{"id":90640,"date":"2021-03-10T10:50:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T15:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/parents\/"},"modified":"2023-10-06T22:18:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T02:18:48","slug":"parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/parents\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Ephesians\n6:1-3: Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy\nfather and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) that it may\nbe well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">God exhorts us to honor father and mother. He values honoring parents enough to include it in the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:12) and again in the New Testament.&nbsp; Every command within Scripture is very important, but to underscore a command a second time is particularly important.&nbsp; What does it mean to honor our parents?&nbsp; For the Biblical answer, we turn to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>Historical Context: Moses was the author of the Book of Exodus (Exodus\n17:14; 24:4-7; 34:27), written between 1440 and 1400 B.C.&nbsp; In God&#8217;s timing, the exodus marked the end of\na period of oppression for Abraham&#8217;s descendants (Genesis 15:13), and\nconstituted the beginning of the fulfillment of the covenant promise to Abraham\nthat his descendants would not only live in the Promise Land, but would also\nmultiply and become a great nation (Genesis 12:1-3, 7). Hence: the family\nemphasis including appropriate honor to parents.&nbsp; The purpose of the book may be expressed or\nstated as tracing the rapid growth of Jacob&#8217;s descendants from Egypt to the\nestablishment of the theocratic nation in their Promised Land based upon the\nfamily concept: the family of God is demonstrated in the historical family\nunit.&nbsp; In short, God\u2019s lesson and\nexpression of family hierarchy was exemplified in the conventional family unit.&nbsp; [God established only two social\ninstitutions: the Church and the Family.&nbsp;\nNeither is up for debate as to its existence, nature, definition or\nrelevance.&nbsp; Just as I do not recognize\nthose who would attempt to redefine the family in terms of sexual orientation,\nmultiple partners, etc., neither do I accept a court\u2019s authority to redefine\nsuch \u2013 including the authority to nullify a marriage with a divorce decree. \u201cSo\nthey are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let\nman not separate\u201d (Matthew 19:6); Malachi 2:16a: \u201cI hate divorce, says the Lord\nGod of Israel.\u201d; \u201c\u2026the two will become one flesh\u201d (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5;\nEphesians 5:31). The Bible makes it abundantly clear that God hates divorce\n(Malachi 2:16) and that reconciliation and forgiveness should be the marks\nof a believer\u2019s life (Luke 11:4; Ephesians 4:32).]&nbsp; &nbsp;Since\nwe are talking about Ephesians, 1:1 identifies the author of the Book of\nEphesians as the Apostle Paul., very likely written between 60-63 A.D.&nbsp; Paul intended all those that long for\nChrist-like maturity to receive this writing. Enclosed within the Book of\nEphesians is the discipline needed to develop into true sons of God (family\ntheme continued). Furthermore, a study in Ephesians fortifies and establishes\nthe believer so he can fulfill the purpose and calling God has given. The aim\nof this epistle is to confirm and to equip a maturing church. It presents a\nbalanced view of the body of Christ and its importance in God&#8217;s economy. As\nsuch, it is significant that a right relationship with our earthly parents is\nincluded \u2013 an indicator of key element if we are to grow in God\u2019s grace, favor\nand usefulness [and a reflection of Ephesians 4:32 \u2013 a key to our discussion].<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>Grammatical Usage:&nbsp; \u201cHonor\u201d in the\nGreek is \u201ctimao\u201d meaning, \u201cto revere, prize and value.\u201d&nbsp; The Greek word &#8220;hypakouo&#8221; means to,\n\u201cobey, to listen, or to heed.\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>Literal Application: \u201cChildren,\nalways obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right.&nbsp; Always honor your father and mother, which is\nthe first commandment accompanied by a promise.&nbsp;\nSo that it may be will with you and you may have along life upon the\nearth.\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>Contextual\nInterpretation: &nbsp;Honor is giving respect not only for merit but also\nfor rank. For example, some Americans may disagree with the President\u2019s\ndecisions, but they should still respect his position as leader of their\ncountry. Similarly, children of all ages should honor their parents, regardless\nof whether their parents \u201cdeserve\u201d honor or not. &nbsp;Obviously, we\u2019re commanded to honor our\nparents, but how? Honor them with both our actions and attitudes (Mark 7:6-13\nThis is a key passage which deals with attitude followed by action \u2013 God\nindicates that if our attitude is correct, we will exemplify the honoring action.&nbsp; Remember, the object of our action is not our\nparents, but God as we honor him with obedience.&nbsp; Notice the reference to God looking upon the\nintent of the heart. Note also Matthew 15:3-9). Honor their unspoken as well as\nspoken wishes. \u201cA wise son heeds his father&#8217;s instruction, but a scorner does\nnot hear rebuke\u201d (Proverbs 13:1).&nbsp; Honor\nincludes the idea of bringing glory to someone. First Corinthians 10:31\ntells us that whatever we say or do, we are to do all to the glory of God. We\nshould seek to honor our parents in a similar way that Christians strive to\nbring glory to God\u2014in our thoughts, words, and actions.&nbsp; For a minor child, obeying parents goes hand\nand hand with honoring them. That includes listening, heeding, and submitting\nto their authority. After children mature, the obedience that they learned as\nchildren will serve them well in honoring authorities such as government,\npolice, and employers.&nbsp; While we\u2019re\nrequired to honor parents, that doesn\u2019t include imitating ungodly ones (Ezekiel\n20:18-19). What if your parents ask you to do something wrong? In that case,\nyou must obey God rather than man (Acts 5:28).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>Scriptural Comparison: In Old Testament days, speaking evil against one\u2019s\nparents or rebelling against their instructions resulted in capital punishment\n(Exodus 21:15-17)! While those who honor their parents are blessed (Jeremiah\n35:18-19), a trait of both those with a \u201cdepraved mind\u201d and those who\ncharacterize ungodliness in the last days is disobedience to parents (Romans\n1:30; 2 Timothy 3:2).&nbsp; Solomon, the\nwisest man, urged children to respect their parents (Proverbs 1:8; 13:1;\n30:17). Although we may not be directly under their authority right now, we\ncan\u2019t outgrow God\u2019s command to honor our parents. Even Jesus, God the Son,\nsubmitted Himself to both His earthly parents and heavenly Father (Matthew\n26:39; Luke 2:51). Following Christ\u2019s example, as Christians we should treat\nour parents the way we would reverentially approach our heavenly Father\n(Hebrews 12:9; Malachi 1:6).&nbsp; In Matthew\n15:3-9, Jesus reminded the Pharisees of the command of God to honor their\nfather and mother. They were obeying the letter of the law, but they had added\ntheir own traditions that essentially overruled it. While they honored their\nparents in word, their actions proved their real heart motive. Honor is more\nthan lip service. The word honor in this passage is a verb and, as such,\ndemands a right choice\/action.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>Conclusion: The\ncommand to honor parents is the only command with a promise: \u201cthat it may be\nwell with you\u201d (Ephesians 6:3). Honor begets honor. <strong>God will not honor those who will not obey His command to honor their\nparents. If we desire to please God and be blessed, we should honor our\nparents.<\/strong> Honoring isn\u2019t easy, isn\u2019t always fun, and certainly isn\u2019t possible\nin our own strength. But honor is a certain path to our purpose in life:\nglorifying God. \u201cChildren, obey your parents in all things, for this is well\npleasing to the Lord\u201d (Colossians 3:20).<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ephesians 6:1-3: Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. God exhorts us to honor father and mother. He values honoring parents enough to include [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[526],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Parents - Grace Evangelical Free Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parents - Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ephesians 6:1-3: Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. God exhorts us to honor father and mother. 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