Ten Commandment 6 (5th Commandment)
Bible passage: Exodus 20:12
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.”
Dear brothers and sisters,
In Matthew 22, a lawyer asked Jesus, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" This was asking which of God's many commandments is the most important. Jesus replied in Matthew 22:37-40, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and [o]foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.’" God has given us many commandments in the Bible, but if we can truly fulfill the two, loving God and loving our neighbor, we will be able to keep all other commandments too.
A person who loves God will not commit sins detestable before God, and a person who loves their neighbor will not harm others. It’s why Romans 13:10 tells us that "Love is the fulfillment of the Law." Simply stating "love God" and "love your neighbor" may not provide complete understanding. So God elaborated on the principles through the teachings recorded in the 66 books of the Bible. The Ten Commandments given to Moses also gives insight to the two overarching commandments: to love God and to love our neighbor.
The overarching theme of the first four commandments rests under: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." This means serving only God the Creator, not making or serving idols, not taking the Lord's name in vain, and keeping the Sabbath. All relate to the commandment of "loving God." Commandments five to ten focus on the theme: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." It’s why we are instructed to honor our parents and refrain from committing acts of evil like murder, theft, and adultery against our neighbors. If we love our neighbors as ourselves, we will not wish suffering on them and keeping these commandments will be effortless. In Daniel 9:4, our God is described as "The great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments."
Dear brothers and sisters, I hope you will love God and love your neighbor as yourself, and faithfully observe all commandments. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will all dwell forever in the loving kindness of God. Dear brothers and sisters, The fifth commandment is “Honor your father and your mother.” Parents give life and raise their children. Even if they haven’t been involved in your life, no one can say that they’d exist without their parents, It’s a given for anyone with a good conscience to honor their parents even if it wasn’t recorded in the commandments.
God’s commands to honor parents does not simply refer to a physical sign of respect. Ephesians 6:1 tells us, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." It means we need to honor our parents according to God's Word. We are not keeping God’s commandments if we compromise our obedience to His commands to please our parents. This is acting against God’s will. For example, if your parent tells you not to go to church on Sunday and spend time as a family, can you break the Sabbath just to make your parents happy? No, this is not possible. To do so is not truly honoring your parents as it leads everyone towards destruction. If we truly love and honor our parents, then helping them to meet the Lord and receive salvation should be the highest priority. No matter how much we care for our parents, how can we say we truly love them if we allow their souls to go to eternal hell? True filial piety includes not only following God’s will ourselves but also moving our parents' hearts and enter heaven together.
2 Chronicles 15:16 tells us, "He also removed Maacah, the mother of King Asa, from the position of queen mother, because she had made a horrid image [a]as an Asherah, and Asa cut down her horrid image, crushed it and burned it at the brook Kidron.” A queen mother, as the mother of a nation, serving idols directly opposes God and goes down a path of destruction. It also risks misleading the people into idol worship and guides them towards ruination. King Asa did not obey just because she was his mother. Instead, he officially removed her royal status. King Asa encouraged his mother to repent and provided a warning to the people through this action.
This is true filial piety. Serving parents on the outside is not everything. Above all, true respect and service come from leading our parents' souls to salvation and heaven. We need to also bring joy to their hearts by serving them to the fullest in the Lord. The command of honoring parents is essentially the same as keeping God's commandments and honoring God. A person who truly honors God will naturally honor their parents. Those who sincerely serve their parents will also serve God wholeheartedly. When we look at who comes first, serving God takes precedence. Let’s look an example. If a father tells his child to "go east," the child should naturally obey. But if his grandfather says, "don't go east, go west," what should the child do? The child should go to his father and say, "Father, grandfather says to go west," before heading west. If the father respects his own father, the child’s grandfather, then he would obey the grandfather’s instructions.
So the father shouldn’t feel hurt and think his child was ignoring him because his child was prioritising his grandfather. Who created us and our fathers, grandfathers, and our ancestors before us? It’s none other than God. God the Creator made Adam, the ancestor of all humanity, and it is God who gives life to all people. Babies are conceived through the union of the parents' sperm and egg, but the seed of life is given by God. It was God who provided the seed of life to these parents through their own parents. No matter what, humans cannot create the seed of life themselves. The physical body is merely a temporary dwelling whilst on earth. Our true self, our master, is the spirit that resides within the body. No matter the advancement of human knowledge, it cannot replicate a person's soul. Even if humans created a semblance of human beings through cloning, it cannot be called a person unless God presents it with a soul. The spirit cannot be generated by human means. It is solely given by God, to which we are reborn through the Holy Spirit.
The true parents of our soul is God. While we need to honor and serve our physical parents, we must love and serve God, our Father, who gave us life more ardently. The understanding parents won’t think they have the right to control their children simply because they gave birth to them. Psalm 127:3 tells us, " Behold, children are a [a]gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward." Parents are entrusted precious souls by God to be nurtured according to His will, not to be treated as possessions to control at will. With this understanding, Abraham was able to obey without hesitation when God asked him to offer his beloved son Isaac as a burnt offering. Dear brothers and sisters, to "honor" means to "serve with obedience, deep respect, and regard for someone or something.” I encourage everyone to self-reflect on whether you have neglected your parents whilst claiming to love God. Do you act with humility and friendliness at work or with church members but act terse and rude to your family at home?
Do you show frustration or disrespect toward your elderly parents when they don’t make sense? Loving God and honoring parents are interconnected. 1 John 4:20 says, "If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen." In Matthew 15:4-9, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and teachers of the law for their hypocrisy. They say to give owing to God instead of to their parents, which is a violation of God’s law. This is not from the heart of serving God. Rather, it’s an excuse to take what should have been given to parents for themselves.
A person who loves and honors God will inevitably love and honor their physical parents. Those who have struggled to love their parents in the past will also begin to realize their parents’ love as they come to understand God’s love more deeply. True love will fill our hearts when we walk in the truth, get rid of sin, and live fully within the Word. It will allow us to serve our biological parents with genuine love and gratitude. Dear brothers and sisters, God has promised blessings to those who love Him from the heart and honor their parents. Exodus 20:12 tells us, "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you." This verse does not simply mean living a long, physical life. When we honor God and our parents in the truth, it shows that our souls prosper. This prosperity of the soul leads to overall success, well-being, and the continual protection of God. Protection from accidents and disasters, and blessings and success at home, at work, and in business.
All these blessings are embodied in the promise of a long life. A perfect example of this is found in the story of Ruth in the Old Testament. Ruth faced a truly difficult life situation. A foreign woman married to a Judean man; she became a young widow with no children. Her father-in-law deceased and no men left to support the family, she was in a desperate situation. When her mother-in-law, Naomi, decided to return to her hometown in Judah, Ruth chose to follow. Naomi encouraged her young daughter-in-law to start anew in her own hometown, but Ruth declined. She simply couldn’t abandon her lonely mother-in-law and devoted herself to serving her.
Ruth left behind her own family and followed Naomi to the land of Judah. Could you do the same? Ruth sacrificed her own happiness and fulfilled her duty as a daughter-in-law out of love for her mother-in-law. Ruth also had faith in the God of Israel through her mother-in-law. This is evident in the deeply moving confession recorded in Ruth 1:16-17: "But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.
Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.’” Hearing this beautiful confession, God blessed Ruth, even though she was a Gentile. God gave her a wealthy new husband and a blessed life with her beloved mother-in-law. King David came from her ancestry, and Ruth received the glory of being included in the genealogy of Jesus, the Savior. As God promised, Ruth honored her parents in the Lord and received abundant blessings in spirit and flesh. It’s so grateful to see many of our congregation diligently serving their parents as their faith grows and receiving recognition from people around them. The same attitude applies to spouses as well. As couples begin to change in the truth and serve each other, those who’ve experienced strife in their marriage and difficulties at home begin to have harmony.
Those in this situation testify that the gates of blessing at home have since opened wide. When we transform in the truth and serve others around us, God delights in our actions and pours out His blessings upon us. Dear brothers and sisters, It’s important not to break God's commandments out of love for physical parents nor neglect your parents because of your zeal for God. Jesus didn’t simply say ‘loving god’ was the greatest commandment when asked. The importance of ‘loving your neighbor’ was also emphasized. When genuine, love for God will be evident in how you treat your brothers and sisters in faith and in your relationships with parents, family members and neighbors. You’ll be able to bring glory to God with grace and virtue. I hope that you will all shine the light of truth through good deeds and live a life that glorifying God. I pray in the name of the Lord that the glorious God of honor will grant you with glory and blessings.
