The Gift Of Family

INTRODUCTION

In the weeks ahead, in light of Memorial Day and Father’s Day, it is my intention to bring a series of messages that will challenge your faith and call you to choose sides in the spiritual warfare that is being waged in our lives. After those messages I’m going to be dealing with four Sundays of issues related specifically to men and I hope to dig beneath the surface and again challenge you to be the men God wants you to be. Ladies, I want you to especially be in prayer for the men in your life, and I want you to do your best to get those men to church every Sunday for the next several weeks.

Today however is Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is probably one of the most beloved holidays in America. Where would we be today without the mother’s who loved us and taught us so much? Everything you’ve needed to know, somewhere along the line a mom probably taught you. Let’s revisit some of those lessons:

MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME…

· LOGIC…If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you can’t go to the store with me.

· MEDICINE…If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they’re going to stick that way.

· TO THINK AHEAD…If you don’t pass your spelling test, you’ll never get a good job!

· TO MEET A CHALLENGE…What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you…Don’t talk back to me!"

· HUMOR…When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me!

· HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT…If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up.

· GENETICS…You’re just like your father!

· ABOUT MY ROOTS…Do you think you were born in a barn?

· ABOUT THE WISDOM OF AGE…When you get to be my age, you’ll understand.

· ANTICIPATION…Just wait until your father gets home!

· RECEIVING…You’re going to get it when we get home!

· JUSTICE…One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you. Then you’ll see what it’s like.(1)

And those are just a few of the lessons! I can’t help but think that no matter what generation we tried to choose, moms have always had a way of communicating those pearls of wisdom. Sometimes we think of the men and women in the Bible and get this idea that they weren’t really like us, but that’s just not so. I have here some quotes of mothers in the Bible to show you that some things just don’t change.

· Samson! Get your hand out of that lion. You don’t know where it’s been!

· David! I told you not to play in the house with that sling! Go practice your harp. We pay good money for those lessons!

· Abraham! Stop wandering around the countryside and get home for supper!

· Cain! Get off your brother! You’re going to kill him some day!

· Noah! No, you can’t keep them! I told you, don’t bring home any more strays!

· Judas! Have you been in my purse again?(2)

Well, I don’t know if those moms really said all of that, but one thing is for sure – we love to have fun with our moms and on this special day we ought to go out of our way to communicate our love for them. Now maybe your situation is a little different from most. I realize that most of you today knows your mother and you grew up in her presence and enjoyed your relationship with her, but maybe that’s not the case for all of you. You may have been lacking or even today lack the presence of a mother, or maybe you’ve been adopted or have some other difference. Regardless of your situation, let us be thankful for the many loving mothers God has given us.

In our message today, I want to speak to the families who are present and call to your attention what a precious gift that God has given to each of you. That gift is the family unit. I say that I am speaking to families because I am not speaking directly to husbands or wives or even children. I am not necessarily speaking to the traditional family either. You may be a single mom or dad; you may have your children raised or not have any at all. Regardless of your present situation, God has given you a family to enjoy and to grow for His honor and glory, and today I simply want to remind you of what a blessing you have in a day when the things of God, the blessings of God are so often overlooked or pushed to the side.

God only created three institutions: the church, the government, and the family. The family was the first. In the Garden God saw that Adam was alone, so "the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs…and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man."(3) Solomon wrote, "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing…"(4), and David wrote in Psalm 127,