Live Long And Prosper Series

EPHESIANS 6:1-3

November 12, 2006

New Covenant EPC

“LIVE LONG AND PROSPER”

Body Life: The Book of Ephesians

I. Child-parent relationships can get quite challenging at times can’t they?

A. Gwen Molda, Michigan. Today’s Christian Woman, "Small Talk."

1. While I was preparing dinner one evening, my six-month-old daughter, Keri, began to fuss in the next room.

2. Christina, my four year old, offered to go give Keri her pacifier.

3. After several minutes passed, I called to Christina, "Did you put the pacifier in her mouth?"

4. She replied, "No, Mom. She likes my toe better!"

B. "Eminem, the Boy Who Loved to Bounce," abcnews.go.com (2-26-04)

1. Triple-platinum rapper and producer Eminem is known for his violent, controversial lyrics.

a. He vents on everything from his unhappy childhood in a single-parent home to his contempt for various celebrities and the mainstream media.

b. His songs frequently defame others, including his family members.

2. Eminem raps about his mother being welfare dependent, a drug addict, and sleeping around with many different boyfriends.

a. He calls her a horrible mother, and says that he hopes she burns in hell.

b. His mother, Debbie Nelson, doesn’t take it to heart, though.

c. "That’s just artistic expression," she says. "He’s very sad on the inside. He is hurting a lot. And I can see it. I can see through my son. I know him like the back of my hand."

II. Verse 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

A. The word here in the Greek for child “ôåêíïí”, is “one who receives correction.”

1. It was understood in Biblical times that a child was one who had to be formed by encouragement and correction.

2. The word in the Greek for parent “ãïíåõó” is quite literally “one who causes to be formed . . .”

3. The role of the parent is to form not just procreate.

B. Obedience is not a term easily heard today.

1. Young recruits in the Military must learn obedience to command.

a. Today it is very difficult for young people to come into the military and be under another human being and to carry out orders.

b. The whole concept of obedience is foreign to our culture today.

c. They hear about rights from our society but not responsibility.

d. They hear about fulfilling our dreams and our expectations but not about listening and following.

2. God placed us within a certain family for His purpose.

a. Our obedience to our parents is paralleled to our obedience to the Lord.

b. If we cannot hold our tongue and our rebellion there is little hope, we can be obedient to God.

c. God does not promised us the Garden of Eden neither does He gives Hell.

d. How we learn and grow within our families is important to our own development.

3. God has not given us parents so we can figure out how to escape discipline and authority but to grow within it.

a. Being a child under obedience to a parent teaches us discipline, self-control, unselfish behavior, doing things for the good of family, it teaches us how to control anger and how to forgive even when the other does not seek forgiveness.

b. Forgiving our parents is important.

c. Forgiving our parents who are deceased will not benefit them but is especially good for us.

C. The Bible is a book of wisdom right from the mind of God.

1. God’s design from the very beginning was for parents to be the primary educator, spiritual mentor, financial and material provider, disciplinarian, and companion to children.

2. Counter to modern dogmatic media, the health of the nation, the world, the community, church and individuals is tied to the health of our families.

3. And that health is tied to respect and honor between children and their parents.

D. Scripture does not condone parental abuse.

1. The Bible does not approve nor encourage autocratic parent child relationships because children are on loan to parents from God and He alone is ultimately responsible for all children.

2. The whole foundation of the family is based upon the parent’s sacrificial love of the child and the child’s honor and respect of the parent.

E. The famous writer Oswald Chambers said the following:

“It is not what we do that matters, but what a sovereign God chooses to do through us. God doesn’t want our success; he wants us. He doesn’t demand our achievements; he demands our obedience. It is only by obedience that we understand the teaching of God.”

1. “God wants children to obey their parents.”

2. “Obeying God begins there.”

III. Verse 2 Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise),

A. A small boy invaded the lingerie section of a big California department store and shyly presented his problem to a woman clerk.