Respect;

Respect

Scripture: John 15:1-11

Christ Sermon on the mount. Matthew chapters 5, 6, 7.

Joh 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

Joh 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Joh 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Joh 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Joh 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

Joh 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

Joh 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

Joh 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

Respect: To highly esteem. To look up to, to Regard with deference.

Many want to be respected. Some even try to demand it. But respect must be cultivated. Not handed out.

In the hillbilly commentary: the pattern of people’s lives, will reveal far more about them, than just a casual observance, or first impressions. Respect is never handed out, by request.

You will find: those you have learned to respect, is becauseof their character and consistent manor of living.
You will also find: those who run cross grain with you, and have no common ground. That is not to say they are bad. But, there is no respect there.
You will also find those who are living in sin, deceived by sin, and live a sinner’s life. and yet, they still hold something about them, that earns your respect.
You will also find, there are those who will oppose you in every way. we find no common ground, and no common sense. We like to avoid them. and They like to avoid us. that’s the only common ground we have with them. Avoiding each other. There is no respect.

In considering the virtues of respect: we will also consider the destruction of its absence.

Illustration #1 understanding respect.

There was in a certain shipyard, a cabinet shop. They fitted the inside of mega luxury yachts, with the finest woodworking in the world. It was silencing to see the beautiful craftsmanship and the exquisite imported wood they used. In that cabinet shop was a very elderly gentleman named Earl. He was a master craftsman in the trade. He was the head boss in the shop, and respected very highly, he had no room for nonsense. I had heard about him. But at that time, had never met him.

One day I got to meet him. It went like this. I was sent to the cabinet shop to look at one of their machines that wasn’t working right. I was to told to ask for earl. He would line me up on it. I had no idea what he looked like , other than he was the oldest one over there. so, I went with much curiosity. I got over there, and saw this sawdust covered gentleman, bending over a planer, and tinkering with it. I went over to him, and stood near him, but did not disturb him. He knew I was there, and out of respect, I didn’t interrupt him. After a brief moment, He looked at me and ask, can I help you? I said yes, I’m looking for this young apprentice in training. I was told to come over here and ask for him. This guy, (earl) straightens up, looked around, and said I don’t think we have any apprentices over here. Did they say what his name was? so, I replied yes, some guy the call Earl. His face got the biggest smile, and with a sparkle in his eyes, he said Well, I reckon that’s me. and we both chuckled over it. I told him my name and why I was there. he pointed me to the giant oversize sander, told me the problem. I liked Earl right from the start. We seemed to mesh. From that point on, I always called him the apprentice.

One day I was over there making my daily rounds on the machinery, and I saw one of the carpenters call Earl an apprentice. Then I saw a side of Earl, I had not seen. He said in no uncertain words, about lack of respect and what was going to happen to that carpenter if he ever tried it again. It was said loud enough for everyone in the shop to get the message! And they did!.

a few days later, I was again making daily rounds, and Earl came over and we started talking. We both enjoyed each other’s company, and folks said I was the only one who ever made Earl smile. I still called him the apprentice, and I think he had a nickname for me. we both loved it. Someone asked how did you get away with calling Earl an apprentice? The answer was “mutual respect.”

Respect says: I recognize your accomplishments, I rejoice with you, I accept you, and count it a privilege to be called your friend.

There is no competition in respect. There are no impressions to be made. There are no challenges, and no questions. No explanations are needed.

There is a mutual bonding, that’s automatic, if it comes from the heart. Its something you feel. And that feeling of respect is mutual.

I don’t know if I can clearly express it, but respect isn’t something that’s gained by accomplishments. If you have to do something to be accepted, its not respect. That’s acceptance. If what you do has no value to others, they will never accept you. No matter how far you go.

God places no value in this dark world of wickedness. Trying to get to heaven by worldly accomplishments, that has no value to God, is worthless and will be embarrassing to you.

There is something about respect that cannot be exchanged with words or deeds. Even if there are mutual values. There were other carpenters in that shop. And they were extremely good. But yet, there was no respect being exchanged. Something was missing.

Perhaps we might ask, “what spirit are you of”? maybe that’s the missing link. That undefinable something, that we are trying to find here.

We all know you cannot buy love, peace, hope, or respect. Bribes and placebos only drive the wedge of indifference deeper. There are no substitutes.

There are no substitutes with God, on what he requires, or what he has to give, or what he ask. Its to your shame to be calling him an apprentice. It to your shame to call him the man upstairs. No matter who you are, or what you have accomplished. There are no mutual values between this world and the next.

Illustration #2 understanding respect.

As a young man, living on the streets and the violent life that goes with it. I was excelling in darkness and bitterness. That was all I had to offer. If you expected anything else, you would be disappointed. But, God was working on things behind the scene, that I had no knowledge of. It was by divine intervention, that a certain family came into my life, and they wanted me to stay with them. They wanted to get me off the street, and give me a chance at life. I accepted. They lived far out in the country. They had a small farm, they grew or raised almost everything they ate. If you didn’t grow it or shoot it, you didn’t have it. By this world’s standards, they were considered poverty level. By Gods standards, they were immensely wealthy. (What world are you living for)? As time went by, something began to happen to me. I was changing on the inside. There home was run completely by the law of love and respect. This was a new concept for me to understand. It took some time. no one ever explained to me how things were done here. They just loved me, accepted me, and lived it every day.

There were no competitions. There were no impressions to be made. There were no challenges, and no questions. No explanations were needed.

There was a growing mutual bonding of respect. It was automatic. Not earned. it came from the heart. The love and respect that poured from their life, was purging my hardness, and melting my excuses. My world was changing. I wanted that change more than anything. But I didn’t understand what was happening or how it was happening.

We all had chores every day. We all knew what was expected of us. we were never told to go do our chores. There were never any excuses given or attempted. We were never bribed or threatened in any way. it was all done out of the joys and peace of that place.

I was trying to understand and embrace what was going on. One day something happened that put it all in perspective. And I understood. We took turns at chores, they rotated. One night, it was my responsibility to put the milk cow in the barn for the night, and close it up the barn. This was for the protection of the cow. Somehow I completely spaced it. It never entered my mind in the least bit. Guess what I didn’t do.

That night, and well after dark, we were sitting around the table eating dinner. Henry speaks up and ask If i had put the cow up for the night? I knew there were some very good reasons for doing that every night. They needed that cow, its milk and everything that was made from that milk.

As soon as he asked it, I knew what I had not done, the impact of loosing the milk cow, how it was going to affect everyone. He never asked it in any condemning way. he simply asked it. It would be hard to describe the self-disappointment I felt. I felt ashamed. They trusted me, and I had let them down. On a simple but very important task. I had failed. The greatest shame came to me . when I looked at henry and answered, no. I had forgotten it. Without knowing it, I had developed such a high respect and love for this man and his family. Now, I had let them down in a very important way. no one there condemned me. I condemned myself. There would be no outward punishments. My disappointment was laying heavy stripes across my heart. It was the breach of respect. Someone else spoke up and said, they saw the cow was out at dusk. And they had put it away before it got dark. The relief of thankfulness was great. But it did not excuse me from my breach of respect. That day I understood how the home was run. Love and respect for each other.

There were no power struggles, no arguments, no challenges, no re-challenges, no strife, no yelling, no blames, no micro-managing, no excuses, no demands, no defenses, no jockeying around, no forced promises, no disappointments to express. There was so much love and respect in that home, it never had any of the ugly kick-backs caused by lack of love or respect.

If Gods idea of a righteous and Godly home, was ever expressed in real life, it was truly in that home. still there are so many home that have no idea what that would be like. They have all the kick-back, the wrong priorities, power struggles, strife. And a lot of excuses to justify it.

So what brings respect and love into a home?

Abiding in the vine! Righteousness, Trust, Compassion, Surrender, Patience, Self-control, Example, Kindness, Communications, Understanding , FROM THE HEART!

This can only be accomplished through salvation and sanctification, and abiding in the vine!