The NXR Podcast - BONUS EPISODE - The Fifth Commandment： Honor Your Father and Mother from the Ezra Institute Podcast

00:00:00.600 Hi, this is Pastor Joel Webin with Right Response Ministries, and this is a special bonus episode.

00:00:05.400 I recently received the privilege of jumping on the Institute for Cultural Reformation

00:00:10.880 from the Ezra Institute with Dr. Joseph Boot.

00:00:14.420 I had the privilege of being invited on their show to talk about the Fifth Commandment.

00:00:18.960 They're currently doing a series through the Ten Commandments.

00:00:21.560 I was invited on to speak in regards to the Fifth Commandment, that children are commanded

00:00:26.520 by God to honor thy father and mother.

00:00:29.280 and it happens to be the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with them and that

00:00:33.260 they would live a long life in the land that they're inheriting. Tune in to this special episode

00:00:38.600 from the Ezra Institute, the Institute for Cultural Reformation, where I get to be a guest

00:00:45.040 with the host being Dr. Joseph Booth. Welcome back to the podcast for Cultural Reformation

00:00:54.600 brought to you by the Ezra Institute.

00:00:58.380 Welcome back one and all.

00:01:00.260 This is the podcast for Cultural Reformation

00:01:02.500 brought to you by the Ezra Institute.

00:01:04.780 I'm Ryan Aris.

00:01:06.340 With me, as always, is Dr. Joe Boot.

00:01:09.940 And with us for the first time on this show,

00:01:12.500 we're very privileged to have a special guest,

00:01:14.780 Pastor Joel Webin.

00:01:16.920 And Joel is president and founder

00:01:20.580 of Right Response Ministries,

00:01:22.180 Senior Pastor of Covenant Bible Church

00:01:24.880 Located on the north side of Austin, Texas

00:01:27.340 Joel's married to Megan

00:01:29.400 And he's the father of Olive, Ruth, and Eleanor

00:01:32.940 And Joel, we're...

00:01:34.980 And Franklin now

00:01:35.620 And Franklin, oh

00:01:37.060 We have a fourth

00:01:38.780 I have a son, the name will continue on, Lord willing

00:01:41.580 Many congratulations

00:01:42.940 I'm dealing with out-of-date information here

00:01:46.440 Sorry about that

00:01:47.380 Well, it quickly goes out-of-date

00:01:50.240 because my wife and I, we are having lots of children quickly.

00:01:55.060 So I don't blame you.

00:01:56.760 Praise God.

00:01:58.700 Yeah, amen.

00:01:59.420 Well, I'm glad you could be with us for this conversation.

00:02:06.360 Our subject today is going to be the Fifth Commandment.

00:02:12.000 and I'll read that out

00:02:16.340 and we will deal with some of the details

00:02:20.040 and implications and applications

00:02:21.860 of where that fits in context

00:02:24.620 and how it works itself out

00:02:27.260 in our daily life here

00:02:29.800 so this is from Exodus chapter 20 verse 12

00:02:33.140 where we read

00:02:34.400 honour your father and your mother

00:02:36.320 that your days may be prolonged in the land

00:02:38.560 which the Lord your God gives you

00:02:40.360 and joel i just i wanted to uh to start with you here uh when we were uh when we were corresponding

00:02:51.260 we were touching base on on setting up to have you on the show we were looking looking ahead

00:02:57.120 there were several several of the commandments that we could have chosen from and you got back

00:03:02.460 to me and said i'd like to do the fifth commandment uh maybe we'll just start with what uh what is it

00:03:09.620 that, that drew you to, uh, to this particular one? Great question. Yeah. Part of what drew me

00:03:16.660 to it is I think my own personal repentance in this area. Um, I, you know, I, I did my undergrad

00:03:24.020 in Dallas, Texas. I was born and raised in Bay city, Texas. It's a small town on the Gulf coast

00:03:29.400 in between Galveston and Corpus Christi, uh, went off to school. And when I finished school,

00:03:35.680 I just had this burning desire, woe am I if I don't plant a church, which really, to be completely honest, was I had a strong desire to preach, and I do believe that that came from the Lord, and there's a desire, I had that noble desire to be an elder, but I don't think that I was ready, and I think that I at least subconsciously knew that.

00:03:59.820 But there was this really nifty category that was becoming increasingly popular at the time.

00:04:06.060 This is around 2007, 8, 9, called church planting.

00:04:11.700 And with church planting, you could be a pastor before you were qualified.

00:04:16.500 And so, you know, so I opted towards, you know, knowing that I was a 23-year-old single man and that it was highly unlikely that I was going to get a letter in the mail of, you know, some congregation calling me to be their senior pastor.

00:04:29.820 So I thought, well, I'll start one. And again, I think by the grace of God, there were a lot of noble desires and right instincts. There was plenty of, by the grace of God, again, purity, but there were also plenty of sinful desires and at bare minimum, at least immature and incomplete and foolish ambitions.

00:04:53.660 And so I went off to plant a church and it was kind of this rite of passage.

00:04:57.780 I thought, you know, that, um, you know, if, if you're, if you're going to do something

00:05:01.840 significant for the Lord, it needs to be ministry, right?

00:05:04.780 I wouldn't have known these things at the time, but like two fish swimming, um, in the

00:05:09.200 ocean passing by each other and one saying, uh, the water sure is nice today.

00:05:12.880 And the other says, what is water?

00:05:14.720 Um, I, I was two kingdom by default.

00:05:17.140 I was pre-millennial dispensational, um, these things by default.

00:05:21.460 And so for me, I did not have a proper understanding of the kingdom of God expressed beyond simply the four walls of the church institute as Dr. Boot has so well expressed.

00:05:34.400 So I thought if I'm going to advance the kingdom of God, it has to be within the ecclesiastical sphere.

00:05:40.460 And so it must be pastoral ministry.

00:05:43.440 And so I decided to be a pastor.

00:05:44.620 And if I want to do something significant, like being a pastor, I could be even more significant by being a church planter, not just pastoring the church, but starting one.

00:05:53.200 And if I want to be even greater, then I could start a church in a perhaps a more difficult context.

00:05:58.480 So I opted for California.

00:06:00.360 And so I moved away, to answer your question, from my mother and father.

00:06:04.860 And I went to California and not saying that a child can't geographically, you know, a grown adult child move away from their parents.

00:06:11.760 But I think I had not outspokenly, but at least a subtle aversion and despising Texas and flyover America.

00:06:23.920 I bought into some of the rhetoric of the sophisticated cool kids table within evangelicalism and church planting at the time that inner city ministry is all the rage and rural areas is really kind of a subtle compromise.

00:06:41.140 And and so I just I bought into all of that. And as I got older, by the end of 2020, it really before COVID hit and those kinds of things, I was already beginning to think eventually I should move back to Texas.

00:06:55.660 My wife's parents were in Texas.

00:06:57.980 My parents were in Texas.

00:06:59.300 So we had both sides of mothers and fathers in Texas and thinking we're now having children.

00:07:05.600 We want them to have regular engagement with their grandparents.

00:07:11.880 And I was thinking about my children.

00:07:13.900 I was thinking one day my children are going to grow up.

00:07:16.900 Number one, are they going to be able to make a living and start a household in California?

00:07:22.120 not just it's already hard right now but 20 years from now what will that be

00:07:26.120 is this decision ultimately going to set the stage for the the displacement of my own family

00:07:32.780 and then what example am I setting I'm showing my children that honoring thy father and mother

00:07:37.240 means inviting them into our lives a couple times a year for a few days at a time to play with the

00:07:43.980 grandkids but I thought what what kind of example would it would it would it demonstrate for my own

00:07:50.180 children, for me as a grown child to honor my father and mother, to the extent of saying, I

00:07:56.940 want to physically move and reorient my life and the life of my children to where you're an active

00:08:03.400 part of it and position ourselves financially to where when our mothers and fathers, my wife and

00:08:09.860 mine, begin to age where we could financially accommodate them, where we wouldn't just have

00:08:14.780 to send them off to a home, but we could bring them into ours. So all that being said, I think

00:08:20.960 that this commandment appeals to me because of my personal failure in this area, by God's grace,

00:08:26.380 personal repentance, and just a recognition that the young child under his father's roof

00:08:32.800 is called to obedience, full obedience to his mother and father. But coming to see that the

00:08:38.500 commandment, not merely to obey, but to honor the father and mother is actually a lifelong

00:08:43.320 long commandment that applies to grown children outside of the home and recognizing that I need

00:08:49.460 to do better in that. Joel, I really appreciate that testimony. One thing that I wanted to

00:09:00.580 open up to both of you for comment, and maybe I'll press on with you, Joel, here, is that

00:09:08.020 It's readers of Scripture.

00:09:11.160 It's a common designation or observation that there are, in the Ten Commandments, two tables.

00:09:18.660 There's a distinction between commandments as far as relationship to God, which is the first four,

00:09:24.180 and then the latter six are commandments concerning relationships between people.

00:09:31.520 and I can't help but observe that there is a parallel between the fifth commandment and the

00:09:39.300 first commandment or the first commandments of either table insofar as there are certain persons

00:09:47.660 who are owed specific treatment specific responses and relations and I guess the

00:09:56.720 The question in all of that is just, can you comment further on that, on why that might be, of course, it's deliberate in Scripture, nothing is accidental or superfluous, but what accounts for that structure and what might be some significance or implication of it?

00:10:15.560 that's a great question um within the second table of the law so beginning with commandment

00:10:21.640 number five um it's also worth noting that that that's the only commandment out of the six the

00:10:27.300 latter six of the ten commandments that's stated in the positive sense right starting with commandment

00:10:32.160 six through ten um you have prohibitions thou shall not murder thou shall not commit adultery

00:10:39.060 thou shall not steal thou shall not bear false witness thou shall not covet but the fifth

00:10:43.760 commandment is the first of the second table of law in relation to our love for neighbor

00:10:48.380 it's also the only commandment towards neighbors stated in the positive sense not just something

00:10:55.540 that you should avoid but something that you should actively commit yourself to doing not

00:11:01.100 just thou shall not dishonor or thou shall not blaspheme but profane thy father and mother but

00:11:09.460 thou thou shalt honor my father and mother so that's unique um and it's also the first commandment

00:11:15.080 which i know we'll get to you know uh later on in this episode with a promise and so it's unique

00:11:19.580 and in all those senses it's the first of the second table of the law it's the only in the

00:11:23.220 second table of the law stated in the positive sense and it's the only one that's explicitly

00:11:27.980 i believe there's a promise for all obedience but it's where the promise is explicitly stated and

00:11:33.920 not only a heavenly promise and eternal promise,

00:11:37.480 but a temporal and earthly promise as well.

00:11:40.780 And you're right.

00:11:41.500 The last thing to note is that there does seem to be a stark comparison

00:11:47.640 and correlation between the first commandment in the second table

00:11:50.980 and the first commandment in the first table.

00:11:54.060 So the first commandment that we find out of the ten in our relation to God

00:11:57.740 is that we should have no other gods before him.

00:12:00.620 Um, even then still kind of, uh, stated in that negative sense of a prohibition, something to

00:12:05.860 avoid, uh, namely idolatry. Um, but, but again, uh, it's, it's, you, if we were to reverse it

00:12:12.600 and state it in the positive sense, it would be, um, fidelity, loyalty, allegiance, and wholehearted

00:12:19.580 worship, um, and love of the triune God. Um, no other idols, no other gods, um, no devotion,

00:12:28.020 to anyone else, no compromise, no divided allegiance, but honoring the Father of all,

00:12:35.280 honoring the Heavenly Father, the Father of lights from whom every good and perfect gift comes down.

00:12:40.980 And then we find the fifth commandment, to honor thy father and mother. And I think that that's,

00:12:45.080 in a sense, I think that the reason why everything seems to begin with that, our relationship to the

00:12:51.420 heavenly father and then our biological, familial fathers, is because that's the first relationship

00:12:58.040 that we have. In a very real sense, I mean, my children are small, five, three, two, and five

00:13:04.480 months. And their best friends are mom and dad and each other. They don't have much of a social

00:13:13.480 network outside of our family of six. The vast majority of their time is spent in the home.

00:13:19.740 The vast majority of their affections are oriented towards myself and their mother.

00:13:26.580 And I think that, you know, Augustine argued for properly ordering our loves, our affections,

00:13:33.600 that it's not just love everyone, but love has, you know, circles, like ripples in a

00:13:41.040 pond that build outwardly.

00:13:42.880 And we start with what's most near and most dear.

00:13:46.740 There's an order of priorities, that so much of sin is a misordered affections, that I love something more than I should or something less than I should.

00:13:55.460 So much of anger is at least sinful anger is is a relationship with, you know, that I, you know, I love myself more than others.

00:14:04.660 And so I'm more deeply offended than I should be.

00:14:07.240 And so beginning with this this order, this hierarchy of loves, we're called to love God, the heavenly father first.

00:14:13.520 but then as it relates to loving our neighbor we have 8.2 billion neighbors and what i've noticed

00:14:19.860 especially with younger people millennials and gen z um they they love love in theory um but

00:14:28.480 but they seem to really struggle in practice so they love the children in uganda they love ukraine

00:14:33.800 they love this they love that um but they can't share the refrigerator with their college roommate

00:14:41.520 um you know so they love everyone until they meet someone that ironically the only people they love

00:14:47.720 eight billion people they really only don't love 30 but the 30 that they don't love are the only

00:14:52.440 30 people that they've ever had close relationship with which should you know you would think that

00:14:56.980 they would naturally conclude that actually they're not good at love and that this theoretical

00:15:01.540 love for all these strangers out there um actually isn't love at all because whenever it's put to a

00:15:06.200 test. It's quickly proven to be false. And so all that being said, it's such a close relationship.

00:15:13.380 Honor thy father and mother. These are the first people that you come to know. You're in their home.

00:15:18.260 You're at their table. You're nursing from your mother's breast. You're under your father's 1.00

00:15:22.880 tutelage. And if you can't love the first people that you literally meet in life, the two first

00:15:29.660 people that you meet in your life, when your eyes open and you breathe your first breath and come

00:15:34.200 into the world, then it's just, it's fallacious and absurd to think that you would be able to

00:15:39.560 love any other neighbor if you can't love the first two neighbors that you meet.

00:15:46.640 I appreciate that. Thank you. I noticed the same thing, that this is the first and only

00:15:55.260 of the positive commandments in the second table. And it's also, in some ways, it's the most

00:16:02.940 demanding whereas the others are universal prohibitions you know do not do not murder

00:16:08.640 full stop do not murder anybody right that's fairly easy to do we're all just sitting here

00:16:15.980 not murdering but we have to uh there's some there's a there's something that is enjoined

00:16:25.340 to us something that is required of us in terms of demonstrating and showing that that honor that's

00:16:32.380 that we're called on to show. Joe, do you have any follow-up on that question?

00:16:40.700 Yeah, that was a helpful and a comprehensive answer. What occurred to me while Joel was

00:16:47.060 speaking is that in some respects, this commandment, the fifth commandment,

00:16:53.080 feels like a transitional commandment that has a foot on both tables because your parents

00:17:02.080 your father and your mother are the source of your life in the human sense so we we're required

00:17:10.220 to honor god as the creator as and worship him as creator and king and of course in christ as

00:17:17.580 redeemer as well but there is a sense in which you know the the image bearing nature of of human

00:17:25.580 beings and especially male and female made in the image of god the establishment of the family

00:17:30.840 we do have the the the holy family father son and holy spirit and the so god's covenantal

00:17:40.500 revelation of himself is in familial terms and so when we honor our parents we are actually

00:17:46.780 honoring god that's how um significant this is then in a certain respect as joel was saying you

00:17:54.280 know when our children are young um especially we represent god to them we represent the fatherhood

00:18:04.540 of god to them uh we we represent the nurturing aspects of god the mother the mothering character

00:18:12.900 of god also as jesus said as a hen gathers her chicks beneath its wings so there is because

00:18:19.680 male and female are made in the image of God. So parents are imaging God to their children and

00:18:26.200 in the temporal sense are the source of our life. And so God regards the dishonoring of parents

00:18:34.980 extremely seriously and as very much an offense against God. That's why there's this promise of

00:18:43.300 life, there's such a direct blessing and cursing attached to it. And Jesus in Mark 7, and perhaps

00:18:51.400 we'll come to this later, takes it so seriously that he really rebukes the Pharisees for saying,

00:19:02.100 well, I brought these gifts to God, therefore I don't have any obligation towards honoring my

00:19:06.780 parents he says you you make void the law of god by your tradition and he talks about um uh of course

00:19:14.400 the cursing of of parents you know there's a there's a the the older covenant takes so seriously

00:19:20.320 the dishonoring of parents the abuse of parents that it actually carried the death penalty

00:19:25.120 so there is a there's a great seriousness attached to this and you when you read this

00:19:31.060 fifth commandment you feel like there is a foot on either uh table of the of the law here that's

00:19:38.120 this transitional um uh command because we really do as parents in the early lives of our children

00:19:47.100 really represent god uh to them so there's of course an obligation on parents there too

00:19:52.240 focus of this command is the obligation of of children uh towards their towards their parents

00:19:58.740 But it's certainly one of the reasons why Karl Marx understood, he says, the secret to the holy family is the earthly family.

00:20:06.900 And to destroy the former, you must destroy the latter in theory and in practice.

00:20:13.500 So he was convinced, Marx and Engels were convinced, if you destroy the earthly family, you can get rid of God.

00:20:19.280 So if we can get rid of honoring parents in our society, we create an atheistic, irreligious, blasphemous society.

00:20:26.920 right with one thing that i want to add with what joe mentioned in terms of 1.00

00:20:33.400 a breach of the fifth commandment carrying with it the penalty of capital punishment

00:20:38.440 that's another would i i would cite as another biblical example to support the point that

00:20:44.280 although obedience full practical in every regard obedience children obey your parents in everything

00:20:52.300 for this is pleasing to the Lord, Colossians 3.20.

00:20:55.140 Although full obedience is, I believe, a temporary command

00:20:58.460 for young children under their father's roof.

00:21:01.620 The commandment, the fifth commandment to honor thy father and mother,

00:21:04.860 I really do see as being a lifelong commandment

00:21:07.360 that the grown child who has now established his own household

00:21:10.920 is still called to honor his father and mother.

00:21:13.440 And one of the proof texts for that would be what Joe mentioned

00:21:17.140 in terms of dishonoring the father and mother,

00:21:20.140 carrying with it the penalty of capital punishment,

00:21:22.300 Because what's mentioned in that particular text is, this is not, the descriptive terms is not, you know, indicative of a five-year-old child dishonoring his parents with a temper tantrum.

00:21:36.360 It mentions drunkenness.

00:21:38.960 So I don't think it's mentioned, I don't think it has in view the five-year-old child throwing a fit.

00:21:44.860 it has in view a grown adult child who likely has left his father's home and has now started his

00:21:51.540 own household but he's he's a deadbeat he's a he's a public drunk he's um and and he's and he's

00:22:00.860 bringing shame upon his father and mother um and that he's the one that's described as being worthy 0.63

00:22:07.560 of the death penalty which means as joe used that text it means that the commandment to honor the

00:22:12.460 father and mother is incredibly serious because it carries such weighty penalties, but in addition

00:22:17.860 to its seriousness, it also shows the longevity of the application of that command, that it

00:22:23.800 doesn't cease simply because you've grown up. Right, absolutely. I think, and it's interesting,

00:22:34.660 The New Testament, the Greek word for this word translated honor is temeo, and that's

00:22:43.380 where we get our English word to esteem or to assess something in your estimation.

00:22:52.000 And I think it probably gets at the sense or has space for that sense that adult children

00:22:59.900 are also to rightly esteem their parents and that as you say Joel that looks different

00:23:06.900 when you're five years old as opposed to when you're 45 years old but but it's the same the

00:23:13.660 same principle I wanted I wanted to spend some a bit more time before we dive into that I just

00:23:22.080 wanted to follow up on the question of children specifically, and a sense of younger children,

00:23:30.660 I think, is implied in the text in Ephesians 6, where it recapitulates this commandment.

00:23:39.420 So this is Ephesians 6, 1 and 2, where Paul says,

00:23:43.800 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

00:23:47.380 Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise,

00:23:51.220 so that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth.

00:23:56.800 And this is, we're obviously meant to hear the Ten Commandments

00:24:02.000 and Exodus 20 ringing in our ears,

00:24:04.180 but there's also a modification of that commandment.

00:24:08.540 And Joe, I know that you've spoken about this several times

00:24:12.900 and written about it in other contexts,

00:24:14.900 So maybe I'll get you to lead off here. How that commandment is modified from the first instance to its application here in the New Testament?

00:24:28.920 well first there in ephesians paul as joel says there um rightly there is a um there's a there's

00:24:38.820 a more detailed description of what is in mind for children and the the obligation of of children

00:24:46.960 to honor their parents and the reason given for that is not um simply some sociological reason

00:24:55.280 or some cultural reason, but because God says for this is right. This is right. It is what God

00:25:03.300 requires. It's what God commands that children are obedient to their parents. And we're living

00:25:08.880 in an age of radical rebellion against parents, of radical disobedience. And of course, that is

00:25:17.860 encouraged by a secularizing and re-paganizing western culture um that uh that parents are set

00:25:25.840 aside they're an object of ridicule you only have to look at um many of the sitcoms that are so

00:25:32.020 popular today and the way the family is portrayed to see in particular um fathers are the object of

00:25:39.280 ridicule um and uh and and children you know the the rebel teenager i mean don't forget that

00:25:46.220 even terms like teenager were invented by sociologists in the 20th century to encourage

00:25:53.480 and, you know, parents are led to expect. It's almost a norm now that you are led to expect

00:25:59.900 that your teenagers will be defiant and rebellious. And this will be that this is normal.

00:26:07.040 This is even good. And the state and its education system loves to encourage that and to drive a

00:26:13.680 wedge between parents and children. But Paul there, first of all, enjoins obedience upon

00:26:18.860 children. And I think Joel is right in saying that that's talking about the younger child

00:26:25.160 that is living under their parents' roof, that has not reached an age of independence and

00:26:33.860 responsibility. That's where obedience is required. But the other change there that we don't see in

00:26:41.240 exodus 20 and this is a more subtle modification is the and it's very interesting that it's it's

00:26:46.880 still there and this isn't a special uh especially of note for the more two kingdoms type people uh

00:26:53.700 and the tendency that we have to think of the commandments purely in negative terms that they

00:26:59.880 are just a few prohibitions that uh that god things that god doesn't want us to do now there's

00:27:05.720 always a positive connotation to all of the commands and this one is stated in crystal clear

00:27:10.500 terms that it may go well with you and you live long in the earth of course in exodus 20 um the

00:27:17.980 commandment is that you may live long in the land because the the immediate positivization here is to

00:27:23.800 the hebrews who are in canaan that they would live long in that land but paul now doesn't

00:27:30.680 dispense with the promise of long life and essentially prosperity uh as the as the general

00:27:39.400 direction of providence with regards to obedience and don't forget that there are always there will

00:27:46.220 always be exceptions to a general pattern but this is what scripture indicates here's the general

00:27:51.720 pattern you honor your father and mother it will go well with you and you will live long in the

00:27:58.100 earth so paul continues uh the application of the promise of of blessing and long life but he doesn't

00:28:06.620 restricted to a strip of land in palestine that the land expands it just like the the fullness

00:28:13.560 of the gospel is expanded to the whole earth so the promise is that if we honor our parents

00:28:19.000 um the we can expect our gen the general experience of human beings will be that they will live long

00:28:26.360 in the earth uh that god will bless them um and one of the things he'll bless them with is

00:28:32.520 longevity um for for an honoring of parents and it's only a radical secularization a humanism

00:28:39.560 that's crept into the church that we overlook this command and um see paul's important covenantal

00:28:46.140 modification of it it goes beyond the strip of land in palestine now that we may live long in

00:28:51.300 the earth yeah thanks joe joel do you have uh anything to uh to add to that to that comment

00:29:03.500 yeah i completely agree and i've just encouraged when i see um you know i've i've preached on uh

00:29:11.940 psalm 127 and it talks about children are a heritage from the lord a blessing from the lord

00:29:18.960 inheritance from the lord uh blessed is the man whose quiver is full um and you know that that

00:29:25.220 they uh the father would not be put to shame that his sons would be with him in the city gates

00:29:30.300 and there's so so much that comes out of that but i remember using ephesians chapter 6 as a subtext

00:29:36.340 as i was preaching three weeks on a five verse psalm psalm 127 it's a very short psalm um but

00:29:44.360 I was talking about, you know, the blessing of having children, having many children and

00:29:48.720 having children in your youth, that it's not just that they replace their father in the

00:29:53.460 city gates, but they're with him, meaning that when the children come of age, particularly

00:29:58.600 his sons, and they're of ruling age, fighting age, that the father is not been sent off

00:30:08.100 to pasture, so to speak, that he's not retired.

00:30:10.860 he's still in the fray and now he just has his sons with him and it's almost like this imagery

00:30:16.420 of the father sitting back and uh and looking to his sons with you know a twinkle in the eye

00:30:21.860 maybe a wink or a nod and saying take care of my light work right that the city gates were the place

00:30:27.440 of uh prestige and power and um where the elders would sit and render judgments and decisions um

00:30:34.060 it's also um an entrance to the city and a defense for the city so if there's any attack

00:30:39.700 The gates would be the first point of entry and the first place of defense.

00:30:44.700 And so it's as though the enemies of the father are coming

00:30:49.680 and he no longer is really even required to make his own defense.

00:30:56.260 He's so trust in his sons who are well-shaped and formed by this point,

00:31:01.560 chip off the old block, so to speak, that he doesn't even have to get up.

00:31:07.000 his sons can take care of his handiwork. And so all that being said, and that's not just for the

00:31:12.920 record, meaning that, you know, that we benefit by having many children automatically. Doug Wilson,

00:31:19.080 I think, is fond of saying that Samuel would not have benefited by having five sons who took bribes

00:31:25.000 rather than two. So we want to have quality children and not just quantity children. But

00:31:30.640 I say all that to say that as I was preaching through that and looking at Ephesians 6 in

00:31:34.720 relation to exodus 20 um i just again you know continually in my congregation my my local pastoral

00:31:42.580 ministry i'm continually pushing back against um uh this you know pietism and continually pushing

00:31:48.780 back against antinomianism i'm continually pushing back against the notion that um that that it's

00:31:55.320 only the gospel um and and that it's only uh eternal promises and eternal inheritance and

00:32:02.680 And so I said that if we look in the New Testament, we see the Apostle Paul utilizing the Fifth Commandment from the Decalogue, and he not only restates the commandment, but he also restates the promise.

00:32:14.060 He assumes that the promise is just as good now under the New Covenant, that the promise is just as good as it was for Israel back then, and that the commandment is just as sound and just as applicable as it was back then.

00:32:31.780 And I can hardly even imagine, I feel like most of our big Eva types today, if they were preaching Ephesians chapter six, verses one through four, I can't imagine how long that sermon would need to be in order for them to present the sufficient caveats and disclaimers, hedging their bets and protecting against any kind that might be construed as a works-based theology.

00:32:57.780 um you know that what now they might be accused of being theonomist joel but worse still right

00:33:03.460 exactly exactly so they you know but they would oh well you know now there is a promise but not

00:33:09.140 really and this promise is really if there's any promise at all it's a it's certainly not a guarantee

00:33:15.880 and it's a it's a spiritual promise an eternal promise land here doesn't mean land um you know

00:33:22.220 and they would have to do a similar thing with the sermon on the mountain the beatitudes where

00:33:25.460 jesus says that the meek will inherit the earth um there are there are multiple places in the

00:33:30.640 new testament it's not just an old testament old covenant notion of taking over the land

00:33:36.220 and people you know people often will cite you know perhaps you know um israel in exile for 70

00:33:43.820 years in babylon you know and seek the welfare of the city right jeremiah 27 seek the welfare of

00:33:49.000 the city for if the city prospers you will prosper also and so we're called to live like

00:33:53.660 mordecai um we're called to live like um you know as as as fugitives um who are being winsome 0.58

00:34:02.300 and careful and shrewd um to benefit you know babylon benefit the enemies of god benefit pagans

00:34:10.020 those who have taken us captive um knowing that you know if they benefit their hearts won't 0.51

00:34:14.780 necessarily turn an allegiance towards God, but if they materially benefit, then we'll get some of

00:34:19.400 the trickle-down economics that come with that. But what about the book of Joshua? Like, what if

00:34:26.820 the more accurate analogy, correlation for New Testament Christians living in the land,

00:34:34.860 the physical, literal land that we live in today, this earth, this dirt, what if we're called to

00:34:39.800 live like the people of Israel in the time of Joshua? What if we're not called to live as 0.84

00:34:45.960 fugitives in the land, but what if we're called to live in such a way that we believe that our

00:34:51.500 inheritance is that we overcome and take over the land? That we're not just in exile, we're not just

00:34:58.480 in captivity, but we're actually conquering the land. And certainly we do this in a very shrewd

00:35:05.220 fashion and in a gracious fashion and a loving fashion, but I do believe that that is the mandate

00:35:10.760 of the New Testament Christian, and I believe that one of the secrets to accomplishing this

00:35:15.920 is given to us in Ephesians chapter 6 in relation to Exodus chapter 20 and the fifth commandment.

00:35:21.160 One of the ways that we inherit the land and live a prosperous life in the land, one of the principles

00:35:27.160 is by honoring our father and mother. David, I think of David and his view of the law of God

00:35:32.900 in Psalm 119 and multiple other places. But David doesn't just begrudgingly submit to God's law,

00:35:39.860 but he delights in God's law. And he sees it not only as that which is morally right,

00:35:44.680 but he sees thy law is good, holy, and right. It's the morally right thing, but it's also,

00:35:52.400 and that's what we see in Ephesians chapter 6, children obey your parents and the Lord for it

00:35:55.980 is right. But immediately on the heels of that, it's not only morally right in the sight of God,

00:36:02.320 but it is practically and tangibly productive and beneficial.

00:36:07.760 The right thing is also the good thing.

00:36:10.520 And those two sentiments are never opposed.

00:36:13.100 That which is right in the sight of God, morally right by God's eternal and immutable standard,

00:36:18.540 is also that which produces good for the individual and for all their neighbors.

00:36:23.680 One of the ways that we can love our neighbors, our first neighbors being our parents,

00:36:27.780 but then love neighbors beyond that familial circle is by honoring our father and mother

00:36:34.900 and raising and training our children to do the same.

00:36:38.560 Cultures that honor their father and mother are more prosperous cultures.

00:36:43.540 They're better cultures.

00:36:45.020 Cultures are not equal.

00:36:47.360 In terms of ethnicity, no ethnicity is inherently superior or inferior to another.

00:36:53.920 But when we speak of culture, we don't embrace egalitarian principles with culture.

00:37:00.420 Cultures are better or worse insofar, nothing inherent to the culture itself, but a culture

00:37:06.260 is better or worse insofar as it has inherited and applied the principles of the Bible.

00:37:13.160 So Christendom, cultures that are immersed in Christendom are better cultures and have

00:37:18.020 better tenets of those cultures because they've been saturated in the Word of God for centuries

00:37:25.680 and multiple generations. And so a culture that embraces the fifth commandment and this principle

00:37:30.580 of honor for fathers and mothers is not only a culture that is pleasing to the Lord, Colossians

00:37:36.020 3.20, children obey your parents in everything for this is pleasing to God, or Ephesians chapter 6

00:37:41.960 verse 1, children obey your parents in the Lord for it's morally right in the sight of God, but

00:37:46.360 those same cultures that do that which pleases the lord and that which is morally right according

00:37:51.120 to his immutable standard are also the cultures that are tangibly and practically blessed not only

00:37:57.720 spiritually in the life to come eternally but temporally here and now you can expect as a

00:38:03.760 general principle as joe said earlier to live a longer life literally a longer life in the earth

00:38:10.260 and that things will go well with you.

00:38:12.580 So it's both quantity and quality of life,

00:38:15.340 a quantity of life, longevity,

00:38:18.340 but also quality that things will go well with you

00:38:20.980 in this land that you're inheriting.

00:38:23.840 And again, I don't think that the land moves

00:38:25.780 from Exodus 20 to being the physical land of Canaan

00:38:28.660 for Israel.

00:38:30.080 And then in Ephesians 6,

00:38:31.800 the land is now this heavenly land.

00:38:34.440 But I think if there's any movement at all,

00:38:36.700 any transition from Exodus 20 to Ephesians 6,

00:38:39.400 I think the only transition is not from earth to heaven, but from one geographic concentrated place on earth, namely the land of Canaan, to the whole earth. 0.99

00:38:50.200 Now, the meek shall inherit the whole thing. 0.99

00:38:52.900 All of it belongs to the Christian and our children. 0.97

00:39:00.240 Amen. Amen.

00:39:02.260 Joel, we started this episode with a bit of a memoir from you about where you had needed to repent of imbibing a lot of modern ideas as relates to this commandment.

00:39:21.160 can we can we move or take a cue from that now and just without presuming to bind anybody's

00:39:28.460 conscience where would you say and I'll throw it open to both of you in turn but where would you

00:39:34.140 say are some areas where we have in the in the modern west we have failed to honor our fathers

00:39:42.600 and mothers what what do we uh culturally need to be repenting of in this regard the the first

00:39:51.400 thing that i think of and i think joe will have even better insights on this particular point but

00:39:56.220 the first thing that i think of that i'd be remiss as i've been praying about coming on this episode

00:40:00.720 and what the lord would have for me to share the one thing that i haven't gotten to yet that i just

00:40:04.600 i feel like i it would be a um a large failure if i missed it so i'm just gonna get it in now

00:40:10.400 because I think it generally deals with your question,

00:40:13.120 and I think Joe can answer more specifically.

00:40:14.920 But on a pastoral note,

00:40:17.500 one of the things that I find with my congregants,

00:40:21.240 adults, not their children still in the home,

00:40:24.320 young children, but adults who are saying,

00:40:26.480 you know, Pastor, I see that this is a lifelong commandment

00:40:29.340 to honor our father and mother.

00:40:31.420 Even though I'm grown now

00:40:32.520 and I've moved out of my father's house

00:40:34.020 and I've started my own household,

00:40:35.240 I'm still called to honor him.

00:40:36.640 And one of the things that I hear again and again and again

00:40:39.020 And as I hear it expressed from Christians, well-meaning Christians, and Christians who I think genuinely desire to honor their father and mother, they just express how difficult it is.

00:40:50.280 And particularly, the most common conversation that's had is it's really hard to honor my father and mother, Joel, because they have bad theology or they're lukewarm.

00:41:09.020 in their convictions and their faith um or or you know they're the typical boomer at least in

00:41:15.940 america i can't speak for for you guys but uh that drive around with a bumper sticker that says i'm

00:41:21.720 spending my children's inheritance which is a wicked a wicked thing um and i do think that

00:41:26.780 there's a sense in which millennials in particular feel um as though their father and mother just

00:41:32.660 failed them um that you know i mean the guy who started hobby lobby you know is is going to be

00:41:39.360 giving all of it you know to charities um is something that was recently uh published a piece

00:41:44.500 of news and instead of keeping the business and allowing it to pass down within his family to his

00:41:50.200 children uh jackie chan and i'm sure there's some strategic tax avoiding you know strategies uh

00:41:56.300 employed in this but you know recently announced that he's going to be giving all of his money to

00:42:01.160 charity, you know, and a trust, you know, wrapping it up in some charity trust instead of giving it

00:42:07.160 as an inheritance. And so I think there's this notion of that, at least for Christians,

00:42:12.960 I think in the West and particularly America, that boomers, they did a lot. They worked a lot

00:42:20.040 of hours. They clocked in a lot in the workplace. They made relatively a lot of money. Economically

00:42:27.200 speaking if you look at the last 200 years of history i mean it was just um that generation

00:42:32.360 made a ton of money disproportionately um with virtually every other generation in modern

00:42:38.780 history in the west um at least in america uh many of them are reluctant to pass the baton as it were

00:42:45.880 to to their children's generation and creating space for them and opportunities um gen x feels

00:42:52.800 completely like they were just the forgotten generation, skipped over. There's not always

00:42:58.520 this, you know, inheritance being given. They were counseled by their parents, you know, my generation

00:43:04.240 to go to college. And then, and then, you know, and I don't think that our parents, I don't think

00:43:08.720 it was malicious, but many people in my generation went to college and now they have 60, 80, a hundred

00:43:14.460 thousand dollars of school debt and are no more positioned to actually be employable than had

00:43:20.380 they not gone to college you know and so there's a lot of pent-up frustration i think um now the

00:43:26.620 reality is i'm i'm suspicious i've given multiple practical examples to say why it's particularly

00:43:32.260 hard for my generation to honor their father and mother but uh i think of you know peter in one of

00:43:39.040 his epistles it says speaks of sin that is common to man and i think that if i could if i could speak

00:43:44.660 to the saints of past generations in heaven they would they would probably be able to cite you know

00:43:49.140 15 examples of why it was their generation it was the hardest to honor their father and mother and 0.71

00:43:54.620 this other generation was the hardest and the reality is I think that yeah boomers I think

00:43:59.600 boomers failed in some unique ways but every generation failed in some unique ways boomers

00:44:05.060 didn't just they weren't created in a vacuum everybody is the product of their parents and

00:44:09.400 their parents and their parents in a particular context the greatest generation had some

00:44:13.520 particular failures and beyond that beyond that beyond that and so I think what I've come to

00:44:18.540 realize is that it's just hard to honor your father and mother, period, no matter what generation

00:44:23.540 you're in. And you can try to make a particular case to say why it's uniquely difficult for

00:44:27.880 millennials or Gen Z or Gen X or whatever. But I think it's always been hard to honor your father

00:44:32.580 and mother because the children have a front row seat, especially once they've grown and gained

00:44:38.640 perspective. They have a unique front row seat into the failures of their parents. And so all

00:44:45.040 that being said, one pastoral note that I would say for just a wide broth of Christians seeking

00:44:52.580 to honor their father and mother is the question I most often get as a pastor in relation to this

00:44:58.420 topic is how do you honor a dishonorable father? How do you honor a dishonorable mother? The first

00:45:04.260 thing that I would say is I don't think anything is quite that black and white. I don't think that

00:45:09.000 any father and mother exclusively falls into a honor category, honorable category, or dishonorable

00:45:15.440 category. It's usually a hodgepodge of things that are honorable and things that are dishonorable,

00:45:20.360 but with those dishonorable things, I continually think of the illustration of the sons of Noah.

00:45:26.680 What we can't do as Christians, as we seek to obey this command of honoring our father and mother,

00:45:31.540 is we can't be given to lies. Live not by lies. We cannot flatter, we cannot gossip,

00:45:37.520 and we cannot slander gossip is is saying it can include true statements about someone but but not

00:45:44.560 in their presence and in such a way that it's meant to tear them down it's not productive it's

00:45:48.880 not for their welfare and good so gossip can be true statements but it's it's outside of the

00:45:53.440 presence of an individual with the intention of breaking the person down slander is making

00:45:58.420 quantitatively false statements about someone but flattery but but with the intent of tearing

00:46:06.380 them down, false negative statements. Flattery, likewise, is similar to slander in the sense that

00:46:11.180 it can be like gossip outside of their presence, but often flattery is actually in the person's

00:46:16.340 presence. Out of gossip, slander, and flattery, flattery is most commonly to the person's face.

00:46:22.440 And it's also false statements like slander, except it's unique in the sense that it's

00:46:26.960 positive statements, saying very nice things, very positive things, but that are false things

00:46:33.280 to the person's face in order to position yourself better, in order to gain their graces.

00:46:39.500 It's manipulation.

00:46:40.400 It's trying to gain favor with someone.

00:46:43.580 And so in our quest to honor our father and mother, we cannot be given to slander.

00:46:47.160 We cannot be given to gossip.

00:46:48.420 And we also cannot be given to flattery.

00:46:50.700 And the sons of Noah, what we don't see the two righteous sons doing is they don't say,

00:46:55.080 they don't go around the rest of their lives saying, our father is such an honorable man

00:46:59.260 that he's never been drunk.

00:47:01.140 Our father is such an honorable man that he's never passed out naked in his tent.

00:47:06.240 They don't say positive statements that are untrue.

00:47:11.820 But what I've realized is this.

00:47:13.820 We don't get to choose what is true and what is false about our father and mother.

00:47:18.580 But we get to choose what to emphasize.

00:47:21.360 We get to choose the headline.

00:47:23.680 We get to choose what's going to be a footnote in the story that we tell about our fathers and mothers

00:47:28.680 and what's going to be the headline of the story.

00:47:31.320 What we're going to shine the spotlight on.

00:47:35.700 We have that choice as grown children

00:47:38.600 with a unique perspective, front row seat

00:47:41.420 in our father and mother's lives,

00:47:43.440 seeing their successes, seeing their failures

00:47:45.580 that many other people did not see.

00:47:48.360 We get to choose not what's true,

00:47:50.600 but we do get to choose what to share

00:47:52.860 and what to emphasize,

00:47:54.500 what gets the headline of the story.

00:47:57.080 And we live in a generation, I think, currently that is choosing to emphasize the failures.

00:48:04.840 We live in a deconstructing generation.

00:48:07.200 We live in the critical race theory, critical theory beyond just race, but critical legal 0.93

00:48:11.240 theory, critical queer theory. 0.91

00:48:13.380 It's a jackhammer. 0.99

00:48:14.820 It's a deconstructive tool.

00:48:16.160 What it does is it takes something that sure, everything has flaws, nothing's perfect, but

00:48:20.940 it takes something that's generally good and and and it emphasizes its weaknesses and failures but

00:48:28.080 only for the purpose of deconstructing and tearing it down with no intention of building something

00:48:33.400 better in its place it it lies and says well we have this grand utopia this this better substitute

00:48:38.440 that will replace um but it doesn't it it doesn't all it's doing is it's taking things that are

00:48:44.480 generally good imperfect as they as they may be but generally good and and emphasizing highlighting

00:48:51.220 putting the magnifying glass over all of their their faults and fractures and making the headline

00:48:56.700 of the story america is bad our civil fathers the headline of the story uh the church is abusive

00:49:02.220 and covers up you know this and that like right now what's happening with uh dr john mccarthur

00:49:07.200 you know and and makes that the headline of the story or um or uh families are bad and and

00:49:13.220 And patriarchal, you know, immediate families and households are bad.

00:49:17.460 It makes that the headline of the story.

00:49:18.820 And so I think that that is just an epidemic in our culture today and with my generation, younger generations today, is to deconstruct, to take the faults of systems and families and all these things and make that the headline of the story.

00:49:37.920 And those things may be true.

00:49:40.040 They may be true.

00:49:40.800 but we get to choose. We don't get to choose what's true or false, but we do get to choose

00:49:46.480 what to emphasize. I think a large lion's share of what it means to honor thy father and mother

00:49:51.900 is not slander. It's also not flattery. It's not gossip, but it's saying like the righteous

00:49:58.140 sons of Noah, it's covering the failures and emphasizing the successes. And each of us have

00:50:05.080 something about our mother and father that's good that we can say that's going to get the headline.

00:50:10.800 mm-hmm joel i really appreciate that that's uh that's a timely word and i've uh i as a guy of

00:50:20.480 a younger generation i feel that conviction as well i recognize that in myself and my peers

00:50:25.720 i think you're uh you're right on there with the with your own counsel joe uh same question

00:50:34.060 I guess, which was, where are some areas where we need to repent of going along with culture

00:50:40.800 with regards to the fifth commandment?

00:50:45.340 Well, first, I think it's important to reiterate something that Joel said earlier, and that

00:50:52.760 is that as Christians, we need to be reminded as we ask and answer that question, that the

00:51:00.580 law of God is described in scripture as, as we heard, right and good. And we have the metaphors

00:51:12.740 of it's sweeter than honey from the honeycomb. It's more precious than gold and silver.

00:51:19.440 um it is uh it's something that is going to be for our real blessing in this life

00:51:27.880 um with our families and our communities now in the here and now these are not merely eternal

00:51:35.340 blessings with some reference to the consummation these are about our temporal life now that's the

00:51:42.680 goodness and the blessing of god's law so that when we obey it god is not the cosmic killjoy

00:51:48.440 When we obey God's law in the honoring of our parents as families, as a society, as a culture, the result is very real, very concrete blessing.

00:52:01.600 And remember that Jesus really in the Great Commission tells us that because he says all authority in heaven and earth is mine.

00:52:10.760 The whole of the earth is mine.

00:52:12.680 Therefore, go and disciple the nations and teach them everything I have commanded you.

00:52:19.780 And that's for the blessing of the nations.

00:52:22.080 So when we think about this and we think about the condition of our culture and what it's rejected, what it's set aside,

00:52:28.200 Perhaps the place I would start very quickly is the place where where Joel left off there related to what he was saying about critical theory and the way that what we would call sort of wokeism, wokeery, jiggery, wokeery, as I like to call it, is inflicting our culture.

00:52:49.740 is that one of the areas we see this commandment despised

00:52:54.840 is in the disrespect that our culture has for the elderly.

00:53:00.940 We idealize youth.

00:53:04.320 We idealize youth culture.

00:53:10.500 We almost want to make adolescence a sort of semi-permanent state. 0.81

00:53:18.020 I mean, it used to be something that would attract ridicule for a 60- or 70-year-old man to be dressed in the fashions of a European teenager and see him behaving like one, thinking he was hip and trendy.

00:53:35.980 But that is the way in which we have almost positioned our society. 0.82

00:53:40.160 We are afraid.

00:53:41.140 We are terrified of age, of aging.

00:53:44.040 you look at the idealizing of uh in in our culture today uh among look at celebrity culture as an

00:53:50.860 example but it's spread well beyond celebrity culture because they're the models as it were

00:53:55.300 the way we want to botox and lift and press and suck and goodness knows what else manipulate our

00:54:02.520 own bodies to appear as though they are young when in fact they are not and yet scripture says

00:54:08.540 you shall rise before the gray-headed or the hoary head the king james would say

00:54:13.900 so there was an inherent respect for in the bible for the elderly because this isn't this is the

00:54:22.960 point at which you have seen more of life you've gained uh the godly person greater maturity

00:54:29.880 wisdom understanding um and our culture when it was more christian used to have a respect for the

00:54:37.540 elderly. Today, the elderly are increasingly despised, out of sight, out of mind. And that's

00:54:43.900 related to the second thing I wanted to talk about, which was the way in which we have ceased

00:54:49.680 to be concerned with the care for our parents. As a culture, we no longer want to care for our

00:54:57.440 parents. We no longer want that responsibility. Out of sight, out of mind, put the elderly away

00:55:02.060 in an institution where they're no longer a bother to us, euthanize them as Canada would like 0.99

00:55:07.220 to do as quickly as possible. Get rid of the elderly. They are an inconvenience, yet of course 1.00

00:55:16.960 it was at least some North American tribes like the indigenous, I'm not sure we're even allowed 0.90

00:55:26.420 to call them Eskimos anymore, are we, Ryan? Is it Inuit? I'm not sure. The guidebook's out being

00:55:34.480 in its 17th revision right now goodness knows goodness knows what we're supposed to say now

00:55:41.340 but some pagan cultures exposed their elderly sent them away uh to to die of starvation and

00:55:48.700 exposure the bible uh says no um the elderly our parents are to be honored now think about

00:55:56.900 this for a moment when the lord jesus is hanging on the cross he's the eldest son

00:56:02.100 one of the first things he is concerned to do at that moment of death he's got the weight of the

00:56:10.400 world literally on his shoulders he's bearing the weight of the sins of the world and he's

00:56:15.980 concerned to say to his cousin John John your mother mother Mary your son in other words

00:56:27.740 uh john is responsible for your care and from that day the scripture says john took mary into

00:56:35.620 his home right so there is an honoring of the family there's an honoring of our parents and

00:56:43.240 scripture um gives us that command i was i was really encouraged to hear joel refer to one of

00:56:48.320 his reasons for his move from california to texas that it was concerned care for an involvement in

00:56:55.600 the life of his parents um and many of the things he said today have been have been challenging and

00:57:01.320 convicting and they should feel convicting uh for us as we um you know submit ourselves to to to the

00:57:09.440 word of god abraham um lived in the home of isaac isaac lived in the home of jacob jacob lived under

00:57:22.020 the care of joseph now i'm not saying that um uh that uh we all have to take um our parents into

00:57:30.540 our own home we may not be in a position to do that but i do think that um as a general pattern

00:57:36.900 the eldest godly son the eldest godly child uh with means is obligated to take responsibility

00:57:46.340 as Jesus modeled for us at the cross

00:57:49.360 and as God's law requires.

00:57:52.160 And that's why, Joe, just to interject for a moment,

00:57:55.920 that's part of the reason why the eldest son

00:57:57.740 would get a double portion of inheritance

00:57:59.840 is because he had more responsibilities.

00:58:03.040 It's not just because the father favored him,

00:58:05.520 but it was because you're going to receive more blessing.

00:58:08.800 Blessing always corresponds with responsibility.

00:58:11.540 God teams these things up together

00:58:13.020 and you're going to receive more blessing

00:58:14.840 because he had more responsibilities,

00:58:16.120 not only to care for his own household, but he had a unique responsibility to give some

00:58:21.180 return, which is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord.

00:58:23.860 I think, you know, 1 Timothy 5, children should seek to give some return to their parents,

00:58:28.660 right?

00:58:28.820 With widows, do not let the church be burdened if she has grown sons.

00:58:32.480 Let them give some return to their parents, which is good and pleasing to the Lord.

00:58:35.660 And so the eldest son would bear that chief responsibility to care for his parents.

00:58:39.660 And that seems completely absent, that notion in our culture today.

00:58:43.940 Absolutely.

00:58:44.520 That's a great point.

00:58:45.680 and that is precisely why the the eldest godly child received a double portion we do see of

00:58:51.700 course at times where an ungodly child is set aside we see frequently in the older testament

00:58:57.020 there where the younger son receives the blessing and then receives the responsibility with it and

00:59:02.860 the responsibility is part of the blessing i've had the privilege of for a number of years now

00:59:07.700 taking my parents into my own home because they they don't have the means to support themselves

00:59:16.140 after many many years as missionaries overseas and the blessing to my children and to my family

00:59:22.980 through that has been immense it doesn't mean that every moment of every day isn't without its

00:59:28.440 moments of challenge because that's what it means to be human but the but the blessing has been

00:59:34.720 immense and so i would say that that that aspect respect for elderly care for parents um we have

00:59:42.240 abdicated that in our society and we've handed it over to the state and the result has been the

00:59:48.000 destruction of the family and uh and not an appropriate care for our parents i mean think

00:59:52.880 about what happened in the last few years when uh a virus struck um many of our parents who were

01:00:00.000 of our culture in these care homes were left on the floor to die

01:00:05.780 we do not give to the state the responsibilities that are given to to the family and jesus as i 0.98

01:00:16.280 said in mark 7 is very very clear about this he accused the pharisees of making void of nullifying

01:00:22.060 god's law by their tradition in saying well you know i've i've given my gifts to the temple i

01:00:26.440 don't need to do anything for my parents and he says you you make void the law by your tradition

01:00:33.480 and so i think if we look at those two just those two things honor and respect for the elderly and

01:00:40.320 the way we see that utterly collapsing and we we'd rather see them outside out of mind if not dead

01:00:45.640 um we don't want to learn from the elderly we don't want to respect the aged and we've idealized 0.99

01:00:53.540 youth which the bible doesn't do um and uh we need to think about that even in the life of the church 0.99

01:01:00.200 and and and in our in our families and then caring for our parents i think which is absolutely

01:01:06.440 critical to a stable society to a god-honoring society and so to a society that's concerned

01:01:12.540 concerned with inheritance blessing um and um and passing on the inheritance one of the reasons why

01:01:20.880 our culture is in freefall is that we no longer know who we are because that has not been passed

01:01:26.820 on because the multi-generational family life has been almost completely destroyed and we

01:01:34.640 desperately need to recover it if our society is going to survive. No society survives the

01:01:40.700 destruction of the family. It's part of God's judgment on our apostasy that we are where we are

01:01:45.660 But I would say those would be two critical and vital issues where we've abdicated responsibility, and we've also handed the burden over to the state, who not only do a poor job of it, but they end up destroying the family in the process and claim to be the elder brother and seize all the inheritance for themselves.

01:02:05.900 Right. Well, that's what I was going to say. We've handed the burden over to the state, and so by doing, God will not be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

01:02:13.040 we've handed over the burden and god attaches the blessing to the burden um and so like the you know

01:02:20.440 the death tax the estate tax you know all these kinds of things that we're part of the reason

01:02:24.640 we're you know we're groaning underneath the tyranny of the state well what made the state

01:02:29.720 so powerful what caused it to to to grow to such an oversized you know monster tyrant that it's

01:02:38.360 become like where did it get all this power well part of it is it got a lot of money where to get

01:02:43.780 that money that that blessing that that tangible you know physical blessing um because because we

01:02:49.760 abdicated the burden so we said we don't want the burden of caring for our father and mother we don't

01:02:54.780 want the burden for caring for our children we don't want the burden of educating our children

01:02:58.800 we don't and the state with with with wicked and sinister intentions um but but nonetheless god

01:03:05.680 will not be mocked there are certain principles baked into the world that god has made the state

01:03:09.960 said we'll take these burdens and lo and behold they've also taken the blessing we'll take care

01:03:16.080 of the elderly now they don't take care of them well but in in many cases in canada the way they

01:03:21.680 take care of the elderly is like i'll take care of that you know i'll you know i'll you know

01:03:26.020 euthanize them but we'll take care of the elderly we'll give your children an education with the 0.97

01:03:30.900 welfare system we'll take care of your wife we'll take care of this we'll take care of that and

01:03:34.600 And lo and behold, what comes with their willingness to take the burden, even though they botch the job of actually meeting the burden, but they do a halfway job, and that's being very charitable, but they do half the job of meeting the burden, but they get the whole blessing in terms of the literal financial benefit.

01:03:57.840 So they're getting all the inheritance that the eldest son would get goes to the state.

01:04:03.540 And then they do a lousy job of the burden.

01:04:06.640 But just the willingness, you know, it's been said before that authority flocks, you know, or it just, by default, it orients to those who are willing to take responsibility.

01:04:21.040 That when a man says, you know what, I'll take care of that.

01:04:24.680 you know what that maybe even is outside my jurisdiction but nobody's picking up that ball

01:04:29.340 i'll pick that up okay i'll i'll do this and i'll do it well and i'll do and and lo and behold i've

01:04:35.000 noticed in my own life at 36 years old now you know still relatively young but as i've just i've

01:04:41.620 been willing to take responsibility as i've seen certain deficiencies instead of just complaining

01:04:46.620 about it saying i wish more that you know people in the evangelical church would would would address

01:04:51.240 this i wish there was more teaching on this and and then saying you know what i i i don't think

01:04:56.400 i'm even the best man for the job i don't have some of the credentials that i wish i had but

01:04:59.700 i'm going to hit the books i'm going to i'm going to study as best i can knowing that i'll still be

01:05:04.220 incomplete in many ways um but but i'm going to look to other guys like like you dr boot and like

01:05:08.980 doug wilson and like jeff durbin and like james white you know and i'm going to as much as i can

01:05:12.820 staff my weaknesses surround myself by these guys learn from but i'm just going to do it i'm going

01:05:16.660 to start a podcast i'm going to start a ministry i'm going to write a book i'm going to plant a

01:05:19.880 church i'm gonna um i'm gonna have four kids and lord willing have another and and i'm gonna

01:05:23.720 and and i've just been willing to take these uh duties these responsibilities because i've seen

01:05:28.800 the lack and the gaping holes in in society and in the church at large um taking the willingness

01:05:35.280 to take these responsibilities all of a sudden i i can't tell you it's like clockwork but um

01:05:40.480 authority comes with it that all of a sudden people uh i i have certain people asking my

01:05:46.380 opinion, who never used to care what I thought. I have people sending in donations that I never

01:05:52.520 had before. I have more resources. Just in the last two years of my life, as I've taken on certain

01:05:57.820 responsibilities and just been willing to take the burden, the blessing comes. And we have

01:06:03.620 essentially, as a culture, and the church particularly, and households, those two spheres

01:06:09.220 of the home and the church have basically said, we don't want the burden, the duty that God gives

01:06:15.340 to us his law and we forfeited the blessing and now that third sphere is is 10 times the size

01:06:23.480 of the other two and and we're so quick to say it's because of their tyranny they took it from

01:06:28.500 us in many ways we gave it to them we gave the burden not realizing that god will not be mocked

01:06:34.960 and that and that blessing follows burden and we gave them the burden and and they're half doing

01:06:41.400 the burden but getting the whole blessing and then using that blessing and all those resources to

01:06:46.240 turn their sights and the gun further and it becomes this vicious cycle and the way to break

01:06:51.240 it is not to demand the blessing that's ours the way to break it the first step is to take back

01:06:55.900 the burden that's awesome yeah and with it the authority which is a key point joel i really

01:07:01.500 appreciate your time uh we've taken a goodish amount of it uh for those who are interested in

01:07:07.560 checking up with you? We might have some listeners who aren't familiar with you and your work.

01:07:12.840 Where can they go and learn more? Right Response Ministries. Thanks again,

01:07:18.780 you guys, for having me on the show. It's been an honor. But Right Response Ministries is the name

01:07:22.320 of the ministry outside of my local church, Covenant Bible Church. If they happen to be in

01:07:26.340 Central Texas, they may be able to come. We're in Georgetown, Texas, Williamson County. But

01:07:30.420 the ministry that's digital and remote is Right Response Ministries. They can go to

01:07:36.740 rightresponseministries.com.

01:07:39.100 They can also, we have a free app

01:07:40.300 that they could download and follow all of our content.

01:07:43.040 But most people, it seems, you know,

01:07:44.560 you can find us and subscribe

01:07:46.440 in any podcast platform, iTunes, Spotify,

01:07:49.460 but it seems like most people tend to follow us

01:07:52.260 and find us on YouTube.

01:07:53.940 So Right Response Ministries, YouTube,

01:07:57.280 our three main bread and butter with the ministry

01:08:00.400 is my sermon ministry, preaching ministry

01:08:04.000 from the Lord's Day at Covenant Bible Church.

01:08:05.820 every week, you'll find a full-length sermon. And then that's on Sunday. Every Monday, you'll

01:08:11.420 find a live Q&A that I do for about an hour. And then every Tuesday, that's our flagship show

01:08:16.800 called Theology Applied. That's the interview format show, like what you guys are doing right

01:08:21.320 now, where we've had notable guests, such as Dr. Boot and Doug Wilson and James White and Jeff

01:08:26.220 Durbin and Samuel Say and a host of others, Meg Basham with The Daily Wire and lots of different

01:08:34.020 individuals so um yeah they can follow us anywhere they like podcast website app but people for

01:08:41.080 whatever reason they seem to like youtube thanks very much joel really appreciate you being here

01:08:46.640 i'd like to encourage all of our listeners to go and uh buy your mother some flowers this week

01:08:51.720 joel joe dr boot thanks for uh being on the show for everyone who's who's listening we remind you

01:09:01.240 as ever that from him and through him and to him, that's Jesus Christ, are all things.

01:09:08.580 May he alone be glorified, and we'll look forward to being with you again next week.

01:09:23.280 Can I be frank with you for just a second, right here at the end? Look, some of you guys,

01:09:28.100 you're financially supporting this ministry. And from the bottom of my heart, I say, thank you. I

01:09:33.500 cannot thank you enough. However, some of you, you just, you can't afford it. In fact, some of you,

01:09:40.880 you shouldn't afford it. Let's be honest. I mean, we're living in Joe Biden's ridiculous economy.

01:09:47.580 Our nation and our totalitarian political elites lost their minds over the last three years 0.91

01:09:55.700 due to COVID. We have written checks that we simply cannot cash. It doesn't matter if people

01:10:02.640 change the definition of a recession. We are living in a recession right now regardless.

01:10:09.540 Some of you are struggling to afford a carton of eggs at the grocery store. You cannot support

01:10:15.840 financially this ministry at this time, nor should you, but you could still help us tremendously.

01:10:22.520 I am asking you, please, if you're willing to do so, take one minute of your time.

01:10:29.080 Leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform, iTunes, Spotify, whatever

01:10:35.220 that might be.

01:10:36.480 This is the way the system works.

01:10:38.580 We want to be innocent as doves, but shrewd as vipers.

01:10:42.740 We need to be strategic.

01:10:44.600 You leave us a five-star review, and our podcast shows up for more people.

01:10:49.120 and the Word of God and courageous theology applied in practical ways to every realm of life

01:10:56.740 gets out there. Help us get it out there. Thanks for tuning in.

The NXR Podcast - March 04, 2023

BONUS EPISODE - The Fifth Commandment： Honor Your Father and Mother from the Ezra Institute Podcast

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