Real Life: Playing Your Part - Kids
Obey your parents
Why should I?
It is Commanded by God
It is pleasing to God
It is the right thing to do
Honor your parents
Benefits to yourself
A Better Life
A Longer Life
Slide 1
Introduction
Any kids here take science?
Who can tell me about an unusual property of ice versus most other solids?
Ice floats on.
(Put ice in water)
water versus most other substances in their solid state sink when put into the same substance in its liquid state
(Put rocks in water)
But water is different.
That is kind of a strange phenomena, isn’t it?
Do you think God messed up when he made water?
Maybe with it being one of the fist things He created, God didn’t quite have all the facts yet. Do you think?
Actually, God is a whole lot smarter than us.
It is because of some of the unique properties of water, a substance that makes up 75% of the earth and even makes up a large portion of your body, that life is even possible.
Because ice floats, the oceans and rivers and lakes can continue to keep all of the living things in the ocean alive because ice floats on top.
Ice even acts as a blanket to the water underneath keeping it from freezing in the cold air temperatures.
Because water can absorb a lot of heat, the temperature range keeps the earth to a range where life can function.
It is because water is designed the way it is, with all of its unique properties, that life on earth is even possible.
There are times when we look at something, maybe like water, and can think, this seems like a mistake.
But it is only when we look at things from a broader perspective that we can see how truly amazing the structure and design of certain things are.
The same is true for the design of the family and certain other roles in society that He has created.
He has designed and given responsibilities to different roles in society so that things will work the best.
It may not always seem that way from our perspective, but when we stop and take a look from a different perspective, we can see the wisdom.
Driving Illustration
For instance, if I told you that we could prevent the leading cause of death in teenagers tomorrow by making a new law, that would seem like a smart thing, wouldn’t it?
Well what if I told you that the leading cause of death in teenagers was driving accidents and to prevent it, the law should be changed to make the driving age 20?
If you are a teen, that may not seem like the best answer, when viewed from your perspective, but there seems to be some wisdom in that.
In this series we have been doing, Real Life: Playing your Part, we have been looking at different roles that God has designed and today we are going to look at playing the part of a kid.
Turn with me to Ephesians 6:1-3 (p.829)
Slide 2
for what we can learn about playing our part as a kid in our parents home.
Ephesians 6:1-3
6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord,
The first thing we see here is that you need to
Obey Your Parents
Slide 3
Obey!
I knew it. That’s all this pastor talks about. Sounds just like my parents. Obey! Obey! Obey!
Why should I!
Slide 4
That is a good question that deserves an answer. Sometimes, parents, we need to be able to answer our kids questions of why. This is how we are going to help them grow and mature.
And sometimes, kids, there will be times that you just need to obey.
And why is that? Well, I will explain.
The first reason why you should obey is that
It is Commanded by God
Slide 5
Let’s read 6:1 again.
Does it say,
Kids, if your parents are being nice, then obey.
Or kids, if your day has been going well, obey.
No, it says
Ephesians 6:1
Children, obey your parents in the Lord,
It is a command.
Listen, we just saw how God is unbelievably brilliant.
He has designed things just the way He wants and the way that works best.
He also designed the family and he has given order to the family so that His most spectacular part of creation,
the human race,
us,
those created in His image,
can continue to survive and live.
He has designed kids to need their parents to teach them and help them and kids need to take their role and responsibilities seriously because God takes His commands seriously and they are given for a reason, to help you survive.
So you need to obey your parents because God commands us to.
A second reason to obey your parents is because
It is Pleasing to God
Slide 6
Colossians 3:20
20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
(from New International Version)
Whenever we obey what God wants us to do, we please Him.
This is our purpose, to bring pleasure an honor and glory to the Lord.
God wants us to become more like Jesus and
When we please God, we are being more like Jesus.
Jesus says in
John 5:30
I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
(from New International Version)
John 8:29
29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him."
(from New International Version)
Jesus obeyed His Father because it brought pleasure to the Father and that was His purpose.
That should be our purpose too, to please God, so we can be more like Christ.
So if we are going to do what pleases God, then you need to obey your parents.
Thirdly,
It is the right thing to do
Slide 7
Ephesians 6:1
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
He has given parents responsibility over you for your own good.
You may not always be able to see how God’s way is good, but that is why we must trust Him
God has given you parents who have more experience in life than you and for those of you who have Christian parents, they have been able to see God’s work and how His ways are best even during times when it is not apparent initially.
Maybe you are thinking, you don’t know my parents.
My parents don’t know anything.
My parents only goal in life is to make me miserable.
My parents hate me, they won’t let me do anything.
Listen, Even though it may seem hard to believe, your parents were kids once too.
And they made a lot of mistakes. Mistakes that sometimes not only affect your life at a moment in time, but affect your life forever.
And they want to help you avoid those mistakes.
We as parents have learned that it is better to stay away from tempting situations, then to try and remain strong in the midst of it
We have learned that there are some situations that to you seem like will be fun and exciting, but from our own experience, they are not what they seem.
We have learned that the younger you are, the less likely that you will be able to be strong enough to stand up under the pressure that comes from peers sometimes.
And we love you too much to stand by and watch you make mistakes that could affect your life forever.
Well, parents can make mistakes too.
And some parents even abuse their responsibilities.
But as we obey God, God can even watch over you then and protect you and use those times in your life to work good.
Romans 8:28
And in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Realize that when God commands something, even when you don’t understand, it is the right thing to do and
is the best thing for us to do.
So Obey Your Parents because
God commands it
God is pleased by it
And it is the right thing to do.
Another responsibility in our role as children is to
Honor Your Parents
Slide 8
Ephesians 6:2
2 "Honor your father and mother"-which is the first commandment with a promise
In obeying them, don’t I honor them?
Can’t I just honor them by obeying what they say?
It is true that you show your parents some honor by obeying them.
But we need to give honor to our parents even beyond obeying them.
For instance, when our parents tell us to do something, we don’t want to do, like
Take out the garbage or
Clean our rooms
We may do it, but we do it with a bad attitude.
“Fine, I’ll do it!”
We obey them, but we are not really honoring them.
But imagine how it would honor them if we said.
Yeah sure Dad, I know that it needs to get done and if I don’t do it then I am leaving it to someone else to take my responsibility.
Now even if you don’t say that always, but think that, it will change your tone of how you respond to your parents.
Another example.
Jason – Coat on Field trip Illustration
Once Jason was going on a field trip with his class and they were going on a boat to see the city skyline. It was a pretty nice day and he did not want to bring a coat. I told him he had to take one. He wasn’t very happy about it, but he did it.
When he got home that day, he told me about his field trip and how glad he was that he had his coat. Many of the other kids without coats were freezing out on the lake.
And he said thanks for making me bring my coat.
That was honoring to me.
Kids, when you realize that your parents were right about something, tell them that they were. You honor them by doing that.
And it helps you grow in your trust of your parents and it helps you mature.
And as you do mature things, it will help your parents treat you as maturing kids.
Adam & the movies
One time Adam had an opportunity to see a movie with a friend you got a couple of free passes. He was going to see a certain movie. I told him that I wanted to check that movie out first, and I heard him tell the boy on the phone that his dad had to make sure the movie was appropriate first.
It turns out that I did not think it was and he had to let the other boy know.
I know that was not the easiest thing to do. And I did not tell him to give all the details about why he was uncertain he could go. He did it and I felt honored that he was willing to tell the other boy that. It showed me that Adam was maturing and growing and honoring me in my decisions.
Kids, it is not always going to be easy. In fact sometimes it will be hard, but God will use those in your life to grow you and help you.
Finally, when you are Obeying and honoring your parents, It brings
It Benefits Yourself
Slide 9
What are those. It seems like it benefits the parents by giving free labor. What kind of benefit is there for me?
Well, first it brings
A Better Life
Slide 10
Ephesians 6:3a
3 "that it may go well with you
Life will go better if you obey and honor your parents.
Sometimes it will go better immediately.
Jason was warmer and more comfortable and happy that he brought his Jacket that day.
Sometimes it will be better in the long run.
Adam is probably not experiencing the benefit visibly of not having gone to that movie.
But, when we don’t fill our minds
with pictures and
phrases that are not glorifying to God,
we are less likely to have those things influence us negatively and more likely to have a more positive life.
So we can experience a better life by
seeing the positive results soon and
not experiencing the negative results at all.
A second benefit to us is
A Longer Life
Slide 11
Ephesians 6:3b
that you may enjoy long life on the earth
When we obey and honor our parents, we live a better less stressful life and we get to enjoy a longer life than we normally would on the earth.
These are the benefits that you will get to experience.
Obeying God is the best way to live
and for you, in the role God has you as a child living in your parent’s household, we honor and obey God by honoring and obeying our parents.
That may not always seem like the best thing to you, but the God who created this world in all of its uniqueness and perfection just for us, has also designed our roles in such a way that we live best by following his plan.
Isn’t that something that you want as a kid?
To live life in the way that it is best for you?
Of course, it is.
The thing is, that to do that, you need not only the help of your parents in helping you grow,
You need the help of God in your life through the Holy Spirit.
If you are a kid and have never received Jesus as your Savior, or don’t remember ever doing that, why don’t you do that now.
Jesus wants to help you and give you not only long life on earth, but life forever with Him in Heaven.
If you want that, then all you have to do is come before God and first recognize that you are a sinner, you have disobeyed what God has wanted you to do at some point in your life.
Recognize that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is God himself that came to earth as a Man.
Recognize that He lived a perfect life and died for the wrong things you have done.
And acknowledge that Jesus rose back to life again after 3 days.
When we know those things and come before God confessing those things and willingly receive Jesus, we get the blessing of having God come live inside us and He will help us to live the best way if we let Him.
If you want that, then I am going to pray, and you pray along with me.
Pray.
One more thing.
If you are a kid, I am going to ask you in a second to come forward and kneel down up here and I want us as a church to be praying for our kids.
It is hard to be a kid today. I know it has been hard in the past too, but I think it gets harder all the time.
We need to be praying for our kids, that God would strengthen them and work powerfully in their lives to continue on the path that God wants them on.
So kids You are going to come up and kneel here in front of the stage.
Parents, I want you to come up behind your kids and put your hands on them. You can kneel with them, but we need to let our kids know that we stand behind them and are there to help them and support them and love them.
Others that are in the congregation, I ask that you come up even behind the parents or if there are kids without their parents here, come up and place your hands on them.
Because we as a church need to stand behind families, which is the fabric of our society and we need to be a support to families and individuals as the next generation is raised up to take the reins of leadership in the church under Christ.
Come now kids and kneel up front.
And after the kids come, then the parents, and after them, the others who want to come forward and then I will pray for our kids.
