Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

A little boy forgot his lines in a Sunday school presentation.

His mother was in the front row to prompt him.

She gestured and formed the words silently with her lips, but it did not help.

Her son's memory was blank.

Finally, she leaned forward and whispered the cue, "I am the light of the world."

The child beamed and with great feeling and a loud clear voice said, "My mother is the light of the world."

Bits and Pieces, August, 1989.

To be a mother is to be entrusted by God with the most precious of His creation – children.

Along with the fathers, you have the responsibility to train up your children in the way they should go.

Parents have the God-given duty to bring them up in the instruction and discipline of the Lord.

The mothers influence is certainly of great necessity.

Today’s opportunities to impact your children for Christ may not come tomorrow.

Every day their lives must be nurtured, protected, guided, and pointed to Him.

The role of educating your children for eternity is not an easy task in today’s culture.teaching

them to love Him above all else in a culture that despises Him at every turn.teaching

them the absolute truth from God’s word in a culture that denies absolute truth even exists...instructing them to walk by faith and live by the principles of God’s Word in a culture that continually is motivated by that which makes you feel good.

God knows the difficulty you face in raising your children with a biblical world view when your culture labels you as bigoted, close minded, fools.

With that understanding, men, young people, kids, let’s not make their jobs harder by ignoring the biblical mandate to honor them…honoring them should be a natural part of our every day life as we each seek to please God.

Main Point: For the child of God, honoring moms is a way of life, not just a sanctified day.

Honor Your Mom Because God commands it.

It is a well documented fact that God directs children to honor and obey their parents…it is the fifth commandment.

The first four commandments are directed towards man’s relationship with God

The other six commandments are directed towards man’s relationship with all humanity

So it is not surprising that the first commandment directed towards how we relate to other people deals with the familial relationship…parent/children relationship

There are a number of Scriptures that deal with the parent/child relationship that we do not have time to examine them all…but here are a few.

Just think of where we would be as a culture if this were carried out today…one thing is for sure, our world would be less populated.

The point here is that God expects all humanity, not just His children, to treat their parents with honor.

What does it mean to honor our Mom (parents)?

OT = kabod = honor; glory; great quantity; multitude; wealth; reputation [majesty]; splendor.

NT = timao = “a valuing, a price paid or received,”

The verb form is similar to the noun form… (noun)kabod = “honor; glory; great quantity; multitude; wealth; reputation [majesty]; splendor.”

Kabod refers to the great physical weight or “quantity” of a thing.

Kabod often refers to both “wealth” and significant and positive “reputation” (in a concrete sense)

NT meaning of timao = noun form is “a valuing, a price paid or received,” preciousness.

Verb form to honor Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996).

Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Vol. 1, p. 114).

Nashville, TN: T. Nelson.

In our culture, we seem to have lost the ability to truly honor someone…especially parents.

A biblical understanding of honor tells us it is an internal attitude of respect, courtesy, and reverence that leads us to consider what they think and desire as something with great value, weighs heavily on the scale of decision making…with the right reverence for parents, there will be attentiveness and obedience…without obedience it is merely lip service.

Honor is at the core of biblical parenting…Kids are to be taught God is the source of honor and He must be revered above all…they are to consider God first in all things, meaning God’s pleasure should weigh heavily upon their decisions in all of life…God as the Sovereign creator laid out His creation with the concept of proper honor being given to all levels of authority with a constant flow upwards towards God.

Children are also to be taught to consider moms (the parents) wisdom and desires through the same lens…but this seems to have been lost in our culture, and sadly even in the Christian home...There are a myriad of (probably well-intentioned) reasons for this.

Parents being friends with their children instead of parents...

I think the most dominating reason for this is that many parents do not have a clue what following the fifth commandment actually should look like in our time.

How can we teach our kids to live out this fifth commandment...

Encourage your children to respond in a respectful fashion.

Don’t accept the huffs and puffs, the rolling of the eyes, whatever, etc.

These kinds of responses communicate a lack of willingness to honor a parent’s authority and wisdom.

What they are really saying at that moment is “stop talking me, I am not interested in your opinion, etc.”

Train them to respond with “Yes, Ma’am, cheerful “okay mom”

this communicates they have heard the instruction or commands and that they understand.

the expectation is that they should stop what they are doing, if in visual contact, look you in the eyes and respond correctly.

Parents are not to be considered friends or peers, but rather as a God ordained authority .

Never allow them to call you by your first name…they should always address you as Mom (and Dad)…

In this present culture with myriads of blended families there still needs to be a respect and honor given to those who occupy the position of honor established by God in the role of a parent (just because they did not have a role in your physical birth, does not mean they are not your authority)…communicate in that situation what would be an appropriate title.

By the way, the parent who is considered by the child as their authority needs to establish very quickly and very clearly that their spouse is an equal authority and deserves respect and honor.

Children should call their parents by their titles of “Mom, and Dad”, not by their first names.

In a situation of step-parents, the parties involved can work out appropriate titles; a step-parent still occupies a position of honor.

Teach and model for your children the need to address other adults by their appropriate titles, such as, “Dr.” or “Mr./Mrs.”

Ask the individual how they want to be addressed especially from your children.

It is extremely obvious that respect and honor for those in authority positions or positions worthy of honor is lacking in our culture.

Adults need to respect other adults and model giving honor to those whom honor is due…we do that by addressing people with appropriate titles.

When children address adults by their first names or derogatory nicknames communicates a thinking level that rejects the other person as someone worthy of respect.

Encourage children to show affection, attentiveness, and respect to their parents in public.

Public displays of honor, respect, and love between parents and children are often the most powerful testimony a Christian family has.

None of us are in the position to demand respect because we are better morally or because we sin less than our children.

We teach our children to give the respect commanded by God as a stepping stone to helping our children respect all authority, especially God’s.

One last point in this is the practice of honoring moms when they are old

Children have the biblical responsibility to care for their parents when necessary.

Honor Moms Because Of What they Do.

The most creative job in the world involves fashion, decorating, recreation, education, transportation, psychology, romance, cuisine, literature, art, economics, government, pediatrics, geriatrics, entertainment, maintenance, purchasing, law, religion, energy and management.

Anyone who can handle all those has to be somebody special.

She's a homemaker.

Richard Kerr quoted in Homemade, February 1989.

They love and care for their children.

God wants his people to view him as one who cares deeply for them so he uses moms as an illustration of caring.

Paul wants his readers to think of his ministry to them in the same manner they think about their mothers…as one who tenderly cares for her children…think about all the sacrifices mom has to make for you...

Sacrifice of comfort and sleep to care for you when you are sick…(dads that includes you when you can’t handle being sick)

Sacrifice of time to be your taxi service, your homework advisor, your relationship counselor, your fashion coordinator, your cook, your cleaner, your ______________

Sacrifice of money she could spend on herself for whatever reason to make sure you had what you needed…or wanted

They teach their children right from wrong

Moms and dads share the responsibility to teach their children diligently.

All throughout Scripture we see the important role moms have in raising their children to be godly…Lois and Eunice, grandmother and mother, played a significant role in teaching and developing young Timothy to be Paul’s right hand man...

How would Timothy know the Scripture from childhood?…His grandmother and mother taught him.

A London editor submitted to Winston Churchill for his approval a list of all those who had been Churchill’s teachers.

Churchill returned the list with this comment: “You have omitted to mention the greatest of my teachers—my mother Green, M. P. (Ed.).

(1989).

Illustrations for Biblical Preaching: Over 1500 sermon illustrations arranged by topic and indexed exhaustively (Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file).

Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

They endure the foolishness of their children

The mother of three notoriously unruly youngsters was asked whether or not she'd have children if she had it to do over again.

"Yes," she replied.

"But not the same ones."

David Finkelstein, Reader's Digest.

Parental grief is often experienced more deeply by the moms because of the more intimate role they play in raising the children.

you can also replace he with she and son with daughter...

The point in all of this is that many times our mothers have to endure the hardship we cause them through our foolishness…and then for us to not show them honor and respect is a disgrace.

It is not fitting for the child of God!

Dads you are just as guilty of dishonoring mom when you don’t correct your children’s behavior or when you yourself dishonor and disrespect the mother of your children.

Honor them Because they Fear the Lord

No man is poor who has had a godly mother...Abraham Lincoln.