Mom, There is No Condemnation in Christ.

A daughter was talking with her mother one day about what she wanted to be when she grew up…she said,

"Mom, there are five things I want to be when I grow up."

"Oh, yeah? What are they?"

"I’m going to be a model, a movie star, a traveler and travel all around the world, and an artist and a singer."

"What about a mom?"

"I don’t know... I think that’s too hard for me."

You give the daughter credit for knowing a very important observation, that is, “Motherhood is hard work”

A good example of that is this,

Two kids told mother not to cook for Mother's Day ... they would do it.

Nine pots, 2 skillets, 4 large bowls, 11 spoons, 5 measuring cups and 1 whole roll of paper towels later Mom said, "That was the best Jell-O I ever had."

For obvious reason you can tell that I am no mother, however I am married to one, sometimes I am good a observing things and trying to understand what she as a mother is going through because to be honest, men and women, fathers and mothers are different aren't they.

However being a pastor for 20 years I have had to painstakingly try to get into the minds and hearts of mother’s and muster up enough observation to come up with 20 sermon messages on mother’s day. Some of those messages I guess were OK by some standards while others just failed to deliver.

So here we are again, me trying to muster up enough observation to deliver a message that is meaningful and honoring to moms.

So, I’ve thought about it and prayed about it. It should be “practical.” Encouraging. And rooted in the heart of God for Mothers. And it shouldn’t be the vacuum-cleaner-as-a-gift kind of sermon. This is not a time for bitter medicine. So, after much prayer and study, this what emerged.

Turn to Romans 8:1-2

Romans 8:1–2 NKJV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:1

This great chapter is, in a sense, the heart of Romans, being a shout of victory contrasting with the overwhelming despair which closed the seventh chapter of Romans, which the underlining truth is that we all sinners and that the law of God can not save us and that the law only condemns but does not save.

( NIV) "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, {2} because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."

This great chapter is, in a sense, the heart of Romans, being a shout of victory contrasting with the wail of despair which closed the seventh, the transition from the bleak and depressing condition of the unregenerated there, to the enthusiastic and joyful optimism of the eighth, being signaled by the adverb "now."

In the very first clause of this chapter, one encounters the dramatic affirmation and proof that the condition just described in was not describing Paul’s or any other Christian’s experience, but was a depiction of something prior to and diverse from the situation prevailing "now."

is the Christian’s “Declaration of Freedom,” for in it Paul declares the spiritual freedoms we enjoy because of our union with Jesus Christ. A study of this chapter shows the emphasis on the Holy Spirit, who is mentioned 19 times.

Although the Bible is a book offering the good news of salvation from sin, it is also a book that presents the bad news of condemnation for sin. No single book or collection of writings on earth proclaims so completely and vividly the totally desperate situation of man apart from God.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul declared, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” ().

News flash, mom, your not perfect. Guess what, you children are not perfect either. That is the bad news of the Gospel.

I was sitting in Marvels this week in the book, and as I was reading an article on my phone I heard a very familiar sound, it was the sound of a mother confronting her rebellious child. As I observed the situation with only my ears not my eyes, I noticed something, two imperfect people, trying to have there own way, a mother and a daughter, going head to head, each standing there ground not willing to surrender. That is the reality of our human condition. We are all rebels, in need of a saviour.

Because of that sinfulness, all unbelievers are under God’s condemnation and are “by nature children of wrath” ().

Sin places men under the power of Satan, the ruler of the present world system (). They are under the control of “the prince of the power of the air” and “of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” ().

As Paul went on to remind the Ephesian believers, all Christians were once a part of that evil system (v. 3).

Jesus declared that Satan is the spiritual father of every unbeliever (, ), and that “the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning” (; cf. v. 10).

Because of sin, all the rest of “creation was subjected to futility (and] … groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now” (, ).

Because of sin, the unbeliever have no future to look forward to except eternal damnation in hell. The lost will be in a place of “outer darkness,” Jesus said, where “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” ().

That is the bad news of the Gospel.

“And this is the judgment,” Jesus said, “that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” ().

But the good news trumps the bad,

John 3:17 NKJV

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him” ().

Some have called the most hopeful verse in Scripture.

Some have called the most hopeful verse in Scripture. It is bewildering that any thinking mind or searching soul would not run with eagerness to receive such divine provision. But perhaps the greatest tragedy of sin is that it blinds the sinner to the life-giving promises of God and causes him to trust in the false and death-giving allurements of Satan.

It is bewildering that any thinking mind or searching soul would not run with eagerness to receive such divine provision. But perhaps the greatest tragedy of sin is that it blinds the sinner to the life-giving promises of God and causes him to trust in the false and death-giving allurements of Satan.

The Reality of Freedom—No Condemnation

Romans 8:1 NKJV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (8:1)

Mother’s, if you are in Christ Jesus, you ought to have no fear of condemnation. You stand in righteousness and are loved by God as his daughter because of Christ’s work on your behalf on the cross.

Mothers, even though you may feel you are…

You are not condemned by your messy home.

You are not condemned by your lack of desire to homeschool.

You are not condemned by your personal sins.

You are not condemned by the difficulty of caring for your special needs child, a difficulty which wounds down deep.

You are not condemned by the knowledge of how easy it is for you to love one child more than another.

You are not condemned by your miscarriages.

You are not condemned by your lack of desire to have more kids.

You are not condemned because you have no desire to adopt.

You are not condemned – even though you feel it – when you read over and over about other’s perfect parenting moments on facebook.

You are not condemned by your inability to cook.

You are not condemned because your kids are not ‘normal’.

You are not condemned because you are divorced and doing it alone.

You are not condemned by your desire to be alone, away from the kids, for a time every. single. day.

You are not condemned by your body, which may not be what it once was.

You are not condemned by your repeated failures as a mother.

You are not condemned by your rebellious children.

You are not condemned by the frustration of having to scrape mac and cheese off the kitchen floor. Again.

You are not condemned by all the fears and tears which flirt with insanity and take you to the precipice of despair.

You are not condemned by not being able to throw the birthday party of the year for your kids.

You are not condemned for not feeding your kids meals that did not come from Whole Foods.

You are not condemned by your need for a vacation. Away from the kids.

You are not condemned because you cannot take your kids on exciting vacations.

You are not condemned for not living up to the standards of your Mother or Mother-in-law.

You are not condemned by the stares of those who have no kids when yours erupt into volcanic screams in public places.

Mother’s, even though you may feel condemned, if you are in Christ, you are not condemned. This is the real reality.

You are not condemned, because if you are in Christ, your identity in Christ not in your failures and imperfections…your righteousness is Christ alone. Therefore, enjoy the unending love and affection and acceptance of being a daughter perfectly loved with an unwavering love that flows from your Father in Heaven.

And to all those who are not mothers…

Like myself.... and do nothing to diminish this reality. Nothing.

Do nothing as Pastors, Husbands, Sons, Daughters, Mothers, Fathers, Mother-in-Laws, Father-in-Laws, friends, acquaintances and advice givers to diminish this reality. Nothing.