Sermon Cloud

The Encouraging Mother

Mother’s Day 2009

Michael Wiley

INTRODUCTION:

Today is “Mother’s Day”!
I have a PROBLEM with Mother’s Day!
It’s not that I don’t LIKE Mother’s Day … or that I DISAGREE with it … or that I DREAD it.
My PROBLEM is … that I don’t know how to preach a good Mother’s Day message.
Mother’s Day is perhaps (for me) the most difficult message all year.

WHY is it so HARD to teach a Mother’s Day message?
Two reasons:

ONE: There is no real good passage in the Bible that talks about the perfect mother. There is no perfect mother in the Bible to learn from.

Sarah --- throws Ishmael out

Rebeccah loves Jacob over Esaue. It’s her idea to steel his brother’s birthright.

Jacob marries both Leah and Rachel. They get into a birthing contest to see who can give Jacob the most children. Both of them give him their concubines to get ahead.

Mary the mother of Jesus seems like a good candidate but we are told so little about her, we are left to speculation.

There are some great portraits of motherhood in Scripture.

I love the picture of the mother of Moses who cared so much for her son that she broke the law in order to teach him the faith of his people.
We see the sacrificial love of the mother who appeared before King Solomon and told him that she was willing to have her son taken away by another woman rather than see any harm come to him.
Or, the mother of James and John who loved her boys so much that she wanted them to sit by the Lord’s side in the heavenly kingdom.

Or, Mary the mother of Jesus stooped at the foot of His cross --- with her son --- until the end.

Second reason:

While Mother’s Day can be a very happy, joyous day … it can also be a very sad day … a day of pain & grief.
Not everybody looks forward to Mother’s Day.

-- Maybe you have recently lost your mother …

-- Maybe you have lost a child … and your heart grieves on Mother’s Day.
-- Maybe you are having difficulties with your Mother … your Mother wasn’t the IDEAL Mother we like to preach about … and you have bad memories of your Mother.
-- Maybe you have some guilt feelings about your motherhood … and you have children problems … or marriage problems.
-- Maybe you were never able to have children … and Mother’s Day isn’t a joyous occasion for you.
-- Maybe you never had a real mother … and were raised in a foster home, or by relatives.


Not every home is like the “The Brady Bunch” …
Transition:

As we search our Bibles for stories about mothers we come across a short passage that on the surface doesn’t tell us much, but as we dig deeper it tells us of the influence our mothers can have.

READ 2 Timothy 1:1-5

I would propose to you that many a Christian mother has been used by the Lord to plant spiritual seeds that the Holy Spirit has used to bring many to Christ.

Eunice was a single mother in a scary world. She was a Jewish believer in Jesus. She’d been married to a Greek unbeliever, who’d either left or died. Like today, raising a child in a single parent home, was no picnic.

Eunice was a wise and spiritually-strong mother. Her priorities were learned at her mother Lois’ knee, and passed along to Tim. The world pushes transitory values - money, position, power and fame. You can sense that with a quick look at the TV lineup for most evenings - American Idol, Fear Factor, Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire, and many more.

Eunice led her boy Timothy to know the Lord Jesus Christ. She taught him about Jesus, and expected that he would accept Christ as Savior.

So let’s look for some spiritual principles that capture the spiritual heart of your children?

1. An Encouraging Mother will let the humility of Christ flow in and through her.

-- There is a difference between working to get ahead in life and of working for the good of the family--especially for your children’s eternal future.

Mom ask yourself, “Will this or that ensure a Christian upbringing of our children or will it keep us too busy for the things of God?

Mom, ensure that your children are being brought up in the faith as Timothy’s mother and grandmother had done.

Mom be sensitive to the spiritual needs of your children.

Gal 5:22-23

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (NIV)

2. An Encouraging mother will be supportive in her speech.

Kids can be ruthless and they can hear words from other kids that tear them down. The last thing your child needs to hear when they come home is “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” That’s not true. A broken bone heals faster than a broken spirit. Mothers who are under the control of the Holy Spirit will see failures as opportunities for giving words that can heal.

ILL There is a Peanuts cartoon. A little red-haired girl calls Charlie Brown on the phone and says, “Hey, Chuck, guess what? I am running for Queen of the month of May at our school.” Charlie says, “That is interesting, Lucy has already been chosen Queen of May at our school. She is standing here right now wearing her crown.” Instead congratulating Lucy, the little re-haired girl, tears Lucy down to build herself up and says, “Your school has pretty low standards, Chuck!” As you watch the cartoon play out, you see Charlie Brown looking at Lucy is a sense of compassion and saying, “Lucy, she says Congratulations.”

There are a lot of things that are going to happen in the lives of your children that are going to cause them to realize that they do not measure up to other people’s standards and they are going to realize that they have a lot of maturing to do to be able to achieve what God has for them down the road. That is when they need to hear words of support from mom.

Mom take these times to tell your children who they can be in Christ, that every child of God has God’s gifts that will enable them to do great things with the Lord that will endure forever.

One of our most respected men in America, President Ronald Regan was known and appreciated for his expressions of emotions. In the moments of national tragedy, when the shuttle was destroyed, when our men were killed in Lebanon he cried openly. It is a proven fact that strong trusted leaders are not afraid to express their emotions and often whereas weak leaders often show little emotion, especially over the joys and hurts of others.

3. An Encouraging Mother will grieve when her children grieve and rejoice when her children rejoice.

Tam here with Austin --- I’m so sorry I wasn’t here…Her words soothed him like mine could not. – more details

A Christian mother’s life has a powerful effect on her children.

4. An encouraging Mother will be sympathetic, yet “Straightforward.”

Proverbs 27:6 says “Wounds from a friend can be trusted…”

Mom Sometimes, you need to be candid and frank, telling them when they are blowing it, when they are letting the sins of the flesh, the lures of the world and the lies of Satan overcome them. Mom call sin, sin!

No one wants a physician who will sugar coat the problem, but will spell out the heart disease and has the courage to say, “You need surgery or you are going to die.” Influential mothers will spell out the spiritual heart disease, surrender their children over to the Great Physician and ask Him to do whatever it takes to cleanse their child’s heart of those blockages that are keeping or draining the spiritual life out of their children.

“Teachable Moments.”

5. An Encouraging Mother will prayerfully look for opportunities to do good to her children.

 especially opportunities which can cause their children to think and live Biblically. Instead of being influenced by their peers, Mom help your children compare what their friends want them to do with what the Bible says.

SET STANDARDS FOR THE HOME!

Mom, in order to keep your children from being polluted by the world view through movies, books, video games, music and friends, their minds and hearts to what God’s Word says. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things….(Philippians 4:8)

Mom seize the moment to get your children to ask these questions, “Is what I about to do causing me to meditate upon the Lord’s will for me? Is what I am watching, reading and doing grieving to the Holy Spirit of God? ------  to blank slide ----

Mom seize the opportunity to stir your children to God’s Word in the selecting of friends by giving warning of what the Bible says, “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.

” (1 Corinthians 15:33)
Eunice taught her son the scriptures starting at a very young age. Jewish boys start formal instruction in the Scriptures at age 5; younger than that is not too soon. It is said that Susannah Wesley had 19 children. (Whew!) What is more, this mother of Charles and John Wesley took each child aside for an hour every week to discuss and teach them the principles of spiritual living. Those two sons touched two continents for Christ.

The best formula I know for teaching children is to
a. Bring them to church on Sunday;
b. Apply what is learned on Sunday all throughout the rest of the week.

Mothers, nobody will MAKE you do this. In fact, it is just the opposite today. With God removed from public places and the schools faithfully teaching secular humanism, your child has little chance of growing up to be a Timothy, or with any kind of Christian values, unless YOU teach him!

With all the demands of today’s world, is this just another pressure, a burden, a further complication? When do single mothers and working mothers have time for "Susannah Wesley mothering?" Relax, dear mother. If you will have a priority in your own life for God’s Word, and simply live it before your children, and be ready to answer their questions, you will be teaching them.

On the other hand, if you won’t live it, don’t bother to teach it in any other way. They will learn what you live. A child that sees her mother carry a Bible to church, but never opens it from Monday to Saturday knows that Christianity is only for Sunday.

Conclusion: Mothers who raise their children as Timothy’s mother and grandmother did, will find God’s Holy Spirit working in the lives of their children. Those children will be moved upon by God and be given every opportunity to have a vibrant walk with Jesus Christ.

It must be remembered that every child must make up his own mind about his own relationship with Christ. Mothers will not be held accountable to the decision made by their children. However, they will give an accounting to how well they influenced their child.

Pray for mothers