Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20091122.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part II: God's Forming Israel To Heed Him, Exodus 15:22-40:38
F. God's Giving His People Their Moral And Civil Law, Exodus 20:1-17
2. The Latter Six Commandments: Loving Mankind, Exodus 20:12-17
a. Commandment Five: Upholding Social Order By God's Family Order
(Exodus 20:12 et al.)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    The welfare of the family directly affects the welfare of the community, the nation and the world, a fact we can easily document:

    (1) Judge Charles C. Gill of the Litchfield Superior Court tells "The Talk of Connecticut" show that out of the 3,000 juvenile cases he has ruled, only once were both parents of the minor in the courtroom!

    (2) The November 11, 2009 issue of The Boston Globe, p. A6 reported the leader of the Washington, D. C. sniper rampage that terrorized our national capital for three weeks, John Allen Muhammad, was executed on November 10th. Predictably, he had been badly beaten by relatives after his mother died when he was two years old! (cnn.com, 2-10-04, "Sniper's siblings describe violent upbringing")

    Muhammad's accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, saw his parents separate when he was a toddler, and he was raised by relatives when his mother traveled looking for work. (bbc.co.uk, 10-10-03)

    (3) Jeff Jacoby's editorial in The Boston Globe (Ibid., p. A11, "Wedded to vitriol, backers of gay marriage stumble") reported on the recent troublesome response of gays to the vote in Maine. When the voting results showed Maine was the thirty-first consecutive state to reject gay marriage when the issue was put to a popular vote, gays called the majority "haters, bigots and ignorant homophobes."

    Their response was worse when Proposition 8 that opposed gay marriage was approved last fall by California voters: conservatives were blacklisted, vandalized, intimidated, fired from their jobs, and some even received death threats from backers of the gay view. (Ibid.)

    Why such "vitriol"? Psychotherapist Richard Cohen says no one is born as a homosexual, but the improper adjustment to childhood rejection and shame produces it! (cnsnews.com, Lawrence Morahan, "Former Homosexual Offers Way Out to Others," July 24, 2000)

    Cohen's conclusion is supported by the testimony of a Christian psychology nurse who told me that every homosexual she has ever met has suffered an emotionally traumatic event in childhood!

    (4) Then, when the U. S. government complained a few years ago about the rulings a Muslim land the U. S. army was occupying, the Muslim land's government retorted that it opposed America's tolerance of homosexuality, so the U. S. should not meddle in its rulings!

    We may then ask, "If the family's welfare affects the welfare of the nation and world, why, and what can I do about it?"

    Need: "If the health of the family affects the health of the nation and eventually that of the world, why, and what can I do about it?!"

  1. The Exodus 20:12 command to honor one's father and mother was made to uphold family order and thus in time the social order:
    1. Deuteronomy 21:18-21 directs that if one's parents were unable to make their son obey, his negative influence was such a threat to the nation's eventual welfare that he was to be executed by the elders!
    2. Thus, as "(p)roper order in the family becomes the basis for a solid social structure," the call to honor one's parents was needed for social order , Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftns. to Ex. 20:12; Dt. 21:18-21.
  2. This cause-effect relation between a healthy family order and a healthy social order became evident in BIBLICAL HISTORY:
    1. Exodus 20:12 implies a monogamous union between one man and one woman, and sample events in Biblical History reveal how crucial this monogamous model is for national and international stability:
      1. God had made one woman for one man in Genesis 2:20-24, but one of Cain's godless descendants, Lamech, indulged in polygamy, and boasted of his violence toward another man, Gen. 4:19, 23-24.
      2. His bad example led other men in Cain's godless line to wed many women who then bore them many violent, warring gangs of sons whom God had to destroy in a worldwide flood to preserve a future world of relative peace and order, Genesis 6:1-6, 12-13.
      3. Later, the ungodly "threesome" union of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar in Genesis 16:1-16 led to conflict between the two women that created friction between their competing sons, and that in turn led to the Arab-Israeli conflict that NOW threatens world peace!
    2. Exodus 20:12 calls for one to honor his father and mother, and failure by Ham to honor his father, Noah in Genesis 9:20-27 has led to uneven levels of blessing among whole racial and ethnic groups!
    3. Exodus 20:12 calls for a heterosexual union, but violating this order led to wholesale, fierce social injustice in Sodom and Gomorrah that God ended in destroying these cities, Gen. 18:20-21; 19:1-10, 24-25.
    4. Exodus 20:12 calls for a permanent marital union, one that lasts so the offspring can honor it, but Genesis 35:22 with Genesis 49:3-4 reports how Reuben failed to honor the permanence of his father's union with Bilhah, leading to the loss of blessing on his offspring!
  3. Wonderfully, GOD has a SOLUTION to the DISTORTIONS of healthy family, community, national and international ORDER:
    1. Psalm 128 tells how a male head of household who reveres the God of Scripture influences in ever widening circles his wife, children, community, nation and even surrounding nations with God's blessing!
    2. However, such respect for God is something men fail to express due to sin (Romans 3:23), so they need Christ's salvation (as follows):
      1. One must believe in Christ as His Savior from sin to be justified by God and be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, Romans 3:24-26 with 8:9b.
      2. As the believer relies on the indwelling Holy Spirit for thought and behavior control (Gal. 5:16-23), God causes him to will and do of His good will (Phil. 2:12-13), including the man's revering God!
      3. Psalm 128 then explains how this man influences the social order:
        1. As he reveres God, the family man is blessed in his own life, becoming successful in his work and happy, Psalm 128:1-2.
        2. His wife is then influenced by him to be like a fruitful vine in the home, and his children become tools of godly influence for the family and, as they grow, for the community, Psalm 128:3-4.
        3. This godly influence leads the children to impact the nation (Psalm 128:5), and with the spread of such influence in ensuing generations, the nation gains peace with other nations in a constructive worldwide influence of blessing, Psalm 128:6!
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ as Savior from sin to be justified and equipped by God to influence others, John 3:16; Rom. 8:9b; Gal. 5:16-23; Psa. 128. (2) Then, as a (a) MARRIED MAN, may we apply Psalm 128. If (b) WED to a GODLESS SPOUSE, may we rely on the Holy Spirit to influence our children for Christ, and through them, the world, 1 Cor. 7:13-14. (c) As SINGLES or MATURE children, may we still honor our parents and influence the world by revering God, Matthew 15:3-6! (d) As MINORS in the HOME, may we honor and obey our parents (Ephesians 6:1-3)!

Lesson: (1) Since the family is the building block of all human society, the health of the family affects the health of the world. (2) We MUST then HONOR our FATHER and MOTHER to PRESERVE a HEALTHY FAMILY and WORLD! (3) To CORRECT an unhealthy society at ANY level, we START by PERSONAL GODLINESS -- especially in MEN!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 (1) An abundance of secular information exists on the need for good fathers at all levels of our culture just as Psalm 128:1-6 teaches:

(a) Senator Patrick Moynihan in 1965 wrote: "'From the wild Irish slums of the nineteenth-century Eastern seaboard to the riot-torn suburbs of Los Angeles, there is one unmistakable lesson in American history: A community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken families, dominated by women, never acquiring a stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any rational expectations about the future -- that community asks for and gets chaos.'" ("Fatherlessness: The Root Cause" by Dave Kopel of the Independence Institute, cited on www.nationalreview.com, 5/02/00)

(b) A counselor in a California juvenile detention facility said: "'You find a gang member who comes from a complete nuclear family, a kid who has never been exposed [to] any kind of abuse . . . who comes from a happy, balanced home, who's got a good opinion of himself. I don't think that kid exists.'" (Ibid.)

(c) Crime is often felt to be a problem of race or poverty since most violent criminals are poor and are in the racial minority. However, "the causal link between fatherlessness and crime 'is so strong that controlling for family configuration erases the relationship between race and crime,' as Barbara Dafoe Whitehead noted in her famous, 'Dan Quayle was Right' article." (Ibid.)

(2) Yet, in the Christian context, evidence exists that godly fatherhood edifies the nation and world after the Psalm 128 pattern:

Some years ago, a Christian who was raised in a Biblical home traveled to Rumania on a short-term missions trip. There, he noticed the men were idle, not showing incentive to do any constructive work! Affliction by Rumania's past dictator had diffused their motivation, so this Christian organized them and led them to heed his lead and work.

So, a godly father's influence on his son led him to organize, motivate and edify needy Rumanian men, helping to begin to rebuild a nation and improve relationships between America and Rumania!

May we then help our needy world (1) trusting in Christ as personal Savior from sin. Then, (2) may we rely on God's Holy Spirit by faith to live as godly men, women and children in healthy personal and family roles! (3) Then we will impact others around us for blessing in ever widening circles of edifying influence!