Motherhood: Rizpah

More than just watching after good health.

More than just Maternity.

The challenge to you as Christian Mothers is to be all that God intended you to be.

II Timothy 1:1-5 It’s on our bulletin cover

To Timothy, my dear son;

Grace mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I thank God, whom I serve as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.

Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy.

I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

When Paul wrote to this young man and said, Here is a sincere faith...

A kind of faith that’s not pretentious.

A faith that’s real.

Not just a Sunday school faith but an everyday action faith.

This Faith had been passed on to this young man, Timothy.

I’d like to challenge you that there are some things a child needs to be taught...

And some things that need to be caught.

The apostle Paul is talking, writing to Timothy but he realizes that this whole process began long before Timothy is able to read a letter.

It started years and years ago in his home with a mother and a grandmother.

Chapter 3:14 Paul says to Timothy,

continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them.

That from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

What you’ve learned Timothy and from whom you’ve learned it.

From his mother and grandmother - passed down in the family.

They were directly responsible for the Salvation of Timothy - BUT -Many others also...

Particularly the Ephesian brothers and sisters.

That’s where Timothy ministered. That’s where he put his faith into practice.

SALVATION? - MOTHERHOOD?

There are things you must be teaching your children,

directing them not only by your words...there’s power in your words,

But by Example - Words have no power without actions.

The old saying is Talk is cheap

I challenge you to go a step beyond Rizpah’s devotion:

Don’t just stand by them in times of trouble - But teach them show them - in good times.

The teaching you do is only credible by the way you LIVE it.

Because with children, it must be caught not just taught.

Actions speak louder than words.

Listen to what Paul said to Timothy;

You got your faith because it Lived...in your mother & grandmother.

And I know it’s alive in you too.

Mothers the poem that’s in the bulletin is true

The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.

Your faith, lived out becomes the faith that conquers the world.

Your faith, lived out becomes the Salvation of your son, your daughter.

Your faith passed on to the next generation becomes hope for future generations.

I’m so grateful for Lois and Eunice in Timothy’s life.

I know Paul was glad for them.

I know the Ephesians were glad for them

I’m so grateful for the faith of my MOM.

And for the faith of my wife as a mother to our children.