Mothers Matter
Mother’s Day Sermon 2001
We live in a world that is determined to minimize or outright ignore the role mother’s play in their children lives. The world would have us believe that mothers really don’t matter after all. Just last week I was watching one of the news channels and heard a report about a private school that had canceled mother’s day. There would be no mothers day cards made. The art class would not make clay picture frames for the kids to take home as a gift. Mother’s day would be completely ignored. Why? So that the children being raised by homosexuals would get their feelings hurt. Because after all two dads are just as good as a mom, right? A child can get along just fine without Mom, right? WRONG! MOTHER’S MATTER!!
One afternoon a man came home from work to find total mayhem in his house. His three children were outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife’s car was open, as was the front door to the house. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded on the wall. In the front room, the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. - He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles and piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she may be ill, or that something serious had happened. He found her lounging in the bedroom, still curled in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?" She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and ask me what in the world did I do today?" "Yes" was his incredulous reply. "This is it."
Often we don’t realize what it is that we have until it is gone. A good mother is more precious than the rarest rubies and should be cherished. Of course our mothers do more than keep the house clean and the kids tidy.
Mothers are our nurses & doctors & psychologists & counselors, our chauffeurs & coaches. Mothers are developers of personalities, molders of vocabularies, & shapers of attitudes. Mothers are soft voices saying, "I love you." And mothers are a link to God, a child’s first impression of God’s love.
MOTHERS ARE PEOPLE THAT MATTER.
Mother’s matter because of the impact they have on our lives.
They impact our lives in so many different and wonderful ways that I could never name them all here this morning. Instead, I want to look at a few of the mother’s we meet in the Bible and look at what they did to impact the lives of their children. First, turn with me to Exodus chapter two verses 1-4.
I. Mothers matter because they protect us Ex. 2:1-4
1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. 3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink. 4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.
At one time the Israeli people were respected in Egypt and honored because of the work of their ancestor Joseph. But there was a new Pharaoh on the thrown now and he didn’t remember Joseph. As the Hebrews population grew and grew the Egyptian began to fear them. What if the Hebrews turned against them? So they set masters over them and used them as laborers. They forced them to build great cities for Pharaoh and beat them into submission. But their numbers continued to grow even under such terrible punishment. So a new decree went out from Pharaoh – all the male children of Israel were to be drowned as soon as they were born. It was a massacre and hundreds of Jewish children were murdered. But there was one mother who looked into her newborn boys eyes and couldn’t bear the thought of his death. So she took her baby boy and put him a basket and sent him down the river into the arms of Pharaoh’s daughter. Her heart must have broken when she saw that basket float out of sight. When she thought of another woman raising her baby boy- another was drying his tears he fell and tucking him into bed at night. But she had to protect him from Pharaoh and if saving his life meant that her son would never know her or the love she had for him – then so be it. She would protect him regardless of the cost. And it was because of her protection that the child Moses was able to grow into a man and set his people free from the bondage of Egypt.
Most Mothers never need to make such a great sacrifice to protect their children. But all Mothers are protectors. They protect us from in so many ways that we could not name them all. They protect us physically, morally, emotionally and spiritually. They are there to chase the boggy man out from under our beds at night and make sure we look both ways before we cross the street. They will tell us we’re making stupid mistakes when everyone else is afraid of hurting our feeling.
A lady by the name of Erma Bombeck does a lot of writing on the subject of motherhood. She has always said that, "The easiest part of being a mother is giving birth.... the hardest part is showing up for it each day..." One afternoon, with 3 kids in tow, she came out of a supermarket pushing a cart (with four wheels that went in opposite directions) when her toddler son got away from her. Just outside the door, he ran toward a machine holding bubble gum in a glass dome. In a voice that shattered glass he shouted, "Gimme! Gimme!" She told him she would give him what for if he didn’t stop shouting and get in the car. As she physically tried to pry his body from around the bubble gum machine, he pulled the entire thing over. Glass and balls of bubble gum went all over the parking lot. They had now attracted a sizable crowd. She told him he would never see a cartoon as long as he lived, and if he didn’t control his temper, he was going to be making license plates for the state. He tried to stifle his sobs as he looked around at the staring crowd. Then he did something that she was to remember for the rest of her life. In his helpless quest for comfort, he turned to the only one he trusted his emotions with -- Mom. He threw his arms around her knees and held on for dear life. She had humiliated him, chastised him, and berated him, but she was still all he had. That single incident defined her role.
Our mothers are our protectors in the middle of the storm. When things go bad even grown men can be comforted by a mothers embrace.
II. Mothers matter because they support us - 1 Samuel 2: 19
1:22 . . . for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide for ever.
2:19 Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
There once was a woman named Hannah that was not able to bear any children. In days that she lived a barren woman was scorned and shamed. Her husbands other wives bore him children and teased her because she could not give him a child. The only desire of her heart was to have a child! And she went to the temple of God and threw herself into prayer before the Lord. She prayed so long and hard that the priest thought she had been dinking to much wine and was drunk! She promised God that if she was blessed with a child she would dedicate him to the Lord and he would serve in the house of God all his days. God answered her prayer and she bore a son –Samuel. She weaned him as an infant and then took him up to Shiloh were she gave him over to the priest care. But every year when she came to Shiloh to worship she brought him a little coat. A coat she had no doubt made with her own hands. She was not raising him, but she whatever she could to support him in his work. He knew that she loved him and wanted him to succeed in his life and that she would do whatever she could to make it happen.
Hannah is a model for all parents of Christian children. Our children should be given over to the Lord for whatever purpose He has for them. And whatever the Lord chooses to do with that child, parents should be supportive.
When I decided to become a minister my Mother was opposed to it. My family tried to bribe me to keep me out of Bible College, because they knew that a Pastors life would not be one of wealth and plenty. But once I decide I was going she supported me in every way the could. She baby sat two babies five days a week and sent me almost all of the money she made. She scrimped and saved and helped pay my school bills. She encouraged me and wanted me to succeed. Our mothers will always be our number one supporters. When we come home all of the sudden and want to join the band and buy a trombone or violin. When we suddenly decide we want to be an explorer in Deepest Darkest Africa they tell us we can do anything we set our minds to. When we get the lead part in the school play they are on the front row cheering us on, and when when someone else gets the lead role they assure us that our part is the most important one anyway. Who want to to play the part of Ebenezer Scrooge when you can be good old Bob Cratchet. Through think and thin, good and bad – they support us through it all.
III. Mothers matter because they teach us - 2 Timothy 1:5 and 3:15
1:5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Timothy’s, Paul’s son in the faith, a Pastor and leader of the early church did not learn Godliness from Paul or from Peter. He did not set at the feet of the great teachers of Israel and learn the faith. He learned to love God from his mother, who had learned from her mother.
Perhaps the most important lesson that we should learn from our mothers, and fathers, is the lesson of faith. The first glimpse we have of the love of God is seen in the face of our mother. Several preachers were arguing one day about which version of the Bible was the best version. One man said he only used the King James Version. Another laughed and said he much preferred the New American Bible. A third man piped up and said that he like the NIV, because he could understand it better. A fourth man said he liked his mother s version the best. “I didn’t know your mother translated the Bible?! I didn’t even know she knew Greek and Hebrew!” Well, she never put on paper, but she read it to me everyday by the way she lived. In many peoples minds their mothers are spiritual giants. As the an old song says..
“In this modern age of missiles and tank and ships and guns. When men believe that theres just one way that a war is ever won. I can face a thousand battles with my dear old moma’s prayers.”
Conclusion:
I guess when it comes right down it, Mother’s matter because of something more basic than their protection, support and teaching. The real reason that they matter is because they love us. No matter what they love us.
Mother’s day is our opportunity to say, “Thank ‘ya Mom. Thanks for knowing we never meant it when we got mad and said we hated you. Thanks, for forgiving us when we broke your grandmothers antique china, thanks being a great mom even when we took you for granted. Thanks for knowing, even when we didn’t say it or show it, we loved you Thanks for making a difference in our lives, thanks for loving us. And we want you to know that we love you too and we’re sorry for not saying it more often.”
