Luke 7:11-15 (p. 721) May 11, 2014
Introduction:
We have a great partnership with my old alma mater, James Lane Allen Elementary School so I thought you might like to see a few special pictures that students drew honoring their mothers or important women in their lives...(show pics).
As I was doing some research for this service I ran across these quotes about children (share quotes).
Erma Bombeck said “I loved you enough”...
*I loved you enough to ask about where you were going, with whom and what time you would get home.
*I loved you enough to insist that you buy a bike, that we could afford to give you, with your own money.
*I love you enough to make you return a Milky Way – with a bite out of it – to the drug store and to confess “I stole this.”
*I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room, a job that would have taken me 15 minutes.
*I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, disgust and tears in my eyes.
*I loved you enough to admit I was wrong and ask for your forgiveness.
*I loved you enough to let you stumble, fall and hurt.
*But most of all, I loved you enough to say NO when you hated me for it. That was the hardest part of all.
I’m like Charles Spurgeon who said when asked “who was the greatest teacher he studied under?” He said, “My Mother...and the greatest lesson, I’ve ever learned was when I was 5 years old sitting on her knee...“Jesus loves me this I know! For the Bible tells me so.”
The greatest spiritual influence in my life wasn’t my Father, although I loved him deeply and he taught me great Spiritual truths...as well as how to hold my mouth just right to catch fish. It wasn’t Wayne Smith or Dr. Eubanks. The greatest influence in my life is my mother. I watched her get up and go to bed every evening reading her Bible. I saw her passionately lead other women to Christ and then disciple them. I watched and listened to her pray like she was talking to her best friend...because she was. I’ve seen her fight for what is right on the school board like a tiger, and I’ve watched her love and honor my father for over 55 years in marriage and then grieve his loss. She will turn 88 years old on July 27 of this year. If Jesus tarried and she’s still alive...even in the twilight of her years she is still my spiritual hero.
I love the story “When God Created Mothers.”
When the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was into His sixth day of “overtime” when the angel appeared and said. “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.”
And God said, “Have you read the specs on this order?” She has to be completely washable, but not plastic. Have 180 moveable parts...all replaceable. Run on the black coffee and leftovers. Have a lap that disappears when she stands up. A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair. And six pairs of hands.”
The angel shook her head slowly and said. “Six pairs of hands...no way.”
It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” God remarked, “it’s the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have.”
That’s on the standard model?” asked the angel. God nodded.
One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, ‘What are you kids doing in there?’ when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn’t but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and say, ‘I understand and I love you’ without so much as uttering a word.
God, said the angel touching his sleeve gently, “Get some rest tomorrow...”
“I can’t,” said God, “I’m close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick...can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger...and can get a nine year old to stand under a shower.”
The angel circled the model of a mother very slowly. “It’s too soft,” she sighed.
“But tough!” said God excitedly. “You can imagine what this mother can do or endure.”
“Can it think?”
“Not only can it think, but it can reason and compromise,” said the Creator.
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek.
“There’s a leak,” she pronounced. “I told You that You were trying to put too much into this model.”
“It’s not a leak,” said the Lord, “It’s a tear.”
“What is it for?”
“It’s for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride.”
“You are a genius,” said the angel.
Somberly, God said, “I didn’t put it there.”
- Erma Bombeck, When God Created Mothers
We all know who put that tear there...her children...The ones who have heard her heartbeat from the inside, and the ones who have been theirs even though another might have given them birth.
There is no love closer to God’s love than a Mother’s love for her children...Jesus even described his love for His people as “a mother hen who wants to gather her chicks under her wing.” (Matt. 23:37)
So, when I thought of Broken People...Restored Lives, and how we could see the heart of Jesus on Mother’s Day I wanted us to visit Luke 7:11-15.
Let’s read it together:
LUKE 7:11-15 (p. 721)
“...and Jesus gave him back to his mother” might be some of the most beautiful words ever written.
I love that Jesus broke up every funeral He ever attended...including this one!
I. “AND JESUS GAVE HIM BACK TO HIS MOTHER”
That’s the story of my life too. [I remember that one evening after coming home late...for the billionth time, probably drunk, or high or more likely a combination, my father came down the steps and into my room in the basement. I heard him walk across the kitchen floor over head and then down the steps 1 by 1, and I knew we would have a confrontation...again...6 years of confrontation...of which my rebel spirit brought on everyone, but this time as my father came into my room he was carrying a colt pistol, a 357 and he was crying. I didn’t see him cry very often, and he handed it to me and said, “Son, why don’t you take this pistol and go upstairs and put it to your mom’s head and pull the trigger? Because, it would sure be a quicker and more merciful way of killing her than you are now.
I’m not sure in my calloused soul if I knew or cared about what he meant...I probably called him “crazy.”
But, after the Holy Spirit began to reveal the truth of my rebellion and sin I began to understand when you are headed towards Hell...when you are spiritually dying, it hurts those who love you most, more than you can imagine.
So, when I gave my life to Christ...when I was born again...other than my relationship with Jesus, the relationship that received the most new life was with my Mother & Father...in a very real sense...Jesus had given a “dead” son back to his mother...a mother who had never stopped praying for just this resurrection!]
The widow from the town called Nain (which means “pleasant” or “delightful”) is feeling anything but that!
Jesus and the disciples have just come from one of the greatest testimonies of faith they’ve experienced...a Roman Centurion who says basically...”Jesus, I tell solders what to do and they do it...I believe you can tell the sickness to leave my servant and he will be healed!!! Jesus was amazed...he said, “I haven’t found such great faith even in Israel!” And when the Centurion returns home his servant is well.
It’s on the heels of this they enter the city of Nain and they encounter a different scene...It’s a funeral procession. A large crowd...It’s a widow’s only son, and then Jesus sees her “His heart went out to her.” He tells her, “Don’t cry.”
How do you tell a grieving mother...Don’t cry!!! Well, you have to know there’s something coming that will turn her tears into laughter.
Then (Jesus) went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on and the believers stood still. He said, “Young man, (word for teenager—young adult) I say to you, get up.” The dead man got up and began to talk. (Wow...what do you think He said?)
“And Jesus gave him back to his mother.”
THE GREATEST MOTHER’S DAY PRESENT OF ALL TIME!
Sons who are dead, either spiritually or physically can only be resurrected by Jesus, who is “the resurrection and the life.”
Mothers...Grandmothers...don’t give up on the power of Jesus to resurrect from the dead.
I cannot tell you when Jesus might walk into the funeral procession and speak new life...but I am a living testimony that He can and does have these divine appointments. He can change a funeral procession of lost hope into a celebration of life.
Verse 16 records the reaction of the crowd, “They were all filled with awe and praised God.”
I want to end with this important truth about Jesus.
II. HIS HEART ALWAYS GOES OUT TO US
“When the Lord saw her (the mother) His heart went out to her.” (v. 13)
When Jesus encounters real pain...real hurt he’s moved by it. Whether it’s Mary and Martha’s grief at their brother’s tomb which causes Him to “cry” and be “moved in His Spirit,” or “an outcast leper, a man born blind, a woman who had an ongoing illness and was financially bankrupt, a demon possessed man in a graveyard, or a 5 time divorcee who was living with a guy.”
Jesus’ heart goes out to everyone of these broken people...because “sin and the god of this world creates chaos, pain and death.” And Jesus knows the Father’s plan was for “closeness, joy and purpose.”
James said, “Pure and faultless religion is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” (James 1:27)
Neither orphans or widows can give you back a lot for what you do for them... “no quid pro quo” you are loving someone...for the sake of loving someone who needs it.
This widow in Nain only had one real foundation to stand on in her community...her only son...but now...that foundation was destroyed by death, and although a great crowd was mourning with her only 1 other son truly grasped what that meant.
And that one and only other son had a heart for pure religion...and the power to restore brokenness, so He did!!!
Here’s the application I’d challenge us all with this Mother’s Day morning:
The heart of Jesus still goes out to those who are really hurting...and we are the messengers who convey that truth and that hope.
Jesus didn’t go to every funeral...and he didn’t raise every dead person while here on earth...I count three: This widows son, Lazarus, and Jairus’ daughter.”
Even when he dealt with a paralyzed man...or a man born blind...his priorities were spiritual not physical. “It was that he or his parents sinned that he was born blind...but so God’s power might be put on display.”
To the paralyzed man he said, “Your sins are forgiven...he said that first, but to the crowd he said, “So you might know the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sins here on earth I say to you, “rise, take up your bed and walk...AND HE DID.”
It’s so hard for us to put the first things first, because our priorities get all out of wack...Being unparalyzed seems of 1st importance...being unblind (I know it’s not a word) seems the priority, being alive (I’m not going to use the word “undead”) is the most important thing.
No...No it’s not...Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, and this widow’s son would die...again...The pain Jesus felt first was because sin causes terrible pain...to mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends, widows...
And His heart...His mission was to provide a band aid for the physical consequences of a broken, sinful and deteriorating world. He came to provide a complete spiritual healing over all sin.
May we believe this truth and share this message of hope with a world that desperately needs spiritual healing. Jesus said:
JOHN 10:7-10 (p. 748)
There are no other “gates” that lead to eternal life. There are no other “ways” that lead to a full life with purpose!
And it’s important, essential that every true follower of “this way” would share this message to widows, moms, dads, friends and the crowd.
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:
When professional golfer Paul Azinger was 33 years old he had just won a PGA championship and had ten tournament victories to his credit. But he was also diagnosed with cancer. He wrote, “A genuine feeling of fear came over me. I could die from cancer. Then another reality hit me even harder. I’m going to die eventually anyway whether from cancer or something else. It’s just a question of when. Everything I had accomplished in golf became meaningless to me. All I wanted to do was live.”
Then Larry Moody (who was teaching a Bible study on the tour and was aware of the anxiety Azinger was experiencing) said to him, “Zinger, we’re not in the land of the living going to the land of the dying. We’re in the land of the dying trying to get to the land of the living.”
That one comment changes “Zinger’s” attitude toward his cancer. He went through chemotherapy, recovered from his cancer and returned to the PGA tour. He’s done pretty well. But that bout with cancer changed him.
He wrote, “I’ve made a lot of money since I’ve been on the tour and I’ve won a lot of tournaments, but that happiness is always temporary. The only way you will ever have true contentment is in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I’m not saying that nothing ever bothers me and I don’t have problems, but I feel like I’ve found the answer TO THE SIX FOOT HOLE.”
