Heart of the 10 #3
Honor
Exodus 20:12 (NKJV)
The Command
Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
“Honor” – to attribute high status or value, give weight
Honor vs. Obey
Ephesians 6:1-4 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” 4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Obedience is part of honor in the lives of pre-adult children
II Timothy 3:1-5 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
We honor parents by respecting them
I Timothy 5:1-2 Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.
We honor parents by showing consideration
We honor parents by supporting them
I Timothy 5:4 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God.
I Timothy 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Matthew 15:4-6 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— 6 then he need
not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
We honor parents by living a godly life
Proverbs 23:24-25 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her who bore you rejoice.
The Example of Jesus
Jesus is our example in His obedience to His parents
Luke 2:51 Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart.
John 8:29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”
Jesus is our example in His support of His parents
John 19:26-27 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.
When Honor is Hard
Overbearing parents
Genesis 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Ungodly parents
Pray
James 5:16 “… The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (NIV)
Forgive
Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Set Boundaries
Proverbs 22:3 The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. (NIV)
Lean on God
Psalm 68:5-6 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.
6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
Let’s live our lives that honor our parents – and as parents, let’s live lives that make it easier for our children to honor
