Children - Home Life

Ephesians 6:1–4 (ESV)

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

We are the children --

use the “we are the teenager story to set the stage.”

Small Group discussion our children

main focus was their teenager or early adult years — lets face it they were nice, cute and loving up until then.

We are exactly the TEENAGERS and Young Adults to God that we experience with our own children.

I wished many times that my kids would simply STOP, DROP, and PRAY --- and then start to HONOR and OBEY me rather than the Rebellious and Sarcastic Attitude that I experienced ----

honestly I wish that I would have been able to help them find the ways to grow and mature.

This is our message this morning — we are the children and like last week there is a model that is present here in the Scriptures --- Last week was that marriage is to be a model of our future joining with Christ.

Today our message is that we are to see our child rearing (or watching others) and to see the similarity with our walk with Christ.

Boy oh Boy do we struggle with Teenage Christians

when they are brand new to the faith we treasure every little COO that comes out of their mouth. we get so excited to hear the first mama or dada — we love to see them start to push up, crawl and finally walk.

we love to see their eyes of wonder at new things

we love to teach them little songs and read to them

We love to welcome the growth and independence BUT then something changes

I have heard it said that we start to lose our kids when they get on a school bus and start to interact with other children --- the Johnny said --- Susie’s mom lets her --- you start to lose that sweet little bundle or joy

We are the children

God is the Father --- He loves the child stage the awe and wonder — the total focus on changing our life to be like Jesus but we hit this stage ---THAT STAGE

almost suddenly we start to question, doubt and explore

suddenly we drift from weekly church, drift from daily devotions and our once vibrant prayer life starts to lessen.

we are the children — we hit that teenage stage in our walk with Christ.

we are to train up others (children in the faith as Jesus did,

we are to be patient and loving in their Christian immaturity - as Christ was patient and loving to us.

Treating others as Christ treats us...

sometimes quiet, sometimes consequence

Main Point -- we are the children and God is the Father.

There is a model that is given here.

Obey "in the Lord", Honor --SO THAT you may have a Fruit filled life. that life will go well for you

a well life is one that is surrender and focused on the LORD totally daily, weekly ...

we start to model Christ to be Imitators of Him

—as we saw in Eph 5:1 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”

and finally in verse 6:4 --- He never provokes us and we should not provoke others

God will always provide a way out of tempation and therefore to prevent sinning --

Yet He does give us instruction and disciple.

Obey in the Lord

IN THE LORD

Ephesians 6:1–4 (ESV)

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

IN the LORD -- key on this phrase

Does it mean to only obey Christian parents or is it a model for US -- we are to submit and obey but NOT when it violates Scripture or the Holy Spirit WHICH will always be aligned.

--- If you love me you will obey me -- John 14:15

May go well and live long

Do not provoke

Bring them up -- discipline and instruction

Honor your Parents

Connection to fifth of the Ten Commandments -

This is the first command of the Ten with a promise

Lets look at the first half of the Ten Commandments

Ephesians 6:1–4 ESV

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Exodus 20:12 --- this is the Ten commandments

Here again is a reminder that we are not to sit back on our salvation -- Rest is in the last day.

we are to Go and make disciples --- AS we GO

We must live a life of giving and pouring into others

Simply put we glorify God by growing others

Sometime when we get the chance to look at this short section of Scripture we can really see the meaning a little easier Obey and honor and be blessed.

We see that this is a core value in our faith to obey the given model from the Lord.

Last week we saw our destiny in our marriage to the Lord ( the Lamb of God, the marriage supper ) and our becoming one. Actually it says that a man will leave his mother and father and be joined as one

Here we see our earthly relationship and that timeline --- we are born and then raised by parents that are commissioned to bring us up in the Lord

This is why we will practice Child Dedication at this church--- it is NOT a sacrament or ordinance of the church BUT it is a way to proclaim in front of your church to bring your child up in the ways of the Lord

You learn them, you practice them, and then you instruct them so that they practice them

There is a connection forever between the OT and the NT

It plays into the Words of Jesus and every letter or book in the NT

the core is that the TEN COMMANDMENTS are still valid and are still to be followed

1. You shall have no other God’s before me.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images.

These laws were very important. The Israelites needed them to become a strong nation amid all the people around them who worshipped idols. We are pledging in these commandments our allegiance to be loyal, obedient and respect God.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

We don’t like it if people call us bad names do we? They are being disrespectful. God’s name is Holy and it must be used only in a reverent way.

Some people take God’s name in vain because others are doing it and we find ourselves saying these words that dishonor God. It can take root in our hearts and mind and begin saying it and don’t realize you did. Be careful don’t allow it to take root in your heart.

4. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it Holy.

Back in the Old Testament, this meant they should not work on the Sabbath but they carried it too far and wouldn’t let people pick up something heavy. Jesus changed this and said we should keep the Sabbath day to worship, remember creation, and rest so we could serve God and others.

5. Honor your father and mother, that the days may be long in the land that the Lord you God is giving you

Honor means to love and respect them. When you honor your parents you love and obey them because they are wiser. God wanted homes to be happy so he made this an important rule.

6. Thou shalt not kill. — God wants us to protect human life.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. — This means husbands and wives should be faithful to one another.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

No one is permitted to take something that belongs to another. Not only is it God’s law but it is the basic law of the society we live in.

9. Thou shall not bear false witness.

This means do not tell a lie. Do not tell stories that are untrue about people. When you tell a lie, you hurt yourself as well as others. Soon people will not trust what you say.

10. You shall not covet.

Covet means to want something that belongs to someone else. A person who covets may be led to break all most all the other commandments

Promise of the Lord

Ephesians 6:3 ESV

“that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

Doesn’t your heart just leap when you read a verse like 6:3

I want things to go well with you and I want you to live a long fruitful life

But so many times we forget the praise when things don’t go well by our standards

Yet here again we see a simple easy to remember instruction from the Lord

DO THE RIGHT THING --- IN the LORD - For the LORd and By the Spirit

If you love Jesus — you will KNOW it --- you will start to see that you are growing out of the TEENAGE and young adult stage and start to mature in HIM

you are starting to become Him

I think you know this in your heart — you see a calmer, gentler, more patient and wise

you are not tossed to and fro

you are able to stand with balance on the Rock of Jesus and know that Jesus is the Cornerstone of our life

you start to do thing to please Him first and avoid things that will bring harm to YOUR relationship with Him

The Word of God gives us a promise this morning

Obey your Father

Honor your parents

Delight in Him, and He will grant you the desires of your heart ( Ps 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” )

and things in your life will go well.

Raising with Discipline and Instruction

Instruction - Verse 4(b)

Instruction needs to be more than a book or a YouTube video

That is certainly a form of education

The concept here is learning so that you can do

Illustration:

I fully remember sitting in class and having “why do i have to learn this… i will never use it”

Yet i also remember being a personal trainer for about 15 years.

Education doesn’t get the job done -- instruction with practical was the solution

I can show you a proper squat, and even print out diagrams and step by step manuals on the proper form

BUT the stronger legs come from doing the exercise not reading about it.

you need to put in the reps

Do one, then two ---- then keep at it and soon you will be doing 10 and 20

This is the instruction that we see in verse 4 -- do strengthen your “children”

to have them do the REPS

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. - Deut 6:7

our teaching or instruction needs to be ACTIVE

it needs to be intentional

We are to do our duty to the Lord, by honoring and obeying our parents, until we have matured and we repeat the process in bringing up others ---- we bring them up so that they may stand on their own and then reproduce the effect on others

The student becomes the teacher -- over and over again.

The blessing is not an arbitrarily placed reward, but a result of obedience, actual and true obedience. One cannot creep into the blessing through constrained or feigned obedience. Obedience, this deeply rooted act of a will, growing morally, is not an affair of selfish calculation1

1 Lange, J. P., Schaff, P., Braune, K., & Riddle, M. B. (2008). A commentary on the Holy Scriptures (p. 213). Logos Bible Software.

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