"The Mother Or The Other."
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I. Introduction
I. Introduction
Mother’s Day is a special, special time for us to celebrate the most wonderful person in the home: Mom!
When herself a little girl, she was sugar and spice and everything nice!
A few years go by and Dad finds the door bell ringing more often.
Nervous young men in their best, all smiles until they see what dad is cleaning and oiling on the coffee table.
“Yes sir!!! Message received loud and clear!”
As the years passed, the woman we now call mom matured.
She learned skills and professions and she learned life.
And at some point, she became the obsession of a man in love.
Of all life's seasons I have lived so far, this is one of the most magical!
Young Love!
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
When the world says love, in most cases, they mean lust.
Not what we’re talking about today.
We are talking about real love.
And love is a productive thing.
As the years pass, many things grow out of love.
Committment grows in love. Trust and happiness grow out of love, despite harsh circumstances and daunting realities.
And sometimes baby boys and baby girls!
You know me, I am a watcher.
I enjoy watching life as much as participation!
And I have seen that the best mothers are those special women who owned a mother’s heart before conception . Before labor and a life time of putting someone else first!
The Best Mothers are Mothers in their heart and soul, before even their natural body!
Those are the Mothers who make the difference.
There are many such across the pages of your Bible but when Mother’s Day comes around, I always turn your attention to one particular mother.
We never do learn her name.
She was not rich.
She was not a person of influence or renown.
But she was a mom.
We read about her in 1 Kings Ch 3:17-27
Regardless of the actual Mother’s Day sermon, each of which are unique, I always like to start with this passage.
And I always use this title: “The Mother or The Other!”
II. Text & Scripture Setting.
II. Text & Scripture Setting.
And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. And this woman’s child died in the night; because she overlaid it. And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
“Protection.”
“Care.”
Two words that make all the difference.
The Other was selfish and self centered.
The other did not care for the life of the child, only that the true mother be as deprived as she.
But the True Mother was willing to live with the loss of her child for the rest of her life, as long as her baby was saved!
“In no wise slay it!” She said!
“Don’t kill! Preserve life! ”
Protection. Care.
The Mother chose to protect the life of her child no matter what!
III. Scripture Support
III. Scripture Support
When I look at you I see individuals. That’s how I pray for you.
You are important alone! All by yourself.
Still, I zoom out one frame and I see families.
I pray for your family as a unit, and I hope you do too!
God made the family before even he made the church. It is so valuable!!!!
Each family is unique!
Yours won’t be quite like mine and mine won’t be quite what yours is either. And that’s OK!
Every family here today, is a unit that God loves and through which God pours warm grace to a cold, hard world.
Whether you are a family of one or twenty one, you are important!
I want every family in AG to laugh together, to have fun together! To cry together, learn and pray together!
Thursday night we read the Scripture that explains why people in the family of God refer to each other as “Brother” and “Sister.”
We believe in that!
Zoom out some more and you see that a local assembly is itself a family!
Zoom out even more, and you see Hundreds of thousands of congregations and assemblies all over the world, coming together to make up the church!
We are many colors!
We speak different languages and live in different time zones and on different continents!
Yet we are one family!
We are the Bride!
Together, we are the Bride of Christ!
So here’s how the Apostle Paul put it in Eph 5:25-27.
And this passage is vital to understanding why God established both the family and the church!
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
IV. Application
IV. Application
“The Mother or the Other.”
Every church must decide which one we will be.
Will we be the Mother or the Other?
The “other” type of church does not care very much about bearing children.
To them, Children range from an inconvenience to a threat!
There are assemblies who do not care to labor and birth new life!
Not interested in fasting.
Not interested in outreach.
Not interested in Home Bible study!
Not interested in preparing and making things ready for a new member of the family.
And when one comes, they do not care for them properly!
“The Other” has no patience! No grace to overlook a mistake or an embarrassment!
Such are selfish and self centered. Not the Mother, but the Other.
I don’t know how it is for you, but every time I look at the various news sites, just to stay in touch with the world at large, I find that the news is a real downer!
For example:
All the chaos that surrounds a potential change or overthrow of Roe V Wade has been all over the news here in the US this week.
One side of the argument seeks to protect and care for life. This is “The Mother.”
The other side views the unborn as nothing less than a threat!
I saw images this week, of activists who offend all decency, screaming in rage against any percieved change to their “Freedom.”
The next article in the same publication, was of women in Afghanistan, losing actual freedom and being required to cover themselves completely, relegated to little more than slavery in a society being modelled on a seventh century religion.
The difference of one inch on a page, one inch between these two groups of women. And yet their realities are galaxies apart!
One group truly is losing freedom, the other does not appear to understand what freedom truly is!
Of course the news is not all bad!
I’ve read of Mothers who moved heaven and earth to protect their children!
You have too. You’ve seen those mothers who shielded their chidren from harm with their own bodies!
You’ve seen many who have exemplified in the natural realm what it is to be the true mother.
We have women in our time in and even in this very assembly today, who would do no less than Jochabed did, to save her child!
We have mothers here today, kind and warm, but ferocious in defense of their children!
Mothers, we honor you!
Thank you for loving and teaching and defending your children at each stage of their life!
Egyptian armies, task masters, raging Pharoahs and hungry crocodiles are simply no match for a real Mother!
They’ll love you no matter what!
My Mom would have braved the crocodiles just to give me whoopin’!!!! And thank God she did!
I have already said that the best Mothers are those with the heart of a true mother, before conception and labor and delivery and a lifetime of putting someone else first.
Hannah was such a lady!
Who would have known that petite form contained the heart of a lion!!!
We have ladies of that same caliber here today. Heroes!
They have lived a time for weeping. But a time of rejoicing will come too.
Thank you Jesus!!!!
Thank you for the Mother!
“Blessed is the Mother.... who can hold onto her children while letting them go;
Who puts a tranquil home ahead of an immaculate house;
Who knows a kind act will be remebered longer than an easy word;
Who really believes that prayer changes things;
Whose faith in the future sweetens the present;
Whose Bible never needs dusting;
Whose sense of humor is alive and well!”
Who can find a virtuous woman?
For her price is far above rubies.
The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her,
So that he shall have no need of spoil.
She will do him good and not evil
All the days of her life.
She seeketh wool, and flax,
And worketh willingly with her hands.
She is like the merchants’ ships;
She bringeth her food from afar.
She riseth also while it is yet night,
And giveth meat to her household,
And a portion to her maidens.
She considereth a field, and buyeth it:
With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
She girdeth her loins with strength,
And strengtheneth her arms.
She perceiveth that her merchandise is good:
Her candle goeth not out by night.
She layeth her hands to the spindle,
And her hands hold the distaff.
She stretcheth out her hand to the poor;
Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of the snow for her household:
For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
She maketh herself coverings of tapestry;
Her clothing is silk and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates,
When he sitteth among the elders of the land.
She maketh fine linen, and selleth it;
And delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
Strength and honour are her clothing;
And she shall rejoice in time to come.
She openeth her mouth with wisdom;
And in her tongue is the law of kindness.
She looketh well to the ways of her household,
And eateth not the bread of idleness.
Her children arise up, and call her blessed;
Her husband also, and he praiseth her.
Many daughters have done virtuously,
But thou excellest them all.
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain:
But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands;
And let her own works praise her in the gates.
The virtuous woman is more lovely than any jewel.
The true mother has influence that is never forgotten!
One great man remembered his Mother: “My mother always seemed to me like a fairy princess: a radiant being possessed of limitless riches and power. She shone for me like the evening star. I loved her dearly.”
That man was Winston Churchill, and like you, he would never have become the man he was without her!
The Mother and the other.
The other does not want to be a mother.
She rejects the responsibilities and obligations accompanying.
But the Mother is willing to protect and care for new life no matter what!
Is there any bond as strong in the Human experience?
I love the true mother kind of a church!
They will love you no matter what!
They’ll call you and make sure you’re being fed!
They’ll protect you in prayer.
They’ll surround you when you need it most!
That’s why you need to be part of a church!
We know who the bridegroom is.
We consider the ministry to be the friend of the bridegroom.
And to be honest, sometimes the relationship with pastor is a little rocky.
The watchman on the wall is not always very warm. Got a job to do.
When correction or even rebuke is called for.
Even though it’s good for you, and you know it’s good for you, there can be some uncomfortable moments between you and the friend of the bridegroom.
Even when the minister is a lady, I have observed that pastoral pulpit ministry is often straightforward and almost masculine in nature.
But the church, the body, should always be warm. The true Mother type of church will always comfort and protect you!
If you are wise and you recieve the word of the Lord even when it’s sharper than a two edged sword, even when it’s a scalpel, removing dangerous attitudes and spiritual cancers, the true Mother kind of church will pray with you in the altar.
It’s less “praying for and more praying with!”
The Mother protects and cares for you in a way nobody else can!
I want to thank everybody in this church who care enough to pray with and encourage others!
Sometimes in the altar portion of the service. Sometimes outside of the service itself.
You are the true Mother!
I think about Sister Hartman. I met her years ago in San Francisco.
She truly loved the Lord!
When the worship team would sing about the Blood of Jesus, you should have seen her dance before the Lord!
Even though her body had been damaged in an accident years prior, she would go to the front and shuffle her dance of praise unto God!
I remember the shock, when she told me that as a baby, she had been found in a dumpster.
She never knew her natural mother.
The church became her mother.
And her favorite verse was:
When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take me up.
We live in a cosmos, a world that is so cold, so brutal and unforgiviving.
This world needs a church!!!!
This world needs the bride!!!
Someone to love them despite their shame!
Someone to pick them up, help clean them up and care for them!
A body that will care for and protect!
Jesus is the Bridegroom!
One Day He will come for his church!
And till that happens, we’ve got to stuff as many in as we can!
Get them in the church!
Wherever you live, make sure you are part of the Bride!
Stay in the body!
Don’t leave the church!
Bring as many into it as you can!
Remember how the bride has loved you!
Included you! Protected you and cared for you!
Now you do the same!
There are many accounts of brave warriors in Scripture!
Mathew 15:22-28 shows us bravery of a more desperate nature:
It shows us a Mother who is desperate and cries out to Jesus!
She knows that everyone else in the crowd and in the city has a prior claim on Jesus!
She is no Hebrew!
But she is a mom!
And when mom’s get desperate, they go to Jesus!
And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
“Great is thy faith woman!”
That’s what Jesus said, and then He gave her a signed check.
“You fill it out!”
And even today, here and now, God sees the faith of a Mother’s heart!!!
He knows you are not the other!
You are the True Mother!
I see the desperation of a Mother’s heart! Every pastor does!
I wish I could fix things for you!
I wish I could make everything work out in every case!
But the power is not within me. The longer I live, the more I know that is true!
The power has always been in Him!
He is Love!
The origination and fullest expression of love!
Jesus is!!!
He hears the cry of the true Mother!!!
He knows your heart!
And Jesus is both willing and able to do what nobody else can possibly do!
I feel some miracles flowing through this place today!!!
I feel a current of faith flowing here right now!!!!
And Jesus has always honored true faith!
I think we should stop right now and pray!!!!!
There are miracles that need prayed need to be prayed down and prayed through in this place!
Don’t le the miracle float past you!
Reach out and make it your own!!!
Pray it down for somebody who is desperate!!!!
Perhaps you might sense after someone else here who needs your prayer!
Someone who needs you to care for them and protect them!!!!
Be the church!
Be the Bride!
Pray with them! Build a hedge around them! Encourage them! cover them!
Listen, if you need a miracle today, pray until you get peace!
Pray until you know that God is working on your behalf!!!!
It’s Mother’s day and family time is waiting, I know. But this is your time to feel the weight of angels, dispatched on your behalf!!!
I want us to close out this service today with and explosion of faith!!!
Men, women, I want you to start praising God for the miraculous!!!
Just how big is your God???
God can do anything!!!!!
There is nothing impossible with God!
He is able to heal and deliver and restore things humanity could never fix!
He can transition you from the role of a victim to more than a conqueror!!!
Alright, I’m done. let’s pray!!!!
Abounding Grace, you are not the other!
You are the true Mother!
Care for someone right now! Maybe they are here or even many, many miles away.
No problem for God. Lift them up! Call out their name in prayer!!!!