CHILDREN OBEY YOUR PARENTS EPHESIANS 6:1-3

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured, there where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Sing it with me.

Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that was pardoned and cleansed within. It's grace, grace that is greater than all despair. Like the sea waves cold, present a soul with infinite loss. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater.

Yes, grace untold, it's a mighty cross. It's grace, God's grace, grace that is good. There is just as much grace, so grace that will...

Let's continue our time of worship this morning with a call to worship. This is an incredible time because we get to declare God's truth with one another. So our call to worship this morning comes from Proverbs chapter 3, where once again this is a time for us to all engage with proclaiming the word of God.

This proverb begins with saying, My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments for the length of days and years of life. Let not steadfast in love and faithfulness forsake you.

You bind them around your neck so you will find favor and good success. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. In all your ways acknowledge him. Be not wise in your own eyes. It will be healing for your flesh.

Honor the Lord with wealth and the firstfruits of all your produce. Then your barns will be filled with plenty. My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline. For the Lord reproves him who he loves. And all God's people said, Amen.

Well, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Now, this isn't just an individual prayer, but this is a prayer that's represented by the whole body of God's people. And so let's go to our Lord in a prayer of adoration.

Lord, we love you so much. I pray that this morning that you would remove all distractions from our hearts and from our minds, that we would give you reverence in all things. God, you are a creator on high.

And, God, you have blessed us with this time to be able to gather together with your people. And, Lord, I pray that we look to you, Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith. Lord, we go through so much each and every day throughout the week, and yet you have set aside this particular day, a day that reminds us that, Jesus, you are a risen king, that you do not stay dead.

God, there are so many religions in the world where they have dead leaders. But, Jesus, you are Lord of all, showing that you have conquered death. Lord, we love you, and I just pray that this morning that we would worship you from the heart.

Praise things in your name, Jesus. Amen. All right, if you don't mind, please be seated as we prepare our hearts to go to the Lord's table this morning. Now, this is a time that we set aside every Lord's Day because this is a time of great unity.

A lot of times in the Scriptures we read the word fellowship. This comes from the word koinonia, where we have joint participation. Now, this is not a time where we just kind of flippantly do this once a quarter, one time a year.

No, we do it every Lord's Day because of the great fellowship that we have with the saints and with our triune God. This is such an important time that Scripture actually takes a portion to tell us that we must do this with warning.

And so I want to share a passage with you that just shares the gravity of going to the Lord's table together. The apostle says in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And in the same way he also took the cup after the supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever therefore eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord.

Let a person examine himself and so eat and drink of the cup. For if anyone eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself, that is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died.

And so when we come together and we partake of the elements, we come together in great unity, remembering everything that our Lord Jesus has done for us in the past, what he is continuing to do for us in the present, and looking forward to the great marriage of the supper of the Lamb.

Amen. And so this is a time also where Scripture warns us that if we come to the Lord's table in an unworthy manner, then we are at risk of partaking in judgment where some people have died. And I don't want this to just be something gloomy and then say, Jeremiah, well I don't even want to partake at all because I could never be worthy enough.

I want to encourage you that if you are resting in Christ alone for salvation, then you can come to the table. Now if you're hanging on to some unrepentant sin towards a brother or sister and say, I'm not going to give up that thing, I just want to encourage you, please do not come to the table and honestly, come seek out myself or Pastor Keith or Pastor Nathan, because we'd love to come alongside of you and help make these things right in your life.

But this is a beautiful time that if you are a Christian that is trusting in Christ alone, apart from any of your works, any of your accomplishments, this is a time for you to come to the table and for us to unify with one another.

And if you're a visiting and you are a part of an evangelical church that preaches the gospel of grace, and you are a member of the church, then you too are welcome to come as well. And so here in a moment, I'm going to pray and then afterwards, if you please would stand up and this side will come to this table.

And if we can have this side along with that back corner come to this table, we're going to come on the outside edges and then we'll kind of circle back to our seats. Amen. All right, let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Lord, this is such an incredible time to be able to go to the table. God, I pray that if anyone here has unrepentant sin in their heart, God, that they would just give it to you. God, that they would go make these things right with their brother or sister before trying to come to such an important time, coming to unify with you, God, and coming to unify with the body.

God, I pray that if there's anybody in here that knows that they are not holding to the gospel of grace, that it is by faith alone and Christ alone, God, that you would encourage their hearts not to come to the table, God, because there is great judgment involved.

Lord, we love you and we thank you so much for this time of great unity. And we pray that you would bless the rest of our service. We pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.

Sing this with us. I was lost. You're my joy. Alone I will sing of your love. One more time. You have saved my soul. And doubts remain. For the deepest wounds that time won't heal. There is joy that runs still deep.

There's a truth that's more than all I feel. You've set His heart. Give me grace and love.

Our scripture reading comes from Proverbs chapter 22. The first six verses that say,. This is the reading of God's word. Let's go once again together before our Lord in prayer. Let's pray a prayer of confession and assurance, knowing that God is always faithful and just to forgive us of our unrighteousness, the things that we do that constantly, you know, spit at God by the things that we do, even know that He has been so gracious to us, knowing that He loves us if we are in Jesus Christ.

Heavenly Father, we come to you corporately together as a body, as broken people that sin so much against you each and every day. God, that is not our heart's desire. But God, we confess it to you, knowing that you will always forgive us.

Lord, we look to you in sweet relationship, and it's your word that sanctifies and renews our hearts. God, it's your truth that tells us that there is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.

God, oh, can we rest in that truth this morning, God. I pray that as the preaching comes forth by Pastor Nathan, God, that we would rest knowing that you are a sovereign king. And God, as parents, we desire to do these commands of wisdom from your word that says train up children the way that they should go to revere and honor you, Jesus.

God, we know ultimately that their salvation is in your hands. God, we pray that you'd be merciful to our children, that you would give us wisdom as parents to constantly point them to you, Jesus. And Lord, I pray for those of us that are still under our parents' care.

God, I pray that you would do a great work knowing that we are to obey our parents as unto the Lord. God, that is what you call us to do, and that we all unite together contending for the kingdom, pursuing the kingdom.

God, your word tells us to seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness in all these things will be taken care of by you, Lord. Lord, we love you and pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.

He washed it white as snow.

The leper swung.

Jesus paid it all to Him. I went and I left a crimson stain. Jesus died. My soul shall stand.

Jesus paid it all.

Jesus paid it all. I left a crimson stain.

God, we thank you for your word that is true and evident in these songs. Fathers, we sing praise to your holy and mighty name because you are worthy of all praise and honor. Thank you that these truths that we sing, Father, are relevant to our lives, God, in a way that we see it active daily.

I set my hope on Jesus. Father, no other rock that we can place our trust. God, as we continue this time of worship and offering, I ask that you are honored in our giving and our time, Father, and our money.

I pray that you are honored, that you are blessed, Father God. Lord, prepare our hearts for the word that you have prepared for us, God, that our ears would hear what the Spirit speaks to the church this morning, God.

In your name we pray.

Jesus paid it all. Praise God that He did because I had nothing to offer except for the sin that meant that He had to pay it.

Amen. Amen.

Saints, you understand the gravity of that this morning, don't you? I have a confession to make. I didn't want to preach today. You didn't think you'd hear that from me, did you? My heart felt cold this week.

But you know what? I was still able to hold firm to a concrete foundational truth that no matter what my heart felt, it was still just as true as it was when my heart was overwhelmed with gratitude and joy.

You ever feel that, Saint? You ever go through those moments? We all have them. We're in the valley where it feels like we're just trudging through the mud, trying to see the light once again. Oh, but the truth is Jesus paid it all.

He paid for even that moment. He paid for even your seemingly coldness of heart. And His goodness is holding you firm. His heart is warm towards you if you are in Him today. And I hold firm to that truth.

And that's why I can boldly come into this pulpit knowing this isn't me. This is all about His Word. This is His Word. And before we jump in today, I would like for us to pray for a brother, Joe Greeno.

One of our members here has been in ICU last night, and he's seeing the doctors today, and they're working. When he says he's doing well, I was texting with him earlier, so he is doing well. They're just keeping an eye on him.

And so I would like for us to pray for Joe this morning. He's one of our family members, and I know that him and Angel are dealing with that right now, and there's much suffering that goes with that, and we want to bear burdens with our brothers and sisters, right?

So please bow with me. Let's pray for Joe and Angel. Dear Heavenly Father, God, we come to you right now, and we just, before we open your Word, before we look at your great truth, we just want to lift up our brother, Joe.

Lord, we pray that you bring healing. Lord, we pray that you give the doctor's wisdom. Lord, we pray that you would give him rest in the moment that he is there at the hospital. Lord, that he could trust in you.

Lord, give him great strength and faith in the providence of God in all things. Lord, be with Angel as she cares for him. And as she worries, I'm sure, as we often do, Lord, we pray that you grant her peace during this time, that she could care for and serve her husband as he is in need.

Lord, help them to feel the great love from us, the saints, that care for them this morning. We pray that you would guard them and overwhelm them with your great peace, a peace that only comes from you.

And we thank you this morning for how you're going to work. In Christ's name, amen. Amen. Well, saints, go ahead and open a copy of God's Word to Ephesians chapter 6. As we go into week 6 of our study of God's design for the family and have finally made it to the sixth and final chapter of Ephesians after so many months.

I think we've been here for, I know we have, well over a year. And so we only have a few more weeks. I think the schedule shows 10 more weeks after today in Ephesians. So it's going to feel like a long lost friend once we don't open our Bibles up to Ephesians anymore every week.

But we will move on in God's Word. But today we are here in Ephesians chapter 6, starting in verse 1. Children, obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.

Oh Lord, give us wisdom. Holy Spirit, illuminate our hearts and minds to this truth. Guard my lips from error. Guard the ears of the hearers that we can be discerning and see your truth as you have proclaimed it.

In Christ's name, we pray that. Well in Romans chapter 1, Paul gives us a bleak snapshot of the state of humanity. If you remember, he's going on enlisting the depravity of the human heart and by the time he makes it to verse 28, Paul says, and since they did not see fit, humanity, right?

To acknowledge God. To acknowledge who he is. To acknowledge his design. To acknowledge him as the creator. Then God gave them up, says, to a debased mind. A mind that cannot approve or discern good in any way that only seeks evil.

And he says, this debased mind, he gave them up to it to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.

They're gossips, slanders, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil. It just keeps getting worse, doesn't it? Disobedient to parents. It's quite a list of the state of the human heart.

Disobedient to parents is in this list. This has been the default of man ever since the fall. A rejection of God's good design out of a rejection of God's own authority. A rebellion against his creation, his design, and his law.

And this hardness of heart, it just continues to grow. It grows and it abounds as creation groans. As we get closer to Christ finally returning, and putting death under his feet, and crushing all of this iniquity and sin, and judging the wicked.

But it just continues to grow, and we see the fact that Paul points this out to his protege Timothy. In 2 Timothy, he gives a similar list, and he talks about in the last days. In 2 Timothy 3, he says,.

But understand this, Timothy, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. It's coming, Timothy. In the last days. What are the last days, guys?

Now.

We've been in the last days for 2 ,000 years now. We are awaiting the return of Christ, this present dark age right now. And he says, hey, this is going to be difficult. He says, for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents.

We see this all around us, don't we? It's quite obvious. Our culture takes what God says is evil,.

And lauds it as good.

Praises it as if it's fine. We don't follow God's prescribed means and his good design. Let's be honest. In our culture today, children rule. In most cases. In the lives of many of our families, they are often surrounded around the desires of the children.

Many parents cater to the foolish desires of their children. They make the decisions. They make the rules. They set the pace. I've even met with fathers. I've met with many men in this community that tell me, hey, I want to be at 12 -5.

I want to be at that church where we're going. It's just not healthy, and I'm never taught anything. And man, I want to be at a healthy church. I want to go to 12 -5. And you know the only reason they don't?

Because their children don't want to come here. And a lot of times, their wives don't want to come here. And I'm like, you're allowing them to decide where you go to church? What kind of mad world are we living in?

That you're allowing your wife or your children to tell your family where you're going to attend church? It's absurd. That man gives in to this foolishness and lets them decide. I share that point, particularly to show the fact that even Christians, people who seem to love the Lord, are susceptible to this distortion.

And as I think about it, I'm like, well, those men obviously haven't listened to our previous sermons of their role as a patriarch. So they're derogating their duties. Today, not only do the children not obey their parents, the parents don't demand obedience.

You see it all around. Go to the grocery store and watch a mother with her children. In many cases today, they don't demand obedience. We're all about gentle parenting. We'll deal with that when we get to verse 4, guys.

Sorry, a couple weeks. All the while, God hates disobedience. That's why he listed it with sins like murder and haters of God. You realize that, right? This disobedience to parents was listed. That's why I read those two passages earlier.

Because he's listing it with great depraved sin. We see that clearly in God's prescription for the people of Israel back in Deuteronomy regarding disobedience of children. Actually, turn back there with me.

Turn to Deuteronomy with me. Deuteronomy chapter 21. You remember, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Deuteronomy, yes. Actually, I had a pastor friend of mine. He never could say Deuteronomy. Mom, how did he say it?

He said Deuteronomy, I think, all the time, and he never could say it. He avoided ever referencing Deuteronomy because he couldn't say it. These are laws given to the people of Israel to set them apart and really to show the holiness of God.

At the beginning of 21, he lays out how to make atonement for unsolved murders, how to deal with civil situations. Later on, he mentions inheritance rights. There in chapter 21, starting in verse 18, he deals with this matter that we're discussing.

He says,.

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of the city at the gate, of the place where he lives.

And they shall say to the elders of his city, This, our son, is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones.

So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear and fear. Guys, this is what God thinks of disobedience to parents, that he would have these disobedient children stoned to death, killed because of it.

Wow. Scary, isn't it? Now, praise God that we are no longer under those civil laws of Israel any longer. I, for one, would not be able to take the life of one of my children or harm them in such a way, no matter what they did.

However, this shows us what God thinks of it. And we try to act as if it's not really that big of a deal. All kids rebel. Let's not overreact, Pastor. All kids rebel, don't they? It's true. Your innocent little Johnny is not an angel.

Everybody knows it, including you, right? All kids rebel, and yes, they do. All rebel because all men rebel, because of this sinful flesh that is within us. Even you and I, parents, we still rebel against authority.

That is why Scripture gives us these commands. Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right, so that our minds may be renewed, that we may discern what is right and what is good. And maybe, just maybe, that will slow us down on this trajectory of a distortion of all that God has created by our sinful flesh and our distorted minds.

And as parents, we must instill this Word into the minds of our children, guys. That's a part of our job. We must pour the Word of God into the minds of our children. That's why you're gathered here today, but that's not just my job.

If the only Word of God that's getting poured into your children's minds is coming from me and or the teachers in the children's classroom or from Pastor Jeremiah with the youth on Wednesday nights, if that's the only time, guys, you are fighting an uphill battle, that's not enough.

It's our job to pour this into them, even before they are regenerate. Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old, they will not depart from it. Now, of course, that's not a promise.

There's no guarantee of salvation in a child, but it is a principle. It is a solid core truth. We are raising our children as if the Holy Spirit is going to awaken them to new life. We are trusting in the providential hand of a good and gracious God that does and can save, and we will treat our children as if that is most certainly going to happen, and we disciple them as such.

Meaning, in this particular area, when we look at Scripture, we teach our children to obey us. We teach them to obey us.

Why?

Why do we teach them to obey us? Well, of course, because God says so. That's enough reason as is. If we read a text like the one we just read, of course I need to teach them. But why does he say so? Why does God's Word show us that he hates disobedience to parents and that they should obey so much?

Why is a child's disobedience such a horrible and destructive sin? Well, it's a simple answer. Because disobedience to him is a horrible and destructive sin. You get that, right? When your child is disobeying you, they're ultimately disobeying God.

Over the past six weeks, we've already seen, if you've been with us, God's design for the family is one that carries imagery, right? So much imagery. The imagery of the Gospel, the imagery of Christ with the bride, the imagery of a reflection of the Creator.

And we keep going back to Genesis 1, right? We have to continue to go back to the very beginning, right at the core, where God says, so he created them in his own image. After his own likeness, he created them male and female.

He created them, and then God blessed them. And then what does he say to them? Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. You see, the triune God, perfectly sufficient in and of himself, okay?

With absolutely no need of us. You understand that. There was no deficiency in God. God did not need to create us. He could have gone throughout all of eternity without us and been perfectly sufficient.

You know that, right? God is sufficient. He had absolutely no need. He was not lonely. He had no deficiency in himself that required our being created. Yet, created life was the natural outpouring of his love.

You get that, right? God is love. It's one of his attributes. It's not that he does love. It's the fact that he is love. And life was created as an outpouring of that love, an intimate love between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit that was to be expressed in his love for the elect.

And this led to that perfectly sufficient God bringing about life. Are you tracking with me? God, the creator, brings about life, and it is an outpouring of his great love. Right at the very beginning, before all of creation, there was a covenant made between the triune God, and it was a covenant of redemption.

I will, we will create a people, and we will redeem a people unto ourselves. This is the game plan. And that produced life. Life that is to reflect him, the creator.

Right?

We're image bearers created after his likeness to reflect him. And now through the intimate love of the image bearers of a husband and a wife becoming one flesh, notice the imagery, one flesh united as one brought together brings about new life.

The outworking of that love produces life. Be fruitful. And multiply. Fill the earth. And you see, out of that multiplication, he says, I have an elect from every tribe, nation, and tongue of my beloved.

Out of all of it, I have my people, the ones that I have set my affection upon before I even created all this and was guaranteed to raise them up in the fear and knowledge of me. Now that's your job as parents.

You brought them into the world through this union of marriage. Now, you are to equip them. You are to raise them up in the fear and knowledge of me. Because I will call many of them to myself. And they will be mine.

You can only do that through walking in his design, in his precepts. We see distortions of it all the time. Children are produced outside of the context of the covenant of marriage. And we see the problems that come with that, don't we?

Look at what happens. Our prison system is completely packed full, overwhelmed of fatherless men. We see the fruit of all that comes with it. I saw statistics this week of just the sheer volume of teenage suicide connected to broken families.

And all that comes with the devastation of it. So we can only see this type of discipleship that is going on within his design and his precepts. The design of a nuclear family that reflects his character and displays his goodness of the gospel.

As we've talked about the last few weeks. A loving husband who is laying down his life and leading through love of his wife. Caring and providing for a wife. Submitting to her husband and nurturing all that is around her.

And bringing about beauty within their home. Pointing to the glorious beauty of Christ and children. Now today, new life. Being discipled. You see the imagery, don't you? We're just reflecting the creator.

And his good design. So why do we teach our children to obey us? Because we're teaching our children to obey him. That's the whole purpose. It has nothing to do with you being embarrassed at the grocery store because your child is throwing a fit.

It has nothing to do with the fact that your child can't sit still during a church service and now everyone's going to think you're a bad parent. It has nothing to do with any of that. It has to do with the fact that you're teaching them to obey because you're teaching them to obey him.

Ultimately. The family dynamic is a reflection of him. Children in the room. Why are you to obey your parents? The same answer, isn't it?

Why?

Why are you to obey mom and dad? Because mom and dad aren't always right, are they? I'm just stating the obvious, guys. They're right a lot more than you think they are. I'll tell you that much. They're not always right.

Okay?

So why are you to obey them? Because you're obeying him. He's the one that said to obey them and he's the ultimate authority. That's why he says, children, obey your parents and the Lord. It's not detached from this.

It's all intertwined into all of it. That's why the lost world is incapable of following this command. Because it's in the Lord. Only those who are doing it out of obedience to the Lord are truly seeking to obey their parents.

And I want us to see three things about obedience that I think are going to better help us understand children and parents this command of this. Both parents, us who are training our children in this, and you children that are seeking to be obedient.

The first thing I want us to see here is obedience in your conduct. Now, this isn't obvious, right? All of these are going to be fairly obvious today. I couldn't get any more creative with my bullet points, I'm sorry.

But let's get right to the heart of the matter, right? Obedience in your conduct. When he says there in verse 1, children, obey your parents and the Lord, he says, for this is right. Some translations will have the word just, for this is just.

It's the same Greek word that Paul uses over in Romans 7 when he's speaking of the law. He says, so the law is holy. And the commandment is holy, and here's the same word, and it's translated righteous.

The law is righteous. It is good. It is perfect. God's law is perfect, and this command is tied to one of the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20. Look at verse 2. He quotes it, he says, honor your father and your mother.

God's law is not forbidding us from good things. Children, you realize that, right? I'm speaking to you children this morning pretty directly here. Do you realize that the laws of God are not rules that are forbidding us from good things?

We often think of it that way, don't we? Like our parents' rules are only there to prevent us from having fun. The things we want to do, it's restrictive. Well, that's not God's law. God's law, it's forbidding us from bad things by pointing us to righteous things.

Things that are for our good. Things that are for his glory. You see, so when God tells us to do something, then that thing that he's telling us to do, guys, is the best thing for us. It's absolutely the best option for you.

There is no better option. There is no other option. All other options lead to death. It is the only option. It is best for you. And here, he's telling you children to obey your parents. As a matter of fact, he repeats this over in Colossians chapter 3 in verse 20.

He says, children, obey your parents. And he says, in everything. And then he goes on, he says, for disobedience, guys, when you're obedient to your parents in everything, this pleases the Lord. This pleases the Lord.

Now, I need to point out that the word for children used here is referring to dependent offspring, okay? We need to make sure to define what Paul is speaking to here. Dependent offspring, young men in this room.

Young men, if you are still dependent on your parents, meaning that they are providing for you, this applies to you. I don't care how old you are, if they're providing for you, this applies to you. Young women in the room, if you are not married, then you are dependent on your parents and you are still under your father's headship.

This applies to you. Once you all are married and have left your father and your mother, you are no longer obligated to obey your parents. You realize that, right? My mother's here today. I love my mother.

I honor my mother. I don't have to obey her. But I did. There was a portion of my life where she was an authority over me in every way. Now, like I said, I honor her because you are called to honor your father and mother.

That never ends. That commandment never changes. But obey is different. But for children who are dependent, you are to show your obedience through your conduct. What does that look like? I'd like to point out three ways that you are to do this.

You are obedient in your conduct with your appearance. You're obedient in your conduct with your appearance. This is really rooted in the matter of the heart. If you do not have a heart of obedience, it's often going to make its way to your face and your expressions, right?

What's in your heart makes its way out of your mouth and makes its way into your facial expressions and how you appear. But that's not what I'm getting at in the moment. We're going to deal with the heart actually in just a few minutes.

Here I'm speaking about your witness to others. Now, this is assuming that you care about that. But I know your parents do and you're being discipled in that. But your witness to others that are watching you or watching your appearance and all that you do, but not only that, it affects your should-be desire to bless your parents.

You realize that, right? Your desire should be to bless your parents. That's honoring your parents. And when those two things do not match up, it is not a blessing to those around you. Proverbs 10 says, A wise son makes a glad father.

A wise son brings joy to a father. Oh, but a foolish son is sorrow to his mother. Your appearance should be one of glad obedience as a blessing to those authorities that are over you. It's a way to love them.

It's a way to honor them. Knowing that what my father and mother are telling me to do is for my good. I may not see it in the moment. Often I don't as a child. But my outward expression will be one of receiving that wisdom and letting my parents know that I trust and honor them through my appearance.

Parents, as you discipline your children in this and you disciple them more specifically, practice what you preach with your Heavenly Father, right? Oftentimes we know what we have to do, but our appearance does not express a gratitude and an honor towards our authority.