| Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy
father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with
thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth, EPH 6:1-3. We have considered God's
directives to wives and husbands in our previous messages. Now we will look at God's
directives to children.
I'd like to underscore the title "Children, Obey Your Parents," because our
text conveys God's directives to children. This is not a philosophy or tradition of any
man of how families should be governed.
This is what Almighty God, who designed the family, has to say about the family.
Therefore, it is important for us to receive these directives as the Word of the living
God, not as the opinions of some man.
We studied what God says to wives, and then what God says to husbands. Now we are going
to consider what God says to children.
God's directives for parents come primarily to the fathers not the mothers. Verse 4
says, "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children...."
Now I want to talk to the children. God has a very special word to you. This is God's
Word to you in EPH 6:1-3, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is
right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it
may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth."
I want you children to do a little class work right now. Look at your Bibles and tell
me God's two directives to you. What's the key word to the wives? Submit. What's
the key word to the husbands? Love. Find the two key words to the children. They
are obey and honor. God's directives to children hinge upon these two words.
Honor your father and mother. Children obey your parents. We are going to
try to open up the meaning of these directives to the children.
FOR OUR FIRST POINT, let's consider the word obey, what it means, the
nature of that obedience, and the reasons for that obedience.
FOR OUR SECOND POINT, let's consider the word honor, what it means, and
two reasons why we should honor our parents. It is God's commandment, and it has God's
special promise.
The Word of God is for children, the same as for teen-agers, adults, and old folks. The
first directive to the children is, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for
this is right," EPH 6:1.
What does the word obey mean? The word obey here is exactly the same word
used in verse five with reference to servants. Verse 5, "Servants, be obedient to
them that are your masters according to the flesh...." Now that kind of obedience is
very clear to us.
When a master calls his servant in, he gives positive directives of the servant's
duties. He might say, "I want you to do this in the morning and that in the
afternoon. When you are done, the rest of the day is yours." Once the master has
given his directives, the servant must carry out whatever the master has directed by his
words.
That is what it means when Verse 5 says, "Servants, be obedient to them that are
your masters according to the flesh...." It means that when I receive a commandment
from my superior, I carry it out as well as I can.
Now to children God says, "...obey your parents...." That means to listen to
their directions, seek to understand them; seek to carry out their intent to the best of
your ability.
What is supposed to be the nature of this obedience? The text says, "Children,
obey your parents in the Lord...." In other words, this is a religious obedience. It
has to do with our responsibility to the Lord.
When children obey their parents, they are to look beyond their parents' commands, will
and authority.
Children must learn to see that their parents are training them and bringing them up in
"the nurture and admonition of the Lord. They must recognize that their parents'
authority is in subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who put parents over them. He
made them His representatives to guide and direct their children.
When children are obeying their parents, they should be constantly thinking of the
smile or frown of God.
That is why obedience to parents is a religious matter. A child can be obedient to his
parents and not be a Christian, but no child can be a Christian and have a pattern of
disobedience to his parents.
Some children obey their parents out of natural love. The fact that a child is obedient
to his parents is no proof that he is a Christian. But, if he lightly disobeys his parents
it is a proof that he is not a Christian. That shows that his rebellion against the Lord
Jesus Christ is not broken.
Since the Lord has put parents over children, rebellion against parents is rebellion
against the Lord. By this a child is saying that he will not obey the Lord. The nature of
obedience that God requires is religious obedience. "Children, obey your parents in
the Lord...," EPH 6:1.
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord...," must also be understood to
mean, you must obey your parents if your parents' command is not against the Word of God.
If they ask you to do that which comes against Scripture, then you must obey God's Word.
Jesus says in MAT 10:37, "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy
of me...."
In MAT 10 Jesus said that he didn't come to bring peace but a sword. He said that at
times he would divide parents from their children and children from their parents. Those
are the exceptional cases.
There are very few instances when parents ask you to disobey the law of God. God says
that you are to do whatever a parent requires that is not in direct violation of His holy
law. He says you are to obey them in the Lord with reference to the Lord's authority and
presence, and the fact that the Lord will hold you accountable for what you've done.
What reason does God give for that obedience? Look at our text. The command is:
"obey your parents in the Lord." What reason does Paul give? The text says,
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right." He stops there.
You may ask the question, "Why should I obey my parents when they only have a
third grade education? I know more than they know. They use poor judgment in a lot of
areas. Why should I obey them?" God has one answer to this: "For this is
right."
You may ask, "Why is it right?" It is right because God, Who is wisdom
itself, designed the family with its order of authority under Christ.
COL 3:20 says, "Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well
pleasing unto the Lord." Paul gives two reasons for this command. EPH 6:1 says,
"For this is right," and here Paul says, "for this is well pleasing unto
the Lord." God commands the parents in EPH 6:4 to, "...bring them up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord."
When children rebel against their parents, the Lord commands the parents to use the rod
of correction to bring them into subjection.
When the Lord works grace in the heart of a child, rebellion is broken in his heart.
Then he will not only seek a pardon for his sins in the blood of Christ, but he will have
a longing in his heart to be right with God through the imparted righteousness or
obedience of Christ. Then there is a longing to be conformed to the image of Christ, i.e.,
"that my will might become dissolved in His will."
You don't need to convince a true Christian that he is supposed to do what is right.
You only need to instruct him on what is right. If he has grace in his soul, he wants to
do what is right.
In the text Paul is appealing to a Christian motive in children. He instructs the
parents to give them a Godly upbringing in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,
instilling in them a desire to do what is right.
If you are a Christian boy or girl, that is all the reason you need to have to obey
your parents. The God whom you say you love says to do it, "For this is right."
Even if you don't understand all the reasons, by God's grace you will obey because His
Word says it is right to do so.
The Lord Jesus Christ lived in subjection to His parents when He was a child. LUK 2:51
says, "And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them:
but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart."
Now why should Jesus obey His parents? He was wiser than they were. When He was only
twelve years old, He was found at the temple amazing the professional theologians. He was
astounding them with His wisdom and His questions.
If He was wiser than the doctors of the law, how much wiser was He than His humble
peasant mother and father? He was infinitely wiser than they were. He was their Creator.
He was their Lord and Saviour. "And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my
spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." LUK 1:46. Jesus is that God who is her
Saviour. Yet it says that He went down to Nazareth and was subject to them.
Why was the Son of God subject to His parents? He was subject to them because it is
right. If the Son of God had not been subject to His parents, He couldn't be our Saviour.
He would have been a sinner.
Oh, young people, look at this. If you want to be in subjection to the Lord and do what
is right, He is telling you what is right. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord:
for this is right."
The proof that you have never been born again is that you don't want to do what is
right by obeying your parents. You want to do your own thing.
When you tell your parents to leave you alone, you are telling God to leave you alone.
You are telling God that you want to do your own thing because He has put your parents in
authority over you. Rebellion against your mother and father is rebellion against the
living God.
Our text is also a very important message to the parents. It says that the children are
to obey. This passage assumes that you, as parents, are giving positive directives to your
children which can be obeyed. They can't obey suggestions.
Children can only obey positive directions. The whole assumption of this passage is
that Godly parents have enough Biblical knowledge to administer the home with Godly
principles. They must give positive, reasonable, clear directions to their children.
Standing back and letting the children do what pleases them is a concept that comes
from the pit of hell. It doesn't come from the Scriptures.
If servants are supposed to obey their masters, the masters must give them orders. Some
servants are left without positive orders because they are adults who have been trained to
know the right thing.
Pity the children whose parents give them no positive direction. They need that
positive direction until they are adults. God have mercy on the father and mother who
gives no positive direction to their sons and daughters.
Parents, can your children take this passage seriously? They can't implement it unless
you, as a parent, are giving clear, positive, Godly directions.
Parents today don't realize their responsibility, and therefore are not seeking wisdom
from God and His Word to train their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
They just don't realize that God has placed them in the home to give direction to their
children. It isn't because they are wiser, more intelligent and more experienced.
In the Ten Commandments God plainly says that every father must administer the rule of
God within his own home. EXO 20:8 says, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the
LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy
manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy
gates."
What is God saying here? He is saying that the head of every household has the
responsibility to be God's representative. He has the responsibility to administer the law
and the rule of God.
Parents, when God opens your eyes to see this responsibility, it will drive you into
the Bible. You'll cry unto God for wisdom to administer rules that are based upon His Word
instead of the notions and whims of your own human reasoning. You will want to administer
a rule that is based upon God's Holy Word.
Once you understand what God wants you to administer as a parent in His Name, then you
can administer in the sense of your own authority gloriously in subjection to God's
authority.
You were placed there by God to give directions to your children. Then all your
admonitions to the children will be the "admonition of the Lord." You will make
that known to your children as you admonish them while they grow up.
God's pattern of discipline established in the garden of Eden is based upon the
principle of reward for obedience and punishment for disobedience. This is a very
important principle to remember in training children.
Children must be trained to know that God has placed parents over them. When they obey
our directions, we smile. When they disobey, we frown and bring the rod of correction.
Many a time it is necessary to sit down with one of the children and ask them if they did
something.
Teaching children to confess their wrong is a very essential element in Godly training.
They must be taught that the Lord's chastening hand comes upon those He loves until they
confess and turn from their sins.
When a child is chastened, he must understand that his parent is God's minister doing
God's command. He must understand that it is not his daddy giving him the spanking.
His daddy isn't giving him the spanking because he is bigger and stronger. His daddy is
giving the spanking because he is the representative of the God of heaven to lay the rod
upon his rebellion. That's Biblical.
Mothers, when your daughter comes to puberty, sit down with her and tell her what makes
a woman tick and what makes a man tick. Tell her why she should be modest in her clothes.
Tell her Jesus said in MAT 5:28, "That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her
hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
Tell her that bared thighs and low necklines cause men to lust. This not only causes
them to sin through lust in their hearts, but it exposes the girls to the danger of being
harassed. Girls must be taught what the Word of God says about enticing men with such
temptations.
JAM 1:14-15 says, "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own
lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it
is finished, bringeth forth death."
Girls must be taught to dress modestly! Why? Because God holds parents responsible to
train their daughters to guard against provoking men to lust. This means they must dress
with moderation, i.e., within bounds--avoiding extremes.
God has given us color and variety of styles to enjoy. When you begin to dress in such
a way as to draw a second glance from men, you not only are guilty before God for causing
lust, but you endanger yourself. When you do that, you're sinning against Almighty God.
Parents, you are responsible to tell your daughters how long or short their skirts will
be. You are responsible to Almighty God for disallowing your daughter to be the object of
sinful lust. You will be called into an account of your stewardship.
1TH 4:4-5 says, "That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in
sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which
know not God." The word concupiscence means, "To covet or lust
after--Lust; unlawful or irregular desire of sexual pleasure." Parents teach your
daughters what a sin it is to be the author of concupiscence.
Parents, teach your children that sex as God intended it is not dirty or unclean, but
sacred! Sexual relations are the most intimate expression of love in marriage, therefore
Satan seeks to defile it with his counterfeit, which is lust.
We must teach our children to look unto Jesus Christ as the example of our life. COL
3:4-5 says, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye
also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth;
fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry."
MAT 18:6 says, "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in
me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were
drowned in the depth of the sea."
Do you realize what your responsibility is, parents? If God tells these children to
obey their parents, He is telling you as parents to give them positive, not arbitrary,
directions. Give them Biblical directions.
Oh, dear children, please listen to your parents! They don't correct you because they
are angry with you. They love you! They love you enough to tell you what is true. The man
who loves you the most is the man who tells you the most truth about yourself. Never
forget that.
Children, you must come to realize that failure to obey your parents is a great sin of
wickedness. How does God look upon the sin of disobedience to parents?
Let me give you an illustration. Suppose one of you children were tempted to break into
your neighbor's house one night when they were away on vacation. How would you feel if you
were caught stealing something from their home? Being caught in such a sin would convict
your conscience of a great sin!
Did you know that God regards the sin of disobedience to your parents as an even
greater wickedness than stealing from your neighbor? In the Old Testament God said that if
someone stole something, he had to restore it fourfold.
Do you know what God said must be done with the child who would not obey his parents?
He was to be taken out and stoned to death. If he stole something, he had to pay it back
fourfold. If he wouldn't obey his parents, his parents must deliver him to the elders of
the city to be stoned to death as a lesson for the other children.
Parents are responsible for teaching their children that they are rebelling against the
Lord when they rebel against their parents.
DEU 21:18-21 says, "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not
obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have
chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold
on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And
they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he
will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city
shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and
all Israel shall hear, and fear."
Society today says you must not touch your children with the rod of discipline. That is
child abuse! See what God's Word says in ROM 1:18 about those who so pervert God's Word.
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness."
The lesson we get from these Old Testament teachings is how grievously God is
displeased with children who are disobedient to their parents. The humanists of our day
have brought God's judgments upon us by changing the truth of God into a lie, setting
their human reasoning above God's will.
ROM 1:25-26 says they have, "changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped
and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this
cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural
use into that which is against nature."
All the sexual perversion of our day, together with God's judgment upon our children,
"Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters,
haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to
parents," ROM 1:29-30, is God's judgment for perverting His Word.
In 2TI 3:1 Paul compares children's disobedience to their parents with the vilest of
sins. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall
be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to
parents...."
Oh, dear young people, hear the Word of the Lord! Failure to obey your mother or father
is evidence of an aggravated sin, and it will bring down the intense judgment of Almighty
God.
Dear children, look at obedience this way. For example, if you were tempted to steal
something, what would you do with that temptation? I hope you would recoil in horror and
beg the Lord to deliver you from that snare of Satan!
Suppose some of you boys were tempted to think impure thoughts about some girls. I hope
you would beg the Lord to sweep the filth from your mind. If any of you girls were tempted
to think impure thoughts about men, I hope that you would ask the Lord to remove these
thoughts from your mind the first time they presented themselves.
This is the same way that you need to treat the temptation to be disobedient to your
parents because God regards it as wickedness of the highest form. Our text says,
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right."
FOR OUR SECOND POINT, let's consider the word honor. We will look at what
it means and two reasons why we should honor our parents. It is God's commandment, and it
has God's special promise.
EPH 6:2-3 says, "Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with
promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth."
What does the word honor mean? The word honor goes beyond obedience.
Obedience is something that can be done grudgingly, but honor goes deeper and touches the
attitude of the heart. Children, don't only obey your parents but honor them.
Honor means to regard highly or show respect to someone by virtue of his position above
you. JOH 5:23 says, "That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the
Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him."
We are to highly honor the Lord Jesus as the Son of the living God. 1PE 2:17 says to
honor the king. We are to show respect for those who are in positions above us. Now God
says, "Honour thy father and mother...." In other words, render them the regard
and respect that is due to their position of authority over you.
Follow this closely. God says in GEN 2:24, "Therefore shall a man leave his father
and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Though
obedience to your parents ceases when you are married, you continue to honor them. You are
no longer under their government, but you continue to honor your parents long after you
cease to obey them.
When a young couple gets married, they need to understand God's will pertaining to
honoring their parents, which now includes their in-laws. At this point they must
understand two very important principles. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and
his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."
A man must leave the government of his parents. He must provide for the financial and
emotional needs of his own house. A woman comes under the authority and care of her
husband and is no longer under the authority of her parents.
At the same time, they must continue to honor their father and mother. They don't cease
to be your parents because one becomes a husband or a wife. The demand on us as children
to honor our parents is much broader than the command to obey them.
In what ways can we honor our fathers and mothers? I will quickly give you two or
three. We honor them by showing respect to them as a person. Your mother may not be the
prettiest person in the world. Your father may not be the smartest man in the world, but
he has been willing to work day in and day out, so you have never known what it means to
be hungry.
Don't ever refer to your parents as "the old man" or "the old
lady." Show respect to them in how you talk about them in front of them and when you
are not around them. Honor your father and your mother. Respect them as your parents.
So many young people bring shame to the family name by using poor judgment when they
start dating and let their passions get out of control. They forget the dishonor and
reproach they bring upon their family name.
It is a horrible dishonor to parents when they are confronted with a premarital
pregnancy involving one of their children. This has not only done despite to the seventh
command, but the fifth as well. Honoring your father and your mother includes protecting
their family name by your actions. You honor that name by guarding their reputation.
Be sensitive of your parents' needs. Did you know that mothers and fathers have needs?
When you are young, you may tend to become selfish about your needs. Did it ever occur to
you that your parents have needs that only you can fill?
My children have met my needs as a parent many times. In the midst of some tremendous
pressure, my son or daughter will come and tell me that they love me. For an example, one
time my wife received a birthday card from one of our children, entitled, CHILDREN DO NOT
UNDERSTAND. The conclusion of the verse read.
And, after all the years in which,
They've cared, and helped and planned,
They're rewarded when their children say,
"Now, at last, we understand!"
Children are honoring their father and mother by showing them love and concern. They
are meeting the deep needs of their hearts.
When is the last time you said to your mother, "I want you to know that I
appreciate all the years you washed my diapers, cleaned up my room and tucked me in at
night. You have always been satisfied to be a keeper of the home, walking in subjection to
my father. Thank you for being faithful to my Dad. I have never known what it is to come
home and find no supper because you were drunk."
Meet the needs of your parents. Be sensitive to their needs. Tell them that you love
them and appreciate all their tender care for you as a child. Tell them that you
appreciate their discipline.
Tell them that you realize now how very difficult it was for them. Tell them you
realize it was out of love for your soul. They need that sense of well being that comes
from being appreciated. When they get older, their desire for such love only increases.
They will have a need to be cared for.
You may be thinking that you can't care for them because you just got married. Remember
that someday you will be old. LUK 6:31 says, "And as ye would that men should do to
you, do ye also to them likewise."
When you leave your parents to cleave to your husband or wife, don't forget them. It
doesn't take much to call them. Don't call them collect every three days because you might
wear out your welcome. Remember their birthdays and anniversaries.
Those are little things, but I am appalled at how many people cease to honor their
parents simply because they get married.
What reasons does God give for you children to honor your parents? There are two. Our
text says, "Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with
promise;" The first reason is because it is God's commandment. Almighty God who is
your Maker and who holds your destiny in His hands says to do so. If we have true Godly
fear, we don't need any more reason than that.
Have you ever seen faith's view of Christ's sacrificial example in HEB 5:8? It says,
"Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he
suffered." Then you will understand why we are saved from rebellion, not in
rebellion. HEB 5:9 says, "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal
salvation unto all them that obey him." That is the first reason.
The second reason is because it has God's special promise. The Scripture says,
"Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it
may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth."
We have dealt with how grievously God is displeased with disobedience to this
commandment. Now see the reward God says there is for keeping this commandment!
"Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise," a
promise of well being and of long life to those who honor their parents.
Does that mean that every Christian boy or girl who obeys his parents will live to be
90? No. The promises of material blessing are never absolute promises to the people of
God. The spiritual blessings are always absolute promises.
PHI 1:6 says, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." There are no exceptions.
The promises of material blessing are speaking of the general way in which God deals with
his people. Generally, those who honor their parents enjoy a long life.
Let's look at some of the reasons why this is so. If you honor your father and mother,
you will take their commandments and directions seriously. You won't go out and waste away
your life on alcohol, wickedness or financial irresponsibility. You will accept their
directions to a well-ordered and well-regulated Godly life.
This generally means that you will have a better physical existence because you don't
destroy your body with intemperance and torture your mind with a guilty conscience.
Generally, honoring father and mother brings the blessing of a good life. It will be
well with you; you will have a long and useful life. No life is worth living for length of
days unless it is the good life lived in obedience to God.
Notice the order. "That it may be well with thee [a life lived under the blessing
of God], and thou mayest live long on the earth." Do you see? The Bible says that
Godliness has promise not only in the life which is to come, but in this life also.
Temporal blessing is promised to those who will live Godly lives. Persecution and
tribulation are promised as well. According to 1TI 4:8, the gospel has present, as well as
future, rewards.
Now you ask if it is right for us as Christians to do something for a reward. The Lord
looks at our hearts. If we are serving with a selfish motive, it would be wrong to receive
a reward.
The motive of our hearts should be that of Godly, filial fear. Our motive for honoring
our parents must be love to God and our parents by doing that which pleases them. The
reward for the return of such self-sacrificing love is an undeserved reward.
It is nothing we deserve for this reason. When we have done all that God says, we are
still unprofitable servants. He gave us the very ability to do what He requires that makes
us candidates for the reward. That is grace. He says that if we do this, He will give us
blessing; and He will work in us the will to do this very thing. It is filled with grace,
but it is a promise of God's blessing.
We are not to think that if we obey God's commandments we can earn salvation. No man is
able to keep the commandments, and the commandments were never given to save us.
We can only keep God's commandments by grace, as the token of our love for being
redeemed by our Saviour's sacrifice on the cross and His perfect obedience.
The law gives eyes to see what is pleasing to our Saviour. Our Saviour said in JOH
14:23, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we
will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Love must be the motive in keeping
His commandments before we can please Him in any way.
The Father was so glorified by the submission of Our Saviour that we read in PHI 2:8,
"And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given
him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
The wife, as the type of Christ's bride, is called to submission to her husband as a
symbol of the church's submission to Christ.
Rebellion was born in the garden of Eden; until that is broken, there is no way to
please God. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy
father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with
thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth," EPH 6:1-3.
Just as a loving husband makes the submission of his wife an easier matter, so do
worthy parents ease the submission of their children.
Notice how the command for children to submit comes between the instruction of the
husband and wife to show the relationship of Christ to the church. It presents a stable,
loving relationship between husband and wife. On the other side of this is Verse 4.
"And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord."
Do you see how beautifully Paul did this? He placed the command to children to obey
their parents in between the assumption that the parents are setting a Godly example in
their own loving relationship to each other. They are to be giving Godly instruction to
the children.
Woe to the parents who expect obedience from their children when they are not living
the standard of a Biblical husband or wife.
Oh, beloved, next to the knowledge that we have God's favour, a father should desire
the respect of his wife and children more than anything in this life. To obtain this men
cannot live a double standard. When parents make a mistake, they must be honest and admit
that it is a mistake.
Children are not looking for perfection in their parents, but honesty.
Herein lies the gospel! There is only One Human Being who ever walked in perfection
throughout His life, and that was the Lord Jesus Christ.
When His parents gave Him a command, He obeyed it in perfection. He honored them in
perfection. Even when He was hanging upon the cross, He didn't forget His mother. JOH
19:26 says, "When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom
he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple,
Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."
He was sensitive for His earthly mother while He was travailing upon the cross to bring
forth the redemption of His church.
We need the imparted righteousness of Christ, to walk in an obedience that is pleasing
unto God. You and I need Christ's obedience to His father and mother imputed unto us and
imparted in us.
May God instill in you, children, the faith to look to the example of the Lord Jesus
Christ as the example of your love, honour and obedience to your parents. "For even
hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that
ye should follow his steps," 1PE 2:21. Amen.
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We pray this sermon has been a blessing to those who read it.
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