Text: Ephesians 6:1-4
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honour your father and your mother is the first command 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, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, You have given us excellent commands, to protect us, to guide us, to bless us, and to call us back to You for mercy when we fail. We thank You for our parents, and ask that You would help us understand more about what it means to honour them. We who are parents ask for wisdom and forgiveness. Please open our hearts and minds by Your Holy Spirit in this time of meditation, and draw us closer to Yourself. You are worthy of all honour, worship and praise. we pray in Jesus name, through whom we have become Your children, Amen.
Where would we be without parents?! No where, of course! We simply would not exist. But parents do much more for us than simply bring us into the world. God uses our parents to guide us, protect us, and shape us, so that we live happy and useful lives in this world. Our parents are Gods gift to us.
In this 4th command, God calls us to honour our father and our mother. He has put them in a position of authority over us, for our good. In the same way, God has placed us under many different forms of authority, for our good.
What would it be like if parents had no authority?
Children would grow up as they liked. Family life would be chaotic, if not impossible. Consider meal times: Come for tea, please No! I don't want to. Please don't throw your plate across the room. Oh, go jump in a lake. Time for bed No, I'm going to stay up and watch the late movie.
Time to get up for school. No, I'm not going.
What about teachers? What would it be like if they had no authority? Class, open your books to page 5. No response. Jimmy, stop pulling Rebecca's hair! No response. Ruth, dont empty your ink pot onto the carpet. No response. The teacher leaves the room, finally giving up. He tries to find the principal, so he can give his resignation. Then he remembers, they don't have a principal. No one has any authority!
What about the authority of the government? If they had no authority to collect taxes, where would the hospitals, schools and roads come from? No authority means no law and order, and this would mean that whether you stayed at home or went out, you'd be in danger, and you couldn't be sure of anything. Itd be chaos!
God has given us the authority of parents, teachers, the government, the police and other authorities as a blessing. A gift. A gift this command preserves and protects. The authorities are there to serve and benefit people under them. But they need cooperation. People need to respect authority and to submit. That means, to let the father or mother, the teacher or policeman, the footy coach or politician do his or her job.
Hebrew 13:17 helps us to consider our church leaders:
Obey your leaders and submit to them; for they are keeping watch over your souls, as men who will have to give an account. Let them do this joyfully, and not sadly, for that would be of no advantage to you.
In 1 Timothy 2:1-3, Paul urges us to support those over us through prayer and thanksgiving:
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour...
The first part of out text again: Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Note that he says: obey... in the Lord. This adds a wonderful dimension to the way we relate to our father and mother, and to anyone in authority: we relate to them in the context of relating to God. That is, we see them as representatives of God. when we obey them, and cooperate with them, we can know that we are obeying and cooperating with the Lord!
There is blessing in honouring authority. Paul reminds us that 'Honour your father and your mother' is the first command with a promise: so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.
You might remember an entertaining TV ad recently, telling us of a great new way to avoid speeding fines. You dont need credit cards. It costs nothing! All you need is your brain and pure common sense! Thats right, you only need common sense: stick to the speed limit, and you will never have to pay fines again! 100% guaranteed! Its true. When we cooperate with our parents and others in authority, it usually does go well with us!
Up to now the focus has been on submitting to authority. But you may have been silently protesting, What if my father or mother doesn't deserve to be honoured?! What if my parent or teacher or policeman or boss or pastor, are not doing their jobs? What if they have let me down or treated me badly?!
Many of us carry hurts and deep wounds from authority figures who abused their positions and influence over us. God commands parents and all in authority to serve those in their care, in selfless love. He has no time for oppression, greed, abuse or manipulation. He holds authorities accountable, much more than our governments and legal system can or will. Ultimately, God is in charge. Many, many things are done through the authority structures that He has given to humanity, that rouse His anger. If you have been harmed by anyone in authority, God knows about it. And He will hold that person accountable. A day of judgement is coming, and anyone who has not found refuge in Jesus Christ, will have to 'face the music'.
As for those who have been hurt, I urge you - look to Christ. He has been hurt more deeply than anyone. He has suffered injustice and oppression like no other. He understands. He knows all about you, and what you have been through, or what you are going through. You are not responsible for your wounding, for what someone else has done to you. You are responsible for how you deal with it, but Jesus doesn't want you to try to bear it alone. He is here, with you today. Ready to listen. Ready to relieve and to heal. Ready to help you let go of any bitterness and anger. Ready to help you forgive. You may not be able to be reconciled to someone who has hurt you. But until you are able to forgive, the hurt is locked up, and will stop you moving on in life. God calls us gently, by the help of His Holy Spirit, to Forgive, as the Lord has forgiven you.
God is also able to help us think about things, and consider how it might be from the other person's point of view. Who knows what pressures lie behind what someone else has done, or failed to do. This does not excuse, but sometimes it helps to understand. Part of God's care for us is the gift of other people who have learned how to listen. Some are called counsellors, some are just called friends. Maybe we can be part of Gods care for someone else, to lend a listening ear, a helping hand.<
Maybe you have been a parent or had some kind of authority, but have failed in some way. We grieve as we consider things that might have been. Sometimes we can make up for it, to some extent. At the very least, if we get the chance, we can say, I'm sorry.
We have generally done the best we could, at the time. Sometimes that hasn't been good enough, and it hurts. Sometimes we have been selfish and not thought enough about the needs and feelings of those we have been called to serve, through our position of authority. Let us go to God, our Father, the supreme authority, who always uses His authority to serve us, in love. He cares for us, as much as those whom we have hurt or let down. He understands. He longs to forgive us, to relieve us of the pain of regret. He wants to comfort and heal us. He wants to teach us and strengthen us. His is a throne of grace. We can come to Him no matter what. Jesus has opened the door to us, and no one has a right to say, 'get lost, you don't deserve to come in'. It is Jesus, the Lord, who says, 'Come. Speak to your heavenly Father, and let Him care for you.'
Maybe the first thing we need to say to our heavenly Father is that we have been resentful of Him and His authority? Maybe we have been afraid that He would punish us, or that he wouldnt be interested in us because of our failures? Today our Father welcomes us into his arms, no matter what! His is perfect, gracious authority! How gladly then, we will want to worship, serve, honour and obey Him!
This, then, is the 4th command: Honour your father and your mother. In it, God provides us with the gift of authorities over us, and calls us to exercise any authority we might be given, in a spirit of love and kindness. Only God is perfect in His authority. But He has blessings for us as we honour, submit to, and cooperate with our parents and others in authority. Where would we be without authority? Where would we be without God?!
LORD, we thank You for being in charge of our lives, and of this universe. Thank You for providing all that we need, and so much more! Help us to receive all Your gifts with thanks, and to honour You in all that we think, say and do! Amen.
The peace of God which is beyond all human understanding, keep our
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.
First command (God) | Second command (God's Name) | Third command-a (Sabbath, part 1) | Third command-b (Sabbath, part 2) | Fourth command (authority) | Fifth command (Life) | Sixth command (sexuality) | Seventh command (property)| Eighth command (reputation) | Ninth command (wanting things)| Tenth command (wanting people)| command against idolatry| 'What does God say of all these commands?'