A temptation competent men continually face is to let an inflated sense of self-importance outweigh our Christian character.—to subtly and slyly strive to be one of the most honored, rather than to obey God and strive to outdo one another in showing honor to our brothers. Scott, Riley, and Jared discuss this crucial aspect of Christlike masculinity and biblical brotherhood.
Hosts And Guests Of This Episode
Joshua Jenkins, Riley Adam Voth, Jared Sparks
Overview Of Topics And Points
How do we show honor to one another both locally and online and around the country. Especially to those brothers who are fighting the good fight. Our tribe is honestly not always the best at this. Scott, Riley, and Jared explore this topic.
It’s easy to get into infighting and adopt an “every man for himself” mentality. It’s easy for competitive men to see each other as competition to withhold honor from.
The secular “manosphere” suffers from this a lot. Ministry and media spaces even with Christians can suffer from this. It’s a very feminist-energy way to exist.
Wouldn’t it be better if we pulled in the same direction, together?
A lot of guys are afraid to hold space for other guys. They’re afraid they’ll lose honor if they elevate someone else.
But often these men are highly valuable and would bring great value to your space.
Proverbs 18:16 – A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.
Every man wants to give their gift, but we’re afraid if we show honor to others then we may not to give ours.
We tend to think there’s a limited quantity. If someone else gets honor, there won’t be enough left for me.
So we try to hedge off other guys from being acknowledged too much.
Psalm 133:1 – Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
The Majesty’s Men has been around since 2013 and we’ve watched many men come and go and interact or not interact in the ministry, business, and media spaces. We’ve seen men glory hog. We’ve seen men get angry for not getting more glory.
But a few years ago, while reading Romans 12, we decided to make the effort to “outdo one another in shoring honor” a core part of our identity as an organization.
Romans 12:10 – Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
So what do we show honor to?
It’s always to other men, in mission.
Jack Donavan’s (a total pagan) book, “The Way of Men,” defines some terms in a helpful way by stating that honor is the amount of strength, bravery, and mastery a man has to the other men in a group.
This is why men in another group don’t get honor from us—because they are in another group on another mission. However, this is also complicated for us as Christian men pulling in the same direction, working to reform society and build Christendom. We are on the same mission together.
This is also what causes hesitation to show honor when dealing within our group. We’re afraid we’ll get cut out by someone else giving their own gift.
But, no two men are gifted exactly the same. If they are similar, then it must be because God knew we needed double the amount giving this gift in the group.
This is why men in armed forces, sports teams, and shared mission bond so well together. They know each person there is giving their gift and making it better.
Dominion minded men who are ambitious and into self-rule, tend to gravitate toward Libertarianism and neglect the reality that we are all dependent on one another and need one another to succeed at societal levels.
Biblical David and Saul is a good study on these issues. Young David was an honorable man. The Lord continued to advance him through concentric circles of influence and power and give him greater responsibility. However, the insecure man, Saul, attempted to thwart him.
Pharoh said, “With Joseph on our team, we can’t be stopped.” and Babylon said, “With Daniel on our team, we can’t be stopped,” and Saul said, “With David on our team, I’m not the man.”
Proverbs 3:27 – Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.
This isn’t a verse simply on charity. It’s also on showing honor.
If you have the ability and status to give good to another man, to show someone honor who deserves it, and you withhold it, you are in sin.
This becomes a good test for us. Do you only show honor to those who have greater status or means to benefit you? Or, do you also show honor to those who are beneath you in status and cannot benefit you. Do you esteem them and their gifts before your audience?
Jospeh honoring Pharoh wasn’t that hard. Pharoh honoring Joseph was hard. That took true humility.
As content creators, we struggle always with wanting to make much of ourselves and wanting people to praise us. We must battle this temptation daily.
If we don’t believe God sees us, we will always struggle with showing honor and esteeming others.
Do you believe you’re doing what God has asked you to do? Do you believe God is going to bless you? This will free you to bless others.
It’s not on you to become successful, it’s on God.
Be content with the mission being more important than you.
It’s about the mission, not the man.
It actually costs us a lot more to NOT show honor than it does to give it.
In God’s economy, honor is not a zero-sum game. There is always an abundance of honor to go around because all honor is truly from him and for him, the infinite one.
So do you worry about motive?
Are the pushing what God wants to be pushed? Then hold space for them. You don’t have to send them money, or sing their praises, but if they’re preaching the gospel, then great!
Often we worry about others more when we know we’re not truly giving our gifts.
On a practical level, show honor to those closest to you before you strive to advance in outer concentric circles. A man who can do this, will be a man who is wonderful to work with on greater missions and people will trust him and show him honor. He is not a glory hog.
The meekest men will be the strongest men.
When you know you’re valuable, you can relax and elevate others. You don’t need to prove your value.
When you don’t try to front, be impressive, elevate yourself as some galaxy brain, you can be free to be humble and ask questions and esteem others.
Proverbs 22:4 – The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.
One major issue, related to showing honor, is friendship. Showing honor creates good friendship and is a sign of good friendship between people.
True friendship allows men to show honor to one another, even newcomers, because they know that the new people will augment and enhance what the group already has, not detract from it.
We’ll likely have another episode in the future, just on friendship.
Resources Mentioned
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