Imparting the Faith
Notes
Transcript
Handout
The second Sunday of May is celebrated as Mother’s Day. The founder of this day was Miss Anna Jarvis, a teacher in the primary department of St. Andrew Methodist Church, Grafton, West Virginia, in the class her deceased mother had taught. On May 12, 1907, Miss Jarvis passed out carnations to this class in honor of her mother. In this way, Mother’s Day was born.
Today, we praise God for his gift of mothers, whether they are our biological mothers or our adoptive mothers.
We all know mothers play a critical role in a child's development. Thus, we have all been influenced by our mothers.
An important role of mothers is to impart the Faith. Being a pastor, I would say this is the most important role of a mother. 2 Timothy 1:5 shows us three generations of imparted faith.
5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.
How does a mother impart the Faith to her children?
I first want to recognize that this is a challenging job. It is 24/7, especially if no boundaries are set. It is often underappreciated.
So to all mothers, thank you for pouring your heart and soul into your family.
We also often idealize in our minds mothers imparting the Faith. I suppose I didn’t help that with the idyllic picture I opened with.
Motherhood imparting the Faith in the grind of the day or week looks more like this.
Many of you are feeling frazzled, frustrated, and fried.
You are stuck in vicious cycles that distract, drain, and destroy your efforts to impart the Faith.
I see you and know part of your pain, because I, too, wrestle with imparting the Faith to each person the Lord has put into my sphere of influence.
I know when I take my focus off Jesus’ work in my life and in the lives of those in my sphere, I begin to feel frazzled, frustrated, and fried, and thus begin the cycles that distract, drain and destroy my efforts in imparting the Faith.
So, in the mother's struggle of imparting the Faith to her children, she needs to apply Hebrews 12:1-2.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Her eyes must be fixed on Jesus’ work in her life and in the lives of her children and husband.
Moms, ask the Holy Spirit, “What are my weights and sins that I need to lay aside to run the race well?”
In fact, everyone ask the Holy Spirit, “What are my weights and sins that I need to lay aside to run the race well?”
Husbands, as the leaders of your family, you need to be asking this for yourselves and for your family, as well.
Husband, as the spiritual head of your household, you provide the example and covering that aids your wife and children in fixing their focus on Jesus’ work in their lives.
Will you help your wife, the mother of your children, to focus on Jesus’ work? Will you focus on Jesus’ work by leading by example?
In the mother's endeavor of imparting the Faith, modeling that Faith is key.
This concept is terrifying for most. The saying, “Do as I say, not as I do,” is a way we try to cope with the fear of getting it wrong.
If we stop and reflect on our childhood, we quickly realize how our mothers lived is very formative for us, for good or ill.
Paul sets the example of this modeling of the Faith in 1 Corinthians 4:16-17 and 2 Timothy 3:14-15.
16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me.
17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it
15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
None of us will model the Faith perfectly. Many of us have failed at this and will continue to fail at this.
The key, mothers, is to model with transparency and humility.
You may be tempted to shield your children from your faith struggles, your wrestling with sin.
Yet it is in this very struggle that your children see faith worked out. So don’t hide your struggles, but be transparent and humble in your faith journey, for their appropriate age.
You can then, as a family, fix your eyes on Jesus’ work in your lives, living the Faith together.
If a family places their priorities on Jesus’ work in their lives and the world, then chances are high that the faith that was once for all delivered to the Church will be imparted to their children.
This is not foolproof because the Faith is accessed through a personal decision to believe in Jesus. It is not a decision a parent can make for their children.
Mothers, I pray that you can go, focused on Jesus’ work, thus modeling the Faith in transparency and humility. With this perspective, I pray that you are less frazzled, frustrated, and fried, and break the cycles that distract, drain, and destroy, imparting the Faith that was once for all delivered to all the saints.
Happy Mother's Day! Go in the grace of our Lord.
