Mother’s Day
May 13, 2001
When we come to Mother’s Day each year there are two things that concern me.
1. After five years of mother’s day messages, what do you say that is different than before?
2. Having never been a mother, I am careful about doing any criticizing. Sorry men, but being a father, come father’s day I don’t have any reluctance about pointing out what we’re doing wrong.
So with those in mind, I have been searching for what the Lord would have me say on this special day. As I have been preparing there is a verse that has really struck me. It is such a stark statement that it sort of hit me between the eyes. So my intention is to spend both sermons meditating on this verse. This morning I am going to address our roles as parents and the things we need to do in our own lives to be better mothers and fathers. Then this evening, I am going to expand out to address how we ought to be dealing with our kids.
But first the verse that has started this process.
Proverbs 11:29
NIV Proverbs 14:1 The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.
Hosea 8:7 "They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.
Trouble from outside is to be expected throughout life and often outside troubles cause us to grow together as we overcome adversity. But we trouble comes from our own actions, our own foolishness it destroys. It is a rot that weakens the foundations of the relationship and leaves its mark on the next generation. The sins of the father do leave their mark on the children.
How do we bring trouble on our own houses?
A. We bring trouble on our family by violating our marriage bond
Unfaithfulness
Physical: Prov. 5:1-18
Emotional: he’s married to his job.
The myth of quality time rather than quantity of time.
If you want to avoid trouble Be faithful.
B. We bring trouble on our family by our own immaturity
1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
One of the basic changes in the maturing of a person is the realization that the world does not revolve around me. We now have a society where too many physical adults still live like they believe that the world revolves around them.
There has always been self-centeredness in this world, but we are the first generation that has made it a virtue.
Men we are notorious for this. The only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.
Proverbs 23:15-25
If you want to avoid trouble Grow Up.
C. We bring trouble on our family by living hypocritically.
Who sees through our hypocrisy as quickly as our children.
Proverbs 3:5-13
If you want to avoid trouble Live out your Faith.
Song of Solomon 2:15 Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.
