Honor Your Father And Your Mother

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother"-which is the first commandment with a promise- "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." -Ephesians 6:1-3

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-yes, even his own life- he cannot be my disciple. -Luke 14:26

[Jesus] replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." -Matthew 12:48-50

Hi Everybody

As Creekside we are in a series called A Rule For Life, where we are looking at the 10 Commandments. It is my belief that these 10 "rules," rather than a burden or an unachievable standard, are actually life-giving gifts that show God's heartbeat and love for us. Like all of God's word -- Old and New Testament -- they must be seen through the lens of Jesus (of whom all the Scriptures speak), the New Testament (the people of God reconstituted through Jesus' birth, life, death and resurrection), culture (which is where we live) and time (the thousands of years of fleshing out of God's redemptive plan for all things).

This week we talked about the Fifth Commandment, "honor your father and mother."

One of the ways that we reflect the image of God in which we are made, is by living in community. Family is the first community that any of us are a part of. Real community is good. Real community is hard. Real community is learned -- from the day we are born into the community of family. And so God says "honor your father and your mother." In doing so, we learn about living in authority, about the image of God in people, about fallibility and love mixed together, in community.

At the same time that the Bible tells us to honor our parents (and as parents to not exasperate our children), Jesus says a remarkable thing in the verse above from the book of Luke. He says if we really want to be His disciple, we must hate our parents and that they must hate us. What's up with that? He says in Matthew, that His real mom and family are those who do the will of God. Are either of those "honoring your mother and father?" The short answer, yes. Here's why.

Any relationship that we have and all that we do needs to flow from our relationship with God. They must flow from our relationship with God or they simply won't work right. If they do not flow from God they will tend to become about us, and will very likely move towards dysfunction and brokenness -- at least on some level. When, in contrast, we follow Jesus first, rest in the belovedness and acceptance that He holds us in and then move into our relationships with that foundation, we can really love people -- including our parents and our kids, we can honor the first and not exasperate the second, we can live into this Rule for Life without it being simply a rule. When we love God, before loving people, we fueled by the first and able to to the second.

What are you doing these days to Love God and Love people (in that order)?

Peace, hope and love