Mother's Day - Traditional

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray preached on Mother's Day 2019, using the fifth commandment as his anchor. He worked from Exodus 20:12 through Paul's words in Ephesians and a sharp exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees to make the case that honoring your mother is not optional, conditional, or limited to mothers who earned it. The sermon came out of a six-and-a-half-year walk through the New Testament in the order...

Read together

1. Exodus 20:12 the fifth commandment, honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land
2. Deuteronomy 5:7-21 the second stating of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy before Israel entered the promised land
3. Deuteronomy 5:16 the restatement of honor your father and mother, that it may be well with you in the land
4. Ephesians 6:1-3 children obey your parents in the Lord, first commandment with a promise that it may be well with you
5. Matthew 15:1-9 Pharisees challenged Jesus about handwashing; Jesus rebuked them for using Corban tradition to void honoring father and mother
6. Isaiah 29:13 quoted by Jesus against the Pharisees, this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me
7. Galatians 5:15 do not bite, devour, and consume one another
8. Ephesians 4 be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving to one another
9. Colossians 3 bear with and forgive one another
10. Colossians 3 children obey your parents, mentioned in context of Monday night study
11. Proverbs 31 referenced in the hope that his mother would always be called blessed, like the Proverbs 31 woman

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray talked about the fifth commandment sitting at the center of the Ten Commandments, right at the hinge between our duties to God and our duties to other people. What does that placement tell you about how God views the parent-child relationship?
2. The sermon pointed out that the command to honor father and mother carries a promise attached to it, that things may go well with you and your days may be long. How have you seen that play out, for good or for ill, in your own life or in the lives of people around you?
3. Pastor Ray said that for some people, honoring their mother is easy, but for others the honest starting point is forgiveness, and that the Greek word for forgiveness in the New Testament means to release or let go. What makes that first step of release so difficult, and what has helped you or someone you know actually take it?
4. The sermon walked through the long list of one another commands in the New Testament and suggested the church community can help people get unstuck from what they lacked growing up. Where have you personally seen the church body fulfill that role, and where do you think we still fall short?
5. Pastor Ray closed by saying that living in forgiveness is a freer and more joyful place to live than holding on. Do you believe that, and if so, what is standing between you and getting there with someone in your life right now?