Respect Like Christ Respects - 1 Timothy 5:1-2

"And when you  really respect God, then when your day to go home and be with him comes, you're going to be excited to meet him face to face." Family Discussion:

• How can you better honor those who are above you, those who are your elders?
• How can you respect those better who report to you? Maybe it's your younger siblings or maybe it's your kids, or maybe it's people in your company.
• Why do you think this virtue of respect has slowly started to fade out in our society, and what kind of effect has it had on families and on crime and on the disruption of teams?
• What are you going to do today to be more a man or a woman of respect?

Transcription:

00:06 I've got in my hands one word that I think is the greatest team builder and the greatest home builder and the greatest relationship builder of any word I can think of except for a word like Jesus or God. And the word is respect. Check out 1st Timothy chapter five, verse one and two, it says: "Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father and the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers and the younger women as sisters with all purity."

00:49 I remember one time when my youngest boy Cooper was just a little five year old and he was just a jolly vivacious little guy. We would memorize scripture at night before I'd tuck the kids in bed, and I was traveling and I called home from Nashville and my wife got on the phone, she was dying laughing. It was 9:30 at night. And I said, what's so funny? She said, well tonight when I tucked Cooper in bed, he said, Mama want to memorize another Bible verse. So when daddy comes home, I can tell it to him. And she said, well, Cooper, a good verse is "children, obey your parents, for this is pleasing to God." And he pulls his thumb out of his mouth. And he said, that's not in there. And she said, what? He said, that wasn't in there, you just made that up. And she died laughing, she said, it's in there. Let me tell you, it's in there.

01:32 It's amazing how we want to take difficult verses and rip them out of the Bible. But man, respect is the deal. I respected my dad. My Dad taught hand to hand combat in World War II. He was a tough man. He was a man's man. But you know what I respected the most about my dad? My Dad respected my mom. I never heard my dad one time say anything negative about my mom. Never did. He respected that woman and she respected him and no wonder they were married for 66 years. No wonder when my father died, the last thing that happened, my Mama said before my daddy died with her, he was laying in a chair and life was literally leaving his veins. He wasn't eating. He wasn't drinking. He was unconscious. His left arm had been paralyzed because of a stroke. But, here she was where she had been for 66 years on his right side and respecting him and he respecting her day after day after day. Even would write her love notes. Sometimes daily little love notes. He leave them on the kitchen counter when he'd go off to work. But just as daddy died and as Christ was taking my dad home to be with him, in his subconsciousness my daddy reached over with his left hand, which hadn't moved in months. This is a true story. You can ask my mom. And he took my mom's hand and he raised her hand over his head and held it up as high as he could hold it. And I know what he was saying as Jesus took him home. He was saying, Jesus, I'm ready to go. But she goes too. When you respect your boss, you may not agree with everything he says, but when you respect him, it's going to build a company. When you respect your dad or your mom, you may not agree with everything they say, but it's going to build a good home. When you respect those who work for you, even though they may not be perfect, but when you respect them, you're going to build a good company. And when you respect God, when you really respect God, then when you're day to go home and be with him comes, you're going to be excited to meet him face to face.

04:03 So here's the questions for today. How can you better honor those who are above you, those who are your elders? And second question is: How can you respect those better who report to you? Maybe it's your younger siblings or maybe it's your kids, or maybe it's people in your company. And then this question: Why do you think this virtue of respect has slowly started to fade out in our society, and what kind of effect has it had on families and on crime and on the disruption of teams? The last question is this: What are you going to do today to be more a man or a woman of respect? And here's the lifeline today. Respect is one of the few things we can control for ourselves and what we can give to others.