Honor your father and your mother
What kind of family was yours as you grew up? Was there a mother, father and children? What I have just described is probably an ideal family structure. Perhaps your family was different. Maybe you were raised by grandparents, or aunts and uncles. Or people unrelated to you when something happened that took away your parents and you were placed in an institution or in a foster home. There probably is no end to family situations that exist around the world and throughout out country. So, before I go any further, let me say that we all had birth parents; someone became our mother and father, physically, but not all of those parents stayed around and you may have grown up in some other home, or even some other kind of home.
The changes in our world have brought about changes in families. People move from place to place for various reasons. They get divorced or they never get legally married in the first place. At any rate, babies are born and someone raises them one way or another.
I have said all that to say that we learn how to cope with life within the framework of some kind of family. Now, here you are, born into a situation in which you will learn how to get along with others. So, whether it is the ideal “nuclear” family in which two people marry for life and give their children a home until they reach adulthood, or into some other type of situation, a structure of some kind develops. Within that structure you learn some basic rules of life. One of the basic rules is respect for authority.
The fifth commandment was given to a people with structured lives, living in homes where divorce was uncommon or unknown, and a father and mother were there to prepare their children for life.
The Ten Commandments have four commandments about God and five commandments about others, but the Fifth Commandment is a little of both, because parents are not exactly “others;” they are partly you and you are part of them. In some ways you get you ideas of God through your relationship with your parents.
A baby is born and begins his life. Immediately he begins to learn. If he is to be prepared for adulthood, he must learn to respect authority, to respond to love from others, to love others, to know the difference between parents, siblings, and friends (or enemies). The home is an educational institution and everyone learns something–good or bad–as he or she grows up.
So, respect your parents. Love your parents. Respect your siblings. Love your siblings. If you have learned these things as you have grown up, you have won half the battle for a good life.
Paul saw the importance of families and wrote to his scattered flock around the world: Ephesians 5:20-6:12, The Message:
Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.
Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.
Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.
Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage.
No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That’s how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become “one flesh.” This is a huge mystery, and I don’t pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband.
Children, do what your parents tell you. This is only right. “Honor your father and mother” is the first commandment that has a promise attached to it, namely, “so you will live well and have a long life.”
Fathers, don’t frustrate your children with no-win scenarios. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master.
Servants, respectfully obey your earthly masters but always with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ. Don’t just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ’s servants doing what God wants you to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you’re really serving God. Good work will get you good pay from the Master, regardless of whether you are slave or free.
Masters, it’s the same with you. No abuse, please, and no threats. You and your servants are both under the same Master in heaven. He makes no distinction between you and them.
And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong.
GOD GIVE US CHRISTIAN HOMES
Words: B.B. McKinney
Music: B.B. McKinney
Date Unknown
God give us Christian homes!
Homes where the Bible is loved and taught,
Homes where the Master’s will is sought,
Homes crowned with beauty Your love has wrought;
God give us Christian homes;
God give us Christian homes!
God give us Christian homes!
Homes where the father is true and strong,
Homes that are free from the blight of wrong,
Homes that are joyous with love and song;
God give us Christian homes;
God give us Christian homes!
God give us Christian homes!
Homes where the mother, in caring quest,
Strives to show others Your way is best,
Homes where the Lord is an honoured guest;
God give us Christian homes;
God give us Christian homes!
God give us Christian homes!
Homes where the children are led to know
Christ in His beauty who loves them so,
Homes where the altar fires burn and glow;
God give us Christian homes;
God give us Christian homes!
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.