Sermon Tone Analysis

RELATIONSHIPS THAT MATTER

ME:

One of my favorite stories to tell is of my father when we lived in a small Mississippi town and he was picked to play the role of Jesus in the Passion Play.

Though he sang and acted well, I was most struck by the scene of him carrying the cross (that he built for the prop crew) down the aisle.

He was supposed to walked laboriously toward the front, cross over to the other side and about mid-way, stop and look compassionately one the crowd.

My Dad is severely cross eyed and has worn glasses since he was 3. Obviously Jesus didn’t wear glasses, so when he stopped to look, his left eye turned in and the expression on his face was that of complete exasperation, passion for the mission, and compassion for all of us.

In that moment, my dad was Jesus.

My Mom, Martha, is a beloved public school teacher with several second generation students.

The entire church and community know her as a giving, loving, and helpful person.

She’s attended hundreds of funerals, a multitude of weddings and showers, and has led Sunday School and Vacation Bible School for years.

This year they celebrate 50 years married.

A testimony to all that can be accomplished with determination and what the Bible calls “long suffering”.

Yet, as good as they were, my parents were not perfect.

They did the best they could with what they knew.

My mom’s dad was killed by a drunk driver when she was 4.

She is the youngest of 4 children, to a widowed mother of 27.

My dad’s dad was a POW in WWII under the Japanese.

And while he was a good man, he still struggled with the consequences of disease and wounds and died shortly after I was born leaving my dad to figure parenting out on his own as the oldest of 5.

He really didn’t want to be a parent, but he put his all into it when he was.

YOU:

How about you?

What’s your story?

Did you have good parents or bad parents?

Were your parents honorable and therefore easy to honor, or is it a struggle to conjure up nice things to say?

In the last few years, a book titled “Tiger Mom: How you can get your child to not only be successful, but dominate” was added to the pantheon of parenting books in the overwhelming category of self-help.

What does it mean for a child to succeed?

When we really think about it, do we want our kids to dominate anything or anybody?

Sometimes we act that way, but why?

Todd, last week you joked that you felt inadequate as a father and complimented me.

Trust me, there is not a week that goes by that I don’t question if I’m doing the right thing.

But, I want to encourage you, you and Amanda are doing great!

Your boys are fantastic boys, full of life and intelligent, and your daughter is full of grace, beauty and wisdom.

Those with older kids, you may sometimes feel you failed as a parent.

New parents and those with young kids, you may be desperately wanting to know the text book answers.

There are numerous guides that tell you how to make sure you kids are perfect, even starting inside the womb!.

Well, this sermon will not be one of those.

Maybe, and this is the saddest situation, maybe you’re just resigned.

Maybe you’ve given up and checked out from this parenting thing.

No matter where you are in this relationship called parenting, the first thing I want to do is tell you, “cut yourselves some slack!”

Let’s take a look at just the Hall of Faith listed in .

By faith...Abel, Noah, Abraham (Lot’s daughters), Sarah, Moses, David.

A great cloud of witnesses?

In what we call the 2d commandment “Make no idols” we miss an amazingly encouraging statement.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

.....

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

11 For min six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.

Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

11 For min six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.

Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Then, in the 5th commandment we see a promise.

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

GOD:

Parenting God’s Way

I need to give a little setting first.

In the Old Testament, the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job are called wisdom literature.

When you look at them together, what you find is that Proverbs lays out a collection of wisdom (personified as a woman) that if followed will produce a perfect life.

Ecclesiastes is a discussion about how that perfect life is impossible, because of the countless variables and inputs beyond your control, you may as well just let it roll because all effort is just self-centered vanity.

However, Job then gives a story of a man that seemingly is doing everything right, but then loses it all, gets a terrible disease, and suffers loneliness like most of us will never experience.

But, the point of the story is that through it all, God our Father was faithful to Job even when the discipline building trials were overwhelming.

In the end, Job’s endurance produced a man that defines the word patience.

As we thinking about parenting, having and passing on wisdom are the hallmark of the job.

These three books, this wisdom literature, should help us to see there is a right way, but that doesn’t always guarantee success.

In our primary text for today, Paul expands on the relational lessons we’ve been looking at, to now address parents and children.

And, he draws on the summary of this wisdom literature.

Heading 2-1

“Obey your parents in the Lord” does not mean “Obey your Christian parents”.

Sometimes our parents are not worthy of honor, but we are supposed to anyway.

Just because our parents are Christians doesn’t mean they are living the best example, but we are to honor them anyway.

Heavenly Parent/Child Roles

God identifies himself as our Father.

Jesus teaches us to pray to our Father.

The prophets and the disciples talk about our Father.

In every case, to demonstrate the heavenly relationship between God in His ultimate parental role and how here on earth, we exemplify that role throughout the generations.

We even see that when we get out of the proper relationship, we are told that in a very real sense we have experienced divine divorce and now have a step father named Satan!

Proverbs 3:11-12

Hebrews 12:7

Palms 103:13

Parenting By The Book

Two weeks ago, Ron said in his sermon on marriage relationships “The husband is to live a sacrificial life before his wife and his Family.”

Today, I want to remind you that this is where is starts.

Fathers (and mothers having to fill both roles), don’t abuse the power that comes from the role you have, don’t demand respect/submission.

We as parents begin by honoring the Lord, as fathers, a man exemplifies this by honoring his wife in front of his children.

Don’t abuse power, don’t demand respect/submission

Today, I want to remind you that this is where is starts.

Fathers (and mothers having to fill both roles), don’t abuse the power that comes from the role you have, don’t demand respect/submission.

We as parents begin by honoring the Lord, as fathers, a man exemplifies this by honoring his wife in front of his children.

My dad demonstrated this to my sister and I in a way that I’ve taken into my marriage.