The First Commandment With A Promise
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In Ephesians 5, Paul is giving direction for how followers of Christ are to live and conduct their life. Towards the end of Chapter 5, Paul is giving instruction for marriage. The in Ephesians 6, Paul speaks to children and includes one of the 10 commandments.
Now let me point out the obvious, your parents will always be your father and mother but you will not always be a child. Paul is giving instructions for how a child is to live and connects it with the promise found in Exodus 20:12
Ephesians 6:1-3 NIV
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise - “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
Exodus 20:12 NIV
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
As children, we are to obey our parents but when we become an adult, things change. However, we are to still honor them.
What’s honor mean?
Honor means to respect, to esteem, to treat in a way that shows someone value or worth, to speak of someone one in a way that shows honor and value of that person.
As a grown person, we are still called to honor our parents and we do so by how we treat them and speak of them.
Even if your parents have gone on to be with the Lord, you can still honor them in how you live and remember them.
Now keep in mind that by honoring your parents you are engaging in the commandment which has a promise. And what is that promise?
“so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
This would mean you have all you need for life including health. The promise isn’t just for a long life but to enjoy long life.
We participate in this promise through faith, believing what God has said and that he is well able to perform it.
This is how Abraham received the promise God gave him.
Romans 4:19-21 New International Version
Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
Who God is and what Christ has already provided for us through the redemptive work of Christ is a fact. We participate in and experience it through faith, believing and acting on the promises.
Let’s look at 2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
1 Thessalonians 2:13 NIV
And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.
It’s the Word of God that reveals the truth of God. The Word also contains the promises that we believe and act upon to receive and eperience what God has provided to us through Christ.
Let’s go back and read to promise.
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise - 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
I also want you to notice how similar the meaning of the promise is to 1 John 3:2 NIV, “Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.”
God is consistent. The Scripture says he never changes. (See Malachi 3:6)
Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
God is good. He wants us to know his will and experience his will. It’s through his Word that we can know, receive, experience and walk in his will. Let’s keep in the Word and let’s keep growing.
