31.1.16- Luke 4;21-30
A comedian said, “I asked my dad, if I could go ice-skating on the lake. He told me,
‘Wait till it gets warmer.’” Some people aren’t given much respect. We’ve heard recently the sad
fact, many women who do the same job as men, aren’t paid the same. If someone from a
minority comes to live in an area, often they aren’t given respect. People on benefits may know
what I’m talking about too. In Glasgow, maybe not so much in Grangemouth, young men carry
knives, to gain respect. If we diss someone, ignore someone, we show disrespect. We all want
respect. Don’t we? Some people go through their entire lives and never feel respected- from
school where peers don’t listen to or notice you, to home- where you may have felt taken for
granted or taken advantage of.
Do you remember Aretha Franklin’s song- “Respect.” -“All I’m askin’ is for a little
respect when you come home (just a little bit).” I suspect all of us hunger for respect, for people
to listen to us, take our ideas seriously or care how we feel. When we’re disrespected, we lose
our sense of self-esteem, our self-worth. But be encouraged- even Jesus had difficulty finding
respect from those closest to him. There’s a bizarre statement in Mark 3, at the beginning of
Christ’s ministry; When his family heard about Christ’s teachings and casting out demons, they
went to control him and said, ‘He’s out of his mind.’” Imagine, Jesus’ own family thought he
was out of his mind! Talk about no respect. Then there’s the lesson from Luke, when Jesus
returns to his hometown of Nazareth and teaches in the synagogue. You could see the pride swell
in his own folks –this was Joseph’s son, but then, they thought about his words, “Today this
scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” -Jesus was claiming he is the Messiah, who was to come.
And his friends and neighbours became incensed. They’d watched Jesus grow up, playing
games, like every other boy. How could he be the Messiah? Maybe he speaks well, even heals
people, but he can’t be the Messiah. Jesus knew what was going on in their heads. “No prophet is
accepted in his hometown.” They were so irate, they were going to kill him. What a response to
his first sermon. He escaped, but he wasn’t respected. So, if you feel others don’t respect you.
Jesus understands. He’s been where you are.
But what is respect? Jesus didn’t need to earn people’s respect, but we do. But firstly, we
need to respect ourselves. Position, title, age, experience don’t guarantee it. We can earn respect
by conducting ourselves with dignity and character. Recently, society has helped young people
with self-esteem. Teachers encourage children, saying they’re capable of doing great things- kids
appreciate that; but there’s a difference between self-esteem and self-respect. Self-esteem has to
do with how we feel about ourself. Self-respect or character, has to do with the kind of person we
really are. Can people trust us to do the right thing at all times- even when someone isn’t
looking; it’s our code of conduct, our struggle to be a better person; being able to say, “I’m not
everything I should be, but, by the grace of God, I’m a better person today than I was yesterday.”
2 young couples attended church for a while. The two men had been life-long best
friends- Mark was quite dynamic, handsome and took care of himself. Bob was ordinary, a nice
guy, but wasn’t really attractive to women. Bob’s wife confided to the minister that she was
attracted to Mark. The minister didn’t want to hear that- this was dangerous. Then Bob’s wife
said, Mark would never do anything- he’s Bob’s friend. I respect him for that. Can you be
trusted, by your friends, family, employees or employer? When we do or say anything, because
it’s the right thing to do or say; when we don’t say or do something because it’s wrong, we boost
our self-respect, feeling better about ourselves.
Secondly, we have to respect others. Jesus calls us to respect all people, regardless of
who they may be. A bank manager thought a man had crawled out from under a rock because of
his dirty work clothes. The man had asked to see the manager, after the teller wouldn’t stamp his
pay-in book, because of how he looked; The manager also refused to stamp the book. The man
emptied his account and took his £2 million, after the manager refused to apologise. The
manager didn’t show this humble-looking customer the respect he was due, so lost the
customer’s respect. Jesus gave us a golden rule -“Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you”.
Thirdly, to gain respect, we should do our best in all we do, so people can’t ignore us.
People who’re lazy don’t gain respect. Paul in 2 Timothy, tells us to be a worker who does not
need to be ashamed- speaking about the work of ministry- but it applies to all we do; then we’ll
never have to feel ashamed. Shame robs us of our self-respect, which makes it difficult to win
the respect of others. Conduct ourself professionally; keep high standards and soon, others will
respect us. Oscar Hammerstein was once asked why he worked so hard to perfect his lyrics. He
replied- he’d seen a photo of the Statue of Liberty taken from a helicopter, and he was amazed to
see the detail on the 1886 Liberty’s hairdo- long before anyone thought about flying 180feet up,
to check the creators’ work. The French creator, Frederic Bartholdi knew Liberty was grand and
glorious, so wouldn’t do a halfhearted job. Hammerstein realized, if Bartholdi did thoroughly
excellent work from all views, his music wouldn’t be half-hearted either- so he strived for
perfection and greatness, in everything. Earning the respect of others isn’t easy. At the beginning
of his ministry even Jesus was disrespected by his family and the people of his hometown.
So to win the respect of others, we need to Respect ourselves. Live our highest values.
Respect others. Treat everybody the way we’d like to be treated.. and do our best, in all we do.
Do our best to be a worker, who does not need to be ashamed.