Mothers Day comes once a year, we should show our mothers every day that we love her and here are some examples of how we can do this.
1. WE SHOULD LOVE HER (Eph. 5:25-27)
• “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,” “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
• Christ gives us an example of His love for the church, describing that true love for our wives should take us through hardship, persecution and even death
• The church is not perfect, neither is our mothers or wives, we should, however, continually love and adore her
2. WE SHOULD LEAD HER
• (Ephesians 5:22-24)
• “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
• We as husbands are not dictators, but loving leaders, whose leadership will be accepted by the wife, when she is treated with respect. Wise leaders include those who he is leading in the decision making process
3. WE SHOULD LEARN FROM HER
• (Proverbs 3:11-12, 26)
• “My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:” “For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” “For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.”
• A Godly woman is a woman in which we can learn from
4. WE SHOULD LOOK UP TO HER
• (I Peter 3:7, Ephesians 6:1-3)
• “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.”
• In Ephesians we see that as children, we should look up to our mothers and there influence
• (Ephesians 6:1-3) “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” “Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)” “That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.”
• “A mother took her young son shopping. After a day in the stores, a clerk handed the little boy a lollipop. "What do you say?" the mother said to the boy, to which he replied, "Charge it!"”
• Even though we must look up to our mothers, mothers, you must set the right example
5. WE MUST LOOK AFTER HER
• We must look after and take care of our wives, mother’s and yes, mother-in-laws
• (I Timothy 5:8) “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”
• Our own house can include a multitude of situations
• I Corinthians 12:25 “That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.”
• This care not only pertains to wives and mothers but to all in the family of Christ
6. LET US NOW LOOK AT A MODEL MOTHER
• In the outline above we saw the responsibility of Fathers and Husbands to our wives and mothers, let us now look at the responsibilities of the wife and mother
• Titus 2:3-5 “That aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.” “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;” “That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their children.” “To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”
• Mary, the mother of Jesus, was not perfect or sinless, but she is a good example of a sound mother
• Consider:
i. HER CHARACTER:
1. She was ‘Highly Favored’ and ‘Full of Grace’
a. Luke 1:26-28 “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,” “To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and virgin’s name was Mary.” “and the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”
• As we examine the character of Mary, we can see someone who was pleasing unto God in their service
• “Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
• Character is important in the eyes of God, for what the world thinks of our reputation is not important at all
i. HER COURAGE:
• Luke 1:30-38
• Mary accepted what the angel had to say, realizing that she would be falsely accused of immorality which was punishable by death
i. HER CONTEMPLATION
• Luke 2:19 “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.”
• Mary thought her decisions through and evaluated the reward and consequences of the same
i. HER CONFIDENCE
• John 2:1-11
• Mary believed in her Son John 2:5. The scene is the marriage at Cana, Mary, realizing the authority of her son tells those gathered to listen to His instructions regarding the miracle
• John 2:5 “His mother saith unto the servants, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”
• Mothers, we must listen and pay attention to the ability of our children. We never know when God has inspired them to do something for him.
i. HER COMMITMENT
• John 19:25 “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.”
• In a time when one could be put to death for following Jesus, Mary stood by her Son even unto the death on the cross. She stood by His doctrine, His stand, His love for His people when others ran from Him.
• “When Julius Caesar landed on the shores of Britain with his Roman legions, he took a bold and decisive step to ensure the success of his military venture. Ordering his men to march to the edge of the Cliffs of Dover, he commanded them to look down at the water below. To their amazement, they saw every ship in which they had crossed the channel engulfed in flames. Caesar had deliberately cut off any possibility of retreat. Now that his soldiers were unable to return to the continent, there was nothing left for them to do but to advance and conquer! And that is exactly what they did.”
• Commitment requires us to be resolute in our decisions, whether they be for our children, our wives and husbands or when serving God.
