You would take your Bibles and turn to Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six, and we're gonna read verses one through three to begin this morning. Ephesians six one through three. Ephesians six verses one through three.

These verses might sound familiar to you. I hope they do. This isn't the first time we read verse what's in verse two. Matter of fact, it's part of the 10 what? Commandments.

It's repeated here in the New Testament, lest you should think that honor thy father and mother is only for Israel. It's not. God also expects that of his children today. And something that I think sadly is lost to a great degree in our in our society today, not only to the detriment of of parents, but to the detriment of children, the next generation. Let's read Ephesians six one through three.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord. This is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for your word today.

Thank you for being our loving and merciful father which is in heaven. Thank you, Lord, for your grace wherein you have accepted us in your beloved. Thank you, Lord, for our earthly parents that you have given us, some that have already gone on before us. Lord, thank you for the opportunity to honor them today as the parents that you gave us. Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to honor you.

May you be magnified. May we be challenged. May you give us understanding into your word as we look into it today. In Jesus' name, do pray. Amen.

In verse one, we read, children, obey your parents. Now, that word children applies to those that are young. And it says, children, while you're children, you're young. Do what? Obey your parents.

And then we get to verse two and it says, honor thy father and mother. Now, is that only for children? No. No. That covers every age of life, particularly as your parents are still alive on this earth.

We are to what? We are to to honor them because they're honorable and perfect in all cases. No. Because they are the parents that God gave us. And by honoring them, we honor who?

We we honor him. And we have the responsibility and privilege to honor the parents that God gave us. And it is the first commandment with promise. There are two parts to this. There is the command, honor your parents.

And then there is the second part, the promise that it may be well with thee that thou mayest live long on the earth. Those who learn to submit as children to the authority of their parents and to respect them carry that through what? They tend to carry that through life. They tend to have a respect for other authorities in their life which do them well. Government authorities, school authorities, heavenly authorities.

And as we learn as children to submit and honor our parents, we learn to submit and honor our God which is in heaven, which serves us well and tends toward a more blessed and prosperous life. What does it mean to honor our parents? The word means to give weight to, to give much weight to to our parents, to respect them, to reverence them, to hold them in high what? Esteem or to value them highly, to give them much weight, to give them much value because they they should be valued. They are of value and they should be honored.

How does one show appreciation or honor to one's parents or particularly your father in heaven? Basically, the same answer. By showing what? Respect and reverence. By demonstrating to your God and to your parents that you highly esteem them, that you value them.

What's another word for that? Love. That's another word for that. What does it mean to love someone? It means to highly what?

To highly value them. That that is what it means. And to bring them honor. Think of your heavenly father. There is a correlation.

No human father is perfect, but your heavenly father and also your human father deserve honor. What does that mean? Well, a, that means respect and reverence, to highly esteem their position. The Bible uses the word, as it's translated here into English, fear. Luke nineteen one through three.

And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel and say unto them, ye shall be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy. You shall, what? Fear. Every man, his mother, and his father, and keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.

How does God put it? Well, the word is translated here in English fear. We might also translate it reverence. It is to acknowledge the authority and power and position of the person. We most of all should fear who?

Should fear God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That's not the fear that causes you to run and hide and shriek and terror. No. It's the kind of fear that causes you to get down on one knee and to submit in awe at your father in heaven who made you and loves you.

Reverence, you might call that. But you might also call it what? Fear. Here, the same word is used of reverencing your mother and father as children as this verse, Deuteronomy sixteen six thirteen uses it of God. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and thou shalt swear by his name.

When the Lord wanted to convey the outstanding character of Job, he was described as one who feared who? One who feared or reverenced God in heaven. And as we are told to fear and reverence and respect the Lord who made us with a similar respect to a lesser degree, but yet, using the same word here, we are told to respect our parents, to reverence them. Is a reflection of the acknowledgment of their what? Of their God given authority.

Similar to God's depiction of government in Romans 13. We are told to honor those who have the, what, rule over us, also in Hebrews chapter 13. Because they bear not the sword in, what, vain. Who gave them that sword? Who gave them that authority and power?

It is ordained of who? Of God. It's ordained of God. And so they deserve a certain amount of honor, respect, and reverence because they are our God given authority. Not just our authority, but our what?

Our our parents. And and that that means it's not just a cold power that they have. It is a is a nurturing, loving. God has not just given them authority for the sake of authority, but for the authority for the sake of what? As it goes on in Ephesians to say, fathers nurture.

Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the what? Of the Lord. Children, train your parents, train your children in the way they should go. But when they're old, they will not, what? Depart from it.

Why did God give government authority? To protect us largely, often from one another. We see what happens, some of it, in Los Angeles last night, in Seattle, and Portland when that breaks down and there is no respect or authority for government or law enforcement. What happens? People hurt other what?

Other people. So God has given us that authority. God has given us a more fundamental authority in the home. Mothers and what? And fathers who were there not just to tell tell children what to do, but to protect them from their selves, to care for them, to nurture them, to train them.

They need that authority. Thus, God has given it to them. They are appointed as ministers to their children on the earth. Long life for the individual and the society hang in the balance with this command. Deuteronomy five sixteen, honor thy father and thy mother as the Lord God hath commanded thee that thy days might be prolonged and that it may go well with thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

When this breaks down, so we see society breaking down and the things become more dangerous for for everyone. It starts in the what? It starts in the home with honoring our father and our mother. The logical conclusion of this reference is submission. Hebrews thirteen seventeen, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they must give account that they knew and do it with joy and not with grief for that is what?

Unprofitable for them. Did I read it right? Am I looking at the screen? That's unprofitable for who? For you.

Why does God say honoring father your mother? Because it is profitable for who? For you. Also for them, yes, but it is also profitable for you, for us, that we learn to submit and respect and honor the authorities that God places in our life. And that is a lesson meant to be learned when we're what?

When we're young in the home. As we learn to honor and then reverence and obey the parents that God has given to us. Our society is falling apart because there is no fear of God before their what? Before their eyes. Romans three eighteen.

Paul's condemnation of the world at large, there is no fear of God. Why why is it that they they have this problem and that problem and this problem, this happens and that happens, and sin just seems to there is no fear of God before their eyes. And this is what also all goes back to. Our father in heaven deserves our reverence and respect. And when children don't learn it in the home of their parents, they don't learn it often of their father which is in heaven.

And when there's no fear of God before their eyes, then society begins to unravel. What is the solution? We need a different party in control. No. We need for people to reverence, love, and trust the God who made them and sent his son to die for them, then things will truly change.

Without that, we're just kind of pushing the boundaries around and but without the fear of God before their eyes, we will not see a profound reformation or revival, which is what we dearly need. One of the signs of the end of the times, people not having fear of God before their eyes is what are we told in second Timothy three? This know also in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers. What's the next? Disobedient to what?

Parents. Disobedient to parents. And then that grows into disobedience for other authorities and disrespect for other authorities and disrespect for God. And so we see that in the world we live today. God placed such importance on obedience to parents in the Old Testament that open rebellion and public disrespect for parents could be punishable by what?

By death. Leviticus 20 verse nine. I doubt that that was carried out very often because few parents were willing to turn in their own what? Their own children. However, why did God put that on the books of Israel?

Because that's how strongly he feels about the need for children to honor and to obey their parents and the authorities that he has put in their life. So what does it mean to honor? It means to respect, reverence, and therefore submit to the proper authorities in our lives. What else does it mean? It means to highly value, as we mentioned, connected to the word love and to trust.

To highly to honor father and mother means to highly value who? Your father and mother. Does that end when you turn 18? Hopefully not. It certainly is not intended to.

We are to continue to honor our parents, to value them highly. I know that one day I won't be able to pick up my phone and call, should the Lord tarry. I won't be able to pick up and call my my dad or my mom on the phone. Right now, I can. I am blessed.

But one day I want to, and they won't be on the other end of the line. I thank the Lord. They both know the Lord. And one day, whoever of us goes first, we will eventually be reunited again. I have that wonderful hope and that blessed promise from my savior.

But they are of great value to me. I I saw this firsthand in the response of my wife and my brother-in-law and my mother-in-law three weeks ago at the funeral of my father-in-law. There is no doubt that his children loved him and highly valued him and that he would be greatly missed. And that should be the way it is. Parents are not like disposable contacts to be tossed aside when they get older when you reach a certain age.

They are people who deserve love even though not at all times they may have been the perfect model of it. We should highly value their advice. Remember their counsel, we're told in scripture. Proverbs one eight nine, my son, hear the instruction of thy father, forsake not the law of thy mother, for they shall be an ornament of grace into thy head and chains about thy neck. Proverbs three one and two, my son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandment for length of days and long leaf life and peace shall they add to thee.

You say, but my parent is no longer here. You can still honor them by honoring that the advice that they gave. Remembering the advice and instruction that they gave. Maybe not all of it was worthy of following. Maybe not all of it was was perfect and right.

But no doubt, in most cases, a good bit of it was. And that's where we are told to remember and not forget the advice and instruction of our parents. Thus, we can honor them by honoring their counsel. Don't stop asking for their advice or listening just because you're not under their roof. No, you don't need their advice all the time.

You do have to set up your own home. But don't forget they're there. And don't forget the many years of wisdom they imparted to you. Young people in particularly like to think that they know a whole lot more than their parents. That is natural, I suppose.

But there is much we have to learn. There is much our parents have learned and much they have to share many times. Just because we're not under their roof does not mean that there is not a valuable resource for us to tap into. They may not know how to, you know, fix a car. They may not know how to rewire our house or they may not know how to write a computer program, but they may have some instruction and advice on how to live life that might be worthy of listening to, asking, or remembering.

And you can honor them every now and then by asking if they're still here, their advice or remembering the advice they gave. Honor them. Honor the value of their love. Don't forget what they have done and sacrificed in your behalf. Let your gratitude be real and let it be what?

Let it be known. Do you like anybody to tell you I love you? Do you think maybe your parents, if they're still around, might like to hear that? I'm guessing they would. But not only to hear the words, but to see it in your what?

In your actions towards them. Our father in heaven deserves that. We love him because he what? First loved us. And he certainly deserves our love.

And he deserves to see it in our desire. He deserves the gratitude that that he should have from his children whom he gave his life for. He made, who he's shown such grace and mercy and love. He deserves that. In Romans chapter one, the whole thing started spiraling downward because when they knew a God, they glorified him not as God nor were they, what, thankful.

They changed the image of God into image like unto corruptible man. And that's how that all got started. Highly value their love, the love of God, the love of your parents. It it it wasn't perfect, but it is worth valuing. And in many cases, it was quite sacrificial.

Many parents truly live and spend much of their time for the sake of who? Their children. And oftentimes, their children do not give that love back as they should. So Revelation Ruth chapter one. In Ruth chapter one, we read about let's see how you have it up here on the screen.

We read about the love of Ruth for her not her mother mother, but her what? Her mother-in-law Naomi. As Ruth said unto Naomi, I entreat entreat me not to leave thee nor to return from following after thee. For whether thou goest, I will go. Whether their lodgest, I will lodge.

Thy people shall be my people and thy God, my God. Where thou diest will I die and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me and more also if ought not but death part thee and me. Ruth showed her love. She highly valued her mother-in-law.

Was Naomi the perfect example of a mother-in-law? Not perfect. No. No. Her and her husband had come, left Israel during the famine to go to Moab.

Maybe they should have had more faith and stayed in Israel. I don't know. Their sons married Moabite women, generally speaking. That was not the best thing to do, but yet they did. Both of their sons passed away in the land of Moab.

But Naomi cared for her daughters, daughters in law, although they were Moabites, she cared for them. She loved them. And guess who saw that? Ruth. And while the other daughter-in-law turned back and went back to Moab, Ruth didn't.

Ruth said, I I will stick with you. If you have been there for me, I'm gonna what? I am going to be there for you. And she sentenced she did not send Naomi back all alone, she went back with her. She highly valued Naomi.

She loved her and she appreciated and showed that love, that respect, that gratitude. How can you honor your parents by highly valuing their needs? Naomi needed a companion, so Ruth went with her. You can honor your parents by being sensitive to their needs. You were their responsibility when you were young.

The time may come when they will need you. Be there for them. Honor them. And then finally, bring honor to them. Bring honor to them.

As with God, what we do reflects upon our family as well. It is the responsibility of children to consider how their actions also affect too others. Should we not consider how our our actions affect others? I think so. Should that not be the case with our parents?

I think it is something we should, what, at least consider. I think we should consider most of all how our actions reflect on who? Our heavenly father. What does Matthew five sixteen say? It says, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and praise your name.

That what it says? Some of you looked at me funny. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and, what? Glorify your father which is in heaven. I want my heavenly father to be pleased and glorified by my actions.

And I I sort of want my parents to as well. I do. Proverbs in Proverbs, we read these verses. A wise man maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is heaviness of his mother. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.

I don't want my parents to be embarrassed by their son. I don't want my parents to have to worry about the trouble that I am in. I want to bring honor to their name and to their home as I should and as we should. It's part of honoring who? Our father and our mother.

But most of all, our father which is in heaven. Do you know your father? Do you know the one who made you? Have you accepted his offer of salvation through faith in his son, Jesus Christ. He showed such great love to you.

But when we were but God commendeth his love in that while we were yet, what, sinners, Christ died for us. Do you highly value him? Do you do you highly value his what? Advice? Do you highly value his son and the love that he showed by dying on the cross for your sins?

Have you accepted him and submitted to him as your what? As your Lord and savior. You wanna know how to honor your father in heaven except his son? He sent him to die for you. Have you accepted his son?

Have you humbled yourself before him to receive him as the savior, your savior? Have you repented of your sins and accepted his offer of forgiveness? You wanna know how to honor your parents and your father in heaven? Start with this. Accept his son this morning.

That would be a good place to start. A very good place to start. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for this day that you've given us. Thank you for the opportunity to look into your word.

Thank you, Lord, for those that have come to worship and honor you here together today. Thank you, Lord, for our our parents, our mothers, and fathers that you've given us. In some cases, stepmothers and stepfathers and adoptive parents. Whatever the case may be, Lord, those that you have put in our life to to help, to guide us, and to keep us from trouble, and to train us in the way of the Lord. We thank you, Lord, for them today.

We honor them, and I pray that we would honor them not with just our words, but also our actions. And most of all, we pray, Lord, that you would be honored in us who are your children. We confess where we have failed you, and, Lord, we we ask you and we thank you for your forgiveness and your love and your mercy and grace and pray that we will do maybe better in some respects than we have, that you might be honored and magnified in us. And, Lord, if we pray, if there's one here today that is yet to receive the Lord Jesus as savior, that today indeed would be their day of salvation. In Jesus' precious name we do pray.

Amen.