Honour Your Mother

[0:00] To the mothers. Happy Mother's Day, especially to my mother. And I greeted one of the ladies this morning.

[0:10] ! I won't tell you who.! I said, Happy Mother's Day. And she attempted to say same to you. I won't tell you who did that. But she's on my right.

[0:24] That's as far as I'll go. Well, this morning, before we look to God's Word, I want us to take a moment to pray for Jesse Kaiser.

[0:37] Jesse is going to be heading back to the States. He's heading back sooner than he had planned, but we're trusting the Lord that he is ordering his steps and leading him in this season.

[0:53] So Jesse, would you come? We want to pray for you this morning. And as I was just thinking about praying for Jesse, Jesse, I felt the Lord laid a scripture in my heart for you.

[1:06] And one of the things I find is that it is always useful in any new endeavor to have a word from the Lord.

[1:17] And the reason is that word keeps us. One of the things that happens is a lot of times people tend to measure God's will or God's approval by the absence or the presence of trial and conflict and difficulty.

[1:37] So some people think, if my life is trouble-free, then God must be approving of my life. And then there are other people who think that if they're facing trials and difficulty, that God is not with them.

[1:49] If you study scripture, you will see that is not true. That is not true at all. We live in a fallen world. And so even when we are doing God's will, we are in God's will.

[2:00] Many times we still face trial. We face difficulty. And so what keeps us is a word from the Lord. And when we get that word before the journey, on the journey, that's our anchor.

[2:12] We hold on to that because we know this is what the Lord has given to us to keep us during those difficult times. And so I want to commend to you this morning Psalm 20.

[2:24] This is what Psalm 20 says. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

[2:34] May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion. May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices.

[2:50] May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans. May we shout for joy over your salvation and in the name of our God set up our banners.

[3:08] May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. And I conclude with these verses, these two verses. Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed.

[3:20] He will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

[3:35] Amen. Would you join me in praying for Jesse? Heavenly Father, we are grateful that you are the sovereign Lord.

[3:48] We are grateful, Lord, that nothing is hid from you and indeed all that happens in our lives take place under the umbrella of your divine sovereignty.

[4:00] Father, we pray for Jesse. We pray, Lord, that you would go before him. We pray that you would even in this moment assure him that you are leading and guiding and directing him.

[4:14] And Father, we pray that you would cause him to anchor your word in his heart that as he journeys in this fallen world, your word will truly be a rock and a refuge for him.

[4:29] It will be a true anchor for his soul. Father, would you grant him favor as he seeks to resettle back in Wisconsin? Lord, we pray that you would step by step open doors for him.

[4:43] And Lord, we pray that you would encourage him in ways that he would recognize that your hand is leading and your hand is directing. Lord, we pray for his church family that would receive him as he returns.

[4:55] And Lord, we pray for appointed connections and relationships that will be gifts from you to him in this season. And so, Father, we commit Jesse to you.

[5:09] Would you go before him? Would you perfect all the things that concern him? And may he live to sing your praises as a sovereign Lord who does all things well.

[5:22] We commit him to you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. That's you, Jesse. Amen. Amen. You know, my last birthday, I just decided I would go by and visit my mother and I visited with her and some of you know this, but many of you don't, but my brother BJ and I, they're only 11 months between us.

[5:54] And so, there's one month that we get to be the same age for one month. So, I said to my mother standing in the kitchen, I said, Mom, now you have to do the math back and realize that that means that when she was still nursing my brother at two months, she found out she was pregnant with me.

[6:17] I said, Mom, how did you feel when you heard that you were pregnant with me? She said to me, very disappointed. But being the mother that she is, she kept me.

[6:33] And so, here I am. But I always used to tease her and my father that I know they weren't planning for me. All the other kids are kind of spaced up, but I came at the appointed time.

[6:47] Thank God for mothers. I'm always grateful for my mother and I'm especially grateful for her on Mother's Day.

[6:58] And I say that because as you get older, you realize what motherhood entails and you realize the incredible sacrifices that mothers make on our behalf.

[7:12] Today actually marks my 29th Mother's Day at this church. And as I reflected, I've preached all of the sermons except a handful.

[7:25] And so, as you would imagine, after a while, you run out of sermons. I mean, you run out of Mother's Day sermons. So, this morning, I'm going to preach a sermon that I preached several years ago.

[7:38] A number of you were not here, so it will be a new sermon for you. Some of you were here. It will also be a new sermon for you because you probably don't remember it.

[7:50] And those who do remember, hopefully you will still benefit all the same. Recently, I read an article by the author Tess Taylor.

[8:06] which she wrote with Mother's Day approaching. The article is entitled What Moms Want, Less Advice, and More Support.

[8:20] She writes, When I was a new mother, my oldest was maybe 18 months, I read two self-help books. It's self, an accomplishment because that year when my husband, because that year my husband was also seriously ill.

[8:42] It's an extremely hard one. To be honest, I usually bear away from the terrain of self-help. But the books seemed to offer wisdom about how to be a mom in America now.

[8:56] They wormed their way in, felt directed at me, ambitious and trying to juggle it all. I read Lean In, Women Work and the Will to Lead, Sheryl Sandberg's Push for New Moms, Not to Give Up, Keep Climbing, Working Harder, Not to Slow Down as We Tried to Have Kids, Not to Slow Down at All After We Had Them.

[9:23] My other indulgence was called Zero Waste Home by Lifestyle Guru B. Johnson. It focused on the domestic, one woman's mission to save the world by eliminating one disposable item at a time from her waste stream until all her objects were in glass bottles, upcycled, plastic-free.

[9:46] Johnson did her mothering amid farmers' market bags, compostable toothbrushes, foraged berries, and homemade muffins crafted with bulk aisle goods.

[10:01] I've been thinking about those two books as another Mother's Day rolls around, as moms across America celebrate, perhaps with a pedicure, a card, or breakfast in bed.

[10:16] And I've been thinking about all moms do the rest of the time, and also about how both books might well have been titled, I Changed the World Through Workaholic Perfectionism, and You Should Too.

[10:29] I have to say, I'm good with hard work and saving the planet, but some Mother's Day, I want all of us to wake up into a society that supports us all more while we try.

[10:48] That last sentence in the article really struck me, and it stayed with me, because I believe it expresses a longing in the heart of an overwhelming majority of mothers.

[11:02] Mothers want and need more support, and I believe that the duty is so enormous, it is like saving the planet.

[11:16] For many of our mothers, what they do is really like saving the planet. But as it relates to the support that mothers should, and could get from children doing things like cleaning up after themselves so their mothers don't have to, and helping around the house and other areas, I believe that the underlying issue for the lack of support for mothers is really a lack of honor.

[11:49] And that's what we want to talk about today. While I believe that there are many mothers who will welcome the different expressions of love and care and appreciation that children will offer today, I know there are many who would rather receive honor, honor from children where it is lacking.

[12:13] And there's no one who is aware of dishonor like the person who deserves it, who deserves honor. And someone deserves honor, honor.

[12:24] They are very much acutely aware when it is lacking. And Scripture mandates that mothers and fathers are to be honored.

[12:40] And over time we have witnessed a change in relationships. And one of those areas is in parent-child relationships. many children do not honor their parents.

[12:55] And I think this is especially true in the case of mothers. While some children would not think about dishonoring their father, they would hesitate to dishonor their father, many don't give a second thought to dishonoring their mother.

[13:14] Because mothers are very nurturing by nature, and many children still get away with it. But I believe that many mothers long for the gift of honor.

[13:26] They probably long for that gift more than fathers. Not just on Mother's Day, but every day. And for those of us who follow Christ, honoring our mothers is more than a noble idea.

[13:42] It is a command from God. And this morning, we look to God's word to consider this command to honor our mothers.

[13:53] So if you have not yet done so, you turn to Ephesians chapter 6. We're going to be reading the first three verses.

[14:06] Ephesians chapter 6, verses 1 through 3. Paul writes, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

[14:26] Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land.

[14:39] fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord.

[14:52] Let's pray. Father, we're grateful this morning that we were able to gather as a church. Thank you for our time of worshiping you in song.

[15:06] Lord, would you speak to our hearts now as we worship you through hearing the preaching of your word. Lord, you know where each of us stands concerning this issue of honoring our mothers.

[15:23] And so I pray that you would speak to our hearts. Lord, I pray that in particular you would encourage the hearts of mothers, especially those who have not been honored by their children as they should.

[15:44] And I pray, Lord, to whatever extent children hear this message, a need to repent, a need to seek forgiveness, I pray, Lord, that by your grace they will do so.

[15:59] So we give you thanks now in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Here's how I would summarize these words from the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6, 1 through 3.

[16:12] When you honor your father and mother, ultimately you honor God. When you honor your father and your mother, ultimately you honor God.

[16:26] And the reason for that is it is God who commanded that this honor should be given to our parents. And so when we disobey that command, ultimately we are disobeying and we are dishonoring God, the one who gave it to us.

[16:49] But since I want to focus on mothers this morning, the way I would communicate the central point that I want us to hear this morning is this way.

[17:01] When you honor your mother, ultimately you honor God. And the reverse of that is true. When you dishonor your mother, ultimately you are dishonoring God.

[17:16] I know that these can sound like strong words and really they are strong, but they are true. I don't share them because of some personal preference of mine.

[17:35] I share them because they are the word of God. It is an issue that's bigger than me, bigger than you. This is God's word.

[17:47] And it never goes out of style. It doesn't become out of fashion. It was true and it always will be true that he calls us to honor our mothers and when we do so, we ultimately honor him.

[18:05] honor your mother. In our remaining time this morning, I want us to consider this text in two simple parts and they are number one, honor your mother, the command.

[18:16] We see that command in verse two. And then honor your mother, the promise. We see that promise in verse three. So let's consider the first.

[18:28] Honor your mother, the command. command. Why honor and not obey? Some of you are probably wondering that because here we see that chapter six starts out, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

[18:48] Then verse two says, honor your father and your mother. But I selected honor and not obey. Why is that? Well, it's because honoring our parents is really what God has called us to do.

[19:05] That's what he called us to do in the Ten Commandments. We're told in Exodus 20 verse 12, which we've been doing, honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

[19:25] So the command that we see in verse one to obey parents really flows out of this fifth command in the Ten Commandments to honor them.

[19:36] And so obedience is an expression of honor. But the command that the Lord gives us is we are to honor our parents and if we truly honor them, we will obey them.

[19:50] The second reason I chose to use honor instead of obey is obedience is relative. the truth is we are not called to always obey our parents.

[20:04] If our parents lead us in a wrong way, tell us to do something that's wrong, we're not supposed to do that. We disobey them so we can obey the Lord. But honor is not relative.

[20:18] Honor is absolute. Honor is not circumstantial. As a matter of fact, there is a way that we can disobey if our parents are leading us in the wrong way while still honoring them.

[20:34] Honor is absolute. And it's not based on our parents' character. It's not based on their own example. Maybe the example is not one worthy of following.

[20:47] But that does not in any way change the requirement that we are to honor them. And this doesn't change when we get older.

[20:59] When we get older, we don't get a license to not honor our parents as much. We don't get a license to dishonor them. As a matter of fact, what should happen is that honor should increase. If we are properly maturing and properly growing, our honor for our parents should increase.

[21:20] now what does it mean to honor? What it means is to hold in a place of high esteem, high regard, and high respect.

[21:35] That's what we're supposed to do with our mothers. Hold them in a place of high esteem, high regard, and high respect for the fact that they are our mother.

[21:50] Leviticus 19, verse 3 says, every one of you shall revere his mother and his father. Shall revere his mother and his father.

[22:06] Are we to revere them not just on Mother's Day? We're to revere them, period. And so the question we need to consider this morning as we think about this personally is, do I revere my mother?

[22:20] Do I hold her in a place of high esteem, high respect, and high regard? And I think we can acknowledge that this is not an easy task.

[22:35] It is not an easy task when God calls us to conduct ourselves in this way towards individuals who are fallen people. When the Bible calls a wife to submit to her husband as to the Lord, that's not an easy thing to do because she's being called to submit to a sinner.

[22:55] Even one who may be saved and following Christ, she's still called to submit to one who's not perfect. And so it is not an easy task.

[23:07] But God will be unjust if he called us to do that which we were not able to do. That which he does not give us the grace to do. I think we should consider as well, especially for the younger children, do I obey my father more than my mother?

[23:33] Do I live more in the fear of my father than I do of my mother? Would I be more inclined to disregard my mother and her instructions over my father?

[23:45] And if that is the case, that is an indication of dishonor. The honor, the esteem, the high regard, the high respect that's due to father and mother is equal because they are equal in the sight of God.

[24:04] God created men and women equal and it doesn't matter that a father may be stronger and may be the symbol of discipline. a mother is deserving of the same level of respect and honor.

[24:28] Now I want to share some thoughts just for three categories of children who we have in our midst. The first is the minor children. if you're not obeying your mother's instructions promptly, completely, and without complaining, you're not honoring her.

[24:53] You're not doing it promptly, completely, and without complaining, that's not honoring. It's not good enough just to do it. It's not good enough.

[25:04] you need to do it promptly, you need to do it completely, you need to do it without complaining. And this really is a hard issue.

[25:17] At a minimum, you want to think about, what is my attitude towards the instructions that I receive from my mother? Do they reflect an attitude of honor?

[25:32] And see, again, don't forget the context. This is not about you and your mother. This is ultimately about you and God. You're not going to be answerable ultimately to your mother.

[25:45] You will ultimately be answerable to God. And I want us to think about this very, very soberly. If God's words are idle, he doesn't deserve to be followed.

[26:00] If God's words are like sometimes the words of parents could be where we say, I'm going to do this if you do that, and we don't do it, if God is like that, he doesn't deserve to be followed.

[26:14] But he's not like that. And not one of his words fall to the ground. It is impossible to violate what God's word says and get a different consequence from what he says you will get.

[26:27] An impossibility. The day that happens, God is not God. And so we need to think about this very seriously and very soberly.

[26:38] The second category of children, I have some thoughts for, are adult children who live at home. In many ways, you're not like a minor child, but in some ways, you're really no different.

[26:56] And I think we should consider that this idea of 18 is really kind of arbitrary. I think it was 1969 that it was 21.

[27:12] I think it changed in 1969 where the age of majority went from 21 to 18. And so this is a number that has been just chosen. and we should realize that some people think that when they turn 18, they just get wise all of a sudden.

[27:33] Wisdom just falls into their head. And it's almost like the day before my 18th birthday, I'm not as wise. The next day, I have all wisdom. I can do whatever I want to do.

[27:45] And that is so far from the truth. Turning 18 doesn't mean you're your own man. Or your own woman, period. And it certainly doesn't mean that when you're at home.

[27:57] When you're in your parents' house. When you turn their key and not your own. And the truth be told, I really believe that children who are young adults need the guidance and the wisdom of their parents more than they needed it when they were younger.

[28:19] Because they're just in a different world. in a different set of circumstances. And God has given parents as a gift to guide and to direct and to counsel and to advise as you enter into this season of more responsibility.

[28:40] And so to adult children living at home, you need to bear this in mind that you have this responsibility still to honor your parents, your mother in particular, since we talked with mothers today, to honor your mother.

[29:00] But more broadly, as you live at home, that is even more so required. And again, it doesn't matter what your mother is like.

[29:17] It doesn't matter. You are to honor her in all things. And then third, I want to say something to adult children like myself who are not living at home, but our mothers are still here.

[29:36] we are still to highly esteem them and regard them and respect them. And again, maybe your mother is a difficult person, maybe she's nosy, maybe she's bossy, maybe she shows favoritism with the grandchildren.

[29:52] It doesn't matter. Still called to honor her. Can we bring these concerns and observations?

[30:03] Yes, we can. But we do them in a respectful manner. you know, I recall, I have mixed emotions about it, but I remember it when we were younger, my grandfather, who lived on Acklands Island, used to visit.

[30:23] Like almost every summer he would come and he would spend time with us. One of the things we marveled at was how the interaction between him and my father, sometimes he would be really rough with my father and he would speak to him the way my father would sometimes speak to us.

[30:36] We used to really like that. We used to say, yeah, you know, take that. But what I look back on now, my father never tried to match him word for word.

[30:48] He honored him. And the only reason that was humorous to us was because my father honored his father as a child ought to honor his father.

[31:03] no answering back. And my grandfather, those of you who know him, always had the last word. He always had the last word. And so, to those of us who are adult children not living at home, this responsibility, this duty that we have to honor our mother continues.

[31:26] You know, dishonor is so serious. I'm going to read a portion of scripture. There are some people who are actually ashamed of parts of God's word. It's almost like they wish it wasn't there and they wonder about it and they try to hide it.

[31:43] But I'm going to read you a part of God's word this morning that helps us to see how serious dishonor really is. It's in Leviticus chapter 20 verse 9.

[31:57] Leviticus 20 verse 9 tells us the penalty for cursing parents. It says, for anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

[32:14] He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood is upon him. That's what God, that's the way God sees it.

[32:24] That's the way God thinks about that kind of dishonor. And appreciate this. Do you know where we get our sense of justice from?

[32:37] For example, in our world, if you go in a food store and you steal a pack of cookies, we don't cut your hand off or we don't hang you. We don't do that.

[32:50] We have a punishment that fits that crime. And the way we understand how to allow the punishment to fit the crime is through scripture. And so our whole legal system is rooted in scripture and that's where we get this diversity and this measured response to different situations.

[33:10] We learn that from the Lord. And the general principle is he who knows to do what is right and he doesn't do it and he's beaten with more stripes.

[33:22] And so there's this variation in terms of how punishment is done. I want you to think about that and realize that God decided this is the right punishment for that. A God who's just, a God who's perfect in all of his ways, a God who makes no mistakes, this is his attitude towards the dishonor of parents.

[33:47] Deuteronomy 28, 18 through 21, tells us the penalty of disobedience. if a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother and though they discipline him will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of the city at the gate of the place where he lives and they shall say to the elders of his city, this son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice, he is a glutton and a drunkard, then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones, so you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear and fear.

[34:38] I was reading this and I thought the kindness of the Lord, you notice in verse 21 it doesn't say that the women would be involved in the stoning as well. The Lord says just the men do it.

[34:49] I think it would be hard for the women, they'd probably hold the stones and not throw them. And so the Lord says the men have this responsibility to purge the evil from our midst. And I think it points to this primary responsibility that fathers have to bring discipline.

[35:05] And something is always wrong when in a home discipline is primarily being meted out by a mother. That is a reversal and an oddity of what God's word calls us to.

[35:19] Now obviously these laws have changed. The new covenant that we have has changed the way rebellious sons are treated.

[35:34] But I believe that we can say God's attitude towards that dishonor and that rebellion has not changed. Though his response to it has changed in terms of no longer do we stone and put them to death.

[35:47] but if God's attitude towards this sin changes then he violates his own character which the Bible says he's the Lord he does not change.

[35:59] But the sin of rebellion will be punished. The sin of rebellion like any other sin will be punished in one of two places.

[36:11] Will be punished on the back of Jesus Christ on the cross for those who put their trust in him that he bears their sins or will be punished on the back of sinners in hell who choose not to trust Christ to bear their sins they will pay for their own sins but sin will be punished.

[36:34] Sin will not go unpunished. Any sin that goes unpunished means that God is unjust but he's not unjust and so whatever the sin we heard it this morning in our memory verse that there's coming a day when God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing whether good or evil.

[36:59] Again not idle words those are true words. You're probably wondering some of you what's the big deal why does God take dishonoring parents so seriously?

[37:18] You know what's interesting dishonoring a parent is a more serious sin than a wife not submitting to her husband or a husband abusing his wife and not loving his wife.

[37:32] Dishonoring a parent is a more serious sin than that. And let me explain why.

[37:43] the Ten commandments are in two parts and there are some people who say well the Ten Commandments is in two uneven parts.

[37:54] You have the first four and then you have the latter six. And they say that the first four relate to our duty towards God and maybe this is a good time for us to rehearse them.

[38:11] What's the first one? No idols? What's that? What's the first one? No other gods. Second? No graven image.

[38:23] Third? What's the third one? Don't? I'm not hearing. That's right. Honor the Lord's name.

[38:33] And then the fourth one? Yeah, so there are some people who say those first four, they relate to God. And they say that the tablets had four and then six.

[38:45] The latter six, they say those are connected to our duty towards man. So the fifth one, which is the call to honor father and mother, there are those who say those belong to the latter six.

[39:04] But Jews have regularly taught that the ten commandments were two even halves, five on one and five on the other.

[39:15] And when you think of it that way, that means that the fifth commandment is on the side with God, and the other five is on the side with relating to one another. And really, when I think about the seriousness of dishonor and rebellion against parents and the punishment that the Lord meted out to it, it makes good sense that God sees that more so as an affront to himself.

[39:48] Hence, the seriousness to it. And so I think that's why it is such a serious offense when it takes place.

[40:02] I want to share something else to fathers in this area of our children honoring their mothers. One of the things that we have to be careful of fathers is that we do not do what we don't want our children to do.

[40:18] That we do not ourselves dishonor our wives, dishonor their mother, and thereby set a bad example for them in terms of their responsibility to honor their mother.

[40:32] Because if we dishonor them, it would be hypocritical and inconsistent to then turn around and call our children to honor them. Some of you may remember Charles Simpson.

[40:46] A number of years ago, he was here at Kingdom Life, and he spoke at some special services we had. His son Stephen Simpson wrote an article titled That's My Wife, in which he shared an occasion where he dishonored his mother and brother Charles dealt with him.

[41:06] The subtitle to this article is An Unforgettable Lesson in Honor. So here's an excerpt from the article. Stephen Simpson writes, When I arrived home, I noticed that my dad's car, as usual, was not in the garage.

[41:24] My mother was about to face the dragon alone. I parked my bike, tossed my school books in the garage, walked inside the house, poured myself a large bowl of delicious cereal, and plopped down on the floor of the den for a serious bout of prolonged cartoon watching.

[41:44] Irritably, only a few moments passed before my mom appeared, and she was perplexed. So he goes on to share the conversation between him and his mother.

[41:58] Stephen, have you done your chores already? Nope. Stephen, have you done your homework?

[42:09] Nope. Then there was a pause, and she quietly said, Stephen, you know what you're supposed to do first when you get home.

[42:22] Then he further writes, something within me arose. It was similar to, it was similar in spirit to the creature that burst out of that guy's chest in the alien movie.

[42:36] I turned to my sweet mother and said defiantly, don't give me any of that, and I used the word that I never used before or since around her.

[42:49] About the time that the last consonant was spitting out of my teeth, I noticed an ominous shadow in the doorway. It was dad. He was not happy.

[43:00] I was not on the Titanic when it slipped beneath the waves. I was not on the Hindenburg when it blew up, but suddenly I understood how all those people must have felt.

[43:12] Dad simply said, come with me. My knees were jelly. The Bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and I was wising up fast. Sit down, dad said.

[43:26] In a quiet voice that was strangely reminiscent of Clint Eastwood, my dad, who had suddenly become 15 feet tall, said, son, that's your mother you were talking to in there, but that's also my wife, and nobody talks to my wife that way.

[43:46] Then he said, son, you're getting too old to spank. Suddenly, the sun burst through the clouds, the blue bird of happiness began to tune up, ready to sing Zippa Dee Doo-Dah.

[44:00] son, you're getting too old to spank. Pause, pause. So this is going to be the last time I will spank you. The heart sank, the sun fled from the heavens, and the blue bird packed his bags and headed to Cancun.

[44:21] Then he said, son, this is going to be the last time that I spank you. Pause, pause. But you will never forget it.

[44:32] And I never did. Afterwards, dad reiterated a few points. Number one, cockiness and rebellion bring grief and destruction.

[44:48] Number two, it's impossible to honor God while dishonoring godly parents. Number three, he and mom would always stand together as one when dealing with me.

[44:59] And number four, being part of a family means everyone doing their part. That's a wonderful, unforgettable lesson in honor.

[45:13] And that's a true statement. It is impossible to honor God while dishonoring godly parents. on this Mother's Day, I would say, it's impossible to honor God while dishonoring your mother.

[45:35] Some of us have already, no doubt, began to shower our mothers with gifts and cards and other gestures. but if you're not holding her in high esteem, if you're not honoring her with respect and with regard, then you're really withholding from her the best gift, the most meaningful gift that you can give her today and every day.

[46:03] And I'm not saying don't give the material things, not saying that at all. What I'm saying is material things are no substitute for the gift. of honor. Well, that's the first part of our text, the command to honor our mothers.

[46:18] The second is honor your mother the promise. At the end of verse 2, the Apostle Paul inserts a comment to point out to us that the fifth commandment is the first commandment to which God has attached a promise.

[46:39] God, the God who cannot lie, has given a promise to the command to honor father and mother.

[46:53] The promise is that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Here, what Paul is doing is he's combining the fifth commandment that we find in Exodus 20 verse 12 and Deuteronomy 5, 16.

[47:15] And essentially what he's saying is that those who honor their parents and their mother in particular this morning, the two blessings are a quality of life.

[47:27] It will go well with you and then length of days you will live long on the land that the Lord has given to you, both of them.

[47:40] And sometimes some people are able to perhaps get one of them, maybe they have a good quality of life but they don't enjoy length of days. And sometimes they don't have the good quality of life evidenced by God's blessing and hand upon them but they have length of days.

[47:56] But the Lord promises both to those who would honor their parents. What it means is when we honor our parents we are positioned in life for the promised blessings from God.

[48:11] Blessings in life and length of days. I think the opposite would be true. Dishonor would mean quite the opposite of those blessings.

[48:25] And as I thought about this, one of the things that can sometimes confuse us is when we are aware that we or maybe somebody else is experiencing something in the moment other than what God's word says.

[48:41] So for example, there may be someone who has dishonored mother or father and they have not seen the negative consequences and there's only one reason for that.

[48:54] It is the sheer mercy and grace of God. It is the sheer long suffering of God. And what the Bible says is that some people take God's long suffering as slackness.

[49:05] The scripture says he is not slack. He is long suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

[49:15] sins. Here's the reality this morning. And this is one way that we're all alike.

[49:28] None of us keeps God's commandments perfectly, including this one. There's none of us, however well we honor our mother, who does it to the degree that we should.

[49:45] We all fall short. But I don't think that should be the concern this morning. The concern should not be, oh, I'm not perfect in doing this.

[49:57] That's not the concern. The concern should be where there's consistent dishonor of parents, and this morning of mothers in particular.

[50:11] If you're aware in your life, as you hear this sermon this morning, if you're aware of a consistent pattern of dishonor, I pray your heart is convicted. I pray you feel the weight of that sin towards your mother and before the Lord.

[50:30] again, remember, the Apostle Peter tells us, God is not slack concerning his promises.

[50:43] He is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish. perish. And so today, as we consider this command that we have in light of Mother's Day, we want us to remember that Christ has given to us, those of us who follow Christ, he has given to us this duty, this responsibility to honor our mother for a lifetime.

[51:26] We have this duty, we have this responsibility to do it. And so I want to encourage us again today to let us not try to let cards and gifts and money do the job of honoring.

[51:43] They are not substitutes and they are bad ones at that. And let us remember that this command that we have that we need God's help.

[51:54] We need God's help to live it out. Yes, God calls all people saved or unsaved to honor their mothers, honor their fathers as well.

[52:07] It doesn't just apply to those who are Christians, it applies to everyone. And God gives common grace for that. He gives common grace for that to be done. But those of us who know Christ, God gives a special grace.

[52:19] God has transformed our hearts. He has touched our lives. He has enabled us to do this in a way that should be visibly different from when unbelievers do it.

[52:37] And there ought to be a difference. If there is no difference, then we have to wonder what differences Christ makes in my life. if the way an unbeliever honors his mother or her mother is the same as it is for those of us who name the name of Christ, then something is wrong.

[52:57] The honor that we are to bestow upon our mothers is to exceed by far that which unbelievers bestow on theirs.

[53:10] as we consider what the Apostle Paul says though, let us remember that Paul is not calling us to just do this in our own strength.

[53:23] The words that we find in Ephesians 6 are towards the end of a letter. Prior to this, Paul has been talking about the grace of God in saving people, raising them from spiritual death, and calling them to live a new life.

[53:42] And it is out of that that he now calls us to live in this way towards mother and father, and in particular this morning, towards our mothers.

[53:55] And this is only possible because Jesus Christ came to this earth, lived, and then died, and died on the cross for sinners.

[54:05] That's the only reason this is possible, that we can honor our mother with a transformed life. And if you hear this morning and you know within your heart of hearts that you are away from God, you are living your life with your back to him, I say to you, repent and believe the gospel.

[54:34] Turn from sin, turn to Christ, and he promises that all who come to him, he will receive. And I will say to you that if you are honoring your mother, whatever degree you're doing that, Christ in your life will make all the difference to cause you to do that in a far more meaningful way than you're doing it right now.

[54:58] Let's pray together.