Instructions On Honoring Your Father And Mother

Honor your Father and Mother

Exodus 20:12 IHCC 11/11/01

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

I have heard many people comment about the declining situations of our families and of young people today. Some of them just complain about kids and their actions and how bad they are, some of them actually voice a concern out of love, and still others are just so overwhelmed with how awful our world has gotten and it seems to stem from our children. If only we could restore some respect. I thought I would share something with you that I read as I was studying for this sermon. It reads like this:

Honor, here is a word that calls for an attitude of respect, reverence, and obedience on the part of children toward their parents. How shockingly old-fashioned it sounds to our modern ears!

Some of you are shaking your heads with approval, smiling from ear to ear saying to yourself it’s about time somebody said something like that. But for those of you who are shaking your heads this statement was not yesterday. It was written in 1938 by the great preacher Clovis Chappel. Some of you who are shaking your heads in agreement were teenagers when this written, and apparently Mr. Chappel was writing about your behavior. Having honor among the family is something that we have long dealt with. Starting with Cain and Abel, when Cain killed Abel out of jealously. Can you imagine the dishonor Adam and Eve felt when one of the two sons they had raised became a murderer? Being a parent is not easy! Having children that honor you or obey you means you have to raise some pretty fantastic kids! In order for this to happen I find that both parent and child have a responsibility to one another, and to God and it is wrapped up in this 5th commandment.

Honor your Father and Mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

So today let’s take an indepth look at what we can do to restore honor and create children who will honor.

Many people think it is the responsibility of the children to follow this command, but if you think about it the only way a child will honor is if they are taught to live honorably.

Looking at this commandment we need to be aware of several different things.

1. What will honor God the Heavenly Father?

We need to realize that the family is a design from God. We can fool around with it and create alternate lifestyles as much as we want, but when we do we only pollute the fundamental idea of a family. It started with Adam and Eve, and progressed into Noah, Abraham, and then the nation of Israel. God was working with, and still working today with the growing, and extending family. Therefore we should do our very best to create the biblical foundation of a family. Where Dad and Mom love, honor, and respect each other and if children come along they should care for those children and instruct them to live in accordance with God’s will ….The family is God’s design let’s continue building it up as God intended.

We also need to understand that God did not create the family to be our number one priority. Jesus said in

MATTHEW 10:37 "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;

Jesus is saying don’t make the family the number one consideration. He says I am the number one consideration; I am the Lord, not your kids. I am the Lord not your family. I am the Lord, not your marriage. I will never surrender my Lordship to any of these things. (Briscoe, Playing by the Rules) It’s when we flip the roles and put God in the back seat that we start to run into problems. Remember the family was His idea and we need to honor him with it not replace him with it.

2. Why should we follow this commandment?

1) We should follow it because God said too, and that should be good enough. It is a command from God to us that we are to obey, respect, and honor our parents and that responsibility does not end when you leave the house to go to college or get out on your own. Even today I am to respect and honor my father and mother.

Paul reinforces that statement by saying in

Colossians 3:20

COL 3:20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.