Get the Word out!

Ten Commandments #5

This week we will look at the fifth of the Ten Commandments. The fifth commandment says:

Exo 20:12

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

This commandment is the first commandment with a blessing. If we honor our parents, we will have prolonged days. Jesus emphasized this commandment during His life here when He reminded the Pharisees that they were to honor their father and mother or they could be put to death (Matt. 15:4). He condemned the Pharisees for their traditions and practices. The Pharisees would neglect the needs of their parents by saying that all that they had was given to God. Jesus made it clear that it was out of greed that they did this.

Paul also says that this is a commandment that should be followed by children. He said that children should obey their parents in the Lord. This means that if your parents ask you to do something that would be sin, it is not required for you to obey. If they ask you to do something that is ok with the Word and you don’t do it, you are breaking the law. While we have many examples of obedience to parents (for example, David/Jesse), the greatest example of honoring your parents is Jesus Himself. Jesus did everything that God told Him to do when He told Him to do it and never disobeyed.

Is this happening today? Not hardly. What we see to day is a generation of unruly children who run the household while the parents cower in fear of what the courts might do. They are suing their parents and are even able to disown them. They are spoiled rotten and get everything they want. They have no respect for parental authority or other forms of authority. I understand that this is not (nor will it be) true of every child in the generation; but it is becoming more and more common. They have a horrible conception of what is right or fair as well as what their place is and how much freedom they have. The sad thing is that this is just as bad in the church (if not worse) as it is in the world.

The solution to all of this comes from scripture. We need to raise our kids according to what the bible says. We need to teach them God’s law as well as the civil laws. We also need to discipline them, including spanking, when it is necessary in order to prevent them from going down a road that they don’t need to be traveling. We also need to start acting like their parents and not like their “friends”. We accomplish nothing by being their friends other than confusing them. We can be their parents and still have a good relationship with our kids. Something needs to happen if future generations are to be in a position to help our children defend their faith…