ADUSAH QUARTERS POKUASE MAYERA ACCRA GHANA
HONOUR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER
BY:
Alero Nanna
Introduction: Our topic today is a divine commandment that has it’s origin in the Old Testament in the Law of Moses. However, when we look closely at the word of God from Genesis to revelation, we find that before the Law of Moses was given, this commandment was silently in force. Apostle Paul said in Romans 2:14-15: “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)”. From this text of scripture, we gather that before the Law of Moses was delivered by God, there was the law of the conscience. So in our study, we shall simply be looking at the example of this commandment under the law of the conscience, the Law of Moses and the prophets and the New Testament in light of what the Lord Jesus Christ said that He had not come to abolish the laws and the prophets, but to fulfill them. Before we continue, I want to say that this is the only commandment with an express incentive for obedience. This incentive is long life and prosperity (‘that it may be well with thee’). Also, when we say parents, we are referring not only to biological, but to foster parents and spiritual parents as well. Your biological parents are those who gave birth to you. Your foster parents are those who became you parents through formal or informal adoption. By this I mean you could become a child of a couple who formally adopted you because they had no biological children of their own or their biological children are grown up and they desire a child or children to love and care for in their old age or they have enough biological children and desire to have more through adoption. Informal adoption on the other hand happens maybe when a child is orphaned and a close or distant relative is saddled with the responsibility of raising the child or the couple decide to take up the responsibility of raising an abandoned child even when they do not have to or through the marriage of any of their children, they become parents of the spouse as well. Many today are experiencing failure for the simple reason that they are breaching this law.
Honour Your Father and Mother under the Law of the Conscience
I want to refer to this period as the time before the Law of Moses. There are some notable examples where we see the consequence of dishonoring parents. It usually attracted a curse on the recalcitrant child. In the case of Noah and Ham for example, in Gen.9:20-25, we read: “And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
And Ham, the father of Canaan , saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
And he said, Cursed be Canaan ; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren”.
In this text of scripture, we see Ham making a mockery of his father’s weakness instead of being protective of him. This must have grieved Noah so much that he placed a curse on Ham’s offsprings. Africans are said to have descended from ham through Cush
Another example of the existence of this law during the period in discussion is the example of Abraham who identified a Spiritual father in the person of Melchizedec and honoured him with his tithes. In Gen.14:18-23, we have this account: “And Melchizedek king of Salem
And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
And the king of Sodom
And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:” Abraham was so smart as to recognize that his blessings came from God, so he identified a servant of God and honored him as a spiritual parent by giving him his tithe of all while the man of God served him the communion. Then Abraham immediately declared to the heathen king that he did not want a part of the spoil he was instrumental in getting because he recognized that his tithing made all his other treasures meaningful. Time has proven Abraham right as he is known all over the world today as the father of many Nations including every one who is a Christian. It is also an indisputable fact that the descendants of Abraham are a blessed people because of his friendship with God. When Jesus came, he referred to the place of the abode of the righteous dead as the bosom of Abraham. This goes to show that Abraham, in addition to the legacy he left on earth also has an eternal legacy. Please honor your spiritual parents; it pays to do so!
Honour Your Father and Mother under the Law of Moses & the Prophets
In Jer.35:1-19, we see the example of a whole family that received an eternal priesthood with God for obeying their father’s instructions. So we can surmise that when we honor our parents, we are carrying out a transaction with God that releases His blessings on us; two of which are, long life and prosperity. Mike Murdock says that he does not pray for long life but that he knows that he would live long for obeying the command to honor his parents.
Also, we have another example of a woman who identified Elisha as a spiritual parent and honored him providing him shelter and food any time he came into town. This gift of the prophet spoke in her life when she received a son in her old age. When the devil tried to steal the son, the same gift of the prophet brought him back to life. You will find this account in 2Kings 4:8-37. This woman and her husband were very wealthy, but their wealth could not give them a child. Honoring a spiritual parent gave them one. When the child died, their money could not raise him, the gift of the prophet however brought him back to life. Your pastor may not be as financially well to do as you are, but you must recognize him/her as God’s gift to you or you may loose what only you pastor’s gift can find for you. Never underestimate the gift of the spiritual parents God has set over you. That is the channel through which God intends to bless you.
Honour Your Father and Mother under the New Testament
In Matt.15:3-6, Jesus affirmed this law when he used it as an instance where the religious leaders of his time were disobeying God. The text reads: “But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.”
In Eph.6:1-3, we read: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.”
Here, Apostle Paul is reaffirming this law for the New Testament Church. He starts by talking about spiritual parents in verse 1 “obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right”. Then he goes on to quote the Law of Moses on the matter as his authority. So any way you look at it, this is a commandment that is too costly to disobey as it is unaffordable. In his letter to the Church at Corinth
Blessings for obedience: Like we saw earlier, this is one commandment that carries a promised blessing with it. The blessings that go with obeying this command are as follows:
1. Longevity: This means long life.
2. Prosperity: This means all round well being. Some people are presently experiencing strange sicknesses because they hurt their parents. Unless they go back and ask forgiveness, no prayer can help them. You need parental blessing. If you obey God and do your bit, even with a demonic parent, you will be fully protected by God.
3. Generational blessing: There are some graces that are with men which ought to pass down from generation to generation especially in the ministry. Humility to recognize and honor our parents in the Lord guarantees that they would be transferred to us for the next generation. Gehazi failed in this regard and the consequences of his action are better left unsaid. There are also some biological families with a godly heritage. This will be double blessing for the obedient child here as he or she would not only be blessed with long life and prosperity, but also become a custodian of the spiritual heritage of the family. Ruben, the first born of Jacob lost his place to his younger brother Joseph when he dishonoured his father by sleeping with his father’s wife.
Consequences of disobedience: In all the examples we saw above, we see one common consequence flowing through them all: UNTIMELY DEATH. The promise attached to this commandment is guaranteed long life. So if it is disobeyed, the life of the disobedient will be cut short. Secondly, prosperity is guaranteed in the form of total well being. So if it is disobeyed, prosperity is not guaranteed even where the disobedient gives. Death here, also speaks of death of potential like in prov.20:20 – no vision, no direction and the result is a life wasted. For those desirous of getting married, watch out for these signs because they are good enough reason to cancel your engagement. Getting mixed up with a spouse labouring under this curse is to become a co burden bearer of what you are innocent of. If you are already in a marriage where your spouse has been dishonouring his or her parents, you have to work at bringing an end to this so as to avert the curse.
Where Jesus talked about it above, he said “… let him die the death”. In fact, in Deu.21:18-21, The law stipulates that if a parent is saddled with an uncontrollable son, he should bring him out to the gate of the city and the elders shall pass judgment on him and he shall be stoned to death. Finally, in 1Cor.5:1-5, we see Paul passing a death sentence on a brother guilty of dishonouring his father through sexual immorality with his father’s wife.
How to honour our parents:
1. The word translated honour in Ex.20:12 is the same used in Prov.3:9 where we are told to honour the Lord with our substance and the first fruits of our increase. This implies that we are to support them financially for their personal use. This is without regard to whether they have treated you well or not. It is also without regard to whether they have enough provided for themselves or not. It is your covenant obligation to God.
2. Treat them with love and respect. The commandment to walk in love applies to our relationship with everyone including our biological and spiritual parents. I believe as a Christian, if you abide in the Lord, your conscience is a safe guide. So what you know you would not want your children to do to you, do not do it to your parents. See Luk.6:31; Mat.19:19 & 1Pet.4:8. When you truly love your parents in spite of whatever imperfections they may have, you would not want to do any thing to hurt them.
3. Obey their godly instructions and follow their godly counsel: I say godly to bring a balance here. There are some counsels some parents give that if you follow them, you will disobey they word of God. You are not obligated to obey this. You are to calmly and wisely decline. For instance, if they insist on you visiting a witch doctor for whatever reason, you must also remember that Jesus said whoso loveth father or mother more than me is not fit for the kingdom. So God comes first.
In summation, I would like to say here that if you are reading this article and you are not yet born again, the whole thing will be meaningless to you. You must obey God who is not just our first parent, but the one who gave us to our parents in trust for him. If your relationship as father and child with Him is not yet established, your obedience to this command will be meaningless. God’s most important command to believe in the Lord Jesus must first be obeyed before this can make meaning to you. See Jn.3:16; Rm.3:23; ; Acts16:31&1Jn.3:23. If you want to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life today, read this prayer out loud and the Holy Spirit will do the rest for you:
“Heavenly father, I come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe in my hearth the Jesus Christ came in the flesh, died for me on Calvary ’s cross and on the third day, you raised Him from the dead for my justification. Therefore I ask; Jesus, please come into my life and be my Saviour and Lord. I reject and renounce the fatherhood of Satan from now on and forever, Amen!”
If you just said this prayer, congratulations. Welcome to the family of God. Please send me an email at alerof01@yahoo.co.uk. This will enable me send you an e copy of our believers’ guide to growth to help you start out well on your spiritual journey.
I believe this piece has been a blessing to you as it has been to me. See you at the top!
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