Unpacking a Culture of Honour
- Wendy Mann
- Jul 6
- 6 min read
If you haven't seen the video or listened to the podcast on 'Culture that Transforms: Creating Environments Where People Flourish', I encourage you to do that first before continuing with the rest of this material.
Once you've decided what you want your culture to look like, you have to give yourself and others vision for embracing it - along with examples of what the culture might look like in practice. In this week's resource I want to give you a taste of what this process could look like for one specific cultural value. I want to unpack a culture of honour.
Honour means to recognise value, acknowledge worth and act accordingly
Why embrace a culture of honour?
Honour is the culture of Heaven.
The Trinity is in a perpetual state of honouring each other.
The Father honours the Son by exalting Him to the highest place and giving Him the name that is above every other name.
The Son honours the Holy Spirit by telling His followers it's better that He goes away so that the Spirit can be poured out.
The Holy Spirit honours the Father by revealing Him experientially. He's the Spirit of adoption.
When we create a culture of honour on the earth, we create a culture that looks like Heaven. This creates a vacuum for God's Kingdom to invade.
A culture of honour makes it easier for Heaven to come to earth.
Who do we honour and why?
1) We honour God
Rev 4: 11 - 'Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour...'.
a) We honour God first and foremost because of who He is
Creator, Omnipotent, Father, Holy, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Friend, Lion and Lamb, Resurrection and Life, Saviour, Healer, I AM. We could go on and on.
Even if God never did anything for us, He would still be utterly worthy of all honour because of who He is.
b) We also honour God because of what He's done
He has saved us, redeemed us, adopted us, forgiven us, freed us, chosen us, restored us, appointed us, commissioned us, equipped us, healed us, and so much more.
Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour
2) We honour ourselves
Psalm 139:4 - 'I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made',
Nobody tends to have an issue with the concept of honouring God, or even the call to honour others. When it comes to honouring ourselves, however, it can be a very different story. Many of us find seeing ourselves through God's eyes of extravagant love and untamed delight incredibly challenging, Yet, this IS the way He sees us and we have to go on a life-long journey of viewing ourselves through the same lens.
a) We honour ourselves because God paid the highest price to purchase us
Rom 8:32 - 'He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all...'
The value of something is determined by the price someone is willing to pay to purchase it.
b) We honour ourselves because for every part of us that is fallen or broken, Christ died!
Psalm 103:13 - As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us'.
2 Cor 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come'.
3) We honour others
1 Peter 2:17 - Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honour the emperor.
Scripture instructs us to honour EVERYONE.
From the least to the greatest.
From the poor and vulnerable to rich world leaders
From those who love us to those who insult and persecute us.
a) We honour others because God paid the highest price to purchase them as well.
Rom 8:32 - 'He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us ALL...'
b) We honour others because honour releases life
Exodus 20:12 - Honour your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you'.
This is the only commandment God gives that comes with a promise. If you honour your parents, you will be blessed with long life. There is a correlation between honour and life. When we live, behave, and speak with honour, we release life. Something happens in the spiritual realm – Heaven invades earth.
How do we honour?
Now that we have vision for pursuing a culture of honour, we have to unpack what honouring looks like in practice. This stops the culture from remaining just a good idea and gives us practical steps towards real transformation. The suggestions below are not exhaustive, but they do give a good overview of what a culture of honour could look like.
1) How do we honour God?
a) Worship - Through singing and expressing our devotion to God but also through the way we live our lives on a daily basis.
b) With our money and resources - Giving to Him and being generous to others.
c) Honouring ourselves and others - All of us have been made in the image of God and are loved extravagantly by Him. When we extend honour to ourselves and others, we honour our creator.
d) Obedience - Living lives of total surrender where we give ourselves fully to Him and submit to His sovereignty and leadership.
2) How do we honour ourselves?
a) Refuse to curse or speak badly of yourself. Instead treat yourself with kindness and patience.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue - Prov 18:21
b) Learn to receive encouragement - To encourage literally means "to give courage". When we are able to receive encouragement we increasingly learn to see ourselves the way God does and to step into the influence He's called us to have.
c) Prioritise Sabbath and rest when you need to - I meet many Christians who are too busy, who keep working when they're sick and who put everyone else's needs above their own. I used to be this person. The truth is that God is not in a rush and that we can't be the answer for everyone or everything. In scripture, God commands us to Sabbath and Jesus tells us His yoke is easy and His burden in light. We have to learn to give out of the overflow rather than the dregs and this requires us to honour ourselves with rest.
3) How do we honour others?
a) Live with thankfulness for the people God has put in your life
b) Fight the urge to gossip. Speak well of people when they aren't present. Do your best to see people as God sees them - through His eyes.
c) Wash people's feet - not necessarily literally (although you could) but in your heart posture towards them. Champion others, celebrate them, let them have the limelight and platform, don't retaliate, trust God to guard your reputation, give generously, love fiercely, do the washing up, take out the bins. Look to emulate Jesus' example when it comes to serving others. He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Wow!
What is honour?
What should we want to do it?
Who should be honour?
What does a culture of honour look like in practice?
Pursuing a culture of honour is such a high and costly calling, yet it's such a rich and transformational way to live. What stood out to you from this blogpost and what next steps could you put in place to move towards the culture of Heaven? There will always be more to learn and we're never going to fully arrive (be kind to yourself), but we can make a conscious decision to cultivate this way of living in our hearts. As we pursue it in our hearts, honour will naturally start to flow out of us towards God, ourselves and others.
(n.b. Honouring others DOES NOT mean staying in abusive situations or enabling abusive behaviour. If this is your experience you must honour yourself by getting out and finding a safe space to process and heal.
Equally, a culture of honour must involve the healthy and thorough processing of trauma and pain where we are free to speak about people who have wounded us with safe and experienced leaders and trained professionals when necessary)
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Wendy Mann Equip | www.wendymannequip.com
Building Family, Prioritising God's Presence, Extending God’s K
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