Mommy 101

MOMMY 101

2 Timothy 1:3-5, 3:14&15

INTRODUCTION

The first preacher that ever came to his town was stoned and left for dead by an angry mob. You see, Zeus was worshipped in that town. There was a temple erected for Zeus just outside the city gates and no one wanted to hear about Jesus.

His dad wasn’t a Christian, as a matter-of-fact, his dad didn’t really believe in God, unless it was some god like Zeus.

He grew up, mingling with the upper-crust of society. He mingled with the disbelieving intellectuals of his day. He knew all of their philosophies, all of their teachings, and he knew how they laughed at the idea of God.

In spite of all of this, the man was eventually ordained as a minister. He was such a sincere and godly a man that he gained the respect of all the Christians in his home town. Often, it is easy to go out of town, or to visit where people don’t know you, and to put on a good front for a while; but he was so authentic, real, and honest that those who knew him best, those who lived and worked with him, respected him.

God eventually called him as an evangelist. The apostle Paul, the man who wrote nearly ½ of the New Testament, called him a brother, a companion, and a comfort. Paul used Timothy as an ambassador and gave him the most difficult jobs. When the church in Corinth began to backslide & get into trouble, Paul sent Timothy to help restore the church. When the church in Thessalonica began to face severe persecution. He sent Timothy to encourage and strengthen the Christians there.

Of all of the Christians, preachers, and missionaries in the 1st century, Paul chose Timothy to serve as his representative. He even called Timothy, “God’s fellow worker.” That’s a pretty high compliment from the man God used to so successfully spread the Gospel among the Gentiles of the 1st century.

But tell me. How could a boy, with a non-Christian dad, like Timothy had; how could a boy from the environment he grew up in; how could such a boy grow up to be used so mightily by God? What was it that prepared him to be used by God in such a great way? What was it that trained and prepared him to help so many people? What was it that guided him and so helped him to really make his life count for something?

What will protect our children today, when violence, sex, and selfishness is piped into our homes daily through radio and TV? What will direct them, encourage them, train and tutor them, when the world teaches us to get all we can and can all we get? What will protect our children when suicide has become one of the leading causes of teen death? What will protect our children and help them to become growing, contributing, members of society who make the most of their lives, when many of their friends are escaping reality through drug and alcohol use?

It is the same thing that protected and helped Timothy when he grew up in a world much like ours. It is the love and guidance of a godly mother.

If you want to protect your child, if you want to help your children to become all that God intended, then open your Bibles with me this morning and turn to 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 3. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 3, as this morning we enter God’s classroom and study Mommy 101; being the mother God intended you to be. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 3.

- Read 2 Timothy chapter 1:3-5 –

In these verses we find Paul reminiscing about days long past, and about the time he spent with Timothy. In these verses we also find the first ingredient, the first requirement of a godly mother. Look with me again please in verse 5.

- Read verse 5 –

I. SINCERITY

In verse 5 Paul says I remember your sincere faith which was first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. If you are going to make a difference for the good in your child’s life, if you are going to help him become all that God intended, if you are going to help her make a difference with her life; then number one, you must be sincere. You must have a sincere faith.

Now the word “sincere” means real. It means, without pretending or pretense. It means, “what you see is what you get.” It means, what you claim you believe, what you show the world, is also what you show your children at home.

Paul says in Philippians 4:9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you.