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We come now to the exposition
of God's Holy Word. And congregation, please, if
you would, let's take our Bibles out again together. And we want
to turn back to Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 6. As we're going through
this exposition in Ephesians, we find our place here at the
beginning of this last chapter. And we, of course, are considering
in these days the duties of children and parents. And so, let me read
in your hearing, verses 1 through 3, where again we consider and
take up the subject of the duties of children to their parents. Ephesians 6 and verse 1. Children, 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 you, and you may live long on the earth. Let's now join together before
the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you
again for this privilege that we gather in your presence, and
we have your word. And Father, as we come to your
word today, we come ready, humble, eager to receive its precious
truth. Lord, we know that we need your
word. We know that it is absolute,
infallible, inerrant, and all sufficient truth. It gives us
that doctrine that we are called to believe, and it gives us the
biblical practices of daily living you've called us to obey. Father,
help us that we would receive your word with that view in mind.
ready to receive and believe and, by your grace, obey. Father,
it is our prayer that those apart from Christ, by your sovereign,
electing, merciful grace, you would be pleased to draw them
to yourself, that they might receive Christ and find salvation
which is only found in Him. Father, we thank you for that
salvation. May you receive the glory. We pray this in Jesus'
name. Amen. We are continuing in our
verse-by-verse exposition of Ephesians, and we find our place
here in these verses before us that we just have read, where
Paul is speaking and addressing specifically the duties of children
unto their parents. Now, we already last week looked
at verse number one. And in looking at verse 1, where
he addresses the responsibility of children, he says in verse
1 what that duty that they have, and he states it very clearly
at the very first line of verse 1. Children obey your parents. We said that this is a present
imperative. It is a command. Therefore, it
means that children are commanded by God to continually, habitually
be obeying. That's the force of that present
tense imperative. Be obeying all the time as your
manner of existence. This includes, we said last time,
a clear recognition of the position of parents over their children
as God's authority over them. Secondly, it is a willing submission
and obedience to that authority over them. We said, of course,
that what we have in these three sets of authority relationships,
whether it is the husband and wife, chapter 5, or it is the
children and parents, as we're looking at presently, or verses
5 through 9, the relationship of slaves to masters, there is
this superiority and inferiority and that responsibility that
both parties share in that relationship. And so we see it is the responsibility
of children to obey their parents, an imperative. Secondly, we noticed
in verse one, the manner that is noted, children obey your
parents in the Lord. And that little phrase in the
Lord, that prepositional phrase is, is, is actually in terms
of the grammar telling us essentially children obey your parents as
unto the Lord, as if you were obeying the Lord, because they
are in that authority position that God has placed them there
to be in. And so your obedience to your
parents is a form of obeying the Lord in your life. Paul puts it this way in Colossians
3.20, you are to obey your parents in all things, which is the scope
of that Everything short of that which is directly unlawful or
sinful, the child is to render obedience unto their parents.
And then we said thirdly last week the reason that is expressed
in verse 1. So it says, Children, obey your
parents in the Lord. And then we notice that last
phrase, For this is right. This is right. It is right in
and of itself. It is the right thing to do because
of that authority God has placed over you children. And of course
we said in the parallel, Paul says in Colossians 3.20 that
Children are to obey their parents because it is well pleasing to
the Lord. And so again, that gives us something
of the scope and nature and the reason why this obedience is
commanded by God. Now we come today and we want
to look at verses two and three as we continue looking at this
responsibility of children. And in verses 2 and 3, we are
going to note today two things. First of all, the honor which
is commanded, that's in verse 2, part A, and then the promise
which is attached. It comes immediately after that
honor which is commanded. So notice in verse 2, Paul continues
in this same train of thought. What are the responsibility of
children? They're to obey their parents.
And then he says, verse 2, honor your father and mother. Honor them. Now, hopefully this
is a very familiar quotation that Paul is making here. And
I want you to turn back with me in your Bibles to the book
of Exodus, chapter 20, where you will find in Exodus, chapter
20, the record of the Ten Commandments. Of course, we find this particular
commandment in verse 12, Exodus 20 and verse 12. And you very
well, I'm sure, are aware that there is a second statement of
the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy, chapter 5, that second giving
of the law And that is found in Deuteronomy 5 and verse 16. But it is that fifth commandment
of the Ten Commandments. In congregation, we affirm all
Ten Commandments. Amen? We believe that all of
the Ten Commandments are a summary of the moral law of God. And
as you study the Ten Commandments, you realize that each of these
commandments really have encapsulated in them whole categories of responsibilities. They may seem very brief, summary,
staccato statements, but actually there is a whole host of prohibitions
and of duties that are inherent to each one of these Ten Commandments. You certainly can see this in
the catechisms that we use, whether it is the shorter or longer catechisms,
but there is a lot in each of these commandments. So Paul is
quoting in Ephesians 6 verse 2 this fifth commandment. Look
with me at verse 12. ìHonor your father and your mother
that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your
God is giving you. There you have that honor commanded
and then that promise attached to that honor that is required. So the word here in the Hebrew
of Exodus 20, the word for honor is the Hebrew word kavod. And the word means literally
heavy or weighty. It's the idea of giving due weight
to the position and place of your father and your mother. It is the idea, giving weight
is the idea of reverencing them, of esteeming them, of having
a great respect for them. Now they may be the best of parents,
or they may be not so much the best of parents, but regardless
of what they may be, and we're all sinners saved by grace, we're
all dealing with sin, even the best of us, those parents nevertheless
are to be shown this honor, this reverence, esteem, and this respect. Honor, look again at verse 12,
your father and mother. They are the God-given authority
over children. They are first and they are foundational
under God. A congregation that may seem
to be pretty basic, but we see increasingly in our culture that
this is being challenged in our day. Where we see government
schools and we see the federal government trying to encroach
into That unique relationship between the parents and the children. Where you have children going
to government schools and teachers, sadly, some of them, and we have
fine teachers, don't get me wrong here. I am very thankful for
the godly Christian teachers we have in public schools. They're like missionaries in
a demonic context. And praise God for the work they're
doing. and we want to support them in
their work. But there are some of these teachers
that are left-wing and they want to encourage and promote and
create an environment where children are influenced to embrace homosexuality
and transgenderism and all of these wicked, iniquitous ideas. So that you have these government
schools who are saying, and I think this is true in places like California,
where you literally, as a parent, you can't even know what's going
on with them being encouraged down this path of debauchery
and iniquity. No, congregation, it doesn't
take a village, it takes a family. Amen? It takes a father and it
takes a mother, not a nanny state, but a father and a mother. There are three spheres of authority
and sovereignty. There is the home led by the
husband and father. There is the church led by men,
pastors and elders. And there is the civil sphere
led by men in society. And this is ordained of the Lord. Listen to what the Westminster
Catechism says, and I'm quoting from question number 64 as it
relates to the Fifth Commandment. It says, the Fifth Commandment
requireth the preserving the honor and performing the duties
belonging to everyone in their several places and relations. superiors, inferiors are equals. You've heard me say the phrase
superiors and inferiors as we've gone through Ephesians. That's
the very language of the Bible. That's the very language of the
1689 Confession of Faith. That's the very language of the
Westminster Standards. I realize that the idea of superiors
and inferiors is not politically correct in our day. But we're
not going to throw away our confession of faith. Amen. We're not going
to bow to political correctness and say, well, the Westminster
catechism is somehow it is not correct in our day. No, these
are biblical categories and fathers and mothers are in that place
of superior. Their children are in place in
terms of rank and authority as their inferiors. And so there
is to be this due respect given unto them. There is to be this
honor unto them. And indeed the fifth commandment
deals with all of these various relationships, not just the parent
child relationship. It deals with whether it is in
the civil sphere or whether it is in the ecclesiastical sphere. It is basically saying a summary
of it all honor to whom honor is due. And of course. In Ephesians,
we're concerned with that parental authority. So, as we look here
in Ephesians, Paul says, children, obey your parents in the Lord,
for this is right. And then he says, honor your
father and mother, quoting from the Ten Commandments. So, we
want to ask ourselves this morning the question, children, how are
you to honor your parents very practically. And I want to state
four things today. That'll be the essence of our
sermon. Four ways that children are to
honor their parents. Number one. Number one, children
honor their parents by obeying them, by obeying them. Now that
we've already covered, haven't we? That's what we read in Ephesians
6 verse 1. It is this idea of obedience. How do you honor your parents?
Obey what they say. This is why Paul in Ephesians
6 links the statement of obedience in verse 1 to the statement of
honoring in verse 2. Because you honor your parents
by doing what they say. By obeying them. We're not going to spend time
on that one because that was the essence of last week's message.
Number two, children not only honor their parents by obeying
them, they honor their parents by loving them. By loving them. Now, if you are in your Bibles
right now in Exodus, I want you to just turn back a book. Turn
with me, please, to Genesis. Genesis chapter 46. This idea of honoring your parents'
children is that you obey them. And secondly, you love your parents. You love them. Now, most of us
are familiar with the story in the book of Genesis here. It
is the story, the latter section of this book of beginnings, that
tells us the story of Joseph. And we love the story of Joseph.
It is a picture of the providence of God in our lives. It is a reminder that regardless
of the challenges that we go through, just like Joseph, he
went through a lot of challenges and difficulties and frowning
providences. He nevertheless had the hand
of God orchestrating all the events he experienced so that
they were all for ultimately his good and for God's glory. But what we want to see here
in Genesis 46, look with me, please, beginning in verse 28.
Joseph, of course, has been sold into slavery by his brothers.
He was exalted in Egypt by Pharaoh. He predicted the famine. And
of course, that is what led to this family reunion because of
the famine. And so the family's coming back.
Now his father, Jacob, Israel, is going back to see him for
the first time after all of these years. And it says in verse 28,
it says, Then he sent Judah before him to Joseph to point out before
him the way to Goshen. And they came to the land of
Goshen. So Joseph made ready his chariot
and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel. And then listen
to this language, how it's described. It says that he presented himself
to him and he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. A corrugation that is a testimony
to that love that Joseph had for his father. He loved him. He had true affection for him. And after all of these years
of separation and all of the turmoil that he had gone through,
now Joseph having been exalted, there is this pinnacle in the
story where they're reunited. And he fell on his father. And he embraced him. And for a long while he hugged
and wept on his father's neck. Can you imagine this picture?
Corrugation, this is what it means to love your parents. Amen? This comes from a heart
of true love and affection for his father, which is exactly
the kind of affection that we are to have in honoring our parents. Now, if you will turn with me
in your Bibles, turn over in the Gospel of Matthew chapter
10. And when we think about this
honoring our parents by loving them, we do want to hear the
words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 10 verses 34 through 39. Matthew
10 And picking up this familiar
text in verse 34, Jesus says, And do not think that I came
to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace,
but a sword. Now that certainly is not politically
correct in our day. For I have come to set a man
against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. Man's enemies will be those of
his own household. He who loves father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take
his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who finds
his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake
will find it. What is Jesus saying here? Jesus
is not saying, first of all, that we're not to love our parents,
because the Bible doesn't contradict itself. Jesus is saying that
coming to faith in Christ can, it doesn't necessarily always
does, but it can result in conflict and strained family relations. That can happen. And a disciple
must love Christ supremely, even above his father or mother. Loving
Christ above all others. It is that love where God is
loved supremely. And sometimes that means there
is division, and sadly that does sometimes happen, even within
family relationships. Jesus here in verse 37, if you
look again, he says here, he who loves father or mother more
than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. He is assuming that we love
our families. He is assuming that we love our
parents. And he says, you do love your
parents. But you must love me even above
your father and your mother. We've talked about this before.
It is this idea of the ordo amoris. It's the idea of ordered love,
the ordering or the hierarchy of love. We are to love God supremely,
amen, and then we love our own family and kin, and we love our
own nation above other nations, our foreigners, that is normal
and natural. It isn't something unique or
strange. We think about the Apostle Paul
himself. The Apostle Paul who wrote in
Galatians 3.28, there is neither Jew nor Greek, There is neither male nor female,
now obviously there is, but in terms of identity in Christ,
those various distinctions are secondary to that unity we have
in Christ. He is the same Apostle Paul who
said that I have a love for my own people, the Jews. I have
a love for my own kindred, my own lineage. In fact, he is very
dramatic. He says, I would wish that I
could be accursed for the sake of my kinfolk according to the
flesh. There's nothing wrong. In fact,
there's everything natural about loving your own kinfolk, your
own people, as Paul certainly illustrated in his life. This
is also true of many other illustrations. I share this because of the events
of this last week. How many of you are aware of
the passing of one of the great champions of the faith, Votie
Bauckham? Now, he was one of those gentlemen
that I loved in terms of his ministry. I loved him and all
that his work was so unbelievably faithful to the Word of God.
He was not just a garden variety evangelical preacher. He was
not just a Baptist. He was distinctly a 1689 Reformed
Baptist. That's who he was. He was committed
to the Scriptures in his ministry. He was committed to a fidelity
to what the Bible says about the family. He held to and taught
what we hold to, which is the idea of patriarchy. You've heard the differences
between the various categories as it relates to the family relationship. You have the egalitarians, and
that's where the woman rules the home. And then you've got
the complementarians, and someone said that's where, in many instances,
the husband has to ask permission to run the home. And then you
have the patriarchy, where the man actually rules and leads
in the home. And certainly there are those
in the complementarian position that are far closer to the patriarchy
position. Votie Bachmann was committed
very explicitly to the idea of patriarchy. In fact, all the
way back in 2008, he didn't like the fact that John McCain picked
Sarah Palin as his running mate. Why? Because he held to the concept
of patriarchy. He was a man who rejected the
CRT. He rejected all of the Marxist
ideology. All of that. He wrote a book,
Fault Lines, and I would highly recommend that book. Get that
book and read it. It's excellent. He was also a
man talking about natural affection. You're saying, Pastor, where
are we going with this? He was a man who held to that idea of
ordered love and natural affection. He had a love for his fellow
black people. We recognize that that love is
not somehow erased when you come to faith in Jesus Christ. He
and his wife had two black children, and then they later adopted seven
more black boys to raise them because of the blight that so
often is true in that culture and in that society. It is said
that whenever he went for the first time to visit Zimbabwe
in Africa, that he was greeted there right after he got there
by an old black man who came up to him and asked him, is this
the first time you've ever visited Zimbabwe? And he said, yes, it
is. He gave him a big hug and he said, welcome home. And Wody Bachman, his tears just
started flowing down his face because there was that natural
affection he had. These are his people. And he
loved them. Well, you know the rest of the
story. He loved them so much. What did he do? He moved and
went back over there and sought to establish a seminary and a
college there and was there for several years and only moved
back to the United States recently because of his poor health, which,
sadly, we know all too well the situation. It is passing at the
age of 56 because of his heart condition. But you see, Votie
Bachmann, who was on the one hand someone who totally rejected
CRT and Marxism, He had a natural affection for his own people. Now, he was born in L.A., and
yet he had that affection for Zimbabwe. There is nothing wrong
with loving your own people. Amen? There's nothing sinful
about that. Now, we're told that's sinful,
but there's not. Now, yes, we are all one in Christ
regardless of our ethnicity, but there's nothing wrong, there's
nothing sinful with loving your own people. And Votie Bachmann
is the greatest testimony of that reality. Congregation, this
idea of children loving their parents is that which is normal
and natural. It is natural, normal affection. And yet the reality is often
children will rebel and they will turn away. And the Scriptures
say, children, you are to honor your father and your mother. And a part of honoring your father
and your mother is that you not only obey them, but you love
them. Like Joseph, when he saw his
father, and he hugged his neck and wept for a long time. Turn with me in your Bibles back
in the Old Testament and look with me please in Leviticus,
Leviticus 19. And we say this idea of children
honoring your parents, it is by obeying them, loving them. Number three, children honor
their parents by respecting them, by respecting them. That's the
idea of honoring. Now, positively, we have this
idea stated in Leviticus 19 verse 1, it says, And the Lord spoke
to Moses, saying, Speak to all the congregation of the children
of Israel, and say to them, You shall be holy, for I, the Lord
your God, am holy. And then verse 3, Every one of
you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep my Sabbaths
I am the Lord your God. Here in verse 3 you have this
idea of respecting your parents. He says every one of you, without
exception, this is a universal duty, you shall revere your mother
and father. The word there revere is the
word Yahweh. in the Hebrew. It means to fear,
respect, or reverence. In fact, if you look down in
verse 14, the very same Hebrew word is found as it relates to
our duty to God. Chapter 19 of Leviticus, verse
14. You shall not curse the deaf,
nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your
God. I am The Lord. And there you have that phrase,
fear your God. It is the same Hebrew word. That gives you an idea of this
idea stated in verse 3 of revering your parents. It is that deep
reverence and respect for them. Indeed, if you'll turn with me
over in the New Testament, look with me quickly over in 1 Timothy,
1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. And notice
here the various responsibilities and duties and qualifications
for an elder. And one of the most important
things is that he has his household in order. His wife is not to
be a busybody or a gossip or a whisperer. She is to be in
control under her husband and doing nothing contrary to his
ordering. His children, verse 4, are to
be obedient and they are to be compliant or that would be disqualified. And notice in verse 4 it says,
one who rules his own house well, that includes wife and children,
wife and children, And then he says, having his children in
submission, and notice the last phrase, with all reverence. There's that idea of respect.
With all reverence. This is something that is expected
and required and the duty that children are called to. So positively,
the idea of respecting your parents is that you have this reverence,
this honor that is, yes, even like a godly fear you would have
for God because of their place and position and authority that
God has placed in them over you as the child. Now, turning back
to the Old Testament, look with me please in Exodus again. We were there just a moment ago.
I want you to look with me in Exodus 21. The idea of this notion
that children honor their parents by respecting them. Positively,
they respect and revere. Negatively, this is the other
side of the coin, what it is not, well, Chapter 21, look at
verse 15. Exodus 21 and verse 15. And he who strikes his father
or his mother shall surely be put to death. That's a very strong
statement. We, in our modern day, might
think that sounds rather cruel or harsh. But this congregation
shows us the importance of that respect. that is to be rendered. You strike a parent? Well, in
ancient Israel, that called for the death penalty because that
was not reverencing your parent. Look at verse 17 of the same
chapter. He who curses his father or mother
shall surely be put to death. So on the one hand, you have
a physical assault. That's worthy of capital punishment. But in verse 17, even cursing your parent in the Old Covenant. That was worthy of capital punishment. This is more than simply a harsh
word spoken in anger. This is a disparaging, insulting
word repudiating their authority and speaking with utter contempt.
And that's the idea of this verse. Now look with me, please, in
your Bibles over in Proverbs. Turn to Proverbs chapter 30.
Again, we're talking about the idea of children honoring their
parents by respecting them. Positively, they're to revere
them, they're to respect them. But negatively, it means that
they are to not strike them, they are to not curse them, and
then number three, to not mock them, to not mock them. This
is found in Proverbs 30 and verse 17. Proverbs 30 and verse 17. This is the opposite of respecting
your parents. It says, the eye that mocks his
father and scorns obedience to his mother, the ravens of the
valley will pluck it out and the young eagles We'll eat it. You don't see often in homes
this verse cross-stitched and put on the wall about eyes getting
eaten out by ravens and eagles. And yet, congregation, this is
the Word of God too. Amen? Just like trust in the
Lord with all your heart. It is a statement about this
idea of showing mockery toward your parents. The opposite of
respect. How does God estimate this? That's what we should be concerned
with. And how God sees it, He sees it as a very serious sin
before Him. So, children, what are you to
do in honoring your parents? You are to obey them. You are
to love them. You are to respect them. Number four, and finally, children
are, number four, to honor their parents by listening to them,
by listening to them. We're already in the book of
Proverbs, so let's just look in Proverbs to consider this
subject. Turn back to Proverbs chapter
1. All of these things, congregation,
they all flow together, don't they? It's not like these are
totally separate things, like, oh, I love my parents with true
love, but I don't respect them. I won't obey them. You know,
all of these things, they fit together. They're all part of
this one spirit and attitude of action that is to be present
in a child. And yet it's good sometimes to
see the various elements when we put the whole thing together
in our understanding. And this element here is that
children are honoring to their parents when they listen to them
as that authority figure. Proverbs chapter 1, this of course
is what Solomon spoke of many times. We'll just look at a sampling
of verses. Chapter 1, verse 8. My son, hear
the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of
your mother. For they will be a graceful ornament
on your head and chains about your neck. There in verse 8,
hear the instruction. of your father. Do not forsake
the law of your mother. There's a blessing attached,
verse 9, to that reality. Look in chapter 2, verse 1. My
son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within
you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your
hearts to understanding, yes, if you cry out for discernment
and lift up your voice for understanding, If you seek her as silver and
search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand
and fear the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Here again, that idea of verse
1, receiving my words. He says, son, receive my words. Look over in chapter 3, verse
1. My son, do not forget my law. But let your heart keep my commandments
for a length of days and long life and peace. They will add
to you. That sounds kind of like the
fifth commandment, doesn't it? It's really a kind of echoing
the idea, the commandment, and then the promise attached to
it. Look over in chapter four. Again, this idea of listening
to your parents. Proverbs 4 and verse 1, Hear
my children the instruction of a father, and give attention
to no understanding. For I give you good doctrine,
do not forsake my law. When I was my father's son tender
and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught
me and said to me, let your heart retain my words. Keep my commands and live. Get wisdom. Get understanding.
Do not forget or turn away from the words of my mouth. And he continues on all the way
down to verse 13. Listen to your parents. Chapter 5, verses 1 and 2, ìMy
son, pay attention to wisdom, lend your ear to my understanding,
that you may preserve discretion and your lips may keep knowledge.î
Just a couple of more places. Turn over in chapter 13 of Proverbs,
all of these are found, these illustrations are found in Proverbs,
over in chapter 13. Chapter 13 in verse 1, a wise
son, who is a wise son according to the Bible? A wise son heeds
his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to
rebuke. And then finally, if you will,
over in chapter 23, Proverbs chapter 23. Again, you may think we've exhausted
every one of these sayings. We're just hitting some of them.
There are many others. This theme is so often found
here. But Proverbs 23, look at verse
22. 23, 22. Listen to your father
who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. So here again is this idea of
listening, not despising, heeding what your parents say. Children,
you honor your parents by listening to them. How are you to listen
to them? Let me give you four ways that
you are to listen to them. Number one, listen to your parents
dutifully. Dutifully. Because this pleases
God. It is your duty before God to
listen to them. You say, well, I don't want to
listen to them. Well, I don't like listening to them. Well, I don't
want to hear what they have to say. God commands you to listen to them.
Now, we live in a day where, oh, don't talk about duty. Ugh,
duty. Talk about love. But no, we are
to be doing what God commands. Amen? And God commands children,
listen. So listen dutifully. You're rendering obedience to
God when you listen to your parents. Secondly, listen to your parents
Eagerly. Eagerly. It is for your good. They have something that will
be helpful to you. And it will help you. It will
warn you. It will instruct you. It will
encourage you. It will be for your good, both
physical and spiritual. So listen eagerly. It will be
helpful to you. Third, listen to your parents
humbly. Humbly. Isn't it amazing how
children, when they get a little bit older, they get to that stage
where they know far better than their parents. Am I the only
one who's seen this happen or is this fairly common? You get
to the teenage years and they know a whole lot better than
their stick-in-the-mud parents. They are wiser, they are better,
they have far better understanding. And then isn't it interesting
how everything kind of comes around and then later on, about
30 years old or so, whenever they have kids, they say, you
know what, Dad? You had a lot of good things
to say. I agree with you a lot more.
I can see how wise those words really were. Children, you are
to listen, and you are to listen with a spirit of humility. The spirit of rebellion is a
spirit that is proud and aloof and lofty and says, I know better. But understand, you don't know
better. Your parents know better and
you need to listen to your parents and do so with a spirit of humility. Listen dutifully, eagerly, humbly
and then number four, listen heedfully. That is when you listen
to your parents, you are to listen with an attitude that you're
going to do what they say. It's not just, well, I'll give
you a hearing. No, I'll give you a hearing so
that I can do the heeding of what you have said. If you're
not doing the hearing unto heeding, then you're not hearing correctly. That is your duty. Children, you are to be listening
to your parents. Now, let's turn back, please,
in the moments that we have remaining. Let's turn back to Ephesians,
where we look in Ephesians chapter 6 again. We've talked about this
honor that's commanded. Now, notice, please, taking up
the text again in verse 2, we have this promise which is attached. Honor your father and mother.
which is the first commandment with promise, verse 3, that it
may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. This, of course, again is a quotation
from the fifth commandment, which we already have read, and we
see this allusion in what we read in the Proverbs just a moment
ago. What do we make of this promise
attached? this promise that it will be
well with you and you will live long on the earth. Well, certainly
in terms of the Old Covenant reality, if you did not obey
your parents, you would not live long on the earth. Amen? Because
there was the death penalty if you didn't obey your parents.
So there was a very real application as it related under the Old Covenant.
But here Paul is quoting this with the promise detached in
the new covenant. What is this telling us? Well,
we should understand this is a special encouragement for children. Obey your parents, that it may
be well for you and you will live long in the land. It will
be better for you in every way when you obey your parents' commands. This is a general promise and
it is a general principle. It should not be taken as somehow
an automatic guarantee that you're going to live past age 90. It
doesn't mean that you necessarily, well, if I was obedient, then
I can expect to get real close to 100 years of age. No, that's
not how the Bible speaks. The Bible speaks in general principles,
and there are always exceptions to those principles. Nor, on
the other hand, does this necessarily mean that a child dying young,
well, he obviously didn't obey the fifth commandment. It doesn't
necessarily mean that either. There are many providences that
determine the length of life. God is sovereign over the length
of our days, and so we should take this for what it is. It
is a general principle, a general promise, God's smile and favor
and blessing are upon His children who obey Him, just as that is
true when we obey our parents. And God gives this encouragement,
this inducement to obey your parents. Congregation, as we
conclude this morning, looking at these two verses here in Ephesians,
Just a couple of words of application, really just what we have already
said. To our children here, what are
you to take away from the message today? What did pastor say to
you today? Well, I was speaking right directly
to you. You are to honor your parents. That's what God has commanded
you to do. You say, pastor, how am I to
honor my parents? Number one, you're to be obeying
them. Number two, you're to be loving
your parents. Number three, you're to show
great respect for your parents. And number three, you are to
listen to your parents. These four elements are your
responsibility, your duty, your calling as children, because
God has put mommy and daddy over you in the Lord. And they are
in a place of authority. And so you are to follow, obey,
love, listen, respect, and honor your parents. This is your duty
before the Lord. The congregation, as we think
about this, kind of expanding the application a little bit,
these four elements of honoring parents, in a real sense, this
is our duty to God as His people as well. Amen? We are all children
of God. And God is our heavenly Father. And so what is our duty? Well,
our duty, really, before God is just like our children before
a parent. We're to be obeying God. We are to be in that duty as
those who are under our Heavenly Father as children. We are to be loving God with
all of our heart. Jesus said supremely, no one
is to be above me in love. Respecting and listening, heeding,
and not only coming to hear the Bible, but to hear it with a
view of heeding what it says. Praise be to God, there are many
here in our midst for which that is your testimony. You're here
today because you want to hear God's Word, and you want to do
what God says, and you want to do whatever it says. You have
a heart that says, I just want to obey what God has commanded. That is the heart of someone
who is a new preacher in Christ. That's the heart of someone who
has been transformed by the grace of God. The question as we conclude
this morning is this, is that true of your heart today? Are
you here today because you eagerly want to hear and heed the Word?
Are you here today because this is your goal, your aspiration,
your affection, your delight? Or is there something else? Well,
my friend, if this isn't your heart, then you need to turn
to Christ. Christ who changes hearts. Jesus said, all who come to me
I will in no wise cast out. Run to Christ. Receive Christ. And you will find in Him a life
that transforms. Forgiveness and cleansing and
you will be a new creation. Let's bow together in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank you again for your Word today. Thank
you that as we come to your Word, it is so clear and basic that
even a little child can understand its truth. Help us, Lord, that
we would be like little children who desire to be fed and to grow
and mature in the faith. Father, we pray that in accordance
with your sovereign mercy, you would be pleased to draw sinners
to yourself. Lord, that you would add to your
church and be honored as indeed the God who is sovereign over
all. And that we all, as your children,
would be following in obeying and honoring you as our Heavenly
Father. We thank you, O God. As you work
in our lives, may you be glorified in all things. We pray this in
Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
Duties of Children (Pt. 3)
Series Ephesians
In this sermon, Pastor Linehan considers the various duties of children in regard to their parents.
| Sermon ID | 928251525165803 |
| Duration | 54:26 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Ephesians 6:2-3 |
| Language | English |
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