MOTHER’S DAY 2010
“THE MINISTRY OF MOTHERHOOD”
TITUS 2:1-5
OPEN
Several years ago, 600 college students were asked to write down the most beautiful word in the English language. 422 of them (over 70%) wrote the word “mother”. Today is the day that we honor our mothers. Motherhood is not easy. Womanhood is not easy. There might be women here today whose marriages are failing or have failed. Some of you might have faced miscarriages or even had abortions. Some of you might be thinking of prodigal children in their own “far country.” Some of you might be lonely and others who are extremely fulfilled in their relationships with their husbands and children. Know that God loves you and so do we.
Not too long ago, a group of second-graders gave their answers to these questions concerning mothers:
Question One: Why did God make mothers? 1. She's the only one who knows where the Scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house. 3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.
Question Two: How did God make mothers? 1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us. 2. Magic plus
super powers and a lot of stirring. 3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger
parts.
Question Three: What ingredients are mothers made of? 1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean. 2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.
Question Four: Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom? 1. We're related. 2. God
knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.
Question Five: What kind of a little girl was your mom? 1. My mom has always been my mom and none of
that other stuff. 2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy. 3. They say she used to be nice.
Question Six: What did mom need to know about dad before she married him? 1. His last name. 2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer? 3. Does he make at least $800 a
year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?
Question Seven: Why did your mom marry your dad? 1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot. 2. She got too old to do anything else with him. 3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.
Question Eight: Who's the boss at your house? 1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because
dad's such a goof ball. 2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed. 3. I guess
mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.
Question Nine: What's the difference between moms and dads? 1. Moms work at work and work at home
and dads just go to work at work. 2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them. 3. Dads are
taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over
at your friends. 4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.
Question Ten: What does your mom do in her spare time? 1. Mothers don't do spare time. 2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.
Question Eleven: What would it take to make your mom perfect? 1. On the inside she's already perfect.
Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery. 2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.
Question Twelve: If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be? 1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that. 2. I'd make my mom smarter.. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me. 3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.
This mornings message is about the ministry of motherhood. Norman Bales in All About Families said, “The Mom Ministry is one of the toughest assignements God ever gave anybody. She’s got to be as insightful as a psychologist, tough as a Marine Corps drill instructor, and gentle as a nurse. She’s got to be a labor and management negotiator, a teacher, an electrician, a plumber, and a carpenter. It requires and endless supply of energy, a massive amount of patience, an iron will, and a recognition of the fact that if she gets sick, she’s got to get well before the end of the school day.”
Sadly, the ministry of motherhood has been disparaged and demeaned in the last several decades. The disturbing thing is that the popular notion is that motherhood or even parenting is a “second-class” calling.
Dr. Grace Ketterman said, “Perhaps the most urgent need of our era is the restoration of the high value of godly mothering… Those of us who cherish biblical values must teach and practice them consistently. Those of us who are mothers must see that responsibility as a high privilege. We must reclaim our role as the shapers and supporters of the next generation of leaders and parents.”
Titus 2:3-5 – “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their
husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their
husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”
Mary Fink wrote: “Every woman has been born into the ministry of God. It is spelled out for her in Scripture, lived out before others in her home, church, and community, and recorded by God in the pages of eternity.” In our Scripture passage today, we find three important ministries of godly women.
A MINISTRY OF TEACHING
Vs. 3 says, “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.” Paul speaks here about the value of the older women being living examples of the Christian life so that they might teach and instruct the younger women how to be godly women.
God is saying that right living and right teaching go hand-in-hand. It’s been said that more is caught than taught. Edgar Guest wrote, “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day.” What kind of an example and teacher are you?
Some of you ladies might be confused over who is an older woman and who is a younger woman. You know if you’re an older woman if you see younger women, especially mothers, taking certain courses of action and you hear yourself say something like this: “In my day, we wouldn’t have done it that way.” Please don’t take offense, ladies. I didn’t say that you were an old woman. You’re just older than the younger women.
I’d better get back to the text. Based on biblical authority, ladies, you have an important role in mentoring and teaching.
In the classic Broadway production Raisin in the Sun, an African-American mother struggles to keep two adult children on track. In one memorable scene, the mother is confronted by her daughter's angry skepticism.
The daughter states in defiance, “Mama, you don't understand. It's all a matter of ideas, and God is one idea I
just don't accept.… There is simply no blasted God.”
With dignity and strength, the mother says, “I want you to repeat this after me…in my mother's house there
is still God.”
After a long pause, the daughter honors her mother's affirmation of faith. Slowly, quietly, she says, “In my
mother's house there is still God.”.
Mothers, know that you are to be examples and teachers for your own children. Children learn from their mothers what they should do later in life in their own homes. If you want your daughter to be a godly woman and wife, teach her how to do it in your home. If you want your son to treat his wife and children in a godly way, teach him in your own home how women and children are to be treated.
For you, men, don’t think that you don’t have responsibilities in these areas as well. I’m not going to spend much time on dads today. It’s your turn here in a few weeks. Just don’t think that you get out of having responsibility to God and to your children for how you treat them and their mother. 1 Pet. 3:7 reminds us, husbands, that we are to be considerate and respectful to our wives, giving them the honor that they deserve.
A MINISTRY OF LOVING
Vs. 4 says that godly women are to love their husband and children. If there’s one thing necessary in our homes today, it’s love. Not just from wives and mothers, but from men and children alike.
The call given here in this passage based on the phrasing of the original language is for women to continue to love their husbands and children. Love is not just passive – it’s not mushy feelings. Love is a decision and a call to action.
Ladies, love you husbands. I know that not all of you ladies have been as blessed as my wife with the same quality of husband. You’ll just have to live with it.
Seriously, though, I can tell you as the husband of a godly woman that nothing is more encouraging and nourishing than the experience of receiving biblical love from a godly woman. Sadly, our society has allowed the love relationship to fall to a lifestyle that says, “I will if you will.” The kind of love the Paul talks about is not based on what you get. It’s based on what you give. And that kind of love is based on your love for God which determines your love for others.
Loving your children seems like something that shouldn’t need to be mentioned. But it’s a practice that has been neglected by many in our modern world. Once again, like in our relationships with our spouses, we have allowed the world to decide what love is. And the world seems to say, “Love when it’s convenient.” God says, “Love, even when it’s not convenient.”
Elisa Morgan and Carol Kuykendall, in What Every Child Needs, gives nine basic needs that every child has and how they can be met in the language of love: 1. Security – a hol-me-close love 2. Affirmation – a crazy-about-me love 3. Belonging – a fit-me-into-the-family love 4. Discipline -0 a give-me-limits love 5. Guidance – a show-me and tell-me love 6. Respect – a let-me-be-me love 7. Play – a play-with-me love
8. Independence – a let-me-grow-up love 9. Hope – a give-me-hope love.
Ladies, I know that sometimes it’s easy to love your husband and children and sometimes it’s difficult. When your husband is insensitive or takes off three Saturdays in a row to go golfing with his buddies and leaves you to fend for yourself, it’s hard to love him. When your children complain about the food you’ve cooked or sass you when you tell them to help you around the house, it’s difficult to love them. But the mark of Christian maturity is love.
Husbands and kids, we can make it easier on mom. Husbands, show your wife your appreciation on a regular basis. Give her hugs often. Tell her, “Honey, you look nice today.” Tell her frequently, “I love you.” Buy her presents.
Don’t be like the man whose wife said, “I’d like something romantic and impractical for our anniversary.” So he went out and bought her a beautiful gold bracelet. She told him, “Honey, this is wonderful!” He said, “Well, one little four-letter word made me buy this for you.” With a big smile on her face she said, “Do you mean L-O-V-E?” And he answered, “No. S-A-L-E.”
Kids, your mom loves you so much that she will do things for you that seem beyond common sense. She will nurse you when you’re sick, help you with your homework when you’re ignorant, comfort you when you’re depressed, feed you when you’re hungry, and clean up your room when you’re lazy.
And you know what? With just a little, “Thank you, Mom” every once in a while, a kiss on the cheek every now and then, and a good attitude at least half the time your asked by her to do something, she’ll be ready to do it all again.
The greatest priority in the home should be love. Success in the home is never judged by how much money is made, of how much stuff is accumulated, or the number of accomplishments. The greatest success story in any home is that we love one another.
A MINISTRY OF BUILDING
In vs. 5, Paul gives what appears to be a “grocery list” of qualities that the godly woman is to demonstrate in her life. Vs. 5 says, “…to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their
husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”
Most people wouldn’t argue about self-controlled, pure, and kind. But it is not politically correct for women to be “busy at home” looking after household affairs and to be “subject to their husbands.”
I’ve never read anything in the Bible where it says that men are supposed to take out the garbage and do the yard work and for the women to cook, clean, and do laundry. But I have read plenty about husbands and wives loving each other, submitting to each other, and sacrificing for each other.
There is a big difference between being a house builder and a home builder. A house builder builds the physical structure. The home builder (or older term – “home maker”) builds the lives of those who live in the house.
Phil Ware says in Heartlights: 2 Minute Meditations, “Being a mom is a soul-craft. Moms are partners with God in crafting a child into an adult that is trained and ready to serve Him.” Paul’s spiritual son, Timothy, had the testimony of both a godly mother and grandmother that built in him a solid foundation of faith. 2 Tim. 1:5 – “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.”
One lady applied for a job in the county clerk’s office. When asked about her current job on the application, she simply wrote “mother”. The personnel department told her that the answer was not acceptable as a job description.
Here is what she wrote next: “I am a research assistant in the field of Child Development and Human Relations. I have a continuing program of research in the laboratory and in the field. I’m working toward my Master’s for a whole family and already have four credits (all daughters). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities and often I work 14-16 hours a day. However, the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are in satisfaction rather just money.”
Today, we say,, “Thank You, Mom” for all you do. For what you teach us, for how you love us, and how you build our lives we are grateful. Let’s pray.
CLOSE
Steve Mathewson tells an interesting story:
The first church in which I served was in Helena, Montana. I would often spend some of my week
studying in the public library right at the edge of town. I always saw the same group of four or five scruffy-
looking guys wearing dirty coats and long beards. They looked like mountain men—probably because they
were. They came down out of the hills to study who knows what. I would see these guys with stacks of
books, sitting in cubicles. I didn't think a lot of it at the time, but about four years after I left, I found out that
one of those guys was Ted Kaczynski—the Unabomber.
If you know anything about Kaczynski's story, you know that he grew up a very gifted young man. He
became a math professor, but was soon disillusioned and moved to the mountains of Montana. He would
sometimes come down from the mountains to send mail bombs to people he didn't like. After years of
investigation, he was finally discovered by police and sent to prison.
Mathewson continues: At this point the story gets even more interesting. A while ago, his mother,
Wanda Kaczynski, was interviewed by a reporter with the Chicago Tribune. She made some statements that
I thought were powerful. At the time that the article was written, she had been writing monthly letters to her
son in prison. She shared with the reporter what she had written in her most recent letter. She wrote: “I
want you to know, Ted, that when a child is born, the parents give them the gift of unconditional love for a
lifetime. This is true of you. No matter what happens, my love for you will be there for a lifetime. Love,
Mother.” Even after he had refused to look at her when he entered the courtroom during his trial, even after
he had given testimony in court that described her as a horrible person, she still loved him enough to write
those monthly letters.
We might see Kaczynski’s mother’s response to her son as an amazing act of love. But God has done something more amazing than that. Romans 5 tells us that while we were still sinners – while we were still in full rebellion against him – God sent His Son to die for us. 1 Jn. 4:10 – “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
