Mother’s Day – Mothering in Reality!
- Randy Nash
- 1 day ago
- 9 min read
(These are my notes from a sermon to our mothers in 2013, but I have never posted it. Thought I would today. Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!! More resources for mothers at bottom of this post.)
INTRODUCTION – One of the great cries that this congregation has offered up to God over many years is that He would revive His church. While we pray for the lost by name as much as possible, we agree with the one who said, “As goes the church so goes the nation.”
We also agree with the one who said, “As goes the family, so goes the church.” And I think those of us who have been at this a while and who have spent much of our lives working with and for families would agree, “As goes the mother, so goes the family.” This does not in any way diminish the role of the father, and I will address that role in a few weeks. But in general, whether there is a father present or not, there will almost always be a mother, and without them – we are surely sunk as a nation.
Mothers we salute you today, we thank God for you, and we want you to finish your race strong because we desperately need what you bring to the table - - and I’m not talking about food, though we do greatly enjoy and appreciate your wonderful cooking!
This last Tuesday morning as I was at the Pastor’s retreat having my quiet time and meditating on Psalm 51, which was our Psalm for that day, I believe God gave me a word for you precious moms – for our traditional Mother’s Day meditation.
Because the first thing He spoke to me was the bad news, and God - I believe - loves to end with the good news, I am going to fall in line with His pattern. The fact is – unless we clearly see and accept the bad news for what it is - - the good news doesn’t mean much to us.
Frankly mothers – if you do not clearly see what I am getting ready to share with you, and if you do not fully embrace it, and frame your mothering strategy and calling accordingly, you will fail as a mother in God’s eyes. So are you ready for the bad news?
I. Your precious baby was born with a terminal spiritual cancer that you are called to help fight until your dying day; and that cancer is called sin.
David in Psalm 51 put it this way, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” As David was trying to honestly come to grips with the sinister forces within him that caused him to have an affair with Bathsheba and have her husband killed to try to cover up his sin, he acknowledged that he was flawed from birth. It was not an excuse for him. But it was important for him to face this as he tried to first get right with God, and then pick up the pieces he had allowed to disintegrate through his rebellion and hard heartedness.
Paul stated in Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
David emphasizes the mother’s role in passing on this sinful condition; Paul emphasizes Adam’s, and then adds that we all embrace and manifest or give into this sinful disease or cancer at the first opportunity. Thus we have no one to blame but ourselves.
When Melissa and Marina’s babies are born, I’m confident Marc and Joshua, and the respective grandparents are going to be just a little short of exploding with joy and excitement. As far as they are concerned, the most important development on the planet on that day is that little baby everyone is jockeying to hold and gawk over - - and well they should. But when Melissa and Marina – finally get over the exhaustion and suffering they just went through in the birthing process, they will need to roll up their sleeves, put on their spiritual boxing gloves, and know the fight has just begun, and it will never let up, because sin will not be extinguished in these precious children until the Lord returns or until our bodies give up their last breath and we are ushered into the presence of the Lord.
Have you thought much about this cancer called sin lately? Can I just remind you of a truth that you and your children must come to terms with?
1. Sin is a cruel and oppressive master. Jesus answered his Jewish critics and detractors once with this truth, “Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” John 8:34 What He was trying to teach them was - sin is a powerful force or entrenched internal condition of the soul that doesn’t just make us a mess up here and there. It puts us in chains, and we are under its oppressive power and dominance; and there is nothing we can do about it in and of ourselves.
Paul wanted to make it clear to the church in Rome that “both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.” Which is another way of saying sin is master over us until Christ intervenes.
In chapter 7 vs. 14 he spoke in a more personal way of the fierce battle for his own soul, where he admitted, “…but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.”
Details started coming forth this last Wednesday of what those three ladies in Ohio went through at the hands of that evil man that kidnapped and held them as his slaves for 10 years. As cruel and evil as he was and is; sin is worse. Sin is a malevolent 24/7 condition that working in conjunction with the devil and his demons seeks to kill and destroy us from within.
So what hope do our children of have of overcoming this awful tyranny?
II. One of God’s secret weapons in conquering sin – is hands on mothers!
When Paul was mentoring Titus in how to establish and build the churches he was responsible for – one of the instructions he gave him was that he was to instruct the older women in the church to help mentor the younger women. Let me read this to you and then I want to comment on it. Titus 2:3-5 “Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.”
Just because a young mother has her own home, and perhaps every material thing she could want for her and her children, that doesn’t mean she knows how to mother. Older women have the responsibility to help these younger mothers learn to truly mother their children as God meant for them to be mothered.
First these older women of course must live godly lives themselves Paul asserts. Then they are to first teach these young mothers to love their husbands, which is by far the most strategic and best thing they could ever do for their children - - because when it comes to dealing with the death producing cancer of sin – a united front is far more effective and powerful than a divided one. As Jesus said, “A house divided cannot stand.”
Second, they are to love their children. Now here’s the challenge: Our culture and society has totally weakened, perverted and corrupted what it means to truly love your children. In their mind it is primarily giving them every material thing they possibly can. Feeding them regularly. Making sure they get baths and brush their teeth. And then helping them get an education. And then making sure they get involved in as many extra curricular activities as possible. And making sure they are always treated equally and fairly. Tragically often their cancer of the soul is absolutely ignored in this process. It is not even on the radar of many parents today.
Can I submit to you mothers that when Paul tells Titus to tell the older women to instruct the younger women to love their children and to be “workers at home” - - implied in that command is that you are constantly vigilant to help your children get in touch with and begin to resist and overcome the sinful urges and passions within them? There is no greater and more challenging and yet rewarding work than this. You are the one - mothers - who best knows them. You are the one who is most around them. You are the one who has the best shot at helping them win this battle.
And that’s where my third point and the good news comes in about mothering and sin.
III. Jesus Christ has provided everything you will need to fight this battle well. And ultimately it is He Himself who is leading the charge.
Jesus Christ proclaimed early in His ministry to anyone in the synagogue who would listen regarding His purpose and passion and mission from the Father, “He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed…” Luke 4:18 Jesus Christ lives to set the captives free. He lives to bring an end to the awful tyranny of sin over the lives of those He died for. And mothers He wants to use you in the process.
John the apostle proclaimed in I John 3:8 re: the bad news: “the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning….” But then he quickly turns to the good news that greatly trumps the bad news in the remainder of this verse, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”
I love that passage where the apostle Paul so transparently described the intense battle he personally had with sin at one point in his life, and then how Jesus Christ the liberator broke in and made the difference. Listen to Romans 7:23-25, “I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Paul was powerfully liberated by the One who shed His blood on the cross – so that we could not only be forgiven, but also freed from sin’s dominion.
Later in Romans ch. 6 vs. 14, Paul promised those who had placed their faith in Christ – the Savior and Deliverer from sin, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
Mothers – the greatest gift by far you can ever give to your children is the knowledge of Jesus Christ – the one and only Savior and Deliverer and Liberator from the awful shackles of sin.
And by far the most effective tool you have is that of your own example and that of intercession. Sadly there might be times in your child’s life, where they do not want to hear from your lips about Jesus Christ – our Savior and Deliverer. But they cannot so easily shut out your prayers.
I know some of you may be weary in this battle. You have adult children who have yet to bow the knee to Jesus Christ.
But did you know that some of the men who have impacted the world most for Jesus Christ, got saved later in life, and in many cases at least in part due to the prayers and influence of their mothers?
David Brainerd the great missionary to the American Indians and intense prayer warrior didn’t get saved until he was 20 – even though he was raised by godly parents.
St. Augustine was not converted until he was 33 – breaking the heart of his mother many times over. But finally giving in to the convicting drawing power of the Holy Spirit.
John Wesley was 35 before he was born again – after years of great struggle and inability to see the truth of the gospel clearly, and personally respond to it. His mother Susannah had sowed many seeds throughout her years of intense hands on discipling of her 10 children.
J. Hudson Taylor – the great missionary to China was 17 yrs. old when he finally turned to Christ and was born again. But here is how he got saved. (I read his story here. You can find it on the web).
IV. Prayers to pray for your children regardless of their age:
Ephesians 1:17-19
Ephesians 3:16-19
Philippians 1:9-11
Colossians 1:9-12
Philemon 6
I Thess. 3:12,13
II Thess. 1:11,12
So without further ado, I want to pause now and pray for the mothers among us and for your children.
Then I want to invite each of you who know the Lord - to come to His table – worshipping Him for His wonderful and sufficient payment and provision for our sin and for the sins of our children.
P.S. To see other posts on mothering on K.S. please click on the following:
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