Weekend Sermon -- Ten Commandments --"Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother"

     Thank you for joining me this week for another edition of the Weekend Sermon.  I hope that all of you are doing well this week.
     This has been a very interesting week at work.  The top executive in our area came for a meeting with the staff and said that we are overstaffed.  They aren't going to hire any new people, and they are going to try and get people to take time off without pay.  This is just another motivation for me to find a different place to work.  Please pray that I can find a job that I will enjoy more.  As I said before, I want to find a job in full-time ministry.  I am currently working to find new work.
     In prayer this week, please remember those who are affected by the wildfires in California.  Also, please pray for an end to the Zika virus.  I heard on the news today that there are now several cases in southern Florida in the United States.
     Also let us continue to pray for peace in the troubled areas of the world.  Pray for peace in Syria, South Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan.  Pray for an end to the terrorism and violence gripping many parts of the world.
     For our prayer focus countries this week, please pray for the nations of Algeria and Japan.  Pray that many people will come to know the love of Jesus.
     Last week, we had a message from our lessons from the animals series.  Today, we will return to our series of messages on the Ten Commandments.  We are on the fifth commandment which says, "Honor your father and mother so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you."
     Some people I am sure will not agree with me, but I think that this commandment is hard to understand in some ways.  I often wrestle with what the extent of this commandment is.  Let us look at it together.
     I think without a doubt that this commandment is of vital importance in the day in which we live.  I also think that this commandment has several different applications.
    First of all, I think that on the surface, this commandment is telling us that we should obey our parents when we are living with them in their home.  We should not be in rebellion to our parents as long as they are not telling us to do something that is illegal or immoral.
    We should also show respect for our parents.  Part of respecting one's parents is by doing what they tell us to do, but it also means listening to them and taking their advice.  It means not ridiculing them or making fun of them when we are around others.  I think that respecting ones' parents also means that we keep up a good relationship with them even when we are out on our own.
     Honoring our father and our mother in my opinion also means taking care of them when they are older and need help.  Jesus spoke about this with the Pharisees as recorded in Mark 7:9-13.  The Pharisees had many man made traditions that they were trying to pass off as laws.  Jesus made it clear that by keeping their traditions they were actually violating the law.  One of the traditions they had was that if anything was declared Corban(dedicated to God) it could not be used for any other purpose.  So, the Pharisees would declare a portion of their money Corban, and then they would say they didn't have anything to help their parents with, because the money they would have used for their parents was Corban.
    Jesus said that this was wrong.  Jesus said that it is a priority to honor one's father and mother, and that means taking care of them when they are old.
    Taking care of one's parents when they are old doesn't just mean paying for them to be in a nursing home somewhere either.  When my Mom had her bad stroke, my Dad and I took care of her at the house for about five years.  However, for the last two months of her life, my Mom was in such bad shape that she had to be in a nursing home.
     It really hurt me to see how many people were in the nursing home and nobody ever came to visit them.  There was one lady who had been there for several years, and a staff member told my Dad that her family had not come to visit her once in all that time.
     Honoring father and mother means helping them out, having a relationship with them and being their friend.
     Now, in my opinion, I believe that this commandment has some broader implications.  I think that it is speaking about how we treat the elderly in our society as well.  Those who are older in our society deserve our respect and our help.  It is not right for any nation to try to balance its budget on the backs of the elderly.  I believe that it is really wrong when governments try cut the benefits of the elderly who are having a hard time just making it as it is in many cases.  Our elderly citizens deserve better than that.
     Honoring father and mother also means that we honor the traditions and values that have been passed down to us by our ancestors.  We honor our ancestors when we keep languages, cultures and traditions alive.  We honor them when we preserve their history.
     Now, here is where the hard part of this commandment comes in.  Some have lived in families that have been highly dysfunctional and abusive.  What are those folks supposed to do with this commandment?  I'll give you my understanding, you may disagree.
     If your father and mother abused you, they have not shown themselves to be worthy of honor.  They have acted in a dishonorable way.  As an adult, you may not be able to have any kind of real relationship with them if they are not willing to acknowledge the problem and seek help with the relationship.
     Honoring one's father and mother does not mean that you obey everything they say if they tell you to do something that is illegal or would bring harm to another.  Some Bible teachers teach that a person should always obey their parents at any age no matter what they tell you to do.  I do not believe that the Bible teaches this.
     These are just a few of my thoughts on what this important commandment teaches.  I am sure that you will be able to think of other ways one can honor father and mother.
     Next week, we will return to our series about what some of my animals have taught me.  I have at least three more messages in that series, and we have five more messages in the Ten Commandments series.
    Right now, I am considering what I will bring messages about after these two series are complete.   I actually have sermon series planned out well into 2017, but I just have to plan on which one to bring at what time.  On Monday, I will post two new verses, and there will be a review on Wednesday.  May God bless you all.  Amen.