1 PETER 2:17 Part 1: Honor All Men

 HONOR ALL MEN.  LOVE THE BROTHERHOOD.  FEAR GOD.  HONOR THE KING. 

-1 Peter 2:17 KJV

This is a really awesome verse.  In eleven words, Peter gave us four strong commands.  Kept all four commands short, sweet, and to the point.  This is a very easy verse to read once, go “Oh ok cool.  Yeah, treat everyone right and love God.  Got it, next.”  But what does it look like to really dive into this verse?  What does it look like to truly live out these commands?  Over the next four blogs, I’m going to break these commands down and dive into what it would look like to really live this verse out.  First, “Honor all men…”

HONOR ALL MEN.

Before anything else, I like to begin a study by figuring out the definitions.  You can’t apply something to your life without knowing exactly what it means.  So, let’s figure out what it means.

• Honor:  Honor can be used as a verb or a noun.  In either case, it basically means the same thing.  But here it is used as a verb; to be applied to something (or someone).  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines honor as “to regard or treat (someone) with admiration and respect : to regard or treat with honor”.

Regard.  Admiration.  Respect.  These all sound like terms we would give to those in high authority.  When I hear such a string of words, I think royalty, or the wealthiest of the wealthy.  People that are so influential, they have an entire entourage that travels around with them getting all their doors and chairs, carrying everything for them so they never have to lift a thing, and keeping the peasant blue collar workers such as myself away.  They walk tall, with a well-earned confidence.  They know how important they are.  No one dares to speak a harsh word to someone who is to receive regard, admiration, and respect.  The person who chooses to do anything but honor such a high authority figure must be out of their mind.

• All Men:  Other translations of the Bible say “everyone”

…

Wait.  No.  That can’t be right.  You can’t possibly show that kind of affection for everyone.  It’s not humanly possible.  Not everyone deserves that kind of attention.  Some people deserve to be treated poorly.

What about the people that have wronged me?  What about the ones that owe me something?  My crazy ex?  My horrible neighbor?  That psycho that doesn’t know how to drive and almost killed us both in traffic today?  My bully from school?  My bully from work? (Yes, that exists.  Coworkers can suck more than school bullies sometimes.)  I can’t regard, honor, and respect these kinds of people that much.

There’s a few other Bible verses about this to visit before really coming to a conclusion.

• Philippians 2:3 – “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
• Matthew 5:43-48 -  “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Ok, so now we have a few more commands, all dealing with how we treat people.  Philippians 2:3 says to count other people as more important than yourself.  Matthew 5:43-44 tells you to love and pray for the worst kinda people.  Matthew 5:45-48 tells you why to do such a stupid thing.  Because it’s actually not stupid at all.

God calls us to treat people right.  All people.  Not just the ones you like.  He calls us to be perfect.  To follow the model that Christ set for us.  To love and honor all people.

Lord, show me how to love like you.  How to be a better servant, and honor people like you would honor them.  Thank you for setting the example for me and challenging me to treat people how they should be treated.  Like royalty.  We love you, Lord.  In Jesus’ name, amen.