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Amen, and amen. Coming this evening
to Ephesians chapter six. I don't think we're gonna have
the PowerPoint tonight. Nope, no, okay, that's fine. Yeah,
we don't really need it for this evening anyway, but we're coming
to Ephesians chapter six, and we're gonna read some verses
and look at some verses that we may think are not particularly
applicable to us. because they deal with children.
It's good to see a couple of children and young people in
the meeting tonight. But these are things that have been written
for us, and they're things that we can take away and we can teach
to our family. So it's important that we look
at them together anyway. So let's come to Ephesians chapter
six, and we want to read from verse number one. And Paul writes,
Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your
father and mother, which is the first commandment, with promise
that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long
on the earth. And ye fathers, provoke not your
children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition
of God. the lord and we'll finish there
at verse number four. A man by the name of Norman Corwin
wrote in an article for Reader's Digest entitled, The Perfect
Home, these words. He said, one child makes a home,
a course in liberal education for both himself and parents. Two children make it a private
school Three or more make it a campus, but many parents today
are not sure that they are up to being professors in this university. And even then, they are unsure
of what should be offered in the curriculum. Thankfully, the
Apostle Paul steps in to help us to put together this rather
daunting curriculum. While his counsel will not enable
us to build a perfect home, it will enable us to build a holy
home. That's what we're going to think
about this evening. We're going to consider what
it means to have a holy home. Though there's a chapter break
here as we come into chapter number six, Paul is continuing
on with the subject of spirit-filled relationships. We looked in chapter
five, how that chapter closes with Paul giving us some principles
for maintaining a spiritual marriage. But we move on from marriage
to the family. When two become three, or two
become four, or anything after that, for me, is just madness.
But anyway, that's another subject. But when we move from a marriage
to a family, and if we think that a spiritual marriage is
hard to maintain in today's society, maintaining a godly home, having
a holy home, is even harder. But thankfully, God has, again,
not left us without But as a little side point here, as we come into
chapter 6, I think there's something really refreshing here about
this chapter and about this particular part of the book of Ephesians. Isn't it lovely to see that Paul
has a word for the whole family? Paul here, as we think about
the first part of the book and all the deep things of God, and
then he talks about Jews and Gentiles, and he talks about
leaders in the church, and then he talks about husbands, and
he talks about wives, but that's not where Paul leaves it. There's
a wonderful truth here. There's a wonderful picture.
As we come into chapter 6, as he opens with this word, children,
that Paul has a word for the whole family. He's an all-round
preacher. You know, can you imagine being
in Ephesus, hearing this word, this letter being read, much
the way we are tonight. Families sitting together, listening
to this word being read. Husbands sitting beside their
wives. Fathers sitting with their children. Family units under
the sound of God's word. And I want to encourage that
tonight. You know there's blessing found
for whole families being in church. together. I want to re-emphasize
it tonight. Bring your children, bring your
family to the house of God. It's great if they're here on
a Sunday morning. Sunday night bring them. It works practically.
Bring them on a Wednesday night and you know I've often said
don't worry about crying. I'll preach louder than they
can cry. I was in a church recently preaching and the man, the elder
that was leading for me said on the door in the way, I think
you had a shout off with one of the toddlers. But you know,
the other way of looking at it is if we have a church where
there's no sign of children, we're in dire straits. We're
in a bad place. So I want to encourage you and
those listening online perhaps who have children and they don't
want to bring them, I bring them to the house of God because God's
word is applicable for the whole family. as we come to these practical
verses about having a holy home. Really, in these first couple
of verses, or first four verses, Paul speaks to two groups of
people. He speaks to children, and then
he speaks to parents. Now, I'm gonna try my best to
address both groups tonight. We may not get it finished, but
we'll see how we go. The first group that Paul speaks
to is children. And we have in verses one to
three Paul's charge to children. This is what he says, children,
obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy
father and mother, which is the first commandment, with promise
that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long
on the earth. The word children here is not
a reference just to small children. When we hear this or read this
word, we immediately think of boys and girls, we think of young
children, but the actual word is a little bit broader than
that. The word refers to all who are still dependent upon
their parents. It referred to those who were
unmarried and therefore were still under the authority of
their parents. Now it doesn't refer to those
who are unmarried and remain single throughout their lives,
but those who are still under the influence, still under the
authority, still dependent upon their parents. We could really
say that this word refers to anyone from a tot to a teen.
Right up to that place where they're old enough to stand upon
their own two feet and support themselves. And again, building
on a little of what I've already said, it's interesting that the
apostle here doesn't just address the adults, but he's got a charge
for the children too. And rightly so in the particular
context into which Paul was ministering. Listen to some contextual information
from Dr. S. Lewis Johnson. He says, Because, just as in our society,
the signs of breakdown were not only in the Roman Empire, but
had come to pass. And in their society, children
were unwanted. They were abandoned. They were
mistreated. They were abused. They were raped,
and furthermore, they were murdered. Every one of those experiences
are experiences that are characteristic of our society today. And so
the apostles' words were addressed to a society that was very much
like ours. A society that had little concern
for children. Thankfully, as we see from the
Apostle Paul, we see that God has a concern for children. We
know that, of course, from the Lord's example in Matthew 19
and 14, where Jesus said, "'Suffer the little children and forbid
them not to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of God.'"
And you know, as we think about that, when we think about God's
concern for children, we think about a children's meeting and
reaching children with the gospel. We think about evangelistic efforts
to reach children. And that's a massive part of
God's concern for children. But the fact that we have them
mentioned here in chapter number 6, is a reminder that God is
not just concerned with a child's salvation, but He's also concerned
with their sanctification too. God doesn't want to see children
just saved, sit in the shadows, and then when they reach some
older age, then begin to flourish as a Christian. The fact that
Paul addresses the children of Ephesus here is that God has
a desire not just to see children saved, but to see them grow in
their faith. It's also a good reminder for
you and I tonight that the Bible isn't just a book for grownups,
that the Bible is applicable to children. It's a charge to
me as a pastor and preacher that the messages ought to be applicable
to children where possible too. That as a preacher, it's not
just to be to adults, but it's important that children take
something from the message too. Paul, as they say, speaks directly
to the children here, and his charge is twofold. He says, children,
obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. He says, readily
heed your parents. And then in verse two, he says,
honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment
with promise. He says, rightly honor your parents. What's Paul's twofold charge?
First of all, children readily heed your parents. The word obey
here, or the charge to obey in verse number one is linked back
to the theme of submission. We look at that in chapter five
in verses 21 and 22. Paul says, submitting yourselves
one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves
unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Paul has been speaking
how as believers we are to submit to one another, we are to place
ourselves under others. He brings out in the marriage
and how wise are to submit themselves to their husband. And Paul continues
on this theme in chapter 6 where he says, children obey your parents. Now it's important here that
I again emphasize that though he links this to submission,
it's different to wives submitting to their husbands. How a child
submits to their parents is different to how a wife submits to her
husband. In verse number 22 of chapter 5, Paul uses a different
word when he speaks about wives. Paul there is talking about submission
between equals. And I think it's important that
we remember again tonight that a wife is not commanded to obey
her husband in the same way a child is to obey their parents. A husband
should treat his wife as his equal, not the same way he treats
his child. A husband is the head of his
wife, but he's not the boss of his wife. However, when we come
to chapter 6 and verse 1, the idea is the same theme, but a
slightly different meaning. Because the idea in chapter 6
is the idea of submitting to one who is not your equal. One
submitting to one who is superior to you. And of course, parents
occupy a superior position to children. And thus, God's design
and desire for children is to recognize their parents as God-appointed
guardians. Not just their mom and dad in
some flippant way, but recognize them as a God-given authority
over their life. Children are a gift to parents,
but parents equally are gifts to children. They are to be their
guardians. They are the authority figure in their lives. And therefore,
disobedience is disregarding the higher place that parents
occupy. Of course, parental disobedience
is a particular distinctive of the last days. Paul speaks about
that in 2 Timothy 3 and 2. He speaks about the day when
men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.
You know, you only need to take a trip around Tesco to see how
rife this is today. Paul's charge to Christian children
is to live in contrast to the culture. Be different. Don't
be defiant, but be obedient. Now, I know there's young people
and children here tonight. I want to say, as someone who
is one, no parent is perfect. Your parents don't get it right
all the time. Your parents aren't God's gift of wisdom. We are
fallible. We get it wrong. We're not perfect. But Christian children should
recognize and respect their parents' God-given authority over their
lives, and therefore do as they're told. You know, if we're looking
for a perfect example of this, we look to the Lord Jesus. And
you say, yeah, but he obeyed his Father in heaven. He did. But he also obeyed his parents
on earth. Look chapter two, verse 51. It says that he went down
with them. That's Mary and Joseph. and came
to Nazareth and then listened to these words and was subject
onto them. Here is the King of heaven, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the one who occupies supreme authority over
all. And yet in his incarnation, he didn't come to Mary and Joseph
and say, hang on, you have a duty to obey me. He made himself subject
onto them. You see, Jesus provided even
a perfect example for children. If we look at the text here,
Paul gives two reasons why children should obey their parents. He
says, children, obey your parents in the Lord. Now, this little
phrase does not mean to only obey Christian parents. You know,
okay, I only obey my parents if they're Christians or I'm
a Christian. That's not at all what it means. Rather, this is
a similar qualifier to wives in verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves
unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. Children, obey your
parents in the Lord or as unto the Lord. This is to be the sphere
of a child's Christian obedience. This is to be their motivation
to obey. This is the duty as a Christian
child. Why should I obey my mum and
dad? Because I'm doing it unto the
Lord. One way children can begin to
live out their faith is by seeing it as what God has asked them
to do. Not only are they to do it in the Lord or as unto the
Lord, but I love the way sometimes the Bible is just so direct.
It doesn't need explained. Why should we obey our parents?
Because this is right. This is right. Simply because
it's what God wants. It's what God asks. Not to be
questioned, just God says it, so we do it. Because it's right. But you know, as I thought about
this, there's a charge to children here. Children, obey your parents.
But there's a word to parents here and a word to grandparents. We cannot lay verse one and two
and three all on our children. We cannot expect our children
to be obedient. Why? Because they're born naturally
disobedient. They don't need to learn disobedience. And I think that's incredible
as I've watched my own two children. Like they've never had, nobody
taught them to lie or to be bold. And at the minute, the two of
them are a nightmare. They're fighting like cat and dog and you don't
need to teach them. And so we can't just say, okay,
Jonah, okay, Sophia, be obedient. They don't know how to be obedient.
And so as parents, obedience must be explained and not just
expected. What do we mean by that? Well,
obedience needs taught in love and by discipline. And the best
way to teach obedience is sometimes by disciplining disobedience,
by showing them the difference. And as they get a little bit
older, sitting them down and explaining from God's word why we're to
obey, explaining the relationship between parent and child. post-charge the children. First
of all, he says, readily heed your parents. Secondly, he says,
rightly honor your parents. He says, honor thy father and
mother, which is the first commandment with promise. Again, we live in a day when
respect for authority has completely gone out the window. I know there's
some folks here, men and women involved in law enforcement,
maybe some are involved in education. And I have talked to you and
you tell me this, that it's just incredible that young people
have no respect for law enforcement, no respect for teachers, no respect
for older people. And so we're living in a society
where respect is sliding. But here's the thing, we can't
expect respect to be shown in public if it isn't being shown
in private to parents. That's where it begins. And that's
exactly what Paul calls for here in verse number two. Before Paul,
you know, and he does in some of his other epistles talk about
the importance of respecting older people and respecting those
in authority. But isn't it interesting here
that Paul doesn't, as he speaks to children, doesn't talk about
laws and lawgivers and all of these things. He starts with
the home. And you see, that's where everything starts. Everything
starts with the home. What he does here is he rehearses
one of the Ten Commandments, and so we could say this, that
verse number two in the principle of honoring our father and mother
is something that God has always been big on. The word honor means
to show respect, means to count as worthy, to see as valuable
or deserving of recognition. Essentially, it's an extension
of our affection and it's an expression of our love for our
parents. In fact, this verse number two
is the attitude out of which verse number one is born. Listen to what John MacArthur
says, honor is the attitude behind the act. The act is obedience
and honor is the attitude. Remember that an act without
proper attitude is hypocrisy. If you do what your parents tell
you to do, but you hate it and you're unwilling and nasty about
it, then you're a hypocrite. If you do what your parents tell
you to do, but you're bitter and fearful, reluctant and selfish,
that's not the right spirit. God is after the attitude much
more than he's after the act. Because if the attitude is right,
the act will follow. But if a right act with a wrong
attitude is nothing but Hypocrisy. And so Paul's charged to children.
He says, I don't want you only to obey your parents, but I want
you to do it with the right attitude. I want you to do it with a respect
for your parents. I want you to count them as worthy.
I want you to see your parents as valuable, deserving of recognition,
deserving of respect. Now here's the point that we
can open this up a little bit. Because verse number two isn't
just a charge to children. Well, sorry, it is a charge to
children, but what I'm gonna say is, this charge has no expiry
date. This charge has no expiry date. Verse number one applies until
marriage or so long as we're dependent upon our parents. We obey our parents, but we don't
expect somebody when they're 35 and single and unmarried and
they've got a job and they're supporting themselves to still
do what their mummy tells them to do. But when we come to verse number
two, there's never a point when we are to stop honoring or respecting
our father and mother. We have a duty to continue to
prize and provide for our parents. Let me show you an example of
this. I want you to come to 1 Timothy chapter number five. 1 Timothy
chapter number five. On Timothy chapter five, Paul
is giving a charge to Timothy about how he wants the church
and things in the church to be worked out and giving some patterns
to be followed. And in verse number three, he
deals with widows and how widows are to be taken care of in the
church. He talks about elders. And he
talks about treating elder women as mothers. And then in verse
four, he talks about widows. He says, but if any widow have
children, or sorry, in verse number three, he says, honor
widows that are widows indeed. And then listen to verse four.
But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first. to show piety at home and to
requite their parents for that is good and acceptable before
God." In other words, here's what he's saying. He's saying,
don't you be running after widows and caring for widows and being
part of the church's widow caring program while you neglect your
own. He says, let them look after their
own mothers that have been widowed. Let these children and nephews
Let them learn at home. Again, we can take our lead from
the Lord who set the perfect example. I don't have time to
read it tonight, but it's an incredible passage of scripture
when the Lord Jesus is on the cross. In John chapter 19, he's
approaching those hours of darkness. And you would think he would
be concerned with himself and his own agony. But what does
Jesus do? He looks down from the cross
and he speaks to his mother. And he speaks to Mary and he
speaks to John and he says to Mary, behold your son. And he
says to John, behold your mother. In other words, right to his
dying breath, Jesus showed a care and concern for his mother, Mary. He wanted to make sure she was
okay after he was gone. Right to the end, he honored
his mother. Do you know what a challenge
to all of us, you know, that there is no expiry date on Paul's
charge to children when it comes to honoring our father and our
mother. There shouldn't be a point when
we resent them. We should always have an attitude
of respect and see our parents as valuable because they brought
us into the world. They've invested so much in our
lives and they are due our honor. Verse number 3 of chapter 6,
Paul then speaks about the blessing that comes from being an obedient
child. He says that it may be well with
thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. Paul continues
the quote from the Pentateuch, but He changes the reward slightly
for the church age. If you were to read this back
in when it was given in Exodus, it says, honor thy father and
thy mother, which is the first commandment with promise that
it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long in
the land. So it was given to a Jewish context.
But here, Paul changes it slightly and he says, instead of living
long in the land, a person is more likely to live a long life
if they obey, if they readily heed their parents and rightly
honor their parents, then they will likely live long in the
land. Now, what does that actually
mean? Does it mean if I obey my parents, I'm gonna have a
long life? Well, perhaps more correctly, we could say, live
a full and fulfilling life, a life that's free from pitfalls many
fall into from being disobedient. In other words, a right upbringing
sets a child up for a right life. Obeying parents and honoring
parents brings protection from wrongful and wayward paths. We've
heard it in testimonies here. We see it in society. Someone
who starts out as a disobedient and disrespectful child often
ends up a disobedient and disrespectful adult who may finish up reaping
dreadful consequences of their own actions and attitudes and
put themselves in an early grave. And so we've got to be thankful
tonight for parents that have brought us up well. Listen to
what William Macdonald says. He says, We only need to look throughout
the Bible for several sad examples. Samson, Eli's two sons, Hophni
and Phinehas, Absalom, David's son. They all died young men
because they lived lives of rebellion. I know it's not easy at times,
folks, but we must endeavor to bring our children up to be obedient
and to be children who respect authority that's over them. We've
paused charge for the children. But then when we come to verse
number four, we have got Paul's principle for parents. Because
he moves on and he says, And ye fathers, provoke not your
children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. We're probably not going to get
this point finished, but we'll see how far we get. It's interesting
here that Paul singles out fathers. You say, well what about the
mothers? Maybe all the dads are saying, hang on, is there not
a word for mums here? Well, Paul does so for very good
reason, again, in keeping with the Ephesian context. Listen
to what William Barclay says in terms of a historical context.
He says, He could sell them as slaves.
He could make them work in his fields, even in chains. He could
punish as he liked and could even inflict the death penalty. Further, the power of the Roman
father extended over the child's whole life so long as the father
lived. A Roman son never came of age,
even when he was a grown man, even if he were a majesty of
the city, even if the state had crowned him with a well-deserved
honor. He remained within his father's
absolute power. The great mistake consisted in
the father considering the power which nature imposes as a duty
on elders of guiding and protecting a child during infancy and extending
that over his freedom involving his life and death and continuing
over his entire existence. It is true that the father's
power was seldom carried to its limits, because popular opinion
would not have allowed it. But the fact remains that in
the time of Paul, the child was absolutely in his father's power. Fathers were abusing their position.
They were more dictators than loving fathers. And so we can
see in that context why Paul particularly speaks to fathers
who in society were abusing their position. But you know, it's
important tonight for us who are men here this evening that
we recognize and we realize and we remind ourselves that we do
occupy an important position as the head of the home and so
have a duty to do in fulfilling our role in leading our families
aright. I think it's sadly all too often
the case, and sometimes it's the case in my house, where my
wife does more of the leading of the family than I do. We can
be caught up with church, we can be caught up with business.
It's our wife that's taking the lead, and hang on a minute, that's
not what God said. God made you men head of your home. God didn't
ask you to start a business. God didn't ask you to do these
other things. God asked you first to be a father. And then all the other things
come underneath that. I think it's a challenge as I look at
my life and I look at my priorities. I fear sometimes as men we have
a lot to answer for because we have shirked the leadership of our homes for
other things. To lighten it up a little bit, a commentator received an email,
an unsolicited email that was full of truth and wisdom. He
said, as a father of three daughters, I recognize the note that was
entitled Daddy's Rules for Dating. It offered advice to dads that
dads could understand. With humor and sarcasm, it listed
10 rules for any boy who hopes to date our daughter. Rule one,
for example, says, if you pull into my driveway and honk, you
better be delivering a package because you're not picking anything
up. Translated, don't you dare be
rude. Each rule had a nugget of truth that fathers understand
well. Do not touch my daughter. Get
my daughter home early. Treat my daughter with respect.
We as fathers are protective of our children, and rightly
so, because God has given them to us as a trust. And you know, I think it's so
important that we see the priority and the preciousness being a
parent, and the emphasis that God puts upon it in his words.
It was the first institution after marriage in Genesis. Marriage led to a family. But while Paul, and understandably
so, speaks to fathers here in chapter number six, parenting,
as we all know, is a partnership program. And so these principles
should be heeded by mothers too. What does Paul say? What's his
charge? What's Paul's parenting principles?
Well, he contains it in just one verse, and there's two of
them. Number one, he says to us as parents, treat your children
well. Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. Paul starts with the negative
here. He says, provoke not your children to wrath. Literally,
do not irritate or anger your child by how you treat them.
Now that doesn't say don't wind them up or don't embarrass them.
We all like to do that. But what he's talking about here
is do not treat them in a way that causes resentment. Again, that was rampant in the
Ephesian culture. How could a child respect their
father who showed no respect to them and treated them as nothing? While this is not a call for
lack of discipline, it is a call to be careful how we discipline.
Do you know, we must be careful not to become dictatorial or
domineering parents. We must guard against being so
hard on our children that they end up despising us, or even
worse, departing the faith. You see, we're meant to be different
as mothers and fathers, if we're saved. And I think Paul touches
on that in Colossians 3, verse 21, where he says, Fathers, provoke
not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Commentator
John Eady says this. He says, the paternal reign is
not to be one of terror and stern authority, but of love. The rod
may be employed, but in reason and moderation and never from
a momentary impulse and anger. Children are not to be moved
to wrath by harsh and unreasonable treatment or by undue partiality
and favoritism. If they be uniformly confronted
with paternal frown and menace, then their spirit is broken and
the most powerful motive to obedience, the desire to please, it's taken
from them. I have to hold my hands up and
say guilty when I've had a bad Sunday. or something has annoyed
me. Who suffers? My children. I'm
snappy at them. I'm quicker to shout. And Paul says, you know, we've
got to be careful. We've got to be careful to treat
our children well. We've got to be careful that
we're not setting a pattern that's provoking our children to resent
us. I'm gonna leave it at this point.
Some ways we can provoke our children to wrath. I'm gonna
list seven of them. Number one, by being too holy. What I mean by that, not by being
literally too holy because we want our children to see us as
holy. Being so pious that we show no
liberty in the faith. That we set such strict rules,
we don't allow them room to breathe. That we want them in a spiritual
straitjacket. They resent us for it. I have
a neighbor, five children, one of five, were brought up in a
very, very strict home. Christian home, very strict.
All five of them, no time for the Lord. All five. Some ways we can provoke our
children to wrath. Too holy, in the right sense. Too hard,
no affection. Show them no love. We're hard. Doesn't mean we're all mushy.
We're too hard. Too harsh. Never praising our
children. Commanding them. Saying, you
know, just, well done, son. It's really good. Here's a big
one I've already touched on this tonight. Too hectic. My child can resent me because
daddy was always out. Daddy was always working. Daddy
had time for everything, but he had no time for me. I was provoking our children to
wrath. Remember, it's not anger, maybe that, but it's resentment. Too headstrong, no flexibility,
no give and take, no reasonableness, just black and white. I'm only
five years into parenting, and I know that parenting's not black
and white, and the more you try to make it black, and I've been
speaking to some of you guys who have teenage children, and
it's all shades of gray when you get to teenagers. We can
resent our children by making parenting black and white, no
flexibility. Too high-minded, expecting too
much of our child. You know, wanting our child to
keep up with the Joneses or the Smiths, and really they're not
an A grade child, but we want them to be, not for their sake,
but because we want to keep up with the mums at school. We're to love them as the way
the Lord has made them, fearfully and wonderfully made. But here's
the big one. Too hypocritical. No consistency
in our Christianity. Somebody tells this story, he
says, I was browsing in a used bookshop when an irate customer
stormed in. Lowley demanded a refund. When
the man couldn't get what he wanted, he began swearing at
the shop assistant. He continued the tirade for seven
minutes, for several minutes, as a girl of seven or eight stood
passively at his side. Eventually, he stomped out of
the store, cursing as he went, with the little girl following
close behind. I wondered if the girl was his
daughter. If so, what did she learn from her dad that afternoon?
More important, the event caused me to ask, what does my daughter
learn from me at home and all the places we go together? She
learns a lot more from watching my behavior than from all my
little talks about life and God. I don't know about you, but for
me as a parent, that was powerful, that our children are watching
us. And the big challenge I have is I'm the man that stands in
this pulpit on a Sunday and my children sit here and then they
see me on a Sunday afternoon and I'm gonna tell you something,
there's a massive gap, it doesn't add up. And I'm mindful of that. But we don't want our children
to resent us because we went out suited and booted to church
on a Sunday and a Wednesday. But every other time they saw
us different. will not always be perfect. But this is why all
these principles that we've been looking at, it's so important
that we seek to live them out in our life, not just for our
sake, not just for the sake of our testimony among the unsaved,
but for our witness to our children and to our grandchildren who
are always watching. May we seek never to cause them
to resent us. They may grow up and not agree
with us. They may not get saved, but at least they can say that
my daddy never put me off. My daddy sought to live the Christ
he loved. What a challenge, as we think
about Paul's charge to children. He says, you know, be in a place
where you're readily heeding your parents, obey them. be in
a place where you're rightly honoring your parents, respect
them and love them. But then he turns to the parents
and he says, listen, fathers, you occupy an important place.
And as parents, it's so important you treat your children well.
That's where we're gonna leave it tonight. A challenge, I know
it's a challenge. Then the other side, Paul then
moves to the positive And not only does he call us to treat
our children well, but in verse four, he goes on and he says,
teach your children well. Because he says, you fathers,
provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the
nurture and admonition of God. of the Lord. But that's where
we'll pick it up next time as God gives help and we come back
to this passage next week. Let's stand together before we
come to pray and we'll sing just a couple of verses of when we
walk with the Lord in the light of his word, what a glory he
sheds in our way while we do his goodwill, he abides with
us still and with all who will trust and obey.
Holy Homes
Series Unsearchable Riches
| Sermon ID | 51221656393129 |
| Duration | 46:27 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Bible Text | Ephesians 6:1-4 |
| Language | English |
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