A Word for Children

Over the past few weeks we have been looking at the family.

We look at Joshua 24 and considered that someone must have the resolve in a family live for God for the benefit of the entire family.

We looked at the father and shared from the Word how important his role is in raising a godly family.

Last week we discussed the role of the mother in raising children for the glory of God.

This morning we are going to preach to the children.

Here is the interesting part.

We are not all fathers.

We are not all mothers.

We are all children.

That means that this message is one we can all take to heart. As I have done with the previous sermons, I want to qualify what I’m going to say. There are exceptions. I know that there are bad parents. If you are a child who was or is being abused, you should not think that God requires you to endure that abuse.

Children who are being abused should seek help immediately. If you need to speak with me, I am here and available for you.

These passages are very simple. They tell children to obey and honor their parents. If the do so they are given the promise of the blessing of God. I’m going to give you some principles drawn from these passages and others that will help children honor God by fulfilling their role.

1. It is not easy to be an obedient child.

You are born with a sinful nature. No one had to teach you how to sin.

You also live in a sinful culture. It is constantly encouraging you to rebel against the things of God.

You also are living with a brain that is not fully developed. There is a reason that adults don’t toilet paper each other’s yards. They have a fully developed brain.

As well, many children have bad parents:

Abusive parents

Parents who are a bad example of righteousness

Hypocrites

There are many reasons it is not easy to be an obedient child. But listen to me, none of this is easy.

It’s not easy to be the father God has called us to be.

It’s not easy to be the mother God has called us to be.

None of these commands are easy. Living the life God has for you is not going to be an easy thing. The home is preparing you for that.

There will always be someone you have to obey in life:

A teacher

A boss

A landlord

Government

Husband/wife

If you can’t obey your parents, it’s unlikely you will obey anyone else. Obeying your parents is as easy as life gets. If you can’t do that life is going to be difficult for you.

What makes obedience easier?

Come to Christ. Be born again.

See your obedience to your parents as a service you are giving to the Lord.

2. It is not easy to be parents.

Parents are people.

People are flawed.

Your parents are two sinners.

They don’t know everything.

They make mistakes.

We are a very sarcastic family. That works for us because we are all that way. We can mess with each other in ways that other families may not be able to.

There were times growing up when we were looking at pictures of me and Jennifer when we were younger or listening to an old song and bragging about how cool we were or how much better our music was. Jeremiah would tell us we were not cool, but we were, in fact, nerds. We would remind him that he must be a nerd then because he came from us. Then he would respond “Two negatives make a positive.”

That was his go to. Two negatives make a positive and that’s why he’s cool and we’re not.

The truth is that is what parenting is like., It’s two negatives, two flawed people attempting to raise a child to be better than they are.

Kids you need to see your parents through eyes of grace. Understand that your parents are doing the best they can. They don’t have it all figured out.

Did you know your parents were people before you came along? They were. They were happy people. How happy were they? Well, you’re here, aren’t you? They were that happy.

You came and their world changed. Now they had to learn how to raise another human. They had to do this while:

Going to school

Working two or three jobs

Keeping a house up

Holding a marriage together

Do you honor your parents by recognizing how much they do?

You could never repay your parents for all they have done for you. There is no dollar amount that could be put on it.

I had never changed a diaper before I became a parent.

I had never bathed or dressed a child before I became a parent.

I had never stayed up all night with another person because they wouldn’t stop crying.

Illustration: When Jeremiah got big enough to walk he would climb out of his bed at the same time every morning. It was around 2 AM. He would climb out, walk across a dark house and get in bed with us. Do you know how aggravating that was?

We put up with it. Think about it kids. What if we did that to you. You’re asleep. It’s 2 AM. You feel someone pulling on the covers and there your mom is climbing in bed with you.

You have to go to school the next day. You need your sleep. You’d probably be aggravated, wouldn’t you?

You kids turned our world upside down. We had no idea what we were doing but we did our best. We sacrificed a lot. Admit to yourself that it is more difficult to do what your parents have done than to do what you are doing.

3. God requires obedience from children.

When Paul says “this is the first commandment with promise” he is speaking of the primacy of the commandment. In other words, this commandment is really important. The first of the Ten Commandments with a promise attached to it is actually the second commandment. Paul’s point is that this commandment is extremely important.

Listen kids, God requires more of you than your parents do. Parents will often make excuses for a child’s disobedience. God doesn’t.

Notice Paul is speaking directly to children here. This letter, like the others, would be read to the congregation. The church in Ephesus had a pastor who stood before the congregation and read this letter to the people.

This implies that Paul knew the children would be gathered with their parents in the worship service. There is nothing wrong with a nursery or children’s church. But when children are big enough to understand the Bible is being preached, they should gather with their family in the congregation. The early church did, and they are our pattern.

Imagine being a kid at the church in Ephesus. Paul has spoken directly to:

Husbands/Fathers

Wives/Fathers

Now he speaks to the kids. This is the children’s sermon, so to speak. Why does God speak to the children? Because he requires something from them.

There is an authority above your parents. That authority is God.

Paul says, “obey your parents in the Lord”. That means there is a spiritual obligation children have. You are to be in Christ, and you are to obey the commandments your parents give you as long as they do not contradict the teachings of the Bible.

The way you treat your parents reflects your spiritual life.

You can come to church and answer all the Bible questions in Sunday School.

You can join the FCA.

You can do service projects.

You can go on mission trips.

But if you do not honor and obey your parents your spirituality is a sham. It’s hypocrisy.

God doesn’t give you a free pass until you are an adult.

He expects you to live for Him now.

You can love Christ.

You can live for Christ.

You can be filled with the Spirit.

You can serve Christ.

You can learn the Word.

You can win people to Jesus.

God requires you to obey the gospel- Repent and submit your life to Christ.

God requires you to live a life of holiness.

The world doesn’t expect much of you until you turn 18. God expects much of you right now.

4. God requires you to have the proper attitude toward your parents.

“Honor” refers to attitude. It refers to how you think of your parents. Respect them. Hold them in high regard. If you ever think your better than your parents and they don’t deserve your honor, think about Christ.

Luke 2:51 says of Jesus “And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them”. Think about that. Christ honored His earthly parents. You know that He was worth far more honor than they were. They should have been honoring Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But He humbled Himself. He said, “Yes Sir” and “No Ma’am”. No child honored His parents more than Jesus. And Jesus is the example for all of us to follow.

You should love your parents. They love you more than you can imagine. You may be too young to understand that right now. One day you will understand how much they loved you.

Many of you were prayed for before you ever existed. I know we prayed for our children before they existed. We asked the Lord to give them to us. We prayed for them in the womb. We keep praying for them. No one prays for you like your mom and dad do.

How often do you pray for your mother?

How often do you pray for your father?

They provide for you. You have more than you need. Who do you provide for?

They push you to be better. They don’t want you to be mediocre. Who do you challenge to be better?

If you honor your parents, you will not degrade them.

I know that your probably think you know how to raise kids. We all do when we are young. We say things like:

When I grow up, I’m gonna let my kids stay up as late as they want!

When I grow up, I’m gonna let my kids do what they want!

When I grow up, I’m gonna be the coolest parent out there!

Listen to me, your parents are not awful people because they didn’t let you go to a sleepover.

Your parents are not awful people because they make you clean your room, do your homework or go to church.

To speak evil of your parents because you didn’t get your way is to dishonor them. It is a sin.

If you honor your parents you will not raise your voice at them.

If you honor your parents you will not say unkind things to them. Let me interject something here. Your parents are people. What you say to them can hurt them.

If you say things like:

“I hate you!”

“You are the worst parents!”

“I can’t wait to get out of this house!”

It hurts them. They live with that the rest of their life. You can’t take it back. They will forgive you. But they will always remember what you said, and it will hurt them.

If you honor your parents, you will remember their words when they are not around. Your parents don’t have to be present for you to dishonor them. If you only obey your parents when they are present, then you don’t really honor them.

God is concerned about the action- obedience.

God is concerned about the attitude- honor.

5. God promises to bless those who honor and obey their parents.

The blessing is:

A quality of life “That it may be will with thee”

A quantity of life “That thou mayest live long on the earth.”

This describes the Christina life. The Christin has the blessings of God. He also has the promise of a long life on this earth. Even if the Christina dies young, he/she will still live a long life on this earth after Christ returns. We will reign with Him in the millennium.

Let me mention a couple of blessings.

It is a blessing to live long enough to care for your parents. Your parents will grow old. They will need you. One day you will realize how much they did for you and it will be a blessing to serve them as they served you.

Sadly, our culture is full of people that abandon their parents as they grow older. That is not honoring them. Children should be willing to spend time and money on their parents. Think of all the time and money they have spent on us.

Our parents may need us to pay some of their bills, just as they paid for ours.

They may need us to help them walk, just as they helped us walk.

They may need us to read to them, just as they read to us. They may need us to give them medicine, just as they administered medicine to us.

To do these things is to honor them. Nothing says more about our respect toward our parents like our actions in their golden years. But this is not only a duty it is a blessing as well.

It is a blessing to outlive your parents. Why is that a blessing? Because no parent wants to bury a child. It is harder to bury a child than it is to bury a parent.

Listen to me. You will most likely have to bury your parents. It may be the hardest days of your life. It hurts. It hurts bad.

I buried one when I was nine.

I buried the other when I was 46.

But the pain you experience in burying them will be nowhere near the pain they would have experienced if they had to bury you. So, it is a blessing to outlive your parents.

There is also the blessing of a clear conscience. Life doesn’t have a rewind button. There are no do overs. Today is the day to honor and respect our parents. We don’t know when they will be gone.

What I’d give for:

One more hug!

One more kiss!

One more smile!

One more visit!

One more meal!

One more phone call!

Honor and respect your parents today. They may be gone tomorrow. If they are, you want a clear conscience. If you obey God’s Word you will have one. That is a great blessing.

As I end I want to share something with the young people. Listen to me. This is true. This is important.

You will long for childhood again one day. You will miss the home you live in. You will miss the mundane, the everyday life you now live. You may think you need to escape it. But I promise you, you will long for the days you are living one day in the future. Enjoy them now. Enjoy your parents. Enjoy your home. Enjoy being a child. Obey God, follow Christ and love the life He has given you.