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November 15, 2021 3:00 am
The way we think about family has changed a lot since the Bible was written, and yet God's commandments remain unchanged. Why does he require children to honor and respect their parents and why is parental authority essential for society as a whole. Alastair Begg answers these questions today on creeper life begins with part one of a message titled family life. God's way.
I invite you to take your Bibles and will turn to Exodus chapter 20 the fifth commandment reads in the 12 verse of Exodus 20 as follows.
Honor your father and your mother so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
You can find its restatement in Ephesians chapter 6 when Paul writes to the Ephesians and in addressing concerns of their relationships with one another. Wives and husbands and employers and employees. He says children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and your 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. The well-being of a comparison of the people of the nation begins within the home. Virtually all civilizations have regarded the recognition of parental authority as being in dispensable to a stable society this bears testimony to the flag of God's natural law.
Every so often in the media as it relates to matters of court, especially the Supreme Court. The question is again raised. Is there such a thing as natural law and the Bible says yes there is. For example, in Romans chapter 2 when Paul is addressing the issue of the culpability of men before a holy God. He points out that sometimes the Gentiles even do things that they ought to do and they don't even have the revealed law of God, and he says in verse 14.
Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required of the law. They are law for themselves even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing not even defending them. In other words, right into the existence of humanity are written certain things. As a result of God's creative handiwork and one of these, which is expressed in all civilizations is here in relationship to family living under the responsibilities of parents for their children and of the children's need for submission to their mom and dad know what is natural and in natural law is expressed in God's revealed law which is encapsulated in the Decalogue, the 10 Commandments which we are now considering I mainly expressly this fifth commandment. Now if your reaction to this, especially in light of where we were living in the present time is to sense that our prevailing attitude within our culture is concerning parental authority and childhood responsibility is sadly lacking, then you're fairly accurate, and you're not without biblical warrant, the situation in the environment in which we are living is something very, very different from that which is envisaged in Scripture and is called for in this fifth commandment from apparently inconsequential things like the dropping of the designation, mom and dad in favor of the use of the father of the mother's first name that on the one hand, and the superficial level, and then is marked on the other end by the evidences of this kind of childhood divorce mentality whereby children are now in such a position of ascendancy in our culture that they possess all these rights which God never intended for children never ever to have and the culture in which you and I live this morning is a culture in which there is a shameless disregard God and for his purposes. Our society is like an overused school bus lying on the side of the freeway with its wheels fallen office axles buckled and his door swinging on the hinges.
It has made can move it does know where it's going. It is now to rectify itself and can get back on the road and if ever anybody would stand up and say why don't you take a look at the maker's instructions that is regarded as the most na�ve stupidity ever conceived of. Hey, did you really are considering the Bible you know God created the heavens and the earth. He made as maybe there's something in there that would explain why we're in the mess don't be ridiculous, and the 10 Commandments with their express conditions for life lived in the right way away with them all. We have no time for them. Now let's get back to the decrepit old blasts of our society and see what we can, so were a joke, where joke before the Chinese culture even in its communist because they look at Oz and they say if that is what they've got.
And that is their disregard for family life, and if that is the way they treat the elderly in wheel one where they had and we are so surrounded by jingoistic notions of how good we are at everything that we can't even see how bad the situation really is, and it all comes back to the kitchen table in all comes back to mom and dad that you now.
That's why this commandment is so fundamentally important. We may have been tempted to think in the first floor that there somehow at arms length that there may be anachronistic that they're not really that significant. I'm sure their importance as somebody, but I don't have. They relate to me. But there is a boy or a girl here this morning Nora mom and dad was going to be able to say I don't understand how the Fifth Amendment has a part to play in my life.
The apostle Paul in describing decadent culture and to describing the duties which he refers to as the last days which will precede the coming of Christ as he describes the chaos of those societies is very interesting. For example, again back in Romans and in chapter 1, when he describes the dreadful decline of a of a culture when it turns its back on God when it embraces foolishness when it worshiped the creature rather than the creator when it falls into the abyss of homosexuality. When man committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion, whatever that may mean it means that there is cause and effect, and they don't retain their knowledge of God and the become filled with every kind of wickedness, for that is in verse 29 filled with every kind of wickedness, emu, greed and depravity there full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice.
They are God haters, they are insolent. They are arrogant they are boastful. The inventive ways of doing evil Nellis right in the middle of it all. They did this obey their parents. Surely that's not so significant.
I mean we understand the malice and the insulins in the strife and they dating God. But how could you have the disability or parent dropped into such a dreadful nice you find exact same thing in second Timothy chapter 3, Timothy is a young man pastoring in his day received instruction from all and Paul points out, people will love themselves first to the love money will be boastful, proud, abusive, and then he comes disobedient to their parents if we are tempted to think that the 10 Commandments are lost somewhere in the history books.
The fifth commandment of all commandments are to bring us back to reality. Fast. What is the fifth commandment teach. This is what it teaches. It teaches the general principle of paying respect to whom respect is June and on her, to whom honor is June and it does so by underlining the fundamental and specific responsibility. Children are given to honor their parents, the responsibility of parenting. The parental authority that God gives is God-given. It is divinely delegated authority. God says this is how I want authority to be administered within the whole.
It's not going to be anarchy. It won't be chaos is not a free-for-all. Everybody won't call everybody by their first name. There will be a father and I will make in the spiritual head of the hole and hold them accountable. There will be a principle of mutuality between husband and wife.
There will be submission on the part of the wife and the father and the mother will unite to give direction and to give instruction to those children who are gifts from the Lord who are entrusted to his care who are to be trained to be brought in obedience and in the instruction of the Lord reverence for parents is an integral part of reverence for God. Indeed, you cannot reverence God. If you don't respect your mom and dad's is simple as that.
It is a folly to say that my life is devoted to Christ if my life is not devoted to my parents.
Okay, when in Leviticus chapter 19 the Lord speaks, he says, you shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. And then the very next sentence reads every one of you shall revere his mother and father.
It's almost like he anticipates the question.
Now he says you're going to be holy because I'm holy. What you mean we should be holy number one revere your mom and your dad.
Whatever else you do start there it was on account of this the death penalty was enacted for those who curse their parents.
Leviticus chapter 20 verse nine, that's how seriously God considered the issue because you see the authority which is entrusted to parents is a divinely delegated authority. Therefore, when a child curses his mom crosses his dad. He courses God for the parents are in the place of God, not a penalty no longer remains but the place which God affords to respect for one's appearance has not changed. And when you think this out dear ones, you realize that there is a direct correlation in our culture between a total disregard for the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the embracing of foolishness in these matters of family living wiser so much silliness spoken about family life. Why is there such an unbelievable disregard for basic elemental obviously commonsensical aspects of our lives that were so much a part of the past, from whence cometh the stupidity.
The answer is, it comes at another point at a higher level with the disregard for God America, says he believes in God, what it means by that is is multifaceted music. God is a cosmic principle. God is a good idea. God is a stellar power. God is whatever you want them to be, and therefore, if God is a servant of our wills that will be able to develop a culture in whichever way be determined, but it doesn't believe in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who says I am holy. You shall be holy respect your mother and father believe in that kind of God.
And so, having rejected the only God exists and having removed is a handbook for our lives were left with total stupidity. The fool has said in his heart there is no God in the foolishness that pervades our culture that rejects God is manifested all around as every day is just silly and if it weren't so sad, it would be funny at times to see the pathetic way in which we conduct affairs in our nation.
Now the church fathers when they wrote concerning the fifth commandment. Indeed, concerning all the commandments. They were keen to point out, not simply the express statement of the commandment, but the intent that was included with it. And so the church fathers. When you read them on the fifth commandment. They point out that that the principle of respect and honor within a culture extends for example to other kinds of payments that we have and the thought of it in terms of, for example, political apparent parents on the notion of Romans 13 that we we should respect those who have the authority over us if you like, for God and for country that that will be an expression of honor where honor is June in the same way that we would be respectful of the flag because of what it represents for the understood in the same way. They recognize that there are spiritual parents which God gives us that within the framework of the church against pastors and elders and those men are responsible under God for the guidance and development of the congregation. They will answer one day on the day of judgment for the way in which they made decisions in the end the way they conducted their affairs and therefore the people of God should submit to their spiritual parents in the same way they spoke in terms of chronological parents, namely, folks who are just older than us and they said in any society that is going to be true to the Scriptures. There will be respect for teachers for police for elders for pastors and for the elderly. Now the fact is that this flies in the face of where we live our lives.
There is a natural human dislike for authority people are essentially walking on. If you were to open their shirts at a big God and undershirt underneath and on the furnaces who say hey how many times a day do you hear now I like. I think that we ought to do such and such who sets what I say or who are you, so it goes off as a complete endemic reaction authority and their reaction is to the authority of God people industry don't understand, but the reason that they don't respective parents want to be the police won't submit to their teachers wonder all these things is because they reject the authority of God over their lives and the 10 Commandments bring us back to this with clarity. Now the promise that attaches to it is a lovely promise that we are to honor our father and our mother so that you may live long and in express terms here in the land the Lord your God is giving you now before we start to spiritualize this in any way which we should avoid. This is is is a straightforward command by Moses that had express application immediately to the people who were the recipients of it to begin with.
When you think about the notion of the land as we move from the time of Moses and through into the time of Christ, and we think of the all that eternity will be. You can see that this promise goes far and beyond any kind of immediate geographical or historical application and we ought to be clear as well that the promise is probably not to be seen as a motive.
In other words, honor your father and mother so that honor your father and mother why because God says okay this is not pragmatism. Honor your father and mother.
If you want to live a long time that the living a long time is a result of honoring your father and mother is not a motivational principle not to diminish the promise to disregard or set aside instruction for something to say this, we all know that there will be lots of obedient children who died young at or below is a disobedient children are hung around for an awful long time. Does that invalidate the principal know the principle remains true, and I think the issue rather is that rather than it being a categorical promise to individuals. It is a general promise regarding the social stability which is attaches to a community in which children honor their parents, undisciplined children spell ruin for a nation for a church for society and the principle is this if you listen to your mom and dad and they give you godly instruction then you won't go over the crows people shoot crows if you go with the crows is a chance you will be shot if you listen to your mom and dad. Then you keep from doing that and going there and there's a chance that your life is the last a lot longer than if you have a total disregard for their parental jurisdiction and you see I do what I want without one with her so ever I choose anytime I want. The principle is not invalidated by the exceptions to the rule that, by way of general instructions. Let us come then to some specific applications on this fifth commandment. First of all, let us define honor here. Honor your father and mother somebody honestly going to see what is that mean the Hebrew word for honor is the word cabinet KE DED and it simply carries the meaning of to be heavy and it points to regarding our parents as eminently worthy of all weeks of respect.
Okay, there should be times of respect for appearance. It demands tons of it. We look at them and the weight of honor that we ascribe to them is really having a heavy duty command. The Greek word which is correlates of two it is to mail TI MAO and it conveys the notion of fixing the right evaluation upon their work like the price is right for the thing out the old visor.
Whatever it is explosive put in place a right evaluation on its work while the worth that we place upon our parents is not on the basis of how much we like them are like what they're saying to his or whatever else it is by the worth that we place upon our parents is because God Almighty has placed our parents in this responsible role and the worth of honor and respect that is due them is an account of God's plan and prerogative in the honor which we give to our parents is to be a reflection of the honor that we get to go okay so that's it. Define in terms of the weight of respect that we owe them and in terms of fixing our right evaluation upon their work. How is honor displayed first of all it is just a note in passing that the honor that is called for is an obligation is not an option is not as if we can now choose to opt into this if we like and if we don't then we'll just have a Christian life. Without this particular one can do that is obligatory is not optional. All right, so for those of you thought you were going to skip the fifth commandment move quickly to the six-year in deep trouble. All right, so the honor is displayed number one in practical respect we understand disrespect on weight. We would like to build to teach respect and then people discover disrespect by it all. Having discovered disrespect.
We will teach respect and counterbalance to the disrespect that we've already embraced. We disrespect our parents when we mock them when our tongue's that is disrespectful. Therefore, to respect the means that I don't mark them with my tongue. I disrespect my parents when I speak unkindly about them.
Therefore, I respect them. When I speak kindly about I disrespect my parents when I address them in public.
In such a way as to make them appear as though they were a member of my baseball team that I didn't particularly like, rather than that they were my father, who begot me or my mother conceive I disrespect my parents went on talking on the telephone asking for a ride home from such and such a place. I treat them as if they were some dreadful cabdriver who want to be glad of my business.
Therefore, I respect them when I treat their kindnesses towards me with the honor and revering that is Juden Proverbs chapter 23. Listen to your father who gave you life and do not despise your mother when you are old Telstra bag helping us understand why reverence for our parents is essentially connected to our reverence for God, your listing to Truth for Life. On behalf of all of us your Truth for Life we want to say thank you for your support throughout this year. Your prayers and your giving bring Alistair's teaching to an audience that by God's grace is continuing to grow. I mention this because we are headed toward the final weeks of the year when your giving is really essential November and December donations enabled this ministry to finish the year strong. So as you look ahead and plan to support nonprofit organizations that benefit you throughout the year. We hope you will remember Truth for Life and consider a generous gift to support the Bible teaching you hear on this program you can give online@Truth for Life.org/donate or call 888-588-7884 when you do, be sure to ask for your copy of the book pathway to freedom of God's laws guide our lives. It's our way of saying thank you for your support in the book pathway to freedom. Alastair draws from Scripture and other sources to walk us through the 10 Commandments. He points out that the things that give the illusion of pleasure or security can actually breed anxiety. Meanwhile, God's laws will help you live a life marked by wisdom, joy, and integrity. Once again, you can request a copy of the book pathway to freedom with a one time donation Truth for Life.org/donate today is the last day will be offering the book pathway to freedom of God's laws guide our lives.
When you donate however you can still purchase additional copies of the book to use with your Bible study group or your Sunday school class for new members class at church.
You can also purchase the entire pathway to freedom series on a USB drive along with the corresponding study guide. All these materials are available at our cost the Truth for Life.org/store Bob Lapine thanks for joining us today. Now that we know why we should honor our parents find out how we should do that truly join us tomorrow for part two of family life. God's way the Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life with the Learning is for Living