In the sermon "Children, Obey Your Parents" by Scott Brown, the speaker focuses on Ephesians 6:1-4, emphasizing the importance of children obeying their parents as a fundamental aspect of Christian family life. The sermon elaborates on how obedience is a command of delight and an expression of God's kindness, beneficial to children's success and happiness. Brown stresses the balance of authority and tenderness in parenting, stating that authority must be bridled by God's commands and characterized by love and the Holy Spirit's presence. The sermon outlines the necessity for children to obey without complaint, excuse, or delay and explores the broader implications of this obedience for spiritual and societal health. It also highlights the Old Testament roots and New Testament affirmations of these teachings, urging families to conduct spiritual inventories to ensure alignment with God's will. Ten reasons are provided for why obedience to parents is right, including pleasing the Lord, preparing for lifelong obedience, rooting out selfish impulses, and affecting all future relationships. The sermon concludes with a call to recognize the spiritual significance of obedience and its role in leading children to a relationship with Jesus Christ.

The sermon text for today is Ephesians chapter 6 verses 1 through 4. Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. And you fathers do not provoke your children to wrath but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Please pray with me.

Dear Lord, we cry out to you, dear God, for salvation of our children, dear God, for controlling their lives, dear God. As the song said, Lord, we try to lead them to the living waters, dear God, but it's certainly beyond us, dear God, that we have no power, no authority, no ability to bring them to you, dear God. We try to set an example for them, dear God, but we know it's up to you, Lord. We just thank you this day, dear God, that you meet with us, Lord. Just speak to our hearts, dear God.

Help us. Change us in a special way, dear God. Change us to make us more like Christ, Lord. Help us to just be pleasing to you in our service to you, dear God. Just speak with Scott Brown today, dear God, speak through him to us, dear Lord, just bless him and anoint his words for in Christ's name we pray, Amen.

It really is such a delight to bring this passage of Scripture before you. It contains so much of the kindness of God toward us, the good he desires to do, particularly for your children through their obedience. And it just reminds me of how every commandment of God is so beneficial. It's so helpful. You know, obedience, obedience to your Father in heaven is the happiest thing you'll ever do for yourself.

And that's why even Jesus, as he was headed to the cross and the suffering that was there, he went for the joy that was set before him. And that really is true for the obedience of children. And so here we have these marvelous commands. They're commands of delight. We're here celebrating the day for delight.

And now we have the commands for the delight of all children and so I'm very grateful to be able to bring this passage of Scripture to us. Now I'm gonna spend a few weeks talking about what it means to be a Christian family and I'll be doing expositions on various passages of Scripture. We're starting here in Ephesians chapter 6, 1 through 4. We're beginning with with children. Now I'll give you a little tip.

After I speak about this passage for a few minutes, I really want to get eyeball to eyeball to all children who live in their parents' households. But, you know, suffer long, children, because it won't be long. I'll be doing the same thing with your parents. The next time we deal with this, my plan is to get eyeball to eyeball with your parents and speak to them that way as well. But it is a delight to be able to speak very specifically to children.

Well that's what this passage of scripture does. These are God's words through the Apostle Paul directed to the children who were sitting in the Ephesian Church You know if if the Apostle Paul were here He would be looking in the eyeballs of children and talking to them, and that's what I really want to do today This is a wonderful opportunity to do a spiritual inventory of your home. Please do a spiritual inventory in a renewed way in your home. We always need to do that and you know there are questions that I want us to ask together. You know is it well?

Is it going in the right direction? Am I going in the right direction? Am I as a parent going in the in the direction of success for my children? Children, are you going in the direction of success that God has promised? And you know in the coming weeks I'll be taking us through these things, but it really is a time to take a spiritual inventory of your family life.

And I want to ask directly to the children, is it well with you? Is your life going well? And is how it's going now a prophecy of a good direction in the future for you? Because what's happening now actually is a prophecy of your future rebellion now is going to be rebellion later you're not going to change unless you change when you're young and it's so critical and I think we should understand that what we do with our children determines the destiny of a nation and the quality of the church and the happiness in a home. It's not a no fault affair at all.

What children do with their parents determines whether they'll be successful or not, whether it'll go well with them or not. This is gigantically important, and we can't underestimate the importance of how parents treat their children and how children treat their parents. These are pivotal things. You know, what we do with our children tells us whom we serve. What children do with their parents tells the world who they serve as well.

And you know, for children it will not go well with you if you are not well with your parents. So I want to say four things just about this passage to help us see it the way it is. First of all, Ephesians 6, 1 through 4 is one of the critical and defining sections of the New Testament on family life, but let's be really clear about this. This testimony here is a commentary on the Old Testament. This is not different at all from the Old Testament.

This is a commentary on Deuteronomy 6, 1 through 9, Genesis 18 verse 19. It's a commentary on Psalm 78. It's a commentary on the entire book of Proverbs and It really is an expression of the fulfillment of Malachi 4 that God, in the era of the new covenant, He will turn the hearts of children of their parents and parents of their children. This is a massively important passage of Scripture, and they are extracted directly from the fifth commandment in the 10 commandments. And this passage should cause us pause to understand the way that the apostles deal with the Old Testament.

The Old Testament, every word of the Old Testament is authoritative and practical and helpful for the New Testament Christian, and particularly for raising children in this context here. We should always interpret the Old Testament the way that Jesus interpreted the Old Testament and the way the Apostles interpreted the Old Testament, and here the Apostle Paul is interpreting Moses in the Old Testament, and he's quoting directly from the Decalogue, from the Fifth Commandment. And so Paul is standing on the authority of the Ten Commandments. If you're thinking that you no longer need the law, you no longer need to recognize the things in the Old Testament. Perish the thought.

That's not what Paul did. That's not what Jesus did either. So I think we have to be very careful about our position on the Old Testament. The second thing is that it shows what it looks like to have a spirit of love and joy in your home. The context here reveals really a secret of home life and the secret is the power of the Holy Spirit in a home.

And I'll develop this later but just very simply God does not just simply deliver commands. He gives us a way to follow them. And it is the power of the Holy Spirit. He gives us the Holy Spirit to come alongside, to help us to develop a culture of love in our homes. And so when we come to chapter six, we come to an illustration of something that Paul started talking about in Ephesians 518.

He said, do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. And then after that verb of being filled with the Spirit, he begins to explain what that looks like. Well, you start speaking to each other differently in Psalms and Tims and spiritual songs. You submit to one another in the church. Wives submit to their husbands, and husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church and now he comes to a third manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit in children and that is that they obey their parents in the Lord.

And so this is all a declaration of what it looks like when the when the Holy Spirit of God has taken hold of you in your home and how you teach your children what the kingdom of God looks like empowered by the Holy Spirit and it looks like love that's what it looks like. The third thing about this passage is that we find really a perfect balance of authority and tenderness in the home. You know God designed that there's a supreme authority in the home. Parents are given supreme authority over their children in their home and they are and children are required to honor their parents but but and we'll get to this in some detail later on in the incoming sessions. But that authority is not unbridled authority.

It's really bridled by the commands of God. And it's an authority that must not include harshness. They are rather marked by the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, the affection of a mother and the tenderness of a father, and the Holy Spirit does all these things you have authority and tenderness you know parents here in this passage are forbidden to exasperate their children they're forbidden to be harsh with them you know in Colossians 3 it says lest they become discouraged you you know parents are under a divine command not to discourage their parents wrongly. They have authority, but it's not unbridled authority at all. And not only that, they can't just do whatever they want.

They must do their duty. They must bring their children up in the training and the admonition of the Lord. And you know they they can't do whatever they please and they must not be lazy in the training of their children. You know often children go astray because parents are negligent Negligent to bring their children up and walk with them and talk with them and help them along the way and Work with them and be patient with them and care for them and explain to them and love them and hold them through their time of rebellion. I mean, parents have much to teach.

We'll get to that when I get eyeball to eyeball with you parents. But I just want you to understand, the authority that's here is not an unbridled authority. I love the way William Gouge speaks of this. He speaks of this authority. He says, and he's speaking of tenderness and authority, both of these are joined together and they make a very good composition.

Love like sugar sweetens fear, and fear like salt seasons love. Thus, to join them together, it is a loving fear and a fearing love which is the ground of children's duties. So you find this perfect balance of authority and tenderness and love and communication. And we learned that this harsh authority is very, very, very harmful. The fourth thing that I'd like to say about this is that these verses, one through three, are directed to children.

The Apostle Paul assumes that children are sitting in the meeting of the Ephesian Church and that's the way it always was in the New Testament Church and I pray that becomes the pattern of churches in this New Covenant era. But notice that the Apostle speaks to children first and then he speaks to parents. And we're not told why he speaks to children first, but he does the same thing with wives. He speaks to the wife first in Ephesians 5 22. Someone suggested that the reason Paul does that is if you have a rebellious wife your whole home falls apart and if you have rebellious children your home falls apart.

Well we're not told that that's really that's it that is the reason but you do notice there is a progression here and he begins the Apostle Paul does with the one under the authority first. So now a final thing. You parents don't tune out please because this not only applies to your children in the church, it also applies to all the children of God who happen to be adults because the obedience of children in a home is a picture of the whole church of the Lord Jesus Christ. A true church is an obedient church. A true Christian is an obedient Christian.

And so when you hear children obey your parents and the Lord, Don't get too distracted. Don't forget yourself Because God has also called us. I think there's a double meaning here and that you know whenever you appeal to Your children to obey parents need to look to themselves and ask the same question. I want parents, while I'm walking through, getting eyeball to eyeball with your children, I want you to ask, Am I an obedient father? Have I been obedient to God's commands?

We're very, it's very important that your children are obedient to your commands, but it's also very important that you're obedient to God's commands. Amen? So, the first part of this text addresses children directly. Now, when I'm speaking of children, I am primarily speaking of children who are in their parents' households and under their parents' authority. Older children who have left their parents' homes, my perspective is that it's a different...there are some nuances.

You know, children should never quit honoring their father and mother but there are some nuances to a discussion about children who are gone from their children's homes I'm not going to address that here in this message maybe at another time now there are as you notice there are two commands and there is a promise. Thankfully God always, you know, puts icing on his cake and this promise is such a wonderful promise. And now, okay, I'm gonna tip you children off right now are you looking at me okay so here's there are different ways you're gonna hear me say this but I want you I want you to I want to convince you if you're not already convinced that honoring and obeying your parents is the very best thing you can do for your happiness and for your success. I want to, I want to wrestle with you that that's true during this whole time here. So you see there's an outline in front of you.

I plan to cover three primary points that are in this passage and the first is the command. The command to obey your parents. Children obey your parents. Now the word obey in the Greek means obey. It means do what they say.

You know, if we had a Greek scholar up here, he would say that this word means to hear under. It's a word that has kind of two things. To hear under and in other words, to hear under authority. To hear and recognize what you heard as authority and immediately act. To hear under is to put yourself under the person you're hearing that's obedience and not to put yourself over what you're the person you're hearing But to put yourself under so that's your duty put yourself under the voice not over the voice that you're hearing and You know there are many things that this means you know children must obey parents immediately Parents your parents are okay, please hear this, your parents should never have to ask twice.

You got that? They should never have to ask twice. If they have to ask twice, you are disobeying God Almighty. You need to recognize that. Children must obey appearance immediately and they must obey without complaining and without making excuses and without delaying.

Without complaint, without excuse, without delay. Those three things. Children, I want you to remember those three words. C-E-D, without complaint, without excuse, without delay. Well, that's really what obedience is, and you must obey.

Now, let's talk about these without complaint. Without complaint. Often children might obey, but after a complaint of some kind. You know, one of my children told their child at a church somewhere when there were cookies in the food line said to that child you can have one cookie and so a few minutes later that that after that child ate one cookie came back and said, mom, can I have another cookie? And she said, no, you can't have another cookie.

And she said, but mom, I didn't like that cookie. I want another one. So it's a complaint. I found that children are so brilliant especially my children are very brilliant they were are the creative masters of crafting excuses they're just amazing and guess what They got it from us and our sinful nature that we gave them. That's the problem.

And you know, if you don't want to do something, you'll manufacture excuses. And if you want to do something you won't manufacture excuses that's just the way we all are so obey without without excuse you know if you're you know if your parents children if your parents wake you up early in the morning and they say let's go to the beach or let's go get some donuts you're gonna hop right out of bed but if your dad mean old dad that he is says it's time to get up We're gonna go mow the lawn and clean the house. You are gonna get a drink of water. You're gonna go to the bathroom. You're gonna fight.

You're gonna fight. You're gonna sort of straighten up your toy, the one you like to play with only. And, you know, you're gonna make all kinds of excuses. And that's just the way we are. I have 17 grandchildren that are on the ground right now.

One of my 17 grandchildren was at a public event one time. And those who were in authority in the event said, you cannot go past these cones, these traffic cones, because there's something interesting beyond those cones, right? So don't go beyond the cones. My guess is that this child might have been four years old or something like that at the time, maybe five. And the organizers of the event, one of whom, one of which I knew, said that he saw this, my sweet granddaughter, take the cones and put them up five feet ahead.

Children are brilliant. They're just amazing. They can obey without obeying, you know. They're going to obey, but sometimes it's not without excuse. Children, obey your parents without excuse.

And then without delay. Children are masters of delay. Especially at, you parents are going to finish the sentence, bedtime. Well, I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to your children. At bedtime, children are masters at delay.

You know, somehow they just have the most righteous sweet inclinations of their spirit you know they want to do something healthy they need a drink of water you know they want to be told a story you know there did you realize that a lot sometimes when your children ask you to tell them the story tonight it's not because they really want to hear this story they just don't want to go to bed that's the problem right or they might need to go to the bathroom one time two times three times you know you know we always feel compassionate for our children when they want to go to the bathroom. But let me tell you something, my experience is this. You know, when they ask to go to the bathroom, the bathroom ain't actually the issue. And who knows? You know, we don't have x-rays.

We can't tell how full that bladder really is, you know. So, you know, it puts parents in a rough situation, you know. And, but children, you know, are brilliant. They are so good, you know, at this kind of thing. You know, to delay children, children to delay, is to sit there when your children or your parents ask you to do something.

It might be walking slowly to do something. Don't walk slowly when your parents ask you to do something. Or you might just flop on the floor and kick your legs. And your parents are going to look at you and think, what, do I have Mahatma Gandhi here doing a nonviolent protest here? You children don't know who Mahatma Gandhi was, but your parents do.

But the only thing your children, are you listening to me? The only thing you're allowed to say when your parents ask you to do something is, Yes mommy, yes daddy, that's what you should say. And you know children are just so remarkable in their ability to create you know this matter of delay and things like that you know. One of my one of my children many years ago was bothering her bothering her uncle. I shouldn't have given the gender, you know, but the uncle said, if you do that one more time, I'm going to hang you up on that clothesline.

And my little daughter paused for a moment of reflection, and she looked immediately, she looked over to her aunt and said, would you get me down? Children are brilliant, they are, you know, they're going to run circles around you but here's the deal don't let them do that children obey your parents you know immediately and and don't do and obey without delay and you know God God gave you children and authority in your life to help you be successful in the future and and to do that God wants to root out sinful impulses in your life he wants to root out selfishness this is your greatest enemy he wants to root out laziness He gave you a parent so that you don't fall into your lazy spiritual self. He gave you parents so that you deal with your rebellion. You know, he gave you parents to give you commands that you don't want to do So that you realize you have rebellion in your heart to root it out to cleanse the rebellion in your heart Children children. Do you understand that you need rebellion?

Driven out of your heart and your parents commands are designed by God to drive the rebellion out of your heart because it'll destroy you let your parents drive it out by obeying them now this command to obey is it is like I said it's a commentary on the Old Testament commands. How about Proverbs 23-22? Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Let your father and your mother be glad. Proverbs 13, one, a wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

Or how about Proverbs 13, 18, poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction but he who regards a rebuke will be honored there are unbreakable promises of God for you children and it's very very critical that you obey without complaint, without excuse, and without delay. You know I heard this story you know from one of my children. One of my grandchildren said one day, Mommy, when is it my turn to be mom? You've had a very long turn. But you know what?

When you're a child, you're not, this is not your time to be mom or dad. This is not your time. It's a short time, but it's not your time to be mom or dad. You don't have authority in your home, okay? Got that?

You know, immediate obedience is so, so very important. You know, one day, one day our family was swimming and there was a little child that was going under that could not swim. And Deborah said, grab him, grab him to the little girl next to her. And she refused to do it because she didn't want to get her dress wet. Okay?

This child had not been trained to obey authorities and thankfully it didn't turn out with a death. But often, parents must teach their children to obey. You remember the story, there was a story happened right around here just a few years ago. There was a story that just happened a few miles from here. School was let out and a mother and the aunt came to pick up the child and the school bus was stopped.

You know, the flashing lights were there. Everybody was supposed to stop. But the aunt saw a logging truck coming down the road that nobody else, that the child couldn't see. And the aunt said, Stop! And the child did not obey.

And that child walked right out in front of that logging truck and was crushed. Right? Everybody would blame the truck driver. I blame the parents. They did not teach their children to obey.

It is devastating to have children who won't obey. And you never know how tragic the end could be. Now, there are, that's why these promises are here. So the command is, children obey your parents, hear under, put yourself under the hearing of their voice and do it without complaint Do it without excuse and do it without delay. Got it?

You got it? You got it? Are you with me? Good. Good.

Number two. Children, Here's what attitude should you have toward your parents because you should obey but this path these words here tell us you know about your attitude Toward what your parents say and the first part of it is you is to obey with a heart of honor Now to honor someone is to put yourself under them to consider them more important than you You know children want to They want to think that they're more important than their parents and they want to have all the privileges of parenthood But they don't they don't even know how to make a living They're not ready for it You're not ready. You're not ready to have authority children. You're just not ready yet. God doesn't want you to have authority yet.

So don't try to take it because you're taking something that God didn't mean for you to have. And so to obey, but honor, that's what honor is all about. When you honor someone you treat what they say highly not lowly. You take, you take them, you sort of, there's a heaviness about their words that you should listen to. But the second part here is that you should obey in the Lord.

Children obey your parents in the Lord. That's really important children. I want you to understand that your obedience to your parents should be in the Lord and here's what that means. It means that when your children, when your parents give you a command, you should take it as if the Lord Himself was speaking to you. And to recognize that their commands have come from God.

Recognize God's hand in everything. You know, you daughters who are with us at the Father-Daughter retreat, we talked about the sovereignty of God and how God is sovereign over everything people say, everything people do, everything. And he's sovereign over your parents' commands to you. God, God himself ordained his parents to give you that command. And it's really important you understand that everything that comes to you comes from God's hand.

And a sovereign and wise God moved your parents to ask you to do something. And so the beginning of all happiness really in this world is to recognize who's in control. Well God is in control and God himself wants you to hear what your parents say and obey What they're saying as if God himself was in the room issuing a command to you And children need to understand how serious it is when parents speak. You know, we live in an era where there's very little regard, honor, seriousness, or reverence for what parents say. You know, one of my favorite families in history was the family of Jonathan Edwards.

You know, they had a happy family. They really did. You read about it. I'm just mesmerized by what I read from the daughters and the sons that came out of this family and the love that they had with one another. But you know what the Edwards kids would do whenever their parents walked in the room?

Are you ready for this? When Jonathan Edwards or Sarah walked in the room and the children were there talking, the children would rise up and honor and defer to them. Now when your parents walk in the room, what's your attitude? You know, it really, now the words of your parents are words and commands that you should regard as coming from God and it and so it means that it matters that you obey now for parents parents need to understand that they need to be very careful too because they're given authority and they need to be very careful with their authority but if you obey the Lord there's blessing that is promised if you obey the Lord Luke 11 28 you know makes it really clear that obedience prepares you to receive blessing. Jesus said blessed are those who hear the word and keep it.

John the Apostle in 2nd John 1 6 says that obedience trains you to walk in love. He said This is love that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. You learn how to love by obeying commands. It's one way you learn how and God wants you to learn how to love children.

It positions you to be a friend of God. Jesus in John 15 14 said you are my friends if You are my friends if you do what I command you. It prepares you for success. Deuteronomy 529, there's this prayer, this cry, oh that they had such a heart in them that they would always they would fear me and always keep all my commandments why that it might be well with them and with their children forever you know The commands of God to obey are all commands of love, to lead us to love God by obeying Him. So when your parents speak, you obey them in the Lord.

Now by the way, if you're a parent or a child, your salvation is not true salvation unless you have a heart to obey the Lord. Obedience is not the means of your salvation, but it's a proof of your salvation. So obedience is really important. Obedience has fallen on hard times today. People don't want to obey anymore.

But God actually has created a world of happiness that's dependent upon obedience. Now, then the third element on this outline, why should you obey? Well because it is right. It is right. That's very important.

Children obey your parents, that's the first part, to hear under in the Lord, in other words obey them as if the Lord was speaking to you directly for this is right okay now we're going to talk about that it's right why is it right well well you should obey because it is right. Well, hey, there are things that are right, and there are things that are wrong. By the way, the Bible says that the world really is black and white. There's light, there's darkness, there's truth, there's error, there's love, there's hate, and there's right, and there's wrong and it's not right. And there are many reasons why it's not right.

You know, the real the real world is the world where there's right and wrong. The fantasy world is where there's no right and wrong. That is a crazy fantasy world and nobody can really live by it. Nobody who says that there's no right and wrong lives by it. They don't.

It's impossible to live life that way. It's madness. It's a fantasy world. But there is the real world, and that's the world where there are things that are right and there are things that are wrong and it's really important that you get that get that right so it's not fitting it's not good you know what it's not it's not fitting for children to do whatever they want to do it's not right for you to do whatever you want to do children do you got that it's not right for you to do the impulses of your heart obedience to parents is right now I'm going to give you 10 reasons why it's right are you ready 10 reasons why it's just right for you to obey your parents. I mean I started out saying I want if there's any doubt in your mind I want to convince you to obey your parents immediately and thoroughly from the heart with honor.

Okay, the first reason it's right is because it pleases the Lord. It does please the Lord. It's right because it pleases the Lord. If you want to be a blessing in everything you do, you have to recognize what pleases the Lord and what doesn't please the Lord. And you don't want to live a life where God's displeasure is hanging upon you.

You know, the Bible says that God is opposed to the proud but he gives grace to the humble. You don't want God opposing you in your life. In fact, in Colossians 3, it says that honor and obedience is pleasing to the Lord. It's pleasing to the Lord even even when you obey your parents in the thing that seems the most outrageous thing you can imagine. It pleases the Lord when you obey them, even when you don't understand it, and even though you don't agree with it, it pleases the Lord when you obey no matter what.

It pleases Him. So when you obey and you don't want to, Remember it pleases the Lord. Find pleasure in the Lord's pleasure. Secondly, Obedience needs to be learned when you're young. It really needs to be learned when you're young.

It's right because children need to obey, learn how to obey when they're young. Pride makes children think that they should be in control. That the reality is that children, you know, you as children, you don't have the experience or the wisdom that your parents have. You need to just accept that. I remember I was in an interchange with my father one time when I was very young, and I said, you tell me one thing you know that I don't know.

I was a trap. But you know, I didn't have the experience to even say that. You know. Ecclesiastes 10.3 says this, even when a fool walks along the way, he lacks wisdom and shows everyone that he's a fool. Okay now, here's, I know this might be hard to hear for some of you.

Children are naturally deceived about themselves. They think more highly of themselves than they ought. That's why Paul said, don't think more highly of yourself than you ought. You think more highly of yourself than you ought. Children want all the authority and the responsibility of adults without having the maturity and the thinking process and the financial ability to do so.

And they want the same authority, but they don't have the same wisdom. And all parents know that. Your parents know that. But this needs to be learned when you're young. There's something to learn when you're young.

And if you don't learn it there, you're going to get knocked over, over and over and over again, if you don't understand that. Thirdly, it's right because it roots out selfish impulses. It's right because rebellion is connected to self-driven selfish impulses that are characterized by evil in fact I mean in the Old Testament in first Samuel 15 22 rebellion is called witchcraft okay rebellion is no small thing it's huge and Your parents know how big it is, how rebellion. It is as of the sin of witchcraft. There's a comparison.

Rebellion is like witchcraft. When you have children who are in rebellion, you need to recognize where that's coming from. It is demonic and it will destroy them. Don't give your children a pass on rebellion, you have to understand what it is. And the Bible has told you what it is.

It is as the sin of witchcraft. It's of divination. And so children, when you roll your eyes at your parents, when you argue with them, when you're slow to obey, when you are whining, if you are trying to run away from them when they're disciplining you, if you're making excuses, if you're talking back, if you're avoiding your parents, it is the sin of rebellion. There is something inside of you that is horrible. You have no idea how damaging it is and so God gives you parents to root it out.

To root out selfish impulses. You know, parents often get frustrated with children because of the rebellion of their children, but they should be thankful that they're there. They're there to see the rebellion and to help deal with it. It's part of your divine calling. It's one of the greatest callings of a parent's life is to help a child to see the rebellion and the evil that's in their heart, to root it out.

It's so important that you help them root it out. And it takes time to labor with your children when they're in rebellion doesn't it takes a lot of time some children take a lot of time and some children don't take as much but you've got to take the time but children when you are when you have a rebellious heart What you need to remember is that God is trying to root out rebellion and God has your parents in the way so that you don't grow rebellion in your heart. As rebellion only grows, whatever, whatever you cultivate grows, Everything grows. Doesn't matter what it is. Number four, it's right because it's a way that we love God.

Obedience is one way that you love God. We love God by obeying him. Jesus says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. He said in John 14, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him. Jesus says to a bunch of religious people, why do you call me Lord, Lord, but do not do what I say?

Obedience is a way that you love God. You know, God gives you parents to grow and introduce the love of God. We must never forget, too, that there's a lot of mystery in this but even Jesus grew in wisdom and stature in favor with God a man and we know that Jesus submitted to his parents the children did you ever think about that I mean think about Mary and Joseph okay these were young parents with their first child. How many are the first children? Firstborn!

There you go! Your parents get to learn on you they're in X when you get when you get them you are inexperienced and that's so guess what that's the way God planned it you know children always have inexperienced parents And most of the time they have young parents, okay, that have a lot of growing to do themselves. Don't they? Don't you have parents like that? You do have parents like that.

And God meant you to have parents like that to help you learn how to love God. Now here's the next next what reason why why is it right because God gave you this authority God gave you the authority of your parents. You know, God rules, and you should obey your parents because you didn't choose your parents, God did. Nobody gets to choose their parents. God chooses your parents.

And that's actually a good thing. God did that for his own glory. You know, God says to Jeremiah, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. David says, you formed me in my mother's womb. God formed you before you were even born, and he put you in your mother's womb, whoever that might be.

And, you know, God gave you specific parents as an act of his sovereign wisdom. And, you know, your birthday was the birthday that God gave you. Your mother and your father and your siblings are all the people that God gave you in his sovereign wisdom. The house you live in, the amount of money your dad makes, the job he has, everything is because of God's sovereign wisdom. Everything.

And you should obey because God gave you this authority. The key to happiness is to know that God rules and the child who's dissatisfied with his parents, are you dissatisfied with your parents? Is anybody dissatisfied with their parents? Well the child that's dissatisfied with his parents will carry that on and will be dissatisfied with people in their life, probably for the rest of their life, if they don't get it, if they don't understand. God's ordaining the authority of your parents.

You're never going to have a perfect authority. Now, if you're angry with your parents, break that habit now break that habit now number six the reason it's right because pure children are because parents are flawed no it's right to obey because your parents are flawed okay I don't want you to miss this one. It's right to obey because your parents are flawed. It's a reason to obey. This is the way God planned it.

God did not plan for you to have un-flawed parents. He actually planned that sometimes your parents would be frustrated with you and say things they shouldn't say. He wanted that to happen to you, okay? God did not want you to have parents that did everything right. You know, when you first have children, you think, I want to do everything right.

But then you realize how that's a pretty high bar. So when you were born, when you were adopted, whatever it is, God put you in that home. God did it. So you should know it's right because your parents are flawed. Number seven, you should obey.

It's right because you never escape authority. You will never, ever escape authority. No matter what you do, you will be under authority of some kind. You should obey your parents because for the rest of your life, you will have authority. And what you'll find is if you don't honor the authority of your parents, you're going to find people that are just like your parents.

They're going to have different names. They're going to live in different cities, but they're you're going to hate them just like you hate your parents. They have blind spots, sins, and experience, and they might demand that you do things that you don't want to do and they're gonna push you out of your comfort zone and they're gonna disappoint you and they might speak harshly to you and they will make mistakes and they will be imperfect parents they will go overboard here and under board there and if you're not successful children of obeying your father and mother you will find that you will keep meeting these authorities you go a thousand miles away you're gonna meet your mom and your dad again. You will. You'll always be under authority.

You know, if you don't like the authority of your government, then leave America. Oh, but now there's another authority that I'm under. Where are you going to go? You're under the authority of the weather. You never, you are never out from under authority.

So you should obey because you're, because, because you never escape authority. Number eight, it's right because the time with your parents is short and life is really long. You're only in your parents' house a short time, just a few years over a huge span of years. And you know, don't panic, don't panic, because it's gonna end sometime. There is a time when you're gonna be able to leave home so don't panic you don't have to live with this for the rest of your life okay But if you don't learn what God wants you to learn about life there, then it will be, it'll go poorly for you for the rest of your life.

And during that time, during this time that you're in your parents house, God, He's got you like in this little training zone. It's like a training camp. It's like a boot camp that's short. You know, one of our members is in a boot camp for two and a half months right now. Well, thankfully it's short.

He's gotta come home. I can't wait for him to come home. But for Now, he's gonna eat dirt and sweat, and he's gonna grind and be sleepless, but it's not gonna last forever, thankfully. He's gonna come home. Well, that's the way it is with child raising.

It's a time. Hey, savor the time. Make the best of the time, children. Make the best of the time. Learn everything you can because it's gonna end you need it now and you're gonna need the background later for sure number nine there's a wonderful promise it's right because here's a wonderful promise you know God has candy-coated all of his commands.

All of his commands are commands of love. All of his laws are laws of love. You know, I have a friend who has catechism that he does with the children of his church he called it candy kid as candy chism. Well because the laws of God are all so good. There's a wonderful promise honor your father and mother which is the first command with promise that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.

And that's Deuteronomy 5 16. He's quoting Deuteronomy 5 in Exodus 20. It's all he's doing. He's just repeating the law. You need to live under the law of God just like the apostle Paul urged the children to live under the law of God.

Now God says it's the first command with promise now He's not saying it's the first come it's not the first He's not saying this is the first promise that appears in the Bible That's not what he's saying because there are promises that appear in the Bible before this he rather he is saying that it is it is the most important command because of the nature of that promise. It's a gigantic promise. It's a first and foremost promise. It's like no other promise. It's the most critical promise for a child's well-being.

And So, you know, whether you obey your father and mother and honor them is the hinge point upon which you are either going to have success or failure in life in the things that really matter. Number 10, it's right. It's, you know, obey your parents and Lord for this is right. It's right because it affects every single relationship you'll ever have. Okay.

Yes, I know that sounds very dogmatic and binary. It is. Failure to obey and honor your parents will affect every single relationship for the rest of your life. There are many relationships where honor is required in this world. Creating a culture of love and honor in the home is something that's so critical.

The Bible teaches that this is the foundation for all other relationships. The Puritans believed that the fifth commandment to honor father and mother was actually applicable in every other relationship with every other authority. I believe that's true. I think they were right about that. But I'm just going to give you some illustrations of how honor affects every relationship.

Let's just take being in a church. Submission is critical to being a blessing to one another in the church. If you weep with those who weep, it means that you're adjusting yourself to them. You're honoring them. You know, we honor one another by not just doing whatever we want and not saying whatever we want.

We honor, you know, The oil of the beauty of the oil in a local church is people they actually honor each other. They think the best of one another and things like that. They're not high minded. They're humble. They're not proud toward one other.

They don't harshly judge one another. This has to do with honor. Honor is such a blessing in a church and you know the practicing of hospitality and all these things are ways that we honor one another and this is how God creates really a beautiful culture in a church and it always has to be protected by honor. You know, even God actually commands everybody in the church to honor and obey their leaders, their elders. Hebrews 13, 17 says obey those who rule over you and be submissive for they watch over your souls as those who must give account.

Let them do so with joy and not with grief for that would be unprofitable to you. And you know the Apostle speaks to Timothy who is a pastor of the Ephesian Church and he says we urge you to recognize those who labor in the Lord and and love them and and you know listen to them for they labor you know give the ones who labor in the word double honor. Well, I mean, you have all the people in the church. This learning of honor in your family has an effect on the whole culture of the church and also how you relate to leaders in the church. You know one of the hardest parts of church life is when you find people in the church that never learned how to honor one another, never learned how to think the best of one another, and many church splits and slanders and hatreds and divisions in churches can be traced right back to disorder in the family.

And often you can blame the parents because they didn't secure honor and obedience. I'll get to that later in another session because parents have responsibilities in this. But if your children are disregarding authority and they're just picking and choosing who they're gonna honor in the church, then that's the kind of church you're going to end up with in the next generation. So children, I mean it really matters that you learn this now because you live in a community in a family called a church And one of the ways that God is designed to create a beautiful culture in a church is by having homes that are in order, where there's honor and obedience, and children obey their parents because it's right. But unsubmissive, dishonorable, harsh people, they are always the main causes of church divisions.

It's usually not doctrinal. It usually has to do with offenses and honor, and every pastor knows that. You can always you can always trace these things back to roots of offenses, roots of bitterness, but usually It's because those children never learn how to love imperfect people and Everybody in the church is culpably imperfect So it's so important, you know to have grace in your hearts toward your parents. Hey children do you have grace in your hearts toward your parents do you like do you have compassion on them even in their weaknesses children do you you know do you love them even in the midst of their weaknesses even when they don't speak to you the way that you want them to you know well guess what you know you're gonna end up working for somebody some day and that person isn't always gonna speak you the way you want them to speak. You know, he may speak really harshly to you.

And you're going to get offended about it. But you should learn how to obey your parents immediately without excuse without without delay or any of that because you're gonna be working for somebody probably if you're a man and you're at least and That employer is gonna give you commands, but here's here's a little secret, okay? Some employers are gonna speak to you harshly to get you to obey them and if you don't obey them they're gonna run you out the door but here's here's what I really want you to know. Some employers won't speak harshly to you. They'll speak very gently to you.

And then they're going to run you out the door because you didn't obey. And, you know, some of you children have trained your parents to raise their voice to make you obey and now and you you're in this groove and you think well it's not really serious and still until my parents you know pressure rises in there and they start talking to me harsh if you're talking if your children if you children have to don't obey unless your parents start talking harshly to you you're in danger please understand this a lot of your parents are speaking harshly to you because you're disobedient and now you think they're only serious when you start yelling, when they start yelling at you, you know what I'm talking about kids? You know, you know how it goes. I mean, It's one thing to say, you know, Claudia, would you please, you know, stop doing that? It's another thing to say, Claudia Margaret, that's different.

But if you're only going to obey because they use your middle name, You know, guess what? You're going to work for somebody someday and they're going to be so sweet. They're going to bring you into their office and they're going to say, you know, I really need you to do it this way, not the way you did that. And you're going to go off. You're going to just do it at whatever you want.

And they're going to bring you back in, and they're going to speak so iruditely and graciously to you, and they're going to tell you again. And then the third time, they're going to do it again. And they're going to just say it so sweetly. And then the fourth time, they're going to bring you into their office, because they have to do this for the EEOC and when they bring you into their office They're gonna say, you know, I just don't think you're gonna fit here This is your last day But you thought That people are only serious when they yell at you, but that's not true. So don't train your parents to yell at you, okay?

Do it the first time so they never have to raise their voice. If you have to raise your voice as parents, you're culpable, and your children are culpable at the same time. You can be a blessing to your civil leaders. God says let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. This is why I said obedience in the home will affect every single relationship in your life.

Every person in the church, all the leaders of the church, anybody who you ever work with or work for, anybody who you're under authority, including the civil magistrate. And then you girls are gonna get married and you're gonna be under the authority of your husbands. So what are you gonna do about that? You're not gonna marry a perfect husband. You know, you might be dreaming about a knight in shining armor, but that's not who he is.

He's not. And he isn't gonna always talk to you as sweetly as you've been accustomed to, you know. Of course, except Deborah, she always has spoken too, you know. So, okay children, Obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother.

Obey them in everything. Do what they tell you to do immediately without complaint, without excuse, and without delay. And don't forget that God put you in your family for a really short time because what's what happens there is gonna affect every relationship in your life for the rest of your life and it'll set you on a course. Oh, children, children, children, children, do you love your parents? Do you have a heart of compassion toward them?

Do you hear under or do you shout over them? Do you want to do your own thing? Or do you want to do the thing that God Almighty ordained that you do for your own help? Well, obedience will never save a child, But training children to obey prepares them to be saved. It prepares them for true Christianity.

It prepares them to realize that all of God's commands are good. It prepares them to honor God as the supreme authority in their life. And so I think everybody here can see how this doesn't apply to children, it applies to all of us here. And, you know, Children, you know, you may be rebellious against your parents in a particular way now Because God hasn't changed your heart and you're unconverted and you haven't turned to Jesus Christ And you've not accepted his sacrifice for your sins you've not admitted how sinful you are and how much you need Jesus Christ. And really the heart of all this parenting, all this authority, is to drive you to realize that you're corrupt and that you need the blood of Jesus Christ to atone for your sins.

You need Jesus Christ. The heart of all child raising is to bring a child to the heart of Jesus to see how beneficial and how good he is that all of his commands are for love all of his ways are pleasant ways and all his paths are peace and and that all of them when you obey them they cause it to go well with you in the things that really matter. And it doesn't mean that everything will go smooth for you in your life, it doesn't mean that at all, but it means that everything that you go through, you'll be able to walk through with grace and truth and strength. And that's what really matters in this life. And that you would be prepared by the admonitions of your parents to obey the Lord Jesus Christ in everything.

And so that for now all the manifestations of the Spirit would rule and reign in your home. Love, joy, Peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are the things that God desires for a family life. And children, you have a part in it. You have a really, really big part in it.

So obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Would you pray with me? Lord, Lord, I pray that you would Give all of us hearts of honor toward you and all of your commands, all of your ways. Lord, thank you for sweetening all of your commands with such marvelous blessings. I pray for all these children here that you would help them to obey their parents and that you would position them for all the success that you've spoken of here in your word.

Amen.