Honouring God

Brothers and Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,
I begin by saying how easy it is to twist Scripture to make it say what suits us.
A verse out of context is a pretext.
For example, take Ephesians 5:24, “Wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” As Christians we are called to submit to one another out of reverence to Christ. That means: each of us is to recognise the place God gives us within the body for the well-being of the body. We are called to submit to Christ absolutely.
We are to submit to each other, because only then will the unity, peace and harmony that Christ desires will be achieved and maintained.
Perhaps it might seem strange to you if I ask,
Why should we to listen to God?

Because Almighty God has made us, He has designed the way we ought to live, and only by following His commands will our relationships prove to be fruitful.
Last week was declared to be a special day – Mothers day.
For those who have had wonderful mothers, it is easy to be thankful and honour them. But what about those whose mothers put their child up for adoption … or those who had mothers that did not treat them so well … For them today may well be difficult to navigate. God’s commandments for His people are to be taken very, extremely, seriously. Our God is a holy God who does not speak lightly but is to be honoured, respected and obeyed.
Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus,

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honour your father and mother – which is the first commandment with a promise – that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth. Fathers do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

We live in a society which is breaking down because
families are not following God’s principles.
It is heart-breaking to see the social fabric of our society being eroded.
Children are becoming more and more rebellious.
I also believe that parents and those in positions of authority are not helping the situation.
Is there any hope?
I believe that Christian parents and children, Christian families have a unique opportunity to witness to the world at this present time just by being different.
In what ways should a Christian family be different? Not by wives slavishly submitting to their husbands in everything, but by all of us – the whole church – submitting to Christ – has He not been crowned Lord of Lords and King of Kings?
As people who have been redeemed from the wrath of God which comes on all who are sinful rebelling against the Lord, we are called to live as children of light – ‘For the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth.’
Godly, God fearing parents show love and concern for their children in very practical ways. We are called to put Deuteronomy 6 into practice:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commands that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you
walk along the road, and when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on you hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

I can still see in my minds eye a plaque hanging on my parents kitchen wall.
‘Christ is the head of this house, the silent listener to every conversation … ‘
Our love for our children is not to be conditional on their being ‘good’.
As parents we show and say to our children that we love them very much, perhaps especially when we discipline them.
We witness by being the sort of family that follows God’s guidelines for living holy lives that honour God.
When we live in this way we are true evangelists.
Our friends and neighbours will see by our actions the difference in our family and by the grace of God become jealous, wanting the same for themselves.
This will give us the opportunity to share with them what has made the difference.
Does our obedience, love, honour and loyalty shine as an example?
OR Do we show the world something different – namely, we are no different to them.
The word OBEY means listen, with a willingness to do what you are asked.
It is important that obeying is governed and controlled by the accompanying idea of HONOURING.
Honor your father and mother.
That means respect them knowing that they will have to give an account to the Lord for the way they have loved or not loved, nurtured or not nurtured, passed on the baton of of faith or not.
Children I plead with you, don’t give grudging obedience to your parents.
You can keep the letter of the LAW.
But what makes all the difference is keeping the spirit of the Law.
Children who show a lack of reverence and say to their parents or even think,
“Who do you think you are?”
And, “why should I listen to you?”
Such an attitude makes God very sad.
We live in an age where young people have little respect for their parents. Or any respect for any authority for that matter. The flouting of authority is one of the characteristics of the sinfulness and lawlessness of this age.
Perhaps you wonder, why should I obey, honour, and love my parents and respect those in authority?
Let me give you a few reasons that God gives.

1st – For it is right.

It is good, it is the way God created life to be lived.
It is a basic principle of NATURE as God created it.
For the whole of nature, and the whole of life INDICATES that for sons and daughters to be rebellious against their parents and to refuse to listen and obey is foolishness.
Bear in mind that I am talking about parents that fear the Lord.
I am aware that there are some parents who are not worthy of the name, indeed, it is a crime that they even have children under their care.
In the animal world, parents feed and instruct their offspring how to live and survive etc. Children should obey the instruction of their parents for this is proper.

2nd – God specifically commands it.

The apostle Paul quotes the O.T.
“Honour your father and mother which is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
This is obviously the 5th commandment yet it is the first commandment dealing with our relationships with others. (the first 4 deal with our relationship to God)
Honouring your parents is of first importance, neglect of this law will ultimately lead to the collapse of society. Whether we like it or not, a breakdown in family life will eventually lead to breakdown everywhere. If children cannot obey their parents, how do you expect them to obey those in authority? Then society will become chaotic with no law and order and everyone doing what is right in their own eyes and ‘dog eats dog and survival of the fittest.’ God’s promise doesn’t mean that if I am a dutiful son or daughter I will live to a grand old age.
But it does mean you will have a BLESSED life.
If you want to enjoy God’s blessing and favour, keep his commandments.
‘Thy Word is a lamp to my feet …

3rd – Because God has loved us.

Jesus said, ‘If you love me you will obey my commandments.’ Obedience is our response to God’s grace.
Those walking in the Spirit treasure the commands of God. Psalm 119.
I came across a paraphrase of 1 Cor. 13
‘I don’t care if you give all your money to the poor, or if you do all the spectacular things for the Lord. But do you love your mum and dad?
Do you submit to those in authority over you?
Dad’s are you putting the interests of your family before your own?’

We obey this command for Christ’s sake.
The Lord Jesus who came from heaven honoured his Heavenly Father’s perfectly.
And Jesus honoured his earthly parents.
Remember when He was in the temple (His fathers house,) talking with the religious leaders? His parents missed him, searched for him and eventually found him in the temple. Scripture says, ‘Jesus humbled himself and was obedient to his parents.’
Imagine, the SON OF GOD INCARNATE submitting to Joseph and Mary.
How our Lord must have been patient bearing with his parents weaknesses and shortcomings. Christ did this to please his father in heaven, that He might fullfil the Law in every respect.

God has redeemed us that we might be people who are different from the crowd: zealous, imitators of Christ.
Jesus came to save us from our sin and to fill us with the Holy Spirit.
Well people may say: PROVE IT!!
Children show it by obeying their parents with JOY.
Children, do what your parents ask, not out of fear of punishment, but to please Jesus. Do the dishes, clean your room, etc. not grudgingly but with joy knowing that this pleases God. The Lord also has some words of wisdom for parents, ‘Do not exasperate your children; instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.’ Exasperate means to ‘embitter, stir up or provoke to anger.’
Some traps to avoid are: favouritism, discouragement, bitter words, cruelty, neglect, not allowing them to develop their own ideas or learn from making mistakes – no one is perfect.
We could say : Don’t “lord” it over your children, being dogmatic, unfeeling, lacking in love – ‘Love is Patient, kind, not proud, not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, always protects, always perseveres. Love never fails!’ There is only one exception to obeying your parents or anyone in authority for that matter. That is when they would ask you to do something which is sinful – against God’s will. i.e. the government demands you deny Christ.
But then our disobedience shouldn’t be with a spirit of arrogance.
Our final allegiance is to Christ and his will.
If we must make a stand for him, we must do it with the RIGHT SPIRIT.
For a child to have to go against his parents is one of the most solemn and serious decisions. It is to be done in the name of Christ, with a broken heart.
Not with an attitude of DEFIANCE.
Disobedience should hurt and cost us much.
I might say, the same principle is true when it comes to refusing to submit to authority. Might I close this sermon by calling on all parents, remember, your attitude to those in authority over you will almost certainly rub off on your children.
If you have no respect of authority, don’t expect your children to have any for you, their teachers, the elders, the Law etc.
I urge you as parents and grandparents to prove your love for your Lord and Saviour by doing what he commands.
You are redeemed from the old way of life.
A new creation, a new people called to bring glory and honour the Lord every day.
May the Spirit of God sanctify our lives so we might walk in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Further reading: Deuteronomy 6:1-9