The Fifth Commandment

Wow! Is time flying or what? We have past thru five months and are 10 days in to the month of June.

I hope you had a chance to read my last lesson on Memorial Day and what it means to our family in the USA.  As we await the coming of our King, let us reflect on those who served in our armed forces each day and not just one day designated as that holiday in your land.

Speaking of holidays on the calendar, isn’t it silly to have one day designated as Mother’s, Father’s, or Grandparent’s Day? I guess the major card makers love it so they can sell more cards, but I don’t designate just one day but each day because of the importance of being and having a father and mother. Why not each day to celebrate instead of one day?

Here’s an interesting story for you—A woman was at work when she received a phone call that her daughter was very sick with a fever. She left her work and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medicine. She got back to the car and found out that she locked her keys in the car.

She got on the phone and called the babysitter at home to tell her what happened. The baby sitter said the fever was worse and to get a coat hanger to open the car door.

The woman hung up, found an old rusty coat hanger on the ground and began scratching her head trying to figure out how to open the car door.

To no avail and no one in sight, she bowed her head and asked God to send some help. About five minutes pass and this old rusty car pulls up and inside is a dirty, greasy bearded man with a rag on his head. The woman thought, “This is what you sent to help me?” But, she was desperate, so she was very thankful.

The old man got out of the car and asked if he could help. “Yes, she said, my daughter is very sick, and I locked my keys in the car while I went in the pharmacy to get the medication. I must get home to her. Please, can you use this rusty hanger to unlock my car?”

Sure can, he said and took the hanger to the car and promptly opened the car door. She hugged the man and through her tears she said, “Thank You So Much! You are such a nice man.”

The man replied, “Lady, I am not a nice man, I just got out of prison today. I was in prison for car theft and have been out for about an hour.”

The woman hugged the man again and with sobbing tears cried out loud, “Oh, Thank you God! You even sent me a Professional!” And people say angels come to visit us!

The Fifth Commandment is: Exodus 20:12 (FF) Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Ever-Living God will give to you.

God placed this commandment fifth for man’s duty and relation to his fellow-men. Just remember that the previous four commandments define man’s duty and relation to God.

When Adam and Eve had children, it was the child’s duty to honour both their father and mother.  Honour, used in the verb tense, means regard with great respect: “they honoured their parents in all they did” synonyms:hold in great respect, hold in high esteem, have a high regard for, esteem, respect according to Oxford Dictionaries.

Our heavenly father created our parents to bring forth offspring and to populate the earth and it is our duty as their children to hold a high regard for each of them and to respect them each day in the same way that we honour God, our father. God has added that when we keep this commandment to him and to our parents then we are promised, by God, of length of life.

Take a moment, when reading this column, and look at your situation as to honouring your parents— Turn with me to Luke 7: 8-13 (FF) “Abandoning the command of God, you cling to the order of men, in washing cups and dishes: and you attend to many other observances of that kind. “And he further said to them, “You very finely throw aside the command of God, so that you may stick to your own regulation! For Moses said, HONOUR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER; and, WHO NEGLECTS HIS FATHER OR HIS MOTHER, LET HIM END IN DEATH! But you say, “If a man should say to his father or to his mother, ‘All that I possess with which I might help you is Korban—a gift to God’: then you will never again allow him to do anything for his father or his mother; thus distorting the word of God by your regulation, which you have handed down: and many similar things you do.”

Ah, the Pharisees, men who toot their horn because they are Pharisees—Pharisees are those who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk! What does a Pharisee and Hypocrite have in common? They are made from the same cloth. I’m sure we all have met common day Pharisees, but these folks had the nerve to school Jesus and see what he said. In verse 8, the Pharisees view their oral tradition more authoritative than Old Testament written law. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, cuts through the chase and in shows them in Verse 10 about the law of Moses. Remember, this is Old Testament written Law and the Pharisees are trying to twist their words to make the law fit their oral interpretation. A wise man once said, Ah, the wicked web we weave, when we practice to deceive.

Jesus, in verse 10, uses the following illustration of the Fifth Commandment to lead into his point of the rabbinical tradition that sets aside the God-given Mosaic commandment. Here, Korban is introduced in verse 12 which means a gift to God—The Pharisees used God as their excuse to avoid needy families—Does your church do this? The Pharisees thought it was more important to put the money in the temple treasury than to help needy parents. This is in direct opposition to what God says in the Fifth Commandment.

In essence, the Pharisees wanted men and women to line their pockets and the temple’s pockets and not those who truly needed help from their children or loved ones.

Dear Reader, I must ask—Are you going to a church whose minister or ministers or lining their pockets? Do you know where your tithes and offerings are going? Does your church help those in need? Does your pastor meet with your parents, assist the sick and help those in need? Or is pastor a Pharisee? Be vary weary of ministers who have their hand out especially around the first of the year for tax deductions—Jesus puts an exclamation point in verse 13 to the Pharisees of yesterday and today—Place the word of God above all things including the traditions of men.

God placed the Ten Commandments for a particular reason and these Mosaic laws spoken by God that Christ viewed in verse 13 were not be nullified or voided. It is just that simple if you wish to follow God’s laws so that your days will be long.

In a nutshell, you can choose the blessing or the curse—your choice—I choose God.

May God Bless you

Jeff