Reading: Exodus chapter 20 verse 12.
• Our reading is short but meaningful:
• "Honour your father and your mother."
• Amplified Bible:
• “Regard (treat with honour, due obedience, and courtesy) your father and mother”
Ill:
• A four-year-old and a six-year-old presented their Mom with a house plant.
• They had used their own money and she was thrilled.
• The older of them said with a sad face,
• There was a bouquet that we wanted to give you at the flower shop.
• It was real pretty, but it was too expensive.
• It had a lovely red ribbon with the words, ‘Rest In Peace’,
• And we thought it would be just perfect;
• Since you are always asking for a little peace so that you can rest.
By setting aside the day we call Mothers' Day:
• We are not merely contributing to a higher standard of living for;
• Florists, greeting card publishers and restaurant owners.
• We are fulfilling the Biblical command (the 5th commandment);
• Where we are told to "Honour your mother."
The Hebrew word (language of the Old Testament) for ‘honour’ means ‘Treat as weighty’:
Ill:
• Someone did ask a little girl,
• What are you going to do, when you get as big as your mother.
• The little girl thought for a moment;
• Then replied; “Go on a diet!”
The Bible word for ‘honour’ means ‘Treat as weighty’:
• Obviously not physical!
• It means our respect, our gratitude, our attitude and our responsibility;
• Should be over-loaded towards them (“Father & Mother”).
Ill:
The story is told that one day a beggar was begging on the side of the road;
• Alexander the Great passed by and the man asked for a spare coin.
• The Emperor threw into his begging bowl several gold coins.
• A courtier was astonished at his generosity and commented,
• “Sir, copper coins would adequately meet a beggar’s need. Why give him gold?”
• Alexander responded,
• “Copper coins would suit the beggar’s need, but gold coins suit Alexander’s giving.”
• ‘Honour’ means that our respect, our gratitude, our attitude and our responsibility;
• Should be generous, over-loaded towards them (“Father & Mother”).
Note:
• We should be generous towards our Mothers in gratitude for all the;
• Sacrificial, long hours, multi-tasking, generous, empathy and wisdom! They have shown towards us.
• Mothers are quite unique!
• Motherhood is the most creative job in the world.
• It involves;
• Fashion, decorating, recreation, education, transportation, psychology, romance,
• Cuisine, literature, art, economics, government, paediatrics, geriatrics, entertainment,
• Maintenance, purchasing, law, religion, energy and management.
• Anyone who can handle all those has to be somebody special.
• She is. She's a homemaker.
Ill:
• Women who never have children;
• Enjoy the equivalent of an extra three months a year in leisure time,
• Says Susan Lang, author of Women Without Children.
• If that figure seems high, remember that the average mother spends;
• 3.5 more hours a week doing housework than would a woman without children,
• Plus 11 hours a week on child-related activities.
• This adds up to an additional 754 hours of work every year;
• The equivalent of three months of 12-hour, 5-day work weeks.
Ill:
• A young father was trying to explain the concept of marriage to his 4-year-old daughter.
• He got out their wedding album, thinking visual images would help,
• And explained the entire wedding service to her.
• When he was finished, he asked if she had any questions.
• She pointed to a picture of the wedding party and asked,
• “Daddy, is that when mommy came to work for us?
• Well a more appropriate quote for Mothers’ day;
• Could be this one from Essayist, historian, and writer of stories, Washington Irving
Quote: Essayist, historian, and writer of stories, Washington Irving who wrote:
"A father may turn his back on his child; brothers and sisters may become inveterate enemies; husbands may desert their wives and wives their husbands.
A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us;
when adversity takes the place of prosperity;
when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavour by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."
Quote: Exodus chapter 20 verse 12:
• Our reading is short but meaningful:
• "Honour your father and your mother."
• Amplified Bible:
• “Regard (treat with honour, due obedience, and courtesy) your father and mother”
THOSE FIRST FEW WORDS SEEM TO TAKE THREE THINGS FOR GRANTED:
• First they presuppose that you know who your parents are.
• Sadly there are those who may not know who their fathers and mothers are.
• Second, they assume you know them well enough to appreciate their significance.
• Sadly there are those who for whatever reason;
• Have become so embittered against their parents,
• They blame them for everything that's gone wrong in their lives.
• Thirdly, they imply that you have opportunity to honour them,
• Pay them respect, and let them know how you feel about them.
• Sadly there are those who have left it too late;
• Ones parent may well have died and now they regret not honouring, appreciating them.
THIS FITH COMMANDMENT:
• Talks to us about what God wants in our family living.
• He wants us to be in relationships that work and that make a positive difference.
• This commandment is quoted on a number of occasions in the Bible;
• And each time we are given a different reason why it should be act upon.
• There are at least four reasons given us in the Bible:
• As to why we should honour our father and mother
(Reason 1). Exodus chapter 20 verse 12:
• This is the first time God gives this instruction;
• And the first reason for putting it into practice.
"Honour your father and your mother
so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you".
• Question: Why should we honour our parents?
• Answer: Because it enables you to live long in the land (I can see that you are impressed with that reason!)
• I think that expression is referring to economic survival.
• Financial security. Coping with the hardships of life.
Remember the context, the situation these instructions were given:
• The Israelites were headed for inhospitable territory, the wilderness!
• Where they faced very precarious economic situations.
• They could only hold out by sticking together,
• By working together for their own support.
• Without working together and supporting one another;
• Their stay in the land would be extremely short due to economic ruin.
Remember the word family in the Old Testament;
• Would not just refer to husband, wife & 2.4 children.
• It would also include the mother, the father and rather a lot more than 2.4 children.
• It would extend to unmarried aunts. widowed uncles, grandfather and grandmother;
• What we commonly call the "extended family."
Ill:
• This principle of survival in numbers;
• Is still seen today in many ‘third world’ countries.
• They might have very few possessions and very little money;
• They may live in cramped and shanty-town type accommodation.
• Yet often they are family orientated;
• And it is the large family pulling together that keeps them all alive and able to survive.
Quote: Rudyard Kipling who once wrote about families:
“All of us are we—and everyone else is they.”
A family shares things like dreams, hopes, possessions, memories, smiles, frowns, and gladness...A family is a clan held together with the glue of love and the cement of mutual respect. A family is shelter from the storm, a friendly port when the waves of life become too wild. No person is ever alone who is a member of a family”.
(Reason 1: economic survival).
(2). Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 16:
"Honour your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you."
• The second reason is Emotional stability
• The family structure provides us with emotional stability.
• The Israelites' emotional strength came from a household;
• That gave them many opportunities for ongoing interaction.
• As part of a clan, each person;
• Gained innumerable chances to relate to others of varying backgrounds and insights.
Ill:
If you think your family has problems,
• Consider the marriage mayhem created when 76-year-old Bill Baker of London
• Recently wed Edna Harvey.
• She happened to be his granddaughter’s husband’s mother.
• That’s where the confusion began, according to Baker’s granddaughter, Lynn.
• “My mother-in-law is now my step-grandmother.
• My grandfather is now my stepfather-in-law.
• My mom is my sister-in-law and my brother is my nephew.
• But even crazier is that I’m now married to my uncle & my own children are my cousins.”
Ill:
• More conventionally, families help us to inter-act.
• In a family of two parents and four children, there is a possibility for many relationships:
• Husband-wife, father-son, father-daughter, mother-son,
• Mother-daughter, brother-brother, sister-sister, brother-sister etc.
That provides us with opportunities for learning:
• How old and young folks operate, how boys get along with boys,
• How girls get along with girls, and how girls get along with boys.
• Just imagine all the combinations!
• The extended family breeds emotional stability.
• And if you also add uncles, aunts, and grandparents, and throw in a few servants;
• And some guests all living in the same household.
• All those extended relationships
• Offer the possibility of increased emotional strength.
Quote:
• According to a study of more than 500 family counsellors,
• The following are the top traits of successful families:
• Communicating and listening
• Affirming and supporting family members
• Respecting one another
• Developing a sense of trust
• Sharing time and responsibility
• Knowing right from wrong
• Having rituals and traditions
• Sharing a religious core
• Respecting privacy.
The family offers something that gold and silver cannot buy:
• Increased emotional strength.
• And in a world of uncertainty it offers emotional stability
(Reason 1: economic survival).
(Reason 2: emotional stability).
(3). Ephesians chapter 6 verse 1:
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”
• That expression “in the Lord”
• Can mean one of two things:
First:
• It can mean obey them when they do not contradict the things of God.
• e.g. If a parent asks you to do something unbiblical you need not obey.
Second:
• It probably means the Apostle Paul is writing here to Christian children;
• And he says; how you treat your parents reflects how you treat God.
• The home not the Church is the first place we show the difference Christ makes in our lives.
• If Christ does not work in our homes, then I doubt he will not work anywhere else!
I think the point this verse is making is that there is a divine order to families:
• The 10 commandments did not start with Cecil B. DeMille;
• They did not even start with Moses, they started with God!
• And in life; socially, domestically or personally;
• We need to consult the makers instructions!
Ill:
• Rules of the road bring order and not disaster.
• Rules in sport bring pleasure and not chaos.
• Rules in the home make for a happy family and not a miserable one!
• For families to work and for our families to be happy;
• We need to follow the makers guidelines.
• And in this commandment we are clearly told that you should honour your parents;
• Because "this is right." It is God’s divine order.
(4). Colossians chapter 3 verse 20.
“Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.”
• Children have always had a problem obeying parents:
• Listen to these quotes:
Quote:
• “The children now love luxury;
• They show disrespect for elders and love chatter in the place of exercise.
• Children are tyrants, not the servants of their households.
• They no longer rise when their elders enter the room.
• They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table,
• Cross their legs and tyrannise their teachers.”
(Socrates, 469—399 BC)
Quote:
“I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today,
• For certainly all youth are reckless beyond words .
• When I was young we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders,
• But the present youth are exceedingly impatient of restraint.”
(Hesiod, Greek poet, eighth-century BC)
• Wherever you go in history you will find that;
• Children have always had a problem obeying parents:
Quote:
“Few things in life give us as much pleasure in life as our families,
Few things in life give us as much pain in life as our families!”
• Read any teenage magazine;
• And you will see story after story of problems with parents;
• Listen into conversations between parents;
• And you will sense the worry and fear of their children becoming wayward.
Notice:
• Again the commandment and the reason for obeying:
• “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.”
That expression “For this pleases the Lord.”
• Is the key to every area of life;
• And not just happy families!
Ill:
• Naturally we do not please God;
• Sinners by nature and sinners by practice.
• Naturally we do not please God because we do not seek after him!
• Ill: Prodigal son or a sheep that has wandered!
• Naturally we do not please God;
• Because we are self-sufficient (ill: we do not need him!)
• Naturally we do not please God;
• Because if our conscience is awakened we are still self-sufficient (ill: what must I do!)
That expression “For this pleases the Lord.”
• Is the key to every area of life;
• And not just happy families!
Ill:
• You don’t become a Christian to please me (though I would be pleased).
• You don’t get baptised to please me or your family (you do it to please him!)
• You don’t become a member of this Church to please the other members.
• You don’t live a holy life to please the Church leaders (you do it to please him!)
• Whatever you do as a Christian,
• First and foremost you do it to please him!
• That’s the whole point:
• Our love for Him is our response to His love for us.
Ill:
Commandments in two parts.
• Numbers: 1-4: Love for God.
• Numbers 5-10: Love for others.
