Title [Deuteronomy 5:16] Honor your parents
Main text: Deuteronomy 5:16
Title: Honor Your Parents
Respect for parents is the natural duty of children. However, the reality of the children is that they cannot fulfill this duty. If you look deeply into yourself, no one will say that you have done filial piety enough to be satisfied. As we celebrate Parent's Day, we hope that God's lesson on filial piety will be restored and we will reflect and renew our resolve, and we hope that the grace of recovery will come to families who are experiencing conflicts. This text was chosen because it was considered as a short but comprehensively well-explained text.
1. Filial piety is a command from God.
“Honor your father and mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you” (16a). Not only is it natural in terms of human nature, but Moses is strongly instructing parents to be filial by introducing that God has commanded them to be filial. God's commands have absolute authority. There can be no disobedience or disobedience. It must be practiced. We must remember that disobedience itself is a sin and is subject to God's judgment and chastisement. There are people like King Saul who perished because of disobedience. Even though we see such people, we still often disobey the Word. Since honoring parents is so important, I hope that we will all be obedient to God, keeping in mind that God has commanded us to “honor your parents.”
2. If you are filial to your parents, you will receive blessings.
“Then you will live long and be blessed in the land the LORD your God is giving you” (16b). It is Moses' explanation that God promises to bless them if they are filial to their parents. Earlier, God made a promise when he gave the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:12), and he confirmed that promise again. We often need to reaffirm God's promises. When you do that, you can act with confidence. There are many neighbors around us who have been blessed by filial piety to their parents. Among the characters in the Bible, all those who succeeded in faith are those who have always been filial to their parents. If we really want to believe in God and enjoy the blessings of our children and grandchildren, we must obey God's Word and become filial children.
3. Filial piety is to respect and obey your parents (Ephesians 6:1-2).
No matter how much God's command is, if there is no respect, it can only be hypocritical obedience.
Therefore, we must obey with respect. Even children who were considered ignorant and lowly parents when they were young and immature, naturally bow their heads and respect their parents as they get older. It is only natural to be truly obedient. In fact, filial piety is respect and obedience. A typical example of obedience to parents is Isaac. At God's command, Abraham took his only son, Isaac, and went to Mount Moriah to make a sacrifice. This was around 1882 B.C. when Isaac was 13 years old. Isaac built an altar, bound himself, put him on the altar, and completely obeyed without rebelling against his father who tried to stab him with a sword. God accomplished the work of salvation for mankind through the descendants of Isaac.
Isaac is a symbol of Jesus. Jesus not only obeyed and accepted his physical parents (Luke 2), but also completely obeyed God the Father. Philippians 2:5-8 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as robbery, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, And being found in the form of a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of a cross.” Let us imitate the Lord so that we too become obedient and submissive children.
4. We must become saints who respect and obey adults as we do for our parents.
The word parent includes the meaning of adult. This is a message that teaches the importance of respecting and obeying the superiors who guide and lead me in society and at work, especially in the church. Conflicts and chaos in society stem from this lack of path thinking. 1 Peter 5:5 says, “You young people, be obedient to the elders in the same way, and all gird yourselves with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, for in due time he will exalt you. '" Peter testified. When you live this kind of life inside and outside the church, you will surely be able to become people who God blesses and exalts you. Finally, I would like to end the speech by asking the older adults.
①Let's not be rude and give everything to the young.
②Let's try not to insist on everything, but set an example without words.
③Let's not show our ugly side to young people, but let's show them a more holy and clean side.
④ Let's not covet things of the world too much, but let's hope in heaven and live each day preparing.
I hope that God's grace will fill all the saints, including older adults.