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Fourth Commandment Treasure God's Representatives The first three commandments deal with our relationship to God. So that we might stay close to Him, He has given us His name and His word. God has also given us our parents, lives, spouses, property and reputations as His gifts. As we discuss these gifts, we should not forget the first commandment. God does not want us to turn His gifts into substitute gods. God alone is the source of every good thing. The instruments benefit us only because God uses them to bless us. With the fourth commandment, we turn to the second table of the Law; that is, we begin to deal with our relationships to other human beings. God places our parents first in this category. He wants us to value them highly, to honor them as His representatives. They act on His behalf to care for us, both in providing for us and protecting us from evil. We are to honor them no matter what their status is. They may be in poor health, eccentric, or have a variety of failings, yet this does not give us an excuse to ignore God’s command. In fact, even when they do something wrong, we should not address them in a rude or challenging manner. We are to remember that they are still God’s representatives. Not only are we to obey them when we are young, but also we should show them honor as we get older. We should take care of them, especially if they become sick or poor. Under this commandment, we also need to talk about honoring others who are in authority, such as those at school and in the government. God also provides for us through these authorities. Without them food, home, and security would quickly disappear. Sometimes people substitute other good works for the works God has given to us. This was especially the case in Luther’s day, where most people believed that being a monk pleased God more than doing the ordinary things in the Ten Commandments. But even today people often think that a missionary or someone who has a hospital named after him must have done greater works than ordinary people do. However, with God, doing your homework and cleaning your room are great good works. We should not invent better works than the ones God has given to us. We should stick with the Ten Commandments. This commandment does not talk about the responsibilities that parents have, but mentioning this now will help clarify this commandment. The fourth commandment is not a blank check to those in authority giving them God’s permission to make any demand they want. Authority can be misused. Often people turn things around and use their authority to benefit themselves. This is the way pagan rulers behaved, and Jesus warned His followers not to follow their example (Matthew 20:25-27). Christians who are in authority should look at their positions as a way to be God’s agents in blessing others. God works through them to pass on blessings to those under them. Parents often must make decisions for their children. Their children’s lack of experience and their inability to see the consequences of their actions mean that parents must often act on their behalf. Also parents must make decisions that are in the best interest of the entire family. However, they should not use their authority in such a way that they provoke their children to anger (Ephesians 6:4). As with all the commandments, obedience is possible only when we trust God to keep His promises. We will honor our fathers and mothers when we trust that our heavenly Father will use them as His agents in blessing us. We can trust that God will indeed be our dear Father because of Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Brother, who has intervened on our behalf and won a place for us in God’s family. His work assures us that God will not forsake us, but will care for us through those in authority. |
