Honor Your Father and Your Mother, I
Heidelberg Catechism: Lord’s Day 39
Scripture Texts: Exodus 20:12
This evening we cross over to the second tablet of the Ten Commandments. The two tablets of the law follow the same pattern of the two summary commandments Jesus gives.
Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The first four commandments focus on loving God, on God and worship, on our vertical relationship.
The second six commandments focus on our human relationships, on the horizontal, and horizontal religion begins at home.
If we take the first commandment to heart, the next three will follow. Do not reduce Him to images or take His name in vain or profane His day of rest.
If we take the fifth commandment to heart, the next five will follow. With due honor and respect for others we will not murder, cheat, steal, lie or covet.
This is the hinge commandment. Learning at home to love and obey the authority of our parents, leads us to loving and obeying the authority of God. And we honor God when we honor them.
Parents are our first personal, tangible encounter with authority and God’s rule over us.
This is a commandment about authority. As the first commandment in the first four, so the first commandment in the second six, deals with authority. Authority in each realm, spiritual and temporal, heaven and earth.
God is the only absolute authority, all authority on earth comes under His authority. Learning to love and obey God begins at home. And learning to love, respect and submit to all earthly authority begins at home. Proper regard for God and for those He has placed over us will lead to a well ordered, blessed and good life. In other words, it will go well for us.
Two parts to this, a command and a promise.