back to index2016-05-08 Honor Thy Father and Mother
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So again, we're taking a week off from Romans and to take some time to talk about the subject 00:00:15.840 |
We have to really ask this question, is this biblical for Christians to be celebrating 00:00:23.760 |
And obviously, it's not not biblical outside. 00:00:28.400 |
It would be unheard of if you didn't practice Mother's Day. 00:00:32.720 |
But at church, is it right for us to say, you know what, all the other days we're going 00:00:36.080 |
to be celebrating Jesus, but on Mother's Day, we're going to celebrate mothers. 00:00:42.560 |
If we're not careful, it can easily turn into, we're going to worship mother today. 00:00:47.640 |
You know, we're going to take a break from Jesus because every other day is Jesus. 00:00:54.200 |
So we have to ask the question, is that something that a church should be doing? 00:01:00.920 |
To take a day off and say, you know what, we're going to really honor the mothers. 00:01:07.040 |
By the title and the text that we just read, you already know my answer. 00:01:13.680 |
And we want to look at the text and really see why is this particular command singled 00:01:21.320 |
Not because I'm singling out, not because the United States has singled this out. 00:01:24.520 |
We don't celebrate this because, you know, some somebody in U.S. history decided that 00:01:30.880 |
So we're going to join with them in honor of the mothers. 00:01:34.880 |
They just we are taking advantage of the fact that the country is celebrating this. 00:01:42.440 |
But the scripture itself singles this particular commandment out. 00:01:47.000 |
He says, honor your father and mother that your days may be long in the land that the 00:01:52.800 |
And this commandment is repeated again in Ephesians chapter six. 00:01:56.120 |
And he says this commandment comes with the promise that if you want to live long to be 00:02:04.700 |
So why is this particular commandment singled out? 00:02:08.680 |
The word for honor that is used here in Hebrew is the word "Kabbad." 00:02:13.760 |
And the word "Kabbad" is related to the word "glory." 00:02:17.380 |
And the word literally means to think heavily, to honor, to give weight. 00:02:23.040 |
That same word is used to describe honoring the temple, the sanctuary, or honoring the 00:02:29.480 |
And what they mean by that is to take something that is sacred and consider it deeply. 00:02:35.500 |
That you would think twice about how you approach it, that what you think about it, the activities 00:02:42.560 |
And so that's the same word "Kabbad" that is used when we are commanded to honor your 00:02:53.640 |
In fact if you study the Ten Commandments itself, you know that in the Ten Commandments 00:03:01.400 |
You have the first section where the first four commandments are related to worshiping 00:03:07.560 |
It says to not have any other, to worship not any other gods besides Him, besides Yahweh. 00:03:22.040 |
The second part of it is our relationship with one another. 00:03:25.480 |
And some of you guys may remember, but it's honor the father and mother is the first one, 00:03:31.000 |
And then it says do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear faultlessness, 00:03:38.280 |
You know that in the Bible, that they don't put lists together randomly. 00:03:42.200 |
Like today if I was to ask you, what's your ten favorite food? 00:03:45.720 |
You know you might start with Korean barbecue or you know whatever, like you might Indian 00:03:50.160 |
food and you might make a list of ten things. 00:03:52.680 |
But it doesn't necessarily mean that it's in that order. 00:03:56.000 |
Unless you specifically ask, you know, put it from your best to the worst. 00:04:02.240 |
In the scripture, whenever you see a list of things, it's almost always done purposefully. 00:04:08.440 |
So whenever you see the list of the disciples, whose name is always on the top? 00:04:16.560 |
And along with Peter, you have James and John. 00:04:19.640 |
It's almost always, every list of the disciples is always listed that way. 00:04:23.720 |
And there's a reason, because in the Bible, whether in the Old and the New Testament, 00:04:32.920 |
So in the New Testament or in the scripture, when they say, oh these are the ten foods 00:04:37.320 |
that I like the most, you know that whatever they listed the first is probably the best. 00:04:41.720 |
Whatever they listed the last is probably the worst, right? 00:04:44.480 |
So when you apply that to the Ten Commandments, we know that the very first commandment is 00:04:48.680 |
the most significant, most important commandment, which is not to worship any other gods but 00:04:54.200 |
And all the other commandments in the Ten Commandments are under that umbrella. 00:04:59.480 |
But again, as I said, the first four commandments is related to our relationship with Him. 00:05:05.960 |
And then the second list of commandments is related to our relationship with one another. 00:05:12.040 |
So we understand, in the first commandment, and then the other three that come underneath 00:05:17.440 |
it, obviously, it's obvious that worshiping God and God alone would be the biggest and 00:05:23.880 |
But when we get to the second list, think about what's on this list. 00:05:34.960 |
When was the last time you thought honoring your mother and father was of more significance 00:05:45.080 |
I mean, we would automatically think that murder would be on the top thing. 00:05:51.120 |
You would think that out of this list, maybe you would say, do not murder, do not commit 00:05:58.520 |
And then you have maybe the coveting and bear false witness, maybe you kind of put the honoring 00:06:03.040 |
your father and mother maybe on the number three or four of this list of six. 00:06:08.680 |
But not only is it the first one when it comes to our relationship with people, it actually 00:06:14.160 |
comes with a promise that if you obey this, that God was going to bless you and you'll 00:06:20.440 |
Some of you guys may be sitting here thinking, like, that's great. 00:06:25.600 |
You know, maybe some of you guys who have children say, my kids need to be in here. 00:06:28.720 |
Why didn't they not bring the Sunday school kids in here? 00:06:35.000 |
If they're old enough, can you please do this message again when they're old enough to understand 00:06:42.800 |
Or maybe some of you guys are sitting here thinking, like, you know, this is a great 00:07:04.040 |
But in actuality, if you, one of the questions that I asked on Facebook as you're preparing 00:07:13.360 |
Was it, you have 10 commandments and it said, you know, here's one, two, three, four, and 00:07:16.720 |
then when you get to the fifth, you gather all the children. 00:07:26.320 |
In other words, if you don't want to die, you better honor your father and mother. 00:07:30.360 |
And then they came back into the regular congregation and then, and then talked about the rest of 00:07:46.760 |
In fact, when this particular commandment is repeated in Ephesians chapter 6, 1 through 00:07:53.540 |
3, it says, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 00:07:58.580 |
This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you 00:08:03.180 |
So basically that same fifth commandment is repeated in the New Testament. 00:08:07.520 |
But the word for children here, the word in the Greek is "teknon." 00:08:14.280 |
The word in the Greek that describes a small child in age or stature is "paes." 00:08:19.700 |
"Paes," when you see the word "paes," it's referring to literal kids, you know, of age. 00:08:26.020 |
But the word that is used here, "teknon," is in reference to everybody. 00:08:29.960 |
So that word could be used as in, "We're the children of God," right? 00:08:34.140 |
When Paul says that the Corinthians were their spiritual children. 00:08:38.460 |
So that word, in general reference, refers to adults and children. 00:08:44.580 |
So that commandment, again, not only in the Old Testament, but even in the New Testament, 00:08:52.720 |
This is not just, you know, "I have a job now. 00:08:57.820 |
You know, in fact, I give my mom money, so now I'm an adult. 00:09:01.220 |
So now I'm in the position of honor, you know, rather than giving honor." 00:09:05.540 |
Well, again, clearly that's not what this is talking about. 00:09:12.540 |
There's not a single one of us where this text isn't a command that we ought to obey. 00:09:18.220 |
So the question is, why is this commandment singled out? 00:09:23.020 |
Why is it so significant that of all the things that are mentioned in the Greatest of the 00:09:33.140 |
See, the Scripture clearly says, again, this is the main point of what we're doing this 00:09:39.580 |
morning, that honoring your father and mother is the most tangible application of loving 00:09:50.340 |
Honoring your father and mother is the most tangible application of loving and honoring 00:09:55.940 |
Remember, when the Jews would continue to come to Jesus and try to stumble Him and ask 00:10:06.420 |
And the reason why they asked Jesus this question was, there was a constant debate in the Jewish 00:10:12.060 |
They had over 600 different laws that they were supposed to obey, right? 00:10:18.180 |
In fact, they had more things that they created above and beyond what the Scripture says. 00:10:22.580 |
And so they were having a hard time obeying all of it. 00:10:25.940 |
So basically what they were asking was, "Which commandments are worth five points, and which 00:10:33.540 |
Like, let's say if you're playing video game and you go straight after the ones that give 00:10:38.020 |
You don't want to waste all your time trying to knock off the lower point. 00:10:42.420 |
You want to go and get the most points possible. 00:10:44.900 |
So they were asking, "Of all the commandments, and I can't do all of them, which are the 00:10:48.780 |
ones that I really should obey first, and then not to worry so much about the lesser 00:10:55.180 |
That's really what they were asking, because this was a constant source of debate. 00:10:58.300 |
We want to appease God, we want to be righteous by our works, but which gives us the most 00:11:04.580 |
In response to that, Jesus responds to them, Matthew 22, 37, "And he said to him, 'You 00:11:09.620 |
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.'" 00:11:20.540 |
And on these two commandments depends all the law and the prophets. 00:11:29.900 |
The first one is, they're asking the question, "Which commandment gives me the best points? 00:11:39.540 |
Jesus' response was, "To love him with all your heart, love your neighbor as yourself, 00:11:43.740 |
and all the other commandments are under that umbrella." 00:11:51.660 |
Like in a typical manner, he exposes the intent of their heart, just like he does with all 00:12:06.380 |
It's not necessarily what you do, but why you do it. 00:12:09.860 |
To love the Lord your God, every commandment that you're concerned to keep, it's not which 00:12:17.900 |
In all of the law, the base of why God commanded these things was love. 00:12:24.420 |
The point that I want to get to this morning is the second one, where he says in verse 00:12:28.220 |
39, and he says, "The first commandment, love God, the second commandment is like it." 00:12:39.660 |
In other words, what Jesus is saying is, you cannot separate these two commandments. 00:12:44.820 |
To love God and love your neighbor are similar. 00:12:49.420 |
So you cannot love God and hate your brother and say that you love God. 00:12:55.300 |
In fact, John makes that very clear in 1 John 4, 20. 00:12:58.780 |
If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar. 00:13:04.300 |
For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has 00:13:10.780 |
And this commandment we have from him, "Whoever loves God must also love his brother." 00:13:15.980 |
Now in that text, he is not talking about a relationship with father and mother. 00:13:23.460 |
That if you say that you love God, and yet you don't love the people who are around you, 00:13:32.620 |
Loving God isn't how high you raise your hand during service. 00:13:37.420 |
Loving God isn't how well you're dressed, or how much money you gave, or how frequently 00:13:44.220 |
He says, "If you love me, obey my commandments." 00:13:46.460 |
And what is the greatest of the commandments? 00:13:50.420 |
So the most tangible way to express and honor our Heavenly Father is to honor our earthly 00:14:00.920 |
So that's why he says these two commandments, loving God and loving your neighbor, are like 00:14:11.380 |
In Matthew chapter 25, 42-46, it says, "For I was hungry, and you gave me no food. 00:14:25.100 |
I was a stranger, and you did not welcome me. 00:14:29.300 |
Sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me." 00:14:33.060 |
Then they also will answer, saying, "Lord, when do we see you hungry, or thirsty, or 00:14:38.220 |
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to you?" 00:14:42.840 |
Then he will answer them, saying, "Truly I say to you, as you did not do it to the one 00:14:47.160 |
of the least of these, you did not do it to me." 00:14:50.960 |
In other words, all those who are least and insignificant that you've ignored, in essence, 00:14:55.960 |
they were in the presence of Christ in their life. 00:14:58.980 |
And what you did to them, he said, "You did to me." 00:15:00.980 |
What you didn't do to them, you didn't do to me. 00:15:04.500 |
The scripture describes our relationship with God in various ways. 00:15:08.980 |
The way he describes the church and Jesus is bride and groom. 00:15:12.980 |
Now, again, that's an image I really have to work hard to relate to, because, one, I'm 00:15:18.940 |
not a female, and we're the bride in this illustration, so we kind of have to picture 00:15:24.900 |
And so what he's describing is a very intimate relationship. 00:15:29.260 |
It would be easier if I was a female, I'd say, "Oh, I'm the bride." 00:15:34.180 |
But that's, again, to describe a love, deep love relationship between Christ and His church. 00:15:41.260 |
Sheep and shepherd is another description of the church in him. 00:15:52.140 |
I have adult ADHD, so I get distracted really easily. 00:15:57.600 |
So when he said, "You're like sheep and he's a shepherd," that's for sure. 00:16:01.820 |
I don't have to work hard to put myself in those shoes. 00:16:08.500 |
And again, it's a description that I can understand, but it's a little bit harder. 00:16:15.820 |
But all of these things describe a different aspect of our relationship with God that God 00:16:21.180 |
He's using human relationships to describe how He feels toward us and what kind of relationship 00:16:29.540 |
But all the relationships, all the illustrations that we see in the scripture, the thing that 00:16:33.620 |
I have the easiest time understanding is a relationship between parent and child. 00:16:40.060 |
There's a love relationship with Him where God is our Father, and at times He describes 00:16:45.460 |
A lot of times when He's talking about the imagery of the Father, it emphasizes His strength, 00:16:51.540 |
His sovereignty, His protection, His discipleship. 00:16:56.380 |
But often when God wants to convey His tender love, He describes a love of a mother. 00:17:03.460 |
When He's pleading with the nation of Israel, now this is not only true in the book of Isaiah, 00:17:08.580 |
it's all over scripture, but in particular, those of you who have been following with 00:17:12.220 |
us in the book of Isaiah, how often He uses that imagery as a mother to plead with the 00:17:20.100 |
In Isaiah 46.3, it says, "Listen to me, O house of Jacob. 00:17:24.020 |
Call the remnant of the house of Israel who have been born by me from before your birth, 00:17:32.580 |
He's describing a particular relationship that Israel has with Him, and He's describing 00:17:42.300 |
Because there's a special kind of connection. 00:17:43.820 |
He's saying, "Israel, you're not like any other nation." 00:17:47.420 |
There's this love relationship, there's this specific connection He has with the nation 00:17:54.260 |
Return to me because I love you as a mother who carries a child. 00:17:59.740 |
I remember when my oldest son, Jeremy, or first son, when he was born, something that 00:18:03.820 |
the hospital said to me that stuck with me even to this day. 00:18:08.540 |
As we were leaving, and anybody who's had their first child handed to them and you're 00:18:17.180 |
We used to own a dog when we were little, and we had three boys in our homes, and my 00:18:32.820 |
And then, that was the last time I remember really caring for something that delicate. 00:18:41.740 |
So when they handed my first son to me, and as a leader of the home, I'm like, "Are you 00:18:51.100 |
You have a child, and this child, if you don't feed it, it'll die? 00:18:54.260 |
If you don't change his diaper to get rashes, then it'll die? 00:18:56.900 |
If you don't wake up and take care of it, it'll die?" 00:19:00.020 |
I'm thinking like, the last time I remember taking care of a dog, I didn't do a good job. 00:19:08.700 |
You would think there'd be some sort of a level. 00:19:14.500 |
And I remember leaving the hospital with this baby just freaking out. 00:19:18.260 |
You could tell a veteran parent versus the new parents. 00:19:20.740 |
The new parents are usually cuddling their baby. 00:19:26.260 |
And then the parents who have three or four kids, they carry the baby like a football. 00:19:31.900 |
You've gotten accustomed to holding this baby. 00:19:35.980 |
When we first gave the baby, I was so afraid. 00:19:39.820 |
And I remember Esther, every time the baby would cry, every time anything would happen, 00:19:45.820 |
I remember something they said that stuck with me. 00:19:47.940 |
They said, and they said it to Esther, not to me. 00:19:50.940 |
They said, "There is a kind of bond that happens between a mother and a child because literally 00:19:59.180 |
And there is a connection that we can't explain scientifically. 00:20:02.820 |
That the mother's instinct toward the baby, because the baby was with the mom for nine 00:20:07.100 |
months, that when they come out, there is a connection. 00:20:09.940 |
So sometimes the mom would have an intuition that the baby is sick or something's wrong, 00:20:13.780 |
and the doctors can't tell exactly what it is. 00:20:17.900 |
And I remember them saying to her, not to me, but her, "If you think something is wrong, 00:20:23.260 |
but you can't identify specifically what it is, bring the baby in." 00:20:28.260 |
And I remember listening to that, I was like, "That doesn't sound like medicine. 00:20:34.940 |
But it really stuck with me because even the doctors recognized that there was some kind 00:20:38.640 |
of a connection between the mom and the child that they can't really explain. 00:20:45.980 |
Because that child literally is a piece of the mom. 00:20:51.420 |
So when God decides to convey this message of love, what imagery does He use? 00:20:58.780 |
The imagery that He uses is between a mom and a child. 00:21:04.900 |
But He says, "You're like, I knew you even in your mother's womb." 00:21:10.340 |
In Isaiah 49, 15, can a woman forget her nursing child? 00:21:14.280 |
That she would have no compassion in the son of her womb? 00:21:19.460 |
You know, He concludes it by saying, "Even these may forget. 00:21:23.000 |
Even if that does happen, yet I will not forget you." 00:21:26.360 |
But the first part of it is a rhetorical question. 00:21:28.660 |
He's saying, "Have you ever seen a mom who's nursing a child who forgets the child?" 00:21:34.820 |
In other words, He's using that imagery, that deep, intimate love of a nursing mother to 00:21:46.220 |
And that's, He uses that imagery to convey to them, "Why would you run to idols who are 00:21:54.100 |
They don't care about you like the way I care about you." 00:21:57.260 |
So if you always, if you see God pleading with His people, He always conveys two things. 00:22:10.260 |
And again, the most deepest, most intimate relationship that He uses to convey this love 00:22:19.740 |
In Hosea chapter 11, verse 1 through 4, again, God is pleasing, pleading to Israel through 00:22:27.500 |
And He, this is what He says, "Then Israel was a child. 00:22:34.340 |
The more they were called, the more they went away. 00:22:37.900 |
They kept sacrificing to Baal and burning offerings to idols. 00:22:50.060 |
He uses the imagery of a parent or a mother who is raising up a child and teaching them 00:22:58.980 |
God has placed, if there's, you know, we all experience common grace, Christian or not. 00:23:04.540 |
God has placed mothers in particular, fathers as well, but today is not Father's Day, like 00:23:09.900 |
mothers in particular, because the greatest example of unconditional love typically is 00:23:21.860 |
So what Scripture says is, if you don't know how to honor and thank the people who have 00:23:26.740 |
labored for you the most, how will you glorify and honor and worship a God that you do not 00:23:34.820 |
If you don't know how to honor your father and mother who is tangibly or tangibly physically 00:23:40.500 |
taught you how to walk, how will you recognize a God that you do not physically see? 00:23:47.540 |
See when he's talking about, "I taught Ephraim how to walk." 00:23:52.160 |
Every single one of us, we learned how to walk because somebody taught us. 00:23:58.340 |
And my guess is 99% of you were taught how to walk by your mothers, most likely, right? 00:24:08.260 |
You know, we have a tendency to think that the people who labor the most in our lives, 00:24:12.460 |
we just say, "Of course, you're supposed to, you're supposed to. 00:24:15.180 |
You're our mom, you're our dad, you're supposed to do that." 00:24:19.540 |
And that oftentimes reflects the way we treat God. 00:24:23.460 |
Only every once in a while when something spectacular happens, we win the lottery or 00:24:27.940 |
we wanted some job and God gave us a job or, you know, we want to get into a certain school 00:24:35.580 |
But on a day-to-day basis, we're just like, "Oh, of course, he's God, he's supposed to 00:24:43.060 |
And oftentimes that's the way it's reflected in the way that we treat the people who have 00:24:53.260 |
So when our friends or acquaintances or coworkers remembers your birthday, does something, it's 00:25:05.260 |
And yet when it comes to our parents who wake up every single day to cook breakfast, lunch, 00:25:10.180 |
and dinner, you're supposed to do that, right? 00:25:20.220 |
I guarantee you, you didn't walk by yourself. 00:25:23.300 |
You didn't wake up one day and look at your peers and say, "It's about time." 00:25:31.060 |
You know, I'm about 11 months old and I'm starting to fall behind. 00:25:48.660 |
You didn't wake up one day and say, "You know what? 00:25:57.740 |
And you didn't grab a spoon and start learning how to eat. 00:26:06.520 |
Those of you who've never raised a child or maybe tried to train a kid to eat, you know 00:26:11.460 |
how much work goes into just getting them to put that food in their mouth and keep it 00:26:16.340 |
I mean, you've got to be like an actor, a philosopher. 00:26:24.180 |
You have to say, "Oh, here comes the whatever." 00:26:26.980 |
And then you have to trick him and put it in their mouth. 00:26:31.180 |
And if they're sick and they don't have an appetite and the mom has to go find out, like, 00:26:35.420 |
what is he allergic to and if he's allergic to this. 00:26:38.140 |
And then they've got to figure out, like, "Okay, this food has this too much in it. 00:26:42.940 |
So they go through all of that to figure out just so that you could eat. 00:26:57.540 |
You think you taught yourself how to put pants on. 00:27:03.680 |
Somebody taught you how to put that pants on. 00:27:05.620 |
All of us will be walking around with shoelaces untied. 00:27:14.940 |
Somebody sat in the car patiently, paid the bills, taught you how to drive. 00:27:22.900 |
If somebody didn't teach you how to comb your hair. 00:27:24.540 |
These are basic things that make you human beings. 00:27:30.340 |
You wouldn't be able to come to church without these basic things. 00:27:32.980 |
But because it is so basic, we have a tendency to kind of just assume. 00:27:41.980 |
They refused to acknowledge the Creator and rather gave credit to the creation. 00:27:49.740 |
You know where you can see that being manifested? 00:27:56.020 |
Where you don't recognize the person who is giving you the most, sacrificing the most. 00:28:03.580 |
See that type of mentality translates into the way that we worship God. 00:28:08.700 |
See the most tangible way that we express our love and worship and thankfulness is the 00:28:15.700 |
person that God has given us to take care of the most basic, fundamental, important 00:28:23.660 |
That's why he says, "How do you come and worship a God that you do not see when you do not 00:28:27.820 |
know how to give thanks to the people who are immediately sacrificing for you?" 00:28:42.460 |
All of these things is God's common grace that God has given us. 00:28:48.540 |
He says, "I led them with cords of kindness and with the bands of love. 00:28:53.220 |
And I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws. 00:29:02.040 |
Whenever we talk about love for God or God's love for us, you know, what's the first illustration 00:29:09.900 |
It's typically, I'm not saying it's always, I know a lot of us may come from a home that 00:29:13.340 |
was broken and maybe you don't have good memories. 00:29:16.760 |
But even in the worst situation, he says, "Can a nursing mom forget her child?" 00:29:28.580 |
It's because God revealed his love toward us and gave us an example through our moms 00:29:35.580 |
We wouldn't be able to relate to who God is if it wasn't for the tangible love that was 00:29:44.040 |
In Proverbs 30, 11 through 17, it says, "There are those who curse their fathers and do not 00:29:50.380 |
And then that section ends with verse 17, "The eye that mocks a father and scorns to 00:29:55.580 |
obey a mother will be picked out by the dravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures." 00:30:04.320 |
Everything that he says in between is a description of a child who refuses to acknowledge their 00:30:14.680 |
"There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers." 00:30:19.280 |
"There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth." 00:30:23.680 |
In other words, they look at themselves and say, "Well, I'm doing all of these other things." 00:30:29.200 |
"There are those, how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift. 00:30:33.560 |
There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, that devour the poor from 00:30:43.240 |
First daughter's name is Giv, and the second daughter's name is Giv, they cry." 00:30:46.760 |
In other words, it's a picture of a selfish child, and all it knows how to do is to ask, 00:30:54.680 |
And the moment that you stop giving, they start whining. 00:30:59.300 |
This is a description of, again, in Proverbs, of a child who refuses to honor father and 00:31:09.940 |
Sheol, the barren womb, the land that never satisfied with water, and fire that never 00:31:17.320 |
This is a description of an individual who all it knows, he's the center of the universe, 00:31:25.100 |
And no matter what you give, it's not enough. 00:31:27.420 |
So therefore, instead of recognizing what you have, you're always complaining about 00:31:34.620 |
How many of us, when we were kids, you know, after all day of mom sacrificing cooking and 00:31:40.840 |
cleaning, at the end of the day, you know, you wanted some jambaljas, and mom said, "No." 00:31:46.980 |
You wanted to watch a cartoon, and mom said, "No." 00:31:49.180 |
You wanted to play a video game, and mom said, "No." 00:31:51.860 |
And then you went to bed thinking like, "I hate my mom. 00:31:55.380 |
I wish I had the other mom, or my auntie, or whoever. 00:32:00.540 |
See, that Proverbs is a description of that child. 00:32:09.700 |
See, but God describes, and He examines our lives, and the reason why He says, why this 00:32:15.900 |
particular commandment comes with a promise that if you honor your father and mother, 00:32:23.660 |
Above killing, above stealing, above lying, above adultery. 00:32:30.700 |
Because an individual, a society, who does not recognize and does not know how to thank 00:32:37.860 |
the people or the people most tangibly above them, everything else unravels. 00:32:44.260 |
A child who is selfish, self-centered, and never says enough, is not saying that they're 00:32:50.460 |
going to become a murderer, but a society begins to unravel and begins to take a slow, 00:32:59.660 |
So this is not a promise to an individual today if you go, "If I buy my mom dinner, 00:33:06.700 |
He's saying a promise to the society in general, to the nation of Israel, to God's people. 00:33:13.860 |
And when we don't know how to recognize and give thanks to God, when the very fabric of 00:33:20.780 |
the thing that God created us for is to worship Him, and we don't know how to worship Him 00:33:25.780 |
because we become so focused on ourselves and my needs and what I want, that we forget 00:33:35.060 |
He's given us His only begotten Son, and we spend all our days complaining about what 00:33:42.220 |
And when we become that child, and how is it evidenced? 00:33:45.020 |
A lot of times in the way that we treat our parents, because they're the most tangible, 00:33:49.340 |
they're the most giving, they're the most deserving of praise and honor in our lives. 00:33:54.660 |
And if we don't know how to give them praise, it probably reflects in the way that we think 00:34:02.680 |
And that's why He is saying that if you obey these things, it comes with a promise. 00:34:14.460 |
Honoring mothers, honoring our parents, is the most tangible way to give honor to our 00:34:23.780 |
See, in the last days, in Romans chapter 130, in 2 Timothy 3, 2, it describes a society 00:34:30.620 |
that has drifted away from God, the love of God has grown cold, and there is no desire 00:34:35.820 |
for Him, and one of the descriptions of that is they will be haters of parents, rebellious. 00:34:43.340 |
You ever wonder why God didn't make us grown adults, you know, like, we always have that 00:34:53.100 |
You know, how old was Adam when God created him? 00:34:59.380 |
My guess is, again, this is nothing based on scripture, this is just my guess, that 00:35:08.260 |
And the reason why, again, this is not in the Bible, don't go out and say, "Oh, he 00:35:15.900 |
Because that's the age when, you know, they're physically old enough to have kids, you know, 00:35:23.060 |
And maturity is very different depending on what culture you're in. 00:35:27.060 |
But why did God make him an adult instead of a child, right? 00:35:31.220 |
Whether, you know, we have this discussion, chicken or the egg or whatever, but every 00:35:35.180 |
single one of us, we were born little children, completely helpless. 00:35:39.940 |
Even Jesus, He wanted to sympathize with our weaknesses. 00:35:45.140 |
Couldn't He have come as a 30-year-old and live three years? 00:35:47.900 |
Why did He have to live 33 years to live perfectly and say, "Okay, now He's a perfect sacrifice 00:35:58.100 |
And why did He make us children and have to grow up, you know? 00:36:02.260 |
And I mean, this is a human life that God's giving to other human, sinful human beings 00:36:11.020 |
I mean, we're selfish and we're lazy and we have all our problems. 00:36:13.900 |
Then you put another human being in that situation, you would think like, "God, what are you doing?" 00:36:18.420 |
Why does God use these disciples who are fishermen who have already failed to carry out His greatest 00:36:28.700 |
You would think that out of His salvation plan, that every part of that would be perfect. 00:36:34.220 |
But whenever you come to human beings, you pick Peter? 00:36:41.380 |
John and James wanted to kill a whole community because they wouldn't receive Him? 00:36:47.100 |
Paul, who murdered the first Christian, he's going to be a representative to the Gentiles? 00:36:55.180 |
These people were constantly fighting about who's the greatest in the kingdom? 00:37:04.780 |
Why does He allow us to experience this process of growing up and raising children? 00:37:10.140 |
Obviously, today is Mother's Day, and I think starting from about last year when Jeremy 00:37:15.720 |
started driving, I feel a little bit more free. 00:37:18.060 |
Before, Mother's Day was go-to-work Father's Day. 00:37:21.900 |
Like that's what it was for me all these years. 00:37:24.140 |
And I know it's like that for some of you guys. 00:37:25.660 |
It's Mother's Day, so you made little cards and made it look like your kid did it, you 00:37:33.060 |
You have to work extra hard, and you don't realize how much work goes into just making 00:37:38.060 |
If you don't cook breakfast every day, that's a lot of work just making breakfast, right? 00:37:42.140 |
So all these other years, like, you know, I would have to wake up early and pretend 00:37:47.620 |
So I'd wake them up, and you know, and some of them are in the kitchen, and we're doing 00:37:53.060 |
You know, the eggs don't quite turn out the way it is. 00:37:56.060 |
And usually the food that we end up eating on Mother's Day is the worst food the whole 00:38:02.340 |
Now part of it is because I'm not good at it, and then the other part of it is because 00:38:08.920 |
If we want to have good breakfast, the best thing to do is to order out. 00:38:14.660 |
Find out what she likes, and then go order it, bring it, and then say, "Happy Mother's 00:38:21.620 |
But every Mother's Day, we're kind of like, "Okay, we have to go get the kids," and I 00:38:24.700 |
can't just go and buy it because it wouldn't mean as much, so I got to drag the kids, and 00:38:30.580 |
Actually, I did it, but we said, "Tell her we did it," right? 00:38:34.540 |
For the last couple years, it's become more and more independent, so now the kids are 00:38:39.380 |
Jeremy's got a job, and the other kids have a little bit of money, so starting from yesterday, 00:38:49.180 |
Faith was in charge of the decoration, and they all had their little parts, and they 00:38:52.620 |
did it, and literally, I didn't have to do anything. 00:38:58.540 |
I was like, "Wow, the kids are, now they're able to do it themselves." 00:39:01.900 |
And the other part of me was like, "Where's my breakfast?" 00:39:05.340 |
Anyway, that has nothing to do with the sermon. 00:39:15.500 |
And so going through all that, I said, "Oh, okay, now the kids are," you know? 00:39:21.900 |
I mean, Esther's breakfast is the best, to me. 00:39:25.500 |
You know, it's Mother's Day, but it's like, okay, you know, thank God every day is not 00:39:29.700 |
Mother's Day, or else we wouldn't be eating well, right? 00:39:35.380 |
Because the point of that process is to teach the kids, right? 00:39:38.220 |
And I said, "Yeah, every year that we've done that, something was burnt, or eggs weren't 00:39:43.580 |
cooked properly, the coffee didn't taste right, you know what I mean? 00:39:48.100 |
Just not as good as when Esther usually does it. 00:39:52.380 |
Why do we go through that drama and the headache?" 00:39:54.620 |
Because the point of it is to teach the kids the importance that even if it's burnt, you 00:39:59.860 |
I mean, we can have the best breakfast if I just spent enough money, went and got it, 00:40:04.120 |
But the point of it was to give honor, and to say thank you, even with the burnt toast, 00:40:10.380 |
With the burnt whatever, to say, "We love you." 00:40:13.420 |
So the message and the gift is in the effort, is in the fumbling around, right? 00:40:24.780 |
And go through all that trouble, with all that mess, with all the sinfulness and problems, 00:40:29.740 |
in the context of all that, is revealing who He is. 00:40:35.160 |
That even in the context of sharing the Gospel, He's not just interested in sharing the Gospel. 00:40:42.980 |
He's not just interested in making disciples. 00:40:44.960 |
He's interested in us, in the process of making disciples. 00:40:48.980 |
He wasn't just concerned about the lost world. 00:40:51.360 |
He was concerned about Peter, learning about the heart of God, in the context of being 00:41:04.880 |
Because God is not simply concerned about the best toast that we can make. 00:41:10.640 |
God is concerned about the process of us saying, "Thank you, God, for what you've done." 00:41:16.540 |
And that is why the Scripture tells us, "Honor your father and mother." 00:41:22.380 |
And it's the first commandment that comes with the promise, that we will live long and 00:41:27.720 |
If we know how to recognize God's common grace, His love, His mercy, that He's shown 00:41:37.260 |
us through the people that is most intimate in us, with us, then we will learn and understand 00:41:47.400 |
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 00:41:53.620 |
This is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you, and that you 00:42:00.460 |
If you can take a minute to pray with me as I ask the praise team to come up. 00:42:04.260 |
And again, I want to take some time to invite you to pray. 00:42:11.260 |
I know some of us come from homes that maybe you don't have a great relationship with your 00:42:18.660 |
Whatever relationship that we have, again, we know we live in a sinful world. 00:42:24.180 |
We're sinful, our parents are sinful, everyone that we've experienced life with is sinful. 00:42:29.440 |
So therefore, sometimes we're going to have sinful experiences. 00:42:35.100 |
But part of what it means to be a Christian is to redeem what was lost. 00:42:42.140 |
The effects of the sin that we've experienced in our families, in our relationship, that 00:42:45.960 |
all of this stuff, because Christ first loved us, we love. 00:42:54.520 |
The most tangible way for us to say thank you to God is learn to say thank you to the 00:43:03.440 |
Learn to say thank you to them as a way of honoring and glorifying God. 00:43:07.440 |
I know some of you guys come from homes where parents aren't Christians. 00:43:11.280 |
And the greatest gift that you can pray for for them is their own salvation. 00:43:15.200 |
Not only to know your love, but the love that God gave you, that your parents would also 00:43:20.940 |
There's no greater gift that you can pray for for your parents than for that. 00:43:24.720 |
So take some time to come and pray that one day that God would open their eyes. 00:43:29.340 |
That they may experience this intimate love that you and I have been affected by. 00:43:35.000 |
And again, for the rest of us, that this application isn't really just about moms. 00:43:44.680 |
He came and experienced life as a child and grew up and was crucified. 00:43:49.720 |
That He may become a sympathetic High Priest. 00:43:52.000 |
So that He may understand us and we may understand Him. 00:43:57.160 |
That we would come before the Lord and recognize that as we think of our mothers and their 00:44:01.440 |
love for us, how much more when the scripture says, "Can a nursing mom forget his child?" 00:44:12.480 |
That we come before the Lord, ultimately, the greatest love and gift that you've experienced 00:44:20.640 |
That on this Mother's Day, as we celebrate our moms, that you would look even beyond 00:44:24.680 |
our moms and thank the Heavenly Father who has given you common grace to bring you where