HONORING MY PARENTS
The Good Life #5
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Woodland Church
February 11, 2024
(Exodus 20:12, NLT) “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
1. The fifth commandment comes with a promise.
(Ephesians 6:1–3, NLT) “Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”
2. A civilization that destroys the family destroys itself.
(Proverbs 19:26, NLT) “Children who mistreat their father or chase away their mother are an embarrassment and a public disgrace.”
(Proverbs 20:20, NLT) “If you insult your father or mother, your light will be snuffed out in total darkness.”
“If anyone fails to honor his parents, is there anyone he will spare?” – Augustine, Sermon 9.7
3. Honor is heavy.
(Ephesians 6:1, NLT) “This is the right thing to do.”
“The first duty of love is to listen.” – Paul Tillich
(Proverbs 23:22, Message) “Listen with respect to the father who raised you, and when your mother grows old, don’t neglect her.”
4. The fifth commandment joins the love of God with one another.
(Matthew 22:37–40, NLT) “Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
(Luke 2:51, GN) “Jesus went back with them to Nazareth, where he was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.”
GROWTHWORK
1. Affirm your parents.
2. Give them the place of honor at the table.
3. Remember special days: anniversaries, birthdays, etc.
4. Tell your parents what you learned from them.
5. Thank your parents.
(Deuteronomy 26:11, GN) “Be grateful for the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family…”
(Proverbs 23:22, GN) “When your mother is old, show her your appreciation.”
6. Forgive your parents.
(Matthew 5:7, NLT) “God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
7. Know God as your Father.
(John 1:12, NLT) “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.”
What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it—the fact that he knows me. … I know him because he first knew me, and continues to know me. … There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me. – Knowing God, J.I. Packer, pp. 41-42, Kindle Edition