A Note from Michael Gossett
A Forgotten Virtue
Exodus 20:12 says, “Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
We live in a day where honor is simply in short supply. It seems to be missing from everyday life, or at least like it once was. I don’t want to sound like an old man…. But, back in my day, you were taught to say “sir” and “ma’am.” Maybe this is the Ole’ Georgia boy in me, but it sincerely was a way of showing honor to elders. Even the idea of authority is often viewed with suspicion, and the practice of honor is treated as optional or even, at times, unnecessary. Our age does not drift naturally toward reverence. It drifts toward self-rule instead. This is not just a cultural trend. It’s a spiritual issue that reaches back to the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve rejected the authority of God, humanity began its long history of resisting the very structure God designed for our good.
The Fifth Commandment confronts this rebellion by restoring the virtue of honor. God places this command at the head of the commandments that deal with human relationships. Before He addresses murder, adultery, theft, or coveting, He first addresses the home. The home is the first community where the character of God is learned and understood. Thomas Watson (the Puritan) wrote, “A family is the seminary of the church and the nursery of the commonwealth.” If the home breaks down, the church suffers, and the culture follows.
For us at Green Acres, this is why an investment in our Kids’ Ministry and Student Ministry is for the good of all. We understand that kids’ and student ministry is not an isolated ministry effort or a safe place to drop-off kids (although we certainly want to maintain a safe ministry environment). It is much more than that. It is a gospel-centered partnership with families. It is a ministry, that when done rightly, will undergird the biblical principles that are taught at home and reinforce gospel centeredness for the family. However, we understand that this may not be reflected in every home. We understand that these ministries may also be the only place that the next generation will find the hope of the gospel.
The Idea of Honor
The word that Moses uses for honor carries the idea of weight. It means to treat parents with seriousness, dignity, respect, and gravity. Honor does not imply perfection in parents. Honor acknowledges the God given role and position of parents in the home. God has placed fathers and mothers in a role that reflects His care, discipline, wisdom, and provision. The home is the first place where a child learns what authority is and how to respond to it.
The call to honor does not expire with childhood. While obedience belongs to the young, honor belongs to every stage of life. Adults honor parents through prayer, patience, forgiveness, gratitude, and care. Scripture does not treat parents as accessories to our lives. Scripture treats them as gifts and responsibilities entrusted to us by God.
Even in the case where parents have failed deeply, the call to honor remains, though it may look different. Honor might mean setting healthy boundaries while refusing bitterness. It might mean offering forgiveness, even when reconciliation is not possible. It might mean praying for their salvation. Honor always takes the form of righteousness, not retaliation.
God’s Design for Authority
Authority is not a result of the fall as many think. It is part of God’s good creation. The entire Bible assumes that the world is shaped by ordered relationship. I would recommend a book to you that has really impacted my biblical understanding of authority which is, Authority, by Jonathan Leeman. Leeman has helpfully reminded the church that God created everything to live within structures of authority. These structures are not oppressive when they follow God’s design. They are channels of flourishing.
Scripture teaches several key truths about authority.
First of all, authority belongs to God. Psalm 24 proclaims that the earth is the Lord’s. Romans 13 teaches that every earthly authority is appointed by God. Jesus Himself declared in Matthew 28 that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. Authority does not begin with parents or governments or pastors. It begins with God.
Second, parental authority reflects divine authority. Parents do not own their children. They shepherd them. God entrusts them with a stewardship of souls. Proverbs repeatedly exhorts children to listen to instruction because parents have been placed in their lives by God for their shaping. When children honor parents, they honor God’s created order.
Third, the church is an authority under Christ. Pastors do not rule with domination but with humility, prayer, and obedience to Scripture as chief undershepherds. Hebrews 13 commands believers to submit to pastors because they keep watch over their souls. Church authority exists for spiritual formation, discipline, and pastoral care.
Fourth, civil authority restrains evil and preserves order. Romans 13 teaches that government functions as God’s servant to reward good and punish evil. Even flawed governments serve purposes under the sovereignty of God. Christians honor governing authorities not because they are flawless but because God is faithful.
Fifth, individuals possess delegated authority as image bearers. Humans have the capacity for moral reasoning and responsibility. We are accountable creatures. While under God’s rule, each believer is called to self-control and integrity.
The fifth commandment is rooted in this larger doctrine of authority. God places parents at the head of the social structure, not because they are perfect, but because He Himself is wise. Honor within the home becomes the foundation of honor in society. A generation that rebels against parental authority soon rebels against every other authority, including God Himself.
Home is the Beginning
Commandments 1-4 teach us how to honor God. Commandments 5-10 teach us how to honor one another. God begins the second table of the Law with the home because the home is where the character of the next generation is shaped. Before a child learns to pray, he learns to listen. Before a child learns theology, he learns trust. Before the child understands the sovereignty of God, he learns the authority of parents.
Parents are the first shepherds a child knows. They are the first representatives of God’s provision and boundaries. They are the first teachers of obedience and consequence. To dishonor parents is to dishonor the order God created for human life.
Israel understood the importance of this command. Deuteronomy 21 speaks of how dishonor undermines the fabric of the community. Proverbs warns that disregarding parents leads to ruin. Paul restates the command in Ephesians 6 and reminds the church that it contains a promise. This command is not negotiable. It is essential for individual and communal health.
The reality is that some parents do fail profoundly. Some walk in godliness and wisdom, while others walk in sin and foolishness. The Fifth Commandment is not blind to the reality of brokenness. Scripture is brutally honest about the failures of families. Noah’s drunkenness, Jacob’s favoritism, Eli’s negligence, David’s passivity, and Solomon’s compromise all show the damage that sinful parents can cause.
Yet God still gives this command because honor is rooted in His authority, not human perfection. Honor can exist even when trust has been violated. Scripture never commands blind acceptance or submission to sin. Scripture always commands the believer to walk in grace.
When parents are godly, honor is joyful. When parents are ungodly, honor becomes an act of faith. In both cases, honor is obedience to God.
But then, God attaches a promise. “So that you may have long life in the land.” This is nothing mechanical or some type of mystical formula to generate favor, it is a principle of covenant blessing. A society shaped by honor is stable. Families shaped by honor are strong. Individuals shaped by honor tend to move toward wisdom, humility, and peace.
Paul restates this promise in Ephesians 6 and applies it to the church. He teaches that children who honor their parents place themselves under the blessing of God. This principle is not about longevity alone, but about life being ordered according to God’s wisdom. Where honor thrives, life flourishes.
Christ the Perfect Son
Christ fulfills the Fifth Commandment in a way no one else ever has. He honored Mary and Joseph perfectly. He submitted Himself to their authority even though He was their Creator. He honored His Father in heaven with every thought, word, and deed. He obeyed perfectly where Adam rebelled. Even from the cross, amid agony, He honored His mother by entrusting her care to the apostle John.
The righteousness that Christ displayed becomes the righteousness that covers His people. We honor because He honored. We obey because His Spirit sanctifies us. We forgive because He forgave. The Fifth Commandment is not only a law we strive to keep, it is a portrait of the life of Christ formed within us.
How can you show honor today? Honor is not something that is done once a year, or just at the holidays; it is a daily pattern in your life. Let us begin today.
Finish the Year Strong
As we enter these final weeks of the year, I want to encourage our church family to finish strong in our giving. At this point, we are around $500,000 behind in our annual budget giving. This is certainly a significant gap, but it is not an impossible one. God has proven again and again that when His people respond in faith, He provides in ways that only He can.
Our budget giving fuels everything we do as a church. It supports ministry across every generation, discipleship in every season, and missions in every direction. When we give faithfully, we invest directly into lives being changed by the gospel here in East Texas and around the world.
We also still have a long way to go on our World Mission Offering for this year. This offering sends missionaries, plants churches, serves the vulnerable, and carries the message of Jesus to places many of us will never see. When you give to the World Mission Offering, you are helping take the gospel where it has not yet gone.
I want to invite each of us to pray, to seek the Lord, and to consider how He is calling us to participate. Let us give sacrificially and joyfully as an act of worship, not out of pressure but out of gratitude for all God has done for us.
Green Acres, I believe the Lord will use our collective obedience to close the gap, meet the need, and advance the mission. Let us finish the year with generosity, faith, and trust in the God who provides.
I am grateful for you and excited to see how God moves through His people in these final weeks. You can give by clicking this link: gabc.org/give
If you love hearing Christmas and worship music- we hope you will join us this Sunday, December 14 as our Green Acres Worship Ministry presents HOPE HAS A NAME here at the Tyler campus at 6pm. This is a multi-generational Christmas Concert featuring our Worship Choir & Orchestra, our Highest Praise Senior Adult Choir, and our Student Worship. Our 2nd – 5th grade Kidz Praise will be singing carols in the foyer prior to the concert and we will be serving cookies and hot chocolate. Bring family, friends, and neighbors! I look forward to seeing you there!
THIS SUNDAY!
Do not miss this Sunday! As we continue our Christmas series, Immanuel, we will explore the most important moments in the life of Jesus and His disciples and this particular moment is centered on one question: “Who do you say that I am?” This Sunday’s message, “Immanuel Reveals,” will help us see that Christmas is not just about the birth of Jesus, but the revelation of who He truly is. He is the Messiah, our Savior, and our King.
If you’ve ever struggled to understand who Jesus really is, or if you’ve known Him for years and want to go deeper, then you do not want to miss this Sunday. Join us at 9:30 or 11:00. Bring someone with you who needs to hear the truth about who Jesus is. Because when Immanuel is revealed, everything changes.
You are loved and prayed for!
Michael Gossett