Counterfeit Mom
1Kings 3:16-28
Intro. Today is mother’s day and I want to say how much I appreciate all you moms that are here this morning. If it wasn’t for you and all the things you do around here we would have to suspend most of the programs here in the church. Not only are you an integral part of your family you are also an integral part of our church.
. As I was thinking about and meditating on today’s sermon I thought about all the things that my mother taught me in my life. I’m sure that your mother taught you many things also.
. I want to take a minute and reminisce about some things my mother taught me. Listen to them and see if your mother may have taught you some of the same things.
. - My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."
- My mother taught me about RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."
- My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
- My mother taught me LOGIC.
"Because I said so, that’s why."
- My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident."
- My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I’ll give you something to cry about."
- My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."
- My mother taught me about WEATHER.
"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."
- My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."
- My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
"Stop acting like your father!"
- My mother taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don’t have wonderful parents like you do."
- My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home"
- My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
"You are going to get it when your father gets home
- My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
"If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up."
- My mother taught me GENETICS.
"You act just like your father."
- My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
"Shut that door behind you. You weren’t born in a barn
My mother taught me WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you’ll understand."
- My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
"One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!"
. True stories and sayings are sometimes the funniest aren’t they?
. Moms, we love and appreciate you this morning.
. As I contemplated a mother’s day sermon this year, God seemed to lead me to a rather different story in regards to mothers.
. Our scripture this morning is about wise king Solomon and his encounter with a mother.
. Let’s read our scripture. 1Kings 3:16-28
. 16Some time later two prostitutes came to the king to have an argument settled.17“Please, my lord,” one of them began, “this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby while she was with me in the house.18Three days later this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there were only two of us in the house.
19“But her baby died during the night when she rolled over on it.20Then she got up in the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep. She laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep beside her.21And in the morning when I tried to nurse my son, he was dead! But when I looked more closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t my son at all.”
22Then the other woman interrupted, “It certainly was your son, and the living child is mine.”
“No,” the first woman said, “the living child is mine, and the dead one is yours.” And so they argued back and forth before the king.
23Then the king said, “Let’s get the facts straight. Both of you claim the living child is yours, and each says that the dead one belongs to the other.24All right, bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought to the king.
25Then he said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other!”
26Then the woman who was the real mother of the living child, and who loved him very much, cried out, “Oh no, my lord! Give her the child—please do not kill him!”
But the other woman said, “All right, he will be neither yours nor mine; divide him between us!”
27Then the king said, “Do not kill the child, but give him to the woman who wants him to live, for she is his mother! 28When all Israel heard the king’s decision, the people were in awe of the king, for they saw the wisdom God had given him for rendering justice.
. How many of you remember the old tv show called To Tell The Truth. It was a show where the contestant would try to figure out who was lying and who was telling the truth. At the end of the show, after the contestant had made their pick, the host would say would the real so and so please stand up.
. This story reminded me of that show. Solomon had to try and figure out who was telling the truth and who was not.
. He had to figure out who the real mother was. He wanted to be able to say would the real mother stand up.
. The other woman was a counterfeit mom. She didn’t have the love that the real mom would have for her child.
. Traditionally as we look at this story we look at it as an example of the wisdom that God had granted Solomon. After all this is the story that is used right after Solomon asks God for wisdom. This is the example that the bible uses to highlight that wisdom.
. While it does highlight the Wisdom of Solomon, it also highlights a characteristic of motherhood.
. That is what I want to share with you this morning.
. You see in his wisdom, Solomon recognized that in order to judge fairly; there was a characteristic that the true mother would show.
. The characteristic that the true mother would show would be Sacrifice.
. As we look at this mother in our story, we see her sacrifice.
. Look at verse 26 again: 26Then the woman who was the real mother of the living child, and who loved him very much, cried out, “Oh no, my lord! Give her the child—please do not kill him!”
. She was willing to give up her child to the other woman in order to keep the child safe.
. All she was concerned with was the life of her child.
. She was willing to sacrifice her relationship with her child just to keep the child safe.
. I looked at so many illustrations and degrees of sacrifice that mothers have exhibited this morning that I had a hard time trying to choose.
. It seems that the world is full of examples of sacrifice by a mother showing her love for her children.
. I want to use a illustration from WWII and the Jewish concentration camps.
. This is a true story chronicled out of the concentration camps.
. Solomon Rosenberg & his wife & their 2 sons & his mother & father were arrested & placed in a Nazi concentration camp. It was a labor camp, & the rules were simple. "As long as you can do your work, you are permitted to live. When you become too weak to do your work, then you are exterminated."
Rosenberg watched his mother & father marched off to their deaths, & he knew that next would be his youngest son, David, because David had always been a frail child.
Every evening Rosenberg came back into the barracks after his hours of labor & searched for the faces of his family. When he found them they would huddle together, embrace one another, & thank God for another day of life.
One day Rosenberg came back & didn’t see those familiar faces. He finally discovered his oldest son, Joshua, in a corner, huddled, weeping, & praying. He said, "Josh, tell me it’s not true." Joshua turned & said, "It is true, poppa. Today David was not strong enough to do his work. So they came for him."
"But where is your mother?" asked Mr. Rosenberg. "Oh poppa," he said, "When they came for David, he was afraid & he cried. Momma said, `There is nothing to be afraid of, David,’ & she took his hand & went with him."
. What an example of sacrificial love.
. A love between a mother and her son.
. I’m sure all of us could tell a story or two about how our mothers have sacrificed in one way or another for us in our lives.
. Moms, thank you for your sacrifices and your sacrificial love for us.
. Not only is a mother’s love sacrificial, it is also unconditional.
. As you sit here this morning, can any of you think of anything you have done or could do to make your mother not love you?
. While many have done things to anger or irritate our mothers, a mother’s love is unconditional.
. A mother loves her child just for who they are.
. There is a contemporary Christian song that is popular today titled What Love Really Means.
. While it speaks of people searching for someone to love them and finally finding God, I believe that it also describes a Mother’s love for her children.
. The chorus goes like this: “who will love me for me, not for what I have done or what I will become, just love me for me.”
. That describes a mothers love perfectly.
. Moms just love us for who we are.
. I don’t believe there is anything a child can do or become that can destroy that love.
. This woman in the story this morning was destined for a hard life after Solomon gave her child back to her.
. She was a single mom. No father is mentioned and she was a prostitute.
. She probably didn’t know who the father was.
. That didn’t matter. She loved her child. No matter what the conditions.
. I think of so many single moms in our world today who are raising children under very hard conditions.
. They must provide for and take care of their children sometimes with little or no help from the father.
. What I see though is the love of and for their children no matter what the conditions.
. Single moms, I applaud you this morning for your unconditional love of your children.
.All mothers love unconditionally and we honor you this morning for your commitment to your children.
. While mothers love sacrificially and unconditionally, there is another who loves us the same way.
. Jn. 3:16 says that god loved us so much, so unconditionally that He sacrificially sent Jesus to die for us.
. The song that I talked about is really about God’s love for all of us.
. God loves us no matter who we are, what we have done or what we will do or become.
. The bible says that while we still sinners, Christ died for us. No matter who or what we are.
. The bible says that we are all sinners in need of a savior.
. We all deserve death for who we are but Jesus was our substitute for this death.
. All we have to do is accept this sacrificial act of love form God and He will forgive us of our sins.
. Invitation
Sources:
The Holy Bible, NLT
Will The Real Mom Please Stand UP, Brian Atwood
Mothers Day, Steve Shepherd
