Intro
Open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20 today as we continue our Summer Series entitled “Love God , Love your Neighbor” We are examining the 10 Commandments—God’s moral law—while focusing on Jesus is summary of the commandments found in the New Testament Gospels. The commandments teach us about God identity.
They also serve guide us, to correct us, to protect us and most importantly, point us to our need for a Savior.
God sent Jesus to fulfill the law by keeping it perfectly for us. And His life and words help us bring more clarity to God’s commands. It is through the biblical record of Jesus’ life we see the truest meaning and depth of God’s commands. Jesus summarized the commandments when He was asked this question.
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:36-39)
Jesus teaches us here that the 10 commandments are easily understood as “Love God” and “Love Your Neighbor." So we have taken the first four commands and focus them on our love and worship to God
and then we take commandments 5-10 and focus them on our mission. We will aim at mission attributes, rather than commands for us not to sin. Since Jesus teaches us that these are about loving others, and not just internal struggles against sin. This will allow us to teach us how to love others for the sake of the gospel.
Today we come to the 5th commandment. In a sermon is entitled: Mission: Starts with Family
If you're able we stand as we open up God's word today? I pray that you will hear the word of the Lord.
Exodus 20 verse 1-12
READ FROM THE BIBLE
And God spoke all these words, saying,
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. (Exodus 20:1-12)
PRAY
The big truth is: One reason Jesus is our perfect Savior is because he was a perfect child.
Mission begins in the home. Gods plan for preserving the family calls for keeping the fifth amendment:
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. (Exodus 20:12 ESV)
When God gave Moses the law he wrote it down on two tablets. The first tablet of the law consist of the four commandments that govern our response to God. The second tablet consist of the six commandments that govern the way we are to treat one another. God’s moral law shows us our human relationships cannot be separated from our relationship to God, but there is a distinction and they have this unique order. Our love for God comes first. So God gives us the first four commandments teaching us to love Him above all other relationships. While the last 6 command us to love our neighbor. In teaching us how to treat one another, God starts with our families. For God to place the family in the top of the “Love your neighbor” list shows just how important it is to Him. Loving our neighbor starts in the home. The family is been under attack since the garden. It is no coincidence that Satan waited until Adam had a wife before he slithered on scene.
FATHER AND MOTHER
First thing we were to do in this command is to honor our father and mother. The word honor here is the Hebrew word for “heavy” or “weighty”. It is the word the Old Testament uses for the glory of God, for the weightiness of His divine majesty. It speaks of the seriousness of the position. The roll of father and mother has been blown apart by sin and selfishness. The weightiness of these positions has been all but lost in our culture. I thank God for the good examples of godly fathers today. It is a testimony to the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. But for some of you the thought of honoring your father and mother makes your stomach turn. One way you can honor your parents is by first honoring your heavenly Father by forgiving them. That sounds impossible to some that have been hurt deeply by your parents and the bitterness you feel is keeping you from ever forgive that person. But if thats you, I want to caution you because forgiveness is less about them and more about what God wants to do in you. Bitterness keeps us from experiencing the fulness of God’s grace. Christian author Joanna Weaver said;
“Bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”? Joanna Weaver
Forgiveness is the anti-venom for bitterness. Forgiveness is God’s way of healing and cleansing you of the effects of sin and hurt caused by others. Jesus speaks of sin as slavery;
“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:34-36)
Forgiveness is the grace that God gives us to release from that person who sinned against us and placing into the God’s hands. It is in God’s hands here they will either by justified by faith in Christ through the forgiveness of sin or judged accordingly for all they have done. When we fail to forgive it keeps us connected to our past. God does not erase our past but it is through forgiveness that God redeems our past and blesses our future. Through forgiveness God releases us of the hope that our past can be any different and this forgiveness becomes the vehicle that God uses to take us into a future that can be transformed by the grace of God. Modeling forgiveness is so important because there are no perfect parents. And this will teach our children that there is Grace for their mistakes.
There is also a call to live a righteous life. One of faith in the grace and mercy of God. One of repentance and Spirit empowered obedience. A life that brings glory to God and good to our families.
Mission begins at home. If we want to see change in the way children honor their parents it begins with a radical shift in the hearts of our parents. An honorable parent understands that their first mission begins in the home with their children. We are to pray for and with our children. We are to encourage them, counsel them, protect them, discipline them and provide for their daily needs.We are called to set an example of what it means to live our whole lives for Jesus. Not just part of our lives, but our whole lives. I have known brothers and sisters that come to church just for the sake of the kids and once the kids are raised up there gone.
Modeling for your children what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ doesn't stop when your kids turn 18.
We have to model that what it means to honor our Heavenly Father with our whole lives.Teaching our kids the principles and scripture of what it really truly means to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. As well as love our neighbor as yourself. The book that I'm reading called Written In Stone by Philip Ryken. Speaking of the godly example we are to lead for children he said this.
“We are called to set a godly example, for although children don't always listen to their parents, they never fail to imitate them.” Philip Ryken
The apple does not fall too far from the tree. I had the opportunity to be a prayer partner for summer day camp and my prayer partner is a chip off the old block. He walks like his dad, talks like his dad and even shakes a man's hand like his dad. It is the parents responsibility to model what it means to be a follower of Christ, a husband and wife, parent, coworker, and a friend. Children will learn from us what means to be a man or woman. What we teach our children and how we live our life should not contradict one another.
As much as we love children in this church, the primary responsibility belongs to the parents. This is why we pray so much for God to call the parents and families to this church. We want to see families to be part of our family. Joining us in community where we can come alongside one another. Getting to know our Heavenly Father, who through Jesus, forgives all of our mistakes. Not only as parents but every mistake we have made.
As a community we press into God’s word together and embrace the cleansing power of the gospel. This is where by His Spirit He washes us clean. Cleansing and healing from from the pain and hurt from our past.
And then calls us and empowers us to live a life of righteousness that is worthy of honor. God wants to redeem our families to be the first place to find love, the first place to find forgiveness and the first place to see lives transformed by the gospel. Our homes are to be the first hospital, the first school, the first government, and the first church. And when a child honors and respects love and authority at home, they are likely to respect authority everywhere else. Proverbs 22 says;
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)
CHILDREN
What about the kids. What is their responsibility here. Like I knew this verse is coming up so I totally brought all my kids here. You're right the fifth Amendment is for young children. God wants young boys and girls to speak respectfully to their parents and to have good manners. He wants them to obey their parents all the time, doing everything they asked with a good attitude. The fifth commandment is for teenagers. Many high school students are amazed at how out of touch the parents are—how little they know about life. Not all, but most parents deserve more credit than that and but even they don't you still need to parents. Honoring father and mother means speaking well of them to friends. Honoring your parents means listening to what they have to say, including the warnings about spending time with the wrong friends, or experimenting with things that can cause permanent physical and spiritual damage.
It also means talking to parents letting them know what's happening in your life. There is this one would be possible when your home is a safe place to make a mistake. This commitment is for young adults. At some point in their 20's young adults will realize that their parents are gifts from God. Young adults have to make major decisions about their education, career, and even marriage. If you're young adult you can honor your father and mother by seeking their counsel. Ultimately these decisions are yours to make it because you're an adult but it is wise to get whatever help and blessing your parents can offer you. If you don't have a godly parents that look toward the church and find yourself a godly father and mother figure where you can find good counsel. After all this is your spiritual family and this is one of the responsibilities of the church. The fifth commandment remains even after you've grown up and on your own. Honoring your father and mother means giving them a certain precedents in your life, by making them a priority. It means loving them and appreciating them. That means caring for them to the very end of their lives.
THE PERFECT CHILD
Impossible for us to honor our parents completely. Like the rest of God's law, the fifth commandment reminds us that it is impossible to keep it perfectly. We have broken up and no one is a perfect child. The only perfect child was Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross, he paid the penalty for our breaking the fifth commandment as much as for any other sin. But Jesus has done more than that: He is also kept the fifth commandment on our behalf. It was not enough for Jesus to pay the price for our sin; he also had to offer God the obedience that his law demands. And Jesus did that. He honored his earthly parents. Young of Joseph and Mary we read in Luke
And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. (Luke 2:51)
Only time the relationship was strained is when Jesus stayed behind to the temple. He kept preaching instead of stopping to visit his family. But even then he kept the fifth commandment by honoring his higher commitment to his Father in heaven over his earthly parents. Jesus honored his earthly parents right to the very end of his life.
In his dying moments he asked his friend John to take care of his mother.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. (John 19:26-27)
Jesus was the perfect child who honored his earthly parents and his heavenly father. He is the perfect child that God demands that we should be. Everyone who trust in Jesus has offered perfect obedience to the fifth commandment, because when Jesus of bases parents, he was keeping God's law on our behalf. The good news of Jesus Christ is that God does not except us on the basis of what we have done but on the basis of what Jesus is done.
Jesus is faithful and he kept the fifth commandment. When God looks down and sees those of place the faith in Jesus he does not see all the times we have dishonored need to submit our parents rather he sees what Jesus did when he obeyed his parents perfectly. This true is what supports the Big Truth for today. This is one of the reasons why He is the perfect Savior because he was the perfect child.
PRAY
