An Honorable Man (2 Timothy 2:21)
This is a perfect time
Answer the following:
- Name one man that you highly regard/respect, someone that had a great
impact or influence in your life.
- What it takes for a man to be honorable?
Let’s review your answers to both questions.
Illustrations:
- A student with a college degree receives an honorable mention meaning he
has outstanding grades.
- A soldier buried with full military honors, given with gun salutes and the
nation’s fullest respect.
Honor means to regard someone with high respect.
As a man, we have a desire to be recognized.
Things have changed. We are living in the days where honor is being demanded and
not the other way around. Men seek for higher position to gain the respect and
privileges of being at the top.
- Position
- Influence
- Achievements/Abilities
- Resources
- Character (problem)
Character that was once a basis of honor is watered down and people are focused on
climbing the ladder without being concerned on what really matters.
All of us here can relate to Timothy as being young, new in the ministry, starting to
grow as a Christian and looking up to someone like Paul. He must had said to himself
that Paul is a man of honor. Be thankful for godly leaders that you have and those who
you don’t realize that were there for you.
Personal experience: My dad is the one I look up to. That happened when he eventually
stopped doing what he used to do, on what a usual man would do. He was a changed
man and that compelled e to be curious on what happened in his life. Thank God for
using him to me and my family to know to the knowledge of the gospel.
Paul encouraged Timothy to be a vessel fit for God’s use. V.21
As young as we are, it is not an excuse not to live a life of honor.
to start developing your character. Being aged or an adult does not guarantee spiritual
maturity. Being in a leadership position does not mean you are always on a spiritual
high or above everyone else. There are great examples of men in the Bible that fit to
these categories, they displayed a life of honor and pleasing to the Lord in spite of their
age and status in life. Of course, they were promoted and given positions but still they
placed importance on their character.
I hope and pray that this study will enlighten us to be a man of honor, who will strive
be live for a godly character. Paul exhorted Timothy to be a man of honor and today, I
challenge you be and develop these traits that we will be going to study.
1. A man who pays honor and respect
1 Timothy 2:2-4
Who are the people that we should be honoring as men?
- A man who respects his parents
Exodus 20:12 – Honour thy father and thy mother
Hebrew: Kabbed or Kaved (heavy or weight)
- To treat someone with the gravity that their position demands.
- Opposite Kalel – “to curse” – to take someone lightly
Are you treating your parents lightly?
Ephesians 6:2 – Honour thy father and thy mother
Greek: Timao (price)
- lliterally price, worth, value, preciousness (symbolism)
- To treat someone with value and respect
Do you treat your parents with value and preciousness?
Not only for our parents but to those in authority
v.2 “for kings and for all that are in authority”
- A man who follows his leaders
- A man who submits to the authority
We do not have an excuse.
v.1 “be made for all men”
- A man who honors other people
 - A man who glorifies the Lord – 1 Timothy 1:17
“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory
for ever and ever. Amen.”
We know some men respected on their field of expertise but never acknowledged the
Lord and His existence. We are privileged to honor and worship the Lord. We must
not take this for granted. Though we may not be honored by the world, it is an
important thing to honor the Lord.
An honorable man lives a God-honoring life.
We are guilty of pleasing the world and our peers.
2. A man who pursues holiness
1 Timothy 2:2 –“in all godliness”
2 Timothy 2:21 – “a vessel unto honour, sanctified” - separated
2 Timothy 2:22 – “Flee also youthful lusts but follow righteousness”
Many Christian men are becoming a vessel of dishonor as mentioned in v.21.
One of the cause is they stopped pursuing holiness in their lives.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
God wants you to honor him through your bodies because you are bought with a price.
If you just realized that you are bought with a price, you would pursue to honor the
Lord by living a separated life.
1 Tim 4:8 - Bodily exercise profits a little, godliness is profitable for all things
An honorable man strives for purity.
3. A man who practices honesty
2 Timothy 2:2 – in all godliness and honesty
Oftentimes, we question the person who is in a position whether he attained it
through honest measures. We do not really know if someone is saying the truth or not.
Are you a man that speaks with honesty and lives what he talks?
An honorable man lives with integrity.
Personal testimony: at work where no one is watching you
4. A man who portrays humility
You will receive awards, recognitions recommendations, but
In spite of all recognitions and applause, he will still remain to be humble.
Proverbs 18:12 & Proverbs 15:33
Three purposes on why we should live a life of honor:
A. We could lift a life of praise and worship to the Lord
“for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God and our Saviour” – v.3
B. We could lead a life of harmony and unity
“that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life” – v. 2
C. We could live a life of a testimony and godly influence
“who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge
of the truth” – v.4
Conclusion:
We are blessed to have godly influences in our walk with the Lord. We may regard
them with high respect, and we should follow them as they follow the Lord. The
church is in need of honorable me, though you may be young and does not have any
social or high economic status in life. Let us be a man of honor that the younger
generation can look up to. Be a man who honors the Lord and respect other people.
Be a man who pursues for purity and godliness. Be a man who has integrity and a man
who remains humble because he knows that it is the Lord that he pleases.
Concluding verses:
1 Timothy 4:12
“Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
Illustration:
Epitaph: He is an honorable man who honored God in his life.