To honor in family relationships

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Exodus 20:2‭, ‬12 ESV

Rev. Travis Drake

What does it mean to honor our parents in adulthood? Family relationships are complicated. Sin and brokenness is often found in these relationships, but God calls us from slavery into God's goodness.

Honoring, ancient Israel-style

Honor was hierarchical in Mediterranean culture. There was an order and structure to how honor was given. The ruler was the top of a pyramid demanding the first. Eli was accused of honoring his sons above God. God was claiming that sacrifices were his, but Eli was honoring his sons above God. God is above all. Parents, leaders, and managers... There is someone higher in the food chain than you. God's honor is always to be greater than our own. We can't claim the greatest place in our children's lives. We should not act like the only authority in our house. This command doesn't just speak to those under authority; it speaks to those with authority. We all sit under the authority of God. 

Honor was mutually beneficial. The patron-client relationship describes this. Protection was limited, so a patron provided it to clients. But the clients also honored patrons and both parties benefited. This doesn't call for parents to treat their children as clients! But it points out the mutual benefit of both parties. Honor meant that when we gathered things, it would benefit not just ourselves but also others. Good provision to children raised the honor of the parents. And good provision was, of course, good for the children. So honor is not just for you and I, but for others and for God.

Honoring our parents in light of Jesus' life

Jesus heads with his family to Jerusalem and he stays behind. Now traveling in such large family group, it takes some time for his parents to find that he isn't with them. He stays behind in the temple and that is where his parents find him. Jesus is speaking with the religious teachers and showing his good desire to be in his father's house. But Jesus at that young age, goes back with his parents. He submits to his parents authority. Jesus lets his parents exercise authority as a child. 

But as he grows older, he no longer asks Mary for advice or permission. Jesus doesn't ask Mary for directions. Jesus' parents no longer control him. So for us, submission as a child was for the child to learn and be guided. Jesus' ministry takes off, he calls himself the son of God. Jesus' family come to get him. They think Jesus is acting crazy and they go to bring him home and set him straight. But Jesus doesn't go along with them. Jesus publicly disagrees with his family. Jesus doesn't write them off. Jesus continues to honor them even as he disagrees them. Jesus calls John, the disciple, to care for his mother at the cross.

Honoring our parents in our lives

As children, we should submit to our parents. Even as children who disagree with our parents, we need to submit, even when the desires are not bad. As adults, we must continue to honor and care for our parents, even when we disagree. Why? Because Jesus did. Even as Jesus was being publicly executed, he honored his mother, Mary. So honor isn't just for when it is convenient. Jesus was the commandments in flesh. So to honor, to care, and to love our parents at all times is the command. But on our best days, we cannot muster this. Jesus doesn't simply provide the example, the blueprint. He provides the power. Through the power of the holy spirit, God can change us inside to desire these things. Honoring in Jesus' life led to death, but also resurrection. Consider that in the old testament dishonoring ones parents was punishable by death. So it is with us. We fail to honor God and our parents... And to do so is deserving of death. But for the Christian, we die with Jesus and find life & resurrection. We find desire to do what God desires. And we find honor, even as we honor others, especially.

Understanding Rest

And God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. - Exodus 20:1‭-‬2‭, ‬8‭-‬11 ESV

Rev. Travis Drake

The commandments outline how to flourish with God. It is moving from enslavement to freedom in Christ. Many of us in the church struggle to understand and rest/Sabbath. God doesn't just offer it to us; He commands it.

Why we struggle to Sabbath

Why do we constantly struggle with putting down our striving? We see it as a restriction or constraint. Often it is because we think that God will reject us because we aren't doing it tightly. For others, when God command rest, we see it as an imposition of who's the boss. We struggle with keeping God as Lord of our lives. Still others may think that by keeping the Sabbath, they are missing out, falling behind, or getting less. Fears of falling behind in our lives in some way. But God has already seen this and prepared for these things. God first delivers Israel from Egypt and in that, we see that God provides. He knows that we will struggle to trust Him. That's why He rescues first. So we could know that we can trust him. We are constantly looking for ways to control the world around us. Maybe our spouse, or our career, or our parents... God gives us freedom in Christ so that we don't serve other things in our lives.

How to reorient

This command invites us to be like God. The passage points us back to the story of creation. The reason we are commanded to rest isn't just because we need rest, but God, infinite and powerful, enjoys rest. In being commanded to rest, we are invited to be like God. This is not a restriction, this is God wanting is to have more. God has this and wants to share it with us. After centuries of hardship and slavery, God invites them to enjoy things of the King. From centuries of degradation, an invitation to being elevated back to heirs of the King. This isn't an invitation to those who have it together, Israel was always sinful and slavery didn't make it better. It is for sinners like you and I. This invitation is for those who were broken inside and out. We don't need just a physical rescue, a release from our circumstances. We need a rescue from our internal brokenness, a slavery that we carry around with us everywhere we go. So this command is to put down our attempts to do what Christ has done for us. That is what the Sabbath calls us to. It calls to rest in what Jesus has already done for us. For those who believe, we are free in Jesus. That is ultimately what our Sabbath should be about.

How to live into it?

First, we are to examine. We need to look at our Sundays and see how it is different from other days. Does it look different from Saturday? This isn't a call to guilt, we will not see a perfect Sabbath in our lives until we see Jesus. But it is a call to change it, to make it holy in our lives. We need to examine our hearts and perhaps to start thinking on Saturday how we can start resting on Sunday. 

Let's do some dangerous resting. I want us to step out in faith and stop working on something that feels so important in your life. Leave that project, that striving, that thing that we are afraid to put down. Push it off to Monday. Trust in God instead. Place our hope in Jesus instead.

God's name

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. - Exodus 20:7 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

The essence of the command

God considers his name as vitally important. Important enough to be one of the ten commandments. How so? In our current day and culture, we pick names because they are cool or unique. But in the times of the old testament, names were very important. Jacob was named for grasping his brothers ankle. It also meant schemer which was proven true later in his life in his planning to obtain his father's blessing. God was asked by Moses what His name was. God called himself, Yahweh, I am. The supreme being of all creation shared his name with Israel. In doing so, he was sharing some of himself. To disrespect God's name is to disrespect God himself. This is how God sees it.

To call on Jesus name, not in a perfunctory way is to call on God. The power is not in the name, but it does represent Him. Jews were so careful that they often used alternatives rather than writing his name.

The expansiveness of the command

Vain means worthless, emptiness, and even evil. To use Jesus' name as an exclamation were be considered empty. Or saying something like oh my god. This is a reducing of God's name. This seems old fashioned but this isn't my opinion, this is God's point of view. And using God's name in an oath, so help me God, with no intention to uphold that oath is evil. To use God's name for our personal gain, like false prophets. They prophecy for their own purposes. Some say that God is leading them to certain actions, but this is simply using God to justify our personal desires. It even covers perfunctory prayers and songs. It is evil to sing praise or pray to God when our hearts are not in it.

In calling ourselves Christians, we are literally bearing God's name. Our actions, behavior, and character are seen as reflections of our parents. When kids are well behaved or ill mannered, the assumption is that their parent's values are reflected there. When Christians act in ways that are contrary to God's agenda and desires, God's name is dishonored. 

The effect of the command

We see this command and we see how we fail to live this out consistently. We fall short in our lives in so many ways to keep not just this command, but all ten commandments. To bring shame on God's name brings guilt. But Jesus lived perfectly and fulfilled these commands consistently in his life. He did this as the way to pay for our guilt. 

second commandment: the image of God

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. - Exodus 20:4‭-‬6 ESV

What is prohibited?

There is only one true God and only He is deserving of our worship. We are always drawn to good, created things. These are meant to be enjoyed but they are not to be our ultimate desire. Sex, money, family, respect of men, etc. We are not to create images and sculptures of God.

Why is it prohibited?

The idea is that we are trying to contain or depict God. Any image or sculpture will fall to depict the fullness of God. This made sense when Israel was in the desert. God was the cloud, the pillar of fire. Israel could not create an image of the invisible God. But then Jesus came. He was the fullness of God. The object holds no power. It cannot connect us to God. It does not allow us to control God. Often idols are our attempts to conform God to our own perceptions and our ideas about God. The idol is a misrepresentation of God and an offense to Him. We are offended when we are misunderstood or misrepresented, so then what is God's reaction?

God's image redeemed

Jesus was an authorized depiction of God, but there is another. Us, humans. We are created in God's image. We reflect some of his qualities. We are broken mirrors because of sin. But Jesus was broken for us so that we would not die, but be restored. So we should strive to glorify and illuminate Jesus in every area of our lives.