Memorial OPC Adult Sunday School - Westminster Shorter Catechism – 2011-2012

Q63: Which is the fifth commandment?

A63: The fifth commandment is, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you.”

Q64: What is required in the fifth commandment?

A64: The fifth commandment requires the preserving the honor, and performing the duties, belonging to every one in their several places and relations, as superiors, inferiors, or equals.

Q65: What is the forbidden in the fifth commandment?

A65: The fifth commandment forbids the neglecting of, or doing anything against, the honor and duty which belongs to every one in their several places and relations.

Q66: What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment?

A66: The reason annexed to the fifth commandment is a promise of long life and prosperity (as far as it shall serve for God's glory and their own good) to all such as keep this commandment.

 

“Honor your father and your mother” as they A             in years.

 

I. The 5th commandment is not just for little children but for B            children too.

 

A. Consider you’re own A                                   toward the elderly.

Leviticus 19:32 You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the LORD.

Prov. 16:31 The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, If it is found in the way of righteousness.

Prov. 20:29 The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is their gray head.

 

 

B. Consider what the godly and elderly saints should E                         .

Prov. 17:6 Children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their father.

 

 

C. Consider the L             L                    intention of godly parental instruction.

Prov. 1:8 My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother;

Prov. 6:20 My son, keep your father's command, And do not forsake the law of your mother.

Prov. 23:22 Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

 

 

D. Consider the P                         for good and evil as both you and your parents age.

Prov. 10:1 …A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the grief of his mother.

Prov. 15:20 A wise son makes a father glad, But a foolish man despises his mother.

 

 

E. Consider the W                                    that God gives to grown children.

Prov. 17:21 He who begets a scoffer does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy.

Prov. 17:25 A foolish son is a grief to his father, And bitterness to her who bore him.

Prov. 19:13 A foolish son is the ruin of his father…

Prov. 19:26 He who mistreats his father and chases away his mother Is a son who causes shame and brings reproach.

Prov. 20:20 Whoever curses his father or his mother, His lamp will be put out in deep darkness.

Prov. 28:24 Whoever robs his father or his mother, And says, "It is no transgression," The same is companion to a destroyer.

Prov. 30:11, 17 There is a generation that curses its father, And does not bless its mother. 17 The eye that mocks his father, And scorns obedience to his mother, The ravens of the valley will pick it out, And the young eagles will eat it.

 

F. Consider the B                          you can be by God’s grace.

Prov. 23:24, 25 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise son will be glad in him. 25 Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her who bore you rejoice.

 

 

II. Christ’s and the 5th commandment in Matthew 15:1-11

      A. A complaint is brought to Jesus. What is it?

 

 

      B. Jesus turns the tables by addressing the lack of observing the 5th commandment.

 

            1. What was the tradition of “corban” overthrowing?

 

 

            2. What does Jesus equate this practice to according to his quote from Exodus 21.17?

 

 

            3. How does Jesus extend the dishonoring of parents to the dishonoring of God?

 

 

III. The 5th commandment, the church, and the home.

 

1 Timothy 5:1-8 Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, younger as sisters, with all purity. 3 Honor widows who are really widows. 4 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God. 5 Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. 6 But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. 7 And these things command, that they may be blameless. 8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

 

 

Food for thought…

1. How does the above align with our culture’s general attitude towards the elderly? How does the above impact your views on the practice of euthanasia?

 

 

2. How does our modern day geriatric care relate to this? What do you need to be careful about here?

 

 

3. While not wanting to legislate, what might seem to be the most “natural” way of caring for aging parents?

 

 

4. Given our mobile society, what mutual responsibilities might be required of both children and their parents when it comes to “the need to be cared for” and “the responsibility to care”?

 

 

5. Consider the one perfect Son and His honor for the Father…