The Duties of Children to Parents (1)

(Ba ck to helps home page)    (Sermon, May 12, 2002)
(Back to sermons home page)    (Back to Shultz home page)

May 12, 2002, Mother's Day, Ephesians 6:1-3

I do quite a bit of research in preparation for the sermons that I offer you. One of my favorite sources is the Pulpit Commentary. From this source I receive ideas and inspiration. It was produced in the 1950's. I used in my preparation for ministry. Though old, it is still an excellence source of wisdom and understanding. I offer you this insight and the following material as a source to understand how we ought to relate to parents and to one another. Pastor Shultz.

There is a beautiful and appropriate simplicity in the counsel here addressed to children. Their duties are founded in nature. They derive their being from their parents; they are fed by them; they are trained by them for the duties of life.

I. THEIR DUTY IS SUMMED UP IN THE ONE WORD "OBEDIENCE." But it includes four important elements.

1. Love. This is an instinctive feeling, but it is not the less a commanded duty, for it is the spring of all hearty obedience. It makes obedience easy. Yet We are not to love our parents more than the Lord; we are rather to love them in the Lord.

2. Honour. This is only another form of obedience: "Honour thy father and thy mother." "Cursed be anyone who dishonors father or mother." All the people shall say, "Amen!" (Deuteronomy 27.16, NRSV); "A son honoureth his father" (Malachi 1.6); "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man" (Leviticus 19.32). God has, indeed, given his own honour to parents. We may not always be called to obey them, but we are always to honour them. "Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old" (Proverbs 23.22). This honour is allied to reverence: "We have had fathers of our flesh who Corrected us, and we gave them reverence" (Hebrews 12.9).

3. Gratitude. It is our duty to requite our parents (1 Timothy 5.4), and our Lord implies that we are to do them good (Matthew 15.4). We ought to remember their love, their care, their concern for us. Joseph provided for his father Jacob in old age, and the women said to Naomi of Boaz, "He shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age."

4. Subjection. "Children, obey your parents in all things;" that is, in all things falling within the sphere of a parents authority. If parents command their children to steal, or lie, or commit idolatry, they are not to be obeyed. They are to be obeyed "in the Lord." There are several reasons to make obedience natural.

(1) Parents know more than their children; therefore "a wise son beareth his fathers instruction "(Proverbs 13.1). The child must take much of his knowledge for granted on the mere authority of his father.

(2) The habit of obedience is good as a discipline. It is even good for the health of a child, as a desultory and dawdling obedience breaks its temper and injures its health.

(3) Children are not able to guide themselves; for "folly is bound up in the heart of a child" (Proverbs 22.15).

(4) Society is benefited by the due subordination of family life.

II. THE REASON OF OBEDIENCE ASSIGNED IN THIS PASSAGE IS SIMPLY "FOR THIS IS RIGHT."

1. It is right

(1) according to the light of nature;

(2) according to the Law of God. "It is well-pleasing unto the Lord" (Colossians 3.20).

2. It is embodied in the Decalogue, and holds the first place among the duties of the second table, and "is the first commandment with promise "--the promise of a long life. This implies

(1) that the fifth commandment is still binding on the Christians of this dispensation;

(2) that long life is to be desired;

(3) that disobedience to parents tends to shorten life. There may be undutiful children who live to old age, and dutiful children who die young, but the promise abides in its general purpose. It is like the saying, "The hand of the diligent maketh rich," yet diligent persons have felt the bitterness of poverty. Children are therefore justified in having regard firstly to the command of God, and then to the recompense of the reward.--T. C.

(Ba ck to helps home page)    (Sermon, May 12, 2002)
(Back to sermons home page)    (Back to Shultz home page)

Scripture Passages Noted above from the NRSVA.

Deuteronomy 27.17; Malachi 1.6; Leviticus 19.32; Proverbs 23.22; Hebrews 12.9; 1 Timothy 5.4; Matthew 15.4; Proverbs 13.1; Proverbs 22.15; Colossians 3.20

16"Cursed be anyone who dishonors father or mother." All the people shall say, "Amen!" Deuteronomy 27:16 (NRSVA) [16Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. Deuteronomy 27:16 (KJV)]

6A son honors his father, and servants their master. If then I am a father, where is the honor due me? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. You say, "How have we despised your name?" Malachi 1:6 (NRSVA)

32You shall rise before the aged, and defer to the old; and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:32 (NRSVA)

22Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Proverbs 23:22 (NRSVA)

9Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? Hebrews 12:9 (NRSVA)

4If a widow has children or grandchildren, they should first learn their religious duty to their own family and make some repayment to their parents; for this is pleasing in God's sight. 1 Timothy 5:4 (NRSVA)

4For God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.' Matthew 15:4 (NRSVA)

1A wise child loves discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. Proverbs 13:1 (NRSVA)

15Folly is bound up in the heart of a boy, but the rod of discipline drives it far away. Proverbs 22:15 (NRSVA)

20Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is your acceptable duty in the Lord. Colossians 3:20 (NRSVA)

1. The Rev. Professor T. Croskery, D.D., Ephesians, Homily on Ephesians 6.1-3, "The Pulpit Commentary," (New York: Funk and Wagnall's Co., 1950) p. 265

(Ba ck to helps home page)    (Sermon, May 12, 2002)
(Back to sermons home page)    (Back to Shultz home page)