For this special day, I have decided to take a break from our study of the Gospel of Luke to honor and encourage moms. We will do something similar on Father’s Day, June 17th.
Please open your Bibles to the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament, Chapter 20….
Before reading our passage for today, let us pray our commitment to God’s Word….
Read along with me Exodus 20:1-12…..
We just read the first 5 of the 10 Commandments. Why did God give those commandments? Look back with me to Exodus 19:3-8….
God desired to bless the Nation of Israel and so God gave them instructions about life. Now of course who does not want to be blessed by God; and so we read the Israelites’ commitment to God’s Word.
However, we know that the Israelites failed in following God’s instructions. God knew that would happen but because God is a loving God and loves to bless people, God gave the Israelites and the whole world God’s Son Jesus Christ to die for all sins committed.
Now, for us who are on this side of the Cross of Jesus Christ, we are already blessed because God tells us we shall not perish but have eternal life as we believe in Jesus Christ. All blessings are from God and are realized today through belief in Jesus Christ. Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
And if we are Believers of Christ, God has given us the Holy Spirit to be able to do what God tells us, for the Holy Spirit within us is God Himself!
Let us also note that the principles from all 10 Commandments are affirmed by Jesus Christ! We are all to obey the biblical principles from these 10 commandments.
And so, based on the first 5 Commandments of God, how are we to deal with our mothers and how are mothers to live? Let us first talk about what moms are to do based on our passage. Of course again, these instructions from God are not just for moms but for all of us. But let us note, that if we desire to be blessed by God, especially parents, we must understand and obey these commandments. Let us take a look at them briefly.
First of all let us note that God revealed Himself. The One and Only True God is not a hidden God.
1. God can be known!
God spoke. God chose a people. God led the people!
Do you know the God of the Bible? God has made Himself known! It is not God’s fault if you do not know Him personally! God can be known and He speaks!
God said to His people, “You shall have no other gods before me.” What did that mean? Remember that the Israelites just came out of Egypt, where the people treated the Pharaoh like a god and pharaoh himself believed in many gods. What is a god? A god is someone who is considered above everything else and is worshiped and followed.
And God says “You shall have no other gods before Me!”
2. There is only One God; you cannot have multiple gods!
Have you seen this Bumper Sticker (picture)…..which says Coexist?
If each one of these gods actually exists, what do you think they would say to the other gods? Wouldn’t each god say “I am god, you are not!” This is like having many presidents of a country; it only leads to chaos!
Having multiple gods is a farce! If you believe gods can actually coexist, you are living in “lalaland”; and of course this is true for those who do not believe in the God of the Bible!
The second commandment is in v4-5, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” In other words,
3. A picture or a statue cannot be a god!
Now for many of us this is not a problem; however, many of us have problems with mirrors!
The third commandment states that, God’s people shall not misuse the name of the God.
4. The Name of God is to be revered and respected.
Many people of course swear using God’s name.
The fourth commandment is about the Sabbath Day which we need to note specifically applied to the Israelites. We need to note what Jesus and the New Testament states about the Sabbath. Jesus said He is the Lord of the Sabbath. Hebrews 4 tells us that the Sabbath is Jesus Christ Himself. Therefore, the biblical principle of the
5. Sabbath still applies today; it is complete rest in Jesus Christ which is to be done daily, not just once a week.
Let us note that the Book of Hebrews in chapter 10 tells us to meet together on a regular basis to worship God; thus we choose to meet every Sunday, but the focus must always be on the Lord of the Sabbath who is Jesus Christ!
The first 4 commandments are for all of us. Let us all commit to these 4 Commandments!
But moms…. and dads, we are to teach our children these biblical principles; but what good is teaching when we don’t follow them ourselves. This is like a physician I visited a while back who told me to lose weight while he had a hard time sitting because of his large beer belly! You’ve heard the saying, “actions speak louder than words!”
Moms, your first priority in life is God and His Commandments, then your husband, then your children. Moms, will you commit to this?
Now, you have probably noted that the first 4 commandments are about our relationship with God. Commandments 5-10 are about our relationship with each other. There’s a biblical principle here also isn’t there? Our relationship with God must be first then our relationships with each other.
If we do not have a right relationship with God, we will not have the right relationships with other people!
Did you notice that the fifth commandment has a special blessing? “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long!”
Do you want to live long? The 5th commandment is the only one which gives this promise of long life if we honor our parents, and today especially honoring our mothers.
Now, does this commandment only apply one day in a year? If you want to live long and prosper, you don’t have to be a “Klingon” but just cling on to honoring your mom every day. Live long and prosper are not just for the fictitious “Vulcans” but for us Christians! Christians, commit to honoring moms every day!
What does it mean to honor our moms everyday? Of course we should do all the positive things to honor our moms; just listen to all the media commercials we’ve had for the last week! But may I suggest this thought: We are not to dishonor our moms!
What things do children do to dishonor moms??
Think about this and pray to the Lord how we are to honor our moms.
Moms, we want to commit to honoring you, not only today, but every day of our lives! Moms, please stand as we applaud you and pray for you…..
