A Reflection of God

Mother’s Day Sermon – May 8, 2005 - SHM

On this Mother’s Day, we will take a look at motherhood and in it, see a reflection of the Person of God.

I. M – MENDER

 A. Mom’s a Physician – (some things she can handle herself)

  1. Cared for the hurts, bruises, scrapes, toes caught in bicycle spokes…she mended it.

   a. The Mercurochrome – Mom would daub it on (FDA banned because of the Mercury content)

   b. The Merthiolate (the branding iron): that brown ominous bottle with the red liquid inside; you would start blowing before Mom ever touched your skin with this stuff. When she did apply it, you went to dancing all over the room, trying to find some relief.”

• My mother taught me about MEDICAL SCIENCE. – “If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."

   c. But nothing took the place of mom’s kiss – “Kiss it and make it feel better!”

B. Mom’s Referral to Another

  1. To the Doc - Times when things are beyond Mom’s control, she would take you to the doc (measles, mumps, chicken-pox, strept throat, etc)

  2. To the Lord – Delores involved in an accident – beyond Mom’s control; she prayed and the next day, she washed her hair over/over, picking glass out of her forehead.

  3. 2 Kings 4:22 – “And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again.”

• "I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life." - Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

• A godly Mom, in her seeking healing for her child, points Christ-ward.*

II. O – OTHERS-CENTERED

 A. Today’s Mindset – “Self-Centeredness” (All about getting, obtaining, receiving…)

• My mother taught me about RECEIVING. “*You are going to get it when you get home!"

  1. “She looks well to the ways of her household…” – Prov. 31:27a

• "Nobody knows of the work it makes, to keep the home together. Nobody knows of the steps it takes, nobody knows-but Mother." –Anonymous

·         "A mother is a person, who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie."  -Tenneva Jordan

III. T – TEACHER

 A. Taught Us About Life

·         Pic. of Jeana/Danielle – moms continually learning to teach others

  1. “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.”                   – 2 Tim. 1:5

·         My mother taught me LOGIC. “Because I said so, that's why."

·         "Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to 'jump at de sun.' We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground."  -Zora Neale Hurston

 B. Taught Us About God

  1.“And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures…”  - 2 Tim. 3:15

   a. Mom didn’t leave the teaching to the S.S. Teacher.

·         She taught me how to PRAY. “You’d better pray that will come out of the carpet."

  2. “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.”                – Prov. 1:8

·         "What the child says, he has heard at home." - African Proverb

C. Taught Us Through Discipline

My mother taught me IRONY. "Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

·         Pic. of the new method of discipline since spanking didn’t seem to help.

IV. H - HONORABLE

• “Her children arise up, and call her blessed…”  - Prov. 31:28a

A. Honor is Two-Fold

  1. To be expected – (It is commanded by God to the children)

·         “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”  - Exod. 20:12

  2. To be earned (By the mother)

   a. By her conduct and character before her children.

·         “Bathsheba therefore went unto king Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand.”  -  1 Kings 2:19

•          "My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother." - George Washington (1732-1799)*

V. E - EXPLORER

A. An Explorer Removes the Boundaries in Life (Uncharted waters at times)

·         Deuteronomy 6:6-7 "And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; 7 and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

1. Note two things in this passage: 1 The Word of God and 2 The normal routine of life. God said they were to intertwine.

B. The Demands of Motherhood

·         Planning meals, grocery shopping, meal preparation, shopping for clothes for the family, mending, washing, and ironing, housecleaning; then there is home work and last but not least--mom's taxi service--little league, dance class, the dentist, band practice . . . you name it. (Exploring new worlds with her children/grand children)

 C. The Dangers of Motherhood

·         "Cumbered" (KJV) or "distracted" (NASB) in verse 40 is the Greek, perispaw, "to be pulled, drawn away, detached, distracted, overburdened." Martha's request in the second part of verse 40 shows us she was not only full of care and anxiety, but she was also full of resentment, self-pity, and tension. There was little or no joy in her ministry to the Savior and to others.(Because in all of her exploits, she didn’t take TIME to sit at the Savior’s feet.)

VI. R – RESPONDER*

• “Success as a parent will not be measured by our good intentions, but instead by how our children serve Jesus.”  - Gary Smalley  The Complete Family*

 A. Concentrate On Your Child’s Heart  

  1. A heart that is responsive to God is the greatest inheritance that you could give to your children. (The child’s heart)

·         Reacting – Doing whatever comes natural and easy in response to some stimuli.

·         i.e. Hitting back when you are hit.

·         Responding – The act of causing our emotions and will to behave in the way they should – loving God and others.

·         “I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul [is] even as a weaned child.”  -  Ps. 131:2

  2. We need to teach our children to respond to God’s inclinations that He gives them.

   a. That is, to respond to God’s pursuit of them; to serve and reach out to those He puts on their hearts.

What a reward: To look back after years of parenthood and see your child properly responding to God’s pursuit and purposes.