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Question 1: How can you recognize a genuine fan?
We know all about honor and worship because we do it all the time.
Football fans show both honor and worship through their conduct and commitment. A football game involves roughly only seventeen minutes of actual action. When you remove huddles, getting back to the line of scrimmage, and other aspects of the game, you’re left with seventeen minutes of actual plays being run.
Yet football fans spend up to three hours watching a game that provides only seventeen minutes of action. If you go to the game, you need to add drive time, parking, walking to the stadium, and then sitting in traffic when the game is over. But have you ever heard a fan complain the game went too long? No, because when we love and honor something, we commit our time to it.
Translate that willingness and enthusiasm over to our spiritual lives and matters like church attendance, personal Bible study, or prayer. Too many of us are satisfied with a quick five-minute devotion and a short prayer. The Ten Commandments call us to honor God, but are we really doing that?
WHAT DOES
THE BIBLE SAY?
Exodus
20:7-11
7 “You
shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone
guiltless who misuses his name. 8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath
to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son
or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any
foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens
and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh
day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Choose your favorite president — living or dead—and imagine he is coming to your home for dinner. You’ve made all the preparations, cooked a wonderful meal, set the table, and even vacuumed the carpet. When the president arrives, what did you call him? Did you open the door and call him by his first name, or say, “Hey, what’s up, ________?” and call him by his last name?
I doubt it. I have met with former presidents, and no one addresses the president that way. The position calls for honor. When a role requires honor, we place a title in front of the name and speak it with respect.
Yet, far too often, even believers refer to God—the Creator of the universe and the Sustainer of life itself—with dishonor. They refer to Him using platitudes like “the big guy” or “the man upstairs,” or throw out phrases such as “Oh, my God!” But Christ taught us in the Model Prayer that we are to honor or hallow God’s name (Matt. 6:9). The term “hallowed” comes from the same root word from which we get the word “holy.” It means to be “set apart” or “sanctified.” His name is unique and holy because God is unique and holy. We are not to treat God’s name the same way we treat everyone else’s name, thus negating the honor He deserves.
Question 2: What are some ways people dishonor or make light of God’s name?
God doesn’t take such disrespect lightly. He won’t bend to our wrong definition of Him as we seek to interpret Him according to our own desires. Neither will He accept the expression of His presence and character in situations that demean His dignity or cheapen His character. Why? Because He is God. His preeminence over creation demands we give Him the recognition of who He truly is.
After all, this is the same Being who spoke the world into existence—and it only took Him six days to do so. On the seventh day, God rested, but not because He was tired. He rested because He had finished what He set out to do. He wanted to enjoy and experience His creation. Similarly, He calls us to set aside one day a week to rest and reflect on who He is and the power He holds in His hands and in His heart. All our honor is due Him.
He is the great I Am Who I Am, not the great I Am Who You Want Me to Be.
Consider the honor you would give to a celebrity, politician, or athlete whom you admire. Compare that honor with what you give to the God of the universe in both your speech and your actions. Do they compare?
God has given believers the privilege to pray using Jesus’ name. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16:23-24). That’s truly a privilege! However, earlier on the same night that Jesus gave us this promise, He also had explained, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (14:13). It’s all about His honor.
1 I will
exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. 2 Every
day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. 3 Great is the
Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.
Those two words stand out to me when I read verses 1-3. David praised God and declared he would bless God every day. Not just on the good days. Not just on the days when he felt like dancing in the streets. Not just on the victory days. No, David penned his heart’s desire to worship God every single day and praise His name forever and ever. Do you desire to worship God every day?
American families cook a lot of turkeys and hams at the holidays. My wife was a master chef who knew how to cook them perfectly. I observed her careful attention to getting the meat just right before she took it out of the oven—and that included using a thermometer to know when the meat was perfectly done.
Eating uncooked meat can be harmful. A ham or turkey can appear to be perfectly cooked on the outside and yet remain raw on the inside. The last thing you want when everyone sits down at the table with appetites and forks in hand is to discover the bloody, uncooked meat is still inside. That thermometer is important.
Kingdom disciples are no different. We can look great on the outside but be a spiritual mess on the inside. Many of us are not as “put together” and spiritual as we appear on the outside. Under the surface, we carry the germs of bitterness, doubt, and ingratitude. Just because you say “hallelujah” to the message doesn’t mean you are spiritual—and even though you preach the message, that doesn’t mean you are spiritual either.
God holds the thermometer; He knows the state of each of our souls. He may keep you in an oven of adversity, but He desires to shape you during the tough times. He has a purpose for the pain, and He seeks to make you increasingly more like Jesus. Choose to honor Him with your worship in good times and bad. Sometimes you and I need to learn to trust God and choose to worship Him in spite of the reality of where we are on a given day.
Question 3: What does it look like to bless the Lord each day?
Psalm
145:4-7
4 One
generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts. 5
They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—and I will meditate on your
wonderful works.6 They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim
your great deeds. 7 They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of
your righteousness.
David’s heart for God shines through in these verses. He wrote of honoring God’s great works and goodness, while singing joyfully of God’s righteousness. We live in a day and an age when honoring God takes second place to many people’s desires to honor themselves. Personal platforms have replaced praise for God. People strive to present a perfect image on social media, but it’s deceptive, and replaces a public confession of God’s greatness. If David’s words aligned instead with today’s cultural values, the word your would be replaced with my.
- One generation commends (my) works to another; they tell of (my) mighty acts.
- I will proclaim (my) great deeds.
- They celebrate your abundant goodness.
Yes, we sometimes wrap our vanity into conveniently masked terms such as “legacy” and “reputation.” Anytime we shift the focus from God and place it on ourselves, we have failed to honor God through our testimony and actions. We have failed to put Him first.
To live lives that honor God, we must not only love God, but we must love Him first. So, how do we recognize when first love has turned to second love—or worse—in our lives? One way is whenever performance for God becomes an end in itself. In those moments, we have lost our first love.
Question 4: What do you appreciate about God’s works in previous generations?
The best approach is to do what David did. He focused on God’s “mighty acts,” “glorious splendor of your majesty,” “wonderful works,” “awesome works,” “great deeds,” “abundant goodness,” and “righteousness.” When we reflect on all God has done, we’re drawn to authentic worship. We’ll want to honor Him with lives that serve as a celebration of “your abundant goodness.”
Question 5: How can we declare God’s works to the next generation?
HONORING
GOD
Choose one
of the following images that best reflects your idea of honoring God.
Then write a prayer telling God how much you love and respect Him.
“At the end of the day, honoring God leads to good things.
Anything else leads to confusion, emotional exhaustion, and a lack of good things.”
LYSA TERKEURST
BIBLE
LIVE IT OUT
How will you actively
seek to honor God? Choose one of the following applications:
- Repent. Confess
to God any times you misused the name of God and failed to honor Him with your
life.
- Journal. Journaling
is a great way of identifying the pressing thoughts on your heart and mind.
When you sit down to write, the natural flow of your thinking comes out. Take a
moment each day this week to journal about your relationship with God and
thoughts about Him. Let your own words reveal to you how much you honor and worship
Him.
- Share. If you are on social media, consider how you can post and share God-honoring posts this week. Or consider how you can share a testimony of how great God is and the great acts He has done. If you are not on social media, seek to share a testimony of God and His power in your life with others you communicate with during the week. Go ahead and brag on God. He deserves it.
Forced honor and forced
worship are neither honor nor worship. But as you begin to reflect daily on
God’s greatness and goodness, honor and worship of Him will flow naturally out
of your heart.
Looking forward to seeing everyone this Sunday!
God Bless,
David & Susan
Teacher Notes:
When you hear the NAME - Sean Connery - Who do you think of?
Click Play to Watch
RIP
Honor God
Question 1: How can you recognize a genuine college football fan?
Football fans show both honor and worship through their conduct and commitment.
A football game involves roughly only seventeen minutes of actual action. When
you remove huddles, getting back to the line of scrimmage, and other aspects of
the game, you’re left with seventeen minutes of actual plays being run.
Think about it: football
fans spend up to three hours watching a game that provides only seventeen minutes
of action. If you add drive time, parking and tailgating, walking to the
stadium, and then sitting in traffic when the game is over. But you don’t hear
a fan complain that the game went too long? No, because when we love and honor something, we commit our time to it.
Can we honestly say, that we have that same love and honor, that same
fan commitment to our spiritual lives? (the church, personal bible study,
prayer)
The Ten Commandments call us to honor God, but are we really doing
that?
- The first four commandments of the Decalogue
address God’s expectations for how His people are to relate to Him. Last week
we talked about Placing God First
- This lesson focuses on the 3rd and
4th commandment — His name — and the Sabbath.
Your name is significant – so is how it’s used.
- If I told you that I read your name in the
newspaper this morning…
- Names matter: Bill Gates/Money,
Serena Williams/Tennis, Tiger Woods/Golf
The way we use the name of the Lord, our practice of the Sabbath,
and our commitment to worship are at least 3 ways we show honor to the Lord God.
Exodus
20:7-11
“You shall
not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall
labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your
God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter,
nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing
in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the
sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the
Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
How does
our culture misuse the name of the Lord? Does the way you speak of the Lord
show honor to His name? Identify any practice in your life that might reflect a
misuse of the Lord’s name. What will you do to correct that misuse?
How do you
keep and observe the concept of Sabbath?
We are to
honor God’s name and everything about Him.
- God is holy; thus, His name is to
be used in ways that honors His holiness.
- To keep the Sabbath includes taking
actions appropriate to the intent of the Sabbath, such as learning about God,
resting, being refreshed, and honoring God.
- In Vain: wasteful, empty, frivolous
– I swear to …., Oh my …, used insignificantly
- You are NOT to take My Name in vain
– Forgery: unauthorized use of a name
- Wasted use – entertainment world
“Rappers” – Thanking God for their award
We are not to treat God’s name the same way we treat everyone else’s name, thus negating the honor, He deserves.
- God doesn’t take such disrespect lightly. He
won’t bend to our wrong definition of Him as we seek to interpret Him according
to our own desires. Neither will He accept the expression of His presence and
character in situations that demean His dignity or cheapen His character. Why?
Because He is God. His preeminence over creation demands we give Him the
recognition of who He truly is.
- We are to wear and bear His name. What does this mean?
Psalm 145 is a praise hymn attributed to David. In this session we will
give our attention to verses 1-7: a call for us to
adore the Lord by exalting Him and blessing His name every day.
Psalm
145:1-3
I will
exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every
day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord
and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.
When has a
worship experience felt especially meaningful to you? Why?
“Every
day.” - Those two words stand out to me when I read verses
1-3. David praised God and declared he would bless God every day. Not just on
the good days. Not just on the days when he felt like dancing in the streets. Not
just on the victory days. No, David penned his heart’s desire to worship God
every single day and praise His name forever and ever. Do you desire to worship
God every day?
Psalm 145:4-7
One
generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts. They speak of the glorious splendor of your
majesty—and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They tell of the power of
your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds. They celebrate your
abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
We are to
honor God through our testimony and actions.
- We honor the Lord when we call upon
others to recognize His greatness and worship Him.
- Each generation has a
responsibility to teach the next generation the things of God.
- If no one else speaks for my
generation, I have a responsibility to do so; I cannot pass it to someone else.
- Worship the Lord and praise Him for
His wondrous works, awe-inspiring acts, great goodness, and perfect
righteousness.
David’s heart for God shines through in these verses. He wrote of honoring God’s great works and goodness, while singing joyfully of God’s righteousness. We live in a day and an age when honoring God takes second place to many people’s desires to honor themselves. Personal platforms have replaced praise for God. People strive to present a perfect image on social media, but it’s deceptive, and replaces a public confession of God’s greatness. If David’s words aligned instead with today’s cultural values, the word your would be replaced with my.
One
generation commends (my) works to another; they tell of (my) mighty acts.
I will
proclaim (my) great deeds.
They
celebrate your abundant goodness.
LIVE IT OUT
How will you actively
seek to honor God? Choose one of the following applications:
Repent. Confess
to God any times you misused the name of God and failed to honor Him with your
life.
God is
worthy of all honor and glory. In this session we have identified at least
three ways we can do that.
- We treat His name as holy, for the mere mention of His name reminds us of who He is, all He has done for us, and is a reminder of His covenant—His promises—to His people, most fully expressed in the new covenant secured by the blood of Jesus Christ.
- We accept His gift of Sabbath; a day is set aside by the Lord and to the Lord as a specific time to know Him better, to refresh ourselves for His service, to acknowledge the abiding relationship we have with Him, and to recognize Him as Creator, Father, and Redeemer of all things.
- Finally, we give Him worship and praise; affirm Him as the Master of our lives; declare His power, authority, majesty, goodness, and greatness. We joyfully sing that He alone is worthy of all our praise today and throughout eternity.
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