Sermon Quotes: "The Commandment With A Promise"

The Bible has a deep revulsion to this kind of disrespect, treating it with a kind of horror. When I was a youth pastor, I once took my high school students through the Biblical passages that deal with disobedience to parents. Not surprisingly, by the time I finished reading these passages, the kids in my youth group were very quiet. Like most young people, they had always assumed that breaking the fifth commandment was part of their job, an ordinary part of growing up. God obviously considers dishonoring one’s parents to be one of the worst sins that anyone can possibly commit. This is true even if the OT penalties for breaking the commandment are no longer in effect.” Phil Ryken

“Presumably they are old enough to understand their relationship to their Lord and the commitments that followed from it…the additional motivating phrase ‘in the Lord’, is virtually synonymous with ‘as to the Lord’ or ‘as to Christ’ and indicates their obedience to their parents is part of their Christian discipleship. It is not rendered simply because of their parents greater authority or status.” Peter O’ Brien

“If you are young you may feel there is very little you can do to serve the Lord. Here is a special word for you. Your loving obedience to your parents may be the very thing that makes other families wonder, ‘What has his or her family got that we don’t have? Their relationships with each other seem so different from ours.’ In a day when many families are alienated from each other, where there is a sharp tension, where parents are often paralyzed in relationships with their children-terrified not only to say ‘no’ to them but to say anything to them-what a wonderful witness a Christian young person can be to others.” Sinclair Ferguson