Treasuring God’s Gifts

Means We Value our Parents and all authorities
(rather than look down on them or provoke them)

Eph. 2:10, Exodus 20:12, Luke 10:25-38

  † In Jesus Name †

May you be so overwhelmed by God’s grace and peace that your trust in Him overwhelms you anxieties and doubts, enabling you to know His work in your life.

As I look around the room, it would seem that it has been a while since most of us lived under out parent’s roof.  Which is what comes to mind when we talk about the fourth commandment, the idea of honoring your father and mother.

We think that commandment that part of God’s plan is for children and young adults, those who still should be hearing their parent’s directions, and immediately going and obeying.

Take out the trash,

Clean your room!

Be home by 10.

Remember, the Bible says you have to honor your father and mother!

Of course, it is usually the parents reminding their children of this…

And the children always ask in confirmation – “what if they are wrong”, or “what if they want me to do something God knows is wrong….

As we have said throughout this series, this is not about being a robot and obeying the commandments of God.  If we treat it that way, it is no wonder that scripture is used as a weapon, and that people react to it in “self-defense”, trying to prove they are not as bad as the next person is.

But when we see this “word” this part of the design that begins with God revealing Himself to be our creator, revealing Himself to be the Lord who delivers us from our slavery to sin and the devil, then it takes on a different understanding.

For we begin to value our parents and all authorities as gifts from God, we realize it is not about them or us, it is about God. Trusting Him at His word becomes more dominant in our life than our frustrations that come when we have to interact with fellow sinners, whose lives and decisions impact our life.

or at least sometimes we think they impact our life negatively.

What does it mean to Honor

Looking a little deeper into this, we need to define “honor”.  It means to value, to treasure.  That is very different from simply obeying people, or simply submitting to them.

Why would we treasure these people, why would we value them? I mean after all, aren’t they sinners just like us?  We know they had bad days, challenges, maybe a temper or a rush to judgment.  Maybe their faith seems week, or they didn’t believe at all.

How do we honor them, how can we value them then?

Again, valuing them is not based in their value as we perceive it, but in the value of God, and in trusting in His word, especially promises like Romans 8, that all things work out for good for those who love God.  Or Jeremiah’s words about God having a plan for our lives, or of course our epistle for this season of lent….

That God is making our lives a masterpiece.

It’s a matter of trusting in Him.  About knowing His love, about realizing the power of the gospel in your life,

The Extension

I mention before that from the responsibility of the parents, Luther extends out that responsibility to others.  People who have callings like teachers, doctors, police officers, and even government.  These people take a portion of the role of the parent, and we entrust people to their care.

This where faith is seems to be a challenge!  How can we trust God in this! Their sins are usually much more public, and we have to wonder about their judgment, their care for our sake, their trustworthiness, how can we honor and value them?

We have to keep re-focusing, to know it is not about our trust in men, but our trust in God.  Whether we are the three men thrown into the furnace, and were kept safe, or the one who uttered, ⁵⁶  “Look!” he said. “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!” Acts 7:56 (TEV)  

Those words come a short time before the rocks were piled on him, as Stephen asked God to forgive those who were tossing them. That takes trusting in God, and knowing His promises.

But that is where is all keeps coming back to, this God who reveals Himself as our God, as our deliverer, as our provider, as our protector.

Who throughout scripture, is always faithful, who always hears His people call, A God who desires all to be saved. A God who delivers His people from oppression, who calls us His children, His people.

Who invites sinners to gather in His presence, that He can pronounce them clean, and welcome and give them faith and repentance, and transform them>>

As we trust in Him, as we realize the power of the death and resurrection of Christ, as we dwell in their presence… more and more… we know this…

The Lord is with you…

Therefore we dwell in His peace, in His glory, in something more incredible that we can conceive of, and know that we are guarded in this peace, our hearts and minds, by Jesus.

AMEN?