The Principle of Honor

Welcome to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. We are about halfway through Pastor Robert's series called Relationship, where he's breaking down the Ten Commandments and how they're actually principles that enhance our relationship with God and others. Thank you so much for joining us.

I'm your host, Patrick, and I'm here with my co-host, Janae. Hello, everybody. Well, today's message is about the fifth commandment, which says to honor our parents. I find it so interesting that this principle of honor is next to commandments like don't steal, lie, or murder.

It actually seems like, at first glance, it doesn't fit within the Ten Commandments. You know, I know what you mean, and that's why this message is so great, because Pastor Robert explains that this commandment isn't just about honoring parents. It's about honoring authority, which, as we get older, becomes more and more important to living successful, fruit-bearing lives. I didn't even realize how important this commandment was until I heard this message.

This principle is so crucial. So let's dive into this message as Pastor Robert reviews three things that honor produces in our lives. All right, I want us to continue our series on relationship through God's top ten list, and we've covered the first four commandments. We're going down the Ten Commandments, and we're trying to look at the principle behind the commandment. What's the principle of relationship behind the commandment? So this week, we're on the fifth commandment, and I'm calling this the principle of honor, that God wants to bring us to a place where we honor, where we have this principle of life. Now, when you think about this, why would God put honoring your parents in the top ten? I mean, if you only have ten things that you can tell someone, why would honoring your parents make the top ten? And since God knew that mankind would fall, and that we would grow up in a fallen world, and some people would have really bad parents, just to be honest about it, Josh, you didn't, but other people did. Why would God put this in the top ten?

What's he trying to do? I think he's trying to put in us the principle of honor as a young person, because the consequences for dishonoring authority get more and more severe the older you get. So God's doing something for our good. I think that it's foundational and it's imperative to live a happy, fulfilled life, to understand the principle of honor. So I have three things that I want to share with you that honor produces. And here's number one, honor produces faith. Now, this may shock you and you might not see the connection until I get into it, son, but I'm going to show you honor produces faith. If you want to have greater faith in your life to believe God, honor will produce that. So here's the commandment, the fifth commandment in Exodus chapter 20, verse 12, honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land, this is an important part that we really miss, upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. It's saying honor your father and your mother so that your days may be long in the land that I'm giving you, the promised land.

Think about that. They're coming out of bondage. They're going into promised land. But I don't know if you ever thought about this, the majority of people that came out of Egypt did not enter the promised land. They were in the wilderness 40 years and only those 20 years, everyone 20 years old and up died in the wilderness other than Joshua and Caleb. So he says, honor your mother and your father, get this principle of honor in your life so your days may be long and yet these people didn't even get there.

You want to know why? Because they didn't honor the word of the Lord. See, he was trying to get them to understand, your parents represent me, but if you won't honor them, you won't honor me. And these people did not enter the promised land. I'm telling you, honor produces faith. They didn't enter the promised land because of unbelief. Look at this scripture, Hebrews 3, 9. So we see they could not enter in because of unbelief. So I'm going to show you again how honor produces faith and how unbelief is a result of not honoring. So Mark chapter 6, look at verse 1. Then he, that's Jesus, went out from there and came to his own country, very important, to his own country where he grew up. And his disciples followed him, and when the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing him were astonished.

Now this astonishment is not really in a good way. Saying, where did this man get these things? What wisdom is this which is given to him that such mighty works are performed by him?

Now watch this. Isn't this just a carpenter? This guy's just a carpenter. The son of Mary, the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon are not his sisters here with us? So they were offended at him. But Jesus said to them, now this is a very famous saying, but we seem to only know the first part of it.

The second part is really important. A prophet is not without honor. In other words, a prophet does have honor, except in his own country, watch, among his own relatives and in his own house. Now he, that's Jesus, could do no mighty work there, could not do a mighty work, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. Watch, and he marveled because of their unbelief. Okay, what caused unbelief?

Dishonor. They didn't honor him, so they had unbelief. So that means honor produces faith. Have you ever heard this, and we're talking about family now, and parents, honoring parents. Have you ever heard this, familiarity breeds what?

Right, discontentment, contempt. Familiarity breeds contempt. Familiarity comes from the word family.

Familiar, familiarity, familiar, family. See, because we know them. We've heard them burp. We know these people really well. We've seen them get mad. We've seen them get angry. We've seen them get upset. We've heard them say things they shouldn't say.

Familiarity. That's what they say with Jesus. We know this guy. He said, listen, people don't honor people that they should honor if they're in their own family.

It's very important to understand this. Remember the Roman centurion came and said, Lord, please heal my servant. Jesus said, I'll come to your house and heal your servant. He said, you don't need to come to my house.

Listen to what he said, because I too am a man under authority, so you just need to say the word. You remember what Jesus said? I haven't found faith this great even in Israel.

This is a Roman. Why did he understand faith so much? Listen, because he understood authority. What's the principle of honor? To honor those in authority. I'm telling you, the reason that we are probably the most faithless generation since the book of Acts is because we are a very dishonoring generation. Why would God put this in the top 10?

Because he's trying to help us understand. Honor your mother and your father so that you can honor authority, so you can have faith. You're listening to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. Pastor Robert is sharing a message about the fifth commandment.

Similar to the principle of rest, this principle of honor produces good things in our lives. And this message was so eye-opening for me, especially the correlation between dishonor and unbelief. I've heard that story in Mark 6 so many times, but I've never made that connection before. And what Pastor Robert said right after that about the story with the Roman centurion was awesome. He said that the Roman centurion understood faith because he understood authority.

This is something really I need to remember. Number two, next time I'm struggling in my faith, I'll definitely look at how I'm honoring those in authority in my life, even if they don't deserve it. That's a great idea, and I think it's something we can all take away from this message. I would love to see our generation begin to rise up and honor those in authority. You know, what kind of miracles and amazing things would happen if more of us understood and acted upon this principle that honor produces faith?

I can only imagine what God would do, and it's exciting to think about. Well, Pastor Robert has two more points for us about this principle of honor, so let's jump back in. So honor produces faith.

Here's number two. Honor produces blessings. Honor produces blessings. Now, here's the New Testament. This is a commandment that's also in the New Testament. Ephesians 6, verse 1, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you. Now, remember this phrase, that it may be well with you, because now he's quoting from Deuteronomy 5. The commandments are in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, and that you may live long on the earth. Children are told to do two things, obey and honor.

Obey your parents, honor your mother and father. Okay, what's the difference? Well, it's real simple what the difference is. You obey when you're in their home, but when you grow up and you have your own home, you honor.

That's the difference. I used to tell my children growing up, as long as I'm paying the bills, you're doing what I say. If you want to be on your own, have at it. But when you're in this house, you're going to obey. Now, what you're hoping is, is that they begin to honor you so that you can give them more freedom.

Isn't that right? You have a teenager, and the teenager gets more freedom if the teenager understands the principle of honor. But if the teenager doesn't understand the principle of honor, if the teenager is not maturing, you have to keep the person obeying.

Are y'all following me? We have some 40-year-olds that still haven't learned the principle of honor. They go from one job to another because nobody's going to tell me what to do. Nobody's going to be my boss.

Think about this. He says, honor your mother and father. Listen, we all say, what's the promise? It's the first commandment with a promise, and it is. But what's the promise? And everyone says that you may live long. No, that's not just the promise. The promise is that things may go well with you and that you may live long.

I don't mean to be sarcastic, but who wants to live long if things aren't going well? That things may go well with you. You can't imagine as a pastor how many times I've seen children from the same family, same parents. One of them, things go well for them. Are y'all following me? I'm meddling now.

Actually, if you'll listen to me, it could change your life. I've watched children from the same family, grown children. One, things just go well for them.

The other things just don't go well for them. And they had the same parents, made the same mistakes. But one of them speaks and thinks and acts toward his parents with honor, even though they're just humans. And one of them doesn't. It's extremely important for us to understand this.

There's a promise. Now, I'm going to show you a passage from the Old Testament. It's talking about a generation that doesn't honor its mother and father. It could be any generation. I'm not talking about now the younger generation, past generation, future generation, any generation that does not honor its mother and father. It begins with not honoring mother and father. It ends without not honoring mother and father. And in the middle, there are two verses that even commentators don't know why they put them there, why they're there.

I know why. Because it happens to people who don't honor mother and father. So watch, because these two verses don't seem to fit, but they fit perfectly. Proverbs 30, verse 11. There is a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother. There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes. Think even now about our society we live in now.

Yet it is not washed from its filthiness. There is a generation, oh, how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation whose teeth are like swords.

Think about how sharp our words are today. Whose fangs are like knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men. Now watch, these verses don't seem to fit. The leech, the leech has two daughters, give and give. In other words, give to me, give more to me, give to me, give to me. There are three things that are never satisfied, four never say enough. The grave, the barren wound, the earth that's not as fast satisfied with the water, and the fire that never says enough. And then watch verse 17 how it wraps this up. The eye that mocks his father and scorns obedience to his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagles will eat it.

Okay. Starts with not honoring mother and father, ends with not honoring mother and father, and right in the middle it says, let me tell you something else about this generation. Listen, they're a generation of entitlement.

They say give and give and they're like leeches that suck on the blood out of other people and they can never have enough. Because they didn't grow up with the principle of honor. I'm telling you the consequences of not honoring people, mother and father, authorities, everyone. You know, I went through there, I could have gone through so many lists with this and I said, you know, you're supposed to honor a lot of people. Here's a good one, honor one another, that's everybody.

Honor your wife, it says to the husbands, honor, honor your husbands, it says to the wives, honor. Do you know the very first thing Hitler did when he wanted to change a nation to be the most evil nation probably that's ever lived? He went after the kids. And do you know what he taught them to do? If their parents disagreed with Nazism, he taught the children to turn the parents in.

Let me say it another way. He taught them to dishonor their mother and their father. Go after that next generation and cause them to violate the fifth commandment. If you're just tuning in, you're listening to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris.

If you missed the start of this relationship series, be sure to check it out at pastorrobert.com or call 833-933-WORD to get a copy. So that story about Hitler manipulating his nation toward evil by getting children to dishonor their parents is so heavy. Yeah, it is. I never really thought about the role children's disobedience played in the Nazi reign. Yeah, you know, I feel like Pastor Robert has some really tough things to say in this message.

But they're really good for us to know. There's so many people out there who somehow feel as though they don't need to listen to bosses or parents or anyone else for that matter. It's like in the name of independence, people are actually shooting themselves in the foot. But independence doesn't mean not honoring those in authority.

Exactly. You know, and God is so clear on the consequences of dishonor and the promises of honoring those in authority. Yet it's truly disheartening how rampant dishonor is in our culture today. Yeah, and I loved what Pastor Robert said about how even Jesus honored his parents. He was the only perfect person ever, but his parents were only human. And I'm sure they made many mistakes. I'm sure they made decisions he didn't agree with, but he honored them.

Absolutely. Well, Pastor Robert has more to share with us, so let's get back to the message. So honor produces faith. It produces blessings.

Here's the third thing. It produces destiny. Honor produces destiny. Let me go back now and read it in Deuteronomy 5. So I read this commandment in the Old Testament, Exodus 20, and in the New Testament, and now I'm going to show it to you in Deuteronomy 5. Verse 16, honor your father and your mother. As the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, that it may be well with you, watch, in the land which the Lord your God has given you. Okay, so he's referring to a promised land for them, but can I tell you something? God has a promised land for you. God has a calling and a destiny on your life. That things will not go well with you if you don't honor your mother and your father.

Honor your mother and your father that things may go well with you and you may live long in the destiny, in the calling that God has on your life. That's what this is saying. So God has a destiny. He has a promised land for everyone. The promised land, by the way, is not heaven.

Some people have said that. The promised land is heaven. No, the promised land is not heaven because the promised land still had enemies in it and heaven doesn't have any enemies. The promised land is the overcoming Christian life on this earth when you defeat your enemy and you live in the blessings of God on this earth.

That's the promised land. So it's all through Scripture. This is a long passage, but I'm going to read it so I can explain it to you and then we'll wrap up. Matthew 15, verse 1 says, Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.

That's shocking to me that fishermen didn't wash their hands. And he answered and said, Listen how tactful Jesus is. Why do you also transgress the commandment of God?

Because of your tradition. For God commanded, saying, Honor your father and your mother, and he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death. I read you both those Scriptures, Exodus 20 and Exodus 21. But you say, whoever says to his father or mother, whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God. Then he need not honor his father or mother. In other words, instead of me helping you in your old age, that is set aside as a gift to God. They didn't give it to God, though. So they didn't honor their parents in their old age. Thus you've made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.

Hypocrites. Well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying, These people draw near to me with their mouth, and they honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. So let me tell you some things about honor. Honor is not what you say. It's what you do, and it's what you do in your heart.

He said, These people say with their lips, they honor me. So you can mouth the words that you honor your parents, but how do you really think about them? Do you really honor them? Are you honoring of your parents? Now, what if you had bad parents?

Let's talk about it. Some people grew up with heathen parents, completely heathen. Some people grew up with Christian or churched parents who were very bad.

As a matter of fact, I think I've seen more abusive situations that are difficult to get healed from church situations than heathen situations. Because it's tough when your parents are quoting the Bible to you and acting a different way. So how do you honor dishonorable people? Well, it's real simple.

You choose to. You choose to understand that you were raised by humans, and you don't know how they were raised, and you don't know what they went through, and they also don't have the truth. Most of them don't have the truth that you have now. They didn't know anything about the Holy Spirit, many of them. And if they did, it was a legalistic version, which is not the Holy Spirit. They don't know anything about inner healing or deliverance or the baptism in the Spirit.

They don't know anything about really getting in the Word. The churches were form and tradition and ritual. It was a cultural thing instead of a spiritual experience. I have great parents, but they weren't perfect. But you've never heard me dishonor them.

I'm never going to. Because there's a principle, and things have gone well for me in the land God's called me to be in. And I believe it's because of this principle. It's time we stopped thinking that God's commandments are old-fashioned and started thinking that they are well-fashioned.

They are well-fashioned. There's a reason. So what do you do if you have dishonorable parents? Listen, you forgive them. Because if you don't forgive them, you're the one that's going to bring evil on yourself.

You're the one that's going to suffer. You forgive them. You understand they're humans. They're humans. You don't have to honor their actions.

You just have to, in your heart, say, I forgive them. Sometimes people ask this question, why did God put me in this home? Well, what we need to understand is many times, God doesn't put us in a situation, but he'll take us through that situation. And because of us growing up in that situation, you may be able to minister to people that no one else can minister to. There are principles that even if you don't understand them, if you say, you know what, this is God's word, and I'm going to obey this commandment, and I'm going to obey this principle, there's fruit on the other side.

There is a promised land out there for us, and it is the overcoming Christian life on this earth. And how we get there, it's through honor. Well, I loved what Pastor Robert said, how honor is not what you say. It's about what you do in your heart. It's such a good reminder, because honor is not lip service.

It's a heart thing. That really made me think, am I mumbling under my breath as I obey and honor those in authority, or am I truly doing it out of my heart for God in a desire to obey his word? We encourage you to take a moment to think about what Pastor Robert shared today and really listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. We're about halfway through this relationship series, and to get a copy of this message or any of the previous messages, visit pastorrobert.com or call 833-933-WORD.

You can get the complete 10-part series for yourself or to share with a friend or family member. So be sure to visit pastorrobert.com or call 833-933-WORD. You can also follow Pastor Robert on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Next time, Pastor Robert will be sharing about the sixth commandment and how it's God's principle of love. Thank you so much for listening, and we pray you have a blessed week.