A woman I never met is greatly responsible for my coming to know Christ.
I plan on meeting her and thanking her when I get to heaven.
She worked with my mother and invited her to a church service where my mother heard the gospel and accepted Christ as her personal Savior.
It was a small church in a rural community. It will never be featured in any Christian news story or book. But that woman and that church are largely responsible for the greatest thing that ever happened to my mother and eventually to me.
When mom got saved she naturally wanted her family to know Christ. We moved to another state shortly after mom’s conversion and the first thing she did was locate a good church. (As a matter of fact, it was another woman that mom worked with that told her about a good church.) I accepted Christ the second Sunday I was there.
I want to give credit to that woman that worked with my mom. I want to praise her for being a faithful witness for Christ and a dedicated member of her church.
We have all known many women like her. How should we show them the love and appreciation they are due?
Paul instructs Timothy, "treat...the older women as mothers."
How should you treat a mother? When we answer this question we know how to treat not only the woman who gave us birth and/or raised us, but also how to treat our spiritual mothers in the church.
Here are some BIBLICAL GUIDELINES ON HOW TO TREAT MOTHERS.
1. MOTHERS ARE TO BE TREATED WITH HONOR.
"Honor your father and mother" - Exodus 20:12a
This is the first commandment of the second table of the law. Man’s first responsiblity toward others is to his parents. We are to give our parents honor.
With Paul’s admonition to Timothy we can expand this to our spiritual mothers - the women in the church who labor faithfully for Christ doing the work of spiritual mothering.
This command is repeated in the New Testament in Ephesians 6:2. Here, the Greek word translated "honor" is "time" (tee-may). (This is the same word Peter uses to instruct husbands about their relationship with their wives - 1 Peter 3:7, and the same word Paul uses later in this same chapter to describe the way we ought to treat elders that rule well - 1 Timothy 5:17.)
How do you honor someone? GIVE THEM YOUR TIME!
Mothers, biological and spiritual, give their time to us - to honor them - we give our time back to them!
The temptation in life, especially in young and middle adulthood, is to get so busy with life that we take our parents for granted. But instead of taking them for granted the scriptures teach us its time to begin investing our time in them just as they invested their time in us.
I’m not suggesting you move back in with your parents. In most cases that’s not necessary. Ephesians 5:31 says we are supposed to "leave" our father and mother. This is natural when you begin a life of your own. But we should call them, email them, visit them, and check on their needs and their welfare.
Same goes for our spiritual parents. If someone invested in your spiritual well being, then giving back to them is in order.
There are a lot of acts of kindness you can perform but just spending time with them is first on the list.
Most folks will tell you giving your time is the greatest gift you can give.
Here’s a second scriptural way to treat our mothers:
2. MOTHERS ARE TO BE ASSISTED WITH THEIR PHYSICAL NEEDS.
Now in this 5th chapter of First Timothy we are given guidelines for taking care of the physical needs of widows in the church. We won’t dissect them in this sermon, but suffice it to say the principle is clear here - the church has some responsibility for taking care of the physical needs of her spiritual mothers.
Jesus was the great example here. From the cross he saw to it that his mother Mary was taken care of by the Apostle John. (John 19:25-27) That is remarkable! Even in dying for the sins of the whole world Jesus took time to see to it that his mother’s physical needs were met.
In that light none of us has an excuse for neglecting the needs of our mothers - our biological mothers or our spiritual mothers.
The church family needs to be concerned not only about reaching out and gathering new members - but also taking care of the needs of the ones we have!
On the lighter side, did you hear about the three sons who left home, went out on their own and prospered? Getting back together, they discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother.
The first said, "I built a big house for our mother." The second said, "I sent her a Mercedes with a driver." The third smiled and said, "I’ve got you both beat. You remember how mom enjoyed reading the Bible? And you know she can’t see very well. I sent her a remarkable parrot that recites the entire Bible. It took elders in the church 12 years to teach him. He’s one of a kind. Mama just has to name the chapter and verse, and parrot recites it."
Soon thereafter, mom sent out her letters of thanks: "Milton", she wrote, "The house you built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house." "Gerald", she wrote to another, "I am too old to travel. I stay most of the time at home, so I rarely use the Mercedes. And the driver is so rude!" "Dearest Donald", she wrote to her third son, "You have the good sense to know what your mother likes. The chicken was delicious!"
Here’s another biblical thought about how to treat mothers:
3. WE ARE TO LISTEN TO THE WISDOM OF OUR MOTHERS.
Twice in Proverbs, Solomon instructs us not to forsake our mother’s teaching. (Proverbs 1:8; 6:20) He says "a foolish man despises his mother." (Proverbs 15:20)
The scripture is teaching us to listen to what our mothers have to say.
Are mothers always right? No, not always, but they usually have our best interest in mind.
Can you say that about the advice you get from your investment broker? Do you honestly believe he is primarily interested in your welfare? My guess is, his primary motivation is his commission.
Your boss may give you advice at work - probably to make you more productive for the company.
But a mother gives her input because she loves you and DOES have your best interest in mind.
We should at least take her motivation into consideration. We would probably save ourselves a lot of headaches and heartaches if we paid closer attention to what she has to say. We at least owe her the respect of listening.
There are other biblical guidelines for treating mothers. We only had time for a few.
I want to close the sermon by reminding you of an incident from the life of Jesus that underscores how spiritual mothering is important to the family of God.
Matthew 12:46-49 (NIV)
While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you." He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
Are you a part of this family? If not, you can be! Once you believe in Jesus and receive eternal life you are automatically made a member of this family Jesus was talking about!
If you’re already in the family of God, commit yourself to treating the other members of the family, including your spiriutal mothers, in the ways the Bible instructs you.
