.660 --> 00:07:19.529 explicitly in chapter thirteen that we are to be subject to the governing authorities and 82 00:07:19.689 --> 00:07:24.649 to give respect when respect is owed and honor to where honor is owed. 83 00:07:25.529 --> 00:07:32.480 So how can those who are to be honored pay respect to inferiors if inferiors 84 00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:38.680 are supposed to be the ones paying honor or respect to their superiors? In 85 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:42.000 other words, there are these God ordained distinctions in which we might say, 86 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:46.230 well, some people are more honorable than other people. There by virtue of 87 00:07:46.350 --> 00:07:51.389 their virtues, by virtue of their office, by all kinds of things, 88 00:07:51.470 --> 00:07:58.189 perhaps their age or wealth or education. There is a kind of thing that 89 00:07:58.350 --> 00:08:03.060 deserves a certain honor, we might say, if these distinctions exist in the 90 00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:07.699 world, well, how can those who are supposed to be honored then called 91 00:08:07.779 --> 00:08:15.209 to outdo those that are beneath them in honoring? So it's a reasonable question, 92 00:08:15.370 --> 00:08:20.649 but I think the answer is simple. A superior honors someone in the 93 00:08:20.689 --> 00:08:24.129 same way that an inferior does, that is, according to his or her 94 00:08:24.250 --> 00:08:31.160 office. A superior does that by ruling, well, ruling in of and 95 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:37.200 an according and according to the needs of their inferiors. One Who gives honor 96 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:41.870 to those that are beneath him is one who treats them with respect, with, 97 00:08:41.990 --> 00:08:48.789 ultimately, an eye towards God, his superior and inferior honors by serving 98 00:08:48.909 --> 00:08:52.269 in Love, according to his office or her office, serving not as a 99 00:08:52.350 --> 00:08:56.820 man pleaser, but with them again, and eye towards God and from the 100 00:08:56.980 --> 00:09:01.740 heart. In other words, we honor one another when we see each other 101 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:05.700 as those that are made in God's image. We can honor each other no 102 00:09:05.860 --> 00:09:11.769 matter what station we are in society, no matter how many gifts we have 103 00:09:11.009 --> 00:09:16.730 or don't have, when we think about ourselves all under the one most honorable 104 00:09:16.850 --> 00:09:24.559 one who calls us to serve one another according to our various offices. So 105 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:30.559 a tyrant, for example, is certainly not honoring either God or other people 106 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:33.039 when he acts as a tyrant, when he does not love, when he 107 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:37.669 pushes and when he bullies, but he does honor those who are under him 108 00:09:37.909 --> 00:09:43.509 when he rules well and treats them with respect. I remember working at a 109 00:09:45.629 --> 00:09:48.110 working one time, at a at a place I probably shouldn't say. I 110 00:09:48.309 --> 00:09:52.340 was working up some time and there were there were two bosses and they'd sort 111 00:09:52.379 --> 00:09:58.620 of demonstrated this very well. One boss is caring, thought about our schedules, 112 00:09:58.820 --> 00:10:01.460 worked carefully with us to get the time off that we needed, gave 113 00:10:01.659 --> 00:10:07.690 clear instructions, did everything that that everything that she could to make the company 114 00:10:07.809 --> 00:10:11.649 and make us all work together and work together well. She was a great 115 00:10:11.649 --> 00:10:15.049 boss. There's another boss, though, who was kind of her equal, 116 00:10:15.090 --> 00:10:20.649 who is just the opposite, difficult to work with, constantly Bossi always unclear, 117 00:10:20.409 --> 00:10:26.919 difficult to understand, and in one you felt like you were cared for, 118 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:31.440 you were honored, they work that you were doing was valued and respected. 119 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:33.440 And you know how it made me feel. Well, made me want 120 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:37.190 to honor her all the more for doing a great job as the boss. 121 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:43.509 It made me respect her and want to want to do a good job. 122 00:10:43.470 --> 00:10:48.509 The other boss, it was a little harder with in his not honoring as 123 00:10:48.549 --> 00:10:52.980 employees and him not working with us and serving and love. It made it 124 00:10:52.059 --> 00:10:58.620 difficult to respect him, difficult to treat him well. I'm sure that you've 125 00:10:58.620 --> 00:11:01.820 all experienced these kinds of things. So the point is is that, no 126 00:11:01.899 --> 00:11:07.009 matter what station we are in society, no matter what things God has given 127 00:11:07.049 --> 00:11:13.049 us, we certainly do have an opportunity and even an obligation to honor one 128 00:11:13.129 --> 00:11:18.450 another. So when Paul says Outdo one another and showing honor, he doesn't 129 00:11:18.450 --> 00:11:22.759 mean that there are no longer governing authority these or subjects, as he says 130 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:28.000 in chapter thirteen. He means that we should seek the promotion and the service 131 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:33.549 of others. That may mean a king like Jesus will have to get down 132 00:11:35.029 --> 00:11:39.350 and be pleased, to get down in his goodness, on his hands and 133 00:11:39.389 --> 00:11:43.190 knees to wash the feet of his subjects in order to teach them and show 134 00:11:43.269 --> 00:11:48.340 them his love. But it also means that the woman who washed Jesus's feet 135 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:54.820 would be forever honored by her Lord, Our Lord, throughout his kingdom. 136 00:11:54.860 --> 00:12:01.049 And when these things happen, these mutual honoring happens, we have something that 137 00:12:01.169 --> 00:12:07.009 is really quite beautiful, don't we? Something that is full of love, 138 00:12:07.529 --> 00:12:13.129 and that's what the church should be. When each person honors only themselves, 139 00:12:13.289 --> 00:12:16.879 what happens in the church if everyone is out for number one? You have 140 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:22.080 you have the church divided into a thousand pieces and like a broken light bulb 141 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:26.320 that's been shattered on the ground, it simply doesn't work. It doesn't shine, 142 00:12:26.519 --> 00:12:30.789 it doesn't illuminate, it doesn't do anything that it was intended to do 143 00:12:31.389 --> 00:12:35.909 if everything is broken and shattered in a million directions. But when each honors 144 00:12:35.990 --> 00:12:43.379 each other, a kind of beautiful unity and glory to God is achieved when 145 00:12:43.419 --> 00:12:48.379 we honor one another, when we seek to outdo one another and showing honor, 146 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:54.139 there's this kind of pleasure in service. We can shine brightly in the 147 00:12:54.259 --> 00:12:58.649 world, and that's why Paul says that we should outdo one another in showing 148 00:12:58.769 --> 00:13:01.570 honor. Of course, doesn't mean that we're to make it a competition brag 149 00:13:01.649 --> 00:13:05.809 about how much honor we're showing, because that, of course, wouldn't be 150 00:13:05.889 --> 00:13:11.049 honoring someone, but he does mean that there should be this kind of holy 151 00:13:11.250 --> 00:13:20.600 ambition, a pleasure to work and strive in being a servant. Now, 152 00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:26.309 to strengthen our wills for this difficult but honorable task, I want to give 153 00:13:26.350 --> 00:13:31.750 you a few things to keep in your mind as you approach others in the 154 00:13:31.870 --> 00:13:37.230 church, especially the difficult ones, the least honorable ones, the most challenging 155 00:13:37.549 --> 00:13:45.700 ones. Some things to keep in your mind that will help you. Number 156 00:13:45.700 --> 00:13:52.539 One, first, we honor others because God has honored us in our justification. 157 00:13:56.409 --> 00:14:01.370 On the cross, Jesus, the eternal and most glorious king of kings 158 00:14:01.490 --> 00:14:07.570 and Lord of Lords, poured out his blood and he died so that people 159 00:14:07.610 --> 00:14:13.879 who were formerly condemned could be, I'm justified, so that people's whose records 160 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:20.559 of sin were so stained and dirty and gross and repulsive to God that they 161 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:26.629 only deserved hell. He died and shed his most precious blood so that those 162 00:14:26.710 --> 00:14:33.750 sinners could be forgiven and, instead receiving a death sentence to hell, receive 163 00:14:33.990 --> 00:14:41.100 a crown fit for heaven. There is no greater honor that has ever been 164 00:14:41.139 --> 00:14:48.539 bestowed on any single person than that honor God gives to us in our salvation. 165 00:14:48.820 --> 00:14:56.570 You can be the lowliest, most despicable, horrible person, a sinner 166 00:14:56.769 --> 00:15:01.490 of sinners, a wretch of wretches, but when God brings you under the 167 00:15:01.570 --> 00:15:09.639 saving blood of Jesus Christ, he makes you a prince or princess. He 168 00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:16.440 crowns you with eternal life, he draws you in to his divine self and 169 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:28.309 loves you and honors you with his own glory. Any kind of metal or 170 00:15:28.429 --> 00:15:33.190 achievement or promotion or at a boy that you can receive in this life, 171 00:15:33.230 --> 00:15:39.820 no letter of recommendation or good score on a test can ever compare with being 172 00:15:39.179 --> 00:15:45.940 crowned with the Glories of Heaven itself, can you imagine? And that is 173 00:15:46.059 --> 00:15:56.169 what God has done for us in Christ that means, because this applies to 174 00:15:56.250 --> 00:16:00.649 the greatest king of the world and all the way down to the lowliest servant, 175 00:16:00.970 --> 00:16:07.840 that neither King Nor servant can ever look on the other with Christianize and 176 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:15.080 fail to honor the one that the Lord has lifted up. We honor others 177 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:19.909 because they have been honored by God, no matter how different they are from 178 00:16:19.909 --> 00:16:25.350 us. With the eyes of faith, we see on their head a crown 179 00:16:25.389 --> 00:16:32.590 of glory, a Crown of Righteousness, and we humble ourselves before them in 180 00:16:32.710 --> 00:16:40.220 the name of our God and Great King. A second reason we honor others 181 00:16:41.460 --> 00:16:45.620 is because God is honored all of us. In Our sanctification in the church, 182 00:16:45.700 --> 00:16:52.809 we experience God's blessings largely through the blessings that he bestows on others. 183 00:16:53.370 --> 00:17:00.570 After our justification, God's work of salvation continues on. After moving us out 184 00:17:00.610 --> 00:17:06.720 of the category of of damned and into the category of righteous and justified, 185 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:14.359 he continues this work of salvation and US by rooting out sin taking it out, 186 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:18.190 pulling it up like weeds, and then also pouring into us and creating 187 00:17:18.269 --> 00:17:25.309 in us by his spirit holiness, and he gives to US gifts for service. 188 00:17:26.109 --> 00:17:32.619 sanctification means being set apart, being put to good use for the service 189 00:17:33.180 --> 00:17:37.339 of God. Now, on one hand, on the one hand that means 190 00:17:37.380 --> 00:17:41.460 we get to work. There's a kind of rightful selfhonoring that has to happen 191 00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:47.569 if we are to see ourselves rightly before God. If God has poured out 192 00:17:47.609 --> 00:17:51.450 on us, by His grace and his mercy, all kinds of the spiritual 193 00:17:51.529 --> 00:17:56.369 gifts of salvation, well, let's put them to use, let's get to 194 00:17:56.490 --> 00:18:00.240 work. And how are we to use them? Well, of course, 195 00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:07.119 and service to others. So we have this wonderfully busy bee hive of activity, 196 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:11.910 of people all working together, serving one another for the benefit of the 197 00:18:12.029 --> 00:18:22.789 group and ultimately the king be to mix metaphors. So we get to work. 198 00:18:22.589 --> 00:18:27.819 But it also means that we must never ever despond eyes someone for what 199 00:18:29.059 --> 00:18:34.099 God has given them. Honoring one another beloved means we cannot cove it. 200 00:18:36.460 --> 00:18:41.210 If God has given someone beauty or intelligence, education, money, strength of 201 00:18:41.369 --> 00:18:48.569 spirit, generosity, wisdom, you name it, we can't covet these things, 202 00:18:49.650 --> 00:18:53.490 because the Lord has honored them with it. He is bestowed riches and 203 00:18:53.609 --> 00:18:59.359 blessing on them. And how can we despise something that the Lord has given? 204 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:04.720 If our great king of kings has decided to pour out gifts on his 205 00:19:04.839 --> 00:19:11.630 people, including us, how can we, as an individual, especially a 206 00:19:11.789 --> 00:19:15.309 recipient of grace, ever point to someone else and say, well, I'm 207 00:19:15.349 --> 00:19:18.710 not going to honor that and I don't like that or I want it for 208 00:19:18.829 --> 00:19:26.940 myself? Instead of being jealous and coveting, we celebrate what God has done 209 00:19:27.900 --> 00:19:30.940 and when somebody has been given a gift of any of these things, we 210 00:19:32.380 --> 00:19:34.940 encourage them in it, we praise God for it, we honor them in 211 00:19:36.059 --> 00:19:40.250 it. And you know what happens? If they are using their gifts rightly, 212 00:19:40.329 --> 00:19:42.650 as God has in intended them to do, it all comes back to 213 00:19:42.730 --> 00:19:48.210 US anyway, because all of those blessings that God has given them are used 214 00:19:48.210 --> 00:19:52.170 to bless us and the blessings that he's given us are used to bless them. 215 00:19:52.410 --> 00:19:56.519 And back and forth and back and forth it goes, and everyone is 216 00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:00.599 being lifted up. It's like a tree that's growing, each branch on top 217 00:20:00.680 --> 00:20:03.079 of the other, moving higher and higher, up and up, and while 218 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:07.109 that's happening, the trunk is getting bigger and bigger and stronger and stronger. 219 00:20:07.710 --> 00:20:14.349 It's beautiful, it's wonderful. We ought to honor one another, not just 220 00:20:14.549 --> 00:20:19.309 because God has honored us and our justification, but also our sanctification. When 221 00:20:19.309 --> 00:20:23.059 we see the gifts of the Lord and people being put to service, we 222 00:20:23.099 --> 00:20:30.059 must honor whom the Lord has honored. And finally, we honor others because 223 00:20:30.099 --> 00:20:34.849 God has honored us in our glorification. This is yet still ahead of us, 224 00:20:34.849 --> 00:20:41.529 but this is the goal. You don't get anywhere by just wandering around. 225 00:20:41.569 --> 00:20:45.369 Right. We head toward the goal, we keep our eye on the 226 00:20:45.609 --> 00:20:51.079 thing that we are wanting, and the final goal is not a million fractured 227 00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:56.880 pieces. The final goal is a perfectly unified body in the Lord Jesus Christ, 228 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:00.799 a glorious kingdom, a Holy Temple, a great and massive tree of 229 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:07.029 righteousness. That's the goal. And if we're heading that way and we see 230 00:21:07.150 --> 00:21:11.509 this is the picture of heaven that is set before us, we move in 231 00:21:11.789 --> 00:21:18.740 that direction and we honor one another and grow in that tree and move higher 232 00:21:18.859 --> 00:21:26.980 and higher and higher. This should be our desire for the church, for 233 00:21:27.220 --> 00:21:33.250 our church, for this church and for the church at large, that we 234 00:21:33.329 --> 00:21:38.450 might give respect and honor to those whom the Lord has honored. When we 235 00:21:38.609 --> 00:21:41.769 see the work of salvation that he has put on other people, when we 236 00:21:41.849 --> 00:21:47.049 see the things that he has done in us, should we be prideful? 237 00:21:48.599 --> 00:21:52.880 We have no reason to be prideful. God has honored us, not according 238 00:21:52.920 --> 00:21:59.000 to our good works, but according to his wonderful grace. When we think 239 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:04.349 about that, how can we do anything other than give that same grace and 240 00:22:04.670 --> 00:22:11.309 honor and respect to others? This is the spirit in which we strive for 241 00:22:11.430 --> 00:22:15.140 these things, not in jealousy, not in self love, not in a 242 00:22:15.220 --> 00:22:23.099 kind of beastly competition, but in with our eyes on the Kingdom of God 243 00:22:23.259 --> 00:22:27.740 and the glories of all the things that he has done in the past, 244 00:22:29.700 --> 00:22:34.890 in the present and certainly in the future. Let's pray and ask that God 245 00:22:34.930 --> 00:22:40.170 would help us in this and would honor US through Christ