The Fourth Commandment :The Fourth Commandment Ex. 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.


Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians 6:1-3 :Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians 6:1-3 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.”


Exodus 20:12 :Exodus 20:12 God had given Moses three commandments up to this point, and there were no promises attached to any of them. 1. I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange gods before me. 2. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. 3. Remember to keep holy the LORD'S Day. But when it came to this fourth commandment something changes. 4. “Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.


Why the promise? :Why the promise? Why the promise? I believe it is proof that God has placed great priority upon this command. It shows the importance He attaches to our obedience to our parents. Somewhere down the road, we will look back and be glad we did listen and obey.


A Good Start :A Good Start We start life by accepting and obeying our parents either out of love or fear. As we grow older we begin to resist their direction. This is a normal process as we prepare to lead a mature adult life apart from our parents. If we decide, too early, to go our own way, we will cause great harm to ourselves and to our families.


Rebels :Rebels Ephesians 6:3 says, “That it may be well with you.” Do you want it to be well with you? Do you want to have a good life? I’m sure there are rebels out there somewhere who have grown up disobeying their parents from the time they were little, never changed their attitudes about anything, and somehow made it through life unharmed. They may be out there…but truthfully, I’ve never met one.


Report :Report The simple fact is, everybody has to report to someone. And it doesn’t stop when you get to be eighteen, does it? Everybody has to learn the principle of submission to authority. And if we don’t learn that all-important concept at home, if we don’t let God help us get a grip on it in that sheltered environment, then we will struggle with it throughout our entire lives.


Struggles :Struggles We’ll struggle with it at school. We’ll struggle with it on the job. We’ll struggle with it in the armed forces. We’ll struggle with it in obeying the laws of the land and respecting the police. We’ll struggle with it in our own marriage and family. And someday, there will be a notation in a file with your name on it that says: “Struggles with authority,” or “Has a problem with authority.”


Mom and Dad’s Rules :Mom and Dad’s Rules Young people say, “It’s so hard to live by mom and dad’s rules at home.” And they imagine if they could just get out from under their parents’ authority, life would somehow get easier. The truth is, it gets harder. You have to deal with that tough-as-nails PE teacher. You have to submit to that foreman who’s always on your back. You have to salute and say “Yes sir” to that Marine drill instructor screaming in your face. You have to pull off to the side of the road when those blue lights begin flashing behind you. You have to pay taxes on your hard-earned income.


Socially Impossible :Socially Impossible Where do you learn to deal with authority? You learn at home when you are growing up. When you learn to deal with authority at home, then you can learn to deal with it in other places and times in your life. You can learn how to live as a thread in the fabric of society, a society that God has created. If a child gets no instruction, he is going to be perfectly miserable and socially unacceptable. We see this all the time, don’t we?


Knowledge is Power :Knowledge is Power Does that mean every child who totally rebels in his or her teens comes from a family where there was no discipline? No. But generally speaking, what we learn in the earlier years of our life will be reflected in our attitudes through the rest of our days, unless we recognize a need to make a change.


A Good Thing :A Good Thing I can assure you that I always regretted, very quickly, smart-mouthing my Dad. I knew what would happen. It was a good thing growing up with that knowledge. It helped me learn to accept parental authority.


Obedient children :Obedient children Ex. 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you. Obedient children in the Old Testament did live longer. Discipline in a child’s life is usually conducive to good health. Does that mean that a person who is disobedient always dies young and a person who is obedient always lives into his nineties? No. This is not an ironclad promise of Scripture, it is a proverb. Proverbs tell us what life will be like under normal conditions.


“Normal Life” :“Normal Life” If person who grows up rebellious and is against every type of control place upon them he has put himself on a path that leads to discouragement and destruction, not a good life. Those rebellious ways usually have a way of taking a toll on the years you spend here on earth. People who grow up and stay in the fabric of God’s system have a much better chance of living a reasonably good life for a reasonably long period of time.


When you honor your parent :When you honor your parent When you honor your parent you honor yourself. When honoring you parent, you place yourself and those you love, on a path to a good life. If you were unfortunate enough to have parents that lacked parenting skills, don’t spend your life blaming your problems on them. As a parent, you can change the world through your children. What kind of example will you be? You can make a positive change in your life, and those around you, by learning to accept authority in your life.