Lord’s Day, Vol. 7 No. 19
Honour Our Parents
Deuteronomy 5:16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
On Mother’s Day, it is fitting to rehearse the Lord’s 5thcommandment, the foremost of human relations, for children to honour their father and mother. A command to give thanks to father and mother for they are the imparter of life to us. Without them, we will not have our existence. Children owe their existence to their mothers who gave birth to them after carrying them in their womb. Not an easy task to carry, bear and finally to give birth. The physical toil upon the mother’s body is tremendous from conception to the full term of the baby, not to mention the painful process of childbirth.
When the baby is born, the mother began the process of caring for the little baby amidst her physical weariness after childbirth. The feeding of the baby, the changing of the diapers, the cleaning and bathing. The mother communicates with the baby by her touch, by her voice, by her presence, bringing love and security to the infant child.
The infant grows to be a toddler, able to turn, crawl and learning to walk. Mother is at hand to guide each step of the way. What an effort! The mother sings, speaks, prays, read the Scripture to the growing child, bringing the child up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4b). The father is no less involved if not more in the upbringing of the child. What a responsibility entrusted to father and mother in the nurturing of the young life.
When the child is sick, feverish and weak, mother and father sponge the child, sometimes for long hours when the temperature is high. The occasions when the child is rushed to the clinic or the hospital, the anxious times of emergency. The toddler’s bible, the children’s bible, the bible stories read to the growing child. The bible songs taught to the delight of the child. The message of the gospel imparted, line by line, precept by precept, with prayer. Thank God for father and mother.
The child is commanded by God to honour his or her father and mother. The verb “honour” literally means “to weigh heavily”, it means “to make honourable, give glory”. It means “highly respect, greatly esteem”. It is a verb in the intensive stem emphasizing the gravity of the mandate given to the child in fulfilling the action of the verb. Looking more closely at the word “honour”, it means more than mere obedience — a child may obey through fear. It means to obey out of love and affection, gratitude and respect. Being the first of all human relationships that God highlights to His people, honouring our parents enables us to learn to honour authority that God places over us in life. Whether it is our teacher, superior in the workplace, the government that God places over us, the child learns to honour these authorities by first learning to honour his or her father and mother. After God, who is invisible, parents are the visible representative of God in a child’s life. And hence, God accorded such rightful honour from a child to his or her mother and father.
DL Moody applied well when he exhorted, “Young man, if your parents are still living treat them kindly. Do all you can to make their declining years sweet and happy. Bear in mind that this is the only commandment that you may not always be able to obey. As long as you live, you will be able to serve God, to keep the Sabbath, to obey all the other commandments, but the day comes to most men when father and mother die. What bitter feelings you will have when the opportunity has gone by, if you fail to show them the respect and love that is their due! How long is it since you wrote to your mother? Perhaps you have not written home for months, or it may be for years. How often I get letters from mothers urging me to try and influence their sons!
Which would you rather be — a Joseph or an Absalom? Joseph wasn’t satisfied until he had brought his old father down into Egypt. He was the greatest man in Egypt, next to Pharaoh; he was arrayed in the finest garments; he had Pharaoh’s ring on his hand, and a gold chain about his neck, and they cried before him, “Bow the knee.” Yet when he heard Jacob was coming, he hurried out to meet him. He wasn’t ashamed of the old man, with his shepherd’s clothes. What a contrast we see in Absalom. That young man broke his father’s heart by his rebellion, and the Jews are said to throw a stone at Absalom’s pillar to the present day, whenever they pass it, as a token of their horror of Absalom’s unnatural conduct.”
…that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
There are blessings that God gives to those who honour their father and mother. The blessings of being preserved, protected and prospering in the station of life that the parents-honouring children are to receive by the good pleasure of a promise-keeping God.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism question 133 asks, “What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment, the more to enforce it?”
This is the best answer, “The reason annexed to the fifth commandment, in these words, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God gives thee, is an express promise of long life and prosperity, as far as it shall serve for God’s glory and their own good, to all such as keep this commandment.”
Alas, the Apostle Paul describes the times we live in as days where men are “disobedient to parents” (2 Tim. 3:2). God’s law spurned and disregarded. A norm in society. God forbids!
May the church of Jesus Christ rise to her call to practice the 5thcommandment, be children who honour their father and mother.
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee