Ephesians chapter 6, verses 1 to 4. I've entitled
this message, A Message to Children and Parents. And I'm going to deal with this, and as I speak, I'll look at
these first few verses and I'm speaking to children. And then that last verse I'm
going to speak to we as adults. And so I want us to be very mindful
of the beauty and the mercy and the grace of God that would speak
individually to children and to parents. Before I look at this particular
verse, just mark your place there, and I want you to turn with me
to Matthew chapter 19. Matthew 19, and I'm going to
look at a verse and mark in just a second, but Matthew chapter
19, And I want to look at verses 13 to 15, and what I'm looking
at in particular is how the Lord dealt with children while He
was here on this earth. Now imagine this, the Lord of
glory, God made flesh and dwelt among
us. and God Almighty that spoke all
things into existence, God in human flesh, what was His attitude
toward children? Now, those of you that are younger,
maybe living at home, and children, but for all of us, for adults
too, for us to hear, What does God have to say about how the
Lord treated children? Matthew chapter 19 verse 13,
Then were there brought unto him little children, that he
should put his hands on them, and pray. And the disciples rebuked
them, that is, the parents that brought these kids to the Lord. The disciples Evidently, they
thought that these kids would be in the Lord's way, that they
were going to be a hindrance to Him, a nuisance to Him. And
listen to what the Lord said, But Jesus said, Suffer, or allow,
little children, and forbid them not to come unto Me. For of such is the kingdom of
heaven. And He laid His hands on them,
and departed thence." Now I want you to turn over to Mark 10,
Mark chapter 10. Mark 10, verse 15, 16. Mark 10, 15, "...verily I say
unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as
a little child, He shall not enter therein." And He took them
up in His arms and put His hands upon them and blessed them. I read those scriptures and I
thought to myself, how tender, how kind, and how merciful, gentle
was the Lord in dealing with children. This is what the Lord
said concerning kids, little children. Suffer little children
and forbid them not to come unto Me, for of such is the kingdom
of heaven. The Lord, according to these
Scriptures, in total graciousness and humility, took an opportunity
to stop. Now I'm talking about the Lord
who raised the dead and healed the blind and gave hearing to
the deaf and speech to the dumb and took some loaves and some
fishes, and fed 5,000 men plus women and children. God, who
walked on the water and spoke to the wind, and on the Mount
of Transfiguration, and His garments did shine brighter than noonday
sun. I'm talking about God. And these
little kids came up to Him, little children, And he stopped. And when his disciples tried
to get on to him, he said, don't do that. Don't do that. You let
these little children come to me. Suffer the little children
to come, for such is the kingdom of heaven. You know I got to
reading that, and I wondered to myself as he was looking at
these little children, who knows all. You know He knows His sheep. And I just wondered, you know,
when those little kids came to Him, if there were not some among
those children that were standing by Him that day, and the Lord
who everlastingly has stood as the surety of the sheep, Could
it have been that there were some of his sheep standing there
that he had yet to call out of darkness and he looked upon them
in tenderness and kindness and would know in his heart, I know
you. I know you. You're mine. You were given to me from before
the foundation of the world. I'm going to lay down my life
for you. I'm going to pay your debt. I'm going to put away your
guilt by my blood. Suffer the little children to
come unto me, for such is the kingdom of heaven." He took them
and he ministered to them. He was so gentle. And these kids
were perfectly comfortable coming to Him. They weren't afraid of
Him. He was kind to them. Such is
the kingdom of heaven. Don't drive these kids away from
Me. You let these children come.
You let them come. Such is the kingdom of heaven.
Now I know this, very possibly when He said that, it could have
meant concerning these children in their attitude. that their
attitude of trusting and meekness, I'm sure that they were very
quiet. I'm sure that these parents,
when they brought him, these parents knew who he was. They
brought the children to him. They knew who he was. And I'm
without a doubt told these kids, now children, you be respectful. This is the Lord. This is the
Jesus of Nazareth. This is the Son of David. This is the Messiah. And you
children now, don't be unruly. And these kids, I mean, without
a doubt, they wondered. I don't doubt that for the second.
But these kids, harmless and meek, but was not their attitude
A beautiful picture of those who in regenerating grace are
made like that. There's a new man that is created
in righteousness and holiness. A new man that doesn't sin. I've said before, there's not
a believer that I know that would say, I can truthfully say that
I've seen myself to be truly meek. No believer I know talks
like that. Everyone that I know of will
admit what they are concerning their old man. But the Scripture
declares that there's a new man there that doesn't sin, that's
respectful to the Lord, meek before Him, trusting of Him,
inoffensive before Him, but also such is the kingdom of heaven. I am absolutely convinced and
I'm convinced. I think if the only scripture
that I've got is that scripture where David's child died. And David, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, said concerning that child, he said, he can't
come back to me, but I can go to him. I'm absolutely convinced. I'm convinced. Children that
die in infancy are with the Lord. I'm convinced of that. Based
on that scripture, if that's the only one I've got, that's
all I need right there. How many children have died in
famines? And I know we want to stamp out
world hunger and I hear all that, you know, and you're not going
to do it. You're not going to do it, but the famines and how
many children have died in infancy. And I'm convinced the vast majority,
I don't know how many, no man can number of those that will
be found in heaven, a number that no man can number. The Lord
knows, but how many will there be in heaven? I don't know. But
I can tell you this, I believe that a great, great number will
be these little kids that died, that were stillborn or they died
infants. He said, suffer these little
children to come to me, for such is the kingdom of heaven. I would encourage us as parents
and adults minister to children as tenderly and as compassionately
as we can. May our attitude toward kids
be such that we remember, what did the Lord do? I know how easy it is to brush them off and stuff like
that, but Lord help me to be tender to children. Be respectful
to the Lord. in being kind to little children. Now with those thoughts, turn
back to Ephesians 6, with those thoughts in our mind concerning
how was the Lord toward little children? Well, I've got a word
here from the Lord. Now this word, these words are
the words of Christ. They were pinned by men who were
moved upon by the Spirit of God concerning the Lord Jesus. The Spirit of God, the Lord said,
He shall speak of Me. He'll speak of Me. So whenever
we read something in the Scriptures, understand these words are the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ to His people. So what does the
Lord have to say? What are the Lord's thoughts?
What is His attitude? What is His tenderness toward
children today? And let's hear what does the
Lord have to say to children. And primarily, let me tell you
that these Scriptures right here are talking to kids, children,
And it matters, the age is not the issue. The issue is especially
children that are still living at home and have their parents
there as their authority. Now this is what God has to say. Children, you who are under the care of
your parents, children obey your parents in the Lord. Now this is what the master has
to say to children. Now children, listen to what
God has to say. Children, obey your parents. Children, obey your parents.
And if you have grandparents, obey your grandparents. Children,
obey those that the Lord has placed immediately over you as
authority. Children, obey your parents.
This is your duty. It's a wonderful duty. It's a pleasurable duty because
the Lord, number one, has given you parents that care for you,
that love you. Children, obey Your parents. The parents of children are the
first authority that a child knows. They are, those parents
now, are in type and picture, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Master Himself. But Almighty God has given parents
to be the authority for the teaching of children, the responsibility
for obedience. And children, when we obey our
parents in the Lord, let us do it with thankfulness. Now, I understand that children,
I mean there's some point in time you wonder, when do they
start understanding? Now listen, listen to me. I can
tell you this, I'm not a novice. I'm not a novice on having kids. I've got four. I've got four. And if you've got one or two,
they were all Sometimes that's all we can handle,
isn't it? I mean, you know. But I'm telling you, I have four
children. And children are the Lord's means
to parents as great teaching instruments to parents. And as a parent, we have some
great struggles on teaching children. I can remember thinking to myself,
why? Why do you not just listen? Why do you not listen? Could you not have just listened
to what I said? Did you have to be disobedient?
And it would grieve me. Oh, do you know what I have to
do? I don't want to do this, but I
must do this. I must discipline you. I've got to. I have Sarah. Sarah was probably one of the
most vocal. Those of you that remember Sarah,
my daughter. And if she listens to this, she'll agree with me.
Sarah would tell me, she said, Dad, you used to tell me that
if you didn't spank us, that God was going to spank you. And
she said, I never could figure that out until I got older and
started realizing. With children, you know, they
understand the spanking, but a parent understands the trials
of children growing up that are heartaches to their parents. And the parent has a weapon that
that child doesn't understand until their parents, and then
they understand. But kids, listen to me. When
the Scriptures tells children, obey your parents, it is for
the child's good. It's for that child's protection. It's for that child's encouragement
and growth and maturity. If your parents or your grandparents
have to spank you because of disobedience, let me tell you
why they have to spank you. And it's not because they don't
love you, it's because they do love you. That's a great mystery
to a child. You know, you're going to spank
me because you love me? That's exactly right. Let me
ask you this. What does the Scripture say concerning
why the Lord chastises His children whom the Lord loveth, whom the
Lord has everlastingly loved? He chasteneth and scourgeth. He spanks. And the Lord knows
just exactly how to chastise and to spank and to correct.
And it's because He loves His children. I would tell my kids,
listen, nobody wants to be around an
unruly child. Nobody. Not another child. And not an adult. Nobody wants
to be around them. Children that are unruly. Have
you ever been in the grocery store or something and there's
a child running and there's parents just all over and just in your
mind you say, I tell you what, I'd just like to have that boy
or that girl just for about one minute. One minute. You wouldn't do anything, but
you thought it. You thought it. You know why?
Because nobody wants to be around unruly children. Nobody. Or unruly
adults, for that matter. But children need to be taught. Children need to be disciplined. Children, obey your parents in
the Lord. It is the right thing to do. And children, when you obey your
parents or your grandparents, listen, it is not to be done
in a grouchy, unwilling manner, but it's to be done. Now listen
to this. Children, obey your parents in
the Lord. Do it. in obedience to the Lord. It is a responsibility of children
to obey and for parents to teach them to obey. When the Scripture
says for children to obey their parents in the Lord, that is
to obey them in that which is right and is honorable. A parent, a grandparent that
loves their children, And the reason I'm throwing grandparents
in here is because a lot of us here are grandparents. And it
is the parents' responsibility and the grandparents' responsibility.
You know, these are our kids. These are our kids and grandkids.
And we want to teach them concerning that which is the Lord's way. But listen to this. Why is this
to be like this? Children, obey your parents in
the Lord. Now listen to this. For this
is right. For this is right. This is right. I was talking to Gabe yesterday
morning. And I've said this before, Gabe
and I talk about one to five times a day. And he'll call,
or I'll call him, we'll chit-chat about something, but he said,
and let me tell you something, I guarantee you, this was one
scripture that those kids heard it one time, I guarantee you
they heard it a thousand times. And I told him, I said, I said,
I think I'm going to preach in the morning on Ephesians, tomorrow
night, on Ephesians 6-1. And Gabe said, children, obey
your parents in the Lord. I said, that's right. That was the Scripture that they
knew, that they heard quoted over and over and over. It's
right. This is right. It's right because
the Lord appointed it. It's right for children to obey
their parents because we owe a debt of gratitude to our parents. My mama is sitting right there. And I'm older, but I can tell
you this, she's still my mama. And I owe her. I owe her a debt
of gratitude. I thank God for her. And I want
to be as much as we have fun and laugh and everything, but
I'm to be respectful to her, love her, obey her. It's right. Children, obey your parents in
the Lord. It's right and it's good. It's good for the child. It's good for the parents. It's
good for society. As I said, nobody wants to be
around disobedient children. Now listen to me. And you know
what I'm about to say. I'm going to tell you this and
you're going to say, I know that's right. Do you know that the breakdown
in any society concerning there being a lack of respect for authority,
I'm talking about authority whether it be a policeman, whether it
be whatever, all authority. Do you know that the breakdown
in any society can be traced down almost without exception.
Probably without exception, I'll throw an almost in there, but
almost without exception can be traced back to a lack of respect
and obedience to parents. That's where it is. Now those
of you, I don't know, I know Nancy's not here, but I know
Nancy was a teacher and maybe there's some of you others that's
been in schools and stuff like this, but let me tell you something.
disrespect for all authority, whether it's your teacher, Rochelle.
I can tell you this, the disrespect that's shown to parents and disobedience
to parents and the lack of correcting those children and it shows up
in society. It is the moral fiber of obedience
and respect Go right back to the respect or the lack of respect
that's given to parents. Children, obey your parents in
the Lord for this is right. Honor thy father and mother which
is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with
thee and thou mayest live long on the earth. You know, I like to look up words
because I want to know what does that word mean. I know what I
think it means, but I want to know what it means. Okay, listen
to this. Now, honor. Honor. What does it mean to honor
thy father, thy mother? Here's what honor means. Fix
a value upon. This is what it means. Put a
high value on your mom and daddy. Put a high value. Now children,
listen. Put a high value. Look at your parents as being
very valuable. They are a valuable treasure
to a child. Honor thy father and mother which
is the first commandment that comes with a promise. Now this
is what the Lord is saying. There's a promise from God concerning
putting a high value upon your parents. And here's the promise,
that it may be well with you. that it will fare well with you,
that it will be good with you. Put a high value on your mom
and daddy and on your grandma and grandpa that love you and
want to teach you and want to do right for you and want to
show you respect and have respect shown to them. And when they
speak to you, and you speak to them, and there's respect, and
there's love, that it may be well with you, that it may go
well with you, and that thou mayest live long on the earth. Put a high value when we honor
our parents. Not only are we to obey their
commands, but we're to outwardly to do what they say. But do it
with an attitude of thanksgiving. And children, listen to me. You
that have your parents or your grandparents, I want you to listen
to me now, kids. Listen. Your parents and grandparents
may not always be able to know just exactly the perfect thing
to do, but they want to. They want to. They want to do
the right thing. They want to do what's best for
you. And you may think that what they're
doing is wrong, or mean, or they're just not listening to you. But
they're listening. And don't look at them. Don't
look at them or think harsh about them or speak disrespectfully
behind their backs. Don't do that. Don't do that. Honor them. Honor them. Put a
high value on them. And when you speak to them, speak
respectfully. I understand. I do. I told you
this. Okay, I'm from the South. And
when I was growing up, and I guarantee you, my mama backed me up on
this one. Buddy, I'm going to tell you
something I've told you before, especially, and it was for my
mama too, but if my dad ever asked me anything, and whatever
I said, if it wasn't followed with sir, yes sir, no sir, you
know, I'm telling you, the thought of me, of my dad asking me or
calling me and me saying, why? Can you imagine mom? You don't
know, you just don't know. I mean to tell you, my dad and
mom both, I mean that was the way I was to answer. Yes sir,
no sir, yes sir. Marvin, yes sir. Come here, yes
sir, yes sir. And I did, and he demanded respect. And I learned, Mitch, I may have
learned the hard way, but when we speak to your parents,
and if it's the accepted, respectful way of answering, It's what I'm
saying. Just where I was from, I was
required. It was yes sir, no sir. And I
understand it may not be like that everywhere, that's okay,
but you can answer respectfully. You don't have to answer in a
sarcastic, disrespectful way. Do it in a way that is honoring,
placing the value on who you're answering. You know, honor your
parents that it may be well with thee that thou mayest live long
on the earth. Well somebody would say, well
now what do you mean? What do you mean that it may be well
with you and that you may live long on the earth? Well, now,
this is what I'm going to say, and I have absolutely no way
of knowing how the Lord might deal with all children, all disobedient
children. It may be that the Lord may allow
them to continue on in their disobedience to parents. But
I can give you an example that I know of. Hold your place right
there. Turn over to 1 Samuel. I can tell you what happened.
Eli, 1 Samuel chapter 2, 1 Samuel 2. Eli was a priest. Eli had
a couple of boys. 1 Samuel 2. The scripture 2.34. These two boys, let me just tell
you what happened. Samuel was the little child that
his mama, Hannah, brought and she brought Samuel to the temple
and Eli was the priest that was there in the temple. And Eli,
the priest, had two boys. Hophni and Phinehas, and these
boys were priests also, but they were very, very disrespectful. They were disrespectful to their
daddy. They were disrespectful to Eli.
And Eli was God's priest. And they were disrespectful.
If you want to read 1 Samuel whole chapter, chapter 2, you'll
find out the story. And these boys were disrespectful.
very disrespectful to women, and they did things that were
very, very bad. And they cheated. People would
bring their sacrifices, and they didn't do things that were honorable
concerning the sacrifices. They would take the best of what
they wanted, and it was truly disrespectful, number one, to
the Lord. It was disrespectful to the ministry. They were disrespectful to their
daddy, to Eli. And God killed them. Killed those
kids. He killed them. And in 34, 1
Samuel chapter 2, And this shall be a sign unto thee, it shall
come upon thy two sons on Hophniah and Phinehas. In one day they
shall die, both of them. And the Lord took them out because
of their of their disrespect to their daddy, to the ministry,
but especially to the Lord. They were causing great havoc. And like I said, I'm not saying
that every child, that the Lord will deal with them like that.
I'm not saying that, but I can tell you this, the Lord deals
with disrespect in His way. And so, Ephesians chapter 6,
it says, Honor our father and mother, which is the first commandment,
that it may be well with thee, that thou mayest live long on
the earth. Don't, children, listen to what
the Lord says. Okay, verse 4, last verse right
here. And your fathers. Here's a word, now it says fathers
because, let me tell you this, the father is to be the one who
is in authority and over. the family, the father. We look
to our fathers. The man is the head of the wife. We're speaking specifically to
fathers, not that the mothers have no place whatsoever in discipline,
because they do, but listen to what the Lord says to the parents. You fathers, provoke not your
children to wrath, But bring them up in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. Now, if children are going to
learn to obey, they've got to be taught. There is an obedience
that is such that, if kids are so scared, they're just so scared, They're fearful of not doing
the right thing. Of not obeying. Because of being
beaten or something like that. Children should be taught to
be obedient. And to be obedient because they
want to. They want to be. They want to
be. They don't want to disappoint
their parents. You know, I can tell you this.
Children that have an attitude that they just don't want to
disappoint their parents. I commend you parents. You've
done a good job. A child is taught that way. I commend you. That's good. I would desire to be like that. But you know, okay. Ye fathers,
provoke not. Now here's what the word provoke
means. To rouse to frustration. to get them to a point to where
they're just frustrated. They're just frustrated. Parents,
you fathers, don't frustrate your children. I'm going to say
something about that in just a second. Provoke not your children
to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture. The word nurture
means to cultivate. Cultivate. Bring them up in the
nurture and admonition. Admonition means a mild rebuke
that comes with a warning, is what the word means. Bring them
up cultivating them. I know that I've heard people
say this before, you know, I want to give my child, I don't want
to stifle them. I don't want to stifle my child.
I want them to be able to experience everything. I don't want to stifle
their growth and their thinking. Let me just make a quick analogy. Any of you got a garden? I tell you what do. Why don't
you just try to not stifle that garden's free, you know, freedom
to do what, to grow whatever it wants to grow. Let me tell
you what's coming up. Weeds. Weeds. Take a garden and
you're going to cultivate it and it takes some work. You know,
it takes some time and it takes some effort and because of your
desire, for the end product to be what you would desire it to
be. Fathers, don't frustrate your children to wrath, but cultivate
them. Cultivate them. Teach them. Work
with them. You fathers, don't frustrate,
don't provoke them to wrath. Don't frustrate them by unreasonable
demands, an unreasonable discipline. Now, you know, they're children,
they're children. And as they're growing, you know,
you know, I mean, you know, you can't, you can't deal with a,
you know, with a one-year-old like you can, you know, a fifteen-year-old. You just, I mean, there's just
a little bit of difference there. But you learn to discipline them
and to cultivate them and to teach them by working with them. And as you do it, by bringing
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, keeping them under
the sound of the gospel. I can tell you this, there is
no substitute. There is no substitute. for having
them under the sound of the gospel. But unreasonable and severe demands
that are beyond their capability, you can frustrate them. I wouldn't want to break their
will, but not their spirit. I've heard that said before,
and I thought, man, I hope I can differentiate that. Whenever you discipline your
children, And you're going to have to. You're going to have
to. But remember how the Lord treated little children. And
remember how He treats us. How He deals with us in kindness
and tenderness. But He teaches us. He teaches
us. Children need discipline. They desperately want discipline. They want it. They want it. I'm
telling you, when I tell you parents and grandparents that
kids want to know where the lines are, they want to know where
the lines are. They feel so much more secure
when they know the boundaries. You know, I mean if you tell
them this, now listen, this is where it is, right here. Don't
you go over that bridge. Don't you go over that bridge.
You can come up to the bridge, but don't cross the bridge. That's
one of the rules at our house. That's for Tessa. Don't go over
the bridge. I just don't want her to go in
the water. I don't care if she goes over
the bridge. I don't want her to drown. They love it when they
know the boundaries. Set some guidelines, and when
you discipline them, discipline them. If you promise them, if
you do something, if you do this, I'm going to spank you. Can I
give you a word of advice? Do it. Please do it. If you tell a child, I'm going
to spank you the next time you do that. If you don't, they don't
believe you. They don't believe you. In their
mind, they'll say, you ain't going to do it. But I promise
you, if you will discipline them lovingly, When I'd spank the
kids, I've told you this before, the next thing I did, put them
on my knee and I'd tell them, say, now listen, I love you.
And I said, I know that hurt. I know it hurt. I know it did. And I'd rub it and I'd tell them,
say, listen, Dad loves you. I said, I don't want to do that,
but I cannot let you be like that. I can't let you act like
that. Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, bring them
up, bring them up, cultivating them, Cultivating them lovingly
and do it in the admonition of the Lord. Ranting and raving
and hollering and everything like that, you know. You can talk to them. You can
talk to them. You can tell them, you know. Whatever you do. If
you promise them a cookie or you promise them a spanking,
give them whatever you promise them. Okay? Children, obey your
parents in the Lord. For this is right. Honor thy
father and thy mother, which is the first commandment, with
promise, that it may be well with you, that your life may
be long upon the earth. Fathers, provoke not your children
to wrath. Bring them up in the nurture
and the admonition of the Lord. I pray the Lord bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake.