Today is Mother’s Day. It is the one day each year that we men put aside to honor our mothers and the mothers of our children. And they happen to be the one person we will generally buy a gift for, and we will still anguish over what to buy. If you have not yet purchased a gift for your mother or your wife, let me give you a couple of quick hints on what not to buy. Do not buy her anything that plugs in. If something needs to be plugged in, she will only see it as a tool. Also, do not get her any exercise equipment or videos, as this will lead to six months of her asking you why you think she needs to exercise in the first place. And I guarantee you that you will never have the right answer.
My suggestion is for you to buy her something that is only for her, and that shows that you are thinking about her happiness. If you follow that rule, then whatever you get her will be appreciated and loved.
Of course, becoming a mother changes things for you, doesn’t it? And, becoming a mother more than once changes things also. When a woman becomes pregnant for the first time, she will start wearing maternity clothes the day the doctor says she is pregnant.
On her second pregnancy, she will wear her normal clothes for as long as she can, and by her third or fourth pregnancy, she will wear anything because she doesn’t have any more money to go out and start buying new maternity clothes.
Mothers are many things to their children, aren’t they? Mothers teach us most of what we know in our early years.
We have all heard the expression that it takes a village to raise a child. Today, more than ever before, babysitters and nurseries are raising our children. The tragedy in that is more and more children are being taught outside the home, and what they are taught is most-often worldly rather than Godly.
Here are some of the things our small children are learning today.
They learn the world’s morality -
‘If it feels right, it is right.’
They learn Humanism -
‘God doesn’t exist and we are fully capable of everything ourselves’
We live in the society Jeremiah spoke of – a society that “does not know how to blush.” So, with these things in mind, I think it is better for a mother to raise her kids than a village to raise them.
We need Godly mothers and fathers who will stand and say, “I will teach my children to walk in the way of the Lord.” We cannot let the most important thing in our children’s lives be left up to chance, or up to somebody else’s false teachings. We must stand up and be accountable as parents for our children’s spiritual safety.
In PROVERBS 22:6, we are given some clear advice.
‘Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.’ We know that being a good mother is helpful to our children as far as their physical well-being goes, but is it really that important to a child to be brought up spiritually sound in Jesus Christ?
In 2 TIMOTHY 1:5, Paul reminds us of Timothy’s parental influence.
‘I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois, and in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded, now lives in you also.’
Timothy had sincere faith, and he had that faith because of his grandmother and mother. Surely a mother helps form our spirit, and if she is a Godly mother, she will be the first introduction we have to our Lord.
Mothers are also protectors of their children, no matter how old her children may get. Mrs. Zebedee was the mother of James and John, and like any mother, she wanted only the very best for her sons.
Jesus gave us an illustration in MATTHEW about a landowner, who hired some helpers, and no matter how long they worked for him, they all got paid the same wages. This may have caused Mrs. Zebedee to worry about what kind of reward her sons were going to get in Heaven, so she found a time to ask Jesus about it.
In MATTHEW 20:20-23 we read,
‘Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of Him. “What is it you want?” He asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at Your right and the other at Your left in Your kingdom.”
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from My cup, but to sit at My right or left is not for Me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by My Father.”
Mrs. Zebedee was certain that when the Lord formed His kingdom, her boys would have positions of responsibility and authority. After all, the human way is to reward the best worker with the highest reward.
Jesus did not grant her request, but He did not deny it either. He simply reminded her of the cost of being seated on the right or left, and then told her that only the Father knows such things.
This morning, let’s look at what Mrs. Zebedee did for her sons, and compare that with what you, as a mother, might be doing (or have done) for your children.
The first thing we will see is she prayed for her sons to be …
1. PART OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
I think she was a very good mother. I can think of no more important task of motherhood than to want your children to be a part of God’s Kingdom.
I know that many mothers pray. Sometimes they pray out of necessity and sometimes they pray because motherhood is sometimes very difficult. I have heard it said that the reason women are mothers is because men couldn’t take the pressure. I fully agree with that statement.
I am reminded of the story where a man came home after work and his wife started telling him just how hard a day it had been. She said that both of their small children had taken turns throwing tantrums and that both had even taken turns getting sick during the day. She said she had not had one moment of peace all day, and as she was saying this, both babies got sick at the same time. She looked at her husband and in deep frustration said, “Is this in my contract?”
Certainly, mothers do get frustrated, don’t they? Perhaps one of the most frustrating times is when we are trying to communicate with the smaller ones.
A friend of mind had two kids; a three year old boy and a 5 month old daughter. He was watching them so his wife could get out of the house and relax for the day and he said the infant was lying on the couch and the son was sitting next to her.
My friend said he wanted to go into the kitchen for a second and told his little boy to watch his sister. He had not been gone for more than 20 seconds when he heard a thump and then the daughter started to wail. He ran back in there to see the daughter had rolled off the couch onto the floor and the son still sitting on the couch, just looking at her.
As he picked up his daughter, he said to his son, “I thought I told you to watch her!” The boy replied, “I did! I watched her roll off the couch and fall on the floor!” Well, at least he followed directions, didn’t he?
Being a parent is not always an easy job. There are times when your joy and pride cannot be contained, and there are other times when the sadness is so great your eyes can’t hold all the tears.
What good have we done by teaching our kids how to be successful in life if we have not also taught them how to be responsible?
I think Jesus said it best in MATTHEW 16:26:
‘What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?…. “
Being a parent is not always easy. It is a job full of deep responsibilities and I think Mrs. Zebedee carried her responsibilities well. She prayed that her sons would be a part of God’s Heavenly kingdom. I think all parents should pray the same prayer for their children – and this includes the fathers as well as the mothers. And we should do this for our children no matter what their ages.
I hope that in the heart of every mother and father here this morning, there is a burden to go before the throne of God in prayer for your children - to pray they will be saved for eternal life.
Mrs. Zebedee prayed that her sons would be a part of God’s kingdom, and she prayed that they would be …
2. INVOLVED IN THE WORK OF GOD’S KINGDOM
I have heard many people say that they want to enter Heaven running for the very middle, while others say they would be content to just step foot inside and stay close to where they came in.
One little boy kept falling out of bed one night, and his father finally asked the child why he kept falling. The boy said, “I guess I just stayed too close to where I got in.” Staying too close to the edge is not always a wise thing to do.
We must remember that we are all called to be of service to the Lord, and I think that service should begin in the home. It should begin with moms and dads going in prayer, and then including the children in those prayers, too.
It begins with parents setting the Godly example of how to live and how to serve the Lord. It begins when parents pray that their sons and daughters might be involved in the work of the kingdom.
It begins when parents pray that their children are not only a part of the kingdom, but are involved in the work of the kingdom.
Mrs. Zebedee prayed that her children would be actively involved in the work of His kingdom. And, as parents today, we need to walk in her footsteps. We need to follow her example in …
3. HAVING GODLY EXPECTATIONS FOR OUR CHILDREN
Mrs. Zebedee had big expectations, can’t we?. She didn’t just pray that her children would be doorkeepers or such. She wanted them to sit on the throne, on either side of Jesus.
Too often, we have a tendency to settle for mediocrity in our lives and in the church. Too often, we settle for aiming just about two feet inside the door. Too many Christians have been content to just sit back and let things happen around us instead of our getting up and making things happen for us.
As a good mother, she was looking out for her children’s best interest. She wanted her boys to be the most they could be.
I think we should start looking for more in our Christian walks, too. Jesus called us to be doers of the word, not just hearers only. And one of the best ways to do God’s holy and righteous word is to be a person of humble prayer.
Erma Bombeck said that when mothers were being created, they were created with enough hands to handle many jobs at once; they had enough eyes to see all that was going on around them; and they were created with the ability to heal nearly everything with nothing but a loving kiss. She went on to say that God had created someone very much like Himself.
Maybe she was right. Certainly a Godly mother cares for her children much in the same way as our Lord cares about His children, wouldn’t you say? The mother loves her children enough to go into the Valley of the Shadow of Death and bring life into it; a love that sacrifices much for her young.
I remember when I was young and we did not have much.
Mom never let any of us kids know about it, but during this period of time, we were very poor. I remember several times when my mother would say she wasn’t really hungry and only ate a little bit for dinner.
I realized later in life that she made that sacrifice just so her kids could have more to eat. That is what mothers do, isn’t it? A mother’s love is so special, she would lay down her very life for her children.
During World War II, Solomon Rosenberg and his family were sent to a concentration camp. There several members of the family, including a very frail and sickly son named David. The rules were simple: You will live as long as you are strong enough to work.”
Each day, after work, his family would come back to the barracks and hug each other. Once day, they all came back and Solomon could not find his son David or his wife.
A friend said that when the soldiers came to take young David to the furnaces, he cried out for his mother and said he was scared. The mother could not let her son go alone to that horrible fate, so the friend said she stood up, smiled, and said, “Let me go with you so you won’t be afraid.”
That is a true story. And that story shows how a mother love is a Godly love. It shows how a mother will sacrifice everything she has for her children, just like the Lord did for us. And it is all born out of love; a true and Godly love.
This is Mother’s Day. In EXODUS 20:12, we are given a commandment.
‘Honor you father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.’
It says to honor your mother. You might say that your mother doesn’t deserve to be honored. Well, the commandment from God didn’t say anything about your mother’s qualifications to be honored, it just says you are to honor her.
There was a young lady in her early 20’s who came from a very dysfunctional home. She had no idea who her dad was, and her mother was a mean lady who had no use or time for her own daughter. This young lady could have treated her mother with disrespect and hatred, and the world would have said she had every right to do so.
But this young lady became a Christian and began to love her mother. She would say and do things that showed her love for her mother. She began to honor her mother.
At first, it made no difference, she could do no right in her mom’s eyes. But over a period of an entire year, it started working on her mother’s heart. It had been almost a year, and it was two days before Christmas. The daughter had purchased some very expensive perfume for her mother and was giving it to her for Christmas. The mother got mad, flew off the handle, and threw it on the floor, breaking it.
The daughter told me later that as her mother stood there, seeing the mess she had made of her daughter’s gift, it dawned on her that she had done the same thing with her daughter’s life. And that is when the mother dropped to her knees, tears in her eyes, and begged her daughter to forgive her for the life of torment she had put the girl through.
To cut a long story short, they now sit side by side in church every Sunday morning – all of them; the mother, the daughter, the son-in-law, and their kids.
The Lord gave us a commandment to honor our mothers. When this girl applied God’s word directly into her life, Godly things happened.
This is a day in which we are to honor our Mothers. We do not put parameters on that. We simply follow directions.
Little David was afraid, but he found a loving hand reaching out to him. A hand that guaranteed he would not be left alone. A hand he could love and depend on. A hand that said, “Here, let me go with you.”
In no other country do parents spend less time with their children than in America. God did not intend for our children to grow without spiritual discipline in their lives, yet too many of our children today have none. And when we have no spiritual and moral codes to live by, we end up in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, where we seem to spend most of our lives.
If you have been raised by a Godly mother, or if you are a mother raising your kids in a Godly way, our hats are off to you this morning, and we want you to know you are truly loved and respected.
But, if you have been raised without that Godly influence, and you feel that your life has been spent mostly in that Valley of the Shadow of Death, let me encourage you to recognize that there is a hand reaching out to you, too.
It is God’s hand, and He is telling you that He loves you and that you can depend on Him. He is saying He will go with you – no matter where that is.
In ISAIAH 41:10, God gives us a promise.
‘So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Someone has already gone through that Valley of the Shadow of Death. As a matter of fact, He went through it for you; so you would be able to live forever. And He is extending His hand out to you once again, this morning, hoping that you would just trust Him enough to take it; to trust Him enough to let Him lead you through your valley.
I would like to do two things in closing. I would like to take this opportunity to tell all the mothers, and mothers-to-be in the future that you are loved and honored by Godly men who truly treasure you. And you are loved and honored by God Almighty. And secondly I would like to encourage all the men here today to hug and thank all the mothers and mothers to be for the Godly love they provide for our children.
