Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Please be seated. It's good to see you in house today. Good to see you online as well, even though I can't literally see you online, but it's good that you can see us online. Uh, it's exciting that we're back, uh, and we're excited to be able to also add one more, really cool thing to our Sunday services. Uh, if you, uh, if you're new with us, uh, we're in the 10 commandments right now, we've received quite a bit of feedback from each one of these commands already. We're only up to number five or technically we're just getting halfway through what we've decided to do. Uh, right now we're, we're working, we're a group of pastors that are working together, doing the same sermon series. We do our, our study on Mondays when we get together. And what we've done is we've added a little piece to what we're going to be doing at our sermon prep.
Speaker 0 00:00:50 So Michael at village church or Barlett, Alex is at his church, I'm at this church. And what we're going to do is we are going to get all these pastors together each Monday. And we're going to tackle questions that you may have regarding each one of the messages that we are doing. So we're going to do a little podcast recording. Uh, we're going to be doing this and we'll, we'll, we'll record it Monday. It'll get released through the week. And so if you are driving your car through the week or you're, you're just bored out of your mind sometime, and you're thinking to yourself, yeah, I had some questions about what Craig said on Sunday, tune in to this, uh, this new podcast we'll have, it'll be on our website. You can find it quickly there on the first page there. And you could F you can tune in and you can listen to maybe some of the questions that you might be asking that other people are asking as well.
Speaker 0 00:01:34 And if you have questions that you would like to ask you to text them to us at this church, uh, village church East, uh, and we would love to be able to answer those questions as well. Naturally, it's only a 20 minute conversation that we're going to be doing. And so we won't be able to tackle all the questions, but I know there are some that naturally come from each one of these commandments, especially because they are so again, or they're so contradictory sometimes to the society in which we live. And so I want to encourage you to tune in, check that out, see if you like it, if you don't, that's fine. Just stick with us on Sundays. That would be great. But we wanted to just provide you with another tool that will help you be able to kind of dig a little deeper in each one of these commandments as we go through. And now who knows, if it takes off, maybe we'll do it each and every Monday after each and every Sunday. So we'll, I'm looking forward to that. That starts tomorrow. Now you will get to this one, number five of the 10 commandments, who knows what number five is, who knows what number five is,
Speaker 1 00:02:32 Come on now. Yes, yes. Brent honor. Your phone
Speaker 0 00:02:37 Mother and mother. That's right. And, uh, Brenda's a great one to, uh, to know that one, because he's a wonderful example of being able to honor his parents. Uh, I actually don't know if that's true or not, but, uh, we all, interestingly enough, are given this command. Let me read it for you directly. And then I have some really, like, you could skip over the so easily and not dive into the, the, the meat of this Exodus 2012, number five honor, your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land. The Lord, your God is giving
Speaker 1 00:03:13 To you.
Speaker 0 00:03:15 Now obey your mother and father is typically how we translate this, right? We typically look at our children and say, it's number five, Jimmy, you've got to obey, right? And if you don't, you're not going to live very long, Jimmy, like we have a tendency to, to look at it that way, but it's interesting that God knows the word obey, and he doesn't use it here.
Speaker 1 00:03:39 It's also
Speaker 0 00:03:40 Interesting that the 10 commandments are not addressed to
Speaker 1 00:03:46 They're addressed to adults.
Speaker 0 00:03:49 So I look at those two things and I'm thinking to myself, honor, your father and mother, but it doesn't say obey. And it is addressed to adults. And so we dig a little further and we realize that the commandments that God gives us are broken into two categories. The first four categories, one guy,
Speaker 1 00:04:05 God, no images, no use of the name in vain and keep the day Holy.
Speaker 0 00:04:14 Those first four are our obligations to God, the last six or the last, yeah, the last six. Last sex here are our obligations to society. And it begins with number five. It begins with this one honor, your
Speaker 1 00:04:32 Father and mother begins with
Speaker 0 00:04:37 Creating order in society. By setting up Israel to understand this is how a nation functions. It's really important that we understand this. These 10 commandments are given to Israel primarily so that they can set up a nation. They're not a nation there right now. They're just a bunch of slaves wandering around in the desert. They don't even have a place to live. God is taking them to the promised land. It's going to be their land. And he's giving them a foundation for what society will
Speaker 1 00:05:05 Work with, how a society is meant to function. And
Speaker 0 00:05:10 It is meant to function primarily. If the children
Speaker 1 00:05:14 <inaudible> honor, their parents, Israel was about to become a nation of laws
Speaker 0 00:05:21 And they wanted to bring up children who were producers and viable to society. Help the society thrive, not be disruptors in society. So my question to you is this why in the world, does he start with honor your father and mother? If this is like, okay, God is looking to build a society. He's going to give a whole bunch of obligations to humankind, right? Don't steal stuff. That's not yours. Don't take stuff that doesn't belong to. You don't say bad things about your neighbor. All right? Or don't murder. If you're thinking about building a society like don't murder should probably be number one. You say that you don't want people around go running around, killing other people. If you're going to have a society that should be, you'd think number one on the list. But when God starts his obligations to God, he starts with one God.
Speaker 0 00:06:10 He starts with this idea of, if you want to have a relationship with me, you've got to begin at the primary spot. And that is recognizing there's only one of me. This is how the children of Israel were to build a relationship with God. This is the beginning. Understanding number one, there is only one God start there. And if you're going to build a society with laws and, and stability, that is going to be successful, that is going to thrive. You've got to build it on. Number one, the home children who honor parents. Now let me blow you away. You're thinking yourself. I never thought of it that way. Yeah. Like, like don't kill somebody else is a good place to start, but that's not what comes first. What comes first, as far as our obligations to the relationships around us is start by honoring those whose you have a relationship with first. And that is your parents with God, you begin a relationship with him. And you've got to start that relationship by acknowledging. There is one God with your parents. You have to start that relationship. Understanding that is your job too. Honor. Your parents that begins when you're this high. And it goes all the way. How many people around here don't or didn't never had parents. Yeah. Okay. If you, if that was the case, we should probably chat afterwards. Every one of us have had parents or have parents. So this law applies to all of us.
Speaker 0 00:07:49 The first four were about building authentic spiritual relationships. These are our obligations to God. The last six are about authentic physical relationships. Our relationships on the horizontal plane. Now let's talk about what it means to honor the word honor in the old Testament is the word of ed. I just like saying that because I get to do that hard. And it's, it's fun to try it, try it with it. I bet. I bet. Yeah. You're waking up in the morning and you want to get rid of that little stuff in the back of your throat. Cavette is a good way to start your morning. Chevette simply means to honor. It means to give weight to, it means to respect. It means to give priority to this word of ed means that we are to pay this homage, this, this giving the weight to our parents. And this includes, by the way, both parents, you may have been somewhere crazy from people that never read the Bible that God thinks women are somewhat underneath or they're, they're not as important. All you, all you have to do is open God's word and you will find a God that is not like that at all. Just stupid people that say things that are ignorant.
Speaker 1 00:09:12 There's
Speaker 0 00:09:13 Another passage of scripture. In fact, on this very verse, and it gives a reiteration of this verse Leviticus, 19 three. You tell me if you can see the difference, every one of you should Revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord, your God. What did you notice? That that's a little different from the Exodus passage, which comes first in the Exodus passage, father or mother father, which comes first in the Leviticus passage, father or mother.
Speaker 1 00:09:40 Do you know what that tells me? These are equal individuals in the home. They're both worthy of honor. They are both parents.
Speaker 0 00:09:50 And so I want to tell you that if you are in somehow under the impression that God doesn't think highly of women, you're reading the wrong Bible, because it's all the way through
Speaker 1 00:09:58 God's word. This is one
Speaker 0 00:10:01 Great way that we see it. God is speaking to a group of people here that were grown up to not appreciate women
Speaker 1 00:10:09 In the Egyptian
Speaker 0 00:10:10 Culture, in any culture in the ancient near East, women were not high on the priority list, but in God's economy, women are equal. Moms and dads are equal
Speaker 1 00:10:21 In the home. They are equally
Speaker 0 00:10:23 Valuable, equally loved and equally deserving of honor.
Speaker 1 00:10:29 God's word,
Speaker 0 00:10:30 Fanatically to care declares. Both parents in a properly ordered society are to be held in honor.
Speaker 1 00:10:37 Number five
Speaker 0 00:10:38 Is simply the connector between the way we, we have a relationship with God and the way that we have a relationship with others. We begin to understanding how to have relationship with others. When we understand how to have a relationship with our parents, right? We don't murder others because we have been understand how it, what it means to do. Number five,
Speaker 1 00:11:00 We honor our parents.
Speaker 0 00:11:02 We don't take somebody else's name and run it through the mud that we take their name in vain. That's, that's really what, uh, what it is to, uh, uh, to break one of these commandments or, or to, to, to, uh, steal stuff. That's not ours or to commit adultery. You see, those are all sins that are done on a horizontally playing against one another. But unless you get number five, you don't understand how to build healthy relationships and how to value healthy relationships. I love Leviticus, 19 three, every one of you should. I love this word Revere his father and mother, his mother and father. This actually this word Revere is Yar. If you want to know another word, this is another fun, uh, Hebrew word yard. Do you know what Yar means? Revere? It actually means fear when the children of Israel were running away from Pharaoh and they were to death because he was right behind them and the sea was in front of them and they couldn't go over the mountains and they were stuck and they were going to die. It said that they fear in fear. They cried out to God. You know what word is used? There,
Speaker 1 00:12:04 There you are
Speaker 0 00:12:07 Rev. This reverence for God's power is meant to be the same kind of reverence we have for the position,
Speaker 1 00:12:15 All of our parents in the home.
Speaker 0 00:12:18 So my question at this point is why is this so important? Why are these societal obligations so important to God? And why should it start with parents? Well, it needs to start with parents because listen, parents, you are the primary conduit of God's. Grace
Speaker 1 00:12:34 Is in your home. This is,
Speaker 0 00:12:37 This is not something that happened to you by mistake. It's not something that has happened to you without God's knowledge. You may not have planned on this. You know, it may have been a surprise from some vacation that you took, but bottom line is you are meant to be a parent. This is God's opportunity for you to be his hand of grace inside that
Speaker 1 00:13:02 Shannon
Speaker 0 00:13:03 Oliver, you have so excited. Shannon's going to have twins, a boy and a girl. It's so awesome. We're so happy. You get to be a parent. I mean, you already are. You get to be the conduit of grace in your home. God's plan for us as parents is to be his mouthpiece, his hands, his eyes. When you change your baby's diaper, you are giving them a symbol of the grace of God. In that home. When you feed your children every single day, you are being a picture of how God cares for us. When you, when you sit down and you pray before you eat, you are telling your children, God has provided for us. You are the mouthpiece, the hands, the heart, and the eyes of God in your home. And you, because of that deserve
Speaker 1 00:13:51 Honor.
Speaker 0 00:13:54 Children who honor the home will most likely show honor
Speaker 1 00:13:57 Society.
Speaker 0 00:14:02 Teaching and example of honor, that we set in the home weaves through the fabric of our children's lives. And before God, this is serious. This is one number one in societal obligations. Raise your children to honor
Speaker 1 00:14:17 You and children honor your parents. And it never stops.
Speaker 0 00:14:24 Sirius and associates. I picked up this one versus lots of verses like this, but I like this one, Proverbs 30 17, the I, that moxa father and scorns to a bad mother will be say it with Richards is so fun. We'll be picked out by the Ravens of the Valley and eaten by the volts.
Speaker 1 00:14:44 That's a bad day.
Speaker 0 00:14:47 Societies are at risk when the children do honor their parents. And listen, if you're thinking of yourself, Craig, Craig, Craig, you're missing it. Come on. You're supposed to be the theological teacher here. This is old Testament stuff. I'm glad you said that. Look in Ephesians, chapter five in this passage of scripture and he feeds or Ephesians five and six, actually in Ephesians, chapter six, it reiterates this covenant. It reiterates the importance of this in our homes today in the church,
Speaker 1 00:15:20 Children
Speaker 0 00:15:21 Obey your parents in the Lord for this is what
Speaker 1 00:15:23 Church it's just right. Obey
Speaker 0 00:15:27 Parents. And the Lord for this is right. Honor. Your father and mother. Now you see, okay, it's not just obey. It's more than that. It's say it with me. The head it's honor, your father and mother. This is a commandment with a promise. What is the promise? That it may go well with you and you may live long in the land. You see Ephesians five and six is all about properly structured society. Read it. It's it's a great read. It's how fathers love their mothers. It's how, it's how husbands love their wives and wives respect their husbands. It's how marriage works properly in the home. It's about how fathers relate to their children. They don't exasperate their children, just how it's, how it's, how dads relate to their, their kids. It's how, it's how husbands relate to their wives. It's all in there. It's about how, how bosses relate to their workers and it's about workers and how they relate to their bosses. It's all about relationships and smack dab in the middle of it is Ephesians six and verse one children, you have a role in a properly ordered society, obey your parents.
Speaker 1 00:16:26 Lord the truth.
Speaker 0 00:16:29 So the fifth command is given directly to us today, not only at Sinai, but also through
Speaker 1 00:16:37 The church at emphasis.
Speaker 0 00:16:38 And as, as we carry on the church today, we carry on
Speaker 1 00:16:43 The importance of it.
Speaker 0 00:16:45 Maintaining and highlighting honor for parents in the home.
Speaker 1 00:16:50 What does
Speaker 0 00:16:51 It mean? The last part of it, Exodus 12, 12, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you. What does that mean?
Speaker 1 00:17:00 Well, I think it means two things. Number one, there's a consequence. If you're a child that grows up,
Speaker 0 00:17:09 Doesn't honor, your parents. You're going to be living with a lot of consequences. You won't like those consequences. And in the old Testament, actually one consequence there's once that, uh, uh, uh, son was rebellious and he was a drunkard and his parents couldn't do anything with him. And so they brought him to the elders and they stoned him
Speaker 1 00:17:29 To death. So
Speaker 0 00:17:32 That's right. So some of you apparently have memorized that passage of scripture. So that is a passage of scripture. That so your life will not be long in the land. You get it, you might die. If you don't honor your parents, but there is a greater, a greater that applies here. A greater principle for those of us that are not threatened of being stoned. If we don't obey our parents, this is practical for
Speaker 1 00:17:57 A nation. If
Speaker 0 00:17:59 Israel raises children that learn to honor parents, they will likely be able to stay in the promised land that God has for them longer. They will enjoy the blessings of the promised land. They will enjoy a society that thrives, there will be peace. There will be joy in the land. Parents will be happy. Children will be through just getting by, but there would be a society that would thrive. And what would happen was when that happened, they would live long in the land that God gives. They would enjoy the blessings of the promised land.
Speaker 1 00:18:36 If families learn to honor their parents, children who are
Speaker 0 00:18:43 Or spoiled and take all things for granted will ruin their lives and they will in turn ruin society.
Speaker 1 00:18:49 Righty, God's promise
Speaker 0 00:18:52 Children were taught to honor their parents, and that would establish a productive and successful society. And if you see a society that is crumbling, my guess is most likely you can start looking first in the
Speaker 1 00:19:07 Homes, in the families. Again,
Speaker 0 00:19:12 This is not necessarily speaking. Like if you obey your parents or if you honor your parents, you're going to have a long life.
Speaker 1 00:19:19 The speaks of a longer
Speaker 0 00:19:20 Duration of enjoying the blessings of
Speaker 1 00:19:22 God and people
Speaker 0 00:19:24 Who honor their parents listen. Church. People who honor their parents, foibles and all will have an easier time honoring people in society that they have to honor.
Speaker 1 00:19:35 But people who,
Speaker 0 00:19:36 Children who do not honor, their parents will have a very difficult time honoring anybody.
Speaker 1 00:19:43 This is,
Speaker 0 00:19:44 This starts the whole gambit for us. We need to build homes where we honor parents, where honor is regularly shown. Do you realize how many people we're supposed to honor in the Bible? There's like a list of 15,000 people we're supposed on. Did you know this honors of ed is all over scripture. We're supposed to honor our parents. Jesus, by the way, reiterate this in Matthew 15. And then again in Matthew 19 honor, your parents. It's an important one. Paul says it. You just read it in Ephesians six, but that's not all. We're supposed to honor the King, Romans 13, and we don't have a King, but we have a
Speaker 1 00:20:25 Precedent we're supposed
Speaker 0 00:20:27 To honor. The president doesn't matter if his name is Trump and it doesn't matter if his name is Biden. And it doesn't matter if his name is Obama. We are too, because we are people who value honor starting in the home. We are to understand the value of honor in society. And we honor the King. We honor our wives. First, Peter three, we honor our bosses, Timothy six. We honor our marriages. Hebrews 13. We honor each other. First, Peter two, we honor our elders in the church. First, Timothy five. We honor our widows again. First Timothy five. We honor the weaker part of the church. Family. That's first Corinthians 12. We honor God. That's everywhere, but a good one is revelation for, you know what a really good passage to this is Romans 12, 10, love one another with brotherly affection and say it with me church outdo one another in show,
Speaker 1 00:21:14 Honor. Can you outdo me and showing somebody on? I bet you can. I bet you can.
Speaker 0 00:21:23 After our conversation this way teaching Role is to honor. Those to whom honor is, do not honor. Those who have earned it, not honor. Those who we like the goal is honor. Those to whom honor is due. And there is a list throughout scripture of people that we are to honor, but you'll never get this. You'll never be able to communicate it until you can first start in the home.
Speaker 1 00:21:52 By honoring parents,
Speaker 0 00:21:55 Honors irregular characteristic displayed among the people in the church and for those outside of the church. Not because somebody earns it, not because they deserve it simply because God desires it
Speaker 1 00:22:10 Honor God by honoring your parents. This is a place to start. You honor God by honoring your parents.
Speaker 0 00:22:20 Listen, God put those in authority over us in their position. God put God installed the people that are over us in the positions they are in. If you don't believe that you have to believe that someday God was taken by surprise and that to work around something that happened on the earth because he didn't see it coming.
Speaker 1 00:22:41 That is a crazy
Speaker 0 00:22:42 Way to worship God. The thing about God, God is Supreme and in Supreme control and therefore whoever God puts in power is there because there it's his desire
Speaker 1 00:22:55 For whatever reason. And our job is to give weight to those individuals
Speaker 0 00:23:03 Because they eat more and they get wait a year. But because we defer to them, we recognize God, put them into place. We finally recognize the ability to honor what God honors and listen. If you think, uh, Craig, that's really hard when God told these people in the new Testament to honor the emperor.
Speaker 1 00:23:27 Do you know who that was Nero for the most part of the new Testament, it's Nero, the guy that burned
Speaker 0 00:23:35 Don Roman blamed it on the Christians. The guy that started the coliseums and began with appetizers of Christians being thrown to lions. And if you've been taught different from that, that is, that has manipulated history. Christians were persecuted under Rome, under Nero and specific. He would have garden parties. He would impale Christians, light them on fire so that they would light up his garden parties. He hated Christians. And yet Paul has the Adacel Peter two. Peter has the Udacity to tell us this in first Peter two 17 honor. Everyone love the brotherhood. Fear. God say with me, church honor, the emperor.
Speaker 0 00:24:19 You got to think of yourself. When he said this, the people just went, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, I'll fear God, but I'm not honoring that moron. That guy just killed my mom. Like I just made me an orphan that guy's why I don't have a job today. But God says, you see it's it's not about who deserves it. It's not about who earns it. It's about honoring those to whom honor is due recognizing this is God's position of authority to put them in positions of authority. Please note, this does not mean that we are called to unify. I have to take a little sidebar here because I am sick to death of people saying we got a unify church. We are not called to unify with the world. Please understand that as a, that is a lie from the devil friendship with the world is enemies with God. That is scripture. We are called to live at peace that they bring us to live at peace. With all humankind. We are called to pray for them. We are called to honor them, but we are not called to unify with them. When God calls us out of the world, we unify with God. It's a totally different concept. Listen, if you doubt that even Jesus called heritage of Fox and it wasn't because he was good-looking.
Speaker 0 00:25:49 Jesus said he was a little deceiver. Jesus knew who he was. He called him a Fox. John, the Baptist spoke out. The reason John the Baptist died was because he got politically involved. He spoke out against the immorality of his authority in his day. And because of that, that immoral leader had a dancer, the dance before him and aroused him to the point where he said, you can have anything you want. And she said, give me the head of John the Baptist. And they took his head off and he didn't mind doing it because John, the Baptist always told this guy how evil his actions were. We are not called to unity with anyone other than God's church, but you can have an honorable relationship with somebody whom you disagree with. If you don't believe that you should ask my wife because we do that on a regular basis.
Speaker 0 00:26:48 And you probably do too. We have to get away from the idea. That honor means just accepting everything and unifying. And that's what we're called to do. No, we're not. We are called to honor, honor. Does not mean agree. Honor means giving weight to, but you can still have your own opinion. We honor these people because God honors them honor means offering actions and intentions that recognize God's given weight on those individuals. How do you honor your parents? If you disagree with them? That's a good question. How do you honor your parents? If you're, if you disagree with them, easy, deference goes to the parents. That's what honor is you give weight to that individual simply out of your desire. Not because they're right, simply because out of your desire to honor God, first deference goes to your parents. I was, I was amazed this past week.
Speaker 0 00:27:46 I saw a CNN article actually. And then he was interviewed. This kid turned his father in for going to the, uh, the January six, uh, riots at the Capitol building in Washington, DC. And this, this anchor, this pious evil anchor interviewed this kid. That was 21 who turned his father in for going to that thing. He didn't know why he was there. He didn't know anything. He saw a picture. He didn't like his dad. So he turned him in and they CNN made him a hero. And they said, and they said, Oh, it must be hard on your attorney, your parents in, but why did you do it? Did you? It's a right thing to do in good for you. And I'm sitting there just feeling sick in my stomach because I'm going that kid didn't learn. Honor's father deference goes to the parents. I don't care what you think about January six, that doesn't have anything to do with it.
Speaker 0 00:28:43 And in fact, you should learn the story because all of the other members of this kid's family were interviewed and they said, yeah, we don't know what Jimmy's talking about, Doug. Like, uh, yeah, he, he was threatened and he was making his dad sound like this crazy person. He was angry with his dad and he turned him into the FBI. That is a lack of honor. And you know what society will do in those cases, they will prop those individually society's job is to make individuals of every person in your home. God's desire is not that children. You are to honor your parents. You're an individual and you can make a choice, but you defer to your parents. Why? Because that is right in the eyes of God. We give honor to whom honor is due. Not because they are incredible human beings. Not because they make all the right decisions, but because their position that God has given them, entitles them to our honor, th this permeates
Speaker 1 00:29:42 Your society.
Speaker 0 00:29:44 This is why I couldn't wait to do this one because it seems so simple. And yet it's so
Speaker 1 00:29:49 Weighty. When we did our
Speaker 0 00:29:51 Sermon prep at savory this past week, we were sitting around a table and we were just bantering ideas off of each other. And as we got up to leave, Michael was the first one out the door. Then some of the other guys left Alex and I were the last ones to leave. And as we got up to leave a woman on the other side of the restaurant said, excuse me, could I just talk
Speaker 1 00:30:10 To you a minute? And usually at that
Speaker 0 00:30:12 Point, I'm thinking, dude, did I drop something? Did I do something wrong? Do we say something that offended them? You know, that's usually because we're talking about Bible stuff in a public place.
Speaker 1 00:30:23 No. What she said, she said, I heard you talking about honoring your parents. Would you mind just praying for my boy because I, I don't have any control over him anymore. He did.
Speaker 0 00:30:35 He doesn't honor me and he doesn't honor his dad and I don't know what to do. And I'm at the end of my rope and we stopped right there and we prayed over this woman.
Speaker 1 00:30:42 He say, no matter
Speaker 0 00:30:43 If you're going to church, you're not going to church. No matter if you love God or you don't love God, everybody wants a home where their parents
Speaker 1 00:30:49 It's our honored sodas. God, it's his intention for building healthy homes that lead to healthy societies. Because if you raise kids that are not able to honor their parents at home, they will not honor anybody else in society
Speaker 0 00:31:10 At Sinai. God says, if we're going to do nation stuff here, it has to start with these person's family. And the overall principle is if we're going to build a people of faith, we have to trust God and honor who he puts in place
Speaker 1 00:31:21 Authority, adults. This is our calling. These
Speaker 0 00:31:26 Commands are not written to our children. They are written
Speaker 1 00:31:29 To us.
Speaker 0 00:31:31 We are commanded to have homes where honor's regularly displayed. And if that's not done, we will see a society that degrades.
Speaker 1 00:31:40 Now it might
Speaker 0 00:31:41 Be easier to understand why Paul included this one
Speaker 1 00:31:44 In Romans one. Do you know Roman
Speaker 0 00:31:46 One? It is a total collapse of society. It's where they neglect God. And then it's just a list of evil things that were going on in the world. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, contentiousness, malice. They are full of envy murder, strive to seat maliciousness, this terrible list. This society that is collapsing, their gossip, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, Hottie, boastful, inventors of evil and
Speaker 1 00:32:14 Disobedient to parents foolish faithless, heartless ruthless.
Speaker 0 00:32:20 I always wondered why disobedient to parents was right next to a murder.
Speaker 1 00:32:25 And now, you know why? Because
Speaker 0 00:32:27 If you don't have a home where children are
Speaker 1 00:32:30 Taught to honor, those to whom honor is due, starting with the parents,
Speaker 0 00:32:36 They will grow up and they will create a society where no honor
Speaker 1 00:32:40 Is shown. They will not honor it
Speaker 0 00:32:42 Any, they will not honor their boss. They will not honor their spouse. They will not honor their relationships.
Speaker 1 00:32:50 They will not honor life. This is what,
Speaker 0 00:32:55 Why our obligations, this one in our obligations to each other comes first, honor God. By honoring your parents, it starts in the home. These people, if they're not controlled, will grow up to be murderers, liars, and adulterers. And you're thinking to yourself, Craig, that is really crazy. Like over the EDS, like slippery slope stuff. Have you ever read the judges
Speaker 1 00:33:17 When the old Testament
Speaker 0 00:33:19 Or Israel had Kings, they had judges. These judges were amazing individuals. They, they weren't judges like we know of today. They were, they were kind of like the, the people that made society back on the gut, back on the right track, the children of Israel, they would be attacked by outside influences. And then they would cry out to God and God would send them a judge. And it was usually like, like some of he who'd was a great Dodger off Nila. These guys were like strong, sorry, strong, strong guys that were able to conquer them
Speaker 1 00:33:51 And get Israel back on track.
Speaker 0 00:33:54 This list of judges. This is before they had Kings this list of judges. Start out with some pretty amazing individual author, Neil. He was crazy good. A good judge. Deborah was one of the judges. She was outstanding. She was like the Valkyrie of her day. She was awesome. Uh, you had all these guys love God. They, they enjoyed their relationship with God and it bled into society, but all over almost 400 years of judges and society falling and falling and collapsing and collapsing as they, as they started worshiping idols and disobeying God and not living like they should be living. And God sent enemies to kind of clean them up and give them a judge and rescue them 350 years of this happening over and over again, over 12 judges came along to kind of save their, their, their Keester. Every time they got into trouble. And you watch society, just go down, down, down all the way through the last chapter of judges will break your heart. Every man did. What was he? What was right in his own eyes, the total collapse of society in the book of judges. And if you watch who the first people were that were judges, Othniel Deborah, all these amazing godly guys. And you watch who the last judge was. Do you know who the last judge of Israel
Speaker 1 00:35:07 Samsung? And he was a total loser. Samson didn't do one thing, right? Not one in the end. The only thing he did that was close to, right? I mean, he messed around with,
Speaker 0 00:35:23 Well, he did. He just said all the one thing that he did, he, he was in the temple of the, of the, of the bowel in the temple of Philistine gods. And he said, all these people around me, God, and he had just had his eyes poked out. You remember that? And they were making fun of him, took his hair off, took his strength away. He was like a big guy, kill a thousand people
Speaker 1 00:35:40 One day, one day now he's
Speaker 0 00:35:43 It was, and hair's gone. Strength is gone. He's standing in the temple. And he says, his prayer to God goes like this. God avenge me for my eyes.
Speaker 1 00:35:55 Mm.
Speaker 0 00:35:55 Push the pillars across and killed more in one day on that day than he did any other day. Do you find anything wrong with that guys?
Speaker 1 00:36:01 Prayer, not
Speaker 0 00:36:03 God lift your name. I'm not God. I'm sorry for being a moron. My whole life. None of that events me for my eyes. The last judge they have is a total self-motivated narcissistic
Speaker 1 00:36:16 Leader.
Speaker 0 00:36:21 So good society collapses. You have less people to choose from to lead. And then all of a sudden you have Sampson. And let me ask you church, how did Samson treat us
Speaker 1 00:36:28 Parents? Do you remember total dishonor, total disregard. He told us his
Speaker 0 00:36:40 Parents get my wife for me from the nation of the Philistines. And they said, Samson, we can't do that. God has his hand on your life. You're going to be a judge. I can't do that. And he said,
Speaker 1 00:36:48 Do it. And they did it well. He mocked them. He mocked their wishes
Speaker 0 00:36:56 Just for his life. He had no honor for his parents. And it's no wonder to me. After 300 years of three, 50
Speaker 1 00:37:03 Years of degradation of society
Speaker 0 00:37:07 Left with somebody like Samson to lead, who doesn't know how to honor his mother and father. And doesn't know how to teach honor in the nation. Listen, church commandment. Number five is about recreating God's order.
Speaker 1 00:37:22 This is about
Speaker 0 00:37:23 How we put things back. The way they should be. This is God's attempt for us to understand. Listen, you weren't made to be like Samson. You weren't made to have a society where people don't even know what the word honor means. You weren't, you weren't made to struggle in these ways. You weren't, you weren't made to struggle with your children to so bang you weren't made to, to grow up and hate your parents. You weren't made that way. When we put number five into play, it is God's attempt to restructure us as he intends for us to be structured. And it has to
Speaker 1 00:37:52 Start in the home. Gotcha.
Speaker 0 00:37:55 This command is bringing order into the disorder of the nation of Israel. Reordering begins church. It begins in the church. And if you wonder why we value family so much here now, you know, we love families. We value our kids breaks my heart, that through COVID-19 our kids have had to suffer so much
Speaker 1 00:38:20 Because we've valued children because we value our parents. We honor God by honoring your parents church. When people
Speaker 0 00:38:30 Walk through the doors of this church, they should see the way that creation was meant to function.
Speaker 1 00:38:36 So I need to ask why
Speaker 0 00:38:37 The question, how am I honoring my parents today? And children? You need ask your question. How am I? Well, children of parents, how am I training my children to honor us as parents in the home? The Bible says we are Neville, never off duty. So number one. So what honoring parents as a command that never turns out off. When are you not a son and daughter? Never. So it begins with how we treat our parents first. And how do we do that? Ask their stories, ask questions, show interest, share your parents' stories with your children. Share your stories with your children, create a culture in their lives to appreciate your life live out the principles they left behind for you. There's one regret I have in my life. As far as my family goes, I don't know all the stories from my grandparents. Tell those stories regularly in your homes, share your sayings in conversation. My kids know some of my sayings. You probably know some of my saints were full of sin from the crown of our head to the sole of our foot.
Speaker 1 00:39:39 Tell your parents and your children that you're proud of them, that you love them.
Speaker 0 00:39:44 An atmosphere and environment of honor in the home. And please note Craig, you may be saying, Craig, well, how does that mean? Like when they get older and I can't care for them, is it, is it wrong to put them in a home? You look at the story of the good Samaritan. One thing that we appreciate that as good Samaritan is he stopped. He picked up the guy, he banned bandaged his wounds. He took care of them, but what did he do after that?
Speaker 1 00:40:06 He put this individual
Speaker 0 00:40:09 That had been beaten up in a home, in a hotel, in a, in a lodging place. And he paid for his lodging until he got better because he had something. He had a life that he couldn't stop living for this individual. And so I think there are plenty ways in scripture that we can look for help from somebody else in order to care for those parents that we have, that might be too much for us to
Speaker 1 00:40:29 Therefore, but you better not stop visiting them. This one,
Speaker 0 00:40:35 The reason I, I go to old folks homes as much as I do convalescent homes. Um, right now I'm in a great home called Bridgeway. All the Bridgeway people. Hello? All you Bridgeway people. They're online with us each Sunday. I love these folks. They, they brighten my Tuesdays. We do a little devotional together. I love hanging out with them and it just occurs to me. How many times people like get into these communities and get forgotten about, and I don't want that to ever have
Speaker 1 00:41:02 Bottom line. The way you honor is giving is, is going to change over the years, but we always have
Speaker 0 00:41:08 Give weight to we Revere. We, we give precedence to, we give reverence to our parents and that never changes.
Speaker 1 00:41:18 Leave a legacy
Speaker 0 00:41:18 For your children to understand honor, Proverbs 22 six says, train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. So teach your children to honor. My life will either teach my children to honor or permit them the dangerous space of dishonor. One of the two. So children, you can honor your parents by obeying them, teens, teens, all your teams. You can honor your parents by beginning to develop lives. That honor them. You get to be out a little bit more on your own. A little bit more driving a little bit more on your own while the parents pray a little bit more at home develop lives that are individual to you that develop an honor for your parents. Don't speak poorly or your parents when they're not around,
Speaker 1 00:41:59 God hears every word.
Speaker 0 00:42:02 Young adults speak well of your parents. Build the name that they've given you into something great adults take care of your parents. Make sure that they are cared for like, they cared for you when you were so small. My dad dropped out of school when he was nine in ninth grade. I don't think many people know that. Cause you'd never know it. If you met my dad, he dropped out of school when he was in ninth grade because his father left his mother and they had a farm and his mother had no income. So my dad worked himself to the bone, dropping out of school to provide
Speaker 1 00:42:35 For his mum. He honored his mother. My dad
Speaker 0 00:42:39 Always kind of regretted the fact that he never finished school To say, in fact, I'm, I'm humbled to say that each one of his kids, all five of us went to college and
Speaker 1 00:42:51 Graduated. My dad
Speaker 0 00:42:53 Was never, never. So I can remember. I graduated a couple of times, the different degrees that I've gotten in my dad was at everyone and I can remember him and he would just grab me and say, son, I'm so proud of you. And I didn't understand it at the time, but I understand. And now that I'm a little bit older. What my dad was saying was I'm proud of the way that you're honoring
Speaker 1 00:43:13 By doing what you're doing. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:43:15 I'm older. That, that just means the world to me. I'm going to brag on my dad just a little bit. My dad who dropped out of school when he is in ninth grade to care for him,
Speaker 1 00:43:23 Mum started a school.
Speaker 0 00:43:27 There was a need in my community to start a school. And dad felt so impressed that he wanted to begin one. And it's still going today is called Halifax Christian Academy. You can watch it. You can see it online. It has two campuses. Thousands of children have gone through from K all the way through graduation and they've done. So because my dad and my mom got together and started a school in my hometown.
Speaker 1 00:43:50 And I'll guarantee
Speaker 0 00:43:51 You. Most of those kids don't even know
Speaker 1 00:43:53 My dad, but I know what he did.
Speaker 0 00:43:57 And I want to tell this story because I want to honor him.
Speaker 1 00:44:02 My dad always wanted to be a pastor.
Speaker 0 00:44:05 So I want to be the best pastor ever, because my dad wanted
Speaker 1 00:44:08 To be one.
Speaker 0 00:44:11 You see, if you start a home where honor is shown, it will follow you all the time
Speaker 1 00:44:16 Phase of your life. This is the key for us understanding the importance of the fifth command. We want to honor those of us with parents, which is all us. We want to honor our parents. So
Speaker 0 00:44:34 Our number two start highlighting honor in your own family circles break the cycle of, or improve on the cycle
Speaker 1 00:44:40 Of honor, beginning with you speaking.
Speaker 0 00:44:44 Honestly, I know there's a movement in our culture to individualize family members and make them all
Speaker 1 00:44:49 Equal. Our job is
Speaker 0 00:44:52 As children is to make sure our parents know they're not equal with us. My mom does not ever want to be my best friend. My dad does not want, and I don't want him to be my dad. I only get one,
Speaker 1 00:45:04 One dad. He's my dad.
Speaker 0 00:45:07 Do I think of him as a friend? I sure did. I think of my mom as a friend. I shoot, but she's my mom.
Speaker 1 00:45:15 Cause that is the higher of the standings. I got lots of friends, but I only got one in mum and dad begin by creating a culture of honoring your home. Bring them to church
Speaker 0 00:45:28 Them about Jesus. Show them how to honor people that God requires them to honor be an example for your children of what it means to live out a life of honor. Listen, do you know the primary reason? Why, why police and teachers and authority is mocked and disrespected today? Let me say that one more time, because you're probably thinking yourself, Greg, you're about to go on a soapbox and I am. Do you know the primary reason police teachers authority are disrespected today is because they are not taught honor in the home. And because they don't know how to honor in the home, they don't know how to honor in society. And if you think that people are getting disrespected in the different jobs that they have, if you're a teacher you're thinking of yourself, I don't get no respect. Who is that? Rodney Dangerfield. I don't get no respect. You think of yourself every single day I go to and I'll get no respect. I got I'm the authority here. You got to listen to me. I don't get no respect. You are teaching a bunch of kids that don't understand what it means to respect, because honor, because they never been taught in, in the home. It's not your fault. You should just know what you're up against.
Speaker 1 00:46:30 If you want to combat that, start in your home. Start
Speaker 0 00:46:34 Creating a culture of honor in your own
Speaker 1 00:46:37 Home.
Speaker 0 00:46:40 Scary thing is we've created a culture in homes where children are not taught to honor their parents and these rebellious people, children grow up into adults and they may say they love their mom and dad, but they don't honor them. They may say they love them and they respect them, but they don't honor them in the way that they live. Jesus said, this is a major problem. Jesus said in Matthew 15, seven, seven, he said, he called them hypocrites. You hypocrites Isaiah prophesied of you this way. When he said the people honor me with their lips. But their hearts are far from me honor is recognizing somebody's God giving, given weight honors shown in the Christian home. And it is non-negotiable and it comes from,
Speaker 1 00:47:17 From here. It is genuine.
Speaker 0 00:47:20 You may think Craig, what if, what if I haven't started this yet? I haven't started this in my home. Listen, it's never too late. You can start. Here's some ways that you can do this. All right? Admit and pray. You got to admit that you built a bad system to begin with, and it's not your fault. Maybe you didn't know about this, but today is your moment of revelation. All right? So start today. It's it's never too late to start. Start today, pray and start something new. Number two. Find find somebody that can help you with this. We have people in our church that would love to walk alongside of you and do life with you and help you. How to knit, how to negotiate the things that are going on in your brain and get rid of the bad things and start some new things and create a family where honors regularly shown you need. You need to rely on somebody who knows how to retrain your thinking. So you can start developing a, a home where honor is displayed regularly, take courage. This goes against culture. Culture says you got to be your kid's best friend. That's nowhere in scripture, you are your kid's mom or you are your kids' dad. You are the authority that God has given them. The hand of grace in that family's life. That is your position. Live it out, love it. Live it be gracious in it. But that's
Speaker 1 00:48:32 Job culture is trying to steal your children away from you. And now
Speaker 0 00:48:39 I am sad to say, we live in a cancel culture and eventually your kids will be applauded when they cancel you out of there.
Speaker 1 00:48:45 That's coming teach honor at the home first and be consistent. This'll take effort. You'll need to be consistent in this. If you want real inheritance to pass on your children, this is it. So
Speaker 0 00:49:01 Be the last one, having trouble with honor might indicate that there's trouble in the house.
Speaker 1 00:49:06 The commitment to honor starts in home
Speaker 0 00:49:08 <inaudible> society, but it begins first and foremost in the heart. I want to, I want to just share this verse with you. Philippians four, eight, finally, brothers, whatever is true. Whatever is
Speaker 1 00:49:18 What church honor, but whatever's
Speaker 0 00:49:20 True. Whatever's honorable. Whatever's just, whatever is pure. Whatever is lovely. Whatever is commendable. If there's anything excellent. If there's anything worthy of praise, think on these things dwell on truth and not on lies. Dwell on truth, not the evil around you. Dwell your mind, set your mind on things above dwell on the things that take you down the righteous roads
Speaker 1 00:49:42 And not the evil ones.
Speaker 0 00:49:45 Choosing to honor means beginning to choose to honor God first. And you, so you have to follow this verse in Philippians and dwell on things that are honorable. Maybe turn off the TV. Don't let your kids watch all the junk that they watch on TV. You've got to give them a culture of honor. Not disowned
Speaker 1 00:50:00 Honor in the home honor. Doesn't
Speaker 0 00:50:09 Get thrown out because of abusive situations. We live in a sinful world and sometimes parents
Speaker 1 00:50:15 Are really not just unfair but abusive to their kids. And I saw, I got to tell you this too
Speaker 0 00:50:22 Honor does not get thrown out because of abusive situations. They're still your parents. That's hard for me to say
Speaker 1 00:50:28 It absolutely is, but it's absolutely true.
Speaker 0 00:50:34 I mean, leaving, it might mean getting help. It might mean seeking advice, but it never means disrespecting. It never means
Speaker 1 00:50:40 Honoring.
Speaker 0 00:50:43 It doesn't even mean covering up. You might need to go to some spiritual leader or some counselor or something and ask for some help. You do not have to stay in an abusive situation, but the gospel frees us from
Speaker 1 00:50:53 Being victims. And
Speaker 0 00:50:55 So if you live out the gospel, you live out life has God intends for you to live. You can find help and hope in the avenues that God gives you. I have great compassion on the homes where children suffer the dishonorable actions,
Speaker 1 00:51:07 Parents, and some of you have lived that. And I, haven't
Speaker 0 00:51:14 Very compassionate on homes where parents are not honored by their children.
Speaker 1 00:51:18 And I'm not trying to minimize
Speaker 0 00:51:20 All of the wrongs that are done in these situations, but this does not negate the responsibility that we have to honor them simply because that is their position.
Speaker 1 00:51:29 That is where God put them. The gospel
Speaker 0 00:51:33 Acknowledges your abuse, but it, but God gives you a different identity.
Speaker 1 00:51:36 The Satan will give you lots of reasons to show dishonor, but God would give you lots of strength to show honor. Even when it's hard honors my
Speaker 0 00:51:48 <inaudible> meditated choice, not my response to circumstances.
Speaker 1 00:51:55 Listen, this
Speaker 0 00:51:55 Is, this is top 10 on God's list.
Speaker 1 00:52:01 The last book of the Bible in the old Testament is Malakai. The great Italian prophet Malachi this prophet, his whole book is about how society has gone to hell. In a hand, basket is the last book of the Bible. In the book, you can read lots of places where children are
Speaker 0 00:52:21 So into their parents. God is disrespected. God is not honored. They were bringing blind animals for sacrifices to God that they can make it, get away with it. Offer them they're blind animals. It's a, it's a wonderful read. If you want to ever
Speaker 1 00:52:35 Malakai, it starts over.
Speaker 0 00:52:38 Bye Malakai. One verse six, a son honors his father, his servant, his master. God says, if I am a father, where's my honor. And if I'm your master, where's my fear says the Lord of hosts. You see God was neglected in his honor. And the last verse of the Bible, as it goes through, it says, God is neglected in his honor. All society is, is dishonorable at this point. And the last verse of Malakai will send chills up your spine. After hearing this message, society was gotten to the point where they needed to be judged by God.
Speaker 1 00:53:07 And so God sends
Speaker 0 00:53:08 Them into, into captivity. And that's how we end before 400 years of silence. And the gospels begin with the arrival of Jesus Christ. But before that happens and right when Malakai ends, the last verse of the Bible says this Malakai 46. He will turn the hearts of the fathers. Speaking of Jesus Christ, while John the Baptist who would bring in Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1 00:53:26 He will turn the hearts of the fathers, to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Les, I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction. And 400 years later, Jesus came and established the church and church. This is where we turn the hearts of our children back to the fathers. And we turn the hearts of our children back to their mothers. This recreation of society has to begin with us church because our society is not going to pick up the ball and run with this one. Society wants to turn our children's hearts against their mothers and fathers. God wants to turn children's hearts toward their mothers and fathers. And that is the greatest difference that the gospel makes for commandment. Number five. My goal is to invest in our children and honorable name, to develop an honor for God's name so that they can be children who honor people as they should. Let's pray father, thank you for this time that we had to look in the fifth commandment. It's a easy read, but so much meat in here.
Speaker 1 00:54:33 I pray that your spirit was able to do what my words maybe couldn't and that you would create a village church East, a hunger to one have families that are built on honor honor for the parents. Thank you. The Lord that you have given us these positions, not by accident, not by mistake. I have four daughters that are, that have become the world to me. Each one of them, Lord, I want nothing more than for them to grow and love you and serve you and enjoy the blessings that you pour into their lives on a regular basis. And in doing so Lord, they would bring great honor to me because Lord, that would greatly honor you. And so father, I pray that we would understand how this has connected and why it's number one on the list for how society has meant to function. May we, as a church, create honorable relationships in the home and may we stop the dishonorable ones that are going on now? May we be courageous to implement what has not been implemented? And may we take a stand against the culture every day that tells us we might be doing it wrong, help us to do it according to your plan and in doing so, may you save our children, created us a culture where we honor those to whom honors do and in doing so, father, may you use this church to turn the world upside down for the gospel of Jesus Christ? I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
