Word of Salvation – Vol. 23 No. 42 – July 1977

 

Being Children In The Lord

 

Sermon by Rev. W. Van Schie on Eph.6:1-3

(Suitable for Junior Youth Camps)

 

Congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ,

There is a funny story about little Johnny. One day, Johnny came home from school and he went to his grandmother and he said: “Grandma, where did you come from?” And grandma went: “Uh, well, I was found in the cabbage patch.” Oh!

And then he went to his mother. He said: “Mum, where did you come from?” And his mother said: “Well, the stork brought me.” Oh!

And then he went to his father and he said: “Dad, where did I come from?” And his father said: “You were found under a daisy.” Oh!

And he went up to his room and he opened his homework book and he wrote in his book, “There has been no natural reproduction in our family for three generations.”

It seems that young people are more aware of their environment today than adults tend to believe. But it isn’t only true of today, it is also true right throughout the century. It seems as if the older generation underestimates the awareness of the younger generation.

Here in our text in Ephesians 6, Paul speaks directly to the young people. “Children” not wives, not husbands, not slaves, not fathers but “Children” and the attention is focused on the young people exclusively.

There is a command from God and a promise to the parents. “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” And so we see now, there is also a command from God for the young people and a promise.

I. THE MEANING OF THE COMMAND AND PROMISE

(a) THE COMMAND is quite a simple one. Quite a straight forward one. “Obey your parents”. The word ‘obey’ means that you listen to them and when they tell you to do something, you do it and be ready to do it. Obey but notice that Paul goes a little bit deeper. He doesn’t just say ‘obey’ like a commander may command a soldier to do something and is told to jump to and he does it. No, that is not the kind of relationship in a Christian home. There is a deeper relationship. “Obey your parents, HONOUR your parents.” He quotes a command. You have to respect your parents. You have to love your parents. When you talk about your parents, you have to talk about them reverently and respectfully. And notice, young people, there is no qualification on this. He doesn’t say: “Love your parents if they love you.” It doesn’t say: “Honour your parents if they honour you.” It just says: “Honour your parents” – no matter what the situation at home may be. Honour them. Respect them. This includes every young person. There is no exception.

(b) And then there is A PROMISE, if you do. If you honour your parents and you respect them, then you will be prosperous in this life. You will have a rich and full life. You will have rich blessings in this life.

And the second promise that God makes to you is that your life will be long and abundant. God is not talking about eternal life but he is talking about life here on earth. The life you have right now. It will be long and it will be abundant. But did you notice the implication, young people? That if you don’t keep this command, then your life will not be rich and full. If you don’t keep this command then you won’t have a long life, an abundant life?

I can hear some of the young people say: “Is this really true that if I obey my parents and honour and respect them, that God will give me a long life. He will fill my life with blessings. Is that really true? Does that really happen?”

You may know of a young person, who did obey his parents, who did honour them and then was killed in a car accident. Is this really true? What about all those young people who grow up and don’t obey their parents, who don’t honour them and yet they live a long life? Is this really true?

Well, to explain this, I would like you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 39. We have an example of a young person, who was richly blessed by God. Verses 2 and 3 where we read this: “The Lord was with Joseph and he became a successful man and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian, and his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands.” And then the verses 22 and 23 “And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were in the prison and whatever was done there he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care because the Lord was with him and whatever he did, the Lord made it to prosper.” Now it says in our text here in Genesis 39 that “Joseph was a successful man” and, going by our standards, he was a bitter failure. Was he really successful? His brothers had framed him, his brothers had sold him as a slave. He had been framed by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into prison and the Bible says he was SUCCESSFUL! He was PROSPEROUS! Obviously, when the Bible talks about prosperity, it doesn’t mean prosperity in the way we think it does. He was prosperous, successful because THE LORD WAS WITH HIM. A life with the Lord is a life that is content. A life with the Lord is one that is richly blessed and abundant. A life with the Lord is a successful life. A prosperous life. Even though you may go through the most difficult circumstances yet the Lord will make you prosper.

Young people, do you obey your parents? When they ask you to do something, you don’t talk back to them? Do you honour your parents? When you talk about your parents to your friends, you talk about them respectfully and do not run them down as being old fashioned and out of date. This is a command of the Lord. “Honour your parents obey them” and His promise of a full blessed life is yours. And this is very important.

II. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COMMAND

(a) This whole text here in Ephesians 6 is very important because it has some implications which are quite phenomenal. Have you noticed, have you ever asked yourself, “why does Paul talk to the children?” Quite often, we hear about the young people being church OF THE FUTURE. Young people, when you grow up, you will be the church. You boys, when you grow up, you might be on the session. You girls may be leaders of the ladies guild. You will be the church of the future, people say. But Paul doesn’t think that here at all. He talks to the children right there in church and he regards them as being INSIDE THE CHURCH NOW, while they are young! You young people are not the church of the future you are the church of the present. You are not an outsider waiting to grow up. You are an insider already. You are part of the church. You are part of the covenant family of God and if you decide to keep that covenant to make profession of faith, you are saying: “Yes, Lord, I want to continue in the covenant”. But if you reject the Lord Jesus Christ, you are breaking the covenant. You are breaking out from the inside. And greater will be your condemnation for it. You have the privileges of a Christian home. You have all the privileges of a Christian Church, of all the catechism classes, the Sunday School, Church Services, Calvinettes, Cadets. All the activities are all yours. They belong to you for your welfare.

So remember that, young people, you are not an outsider waiting to grow up. You are part of the church right now. You are an insider.

(b) People have a very funny view of God. They think that God stands there in heaven and looks over the railing of heaven: he looks down to earth and he says: “Hey, there are some Christians down there having a good time. Stop it! That is not spiritual…!! As if Christianity is a bore. As if Christianity is a drag. It is not. God has made this command – not to stop your fun, not to spoil your good times. God has made this command because he knows that if you keep it, YOU WILL BE REALLY HAPPY. He wants you to be happy. He wants you to have a full life. He doesn’t want to give you something cheap, second rate. That is why he has made this command.

(c) But there is another reason why God has made this command in His Word. He has made this command that you should obey your parents because the way in which you obey your parents, will, to a large extent, determine how you will obey the authorities in this society. The home is a training ground for respect. If you can’t obey your parents, then I don’t think you can obey your teacher either. If you can’t honour your parents, you wouldn’t be able to honour the police or the government or any other person in authority in society. So God has said this to you “Obey your parents, learn to respect people, learn to honour people and this will help you later on in life. To honour the authorities in society.”

It is quite amazing that in the Ten Commandments, this command to honour your parents, is the very first command that speaks of relationships to our neighbours. The first four Commandments of the Ten Commandments speak of our relationship with God. The last six, talk about our relationship with one another as people. And the very first of that last six is the home. Honour your parents, love your neighbour as yourself – that begins with honouring your parents in the home.

III. THE BASIS OF THE COMMAND.

(a) Now I can hear some young people say: “I find it awfully difficult to honour my parents. I find it awfully difficult to respect my father. My mother has got too many faults.” But what does Ephesians 6 say? It doesn’t say that you should honour your parents and obey them because they are so good. You have to honour your parents because they are so honourable. That they deserve it. No, the text doesn’t say that. Does it say that you should honour your parents because your parents are bigger and stronger than you are and you will get a whipping or do you have to honour your parents because, well, if you don’t, you will be kicked out of the house? They have a hold over you, a power over you. You have to obey. Is that why you should honour your parents? No, the text doesn’t say that either. Does the text say you should honour your parents because you love them, that you want to please them, you want to do what they like you to do. Is that why you should honour your parents? No, the text doesn’t say that either. All these things are really only human notions why we should honour and obey our parents. They may be partly true but only partly at the best. THEY ARE NOT BASIC.

(b) Why should you obey your parents? Well, we go right back to that verse in Ephesians 5. “OUT OF REVERENCE FOR CHRIST”, obey your parents. The Bible says here “Wives, submit to your husbands out of reverence to Christ… Husbands, love your wives out of reverence to Christ…. Slaves, obey your masters out of reverence to Christ…, and children, obey your OUT OF REVERENCE TO CHRIST.

You see, when you obey your parents, young people, you are obeying the Lord. When you honour your parents and respect them, you are honouring and respecting the Lord. Our text says: “Honour your parents because this is right.” Now Paul didn’t have to add that on. I am sure, he could have just said “obey your parents”. We all know that is right but he emphasised this is right because this is the way God has designed us. This is the way God has made us and if we don’t follow this pattern, if we don’t follow this design, then it is to our detriment. It is the right way to live. It is what pleases God. To obey our parents. Now you teenagers, when you come home half an hour later or an hour later than you should, your parents have set a time and you come home late. When you disobey your parents, you are disobeying the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you ridicule your parents, calling them “old man” or whatever, you are ridiculing the Lord Jesus Christ and He hears everything you say and do. And you young children, when you take that extra biscuit you shouldn’t take or keep the change from an errand in the shop or not pay the bus driver or whatever wrong you do, the Lord Jesus Christ is the One whom you are dis- obeying, not just your parents. You are doing it to the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees what you do. And you young married couples, who have parents still alive. When you don’t want your in-laws at all in the relationship with you, when you cut yourselves off from your parents yet that command, “Honour your parents” is still binding. Your first priority is to your wife and to your husband. That is true, but you should still respect and honour your parents even though you have started up your own home. When you cut off the relationship and keep them right away, you are doing that to the Lord Jesus Christ. See, young people, when you think about worship, don’t just think about the worship service, the church service, or reading the Bible or saying a prayer. Worship is all of life. YOU WORSHIP THE LORD JESUS CHRIST BY THE WAY YOU TREAT YOUR PARENTS.

Which one of you young people could say that you have obeyed your parents perfectly? That at all times, you have honoured them? I think you will have to admit, that all of us have failed. You can’t obey your parents and honour them perfectly and that means, young people, you need Jesus Christ as your saviour to take away that sin of lack of obedience and honour. To take away your guilt, and you need the Lord Jesus Christ to help you to live for Him and to honour your parents. Do you want to worship the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you want to live for Jesus? Serve Him as your King? Then start by honouring your parents because this pleases Him. This is right!

Amen.