June 30, 2024
Series: Ephesians
Teacher: Mike Laughrun
Ephesians 6:1-4
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Big Truth:
Jesus followers walk as imitators of Him in family
Big Idea:
Children imitate Christ by obeying and honoring their parents.
Ephesians 6:1-3
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. (2) “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), (3) “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
Luke 2:51-52
(51) And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. (52) And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
2 Timothy 3:1-2, 5
(1) But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. (2) For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, … (5) having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
Why obey and honor parents?
Because it is right
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Ephesians 6:1
Because it pleases the Lord
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Ephesians 6:1
Because of God’s promise
(2) “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), (3) “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
Ephesians 6:2-3
Leviticus 19:1-3
(1) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (2) “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. (3) Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
Big Idea:
Parents imitate Christ by building up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
1 Samuel 2:12, 17
(12) Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the LORD … (17) Thus the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD, for the men despised the offering of the LORD.
1 Samuel 3:13
And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.
What does the Bible say about the discipline of children?
Hebrews 12:6-7
(6) For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” (7) It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
Hebrews 12:9-11
(9) Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? (10) For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. (11) All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Proverbs 22:15
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
Proverbs 23:13-14
Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. (14) If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.
Proverbs 29:15
The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.
Proverbs 13:24
He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.
Key Elements of Healthy Discipline
- Healthy discipline is calm
- Healthy discipline is consistent
- Healthy discipline is corrective
- Healthy discipline is instructive
- Healthy discipline is redemptive
Key Elements of Nourishing Instruction
- Who is God?
- What is the Gospel?
- What is my identity?
- What is my mission?
Deuteronomy 6:4-7
(4) “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (5) You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (6) And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. (7) You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Psalm 127:3-5
(3) Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. (4) Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. (5) Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
Ephesians 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
Jesus followers are called to walk in sacrificial love as imitators of Christ who loved us and gave himself up for us. This must take place in our families.
Children are called to obey their parents, and parents are called to train their children to love and follow Jesus.
Walk in sacrificial love, forgiving one another and yielding your will to build up others as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Rom. 12:1-2).
Walk in sacrificial love to build your children up into Christlikeness.
Feel the weight and privilege of pursuing faithfulness to walk in love within your family and within the church family.
Long to walk according to your calling. Be imitators of God. Seek to walk in love as Christ loved you.
Desire to build up your children, your parents, and other children and parents within the church to become more like Jesus.