Is Mother's Day Biblical?

Carlisle Evangelical Free Church. Sermon.

Ephesians 6:1-3
6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
- to whom does this passage speak?
-- to ALL

- honor and obey
-- because it is right
--we'll be rewarded

honor = an attitude, giving respect
obey = to follow an order
- they are not the same

1. Obey because it's right
- who is a child?
--not everyone but we still must obey authority
--not natural but right
---our political, religious, and social lineage makes us rebellious
--- God makes obeying right; God gave our parents to us
--- we'll always have authority above us
- key = "in the Lord"
--we are under God's authority ultimately
--- he has placed them above us
--- he is above all and his rule supersedes all

2. Honor because it's good for you
- we're to honor the authority in our lives
- honor means respecting
--it doesn't mean we have to agree with everything
-- if they are sinning or telling us to sin, then we honor/respect but don't follow because we are "in the Lord"
---God rewards us; they don't
- must care for them financially
-- I Timothy tells us we must care for our relatives or we deny Christ

Can we obey outside the Lord? NO!
- not naturally or historically inclined to obey
- Christ gives us the power to obey

3. Do everything "in the Lord" (in the bible 109 times)
- in the Lord like in the fortress
--cannot pull us from God because God has a hold on us
- how do we get in?
-- ask, seek, knock and we're invited in like children
- free to honor/respect others because we're in Christ and able to overcome our rebellious nature
-- encouraged to because God is the Lord of all and he'll reward us
- how can we honor those who don't deserve it?
-- in the Lord
-- He is at the top of our organizational/authority/power chart