Honoring Our Parents
As this coming Sunday is Mother's Day, I thought that it would be appropriate to put up a synopsis of the following lesson.
I hope that it would help us to love our parents even more. It is my understanding that many of our parents have yet to cross the line of faith. Thus it is important for us to be Salt & Light in our families.
Text
Ephesians 6:1-3
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 "Honor your father and mother"-- which is the first commandment with a promise--
3 "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
Title : Why We Must Honor Our Parents?
1) Because God Commands Us To Do So (v1-v2)
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother"-- which is the first commandment with a promise—“
This verse is taken straight from the 10 Commandments in the Old Testament. The first 4 of the 10 Commandments deals with man's relationship with God. And the last 6 deals with man's relationship with one another.
This commandment is the first in the second list of 6. Thus it must be something that is very important to God.
It is God's commandment that we love our parents.
Unless it opposes the truth of God, we should always do our best to honor and obey our parents. This calls for wisdom and a pure heart.
Why is God so autocratic about this? Because God knows that family is the basic fundamental unit of society. And when the social fabric is broken, society will be fractured.
A few very practical ways of honoring our parents are to provide financially for our parents (if we are already working), sharing the happenings in our lives with them, affirming & appreciating them (writing cards to them has worked very well) and praying for them regularly.
2) Because God Blesses Those Who Do So (v3)
"that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
It is the first Commandment with a promise of blessing. Again, it reveals how important it is to God that we honor and obey our parents.
How Does God Bless Us?
a) A Full Life
"that it may go well with you”
A happy family relieves stress.
I am sure many of us have heard the saying that a house is not necessary a home. How true is that statement! God does not only want us to have a house but He wants us to have a godly home too.
b) A Long Life
“that you may enjoy long life on the earth”
Do you know that 70% of all illnesses are psychosomatic (illness of the heart and mind)? If our home environment is improved, not only the quality of life but also the quantity of life will be improved as well (all other things considering equal).
Conclusion
Honoring our parents is not an Asian thing, it is a biblical and right thing to do. Have a most blessed Mother's Day weekend ahead!
I hope that it would help us to love our parents even more. It is my understanding that many of our parents have yet to cross the line of faith. Thus it is important for us to be Salt & Light in our families.
Text
Ephesians 6:1-3
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 "Honor your father and mother"-- which is the first commandment with a promise--
3 "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
Title : Why We Must Honor Our Parents?
1) Because God Commands Us To Do So (v1-v2)
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother"-- which is the first commandment with a promise—“
This verse is taken straight from the 10 Commandments in the Old Testament. The first 4 of the 10 Commandments deals with man's relationship with God. And the last 6 deals with man's relationship with one another.
This commandment is the first in the second list of 6. Thus it must be something that is very important to God.
It is God's commandment that we love our parents.
Unless it opposes the truth of God, we should always do our best to honor and obey our parents. This calls for wisdom and a pure heart.
Why is God so autocratic about this? Because God knows that family is the basic fundamental unit of society. And when the social fabric is broken, society will be fractured.
A few very practical ways of honoring our parents are to provide financially for our parents (if we are already working), sharing the happenings in our lives with them, affirming & appreciating them (writing cards to them has worked very well) and praying for them regularly.
2) Because God Blesses Those Who Do So (v3)
"that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
It is the first Commandment with a promise of blessing. Again, it reveals how important it is to God that we honor and obey our parents.
How Does God Bless Us?
a) A Full Life
"that it may go well with you”
A happy family relieves stress.
I am sure many of us have heard the saying that a house is not necessary a home. How true is that statement! God does not only want us to have a house but He wants us to have a godly home too.
b) A Long Life
“that you may enjoy long life on the earth”
Do you know that 70% of all illnesses are psychosomatic (illness of the heart and mind)? If our home environment is improved, not only the quality of life but also the quantity of life will be improved as well (all other things considering equal).
Conclusion
Honoring our parents is not an Asian thing, it is a biblical and right thing to do. Have a most blessed Mother's Day weekend ahead!
posted by Jeff Chong at 9:18 am
6 Comments:
i repent...
Pastor jeff, it really a reminder to me, thanx alot!! The most simple thing is always the one I have neglect...Believe god will make a miracle!!! Obey obey obey
Yes... it is a great reminder to me as well to honor my parents. I am not on top of the game in this aspect of my life as yet but I am making progress...
Ps Jeff,
My Christian fren said he believes that family comes first. He said "family comes first, because we can change CG and change church but we can't change our family."
He also quoted this phrase (now I think he quoted after your sermon)
"It is the first Commandment with a promise of blessing."
The context of the conversation was on the chinese tradition of honouring the dead (elders) thru joss sticks or offering tea at wedding tea ceremony.
How shd a God-honouring Christian handle such a situation (offering to dead elder) and yet not offend our parents who push the tradition down on Christians?
Thanks for your question. It is a very good question.
You stated that "your Chirstian friend believes". At the end of the day, our beliefs must be held against the Word of God. Our personal opinion and beliefs are secondary.
God's initial plan is that the church and the family are one. Because of sin, there is now a distinction between the spiritual family and the natural family as not all our family members are believers as yet.
So now, we are left in this dilemma of which family should come first. In truth, the spiritual family should come first becuase God comes first. It is God that created the natural family and not the other way round. In pratice, we need wisdom to handle this well. It is hard to give a definititive answer to your question but we need wisdom. But the heart is that God must always come first.
With regards to offering to the dead, we will not worship any other gods or ancestors other than God. Some forms are just mere showign of respect while others are worship. We need to distinct this. There are books on this. You can also talk to your more senior leaders on this on a case by case basis. Again, we need wisdom to handle this tactfully and firmly.
Thanks for your reply, Ps Jeff. Hopefully God will give me wisdom to address this with my friend. Will also do more research into this.
God bless!
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