Children, Obey Your Parents

Eph 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

Nowhere in the Word do we see children having an option in obeying their parents. As children of God are to obey Him, so children should honor their parents.

Parents aren't always perfect, but they are always the parents. Parents aren't always right, but they are never wrong.

Dishonoring children of the Old Testament sometimes received capital punishment, disobedient children of our day ought to sometimes receive corporal punishment.

I have to be honest, I find very few consistently parent-honoring children these days, even among church kids. Disney, Nickelodeon and the Cartoon channels are surely no help.

If one ever hopes to lead, one must first earn that right by knowing how to obey.

Parents, we must be very loving, but very consistent in our child-rearing.

Hints:
*Never give them what they whine for.
*Live a God-honoring example before them. Be consistent in your life. Love God and your spouse. The best thing you can do for your kids is to love your spouse.
*Turn the TV off and open the Bible.
*Give them responsibility and supervise the tasks through to completion.
*Never reward disobedience, never let it go unpunished.
*Never yell, firmly get their attention by having them look you in the eye, listen to what you have to say and then repeat it.
*Reward obedience, give constant affirmation and encouragement.
*Don't over-indulge them.
*Guard their lives! Beware of evil communications which corrupt good manners, these include friends, activities, entertainment, etc.
*Teach them to say "yes sir" and "no ma'am"
*Let them know that they must obey completely, immediately and with the right attitude, it may one day save their lives, or someone else's.
*Above all, foster a love of God in them. Encourage them to have a personal walk with God.

By the way, this commandment is the one designated “with promise”, that is, when children honor their parents, they are promised that things would go well and they would be blessed with a long life. Pretty good incentive, I say.

Have a Blessed Memorial Day!

IT IS THE SOLDIER

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

©Copyright 1970, 2005 by Charles M. Province

Don't Mention It!

Eph 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. 3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

I'm a list guy. I've even purchased a few books in the past listing lists. But here's one list Christians and churches need to pay close heed to, Paul's list of things that should never even once be named among the saints.

The List:

1. Fornication - a catch all word for all sexual sin
2. Uncleanness - physical or moral impurity
3. Covetous - avarice, the impure desire to have something for ourselves that does not, and should not belong to us.
4. Filthiness - obscene shamefulness
5. Foolish Talking - Silly buffoonery
6. Jesting - Ribald wittiness
7. Whoremongering - chasing after prostitutes or those who act emulate them
8. Idolatry - Serving or worshipping images

Yet, we all know supposed "brothers" who have succumbed to these unmentionable sins. From this moment on, let us avoid even having to discuss such debauchery among the family of God.

Unity

Eph 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Amos of old posed this rhetorical question: How can two walk together unless they be agreed?

Much is made these days of having unity. Unity, they say ought to be foremost at all cost. But true unity can only be achieved as we agree on fundamental doctrines. For this reason, the apostle insists that we not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

Apologist John Ankerberg, my Facebook friend, had this to say yesterday about unity, "In its most important sense, it is basic doctrinal truth which unites God's people. True unity cannot be had without it. This is why the Bible commands Christians to stand together in unity against heresy and separate themselves from false teachers on the basis of sound doctrine (2 John 9-11; Romans 6:17, etc.)."

Unity connotes oneness. Paul enumerates those fundamentals of unity in today's passage. These are things we must agree on to have unity in our fellowship.
There is One:
*Body - His bride, the local church.
*Spirit - Third person of the Godhead who convicts, comforts, convinces, converts, leads, guides into all truth, speaks not of Himself, but of Jesus, gives unction, brings all things to our remembrance, fills, empowers for witnessing, etc., etc.
*Hope of our calling - sound eschatology.
*Lord - the Lordship of Christ, His sovereign dealings in our lives.
*Faith - the true faith once delivered to the saints, to be received, lived out and communicated to faithful believers who will disciple others.
*Baptism - Immersion in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, by the proper authority, in obedience to Christ and as a testimony of our newness of life in Jesus.
*Father and God - the dynamic of our theology, Who is above us in position, through us in transcendence and in us in power and might.

On these things we agree and by them we walk in unity.

A Prisoner of the Lord

Eph 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

Paul, with the help of his amanuensis, Tychicus, writes to the Ephesian church from the Mamertine prison cell, near the Roman Senate and Congress at the head of the forum in Rome.

In this inverted bowl-shaped grotto, also called the Tullianum, a good portion of our New Testament was penned.

It is noteworthy that Paul was not complaining about his bonds, but spent these days giving us the greatest spiritual principles in which to order our lives and walk with God.

If he were suffering as an evildoer, he would be employing his pen, ink and paper to seek pity and aid for his defense. But he was not ashamed of his bonds. He allowed them to serve as tools to sharpen his message.

Paul shows us that bonds need not shackle the soul, jail cells must not imprison the spirit.

In the same way that Martin Luther King, Jr penned his soulful "Letters from the Birmingham Jail" to encourage his compatriots in the struggle, we must allow the crosses we bear to bless and instruct others.

Rather than complain, confirm. Instead of whining, be winning. Don't be stressed, but stress the gospel message. Rather than loathe your situation, love your opportunity.

Whatever the confinement you are experiencing, whether it be a cross you are bearing, a sickness you are enduring or a situation you are abiding, remember that God brought you to it so that He would bring you through it. In the meantime, let Him turn your trial into triumph, your jail into a journey, your prison into praise and your bane into a blessing.

Paul did so, and it resulted in the books of Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon and Philippians.

The Apostle Hits His Knees for Us

Eph 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph 3:15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
Eph 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
Eph 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
Eph 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Eph 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Eph 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Paul's prayer for the Ephesians in chapter 3 brings me tremendous joy, for this inspired prayer reaches across the years, assuring us that God wills the same things for us today.

The prayer points:
*That God would grant strength by His Spirit for our inner man
*That Christ would dwell in our hearts by faith.
*That we would comprehend just how comprehensive His love is for us.
*That we would fully know His unknowable love.
*That we would be filled with the complete fulness of God.

Shall we pray these things for each other as we struggle through these difficult days?

The Spirit that Now Works in the Children of Disobedience

Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

The rise of the internet has given a platform for the God-haters to spew their venom. The relatively small percentage of hatetheists seems like a huge number when you read their comments as they reply to YouTube videos, various articles, etc., about "foolish Christians praying to some man in the sky." But they are merely the sad little squeaky wheels seeking some attention grease.

We must realize however, they are not always acting alone. They have an evil power working through them. It is a spirit from below which inspires them to speak so vehemently against the Lord and His people.

Just as the Holy Spirit of God fills the believer and gives him unction to speak the truths of the Word of God, whether by preaching or testifying, so the unholy spirits of the father of lies fills these wicked souls, giving them unction to blaspheme.

But God will have the last word, literally, the last laugh.
Psa 37:13 The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.