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We look today at the fifth of the commandments of the Lord in this series on the Ten Commandments.

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And I read for you, and you follow along please in your Bible, the 12th verse of the 20th

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chapter.

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There we go.

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Honour your father and your mother that your days may be prolonged in the land which the

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Lord your God gives you.

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That is one profound sentence.

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I hope you'll understand this morning as we talk about how profound it is.

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This week for only the third time in the history of the United States, the House of Representatives

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has voted to investigate whether there are grounds for the impeachment of the President

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of our country.

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Two of the three occasions have occurred within the lifetime of most of us who are here this

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morning.

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That's a rather sad thing to have to acknowledge, isn't it?

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We are in a crisis of authority in this nation.

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For the last 200-some years we have been a nation governed by law.

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And now we are being subtly asked to become a nation that is governed by the people.

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And we have to decide whether we're going to be a nation that will be in subjection

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to the Constitution or we're going to be a nation whose people are governed by the

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polls.

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There is a world of difference, believe me, between the two.

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My opinion is that we have a present administration in Washington that is guilty of several things

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in the first place of corrupting the constitutional process.

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I think that this has been pretty evident in the last several months.

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But to me there's a far greater crime that this administration is guilty of, and that

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is that they are corrupting the morals of the people of America.

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Corrupting the morals of the people of America in the sense of the attitude of men toward

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women, the attitude of husbands toward the covenant of marriage and sexuality, and the

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attitude of all of us toward lying.

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And that sometimes it's okay to lie even in a court of law in order to protect oneself.

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That is a far more serious crime, in my opinion, than the corruption of the constitutional

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process, which is a high crime.

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And all of this is being done to preserve the skin of the present occupant of the White

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House.

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It is a very sad day for America to behold what we have in the White House.

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And we are being asked because of the polls to forget what the Constitution says.

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And because of what the people think regarding the economy and other things, we're to overlook

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the moral fabric that has made America great.

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This cannot be.

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It is a crisis for America.

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It is a watershed event.

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And depending upon the ultimate outcome of it, so will the future of this nation be.

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You say, well, what has all of that got to do with honoring your father and your mother?

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Well, I'll tell you what it is.

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What God says in this one sentence in verse 12 is the bedrock of societal authority.

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It is at the very heart and the core of law and order when God says, honor your father

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and your mother.

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Today, not only in the political arena, but in other arenas, the home and the family and

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the authority that God has established in society are being undermined.

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So it is absolutely crucial that you and I grasp what God is saying when he says what

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he does in the Fifth Commandment.

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So let's look first at what this means, that we're to honor our fathers and our mothers.

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The word honor comes from a Hebrew root that means to be heavy.

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In a bad sense, it means that something can become heavy as a burden.

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It becomes burdensome.

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But in a good sense, as here, the word has the idea of giving weight to.

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Walt Kaiser in the Expositors Bible Commentary says that there are three ideas associated

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with this word honor in Exodus 20.

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The first one is that we are to prize our parents highly, prize or value our parents.

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Second, he says, we are to care for them, we are to show affection for them, just as

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the Lord does for those who trust him.

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In Psalm 91 verses 15 and 16 it says, he will call upon me, God says, and I will answer

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him.

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I will be with him in trouble.

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I will rescue him and honor him.

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So God is saying he will honor the one who trusts in him.

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How will he honor him?

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By rescuing him, by coming to his aid, by caring for him and showing him his loving

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kindness.

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The third idea that is involved in the Hebrew word for honor says Walt Kaiser is to show

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respect or reverence.

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He takes this from Leviticus chapter 19 verse 3 where this commandment is stated, restated,

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a little differently.

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It says there, every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep

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my Sabbaths.

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I am the Lord your God.

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So the word is not honor in Leviticus 19.

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God uses a different word there, reverence.

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The word means to be in awe of, to be in awe of another's power or another's position.

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And so he says that we are to be in awe of our parents, to show respect and reverence

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for them because of the position that they have.

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So all three of those ideas are wrapped up in this package of honor, your father and

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your mother, to prize them highly, to care for them and to show affection to them and

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to show respect, reverence because of their position.

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Then let's ask the question, to whom does this apply?

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When it says honor your father and your mother, who is in view?

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Well, in the first place we understand that it applies to dependent children.

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Now there are three streams of thought that come together when we say that, that this

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idea of honoring mother and father belongs to dependent children.

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In the first place, they should do this for the good of society.

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It is vital, you see, for children to learn to respect their mother and their father because

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in doing so they are learning to respect constituted authority.

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The apostle Paul writes it this way as he thinks of it in Ephesians 6.1, children obey

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your parents in the Lord.

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Learning to obey mother and father is a basic lesson that all children must learn.

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Where we got into trouble, in my opinion, at least in part in our culture in the last

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50 or 60 years, was a guy named Dr. Spock, no relation to the Vulcan.

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Dr. Spock basically said, let children do their own thing.

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And he diminished the authority of the parents over the children and said, let children express

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themselves.

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Now, of course, there is some truth to that.

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But the point is that it was abused, it was taken too far, and the result of that is what

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we have in the baby boom generation.

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Children need to learn to respect authority.

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Their attitude toward the parent eventually becomes their attitude toward authority in

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society.

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And unless there is a basic respect for authority in a society, what you're left with is anarchy.

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And free societies, democracies, cannot exist in that kind of an atmosphere.

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What is required then will be a totalitarian government to handle the anarchy.

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Now, we're not at the point of anarchy today.

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But what is taking place in Washington, I think, is a step in that direction as we move

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away from constituted law to the law of the people, the law of the Poles, the law of what's

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popular.

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Children need to learn to obey mother and father for the good of all society.

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But there's a second idea that streams into this, and that is for his own good or her

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own good, a child needs to learn to obey mother and father.

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Because that obedience builds character.

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It provides some sense of security and accountability for a child.

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When a child learns to honor authority in the parents, it provides for that child a

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certain freedom from adult responsibility and the cares of adulthood.

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A child is then free to grow up, to be a child.

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He's able to grow until maturity comes and the character is in place to carry him or

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her on into a successful life.

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And so it's for the child's own good that he or she learns to honor mother and father.

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To honor the parent means that there are parameters around the child, which, yes, limit the child

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so the child can't do everything he or she wants to do.

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But those parameters also provide a security for the child.

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And so the most loving thing that a mother or father can do is to throw away Dr. Spock

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and to pick up the Bible and to see that it's for the child's own good that the child be

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taught to respect authority in mom and dad, in teachers, in Sunday school teachers, in

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every realm of life.

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There's a third idea that comes streaming into this, and that is a child needs to learn

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to obey mother and father for the glory of God.

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Children should honor their parents simply because God said to do it, and obedience honors

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God.

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Adopts in a certain way in the child's mind are in the place of God.

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And as a parent nurtures that child in what it means to honor them, the parent is helping

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that child also to grow up to honor God.

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And so it is for the glory of God that a child needs to learn what it means to honor mom

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and dad.

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G. Campbell Morgan said, what God is to the adult, parents are to the children, lawgiver

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and lover, provider and controller.

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Boy, that's an awesome thought, isn't it, mom and dad?

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That we are in a sense God to our children.

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The Lord Jesus Christ set the example for dependent children, for Luke says that He

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continued in subjection to Mary and Joseph.

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He the creator of His parents continued in His childhood in subjection to them and honored

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them.

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Now, there's a question that arises at this point in most discussions about this matter,

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and that is, is a child to obey or to respect his or her parents if what is being required

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is morally wrong or dishonoring to God?

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The answer to that is a very clear no.

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You see, the whole presumption of this command is the appropriateness of that parental relationship

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and the parental requirement of what is being asked of the child.

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The parents in Exodus 20 are viewed as those who are within the covenant community and

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who themselves are living within the values of that covenant community.

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But if a parent requires a child to do what is wrong, a child is not obligated under God

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to obey the parent.

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Ellen E. Larson in the curriculum that she has written for children called Value Builders

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says this to boys and girls, We are to obey when those in charge of us are not hurting

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us or others.

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Remember that some people disobey God's laws and do hurtful things.

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If you are not sure about obeying someone, talk to an adult you can trust.

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I think that is sage advice, especially in the day in which we are living when there

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are so many predators of children being created, by the way, by the cultural decline and the

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moral decline around us.

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So there is that important caveat that we give as we talk about dependent children obeying

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the authority that is over them.

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But this command to honor mother and father is not only for dependent children, it is

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also for adult children.

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There is still an application for those of us who have long left the nest.

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We too are to continue an attitude of honoring our parents throughout life.

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That does not mean that we are to obey them because we become adults and establish our

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own homes.

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But there is to be a spirit of respect for our parents all the days of our lives.

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That becomes exceedingly difficult when parents become old.

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And when the parent becomes a child and the child becomes the parent.

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But even then in that relationship that is in reverse, so to speak, there needs to be

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that spirit of honor toward the one who has cared for us in childhood, helping to provide

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for the needs emotionally, financially, and physically.

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And I especially want to underscore providing for the needs emotionally.

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I will never forget in high school one occasion when our church was holding a service in the

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nursing home as it was called in those days.

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Have you noticed the progression?

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It was the old folks home and then the nursing home and then the rest home and now the retirement

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center.

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These names change all the time.

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In those days it was the nursing home.

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That's how far back it was.

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And on that Sunday afternoon as we were doing the service we saw this big fancy car drive

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up with license plates showing that it was from Kansas City about 50 miles away.

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And out of it came two adult people helping an infirm parent get into the home.

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It was very clear that they had brought the parent to this home that she might be cared

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for.

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They might be unable to do so in their own home and that occasion does come sometimes.

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But what was so unforgettable about it to me was that I could see the decline in that

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lady every time we went to the home.

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And very rarely did she ever receive visits from her children.

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It was almost as though that they put her 50 miles away from Kansas City to house her

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there where she would be cared for but she would be out of sight and out of mind.

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Now maybe I have misjudged them and God forgive me if I have done that.

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But my point is sometimes that is the case.

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And never should that be the way that we treat our parents in their older age, out of sight

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and out of mind.

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We need to remember our Lord Jesus at the cross.

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For even there in His anguish, among His concerns was His concern for His mother.

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And He said to John that He was to care for her, behold your son, behold your mother,

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He said.

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Now there is a word here to parents that is foundational to all that I have said.

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God tells our children to honor us.

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But we on the other hand must seek to be honorable.

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If we parents in raising our children fail in the appropriate way to honor them and to

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respect them as little people by loving them and caring for them, we should hardly be surprised

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if they grow up then to disrespect us.

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John Locke made this statement, parents wonder why the streams are bitter when they themselves

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have poisoned the fountain.

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Let us seek before God, moms and dads, to be the kind of parents that our children will

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desire to honor, will want to honor because they see God in our lives.

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There's a lot of application here for all of us, but I want to move ahead and look at

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another part of this verse because there's a promise here too.

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What is this promise that is given at the end of verse 12?

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That your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

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This is the only one of the Ten Commandments with a word like this, such a promise.

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Essentially what the promise is that there will be prolonged life in the place of blessing.

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This verse does not guarantee necessarily long life for each and every child who honors

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and respects his parents because the fact is that in the providence of God there are

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some who die young.

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I've been amazed this last week to see a number of children's obituaries in the St. Paul newspaper.

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It's a reminder that children are not guaranteed a long life, nor are we parents guaranteed

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that they will be with us a long time, even if they are respectful and they honor us.

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What is really at the point here is not the lifespan of the child, but it is the lifespan

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of the nation or the society that practices this honoring of parents.

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Why?

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Because it produces a morally strong fiber within the citizenry of that nation or that

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society that obeys this command.

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It is because of that moral fiber that is in place that there is a prolonged life of

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that nation or that society.

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Conversely, when that fiber is rotted away, the life of that nation is shorted.

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You see, that's where we are today and that's why I'm so concerned that I began this message

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the way I did this morning talking about current events in Washington.

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It is because the moral fiber of this nation has been under severe attack for the last

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thirty years or more, particularly regarding the home and marriage, the sanctity of sex.

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And now the very administration that has said that it will guarantee and preserve the law

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and order of this nation under the Constitution is itself attacking the moral fiber of our

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nation.

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That's why we're in such a crisis in this nation.

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And we will not have a long life if we allow this to go unchecked.

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Our nation will collapse of its own weight unless this is corrected.

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That's why we're at a watershed.

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That's why we're at a crossroads.

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And the way that we choose to go from here will determine the future course of the United

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States of America.

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But having said that about what verse 12's promise is, I also want to say that there

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is a tendency here for a personal application too.

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Because you see, as a child grows up learning respect for authority, as his character is

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shaped in a warm atmosphere of love, honor, and obedience to parents, it gives that child

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direction in life that will tend to enrich his life and prolong his life.

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On the other hand, if a child's character is formed in a vacuum of these and is shaped

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rather by dishonor and rebellion and insubordination to parents, it paves the way in his life toward

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trouble and crime and pursuits that will shorten and waste his life.

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So you see, there is a personal application that we can draw from that promise, and it's

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an important one.

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Now the fifth commandment is God's gracious protection for you and for all of society.

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It is given to protect us from the corrosion and the collapse that can come in a fallen

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world when there is the degeneration of authority and the family.

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So the fifth commandment is God's gracious protection for us.

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We need to see this.

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It is not some terrible burden that God is laying upon us.

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He is saying, I want the best for you.

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I want the best for your children.

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Therefore, honor your father and your mother.

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Teach that throughout your generations.

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Teach respect for authority, and that will protect you from the calamity that comes to

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those people and those nations that do not learn respect for authority.

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It speaks to young children, it speaks to teenagers, it speaks to adults, it speaks

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to all of us.

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How might you honor your parents?

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Well, you can answer that in dozens of different ways.

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But I want to encourage you today, particularly if you're parents or you have a parent who

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is still living, to do something special to honor your parent.

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To show that parent your continuing love and respect and the gratitude for the years of

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sacrifice for you.

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Now, I recognize that listening to me right now are some people who were raised in homes

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that were abusive.

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And my heart goes out to you because of the emotional damage, frankly, that that has done

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to you.

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And the kind of conflict that this sort of message puts you in, I can understand.

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I hope that you can come to the place in your adulthood now, looking back upon that childhood

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that was just miserable and abusive.

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I hope that you can come to the place of forgiving your mother and father.

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That doesn't mean that you acknowledge that what they did was okay, you're just putting

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under the rug and forgetting about it.

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I'm not saying that at all.

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But whether they are living or they're dead, I hope that you can come to the place of saying,

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I forgive you.

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Meaning, I will no longer hold you accountable to me for what you've done.

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I disengage from you emotionally in this sense.

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I'm not going to hold you accountable to me.

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I commit you to God and I forgive you.

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And if it is possible to establish some sort of positive relationship, I encourage you

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to do it.

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However, for a very few people to even do that would be dangerous.

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And I don't encourage you to do it if it's going to be dangerous to your life.

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I have tried to cram a whole lot into this hour.

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I must confess that I was in great conflict coming to the pulpit because I have so much

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I want to say about this that I think is relevant to where we live today.

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My time is gone.

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But the thing that I want to underscore in our hearts this morning is this.

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There is an underlying principle that is embedded in verse 12.

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That is the principle of submission to God's appointed authority in our lives.

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And whether that be our parents, it be the elders of the church, it be the political

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leaders that God in His providence has put over us, if it be those who are at work, who

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are employers or supervisors, there is a principle here that God wants us to write in our hearts

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and that is to be submissive to those who are an authority over us.

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Very frankly, we Americans don't do this very well.

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We don't do this submission thing.

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You see, right back in the very heart of who we are is the declaration of what?

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Independence.

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And right in the very psyche of what it means to be an American in our culture is this whole

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concept I don't submit to nobody can get us into real trouble.

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That is an ungodly value in our culture.

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We need to learn the value of submitting to authority that God places into our lives.

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And this morning we need to declare dependence upon God, upon God's providence and His grace

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and dependence upon the authority that God has placed into our lives.

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So may that be our attitude as we go this morning.

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Let's pray together.

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If there is in our hearts some spirit of ungodly independence or even rebellion or insubordination,

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may the Holy Spirit convict our hearts right now so we can bring that to the Lord.

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We want to be the Lord's people.

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We want to learn what it means to submit to God's authority in our lives.

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Lord Jesus, I pray that wherever this message may find us, and it's many, many facets this

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morning, that you will bring some point of application to us, whether we be little children

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listening or we be grandpas and grandmas on the other end of the spectrum.

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May we learn this morning what it means to be submissive appropriately to those that

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you have placed over us in our lives.

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And may we remember that you've done that for our own protection, for our own good.

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And so may we live under the Lordship of Jesus.

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Would you stand with me please with your head bowed?

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Lord Jesus, we begin this service this morning by talking about you as the rock upon whom

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our lives are built.

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We declare that to be true.

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We want to build upon your Lordship in our lives.

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So give us wisdom in doing that.

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Give us the kind of values for our lives, our home, our church, and our society that

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will be consistent with what you've said in your word so that we may build wisely.

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When the storms of life come, the house that we've built will not collapse but stand.

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In Christ's name I pray, amen.