Mama Told Me

Matthew 7:24-27

Mama Told Me...When I was Young

Intro: The sermon title comes from the Song Simple Man. The song goes on. “Sit beside me, my only son.”Listen closely to what i say. And it will help you some sunny day.” I thought it was fitting for Mother’s day Shortly after Ronnie Van Zant's grandmother and Gary Rossington's mother died, they got together in Van Zant's apartment and started telling stories about them. Rossington came up with a chord progression, and Van Zant wrote the lyrics based on advice the women had given them over the years. They wrote it in about an hour.

Even though the lyrics state, "Sit beside me, my only son," Ronnie was not the only son. He had 2 younger brothers along with one older sister and one younger sister.

In this sermon, Jesus has called people to himself to hear his words and he is closing up his sermon and he wants to make sure people understand what it means to listen to what he is saying.

Read Verses:

Main Idea: The wise person builds His life on God’s Foundation

I. The Wise Person Knows that Bad Weather is Inevitable

As Jesus is working toward the end of his sermon, he moves the crowd from the importance of making sure our words match our deeds to making sure the that we when we hear the words of God, that the at on Gods Words that he spoke on that day and all through his ministry.

When you read the passage you notice a few things. First there is the comparison between what a wise man and a foolish man do in the same situation. Because the common theme in these verse is that “the rain fell,the rivers rose and the winds blew and pounded the house.”

This weather prediction is the same for either group. You will get bad weather. There will be different kinds of storms But Jesus gives the crowd advice on how to withstand the storm.

He is essentially telling us what kind of bad weather gear to buy and where the best place to build your house or your life on.

Before his arrest,Jesus speaks to his disciples and he says in John 16: verses 31-3: 31 Jesus responded to them, “Do you now believe? 32 Indeed, an hour is coming, and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

Listen to that last verse, John 16:33, “You will have suffering in this world.” But then he says “Be courageous. I have conquered the world!” Amen! Because I know I can’t beat the world by myself. God has already done it on the cross.

God has cleared the way for His people to come back to him. He gave us a way to withstand the storms that happen in our lives. He has also spread his word in the Bible.

II. The Wise Person Searches for a Solid Place to Build their Home

Jesus Explains the wise man will build his house on the rock. On a solid foundation.

In the desert, when you are looking for place to build a house, you know certain areas have flash floods, you get high winds, and

AT Robertson explains Wisdom is a practical thing. It differs from mere knowledge, which may be impractical. We can talk about God all day long and have deep theological discussions but if you don’t have an understanding on how to apply that knowledge then it is just information.

That is why the song Simple Man makes sense. Because his mom or grandmother gave them usable advice or wisdom. That is why when you read the proverbs or psalms, you see the wisdom or prudence coming not from your mom or grandmother, but from God.

Let’s look at Proverb 2 1-15.

2 My son, if you accept my words

and store up my commands within you,

2 listening closely to wisdom

and directing your heart to understanding;

3 furthermore, if you call out to insight

and lift your voice to understanding,

4 if you seek it like silver

and search for it like hidden treasure,

5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and discover the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

7 He stores up success for the upright;

He is a shield for those who live with integrity

8 so that he may guard the paths of justice

and protect the way of his faithful followers.

9 Then you will understand righteousness, justice,

and integrity—every good path.

10 For wisdom will enter your heart,

and knowledge will delight you.

11 Discretion will watch over you,

and understanding will guard you.

12 It will rescue you from the way of evil—

from anyone who says perverse things,

13 from those who abandon the right paths

to walk in ways of darkness,

14 from those who enjoy doing evil

and celebrate perversion,

15 whose paths are crooked,

and whose ways are devious.

The foundation seems to be the longest part of building a building. My grandparents used to love gong and watching things get built. And when the project starts out, you just see the trucks or bulldozers moving dirt. It takes forever and it looks like nothing is happening. Flattening everything out, and then they have to pour the concrete and wait for it to cure before they start to build the walls and floors.

III. The Wise Person Uses Materials that Last

God’s word is not only the foundation to build your life on it is also the correct material to build your house with.

For most of us, our moms or grandmothers probably told us the story of the three little pigs. They built their houses out of straw, sticks and bricks.

The first two took an easy way out and built what they had on hand. And their house was blown down by the big bad wolf. The third pig took the time to make or quire the bricks. His way took longer, but his materials were better. The moral of the story teaches kids that spending time doing the hard work and the right things takes time, but it pays off. In the case for the three little pigs, the house actually saved his life.

Likewise, Jesus’ teaching or words indicate the narrow way that leads to life. Making a brick house is much better than a tent or a lean-to. Jesus wisdom is better than the world’s advice. His words and sacrifice on the cross is stronger than any brick building and He has conquered the world. If our lives are built on Him and with his words our lives will be much better. Not easier, not free of problems, but we can navigate the problems and weather the storms much better Because we know that we are his children. And we will get through the storm one way or another. and our house cant be blown over by any big bad wolf that comes knocking.

Application

1. Wisdom Requires Humility

You have to go ask someone advice. Jesus says those who hear or listen. The proverbs are a conversation set between parents and children, giving them advice.

Proverb 11: 2 When arrogance comes, disgrace follows,

but with humility comes wisdom.

Humility is the posture that acknowledges our dependence on God and opens us to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Pride closes you off to how the Lord is trying to transform you.

2. Wisdom Requires Action

Jesus says those who hear will act.

Its All about Applying the Knowledge Mothers who have had kids, remember if you don't know the answer listen to God's words to build Your family. Sometimes it means making repairs. Mothers are great, but they are human. And they make mistakes raising kids. The first one or two are practice kids and the last one or two you have things sort of figured out, at least on what not to do. But parenthood is difficult at every stage of life. Baby toddler preteen teen driving working college or moving out. Young adult, newly married young parent parents of teens. It doesn’t get easier, it just gets different.

But you know what stays the same? God. The Bible explains the person who made the principles and precepts we Should live our lives by.

“While wisdom is to be pursued passionately, it is also, paradoxically, a gift. The Lord alone gives wisdom; He is the source of knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:6). This reality does not excuse laziness. On the contrary, God’s sovereign gift should motivate the “son” to pursue wisdom with all his might.”

But when you don’t listen to the wise person giving advice you gain Experience: Kids, remember your parents are your grandparents kids. They didn’t listen to their advice all the time either. We all learn it eventually whether its the easy way or the hard way

3. Wisdom requires Love

Love without wisdom is not love, wisdom without love is not wisdom, knowledge and sentiment without Christ is nothing. Truly we need Him in every way for every good work.

Jesus has given this sermon to the people because he loves them. He knows not everyone will abide by his words. God is the good father that wants his children to succeed. That is partly the reason he gave us the psalms and proverbs; so that we could get to know God and learn to love Him because of how he loved us.

He provides us with words and wisdom to get to him. He is glorified in His word because his story tells us about his love that caused Him to give his life for us. This is good news. God is a wise and all knowing God who leads us along the path of life, he marches us along.

Conclusion:

Frontman Johnny Van Zant discussed this song and what it means to him. He said: "Well that's a great song and something that I think we all live by. I think anybody out there needs to respect their mother, and the words of their mother. It's mama talking to you in that song and I think it's probably one of my favorite's if not my favorite to do live. It's just a great song and that one stays in the set and the crowd always goes crazy on that one."

On this Mother’s Day, think about the advice your mother or grandmother or someone who has filed that role in your life has given you.

Mothers are not perfect. And neither are dads. And neither are kids. So we all need to humble ourselves and forgive our parents the things that we think are bad or the advice is not what we wanted to hear, but needed to hear it nonetheless. The, “how could you” moments. Now those more serious things need to be dealt with, but it starts with forgiveness. God through his actions, provided the ultimate act of reconciliation, by giving his son and keeping his covenant everlasting.

Because we are all fallible fallen people. But if you are a Christian, then you serve an infallible, holy god. And He is the rock on which we should build our house and look to for wisdom. If we are asked to give advice it should be Godly advice. That means work on our part to make sure we understand God and His word. If we do that we can withstand the storms that will come in our lives.