The Wisdom and the Beauty of the Fifth Commandment

What is it that comes into your home and for 20 years makes so much noise you can't stand it, and then departs leaving the house so quiet you think you'll go crazy? Why, children, of course!

Children do have lots of energy, and they do make some noise in growing up, as we know, sometimes causing parents to maybe go crazy. As they say, insanity is hereditary. You get it from your children. But is there anything sweeter than a little baby? All of us at one time were sweet little babies. What happened to us? I guess we outgrew it. We all love children. Nothing is sweeter and nothing may be as sour at times. Nothing is cute or sometimes it's ugly. Nothing is costly or as rewarding. Our children are our most prized possession, and almost all married people want to have children, many times discussing it even before getting married. Children are described as a blessing from God. In Psalm 127, we have a family that is described as sitting around the table, a man and how blessed a man is to have his wife and his children sitting around the table. It's a beautiful picture there in Psalm 127. Recently, I gave a sermon on marriage and family. God created marriage in the beginning, Adam and Eve. He joined them together, and they were to become one flesh. He told them to be fruitful and multiply, that is, to have children.

Today, we want to talk about having children and a family. We know that the seventh commandment is a commandment that protects marriage. You shall not commit adultery. You shall be faithful to your wife as long as you both shall live. But is there a commandment about the rearing of children? And yes, there is. We're going to see the wisdom and the beauty of this commandment this afternoon. We're going to see the wisdom and beauty of a man and woman marrying and establishing a family, and becoming a father and a mother, and having children sitting around the table, to have children working in the yard, to have children going out on trips of recreation together. It's a beautiful thing. Marriage, family, children. There's a commandment that deals with the children.

But, you know, do you feel sorry for many children today? One in five children in the U.S. is born to an unwed mother. The mother is not even yet married. Three out of five children born this year will live in a single-parent home, at least part of their childhood. That's 60%.

And only 25% of Americans live in a traditional family arrangement. That is a father, a mother, and brothers and sisters. 75% of Americans live in a non-traditional family.

And now we know the agenda. It's very well brought out in an article in the last, in the November-December issue of the Good News magazine, is to redefine marriage. That will never work, because guess what? You cannot redefine marriage. God's definition supersedes anything man might try to come up with. Marriage is between one man and one woman. God created two. One male and one female. He joined them together. You can't redefine marriage. You can try, but it won't work. But getting back to children, all of this social revolution that we've seen going on seems like our country is leading the way, and we see it so often in the movies and music and in our culture. All this is having a deep impact upon our children. And children need a traditional family. That's what they need. They need a father and a mother. That's what God planned. That's what He arranged.

The very beginning, He made one man and one woman. They were to be fruitful and multiply. So God provided the father and mother for children and the family. God knew that children would need both a father and a mother. Some of the questions or things we want to get in today is that, is how must we work with our children? What must children themselves do? There's a responsibility upon both. How do we combat an evil society all around us in Satan the Devil who is trying to wreck the family? It's doing a pretty good job in our country. We want to understand more deeply what children are. Actually, they're little flesh and blood physical beings who bear the image of God just as their parents do. And they have the potential to become immortal sons of God just as their parents. A child is the product of his parents and his home, his heredity and his environment. And children are just a rich blessing from God. We want to explore more deeply what we want our children to become. Of course, we want them to be healthy physically, emotionally, mentally. We want them to be respectful and obedient, to be certainly teachable. We want them to have a sense of worth and to feel they have value and importance.

We want them to have knowledge of what is right and wrong. We want them to have character and stand for principles and high standards. And ultimately, certainly as members of God's church, we want them to fulfill the very purpose for which they were born, to become a son of God.

We want to also consider more deeply the evil of this world all around us and how the adversary is working on children in a very evil way. And it's all around us. And he's very much involved in many of the things going on. Well, really all the evils of this world. Satan is very much involved indeed, including massacres such as happened in Connecticut recently.

The commandment we're going to be talking about today is the Fifth Commandment. If you want to put a title down for the sermon, it is the wisdom and beauty of the Fifth Commandment. Let's consider the wisdom and the beauty of this commandment, the Fifth Commandment. First of all, I'd like for us to read the two versions in the Old Testament of the Fifth Commandment. Let's turn for the first version in Exodus chapter 20 and verse 12. The Israelites stood at the foot of Mount Sinai. They were receiving the laws of God, and God gave them the Ten Commandments. And the Fifth Commandment we read in Exodus 20 and verse 12. Here it is, Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. So keeping this commandment then leads toward longevity of life. That's one of the things that every parent, what parent would not want is children to live long, to have a long life. So honor your father and mother, that your days may be long upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Well, many years later, still under the leadership of Moses, when the Israelites were in the wilderness and were about ready to enter into the land of Canaan, and may have even been at the area of the Jordan River, God gave a second version of the commandments. And we read them about the commandments, the second version, in Deuteronomy chapter 5. So let's turn to Deuteronomy chapter 5 and read verse 16. We have the second version of the fifth commandment, and it does add something. We want to notice that. Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 16. Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord has commanded you, that your days may be long. Okay, no change yet, but notice this is added now. And that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. You know, these two versions of the fifth commandment sum up everything that a parent would like for his child. Every parent, every loving parent, wants his child to have a long life. And every parent wants things to go well for his child. He wants his child to have a good life, in other words. Every parent wants his child to have a long life and to have a good life. That it may be well with you. We notice that the Apostle Paul used both of these things that we desire for our children. Let's notice that in Ephesians chapter 6 and verses 1 to 3. Ephesians chapter 6 and verses 1 to 3. Children, obey your parents and 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. Well, that is the one found in Deuteronomy 5. And that you may live long on the earth. That is found in Exodus 20.

So we find these two things that every parent desires of his children. That they may live long and that it may be well with them. The Expositor's Bible commentary says for these verses in Ephesians 6, it is interesting that Paul addresses children directly. However, when we observe the fifth commandment, we notice that the fifth commandment is directed directly to the children. Honor your father and your mother. It doesn't say, parents, make sure that you rear your children in a godly way. However, we can be sure that is part of the commandment, as we'll see as we proceed. Again, the Expositor's Bible commentary, it is interesting that Paul addresses children directly. They are part of the total Christian family, the church. Obedience on the part of children consists in listening to the advice given by parents. Many passages of Scripture support such an obligation. Disobedience to parents is a symptom of a disintegrating social structure, and Christian families have a particular responsibility not to contribute to the collapse of an ordered community. If we neglect child-rearing parents, we are contributing to the collapse of an ordered society and community. Obedience to parents is a part of the divine law. We're seeing the results today of disobedience to parents. It was prophesied to happen. Let's notice a couple of verses on that in 1 Timothy chapter 3.

1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1. Know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. All of these social conditions are connected with children not being properly trained and reared by the parents and not then learning respect, honor, and obedience as they grow up. Disobedient to parents. Certainly that is a sin on the part of the children, but could the first sin or neglect be that of the parents who never have raised their children? I have article after article in my file about our neglected kids. Our nation has neglected our children. We are paying a price for that. A dear price at this very time. It goes on to say, Unloving. Verse 3, King James Version says, without natural affection, not even the natural family affection that should be in physical families. Unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control. Brutal. Certainly have to say that things like some of the massacres that we've seen are brutal. Despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. So disobedience to parents and being without natural affection was certainly foretold to be one of the symptoms of our age, and it is. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 3 and we see another prophecy that we were to have social problems as far as our families and our children, and we're certainly seeing these prophecies fulfilled today. Many children have been neglected and abused, resulting in insolent children who oppress society. And in many ways, the U.S. leads the way, and we desperately need to get back to stable marriages and families. Let's read Isaiah chapter 3 and verse 5. The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor. And there's a lot of oppression that is going on today. The child will be insolent toward the elder. That is, not show any respect or honor at all toward older people and the base toward the honorable. It's just not, the respect is fallen by the wayside. In verse 12, as for my people, children are their oppressors, and women roll over them. And we're seeing that more and more in families and also in our government. O my people, those who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths.

So we are neglecting the Fifth Commandment in our country, and we're paying a dear price for it. What a difference it would make if we were to just start keeping the Fifth Commandment. What a different world it would be in our country and in the world. Today, let's see the wisdom and the beauty of the Fifth Commandment and see what a difference it will make in the millennium when the Fifth Commandment will be kept.

The Fifth Commandment honors your father and your mother, that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that God is giving to us. The Fifth Commandment introduces a series of commandments that define relationships with other people. The first four commandments define our relationship with God. They summarize our relationship with God.

The last six commandments set standards of conduct and behavior toward other humans.

It begins in the home. Honor your father and your mother, and then you shall not kill.

You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness, and you shall not covet. The last six commandments set standards of conduct and behavior toward others. Just think, these are very simple little commandments, aren't they? Don't steal from anybody. What a difference that would make. Don't kill anybody. All these would make such a big difference if they were kept. The consequences are far-reaching for individuals and for communities and for nations. Today is very obvious. Our abuse and exploitation of each other is appalling, because we don't heed these six commandments. We desperately need to reverse the horrifying results of our inability to get along with each other. We need to learn how to work together harmoniously to build stable, loving, lasting relationships. And the fifth commandment is the first one that leads the way in how that can be accomplished. That's because our character, what kind of person we are, begins to form in childhood. And our character that which is formed in our childhood drives our conduct and behavior toward others. During our formative years, our attitudes in relation to others is shaped and molded. A little child's character is shaped and molded in those early years. And that's the primary focus of the fifth commandment, learning to respect and honor others while we are still children. Honor and respect, then, is to be learned when we're still very small. We're still like little tender trees or plants. And if we begin to bend in the wrong direction, we can be straightened out. But when you get to be an adult and get grown, you can't straighten out a tree. It's already set in its way. The fifth commandment guides us in knowing how to properly submit to authority. It guides us in accepting teaching and correction. It also shows us how to yield and how to submit to others and to accept the influence of teachers and mentors. Look at all the benefits of keeping the fifth commandment because it helps us to establish a lifetime pattern of respecting proper rules, principles, and laws. A child, then, that is reared at home, being taught those rules and principles and laws will carry that on through his lifetime so that he will just honor others as a normal natural habit he learned in his youth. The fifth commandment shows us from whom and how the fundamentals of love, respect, and honor are most effectively learned. They're learned in the home from childhood, from the time a baby is born, and a loving family led by a father, a loving father, and mother. I want to get into the role of fathers and mothers at this point, but we notice again, first of all, that the fifth commandment is not directed toward the parents, it is directed toward the children. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long. Even though this commandment is directed toward the children, a primary and first responsibility lies upon the shoulders of the parents if the child is indeed going to be able to do that. God places a primary responsibility for teaching children squarely on the shoulders of the parents. That's because children come into the world helpless. They're totally helpless. If they were not cared for, changed, if they were not nourished, they would not ever make it. A little baby is helpless, and children come into the world also knowing nothing and needing to be taught everything.

And parents are given that responsibility. If they don't do it, their child will never grow up and be able to fulfill the fifth commandment. Maybe until that day when they will be converted and able then through the power of God's Spirit. The parents must give children the basic principles of how to live life and how to succeed in life. And the parents do their job well. Guess what?

Their children may depart from it for a time, but they will still carry with them that teaching. Someday they will come back to their roots also. Notice in Proverbs 22 and verse 6.

Proverbs 22 and verse 6. Train up a child in the way that he should go. That is the other side of the fifth commandment that is not stated in the fifth commandment. It's that responsibility of the parents to train up a child. See, this is part of the fifth commandment. It's just not stated in the fifth commandment. Train up a child in the way that he should go.

And when he is old, he will not depart from it. You know, many parents in the church have discussed this how they noticed that their children carry on that training. Even some that may not have continued in the church still carry on some of the good training that they received from parents when they were growing up, when they were young. Some of those traits like honesty, integrity, some of those good qualities of and how to relate to people as a good, decent person. So our children will carry on that training and we will see it. The home shapes and molds them. It shapes and molds their future. It shapes and molds what kind of adult a child will become.

There are many scriptures that instruct parents how to lead and teach their children. We might just read a very few of them. First of all, let's get a good example of child rearing, one that did rear his children properly and right. In Genesis chapter 18, Abraham was told here that Abraham was very much involved in teaching his children, molding and shaping them. In Genesis chapter 18 and verse 18, Since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. For I have known him in order that he may command his children. Notice, Abraham was very much involved in the rearing of his children, in order that he may command his children. Sometimes parents are afraid to be in charge. Today, they're afraid to command their children to be the ones that are in authority. Yet, God has put the parents there to be in charge, and the child shall obey. If he doesn't obey, the parents ought to make him obey. After all, the parents are bigger and stronger, and the parents have that power to do that. So Abraham would command his children and his household after him that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him. So there's a good example of a father who was teaching his children. Of course, we know that mothers are very much involved in child rearing as well. Let's go to the book of Proverbs once again, and we'll see some verses on father and mother being very much involved in the raising of their children. In Proverbs chapter 1 and verses 8 and 9, Proverbs 1, 8 and 9, My son, hear the instruction of your father. We do notice that the father is mentioned first. So this shows that fathers should be instructing their children. They should be very much like Abraham, commanding their children and directing how their children are being taught. They should oversee it. They're responsible ahead of the wife, the mother, in making sure that the children are being trained and instructed properly. My son, hear the instruction of your father. But then it goes on to give the important role of the mother. Do not forsake the law of your mother. Mother has some rules also. And of course, the father and mother will have the same laws and the same rules and be working together anyway. But both are very important, father and mother, in the raising of children. In Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 11, My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest his correction, for whom the Lord he corrects, just as a father, the son in whom he delights. See, a father should be very much involved in enforcing the law. This is regarding discipline, these verses, chastening discipline. The father then is involved when the son is getting out of line, to bring the son back into line again. And what is out of love? Whom the Lord loves, he corrects just as a father, the son, in whom he delights. You can read many verses in the Proverbs about how a father and mother work together in the rearing of their children. Certainly the mother's role is very, very important. We will not turn to it right now, but Proverbs 31, the virtuous woman, it describes a woman that is, her whole life is devoted to her household, her family, her children are cared for, and they're mentioned how, and they later on rise up to praise their mother, because their mother has been their servant, really, all of their life. She's been devoted to them. She's been supporting her husband in the rearing of the children, and very much involved in the caring for the children.

Titus chapter 2 indicates that the mother is certainly going to be able to spend more time with the children, actually, than the father, because she's at home. She's the one that bears the child. She's the one that nurses the child, and she has that voice that little children can learn the language much better than from the male voice that is deeper. The mother has just everything she needs to spend more time in the rearing of the child, and this indicates here that's where her orientation ought to be. Titus chapter 2 and verse 3, the older women likewise that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given too much wine, teachers of good things. So, older ladies, this is addressed to word you some of the things that you can do. Verse 4, something else you can do that they admonish. The older women can admonish. They can teach and exhort the young women to do what? To love their husbands. And how they can do that, how they can love and support and encourage their husbands to love their children, because they're going to be with them so much they're in the home. To love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers. Certainly one of the big responsibilities of women. Good, disobedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. I did change that. Obedient. Obedient to their own husbands.

Not all women today, that may not go across very well. They might like the first version of that. But a lady ought to be a woman not to obey her husband's leadership, just as Sarah did Abraham, calling him Lord, as we read in 1 Peter 3, verse 1.

So you know, the mother has a tremendous responsibility in the raising of children, but so does the father, and the two work together. Father and mother work together. I think our industrial society that we have had in the last century or two have worked very much against the family. And then, of course, in more recent decades, probably going back about half a century or so especially, many times both parents out working has done something as far as our family structure, as far as the rearing of our children. I read an article recently in Newsweek magazine, How to Raise a Child the Hunter-Gatherer Way. And it's in the December 24, 2012 issue of Newsweek magazine. It's by a man on one of his visits to New Guinea, and he just did some looking at children in that country. And in some of the primitive-type clans and little tribes, he found that the children spend a lot more time with adults, with their parents, a lot more time interacting with their parents and other relatives and adults. He observed that in the first year or so of a baby's life, that that baby was, well, even slept with the parents. They just had a pallet on the floor. The baby was right there close to them. There was skin-to-skin contact. The baby was being carried in the arms, on a sling on the back, close warm contact with the parents. And let me just read a little bit here. In modern industrial societies, the infant spends much or most of the time during the day in a crib or playpen, not being held close, not really that intimacy. But in this type culture there, the parents show that an infant is held almost constantly throughout the day, either by the mother or by someone else. And there was constant skin-to-skin contact between the infant and its caregiver. The article just goes on to show that that closeness to the parents and adults is very important. As the children grew and developed, there was that constant talking and working together. And near the end of his article, he draws this conclusion that, at minimum, although one can say that these child-rearing practices seem so foreign to us, aren't disastrous. And they don't produce societies of obvious sociopaths. Indeed, they produce individuals capable of coping with big challenges and dangers while still enjoying their lives. Interesting. They get a better product than we get. So there are some basic changes in our society that will have to be made in the millennium so that parents are able to spend time with their children and be with them a lot and have that close intimate relationship. It's very, very important that that happened. Today, many children are latchkey kids. They come home from school and they offered even ones in the church to say their parents both were working. They come home from school mid-afternoon. The first parent would come home sometime between five and six. And this child said he would kneel at the window just waiting for the first parent to come home. How many children are just neglected? And today, so many are reared by a single parent who has to be out working long hours. I tell you, it's not good. We're reaping the results. I think we're getting right to the rooting core of what caused things like Newtown, Connecticut. If we were to get back to the Fifth Commandment, then we would have homes that are developing different kinds of children.

What are some of the things that we should be teaching our children? Well, we should certainly be teaching them that life is good, that there's security, there's warmth, that holding of a child, that security that is given to a child early in his life. We should be teaching respect for authority.

Children must be under authority at home, or they will have trouble in school later on. They'll have trouble with the teachers. If they rebel at home, they'll have they're rebel in the classroom and on the school bus and later on a job. Parents should teach absolute respect and obedience. They should not tolerate disobedience and rebellion.

Certainly in a balanced and loving way, a parent shows himself to be the authority over that child. Parents should teach his child about God and his laws and his purpose and his way of life. Notice in Deuteronomy chapter 6, we are to be diligent, in fact, in teaching our children about the Bible. We can have our children learn the Bible, learn and memorize portions of the Bible.

They can memorize the Ten Commandments. They can memorize the 12 tribes of Israel. They can memorize the 12 apostles. They can memorize the books of the Bible. They can memorize key verses in the Bible. You know, a child's mind is like a sponge and it just absorbs knowledge so quickly and easily. It's easier for a child to memorize than us older people. It gets more difficult as we get older to remember. But children have fresh minds that can memorize quickly and easily. We can teach them than God's laws and God's ways.

Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.

That's where they have to be in our hearts. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house. Yes, when you eat meals and when you sit in the living room. When you walk by the way, and we might say today when you drive down the road. When you lie down and when you rise up. Then through the day, then we are to be teaching about God's ways of living.

24-7, parents themselves must have a close relationship with God and then pass it on to their children and teach their children to respect and obey God's authority over them. The parents say, listen, you are under my authority and leadership, but I'm under the authority of God and I want you to be as well. So parents certainly need God's laws deeply instilled in their own hearts to be able to do this. Notice Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 9 also.

Only take heed to yourself and diligently keep yourself lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren. Certainly we try to pass on these things to our grandchildren as well. So teach about God and his laws. Teach about this evil world also and how it came to be. Especially as children grow up and get larger, they'll understand history and they need to understand why the world is so evil.

Teach that there's a devil, there's a Satan. Why do we have Newtown, Connecticut and things like Aurora, Colorado and other things going on? Teach that the world is under the evil influence of an evil being and teach them to be strong and willing to be different and to resist the evils all around them.

Teach children to get an education and be able to have a job and a career. Our goal is that one day the child will be able to be out on his own, to have a job and to earn money. So we encourage learning, we encourage education, maybe a college degree. That may not be for everyone. If not, maybe more training along a trade.

But certainly some way to be able to have a job and career. More difficult in today's world. Pray about it, work hard, be faithful and tithe in this. The next thing, teach how to control money. Teach about the law of tithing and look into God to provide. Teach about money management, how to be frugal, to avoid impulse spending and to build up savings. Teach all about marriage and family and sex. This is very important that parents as their children especially get just a bit larger. Teach about sex being for marriage.

That sex is a wonderful thing that God made, but it is for marriage. And when it's engaged in outside of marriage, there's much suffering and misery. Sometimes among young people, there's a pregnancy. And then an unwanted child on the way. And often, or quite a bit, the choice is to abort, to put to death that child, explain to the child.

But that certainly is wrong to have premarital sex and also abortion is not as wrong as well as taking a human life. So teach all about godly marriage and family. Children are to be had within the confines of marriage and family. Teach the biblical structure of roles for husbands and wives. Teach children how to maintain their health. Teach them to maintain their teeth. Good diet, adequate sleep, exercise are all very important. Not only teach them, but practice it. Let them learn by example at home. Teach children to not have to follow the crowd. That they can have such a self-confidence that they do not have to compromise and conform to the pressures of this world all around. Teach them not to be afraid to do the right thing when everybody else is doing what is wrong.

Of course, all of this teaching will involve a lot of interactive teaching and instruction back and forth, especially as children get larger. Regularly discuss real-life situations. Yes, discuss things that happen in the world and why they happen. Allow your children to be involved. Ask them questions. Let them come up with the right answers. Let them feel free to ask questions as well.

Our teenagers are seeking something. They're seeking the same thing we all are, meaning and purpose in life. They want to belong. They want to fit in, and we want to help them. They need guidance, though.

Around age 13 or 14, there begins to be a difference in a teenager. He begins to assert his independence a little bit. If a parent has done his homework well in those early years, he'll be able to steer his young adolescent through these turbulent years as he goes from childhood to adulthood. It is not a bad thing that begins to happen at age 13 or 14. It's not a bad thing at all, because someday you want the child to be totally independent and able to provide for himself. If you have done your homework well earlier on, you'll be able to guide him through those more turbulent years, and it will be easier on the child.

Parents certainly must never ridicule or discourage their children. Some parents have told their children, you never amount to anything. They discourage their children. There is that thing of the self-fulfilling prophecy. Children grow up discouraged and not as motivated. Sure enough, sometimes they do fail as well. So that's sad. Parents must carefully balance a firm insistence that their children obey the rules, but they do it with an abundance of patience and gentleness and love. This is often missing. I've had children in the church to let me know I wish my parents would not scream at me. The parents were members of the church.

Parents ought not to scream. That means they've lost control.

And they're not going to gain control by screaming. They need to back off and realize how to be in control and do it the right way. Parents should remember that their children need constant encouragement. They need praise for successes. They don't need criticism all the time. Sometimes, when there is wrong, that can be dealt with, of course. It does not need to be swept aside. Children need to develop a strong personal identity with a positive, confident, and hopeful outlook toward life. We want our children to succeed. We want a can-do approach or viewpoint.

Children need to perceive themselves as being acceptable and appreciated. It helps that they know that they are making a meaningful contribution to the family. Think about this. In past cultures, many times the children did meaningful things in the family. On the farm, for example, the child helped to chop and to harvest and care for together. He worked right beside his parents. Often, that's not true in many jobs in our industrial setting. But children still need things to do around the house. Things that are meaningful. You can praise the child. Boy, you're really helping out. We appreciate what you're doing. You can praise them. Meaningful contributions to the family. They need to be doing that. If they're not given things to do and they're just out watching video games or something and neglected, guess what happens? Well, we see in our society already what can happen.

Later on, children will reach adulthood. Parents must let go. Of course, they begin to let go, even in those adolescent years. But it's healthy that children then want to get away and be on their own. And parents should help them so that when they do reach adulthood, they'll be able to be truly on their own. Parents let go gracefully. Don't try to hold on. The prodigal son's father is a good example. He did not say, when the son said, I want to leave, give me my portion of the inheritance. And the father didn't say, well, no, I'm going to keep you here. The father helped him to go. He knew the son had to go out and learn some lessons and grow up. And later his father received him back. So it's important that parents let go to even allow wrong decisions by the children as they reach the adolescent years and learn to grow and develop from wrong decisions they make. So far, I've been addressing more toward the parents. But we've got a few more minutes on this sermon, about 10 more minutes. And children should themselves, at some young point, choose to obey the Fifth Commandment. After all, the Fifth Commandment is directed toward them. Of course, we all are children, aren't we? Children of God. So we carry those qualities of honor and respect, no matter what age or stage of life we may be. But children need to choose to obey the Fifth Commandment, honor your father and your mother. So I would say any of those children, are you listening back there? Those who are young? We have a few children here. I see some over here. You should choose to obey the Fifth Commandment. The minister here today is saying that you should choose to obey the Fifth Commandment. And if you do, the Bible promises you that you will live long and that it will go well with you. You want that. You want a good life. You want to live long. Then we encourage our children, obey this command. If you're 14, 16, 18, you can choose to obey and honor your father and your mother. If you're 10 or 12 or 6 or 8. How young do you have to be? I think the thing of recognizing right and wrong comes along pretty early in life. I don't know exactly what age you would place on that, but recognizing what is right and wrong comes pretty early.

I think before a child, you know, goes to school, he already is capable of recognizing right and wrong.

Well, you know, sometimes parents don't behave themselves properly. What if parents have a behavior that is unworthy of honor? How do you honor parents that are unworthy of honor? What if there has been verbal, physical, or sexual abuse? Well, the fifth commandment does not require children to continue to subject themselves to such mistreatment. And there are things that children can do and should do if they are being abused. Still, a child should harbor no hate or malice toward such a parent, even though we strongly disapprove or disdain their sinful behavior. Do you know that would be a difficult thing if there has been, for example, sexual abuse. We should disapprove highly of the sinful behavior, but still harbor no hate and refrain from derogatory remarks and reflect courtesy and respect and pray that God will help them to see the error of their ways. A child should always conduct his life in a way that shows honor through the good way of life that he is striving to live. And after all, a child's own proper behavior is the greatest honor that he can give to his parents because he's on his way toward fulfilling his purpose for being here.

And he just addressed this side of the fifth commandment. When we move away from home, we no longer keep the fifth commandment, right? I moved out of my home when I was 18 and went to Ambassador College. Did not need to keep the fifth commandment anymore, right? Wrong. As long as our parents live, then that fifth commandment is in place. And I think in a way, even after our parents are dead, we look back and there's a certain respect and honor, and though I do toward my parents, a certain love that I will always have, an appreciation for them and what they did for me, I have many fond memories of my parents. And before their death, I was away for about 30 years before my mother died and came back to visit from time to time. We'd call on the telephone, send a Mother's Day card or a birthday card, and just many fond memories of my parents and honoring them in those years after getting away from home. So, you know, the fifth commandment is a responsibility that goes on and on in our lives. Actually, and one very important consideration of the fifth commandment is that the fifth commandment is helping to prepare us for sonship in God's kingdom. Through marriage, family, and children, through family, we are learning or preparing for life in God's eternal family. Our destiny is to become the sons of God. We're going to dwell in an eternal spirit family. And God wants us to have a physical family to be learning those things that we will need in that eternal family. Actually, parents themselves should think of themselves as children, children of God. That's what we are. We're children of God. We are to respect and obey our Heavenly Father. And in doing so, we set that example for our children. Our children see that example, and they can then develop the habits of respect and obedience, both for the human family here and now, and for the eternal spirit family, the family of God. But children must see a strong continuity between the instruction and the example of their parents.

Brethren, do we see the wisdom and the beauty of the Fifth Commandment? Families are building blocks of society. Strong families build strong societies and nations. Strong families are the foundation for success. And there's no wonder we're having so many problems. We have destroyed that foundation in our country. When families are fractured and flawed, as we see around us, we see the sad results every day in the news headlines. And we do feel a genuine sorrow for so many children growing up in this evil society. As members of God's Church called out of the world, let's strive to make our families different. The Fifth Commandment simply states, Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in your life. What wisdom and what beauty.