Problematic attitudes toward parents.
- Young children >>> Adult children
- More independent, feel smarter >>> Despise parents
- Pride
- Familiarity breeds contempt (take for granted)
- Self-entitlement
Why should we honor parents?
- Unique parents given by God
- Give us life
- They have loved us
- God’s clear command:
- <Ex 20:12> “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
- <Ep 6> 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
- Honoring parents is like honoring God.
- <Mt 15> 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’
5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
- Jesus is best example of honoring God and parents.
- “But what if my parents are not honorable?”
- “Honor” given not just for “merits” but also for “rank”.
- Forgive them as God has forgiven us.
- “But what if my parents are non-Christians?”
- Respect them for the wisdom that comes with age <Job 12:12>.
- But if they ask us to contradict God, then obey God rather than them.
- <Eze 20> 18 I said to their children in the wilderness, “Do not follow the statutes of your parents or keep their laws or defile yourselves with their idols. 19 I am the Lord your God; follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
- Honor parents >>> Submit to other forms of authority
How should we honor our parents?
- Very young children >>> obey parents
- Adult children?
- God gives us parents for us to minister grace and love unto them
- Accept them for who they are, don’t be too critical of them
- Care most for their salvation
- Take good care of them
- <1 Ti 5:8> Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
- Seek to delight them
- <Prov 23:25> May your father and mother rejoice; may she who gave you birth be joyful!
- Intimacy
- Seek to understand them
- Express appreciation
- Seek their advice
- Mutual sibling love
- Honor parents not with material, but with heart (love).
