Exodus 20:12 CSB – “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

Matthew 22:37-40 CSB – He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Proverbs 1:7 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Exodus 20:12 CSB – “Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

Why Honor Our Parents Matters– That It May Go Well

1 John 5:3 CSB – For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden,

“A creature revolting against a creator is revolting against the source of his own powers–including even his power to revolt. It is like the scent of a flower trying to destroy the flower.” – C.S. Lewis

  • When children learn to honor parental authority, they learn to honor God’s authority 
  • The Opposite of Honoring Your Parents is Pride

There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which everyone in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others….

According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison. It was through pride that the Devil became the Devil: Pride leads to every other vice. It is the complete anti-God state of mind. – C.S. Lewis

Romans 13:1-2 CSB – Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God. So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves.

  • Honor Parents Builds the Best Society

Deuteronomy 6:6b-8 CSB – ‘This great nation is indeed a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call to him? And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?

Proverbs 14:34 CSB – Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

Proverbs 17:11 CSB – An evil person desires only rebellion;

“The history of the world is not the record of our wars, it is the history of our households.” – John Ruskin

“Even though we can be encouraged by efforts to return to ‘family values,’ the reality is that the trends in the wider society over the last thirty to fifty years have basically shifted from pro-family to anti-family. We’re trying to navigate through what has become a turbulent, family-unfriendly environment, and there are powerful headwinds that easily throw many families off track.” – Steven Covey in 7 Habits of Highly Successful Families

Proverbs 14:34 CSB – Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

When We are Young, To Honor Means to Obey

Ephesians 6:1-2 is clear: Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right. Honor your father and mother,

Luke 2:46-49 CSB –  After three days, they found him in the temple sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all those who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked them. “Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?”  50 But they did not understand what he said to them.

Luke 2:51 CSB – Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother kept all these things in her heart.  And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.

Proverbs 6:20-23 CSB – My son, keep your father’s command,
and don’t reject your mother’s teaching.
21 Always bind them to your heart;
tie them around your neck.
22 When you walk here and there, they will guide you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
when you wake up, they will talk to you.
23 For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light,
and corrective discipline is the way to life.

Psalm 139:13 CSB – For it was you who created my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

1 Samuel 15:23 CSB – For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry.

Proverbs 15:20 CSB – A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.

Ephesians 6:1-3 CSB – Children, obey your parents in the Lord,… so that it may go well with you and you may enjoy long life on the earth

As We Mature, to Honor Means to Appreciate

  • Respect Them

Leviticus 19:3 CSB – “Each of you is to respect his mother and father. You are to keep my Sabbaths; I am the Lord your God

Hebrews 12:9 CSB – Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them.

  • Forgive Them
  • Listen to Them

Proverbs 13:1 CSB – A wise son responds to his father’s discipline,
but a mocker doesn’t listen to rebuke.

Proverbs 23:22 CSB – Listen to your father who gave you life,
and don’t despise your mother when she is old.

Proverbs 6:20-23 TLB – obey your father and your mother. 21 Take to heart all of their advice; keep in mind everything they tell you.

22 Every day and all night long their counsel will lead you and save you from harm; when you wake up in the morning, let their instructions guide you into the new day.

23 For their advice is a beam of light directed into the dark corners of your mind to warn you of danger and to give you a good life.

  • Show Gratitude

As Parents Age, To Honor Means to Care

John 20:25-27 CSB – Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother,

26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

Proverbs 22:23b, don’t despise your mother when she is old.

1 Timothy 5:4,8 CSB – But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn to practice godliness toward their own family first and to repay their parents, for this pleases God.

But if anyone does not provide for his own family, especially for his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Leviticus 19:32 CSB – “You are to rise in the presence of the elderly and honor the old. Fear your God; I am the Lord.

Proverbs 23:24-25 CSB – The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly,
and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him.
25 Let your father and mother have joy,
and let her who gave birth to you rejoice.