Cited in sermons
Klaus Bockmuehl
5 sermons · All people cited
The 5th Commandment
The fifth commandment — 'Honor your father and your mother' (Deuteronomy 5:16) — demands far more than a recipe for happy families; it is a covenantal obligation rooted in God's own authority and binding on every generation. This study examines the command under three heads: its explanation (the Hebrew word for 'honor' connoting weightiness and reverence), its scope (extending beyond the family to all superior-inferior relationships in church, workplace, and commonwealth), and its sanction (from the rod of correction in Proverbs to the capital sentence of Deuteronomy 21). The promise appended to the command — long life and general wellbeing — is understood as a principle of divine providence, not an absolute guarantee, and the study closes with the duty of superiors to govern those beneath them in a godly and nurturing way.
The Faithful Father
Colossians 3:20–21 places two commands at the center of household religion: children are to obey their parents in all things as an act pleasing to the Lord, and fathers are forbidden from provoking their children lest they become discouraged. This exposition traces the negative prohibition of Colossians 3:21 through its Old Testament background in Deuteronomy 21 and its positive counterpart in Ephesians 6:4, examining how unrighteous anger, unbiblical discipline, and passive abdication each provoke children toward despair and rebellion. The fifth commandment functions here both as a mirror to drive children to Christ and as a continuing standard to which the Spirit then empowers obedience. Fathers are called to fear God first, to exercise discipline within an atmosphere of love, and to provide spiritual instruction — in the home and through the church — as their highest earthly stewardship.
The First Commandment
The First Commandment — 'You shall have no other gods before me' (Deuteronomy 5:7) — demands the exclusive covenantal allegiance of God's people to Yahweh alone. The sermon works through both the prohibition and the positive demands of the commandment, exposing atheism (doctrinal and practical), polytheism, syncretism, idolatry, sorcery, and heresy as violations of the first word, while showing that the commandment positively requires the knowledge, love, fear, trust, obedience, and worship of the one true God. The pedagogical function of the law is also pressed: the commandment, taken seriously, drives the believer to repentance and to Christ, the only law-keeper, who gave himself for the sins of all those the Father had given him.
The Bible and Abortion, Part 1
What does Scripture say about abortion, and does it offer a coherent case for the sanctity of unborn life? This sermon works through three interlocking biblical arguments: the sanctity of human life grounded in the imago Dei, the established personhood of the pre-born throughout both Testaments, and the specific prohibition against abortion implied in the case law of Exodus 21:22–25. The lex talionis applied to accidental premature birth demonstrates that God holds the life of the unborn equal in worth to the life of the mother, making intentional abortion a violation of the sixth commandment. The sermon closes by insisting that the only remedy for the guilt of a murderous culture is the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is a real Savior for real sinners.
The Christian Father
Colossians 3:21 addresses fathers with a single prohibition — do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged — and the sermon expounds that verse alongside its Ephesians 6:4 parallel to give a full account of fatherly duty. The prohibition is explained through its result (discouragement, the breaking of a child's spirit) and its common causes: unrighteous anger, unbiblical discipline, ungodly inconsistency, and imbalance of law without gospel. The positive exhortation of Ephesians 6:4 is then opened through five practical commitments — presence, provision, protection, prayer, and preaching — each grounded in the father's identity as a new man in Christ whose grace-transformed heart drives active, loving involvement in his children's lives.