Ephesians chapter 6. I'm going to read this first small paragraph in chapter 6, which is verses 1 to 3. Apostle Paul here says, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, so that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth. So May is graduation season, which means we hear, it's the time of year we hear speeches on how children can change the world. And I think you could tell from Ephesians 6, 1-3 that Paul would agree with that so far as it goes. For this paragraph does occur in the context of the end of this letter, which is about changing the world. And Paul does address children as a special group that has a special action to perform, same as the wives, same as the husbands, in order to change the world. The difference lies in what that act is. Paul believes the superpower of children is their obedience to their parents. The main point of this paragraph versus 1 to 3 of chapter 6 is that children change the world by their obedience to their parents. And in effort to get us to download this truth, to embrace this truth, to put it deep down in us, Paul sets forth two things about this for us to consider. Number one, first, the command of the children's obedience. He wants us to consider the command of the children's obedience. And then second, in order to motivate that command, the calls of the children's obedience. He lists several causes, things that should cause a child to obey. But in my effort to make this more digestible for the children, we're going to take these in two parts. So it will be a two-part little mini-series here on this paragraph. break it up into these two parts. Today we'll look at the command and then next week we'll look at the calls together. So if you're a child, try very hard to pay attention, especially this morning. If you don't have a Bible, get one and open it up and try your best to follow along because this sermon is for you. Let's begin then. Paul, first of all, sets forth, we said, the command of the children's obedience. First thing he says, so I just want you to observe, first of all, that he addresses the children directly. If you're in a grammar class, kids, you learn about the noun of direct address. That's what this is. If you were on speakerphone and there were multiple people on the phone, this is the moment where your name is called when he says children. You are addressed not just by Paul here. Remember, these are the words of God. So hear this paragraph as though God Himself were speaking to you because He is in a very special way. Second, don't singularize it too much though, for it's in the plural. It's in irregular plural, but it's in the plural. And that means all children are addressed. So if we go back to our speakerphone analogy, it's more like there are teams or there are groups that are all listening, and it's more like your group is called. So just like wives are a group and husbands are a group, children are a group. They say, what's the point of pointing that out? Well, from this we can begin to draw some practical application already. No child is excluded from what Paul is about to say. From this we see that. The children, and parents, and grandparents, and teachers, and all who are involved in a child's life need to hear this. I need to hear this. No child can escape the things that Paul is about to say by claiming that they are special, and they just process differently, and they operate differently, as though this applies to some children but not them. Because the things that Paul is speaking about here are not special things. They are general things that apply to all children, no matter their differences. To put it one way, just imagine how you would feel if Paul had said, children, you need to sleep. Now, no one would say, well, my child is unique and doesn't require sleep. Because you recognize that sleep is something that's is not an accidental attribute. It's not a special attribute. It's just part of being in the category. For example, if I were to ask you children to think of a mermaid, think of one in your mind. And what if I were to ask you, now, what color hair does this mermaid have? And I'm sure she has some color hair. And that says something about you. If you're a husband, I'm not going to ask, is it different color hair than your wife? But what color hair does she have? Now, say it's red. And now let's change it to blonde. Is it still a mermaid? Yes, because hair color is not an essential attribute to being a mermaid. But if we change, hopefully this mermaid has a fishtail, or you don't know what a mermaid is, but let's say we change her now she has legs. Is it a mermaid? No, it's no longer a mermaid. Because fishtail is essential. Hair color is not essential. Fishtail is essential. What Paul is talking about here is essential attributes related to all children by virtue of the fact that they are a child. Okay? Now again, we know this because he addresses them all in the plural. So Paul is aware in his day that not all children are the same. and that certain children have different things to them, different characteristics. So we can know that he's addressing all of them. He is speaking about things that apply to all kids. So we further our intro here by saying, OK, what we have here is God speaking to children. And we can say what we have is God speaking to all children. Now, another little side thing is to Think about how this would apply to older children. Because it's worth noting that the term here, child, in the Greek means to come forth, like our word offspring. It means to bear. And so the term is not really one of age, but more of relationship. And that is a relationship that your mom is always reminding you of. When she says, no matter how old you get, you will always be my baby. Something like that. And in a way, it may annoy you to hear that, but in a way it's true. And so, although it's clear, I would argue from verse 4, when he begins to address the fathers and how to relate to these children, that Paul primarily has in mind children that are growing up. in the home and also cognizant enough to hear a command like this. So you might say, well, somewhere between 4 to 18-ish, 17-ish range. Something like that gets us in the ballpark. But it is worth remembering that this term was used in the ancient world for people beyond being in their home. It is a fact that you will always be born forth from whoever you were born forth from. And that relationship never changes. And the New Testament even emphasizes it in certain places deep into old age. 1 Timothy 5 comes to mind, and verses 3-8, where children are told to make a return to their parents in their old age. So you see, this relationship, it's not like this relationship means something while you're in the home, and then it's just completely cut off, and you don't think about it ever again as you age. It is something that remains and has ethical implications deep in the old age. To the point where Paul could say, if you defile this relationship, you've denied the faith. Even though you're well on into age and so are your parents. So, I say that to say, even older adults can pay attention and apply these things to their still living parents. So now, we've established what so far, who the command is addressed to. Now let's look at the actual command. The command is given in verse 1 and verse 2 in two parallel statements. Obey your parents in the Lord. And we're not going to look at the for this is right, because that's the cause for next week. And in verse 2, parallel statement, honor your father and your mother. So these are the two commands. Obey your parents and honor your father and mother. The verbs are obey and honor. Let's take obey first. They're both enriched by the way. You know how the Bible communicates with synonyms, especially the Proverbs. The wicked will not live in the land. The wicked will be cut off. They're not saying anything different. Just one is enriched by the synonyms as it goes on. Similarly here, we shouldn't interpret obey as a separate command from honor, but they go together. So let's look at how this is. Obey translates the Greek word hupo-kuo. It's got two word parts, hupo, which means below or under, and akuo, which means acoustics. If the children have watched the Trolls movie, they've heard the line, sweet acoustics, right? Acoustics refer to sound in general. And so hupo, sound, if hupo means below or under, it means under the sound. So literally this word obey means to come under the sound of your parents' voice. Old words like heed and hearken get the idea. In Deuteronomy 6 it says, Hear, O Israel. It's literally called the Shema because the Hebrew word Shema means hear. But it doesn't mean like listen in the sense just hear what it's saying. It means listen obediently. It means come under in a submissive way what you're hearing. Even the English word obey itself means to turn toward the hearing. to turn toward the hearing. So I thought of a couple of analogies, one biblical and one not. I have in my background training labs for field trials and such. And one of the things you would see, I got so deep into it, is you could have, Charlie probably remembers, I even bought one time this humongous, it was like a megaphone, whistle. And there were certain dogs I had trained that could be literally 300 yards away. and I could blow this whistle, and they would turn around, and I could give hand signals, and even like, toot, toot, toot, and that means like, come a little bit, and then toot, stop, and give more, and like, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, means come really fast back, and all of this, it's an amazing thing to handle a dog, and you would say that dog is listening to the whistle, literally be on the other side of this lake. commanding them. They are coming under the sound that they hear. They're being controlled by it. A biblical analogy would be Jesus, though speaking with His Word, not a whistle, His Word to the sea, saying, Be still. And it obeys. And there's an old hymn that the winds and the waves still know His voice. A child should listen that way, to the voice of their parents. So children, is that how you relate to your parents' voice? If your parents are speaking to you, giving you a command, telling you, for example, to come here or don't go this way or that way, and they are having to repeat it again and again and again, and you're blowing through it, you are disobeying your parents. You are breaking the law of God, and the God who created you hates what you are doing. It grieves Him. You're grieving to God, grieving to your parents, and grieving to the world around you. Because it is not whether you will be disciplined, but what discipline it will be. Undisciplined children discipline the rest of the world around them. If parents don't discipline their own children, then those parents discipline the other people around their children. It's not whether they will be disciplined, but who will be disciplined. That is the question. If you're doing that, not only disobeying them, but dishonoring them. Let's look at that word. And hopefully you can see that given the meaning of obey, so now you know when you hear obey, the word Paul uses, hupo kuo, to come under the sound. It means to be controlled by their voice. You can see why honor would be a synonym for it. For what do people think of a trainer? When he gets all of his dogs off his truck, and he runs each and every dog, and they are controlled by his whistle. What do they think of the trainer? What a terrible trainer? What a horrible, unorganized fellow he must be? No. They think, what a good trainer. They think well of him. And so you see the connection. What you do to your parents When you behave in the right way toward their voice, you honor them. You make them look valuable. You make them look good. And I know that sounds bad in our culture, but actually the Bible commands you to make your parents look good. That's what it means to honor them. This word honor means value, like a price tag. You go into the store and some things are more valuable, some things are less valuable. Paul is telling the children, God is telling the children, to have a motive in your heart. You want to lift up your parents in the world. You want people to think well of them. And isn't it true that often sinful behavior of parents towards children is simply a result of children provoking the parents by dishonoring them publicly? And parents, though they should be the more mature ones in the relationship, are so often not holy enough in their humility to endure being humiliated publicly. by their children, and so they turn harsh and lash out toward the children. So basically, Paul is saying every day is Mother's Day. Every day is Father's Day in God's eyes. And the way you honor them is not by a post, not by flowers, not by drawing a picture, not by a gift, but singly. and solely by obedience, by being controlled by their voice. So that's what the command is, to honor your parents by being controlled by their voice. Now next, I want you to notice as you look in your Bible there, kids, that it says your parents, plural, in the one synonymous expression, and then that's enriched by the second, your father and mother. So you have your parents and your father and mother. The obedience is to be given to both of them. Both of them. Why is this important? Because sometimes children will divide their parents and submit to one and not the other. Sometimes parents will even encourage this by saying, well, when your dad gets home, you know, he will deal with this. No. God says no. You obey your mother as you obey your father. That's not okay. It's not okay to run all over the mother until dad gets home. That may be what has to happen that day, but you should correct that. It should not be the pattern. And sometimes one parent, this happens another way, this division happens another way, one parent will be speaking evil of the other parent with the children and well of themselves and expecting the children to honor them while having a bad view of the other parent. That is wrong. All of that is wrong. God expects the same obedience to both parents. But listen further, sometimes parents know that obedience is to be rendered to both of them, and they'll correct it, but for the wrong reason. For example, sometimes a mother will want the father to address the children as if they sinned against the father. by dishonoring their mother. And they want to make it personal between humans. It goes something like this. They want the father to tell the children something like, hey, you disobey mom, that's the same as disobeying me. Like somehow you personally sinned against me, and that is what is thrown down as the great weight in the gravity that is to pull this chaos into control. That is not the way to order the Christian household, Paul says. So let's finish with the last one, children. The very last one he mentions. And that is who the command is to be done for, ultimately. Paul uses this prepositional phrase, in the Lord. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. And it's implied from the second, because this is one of the Ten Commandments. This is given by God. So now we have to ask, does in the Lord modify parents or does it modify the verb obey? And I think we can set aside the view that modifies parents because that would mean, you know, not only something like the meaning would be obey only your Christian parents. Like you can disobey your non-Christian parents? That seems self-evidently wrong. So it seems that Paul is using it to modify the verb obey. So it means something like, in the Lord obey. Or in the Lord is the way or the manner in how you obey your parents. In other words, it's to be treated as part of your relationship to Christ. which is why he quotes one of the Ten Commandments. Notice, these commandments come from God. They don't come from Dad. So the idea is not, oh, you do this because Daddy said to, but you do this because God said to. So I think that's the right way to think of it. So you should be thinking of it, it's because of your relationship to Christ that you are to honor both of your parents. You do it not because of the great weight in the Christian household to all of this order. You see what Paul is doing? He's saying God is summing up all things in Christ, and there's more reunifying left to do. But it starts within the home, and the home is to become this microcosm of this restructured society that manifests the Gospel. that then moves out into the world. And so there's this reordering that happens, and the wife is to reorder, and the husband is to reorder, and the children are to reorder, but it's all to be done unto Christ. It's all to be done because of this grand vision that Christ is reuniting all things. And God is reuniting all things in Him. So it is to have this God-word, Lord-word, orientation. So it's not particularly helpful to address the children. Now you may want to say, hey, mom and I are together, so you can't be right with me and wrong with her, and that's good. But again, so far as it goes, it needs to be communicated the way you can't be right with me and be wrong with her. The reason is because Christ has commanded you to operate in a certain way. The reason I'm offended is Christ has commanded you. You see, otherwise it just becomes personal. I'm offended as Father. Because after all, I am awesome. And everyone should just submit to Me. That's not the right flavor. So children, think of it like this. I thought this is the way to put it. Remember the story of Haman and Mordecai? When Haman wanted to kill Mordecai? And the king had brought Haman in, and he said he had a particular man in mind that he delighted to honor. And Haman assumed, because he was like that man we were talking about earlier, he assumed it was about him. And so he's like, oh yeah, you have a man you want to honor? OK. And he says, yeah, I do. What should be done for him? And so because Haman thought it was about him, I mean, he really laid it out, you know, giving Twizzlers and free, you know, ARU membership. He just dumped it on. And then after it was done, you remember the king said, now, go and do this for one Mordecai. And so Haman had to go parade Mordecai through the streets. Now, why is that such a helpful analogy? Because it wasn't about Mordecai at all in his heart. It was about the king. The king had told him to do this. And I know that analogy may break down in several ways, but all I'm trying to communicate with that is we need to get in our minds, children, that God has called you to honor your parents by coming under the control of their voice, not because they're such worthy parents, but because in His providence, they are your parents. And they are the only two humans that you will ever get to fulfill this law towards. So you should think of it like you play baseball. You're like, well, we've got next season. This is like you get two and this is it. This is it. You can't carry this commandment out toward any other human. And so there should be a sense of gravitas toward Christ. that this is not about are they Christian or not? Are they successful at parenting or not? I mean, they could be a total unbeliever. And even a horrible unbeliever. And you are still called by Jesus Christ to honor them. I mean, you go over to their house. I think because this is applied even to adults later, You go over and just something as simple as it's Christmas time and your dad, maybe he's unconverted, and he says, oh, we don't have cups. Can someone go to the store? You're sure, Dad? I'll go get it. That's a way to honor your father. Right? Can someone grab this? Yeah, I'll go do it. So Christians, sometimes, Martin Lloyd-Jones pointed this out years ago, we sometimes get too spiritual and we look upon our unconverted parents, if you happen to have unconverted parents, and just kind of devalue them. But you see how that's getting hung up in my obedience here is based on them. And it has nothing to do with them. Your king has told you to honor them. So you need to just separate that and think, no, I honor my parents in the way of worshiping Jesus Christ. Just like the wife is to submit to her husband not based on his great love, but based on the fact that Christ has commanded her to do it. And the husband is to love his wife not based on her great submission, but because Christ has commanded him to do it, and so the children are to do the same thing. Do it unto Christ. So don't be thinking, oh, this is terrible, I should get this right because I'll offend Dad. And this is terrible, I should get this right because I'll offend Mom. This is greatly important. I need to get this right because if not, I'll offend my Lord. who loved me and died for me on the cross. And it's so grievous, is it not, that in the world, and even in the Christian world, in the article world, in the conference world, the emphasis is on so much. It could be on math and English and reading as though this is the great power of a child. And we're going to get into that next week on what you think if you're an older child and you have siblings, like you want to do good to your family and you want to make a powerful impact. This is your superpower to bring this order and provide your sibling something to imitate by doing this. Again, remember, this is applicable to all children. Not all children are good at math. Not all children are good at English. But all children can honor their parents this way. All of them. So, children, respond to this sermon, and the one that is coming, the way Laban responded when he heard that, you know, His sister was to go be with this man. He says, well, we let her go. He said, well, the matter is from the Lord. We cannot speak to it, good or bad. That is how you should hear this sermon. It's not Jeffrey's sermon. You can read it right there for yourself. It says, children, obey. If you need to look the Greek up, you can look it up. If you live in a world where you have an iPhone, you can do that. You can be a Berean and double check me. This is not me. The matter is from the Lord. I have to deal with it and apply it, same as you. And the fact that it's from God is what gives it its gravitas. So be like the Thessalonians' parents and receive it, not as it were the words of men, but for what it really is, the Word of God. That's why it's a big deal. Disobedient to parents is listed in Romans 1 as one of the great sins of someone given over in judgment. on par with homosexuality. Someone who lives their life disobedient to their parents is someone who is dislocated from their creator in that enmity with who made them and on a course of eternal punishment. It is not okay to disobey your parents. It's listed in Timothy as part of the last days people will be disobedient to parents. And people won't be outraged by it. It's like the story of like the preacher and this other guy, they were somewhere and it was at a conference and it wasn't even his son and the man was telling his son, pick that up or I'm going to slap you on the butt or whatever it was. And the kid ignored him. He said, pick it up or I'm going to slap you. He ignored him. Pick it up or I'm going to slap you. And he ignored him. Finally, the preacher spoke up and said, if you don't pick it up, I'm going to slap you. And we get outraged at that. That's my child. You can't discipline my child. Well, somebody needs to discipline you. Because your child is headed for eternal judgment. And you hate your child, the Bible says. You do not love your child if you do not correct this. The self-will, Annabelle can tell you, she remembers, there were moments, the self-will, Justin was telling me, Susanna Wesley said the same thing, and she had like 82 children. The self-will must be broken. You must have conversations with your children and say, look, this way you are acting of just rising up your will. You live in a universe made for the glory of God. Now, God has given you a conscience, which you are currently blowing through. And then God has given you parents, which we're dealing with it however we are. And outside of this, when you leave the home, God has given you police officers who carry guns to use them. The world will not tolerate your disobedience. When He pulls you over and says, step out of the car, and you say, well, I didn't have my nap today, you're going to jail. There's no excuse. Obey the authority. And if you go to jail and you remain wicked and unrepentant, You'll eventually face God in judgment. In this universe, that will is put down in the end. It's like the old Johnny Cash song. Sooner or later, He's going to cut you down. You may run on for a long time. But sooner or later, God is going to cut you down. That should be a message of parents to their children. Fathers should ensure that it happens. I know of no attribute more essential to being a good father than to be a protector and to be a provider, and to be one who oversees and sees what is coming and cares for your children. And how can you be a good father and have a clue of reality and look and see that eternity is coming? And I must prepare my children for this. Like it says in Amos, prepare to meet your God. So it is to be taken seriously. It is wrong to regard it as cute. It is not cute. If you read the writings of Augustine in his confessions on children, you say, well, I'm Reformed. You will lose your mind if you read the writings of Augustine. The way he describes babies as being sinful. You will feel like, oh, I thought me and Augustine were on the same page. Apparently not. Apparently not. So this is a very serious subject, children, and should be taken very seriously by you. And we should not promote a culture here that it is cute and okay, but it is something that is a command of the Lord, and that a human being not living this way needs help, and they need it drastically. They need it eternally. So, in this first message, what have we seen, children? The general proposition that Paul is setting forth for you to consider, and even us older children, if we have still living parents, is that children change the world by obedience. That's your superpower. And that this culture you live in, tells you everything else under the sun, you know, in your little 5th grade graduation ceremony of how you're going to change the world and the great thing you need to do. But the Apostle Paul, in his little graduation ceremony speech to you in 5th grade, says you're a superpower in the way you change the world, the way you bless all your friends and your siblings and everyone around you. is by how well you are controlled by your parents' vocal cords. And so he sets forth to urge us to accept as the command and the cause of disobedience. Today we've looked at the command. Who is addressed? The children. What the command involves? Coming under the control of their voice and honoring them that way. Who the obedience is to be rendered to? Both of them. And ultimately, who the obedience is for? The Lord. Next time, we'll consider the motives that Paul gives the children to obey this way. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. Help us to remember it as your word. No one else's word. Help us to remember that it is a word all of us are under. And it is a word that we must obey. And we must give heed to. So pray, Lord. for myself and my children and all the other parents and their children and anyone who is involved in the lives of children, grandparents, teachers, that a holy seriousness would overtake them and they would almost be seized by horror at an out-and-out disobedient child and be led to address one another and discuss these things and pour over your word and think about how to help in all these ways. So, pray for the children, Lord, those who are already obeying, that you would put more width in their cells and cause them to excel still more. and pray as we come back, Lord, you would help us to look into these motives that you give us. But for this week, may we just be gripped that this is the great thing that a child can do. And may we be gripped by the great importance of it. In Jesus' name, amen.