Mother’s Day Sermon
13 May 2018
I. Introduction
-- turn
in Bibles to Proverbs 22:6
Start children
off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
-- a
London editor was working on an article about Winston Churchill and wanted to
focus on how his teachers had influenced him and transformed him into Great
Britain’s most celebrated Prime Minister -- he compiled a list of all the
teachers Churchill had in his life and sent it over to him for review --
Churchill returned the list with this comment: “You have omitted to mention the
greatest of my teachers -- my mother.”1
-- well,
in honor of our mothers on this Mother’s Day, I wanted to share with you a few
of the things my own mother taught me that have stuck with me to this very day:
-- My
Mother taught me about ANTICIPATION..."Just wait 'til we get home."
-- My
Mother taught me about RECEIVING...."You are going to get it when we get
home!"
-- My
Mother taught me LOGIC..."If you fall out of that swing and break your
neck, you're not going to the store with me."
-- My
Mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE..."If you don't stop crossing your eyes,
they are going to freeze that way."
-- My
Mother taught me HUMOR..."When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't
come running to me." -- I'll let you think about that one for a minute
-- My
Mother taught me how to BECOME AN ADULT..."If you don't eat your
vegetables, you'll never grow up."
-- My
Mother taught me about GENETICS..."You're just like your father."
-- My
Mother taught me about my HERITAGE... "Where do you think you were born?
In a barn?"
-- My
Mother taught me about the WISDOM OF AGE..."When you get to be my age, you
will understand.
-- And
my all-time favorite... my mother taught me about JUSTICE..."One day
you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you....Then you'll see
what it's like."
-- in
the familiar proverb that we opened with, we are reminded that if a child is
trained in the way they should go -- if they are raised up and started off in
the right direction -- then when they are older, they will not turn from it
-- this
verse has been a comfort to parents of wayward children from time immemorial --
it promises that our children who have strayed will come home again -- that no
matter how far they have strayed from the fold, they will find their way again
-- much as the prodigal son found his way from the pigpen back into the loving
arms of his father -- this proverb has given hope to worried and anxious
parents since it was first written down
-- but
have you ever considered that this proverb is contingent on an action? -- it
doesn’t just happen -- children don’t just miraculously come home because their
parents are waiting for them -- no, the proverb says that children must first
be trained in the way they should go so they will know the path they should be
following -- and, who is responsible for this training? -- for the most part,
it is our mothers
-- I
think we all would agree with Winston Churchill that our mothers were a major
influence on our lives and on who we are today -- our mothers were our first
nurturers -- our comforters -- our protectors -- our providers -- and our
teachers
-- more
so than anyone else in the formative years of our lives, our mothers were there
with us -- guarding over us and providing us with a foundation of life that continues
to this day
-- so,
this morning, on this Mother’s Day, I wanted us to stop and consider the
enormous influence that mothers have on their children -- and how you, as
mothers and grandmothers and godly women, can continue to influence those around
us
II. Training a Child
-- have
you ever wondered what the writer meant here by the term “training a child” in
the way they should go?
-- the
word “train” that is used here is actually a gardening term -- it refers to the
practice of taking a plant and shaping it so it grows in the way you want it to
-- the easiest way to consider this is to think of grape vines
-- here
in south Georgia, everybody has seen grape vines growing out in the wild -- if
you’ve ever walked in the woods down here, I guarantee you that at some point,
you have tripped over a grape vine -- in the part of our yard that we are
letting grow naturally, we have grape vines growing all over the place -- they
cover the ground -- they crawl up the trees -- they cover the bushes -- they
get entwined in the branches of our azaleas and shrubbery -- you know what I’m
talking about -- you’ve seen that, right?
-- now,
have you ever been to one of the wineries in our local area? -- or have you
ever seen pictures of the vineyards in California or France or one of those
other places? -- or in someone’s garden where the vines are on a trellis? -- what
do the vines look like there?
--
they’re orderly, right? -- they are growing along the wires and the frames and
the trellises -- they’re not on the ground -- they’re not crossing the paths
between the rows -- they’re growing where they are supposed to -- and, do you
know how that happened? -- because the gardener “trained” them where to grow
-- when
vines began to stray and to grow outside the area where they were supposed to
be, the gardener would take that tendril and put it back on the wire or the
trellis -- they would wrap it around the wire -- “training” it in how it should
grow -- and, over time, that tendril and branch would grow in the right way and
in the right form to produce fruit
--
that’s what the proverb writer is talking about here -- he’s talking about
“training” our children in the right way -- and that’s more than just verbal
instruction -- that’s practical training and shaping -- that’s walking with
them every day -- demonstrating to them the right way to live and to interact
with others -- teaching them what it means to live as godly citizens in this
community -- and correcting or training them when they go the wrong way -- sometimes
that is merely through instruction -- other times through discipline or
punishment -- but, the idea is that we continually monitor our children as they
grow -- shaping them and training them and keeping them on the right path --
then, the proverb writer says, when they are old, they will not turn from it --
it will have become who they are
-- that
is our calling as Christian parents -- and that is especially the calling of a
Christian mother and godly woman
III. Continuing to Train
-- so,
the lesson for today is that when your children are grown, your jobs as mothers
is done, right? -- no! -- there is still so much to do -- there are still so
many opportunities for you to influence other generations and to train them up
in the way they should go
--
several years ago, there was a phrase going around in politics that you might
have heard: “it takes a village to raise a child” -- now, the reason this
political party chose to use that phrase was as justification for the
Government to have a greater influence in the lives of families -- to the point
where the Government would be able to dictate how a child was taught and how
they were to be trained
-- I
disagree with that premise and with the assertion that the Government should
impose itself directly into your personal lives in this way, but I do agree
with the overall concept that it takes a village to raise a child -- I think
this is something that we have forgotten in the church and it’s something we
need to recapture
-- when
we become a Christians, the Bible tells us that we are born again -- we are
born into a new spiritual family -- the family of God -- this means that our
allegiances should shift from the old to the new, in much the same way as the
allegiances of a newly married couple shift from their parents to each other as
their primary relationship -- now, certainly, we are still part of our old,
biological families -- but what being born again into a new family means is
that we have new relationships with new family members -- and this carries it
with it inherent responsibilities
-- we
are no longer just responsible for the well-being of our biological families --
but we are responsible for the well-being of our spiritual families -- the
members of our faith communities -- our churches
-- that
means that we are responsible for nurturing and teaching and training the other
members in our new spiritual families in the way they should go -- as Jesus put
it in the Great Commission from Matthew 28:18-20, we are to make disciples and
teach them to obey all the things He has commanded us to do -- we are to train
them in the way they should go
-- so,
what does that look like? -- turn over to Titus chapter 2 and we’ll end there
-- Titus
2:1-5
1 You, however, must teach what is
appropriate to sound doctrine. 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of
respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
3 Likewise, teach the older women to be
reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine,
but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their
husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to
be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the
word of God.
-- in
this pastoral letter to Titus, the Apostle Paul instructs Titus on how to
encourage the members of his church to teach and to train one another -- the
older men and women are to train the younger men and women and teach them how
to live godly lives in relationship with their spouses, their children, and
those around them
--
specifically, in regards to the older women, Paul says in verses 4-5 that they
are to “train the younger women to love their husbands and children” -- to
train them “to be self-controlled and pure -- to be busy at home -- to be kind
-- to be subject to their husbands” -- so that the word of God would not be
maligned or disrespected
-- what
Paul is saying here is that our responsibility to train others in the way they
should go does not end when our own children are raised -- but that we are to
continually train and teach those in our faith communities and in our churches
how to live holy and godly lives
-- this
means that we model for others what a godly woman or man is to look like -- we
model for others what a godly marriage relationship is to look like -- we model
for others what a godly parental relationship is to look like -- and we mentor
and guide and train them when we see them straying from that path
-- and
that includes the children in our churches -- even though a child is not part
of your biological family, they are part of your spiritual family -- and it is
your calling and your responsibility to speak life into them -- to nurture them
and protect them and train them in the way they should go
-- I would
also say this includes other children you come into contact with -- children
you may have a relationship with in some fashion -- maybe children in your
neighborhood -- or children of friends or coworkers or others
-- you
can be a godly influence on them -- you can help shape their lives, even if
just for a moment -- who knows? -- that kind word -- your comforting hug --
your loving smile -- your nugget of wisdom -- may affect them and shape them
for the rest of their lives
-- my
goal here this morning is to help you see the enormous power you have as godly
women and mothers and grandmothers -- more so than the men here this morning,
you have the ability to speak into the lives of children and to shape them and
train them for greatness
-- it
has been said that behind every good man is a good woman -- we assume that is
referring to his wife, but in reality, it probably speaks more of his mother’s
influence than anything
IV. Closing
-- I
want to close by sharing with you the story of basketball great Richard
Jefferson, who played most of his career with the New York Nets2
-- when
Jefferson was born, his mother, Wanda Johnson, was a single mother with two
other kids living in Los Angeles -- a high-school drop-out, she didn't have a
job and survived on welfare -- and in that neighborhood, with its high crime
rate and rampant joblessness, Wanda knew that she was going to have to do
something, or her kids would have no hope or future other than what they had
known all their life
-- so,
when Jefferson was six years old, Wanda moved her family from Los Angeles to
Phoenix because of its lower cost of living and lower incidence of crime and
violence -- already a Christian, Wanda became heavily involved in a charismatic
church in the area, and began to turn her life around
--
rather than accepting her condition and allowing her kids to follow her path
into poverty, Wanda started turning her life around -- she began trusting that
God would provide -- that God wanted more for her and her kids than what they
currently had
-- she
got a job and got off welfare -- she remarried -- and went back to school,
earning her GED and then going to college -- eventually completing her PhD in
English and serving as a member of the teaching faculty at a community college
in Phoenix
-- but,
that's not all she did -- at the same time she was clawing her way out of
welfare and poverty, she did all she could to serve God -- going on mission
trips to Kenya and other countries and becoming a leader in her Phoenix church
along with her husband
--
today, Wanda Johnson is a changed person -- a far cry from the single mother of
three on welfare living in the slums in Los Angeles
-- but,
the most remarkable part of her story is the impact that it had on her children
-- the power of a mother's life can result in significant changes in the life
of their children -- and as Richard Jefferson watched his mother change her
situation -- as he watched her start to believe in herself -- he began to
believe in himself, too
-- he
quit making excuses -- he started working hard -- and he became one of the best
players in high school and college and eventually began playing professional
basketball -- if you ask him today, Richard Jefferson is quick to give the
credit to his mother's influence in his life -- if not for her, he would not be
who he is today -- if not for the power of his mother, he might be just another
statistic
--
because of her example -- because of the influence and her intentional shaping
and training -- Richard Jefferson is highly successful and well-respected by
all who know him, not only for his playing ability, but also for his behavior
and his Godly lifestyle -- and he owes it all to his mother
--
that's the thing about the ability of a godly woman who lives out her calling
to teach and train up her children and grandchildren and those around her -- she
can affect lives forever -- even if she does nothing more than serve as a godly
role model, her example can influence and change the lives of those around her
-- so,
as we leave here today on this Mother’s Day, let me first say, “Thank you,” to
my mother and to the mothers in this place -- thank you for your love and for
training and shaping us into who are today
-- and
let me encourage you to continue to love and train and shape those around you
-- to speak into their lives -- to model for them what a godly woman and mother
and grandmother and wife looks like -- so that they may learn from you and
follow the path that God has laid out before them
-- let
us pray
1 Green, Michael P.
1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching, Baker Books
2
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/06/sports/pro-basketball-nets-jefferson-follows-mother-s-example-succeeds-through-positive.html?pagewanted=1
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