TEACHER: Ken Hicks
SCRIPTURES: Exodus 20:12
BOTTOM LINE: We are FOR-EVER Children, and therefore FOR-EVER to Honor our Parents!
QUESTION: How do we Honor Parents that have not been Honorable?
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Exodus 20:12… “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
3 challenges:
- Many of us have negative memories associated w/ this Commandment.
- It seems to be mostly meant for Children.
- It seems to describe a family situation that many of never experienced.
How do we obey this Commandment …
- … if we’re from a broken home?
- … if our parents abused us?
- … if we’re adopted?
- … if we didn’t get along w/ our parents at all?
- … if we don’t know who are parents are?
- … if our parents are no longer living?
2 Observations… ‘
- Since the Commandmentcomes from God, there must be a way to obey this Commandment … no matter how difficult or painful it might be.
- Since God has our Best Interests at heart … Obedience must be in our own best interest.
ONE … The Basic Command
The words in this Commandmentare pretty simple … Honor your father and your mother … nothing too tricky there. The key word here though is HONOR.
Commandments 1-4 deal w/ our Relationship w/ God. Commandments 5-10 deal w/ our Relationships w/ Other People. This Commandment to HONOR our Parents makes it easy to obey all the rest. Learn to HONOR our Parents, and to truly treat them w/ the Respect God is calling for here, and we’re not gonna struggle w/ things like Murder, Adultery, Theft, etc…
And if we choose not to HONOR our Folks, we aren’t likely to HONOR the Commandmentsof God.
TWO … The 4 Divine Reasons: So … we’ve seen the serious warnings here about neglecting this Commandment… BUT what about the Positive side? What does Scripturehave to say about the up-side … the benefit for children HONORING their parents? Scripturehas 4 things …
- It’s the RIGHT Thing to Do.
- It Please God!
- It Leads to Long Life.
- It Ensures Good Success.
APPLICATION:
What Do We Do TODAY to HONOR our Parents?
From the PARENT Lens:
- Praise our Children.
- Listen to Our Children.
- Set Limits … and Say NO!
- Spend TIME w/ Them.
- Model the Right Kind of Life
From the GROWN UP CHILD Lens:
- Speaking Well of Them.
- Obeying Them.
- Forgiving Them.
- Not Forsaking Them.
Think about this Commandmentin reverse. Maybe we’re struggling? Maybe to be honest, we can’t imagine HONORING our Parents due to our experience … and so many of the hurts along the way?
Maybe we can pick out 1 of these things … and try 1? Maybe we can try to HONOR them thru:
- Speaking no ill-will
- Obedience next time there’s an opportunity
- Forgiveness
- Not forsaking them in their time of need
… whatever the case … what if we were to try HONORING them … and see what happens?
This Commandment is the launch-pad of Commandments 5-10 … speaking about our relationships w/ Other People … and that foundation starts at HOME!