So how's your memory? Yeah. How, how's your memory doing, Tom and Stanley were in a coffee shop having some coffee one morning and Tom turned to Stanley. He said, man, my memory is, it's just, it's just getting bad. It's getting really bad. Stanley said, well, how bad is it? Tom said, how bad is what Hallmark philosopher Maxine once said her memory was getting so bad that she could hide her own Easter eggs. Yeah, it took me a second before I got it. It's all right. It's good. What about your muscle memory? How's your muscle memory doing an article this past week? Noted that if you're trying to get in any kind of shape, that muscle memory is an advantage. It seems that if you have worked out before there is DNA inside your muscle cells that remembers that you've worked out. And so if you start working out again, your muscle doesn't have to go back to preschool. It will grow faster because it will remember that it used to be bigger and stronger. So it will regain itself quicker, which is probably the reason that I'm having a hard time gaining any muscle. My muscle doesn't remember having any muscles. So, you know, having to start from scratch, whether you're in kindergarten or whether you're in an assisted living center, every single one of us has a muscle that needs to get bigger and stronger in our life. There is a particular muscle that no matter who we are or how old we are, we need that muscle to be bigger. What kind of muscle are we talking about while we continue our series, 10 ways to change the world where we're looking at the ultimate laws of the universe known as the 10 commandments. And the question we're trying to ask ourselves as we walk through the 10 commandments is this, how would the world be different if you obeyed the 10 commandments? I if if we were really obeying the 10 commandments, how would the world be different? We arrived at the fifth commandment. And it is in the context of the fifth commandment where we find this important muscle, this muscle that impacts every single part of my life and your life. What kind of muscle is that? Let's see if we can find out together our sermon title today is called Your Honor. And we'll be looking in Exodus chapter 20. God has a, a message that he's given to Moses Moses is giving the message to the people and the message to the people still has a big impact on who we are today. And God continues his message in verse 12, honor your father and your mother, the muscle that needs to get bigger and stronger, no matter who we are, no matter how old we are is the muscle of honor. What does it mean to honor someone? Well, it means to esteem them, it means to respect them. It means that you put value on that person for being a person. It is something that someone has even mentioned is a superpower. If you're honoring someone, it's a superpower. In other words, it will make you stronger. And likewise, if you don't honor people, it will make you weaker. It will prevent you from creating and maintaining and enjoying meaningful relationships in life. Now, someone may say, hey, I'm an introvert. That's cool with me. I don't want meaningful relationships with anybody. Well, that's fine. But, but here's the thing, even in honoring others. If you refuse to honor them, it will make you weaker and the weaker you get, the more isolated, you will become so honoring others actually prevents you from being completely isolated. Again, someone may say, hey, I don't like people being completely isolated. Sounds great. Here's the thing though. Your DNA disagrees. See by DNA, I'm saying that every single one of us have been created with a desire to relate, we want to relate, we've been created with a desire to relate to God and to others. So if we fail to honor others, if we fail to engage in the, the concept and the prospect and the practice of honoring other people. We are actually going to become weaker people, weaker in the things we don't even want to be weaker in. We'll actually be missing out on the joy that was created for us before the foundations of the world. It's ok. If you don't want to have 200 friends, that's fine. If you just wanna have two, that's ok. But honor the two, honor the two because in honoring them, you actually will become a stronger person. You actually be more satisfied, no matter what you do in life, to honor others is something that we have been designed to do. And if we fail to do it, we become weak, not strong and honoring as God gives his loss to this new nation of people, honoring begins with father and mother. Now someone may say my, my parents were terrible people. You know, they, they were awful to me. Someone may say, well, I was, you know, I was an orphan and I've, I've, you know, grew up in foster care. I I didn't even know my parents. Someone say, well, my my parents are, are no longer here. They, they've already died years ago. My dad died nine months ago this past week and I miss him terribly, but I'm still honoring my father primarily because he asked me to take care of my mom. So I'm honoring and obeying my dad by taking care of my mom and my mom has a lot of things that are, are worthy of being honored. Like, for instance, three weeks before my dad died, my mom fell and she's been in a wheelchair for the last nine months. Never been in a wheelchair before. But about a month ago, she started using her walker all the time and I walk in this week and she's at therapy and she's doing core exercises with a weighted ball. I mean, there's a lot to honor about my mom. By the way, she's 89. You know, I don't do core exercises with a weighted ball. There's a lot of things that we might be able to honor in our parents. Honoring your parents may be easy or honoring your parents could be really hard. But either way, I would just graciously ask you to remember. This is one sermon I told somebody a couple of weeks ago, I said, doing the 10 commandments in 10 weeks is one of the dumbest things I've ever done in my life. There is so much that can be said about each one of these commandments I could spend. Well, y'all know if you've been here any time I could spend two months on one commandment, you know, but this is this one sermon. So what I hope is that in looking at this one commandment and looking at verse 12 of Exodus 20 at the very least we would be able to catch a glimpse that this commandment is good for our hearts and our minds and our souls, no matter who we are, it is a commandment that will make us stronger if we can get just the basics of what's contained in it. Herman Babin said this a person's becoming human occurs within the home. Here. The foundation is laid for the forming of the future man and woman of the future father and mother of the future member of society, of the future citizen of the future subject of the Kingdom of God, your existence, your existence as a human is connected and tied to your home. Alastair Begg said this no child, no family, no church, no city, no country or people will ever give honor where honor is due and respect where respect is required unless they are taught respect, honor and obedience within their homes and for their parents, the the math is not hard here. It's very simple. If we do not learn to honor people at home, we will not honor people when we leave home. In fact, if we don't learn how to honor people in the home, we will not learn how to honor anything or anyone else in life. Now, is there a story or two out there of the orphan who had a terrible life and grew up on the school of hard knocks and became a fantastic exemplary person that honored other people. Yes, absolutely. Those stories are there. But they're not the norm. The norm is for more than for the, about the 8.1 billion people in the world is. We're all born in, in some kind of family and whatever our definition of home is, we're, we're born in a family. We're, we're born in this, this group of people one way or the other now has the definition of, of marriage and family and home. Got a little morally muddy in the last, you know, 1020 3050 years. Yeah. But the reality is, you know, when that started, it started in the garden, it's, it's been a muddy moral picture since the first man and the first woman said, ah, maybe we'll honor God, maybe we won't. So, yeah, we may have a, a moral difficulty in our day and age, understanding marriage and family and home. But that does not cancel out our spiritual and practical DNA. We have been designed to honor. We've been designed to be in relationships. And if we don't, we will grow weaker. And if we don't, we will not be able to enjoy the joy that we were created to enjoy. The joy made for us individually before the foundations of the world can be found in what it means to honor our father and mother and honor other people. Marshall Siegel said this if we truly are to honor everyone, especially those in authority over us, the muscles and instincts of that honor. Will most often be developed in the home. Now, will they always be developed in the home? Will those muscles always be developed in the home? No, but will they most often be developed in the home? Yeah, they will more often than not whatever home is for you, whatever home looked like, whatever definition of home you have is the place that you learn something about what it means to honor others. Siegel goes on to say this, if we refuse to obey at home, we will be that much more likely to disobey rulers, bosses, pastors and ultimately God himself, you know, many people today say man, the world is just going to hell in a handbasket that the world has, has lost its moral compass and we've just sunk into a, a pit of, of sin and evil, but we're foolish if we're surprised by that, this is what Paul wrote to Timothy. Paul said in the last days, people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips without self control, brutal haters of God, treacherous, reckless, conceited lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God. Yes, we can see those attitudes just about everywhere, right? We can see those at, at work, at school, at home. We can see those in politics. We can see those in, in many different walks of life. But the reality is we see those or sometimes ignore those first and most in the home, those things begin in the home. I, I, if we're not obeying the 10 commandments, it's not because they're not hanging up on the courthouse wall. It's because we're not aba them at home, the place where, where life begins. And did you, did you catch what Paul put in that list of all those terrible things? He put disobedient to parents. That was in that list. It was along with treacherous. And if you think that list is bad, listen to the one he gave the church at Rome. Romans 129 people have been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed and evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful inventors of evil and disobedient to parents. So, gossips, murderers hating God, inventors of evil and people who disobey their parents. What do those have in common? Well, they're part of the wrong crowd and they're all in, in the same list to say we are disobedient parents is, is not something light and might. We also add. Undoubtedly God knew we would be inclined to disobey our parents because he put the commandment in there. He knew we'd be inclined to go our own way. He knew we'd be inclined to not honor people. The wrong crowd is the crowd you don't wanna hang out with at home, at work, at school, at church, at the breakfast joint at the community center or out on the campaign trail, you don't want to be in the, the wrong crowd because the wrong crowd based just on these lists from Paul, these are the common and consistent patterns of behavior of those who are on the path of destruction, not on the path of eternal life. So what path are you on and considering your, your life and what's happening in your life, which, which path are you on? God designed the family and the home, whatever those definitions may be for us individually. He designed them to be a place where we would learn to honor authority so that we would avoid the path of destruction, the wide path that leads to destruction. And likewise, God designed the family. And the home is as the place where we could learn the narrow road that leads to life, the the path that leads to life. When Jesus turned to his friend Thomas and said this in John 14, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father, except through me, the narrow road that leads to life. The the narrow path that leads to eternal life goes in and through and only through Jesus. Jesus is the path to life. Jesus is the way to God. And how did Jesus do it? Honoring his parents? Well, just before he became a teenager, Luke wrote this about him and the attitude that he had toward his parents, Luke 251 and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and he continued to be subject to them. He continued to obey his parents. And what did that produce in his life? The next verse, Luke 252 and Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and people uh that just because he honored and about his parents know them. There's other factors going in there. But at the very least, honoring his father and mother helped him increase in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and with other people. Therefore, the commandment is not confusing. Honor your father and your mother. How do we do that? Well, Paul was writing the church at Ephesus and he said this in Ephesians, 61 Children obey your parents in the Lord. For this is right. Maybe the, the prime way that we honor our parents is to obey our parents. And what does it mean to obey? Well, it means to listen to instruction and be ready to follow instruction. Now, this is particularly true for Children who are younger in age and, and still at home and, and living with their parents. This notion of, of listening and, and honoring their parents is, is part of how they should function in life, should be their habit to listen to their parents and try to follow their instructions. Parents of, of Children shouldn't have to always say are you listen to a word I'm saying. Did you hear a word I'm saying? Are you paying attention to anything that's going on? There? Shouldn't be comments that, that we have to make all the time as parents listen, listen, listen and then obey and, and why, why should we do that? Well, the wise man of the Old Testament said this. Proverbs 3017, the eye that mocks a father and scorns a mother. The Ravens of the valley will pick out and the young eagles will eat it. I mean, I don't even know what that means, but it doesn't sound good. Right? I mean, I, I don't want a raven picking my eye out and giving it for breakfast, the baby eagles, you know, I just prefer to keep my eye. I think I'll honor mom and dad listening to and obey your parents is, is safe and good and, and not listening to and obeying your parents is, is dangerous and, and bad. Now, are we supposed to always obey our parents? Yes. Is there any time that we should not obey our parents? Well, kind of listen again to what Paul said. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. For this is right. The only time that it could be limited to obeying your parents is if they directly ask you to do something that dishonors, the holy, holy, holy God of the Bible. Yeah. Before anyone gets their hopes up cleaning your room, brushing your teeth, uh, doing your, your homework. Um, not listening to certain things or watching certain things or going to certain places or going to certain places with certain people. Those are all things that you can obey those, those are obey able things. So how would you know if your parents are leading you astray? Well, remember the wrong crowd that we just read about a second ago. Listen again to some of the characteristics of the wrong crowd filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful inventors of evil and disobedient to parents. If any of those things pop up, then your parents might be walking with the wrong crowd. And in those moments, it is wise for you to turn to some Godly adults for help of, of how you can still honor your parents without really obeying the things they're asking you to do when those things are opposed to God. But if your parents don't ever lead you into any of those directions, then listen to them and honor them and obey them to the best of your ability. What about when you go off to college? What about when you move out? What about when you get married and have kids of your own? What, what about when your parents die? I never forget sitting in the huddle house with my dad one time. This is gosh, many years ago and I really needed some advice from him. Like, not, not the normal kind of advice, you know, I usually ask him advice about cars and broken dishwashers and things like that. But I, this is kind of like serious advice. And I remember at some point when dad started talking, he, he started doing that kind of fatherly lecture thing. And so I said, I said, hang on, I said, this is that moment in our relationship where I need you to be a little more friend than father. See, there's a, there's a change. There's, there's an adjusting that happens as we grow when we move out, when we're off at college, when we're married. When, when do we still have to honor and obey our parents? Yes, we do. But it, but it's different instead of an issue of daily authority. It's more of a daily attitude. You know, time after time, day after day, since my dad has been gone. I'm remembering the ways that he did things and I'm remembering and trying to honor what he taught me and what he invested in me. So there, there is a way for us to continue to honor our parents even when they're not officially our parents and we're not under their home, under the roof of their home or, or even if they are no longer with us, we can honor and obey them with their, with our attitude. In other words, when we move out. When we go off to college, it would be dishonoring to go. Finally, I'm sick of those people. I'm sick of their rules. I'm doing my own thing. You know, that, that, that's not, you know, honoring, you know, so this, this picture that we have of what it means to honor father and mother. It's not just the father, mother, it creates honoring in every aspect of life. And why is it so important? Why is it so important that we don't skip over the fifth commandment just in case our parents were dead? Beats. Why is it important that we don't skip over the fifth commandment just in case our, our parents are no longer with us. Listen to how God continues the commandment in verse 12, honor your father and your mother so that your days may be prolonged on the land which the Lord your God gives you. So see, you should honor your father and mother so you can get a bunch of oceanfront property in Arizona one day, you know, and have your own, your own spot, your own place. Nice place, anything you want. That's what it's all making sure that you get your inheritance, you get your land, you get your money. That's why you should honor your father and mother. No, because tho those aren't the promises. The promise here is that if you don't anchor yourself to this type of commandment, you will not learn how to honor and obey your parents. And therefore you will not learn how to honor and obey anybody. And if that's the case, then this picture of prolonged days is going to be taken away, it's going to be taken away because what you're doing is, is in dishonoring your parents, whether they are living or not living and dishonoring them. You are voluntarily pulling up the anchor of God's blessing in your life. You're pulling up the anchor of God's blessing in your life and you're drifting out into a sea of the wicked wrong crowd on nothing but a rickety little raft. So don't do that to the best of your ability, honor and obey your parents to the best of your ability. Don't, don't just throw your life away because of whatever your particular circumstances may be. Enjoy this commandment, embrace this commandment. Look for how you can honor this commandment, but that doesn't mean it will be easy. In fact, for many people, it feels impossible. I was reading a story this week of, of why the impossible feeling always takes us back to the law. In other words, no matter how hard and difficult obeying this commandment may be, it doesn't take away from the beauty of the commandment. No matter how difficult our personal situation may be, it does not take away from the beauty of God's law. The article I was reading was a, an anonymous daughter. She wrote anonymously uh as a way to graciously honor her father who was um a difficult man according to, to her description. And this is what she said. Here's the ugly truth. I do not want to honor my parents. So here in so many other areas, I find the law continues to drive me to Christ. What does that mean? So I don't want to do it, but the law drives me to Christ. What does that mean? This is what she says, how I need the righteousness of one who always honored his earthly parents to be credited to my account, which is radically in the red in this department. How I need the power of the one who glorified his heavenly Father to generate in me the desire and decision to honor my father and the perseverance to carry it out over the long haul of life and future offenses. How I need the spirit who generates the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control to tend this garden in my heart and bring about this growth in my life and in my actions and my reactions, how I need my heavenly father to remind me that he intends to use every disappointment in my life, including my disappointments with my dad to draw me to depend more fully on Him, on God. And she said this, I do not want to honor my parents. So I'm asking God for the want to, I'm once again reckoning myself dead to the sins of disrespect, hardheartedness, coldness, contempt, self, righteousness, and unforgiveness so that I can be alive to God. She said this, I'm taking a step in God's direction by taking a step in my dad's direction. I'm taking a step in my dad's direction because I want to walk in the way Christ walked and I'm trusting that Christ will be there with me, empowering me for every costly stumbling step. In other words, she's going to build the muscle of honor. She's going to do it. She's going to stumble. Why she does it. There's going to be a lot of stumbling steps, but she's going to build the muscle of honor. What are you doing with your honor in life? How, how are you using your honor? Are you honoring your parents? Are you honoring your spouse? Are you honoring your kids? Are you honoring other people in the world that have authority or, or influence in your life? How are you doing it? Honoring others? Look, it may be a stumbling step there, there may be a lot of stumbles, but wherever you go today begin the process of building the muscle of honor because it will make you stronger and more satisfied, no matter who you are, where you go or what you do. And it may keep you from getting your eyes poked out by a raven.