WHAT MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME
Exodus 20:12
S: Mother’s Day
Th: Learning from Mom
Pr: We need to learn from our mothers.
?: What?
KW: Principles for life
TS: We are going to observe three biblical principles for life
that my mother taught me.
The _____ principle for life that my mother taught me is…
I. FAITH
II. LOVE
III. PERSEVERANCE
RMBC 5/9/99 AM
INTRODUCTION:
1. What did your mother teach you?
ILL Notebook: Mother (What My Mother Taught Me)
Hear what one, anonymous son has written along these lines:
My Mother taught me LOGIC...
"If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you can’t go to the store with me," as well as, "If everyone else jumped off a cliff would you do it too?"
My Mother taught me MEDICINE...
"If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they’re going to freeze that way."
My Mother taught me TO THINK AHEAD...
"If you don’t pass your spelling test, you’ll never get a good job!"
My Mother taught me TO MEET A CHALLENGE...
"What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you... Don’t talk back to me!"
My Mother taught me HUMOR...
"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me."
My Mother taught me how to BECOME AN ADULT...
"If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up.
My mother taught me about GENETICS...
"You are just like your father!"
My mother taught me about my ROOTS...
"Do you think you were born in a barn?"
My mother taught me about the WISDOM of AGE...
"When you get to be my age, you will understand," or, "I will explain it all when you get older."
My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION...
"Just wait until your father gets home."
My mother taught me about RECEIVING...
You are going to get it when I get you home.
And the all time favorite thing my mother taught me - JUSTICE
"One day you will have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you. Then you’ll see what it’s like! I can’t wait!"
I think this is the secret hope for every mother…that history will
repeat itself.
2. There has been some commonality through the years when it comes to motherhood.
ILL Notebook: Mother (Great Sayings of Biblical Mothers)
In fact, we have some quotes of mothers from biblical times to
show you that some things just don’t change.
10. Samson! Get your hand out of that lion. You don’t know where it’s been! (Judges 14:5-8)
9. David! I told you not to play in the house with that sling! Go practice your harp. We pay good money for those lessons!
8. Abraham! Stop wandering around - the countryside and get home for supper!
7. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego! Leave those clothes outside, you smell like a dirty ol’ furnace!
6. Cain! Get off your brother! You’re going to kill him some day!
5. Noah! No, you can’t keep them! I told you, don’t bring home any more strays!
4. Gideon! Have you been hiding in that wine press again? Look at your clothes! (Judges 6:11)
3. James and John! No more burping contests at the dinner table, please. People are going to call you the sons of thunder! (Mark 3:17)
2. Judas! Have you been in my purse again?!
I. Jesus! What do you think, you were born in a barn?
TRANSITION:
1. One thing we all hold in common today is that we have mothers.
Everyone of us qualifies as a child of someone.
Now, we recognize that not everyone’s situation is exactly the
same, and some of you may have been lacking one of your
parents, or you may have been adopted.
Nevertheless, we come to recognize our mothers today.
We come to recognize the terrific job that they have done for us.
Surely, most of what they have done for us goes unnoticed.
Take for example this description of a mother’s typical day.
ILL
"Preheat oven, but first check for rubber balls or “Batman” figurines that might be lurking inside the oven.
Clear counter of “legos” and “Hot Wheels” cars. Grease pan. Crack nuts. Measure flour. Remove Johnny’s hand from flour. Remeasure flour. Crack more nuts to replace those Johnny ate. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt.
Get broom and dust pan. Sweep up pieces of bowl Johnny knocked on floor. Find a second bowl. Answer doorbell. Return to kitchen. Remove Johnny’s hand from bowl. Wash Johnny. Answer telephone. Return. Remove half inch of salt from grease pan.
Call for Johnny. Look for Johnny. Give up search. Grease another pan. Answer phone. Return to kitchen. Find Johnny. Remove Johnny’s hands from bowl. Remove layer of nuts shells from grease pan. Sternly turn to Johnny who knocks off second bowl off counter while running away from you. Wash kitchen floor and counter and dishes and walls. Final scene: Call bakery. Place order. Take two Tylenol. Lie down."
Perhaps this is something that you can relate to.
Well…we want to recognize this morning that…
2. God has given us our mothers.
God has assigned our parents to us.
And they are ours just as we are theirs, whether we have come to
them biologically or chosen by some other means.
Now we are not going to kids ourselves here today.
We recognize that not all mothers are perfect.
And probably your mother was not perfect, even if she told you
that she was.
But did you ever find yourself saying, “I just don’t know what to do
with my mother”?
We do have an answer for that…
3. God has given us instruction on how we are to treat our parents (Exodus 20:12).
We find the instruction in Exodus 20:12:
Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
We are told to honor our parents.
The word “honor” means to show respect, to reverence, even to
hold in awe.
What this means to us is that, no matter what our age (since this
is a timeless command), we are to treat our mothers with high
esteem.
We are to treat them with the greatest care.
I believe that…
4. We honor God by honoring our mothers.
We treat God with reverence when we respect our parents, and
specifically, our mothers.
This should inspire us to think differently than we have at times.
For though we have often envisioned ourselves as the perfect
son or daughter, it simply has not been so.
But whatever our mistakes of the past, we can honor our mothers
today.
And one of the ways we honor our mothers is by listening to them
and learning from them.
5. WE NEED TO LEARN FROM OUR MOTHERS.
Now I want to confess to you today that I am not following the
pattern that my seminary professors taught me in my sermon-
making.
We were specifically told not to start from our experience, but
from God’s Word.
But that is exactly where I am starting today…
I want to share with you what my mother taught me.
Our study is certainly not the full extent of what she taught me,
but what I share, I hope you will find helpful, for…
6. We are going to observe three biblical principles for life that my mother taught me.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first biblical principle for life that my mother taught me is FAITH (II Timothy 2:5).
In II Timothy 2:5, Paul is speaking to his disciple Timothy and
says:
I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.
1. We need to be mentored.
Each one of us needs to be mentored.
We need to be told how to live life.
We need to be taught about what is really important.
Someone has said, “Mothers write on the hearts of their children what the rough hand of the world cannot erase.”
I think that quote says it well
Mothers are disciple-makers.
They have the opportunity to hand down their faith about God.
They have the unique ability to demonstrate God’s love and
grace.
This was the testimony of Timothy about his grandmother, Lois,
and his mother, Eunice.
They guided Timothy to belief in Jesus.
2. When we are young, we need an example of sincere faith.
Too often I have heard parents say that they wanted their
children to make up their own minds about religion.
They usually say that because they have not made up their own.
So, in essence, they are making disciples of their own belief
system.
Their children are going to believe like them unless somewhere
along the line there is an intervention.
From the time I can remember, my mom took me to church.
Every Sunday, without fail, we went to church.
No matter what the circumstances, we went.
I learned a lot about priorities during those early days.
You know, my mom learned the same priorities from her parents
and her grandparents.
In particular, her grandfather, also a Baptist pastor, instilled into
this family a faith in God that would not be shaken.
I had an example of sincere faith.
But our faith does not stop there for…
3. We need to learn the basics.
I remember during those early years that I learned the elementary
truths about God.
I remember learning about Jesus and trying to figure out how the
Son of God could also be God Himself.
I remember learning John 3:16 in the King James Version:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
I remember my mom singing with me at night, teaching me songs
and hymns.
The one I recalled this week, went like this…
ILL “I Love to Tell the Story”
I love to tell the story
Twill be my theme and glory
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and His love
That song ended up setting the stage for me, a calling, that I
could not escape…
II. The second biblical principle for life that my mother taught me is LOVE (I Kings 3:26).
We already have read the entire portion of Scripture earlier in the
service that this particular verse is from…
The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, "Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!" But the other said, "Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!"
1. We need an example of sacrifice.
The mother in this story certainly demonstrates sacrifice.
She was willing to give up her son so that he would live.
His life was more important than her possession of him.
There is probably no one that has a greater influence on children
than a mother.
ILL Notebook: Mother (I miss my mom)
Joseph Howard tells this story:
A basic trainee at Lakeland Air Force Base in Texas, obviously upset, came to me, a member of the Leadership Program, and requested confidential coun-seling. Our manuals laid out endless reasons why airmen might ask for this, some of them quite horrifying. "Sir," he said, "I’m afraid that what I say will negatively affect my training record."
"Try me," I said, prepared for the worst.
"Sir, are you sure that you can be objective?"
Exasperated, I replied, "Of course I can! Now what’s the matter?"
He looked at me, eyes wide with fear, "I miss my mom!"
I think this story demonstrates well the fact that there is often a
strong emotional bond that is made between a mother and her
children.
This is why our mothers had such a powerful influence over us.
They are absolutely committed to us.
Their love is a sacrificial love that will always look out for our best,
even when we perceive it to be otherwise.
Lord Shaftesbury said, "Give me a generation of Christian mothers and I will undertake to change the face of English society in 12 months."
He said that because he saw within the love of mothers a force
that must be reckoned with.
As children, I am not sure that we will ever love our parents the
way that they love us.
It is only when we become parents do we get the glimpse of how
one can love unconditionally.
There is no love like a mother’s love.
If there is a love that somewhat reflects the depth, height, and
breadth of God’s love, it would be a mother’s love.
This is what I remember from my mom.
She was absolutely committed to me.
She cooked, cleaned, washed my clothes and bought me a
matchbox car every week at the store (the latter I certainly
considered the most valuable trait at the time).
She was utterly exasperated at my room.
She would say, “How can you live in that?”
I figured that if there was a path it was livable.
One thing is for sure…I have always been confident that my
mother loves me.
There is another area of example we need…
2. We need an example of promise-keeping.
ILL Notebook: Marriage (endorsement)
A recently married woman tried to cash her husband’s paycheck at a bank. "You need an endorsement," the teller told her. The woman thought for a moment and then wrote on the back of the check: "My husband is a very kind person and I would recommend him to anyone. Signed, Karen Johnson."
I have always believed that the best thing that we can do for our
children is to love our spouse.
This was so true of my mom.
She did not push dad, but I saw that she was committed to him.
She had and has a devotion to him that is unshakable.
I was always confident that they were going to stay together.
It was a foundation of security that was essential for me as I was
growing up.
III. The third biblical principle for life that my mother taught me is PERSEVERANCE (Romans 5:3-4).
In Romans 5, Paul shares these words…
(3) Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; (4) perseverance, character; and character, hope.
1. We need an example of how to suffer.
The Greek word for suffering, basically, is translated as
"tribulation, something that causes distress."
It can range from minor annoyances that we go through every
day, to major disasters that come sweeping down out of the
blue and leave us stricken and smitten.
Frankly, we don’t enjoy them, nor should we.
Neither should we pretend that we are happy through them.
The writer in Hebrews told us that two weeks ago.
Suffering is hard.
My mom learned suffering at an age that is way too early.
Her dad died when she was an early teenager.
But as I was growing up, I saw my mom suffer in many areas.
And I learned from that.
I learned that the Christian life is not easy.
It is hard at times.
There are times you just plain hurt.
The text in Romans tells us to rejoice.
We are to rejoice because through suffering, we know
something.
Suffering does something for us.
It is productive.
It is of value.
And I know what it is because my mom lives it.
She perseveres.
2. We need to be shown how to persevere.
ILL Notebook: Perseverance (caterpillar)
As a bird looks on, a caterpillar makes a very slow ascent up a barren peach tree, the bird asks sarcastically, "Why are you coming up here? There are no peaches on this tree."
The caterpillar, lumbering along, says in a most assured manner, "There will be by the time I get there."
When we are suffering, we are tempted to give up.
Suffering, if we let it, will teach us how to be steady in life.
That is what suffering does.
It steadies you.
You go through a tough time and you’re all panicky; then the Lord
stills the storm and you think, "Thank God that’s all over. I’ll
never have to go through that again! I’ve learned my lesson!"
And two weeks later, there is another storm.
But this time you’ve been through it once, so you steady up a bit. You don’t get quite so panicky.
When we persevere, something happens to us on the inside that
we need…
3. We need to develop inner strength.
We accomplish this by learning.
3.1 We learn about ourselves.
When we persevere, we learn about ourselves.
We learn that we are not as strong as we thought we were.
We learn that we wanted to bail out much sooner than we
thought we would.
We also learn about God…
3.2 We learn about God.
We learn something about the Lord.
We learn how gracious He is.
We learn that He can handle events in ways that we couldn’t
dream of or anticipate.
We see him work things out in ways that we could never have
guessed.
So when this inner strength of character is developed in this learning process, we find hope…
4. We need to possess hope.
And we have hope.
We have hope that we are changing, becoming more like Jesus.
We are becoming more thoughtful, more compassionate and
more loving.
We are transforming into the image of His Son.
This is our hope!
This is the hope of my mom.
I saw her live this.
She looks forward when the changes that God is doing now will
be complete.
APPLICATION:
Let me repeat what I said earlier…
1. We honor God by honoring our mothers.
But how do we do this?
Let me make three recommendations to all of us this morning.
The first is…
1.1 Respect
In Proverbs 31:28, it says…
Her children arise and call her blessed…
When we do this for our mothers, when we demonstrate this
kind of respect for what they have done for us, then we
honor our mothers as God has intended from the very
beginning.
The second is…
1.2 Be Good
ILL
One day 5 prisoners sat looking at a magazine in a prison library. One said, "Wish my mother had a house like the one in that ad." Another took the magazine and flipping through the pages, remarked, "That’s what I wish my ma had. A car like that so she could come and see me once in a while."
They passed it around until it came to a prisoner named Bill. Bill just sat there. Finally Bill spoke, "I wish," his voice sounded as if it were going to break, "that my mother had a good son."
We honor our parents when we are good.
When we are a good son or a good daughter, we honor the
parents God has given us, and in turn, honor God.
The third way we honor our mother is to…
1.3 Learn
Our mothers didn’t teach us about life so that we would be
dumbheads!
They taught us so that we would function well and be
productive.
They taught us so that we would be good citizens of our
country and good citizens of the family of God.
2. What have you learned from your mother?
My mom taught me about faith.
My mom taught me about love.
My mom taught me about suffering.
And she taught me hundreds of other things as well, but you
don’t have time for me to tell you all of them.
Take a moment and reflect…
What have you learned from your mother?
More importantly though…
3. What have you applied?
BENEDICTION:
Honor God today—by honoring your mother, whether she is with you today or not, respect her, for she is a gift from God to you;
Honor God today—by honoring your mother, by being the best son or daughter you can possibly be;
Honor God today—by honoring your mother, by learning from her, listening to her, and applying it to your life.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
