"Honor Your Father and Your Mother"
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November 09, 2014 |
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 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you" (Exodus 20:12).
Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
Jesus is the Son of God. He came to the earth in flesh and taught people that the greatest and foremost commandment is for us to love God and the second is to love our neighbors (Matthew 22:37-40). He said this because if a person achieves these two commandments, he or she can keep any of the other commandments.
The Ten Commandments recorded in the book of Exodus are divided in two groupings: one group is the 1st to the 4th commandments concerned with loving God and the others, the 5th to 10th , is dealing with loving our neighbors as ourselves.
Now let's delve into the fifth commandment—"Honor your father and mother".
1. To honor our parents we must honor them in the Lord
Even if it is not stated in the Ten Commandments, if a person has good conscience, he knows that it is a natural duty of man to honor his parents. Then why did God set it as a commandment to 'honor our father and mother'?
It does not mean we should honor them in a fleshly sense. It means we have to honor our parents in the Lord, namely in God's Word (Ephesians 6:1). If we obey our parents telling us not to go to church on Sunday, it is not honoring them, but instead it is falling into destruction with them.
If we truly love and honor our parents, we will evangelize them and help them receive salvation as a number one priority.
2 Chronicles 15:16 reads, "He also removed Maacah, the mother of King Asa, from the position of queen mother, because she had made a horrid image as an Asherah, and Asa cut down her horrid image, crushed it and burned it at the brook Kidron." If a queen mother worships idols, it is not only to stand against God and follow the way of destruction but also it deceives the people into worshipping idols and leads them to destruction, as well.
So, King Asa did not agree with his mother but he officially removed her from the position of the queen mother. Through this the people were aware of the problem and his mother could also turn from her ways. This is to truly honor one's parents.
Above all else, you can be said to have truly honored your parents when you guided them to go to the kingdom of heaven.
2. We have to honor God who has given us life
The commandment telling us to honor our parents is along the same line with His words to keep God's commandments and respect God. In other words, one who truly honors God with his heart naturally honors his parents and one who heartily honors his parents also serves God with all his heart. But if you must prioritize between them, the top priority is to serve God.
God created you and me, our fathers and grandfathers, and all ancestors of former generations. God is the One who created Adam the first man and who has given all mankind life. Although the sperm and egg are fertilized, when a person is conceived, the original seed of life that is given is given only by God.
Moreover, the body that we see here is only a shell that is needed only for the temporary life in this world, and the true master of our 'self' is the spirit in our body. No matter how much man tries, he cannot make the seed of life itself. Also, no matter how much knowledge we accumulate, we cannot make or copy the spirit of a man. Even if we can make the form of a man by cloning cells, unless God gives spirit in that body, we cannot call what results a man. It can only be done by God, and the spirit of a man can be born again only through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the true father of our spirit is our God.
Thus, we should serve our physical parents well, but we should love and serve God the Father more for it is He who has given us life itself. Also, if the parents are aware of this fact, they will think children are a gift of God and a precious soul (Psalm 127:3) and try to nurture them in God's will.
3. When we love God we can honor our parents with our hearts
Honoring refers to showing respect for, obeying, and serving others as propriety. Now let's check ourselves as to whether or not we neglected or were not attentive to our parents saying that we love God.
When your elderly parents said something that is not reasonable, did you think it was nonsense and in your words and actions did you neglect them? To love God and to honor our parents are not separate things.
1 John 4:20 reads, "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen."
Also, in Matthew 15:4-9, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and scribes when they took away the things that were supposed to be given to their parents saying that they were giving them to God. It was not because they served God with heart. That they were giving to God was only an excuse, they took for themselves what they should have given to their parents.
If we truly love and respect God from the depths of our hearts, we cannot but love our physical parents and honor them from our hearts. As we realize the love of God more, we will realize the love of our parents too.
When we come into the truth, cast off sins and evil, and dwell in the Word of God completely, true love will come into our heart, and we will realize the love and grace of our parents who gave birth to and raised us, and then we can serve them with love from the depths of our heart.
4. Blessing given to people who honor God and their parents in the truth
God talks about the blessing given to those who love God and honor their parents from heart in Exodus 20:12—"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you."
The passage does not simply mean that we will enjoy longevity on this earth. But it means that everything will go well with us and we will enjoy good health and God's protection as our souls prosper. This is because honoring God and parents in the truth shows our souls have prospered. Then we won't face any accidents or disasters, and we will be blessed in our family, workplace, and business. The blessing of prolonged life includes all these blessings together.
Such was the case with Ruth in the Old Testament. As a Gentile she married a Jew, but her husband died at a young age without giving her any child. Naomi, her mother-in-law, told her to leave and seek new happiness in other places, but she gave up her personal happiness to do the rightful duty of a daughter-in-law and moved to Judah following Naomi.
Since she was such a woman, God let her enjoy great blessings though she was a Gentile woman. God let her meet a rich man among her ex-husband's relatives who became her new husband. Furthermore, among her descendants was King David and God let her name be written in the genealogy of the Savior, Jesus. As God promised, Ruth received overflowing blessings spiritually and materially by honoring her mother-in-law from her heart.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if your love for God is true, you will not only serve the brothers in faith but also your parents, your spouses, your relatives and your neighbors. The proof of loving them truly will be revealed in good deeds which glorify God.
I hope you will shine the light of truth before people with your perfect and good deeds like Ruth did. I pray in the name of the Lord that God, who has received glory through such deeds of yours, will reward you with glory and blessings.
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