Today is Sunday and also Mother’s Day. Apart from Mother’s Day, there are many other days like Friendship Day, Father’s day, Children’s Day, Teachers Day and lots of other days.
How it started is in the 1900s in America,
there was a person called Anna Jarvis and she wanted to honor her mother so she
came up with Mother’s Day as a way of honoring sacrifices mothers made for
their children. Anybody who has been in the delivery room knows the sacrifices
involved – men have no clue!
The question is: is this just a fad or is
it something worth celebrating? We need to check if this aligns with what the
bible says. In Deutronomy
5:16 it says:
“Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded
you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the
land the Lord your God is giving you.
The Bible speaks about honoring our parents.
The same command is repeated through scripture:
Matthew 15:4
For God
said, ‘Honor your father and mother’and ‘Anyone who curses their father or
mother is to be put to death.
Ephesians 6:2-3
“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment
with a promise—3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy
long life on the earth.”
We’re going to look at three mothers in the
Bible today:
1) Jochebed
Jochebed was Moses’ mother & she was an
amazing lady. What’s so amazing about her is that the Israelites were just 70
people. They went to Egypt and were there for over 400 years. They grew from 70
people to 2 and a1/2 million people, but they were slaves. Now a new King in
Egypt had come up and he did not know anything about Joseph’s contribution to
preserving the Egyptians and the Israelites. The King was threatened by the
fact that the Israelites were rapidly growing and outnumbering the Egyptians,
so he commanded the midwives to take every Israelite boy and kill them. The
midwives wouldn’t do it so he commanded them to take every little boy and throw
them into the river Nile. Then Jochebed (Jo for short) gave birth to a boy, and
put him in a basket and covered him, then put baby Moses into the basket and
put him in the river Nile. Pharoh’s daughter heard the baby’s cry and had him
brought to her. Miriam (Moses’ sister) went up to Pharoh’s daughter and offered
to care for the baby till he was grown So Miriam and Jo took care of Moses for
a few months and then returns him to Pharoh’s daughter who took him to the
palace to raise him. Jo was determined to save her son. She was not only saved
from death, but the whole of the Israelites were delivered because of him. She
knew that there was something special about him and he was the one who
delivered God’s people from Egypt. In the same way mothers today may be
changing nappies, feeding babies, making meals, doing homework and so much
more. But who knows 20-30 years down the line what difference that child will
make in the world. Jo didn’t know much but she raised up such an amazing.
So I want to encourage all the mothers today
who may be thinking “oh no here we go again, they’ve dropped the milk, they’ve
dropped food all over the place, they’ve not made the bed.” It’s the same thing
over and over again and it may seem challenging, but remember you are shaping
somebody who may make a huge difference to humanity.
2) Hannah
Hannah was Samuel’s mother and was married to
a man who loved her very much, but she was one of two wives. The other wife
would taunt Hannah because Hannah didn’t have any children. It says in 1 Samuel
that the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb.
1 Sam 1: 6
Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival
kept provoking her in order to irritate her.
But then we see that Hannah prayed to
the LORD and wept bitterly and she said Lord if you would give me a son, I will
give him to you all the days of his life.
1 Sam 1:10-11
10 In her deep anguish Hannah
prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a
vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s
misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son,
then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his
life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
She was praying so hard that Eli the
priest saw her and saw her lips moving with no sound coming thought that she
was drunk. The Lord then blessed her with a son. Imagine you have just one son,
what would you do? Hannah was faithful, she gave him to the temple as she had
said and then the LORD blessed her with many more children.
The one son she prayed for - Samuel
became the one who anointed 2 of Israel’s greatest Kings and God gave Hannah 5 more
children and great blessing in her life. She was another mother who was willing
to give her son to the LORD.
What is it that we want from our
children? Then most important thing is are they following the LORD? Are they
serving – serving does not mean becoming a full time pastor or evangelist, but
are their hearts after the LORD and are they growing. This is the most precious
thing.
3)
Eunice and Lois
They were Timothy’s mother and
grandmother. These two were commended for raising Timothy in the ways of God.
In 2 Tim 1:5 Paul says:
I am 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.
These two women: grandmother passed on
to mother and mother passed on to Timothy the ways of God. This helps us
understand that we can pass on lots of things to our children like wealth and
education, but really one of the most important things to pass on is the life
of Jesus that is in us and pass it on to the next generation. Timothy’s mother and grandmother did that. Paul
writes to Timothy and says:
2 Tim 3:14-15
14 But as for you,
continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you
know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from
infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make
you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Speak to your children about God and
his ways right from the time they are born. Read them stories and teach the
ways of God like Timothy’s mother and Grandmother were committed to doing.
So how can we honor our father and
mother?
I’ve got 4 things.
1)
Appreciation: We
can appreciate them with words or cards or SMS’s or WhatsApps and many
different ways but we are verbally appreciating them and thanking them for what
they have done for us. Today is a wonderful day to call up your mother and
express gratitude and thanks for what she has done. Nobody can say my mother
was perfect, all have flaws but the Bible says honor your father and mother and
one of the ways is to appreciate them.
2)
Accept their
authority when we are young: Colossians
3:20 says
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this
pleases the Lord.
As growing up children
we need to accept their authority. Once we have grown up, we honor and respect
our parents but we don’t come under their authority. The distinction is very
important. When you are an adult you are responsible for your actions. An d
honoring could mean that you may choose not to agree with your parents in
certain situations. I remember a person who spoke to me and says that his
parents told him to marry this girl, he didn’t want to marry her but because
his father said marry her, he did. It didn’t work out and they got divorced.
There are decisions that you take as an adult that you are responsible for.
3)
Treat them with
respect:
Leviticus 3:19
Each of you must respect your mother and
father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your
God.
Hebrews 12:9
Each of you must respect your mother and
father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am
the Lord your God
Respect is the
way we speak to them and treat them. The way we treat them shows respect.
4)
Provide for them:
1 Tim 5:4
But if a widow has children
or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into
practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and
grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.
If
a father or mother is in need, it is our responsibility to make sure that we
are caring for them.
1 Tim 5:8
Anyone who does not provide
for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has
denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
We
have to keep this in mind that if our Father or mother or relative is in need,
we have a responsibility to care for them especially in their old age.
Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again), Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.
