Bill Johnson - Cultivate a Culture of Honor
We emphasize a culture of honor around here, but a culture of honor is not a culture of flattery. A culture of honor actually sees the heart of the Lord for a person and calls that into being. Flattery is a counterfeit of honor; honor genuinely celebrates a person for who God made them to be and acknowledges and celebrates that great work of grace in that person’s life. Hello there once again! Thanks for joining us in this quest for wisdom. We’re in chapter 20 of Proverbs, and we’re going to try to take three or four verses—let’s see how we do—just to highlight some things about the subject of wisdom and how it functions in our lives. All right, so let’s get started.
Let’s start with verse three. It says, «It is honorable for a man to stop striving since any fool can start a quarrel.» That’s such a great verse! It’s honorable for a man to stop striving because any fool can start a fight; anyone can start an argument. We live in such a volatile culture right now that the spirit of offense is being handed out for free to anyone who will pick up a cause to be angry over. It’s not hard to start a fight; you just make one post on the internet or make one statement in church, and people get offended easily. So, we’ve got to pray our way through this season so that we are not contentious people. We should speak truth; scripture says to speak the truth in love. Say what you want to say—speak truth—but speak it with love and an end result in mind.
Here’s some advice: don’t speak just to give people a piece of your mind. Speak because you want to contribute to their well-being, and if you do that, you’ll know the difference between speaking truth for its own sake and speaking truth in love because love always considers the outcome. All right, let’s move on. Here’s an interesting verse in verse five: «Counsel in the heart of a man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.»
This might be a stretch for you, but let’s take Saul, when he was a young man. His father’s donkeys were missing, and this was before he became king. His dad sent him and a servant to look for them, and they looked for, I forget now, but I think it was like three days or something. They couldn’t find them, and the servant said, «Let’s go to the prophet Samuel; he knows everything.» So they went to the prophet, and this is what Samuel did: he saw Saul coming and said, «Your donkeys have been found.» This is interesting: «Your donkeys have been found, but come back tomorrow morning, and I’ll tell you all that’s in your heart.» That’s when he prophesied about Saul becoming king. Saul was unaware that this was in his heart, but the prophet saw it. A man of understanding was able to bring to the surface what God, I believe, planted in Saul’s heart early on in life.
It’s a fascinating story. When you seek to answer the question people are asking, position yourself to answer the question they should be asking. «Where are my donkeys?» «Oh, they’ve been found. Here’s the purpose for your life: you were designed to be a king.» Now, honestly, Saul blew it; he did all kinds of things wrong, but God didn’t set him up to fail; He set him up to succeed. So a counselor or wise man will know how to draw out counsel, sometimes from our own hearts and sometimes from the hearts of people around us, to bring out the counsel of the Lord that has already been planted in a person’s heart. That’s what a friend does—a friend learns how to pull that out.
Let’s move on quickly. It says in verse seven, «A righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him.» I don’t know what else to say except that when you choose righteousness, you actually benefit multiple generations. Choosing that as a way of life affects many generations. I met with my children when they were newly married and told each of them, «You won’t have some of the same financial challenges that your mom and I had, and the reason is because I was generous. I have lived generously and set the stage for you to prosper.» How can I say that? David lived with extreme generosity, and Solomon benefited from his choices. We need to live knowing that our choices today affect generations we will never see. So, I believe that’s a wonderful scripture for us.
Now, let’s move down to verse 19. We’ll take perhaps two more verses, maybe one—let’s see. Verse 19 says, «He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets; therefore, do not associate with one who flatters with his lips.» That verse is so fascinating to me. He who goes about as a talebearer, the one who reveals the secrets of other people, conceals their heart with flattery. They conceal the evil of their heart with flattery. In Proverbs, it makes the connection between the talebearer, the one who reveals the secrets of another person, and how they conceal the evil in their heart with flattery.
We emphasize a lot around here a culture of honor, but a culture of honor is not a culture of flattery. A culture of honor actually sees the heart of the Lord for a person and calls that into being, or calls it to the surface, or gives attention to what God has done in another person’s life. I’ve watched through the years as many people tried to create what we would call a culture of honor, and all they’ve done is moved into flattery. Flattery is a counterfeit of honor; honor truly celebrates a person for who God made them to be and acknowledges and celebrates that great work of grace in that person’s life.
So, I bless you with that. We’re going to end with that one, actually. I have time to do one more; forgive me. Here it is: in verse 27, «The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord.» I don’t understand this one. «The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord.» We’ve talked quite a bit in recent weeks about managing our inner world, making sure it stays healthy. Well, here the Lord says that what you manage well becomes the lamp that God uses to reveal—not expose in an evil sense—but to reveal all that He’s put in a person’s heart. A healthy heart enables the Lord to shine on the desires, dreams, callings, giftings, and pursuits that God has created us for. He uses our own healthy inner world for us to discover the things God has actually planted in us. I hope that helps; it blesses me, and I bless you with that. I pray that you have a spectacular week discovering the great promises of God. Amen.