May 11, 2003 Colossians 2:6-12
“Making mom happy”
INTRODUCTION
Today is Mother’s Day. We want to honor our mothers as Scripture commands, and we want to do our best to make them happy…for at least one day. The Lord knows that there have been enough days that we have made them cry. There is a slightly selfish reason that we have for wanting to make them happy. We all know that if momma ain’t happy, ain’t noboby else happy either! So we do the only things that we know to do. First, we get them a card. Most of you mothers would probably agree that the best kind of card is one of the homemade variety. If any of you kids did that, hopefully, yours didn’t go like this: "I was going to buy a card with hearts of pink & red. But then I thought I’d rather spend the money on me instead. It’s awfully hard to buy things when one’s allowance is so small. So I guess you’re pretty lucky I got you anything at all. Happy Mother’s Day. There, I’ve said it. Now I’m done. So how about getting out of bed & fixing breakfast for your son."
If the card doesn’t work at making mom happy, we buy them a gift. That responsibility usually falls to dad. Although the only person a man usually shops for is his mother or his wife, the whole experience is a stressful one. Many a man has felt extreme frigid temperatures for a long period based on a poor present decision. I’ve learned a few tricks along the way, so let me give you some advice just in case you haven’t made your purchase yet.
1. Don’t buy anything that plugs in.
2. Don’t buy clothing that involves sizes. The chances are one in 7000 that you will get her size right, and your wife will be offended the other 6999 times. "Do I look like a size 16?" she’ll say. Too small a size doesn’t cut it either: "I haven’t worn a size 8 in 20 years!"
3. Avoid all things useful.
4. Don’t buy anything that involves weight loss or self-improvement. She’ll perceive a six-month membership to a diet center as a suggestion that’s she’s overweight.
5. Don’t buy jewelry. The jewelry your wife wants, you can’t afford. And the jewelry you can afford, she doesn’t want.
6. Don’t buy her any frilly underwear. Remember; this day is for her, not for you.
7. Finally, don’t spend too much. "How do you think we’re going to afford that?" she’ll ask. But don’t spend too little. She won’t say anything, but she’ll think, "Is that all I’m worth?" - SOURCE: Herb Forst in Cross River, NY, Patent Trader, in Reader’s Digest, Page 69.
If the gift that you have purchased fits into any of these categories, you might want to hide them under the bed and make a quick trip to Walmart or the mall sometime this afternoon.
As nice as sweet cards and meaningful gifts are, they have one shortfall – their ability to make mom happy is short-lived. Almost as soon as the gifts are presented, sister and brother go back to fighting, and dad goes back to living in his world of isolation.
This morning, I would like to suggest 7 ways that you can keep mom happy over the long-term because she will feel like she has accomplished something of real worth in the lives of her children. The means that I am going to give you this morning come both from words in the Bible and from words that moms have spoken to their children for generation after generation. I’ve learned that if you want to make momma happy, don’t listen to all the advertisers. You have to listen to momma. Listen to all the things that she has constantly told you over the years.
TRAN: One of the things that many a mother has said to their children particularly as the children are heading out the door is, “Remember who you are and where you came from.” Some even put it in more graphic terms: “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it.” So I know that one of the ways that…
You can keep mom happy is by…
1. …keeping your roots. “rooted in Him”
Paul spoke of the need for these Christians to keep their roots grounded in Christ. The roots of a Christian like the roots of a plant serve two functions. One, they provide nourishment for the rest of the plant. They go down deep to provide water, nitrogen and other minerals for the plant. Without roots, the plant would die. In John 15, Jesus compared Himself to a Vine and us to the branches that grow from that vine. He said that we are totally dependent on Him for the nourishment that we need to survive and thrive in a hostile world. As long as we are attached to Him, we will produce good fruit even in a dry environment. But the moment that we start to think that we can make it on our own and remove ourselves from His control, then we will lose all power to accomplish anything of real worth. Roots do more than provide nourishment. They provide stability. They prevent the plant and the Christian from being washed away when the storms of life come along, and they prevent the Christian from being moved from his faith when false doctrine is being taught.
Notice that Paul said that we are to be rooted in Him, rooted in Christ. Mothers, probably one of the biggest temptations that you face is to try and keep your children rooted in you. Though it can go too far at times, mothers, would you be willing to admit that you need to be needed. As your children get older and more independent, you start to see them pull away from you more and more. They’re lifting up some of their roots. And every time that they pull up one of those roots, it leaves an empty hole in you. You want to grab hold of those roots, and plant them back into you and never let them go. Mothers, you are not doing them any favors if you keep them dependent on you for the their needs to be met. Your job is to teach them their dependence on Jesus. Paul had a young protégé by the name of Timothy. In 2 Timothy 1:5, Paul spoke of how Timothy’s mother and grandmother had grounded young Timothy in his faith in Jesus Christ. So when it came time for Timothy to leave his family behind and go on a dangerous missionary journey with Paul, they had little difficulty letting go of him. They had given him a solid foundation, not in themselves, but in Jesus.
If you give into the temptation to root your children in yourself, then they will never grow up.
TRAN: Have any of you mothers ever said this to your children: “Would you please just grow up!”
2. …growing up. “built up in Him”
A number of years ago Orel Hirscheiser was pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers. They had just won the World Series, & Orel had been named “The most valuable player of the series.” One of the TV shows about the series showed him in the dugout just before the 9th inning started. He was leaning against the wall & his lips were moving. It was obvious that he was saying something to himself. So when he was a guest on the Tonight Show, Johnny Carson asked him what he had been saying. “I wasn’t saying anything,” Orel responded. “Well, then, tell us what you were doing.” Finally Orel replied, “I was singing.” “You were singing?” Johnny said. “I didn’t know you were a singer.” “Aw,” Orel said, “I’m not.” Johnny persisted, “What were you singing? Sing it for us now.” “Nah, I don’t want to sing.” But by that time the audience was chiming in with “C’mon, sing it, sing it to us!” Finally, Orel Hirschheiser started to sing, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below.” And Johnny Carson was speechless. The whole audience was dead silent. Then one person started clapping, & soon the whole audience joined in applause.
How do you think Orel’s mother felt when she heard him sing those words? I don’t know where she stands with Jesus, but I can pretty much guarantee that she was proud of her boy. His reaction to the situation that he was in showed that he had grown up. In doing what he did, he showed two marks of maturity. He stood up for what he believed in even when that meant going against the flow. And he was willing to give the glory for his accomplishment to someone else rather than keeping it all for himself.
Some of you adult children haven’t grown up yet. And your mothers are sad.
TRAN: Here are some other words that my mom said to me: “Take your vitamins”, “Brush your teeth”, and “Eat your vegetables.”
3. …staying healthy. “strengthened in the faith”
Possibly the reason that mom would say all those things to me is that she knew that when I got sick, she would be the one to take care of me. She was the one who took me to the dentist and the doctor. She was the one who took my temperature and tried to coax me to eat when I did not feel well. But whenever it came time that mom was sick, there was no one there to take care of her. A 15 yr. old boy came bounding into the house and found his mom in bed. He asked if she was sick or something. He was truly concerned! Mom replied that, as a matter of fact, she didn’t feel too well. The son replied, “Well, don’t worry about dinner, I’ll be happy to carry you down to the stove.”
Moms know the importance of eating right and taking care of our bodies so that they will be able to fight off infection and disease. And Christian moms know the importance of eating the right spiritual food so that you will be able to fight off temptation and the destructive force of sin in your life. Moms know that you need a healthy diet of God’s Word, prayer, worship in a church setting, obedience to God and fellowship with other believers. Without these, you will grow weak and spiritually sick.
TRAN: Do you kids get tired of your mother saying, “Always say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.” I think that it would safe to say that mothers get tired of unthankful children and husbands.
4. …being thankful. “overflowing with thankfulness”
She cooked the breakfast first of all,
Washed the cups and plates.
Dressed the children and made sure
Stockings all were mates.
Combed their hair and made their beds,
Sent them out to play;
Gathered up their motley toys,
Put some books away.
Dusted chairs and mopped the stairs,
Ironed an hour or two;
Baked a jar of cookies and a pie,
Then made a pot of stew.
The telephone rang constantly,
The doorbell did the same;
A youngster fell and stubbed his toe
And then the laundry came.
She picked up blocks and mended socks,
Then she polished up the stove;
And when her husband came at six
He said, “Ya know, I really envy you!
It must be nice to sit at home
Without a thing to do!”
Did you know that the quickest way for a mother to get the attention of her children is to sit down and look comfortable? Children are always asking for things from their parents, especially when they are at that stage when they can’t quite talk yet, and they are constantly pulling on momma’s skirt to get her to do something for them.
We are much like the little boy who was given an orange by a man. The boy’s mother asked, “What do you say to the nice man?” The little boy thought and handed the orange back and said, “Peel it.” In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul said that one of the characteristics of people in the last days is that they will be unthankful. If you really want to make momma happy, try sending her a note of thanks for all the stuff that she has put up with in you over all the years. Make sure that she is sitting down before she reads it though. It might just make her pass out. It will certainly bring her joy.
TRAN: One of the reasons that you made it successfully this far in life is because you listened to your mother when she said, “Look both ways before you cross the street”, “Keep your chair on all 4’s” and “Buckle your seat belt.”
5. …avoiding danger. “captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy”
Mother came home one afternoon from the grocery store and walked into her home and everything looked pretty much the same, though it was a little bit quieter than usual. She looked into the middle of the living room and 5 of her darlings were sitting around in a circle, exceedingly quiet, doing something, with something in the middle of a circle. So she put down the sacks of groceries and walked over closely and looked and saw that they were playing with 5 of the cutest skunks you can imagine. She was instantly terrified and she said, “Run children, run! Each child grabbed a skunk and ran, in 5 different directions. She was beside herself and screamed louder, more frantically, with great gusto. It so scared the children that each one squeezed his skunk! … “Skunks don’t like to be squeezed!” - John Haggai, in Swindoll, Oxcart, p. 207
Mothers, the greatest danger that your children face is not from skunks, or falls or even from pre-occupied drivers. The greatest danger that they face is from attacks on their faith. Every day that they go to school, their faith is attacked. Every time that they turn on the TV, their faith is attacked. And virtually, every time that they go off with their friends, their faith is attacked. Paul knew of this danger for the Colossian Christians, so he warned them and taught them to protect them from it. That is what you parents need to do. Warn your children about the dangers, and keep them in a place where they can hear the word of God taught. Perhaps though the best thing that you can do is to live a Christian life in front of them.
When Robert Ingersoll the notorious skeptic and enemy of the Christian faith was in his heyday, two college students went to hear him lecture. As they walked down the street after the lecture, one said to the other, “Well, I guess he knocked the props out from under Christianity, didn’t he?” The other said, “No, I don’t think he did. Ingersoll did not explain my mother’s life, and until he can explain my mother’s life, I will stand by my mother’s God. - James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, Tyndale, 1972, pg. 38
TRAN: “Listen to your coach”, “Do what your teacher tells you to do.”
6. …submitting to authority. “head over every … authority”
A few minutes ago, Lynn sang the song “Mary, did you know?” Imagine what it was like for Mary to be the mother of Jesus. According to vs. 9 of our passage, all that was God resided in this little baby that Mary held in her arms. The One who created the universe – the One who had created her, the One who was her ultimate authority was now under her care. What would it have been like to command Jesus to go set the table or to make His bed in the morning? How do you command God? And yet, from His experiences with Mary and Joseph, the Bible says that Jesus “learned obedience” (Heb. 5:8) He learned to submit His will to the will of someone else. Even though, as Paul says here, Jesus is “the head over every power and authority” Jesus willingly chose to be subject to the wishes of his parents and to be obedient to them without question (Luke 2:51).
I know that there are times that you as an adult child, a teenager or a young child have had trouble submitting to your parents or other authority figures in your life. You think things like, “I know more than they do. My plan would work better than their plan. They really don’t know me or what I am capable of if they would just trust me. I can handle it.” Even if all those things are true, they do not justify your desire to buck the authority that is in your life. All those things that you say of yourself really were true of Jesus! He was wiser than His parents. He did know more than they did. He could have done much more if they would have only trusted Him. But He chose to submit Himself – to yield to their authority because it was right.
Your parents want you to learn to submit to their authority not because you’re the only person that they get to boss around but because they know how valuable the quality of proper submission will be for you in the rest of your life. If you expect to be a success financially, you will need to be able to submit to your employer. If you expect to be a success in your marriage, you will need to be able to submit to the needs and desires of your spouse. If you expect to be a success in life, then you must be able to submit to the will of God. Your mother wants you to be a success and to enjoy life, so she teaches you to submit.
TRAN: Mom also used to say, “Be careful who you choose as friends.” She knew the principle spoken of in 1 Cor. 15:33: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
7. …developing good character. “putting off the sinful nature”
The false teachers that were coming in among the Colossians were hung up on rules. Some of what they had to say sounds a lot like what parents tell their children. Look over at vs. 21: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” They were overly concerned with the outside actions and not nearly concerned enough with inward character. One of the outward signs that they focused on was the practice of circumcision. Every mother knows what circumcision is. It is that horrible practice that doctors do to male babies – babies who were sleeping peacefully in their mother’s arms but are now whaling with that newborn cry that only a mother could soothe. Today, we circumcise male babies for health reasons, but for the Jewish people, it was their way of signifying that they were a people set apart to God. It was supposed to be an outward sign of an inward total devotion to God. It served the same purpose that baptism serves for Christians today. But over time, the outward symbol became more important than the inward change. They were still following the rules of what it meant to be a Jew, but on the inside, they were heathens. It’s kind of like the boy who was riding with his parents in their car. Repeatedly, his parents told him to sit down in the back seat and stop standing. Finally, after many threats, the boy sat down. After a few moments, he spoke and said, “I am sitting down on the outside, but I am standing up on the inside.”
God’s desire for the Jews and for us is that there be more than just an outward show of righteousness and rule-keeping. He wants a change in our hearts. (Deu 10:16 NIV) Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. (Deu 30:6 NIV) The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. God wants to develop character in us by bringing us into relationship with the right kind of example. Paul speaks of it here in Col. 2. He talks about us being “buried with Him” and “raised with Him”. The Father wants us in relationship with Jesus so that we might become like Him. That’s the character that we need to put into our own lives. If I was to say to you parents that your children are going to grow up to be just like you, it would make some of you proud. The thought of that would scare some of you. You know what you are like. But every parent would be proud if God’s great desire was fulfilled in your children, for His desire is that they become like Jesus (Rom. 8:29)
Mothers have all kinds of rules for their children. We’ve mentioned many of them this morning. But if you asked your mother when you got older, she would tell you that keeping the rules was never her major goal for you. She gave you rules to develop discipline in you. She knew that the day would come when her children would no longer be in her house and no longer obligated to be obedient to her rules. That’s when the true test of a mother’s influence in your life comes. Though you’re not under her rules anymore, will you still choose to live by the standards that she exemplified?
Some of you are following all the rules of Christianity. You’ve got all the outward symbols. You come to church, you’ve been baptized, maybe you even serve in the church. You keep the rules. But when it comes to the heart, there has never been a real change. Can you think of any better way to honor your mother today than by giving your heart to Jesus?
CONCLUSION
Erma Bombeck wrote this essay entitled, “When God Created Women”. “By the time the Lord made mothers, he was into his sixth day of working overtime. An Angel appeared and said, "Why are you spending so much time on this one?" And the Lord answered and said, "Have you seen the spec sheet on her? She has to be completely washable, but not plastic, have 200 movable parts, all replaceable, run on black coffee and leftovers, have a lap that can hold three children at one time and that disappears when she stands up, have a kiss that can cure anything from a scraped knee to a broken heart, and have six pairs of hands,"
The Angel was astounded at the requirements for this one. "Six pairs of hands! No Way!", said the Angel. The Lord replied, "Oh, it’s not the hands that are the problem. It’s the [two] pairs of eyes that mothers must have! One pair of eyes are to see through the closed doors when she asks, “What are you kids doing in there?” … And of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and say, “I understand and I love you” without uttering so much as a word.
The Angel tried to stop the Lord. "This is too much work for one day. Wait until tomorrow to finish." "But I can’t!" the Lord protested, "I am so close to finishing a creation that is so close to my own heart. She already heals herself when she is sick AND can feed a family of six on a pound of hamburger…! The Angel moved closer and touched the woman. "But you have made her so soft, Lord." "She is soft," the Lord agreed, "but I have also made her tough. You have no idea what she can endure or accomplish." … The Angel then noticed something and reached out and touched the woman’s cheek. "Oops, it looks like you have a leak with this model. I told you that you were trying to put too much into this one." "That’s not a leak", the Lord objected, "That’s a tear!" "What’s the tear for?", the Angel asked. The Lord said, "The tear is her way of expressing her joy, her pride, her sorrow, her disappointment, her pain, her loneliness and her grief.” The Angel was impressed. "You are a genius Lord.” The Lord looked somber as he said, “Oh, but I didn’t put it there.”
Do you want to know who put the tear in Momma’s eye? You did. I did. We did it through our sin, our selfishness, our unthankfulness and our falling away from all the good things that she tried to teach us.
INVITATION
It is not too late to honor momma. If momma is still alive, it is not too late to put a tear of joy in her eye rather than a tear of sorrow. If momma is not alive, it’s not too late to honor her by living a life that is dedicated to Jesus Christ.
Some of you children and teenagers have created a lot of tears for your parents already, and the way that you are going, there are many more tears for her and for you ahead. How about changing the direction that you’re walking? Stop the tears of sorrow from flowing. Maybe you need to take your mother’s hand and ask her to come with you to the altar so that you can ask God’s forgiveness first and then hers.
Some of you adult children have had mothers who have prayed for you through countless hours. They’ve prayed for you, wept for you and gone without sleep for you. You need to come to this altar and thank God for the influence that your mother has had in your life. And then, you need to tell your mother how much you appreciate all her sacrifices for you. Your mother may not have been perfect. She might not even be a Christian. But she deserves for you to honor her and love her even when she might not be able to show her love to you.
