TEN - Fifth Word
Notes
Transcript
Welcome and Announcements
Welcome and Announcements
Good Morning and Welcome to our Family Worship here at Eastern Hills Baptist Church.
I’m Joe Vivian, the Children’s and Families Pastor here at EHBC. Our Senior Pastor Bill Connors and his family are on a family vacation for the next two weeks. This was a planned vacation last summer…but we all know how all of our plans went last summer. So let’s continue as a church family to lift them up in prayer as they enjoy a time of rest and recharge.
With that being said, I have the honor and privilege of sharing with you the next two Sundays as we continue in our studies of the TEN Words.
I do have three announcements to share with you today.
Miguel
It is with a heavy heart, but a celebration of his life that I need to share with all of you that this past Wednesday morning, the 14th of July. our Brother Miguel Maestas entered into His Savior’s Arms. His funeral is this Tuesday the 20th at 3pm. Miguel was 83 and had kidney disease and had decided to take himself off of the transplant list because he didn't want to take a kidney of someone who might have a longer life. What a beautiful heart to serve, even in his last days. Miguel had been a member of eastern hills since 2011. Coming from Fort worth, Texas. Please join us this Tuesday at 3pm to celebrate his beautiful life.
WHDR
World Hunger/Disaster Relief Offering this month. We take it throughout the month of July, and our goal is $5,500.
As of this morning, we are at $4,406.
I am always blessed by the way our church family sees the needs of those in our community, our state, nation and world. Thank you for your heart to give and support this offering.
Business Meeting
Final announcement for me: Tonight is our bi-monthly business meeting, here in the Sanctuary at 5:30 pm. We need to have 50 members to make a quorum and officially conduct business according to our by-laws. And this is one of the blessings of being a congregationally governed church: you get to be a part of the decision-making process of the church family. Please make plans to be here to make sure we can do what needs to be done. If we don’t have a quorum, we will have business meeting next Sunday immediately following service. As Pastor Bill would say, “It’s not a threat…but it is.” So please join us tonight at 5:30. Thanks!
Intro to Message
Intro to Message
So this past Thursday morning a Thunderstorm rolled through our neighborhood around 3:30am. See, I think that weather is pretty spectacular and to witness the lightning and thunder that morning was so spectacular. It finished and rolled out by 5am so that by the time I went out for my walk at 6, the skies were clear and blue. No clouds at all.
However, there was evidence of the storm. Golden Gate, the street near ours that runs East/West showed evidence of the heavy storm: water still running down the gutters and debris washed up in the driveways. Even though the skies were clear, there was still clear evidence of how heavy and powerful the storm was that rolled through just about an hour before.
Evidence is the key. What evidence do you display about how much you love Jesus Christ? Think about that.
With all of that said, we come to our fifth message in our series on the Ten Commandments, what the Hebrew people call the “Ten Words.” We’ve considered the first through fourth commandments, and last week gave some thought to how we might truly begin to apply the Fourth Word, that the Sabbath is a day of rest, a day of refreshing, a day of spiritual renewal. But that rest is only for God’s people. Those who belong to God through faith in Christ. This morning, we come to the Fifth Commandment, the Word on Honoring our Father and Mother. Let’s stand in honor of God’s Word as we read this together:
Read Exodus 20:12
12 Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Pray
Pray
Let’s do a mini recap of the last 4 weeks together…
Remember, The Ten Commandments are the standard that God has given as an expression of his unchangeable moral law. They are a marker for those who are ‘striving to perfect holiness out of reverence for Christ’ (2 Corinthians 7:1).
1 So then, dear friends, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from every impurity of the flesh and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
The first three Commandments are concerned with our relationship with God, because this relationship is absolutely essential. Society almost totally ignores this and focuses instead upon inter-personal relationships; it is thought that if only men and women could live in harmony, choosing peace above hatred, then societies could do the same, and if societies could, then nations could also.
The logic is kinda sorta sound, but the theology is extremely flawed.
All the problems on earth stem from the original breakdown in mankind’s relationship with God. Therefore, the first three Commandments are concerned with our relationship with God. They state the Creator’s priority. God must come first.
I personally see the fourth Commandment as the beginning of a transition, a bridge or better yet…an escalator: it moves us from our relationship with God to our relationship with one another.
Yes, I know, it is primarily concerned for our relationship with God himself, however, the Forth Word directs us so that we are sure that our relationships with others are right as well, seeking His love and seeking Him First.
So, let’s ask this question… “Why is this Commandment Next?”
If we were asked to unscramble the Ten Commandments and put them in some kind of order I have confidence that most of us would get the first four right. But where would we go after the fourth commandment? Which one would follow? I personally think some would go for the command: ‘You shall not murder’ because it is so fundamental.
Maybe, others would give a high priority to ‘You shall not commit adultery’.
That surely is an attack upon the very first relationship God created when he made the world—the relationship between a husband and a wife.
The fifth Commandment is probably not where most would place it, but it does happen to be where God put it—and that is at least intriguing, if not instructive for each and every one of us. If God considered it ought to be the first check upon human relationships, then that must surely reveal something of God’s ordering of society. Here is a relationship that in God’s sight is so vital that he lists it before the relationship of a husband and wife and even before the sin of murder. But why?
Ya know why…because Everyone is a part of a Family.
We may not live with our family, or like it or even know it, but we were born as part of it.
We may not have a wife or a husband or children, but we all have parents, whether they are still alive or not.
There are no exceptions to this and there never has been, not even the Son of God avoided this. The relationship of child to parent is the one relationship—and the only one—that is true of us all.
However brief or bad the relationship, it is a universal condition.
No matter what we all have parents.
So, the child-parent relationship is the only factor common to everyone in society and to every society in human history.
Think on this…A marriage can exist without children, and children can exist without a marriage, but we all have to have a mother and a father to exist at all!
In the light of the uncertainty as to when Christ will come again we cannot even claim that we will all die, so there is nothing else that is true of everyone without exception.
My first focus is this...
The Foundation of Honor in the Family
The Foundation of Honor in the Family
Everyone is a part of a Family
We need to also understand that obedience to our parents applies to three generations at the same time.
Obedience to parents is much wider in scope because it always affects at least three generations: grandparents, parents and children.
In Bible times it could be many more.
In the Old Testament there could be four or five generations alive at the same time.
This is therefore the largest and the longest human relationship.
The husband/wife relationship is broken by death after half a century or a little more at the most.
But even when one parent/child relationship is broken by death there is usually an ongoing relationship through the next generation of children and grandchildren.
In the Hebrew of the Old Testament there is no word for grandchildren, grandson, granddaughter, grandparents, grandfather or grandmother.
For this reason the words ‘father’ and ‘mother’ can refer back a long way.
2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.
In 2 Chronicles 29:2 we are told that Hezekiah ‘Did what was right in the eyes of the LORD just as his father David had done.’
In fact Hezekiah was fourteen generations down the line from David.
And we can’t forget that the Family is a child’s first encounter with Authority.
Something I found out while studying for this message is that If young elephants are too quickly removed from their parents, that they do not have a role-model in their adults, they will become violent as they grow up and develop; the older elephants will teach they young discipline and the rule of authority.
Interesting that even as I share that it is the same in the family unit of our own.
The parents are jointly the head of the children
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right.
2 Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise,
3 so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land.
It is in the home that God expects basic Christian and moral teaching to be given (Deuteronomy 6:4–9 and 2 Timothy 3:14–15).
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you,
15 and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
When we are born, we enter a world of authority and our first introduction to it is our parents.
Disobedience in the home leads to a despising of authority in all its forms, and obedience in the home leads to respect for old age, respect for civil authority, and respect for Christian leadership.
The encounter of the child with the authority, or lack of it, in the home, leaves a permanent impression.
God wants to teach the need for authority and submission to authority and he does so in the home through parents.
So now, hopefully we see why this commandment. Why it is where it is.
We are all a part of a Family
Applies to Obedience and Authority
This now leads to my next focus and the driving point of it all…
The Honor Given to Parents
The Honor Given to Parents
What does it mean to Honor your Father and Mother?
Honor means to Value or Respect
Honor means to Value or Respect
In the Hebrew, the word Honor in verse 12 means “Heavy or Weighted”
Kabad or Kabed
It was understood that when you honored something or someone, it was weighted heavily and held as valuable. There was a respect that came with that honor displayed.
As you can see, there is nothing complicated about the word. The reference in verse 12 is to our natural parents or the guardian who stands in the place of our natural parents.
Parents are to be given respect. God does not make any distinction.
He does not say, ‘Honor your father and mother if they deserve it.’ God intends us to honor our parents because they are our parents. Even if their life cannot be copied, they are to be honored.
I want to push pause right here and address a sensitive issue. Child abuse by a parent. I’m speaking of emotional, physical, psychological, and sexual abuse. As well as abandonment, neglect too. I know many adult children right now may be tuning me out at this very point. Please don’t.
Listen to what I need to share with each of you this morning.
The very thought of placing value and respect towards either your father or mother or both seems so painful as well as cruel to your heart right now.
Let me share with you now.
I now of a young lady who was sexually abused for many years as a child by her uncle. Her parents were divorced. A fractured family. She was certain that her mother knew about the abuse but chose to ignore it and allow it to continue.
She grew up distant from her mother and married young. She had children of her own and those children had children. However, early in her marriage she surrendered herself to Christ. She gave her pain over to Him. Jesus took her ashes and in return gave her a crown of glory.
1 The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners;
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance; to comfort all who mourn,
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the Lord to glorify him.
She forgave her mother through Christ and Christ alone. She would tell you that if she had to do it without Him, she never would have. She would have allowed the bitterness and anger to overwhelm her.
They never fully and completely reconciled, but forgiveness was given and Christ freed this young lady from pain and allowed her soul to heal and thus Honor was given to her mother.
This young lady chose to honor her mother even though her mother’s life will not be copied.
I share this right now because those of you listening that have been so deeply wounded by a parent have an amazing and loving Savior that wants to take that pain, rage, bitterness from you today.
28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
This is never how God intended a family to be. His hearts breaks along with yours.
18 The Lord is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit.
God knows and understands. He cares and is near to you as you begin to heal.
10 Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.
You can’t do it alone, you need Christ.
This is the Good News for all of us.
Quite possibly all of us need to pause and ask for forgiveness and the same time give forgiveness.
Friends, it is in the home, and particularly in obedience to the fifth Commandment, that the value of all human life is learnt from the earliest age. The evidence of those who apply this commandment or ignore it for selfish reasons is evident.
The home where parents are dishonored without discipline, and where aging grandparents are ridiculed by two generations, is so unlikely to correct disparaging remarks about someone’s skin color, race, religion, occupation, or their mental or physical disability. Evidence will be made clear.
Long before a child thinks about murder, contemplates the passing pleasure of adultery, understands the apparent advantage of stealing, learns to lie or yearns for the possessions of others, it struggles to break free from parental discipline.
That is always the first relationship to be trampled upon and therefore the first one that a child must learn to value. From this Commandment flows an attitude to a thousand people. The evidence of Value and Respect is clear.
Next, Honor means obedience-
Next, Honor means obedience-
Honoring our parents will mean that we will listen to what they have to say.
All wisdom is not locked up with grey hair, but there is a wisdom gained by age and experience that is not to be despised.
Most young children think they know better than their parents and every teenager is sure that their parents are so out of touch with reality that they have nothing to teach a younger generation.
This was doubtless the same in the Old Testament times too.
Nothing has changed.
The older generation never thinks the younger generation is as good as they themselves were when they were young, and the younger generation has always dismissed the older generation as not being ‘switched on’ to reality.
However, the biblical proverb has a wise word:
8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching,
9 for they will be a garland of favor on your head and pendants around your neck.
Listening is honoring.
We do not have to accept everything, believe everything or follow everything, but to listen and respect is a significant way of honoring our parents.
The attitude of despising parental advice just because it is parental is sinful. There should be a respect for the views of an older generation even if we disagree with those views; but especially so of the views of parents who model their lives on Scripture.
In Ephesians 6:1 (and similarly in Colossians 3:20) Paul takes up this commandment and applies it to the family relationship:
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right.
The phrase ‘in the Lord’ has opened some discussion.
When writing this, Paul most likely has in mind Christian children; after all, he would not expect to have access through his letters to many non-Christian children.
So, the phrase ‘in the Lord’ does not refer to the parents, but to the manner in which Christian children should be obedient to their parents.
Whether or not the parents are Christians themselves, the Christian child should obey as one who is ‘in the Lord’.
Paul adds, ‘for this is right’—it is both naturally and spiritually right.
To the Colossians he goes even further and presses home obedience with the words ‘in everything’.
20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
We are left with very few arguments that will enable us to avoid the mounting pressure of Paul’s insistence in those two passages.
A significant sign of the degeneration of an age drawing close to the coming of Christ is the breakdown of relationships at this very level.
Follow with me…In Matthew 10:21 Jesus is talking about the end of the age when he says that one of the signs is that ‘children will rebel against parents.’
Paul has the same to say in 2 Timothy 3:1–2 where he warns,
1 But know this: Hard times will come in the last days.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
Such things will get worse and worse as the time of Christ’s return draws nearer.
In Romans 1:30 disobedience to parents is included in a list of the typical sins of the ‘depraved mind’ of those who reject God (v 28).
28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right.
29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
All this is in marked contrast to the example of Christ himself who set us that perfect pattern of obedience:
51 Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother kept all these things in her heart.
‘He went down to Nazareth with his parents and was obedient to them’
That brief statement summarizes the larger part of Jesus’ life.
What we do know about his childhood is significant. It is as if God is saying, ‘Do you want to summarize my son’s youth?
Then here it is, “He went down to Nazareth with his parents and was obedient to them.” ’
That is all God tells us, but it tells us all and the evidence is clear.
So, again, my emphasis right now on obedience to parents may present a problem.
Some children, adult children too, may respond, ‘It’s all very well talking like that but you don’t know my parents.’ Again, we must address the parents who are godless and hate the word of God and force a child to do things that are contrary to God’s law? The response to that is straightforward: there is a principle that the highest law rules. It comes from Pastor Bill’s opening message in this series.
28 One of the scribes approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which command is the most important of all?”
29 Jesus answered, “The most important is Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
31 The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.”
Our obedience to God is paramount and primary above all else.
Let me state it again, if you are being abused in any form by your parents, please seek help immediately. You are loved and fearfully made. You are not a mistake and God weeps with you during those times.
Now, let me place a “SubNote” right here.
If obedience is part of the implication of the fifth Commandment, then a natural conclusion must be the right of parents to discipline.
Discipline should be expressed in the spirit of encouraging, comforting and exhorting
again, encouraging, comforting and exhorting.
with the goal of bringing up children in ‘the training and instruction of the Lord’,
11 As you know, like a father with his own children,
12 we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to walk worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
without ‘exasperating them’
4 Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
However, discipline there must be. The book of Proverbs lays significant stress upon the
18 Discipline your son while there is hope; don’t set your heart on being the cause of his death.
If the fifth Commandment is to be applied, parents must have the freedom to exercise discipline that is both ‘moderate and reasonable’
Let me express that again, it’s not abuse I’m speaking of. It’s discipling your child and exercising that discipline in a moderate and reasonable manner that is appropriate for the cause of the moment.
And finally,
Honor Given to Parents:
To Value and Respect Them
For Obedience Towards Them
Honor is also given to our parents by the way we take care of them.
Honor is also given to our parents by the way we take care of them.
In this point, there are two verses in the New Testament that require balancing.
The first is
14 Look, I am ready to come to you this third time. I will not burden you, since I am not seeking what is yours, but you. For children ought not save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
That is a reference to the care of children while they are the responsibility of the parents.
The parents have a duty to provide for them; it is a plain statement of parental responsibility.
The other verse is 1 Timothy 5:4,
4 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn to practice godliness toward their own family first and to repay their parents, for this pleases God.
(note that, unlike the Old Testament Hebrew in which the Commandments were written, New Testament Greek has words for grandparents and grandchildren)
The pattern is therefore clear.
Parents have a divine obligation to care for their children, but as the children grow up, slowly the roles begin to reverse: as the parents grow older and more frail, it is the children who have a responsibility to care for the parents.
These two things are part of God’s plan for society and it is equally sinful to overlook the one or the other.
When we are young we have a duty to value and honor our parents, not just because they care for us and provide for us, but because they are our parents.
When they are growing older and weaker, and when Dementia and Alzheimer’s has begun to write itself in their closing years, then honor is even more significant.
Honor for our father and mother is a commitment because of their value as people made in the image of God.
Care for our elderly parents is not repayment for past favors but a response to the Commandment of the God who will have us remember the value of those he had made. And this care expresses the value not only of the cared-for, but of the carers themselves.
Honor Given to Parents:
To Value and Respect Them
For Obedience Towards Them
To Care for Them
But let’s not forget
The Honor Reflected to our Children
The Honor Reflected to our Children
I’m now going to speak to our parents. We have spent the morning discussing honor, the evidence of Honor that is given to our parents; however, I would be amiss if we did not address what honor is being reflected by the parents to instruct the children.
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.
32 Give no offense to Jews or Greeks or the church of God,
33 just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.
1 Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.
Imitate me as I imitate Christ. That word in Greek, Imitate, means an exact replica. I see a parent standing in front of a mirror. Every movement, every gesture and action being reflected perfectly and in synchronicity.
Here’s the challenge parents, whether your children are young, or teenagers, or adults. That does not matter, they are your children.
What are they “Imitating” from you?
Imitate me as I imitate Gossiping
Imitate me as I imitate Anger
Imitate me as I imitate Apathy
Imitate me as I imitate Neglect of Family
Imitate me as I imitate Fear
Imitate me as I imitate Selfishness
Or can you really say that you own 1 Cor 11:1
Imitate me as I imitate Christ to you
Imitate me as I imitate Christ to you
Friends, as I prepared this message, God spoke clearly to me that I too will reflect to my children and grandchildren something that is not Christ and I too must stop, ask for forgiveness, and reset my heart.
Their actions and response to my actions gave me clear evidence.
Again, what are you reflecting towards your children to “Imitate.”
Some of the strongest words protecting children by Christ on record are found in Matthew 18
2 He called a small child and had him stand among them.
3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child—this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 And whoever welcomes one child like this in my name welcomes me.
6 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea.
In response to a question about priority positions in heaven, our Lord had a little child stand by him and proceeded to give his disciples a lesson on humility. But he went far beyond this.
Christ used the opportunity to encourage those who care for their children: ‘And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.’ (v 5).
To welcome a child is to treat it with dignity, respect and care; and this surely involves caring for its spiritual as well as its physical, mental and social life.
However, it is what Christ went on to say that carries the greatest challenge: ‘If anyone causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.’
We feed our children with an abundance of food, clothe them with the best and latest styles and provide them with the education needed for them to succeed, but their souls are starved, their emotions are hurt and their minds are filled with violence.
Hear me clearly, Our children are neither cared for nor disciplined if we have kept them in ignorance of their Creator and the love of His Son.
When we allow our children to choose to sin, to walk away from Christ because we are too caught up in our own selves, our own agenda, we no longer are revealing the evidence for them of Honor, of Value, of Respect.
Again, what are you “Imitating” towards your Children?
I can’t leave this point until I speak to the Prodigal Child’s Parents.
The pain of the child who chooses to be irresponsible and reckless with their life is not a direct reflection to you, the parent who does live out 1 Cor 11:1.
It is their choice and their decision.
In family counseling, Kerry and I share what we call the “The Adam and Eve Principle” which goes like this- No matter how good a parent you are, your child is still capable on any given day of doing something despicable, disgusting, or depraved.
What you are called to do is just what I shared at the beginning:
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
31 The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.”
Love God FIRST!
Lean into Him and trust Him to care for your child and allow God to work in that child’s life.
Gary Thomas wrote this from his book Sacred Parenting.
“If our kids never hurt; if they never sin but are only ‘sick’; if they never ‘fail’ but just get ‘cheated’ by an unfair coach, teacher, principal, and so on-they will never sense their need for a Savior. They will always take Adam’s lame approach, blaming someone else for their own spiritual failing.”
Parent’s it’s ok to let your children fail. If you are there to always bail them out and deliver comfort for their continual poor choices, then you are inhibiting their sense of need for a Savior.
Pray for them, cry out to God for them, but allow them to take responsibility for their choices and behavior.
The Attached Promise of Honor
The Attached Promise of Honor
I would be amiss if we didn’t address the Promise attached to Honor.
Exodus 20:12
This is the only Commandment with a promise: ‘So that you may live long in the land.’
When this law is repeated in Deuteronomy 5:16 a phrase is added, ‘And that it may go well with you in the land.’
It is one of the many general promises in Scripture.
It is not a guarantee of certain old age for the obedient child, but it is a promise of God’s blessing for your child.
There are similar promises in Proverbs
8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching,
9 for they will be a garland of favor on your head and pendants around your neck.
20 My son, keep your father’s command, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.
21 Always bind them to your heart; tie them around your neck.
22 When you walk here and there, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake up, they will talk to you.
Friends, this promise here is the completion of the Bridge, the Escalator I spoke of that I see in the Forth Word, Sabbath Rest. We now witness the Promise in the the Fifth Word that moves us from our relationship to God to our relationship with others.
When we can truly own and apply the 5th Commandment to honor our Father and Mother, the value of God in our lives and the value He places on all Human life, we will live out this promise.
16 Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and so that you may prosper in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Only the parent who is utterly irresponsible would want their children to not apply the lesson I just shared. If parents give advice, their wisdom may save a child from financial disaster, physical injury, social failure, moral sin—and hell.
As well as children that treat their parents with respect they are due, and worthy of, will be blessed of the Lord.
Closing
Closing
So now that I’ve shared the “evidence” of Exodus 20:12, I have some closing questions:
Children, what honor are you giving your parents? Do you present to them the respect they deserve? Is there weight behind the value you feel for them?
Parents, how are you reflecting honor to your children? Can them imitate Christ from your words, actions and deeds?
Friends, listen closely, God’s Fifth Word-Honor your Father and Mother is a command, not a suggestion. That love, respect, care, obedience and attitude that you hold as valuable towards your parents is only as strong as your relationship with Christ.
To those of you who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ and you’ve listened this morning and the idea of showing respect and honor towards a parent who has caused you pain seems foolish. Stop where you are and give this to Jesus.
Surrender your life this morning to Him. Give him your ashes of anger and bitterness and He will give you a crown of glory. Allow Jesus to heal your wounds and speak life back into your relationship with your parents.
You can come up here and we’ll be here to pray with you. Kerry and Pastor Trevor and I are here to pray with you.
His word is clear, when you surrender your life, you become new and the old will pass away. Surrender today.
If this is you this morning online, we want to be able to help you as you begin this spiritual journey with Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Please shoot me an email at joe@ehbc.org
And for those who have a personal relationship with Christ, how is your reflection of Christ to your Parents? To your Children?
You can do business with God right where you are sitting this morning. It may be time to ask for forgiveness from God because of a selfish and embittered heart towards your parents. Now’s the time to lean into Christ.
Again, Kerry, Pastor Trevor and I are here to pray with you as well. The steps are also open to come and pray.
While the band comes down right now for invitation and Kerry and Pastor Trevor I want to also say that our Christian life was not meant to be lived out as a solo endeavor. We’re meant to be in a community of believers who are walking the journey with us. And let me take a moment to say that this is such an exciting church to be a part of, and I’m seeing God at work all around us in lots of different ways. If you believe that Eastern Hills is a church family where you can connect, grow, and serve with other believers, then this morning, during our invitation, come down and talk with me or Pastor Trevor, or if you live in the Albuquerque area, shoot me an email. joe@ehbc.org
Let’s pray.