Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20130421.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Deuteronomy: Moses' Great Appeal For Israel To Obey God For Blessing
Part IV: The General Call For Loyal Obedience, Deuteronomy 4:44-11:32
A. The Ten Commandments, Deuteronomy 4:44-5:21
5. The Fifth Commandment: Honoring Our Parents For A Good Long Life
(Deuteronomy 5:16)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    In today's world, one can easily wonder how to enjoy a good, long life, a fact we can illustrate as follows:

    (1) In 1995, David Blankenhorn claimed: "(f)atherlessness is the most harmful demographic trend of this generation. It is the leading cause of the decline in the well-being of children. It is also the engine driving our most urgent social problems, from crime to adolescent pregnancy to domestic violence." (David Blankenhorn, "Life Without Father," p. 4-5 in USA WEEKEND, Feb. 24-26, 1959). However, he added that "(t)onight, about 40 percent of U. S. children will go to sleep in homes in which their fathers do not live." (Ibid.)

    Accordingly, we ask, "How can that 40 percent of America's children hope to end up having a good, long life?!"

    (2) Leith Anderson's article, "Personal Challenges for 21st-Century Pastors," Part Three in Bib. Sac., July-September 1994, p. 259-266, reported in his 1990 visit to mainland China where he met sinologist and theologian, Dr. Jonathan Chao. Dr. Chao had written on the suffering of Chinese Christians in the House Church movement as they endured great persecution for their faith, but he also claimed "that Chinese Christians have observed that the suffering of American Christians is focused in their families." (Ibid., p. 264)

    Leith Anderson agreed, noting that "the American family has suffered severe blows in the past two decades. The rise in divorces, child and spouse abuse, infidelities, and resulting emotional pain have been explosive." (Ibid.)

    Accordingly, how can many Christians today who have been affected by such social ills hope to have a good, long life?

    (3) By now we all know of the bombs that exploded at the Boston Marathon last Monday, killing three and injuring a hundred and seventy-six innocent bystanders. It was a somber reminder that, following 911, we live in a world not only of family dysfunction, but of increased international terrorism.



    Thus, we ask, "CAN one affected by today's wide variety of social ills in the world ever have a good, long life?! IF so, HOW?"

    Need: "In today's world where so many have been affected by abuse and dysfunction, can one have a good, long life? IF so, HOW?!"

  1. Moses' general Deuteronomy 4:44-11:32 call for loyal obedience to God in the suzerain treaty format of Deuteronomy repeats the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5:6-21, and its CONTEXT reminds Israel of God's deliverance of her from Egypt's oppression (Deuteronomy 5:6), revealing WHY Israel should HEED the Lord.
  2. Thus, the FIFTH commandment to honor one's parents for a good long life (Deut. 5:16) aimed to GUARD Israel both INDIVIDUALLY and NATIONALLY from OPPRESSION so God might BLESS her:
    1. The Ten Commandments strikingly omit any directive to PARENTS although the Old Testament exposes multiple family dysfunction that had resulted from the sinful, abnormal behavior of PARENTS!
      1. The Old Testament records multiple errant behaviors by parents that led to family dysfunction and suffering for their children:
        1. Abraham and Sarah failed to wait on God for a son, so Abraham sired Ishmael by Sarah's maid, Hagar, leading to the current Arab-Israeli conflict and terrorism, Genesis 16:1-12; 21:1-21!
        2. Abraham and Sarah's action also led to favoring Isaac over Ishmael, leading to later dysfunctional parental favoring of one son over another by the patriarchs (Esau and Jacob, Genesis 25:19-34) until Jacob so favored Joseph over his brothers, they sold him into Egypt, creating a rift in the family, Genesis 37.
      2. However, the fifth commandment directs the children to intercept family dysfunction and abuse in order to END such ills:
        1. The fifth commandment calls children to "make honorable" (kabed, B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 457-458) both their father and their mother, Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 271.
        2. There is no condition in this directive although dysfunction had existed for generations in the patriarchs, so God called children to intercept and thus to terminate family abuse and dysfunction!
    2. God's wisdom in giving this commandment is seen in how obeying it solves all kinds of dysfunctional issues as taught in other Scriptures:
      1. Romans 12:19 directs those who are wronged not to retaliate in vengeance, but to let GOD repay the evildoer. This way, evil is not propagated, but one STOPS evil with good, Romans 12:20-21.
      2. If a child then refuses to enhance his hurt and anger at wrongs he has faced from a parent, he avoids passing that hurt and anger on to the next generation, thus overcoming evil with good in trusting the Lord so that the next generation is spared abuse and dysfunction.
      3. In addition, when one lets God take vengeance for wrongs done to him by his parent(s), it teaches him to let God handle wrongs faced from other authority figures in business or government, so he then intercepts to lessen wrongs in society for the good of the nation!
    3. For individuals heeding this command, God promised a good, long life in personal blessing, Deuteronomy 5:16b,c:
      1. The conjunction lema'an, "in order that" precedes the promise of a long life (Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 775), so honoring one's parents was rewarded with the promise of a long life, Deut. 5:16b.
      2. The same conjunction lema'an is used again before the verb "that it may go well with you (yatab, "be pleasing," Ibid., p. 405-406; Ibid., Kittel), so honoring one's parents was rewarded with the promise of a good life, Deuteronomy 5:16c.
    4. However, this individual obedience also produced national blessings:
      1. Psalm 128 reveals that if a man reveres the Lord and obeys Him (v. 1), he himself is blessed (v. 2), impacting for blessing his marriage (v. 3a), family (v. 3b), community (v. 5), nation and international affairs (v. 6) in ever-widening circles of contact.
      2. Hence, individual obedience to the fifth commandment had great positive impacts on law and order in society at large!
    5. Most importantly, for today's believer, the path to success in this whole endeavor is through dependence on the indwelling Holy Spirit:
      1. Philippians 2:12-13 reveals God is at work in believers to cause us both to will to do and then also to perform His good pleasure.
      2. This occurs if a believer relies on the power of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16) Who indwells every believer in Christ, Romans 8:9.
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ for salvation from sin and receive the Holy Spirit, John 3:16; 1 Cor. 12:13; Romans 8:9b. (2) May we rely on the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16) to overcome evil with good in intercepting abuse and dysfunction with God's blessing.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 A great illustration of this sermon's lesson is found in the life of Joseph in the Biblical record itself.

Joseph started out in life heavily favored by his father over his brothers, Genesis 37:1-3. This dysfunctional problem was a third generation error begun with a spiritual lapse in Abraham and Sarah: (1) instead of waiting on God for a son, this couple had resorted to the cultural practice of the era of having Abraham father a son by Sarah's maid, Hagar, Genesis 16:1-4a; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Gen. 16:2-3. However, when Hagar's son Ishmael later mocked Sarah's son, Isaac, God had to direct Abraham to send Ishmael and Hagar away to protect Isaac's inheritance as the true child of promise, Genesis 21:1-14. (2) Isaac wrongly applied this pattern dysfunctionally to favor his son Esau over his younger brother Jacob while Isaac's wife, Rebekah favored Jacob over Esau, leading to a great rift between the brothers, Genesis 25:19-34; 27:1-46. (3) Jacob continued Isaac's dysfunctional favoritism, loving his youngest son Joseph over his older sons (Genesis 37:1-3), leading them to hate Joseph so much that they sold him into slavery in Egypt, Genesis 37:4-36.

However, Joseph learned by trials to look to God for wisdom and blessing in life, thus absorbing the wrongs of his brothers and the lack of wisdom on his father's part to end the family dysfunction of the generations by forgiving his brothers when they repented before him. This led to peace and blessing for the family in line with the will of God to create a united nation of Israel through them, Genesis 50:15-21.

As an added result of his growth through trials, Joseph also learned to absorb the abuse he faced at the Egyptian official Potiphar's house to relate well to other Egyptian officials, including Pharaoh, Genesis 39:1-41:53. Joseph then contributed to bless not only Egypt, but the nations around Egypt when he opened up Egypt's storehouses to feed other people groups in that part of the world, Genesis 41:54-57!



In the fifth commandment, God calls CHILDREN to intercept abuse and dysfunction they have inherited, and He is ready to provide them all of the resources to achieve this in Christ.

May we then honor our parents through Christ by faith and through relying on the Holy Spirit. We will then see God bless us and make us a blessing to many other people.