There's More To It

There's More To It

Sermon for Mother's Day May 8, 2011

by T.A. Gaskill

Introduction

Today is Mother's Day. When little girls you probably had some cute baby dolls. They never cried in the middle of the night. They never produced a terrible smelling odor caused by dirtying their diapers. These cute little dolls never required being fed. They were just cute, cute, cute! In fact, if you grew tired of playing with these little dolls, you could just throw it into a corner or toy box until the urge to play with it comes again. As you grew up, you could see others cuddling their babies and think to yourself that someday you will have one of your very own as well. But there is more to it; the thought of agonizing pain at childbirth seldom crossed your mind. Dirty diapers that would about cause you to puke seldom,if ever, crossed you mind. Diaper rash, cries in the middle of the night, cries throughout the day, always needing to be fed, spitting food back, burps with messes – sometimes at the most inopportune times, Colic – oh the cries!! Teething – thank God for Oragel!

Were the makers of all these cute little babies purposefully misleading the little girls into a utopia of motherhood? Were they secretly hoping to increase business for doctors or producers of products such as Oragel or Desitin diaper rash ointment? Do you hear conspiracy in any of this? Well, before you call your lawyers to issue a lawsuit against the producers of all the cute baby dolls of the world, you need to know there's more to it.

What would this world be like without a mother's love and compassion? What would mothers today be like if they were not encouraged at an early age to cuddle and cherish these cute little baby dolls? What if they only played hotwheels with the guys? Would we be seeing babies at the car wash for their daily wash? Not to belabor, let's move on.

When we hear happy Mother's Day we don't think of the little girls playing with the cute and convenient little dolls at their leisure; but hopefully, we automatically reflect on the sacrificial steadfast love a mother has for her children so they could prosper in the things of life.

What would come to mind of some who hear “happy Christian's Day”? It would be like one thinking of the little girls playing doll when they hear the word "mother" if at the mention of "Christian" we think only of a person has who has said the sinner's prayer to leisurely avoid the flames of hell and secure their spot in heaven while thinking he or she can "do the Christian thing" at their own personal convenience and set it aside when inconvenient? Wouldn't it be better if at the sound of "Christian" we think of God's sacrificial steadfast love?

Main Body

1. As the mother seeks to conceive her child, so does God.

Mother finds the man, gets married, shares her intimacy

God finds his spokesman, proclaims Jesus, shares His prevenient grace

Romans 10:14,15,17 GW But how can people call on him if they have not believed in him? How can they believe in him if they have not heard his message? How can they hear if no one tells the Good News? (15) How can people tell the Good News if no one sends them? As Scripture says, "How beautiful are the feet of the messengers who announce the Good News." (17) So faith comes from hearing the message, and the message that is heard is what Christ spoke.

1 Peter 1:23 NIV For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

2. As the mother seeks to birth her child, so does God.

Mother: by the time nine months has passed the mother has endured:

morning sickness, stretch-marks, back pains, kicking, and uncomfortableness when sitting lying walking. Men, in order to better relate with what your mother went through prior to giving you birth, go home, grab a bowling ball (not a 7 lb one but get a 16 lb), tie it around you above your waist and see how much of a delight that is! The only delight you might have is knowing that you're ready to bowl 24/7!

God: has patiently and mercifully endured his people in their unregenerate state as the unborn persons struggle in their captivity to sin. (name some)

The Gospel of John tells us: John 1:12-13 NIV Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— (13) children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.