Take our Bibles and our catechisms tonight. You can turn to Exodus 20 and in your catechisms you could turn to question 69. Question 69. We're going to consider the fifth commandment tonight and Some of you may be saying, how can you possibly fill up 30 minutes with the fifth commandment? I mean, honor your father and your mother. What else is there to say? Well, there is a lot to say, but why don't we begin by considering the commandment itself? So, the catechist asks us in question 69, what is the fifth commandment? Let's answer together. The fifth commandment is honor your father and mother that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. All right. We have teenagers in here tonight. Good. All right. Listen up. Everybody listen. Like many children and teenagers, I got into a lot of trouble when I was young. Some of you, especially those on the Pastoral Research Committee, have already heard my testimony, and I think I gave it when I came here. I don't know how much of this I shared, but you're going to hear it tonight. Part of the reason I got into trouble when I was younger, and I don't mean just like, you know, in middle school, but I mean on into high school, is because I had three really close friends that, quite frankly, were wicked. I mean, there's just really no other way to describe it. And I'm not over-exaggerating. I mean that they were wicked. So in my teen years, Well, so they were wicked, but at the same time, I was raised by parents who loved the Lord. They weren't always faithful to like catechizes and stuff, but they did read the Bible to us and they were faithful to have us in church. And I thank God for that. Because even though I was raised in an assemblies of God church, which yeah, theology was questionable, but I did hear the gospel. I knew that Christ had died for sinners. I was aware of the gospel. I was aware of the Bible. Okay, and within the Bible, I was aware that God was a holy God that was to be feared, and also that I was to honor my mother and my father. That much I knew. Not that I always did it, but I knew it. And the reason I share that with you is because as a result, I always had this, I guess you could call it fear and trepidation that, you know, I need to obey my mother and my father. I need to do it because behind them, listen to me very carefully, is God. Behind my parents is God, and as they instruct me, as they discipline me, as they rear me, that is in some sense, don't hear me incorrectly, the voice of God, the direction of God, the guidance of God. And so as a result of having that upbringing, as I moved into my teen years, some interesting things happened. And one of them was my friends started ratcheting up the kind of criminal, illegal, wicked activity that they had been doing. So we went from junior high to high school. And without going into a lot of detail, my friends started stealing cars and taking them for joy rides and then leaving them in an orchard and setting them on fire. They started getting in fights with people and severely beating them. They got into drugs. They got into alcohol. And quite frankly, I started getting scared. Not scared in the sense that, oh, you know what, you don't want to risk and have fun, but scared in the sense that I knew that that activity, that lifestyle led to something that was not good. And so I stopped hanging out with them. I knew that God is not mocked, what you reap is what you sow. And my parents were telling me, you know, those guys are bad birds, you probably shouldn't hang out with them. And the crazy thing is they didn't even know the half of what my friends were doing. But they knew enough, they sensed enough, they saw enough to know that they were bad news and they told me to stop hanging out with them. And so I did, I stopped hanging out with them. And out of those three friends today, only one is alive. Two of them were killed by overdoses. And they both died in their 20s. They died very young. I was there when their mothers took two handfuls of dirt and threw them in their graves on top of their coffin, tears streaming down their face. I mean, they were just devastated. But it wasn't an accident. And that's what I want to highlight this evening. Their deaths were not accidents. They were the consequences of a lifestyle that they chose. What you reap is what you sow. Now, we're gonna talk about exceptions, but I want that to sink in tonight. Because I think sometimes, well, I think it's always the case that everyone thinks I'm the exception, right? I'm the exception. It'll be different with me. I think that all the time. And my wife is always very gracious to remind me, Josh, you're not much different. It's what happens to everybody else is gonna happen to you. So tonight I want to consider the fifth commandment. I want to consider the fifth commandment. And very simply, I just have three headings tonight. I want to consider the number one, the breadth of the command, number two, the heart of the command, and number three, the promise attached to the command. Okay. So we're moving from the first table of the Decalogue to the second table. And by the way, let me just clear that up really, really quickly. Okay. I know you've all seen Charlton Heston and the 10 commandments, and he had one tablet over here. And it had, strangely, Roman numerals 1 through 4. Don't know where that came in the Hebrew culture. And then over here, you know, Roman numerals 5 through 10. Okay? So, first table, second table. Well, it didn't really work that way. There were two tables in the Ark of the Covenant. But what it was was two copies of the covenant, one for the suzerain, one for the vassal. So one for Yahweh and one for the people of God. But our culture, because they saw the Ten Commandments, well, it actually was before that, has assumed that one table is one through four, the second is five through ten. That's not how it is, but it is helpful to break up Ten Commandments as one through four having to do with my relationship vertically with God. And then five through ten, my relationship horizontally with man. And that's why Jesus summed up the whole law in what two commandments? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. And secondly, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Those two commandments sum up the first table of the law and the second table of the law. So we're embarking this evening upon the second table of the law. We're considering our relationships with those around us, our horizontal relationships. Okay. So the first thing we want to consider is the breadth of the command, the breadth of the command. So in question 70. The catechist asks, what is required in the fifth commandment? And we answer, the fifth commandment requires the preserving the honor and performing the duties belonging to everyone in their several places and relations as superiors, inferiors, and equals. So here's the first thing we need to notice. This command extends not only to literally your mother and your father, but to all stations of authority above at the same level and below in society. So the catechism refers to it as three different categories, your superiors, those above you, your equals, obviously those on the same footing as you, and then your inferiors. So this covers your relationship to your mother and your father, to your family members, to your children, to the government, to your employer, to your employees, to your coworkers, to your pastors to deacons etc etc every stage in life where there is a superior equal or inferior the fifth commandment is applicable now some of you might be saying i don't know about that aren't you kind of reading a little bit too much into the commandment well just consider for a second the context in which this commandment was given. When Israel received it, it was understood that this law, as well as the others, regulated not only family life, but also societal life, right? I mean, this was the charter for Israelite society. Remember that in Israelite society, everything was together. They didn't use these terms, but church and state were together, and the Ten Commandments ruled both of them. And so it makes sense that if you're going to have a set of commandments that's not only going to regulate familial life, but your business transactions, your dealings with your neighbors, your ox falls into your ditch, how do you deal with that type of stuff? You need a commandment that is very broad and can cover the whole gamut. But not only that, you must remember that in scripture, the structure of family metaphors is quite elastic. So for example, we see Joseph in the Old Testament, referring to Pharaoh as his father, right? We see, oftentimes, the inferiors to the king in the united monarchy and the divided monarchy referring to the king as their father. To whom did they refer to Deborah as? Deborah, in Judges 5, as our mother. Okay, Golda Meir, one of the prime ministers of Israel in the 1970s, she was often referred to as a modern day Deborah, and they look to her as their mother. Paul refers to himself as the father of the Corinthian church, the father spiritually. He refers to Timothy as my dear child, remember that. In 1 Timothy 5, 1 and 2, younger men are to treat older men as their what? Their fathers. They're to treat older women as their mothers, and they're to treat younger women as their what? Their sisters. And so this whole idea of a family, not only in the church, not only in the church, but also in society. I know that some of us don't like to think about this, but there's a sense in which, I mean, we even have this ingrained in our culture, right? We refer to the government as what, Sam? Uncle Sam, right? Now, we may not like that uncle. He may get shunned at the family party every Christmas, but nonetheless, he's our uncle. Okay, there's a sense in which government serves in a familial function, and I think that this is worked into the warp and woof of the biblical idea of superiors, equals, and inferiors. And so the third thing to consider that just kind of confirms this is as we get into the other commandments, it talks about not coveting your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, so on and so forth. I mean, think of how ridiculous it would be if we took that literally. So I can't covet my neighbor's car, but I could covet Darren's car. I mean, come on, that's just, that's foolish, right? So the idea is that these family metaphors are elastic, and we are to take the fifth commandment as referring to superiors equals and inferior. So this command governs all of our earthly relationships with others, and this is appropriate because the first four commands speak of our obligation to God, and the last six commands now speak of our obligations to man. Okay, so with that in mind, let's consider, secondly, the heart of the command. Okay, so we owe superiors, inferiors, and equals honor But what is the heart of that command? Well, I would submit to you, secondly, that the heart of the command is loving honor. Loving honor. Look at question 71. Let's consider it together. What is forbidden in the fifth commandment? The fifth commandment forbids the neglecting of or doing anything against the honor and duty which belongs to everyone in their several places and relations." Okay? So, in Galatians 6.10, Paul says, let us do good to everyone and especially those who are of the household of faith. So first off, he gives a blanket command, do good to everyone, honor everyone, be loving to everyone. So whether it's our parents, our government, our employers, our co-workers, our children, our employees, our spouses, we are to honor, respect, and show dignity and where applicable, submission. That's what we're to show them. Now, There's obviously exceptions to this, right? If your parents' kids tell you, once you start hanging out with friends or dating or courting or whatever you wanna call it, and they tell you be home by 10, okay, well, you need to be home by 10, all right? If they're telling you you can't be baptized as a Christian, well, that's a different game, right? Because there's authority that is higher than them that calls you to be baptized. And by the way, that's a true story, that happens a lot. I've had to counsel people whose parents were not Christians and they were adamantly opposed to their son or daughter going to church, being a Christian, etc., etc. And it's interesting how cultures are because in some cultures, particularly Chinese cultures, the parents were, let's say, Buddhist and they were totally fine if their kids went to church but baptism's where they drew the line. You don't get baptized because that's like the point of no return. Now the mark is on you that you're a Christian, but if you're just going and it's kind of a social thing, that's fine. So obviously there are exceptions to this, but when we think about exceptions, whether it's the category of your work or your parents or government or whatever, we have to be very careful to distinguish between objective commands, Subjective opinions and preferences and general wisdom. So I'm just going to give you a few examples, okay? Are you still commanded to honor your parents after you're adult and out of the house and you've got a family of your own? Well, it's pretty obvious that you do, but how does that get fleshed out, right? So things get a little tricky, for example, when your parents get a little, you know, up there in age. And perhaps they're going to need somebody to watch after them. You know, they've had their license taken away. They shouldn't be driving anymore. It's hard for them to get around. Maybe they're so old that they're infirm and they need to be in hospice, or whatever the case may be. Here's the question. If you are capable of taking your parents in, your ailing parents in, should you? Is it appropriate if you are capable to do that? If you're financially capable, if capable, if you have time, even if it's going to be inconvenient, is it appropriate for you to say, no, I would rather pay somebody else to do it even against their wishes. Well, I'm not necessarily gonna give you an answer to that. I think every situation's a little different. But I think there are some things we could probably put our finger on by saying, number one, if against their wishes, you wanna put them in hospice and have somebody else take care of them because, man, it would just cramp your lifestyle to have to take care of your kids. Just ask yourself, how many diapers of yours did they change? I mean, you know, we just go down the line of all the many ways that your parents took care of you. And, you know, remember that Paul tells us is if anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for members of his household. It says something really strong. He has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. So we need to keep these things in mind. Just because our culture has made it very convenient for us to kind of put our parents away when they get older and crotchety and maybe even, you know, have episodes of dementia. I mean, I've seen this time and time again where, you know, parents are even mean to their kids because they've lost their mind. uh... i think it's important that we keep in mind that it is our obligation as family members to take care of them But on the other hand, there are times when there's parents that's like, please, I don't want to stay with you, okay? Put me in the, you know, the kind of a hospice place where I could go out and take a walk every day or I could go play golf or whatever. I like my freedom. And so, we certainly do need to take into consideration their wishes as well. What about submission to our government? There's a hornet's nest. We were in a church one time where there was a family, they'd actually left before we got there, but this family was one of those families that believed that theologically, not just politically, but theologically we were not obligated to pay taxes to the government. Whenever I hear things like this, I'm just kind of wondering, like, what Bible are you reading? I mean, did you cut out the verse that says, render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and what is to God, to God's? I mean, you know, I mean, certainly it doesn't tell us how much, and I think that's all the more reason why we could say, I can't necessarily say, once the government requires this percentage of my income on taxes, you know, that's enough. No, the Bible doesn't tell us. It says to give to Caesar what is Caesar's. So unless the government is telling us to explicitly violate one of God's commands, we are to submit to them. And I think it's important that we see it as, in a sense, see the voice of government, the place of government, the interaction of government as the voice of God. I remember R.C. Sproul one time said, you know, when you see a sign going down the freeway that says 55 miles an hour, that is the voice of God telling you that's what you must do. And I know we all struggle with that. I'd be the hypocrite if I said that I don't speed. I mean, I get a ticket at least every 18 months. And I'm not bragging about that. I'm ashamed of that, okay? We are to be a witness even in how we drive. And I know some of you are like, that's why I don't put a fish on my bumper because of how I drive. You know, I don't want to send the wrong impression. But we are called to submit to the government. Loving honor causes us to submit to God's sovereign order. You know, in most cases in life, the biggest problem we have with submission to our authorities is not that they are telling us to do something that the Bible forbids. 95, probably 97% of the time, it's the everyday mundane things of life. So your boss tells you to do something a certain way, but you can think of five ways that are better and more efficient. And guess what? You may be right. You may be right, but that's not the point, is it? The point is that the Lord has made them the boss and not you. He's made them the husband, them the president, them the pastor, them the police officer, and not you. And they will be held accountable for what they call you to do. They will be held accountable both in the earthly sphere and ultimately in the heavenly sphere for their decisions. But so will you in how you choose to submit to them. we are called to submit to them. So, you know, I would just say, you know, God has ordered your life to be submissive to people that don't always get it right, and yet we are to submit, and I would submit to you. that it's there in those situations that trust in the Lord, despite what you see, just like we read in Peter, it gets cultivated and flourishes within you when you are forced. You are forced to trust God despite the fact that you're having to do something that you don't think is a good idea. And I'm not saying something that violates your conscience. I'm saying something that is just a drag that's inconvenient, et cetera, et cetera. I think of Paul of what he says in Colossians chapter three, verses 22 to 25. He's speaking to slaves. Of course, he's speaking in the New Testament era when the system of slavery was going on. And by the way, it was a little different than how it was in our country in the 19th century, but nonetheless, it was active. And he says this. Slaves obeying everything those who are your earthly masters not by way of I service as people pleasers But with sincerity of heart fearing the Lord whatever you do work heartily as for the Lord and not for men Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance of your as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. So when our bosses speak, there's a sense, once again, in which it is God that is speaking to us. And if we can view it that way, I think it'll help us flesh out this command with greater ease. We're not trying to please them. We're trying to please the Lord. I just want to say tonight, And maybe I'm just talking to men, I don't know. You take it with a grain of salt. But I think that when we think about submission, one of the best examples that we could go to, at least I know of in this church, is the women. Women are commanded in Scripture to submit to their husbands. And I've heard story after story, even from my own wife, and I've experienced things, even in our own marriage, where she has had to submit to some really bad decisions that I decided to make. And yet, like Sarah, she entrusted herself to God and submitted to Abraham. My wife has never called me Lord, but Peter does exhort women to do that. But I think that that is a great example for us. Women also give us an example, a scriptural example of what the church is to be to Christ. We are to submit to Christ. Women are submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ. And so I think, you know, I commend our women for that. And I think our women in our congregation do a wonderful job. And it's crazy to me that Peter uses the example of Sarah. I'm just gonna read for you 1 Peter 3, five to six. For in the same way, the holy women who hoped in God long ago adorned themselves by being subject to their husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham, calling them Lord. You become her children when you do what is good and have no fear in doing so. What did Abraham ask Sarah to do? to lie. He asked her to lie and say that she was his sister. Now there was just enough truth in that. for her to probably have a clear conscience because they were technically somewhat related. But they weren't technically at the same time full bore brother and sister. But you know what? She hoped in God by submitting to Abraham despite her husband's foolish decision. And I think that's the principle. That's the principle that wives exude as they submit to husbands and it's the principle for us as we submit to our employers. It's the principle for us as we submit to police officers and the government. We're not saying that what they're doing is the best thing, but what we're saying is God is in control. And I think especially for us, who rightly have a robust view of sovereignty, do we forget that God's in control? Do we forget that the Lord has their heart in his hand and he could turn it any way that he wants? He doesn't call us to manipulate them and change their minds. I mean, we can reason with them. He calls us to be faithful and submissive. It doesn't mean we can't share our opinions, but it does mean that we certainly don't badmouth them and we, at the end of the day, submit. Well, then let's consider thirdly and finally the promise attached to the command. And let's read question 72. What is the reason attached to the fifth commandment? And we answer, the reason attached to the fifth commandment is a promise of long life and prosperity, as far as it shall serve God's glory and their own good, to all such as keep this commandment. Now there's a few things we need to tease out here that are very, very important, okay? The first thing is this as we come into the New Testament and you see Paul citing this commandment in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 2 & 3 You you might notice that he changes something. Let me read you my translation of Ephesians 6 2 & 3 and Paul says honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment accompanied or with by a promise namely That it will go well with you and that you will live a long time on the earth Okay on the original commandment It says the land and to what is it referring the land of Palestine? Because remember there's no such thing as a law apart from a covenant that gives it context So in the Old Covenant the Mosaic Covenant was the context of the Fifth Commandment but for us the New Covenant is the context for the fifth commandment. And in the new covenant, we are not attached to any plot of land here, but we do have a promise for land. And what is it? It is the new heavens and the new earth. It says in Romans 4.13, for the promise of Abraham and his offspring was that he would be heir of the world. And it did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Make no mistake, we do believe that we will inherit a plot of land, but it's much more than Palestine. It is the whole world. And what he says here, as he runs the fifth commandment through the grid of Christ, is now in the new covenant, speaking to children, speaking to teenagers, speaking to adolescents, speaking to all children, is honor your father and your mother. And there's a promise attached to it. It will go well with you and you will live a long life on earth. Now here's the question that we have to ask. Is this an absolute promise? Now the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel would have us believe that it is. And if you just do certain things, not only will you have a good life, but you'll have a crazy rich life. But I want to submit to you that it's not an absolute promise. All it takes is one exception to invalidate it as a concrete promise. And certainly there are children who believe in Christ who died young. I had a friend who died in a car accident at 16 years old, loved the Lord. The Lord took him out of the hands of his parents for reasons that I don't know. So I just wanna flesh this out just for a few minutes. This is not an absolute promise, but it is a general promise. And if I could explain it this way, I would say this. It's like a promise that's in the category of wisdom. Now, what do I mean by that? When you read Proverbs, you see a basic pattern throughout the whole book of Proverbs, and what is it? It's basically this. If you do good, you know, the righteous people, they prosper, they flourish, they live long lives. If you do wicked, you'll be cut off, okay? Now, Proverbs is like Wisdom 101, and that's why so many times, especially toward the end, you'll see You'll read a father addressing his son, my son, listen to my words, listen to your mother, listen to your father. It's for children, okay? It's the basic principles of wisdom. There's never like a caveat like in there like, don't lie. But if the Gestapo comes around and knocks on your door and asks if you're hiding Jews, no, no, there's no nuance like that. It's just basic wisdom. And any of you that have children know that there's a limitation on what you can teach your three-year-old about ethics, right? There's only so much you can say. You know, like, Daddy, why are they bad? Well, you know, it's in their nature. What does that mean? Well, okay, well, that's just, it's their, I mean, there's limits on what you can say. And the book of Proverbs is geared toward teaching kids the basics. It doesn't give all the nuances, but that's the basic message. You do good, good will come. You do bad or evil, evil will come to you. Now, I would say in life that is generally true, right? This is what's called an act-consequence nexus. So you do one act, that category of acts generally has a consequence, okay? So you do good, good will come. You do evil, evil will come. So let's just flesh this out. This is generally true. If you obey God, you obey superiors, you submit to wisdom, then you don't tend to get mixed up with a profligate lifestyle that exposes you to harm. Take sex, for example. God says that sex is to be enjoyed. It's a privilege. It's a gift within the confines of a covenant of marriage. Now, if you exercise that gift outside of those bounds, then you're bound to get something that's going to make your life miserable. And Paul tells us in Romans 1, that part of God's wrath is inflicting basically people who abuse this gift with sexually transmitted diseases. That's what happens. So generally speaking, you stay within the confines of marriage, you're fine. Nothing's gonna happen. You go outside of that and trouble will come. Take money for example. It's fine to make money. It's fine to be rich. It's fine to be wealthy. But if you begin to start deceiving people to get money or lying or so on and so forth and you get greedy, this is how people end up dead in a back alley because they They crossed the wrong person and they, you know, they got mixed up with the mafia, et cetera, et cetera. It's the same with government. If you submit to the government and do what you're supposed to do, generally, you won't have any problems. Now, there are exceptions. I'm going to get to that in a second. But at the same time, if you cross the government, then the government does not bear the sword in vain. But now there's another side to all these general promises and proverbs and that's the book of Job. Here you had a righteous man that according to the principles and proverbs, he's a righteous man, he's doing good. He's not only offering sacrifices to God for himself, but for his children. And guess what? He gets inflicted with a devastating disease. He loses his children. He loses many of his possessions. And so the book of Job, and I would even add the book of Ecclesiastes, adds the counterbalance to this concept in the book of Proverbs. And that is that things don't always go according to that principle. Sometimes for reasons known only to God, he sends afflictions to the righteous. And sometimes for reasons known only to God, he gives wealth and success to the wicked. And we see this throughout the Psalms, right? Psalm 73. You know, I almost lost my faith because I saw the wicked prospering, and here I am as a righteous person, and I'm being afflicted every single day. So when we think about this act-consequence nexus, we must read Proverbs and Job in light of one another. And I think if we do that, we have the proper balance that helps us understand the promise attached to the fifth commandment. Our obedience is important. But we ought not to look at our obedience in a mechanical way such that if I check all these things off the list, everything's gonna be fine. No, you have to take into consideration sovereignty. You have to take into consideration, by the way, every single one of the apostles, with the exception of John, died by being murdered, right? Martyrs throughout the ages have lost their life early. John Calvin died, I think, at 54 years old. Sometimes God has different plans. So, Does this promise always have a literal accomplishment, however? Well, I've already told you the exception, but I would say at the same time, there will be a literal accomplishment in the new heavens and the new earth. But keep this in mind. If obedient children die early on, they're removed by death in their younger years, it is either to take them away from the evil to come or to transplant them so much sooner to a different country. So listen to Isaiah 57.1. The righteous man perishes and no one lays it to heart. Devout men are taken away while no one understands, for the righteous man is taken away from calamity. And I think that's important for us to remember sometimes. It is mind-boggling sometimes why God does what he does, but there's a sense in which there can be relief. There can be relief from a young child who does not have to experience all the evil and all the wickedness in this world. You know, Christina and I have had to work through three miscarriages. And strangely, one of the most comforting sermons that we heard on a Sunday night, I'll never forget, in Louisville, Kentucky, at the Reformed Baptist Church of Louisville, Kentucky. It was a very creative name for the church. He was preaching on Ecclesiastes, and I don't even know where it was, but it said something to it, the effect of, better a stillborn than what? Yeah. Better a stillborn than one who sees light. And he was very careful in how he explained it because we're certainly not glorifying abortion, we're not glorifying miscarriages, but on the other side of it, once it's done, there's comfort to know that that child never had to experience so much pain that we have had to experience. The Lord is sovereign. The Lord is sovereign, but here's what we know. In either scenario, one day, we will experience the fulfillment of the promise to live long on the earth because we will live long in the new heavens and the new earth, but it will not be by our obedience. It will be by the obedience of another, of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ ultimately, because of his obedience, the son's obedience to his father, gives us the fulfillment of the promise, and that's why we constantly have to keep our eyes on Jesus. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for this evening, pray that you would give us grace, pray that you would help us to submit to our superiors, love our equals, and be kind to our inferiors, and all this as we exude the righteousness that your son showed while he was on this earth. We ask these things in your son's name, amen. All right, are there any questions about the fifth commandment? You're confused? Uh-huh. Okay. Well, the idea is honor, right? And remember, I mean, you need to, any commandment that comes out of the Old Covenant, you have to run it through the grid of the New Testament lens, right? And Jesus' principle with regards to honor, showing honor to one another, I mean, you could basically sum it up as whatever you would have others do to you, you do to them, okay? Respect others, show honor to others, So all I'm trying to say is, if we exclusively take this as literally our mother and our father, it's kind of similar to taking like the ninth commandment, you know, do not covet your neighbor's possessions as only related to them. Do you think that that's the intention behind the commandment? No, it's not. And when Jesus gives the parable of the good Samaritan, it's not, you know, I mean, doesn't he ask, who is my neighbor? And the disciple asks, who is my neighbor? And Jesus, in reaction to that, tells the parable of the good Samaritan to say, basically, whoever you come across is your neighbor. And so I think the same principle that we apply to the ninth commandment, and basically the whole second table of the law, we are to apply to the fifth commandment. So it's just basically taking all of scripture into context and saying, is it the case that I am to show honor to every single position of authority or inferiority in my life? And the answer is yes. So all I'm doing is I'm putting it together with the rest of the New Testament. Does that make sense? Not asking you to agree, but that's the approach.