Honor Your Father
Ephesians 6:1-7
Introduction: In God’s Word we are commanded to honor our fathers. To honor someone is to give them particular attention; high or special regard. Someone has said, “Honor is, therefore, the exact opposite of thoughtlessness and neglect. It conveys a sense of enormous importance to the thing to which it is given. It is an expression of value and worth.” (Copied) Honoring both our earthly fathers and our Heavenly Father is not meant for just the third Sunday in June but is to be done everyday of our life. Allow me to give you three ways to do this.
I. Show respect for who he is
A. Ephesians 6:1-3 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”
B. It's the father's duty to be the head of the family.
C. 1 Corinthians 11:3 "But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.”
D. Being the head is not about being a tyrant or dictator. A father has great responsibilities to his wife and to his children.
E. Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
F. Ephesians 6:4 “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
G. Being the head of the family is about lovingly providing for and guiding the family in the will of God and into a closer relationship with God.
H. "One night after my fifteen-year-old boy had been sent home for insubordination to college authority for the second time, I slept but little. Then next morning after breakfast I cut a good switch and rehearsed to my boy his course of disobedience. I told him to take off his coat. He replied, 'I won't do it.' I looked him in the face and said: 'My boy, I am your father; you are my son. I promised God Almighty on my knees last night that I would control you, and I will whip you here this morning or you and I will die in this woodland. Take off your coat, sir.' He saw in my eye for the first time in his life the spirit of authority. He drew his coat in a moment, and I gave him a sound thrashing, at the conclusion of which I said, `Now kneel down with me.' We knelt together, and I told God of my own neglect and of my boy's sinful conduct, and promised God in the hearing of my boy to be faithful to my duty the remainder of my life, and prayed God's blessing on my wayward child. When we arose, he put his arms around my neck and his head on my bosom. We wept together for a long time. Then he looked up and said, 'Father, I will never give you any more trouble.' And from that day to this I have never had a care about him. He has been the most obedient son a father ever had. He is married now, an official in the church, and no truer, nobler Christian man walks the earth than my precious son."—Christian Life.
I. The respect for authority or the lack thereof of begins in the home and carries over to school, the streets, society, and in the church.
J. Deuteronomy 27:16 “Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’”
K. God expects us to respect our father and recognize his position in the family.
L. Jesus Christ set the example when as a young man of twelve he is found teaching in the Temple. Fully knowing that His father is God and that Joseph is merely His step-father note what the Scriptures tell us: Luke 2:48-51a “And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us? Behold, Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, ‘How is it that ye sought Me? Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?’ And they understood not the saying which He spoke unto them. And He (Jesus)went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them (Mary and Joseph).”
M. You honor your father by obediently respecting his authority.
N. Malachi 1:6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear?
II. Be thankful for what He has done.
A. Proverbs 23:22a “Listen to your father who gave you life...”
B. Your father has given you life. You would not be here if it weren’t for him. You would never have taken your first breath, if he had not given you life. In addition to that he has given you your name, your identity. You are who you are because you are your father’s child.
C. Your father is not your father by accident. God had a personal plan for your life before you were even born. And God appoint that it would be your father that would give you life.
D. Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained (gave) you (as) a prophet to the nations.”
E. For most of us not only did our father’s give us life but they provided for us as we have grown up over the years, they have give food, shelter, clothing, protection, guidance and their often hard learned wisdom.
F. Mark Twain once said this: "When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in 7 years.
G. How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child! - copied
H. Are you thankful to your heavenly Father for what He does for you?
I. Matthew 6:25-33 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
III. Live so as not to discredit his name
A. We have all heard the expression that someone’s name has been dragged through the mud. It means that his reputation has been tarnished, or soiled either by his actions or the actions of someone bearing his family name.
B. Proverbs 28:7 “Whoever keeps the law is a discerning son, but a companion of gluttons shames his father.”
C. Proverbs 19:26 “He who mistreats his father and chases away his mother is a son who causes shame and brings reproach.”
D. You carry your father’s name. Your actions will either bring credit or discredit to your father’s name.
E. Ecclesiastes 7:1 “A good name is better than precious ointment”
F. So many young people bring shame to the family name by using poor judgment when they start dating and let their passions get out of control. They forget the dishonor and reproach they bring upon their family name
G. Do your actions shame your family name or honor it? Even more importantly do your actions honor or Dishonor God’s name?
H. Bear in mind we carry His name as his children.
I. John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”
J. 1 John 3:1 “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God.”
K. Deuteronomy 5:11 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”
L. Am I bringing honor to the name of God or am I dragging God through the mud by the life I lead?
