Jesus said! (4) A Mother's Day Edition

Good morning, CHURCH!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers in the house or watching online.

I’m Pastor J and I’m a true gold.

I’m organized and neat. I like being on time.

I enjoy working from home alone.

I enjoy spending time with family.

I believe in sharing communication, only as much as necessary.

I get drained in long conversations and I recharge when I spend time in quiet environments.

If your true colors are blue, orange or green, I ain’t got nothing for you for the next 40 minutes.

It’s not because I don’t love you. It’s because, that’s just who I am.

I’m gold.

(Church joke of the day)

One day this youngster asked another: “What does your dad do for a living?”

He responded, “He’s an entertainer.

“Oh, like Cedric the entertainer.”

“No, not a comedian.”

“What kind of entertainer is he?”

“He’s a magician.”

“Wow, a magician.”

“What are some of his best tricks?”

“He loves to saw people in half!”

“Wow!” said the curious youngster.

“You must have an amazing fun family being the son of a magician.”

“It’s pretty cool at times.”

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“Yes as a matter of fact I do.”

“I have three half-brothers and two half-sisters! Thanks to dad.”

Are you ready to be equipped today?

Let me see your Bibles.

Let’s go to the book of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT for this week’s wisdom Vaccination.

With this being Mother’s Day I wanted a passage that would make me think of a mother’s love.

This Week’s Wisdom Vaccination

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I know this was not written to express only the love of a mother but under normal circumstances most things being right, a mother’s love comes as close to this as any human love.

Only God’s love out does a mother’s love.

And if you are here today and this was not your experience from your mother, I want you to extend them some mercy, grace and forgiveness.

If this was not the love you experienced from her it is probably because she didn’t experience it herself or something happened in life that threw her off in such a way that this no longer came natural to her.

If you’re still looking for this kind of love there is someone else who you can get it from.

The God of the Universe gives this love, because that’s just who he is.

Let’s get into today’s message.

We’re in week 4 of the series and we have a special edition for you:

Jesus said! (4)

A Mother’s Day Edition

If you’re new to the series we’re simply talking red letters.

What I’ve been doing is pointing out scripture that Jesus was quoted as saying to the people in his day and rightly dividing it to see what it means for us today.

We’ve also been trying to surmise how they might have felt hearing it for the first-time way back then.

Since this is A Mother’s Day Edition, I want to start by talking about mothers.

We say this every year around this time but it’s because it is so true.

Mothers are a special breed.

Just think about it.

How many men do you know that would let another human grow inside of them for the better part of an entire year.

What man would allow in a short period of time, there body to be rearranged and reshaped.

What man would deal with the taste bud changes, mood changes, hormone changes.

How many men would sign up to have someone else basically take over their body from the inside.

Someone they can’t even see, touch or feel yet, just take the wheel.

(We struggle with letting JESUS take the wheel lol.)

And it’s not like mothers don’t know this is all going to happen.

They’ve seen its effect on other mothers and yet they still sign up for the job.

Before they agree to carry and have a child, they have to weigh the pros and cons of what’s to come.

- First, I have to carry this child inside of me for 9 months.

- I have to go through excruciating pain every few minutes when it’s close to time to deliver this child.

- When it’s time to deliver, I have to go through even more excruciating pain.

- After delivery the child is so dependent on me that my life is basically no longer my own.

- This child relies on me for food, comfort, protection, love and more.

- I carry this child’s well being in the deepest recesses of my heart and spirit for a lifetime.

- Along the journey of this child growing up I will be there to shape and mold this child into the adult they will one day become.

- I will no longer be free to do all the things I used to do whenever I want to do them, because I have responsibilities to care for my child.

This is what makes mothers so special to me.

They know all of this will take place and even after counting the cost, (Some body say count the cost.) they still sign up for the job because of LOVE.

Today’s Message Point

What have I signed up for.

Ask your neighbor.

(Neighbor, what have I signed up for?)

Look back at them and ask.

(Didn’t you ask questions.)

You ever noticed how different people are.

Some people will sign up for something without even checking the details of what they are signing up for. (6 months no interest. Yes!!!)

And then there are those that will sign up with just a minimal about of details.

And finally you have those that won’t sign up unless they know all that is involved in what they are signing up for.

I remember growing up and my dad would start these projects around the house.

But my dad was a truck driver who was gone usually 3 to 4 days a week. Sometimes 5.

So, we would end up with projects around the house that were started but seemingly never completed.

I was a kid then but being an adult now, I’m sure it had to frustrate my mother to no end.

I would imagine that if he said something like, “I’ll fix that leak in the ceiling.”

She was probably thinking, “Don’t bother starting it, because it will just linger on for months.”

I can even imagine people stopping by the house and seeing the unfinished projects that were started and just laughing or internally mocking him for not finishing.

Did you know that Jesus was talking and sharing with a group of people one day from the standpoint of them being wise builders.

You know he liked teaching with analogies.

Turn your Bibles to the book of Luke chapter 14.

Jesus was quoted as asking a question to the group.

Luke 14:28-30 NLT

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

When Jesus said this there eyes probably would have gotten big and they would have thought about something huge that happened several years earlier. (a.d. 27)

There was this poorly built amphitheater that had collapsed, with an estimated fifty thousand casualties.

The failings of inadequate or half-finished structures were well-known to the people of that day.

One thing that is important to know about the Easterners, is that they lived in what is known as an honor shame society.

It was a BIG DEAL to be honored and it was the worst to be shamed.

To really get the impact of Jesus’ question, you have to look at it from the viewpoint that In that society it would be so shameful to start a project and not be able to finish it because you didn’t count the cost.

(Instead of being called Jose, they would now label you as the guy that started building a boat and didn’t finish it because he didn’t realize how much it was going to cost.)

The subject of this parable is the life of Christian discipleship.

(Do we have any disciples of Christ in the building?)

Jesus made the analogy of a disciple to that of a builder of a tower.

A lofty structure in that day was something distinguished, almost out of this world.

In our day you see tall buildings all the time but not back then.

It would have really stood out.

And a disciple of Christ should stand out and attract attention just like a tower would have.

What Jesus was saying in this passage was that discipleship is not a hasty decision.

It’s not something you rush into it without counting the cost.

You may have heard people say, it doesn’t cost you anything to get saved because Jesus paid it all.

Yes, Jesus did pay it all.

He paid all of the price you couldn’t pay.

But, you have to pay the price of dying to your self and living for God.

Jesus was saying that you become a disciple only after you have carefully analyzed the cost and realize that what it will cost you is worth it because of what Christ brings to your life both now and eternally.

Just like no one wanted to build a half-finished tower, Jesus doesn’t want half in disciples.

That statement in and of itself is an oxymoron. (Half in disciples.)

This just in:

If you’re a disciple, you’re not half in.

And if you’re half in, you’re not a disciple.

Jesus’ point is that we must recognize the cost/price to pay before we enlists as his disciple.

Oh, by the way, in case you haven’t figured out the answer to Jesus’ question of who builds a tower without first counting the cost.

The answer is no one.

People who call themselves Christians but didn’t count the cost to follow the boss, have come to be known as lukewarm.

And you know what Jesus said about being lukewarm.

Revelation 3:15-16 NLT

“I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other!

16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!

A little background here.

Cold water was preferred for drinking, and hot water was preferred for bathing.

But Laodicea lacked a natural water supply.

Water was piped in from hot springs six miles to the south.

Any cold water that would have been brought in from the mountains, would be lukewarm by the time it reached Laodicea.

And any water from hot springs would have been lukewarm by the time it reached Laodicea.

So, Jesus was using there water supply system as an analogy to let them know: “I wish you were hot [like for bathing] or cold [like for drinking], then you would be useful.”

But in this case, he felt towards them the way they felt towards there water supply—you make me want to gag or spit it you out.

This reminds me of a day back when I was probably around 15 or 16 years old.

I was playing basketball outdoors near Southeast High School.

It was a hot day and there were no water faucets.

One guy said that if we all pitched in a dollar or two, he’d go to the store and bring back something to drink.

I didn’t check to see what I was signing up for.

He came back with, you’ll never guess; beer.

Now I had never drank alcohol before and I wasn’t interested in starting then but I was so hot and thirsty that I just needed a little something cold to cool me down.

I gave it a try.

And almost as soon as the beer hit my taste buds, I spit it all back out.

And that is what the Bible says Jesus feels about followers or disciples that don’t really follow him or do what he says.

If you’re watching online or here in the building, I have a very important question to ask you.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you right now?