Mom Was Right

Mom Was Right

The Proverbial Mom

TCF Sermon

May 9, 2010

Proverbs 6:20 (NIV) My son, keep your father’s commands and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

Mother’s Day is probably the toughest day of the year to preach. That’s primarily because it seems that Mother’s Day is a minefield of different emotions for so many in any given church.

For example, some of us did not have mothers who were godly, and that makes any admonition to honor our mothers, or even remember or think about our mothers, a real challenge.

Some of us had, or maybe even still have, painful relationships with our mothers, so thinking of them on this day is tough.

Some of you are mothers, and maybe your kids aren’t walking with the Lord, or you’re estranged from them for one reason or another, and that causes a special kind of grief on Mother’s Day.

Some want to be mothers but aren’t or can’t be, leading to another kind of grief.

Some of us had great mothers, but they’re gone to be with the Lord, and we miss them.

Of course, some of us have wonderful mothers, and still have a great relationship with them. But you can see that, with all these potential realities present in our auditorium this morning, it presents some very real challenges to any preacher who would focus on Mother’s Day as the theme of a sermon.

Besides, how many ways can you say honor your mother? I’ve done that on Mother’s Day, and will, to some extent, do that again today. I’ve also on past Mothers Days, taken the approach that Mother’s Day is a good day to reflect on the issues of life in our culture. After all, the first mother, Eve, has a name that means “life.”

One thing we all have in common – regardless of where you might fit into the mine field I described – is that we all have mothers. Our mothers gave us life. Whether they turned out to be great moms or terrible moms, or something in between, the Bible is clear that we are to honor our mothers.

So, what do we do with all this on Mother’s Day? We recognize the realities of these situations, then take the plunge and tiptoe through the minefield, trying not to explode, and look to the Word of God.

It’s interesting to consider this passage of scripture we read at the beginning. Let’s look at it again:

Proverbs 6:20 (NIV) My son, keep your father’s commands and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

For the sake of this morning’s message, we’re going to look at the “do not forsake your mother’s teaching” part.

Some of our most memorable moments in life are captured in things our mothers said to us. Some of them are quite poignant, some are profound, some seem wise, and some are actually funny.

A little quick research will produce dozens of what some people call “momisms.”

Every mom has a favorite quote and a special tone to scold or teach a lesson to their recalcitrant kids. We might hate this momism as a kid but we all so much miss them when we grow up. This harsh sounding and yet so sweet advice from mothers is what makes our childhood so special. These motherly sayings go a long way in building us strong and making us a better person. Though we (sometimes laugh about) our moms for …their statements, ironically we all use the same momism that we received from our mothers on our (own) kids. Here is list of some of the most common and popular momisms. Source: http://www.mothersdaycelebration.com/momisms.html

Always wear clean underwear in case you get in an accident.

Answer me when I ask you a question!

Are you going out dressed like that?

Are your hands broken? Pick it up yourself! I’m not your maid!

As long as you live under my roof, you’ll do as I say.

Beds are NOT made for jumping on.

Call me when you get there, just so I know you’re okay.

Don’t go out with a wet head, you’ll catch cold.

Don’t pick that scab, it’ll get infected.

Don’t talk with your mouth full!

Don’t cross your eyes or they’ll freeze that way.

Don’t EVER let me catch you doing that again!

Don’t make me come in there!

Don’t put that in your mouth, you don’t know where it’s been.

Shut the door! I’m not heating (or air conditioning) the entire neighborhood!

Look at this room! It looks like a pigsty!

What part of NO don’t you understand?

You will ALWAYS be my baby.

Now, it seems to me that there’s some truth in many of these things. Some common sense, too. But I got to thinking – are there some momisms that are like Proverbs – truths that are borne out in some way in passages of Scripture? I think there are, and we’re going to explore a handful of these this morning. I also thought that, in describing an aspect of His grace or His mercy, God has compared Himself with qualities we would most readily associate with mothers. Perhaps the best example of this is found in Isaiah.