Mothers Day
Notes
Transcript
Steve Mathewson
Editor of Preaching Today.
While I was researching this passage; I came across this sermon and felt it was so good that I would use it and go ahead and give credit to the writer of this sermon Steve Mathewson. He is an editor for preaching today. So here we go.
Introduction:
Introduction:
Today, I'm going to preach a Mother's Day sermon, and some of you may be dreading it. You'd just as soon do eight loads of laundry or get a root canal than listen to a Mother's Day sermon!
One group says, "I'm tired of getting hammered on Mother's Day with impossible expectations. I'd like to be the ideal mom, but I'm too busy raising children!"
A second group says, "I'm a woman without children. Mother's Day is hard for me. It's awkward because I feel like I don't fit."
To women in both groups, I want to say, "Relax! I don't want to add to the pressure or pain that comes from being a mom or not being a mom. I want to encourage you from the Bible about the impact you can make on the next generation—your children, if you're a mom, or your grandchildren, nieces, nephews, students, or neighbor kids who live next door.
And this is a sermon not only for moms, but for dads, teachers, coaches, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and next-door neighbors of children.
Men, this is not a day off when the sermon is just for mothers, so stop daydreaming! I want to share with all of you a lesson that wise moms and other influential people can teach the next generation.
A mom who fears the Lord teaches her kids to use their strength to serve people in need.
A mothers wisdom
Our text for today is Proverbs 31, and I want to talk about the "other" Proverbs 31 woman.
The Proverbs 31 woman described in verses 10-31 gets all the press. But I'm interested this morning in what the "other" Proverbs 31 woman listed in verses 1-9 has to say.
Point I
According to verse 1, this lady is a mom—a queen whose son becomes king.
We don't have a clue as to who Lemuel was, but his mom, the queen-mother, has something important to teach us. The word "oracle" means a "burden" or "a heavy word."
In verse 2, you see that she really wants her son to get this: "Listen, my son." Literally, she is saying,
"What, my son"—perhaps in the sense of saying, "What are you doing, my son?" or "What should you do, my son?
You're the one I love. I gave birth to you. I asked God for you."
What follows this call to attention, then, is an important lesson from a wise mom—and you don't have to be a queen-mother whose son is going to be king to apply it to your situation!
Point II
At first, her advice looks fairly predictable: Don't chase women, and don't drink beer! But if you think that's what this lesson is about, you've missed the point. The question that's being answered is, "How will you use your power when life presents you with great opportunities?"
Chances are, your kids or nephews or nieces or students are not going to be royalty. But they might become doctors, teachers, senators, or heads of corporations. They might receive college scholarships. They might make more money than you make. They might get elected to political office. The question is, how will they use the power and privilege that comes with these opportunities?
King Lemuel's mom says to him, "Don't use your power to serve yourself."
In verse 3, the concern is that Lemuel will try to build a large harem.
This was something kings did in ancient times, but it was a distortion of power.
Many wives created huge expenses for a king.
I don't mean that as a put-down of women. In fact, the model for wisdom in the final section of the book—Proverbs 31:10-31—is a woman, not a prince or a king.
Point III
In verses 4-7, the queen mother is concerned about the abuse of alcohol.
In the Bible wine can be a source of joy (see Deuteronomy 14:26, Psalm 104:14-15, Isaiah 25:6-8, or Isaiah 55:1).
But it can also be misused (see Proverbs 20:1, Proverbs 23:20-21, 29-35, Isaiah 5:11-12 and 22, Ephesians 5:18, 1 Corinthians 6:10, and Galatians 5:19-21).
Building large harems and abusing alcohol were possible ways of misusing power.
In both cases the pattern of behavior is self-destructive.
Verse 3 says that kings who give their strength to women can get destroyed.
I think of King David, who ruined his career because of an adulterous relationship, and Solomon, who ruined his career because of all the wives he acquired—wives who led him astray.
Verse 5 says that those who cope with the pressures of being king by drinking forget what they've decreed.
I think of Elah, king of Israel, who was getting drunk when Zimri, one of his officials, assassinated him (1 Kings 16:9-10).
I'm sure you've heard of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Lemuel's mom was the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Ruling!
To dramatize her point against the abuse of alcohol, the mom says this in verses 6-7:
"Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more."
The queen mother is not recommending a "free beer for the poor program." She's using sarcasm to awaken Lemuel to the duties that go with his class and status.
She's saying: "Don't use your power to serve yourself."
Then, in verses 8-9, she's ready to state positively the lesson that is driving her words to her son:
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."
A mom who fears the Lord teaches her kids to use their strength to serve people in need.
It is a sin to take advantage of other people—to exploit them.
Using your resources—money, sex, or power—to hurt others and fulfill your own needs is wrong.
For that reason, I'm thankful that my wife has always insisted that our kids look out for the welfare of the kids who were despised or ignored by others.
She has always said, "You reach out to that boy over there that everyone else is picking on.
You reach out to that girl who is ridiculed because she's out of style or doesn't have the social skills everyone else does."
That's what Proverbs 31:1-9 calls moms and other influential people to do.
When I read the words of King Lemuel's mom, I think about Lillian Carter, mother of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter's father, a successful farmer, taught him to work hard. His mother, Lillian, was a nurse. She taught him compassion for the poor and marginalized. In Plains, Georgia, racial segregation was the rule of the day. But Lillian Carter fought it. She nursed their black neighbors even when they had no money. It's no wonder that Jimmy Carter will go down as possibly the greatest former president we've ever had in the United States. His work with Habitat for Humanity has been exceptional.
Living like King Jesus
Living like King Jesus
When I read the words of King Lemuel's mom, I think about the greatest king who ever lived—a king whose kingdom was all about meeting the needs of the destitute, the widow, the orphan, the marginalized, and the poor.
I'm referring to King Jesus, of course. At the beginning of his ministry—his reign as king—he stood up in a place of worship in his hometown and read some words from Isaiah the prophet which he applied to himself. Luke 4:18-19 records those words:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
When everyone looked at him, waiting for him to continue reading or to give the sermon for the day, he simply said, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
Jesus was the kind of king King Lemuel's mother wanted Lemuel to be.
In fact, Jesus calls all in his kingdom—those who call him their king—to live as he lived.
Once, while at a dinner banquet, Jesus said to his host, "When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed" (Luke 14:13).
Later in the New Testament, James summarizes it like this: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27).
But how can we teach our kids to do this, and how can we do what our mothers teach us when we're so selfish, so enamored with the idea of using our strength to satisfy ourselves?
It's through the power of the gospel!
When Jesus Christ paid the price for your sins in order to bring you to God, Scripture says that our Lord Jesus Christ, "though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."
He made the ultimate sacrifice so that through faith in him, he could make us rich by bringing us to God!
Conclusion
Conclusion
Have you become rich? Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ? Have you given your life to Christ? The relationship with God that he offers is a free gift of life—given to people like me and you who are lost without God in our lives. That's the gospel.
Once you've responded to the gospel and accepted Christ, then you live out the gospel by using your strength to serve people in need.
Not out of guilt, but out of gratitude.
Not to earn points with God, but because God has made you rich.
Moms, you don't have to be perfect.
You don't have to be super moms to your kids.
Just teach them what really matters.
Point them to Jesus, the one who was rich, yet for our sake became poor.
Then teach them to follow Jesus' example, to use their strength to serve people in need!