Exodus 20:12 - Honor Your Parents - Yes Yours!

We have just moved on from a restful rumination on the importance and blessing of observing the LORD's Sabbath. Thanks to Jesus, we are no longer bound by the Mosaic Laws ... but they are laws and they do still carry consequences, one way or the other. This next law carries with it a really delightful promise ... that of length of days!

The Fifth Commandment begins what are commonly called the "laws of the second table;" based on the Second Commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself." The first part of God's laws concern our duty to Him; the second concern our duty to ourselves and each other.

My parents honored @ the Marine Corps Ball

We will pick up our study in Exodus 20:12 ~

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God gives you."

Wow, this commandment carries with it such a beautiful promise ... and perhaps a warning?! Does it perhaps suggest that we can affect the length of our own lives?

The LORD our GOD used our specific mothers and fathers to bring us into this world and specific parents to raise us up. He endowed them with the serious responsibility of giving birth to and training up His children. Whether, or not, they did a good job of it; He now commands us to honor them. This is particularly important, since He directly links this commandment with the very length of our days on this earth!

God gives us no conditions here, no outs! He does NOT say: Honor your mother and father ... AS LONG AS they are honorable ... ONLY if they are good parents ... UNLESS they have abandoned or mistreated you ... IF they aren't alcholics or drug addicts ... UNLESS you are adopted or fostered ... IF they are believers ...ONLY when they are worthy ... IF you live close enough to them ... WHEN you have time ... IF you feel like it ... au contrere mon frere ... our GOD, the LORD of all the universe, says," HONOR your father and mother" ... period!

His only condition is directed at us! A condition of OUR obedience! Honor them, "THAT your days may be long." I believe that this correlation may well refer to quality, as well as quantity ... a life full of rich and meaningful days.

Jon Courson says that "the two key qualities that will bring fufillment and success to anyone's life are those of humility and submission. And those qualities are born only in the context of family."

Sounds easy, doesn't it? What does honoring our parents involve? It involves much more than we think and yet is much less complicated than we expect.

Let's start with checking into God's idea of honor:

John Wesley notes that HONOR includes:

"1. Inward esteem of them, outwardly expressed upon all occasions in our carriage towards them; fear them, Leviticus 19:3, give them reverence, Hebrews 12:9. The contrary to this would be mocking at them or despising them,

2. Obedience to their lawful commands; so it is expounded, Ephesians 6:1-3. Children obey your parents; come when they call you, go where they send you, do what they bid you, do not what they forbid you; and this cheerfully, and from a principle of love. Though you have said you will not, yet afterwards repent and obey. (As pre and teen agers, my boys used to do this all the stinkin' time!)

3. Submission to their rebukes, instructions and corrections, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.

4. Disposing of themselves with the advice, direction and consent of parents, not alienating their property, but with their approbation.

5.Endeavouring in every thing to be the comfort of their parents, and to make their old age easy to them; maintaining them if they stand in need of support.


6.That thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee - This promise, (which is often literally fulfilled) is expounded in a more general sense Ephesians 6:3. That it may be well with thee, and thou mayst live long on the earth.

Those that, in conscience towards God, keep this and other of God's commandments, may be sure it shall be well with them, and they shall live as long on the earth as infinite wisdom sees good for, them, and what they may seem to be cut short of on earth, shall be abundantly made up in eternal life, the heavenly Canaan which God will give them."


Well, what can I say after that??? I need to get on the phone and call my father! How about you?


It seemed so much easier for me to comfort my mom in her old age than my dad. Nonetheless, I had better get on the ball ... quit putting it off ... and just call him!


No matter about the past, whether our parents did a great job of raising us or not ... whether it is easy for us to do ... or not ... is not even mentioned here. OUR duty to honor them is assigned by God Himself!! WOW!

OK, so basically, to honor our parents, we should:

1. inwardly esteem them ~ outwardly express our esteem, in the way we behave towards them

2. fear them ~ give them reverence

3. do not mock or despise them

4. obey their lawful commands ~ do not do what they forbid

5. come when they call ~ go where they send us ~ do what they bid us ~ cheerfully

6. when we have said that we will not ~ turn around and do it anyway

7. submit to their rebukes, instructions, and corrections (not only to the good and gentle)

8. utilize their advice, direction, and counsel ~ do not alienate them

9. make every effort to be a comfort to them

10. make their old age easy for them

11. maintain them, if they need your support

AAACCCHHHH, the inner rebel in me is rebelling inside like crazy, just reading this! I used to take all of this in such a different sense than the way that God meant it. My gentile teenage mind SO did not understand!! I had overbearing, controlling parents, who did not know Jesus ... so, I did, pretty much, opposite of all these things as a teenager and young adult. I so wish I had known what and Who I know now!

I could not have understood at that time ...as I had virtually no role models and very little training in the Truth. I certainly had no understanding of God or His will for me. It has only been as I mature in Christ and His Word that I can see and agree with the wisdom in this commandment.

This is yet another reason why it is SO important to speak God's Word to your children ... to train them up under loving, consistent, godly instruction. The single most effective way to teach these these life-giving principles to your kids is to intimately maintain your own personal relationship with the LORD and His Living Word. They will learn to believe and trust in God from your model and soon they will be able to rightly interpret His Word themselves.

Looking to Jesus ... Jon Courson points out that He was in perfect submission to His father. We have a tendency to think Jesus' life on earth was so different, because God is His father.

Courson asks us to consider that Jesus experienced more of what has embittered us or angered us than we can ever understand on this side of eternity! Jesus' father allowed all of these things to happen to Him. Jesus was abandoned on the cross ... He knew hunger in the wilderness ... He was beaten and tortured beyond comprehension, even when Jesus asked for the cup to be removed, He was denied!

Yet, Jesus yielded to His father's perfect will for our sake! He knows what it takes in all circumstances to be humble and submit His will. And because this same Jesus who honored His father and who knows what it is like to be beaten, forsaken, and ignored, He lives in us ... we can trust Him to enable us to honor our father or mother ... regardless of how difficult that may seem to be.

Yeah, uh huh ... here I am, with all my excuses shot out from under me. I must confess that I have not been faithful to this commandment lately :/ ... I think that is why it took so long to complete this study. Time to get serious and ask Jesus to enable me to honor my father, properly. I KNOW He will. God is SO faithful! He showed me how to honor my mother perfectly ... and she ended up getting saved at the age of 88, before she went home to be with the LORD!

...HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER...

One day, we will leave this earth and enter

our Groom's Banquet Room!

HALLELUJAH!
My mother has gone on ahead ... probably to set the table!

How about you all??? Any suggestions?

What are some of the ways that you honor your parents?

.
I will start: OK, I scan old photos from my childhood and make greeting cards for my parents; inside a sentiment of the occasion tied in with a pleasant memory from the picture and a Scripture. I just print them on computer paper and/or photo paper and fold it in half. They love them!

YOUR TURN NOW ... PLEASE?! Even those of you who don't usually comment ....

How do YOU honor YOUR mother and father?

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank You for the parents that you chose for us.
Please bless each one, including those

who did not, or could not, raise us:

they are a part of our very being.

YOU knit us in our mother's womb;

YOU have a perfect plan for us.
We do honor YOU

and each of our fathers and mothers.

Please help us to show it

in a way that will bless them

and draw us all closer to You.

Thank You Jesus,

Amen

I am blessed every day

with some new revelation of God's Word.

I will be sharing my measure of manna

with all who come to my "tent.
Please, let me know if you have been blessed
by the way it was prepared for you this day.
~Shalom~
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Exodus 20:8-11 ~ Remember the Sabbath Day!

Photos: by myshilohranch~see bottom of page.

We were last looking into the third commandment that God gave Moses from Mt. Sinai:

EXODUS 20:7 ~ "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.

That study was a three course meal in itself!

As we continue to gather: I am beginning to see a correlation between Psalm 23 and the fourth commandment ... a brand new revelation to me! It has to do with our coming aside and how the Lord goes ahead, prepares, then leads us into His rest ... and for what reasons. Isn't our God SO awesome?!!!!

PSALM 23

1 The Lord is my Shepherd: I shall not want,

2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul:

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

I will fear no evil: for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.

Photo from Picasa: photographer, please contact me.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

How beautiful ... and thorough ... is our God??!!!!

**SUGGESTION: Go over Ps 23, slowly; let it sink in ... and see what the Lord shows you. Please, share your blessing with us: tell us what you "got" from pairing the two Scriptures!!!

OK, finally, we pick up our study at:

EXODUS 20:8

8 ~ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Remember: means literally: to mark in the mind. I like that! I need my mind marked by God's will for me. Not by the other stuff that clutters it up, much like grafitti! Actually, in Deuteronomy 5:12 , "remember" was replaced with "keep." NOTE: More food for thought here!

Shabath: to desist from exertion. How could we possibly keep the day holy, when we are busy exerting our energies in every different direction, except towards God??? Additionaly, we usually busy ourselves with something we should have done or could have done on other days of the week. We so do not observe our rest-day as the so-very-special one that our God gave to us! SO special, to Him, as to call it holy. Wow!

9 Six days shall you labor, and do all your work:

Yes, we were created to rest 1 day out of every 7... BUT ... we were also ordered to work ... and get all of our work finished in 6 days! This is a part of the commandment that we have all chosen to ignore at one time or other. God did not suggest to us to work 4 days or 5 and rest for the whole weekend or holiday.... although, that is what seems right and fair to us!

He did not say, "do most of your work." He offers up no exceptions here. He does not say, "if you can," or "unless something else comes up." He said to do it all in 6 days ... then rest. YIKES!!! Here I thought I was a star-quality rester, but God's Word shows me otherwise.

I must confess; I often misuse the rest-days God gives me, by doing work that I don't get finished throughout the week! :( There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day, or the week, or the month, ... year.... Oh dear, it seems I have been minimizing the Lord's sufficiency, haven't I? Another trust issue??!!! I think so. :/

I am SO sorry LORD ... You are my Provider and my Provision ... You are All-Sufficient! I do KNOW You are!!!

10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates.

Only the Levites worked on the Sabbath. They were actually commanded to work, butchering and offering the sacrifices ... oh whoa, you pastors, what an honor!

God commanded man to work 6 days and to rest on the 7th, for many good reasons, physical and spiritual. As human beings, we were created to function in this manner. For healthy bodies, minds, and spirits ... we need to rest from our work on that 7th day!

Oh, how slack we have become ... and I speak of myself as one of the worst offenders! I have not made the Sabbath a priority for most of my life. God however, obviously considers this day so important a priority that He made it His FOURTH commandment!!! Helloooooo!!

11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

We are to keep the Sabbath day holy. Holy to the LORD. HE treasured and hallowed the day of His rest ... should we treat ours with any less reverence???

During Old Testament times, all work was forbidden by law on the rest day, under penalty of death!

Thankfully, we are no longer bound by the Law ... indeed, Jesus took care of all that for us! HALLELUJAH! We are now free to observe any sabbath of our choice, there is no commandment in the New Testament on this subject, no penalty stated for not keeping it.

This does not alter the fact that the purpose of the Sabbath is for our good and for God's glory. He orders our focus on and fellowship with Him only every one day out of seven ... to rest, heal, and refresh our bodies, quiet our spirits, and refill us with and grow His Spirit in us. We thrive in the presence of and in communion with God.

Jesus knows His sheep: we would go on our merry way to destruction and miss our Shepherd's best for us .... if He had not included this special time to come aside with Him in the"big 10."

We need not take this to the extreme, like the Hebrews did in OT times. Unnecessary work is one of the keys. The law allowed for emergencies, necessary care of stock and such. Many of us have necessary chores that must be done, but I believe that we ought to consecrate every ounce of that time to God!

Not that I have attained to this standard yet, as I would like to, but keeping the Sabbath is a vitally important principle of well-being! It is a proven fact, that rest and recharging increases productivity.

God first gave the Sabbath to man in Ex 16:22-26. It was gift to man, meant to be a delight, not a burden. Like all of His treasure, this gift is right here, just waiting for us to accept it! Our LORD is SO good to us!

We really NEED to set aside a sabbath day each week, on the day of our choosing, rest from our finished work, minister to the LORD and allow Him to minister to us and give us direction for the week to come.

Jesus observed the sabbath: how dare we think that we can function properly without observing it?! Granted, He followed Jewish laws and traditions, but He also drew aside as a regular practice.
The LORD, in His infinite wisdom, has a total and complete plan for us. The perfection of detail that He attends to, just blows me away! It is so true: we are totally out of balance, if we fail to acknowledge His laws of work and rest! Again, as with the law of gravity, there are consequences for breaking the law and blessings for keeping it. We can choose to ignore it, but that doesn't change the force and reality of the law.

Also, by consistently stopping once a week, to acknowledge God as the Giver of every good gift and the Provider of our bread; we are letting Him (and everyone else in our realm) know, that we recognize that ALL we have is from Him, not from anything that we have done or earned! Don't you just love WIN, WIN, WIN situations??!

I will tie up this study with an excerpt from Jon Courson's Application Commentary Old Testament~Vol 1:

"Spend time in worship. Take a break. Kick back. Chill out. Pray. Read. Talk. Enjoy. Fly a kite. Take a nap. Listen to your kids. When a day is set apart, conversations begin to flow; people begin to open up. But it takes a chunk of time -- an entire day set aside. One day should be so free, so refreshing, so relaxing that dynamics take place that would not in any lesser amount of time. The Sabbath is a gift. Make it a time when your family, your health, your soul can be restored."

Thanks for stopping by. See you next time :)

Dear Father, thank You SO much for being our Provision

for every single detail of our lives!
Thank You for loving us SO much, that you

GAVE

Your Son, Your Word, and Your Holy Spirit

to be an example and to teach, guide, and direct us in Your ways.

Please help us work as unto You

and to finish our work in Your alloted time.

Then draw us, Lord, into Your perfect rest with You.

Remind us to stop and just be still and know

that You are our God.

Amen

I am blessed every day with some new revelation of God's Word.

I will be sharing my measure of manna with all who come to my "tent.

Please, let me know if you have been blessed by the way it was prepared for you this day.

~Shalom~

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