Sermon

Respect Is Correct

Mt. Victory Baptist Church

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  1. Take your Bibles tonight, if you will, and turning them to

  2. Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6.

    Ephesians 6 chapter mention Ephesians 6 chapter mention

  3. It's been a little while since we have done one of the

  4. discovering the stories of the Bible.

  5. We just had so many other things that have that have come up and

  6. so many different messages that I've preached and I'm not doing

  7. it tonight either. I will get back to it very soon

  8. though. I'm going to give you a message

  9. tonight on the family and we're going to begin here in Ephesians

    Ephesians 6 chapter mention

  10. chapter 6. I think this is probably going

  11. to go till next week as well. But there's there's so many

  12. things and it's it's a tremendous, tremendous thing, I

  13. believe to have young people in our church.

  14. And I'm so thankful for that. And you know, I say it so often

  15. they are the next generation. And I think a lot of the

  16. messages that we preach out to be on the family.

  17. And I know that some of you are, you know, you have kids that are

  18. grown and gone and you have grandkids that are grown and

  19. gone and you have great grandkids that are grown and

  20. gone. I'm just kidding.

  21. You don't have that old. Nobody's in here that old, but

  22. you have your kids are gone. And, and, you know, sometimes

  23. all this is not for us, you know, but I think all of these

  24. things are things that we can learn from because not only is

  25. it for the parents who are doing it and, and raising their

  26. children now, but you are an example to the parents who are

  27. raising their kids and you're an example to the kids themselves.

  28. And I mean, you can not only that, but you can be, you can be

  29. a help to your grandkids on top of it.

  30. You know, sometimes you get opportunities here and there to

  31. spend some time with them, just you and them.

  32. And man, they look up to you. You're their grandparents.

  33. You know, you can do no wrong and you don't have to spank them

  34. and send them back. You know, you can just be so

  35. nice. And but this is a great

  36. opportunity for you to kind of get some of these things in

  37. there and, and you know, have a heart to heart talk, if you

  38. will, with them about some of these things.

  39. That'll just be a big help to them as well.

  40. So, but not only that, these are all things that we can improve

  41. on in our own lives and not only so that we can be an example,

  42. but so that we can be pleasing to the Lord.

  43. And all of these things are things that I believe will help

  44. us. So I appreciate you being here

  45. and I hope this will be a help to you tonight.

  46. But I'll tell you this. Well, let's just read Ephesians

    Ephesians 6 chapter mention

  47. chapter 6. I'm just going to read the first

  48. 2 verses there tonight. This is for the parents, but

  49. this is also for the children's, for both, maybe directed more at

  50. the parents than the kids, but it's definitely, definitely for

  51. the young people as well. Children, obey your parents and

  52. the Lord for this is right. Honor thy father and mother,

  53. which is the first commandment with promise.

  54. Does it ever seem to you that respect has evaporated from our

  55. society? I don't think that's that's not

  56. even really a question anymore where whether or not there's

  57. respect, narcissism, sarcasm, disregard for authority.

  58. I mean, it pervades our entire society.

  59. And one of the sure signs I read this.

  60. I mean, the the bad thing is there's a lot of stories to pick

  61. from. If you just go back into the

  62. news this week or the last couple weeks, you'll find 345

  63. stories just like this. But I heard about this 124 year

  64. old was at Costco and they had a sample of some crackers with

  65. some Nutella on it. And he went over there and

  66. started eating all of the samples, just one rat after the

  67. other. A 78 year old guy walked up and

  68. was getting ready to grab the last one.

  69. And this guy went to grab it in front of him and the old man

  70. said, hey, leave me, leave me at least one.

  71. You ate all the other samples. And this 24 hour guy turned

  72. around and punched the 78 year old man in the face, knocked him

  73. out. He had to be taken to the

  74. hospital, bleeding and everything else over a Costco

  75. sample. You know, it used to be that a

  76. 24 year old number one wouldn't be the one gobbling up all the

  77. samples in Costco, would be the five year olds that are doing

  78. that, right? But it used to be that you had

  79. respect for your elders. You're 78, You go in front of

  80. me, right? Let me help you with that.

  81. Even if you're capable, you've you've earned it because of your

  82. age right here, let me give you a sample.

  83. Take this, you know, it's the it's the exact opposite of that.

  84. And you know, during the late 60s and the 70s and I wasn't

  85. alive then, but I've read a lot about it.

  86. The rebellion against society really was at its peak.

  87. And you know this, this rebellion against not just

  88. society, but against authority. You know, the hippie movement

  89. that came about during that whole time, the anti

  90. establishment, all of those things.

  91. It isn't quite today what it was decades ago, but it's still

  92. alive and well in different forms.

  93. And honestly, I mean you, what do you expect to happen?

  94. When the 60s and 70s hippie generation raised the generation

  95. that grew up in the 90s and the 2000s and now they're raising

  96. another generation, What did you expect was going to happen?

  97. Other than what's happening, there is no respect left in our

  98. society. And where is it eroding?

  99. What's eroding it? I guess that'd be the question

  100. to ask. The loss of respect, though,

  101. begins in the home. It shows itself in society, but

  102. it begins in the home and many times by parents who don't even

  103. know or don't even realize, maybe I should say, that they

  104. are contributing to the loss of respect in our society.

  105. This was a study that was done in 1947, a publication that was

  106. done by a Harvard society professor by the name of Carl

  107. Zimmerman. And he published this this this

  108. study in 1947. So this tells you how far it

  109. goes back. But he traced the historical

  110. disintegration of cultures to the disintegration of the

  111. family. And I don't know exactly how he

  112. did all of his research and everything else.

  113. But among the list of the indicators, indicators for the

  114. deterioration, he said fewer children and less respect for

  115. parents and parenthood. That's where it started.

  116. That was back in 1947. And so it is today.

  117. Adults believe that that that having children is a waste and

  118. that parenting is a burden. That's what gave rise and made

  119. it made abortion so such a great option for so many people.

  120. And now you have these women who are not just, you know, standing

  121. up for abortion, but championing it and and parading around,

  122. talking about how proud they are that they've had an abortion.

  123. That is a disintegration of respect in society, not just for

  124. other people, not just for parents, for themselves, for for

  125. life, for everything. And parenthood today is even

  126. viewed with less respect. You know, most of these

  127. Hollywood actors and things like that, they go through their

  128. entire careers. They're 455055 years old before

  129. they finally decide to settle down and have kids, right?

  130. Because I've got a career that I'm trying to, to, you know,

  131. establish and I've got a, a job that I'm trying to do and I just

  132. don't have time or place for children.

  133. Not every one of them is like that, but that's the, that's

  134. the, that's the thinking with many of them.

  135. Children often have less respect for their parents as well.

  136. And you know, the, the more sarcastic a child is to a

  137. parent, the funnier it is. And I'll be honest with you, a

  138. lot of it started with Hollywood because they started producing

  139. movies and TV shows and all of these other things that made the

  140. dad look like the Dunts and made the mom look like she didn't

  141. know what she was talking about and made the kids the heroes of

  142. all these movies. You know, the parents get

  143. themselves into a difficult situation and it's the kids that

  144. have to get them out of that difficult situation because the

  145. parents are too dumb to know what the kids already know,

  146. right? It's not that way in real life,

  147. but that's what we've taught our children.

  148. That's what and and listen, that's what we've taught our

  149. parents. The parents have that mindset

  150. now and so they don't demand respect.

  151. They don't, they don't, they don't earn that respect.

  152. And so everything just erodes. How do we turn that trend

  153. around? How do we teach our children the

  154. fundamental values of respect? Well, the Bible word that's used

  155. most commonly for respect is honor.

  156. We see that word all over the place in the Bible.

  157. In fact, I've got a lot of different verses.

  158. Turn to as many of these as you can with me.

  159. But wonder is a thread that runs throughout the Scripture and

  160. it's commanded in society. It's commanded in the church,

  161. it's commanded in the home. So here's a here's a bunch of

  162. examples. Number one, turn over to Romans

  163. 13. I'll give you just a few seconds

  164. to get there and then I'm going to read it.

  165. If you can get there, maybe just write it down.

  166. You can go back and look at these a little bit later if it's

  167. easier. But citizens are are are to

  168. honor their government. Now that's a, that's a place

  169. where a lot of those things have broken down, isn't it?

  170. Romans 13 verse #7 render therefore to all their dues,

  171. tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom, fear to

  172. whom fear, honor to whom honor. And again, I'm not going to, I'm

  173. not going to take the time to explain every one of these

  174. points because we'd be here all night and this would be the end

  175. of it. But you know, honestly, it's

  176. exactly what we see in our society today.

  177. Listen, I there's a lot of politicians that I don't agree

  178. with, right? I was, I did not agree with Joe

  179. Biden's policies, probably 99.9% of them.

  180. But if I met Joe Biden in a parking lot, I wouldn't punch

  181. him in the face and knock him out.

  182. I would treat him with the respect that is due the

  183. President of the United States because of that position.

  184. Most people wouldn't do that, right?

  185. Give the opportunity and they'd shoot Donald Trump in the face

  186. if they could do it right? Because there's no respect.

  187. There's no respect for the office.

  188. There's no respect for those that are in, in our government.

  189. And the Bible commands it. And, and Romans 13 is a whole

  190. chapter about that. It's just one verse that, that,

  191. that, that talks about that. But #2 Christian employees are

  192. to honor their employers. First Timothy chapter 6.

    1 Timothy 6 chapter mention

  193. First Timothy chapter 6. We have that obligation.

    1 Timothy 6 chapter mention

  194. We have that duty, right? You look at our society today,

  195. the employees always are demanding this and demanding

  196. that, and you don't pay me enough and you don't give me

  197. that. You were the one that agreed to

  198. work for that, right? Give an honest day's wage.

  199. Want to sue the employer because they're trying to make more

  200. money for nothing. First Timothy chapter 6 and

    1 Timothy 6 chapter mention

  201. verse one. Let as many servants as are

  202. under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor,

  203. that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.

  204. That's pretty strong when you think about it, right?

  205. You, you give it to your master so that you don't dishonor the

  206. name of God, blasphemy, the name of God.

  207. That's that's pretty strong. Pretty strong language there.

  208. First Timothy chapter 5, churches, that's number three

    1 Timothy 5 chapter mention

  209. are to honor their leaders. First Timothy chapter 5 and

    1 Timothy 5 chapter mention

  210. verse #17 let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of

  211. double honor, especially they who labor in the word and

  212. doctrine #4 church members are to honor one another.

  213. Let's go to Romans chapter 12, Romans chapter 12.

    Romans 12 chapter mention Romans 12 chapter mention

  214. And these are just single verses, but there's many, many

  215. verses on each one of these things that that that give us

  216. these ideas and these principles and these commands because

  217. that's what they are. Romans chapter 12 and verse 10

    Romans 12 chapter mention

  218. be kindly affectioned 1 to another with brotherly love in

  219. honor, preferring one another. It's that word again.

  220. And every one of these has that word honor in it.

  221. But it's it's the idea of respect with respect toward one

  222. another. How about first Timothy chapter

    1 Timothy 5 chapter mention

  223. 5? Turn back over there.

  224. I know we were just there. I should have kept your finger

  225. there. But first Timothy chapter 5,

    1 Timothy 5 chapter mention

  226. churches are to honor their widows.

  227. First Timothy chapter 5 and verse #3 honor or respect widows

    1 Timothy 5 chapter mention

  228. that are widows indeed. First Peter chapter 3.

    1 Peter 3 chapter mention

  229. First Peter chapter 3 verse #7 husbands are to honor their

    1 Peter 3 chapter mention

  230. wives. Likewise he husbands dwell with

  231. them. The wives according to

  232. knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel

  233. and as being heirs together of the grace of life that your

  234. prayers be not hindered. We talked about prayer this

  235. morning, sin in our lives, right?

  236. The idea of not honoring your wife hindering your prayers.

  237. That's a pretty serious thing about Ephesians chapter 5.

    Ephesians 5 chapter mention

  238. Ephesians chapter 5 said that husbands are to honor their

    Ephesians 5 chapter mention

  239. wives, wives are to honor their husbands.

  240. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse #33 Nevertheless, let everyone

    Ephesians 5 chapter mention

  241. of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself and the

  242. wife see that she reverence her husband.

  243. Keep your finger there in Ephesians chapter 5, and then go

    Ephesians 5 chapter mention

  244. to Hebrews chapter 13. I could do him out of order, but

    Hebrews 13 chapter mention

  245. then it would be out of order up here.

  246. Hebrews chapter 13 husbands and wives are to honor their marital

    Hebrews 13 chapter mention

  247. vows. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse #4

    Hebrews 13 chapter mention

  248. marriage is honorable and all and the bed undefiled, but whore

  249. monger as an adulterer is God will judge.

  250. Marriage is honorable. You are there in Ephesians

    Ephesians 6 chapter mention

  251. chapter 6 and this is this is kind of the culmination of all

  252. of those things. Ephesians chapter 6 Children are

    Ephesians 6 chapter mention

  253. to honor their parents under thy father and mother verse #2 which

  254. is the first commandment with promise in every relationship,

  255. in every area of life, respect and honor are essential.

  256. But how do we, in a society that is increasingly praising

  257. disrespect, teach our children to value and demonstrate

  258. respect? It begins in the home, begins in

  259. the home and I'll tell you it's moved into our society and every

  260. aspect. And I don't have to tell you

  261. that because you see it everywhere.

  262. But you know, the kid that has the great comeback against the

  263. teacher, you know, everybody's like, you know, praising this

  264. kid for being so witty. It wouldn't, you would never

  265. have seen that 30-40, fifty years ago, that kid would have

  266. been slapped into his place so fast.

  267. He wouldn't have known what hit him, right?

  268. You wouldn't even have done it. Same thing with my parents.

  269. Like when I was growing up, I wouldn't even if I thought about

  270. it and it was a great comeback, I never would have said it to my

  271. dad because I wouldn't have been able to walk for a week.

  272. And I know it and I would, I would have deserved it if that

  273. was the case, right? We were taught respect.

  274. How do we teach that same respect to our children?

  275. Well, there's a few things here that I want to give you.

  276. And so in this lesson tonight, probably moving into next week

  277. as well, what what are God's instructions for raising up a

  278. generation that shows honor and respect?

  279. Let's pray we'll jump into this for a little bit tonight.

  280. Father, again, we thank you so much for your goodness to us.

  281. So thank you for the the heritage that you gave me and

  282. for the the upbringing that many of us in this church had.

  283. I thank you for that God, I pray that you help that us to be able

  284. to pass that on to the next generation that needs that

  285. respect that is required and that is commanded of us in God's

  286. word. And God, may our young people

  287. grow up with the respect not only for their parents, but also

  288. for you, for your will, for the things of God, and that they

  289. have a great desire to follow them because of it.

  290. And we'll thank you for what you do in Jesus name, Amen.

  291. First thing I want you to see is this very simply, expect

  292. respect. Expect respect.

  293. You think about the instructions that were given here in

  294. Ephesians chapter 6. Children, obey your parents and

    Ephesians 6 chapter mention

  295. the Lord honor thy father and thy mother.

  296. Parents clearly have the obligation to expect obedience

  297. and respect from their children, right?

  298. And so the first thing that I want to give you underneath this

  299. is that parents should expect respect.

  300. And I know it's kind of the same, the same point, but I've

  301. got a second point that I'm going to talk to you about that

  302. kind of not contrast, but goes along with that think splitting

  303. it up here is a is a help. Turn over to Joshua chapter 24.

    Joshua 24 chapter mention

  304. Godly parents are servant leaders in the home, meaning

  305. this. You don't and, and, and we see

  306. this later on in verse #4 of Ephesians chapter 6.

    Ephesians 6 chapter mention

  307. You fathers provoke not your children to wrath.

  308. Bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.

  309. That's a servant leader. Parents don't Lord over your

  310. children as a demanding boss or this authoritarian dictator, but

  311. you lovingly serve them in saying that one of the ways that

  312. you best serve your children is by insisting on their obedience

  313. and their respect. I'm not saying that that you

  314. shouldn't say anything to your children about correcting them

  315. because you're a servant and you're a servant should be a

  316. leader, right? Yes, you should be a servant

  317. leader. But at the same time, the one of

  318. the best ways that you can serve your kids is teaching them that

  319. respect and that honor. Parents who relate to their

  320. children as if their peers ultimately do their kids a great

  321. disservice. I see it happen so often that,

  322. that that parents are buddies with their children.

  323. And I'll see, you know, from time to time a little Facebook

  324. post or something like that. Here's a dad.

  325. He's got his little 7 year old boy.

  326. This, this is my best buddy. No, you're not buddies.

  327. You're the dad. He's the child.

  328. That's the relationship. Be buddies when he gets to be 21

  329. years old, right? You can be buddies after you've

  330. raised him to be a respectful young man, after you've raised

  331. him to be a godly young man, then you can be buddies.

  332. But he doesn't need a buddy right now.

  333. He needs a parent. He needs a dad.

  334. He needs somebody to tell him when he's wrong.

  335. And we're not. We do our kids such a huge

  336. disservice when when you know it.

  337. It's because again, and I don't, I don't mean to keep harping on

  338. Hollywood, but that's what Hollywood has done.

  339. You know, this, this wonderful little story about how a father

  340. and a son got along so well and they did this and they did that.

  341. And you should get along well with your children.

  342. But at the same time, your kids should know that you demand

  343. respect just by the very fact that you're the father and

  344. you're not going to get that respect if you're the buddy and

  345. you're like, hey, what's up dude?

  346. You know, I mean, fist bumping and all of those kind of things

  347. like you're on the same, you know, softball team together.

  348. You can do that with your buddies on the softball team.

  349. Your kids need a father. They need a they need somebody

  350. to be the dad and to tell them where they're wrong.

  351. That word, father and fathers, is used over 1500 times in the

  352. Bible. Do you think that God has an

  353. importance that He's placed on that?

  354. God instituted authority in the home, and He set it up for

  355. parents, not children, to leave the home.

  356. And he called upon parents, particularly the father where

  357. one is present, to provide a leadership model that expects

  358. respect. One of the strongest examples of

  359. strong leadership in the Old Testament is Joshua.

  360. He led the children of Israel into the promised land through a

  361. series of of military conquests. But Joshua's leadership wasn't

  362. just national leadership. He led in his own home as well.

  363. And I'll tell you what happens many times the people who are

  364. the greatest leaders of men in their field are the worst

  365. leaders at home. And it cannot be that way if you

  366. expect your children to grow up and live for the Lord, if you

  367. expect your children to grow up and have respect.

  368. Joshua chapter 24 and verse #15 And if it seem evil unto you to

    Joshua 24 chapter mention

  369. serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether

  370. the gods which your father served that were on the other

  371. side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land

  372. do you dwell? But As for me and my house, we

  373. will serve the Lord. Providing that leadership in the

  374. home not only provides the direction that your children

  375. need, but it also helps them develop a sense of respect for

  376. authority. In fact, children who learn this

  377. in the home are light years ahead of their peers, the ones

  378. who are there around all the time when it comes to the

  379. authority figures throughout their lives.

  380. You learn respect in the home. You're going to have respect

  381. everywhere else. You learn to respect your father

  382. and your mother. You're going to have respect for

  383. your pastor. You're going to have respect for

  384. your teacher. You're going to have respect for

  385. your boss, and you're going to treat them with respect because

  386. it was demanded of you at home. So rare that somebody knows how

  387. to respect their parents and then goes out and disrespects

  388. everybody else because it starts in the home.

  389. Look again back there in Ephesians chapter 6, I'll be

    Ephesians 6 chapter mention

  390. honest with you. Even before a child is old

  391. enough to understand the meaning of respect, the meaning of

  392. honor, the meaning of obedience, you're responsible to set that

  393. tone, set that tenor, if you will, of respect in your home by

  394. providing a leadership that insists on respect.

  395. Your kids are learning from before they even know what

  396. they're what they're doing. And I'll tell you this.

  397. If you wait until your kids are 23456 years old to start

  398. training them in this area or any other area, you are way

  399. behind where they need to be. Here's what we did in our home.

  400. And I'm not saying that my kids are perfect.

  401. They're not. But by the time they were five,

  402. 6-7 years old, they obeyed and they didn't even know why.

  403. But I'll tell you, it's exact goes back to this whole idea of,

  404. well, if I spank him, then he's not going to like me.

  405. And if he doesn't like me, then he's not going to want to sit on

  406. my lap all the time when I want to cuddle with him and all of

  407. those other things. And then I'm not going to have

  408. that, you know, Instagram lifestyle that everybody wants

  409. to see. And I'm not going to be the

  410. model parent to everybody. And what ends up happening is

  411. you're raising a little demon, and then by the time he's 678

  412. years old, you're going to try to fix it.

  413. It's going to be too late to fix.

  414. But if you do the hard jobs, the hard part, when they're 2345

  415. years old and you spank them when you say no and they don't

  416. obey you, you know what a kid does when they're three years

  417. old and you spank them 10 minutes later, they're crawling

  418. up in your lap anyway, right? Because they want you to be

  419. pleased with them. They want to do things.

  420. They just have to know what those boundaries are.

  421. And if you teach them the boundaries, they're happy within

  422. those boundaries. And then they get to be 567

  423. years old. You tell them to do something,

  424. they do it, and they don't even know why they're doing it

  425. because they don't remember what happened at 2-3 and four years

  426. old, right? When's the, what's the earliest

  427. memory you have? I think for me, I was 5.

  428. I don't remember how many times I got spanked when I was 3, but

  429. I knew that I better obey by the time I was 567 years old.

  430. And that's because my parents started early with me and they,

  431. they demanded that respect and they demanded that obedience

  432. even from a little kid. And I needed it, right?

  433. I mean, they went, they went out there with a 8 foot long, 2 by

  434. 4, beating me over the head with it.

  435. But a spanking is what I needed and by the time I was old enough

  436. to know what was going on, I obeyed my parents and I

  437. respected my parents. Ephesians chapter 6, really it

    Ephesians 6 chapter mention

  438. gives it. There's 2 commands that are

  439. addressed here to to children in the home.

  440. Obedience refers to listening to instructions and heeding it.

  441. It's conforming to what has been required.

  442. Honor refers to valuing or revering somebody.

  443. So you have two commands, obey and honor.

  444. So our children are not just to do what we say, but they're also

  445. to value that relationship, to give that respect.

  446. And so I say that parents should expect respect.

  447. You ought to expect it from your kids.

  448. Well, he's just a kid. No, you expect those things from

  449. your children. And that brings me to the second

  450. point then #2 parents should teach respect.

  451. Turn over to Proverbs chapter 4. Children don't naturally exhibit

    Proverbs 4 chapter mention

  452. respect. They have to be taught the same

  453. way that they don't naturally tell the truth.

  454. They have to be taught the same way.

  455. They don't naturally obey. They have to be taught.

  456. And essential to that process is a parent who cares too much

  457. about their child to allow disobedience or disrespect.

  458. Again, society has trained parents that that's just the way

  459. the kids are. That's just what they're going

  460. to do because they're kids and they're growing up and that's

  461. the way they're going to be. And that's why they go to school

  462. and punch the teacher in the face when the teacher doesn't do

  463. what they want them to do. And the teacher says, put your

  464. cell phone away and they won't. And the teacher has to fight

  465. them for it. I mean, you see stuff like that

  466. all the time. And I don't know how these

  467. teachers do it because honestly, I couldn't.

  468. I couldn't. I would be in jail probably

  469. right now if I was a teacher in the public school because I

  470. can't. I can't handle the disrespect

  471. because I was trained to have respect.

  472. Yeah. I don't know how Brother Paul

  473. does it. How do you do it?

  474. Yeah, pulled all his hair out. That's exactly what it is.

  475. That's the only way you can deal with it.

  476. But I'm sure you see it all the time.

  477. That just the disrespect because it starts, it starts at home,

  478. children. The Bible says in Proverbs

    Proverbs 4 chapter mention

  479. chapter 4 and verse #1 Here ye children, the instruction of a

  480. father, and attend to no understanding.

  481. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.

  482. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the

  483. sight of my mother. He taught me also.

  484. And he said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words, keep my

  485. commandments, and live. That is a father that is

  486. teaching his child to obey, to honor, to respect.

  487. One of the most loving things that you can do for your child

  488. is to discipline them when they disobey.

  489. Oh, I would never hit my kid. That's the that's the argument

  490. against spanking, right? I would never hit my kid.

  491. How can you? How can you ever think about

  492. doing that? That's in the Bible and we have

  493. not only that the different verses, we're going to look at

  494. them in just a minute that we have in the Bible, but also with

  495. the example of Jesus Christ God. What does God do to us as his

  496. children when we disobey? He chastens us.

  497. He chastises us, right. It's true that the words

  498. correction and discipline call to mind undesirable extremes,

  499. and maybe you grew up in a home where some of that was extreme,

  500. the discipline, right? Parents who hear either word

  501. tend to put up walls of resistance toward whichever

  502. extreme they've experienced or seen in the the classic extremes

  503. are anger and passivity. Somebody who who blows up, you

  504. know, angry Alvin, that just that just, you know, blows up

  505. every time his kids do some things that he doesn't like.

  506. And many times that same guy doesn't think that he has a

  507. problem with anger. He does, and everybody can see

  508. it except him. And he's constantly punishing

  509. his children for what turns out to just be childish behavior.

  510. Now that that foolishness needs to be driven out of a child.

  511. But sometimes kids are just going to be kids, right?

  512. And if they're, you know, playing a little bit rough or

  513. they're doing something, I mean, it doesn't always demand that

  514. you, you know, whip your belt off.

  515. I'm sure you've probably heard those.

  516. And start whipping them and beating them with whatever you

  517. can, you know, whatever you can reach, right?

  518. Discipline ought to be done very orderly in the home, right?

  519. You spank your kids in anger. You've already lost.

  520. You just, you just go off and start start spanking them and

  521. spanking them and spanking them because you're mad.

  522. You've lost and you're going to lose your kids.

  523. They know that you're spanking them in anger, right?

  524. The other side of that coin is the passive father let his kids

  525. burn the house down. As long as he doesn't have to

  526. leave the couch, he's all right with it.

  527. Do whatever you want to do. I don't care, right?

  528. Burn the house down. Do whatever.

  529. There's, there's two extremes, right?

  530. He doesn't know where his children are, who their friends

  531. are, and maybe he'll set boundaries for his kids, but his

  532. kids know that he has no intention of enforcing those

  533. boundaries, right? The truth is both of those

  534. extremes and maybe some of the, the less extremes in the middle

  535. are hurtful to children. Both of those things communicate

  536. a lack of love. You, you get angry and lose your

  537. temper on your kid. It's it's just illustrating and

  538. demonstrating a lack of love. You let them do whatever they

  539. want to do. That's demonstrating a lack of

  540. love. Oh, and that's, that's why

  541. parents are I just, I that's just what he decided to do.

  542. Listen, if my kid was running around in Broad Street, I'm

  543. going to do everything I can to keep him from doing that, right?

  544. I'm going to spank him and say don't go in Broad Street

  545. anymore. Well, that's just what they

  546. wanted to do. Yeah.

  547. And and you'll just be putting them in a coffin and burying

  548. them six feet under the ground because that's what's going to

  549. happen. You don't love your children if

  550. you don't discipline your children.

  551. The Bible says for whom the Lord loveth he chasing it.

  552. And the same is true for for us is with our kids.

  553. God not only calls parents to set boundaries, but to enforce

  554. those boundaries. Turn over to Hebrews chapter 12.

    Hebrews 12 chapter mention

  555. If you give instruction to your child and he deliberately

  556. disobeys it, you're not loving him to look the other way.

  557. And by the way, this has happened with my kids before.

  558. I tell them something to do. They're standing right next to

  559. me and 5 minutes later it's not done.

  560. And I say, how come you didn't do that?

  561. Oh, I didn't hear you. I said, well, you're getting

  562. spanked. Listen next time, right?

  563. It's it's an easy excuse. I didn't hear you.

  564. I didn't know, right? Guess what they do the next time

  565. when you speak? They listen.

  566. And it's not it's not authoritarian.

  567. It's teaching them to mind their authority, teaching them exactly

  568. what the Bible tells them to do. Obey your parents, honor your

  569. parents. You're communicating a lack of

  570. love that's going to breed a lack of respect in his heart.

  571. Because Hebrews chapter 12 here tells us that even God's love,

    Hebrews 12 chapter mention

  572. which God's love is absolutely perfect, there is no better love

  573. than the love that God has for his children.

  574. Even God's love is sometimes shown through chastening

  575. correction with pain. That's what chastening is.

  576. When we're disobeying, we're going our own direction.

  577. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 6, For whom the Lord loveth, He

    Hebrews 12 chapter mention

  578. chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

  579. That is a perfect love from a perfect father.

  580. And he says, I love you and that's why I'm chastening you.

  581. You've got to understand that you just cannot live that way

  582. and get away with it. When you correct the child

  583. lovingly, properly, biblically, your correction says I love you

  584. too much to allow you to make those wrong choices.

  585. Turn over to Proverbs chapter 13 because Scripture goes so far as

    Proverbs 13 chapter mention

  586. to say that if you don't correct your children, you don't love

  587. them. And that's what I say.

  588. There's two extremes. One that goes way overboard with

  589. the correction, one that doesn't give the correction, and both of

  590. those show a lack of love. Proverbs chapter 13 and verse

    Proverbs 13 chapter mention

  591. #24 These are the messages that the kids just absolutely love.

  592. Proverbs chapter 13 and verse 24.

    Proverbs 13 chapter mention

  593. He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him

  594. chasingeth him. The times that word betimes

  595. means timely or within a short time or soon, right?

  596. It speaks to a parent who corrects their child early in

  597. his life when a correction can be less severe and have more

  598. impact. Right.

  599. If you're still beating your kid at 16 years old, you've missed

  600. the opportunity to correct him. If you still, you know, blow up

  601. in anger and go spank your sixteen 1718 year old kid,

  602. you're doing far more harm than you're doing good.

  603. That should have been done a long time ago.

  604. And what do you do if you've missed the missed the

  605. opportunity? Well, you pray for him and you

  606. have those talks where you sit down and you go through some of

  607. those things with them. But you know, you, you missed

  608. out on a lot of opportunities if you don't start early with your

  609. kids by loving your child enough to correct them when they're

  610. disobedient, you're going to you're helping them develop a

  611. sense of respect for authority that'll guide them throughout

  612. their life. But on the other hand, if you

  613. neglect to correct him when he's young, you're setting up, you're

  614. setting them up to receive a harsher correction later from

  615. authorities who won't have a parent's love for him, right.

  616. You think about the kids who are 1516, seventeen years old

  617. running the streets because they have no parents that are there

  618. to correct them. You think the, the, the guy

  619. doing a job in the juvenile detention center loves that kid

  620. the way a parent should love a kid?

  621. Absolutely not. He's doing a job.

  622. You're there because you are, you're, you know, you messed up

  623. and you're a hindrance to society and everything else.

  624. They didn't love you the way that a parent loves you.

  625. But he's so sweet. I can't spank him.

  626. You're, he's a sweet little devil.

  627. And that's what you're going to be raising.

  628. You need to get on it early and spank them, correct them the way

  629. the Bible says to do that. Hebrews chapter 12, turn back

    Hebrews 12 chapter mention

  630. over there because Hebrews chapter 12 relates the

    Hebrews 12 chapter mention

  631. correction or the chasing that we're to give to our children to

  632. the correction that God gives us as his children points out that

  633. that the parents typically correct only their own children.

  634. So one of the proofs that you are a child of God is that

  635. correction. You do wrong, God punishes you

  636. right. Here's what He says in verse #7

  637. We already read verse 6. But verse #7 if you endure

  638. chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.

  639. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not This is

  640. God is saying this OK? For whom the Lord loveth, He

  641. chasteneth. He scourgeth every son whom he

  642. receiveth. Well, what kind of father are

  643. you if you don't chase in your children?

  644. That's what he's asking. That's the question that God is

  645. asking there in verse #7 if you endure chasing and God deal with

  646. with you the same way that that that, that he deals with sons

  647. the same way that a father deals with his son.

  648. And what son is he whom the father chasing is not?

  649. Are you really a son if the father doesn't chase in you?

  650. That's what he's asking. Verse 8 But if you be without

  651. chastisement, where of all our partakers then are you bastards

  652. and not sons? That means you're illegitimate.

  653. Are you even God's son if he doesn't chase you, chasing you?

  654. That's what he's saying. And the whole, the whole, the

  655. whole point that I'm making with this is it's the same for

  656. fathers with their children. Not is he your son if you don't

  657. spank him, but it's kind of that's the same question.

  658. God, God is saying, what kind of son is he if you're not going to

  659. chasten him and tell him where he's wrong and help him to fix

  660. the things that need to be fixed?

  661. That passage goes on to point out that correct in our children

  662. teaches them respect for us, which is eventually transferred

  663. to the respect for God. Verse #9 Furthermore, we have

  664. had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them

  665. reverence. Shall we not much rather be in

  666. subjection to the Father of spirits and live, Hey, we had

  667. fathers that corrected us and taught us respect, and because

  668. they corrected us and taught that to us, we respected them.

  669. How much more than if we have respect for our fathers on this

  670. earth, should we have for our Heavenly Father?

  671. That respect that comes from the discipline that's given to a

  672. father who will actually discipline his child in the

  673. right way and with the right spirit, with the right attitude,

  674. how much more that's transferred to our Heavenly Father?

  675. That's a powerful passage. And when it comes to discipline,

  676. that's perfect love. That's perfect love.

  677. That's God's love to us. And that's how he treats us as

  678. his sons and His daughters. Not correcting your children,

  679. including, by the way, threatening to correct them and

  680. not doing it, not correcting your children, actually causes

  681. them to lose that respect for you and question your love.

  682. My dad's just going to let me do this.

  683. He knew how harmful this was, and he's just going to let me do

  684. it, right? Would you let your kids drink

  685. poison because that's what they want to do?

  686. Well, it's their life. It's their decision.

  687. That's what they want to do. It's going to be harmful for

  688. them, but they'll find out at some point that it's harmful for

  689. them. That's not parenting and that's

  690. not love. But, you know, the same thing is

  691. true when it comes to threatening.

  692. And this is what we see all the time.

  693. I'm, you know, you're in a grocery store.

  694. Get back over here. Get back over here.

  695. Come here. I said come here 122 and a half.

  696. The kids like, alright, is he going to go to 2 3/4?

  697. How long do I have to get back over there and obey?

  698. Right? That's not demanding obedience.

  699. And a kid learns to play your little game and guess what, if

  700. you don't start counting, he's not going to obey.

  701. Why would he, right? You're not demanding obedience.

  702. You're giving him. It's it's a game to that kid,

  703. right? And you've taught them how to

  704. play it. That's not correction and

  705. ultimately that's not love. When your children are directly

  706. disobedient, you have to correct them so that they understand

  707. that there's freedom in submitting to authority.

  708. We like to think of our children as angels with occasional

  709. lapses. That's not the case.

  710. Proverbs 22 and verse 15, Proverbs 22 and verse 15.

  711. We're coming to a close here for tonight.

  712. This does not describe children. Foolishness is bound in the

  713. heart of a child. But the rod of correction shall

  714. drive it far from him. What's going to drive it from

  715. him? The rod of correction, right?

  716. It has to be applied in the right way and we go into

  717. Ephesians chapter 6. Ye fathers, provoke not your

    Ephesians 6 chapter mention

  718. children to wrath. Bring them up in the nurture and

  719. the admonition of the Lord. There's a right way to do it and

  720. there's a wrong way to do it. But if you're doing it in the

  721. right way, see, our children, just like us, are born with a

  722. sin nature, a bent toward doing wrong.

  723. The foolishness that this verse says is bound in the heart of a

  724. child. It's it's not just childish

  725. behavior, spilling a glass of milk, right?

  726. Yeah. Should they be more careful?

  727. Yes, they should be more careful.

  728. But they spanking because they spilled milk.

  729. Well, maybe depends on what led to it.

  730. If you told them to sit down and they didn't sit down and they

  731. spilled the milk, well, that's not just childish behavior,

  732. that's disobedience. But if they were reaching for

  733. something across the table and knocked their milk over, it's a

  734. childish thing. It's an accident, right?

  735. People blow up and RIP the kid out of the chair and throw him

  736. in the bedroom and spank him until he can't stand up for

  737. spilling milk, right? That's, that's a that's, that's

  738. anger. That's anger and that's not

  739. love. That's not love.

  740. The rod of correction, though, the Bible says can refer to it

  741. can refer to any kind of discipline, words of correction,

  742. corporal punishment, loss of privileges, different things,

  743. but there's probably no more debated area of parenting than

  744. discipline, right? Especially if that includes a

  745. discussion on corporal punishment.

  746. Oh, you know, this was this is what happened back in the 70s

  747. at, in, in Indiana at the church that I grew up at, a mother was

  748. spanking her child not even not even, you know, out of line with

  749. the way that she spanked her child.

  750. He called welfare and I came and took him and long court battle

  751. and turns out that Hillary Clinton was the one that was

  752. behind all of it in the early days.

  753. And they won the court case. Because a parent has a right,

  754. according to the Bible, to spank their children.

  755. And you should spank your children.

  756. You start talking about that and oh, they don't like it.

  757. They don't like it. But it's important to understand

  758. that often the strong feelings on that issue are targeted at

  759. the extremes and the abuses. And they should be right.

  760. There's a There's a difference between discipline and child

  761. abuse. Right, and, and people who lose

  762. their temper who, who, who are not in control of the situation

  763. crossed into that area of child abuse.

  764. That's what it is, right? But discipline done God's way is

  765. not child abuse at all. It shows your child that you

  766. love him, and it's going to teach your child respect.

  767. And the sooner you start farther along, you're going to be with

  768. your kids when they turn 4567 years old, and they're going to

  769. have that respect. They're going to obey.

  770. They're going to do the things that you tell them to do.

  771. And many times they're not even going to know why they do it.

  772. But you did it God's way, and that's what God tells us to do.

  773. But when a child directly disobeys and you calmly

  774. administer swats, whatever you want to call them, get their

  775. attention, reach their heart in a way that a timeout is never

  776. going to do right? God didn't say foolishness is

  777. abound in the heart of a child, but a timeout will drive it far

  778. from him. All right, I didn't say that

  779. because that's that's not God's way.

  780. There's something wholesome for a child to having a disobedience

  781. dealt with quickly and then move on, right?

  782. You stay mad at your kid because they disobeyed all night.

  783. That does God do that with you after he corrects it and you get

  784. it right? No, you just, you take it and

  785. you move on. Parents should become abusive.

  786. Do it with their words. They do it with, you know,

  787. exorbitant whatever timeouts, groundings, other forms of

  788. correction. You can get very abusive very

  789. easily if you're not in control of the situation.

  790. But I'll tell you, I'll tell you how parents usually lose control

  791. because they're not consistent. They're not consistent.

  792. If you tell your kid do this and they don't do it, they should be

  793. punished, not do this. I told you to do this, I told

  794. you to do this. If you don't do this, you're

  795. going to get in trouble. And then they blow up because

  796. the kids still didn't do it. Because you failed.

  797. It's not the kids fault. It's your fault that the kid

  798. didn't obey because they should have gotten told one time and if

  799. they didn't obey, they should have been punished for it.

  800. There's not much room for losing your temper when you tell the

  801. kid once and they don't do it and you just calmly take them

  802. into the bedroom, give them spankings, and then bring them

  803. back out, right? It's, it's not you're in control

  804. because you're consistent. But whatever form that

  805. correction takes you, you as a parent have to establish respect

  806. in the home, and you have to rely on the Holy Spirit's

  807. guidance as you do that because every child is different.

  808. You need God's wisdom. You need the wisdom of God to

  809. help you with those things and applied discipline that'll reach

  810. that child's heart. Our children need to learn

  811. respect. Our children need to learn that

  812. as parents, we are the ones in control in the home.

  813. We are the ones that they obey in the home, right?

  814. We need to be the ones taking the responsibility to teach it

  815. to them. We'll stop with that tonight.

  816. I think it's important that that we established this, that not

  817. only should we expect respect, but you have to teach that

  818. respect to them. And if you don't teach it to

  819. them, who's going to who's going to Society is not going to do

  820. it. The movies are not going to do

  821. it. Most of your rock music out

  822. there is all about rebellion against society or rap music is

  823. all about, you know, rebellion against society, all of those

  824. things. And if you if you wait and you

  825. allow society to do it, it's too late and you missed out.

  826. And your kids are going to be one of those ones that grows up

  827. without respect and they're going to look back and they're

  828. going to say, did my parents even love me?

  829. Did my parents even love me? Oh no, I love them so much that

  830. I just couldn't bring myself to No, that's not what the Bible

  831. says. When the Lord loveth thee

  832. chasteneth. And that's what a, that's what a

  833. parent does for their children as well.

  834. We'll continue with this next week, but let's pray.

  835. Father, again, we thank you so much for your goodness to us.

  836. We thank you for the opportunity we have to discuss these things

  837. from your Word. God, may you help us to be

  838. parents who are #1 completely in control of ourselves, completely

  839. in line with the Word of God. And God, may you help us to be

  840. the disciplinarians and the authoritarians that you expect

  841. us to be in the home that we can raise young people who are

  842. raised with respect not only for authority, but for your

  843. authority, and that that would lead to each one of them finding

  844. your will for their lives. God, may you help us.

  845. May we have your wisdom, may we have your guidance as we do that

  846. well. Thank you again for all that you

  847. do for us. In Jesus name, Amen.