May 8, 2022
Morning Service

I think it is wonderful to set aside a day to celebrate and recognize the role that mother’s play in our life.  I am sure we all have stories of what how our mothers or mother figures influenced our lives in a very special and unique way.  I am very blessed to have an angel for a mother.  She is always encouraging her three boys and is never too busy to stop and listen to what is going on in our lives and be there for us.  She lives and models a life of self-sacrifice not only towards us but with everyone she encounters.  She makes the world a better place starting within the walls of her own house and radiating outward from there.  It is an act of obedience to a call from God to live out a life of faith loving her Lord by loving others.  I also want to point out that there are times her house is not clean, with the laundry stacked high in the corner, and she even occasionally burns the macaroni and cheese.  The key is putting the most important things first; loving well.  This is how God designed a mother to be from the very beginning.  Let’s take a trip back to the Genesis and the Creation story and see how it all began.

Gen 2:18,21-25 And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." (21) And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.  (22)  Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.  (23)  And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."  (24)  Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.  (25)  And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

            This is God’s design for a family a man and a woman joined together as one to form the family unit.  It was no good for Adam to be alone, we are designed to be in relationship with others.  God also commanded them to “be fruitful and multiply.”  Children were to be a part of this plan.  Then came what we often refer to as “the fall.”  Sin enters into the perfection of the Garden and the consequences are handed out by God.  To the woman He declared:

 

Gen 3:16, 20 To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."(20) And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

Woman are not cursed to be mother’s, but blessed. The pain and discomfort a woman experiences during child birth is the curse they received.  Children are a reward from the Lord.

 

Psalms 127:3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.

The pain soon leaves, but your heritage lives on in your children.  Eve became the mother of us all.  Time passed and eventually God chose Abraham and his descendants to be His people.  After several generations, Israel had become a great nation, but was enslaved under the rule of Egypt.  God called Moses to deliver His people from their bondage and establish them in a land where they could serve Him and prosper.  God also gave Moses the Law so His people would not what things pleased Him and what things did not.  The base for the Law of Moses is the Ten Commandments.  These commands are divided almost in the middle with the first four instructing us about our relationship with God and the second six instructing us about our relationship with each other.  The first command to us in dealing with each other is this; notice it includes a command and also a promise if we obey it.

Exo. 20:12"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

            We are commanded to “Honor our father and mother” and promised if we do “our days will be long upon the earth.”  Every day should be Mother’s Day!  To honor is defined as showing high respect and great esteem.  We all owe our mother’s a great deal more than we ever realize.  I know as I became a parent, I had a whole new respect and admiration for my parents as I experienced in doing for my children what they had done for me.  Honoring your parents pleases God and the opposite is also true; if you dishonor them God is not pleased.  This is easy for those of us who have wonderful parents, but it can be difficult for those whose parents struggled fulfilling their role.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit we can come to that place and honor them.

The role of a mother is a thankless and never ending task that usually lacks any glamor or glitz but is divinely called by God.  It is a mother’s natural love for her child that I believe most resembles God’s love for us.  He gave His all for us and it is a mother that sacrifices her all for her children and family.  It is today that we honor the love of our mothers.  I also want to share some scriptures to encourage the mothers we have with us today that you have a calling from the Lord to fulfill your role as a mother well.  Any plans or aspirations you may have need to take a back seat to the calling of being the mother God has called you to be, and the mother your children need.  You are to lead your children by example showing them God’s plan for them.

Deut. 6:5-7 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  (6)  "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.  (7)  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

You are called to teach your children “diligently in your house, when you walk, lie down and rise.”  This does not leave much time for your self does it?  It is a job that does not end after the teen years either, many of you ladies who have lost your mother, long to be able to ask your her something that it seems only she knew.  How many times have you caught yourself saying, “Mother always…?”  The same will be true for you, your children’s future homes will reflect how you modeled a home to be.   Mother’s embrace the calling, be available to your kids and make it a priority in your life to do it well; make the time to invest in them.  Each age has its teachable moments, look for them and utilize them.  Be the wind in your kids sails as the one who encourages them and brings out the things they do well rather than focus on their short comings.  Believe it or not, you are modeling what God’s love is looks like to your children.  In Isaiah we see God say:

 Isa 66:13 As one whom his mother comforts, So I will comfort you; And you shall be comforted in Jerusalem."

            What love is can be defined for a child by their mother.  A love that gives its all without asking anything in return.  Paul describes it best in “The Love Chapter;” I Corinthians 13:

 

1Co 13:4-8 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; (5) does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; (6) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; (7) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  (8)  Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

            Mothers, you will have times of struggle in raising your children.  Time flies by and the things on the “to do” list seems to grow rather than diminish.  Dinner may be late, the house dirty, and the laundry may not be done, but always love well; that is what matters most.  Your role as mother cannot be filled by anyone else, the job is yours exclusively.  Embrace the challenge and with God’s help do it well.  Love your children and those around you as Paul describes here in this letter.  Mirror the love God has for you to them.  Love never fails!

 

Heavenly Father, thank You for the mothers here with us today.  Bless them not only today, but each and every day as they fulfill their calling as a mother.  Send to them a deep settled peace that they are performing a great act of worship as they raise their children in the admonition of the Lord.