Are we there yet? Part 2

"Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

INTRODUCTION (Don’t forget the Silver dollar city tickets)

Good morning Southpointe!!

We are in this series: Are we there yet? This is our second part and I want you to understand a few things this morning. First the title has a dual meaning,

a.) I am very sure that in our parenting skills that nobody is there yet. b.) kids will drive you crazy as you are trying to get them there.

That word There is dealing with the place God want them to be.

I don’t expect that their any parents who do not wish a successful life for their children. Right?

In fact, it shouldn’t surprise us that God feels exactly the same way.

Our text this morning, is one of the ten commandments and God shows us His desire and willingness to bless our children.

In the text:

"Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

It is very clear that God has offered a way that a child maybe open to a full life both in years and blessings.

We also find in the New Testament that Apostle Paul said this:

Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do.

"Honor your father and mother." This is the first commandment with a promise:

Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)

If you honor your father and mother, "things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth."

What this is bring forward is that if children honor their fathers and mothers, they are functioning within God’s order in such a way that will inheritance a full and fruitful life.

That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

And it is the life that God has planned for them.

For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

The key here is the plan of God for their life, I can’t say that I feel that my daughter in my eyes had a complete full lifetime, but in God’s plan she completed her lifetime and it was full of blessings after blessings.

So don’t start comparing years and material things but the fullness of God and His plan is what we are looking at this morning.

This principle of honor your father and mother is a foundational life principle. one that God has woven into the fabric of the universe.

You cannot dishonor your parents and still realize the fruitfulness or fullness in life to the dimension that God intended for you.

And the reason being that if children do not honor their earthly parents and obey them they will not see the connection between honor God the Father.

But this is the kicker: the children must be taught by example, love and instructions.

If the children are not taught to honor their parents, everyone loses something.

There has been a trend today over the last several decades for parents to become more like a friend to their children instead of accepting their roles as a parent.

show Jessica’s testimony

Too many today from so called experts are saying simply being pals will help you relate to your kids as equal and it may sound very friendly and democratic.

But God never spoke this and don’t be misguided. The parental call is to train the child, shape the child and correct and instruct the child.

To fail to do these things, no matter how chummy we may think we are with our children, the results of it is leaving a child standing alone without the spiritual mentoring.

I believe in having fun with my children and grandchildren I do and always will.

Show the video of Dash and me dance off

It is one thing to open the door to good times for your children by taking them fishing, but don’t be foolish and leave them in the boat by themselves.

Being a pal and having fun with our kids has its place but the bottom line is that parents are the ones who God has made responsible to train up a child in the way that he or she should go.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Your kids don’t need another friend that need a dad and mom who will mentor them. One who will oversee the shaping of proper attitudes.

The Word of God clearly teaches in the book of Proverbs:

The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

You see, a child left to himself or herself will bring shame on their parents. Because it will breed an atmosphere of the child becoming disrespectful, impolite, smart-mouth, wisecracking, tantrum throwing soiled baby, thinking the world exists for their convenience.

Too many kids are lacking a parent’s proper care and influence and they are creating chaos in homes today. You can see where God’s order has not been established, because children have been left to themselves.

Parents are got to be parents!! Loving, fun, and caring but mentoring all the time. Parents must be parents!

Parents must be cultivating honor.

The essence of the idea of the word “honor” has to do with the weightiness of worth ascribed to the object being honored.

It is the basic idea behind our call to worship God. But I am not saying that you should teach your children to worship you as their parents.

"Honor" is higher than obedience. It is the regard due to those who, by Divine appointment, are above us, and to whom our most respectful consideration is due.

But a understanding of their place must be shaped in children. It is kinda like nothing makes life work better than finding our place in our relationship to God.

So teaching children to respect their parents, to give appropriate weight to who they are in their lives, it will bring long term benefits.

So teaching children to respect their parents, to give appropriate weight to who they are in their lives, it will bring long term benefits.

When we start cultivating honor, it is not just about the parents but it about life in general, and it not about just being taught but it is about being caught.

If Parents are not exhibiting it by the way they treat their parents, grandparents, authority figures, and friends than you can’t expect that honor will not flow.

You see to be cultivating honor it not because it was ground into them by threats but because it was grown into by a balanced mix of love, example and authority.

I heard this story about a pecan tree that had grown two stories high. This tree had been there for 50 years.

But early in the tree’s development, it had forked into two main trunks, and a heavy chain had been hooked around them so they wouldn’t split as the tree grew.

In time, the tree’s trunks had thickened and grown around the chain so now the chain was imbedded.

The chain had been broken but what remained had become part of the tree and would never come out.

Cultivating honor in a child is much like that. What we plant in our children grows with them until it becomes a part of them.

That will be the case with ungodly values as well as with godly values. So we must not leave children to themselves.

This is a huge responsibility upon us and Apostle Paul lay this out in:

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

The Bible give us a very clear assignment. You see, many parents thinks teaching children to honor them is one that they see as a privileged to be the boss. The one telling and demanding but not delivering.

But parents are to lead, live, teach, train and relate to their children in a manner that produces honor.

It can’t be taught by demand alone, but I know that in training a child that parents are expect and should draw the boundary line of respect.

Our children may respond defiantly to things that we say, but that doesn’t mean we have the right to speak to them in a crude, coarse or unloving manner.

We are told in the Word of God not to provoke them in any way that would be inconsiderate, mean or ungracious.

I know that children will be mad, upset when we tell them things they don’t want to do or hear. But that is completely different than provoking them to wrath.

In that verse: , the word “admonition” relates to reasonableness, being derived from the Greek word for “mind.”

If we as parents instead of say, “Do it because I told you so.”

Parents lead them to understanding the why behind the rules.

The idea is that we should train our children sot hat they understand the issues behind what we tell them to do.

It should not be a matter of apologizing by saying “I am sorry, but I just have to require this.”

No, It is a matter of teaching (admonishing) by saying, “There are good reasons for this, and I want you to get the picture.”

You see, it is to teach them the ideas behind what they can and cannot do, framing your words with good-sense explanations.

It can’t be our church does believe in it and that why we do or don’t do. As a pastor, I would never tell my girls you can’t do this because what would the church think of me.

We would base our teaching and training for our children off of two things.

1.) What does the Word of God say.

2.) long-range best interest to every one involved.

I want you to understand when there’s a quest to Honor God, He is faithful to compensate for whatever our imperfections in making that attempt.

God’s grace will step into every situation even those situations where we as parents fail and we provoke our children to anger, or in situation that we should have been more firm instead we compromised. God’s grace is there.