Show Honor Where It is Due

In the second chapter of Philippians, the apostle Paul paints a picture of someone who was apparently sold out to service, and he directed the people in the church at Philippi to show this person honor.
25 Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need...

Later in the chapter, he wrote:
29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem;
30 because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.
I believe that it is good to be sensitive to those around us who show leadership by showing humility. I think it makes a difference in a person's life when their devotion is recognized, when we express appreciation for their dedication.   We live in an age in which self is exalted, but God is calling us to a life of humbling ourselves before others, guarding against being lifted up in pride, aware of who is serving around us.  I believe we honor God as we recognize His faithfulness and the faithfulness of others.

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In Mark chapter 10, Jesus makes a powerful statement about servanthood, and I believe that can propel us to recognize those who serve well:
(43) ...whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.
44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

There was a moving tribute that took place at First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Georgia this past Sunday morning.  Instead of a chair in the location where a young man had sat to play the clarinet in the church's orchestra, a Marine flag stood in its place.

Baptist Press has an account of the scene.  You see, that clarinet player, who had played in the band at his high school and was part of the church's orchestra, lost his life last Thursday, the victim of a shooting at a military recruitment office in Chattanooga.

Lance Corporal Skip Wells was 21 years old, a graduate of Sprayberry High School and briefly attended Georgia Southern University. But, his life took a different course...family spokesman Andy Kingery told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Skip "felt a calling to serve -- in the Marines." The spokesman said, "He got out of boot camp about a year ago and was doing what was asked of him. … He understood the risk he was taking by putting on a uniform, and Skip died doing what he chose to do."

Sunday morning, the article reports that Jake Holman of the church's music staff related the words of orchestra director Gary Gaston. Holman told the congregation, "Gary said Skip was the kind of young man you could always count on." Skip "always showed up early and stayed until everyone was gone. He always had his Bible with him when he came to church [and] related well to people of all ages."

Holman then relayed information passed along to Wells' mother, Cathy: Instead of choosing a path of escape, Wells had gone back to help a friend climb a fence in eluding the shooter.

"In the effort to try and help one of his friends, he lost his own life," Holman told the crowd.

The church had a special prayer time for the families of the victims.

The article quotes Nolan Opp, Wells' friend since sixth grade, now an Army private first class: "He always put others before himself. There would be times when I was just not myself or I'd be down about something. He would go out of his way to make sure I was OK. Everybody looked up to him."

The AJC reports that a memorial service for Skip Wells will take place tonight at the high school's stadium.

I think of that image of the single flag on the church stage and the concept of honor.  I do want to say that we should never take for granted the sacrifices that those who serve in military make. They have chosen a unique lifestyle - a life of service, in which they place their lives on the line, and they endure challenges from a personal and family perspective, in order to defend our country.  So, we should take every opportunity to honor those who serve in our military...it's a dangerous world, and they are pledging to protect each of us.

The concept of honor involves a show of appreciation for those who serve in a variety of capacities - it can certainly apply to our military, to our law enforcement, and to those who serve in our churches. The Bible instructs us to honor those who serve in spiritual authority over us.   It's important that we are sensitized to the sacrifices that people are making around us and never take their labor lightly.

In an age where selfishness rains, it takes an adjustment in thinking to recognize the service of others. We can be challenged to place ourselves in a position where we are more keenly aware of how people put the needs of others first, to recognize it, and to be inspired in our own lives to lay down our lives with that attitude that Jesus demonstrated:  He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many, as Mark 10 reminds us.