December 3, 2006

Cawson Street Church of Christ

Hopewell, Virginia

Mural Worthey

 

Honor Restored

 

Introduction: Sin and death; sin and shame go together. Ichabod means loss of glory and honor. Paul wrote, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23.) What does the last phrase mean—“(All have) come short of the glory of God?” We should not quickly pass by such a phrase. In chapter 5, Paul wrote that we “rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” (5:2.) This probably points to some future point when honor will be restored to fallen man. Sin causes man to lose his honor or approval of God. He lives in dishonor in sin away from the presence of God.

 

The story of the Bible could be summed up by two phrases: “loss of glory and glory restored.” We know how we lost it, but how do we gain it back? And what is glory and honor? We tend to pass by those two words as if they are not very important.

 

The lost word, honor. We could say truthfully that honor is a lost biblical word. It is not only lost in our understanding and doctrine, but also in our lives. Honor was also lost in translation. There are 24 Hebrew words in the OT for the word, honor. When the Hebrew was translated into Greek around 250 BC, the translators used only one Greek word for 24 Hebrew words! Just the sheer number of related words expressing honor and glory in the OT reveals how important this word is.

 

We have lost this word/s in our values in American society. Many could care less about honor as long as independence, freedom and wealth are enjoyed. It matters not to most people how one obtains wealth, whether it was by honorable means or not.

 

We have lost the word in Christian doctrine. We hear many sermons about love, but rarely do we hear one on honor. How does the little boy, son of Phinehas, lose the name, Ichabod, and obtain a better name? How do we regain the honor we lost?

 

The meaning of honor. The basic meaning of the word, kabed, is “heavy or weighty.”  (See Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol. 1, Harris, Archer, Waltke, 426.)  Literally, we can understand the meaning from the old priest Eli himself.  The Bible describes him as a heavy man; so that when he fell off his seat, he broke his neck.  (1 Sam. 4:18.)  Paul contrasted our “light affliction which is for a moment to the eternal weight of glory.”  (2 Cor. 4:17.)  Glory or honor refers to something of weight or importance.  A weighty person in society is one with influence who is honorable and worthy of respect.  Eli may have been the local priest and a fat man, but he was not honorable or worthy of respect.  He failed to restrain his vile sons from committing grievous sins in the eyes of the public.  Young Samuel, as a prophet from God, foretold the downfall of the house of Eli.

 

The Muslim misrepresentation of honor.  We often hear in the news concerning Muslims and their practice of so-called “honor killings.”  This is a gross misrepresentation of what honor means.  In their usage, it means little more than sinful pride, anger and hatred vented toward anyone who offends them.  Men will have their family members killed if their honor has been “offended.”  They take revenge upon their enemies as a matter of duty.

 

One of the great differences between the East and West is the East’s emphasis on honor and the West’s emphasis on love.  In Christian messages, we say that love is the center of the Gospel; but we say very little about honor.  Muslims say little about love; honor is their central theological word.

 

The truth is that both testaments emphasize love and honor.  Honor is not just a Jewish or Muslim concept, and love is not just a New Testament or Christian concept.  The two concepts actually go together.  Honor without love is not true honor; love without honor is not biblical love.  Honor without love is just base pride.  Love without honor is weak and meaningless.

 

There are many good applications to life that can be made applying biblical honor and love.  Perhaps, the best place to begin is to describe what honor restored means.  We must recall where we are—walking out of the Garden from the presence of God with our heads hanging low.  Man has fallen.  How can he be restored to a place of honor?

 

 

Honor Restored Means

 

Godly sorrow and repentance.  Paul wrote, “Godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of.”  (2 Cor. 7:10.)  The first place to begin restoration when dishonor has descended upon us is godly sorrow.  That is, our sorrow must be genuine and sincere.  It is sorrow produced by the knowledge of God.  Our sins are against him.  It is godly sorrow because of the God/man relationship.  It is godly sorrow, not worldly sorrow.  The world cannot produce this kind of sorrow that leads to honor restored.  We can only be restored if this heart-felt sorrow leads to repentance.

 

Humility is the only right attitude for children of Ichabod.  Just getting the Ark of the Covenant back won’t do!  There is much more at stake than that wooden box.  The Titanic has sunk!  There is no way to get it back to the surface and make it run again.  The frozen passengers cannot be revived by the power of men.  The mistake has been made.  The only recourse is to change the heart that caused the accident.  Adam and Eve can never make right what they brought upon their children.  It is too late for that.  We are now in the land of the dying because of sin.

 

Example: the prodigal son.  The youngest son in the family dishonored his father.  It is difficult for us to understand the fullness of that in an Eastern culture.  The father suffered shame for his son’s behavior in the face of the men.  Yet, the father expressed no superficial offence or false pride.  There was no threat that he would get even or never receive him back.  When the young son came back home, he said, “Father, I am not worthy to be called your son anymore.  Just make me a hired servant.”  (Luke 15:19.)  The father welcomed him back and restored him to full fellowship in the family.  The older brother did not want to allow him to come back.

 

There are so many good lessons in this story.  1) There was shame and dishonor caused by the young man’s behavior.  2) Honor as taught and practiced by Islam and the East is absent.  The father did not send out a group of men from the family to shoot him down.  Rather, the father sorrowed and watched until his son came back home.  3) True love and mercy was shown.  There was no soft love; the son came to himself and humbled himself before his father.  4) Honor restored is an act of the father.  5) It is unseemly for us to begrudge forgiveness to our brother, a fellow Ichabod.

There is no mention of a blood-sacrifice for sin.  Perhaps, all of this is summed up in the action of the father to receive him back.

 

Only God can restore lost honor.  There is a dreadful feeling in our hearts that once honor is lost it cannot be restored.  Such is not true.  Only in the hearts of those unwilling to forgive is honor refused.  If God offers full restoration, justification, forgiveness and honor, who are we to refuse it to ourselves or others?  Honor is the place you occupied before falling from grace.  It is your old home back in the Garden.  It is a ring, robe and sandals.  It is a party to welcome you home so that the neighbor’s may know of your restored state.  The Bible ends with a depiction of another garden and fruit trees and life-giving streams.  It ends with man in the presence of God again.  This is honor restored.

 

Judas sadly felt that there was no way for him to live in honor after betraying Jesus for a small sum of money.  Peter, who denied Jesus, thought there would be place for him in the Lord’s work; he returned to his old trade of fishing.  Jesus asked Peter after the resurrection, do you love me?  When asked and answered three times, Jesus told him to feed his sheep.  (John 21.) This meant that there was a place for him.  Peter stood on Pentecost and preached redemption through the resurrected Christ.  Saul of Tarsus did much harm to the early Church.  He had Christians killed; he became the great apostle to the Gentiles.  Paul humbled himself and served faithfully.

 

The role of Jesus Christ.  There are so many facets to the cross of Christ.  There is sacrifice, innocent-suffering, vicarious suffering, love, mercy, etc.  We ought to be careful less we forget than the One who suffered in our place is God himself.  He was the One offended, yet he took the penalty of our sins upon himself.  Jesus suffered shame for us.  He became our dishonor, our shame and guilt.  Islam rejects the cross because they say that it involves too much shame.  God would never have allowed his Son to suffer shamefully, publicly, they argue.  But the honor for the Son came in his resurrection from the dead.  He was given a name which was above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.  The Son was given a place at the right hand of God in heaven.  He will judge all nations.  He is the Head of the Church and Savior of the Body.

 

No one should think that they can earn their way back to God.  Such a thought and doctrine blasphemes the Christ who died for us.  “Make me a hired servant” is the right attitude of humility, but it is unacceptable as the way to have honor restored.  We do not work long enough in the fields until the father forgets what we did.  It is not passed over lightly.  Sin is too serious for this.  If the problem is not dealt with openly, we will always have a hole in our hearts.  We will always bear a sense of guilt.  We have to know how we can return; there must be satisfaction in the conscience.  The cross makes the satisfaction possible.

 

 

Our resurrection.  We now have the promise that God will receive us back just as he would receive Jesus Christ.  When we will be fully restored in honor is at the resurrection.  Paul wrote that the body is “sown in dishonor, but it is raised in glory.”  There is one glory of the sun, another of the moon, and another glory of stars.  The stars differ from one another in glory.  So also is the resurrection of the dead.  (1 Cor. 15:41-43.)  Paul wrote to the Philippians about God changing our vile bodies into glorious bodies like the body of Jesus Christ.  (Phil. 3:21.)  Man will be fully restored to God in heaven.  This will be honor restored.  Shame and dishonor will be forever removed.

 

One of the most important aspects of our new life will be the absence of sin in eternity.  Our vile bodies will be put aside and glorious bodies given.  “There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles, neither whatso-ever works abomination, or makes a lie.”  (Rev. 21:27.)