A Mother's Wisdom!
Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 38:07
0 ratings
· 204 viewsProverbs 31 is a well known chapter about Godly qualities of a woman. But we rarely pay attention to the beginning verses of a mother’s wisdom to her son, particularly warning him about women, intoxicants and his responsibility as a leader!
Files
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Introduction
Introduction
1 The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:
2 No, my son! No, son of my womb!
No, son of my vows!
3 Do not give your strength to women,
your ways to those who destroy kings.
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
it is not for kings to drink wine,
or for rulers to desire strong drink;
5 or else they will drink and forget what has been decreed,
and will pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
6 Give strong drink to one who is perishing,
and wine to those in bitter distress;
7 let them drink and forget their poverty,
and remember their misery no more.
8 Speak out for those who cannot speak,
for the rights of all the destitute.
9 Speak out, judge righteously,
defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Title: A Mother’s Wisdom!
Pray!
Today I’m going to begin by reading these verses again, but this time I’m going to read them from the Septuagint which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament.
Now the Septuagint may have been what the Apostle Paul and others read from!
Because of the area they were in, which was dominated by Greek language and culture, it would make sense that you have Greek speaking and reading Jews!
A friend of mine by the name of Marty Reed, is a New Testament Greek Scholar. He told me when I read the Old Testament, I should also read the Septuagint because it often acts like a commentary to our English translations of the Hebrew.
I believe what he said is fitting for our text today, Proverbs 31:1-9 is Proverbs 24:69-77 in the Septuagint, this is how it reads:
69 My words were spoken by God,
a divine statement of a king whom his mother trained.
70 What, child, will you keep? What? The words of God;
firstborn, I am speaking to you, son.
What, child of my womb?
What, child of my prayers?
71 Do not give women your wealth,
and your mind and life to remorse.
72 Do everything with counsel;
drink wine with counsel.
Rulers are prone to anger,
but may they not drink wine,
73 lest by drinking they neglect wisdom,
and they have no power to judge what is right for the weak.
74 Give strong drink to those in pain,
and wine to drink for those in grief,
75 so that they may forget their need and remember their toil no more.
76 Open your mouth with a word of God,
and judge everyone fairly;
77 open your mouth and judge rightly,
and decide for the needy and the weak.
What are some things a mother should teach her son about? Especially with the understanding that our son’s and daughter’s are special and have purpose in life!
Not to fade in the background, but to be used for God’s glory and purpose!
POINTS
The few years I’ve been studying the Bible, I’ve never learned so much from one verse!
When I started examining the first verse, I noticed that it was packed with information, especially when I started looking up the meaning of some of the original words!
Walk with me for a moment!
1 The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:
First Lemuel means, belonging to God, dedicated to God or devoted to God!
Lemuel is not a king we heard of before, so his family may have been converts to Israel’s faith!
Often people gave their children names that had meaning tied to a particular life event or what they wanted their child to be!
His mother wanted Lemuel to be devoted to God!
I remember my mother coming into my room as a child sometimes when I was sleeping and she would lay her hands on me and being half asleep and half awake I could hear her praying over me!
There’s a lot of single Mother’s that labor over their children, praying for them and teaching them desiring for them to do right! I encourage you to give your children back to the Lord!
Then it goes on to say that what follows is an oracle, in this setting this means a discussion or kind of speech that ultimately came from God!
In other words, she’s giving him what the Lord says! Godly Wisdom!
We need more of that!
Now when it says that his mother taught him this oracle, there’s a difference between telling someone something and teaching someone something!
When something is taught to an individual it’s for the purpose of longevity, so that person will keep it! In the original language taught him here indicates she’s teaching him the wisdom of God to shape his conduct as King!
This should be for our children today as well!
They need to know the wisdom of God and it should shape their conduct!
Not only how they live, but in their decision making!
So Mother’s instruct your children how they should conduct themselves as children of light, because they have a responsibility!
Our children are important as the next leaders, boss’, business owners, teacher’s and preachers etc!
2 No, my son! No, son of my womb!
No, son of my vows!
Notice how she calls attention to their close relationship “son of my womb!” She’s telling him, “you’re my child!”
The child of my vows!
Maybe she couldn’t have children at first and prayed to God like Hannah did for Samuel! And told God if He blessed her with a son, she would give him back to the Lord!
Lemuel’s mother probably vowed to teach him Godly wisdom!
Then she moves into telling him what to watch out for particularly when it comes to women and things that can intoxicate him:
3 Do not give your strength to women,
your ways to those who destroy kings.
This strength refers to his sexual desires, not to give his strength in a sexual way to multiple women! This is the wrong way to relate to women! She tells him this as a woman and his mother!
As a young man, you can think about how man may treat your mother or sister!
Fulfilling the lustful sexual desires with multiple women, this is either outside his marriage or simply with multiple women, will distract his attention from serving the people!
This is something that our young men need to hear and listen too today!
Two things, first being a virgin or virginity has become a dirty word!
The second thing is, in our society it’s a badge of honor to be with multiple women! But scripture is telling us no it’s not! We need to raise our young men to be husbands and not baby daddies!
The flip side of this is, some women want to be in the palace! They want the queens spot and they’ll do and throw anything at the King to get it!
Then she tells him about alcohol:
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
it is not for kings to drink wine,
or for rulers to desire strong drink;
5 or else they will drink and forget what has been decreed,
and will pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
Have you seen those advertisements and commercials for alcohol, promoting a particular brand then they say drink responsibly!
Here King Lemuel’s mother says not to get drunk because it will distort his thinking and cause him to pervert or change what he’s put in place in favor of the afflicted!
She’s telling him he has to be cleared minded, clear headed able to think straight!
Alcohol can cause people to totally change up!
6 Give strong drink to one who is perishing,
and wine to those in bitter distress;
7 let them drink and forget their poverty,
and remember their misery no more.
This is not meant to give the poor something that will corrupt them, but it’s a way to say to the king, help the poor! What is meant by this is to give the poor and needy something that is going to ease their burden!
We, at MTZ, have to assess what the needs of the community are and help where we can.
His mother indicates what he needs to do to help the needy in the last two verses:
8 Speak out for those who cannot speak,
for the rights of all the destitute.
9 Speak out, judge righteously,
defend the rights of the poor and needy.
During this time the leaders would sit and judge and hear people cases!
Often what would take place is payola!
People that had money would pay off those judging and the weak, poor, defenseless people would not receive justice!
King Lemuel’s mother is telling him to open his mouth! Don’t sit quietly! Defend those who can’t fend for themselves, who don’t have a voice, who are poor and needy!
When God places us in a position of authority to be able to make decisions, we should keep in mind those that are in need that we can help! The voiceless, those that don’t have an advocate! Those that don’t have parents!
There may be times when we have a choice to make and choosing one way, may be more beneficial for us, but it may not be good for those that are in greater need!
What’s going to help the majority, minority, the needy may not necessarily help you but it will bring glory of God!
Because God is pleased and it’s what He desires us to do!
Conclusion
Conclusion
Mom’s wisdom comes from God!
In order for Mom to be able to give Godly instruction, she has to be connected to God first!
Then she can teach her son and children the ways of the Lord, so that they will have a positive impact in the world for the blessing of those in need to the glory of God!
These teachings were clearly repeated to King Lemuel until he kept them, because he remembered them and thus repeated the wisdom for others to learn from!
Mother’s, Father’s we have to repeat it until they keep it!
But we have to get it for ourselves first!
If you don’t know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior I give you the opportunity to know him now!
Doors of the Church are open!
Doors of the Church are open!
It you don’t have church home, I invite you to be a part of our ministry!
Benediction
Benediction
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.