THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT

We come now to the fifth commandment. It is here that we bridge the gap in our relationship with our fellow human beings and God. And we begin with the ones closest to us, our parents.

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Gen. 20: 12

Paul repeats the commandment in Eph 6:2, Children obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise:

What promise?

That it might be well with you and you may live long on the earth. verse 3

Families today are in a state of confusion. Many aren't even sure what constitutes a family. Is it any wonder that we don't have peace? Without a strong family structure as the building block of society how can there be anything but strife and chaos?

It is a sad fact that half of the people arrested for murder in the United States are under the age of twenty five.

Why this violence? Where have we gone wrong?

Consider what Paul goes on to say in Eph 6: 4;

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

How many times have you seen children blow up in a fit of rage? Many times such lack of self control begins early in life. If left unchecked, or worse yet, encouraged, it can lead to serious problems later in life. The remedy? bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

Notice that it is the fathers who are to spearhead this effort. God, as our Spiritual Father, takes an active hand in the child rearing process and expects Christian fathers to follow His example.

Does God ever correct His children?

For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.' Heb. 12: 5-6

Whom the Lord loves He chastens. Why?

For they (speaking of our human fathers) indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Heb. 12: 9-10

God chastens us for our profit. He trains by His correction. To what purpose? So that we might be partakers of His holiness.

Human fathers would do well to follow God's example and always discipline in love for the child's benefit. For The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy. Ps. 145:8 God is a merciful God. He only punishes for our own good never because we have angered Him. All parents have to deal with children who have disobeyed. Generally an offense should be dealt with as soon as it takes place. However, parents should never apply any discipline when they are angry. Better to walk away and tell the child that you are too angry to apply discipline at that time than to lift a hand in anger against your child. Child abuse is a terrible sin in God's sight. But so is the sin of child neglect!

How does God treat His children? Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all. Ps 34: 19

God is always there, as a parent, to pull those who are attempting to live by His laws out of the trials they find themselves in. He is the perfect example of a Parent exercising forgiveness and unconditional love.

Does it really profit to teach children of God and His values?

Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. Prov. 22:6

It takes time to work with children. And time seems to be at a minimum in today's busy, fast paced world. Adults are often too busy to spend time with the kids. And, in this society, the kids are too often programmed by others to think that they don't want mom and dad around. In many homes the television and video game systems have become the childıs main source of interaction. And, unfortunately, what is passed off as entertainment is often laced with violence, immorality and anti heroes.

What should be taking place in today's homes is something far different from what is transpiring. It is the rare family indeed where children are being taught of God and His values.

However, one must be aware that a child has free moral agency. He is not a pre - programmed package that if you push the right buttons will always respond in a particular manner. But God does show that if we are doing are part the chances are good that the child will respond. We learn by example. Our values will be viewed by our children. Habits, good and bad, will be taken note of and followed or rejected. But again, it takes time for a relationship to develop. One on one interaction is necessary if ideas are to be shared and emotions aired. The child who thinks that his or her parents have no time for them is an unhappy child indeed. These children are too easily lured to the 'family' support that gangs offer. Or they may seek love through sex, putting themselves at risk of disease and pregnancy now and a tainted marriage later on.

If parents could view their children as a potential member of the God Family that our joint Father has put into our keeping for the short time it takes to pass from childhood into adulthood we might interact with one another with more love and respect. Then, when the parent grew old and needed their child's care and attention, the fruit of the parents genuine love and concern would return to them. Is there anything sadder than an old person shut away in a Care Center where no one ever visits or calls them? God never intended for any family member to feel alone and unloved! Child or adult.

How does God view the family? Who are the members of that family? How can we be sure that we are a part of it?

For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.' Matt. 12: 46-50

Jesus Christ tells us that His disciples, those who are doing the will of the Father, are family. They are His brothers, sisters and mother.

Does this mean that while He was on the earth Jesus didn't honor His physical parents? Of course not! Let's look at the example of Christ as a young child.

but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day's journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances.

Jesus was a responsible lad. His parents supposed that He would be with their relatives and acquaintances. He was not a young boy that they had to keep an eye on to make sure that He did the right thing.

So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, 'Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.'

Mary was upset. She tried using the guilt trip lecture that so many mothers have employed down through the ages. But what was Jesus Christ's response?

And He said to them, 'Why is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?'

Jesus Christ was doing His Father's business. This was not an act of rebellion on His part. Did His parents understand?

they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.

Notice what Jesus did next.

Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Luke 2: 41-52

Jesus Christ put Himself in subjection to His physical parents. But He continued to do His Father's business, increasing in wisdom. The scriptures point out that He was also a likable young man. He had a pleasing personality. Both men and God looked on Him with favor.

During His excruciating ordeal on the stake Jesus Christ still remembered His mother.

When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, 'Woman, behold your son!'

Then He said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother!' And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. John 19: 26-27

Even in the midst of the greatest trial any man has ever faced, Jesus saw that the needs of His mother were met.

Paul tells us in I Tim. 5: 8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

God intended family to take care of family.

Notice Christ's reprimand to the Pharisees who thought they were righteous in God's sight.

Jesus here is telling the religious leaders of the time that they were wrong to take money that could, and should, have been spent for the care of aging parents. These men supposed that they were doing God's service, when, in fact, they were breaking the fifth commandment!

How do we explain the remark made by Jesus in Mark 14: 26 If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. ?

The word hate here is a poor translation. It should read, If anyone comes to Me and does not love less his father and mother, wife and children and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

God has to be first in our lives. Jesus answered him, 'The first of all the commandments is: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

'And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. Mark 12: 29, 30

Jesus Christ, as the obedient Son, told his Father, I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. John 17: 4

But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. John 14: 31

Christ obeyed His parents 'in the Lord'. He set us a perfect example in the keeping of the fifth commandment. If all children were as responsive to the needs and commands of their parents it truly would be a land upon which we could live long and be at peace.

Copyright © 1997, Antelope Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

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