A Culture of Honor...

So I got sooooo much to share about our hecka crazy, adventurous, fun, tiring, refreshing & empowering trip to South Korea, but I just wanna share real quickly about what I'm learning from a 'culture of honor.' My mind is totally blown away by the hospitality and the way in which Koreans demonstrate honor, or at those who I have encountered on this trip. Not only are they amazing because they love friend chicken, spicy food & ice cream, but God has showed me how powerful, necessary and biblical it is to honor to those God has brought into your life.

We came not having a place to stay and, except for the crazy night at the ghetto "jujibang" (jimjilpang - a glorified bath house, lounge, snack bar, etc...) we have not lacked somewhere to rest our heads (didn't Jesus say when you give everything up for him you would not get more houses in this life & the life to come? sooooo deep). We have been constantly fed & constantly offered more! Yes, Captain America does love Korean food, especially the fried chicken & banana milk... mmmm... banana milk.....

Many of the brothers & sisters at New Philly, Daniel's relatives & other friends have opened their homes to us, blessed us with taxi fare, invited us over to their homes, fed us & have opened their hearts to us in tremendous ways. I truly feel like I am at home...You know they say, "Home is where your heart is..." This is becoming so much more real to me because my heart finds rest in God's presence, God's presence is home to me. And, God doesn't dwell in temples built by human hands, He dwells in His children who are 'living stones being fitted together to be the house of God...' He dwells in the believers who open their hearts, lives, wallets, cars, time, emotions, spirit & lives to others...

Jesus said, "A prophet is without honor in his hometown." We have too often forfeit the blessing that comes from honor. We don't truly believe the word of God when it says that 'a gift opens the way for the giver.' Honor, especially from what we have experience in our everyday life in America, seems to be a lost word, a lost art, a lost value and as a result it has become a lost blessing in our lives & the church. People will honor themselves, but honor others? Not likely...

Did God tell Abraham to give Malchezidek a 1/10 of all he had? No... Then why did Abraham do it? Honor... Did God tell Esau to send out droves to Jacob when they were going to be reconciled? No. Then why did he do it? Honor... Was the woman who anointed Jesus with the Alabaster Jar told to do it, required to do it or even favorably looked upon by those watching? No. Then why did she do it? Honor...

In each of these cases those who honored were blessed because of it. I never realized home much I was cutting myself off from the blessing of God because of my lack of honor to others, especially to my leaders, parents & wife. Why is a prophet without honor in his hometown? Because the people treat him/her as common, familiar & 'one of us.' Too often we have allowed ourselves to become too familiar with our parents, friends, leaders, teachers, pastors and God. As a result, we have forgotten how to honor them, hold them in high regards, esteem them, cherish them, bless them, prepare the way through gifts or value them... In reality, a lack of honor means there is a lack of understanding in what true home is...

Home for us is meant to be the presence of God, the presence of our Heavenly Father.. Peter says we are aliens & strangers here on earth... Hebrews tells us where looking for a home whose architect & builder is God... The place where our heavenly Father is, that is home... The earthly model of home that God has given us is the place where we dwell with our father & mother & siblings. The first commandment with a promise is to 'honor your mother & father & you will live long in the land I am going to give you.' There was a blessing that was meant to flow from the honoring of our mother & father. Honor was meant to begin in the home and the blessing from honoring was meant to bring long/full/whole life...

But, because we have not allowed the presence of God to dwell in our homes or our 'hometowns' we have cut ourselves off from this blessings. We have become too familiar with our 'families', natural & spiritual. We have become to familiar with our mothers & fathers, natural & spiritual. We have cut ourselves off from the blessing that comes from honor and exchanged it for the contempt that comes from familiarity. Familiarity breeds contempt...

Familiar & Family come from the same root word. No wonder why so many families have fallen apart, it's because we have become too familiar. It may sound stupid but follow me.... We have forgotten to recognize the gift that our family is, that our parents are, that are siblings are, that our spouse is. And, because we have forgotten that these are gifts we don't honor them and we don't honor the Giver of these gifts. And if you don't honor the gift or the Giver, there is no way that blessing can continue to flow. The promise of blessing comes with the command to honor...

It is not a matter of whether someone is honorable or not... you may say, 'well my mom, dad, spouse, pastor or family members are not worthy of my honor...' was Saul honorable when he hurled a spear at David? Yet, David honored him by protecting him and submitting to him... was Pilate honorable when he made the decision to crucify Jesus? Yet, Jesus honored him by not overthrowing him or calling down angels to kill him...

What David & Jesus recognized was that by honoring the authorities God placed over their lives they were honoring God... Through the honor they displayed, even when the people didn't seem honorable, they were preparing the way for a greater anointing, blessing, favor & fullness to be release to them. To them, honoring those God placed over their lives was to honor God.... Did they agree fully with those over them, probably not, but they still honored them... To them, honoring God and receiving honor from God was more important than honoring themselves. They honored, valued, esteemed, cherised & loved God & those who were in their lineage far more than they did themselves. They were opening the door for that blessing to be released in their lives & the lives of all who would follow in their lineage.

Their lineage, their family was not 'too' familiar to them.You see, when we allow something to become too familiar to us then we have forgotten what it means to love it, value it, cherish it and honor it. The moment I allow my wife to become too familiar too me is the moment I have allowed my passionate love for her dwindle. Yet, when I am cherishing & honoring her as a gift from God then I am constantly holding her in high esteem, thinking of ways to display my love, planning dates & thinking through things I can say to express how valuable she is to me. And in honoring her I am really honoring the One who graciously gave her to me...

Jesus & David's love for their family & lineage led them to choose a culture of honor... And as a result, the favor & blessing of God still flows through them and their lineage, to all who believe!

God has challenged me through my Korean family to pursue a life that honors.... it's time that we begin to create in our families, marriages, hometowns, churches, cities & nations, a culture of honor...