Motherly Love

Dear Brethren,

Wouldn’t it be nice if, in addition to Mother’s Day and Father’s day, we had a national holiday set aside for every one of God's Ten Commandments?  I remember back at Pasadena, CA when we presented each mother with a long-stemmed rose as they came to Sabbath services.  It was nice, and it was appropriate.  Mother's Day is a fine way to recognize mothers.  It is a good reminder of how we should each honor our mother each and every day of the year.  

The celebration of Mother's Day is founded on the Godly principle to honor our mother.  It is a fine way to recognize our mothers.  In 1914 President Wilson, established a national Mother's Day emphasizing the role of women in their families.  Some ancient pagan cultures, such as the ancient Greeks and Romans, did not honor mothers in a Godly fashion.  They wrongly paid tribute to various mothers as pagan goddesses.  Just for the record, that is not what we advocate at all.

What we do advocate is:  honoring our mother each and every day of the year – and perhaps one national day of Mother’s Day will help remind us all of our continuous obligation to honor our mothers.  Jesus honored his mother daily – not just once a year.  Can we distinguish the righteousness of Jesus Christ from God-less paganism?

Where do good mothers come from?  When a little girl does not have a good mother – it is very difficult for her to grow up to be a good mother.  It takes God’s direct intervention.  When and how do little girls become mothers?  Not everyone has a good mother – what do you do then?

Think of the best mother that you know – perhaps your own mother.  She wasn't born a mother.  When did she become a mother?  I'm not talking about her giving birth – but acquiring the attributes that define who and what a good mother is?  Becoming a good mother is not natural – it does not automatically take place.  Where then do good mothers come from? 

First, she was a little girl with all the fears, doubts, concerns and questions that all little girls have.  How does a little girl in a ponytail or pigtails become a good mother, with motherly love?  When did she become soft and tender – understanding and gracious?  When did she learn patience and the right words to say?  When did she finally have all the right answers to all the questions her children have? 

When she began to grow and mature, and the demands upon her exceeded her ability to perform to everyone's desires – how did she eventually find balance in her life?  When she got to high school, boys became interesting and exciting.  She dreamed, “Maybe one boy would carry her away to the land of her dreams and bring her love, security and take her away from all her problems."

But, reality is not like that.  Good mothers are not born – they are made of love, honor, respect, and Godliness.  Those mothers take on special gifts and qualities.  I'm talking about when did she learn to worry when you were ill, or having a problem at school.  When did she realize that she was willing to die – so that you could live?  When did you become so much a part of her – that without you, she would not be whole? 

Good mothers know these things – but young girls do not – not yet.  When do mothers learn to do and say the right thing at the right moment to solve every difficulty?  That lesson is not learned on the playground or at school – but from a Christian mother – and if you are so blessed – a Godly grand-mother.

We live in a world where our children are being taught that marriage and motherhood are undesirable.  They are taught that homosexuality and lesbianism are preferable "lifestyles."  Let’s follow the worldly way of thinking for a moment to see what the final result would be.  Let’s say the secularists win the ideological battle, and all men become homosexuals and all women become lesbians.  The secularists would be delighted – but for only one generation – for then, they and their kind would simply die out – cease to exist as a population.  Let me spell it out for you – no children equals no future!

Common sense dictates that when men and women cease to marry and have children – society ceases to exist.  That is why good marriages are the foundation of society.  Social workers are taught in college that a single parent can raise a child as well as a family with a mother and a father.  They are not fooling anyone but themselves.  And, by the way, women who have children out of wedlock do not constitute a nuclear family.  There are approximately 14 million single-parent households in the US.  Single parents suffer from a higher rate of poverty and poor health than married families, but the worst consequence is the increased number of negative social, behavioral and emotional traits in their children. 

The term "nuclear family" refers to a household consisting of a father, a mother with their children all in one household dwelling.  God instituted the nuclear family at creation when He said, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh… So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply.”  (Genesis 2:24, 1:27-28)

What does it mean to honor your mother?  A Mother’s Day card, an email, or a phone call once a year does not fulfill the intent of the Biblical command of God to honor our mothers – far from it.  When giving the commandments, God tied the Commandment to honor our mother to enjoying a long life"Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."  (Exodus 20:12)

The concept of honoring our mother is a very serious matter to be pondered by those in God's Church today.  For converted brethren, the Biblical promise of a long life points to our eternal life – or the forfeiture thereof.  "Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness."  (Proverbs 20:20)  We are guilty of cursing a parent when we conclude they are not worthy of honor because of some past offense.

Men have always justified the breaking of God’s Commandments.  When someone reasons that he has an excuse not to honor a parent – he is falling into that trap.  It is a very serious offence in that it is a salvational matter that causes the law of God to be of no effect.  "For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.”  (Matthew 15:4)

The social order of a nation unravels when family ties are broken.  That is why this command from God is foundational for society itself.  Jesus explained that it was not permissible to substitute good works in lieu of God’s command.  “ And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition."  (Matthew 15:6) 

Honor must exist from one generation to another in order for Godly fundamentals to flourish and maintain national stability.  Without Godly essentials, history shows that nations soon degrade into lawless uncivilized barbarianism.  Contrary-wise, God’s way insures, “That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.”  (Deuteronomy 11:21) 

If God’s way of life came to us naturally, He would not have had to give us His Ten Commandments – including Honor your father and your mother.  Animals possess instincts that draw the parent to its young, and the offspring to its parent for a short time of development – but then, they go their own way.  They do not build an extended society for the good of the species.  Children, on the other hand, must be taught the right values of family and Godliness, because those standards, morals and ethics do not come naturally to them.  Notice God’s clear instructions to His people:

“Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons.”  (Deuteronomy 4:9)  “You shall teach [God's words] to your children, speaking of them when thou sit in thine house, and when thou walk by the way, when thou lie down, and when thou rise up.”  (Deuteronomy 11:19)

God requires that mothers should receive honor from each of her children continually throughout the year.  When we give honor to our parents - we give honor to God.  How so?  Parents want their children to do well – in the same way that God wants each of us, the children of God, to do well.  We cannot honor God and, at the same time, not honor our parents

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Sermon:  "Motherly Love"      


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