Genesis 29:1-30 - Fighting For Respect

Main Idea: Respect God and others in your attitudes, words, and actions.

• WHAT RESPECT IS

  • Viewing the other person as made in the image of God

  • An acknowledgment of God as Creator, Lord, & Judge

• WHAT RESPECT DOES

  • It allows others to operate autonomously in their role

  • It lovingly assumes the best of others’ motives and actions

  • It argues for others against gossip and slander

  • It acts with kindness towards the other person

• WHAT A LACK OF RESPECT BRINGS

  • Pride in your own identity or actions

  • A devaluing of others’ dignity & position in your words & behavior

  • Dishonest dealings that result in damaged relationships

Sermon Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

Today, we are in Genesis 29. The series that we're going through is Family Feud. You think you've got a messed up family?

No, you don't. Not like this family. And we have seen the lives of Isaac, Jacob, and Esau.

And they are Isaac's, the son of Abraham, the heir to the promise of everything that would come to him.

The promise of the Messiah that would come from his lineage, the promise of a land that him and his descendants would inhabit, and the promise that he would be a blessing to the entire world, even as he was blessed.

And we saw how that was passed down to Jacob, and how God had said Jacob was going to be the one that would receive the blessing, but Jacob didn't trust God to make it happen, and so both him and his mom, they connived.

Jacob tricked his brother Esau into selling his birthright for a bowl of soup, and then his mom and Jacob tricked Isaac into giving the blessing to Jacob, because he could not see or hear very well, and so they tricked him into thinking that Jacob

was Esau. And so as a result of the trickery and the lies, Esau wanted to kill Jacob. And so Jacob was on the run, and he was heading back to his mom's hometown of, I believe Huron, if I remember correctly.

And as he goes back to Huron, we saw last week how he encountered God, and God himself promised the blessing that Jacob had tried to steal from his dad.

If you will, God made it clear, I have promised to bless you, but it's not because of your conniving and your trickery, it's because I have placed my blessing on you. What a joy and what a chastisement it is to us.

What we have in our life is not because we're so great or because we planned it out perfectly. What we have, we have because our God is good to us and he desires to bless us over and over and over again.

Today, as we look at Genesis 29 and verses 1 through 30, entitled the sermon, Fighting for Respect. Fighting for Respect. If I were to say this, would you recognize where it's from?

R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Tell it what it means to me. I was scared about actually singing it, because I don't know how copyright works.

If I'm just like singing the tune, I really don't want to pay five bucks in order to license that. So we know about respect. Everyone wants it.

And it always seems to be a fading value in our society. As you walk maybe in a grocery store, you run into someone, or you run past someone, and maybe their cart clips yours. Perhaps in a bygone day, you might say, oh, I'm sorry.

Today, you might just get cussed out if that happens. And so we all want respect. Respect is something valuable and good that we feel like we are deserved and that we wish that others would give to us.

But it doesn't seem to be around much. And in today's passage, Jacob discovers that his lack of respect for his brother, for his father, and for others that we're going to see even in the passage, it's going to come back to bite him.

One of the recurring truths in scripture is you reap what you sow. There's a boomerang effect to what you do in this world. And scripture over and over again shows us that.

You sow lies, you will be lied to. You sow unkindness, unkindness comes back toward you. And so the call for us today from this passage is to respect God and others in our attitudes, words, and actions.

If you will, today, all I'm asking is for a little respect. And so we are called to respect God and others in our attitudes, words, and actions. Would you pray with me as we dive into God's word today?

Dear Jesus, thank you for your word. Thank you for the opportunity that we have to come before you. And Lord, I pray that today you would be glorified in your church.

Lord, as we learn about respect, about what it means for us to walk with you in a way that is reflective of your lordship and other people's worth as an image bearer of you. God, I pray you would speak to our hearts.

Lord, you would not be glorified today if we listen to this message and say, that's great for someone else. That's great for this other person. Lord, may we recognize where we personally have fallen short.

God, may you convict our hearts and may you lead us into following you better even in this way. We love you, Lord, and we pray all of this in your name. Amen.

All right, so we are in Genesis chapter 29. If you have your Bible, we are going to read through some of these verses. Jacob, verse number one, resumed his journey and went to the Eastern country.

This is a recurring theme in scripture. Often when you think about someone's exile, whether that's Adam and Eve's exile from Eden, it says they went out eastward.

When the children of Israel are exiled from their land and sent back to Babylon, they go eastward. And here Jacob on his exile from the promised land as a result of his sin and his treachery, he is going eastward to the eastern country.

Verse number two. He looked and saw a well in a field. Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it because the sheep were watered from this well.

But a large stone covered the opening of the well. So think about it, Middle East, very dry in a lot of parts, very dusty. And so you would want to cover up a well.

That way it was not filled back up with dirt through all of the wind and different things. And so you would have a really large stone over it. And this particular well was to water flocks.

And so don't think of it like, I don't know, the Timmy fell down the well. Not that kind of well.

Think about it like a big circle and with a large, very heavy stone that, as we'll see in a second, normally had multiple people that needed to move it away. And so that stone was over the top of this well.

Verse number 3, the shepherds would roll the stone from the opening of the well and water the sheep when all the flocks were gathered there. Then they would return the stone to its place over the well's opening.

So we have been introduced, there's some shepherds, there's a well, there's Jacob coming upon this place for the very first time. Verse number 4, Jacob asked the men at the well, my brothers, where are you from? We're from Haran, they answered.

They go, we're from here. Like right here, this town, that we're right outside, what kind of question is this? Verse number 5, do you know Laban?

Nahor's grandson, Jacob asked them. They answered, we know. Verse number 6, is he well, Jacob said?

Yes, they said. And here is his daughter, Rachel, coming with his sheep. Then Jacob said, verse 7, look, it's still broad daylight.

It's not time for the animals to be gathered, water the flock, and then go out and let them graze. We already learned from verse 2 and 3, they have a specific way that they do it.

They gather all of the flocks together from all of the shepherds, and then they only have to move the stone once. The stone's really heavy. The sheep can water, and then they roll it back over, and then the sheep go out.

So we've already been told in the story, they already have how they do it. Jacob comes in and he's like, hey, do it my way.

Verse number 8, but they replied, we can't, until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone is rolled from the well's opening, then we will water the sheep.

Verse number 9, while he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.

As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban's daughter Rachel with the sheep, he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered his uncle Laban's sheep.

This is the equivalent to if you're the teen boy in youth group and you want to impress all the girls, and you take like ten of the folding chairs and you're moving them. That's what Jacob does.

He has this stone that normally takes multiple people, and he's got superhuman strength now. He sees the girl and this is why he is there. Then, verse 11, Jacob kissed Rachel and wept loudly.

This would most likely be tears of joy. It could also just be tears of exhaustion from the journey. This would have been a several day journey and like a final, okay, great, I'm now here with my mother's family here.

This kiss would likely have been a familial kiss. You probably shouldn't think like notebook. That shouldn't be the mindset you come to this with.

This would have been abnormal though. It was normal during these time periods for greeting between men to be a kiss or greeting between women to be a kiss on the cheek. It was not very common for it to be a man and a woman, especially in public.

And so even that is a little out of the ordinary. Verse number 12. He told Rachel that he was her father's relative, Rebecca's son.

She ran and told her father. When Laban heard the news about his sister's son, Jacob, he ran to meet him, hugged him and kissed him. Then he took him to his house and Jacob told him all that had happened.

Laban said to him, Yes, you are my own flesh and blood. It should remind us a little bit of Genesis 2, where God said about the creation of Eve from Adam, and Adam looks at Eve and goes, this is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.

Like we are related. So there's a familial relationship here. After Jacob had stayed with him a month, Laban said to him, just because you're my relative, should you work for me for nothing?

Tell me what your wages should be. Here you have, you know, the first HR conversation that's recorded in scripture between, all right, you can't just be working here for nothing. What do you want to be paid?

And Jacob has an idea. It's the reason that his mom sent him, and he has a plan. Verse 16, now Laban had two daughters.

The older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel. Leah means calf. Rachel means lamb.

So we got calf and lamb, these two daughters. There's an older and there's a younger. If you remember, same general family dynamic.

You have Esau is the older brother. Jacob is the younger brother. So we're coming into the story going, all right, is Jacob going to like the older one or the younger one?

17, Leah had tender eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. Now, you might go, as I did, what's up with the tender eyes bit? I don't understand.

Here, the writer in Genesis is specifically drawing our attention back to Genesis chapter 3 and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You see, the word for good in Hebrew is the word tov. Can everyone say tov?

Okay. The word for evil is the word ra. Can everyone say ra?

Okay. It's tov and ra, good and evil. And how it's described here is leah had tender eyes.

It's the word rakat. Can you guys say rakat? Okay.

It's rakat. So it's like ra, but it's rakat. It's the phrase that's used when Abraham fed God and the couple of angels, and they killed a tender young calf.

It's something that's kind of delicate. It's also used later in the story when some kids can't make a particular journey, like they can't go more than a certain distance because they were rakat. It is, they are unable to go very far on their own.

So, Leah is delicate. It says, Rachel is shapely and beautiful, or in Hebrew, beautiful of form, good of form, and good of eyes. So, Leah is described as rakat, and so Leah is described as rakat, Rachel is described as tov.

And here, there's a choice that is to be made. What choice is Jacob going to make? Now, the question is not, is Leah evil and Rachel good?

It's Jacob's coming up to a decision, and instead of talking to the Lord and asking him, he makes the choice all on his own, for better or for worse. Verse 18, Jacob loved Rachel.

So he answered Laban, I'll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel. Jacob, coming from the land of Israel or what would later become the land of Israel, he doesn't have a lot of possessions with him.

He's not coming with all of the riches like his grandfather sent Eliezer with when he encouraged Rebecca to leave Haran and to come marry Isaac. Jacob doesn't have all of those riches, and so he can't offer lots of stuff for the hand of Rachel.

So he says, I am going to work for seven years. I don't know what y'all's annual income is, but I think seven years of full income, that's a great trade for a wife.

And that should be something that you view your wife, you view your spouse as someone that is valuable and worth any cost for you. Verse number 19, Laban replied, better that I give her to you than to some other man.

That's the raving response you want from your father-in-law. It says, stay with me. So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

And I hope that you, if you are married, that that is the kind of love that you are pursuing with your spouse.

That you love them, you care for them, and you wish to give them everything that you have for as long as the good Lord gives you time together. Verse 21, Then Jacob said to Laban, so seven years have now passed from verse 20 to verse number 21.

Then Jacob said to Laban, since my time is complete, give me my wife so I can sleep with her. Real romantic guy. So Laban invited all the men of the place and sponsored a feast.

There would normally be a seven day long wedding feast that would happen. This would be a drinking feast. There would be lots of alcohol involved.

And even as you look back at the stories in Genesis, that should make you go, Uh-oh, what's going to happen? Because the first time around with the drinking, there was Noah in the tent. Second time around, there was Lot and his daughters.

And so now the drinking is happening again. And so there should be some warning signs going off. That evening, Laban took his daughter, Leah, and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her.

Now, it could have been because of the dark of the night, could have been because of all of the veils and stuff that would be worn during that time with the wedding feast that he just didn't recognize.

Scripture doesn't tell us if Leah objected to this, if Rachel knew what was happening. All we are told is that there is a switch that occurs here. Verse 24, and Laban gave his slave, Zilpah, to his daughter Leah as her slave.

That would be, Zilpah would be Leah's personal assistant friend. She would not be someone that would belong to Jacob. She would be Leah's alone to oversee.

Verse 25, when morning came, there was Leah. So Jacob said to Laban, what have you done to me? Wasn't it for Rachel that I worked for you?

Why have you deceived me? Here the trickster, Jacob, the heel grabber, the one who's lived his entire life pulling fast ones on other people, now he has had a fast one pulled on him.

And Laban answered, it is not the custom in our country to give the younger daughter in marriage before the first born. For Jacob, who's lived his whole life trying to be the first born over Esau, this would have been a slap in the face.

Laban goes, yeah, that might have worked when you were with mommy and daddy, but it's not working here. You got to pay the piper. Says, complete this week of wedding celebration.

So, you know, there's six more days of this wedding feast. Says, and we will also give you this younger one in return for working yet another seven years for me. It was, all right, six more days of this wedding feast.

Like, continue, you know, being wed to Leia, and then I'm going to give you Rachel as well, but I'm going to get 14 years of labor in total out of this guy. He's, Laban's tricky.

I told you guys, if you listen back through the series that we did with Abraham, so the sermon in Genesis 24, I told you guys he was going to be a trickster, and he was a piece of work, and he's doing it here, and we're going to see it over the next,

like, three weeks. And Jacob did just that, verse 28. He finished the week of celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife, and Laban gave his slave Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her slave.

Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leia, and he worked for Laban another seven years. If you're listening to this and you're going, that's really messed up.

Like, I'm really uncomfortable with all of the dynamics of what just happened. You should be. That's the entire point, is these people are living their lives completely apart from the will of God.

God's design in marriage was one man, one woman, for one life. And now, Jacob's got two women, one man, couple slaves, and one life. And it's going to get even worse next week.

So you should be, if you will, appalled at this treatment of people. Even the names that Leah and Rachel have give the indication that Laban and Jacob are treating these women like animals.

It's, oh yeah, you want the calf, work this long for the calf, you want the lamb, work this long for the lamb. There's not a familial love. It's an entirely disrespectful way to live all the way through this.

So, should you marry multiple women, everyone? No. Should you trick your son-in-law and give him the wrong daughter because he's so inebriated, he doesn't even realize that it's the wrong daughter?

No. Should you cheat someone into working 14 years when you said that they only had to work for you for seven? No.

All of this is bad. God is glorified in none of this. As we look at this passage, we can be so encouraged that God works through even messed up people.

You have flaws, you have failures, but God still loves you and he can still use you. That's the one of the takeaways that I want to grab from that passage. God's not done with you just because you have failed.

And I'm grateful that Jesus, he is the one that is the, if you will, true and better Jacob, to use Paul's words from his letter to the Romans.

Jesus, he was the one that, though he was not the first born in all of creation like Adam was, yet, though born a couple thousand years or however long after creation started, Jesus was given the title of first born. He was given all of the rights.

He was given the blessing to help bless and save all the nations of the world. So what Jacob was called to do, but he tried to manipulate, Jesus actually deserved and he lived in that way.

And Jacob, he did not love his bride, and he did not want her. He wanted someone else. But Jesus, his bride, the church, is one that he loves, and he will never throw us away.

He's not gonna go, hey Barb, I'm gonna get rid of you, and I'm gonna find some other new person that I like more than you. No, his love for you is eternal and perfect and complete. He's not marrying multiple women.

Instead, he has his one bride, the church. So, Jesus is so much better than any of the people in this account.

But for us today, even as we look at this and we look at the macro story that the disrespect that Jacob has sown out towards others, it's now all coming back towards him, whether from the shepherds, whether from Leah, whether from Laban, all of it is

coming back to roost. And so I want very shortly today for us to look at respect and fighting for respect, how do we respect God and others in our actions, in our words. There on your handout, we have first what respect is. What respect is.

First, respect is viewing the other person as made in the image of God. That is, when you interact with Bob, when you interact with John, you are not just interacting with a human being, not just a person.

You are interacting with someone that God himself has created in specific ways to show what God is like. None of us show it perfectly, but all of us have aspects that come from our Creator.

It's why you don't have to be a Christian in order to love someone else, or to give to charity, or to do a kind thing. It's part of who we are created in the image of God.

And so I've given the illustration before, I think it was in the first series that we did through Genesis.

I had a picture of me, and I gave it to a kid, and it's a little tiny picture of me, and I told him, all right, rip it up, throw it on the ground, stomp on it. And I would say, I feel a little unsafe.

I feel disrespected through what you have done with this picture of me.

Or when you look out onto, you know, any bench, you know, bus bench or anything out in the world, when you see people that are defaced and they have obscenities and stuff that's written on there, or, you know, someone draws devil horns on a sign of a

political candidate, you have this defacement of something that is to be a picture of that person. And so because humans are made in the image of God, they are worthy of our respect.

In fact, if the other person is made in the image of God, and they are, to insult them, to mistreat them, is to insult or mistreat God himself.

It's what we see in Matthew 25, when Jesus says, however you have treated one of these, the least of these, the poor, the incarcerated, the orphan, whatever you have done to them is what you have done to me.

Or as James wrote to the churches, with the tongue, we bless our Lord and Father. And with it, we curse people who are made in God's likeness. Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth.

My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way. So we're to view other people as made in the image of God, that how we treat them, how we talk about them, is a reflection of how we treat God, because they are made in his likeness.

I want to mention here, because we'd say, okay, well, but sometimes people do bad things. And I might say, hey, that person did this bad action. They took a life.

They lied to me. They stole this from me. Isn't there some way that I can speak about that, that would still honor them as made in the image of God?

And I think the answer is found in differentiating between identity and actions. Identity is who a person is, and they are made in the image of God. Actions is what people do.

You are not your actions. Actions are something that you take. It is not who you are.

The question for us ought to be, when we think about another person that maybe we want to disrespect, would I make this identity statement about Jesus? The truth is, no one's story is finished being written until God takes them home.

So don't assume that anyone is done for, too far gone, or unable to change. I could be like, all right, Shelby, Shelby is just, she's hopeless. She loves the Ravens and the Jonas Brothers too much.

And so she just, do you even like the Ravens? Okay, great. Listen, she's too far gone, hopeless, not going to spend any time.

She's never going to become a Broncos fan. Now that's a silly example. But way too many of us, we write people off entirely.

We say their identity is someone to be disrespected, discarded, and I just don't think that they can ever change. And so I'm not going to talk about them, talk to them or treat them as though there is any hope for them.

There's a big difference between that and saying, all right, Shelby punched April in the face, and that was wrong. That action was wrong. Or Shelby's been stealing mints from Mary Jane's collection.

Is it you that gave some mints the other day? Super helpful, thank you. My wife thanks you.

OK, she was stealing that. I can write her off and say, oh, she's a thief, and never put in any effort into relationship, not never put any effort into saying, other people can change. How do I know that?

Because I have been changed by Jesus, and I'm not changed by Jesus because I'm anything great. I'm changed by Jesus because he's the miracle worker. He's the one that transforms us through his Holy Spirit.

And so we can trust that God can change people's actions and who they are, what their identity is, is his child made in his image. So don't talk about others as though their identity is irredeemable or hopeless.

The other person isn't a demon unable to change or too stupid. They might be making evil choices. They might be acting stubborn or they might be refusing to learn, but those are things that they are doing.

It is not who they are. So what is respect? It's viewing someone as made in the image of God.

And then secondly, as it relates to the Lord, respect is an acknowledgement of God as creator, Lord, and judge.

Respect stems from God's identity, that we respect him as our creator, and because he's the creator, he's in charge of us with the right to command us. If you exist, God created you and you answer to him. You are not strictly autonomous.

You answer to someone else. Respect also stems from God's commands as our Lord, as we are told in 1 Peter 2 to honor everyone, even the wicked governmental rulers.

We're told in Romans 13 to honor all government officials, and we're told in 1 Timothy 5 to honor the elders that lead us in Scripture and Biblical doctrine. If you didn't realize that, that's 1 Peter 2, honor everybody.

Romans 13, honor the wicked governmental rulers. In 1 Timothy 5, honor your pastors. So that's everybody.

You could just stop at 1 Peter 2 and say, where he says, honor everyone, and we go, all right, well, that's okay. But then God says, listen, I know some of y'all, that wasn't enough. I need to give you a few more specifics.

And so that is what we are commanded. And because he is our Lord, we are commanded to bring respect into our relationships with other people.

Not only that, but respect also stems from God's promised judgment that we don't have to issue final determinations on others. As Paul said to the Roman church, who are you to judge another's household servant before his own Lord, he stands or falls?

I can't walk into Jen's workplace and go to one of her coworkers and be like, listen, your desk is so messy, you need to change this. Here's how you should be using this program. You would all be like, Bryon, what in the world is wrong with you?

Because I don't work at her workplace. I'm not her co-worker's boss. And so I have no right to be telling someone else's servant, employee, what to be doing.

So God tells us, worry about yourself. You will stand trial, if you will, before the judgment seat of Christ.

Thankfully, if we know the Lord, it's not the trial of where we will spend eternity, but it is a trial of what will be the rewards that we are given.

Will our life have been wasted, spent on what we wanted to do, living in sin or doing good to others? On judgment day, God is not going to ask you what your sister did, what your pastor did, or what your political leader did.

He's going to ask you about your actions. In light of that judgment day, choose respect. The line in the world is, respect isn't given, it's earned.

God's word says, honor everyone. The world says, you disrespect me, I'll disrespect you. God says, each of us will give an account of himself to God, therefore let us no longer judge one another.

So that's what respect is. It's an acknowledgment that the other person is made in the image of God, and so they are worth respect and honor. And it is recognizing who God is, that God's the one that will bring judgment.

He will lay down the law. On that day, he will make the determination about someone's identity that you and I are not called to make. But then secondly today, we're going to look at what respect does.

First, it allows others to operate autonomously in their role. We can see even in Jacob's interactions with the shepherds, that he comes in and immediately goes, hey, none of these flocks are mine. I've never been here before.

This is my first time in a brand new place, but I am going to tell you how you should do your shepherding job. And they go, dude, you just got here. You have no idea how we're supposed to do what we do.

So respect allows others to operate autonomously in their role. Respect says, I'm not responsible for making that choice. I don't have all of the information.

I haven't been asked by the person in charge to weigh in. So I'm going to let them handle this. We have a constant problem of not doing this in America, and in particular with the advent of the internet and social media.

Because we've been given functional omniscience and omnipresence, we feel as though we have an obligation to chime in on everything.

Everyone has become experts on international relations, health care, private investigations, and any other topic that exists just overnight. We're wise about everything, and we're called to have an opinion on everything.

But Respect says, it's not my call to make. I'm not in charge of that. I'm not supposed to be making that decision, and so I'm going to allow others to make that choice.

Let me tell you how this might look in your life. Grandparents, you are valuable. You have experience.

You are due honor and love from your family. But in most instances, you are not the parents of your grandkids. Respecting your children means allowing them to make their own choices as they are responsible for their own kids.

You will not agree with all of those choices. I bet if you went back into your past, you would not agree with all of the choices that you made as a parent.

But the more that you try to control your kids or constantly tell them how to parent, the less respected they will feel, and it will strain your relationship. Employees, you are due your wages. You are due respect.

But you are not responsible for the choices of fellow employees or the choices of your higher ups. Respect means not trashing the decisions you are not held responsible to make and not making a habit of complaining about others.

As we learned a few weeks ago from the story of Isaac and the Philistines, focus on digging your well, doing your work, stop dumping dirt into others' wells. So respect allows others to operate autonomously in their role.

Respect lovingly assumes the best of others' motives and actions. We looked at this a few weeks ago as well.

Respect says, I don't know why the person made that decision or chose those words, but until I've been proven wrong, I'm going to assume the best possible motive and the reason for their choice.

If I assume that you did something because you're out to get me, I don't respect you, or at least in that moment, I'm not acting in respect towards you. If you assume the worst of someone else, you are not respecting them.

Now, if someone has proven themselves to habitually make specific choices, then you can still show them respect while acknowledging that they are autonomously making the choices or speaking the words they have continued to pursue.

For example, in court, just because a person has sped before doesn't mean that they are not a good witness for a murder. So just because you have failed in some area of your life or you have some flaw, does not then discount your entire existence.

So just because Shelly smacks John, that doesn't mean, okay, well, she shouldn't be respected anymore because she has this one flaw.

No, it might mean John stays four feet away or so at all times, but he can still choose to respect her even through her flaws. Can I tell you guys that that is a hard thing to go through?

Even as we look at this passage, Jacob obviously assumed the best of Laban's intentions. There will be times where we are let down, but it is so much healthier for your soul to be let down by people instead of living your life in suspicion.

And all of us fail at that. All of us, the fight or flight, it comes up in our soul and we're like, okay, listen, they're really going to get me. I'm sure that they meant this.

I'm sure that they did this. So I want to go. That's not the Jesus way.

So let's not live in that way. Respect argues for others against gossip and slander. I respect my wife.

So if you trash her, I'm going to argue with you that she is a wonderful person. I have pastor friends in the area that I really respect and I'm grateful for.

And if a disgruntled person left their church and tried to come to Tabernacle and badmouth them, well, I'd defend my friend against this person. Respect argues for others against gossip and slander.

Who in your life are you comfortable with other people trashing? In a humorous way, I know that I can talk smack about the Steelers with you guys in a way that I never could in Pittsburgh.

We genuinely, in a genuine way in real life, we demean people with others who also disrespect those people. And just because you have a connection with the person you're talking with doesn't make it right.

If I disrespect President Trump to Samantha, saying he's irredeemable, a waste of space, and that he should just pass away, it wouldn't make it right just because she's my wife and I'm having a conversation with my wife.

It's still sin no matter who I'm talking with. It's wrong because I would not be viewing him as an image bearer of God with all the possibilities and future that could come because Jesus died for him and wants to live and reign in him.

It doesn't make it right that you're talking trash about someone else just because you're talking with your bestie or your coworker or your cousin. Choose respect and defend others when they aren't there.

And then lastly, under what respect does, it acts with kindness toward the other person. Respect says you are worth my time, my attention, and goodness from me. Respect can mean opening the door for another person.

It can mean choosing to adjust your behavior so as to accommodate needs that others have. Silly example is Evelyn really doesn't like when music is too loud, and so part of me respecting her is adjusting the volume knob for her.

That's just a simple act of kindness that says, I respect you, and so I'll make a change to honor or to help you. I love that Jesus showed us respect by allowing us to make our autonomous choices, that we wandered away in sin.

But he loved us, he redeemed us, and he invited us to become a part of his kingdom, even though we had wandered far, far away from him. He respected you enough to die for you, and to offer you salvation. So who will you show respect to this week?

For the sake of time, I'll just summarize this last point, what a lack of respect brings. A lack of respect brings pride in your own identity or actions. It's a, don't they know who I am?

Don't they know who my dad is? I pay taxes, and so, police officer, you can't pull me over. I'm your boss.

It's a stupidity that says, I am some great, important person, and so, I am the one that should be respected, and you are not. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before fault don't operate in that way towards others.

Lack of respect brings a devaluing of others' dignity and position in your words and behavior when you disrespect someone. You want to tear them down as much as you can.

That every conversation you're in about that person, and it's, oh, they're scum of the earth. They're the worst of the worst. They're this or that.

And if others are worth the sacrifice of God himself on the cross, they're not nearly the inhuman demonic scum that you sometimes claim that they are. And lastly, a lack of respect brings dishonest dealings that result in damaged relationships.

I saw that in the life of Laban and Jacob. If you don't respect the waiter or waitress at your restaurant, you'll treat them unkindly. You'll fail to tip generously, and you'll leave them with a rotten taste of Christians as a result.

If you disrespect your family members, there'll be a separation of trust that can be incredibly hard to rebuild. If you disrespect others within the body of Christ, you can destroy churches and erode what God wants to create in a local community.

Today, the call is respect others. All I'm asking is for a little respect. Respect is recognizing this other person that I'm talking to, that I'm talking about, that I'm thinking about.

They're made in the image of God. Who they are is worthy of honor and love. That doesn't mean I sign off on all their actions.

In fact, I allow them sometimes to make really bad choices. But, I do so with a heart that says I love you. I'm going to assume the best about you.

I will defend you when you're not around. And I'm going to show kindness towards you. Today, who can you show respect to?

And then, if you don't know Christ today, Jesus died for your sins. The greatest disrespect that you could ever show, the largest action of disrespect is to say, God, I know you gave up your life for me, but I'm good. I've got it.

I don't want you to be my Lord. I don't want you to be my King. I'm going to do what I want to do.

And when I get to the end of my days, I'm going to expect you to still act as though I have turned my life over to you. Can I encourage you? If you do not know the Lord as your Savior, turn to Him today.

Ask Him to save you and to forgive you. He will do so. He has for every person that has ever called on Him, and you will be no exception.