Traditions in a Modern World

The Nature of Honor
Honor is an outward action

Honor is simply the elevation of someone above yourself. It is mostly an action. It is mostly external. There are several verses about showing honor. There are other verses that make it clear that honor is usually an outward facing, public kind of thing.

I only found one verse that talked about heart-based honor – and that was 1 Peter 3:15 which says, “But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy.” But for the most part, this is about displaying certain behaviors. Esteem, respect, etc…

I don’t know where it came from – the idea that we should only act in accordance with our feelings. I’m not sure how feelings became the driver. But with honor, that’s almost certainly not going to work.
Honor is generally prescribed toward three kinds of people
Those in positions of authority.

1 Timothy 6:1 – Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled.

1 Peter 2:17 – Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
Those who do good

Speaking of Epaphroditus, Paul tells the church in Philippi – “So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.”

In 1 Timothy 5:17, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
Those who have some kind of weakness

This is a kind of care you give to things that are weak and prone to being easily hurt. The clearest example provided is how Paul talks about our private parts in 1 Corinthians 12:23--24

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it…

Paul is saying, we take care of those parts of our body that need extra care. This is an expression of honor.

1 Peter 3:7 – Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

1 Timothy 5:3 – Honor widows who are truly widows.Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
Honor is merely tracing the hand of God.

We honor people in authority. Why? Because all authority is from God.
We honor people who do well. Why? Because God’s common grace is evident.

We honor the weak why? Why? Because if you’ve done it to the least of these, you’ve done it unto me.

So honor is merely the recognition of God’s fingerprints on something. Which is why, in some sense, we are commanded to honor everyone.
Most of us in this room will have the opportunity to honor our parents at all three levels.

Firstly, we honor them because they are appointed by God to be our parents.
Secondly, we honor our parents because in various ways, they’ve earned our deference. We will see many commendable things and many reasons to honor them.
But we will also see weaknesses. Sometimes personality, character, blind-spots, etc… And then eventually – physical weaknesses.

Most people will have opportunities to honor their parents for all three. Some might only have the first. Some might only have the first and the third.

Kids, you honor your parents for three reasons:
Because God made them your parents
Because they do all sorts of good things
Because they’re old and tired and you should be nice to them
Reward for Honoring Our Parents

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” – Exodus 20:12

I want to pay careful attention to that promise. As the Apostle Paul would later write in Ephesians, “this is the first command with a promise.” – Ephesians 6:2

Now we know from Paul’s citation that the promise isn’t isolated to Israel. Yes, God had a particular land for these people at a particular time and so in one sense, the promise given in Exodus 20:12 is for the generations who would eventually enter the Promise Land.

But Paul’s citation of the text to the children in Ephesus tells us that the promise is given more generally to all people everywhere. There is something about honoring our parents that leads to a kind of prosperity.

Why is this? When I was younger, I thought this must be due merely to God watching. He is paying attention to whether or not I honor my parents. If I do it, he will bless me. If I don’t, he won’t. There’s nothing wrong with that kind of thinking. All of that is true. But I now realize I did not see the internal logic of the command and the consequence. I’ve gotten older, I realized that this commandment comes with a promise because the results of honor/dishonor are totally predictable.

Why? Let’s just take one area – wisdom. Understanding the world. Etc…

Second Order Thinking

If electrical cars ever really took off, many many gas stations would close. And, in America anyway, a weird relationship exists between gasoline and nicotine. There’s actually statistics that electric cars might save far more lives by breaking the nicotine/gasoline connection than by self-driving, etc…

That’s second order thinking. It turns out the world is very complicated. And there are tiers of relationships that aren’t immediately evident. And ways of navigating this highly complex world are layered in on top of each other for decades. That’s one way to think of traditions and more broadly about traditional ways of doing things.
Chesterton’s Fence…

There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”
Tradition and Forgotten Problems

Another author puts it this way:

“Tradition is a set of solutions for which we have forgotten the problems. Throw away the solution and you get the problem back. Sometimes the problem has mutated or disappeared. Often it is still there as strong as it ever was.”

People who honor their parents tend to have massive advantages in these areas – and so they understand the world better, make fewer mistakes, make better decisions, etc…
Issac Redigging the Wells

Issac returning to the wells of Abraham. They have all been filled in by those nasty Philistines. So in one sense, he’s going to have to do the same amount of work he would have to do if he were digging a new well. But what’s the difference? He knows there was water here before. Would he find that or two of the wells had run dry? Sure. But in general, Issac was spared the painful process of discovery. A pain his father had paid for before him.

Seeking Counsel

While there is more to honor than seeking counsel, that aspect – listening to our forefathers, seeking their insights, even if we have to dig through some sand to get to it – that seems to be the primary mechanism behind the promise.

Just as a reminder, here’s the promise…

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” – Exodus 20:12

So we have an action – honor your father and mother
And a promise – so that your days may be long in the land

And I am asserting that one natural outworking of honoring older people is getting wisdom and that wisdom works to build good lives.

In fact, we can see the same promise given to those who seek wisdom.

Listen to Proverbs 3:13-18

“Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.”

Seek wisdom and get it, you get long life.... What’s the most practical way to do that? Listen to your parents. Which is also Proverbs. Listen to 3:2

“My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.”

One of the things going on here is humility. You’ve been here longer than I have, you’ve seen things, etc…

But another thing going on is charitability. That is the ability to look past the warts of sin and more general shortcomings of older folks and glean the wisdom.
Consequences for Disobeying the 5th
This is Chris McCandless.

Like a lot of young men, I read about him in John Krakauer’s book, “Into the Wild.” I think I was 21 when this book came out. Which was the perfect time to read it.

If you don’t know the story, it is a tragic one. Chris died at the age of 24. He died in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness. In an old bus someone had towed out there to use as a shelter. Now he was pretty clearly starving. But the main theory on why he died has to do with eating far too many H. alpinum seeds (wild potato).

The quick version of how he got there. Basically, he grew up in the Californian suburbs. Upper class to some extent. He idolized his dad. And then as he was in the late stages of high school, it comes out that his dad had an affair and had cheated on his mom (many years prior).

And this infuriated Chris. And he went off on a kind of “find yourself” journey – which ended sadly in this bus.

Now the reason I’m telling you this is because of those wild potato plants that most likely killed him. Why was he eating those? He had a guidebook - a field guide. And that book said it was ok to eat them. Which, it was. Just not too many (which the book did not say).

Do you see what’s going on here? He can’t trust his dad. But he can trust this field guide. Why? Because the field guide author didn’t have an affair? Who knows!

Chris is just one example of many tragic instances where young people failed to honor their parents, failed to think humbly and charitably and wound up destroying themselves in the process.
Summer of Runaways

I believe I have previously mentioned an article that appeared on the BBC website back in 2017. It details the “Summer of Runaways” that took place in 1967, as the hippie movement swung into full steam. Hundreds of thousands of young teenage girls ran away from middle class homes.

They saw their parents as boring, living isolated lives, not caring enough for the world around them. So hundreds of thousands of young girls moved west into California and Oregon and joined communes – dominated by male gurus with dark sexual urges who did not like to be told no.

I guess my point is that if you obey the 5th commandment, you have a very good shot at living a good life. And if you disobey it, you’re most likely going to turn your life into a tragic joke like Chris McCandless did. Like all of those poor teenage girls did in the 60s.

Chris – I can’t trust my dad! Here’s a book written by someone. I’ll trust this!
Young women the 60s – my parents are boring and traditional – I’ll go live with the pervy guru instead.

What could go wrong?

Review & Application
Honor is an action.
There will be plenty of times when you do it but don’t feel like it.
Three reasons for honor:
Position
Performance
Weakness

In each case, we are just responding to what the Lord is doing.
The Lord has appointed this authority.
The Lord has blessed this person’s work.
The Lord is served by our service to the least of these.

Most of us will learn to honor our parents for all three reasons.
The Long Life Reward seems rooted in Seeking Counsel
In thinking humbly and charitably. In being able to dig the sand out of your father’s well. Just like it says in Proverbs 20:5, “The purpose in a man's heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.”
Those Who Disobey This Are Destined For Disorder
We see in the New Testament that disobedience to the 5th Commandment is a comorbidity to general disobedience and self-destruction…

“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” – Romans 1:28-32

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. – 2 timothy 3:1-5
Let me conclude with two points of application, one cultural and one personal.
Cultural: We are living in the fallout of a revolution
In many ways, the 1960s-80s, was a period of time devoted to desecrating the 5th commandment. This is when traditionalism became a bad word.

And the world we have today is really the byproduct of anti-traditionalism. Especially in the church. Baby Boomers went into the church and said, “we want new music, new eschatology, new ecclesiology, new evangelism, etc… And if any church does anything that feels too “old” we’re outta here!”

They abandoned the rich historical confessions of faith and catechisms for their NIV study bibles. I am not aware of another generation that turned its back so completely and defiantly on history in the way that the Baby Boomers did.

A certain somebody keeps talking about “What can be, unburdened by what has been.” We already ran that experiment.

I’m not beating up on any of you here. I know most of your stories. I know you weren’t actively against tradition. I’m bringing this up because the church needs to obey the Fifth Commandment as well.

And this means a regular consulting with the fathers of the faith. And a generally positive attitude toward tradition rather than a generally negative one.
Personal: The Reward Is So Great
I want to strongly encourage you to regularly seek counsel either from your parents or other older Christians. If you are a part of Providence, then I know the Lord has richly blessed you with many counselors. Don’t forget to ask your parents what they think too. Maybe there’s sand in that well. Maybe there’s only sand. But do it for your own sake. Be humble. Be patient. Be charitable.
Communion:
As we observe the Lord’s Table today, I want to remind you that all of our hope in life and death came down to one particular observation of the 5th commandment. The entire universe hangs on this moment.

Let me read it to you now:
And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” – Luke 22:41–42.

That’s the crescendo of the 5th. Thousands of years earlier, as God spoke these words to Moses:

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

The Triune God knew that one day the Son would defer to the Father – not just to accomplish long life – but eternal life for all who believe in him.

As you take the table today, celebrate the deference of the son to the father. See the glory that come of it. And ask the Lord Jesus to give you the same attitude.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father