Oh, this is a fun day. I think that God has done some tremendous things for us today as a body, as we get ready to I think move ahead and forward with some incredible ministry endeavors. I was so encouraged by listening to David Booth talk about the children, listening to Janae talk about the women, listening to Ron talk about the men's ministries, and how they've been faithful during this time to continue to serve our body well, and I am so grateful for them. Something else that I'm really, really really, really grateful about. This coming Wednesday, my wife, my eldest daughter, and Ari will be here. It's been too long. Oh my gosh. Just all of us together in one house. Wow. It's going to be amazing. So today, We are continuing our series on family issues. Wisdom for impacting the world through Christ-centered living. David started the series, Jonathan took up right after him, and then I've been here last week, and today is gonna be the final message in this series. And next week, we're gonna start completing the series in Galatians. Hopefully you guys received the notes for this message. I did send them pretty late last night. I do apologize for that. I forgot until I started reading the sermon going over like, oops. So I stopped and emailed you. That's why it was so late. But I'm glad that many of you got it. And so if you have your Bibles with you, I invite you to stand with me to the book of Colossians. And we're going to go to the third chapter and look at just one verse this morning. Colossians chapter three, verse 20. So Colossians three, verse 20. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank you for the opportunity to hear from you, from your word. And I pray that you give us clarity of thought and of speech, that we can really understand your truth and be able to apply it to our lives so that we might live a life to impact this world through Christ-centered living. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. So the title of this message is, Obedient Children Please the Lord. Obedient Children Please the Lord. And the key point of this message, the preeminence of Jesus is learned and honored by children when they obey their parents in everything. for a structure are points. Pretty simple right out of this verse. Children are expected to obey. Second point is children are expected to obey their parents. And then the third is children are expected to obey their parents in order to please Jesus. There's a question. Why should you listen to this message? Well, by way of illustration, when I was growing up, I used to watch reruns of this really incredible show that only lasted amazingly for a couple of seasons. That show was Lost in Space. Now, perhaps you guys realize this, in that show, there's only one episode that a phrase was said, but it's like still alive today. Perhaps you remember it. Danger Will Robinson, right? Yeah, and then robots going crazy, right? He only said it in one episode, out of two seasons, one episode, and that phrase still lives with us. What he was doing is he was warning little Will, hey, There's something coming up. There's an imminent danger. Pay attention. It's a warning. And I think that is just like if you don't pay attention to what the Bible is saying or what we don't pay attention to what the Bible is saying, I think about parent and child relationships. You see, if we ignore the warning of this particular passage here, we're inviting trouble. We're inviting trouble into our households. Also, I think it would be a travesty. I think it would be unfaithful to this text if we only focused about children. You see, it's very clear here in the passage. And I think Paul was very clear in saying that he's talking directly to children. But the verse is not only about children. You see, there's three personal beings that are addressed here in this verse. We have to speak to them just like Paul does. It's children, it's parents, and it's the Lord. And I think the outline of this message, it does this very thing. You see, it has this progressive nature, just like Colossians 3.20. It starts off with children are expected to obey. They're expected to obey their parents. And they do this in order to please the Lord. We see it right there at the very beginning of this verse. Children obey. Children are expected to obey. Paul is talking directly to children. Now in reality, regardless of our age, regardless of our station in life, we all are somebody's child. So a natural question is, Paul, who exactly are you talking to here? Is Paul talking to all children? Is he talking to little children in the home? Is he talking to older children who are still minors? Is he talking to adult children who still live in their parents' home? Is he talking to adult children who have moved out of their parents' home? Is he talking about one's offspring regardless of where they are? Is he talking to offspring whose parents or parents abandon them and then they suddenly show up again? Is the apostle speaking to foster kids? Is he talking to adopted children who have the full rights of one's biological children? Who exactly is Paul talking to? Well, as these questions filled my mind, you guys, as I was studying this, I did the seemingly responsible thing. I started a word study on the word children. So here's some of the things that I did. I took the word Paul used for children in this verse and I wrote down its meaning from three reliable sources. The first source says that this word children is referring to a child. The second source is saying it's a child in relation to father and mother without reference to sex. And then the third source said it's just child or descendant. Next, I looked at other places in the Bible where Paul and other biblical authors used this word to see how these authors used it. So then I asked the question again, Paul, why did you choose this word for children rather than another word that's often used in the New Testament for children? So I took this other word and I wrote down the meaning of that word from the same sources. First source says, it's an infant, it's a child. Second source, it's a very young child, it's an infant. And then the third source agrees and says it's a child, an infant. I tell you guys, I was really having a good time. Had all my resources out, I'm reading them. I'm like, oh, this is great, this is great. I'm turning and looking at all this stuff. And then God reminded me of a book that I have in my library that D.A. Carson wrote called, Exegetical Fallacies. In it, Carson's concerned primarily with helping people rightly interpret a particular text. His focus is on exegesis, which says, this passage means such and such, rather than on hermeneutics, which says, this interpretive process is constituted by the following techniques and misunderstandings or pre-understandings. So to accomplish his goal, Carson explains four specific type of fallacies. And his first chapter is entitled, Word Study Fallacies. Now a fallacy, it's a mistaken belief, especially one based on unsound argument. Carson details 16 different word study fallacies. And in my exuberant exploration of the meaning of children, I was guilty of three of them. God used Carson to call me back to the heart of the matter, the restraining influence of context. So taking the good parts of my word study, subjecting it to the restraining influence of context, I answered the question of who exactly Paul is talking to. But before we get there. It's good, it's necessary to quickly remind ourselves of the context of chapter three, verse 20. Remember, Paul is talking about household codes in the context of living a lifestyle pleasing to God. He began his letter focusing in on the will of God through his personal life and on praying for the Colossians to live a life pleasing to the Lord, a life filled with the knowledge of God's will. Then Paul laid the theological foundation of the centrality of Jesus Christ in all of life and began to describe a lifestyle with Christ at the center in chapter two, verse six. And then as he begins to really flesh out this truth practically in chapter three, Paul comes to the Christian household. knowing that he's using standard Greco-Roman moral writing, the Colossian Christians understood Paul to be talking about minor children living in the home of their parents. This is who Paul is talking to directly here in chapter three, verse 20. Minor children living in the home of their parents are expected to obey. This is to be what they're known for, obedience, not defiance, not rebellion, not talking back, not arguing, obedience. Now let's be clear about what I'm not saying, that it's okay for non-minor kids living in the home of their parents not to obey. I got two of them in my house. It's not okay to say, you know what, hey, I'm an adult, I get to do my own thing. Not a problem, there's the front door. but thank God I don't have children like that. What happens is when you have adult children, it's a different relationship, right? Things change, and we're gonna talk about that just in a minute, but we have to understand that obedience is what children are known for. I think about how Toy and I raised our kids, and this past week I did something with one of them, and she's gonna remember when I say this, just to make sure that what we instilled in them was still there. So I asked a question. What are you supposed to be doing? Obey. When are you supposed to obey? Obey the first time. Remember that? Why? Because it's the right thing to do before God. That's what our kids were known for. They were known for being obedient kids. We taught them real young before they could talk. What are you supposed to do? Obey. We answered it for them when they were younger. He said, when are you supposed to beg? The first time. Why? Because it's the right thing to do before the Lord. Our kids, yeah, I know I'm about to brag on my kids, but it's okay, I've got the mic. Our kids were so obedient, people wanted to babysit them. They would ask us, can we babysit your kids? I'm like, why? Because they do what you tell them to do. It's what they were known for. I think of Kylan, you know, specifically, and I'm thinking about her chemistry teacher. Before we came up, I had to talk to her chemistry teacher. And as I was talking to the teacher, the teacher says, I wish I had all Kylans. I'm like, really, why? Because she does what she's told to do. I was like, wow. When we're not around, our kids obey. Being faithful to this particular verse, you guys, also recognizes that Paul didn't write this letter here thinking only about the Christians in Colossae. You know, because we know it's one of the four letters that he wrote during his first Roman imprisonment. Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon. So his expansion of this command in Ephesians chapter six, verses one through three, is fitting for this message as well. There he says, The expectation of obedience is not just right behavior though, nor is this expectation the realization of the goal of just having peace and quiet in the home. This expectation is a command from God. God commands this. In both Colossians and Ephesians, Paul gives the imperative, the command, children obey. Why? It's because we were created for obedience. Genesis 1, 26, 28. Then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. And God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, it's a command there, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And just in case they missed it, in Genesis chapter two, verses 15 through 17, the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, "'You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, "'but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, "'you shall not eat. "'For in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.'" Andrew Murray wrote this about this verse. Obedience to God's command, which was the virtue of paradise, included every good behavior God desires in his kingdom. It is the one condition of man's living there, the one thing his creator asks of him. And then Murray continues, Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from the tree of knowledge. Immediately they understood the difference between good and evil. They knew their sin would anger God, so they hid themselves. Yet God knew that they had disobeyed him. He could not tolerate disobedience in paradise, so he drove out the man. The Lord God sent him out of the garden. God said nothing directly about faith, humility, and love, because obedience includes all these things. God's demand for obedience is as supreme as His authority. Obedience is the one thing necessary in man's life. The expectation of obedience is clearly seen in creation and it's in Colossians and Ephesians. And so is the expectation of showing, giving honor. You guys know as Paul quotes the Old Testament there, honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with the promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Children are expected to be respectful both in heart and in action. Obedience and respectfulness are two sides of the same coin. They're inseparable. This is the mark of an adult child. They're respectful. They honor their parents regardless of their age. When I was a youth pastor, I used to tell the students there that they had an easy job. They only had two main requirements. Obey, give respect. What a job description, just two things, right? But here's the thing, obedience, honor. These things describe the way of life for humanity. But because of sin, creation got turned upside down where now the creation is worshiped rather than the creator. I think one of the saddest passages in the Bible describes this reality. It's a long one, so bear with me. It's Romans chapter one, verses 18 to 32. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, who was blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They were full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them. Again, I know that was a long passage, but did you catch the content of this message in that passage? Disobedient to parents? Being disobedient to parents is a mark that a child is not living according to how God created him or her. It's a mark that the disobedient child is thumbing his or her nose up at God. That's the saddest part of this truth. For being disobedient to parents is equal to being haters of God. It's right there in this list, describing those who worship the creation rather than the creator. In other words, this is sin. Disobedience to parents is sin. Paul goes on in the next couple of chapters in Romans to show how righteous God is to judge man's sinful condition before him. He shows that only through it in Jesus can we be saved from our sin. Only Jesus satisfies God's wrath toward us. Obedience, honor. These things describe the way of life for every single human being, but they also describe the life of every Christian as well. You see, when God saves us, He restores us in position to how He initially created us. He makes us a new creation. Second Corinthians 5.17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. The expectation that children obey is rooted in the fact that God created them to obey. And scripture's clear that this obedience is seen in a very specific way. Children, obey your parents in everything. The authority over the responsibility for children is given by God to parents. It's inerrant because we pop the little boogers out. Oftentimes, I'll hold my daughter's hands, you know, just love holding their hands. And oftentimes they're like, ooh, let go, let go of my hand, it's my hand, let it go, let it go. And I say, well, I helped make it, so it's partially mine. They don't like when I say that to them, it makes them nervous, but isn't it true? Okay, are you guys alive today? That's true, right? Right, okay. You guys, this authority that we have, this responsibility we have, it's vital for both parents and for children to grasp. You see, it emboldens parents to actually parent their children. And it shows children that they ultimately answer to a higher authority than their parents when they disobey and dishonor them. Let me repeat a quote from Paul Tripp's book, Parenting, that I said last week. One of the foundational heart issues in the life of every child is authority. Teaching and modeling the protective beauty of authority is one of the foundations of good parenting. Biblical parental authority does not equal dictatorship though. It's supposed to model our heavenly father's loving authority over us. Still, it does mean that the parent is in charge, not the child. When I wrote that in there, this memory came to my mind when I was in the car business. I remember sitting in my office and I looked up and there's a gentleman who's walking through the dealership with his son. Apparently they were service customers, had a car back in service. But this gentleman, he's about 6'5", huge, massive man. I mean, he would look down on Tim Parker and on Carl Schieffer, just mountain of a man, right? His kid, about a two and a half foot little dude, just walking around, buzzing around the car dealership. Service department calls this man's name. So he says, all right, come on, little Johnny, it's time to go. And the kid says, no, I'm not going. This mountain of a man said, oh, I'm sorry. It freaked me out. I'm like, this dude could go like this, excuse me? Clearly in that household, that little two and a half foot monster, I mean, son, was running the household. This guy wasn't parenting his kid. He was just going through life, hoping the kid turned 18 and left. Clearly, he didn't love him. If he loved him, he'd be like, excuse me? I'm like, my kids, when we go out and they see some kid disobeying, many times they don't say anything right then, but we get in the car, they're like, oh my gosh, did you see that disobedient kid? because they recognize it's a mark of kids. Obey your parents. It's a mark of them. Years ago, before we had children, Toy and I were part of this young marriage group at our church. And one of the Bible studies we were going through was through a navigator book entitled, Parents and Children, God's Design for the Family. And this one particular question in this book, it had us focus on Ephesians chapter six, verses one through three. And here's the question. The child is instructed in this commandment to honor both father and mother. What does this apply to you? Here's our response. that both parents are to be loved and respected, not a favorite. Parents have equal status. Mommy can't be your favorite. Daddy can't be your favorite. They have equal status. This became one of the staples of our parenting. We refuse to let our daughters play us against one another. If you're talking to mom, you're talking to dad. If you're talking to dad, you're talking to mom. You guys, we set up these rules in our household that it's like a little square boundary. We didn't have a lot of rules in our house. You're free to do whatever you want to in the little square. The boundaries are pretty solid. If you bounce up against them, we'll gently remind you of what those boundaries are. If you bounce up against them a second time, the reminder gets a little stiffer. If you bounce up against the third time, well, you find out that the boundaries are immovable all the time. This is what Toy and I chose to do before we had kids. We prepared for them before they got here. Children need to know that their parents are on the same page because it provides security and stability. This is God's plan. You know, kids know if this isn't true. They know if mommy and daddy aren't agreeing and they will try to play you against one another. And if you let it happen, trouble is coming, if it's not already there. Mark 7, 9 through 13 records Jesus's view on this commandment as he was talking to the Pharisees. Mark writes, and he said to them, you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition. For Moses said, honor your father and your mother, and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die. But you say, If a man tells his father or his mother, whatever you would have gained from me is Corbin, that is given to God, then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down and many other such things you do. There's so many truths we see in this passage, but real quick, here's four of them. First, it doesn't matter how others, your friends, anybody else view God's command to obey and honor our parents. We still do it. It doesn't matter if your best friend down the street says, I'm gonna do what I wanna do. I don't have to listen to mama and daddy. And they run around their mom and dad, let them go and do it. That's not how we do it, why? Because God has commanded that we obey and honor our parents. Second thing out of this little passage here is don't redefine what obeying and honoring our parents mean. Obey what's written. We respect them. God has given them the authority over children. Is that right? Okay, some people, I've seen parents say, yeah, that's right. Other people, I don't know. Okay, if you have any question, God has given parents authority over their children. God has given it. He's the authority. He's the one who said it. That's what makes it right. Not because parents say, I told you because I'm the parent, because I said so. Isn't that one of the worst statements? Why do I have to do it? Because I said so. My parents used to tell me that. I obeyed. My dad was bigger than me. I feared him in the unhealthy way. Now healthy way. Here's the third thing coming out of this passage. Don't use excuses to avoid being obedient and respectful. Don't use excuses to avoid being obedient and respectful, like for a good thing. Your parents are in need of something, need you to do something for them, but you want to go down to the store and go shopping. Had it planned out for a week, but your parents need something. I got to go shopping or I'm working over at the pregnancy care center. I've got to go make sure I take care of them first. Okay, I understand that you need me to come and take you shopping mom, dad, but I have to go over here and do this. Don't make excuses to disobey scripture. honor father and mother here's the fourth thing not obeying this command leads to other problems it's right there and many such things you do that's what jesus says not obeying this passage this truth this biblical truth will lead to other problems you see when parents really grasp this truth concerning their authority their responsibility concerning their children and the truth that their children are expected by God to obey them, they become more intentional in their interaction with them. We really see this in the book of Proverbs. For example, chapter one, verses eight through 10. Hear my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. Wise are the parents and children who understand and apply these truths to their lives. For the joyful blessings of obedience from the Lord come to both. You see, Solomon wrote, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. These passages speak to a posture of humility, and they are foundational to the parental commands found in that book of wisdom. For later on, Solomon writes in chapter 22, verses four through six, the reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life. Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked. Whoever guards his soul will keep far from them. Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. These verses are not saying that health, wealth, prosperity are the guaranteed results of good parenting and obedient children. It's not what it's saying. And they are not teaching that a problem-free existence in the household if you parent well and if you have obedient children, no. What they're teaching is that a life of inner peace from the Lord can result from good parenting and obedient children. Also, that raising children in a peaceful household, focusing on each child's natural bends, helps give children direction, stability, and security in life. In his book, Shepherding a Child at Heart, Ted Tripp says this of Proverbs chapter 1 verse 8 and 9. The young person who adheres to the instruction of his parents will be richly blessed. Proverbs 1, 8 and 9 holds out a vision of children seeing in their parents a source of wisdom and instruction. It asserts that children will be enriched and greatly benefited by adherence to the values and instruction of their parents. Rather than young people casting off as irrelevant their parents' outlook on life, Solomon directs them to embrace it. Something that I admire in my grandson's father is that every night when he calls to talk with him, he reads the book of Proverbs to him. He recognizes that it's God's authority over him, over his son. and he wants God's word to be center in my grandson's life. It's an amazing thing. I got other issues with the young man, but I love this. When parents are focused in on raising their children, according to their non-abusive, God-given authority and responsibility, it makes it easier for their children to obey them in everything. This phrase, in everything, breeds within children the idea of full accountability to someone outside of ourselves. It helps us not buy into that phrase that we are the center of our own universe. Now, this next story that I'm about to share with you, I got permission to share it. Had to get permission because of some of the details in it, but I'm not gonna give all the details, but just enough. Years ago, one of our daughters got hooked up with a young man at our previous church. They're all way too young to be in any type of romantic relationship, right? Well, one of the reasons why she did that was because I had been an idiot of a father. I was an authoritarian. I'm a former LAPD. How dare you disobey me? I'm in charge, not you. I didn't take into account who she was, how she was. I'm the father, get over it. You will do what I say. That drove her to find acceptance from somebody else. One time, the way this kind of came out was I was instructing her on how she's supposed to live her life. And she responds to me, you can't tell me what to do. By God's grace, he kept me from snatching her that day. And I'm so thankful, because this is what he did instead. He brought Proverbs 22, six to mind. The right understanding of it, that if you raise a kid, you train them up according to their natural bents. When they're old, they come back to it, right? Here's the thing, God had made this kid an incredible artist. But when she went sideways here, she stopped drawing. And so by God's grace, I just made a simple statement. I haven't seen you drawing lately. And by God's grace, he used that statement to get her to start drawing again. Not only start drawing again, but to so work in her heart that now she is a senior in college working towards a degree in art. That's God's grace. Here's the thing, kids, parents aren't perfect, so give them a break. Don't be so hard on them. Parents, admit when you're wrong. You're not God. I'm not God. We don't always have the right answer. So when we're wrong, admit it. But do it in a context that's driven by Scripture. Why? So that God can receive the glory when He fixes our mess. Children are expected to obey their parents in everything. Why? In order to please Jesus. It's right there in the text. Children obey your parents in everything for this pleases the Lord. Now, why is this important? Why is this true? Well, it's because the preeminence of Jesus is learned and honored by children when they obey their parents in everything. Proverbs 22, 15 teaches, folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him. Last week, we observed the rod of discipline speaks to three things, consistent and repetitive, meaning our need for Jesus because we're sinners, It's clear and non-confusing. It points to Jesus as the only way to God. And then it's concise and targeted. We exist to glorify God. Now that's the theological foundation of what the rod of discipline is. But here's some practical things, guys, watch. When it's consistent and repetitive, it means this. Don't move the goalpost on your kids. If you say, this is what this is, I want you to do X, Y, and Z. And if you don't do X, Y, and Z, here are gonna be the consequences of not doing this. And then they're moving towards this and you're like, well, actually it's really this. Is that fair to the kids? No, it's not. It's actually disobedience to scripture because it's no longer consistent and repetitive. It should also be clear and non-confusing, meaning this, give the why behind the what. Give the why behind the what. Now, understanding the why is not, how can I say, should be expected all the time. When you give the why and your kids don't understand it, it doesn't mean that they can disobey because they don't understand it. No, I gave you the why behind the what. This is when it comes back to children obey their parents in everything. I gave you the why. I want you to understand it. In time, you will understand it. But regardless of whether you do or not, I expect you to obey because God has given me the authority as your parent. Does that make sense? Yeah? Okay, the three, four people, five, six. Okay, all right, here we go. All right, keep going. But here's the concise and targeted reason. Because we exist to glorify God. It's the same reason. It's practical, it's theological. We exist to glorify God. We parent well to glorify God. We obey our parents to glorify God. That's what the rod of discipline is. And this rod is used to drive folly or foolishness from the heart of our children. And why must we do this? Well, it's because we know as Christians what David wrote over there in Psalms 14. The fool says in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They do abominable deeds. There is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, humanity, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside. Together they have become corrupt. There is none who does good, not even one. You guys know this is part of the passage that Paul quoted over there in Romans chapter three. The idea that I am not accountable to anyone but myself is bound up in the heart of all mankind. But again, Proverbs 22, 15 teaches that it's specifically true of our children. When Paul wrote, children obey your parents and everything for this pleases the Lord, he was basing it on a specific truth, the centrality and lordship of Jesus Christ above all of life. It is this truth that informs children's obedience to parents. This is the theme of the entire letter to the Colossians. Jesus is referred to directly and indirectly a combined 78 times in this little book. The foundation of this is found in chapter one, verse 18. Sound familiar? And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. The Colossians understood that Jesus Christ is Lord over all of life, including interpersonal relationships, both in and outside of the home, and specifically in parent and child relationships. And obedience, it is the telltale mark of this relationship being healthy. Jesus is pleased when children obey their parents. But why? Why is obedience so important to Jesus? Well, obedience is a theme throughout all of Scripture. We saw it in Genesis earlier. In the Old Testament, throughout the Old Testament, we know that Israel's biggest problem was that they could not obey God. Matthew 28, 18 through 20, it shows us that obedience is an integral part of Christian discipleship. And then we know from all the New Testament teaching that Jesus's obedience to the Father is why the Father was pleased to accept Jesus's sacrifice on our behalf, to satisfy God's wrath toward us. All of this is important. But I think obedience is so important to Jesus for those reasons, but also for a deeply personal reason. You heard Paula read this earlier, it's John 14, 21. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Obedience is so important to Jesus because it's how we interact with Him and our love relationship with Him. When we obey Him, we obey Scripture. He expands our understanding of who He has revealed Himself to be in the Bible. He's not gonna tell us something new. He already told us enough about Himself here in the Word of God. Experiences that people claim to have with God that's not in the Bible, I doubt it. Strongly doubt it, because it's not in the scriptures. You may have an experience, but is it true based upon what the scripture says about God? This is why it's so deeply important to Jesus. You guys, it's not just cognitive knowledge, though. It's the day-to-day experience of Jesus in our lives, walking with him. It's him talking with us through the scriptures. It's the spirit bearing witness with our spirits that we are indeed children of God. You see, the preeminence of Jesus is learned, is honored by children when they obey their parents in everything. So, children. Obey your parents and everything, for this pleases the Lord. So I'm getting ready to take my seat. There's a lot of practical implication, I think, in this message. I think they're pretty clear. So I just want to run through three quick ones. You ready? If you have your pens ready, I'll try not to go too fast. Here's the first one. Minor children, those under 18, minor children, those under 18, Obey your parents in everything without making excuses. Minor children under 18, obey your parents in everything without making excuses. Here's a second. Minor children embrace early the principle of obedience. Minor children embrace early in your life the principle of obedience because it leads to honoring and respecting your parents when you're older. Minor children, embrace early the principle of obedience because it leads to honoring and respecting your parents when you're older. And then finally, this is for all of us in here. Children, regardless of age, let's honor and respect our parents. Children, regardless of age, let's honor and respect our parents. I have to tell you guys that I have a lineage of respect of my parents to children, or my parents to their parents. Here it is. My mom regularly talks about mom, mom, and pop-up, about mom used to say such and such, mom used to do such and such, dad used to do such and such, dad said such and such, always pointing us back to how the Lord has impacted their lives. My dad regularly talks about how my grandfather, who I never had the pleasure of meeting on his side, impacted him to be a solid productive citizen in this world. My dad used to always tell me growing up, you should do X, Y, and Z because you don't want to make God mad at you, right? So he was doing his best to show me that God is in control. Not him, God is. So children, regardless of age, let's honor and respect our parents. Let's pray.