10 Commandments Series: Honoring Your Parents
May 17, 2025

10 Commandments May 18.jpg
Authority itself is a

from God, ordained by Him and woven into His plan for flourishing in the home, church, and society

In 2 Samuel 23:3-4, we find King David’s last words to his people.

“When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth” —2 Samuel 23:3-4

David says “he dawns on them like the morning light” and nourishes them “like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth.”

Like sunlight and rain make all of the plants under them flourish, authority—when properly exercised—makes everything under it flourish as well.

The fifth commandment implies the same thing.

It shows us that authority is, in itself, a wonderful thing. And because authority is such a wonderful thing, it’s important to be especially diligent in honoring the primary authority God’s put over us, our

.

“Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” —Exodus 20:12

THE PLACEMENT OF THIS COMMANDMENT

The Ten Commandments are commonly divided into two groupings, commonly called, “Two tables” or “two tablets”

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai in Exodus 31, verse 18 says that He came with “two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God.”

Most likely, as was typical with covenants in the ancient world, Moses would have come down the mountain with two copies of the

thing.

One of those copies was placed in the

of the Covenant, signifying that it was The Lord’s copy, and the other stayed with the people.

It’s most likely that the commandments weren’t separated onto different tablets, there is a clear distinction between the first four and the last six.

The first four commandments teach us about our duty to

(vertical), while the remaining six commandments teach us about our duty to our (horizontal).

The command to “Honor your father and mother” is the first one in that horizontal grouping

I don’t think that’s coincidental: Honoring our parents is foundational to keeping the other commandments after it.

It’s primarily from godly parents that we first learn what is to be

, valued, morality, responsibility, and how to those in authority over us

The Importance of the 5th Commandment

By God’s design, it’s through our relationship with our parents that we learn how to fulfill the commands that deal with our relationships with others.

From our parents, we are to learn how to treat people, how to honor others, how to show respect, listen and obey those who’ve been given authority over us. These things are essential if a society is going to

General principle:

permitted while the children are in the home will produce when the children step outside of it

So, we clearly see that this 5th Commandment has a unique placement and is of utmost importance.

How are we to understand it and apply it’s principles today?

1. A Word To Parents

a. To Those With Kids At Home

The relationship that you have with your children will have a profound effect on the way they will view God – both good and bad

You have been given the blessing and responsibility of displaying His character for them. There’s

that you will ever do as a parent that is more important.

b. To Parents Of Adult Children

While a parent never stops being a parent, our role and responsibility

.

While when our children are young, we have the responsibility of raising them in the fear and admonition of the Lord, modeling for them his character and nature, teaching them what He declares right and wrong and training them to submit to God’s authority by submitting to ours…but there is a time when our authority over their lives come to an end and God’s

.

Parents with adult kids, let me give you two passages of scripture that are helpful.

After the Lord Himself officiated the first wedding ceremony in the garden of Eden, Genesis 2:24 “This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh”

Dads and moms of adult kids, you will always be their parents, but you are not their God.

Listen carefully to how the Psalmist describes children in Psalm 127:4-5 “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth. Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them”

An arrow doesn’t fulfill its purpose stuck in the quiver.

Your job is to train them up and then

them, trusting God that they’ll fly straight and true, and hit the target of God’s glory.

2. A Word To Those With Parents

Look again at our text: “Honor your father and your mother”

Note the word, honor.

There a couple of things this word means, respect and obedience

RESPECT - In Hebrew / weighty, significant

OBEDIENCE - In Ephesians 6:1, Paul is referencing this command when he says – “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right”

**Two Important implications: **When you live under your parents authority, you

them and for all of your life, you them

As a child in the home or still under the care of your parents, you have an obligation before God to

yourself to their God-given authority by obeying them

As an adult, while how we best honor our parents changes, our

to show them honor does not

As we wrap up, note with me the promise attached to this 5th command

“Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” —Exodus 20:12

With this promise, the Lord is telling a nation that if honor marked their homes, blessing would come to their nation.

Though we’re not Israel and we’re not in the Promised Land, I think there is a principle here that holds true.

Honorable homes lead to honorable lives, churches, communities and nations