“Wisdom of Honouring Your Parents” - Proverbs 23:22-25; Exodus 20:12

Sermon series:  Navigating Life with Proverbs
Sermon Title:  Wisdom of Honouring Your Parents
Scripture: Proverbs 23:22-25; Exodus 20:12

Introduction:

In this sermon series, we first looked at: the fear of the Lord, the wisdom of searching for wisdom, the wisdom of our words, and then into the wisdom of directing our hearts, our feet, our ears, and our hands.

With this weekend being Mother’s Day weekend, we look into the wisdom of honouring our parents. For some of us, we may have had great relationships with our parents; others of us, not so much.

Overview:

What does it mean to honour our parents?

1) The choice to honour does not depend on the worthiness of our parents:

·         To honour doesn’t mean to give affection or trust

·         Instead, to honour means to recognize someone as weighty

·         To treat with dignity and courtesy and to provide long-term loyalty to their best interests (Timothy Keller)

2) There are two kinds of implications as we honour our parents: 1) Generational; 2) Familial

·         Even when our parents don’t appear useful in our eyes, all parents are made in the image of God

·         We are called to live in reality with who our parents were and are to us, embracing the reality when they were “bad” to us or the reality of when we did not receive what was “good”

3) Forgiveness for our parents:

·         It can be hard to honour someone who is not forgiven in your heart

·         Forgiveness doesn’t mean erasing what has happened in the past or erasing the pain from the past

Are you willing to let the intimate relationship you have with Jesus Christ change your desire to honour your parents? We are called to be set free from the enslavement of brokenness and bitterness we harbour towards our parents, so that we may encounter restoration and healing within our relationship with them, leading to even greater satisfaction in our relationship with Christ.

Sermon reflection questions:
1.       What is the dynamic you have with your parents? Is there a difference from when you were young vs. now?

2.       Do you see any effect in who you are today as shaped by your relationship with your parents growing up?

3.       How can you see your relationship in Jesus Christ change the longing or desire you have towards honouring your parents?