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).