The Path to Honor, the Path to Disgrace

What is the path to honor?

We don’t have to look far in our society to find those who have achieved considerable earthly honor through their hard work combined with their self-promotion. Whether in business, in politics, in sports and entertainment – and even within the Christian church – we see example after example of people working on their craft, marketing themselves, and thereby acquiring some degree of fame. There are many coaches, consultants, and schools who – for a fee – will teach you how to be among those who successfully exalt themselves.

But Scripture warns us, “God opposes the proud” (1 Peter 5:7); “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled” (Luke 14:11).

Yet God’s Word also gives us a promise in these same verses: God gives grace to the humble; he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Jesus tells a brief story to illustrate this point:

Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. (Luke 14:31-32)

You are the first king. You have resources: Your physical abilities, your intelligence, your training and education, your experience, your skills, your contacts, your finances. Perhaps these are quite impressive compared to others. Like the first king with ten thousand, you can look at who you are and what you have and think: “I can go somewhere! I can exalt myself! I can achieve something!”

If you take the world’s advice and exalt yourself, you may well achieve a degree of honor for a time. Perhaps in a worldly sense you will acquire considerable fame because of great accomplishments.

Yet whether you realize it or not, by acting in this way you are advancing in war against the second king. And that second king is God Himself. For you are acting in pride – and as we saw, God opposes the proud. Furthermore, His fighting force is far beyond yours. If He opposes you, you will be humbled; you will be thrown down; in the end, you will lose all the fame, all the status, all the honor that you thought you had gained.

So like that first king going out to war, you have two options. The first option is to sue for peace. He will demand unconditional surrender to Jesus. This means that you will have to renounce all that you have (Luke 14:33). All that is yours becomes His: All your goods. All your family. All your time.

However, He then will give you His grace. He will exalt you. He will give you Jesus Himself – the greatest treasure, the greatest honor, the greatest joy.

That’s the first option. The cost is high. But the benefit is incalculable.

Your second option is to enter into battle with Him. To fight Him. To oppose Him.

If you choose option two, you will hold onto your fame and your resources a little longer compared to option one. While the battle is engaged, you can continue to be impressed with yourself. But your 10,000 cannot fight His hordes. The end is inevitable. He will overwhelm you. He will humble you. Option two is the path to disgrace. One day you will lose everything. And you will have to confess what you refused to acknowledge before: Jesus is indeed Lord (Philippians 2:10-11).

So note: Whether you choose option one or option two, eventually you lose all that you now have. That cost is the same.

But under option one, He exalts you. He lifts you up. He gives you what you never earned, what you clearly don’t deserve, what you can never be proud of: one hundred times more joy than you had from what you gave up, as well as the greatest gift of all: Himself, for all eternity (Mark 10:28-31).

So acknowledge what is true. Realize your position. You have no ability to achieve any lasting honor; if you resist Him, you will lose all. Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand. This is the path to honor. And the greatest honor is that He will give you what you could never earn: Himself.

Cry Out for Justice

Alton Sterling. And Brent Thompson. Philando Castile. And four as yet unnamed Dallas police officers.

We could go on: Thousands trafficked for sexual exploitation. About 2700 unborn babies killed yesterday in the US. In the absence of any effective government, warlords rape and pillage, leading millions to flee their homes in Syria, in Libya, in Congo. Meanwhile, even in this country, the powerful and well-connected get off scot free while the weak are punished to the full extent of the law.

We cry out with the prophet:

How long, LORD, must I cry for help? But you do not listen! I call out to you, “Violence!” But you do not intervene!  Why do you force me to witness injustice? Why do you put up with wrongdoing? Destruction and violence confront me; conflict is present and one must endure strife.  For this reason the law lacks power, and justice is never carried out. Indeed, the wicked intimidate the innocent. For this reason justice is perverted. (Habakkuk 1:2-4 NET)

Or, as a contemporary songwriter puts it:

“I believe you will come, Your justice be done – but how long? . . . How long? How long until this burden is lifted?”

We are right to cry out. We are right to weep. We are right to long for justice, indeed to work for justice.

But Scripture both challenges us and enables us to look at the horrors of this world from God’s perspective.

  • As we ask, “How long must we look at evil?” God asks, “How long will this people despise me?” (Numbers 14:11)
  • As we cry out, “Justice is perverted!” God asks, “How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?” (Proverbs 1:22)
  • As we long for God to act, He asks, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?” (Exodus 10:3)

God challenges us to look within – to look at our own hearts, and to examine the hearts of our fellow countrymen. And when we look within, what do we see? Individually and as a nation: We have despised Him. We have mocked Him. We have rejected His revelation. We have arrogantly refused to humble ourselves before Him.

Scripture tells us that all the evil we see around us is the result of this human rebellion against God – a rebellion which we must admit, when we’re honest, is deeply ingrained within us. Indeed, all such evil is the logical consequence of that rebellion.

We can and should take palliative measures as a society that will lessen some of the suffering: Checks and balances in government; proper training for the police; equitable and efficient prosecution of criminals – both of the weak and the powerful; wise voting; holding up examples of honorable men and women. Furthermore, as individuals and as churches we can and must love and care for and assist the broken and hurting around us.

But suffering will continue. Injustice will endure. Violence will rear its head. The poor we will always have with us. Sin will thrive.

Until the Right Government takes over. That is, until the government is on Immanuel’s shoulders. Until God’s Kingdom comes, God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Then His government and His peace will increase forever (Isaiah 9:6-7, Matthew 6:10).

After Habakkuk’s cry, God tells His prophet:

If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. . . . The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. . . . The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him. (Habakkuk 2:3, 12, 20)

And the Apostle Paul assures us:

At the name of Jesus every knee will bow– in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11 NET)

So cry out. Weep with those who weep. Help the hurting. Work for justice.

And know: The Lord is indeed in His temple. He offers reconciliation to all rebels through the wiling sacrifice of His Son. He will bring about His Kingdom at exactly the right time. He is King.