Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right
Sun 17 September 2017
| Bible Bite | Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. |
|---|---|
| Date | 17-Sep-2017 |
| Passage | Ephesians 6:1-3 |
| Other Refs | Exodus 20:12 |
| Passage Text | Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother"---which is the first commandment with a promise--- "so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." |
| Tags | Children, Parenting, Obedience |
| Key Points | It's right |
| Obedience 'in the Lord'. Obedience to parents is part of our obedience to Jesus. | |
| It's good for you to obey (Wisdom is a precious thing!) | |
| Parents told to obey also | |
| Pray for parents | |
| God has an intended order for the world, which is good. Our sin (kids and grownups) has wrecked this order, scarred it. | |
| PTC EPH.08.2.2, p83: | |
| Context: Grownups submit also, according to our relationships | |
| Paul speaks to children directly, as true members of the church! | |
| It\'s \'in the Lord\', he\'s the big boss, at the end we obey him. | |
| It\'s good for you! | |
| Explain \'submission\', set in context. Maybe Stinky doesn\'t submit to a natural authority, showing its foolishness as well as the wrong. | |
| Pray for parents, an important job! v4: don\'t provoke, bring them up right. | |
| praying for parents, as those in authority who will have to give an account to king Jesus | |
| Props/Materials | |
| Preparation | |
| Debrief | Lots of laughs re parents being taken away in truck, website. Good to handle issue of potential parental abuse. |
[ Introduction: leader picks child to knock on bin, everyone calls 'come out Stinky!', Stinky comes out singing his intro tune ]
STINKY: Hello little monkeys!
LEADER: Hello Stinky! What have you been up to?
STINKY: [Casually] Oh, I'm working on my secret plan to replace parents with robots.
LEADER: What?
STINKY: Oh no, I shouldn't have said that, it was a secret...
LEADER: [Stern] Stinky... What are you up to this time?
STINKY: Well, I'm making a robot that does all the jobs that parents do. You go to the website 'getridofmumanddad.com' (all one word). Then our truck delivers the robot to your house.
LEADER: What about the parents?
STINKY: It's a bit like with your old mattress or fridge. We take them away in the truck.
LEADER: But why would you want to do that?
STINKY: So they don't boss kids around anymore! The kids would be the boss.
LEADER: Kids, what would you miss if you had a robot instead of a mum or dad?
[ Get response: no hugs/kisses, no helpful teaching ]
LEADER: Do you think God would be happy with replacing parents with a robot?
[ Get response ]
STINKY: Why not? How does God want us to treat our parents?
LEADER: Good question! Let's see what the Bible says:
[ Slide (verse): Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honour your father and mother"---which is the first commandment with a promise--- "so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." ]
LEADER: This comes from where God tells us how we should live as His family, with the different relationships we are in. He speaks directly to children, because each of you is a member of His church just as much as any adult. That's special!
STINKY: Yeah but... why should the kids obey their parents?
LEADER: First, because God says this is the right thing to do, just like Jesus obeyed his parents. But wait, there's also a promise! Obeying your parents is good for you.
STINKY: Yeah but... How is it good for children?
LEADER: Hmm, who can help Stinky with some ideas?
[ Get responses, e.g.: feel loved, they teach us wisdom, feed us, house us, clothe us, bring us to church, help us be healthy (e.g. bathing and brushing teeth). [What if you had a robot instead? Would you feel loved?]{.ul} ]
STINKY: Yeah but... why do the kids have to do all the obeying?
LEADER: God tells parents to obey too: bosses, church leaders, the government... We also obey 'in the Lord'. Parents and children have the same Lord Jesus. He gives us leaders and parents to help us. We all need to obey them, because we are obeying our Lord Jesus.
STINKY: Yeah but... but what if the parent [makes a mistake]{.ul}?
LEADER: Well, that happens in our broken world, and it's very sad. Parents sometimes disobey Jesus, and they need to say sorry for that. We don't say no to Jesus so we can say yes to a parent or a boss. Children, please pray for us parents that we can do a good job that God is happy with. God cares about children very much.
STINKY: Yeah but... [Resigned] OK, I won't do the robots anymore. That wouldn't help the little monkeys obey God and their parents.
LEADER: That's the right thing to do Stinky, and it's good for the kids. Let's see our Bible Bite:
[ Slide: Bible Bite: Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ]
LEADER: OK Stinky, can you say it?
STINKY: Err... 'Chuck your parents in the truck, for fifty bucks'.
LEADER: Stinky...
STINKY: Sorry... Can we please do it together again?
LEADER: OK, we better help Stinky kids. [Repeat]
STINKY: Oh, I better go now. Thank you for teaching us to obey our parents. Bye bye little monkeys!