Happy Mothers Day

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

INTRODUCTION - THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT

A teacher asked a boy this question: Suppose your mother baked a pie and there were seven of you--your parents and five children. What part of the pie would you get? A sixth, replied the boy. I’m afraid you don’t know your fractions, said the teacher, Remember, there are seven of you. Yes, teacher, said the boy, but you don’t know my mother. Mother would say she didn’t want any pie.

Exodus 20:12

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

Moses received this commandment from God.

What does it mean to honor your father and mother? In the original language the word “honor” literally means “to make heavy.” In other words, we are not to take our parents lightly. God calls us to actively give them respect and reverence.

This commandment is tough to chew on because we live in an age of disrespect. Youth is glorified and old age is seen as something to avoid at all costs. On TV and in the movies kids are most often portrayed as the witty heroes. Parents tend to be the pathetic, overbearing buffoons, especially dads. Anybody remember Al Bundy or Homer Simpson? The elderly are most often viewed as senile and to be avoided if you want to have a good time. In this case it seems that the media is reflecting the attitude of the culture, disrespect of parents and grandparents.

Just as with all of God’s commandments, this one has terrible consequences for nations and individuals if it’s not heeded.

WHY SHOULD WE INSIST ON RESPECT?

The honor you give is the honor you receive.

Illustration

A four-year-old and a six-year-old presented their Mom with a house plant. They had used their own money and she was thrilled. The older of them said with a sad face, There was a bouquet that we wanted to give you at the flower shop. It was real pretty, but it was too expensive. It had a ribbon on it that said, ’Rest In Peace’, and we thought it would be just perfect since you are always asking for a little peace so that you can rest.

EXODUS 1

15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,

16 "When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live."

17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.

22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live."

Shiphrah –Handsome, trumpet, that does good.

Puah – Mouth, corner, bush of hair

Moses means literally: “Taken out” and his name was prophetic. The Lord used him to take a whole nation out of Egypt and to save them through the water. Pharaoh gave the order to drawn the Hebrew children in the water but his own descendents died under the water when they persecuted Moses in the red sea.

1. A GOOD MOTHERS IS: A PRIESTLY MOTHER

Exodus 2:1-8

1 Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman,

2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.

3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it.

6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said.

7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?"

8 "Yes, go," she answered. And the girl went and got the baby’s mother.

9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you." So the woman took the baby and nursed him.

10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."