Sermon Tone Analysis

Main outline

Intro.

Today’s worship gives God glory and praise for giving us our mother’s.

And this sermon focuses on mothers; however, this does not mean that if you are not a mother, that this message is not for you.

Quite the opposite.

There is a message applicable to everyone.

The best mom in the world is one who...

you can not put a price on.

We can’t put a price on motherhood?"

So says Forbes magazine.

They cite a yearly survey by Salary.com

called the annual Mom Salary Survey, which attempts to put a salary on the work of American mothers.

First, they broke down motherly duties into the following ten categories: Day Care Center Teacher, CEO, Psychologist, Cook, Housekeeper, Laundry Machine Operator, Computer Operator, Facilities Manager, Janitor, and Van Driver.

Then they studied how many hours moms work in those categories and what the family would have to pay for outsourcing that duty.

According to the 2012 survey, they determined the following:

An article in Forbes asks, "Think you can not put a price on.

You can’t put a price on motherhood?"

A yearly survey by Salary.com

called the annual Mom Salary Survey attempts to put a salary on the work of American mothers.

First, they broke down motherly duties into the following ten categories: Day Care Center Teacher, CEO, Psychologist, Cook, Housekeeper, Laundry Machine Operator, Computer Operator, Facilities Manager, Janitor, and Van Driver.

Then they studied how many hours moms work in those categories and what the family would have to pay for outsourcing that duty.

According to the 2012 survey, they determined the following:

The average stay-at-home mom should make an annual salary of $112,962 (based on a 40-hour per week base pay plus 54.7 hours a week of overtime);The average working mom should make an annual salary (just for her "mom" role) of $66,969 (based on 40-hours of mothering duties and 17.9 overtime hours per week).

The article concludes, "The breadth of Mom's responsibilities is beyond what most workers could ever experience day-to-day.

Imagine if you had to attract and retain a candidate to fill this role?"

So how do we honor moms for all they do?

There are a lot of ways.

It might be easier to describe things not to do...

According to a British survey, 40 percent of moms have received an unwanted Mother's Day gift, but most of them were too polite to complain.

Here's a partial list of the 30 worst Mother's Day gifts (according to moms who actually received these gifts):

Deodorant Fire extinguisher Cleaning supplies A stick of French bread Salad dressing Popcorn Ants (perhaps an ant farm for Mom) Hair dyeScrewdriver Toilet roll Calculator Car parts

Another newspaper ran an article titled "20 awful Mother's Day cards that you absolutely should not buy."

The article is clear: Do NOT buy these cards, but just in case you're curious here are a few examples:

Mom, thanks for always checking up on me (with a picture of a cell phone with 24 unanswered calls from "Mom").Well I guess this Mother's Day card is late.

Looks like someone wasn't raised properly.I'm awesome.

You're welcome.

To the luckiest Mom ever.

Mom I love you loads.

(A picture of a laundry basket overflowing with clothes.)

Speaking of loads … can you do my laundry?

And we know that some are born into the world with mothers who are far from the best.

Perhaps even abusive.

Some have been taken away from their mother’s because they were unfit.

Certainly a tragic experience.

There is hope and good news for you today in this sermon.

Here’s a question: if you feel you have the best mom in the world, would you ever want to move out and find a different mom?

To disown your mom, To go live with an inferior mother?

Never.

How about those who never had a mother to raise them or had one that was unfit.

If given the opportunity to get a new mom and be raised by the best one in the world, would you turn down the offer to stay an ophan or to not escape the abusive relationship.

Of course not.

If healthy enough to make up your own mind, you would accept the offer to be adopted by the new mom.

World’s best mom…why would you want to claim another?

Yet that is what the Galatians were doing, so to speak.

Paul explains it to them with the allegory of two mom’s.

The world’s best mom and the worst mom.

One leads to freedom, one leads to slavery.

Let’s look in Galatians.

The passage Evan and Kaleb read so eloquently for us this morning in Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia is a quotation taken from which is a prophecy that references Sarah’s barrenness and the promise she was given that she would bring forth many children, and down the line the messiah would come forth.

And ultimately many children in the spiritual sense as the church grows with its children, you and me.

Why was Paul bringing up this story?

Well, that is explained as we move back a bit to the beginning of this book.

Paul’s letter to the church is dealing with righteousness by grace vs works.

He argues his point throughout the letter, and we will land in chapter 4.

He is explaining the beauty and freedom of the gospel using relationships: specifically of family, interpersonal relationships with friends, and a mother child relationships.

Notice…

gal 4.

gal

gal

Paul explains it well.

Relationship of being a child who is not free, living in bondage.

And he compares that to relationship we have with grace.

It’s not something we earned.

Notice.

He’s using the example of an inheritance.

One that is set up with trustees and guardians.

The children don’t receive control until the parents die and/or they come of age.

They are no different than slaves until the terms of the inheritance go into affect.

Paul is saying we are all born like this.

Just like slaves or trust fund children.

We have nothing as children.

But Christ comes on the scene and saves us through the cross, and we become adopted, and immediately receive our inheritance, Righteousness through grace.

From a child to and adopted son and daughter of God.

In other words, As Christians, we have matured from restricted childhood under the law to privileged adult sonship under grace.

we are restricted under the law while a small child.

We are freed through Jesus and His grace as adopted adults.

Just as a child doesn’t receive the inheritance until they come of age.

Through Christ we come of age, as we are adopted.

We mature through christ.

We stop trying to earn salvation through merit and we come to Christ.

That’s a sign of maturity.

Notice...

He talking about them reverting to childhood behavior, when they weren’t under grace.

The church was becoming legalistic, following the Judiaizers who were preaching a false gospel.

They were reverting back to the mosaic ways, trying to earn salvation.

It makes no sense to regress to childhood after becoming adults.

As Christians, our new relationship as God’s sons and daughters produces maturity.

We are free from the bondage of paganism, legalism, selfishness.

It is illogical to revert to bondage by observing the ceremonial law or trying to earn salvation through legalistically keeping the 10 commandments.

This was affecting their relationships.