FAMILY MATTERS
“Mary: a Model for Today’s Moms”
Luke 1:26-28
If you are not aware, for the past 16 years there has been an annual survey telling us how much money the average mom should receive for all of the jobs that she does. This is a bit of what that job looks like and what they do—of course we do not have time to cover everything moms do for us... From being the executive chef to director of home day care, part-time psychologist and nurse, event planner, coach, photographer and a laundry and facilities manager, the total salary is estimated now at $143,102 a year. So for most of us we owe our moms a lot of back pay. And a big raise. For many of you today your mom is still with you so make sure you appreciate her and tell her how much you love her today. For some of us are mothers have gone on to be with the Lord so we deeply missed them today.
Early in the Scripture in the book of Exodus, Moses, is summoned to go to Mount Sinai and he spends time alone with God and comes back with two tablets and engraved in those tablets their 10 commandments. Not 10 suggestions—their 10 commandments we are told to keep. Don’t lie. Don’t steal. Don’t desire things that belong to other people. Do not murder. And then among those commandments we find these words: honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life that Scripture was written down several thousand years ago so it has been in place a very long time—in other words we should’ve learned this commandment by now. But I’m not sure we have. Most people believe today that we live in a post—Christian era; in other words the church is not dead; Christianity is not dead, however the influence of Christianity on our society is certainly diminished. It is not what it once was.
Public prayer and Scripture readings were taken out of schools. The 10 Commandments were removed from the walls and if believers from a century ago were able to be to come back and live in this society they would certainly not recognize what we have become. Because so much has changed. Education has changed, morality has changed, society has changed and parenting has completely changed. Whereas much of what used to take place in our homes and in society was centered around Scripture, I am afraid that we have lost our focus. We have become so intelligent we think we no longer need God... We no longer need the Scripture.
The Bible actually warns us that this would happen. Paul wrote these words to young Timothy 2000 years ago... 2 Timothy 3 Living Bible (TLB) 3 You may as well know this too, Timothy, that in the last days it is going to be very difficult to be a Christian. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money; they will be proud and boastful, sneering at God, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful to them, and thoroughly bad. 3 They will be hardheaded and never give in to others; they will be constant liars and troublemakers and will think nothing of immorality. They will be rough and cruel, and sneer at those who try to be good. 4 They will betray their friends; they will be hotheaded, puffed up with pride, and prefer good times to worshiping God. 5 They will go to church, yes, but they won’t really believe anything they hear. Don’t be taken in by people like that.
The Scripture is our guide, our model. In the Scripture gives us a model for what a mother can actually become. In the gospel of Luke 1:26-28.
As believers we carry great respect for Mary and Joseph. They were the parents of our Lord. Jesus was born of Mary, a virgin, by the Holy Spirit. This was a matter of faith Mary had to grasp and was a difficult fact for Joseph to accept as well and the truth is this is not as easy as you might think. In fact Mary faced many difficulties in life and the fact that she handled each one with grace and courage should speak to every mom here today. And here is why.
(1) Mary’s reputation was damaged. It was tarnished. Mary was pregnant but not married. Now you and I understand that this child was given to her by the Holy Spirit—we’ve had years to accept this and process it is truth but let me ask you, do you think they believed that story in the little town of Nazareth? If you came from a small town you know this sort of thing is a hot topic for gossip. Back in my high school days if a girl was pregnant she did everything she could to hide it so that no one would know. No doubt that among many, Mary’s reputation was damaged. As moms I want to give you permission today on something... You do not have to be perfect to be good mom. You do not have to be perfect to be a great mom. Maybe there are things in your past that you’re not comfortable with. Perhaps you have skeletons in your closet and you even feel unworthy as a mother. Let me remind you. God not only forgives, he also forgets. We serve a God of grace.
(2) Mary also experienced poverty. The Bible tells us in Philippians that Jesus was rich but he became poor for our sakes. I think that we tend to not realize how poor Mary and Joseph were. When Jesus was brought to the temple as an infant for the very first time, Joseph and Mary offered two doves as their gift. That is what the poorest in society would offer as their sacrifice.
In today’s society moms are pressured to try to buy the things children want—to give them everything we think they need to fit in at school—designer clothes, expensive shoes... Let me tell you my kids are grown but that hasn’t changed—I her kids did fine with offer brands of shoes. Buying things you cannot afford is not necessarily being a good parent. What we must do is teach them that life does not consist of the abundance of the things we possess. Teach them that there are things that are much more important; eternal things we cannot see that will last forever.
Love doesn’t cost money. Love takes time and attention and emotion and every mom can supply that.
(3) Mary had to face the fact that people would hate her son. In Matthew two, the Scripture says that an Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up, he said and take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. From the day Jesus was born, evil was set in motion to do away with him.
The same thing happens many times today. You see Satan sees that child as God’s gift to you. He knows that the quickest way to destroy your self-esteem as a mother and to destroy your family is to attack your child because your child is young and doesn’t have the power to deal with him.
And that is where parents must step in. And fight for your children. You may have to turn their computers off, turn the tent television off and you need to monitor what your kids are watching; you have to go to school once a while and talk to administrators and teachers about what your child is being taught. So that everyone is on the same team.
(4) Mary, at some point, experience the difficulty of being a single mom. After the trip to the temple when Jesus was 12, Joseph was never mentioned again in Scripture. No mention of Joseph at the crucifixion. At some point, we believe that Mary was a single mom raising Jesus by herself.
I’ll be honest with you today. I often come into Mother’s day with a bit of fear and trembling. I’m never quite sure how to handle it because I know they’re all kinds of different situations that are present here today. In every church.
• Some of you believe you had a perfect mom. Others of you had a difficult relationship with your mother you may feel guilty about that today.
• For some of us are moms are gone. My mother celebrates this day in heaven. Many of you have lost your mother as well. So you miss her today. You wish you could have one more hug; one more conversation.
• Some are childless; and you may feel empty; unfulfilled. Some of you have even lost a child.
Here’s the good news. No family is perfect. One day we will be part we will be part of a perfect family in heaven. One day we will live in a perfect environment with all the saints above. Moms need encouragement. So encourage each other. Know that you are loved and prayed for.
Jean Barron spent many years living in a trailer that was pretty run down. She tells a story about raising her kids in that kind of environment. Then one day her son came home and announced that his best friend had run away from home. She looked at her side and said, I don’t understand... He lives in such a nice house and seems to have everything any child could ever want. Why did he run away? Her son answered... Well in their house they have a lot of environment, but not very much love. In our home we have lots of love but not very much environment. Love doesn’t cost money. Love takes time and attention and emotion and feeling and every mom here today can do that.
