Honour Your Parents

Exodus 20:12 Honour Your Parents ES 16May20100 1822

Exodus 20:12 "Honour your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you."

We have this impression that this is for the young kids or young people like us.

• But there is no time limit or age limit to this. It just says, “Honour your father and mother…”

• You may be 60 years old and your parents 90, and this still applies to you.

Why did God even put this into the 10 commandments?

• Imagine you are asked to set some rules for a school or a clubhouse, or group, and you can only have 10.

• What would you do? You would list out all the rules you need to have and try to get down to 10 most important ones. Those that you want everyone to abide by.

Imagine God doing that for life; to pen down the most important rules for life.

• You may want to have a list of 30 or 50 good guidelines, but you are only given 10 lines.

• So these 10 commandments (not even good suggestions) must be man’s important needs. They must be the most fundamental problems with man that God needs to address.

• Why… because they bring grave consequences if we do not follow them.

So we want to heed God’s advice. Honouring parents is important enough to be place about the 10 commandments for life. It is the commandment that comes with a promise!

God pen this down to remind us that:

(1) Respecting Authority is Fundamental to Life

We all live authority of some kind, all the time.

• We can only live right and well, when we live with accountability.

• To God ultimately, but also to the authorities God has set up for life.

• We are to respect the authority of our parents, church leaders, and teachers at school, our boss at work, and our government as citizens.

First we need to recognise God’s authority. This is the only way to fulfilment in life.

• King Solomon says in Ecclesiastes that nothing makes sense if we do not acknowledge God’s rule in our lives.

• Everything is meaningless unless, he concluded at the end we “fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Eccl 12:13)

• There is a correlation between the quality of life you have and the recognition of God’s authority over us.

The first sin in the Garden of Eden (the goodness of life) was to question God’s authority.

And so God places authorities in our lives, by which we are to learn submission and obedience.

• God designed life to be enjoyed best under authority, with accountability.

• Look at the military. It works best with firm authority and clear chain of command.

• Whether it is at home, in church, at the workplace or as people of a nation, we are called to honour the authorities God has placed over us.

• 1 Peter 2:13-15 “Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.”

At home it’s our parents. At school, our teachers. In church our pastors or leaders.

• Heb 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

• Even angels are to submit to authority. Jude 6 “And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home - these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.” They have transgressed into God’s authority.

We never outgrow the need to be under authority.

• God wants us to honour the position of parenthood, and give our parents due recognition.

(2) Respect for Authority Begins at Home

The home is the first place we come to understand authority. It is the major forming factor in your life.

• That probably explains why God puts it in the 10 commandments, and it is the first that has to do with man’s relationships with people. The first 4 commandments have to do with our relationship with God.

• We need to learn submission and obedience in the home. It is our first school. And the longest lasting one – to the end of their lives.

Surveys have shown that people who get along with their parents have far less stress in their lives.