Timothy's Mom

So I woke up at 4 am this morning and rewrote today’s sermon. I can’t remember the last time I did something like that but today I could not sleep and this was pressing on me so after 30 minutes of tossing and turning I got up and wrote this sermon.

The passage on my mind is one we have covered not very long ago. I remember commenting on it and on the faith of the people involved and I want to share it with you again today.

2 Timothy 1:1–9 NASB95

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy. For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,

Paul, talking to his protege, the one he was grooming to be a pastor and a leader said that he remembered the faith of his mother and his grandmother. Paul is calling Timothy to be faithful and true to his calling even though it might be hard and even though there might be trials and difficulties. Paul urges Timothy to never be ashamed of the testimony of God, the words of God, he urges Timothy to join him in his suffering for the gospel. Now you have to have some kind of relationship with someone to have the courage to ask them to join you in your suffering. I know a lot of people who would join me for lunch or join me for a evening out or a maybe to watch a movie but I don’t know very many who I could call and say join me in my suffering. That list is very short, and it is short for a reason. No one wants to suffer, if you are going to suffer for something it has to be something that is important to you, something that matters......a lot.

Yet Paul urges Timothy to be faithful and to join him in his suffering, and Paul does this with confidence and apparently without a doubt that Timothy will do so. What is even more amazing is that he says that he knows Timothy can do this, that he can be bold even in the face of danger and he gives a reason why. What reason, because he remembers Timothy has a sincere faith, a faith that Paul first saw in Timothy’s grandmother and in Timothy’s mother. What an awesome testimony that is.

Whenever I read that I think of my mother and my grandmothers. I had three you know, that’s three grandmothers not three mothers. Let me first tell you about my grandmothers and their husbands. Of course there was my dad’s parents and my mom’s parents but there was also the parents of my adopted dad. The thing I remember most about my adopted dad’s mom was that she would sit in her chair. hand sewing a patchwork quilt and tell stories. I only remember two of them today. One was about the first time she ever saw an automobile in her life. They were on there way to church in the back of a wagon and saw an automobile pass by on the way to somewhere else. It was the only time I can remember her ever referring to God or church or faith or anything else in her life. As far as I can remember her husband never did. He sat on the porch, chewed tobacco and drank beer and told a few jokes, that is what I remember about him. My dad, the one who adopted me, was a lot like his father. He drank and told dirty jokes, he cussed and yelled and got violent and God was not a part of his life at all.

My mom’s parents were apparently good churchgoing baptists. After I was an adult I learned that they had gone to church every Sunday and been active in the church. They had served in various capacities and would probably have been considered find upstanding members of the church. That seems strange to me. I know that I was just a kid and I probably missed a lot but I never really noticed that they went to church or that God was a part of their lives. They were not bad people, I loved them. We spent every holiday at their house and grandma would always ask grandpa to say grace over their meal. Grandpa would always say a nice prayer and then, after he said amen he would say something like eat the meat and leave the skin, back your ears and dive right in. I remember it would make grandma furious, I think that is why he did it. We would all laugh and it was great fun but it never really occured to me that his prayers were real or that there was a real God to pray to, it was just something we did at holidays. My aunt lived with my grandparents for as long as I can remember with my two cousins. My grandparent practically raised those kids. I went over there a lot and stayed with them and played with my cousins but I don’t remember God ever being invited in. My aunt is not a christian, my other aunt and uncle never appeared to be interested in God and their children also seem uninterested. My mom goes to church now and has been very active in church from time to time. I believe that she is saved but when I was growing up we did not go to church or mention God at all. I think we did go a few times when I was little but I have no clear memory of it. I wonder how a couple who went to church every Sunday and took their kids and their grand kids with them could leave so little legacy of faith behind them when they are gone. I wish I could ask them about their faith today and try to understand what happened in my own family but it is too late.

My father’s parents were different. I stayed with them for a couple of weeks during the summer every year. We went to church and we talked about church and about God, it was a natural part of their lives. They were not what you would call holy rollers, they did not talk about God all the time and I never saw them witnessing to strangers on the street or passing out gospel tracts in town, although if they had I don’t think I would have been surprised. I do remember people coming over and asking their advice and I remember their neighbors stopping by to chat. One of my strongest memories of them is about neighbors. My wife once expressed to them her concern over moving so often with the military and not knowing anyone when we moved to a new place. My grandmother told us that they had moved several times and whenever they had moved they made a special effort to get to know there neighbors and that wherever they were they always had good neighbors. Then they gave us this piece of advice, if you want to have good neighbors be a good neighbor. You know something, that advice works.

Another strong memory I have about them was about a book my grandmother gave me. I think it was for my birthday but I was young and fascinated by dinosaurs. They knew I loved to read and was interested in dinosaurs so they bought me a book about them. I don’t remember much about that book, in fact I had a hard time remembering what the book was about or why they bought it for me but I do remember when it was given to me. I remember it because when I opened the gift grandma sat down in the floor with me and explained that they wanted me to have the book because I was interested in the subject but that there was a problem. The book started by talking about the big bang theory millions and millions of years ago and grandma sat down with me to explain that the book was wrong. She said “we know that God created the heavens and the earth and not some big explosion and I want you know that even though we bought you this book we don’t agree with that part of it and we want to make sure that you know that everything in the world was created by God and that God loves you.” That really impressed me then and it impresses me now. I can’t say how their faith affected my father because I never met him but I did meet a lot of the family.

My uncle flay was a fine Christian man and it was obvious that God was important in his life. His daughters too seem to be serving God.

Although I never met my dad his best friend growing up lived just behind my grandparents and I met him, in fact I used to go over to his house just to see him. He always got a kick out of it. He told me I looked exactly like my dad did at his age. He always welcomed me and made me feel important. He would talk to me and he always had a Reese cup to give me, he stocked vending machines for a living. Later on he sold me a whole box of Reese's at a discount. I never thought at the time about how unusual it was for a grown man to take the time to listen to and spend time with a kid just because he had been friends with the kids dad when they were growing up. I think grandma and grandpa left a fine legacy of faith, with their family, their friends, and even with their kids friends. I hope I have been able to do something like that myself.

And that my deer friends brings me back to you, and to mothers day. I hope that your kids and grand kids can see your faith lived out in front of them. I hope that they will never wonder why they never knew you were a christian. I hope that they never wish they could ask you about it, after it is too late.

What kind of legacy are you leaving, what kind of example are you setting. I am not saying you have to be preaching or quoting scripture all the time, I am just asking if God is real in your life and if the people around you can see it. Mom’s you may well be the most important people in your children’s lives. That is certainly true when they are little and you will continue to be important all the rest of their lives, even after you are gone from this earth. The life you led and the things you taught will live on after you in your children. You have been given a great gift and a great responsibility. Will your children and grandchildren remember you as someone who was a good person, someone who was a godly person. Will they remember how God was real in your life and how they could see that you really believed, or will they wonder why you never seemed to talk about God or why He never seemed to be part of your life. What kind of legacy will you leave.

I don’t know if I would have ever gotten saved if it wasn’t for the influence of my grandmother and grandfather. Maybe I would have, then again maybe I would never have listened later on if they had not planted the seed. I do know this. Moms, and dads, grandma’s and grandpa’s you have an opportunity to plant that seed, to water it and to see it grow. You have a chance to shape the lives of the next generation and the one after that. What will you do with that chance. How will you spend the gift you have been given. To be a parent is a precious gift, it is a great honor and it is a great responsibility. I love my mother an I honor everyone who puts in the time and effort to raise a child. It is often hard and it is almost always inconvenient. Kids want things and need things, they need a lot of care and attention and if our mom took care of you she deserves honor and respect. She deserves your love and she deserves to be recognized. I want to honor moms today, I want to honor what they mean to us and what they have taught us. I want to honor their legacy and everything did to make us who we are. A great legacy was poured into my life, I learned a lot, I want to honor that and keep it going, I hope you do too.