I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Colossians, Colossians chapter 3, which can be found on page 1170 in the Q Bibles. We pick up where we left off in our study and work through Colossians 3. We consider two verses this morning, verses 20 and 21, really we're going to focus our intention on verse 20, but I'm going to begin our reading up at verse 8 of chapter 3, just to give us some context and to remind us where we've been. Colossians chapter 3, again focusing on verse 20 and 21, but we're going to begin our reading at verse 8, 3-8. But now you must put them all away, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, scathian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on, then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, submit to your husbands as is fitting to the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Here ends the reading and hearing of God's Word. May He bless it to us. Well, the two texts before us, verses 20 and 21, are simple texts, as simple as the two texts that precede these two verses regarding husbands and wives. Now, just like that text, they are simple, but the application of these texts can be complex. Complex and challenging for any of us. And why? Why is there complexity and challenge when it comes to the family? Well, it's because of sin, right? You see, Satan hates families. He hates husbands. He hates wives. He hates children. He hates parents. Satan hates families. Satan is in the business of destroying families. Now, we don't want to give too much credit to our adversary, but he is certainly behind all of the confusion and sin that exists in the family today. But we too have to take some responsibility, don't we? Responsibility for ourselves and our actions, responsibility for our families, responsibility for our actions as mothers and fathers, responsibility for our actions and our thoughts as children. Sin is still an ever-present challenge for us, isn't it? But here's the thing, like with everything in the Christian life, there's help. There's great help. And so I want to remind you of what we've already covered in this book. Remember, this is a Christ-centered book. This is a book that makes everything about Christ. Remember what chapter 1 covered? Christ is the preeminent one. By him, all things were created. All things were created through him, by him, and for him. He was before all things, and apart from him nothing that exists would ever exist and by the work of Jesus Christ he has reconciled us his people to himself for his glory for his purposes and as those people we are called now to make everything in our lives about him children what is life all about what is your life all about. I'm sure you know people who make everything about themselves. Maybe that's something that you struggle with. Maybe you tend to make everything about yourself. But life isn't about you, is it? It's about Christ. And the same can be said to parents. We as parents also at times struggle to make everything about ourselves. Mom and dad, you know there are times, maybe often times, many times when you want to escape. Just check out of the family for a moment. You're exhausted. You're tired. You worked all day. You just want to escape to that bath or that book or that relaxing spot within the house. But you see, our lives are not about ourselves. Our lives are about Christ. Christ never checked out on us, did he? He never checked out on us. Christ continued to give and give and give. See, remember the operable passage for us to understand and apply what Paul says here is verse 11 of chapter 3. The last thing that Paul says there, Christ is all and in all. Everything is about Christ. everything. Our lives as children, our lives as mothers and fathers, our families. Christ is the key to the godly life. Christ is the key to a godly church. Christ is the key to a godly mindset. Christ is the key to a godly family. Christ is the key. And so I'll ask you, as I asked you the last time we were in this book, do you want to have a godly life? Then focus yourself on Christ. Do you want to develop a godly mind, a godly mindset? Focus yourself on Christ. Do you want to be a part of a godly church, a godly fellowship? Well, that fellowship must focus itself on Christ. Do you want to be a part of a godly marriage? Do you want to be a godly husband, a godly wife? Focus yourself on Christ. And the same can be said about families. Do you want to be a godly child? you want to be a godly parent a godly mother a godly father focus yourself on christ what paul is speaking of here is simply the christ-centered family now as i've said many times before tacking christ onto anything can be a bit of a challenge for us because when we do that with everything we so easily forget what it means to be Christ-centered. What it means to be Christ-centered is to focus ourselves on Christ. And not just a general idea of Jesus Christ, but his life and his death and his sacrifice for you and for your sins. That will enable us when the time comes for us to deny ourselves as christ calls us to do and so now when it comes to the family what does it practically look like for us to be a christ-centered family to be christ-centered children and christ-centered parents well that's what we consider this morning christ-centered family when i began to sit down and consider and write this sermon i quickly came to conclude that there was simply too much here to consider in one sermon. And so what I decided to do is to break this sermon up into two parts. This morning we focus our attention on the first part, godly children. And next time we're together we'll focus on godly parents. And so I'm going to address children in this sermon. Now just because I address children in this sermon doesn't mean that those of us who don't consider ourselves children can check out. You see, all of us have children, young people, teenagers, young adults in our lives. And we got to be prepared to engage them, to disciple them, to love them, to care for them. And so there might be much here that you should hear and listen to for their sake. So I'll be addressing children in this message. And that's what Paul does here in verse 20, right? He addresses children. He begins to address the Christian family by first addressing children. He says in verse 20, children obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. I think it's fantastic that Paul addresses children in this text. I find it so encouraging that Paul takes the time and the energy and the care to address children here. We all remember how the disciples treated children in Luke 18, right, when people began to bring children to Jesus. They rebuked those people. And let's face it, we too can sometimes have that same kind of feeling that the disciples had towards children. We can sometimes think to ourselves, children can be such hindrances. Children can get in the way of our pursuits and our desires and our dreams in life even just our daily expectations our children can challenge the things we feel like we need to do and want to do that's certainly a way that many feel today and I think that's why the U.S. fertility rate has steadily plummeted for 50 years people are no longer having children in our country like they once were and I think it's due to the fact that people selfishly think that children are hindrances and not blessings from the Lord. But children are blessings. They're great blessings. So I want to say right up in front how children are a blessing. I want to direct that to you children. You are a blessing from the Lord. You're a blessing to your parents. You're a blessing to your grandparents. You're a blessing to your aunts and uncles. You're a blessing to each other. You're a blessing to this church and this congregation. We are thankful that we have children among us. In addition, not only are children blessings and not hindrances, but I think oftentimes today we can underestimate our children. I think today we tend to expect too little from them. We tend to think that they won't understand the things that we need to teach them. And then by the time we come to conclude, oh, they might understand they've already learned it from the world, and they've learned the wrong thing. You see, in Paul addressing children here, he's expressing here that children can understand. Children have a responsibility. Children are significant within the Christian family, within the church of the Lord because just as Jesus said, to such as these belong the kingdom of God. So Paul addresses children and what does he say? Obey your parents in everything for this pleases the Lord. Now it's easy to hear who Paul addresses here. He's speaking and addressing children but it's also easy to misunderstand what he means by children. He's not simply addressing those that would just consider themselves children. He's not addressing young children here. He's addressing older children as well. He's addressing young people, teenagers, young adults. He's addressing anyone who is under the authority and within the household of their mother and father. He's addressing everyone who are still under the authority of their parents. See, the word child or children here can refer to little children or older children. So Paul is addressing sons and daughters of Christian parents. Now, what is it that Paul commands children to do here? He commands children to obey. The word obey means to listen attentively, to heed the instruction of an authority, and it implies being subject to that authority. Now, children, this is your specific duty as Christians. You want to know a major way that you can express your faith and trust in Jesus Christ? You want to know a major way that you can express the thankfulness you have in your heart for what Jesus has done for you? Obey your parents. Obey your parents. Now notice something else about this command. Paul gives it a qualification. He qualifies it. He says obey your parents in everything. In everything. He doesn't say obey your parents if you want to. He doesn't say obey your parents when you want to. He doesn't say obey your parents if they give you something in return. He doesn't say obey your parents when you're happy with them or when it's easy for you to do so. He says obey your parents in everything. In everything. Now I know a question probably just popped up in your head as what often happens in the minds of children. In everything. Does that mean I'm supposed to obey my parents when they ask me to do something sinful? absolutely not. That goes without being said. Your parents should never ask you to do something sinful. And if your parents are asking you at times to do something sinful, come see me or Reverend Gordon or one of the elders of the church so that we might speak with your parents. Your parents don't have the right to ask you to do something sinful. Now, this also doesn't mean that a parent has the right to abuse a child. Abuse is never justified. Abuse is never all right. You see, parents have a duty to love and care and raise and shepherd their child. You, on the other hand, as their child, as their son and daughter, you have the duty to obey. That's your duty. That's your responsibility. And this is a way, as I said, that you get to display your gratitude and your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Now notice something else about this command. Notice to whom you are to obey. Paul says children obey parents. Parents plural. This doesn't mean that you only obey the parent that you want to obey or the parent that you find it easier to obey or the parent that you know is more willing to discipline you if you don't obey. No, you're to obey both parents, mothers and fathers, your mom and your dad. You see, it's significant that Paul mentions parents here. He could have simply said, children obey your fathers, since fathers are the heads of a household and they have the primary responsibility. And even if Paul would have said that, he still could have been referring to both mother and father, since fathers can be referred to as representing both. But Paul doesn't do that, does he? He doesn't risk sounding like he's only saying children obey your fathers. Because let's face it, for many of you, obeying one parent over the other may be easier. It may be easier to obey dad because dad is the disciplinarian. Or it may be easier to obey dad because dad spends most of the time outside of the household working. And you spend more time with mom. And when you spend more time together, it's so easy to get crossed with each other, isn't it? But the truth is, as obedience goes, you are to obey both mother and father. And notice the reason that Paul gives this command. He says you are to do so because this pleases the lord isn't what this this isn't this here the pleasure of the lord what this all really boils down to this command is given by the lord and for the pleasure of the lord children remember who your lord is jesus christ jesus christ who lived and died for you jesus christ who submitted to his father in obedience perfect obedience all the time for you and for your sin Jesus is the one who gives this command to you Jesus the one who you have many times saying Jesus loves me this I know for the bible tells me so little ones to him belong they are weak but he is strong yes jesus loves me yes young people yes children yes teenagers jesus loves you and as your loving savior he has given this command to you he loves you so much and he's been so gracious to you to live and die for you to show you that he does love you so that when he gives a command like this you might see it as something to do to please a good gracious loving savior and that's why paul connects this command to obey with that little phrase for this pleases the lord because you are to follow this instruction for him when you obey you are obeying him and what this means is when you disobey you disobey him see one thing to always remember as a young person is that God has given you to your parents God has done that your parents are your parents because God has determined that Let me ask you, is God good? Yes, He is. Is God all-knowing? Yes, He is. Is He all-wise? Yes, He is. Is He all-sovereign? Is He in control of everything? Yes, He is. Well, if God is completely good, all-knowing, wise, and in control of everything, then it's by His good knowledge and wisdom and goodness that he has determined the very family that you are a part of you don't get to pick who your mother and father are he does for you and he does so in his infinite wisdom in his goodness and kindness he could have picked different parents for you couldn't he have absolutely he could have but he didn't he didn't he gave you the last name that you have he gave you the parents that you have now what about when you disobey what do you think that expresses to him him who picked your very parents for you it expresses a kind of dissatisfaction and a kind of displeasure not only in your parents but him who picked your parents for you and that's a great offense to God. That's why God takes disobedience so serious. It's a great offense, because parents represent God in the home. Parents represent God. What is a representative, children? Representatives are those who step in for someone else, kind of like a substitute teacher. I'm sure you've all had a substitute teacher. Well, the substitute comes in for a time, and that substitute exercises the same authority that your regular teacher exercised. Well, in a similar way, parents represent God to their children. God has given your parents a place of authority in your life. God has placed your parents in charge of you. He's given them the responsibility of raising you, shepherding you. And we know this because the Bible teaches this. Now, we're going to see next time that this is a big responsibility for parents and that parents will be held accountable for the way that they raise their children but for now for you young people for you children and teenagers young adults God has given your parents to you and given you to your parents and therefore he calls you to obey them. Now, disobedience is so sad and tragic because, you see, if you never learn to obey your parents, then it's highly unlikely that you will ever learn to obey God. Learning to obey your parents is the first step in learning to obey God, and that's why one of the Ten Commandments is honor your mother and father. One of the Ten Commandments focuses on children and their relationship to their mothers and fathers. And why? Because the Lord knew that we need that command. See, young people, you might be tempted today to disobey. It might be considered cool or popular or in vogue to disobey your parents. Who obeys their parents today? You might see kids being mocked for doing things like that. But you see, God knows better. He knows that when a child disobeys and dishonors their parents, they disobey and dishonor him. And this point is so, so significant to God that in the Old Testament, an unruly and disobedient child could even be stoned. Stoned for being that way. Listen to what Deuteronomy 21 says. If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother and though they discipline him he will not listen to them then his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives and they shall say to the elders of his city this is our son who is stubborn and rebellious he will not obey our voice he's a glutton and a drunkard so sad then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones so shall you purge the evil from your midst and all israel shall hear and fear wow that's how serious the lord takes disobedient children what a fearful thing this would have been to see, right? It's a fearful thing to simply hear this text read. But it does show us how serious the Lord takes disobedience and dishonoring of parents. And it's not just the Old Testament that takes dishonoring and disobedience serious. The New Testament does as well. Romans 1 includes disobeying parents in a list of heinous sins. We're familiar with romans 1 aren't we romans 1 is a text that covers uh people who suppress the truth and unrighteousness and it says that god gives them over to all these heinous sins included in those sins is disobeying parents so god takes disobedience and dishonoring of parents very serious now the idea to honor your parents includes more than simply obeying your parents doesn't it honor speaks of paying special respect to your parents and you should pay special respect to your parents they're your parents they're who god has given you to what is paying special respect well i'm sure you have people in your life that you kind of look up to people that hold special esteem in your life, like a grandparent or maybe a favorite teacher or a favorite coach. You hold those people in esteem. You hold them in honor. And you probably find it easy to give respect and honor to them. But you see, the Lord didn't give you to them. He gave you to your parents. And so you are to hold your parents in the highest esteem. You're to respect your parents as you would respect that coach if they were to come into your home. I was talking to my daughter this past week about this very thing. And she acknowledged she finds it easier to respect and honor her coach more than she does her parents. It's interesting how that happens, right? See, when we spend so much time together, it's easy for us to get cross with each other, to develop these kind of relational habits that we have and so it's easy to then as children to dishonor our parents we got to stop that we got to put an end to that and i'll be honest with you i'm guilty of that too i was not an obeying child i was a disrespectful dishonoring child and to my shame I say that but thanks be to God for Jesus Christ see there's forgiveness even for us as children where sin abounds grace abounds all the more Jesus was the perfect son wasn't he he was the holy son who obeyed all the commands of his father even to the point of death to the point of humiliating himself upon a cross, and he did that for us. And so now, as his people, as those who have been called out of the world as children, we're called to live for him. We're called to deny ourselves, to deny that little desire in our hearts that says, I want to do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it. See, young people, that's the heart of sin right there. I want to do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it. That needs to be denied. In place of that, remember, we took off as we read. In place of taking that mindset, that desire off, we're to put on the mind of Christ. i know it's tough it's difficult children feel like i always have to listen i always have to obey i always have to do what i'm told when you struggle with that what should you do think of christ think of jesus who did that for you jesus always obeyed always and he didn't just model that for us he did that for each and every one of us for us so that we would have righteousness so that we could be forgiven remember we are to make everything about christ how are you to be a godly child a christ-centered child focus your mind on Christ in a moment we're going to sing a hymn that children often love and enjoy in Christ alone and one of those verses of that song says and as I stand in victory since cursed has lost its grip on me for I am his and he is mine bought with the precious blood of christ children this is your savior live for him let's pray lord we give you thanks and praise for our children they are indeed such a blessing to us lord and we know that you love our children and we thank you lord that you have given our respective children to us as parents and so father i pray that you would be with our young people that you would be with them that you would give them hearts to please you hearts that would submit to you however difficult that is lord teach them to obey because out of doing so they obey you and your command and this brings pleasure to you. We pray this all in Christ's name. Amen.