WHAT JESUS’ MOMS TAUGHT ME
Introduction Illustrations:
WHAT IS A MOTHER?
Somewhere between the youthful energy of a teenager and the golden years of a woman’s life, there lives a marvelous and loving person known as "Mother."
A mother is a curious mixture of patience, kindness, understanding, discipline, industriousness, purity and love.
A mother can be at one and the same time, both "lovelorn counselor" to a heartsick daughter, and "head soccer coach" to an athletic son.
A mother can sew the tiniest stitch in the material for that dainty prom dress and she is equally experienced in threading through the heaviest traffic with a station wagon or van.
A mother is the only creature on earth who can cry when she’s happy, laugh when she’s heartbroken, and work when she’s feeling ill.
A mother is as gentle as a lamb and as strong as a giant. Only a mother can appear so weak and helpless and yet be the same one who puts the fruit jar cover on so tightly even Dad can’t get it off.
A mother is a picture of helplessness when Dad is near, and a marvel of resourcefulness when she’s all alone.
A mother has the angelic voice of a member in the celestial choir as she sings Brahm’s lullaby to a babe held tight in her arms; yet this same voice can dwarf the sound of an amplifier when she call her boys in for supper, or cheers them on at a game.
A mother has the fascinating ability to be almost everywhere at once and she alone can somehow squeeze and enormous amount of living into an average day.
A mother is "old fashioned" to her teenager; just "Mom" to her third-grader; and simple "Mama" to little two-year old sister.
But there is hardly a thrill in life that can compete to pointing to that wonderful woman and be able to say to all the world, "That’s my mother!"
One-liners:
The quickest way for a mother to get the attention of her children is to sit down and look comfortable.
Mothers can have a few minutes to themselves at the end of the day by doing the dishes.
There was a CARTOON. . .
that shows a three-year-old, freckle-faced boy in hallway. His pajamas are unsnapped, his diaper’s bagging, and he’s got a little teddy bear dangling in his hand. He’s standing in front of his mother and father’s bedroom door, which is shut. On the door is a little sign written by a weary mother: "Closed for Business. Motherhood Out of Order."
What is a Grandmother? (Written by a third grader)
A grandmother is a lady who has no children of her own. She likes other people’s little girls and boys. A grandfather is a man grandmother. He goes for walks with boys, and they talk about fishing and stuff like that.
Grandmothers don’t have to do anything except be there. They’re old so they shouldn’t play hard or run. It is enough if they drive us to the market where the pretend horse is, and have a lot of dimes ready. Or if they take us for walk, they should slow down past things like pretty leaves and caterpillars. They should never say, "Hurry up!"
Usually grandmothers are fat, but not too fat to tie your shoes. They wear glasses and funny underwear. They can take their teeth and gums out.
Grandmothers don’t have to be smart, only answer questions like, "Why isn’t God married?" and "How come dogs chase cats?"
Grandmothers don’t talk baby talk like visitors do, because it is hard to understand. When they read to us they don’t skip or mind if it is the same story over again.
Everybody should try to have a grandmother, especially if you don’t have television, because they are the only grown-ups who have time.
MESSAGE:
The Genealogy of Jesus suggests how the Bible is an anthology of human experiences and of God’s redemptive acts. There are at least five things I’ve gleaned from the lives of the five women in this genealogy. Appearance of names DOES NOT VALIDATE what any of these did, but only that God’s Son is linked to them.
Doesn’t validate whatever we do, but speaks of GOD carrying out His will IN SPITE of what we do: in spite of our sin; in spite of our circumstances; in spite of what others do to us; in spite of where we came from. God sovereignly works toward and through people.
WHAT I LEARNED FROM THESE WOMEN:
Mother #1: Tamar -- I Will Endeavor to Always Trust God With My Future (Don’t take my future into my own hands)
---- This is a story of deception, incest and harlotry. It was an incident which showed why God found it necessary to remove His people from the heathen culture and send them to Egypt.
Gist of the account: Judah’s gentile daughter-in-law deceived him into having a child by her. He was not going to give her a husband to replace his son who was her husband but had died. There’s more to the story, but essentially, she determined to make him who was her father-in-law into her husband.
How could this have happened: Genesis 38:1--"And it came to pass at that time, that Judah left his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah."
Judah "left his brethren"--We can try to do what WE want with our lives and try to justify it by "taking" God with us.
APPLICATION: In what way might you have "left your brethren" and launched out on your own private attempt to live life?
Hear and Receive the Word:
Psalm: 32:8 -- "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you."
Isaiah 30:21 -- "If you leave God’s paths and go astray, you will hear a Voice behind you say, ’No, this is the way; walk here.’"
Proverbs 3:5-6 -- "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths."
Mother #2: Rahab -- God’s Redemption is Limitless (In spite of where I’ve come from, the Lord can restore me)
----Rahab was born outside any chance of redemption; life circumstances led her to life compromises. She lived in Jericho, among a people who were going to experience JUDGMENT: She was a gentile, and a prostitute and lived in a city whose walls were about to fall down flat – and her house is along the wall!!
Rahab’s life illustrates the NT text in Ephesians 2: 11-13 -- Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh. . .that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
ALthough many people today have Jesus on the throne of their lives, yet they have many regrets about their past. Maybe where you came from and what you went through has greatly affected how you feel about what God can do to change how that will affect your future.
My wife, for instance, was rejected by her father as a baby, and has been reminded of that past over and over again in the circumstances of adulthood – yet God took her up!
APPLICATION: How far do you feel your circumstances or status in life has left you from God? Have you been overrun by personal sin to go along with it. . .sin that is too difficult to get beyond?
FOR RAHAB and for you and for me: No matter how far from God you strayed, you can be redeemed, and your redemption could affect your whole household-- THE SCARLET THREAD IN THE WINDOW of Rahab’s house reminds us that "You who are far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ"--THE EXTENT OF REDEMPTION
Joshua 6:25--"And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho."
DO YOU BELIEVE THAT GOD’S WORK OF HEALING AND REDEMPTION CAN EVEN EXTEND UNTO YOU AND YOUR SITUATION??
Andre Crouch’s song about the blood expresses it this way: "It reaches to the highest mountain; it flows to the lowest valley, the blood tha gives me strength from day to day, it will never lose its power."
Romans 5:6-10 (Living Bible)--"When we were utterly helpless with no way of escape, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners who had no use for him. Even if we were good, we really wouldn’t expect anyone to die for us, though, of course, that might be barely possible. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since by his blood he did all this for us as sinners, how much more will he do for us now that he has declared us not guilty? Now he will save us from all of God’s wrath to come. And since, when we were his enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of His Son, what blessings he must have for us now that we are his friends, and he is living within us!"
Mother #3: Ruth -- I purpose to Commit My Whole Life To God (. . .And turn my back on my old life)
Ruth is the third of the three Gentiles in this genealogy, she was impoverished, her husband, a Jew, had died and left her without a connection to an inheritance. Essentially, she was outside of any possibility of relationship with God, and now without her husband she was really left OUTSIDE.
But she had a "Commitment to God" which brought her into a covenant relationship with her mother-in-law, and ultimately remarried to a man in her family and together they became the grandparents of King David.
This story of the "Kinsman Redeemer" has been a life-begetting inspiration, ever since I first heard it shortly after I was called into full time service to God and said goodbye to the former direction I was heading into.
APPLICATION: There comes a time when you have to say "Goodbye" to the old life and pursue the new life in Christ.
RUTH 1:16-17 -- "But Ruth said (to Naomi, her mother-in-law): ‘Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me.’"
Mother #4: She Who Had Been the wife of Uriah (Bathsheba) -- Always Use My Authority to Influence People For God (Never use people to get what I want)
After King David had Uriah killed so he could take Bethsheba as his wife, the Bible says: "BUT the thing David had done displeased the LORD." It does no good to try to hide your sin from God. The child of that union died. David’s repentance came only after he had been confronted by a prophet to whom the Lord revealed the truth of the matter.
APPLICATION: If you sin--be quick to repent, DON’T COVER OVER YOUR SIN. Remember the story of the little mouse in a cage with big snake trying to cover over his problem by kicking sand over the snake. Whenever and wherever people have become tools in your hand to get what YOU want, you became like that mouse in a cage. Repent of the misuse of people and seek forgiveness, committing to God that you shall hereafter purpose to use your influence in people’s lives for the glory of God.
Mother #5 Mary: I Am Willing To Serve However God Desires (Learn to never say "no" to God)
3 key statements of Mary are recorded in the Scripture:
1. Luke 1:38 -- "And Mary said, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.’ And the angel departed from her."
2. Luke 1:46-55 ("The Magnificat") "And Mary said, ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. . .’"
3. John 2:5 (at the Wedding in Cana) "Whatever He says to you, do it."
Each of these statements are laced with the attitude of AVAILABILITY to serve God. This is an area I have struggled at various times my whole life and perhaps you have, too.
APPLICATION: Most of the time I say "No" to the Lord is when I simply withhold saying "Yes." I am sad to admit that only through trials have I learned that the only way is "Yes." It is when I have come to times of realization that self-protection and autonomy do not produce health in my spiritual life that I have most easily said "Yes."
REVIEW OF THINGS I’VE LEARNED--Or shall I say "AM LEARNING":
Endeavor to Always Trust God With My Future
God’s Redemption is Limitless
Commit My Whole Life To God
Always Use My Authority to Influence People For God
Serve However God Desires
SONG: "If You Can Use Anything, Lord,. . .’
