"Christian Vocation: Parents and Children" Midweek in Lent2 March 19, 2014 Ephesians 6:4; Ephesians 6:1-3
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and your mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise--"that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." Ephesians 6:1-3 If our first look at vocation laid the foundation for all the vocations we are looking at with our primary vocation of being hearers of God's Word and receivers of His gifts, then the second one, that of husbands and wives, laid the foundation for the vocation of living in a family and in society. God's institution of marriage, which we looked at last week in the vocation of husbands and wives, is the basis for how we live amongst each other and serve each other in the home and in society. At the basic level this is carried out by parents and children. It moves on from there into society with those in positions of authority and those under them. The key here is that anyone who is in authority is first and foremost not above others but rather a person him or herself under authority. It's easy to know who that authority is because of where we began. We began with God. He gave us life. He spoke, we heard. He gave, we received. He is the premiere authority and we are under Him. Any authority anyone has in this life is from God. That is why it's so important for us under those who are in authority to give honor to those above us. It's also why it's so important that those who are in authority over others exercise their authority under the authority of God. Looking at the vocation of parents, then, moms and dads aren't lords over their children but rather servants. They are called by God to love and serve their children. They do this by exercising authority over them. Now that doesn't sound all that loving, but it is entirely loving. When you are called by God into a vocation then you are abiding by God's will when you carry it out. Children need people in authority over them. They need people to act in such a way as to do what is best for them. To love them, to protect them, to give them what they need for their welfare. Parents generally don't need to be told to love their children. But they do need to learn that part of loving their children is acting in such a way that sometimes doesn't seem all that loving. Discipline and punishment are part of the carrying out of this authority. Children may not think these are very loving acts on the part of their parents, but without discipline and punishment children would be not be kept in check. Being kept in check is for protection. If you are not kept in check you will fall into dangers that you aren't aware of. So some of the most loving acts of parents come in the form of rules: Don't do this. Do that. If you do such and such you will be punished. How many times do adults look back on their parents' decisions and actions and realize that they knew what they were doing after all? Being a parent is difficult. Loving your children seems the easiest thing in the world. Doing everything that is part of loving your children, though, is hard. It's hard to discipline. It's hard to punish. It's hard to see your children disobey and have to suffer the consequences. But love does the hard thing, because love doesn't do what is easy or what makes you feel good, but what is best for the other person. Parents, therefore, love their children in such way that they carry out discipline and punishment. That all sounds fine. Even the children who can step back to see how this is not only the right way, but the best way, can say, Okay, I see that it's important for my mom and dad to set limits, to make rules, to discipline me, and yes, even punish me. There's just one small problem, isn't there? What about when mom and dad sin? What about in their efforts to be godly parents they sin against their children? Paul says in Ephesians, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." Parents have authority over their children. They are to discipline and punish their children. But they fall short, don't they? Sometimes they provoke their children to anger. Sometimes they exercise their authority from God, their vocation of parent given to them by God, in an ungodly way. What then? Does this exempt children from obeying their parents? The children might wish it so, but it doesn't. Parents are sinful just like their children. Parents too need to be corrected and disciplined and brought to repentance. They too need forgiveness. Parents ought to make part of their relationship with their children the action of confessing to their children when they have sinned against their children. That way they will be able to love their children as sinners who fall short but who are forgiven. This will also show their children that forgiveness is necessary because otherwise, how could sinful people truly love each other? How could sinful parents truly care for their children? How could sinful children truly honor their father and mother? Paul gives the alternative to exasperating your children: bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Parents, if you are going to love your children, you're not going to be able to do it of yourself. God must be the one to do it. Granted, it's through you. He calls you to this vocation. But God is the one who is raising these children as His sons and daughters. Just as in marriage we have a beautiful picture of Christ and His bride, the Church, so in parents and children we have the beautiful picture of God the Father and His children, the Church. Bring your children up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Teach them the Word of God. Pray with them. Bring them to God's House so that they can be fed by the Gospel and the Sacraments. This is how you raise children in a godly Christian home. And this is how they learn to carry out the vocation they have of honoring father and mother. Children, you are told a lot of things. You've probably heard adults say, "You won't understand this until you're older, but..." and then they give you some sort of advice. Well, that's what's going to happen now. Some of what God calls you to to live as a child in your home won't make sense to you but that's okay. You know that God loves you and even though you can't see Him or understand things like how He is the Trinity--One God in three Persons and three Persons in One God--you know He loves you. You won't understand everything your parents do, sometimes even those things they say are for your own good, but you know they love you. Now sometimes they are going to sin against you, and when they do and they tell you they are sorry, forgive them. Even though they are not the perfect parents, God has called them to love you and raise you, so you need to pray for them and thank God He has given them to you. You're not always going to like being disciplined and punished, but, as they say, you will see when you get older that it is for your good. Here's how the apostle Paul puts it: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and your mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise--"that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." The Fourth Commandment, Honor your father and your mother, comes with a promise attached to it. Sometimes parents give their children rewards for doing things the right way. In the Fourth Commandment, God is telling you that when you honor your parents you are rewarded. Things will go better for you. God will bless you with a long, full life. In this life, where there is sin and evil, sometimes those who do honor and obey their parents do not end up living a long life. But the blessings God gives to you in this commandment are blessings that you would not receive otherwise. When you have parents who love you so much that they not only take care of you and feed you and give you a home to live in but who also love you with Christ's love and teach you God's Word and forgive you, you are blessed in a way that you will see more and more is better than just their love alone. With God's love, it's always better. And then you will see that when you love others it's always better when you love them with God's love rather than just your own. Since God knows what He's doing, being a child as God has called you to be--honoring your parents, respecting them, obeying them, and being grateful to them--you will have a better life than if you do not honor them. At the heart of vocation is love. At the heart of vocation is serving. We would miss the whole point of the vocation of parents and children if we thought of it merely as parents laying down a bunch of rules and children obeying a bunch of rules. No, at the heart of the vocations of parents and children is the heart of God the Father sending His beloved Son to love us. And how did He do that? "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many." Having received this greatest of all love from God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, His only Son, we love. As parents, we love our children in Christ and serve them as God has called us to. As children, we love and honor our parents in Christ as God has called us to. Thank God He has not left it entirely to ourselves, but Himself loves us and helps us love and forgive and serve those He has given us, parents and children. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
