Exodus20:12
The commandments shift in focus from God, to our fellow human being. One might argue that we therefore move from Spirituality to Ethics, but Paul's list of the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 really goes to show that how we treat others is a character and therefore a spiritual issue.
The bottom-line is that God is gracious in His dealings with us and so, if we are in His image, we will reflect that same graciousness.
It is fitting that the first of the commandments that point toward others is about parents:
- Our parents give us all we need while we are helpless.
- God reveals Himself as our Heavenly Parent (The OT uses images of Father and Mother)
We love applying this commandment to kids and teens, but it is very interesting that Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for using religious excuses to neglect the needs of their elderly parents. (See passage below)
Paul also sees a bigger picture:
He talks about the fifth commandment being the first one with a promise - a long life. There is a spiritual sense in which this is true: God will bless those who honour their parents. But it is also true in a practical sense: Our children will look at how we treat our parents and treat us the same!
It's very tempting to neglect, disregard and dishonour our parents because they will always love us.
So, the bottom-line is: As the commandments begin to deal with our horizontal relationships, honouring our parents is not only for rebellious teens, but the children and grand-children of parents of any age.
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Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise-- 3 "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
Mark 7:10 For Moses said, `Honor your father and your mother,' and, `Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' 11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: `Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
