Children Obey Your Parents

Ephesians 6:1-3 Children Obey Your Parents CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

Paul gives great advice on family relations.  The exhortation is to fathers and children – the obedience and honor is to Mom and Dad.  Often dads leave the spiritual training to mom – Big mistake.  It is the dad’s responsibility.  Ok, he starts out to kids.  Here is the instruction:

Obey your parents

1. Means do what you’re told, when you are told, and finish the job
2.  Jer 35:1-10
3. That obedience involves FEAR, Lev 19:3
4. Becomes enforced in chastening – Heb 12:5-11; Prov 19:18; Prov 23:13; Prov 22:15
5. Schools replace parental authority and remove fear – only the child suffers
6. Obviously love children and love parents, but obedience is not for conditioned love.  The love is unconditional; therefore, obedience is motivated more by fear than love
7. Honor them – Ex 20:12; Matt 15:4, death penalty to curse; Deut 21:18-21, wow, today “time out” is maximum punishment

Reasons why:

1. This is right – Whoever though of doing a thing just because it is right? Greatest two words: DO RIGHT – Deut 6:24-25, do right
2. So that you may be well – Heb 13:17, for your profit – Prodigal son, the servants had it better than he did
3. So that you may live long – Promise from God [Prov 4:10] – some disobedient kids with whom I grew up – one died in a car crash – one commited suicide – one nearly broke his back on a fall
4. Langley, “Why did I live so long?  I always did what my mom and dad said to do.”  He lived to 92 years old.