Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction

Where does Mother's Day come from?

Some have suggested that it is something which was invented by Hallmark and florists in order to make money.

That is certainly the result if not the motivation for the day.

Mother's Day in the US began in the early part of this century and the president who signed it into existence said that is was a day "for displaying the American flag and for the public expression of love and reverence for the mothers of the country."

These may be good things, but I have sometimes questioned what they have to do with the church?

Is society supposed to dictate what we teach and do in church?

Are we not to honor God in church?

As I have wondered about these things, I have realized that many times in history the church has taken a secular holiday and given it a sacred meaning and used it to build faith.

This is the case for Mother's day.

I believe it is good for us to take this secular celebration and use it to teach a Biblical principle.

!

I. Why Honor Mothers?

The Bible teaches us that honoring mother and father is right.

It is a command that is not some obscure passage which is found once and then not referred to again.

It isn't even a text that is found in the Old Testament, but not in the New Testament.

This command, in various forms, is found throughout the Bible.

It first appears in the Ten Commandments where we read in Exodus 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you."

The ten commandments are repeated in Deuteronomy 5:16 where we read once again.

"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."

In the gospels, Jesus discusses the law with different groups of people, especially the Pharisees.

In these discussions, Jesus sometimes asks for what the law says and the response is often a list of the ten commandments including the law to honor father and mother.

In Mark 10:19 we have one such example where Jesus says, "You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

When Jesus does this, at no point does he say that the law is no longer relevant, rather, he reinforces that it is still right to obey this law.

In Matthew 15:4, he is once again debating with the Pharisees and says, "For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'"

The Pharisees had found a way to get around this law and Jesus condemns their hypocrisy, thus once again upholding the commandment.

Even the apostle Paul picked up on it when he said in Ephesians 6:2, “honor your father and mother…”

      The idea behind mother’s day & father’s day is a Biblical idea.

We are to honor our father and mother.

!

II.

Who Should Honor Mothers?

This command to honor your mother is written to those of you here who are children.

If you are follower of Jesus, God wants you to honor your mother.

Find cartoon to fit this idea.

However, this instruction is not given only to young children, but to adult children as well.

In Mark 10:19 and Luke 18:20 we have the story of the lawyer who came to question Jesus and asked him, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus first answer to that question was "You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'"

Notice that the command to honor parents was given to a grown man, a professional in the community.

In Mark 7:10 and Matthew 15:4, we have the accusation of Jesus against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.

Jesus affirms their belief in the law of Moses which said, "Honor your father and your mother," but condemns their hypocrisy when they use the religious dedication of "Corban" to withhold help from parents.

Jesus says to them, "But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban...then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother."

Once again, it is to adult children that this teaching was addressed.

Jesus expectation seems to have been that children of all ages must honor their parents.

There is an old Grimm’s Fairy Tale that goes like this:

      "Once there was an old man.

His eyes blinked and his hands trembled; when he ate he clattered the silverware distressingly, missed his mouth with the spoon as often as not, and dribbled a bit of food on the tablecloth.

Now he lived with his married son, having nowhere else to live, and his son's wife didn't like the arrangement.

"I can't have this," she said, "It interferes with my right to happiness," So she and her husband took the old man gently but firmly by the arm and led him to the corner of the kitchen.

There they set him on a stool and gave him his food in an earthenware bowl.

From then on he always ate in the corner, blinking at the table with wistful eyes.

One day his hands trembled rather more than usual, and the earthenware bowl fell and broke.

"If you are a pig," said the daughter-in-law, "you must eat out of a trough."

So they made him a little wooden trough, and he got his meals in that.

These people had a four year old son of whom they were very fond.

One evening the young man noticed his boy playing intently with some bits of wood and asked what he was doing.

"I'm making a trough," he said, smiling up for approval, "to feed you and Mamma out of when I get big."

The man and his wife looked at each other for a while and didn't say anything.

Then they cried a little.

Then they went and to the corner and took the old man by the arm and led him back to the table.

They sat him in a comfortable chair and gave him his food on a plate, and from then on nobody ever scolded when he clattered or spilled or broke things.

The command to honor parents extends to all ages of children.

!

III.

Expressing Honor

!! A. The Meaning Of Honor

      But what does it mean to honor?

!!! 1. "Cabod"

      The word "honor" in the Old Testament in all of these texts is the Hebrew word "Cabod."

It is an interesting word which will help us understand what it means to honor our mothers.

At first glance, this word does not appear very flattering because it literally means "heavy."

In I Samuel 4:18 we read, "When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate.

His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man and heavy."

Eli was the priest of God whose sons were rebellious and who was replaced by Samuel.

It describes the day he died.

and the way in which he died.

It says, he fell, broke his neck and died because he was old and heavy.

The word "heavy" is the Hebrew word "Cabod."

This is the literal meaning of the word.

Often literal meanings of words take on figurative meanings.

One example is the literal word "cool" which today is used to refer to something which is good or interesting.

The word "Cabod" was also used in a figurative sense in Exodus 7:14 where we read, "Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go."

The word "unyielding" is also the word "Cabod."

It could be translated "hard" or "heavy."

Here his heart was not literally heavy, but heavy in the figurative sense that it was unresponsive to God.

      From this negative figurative sense, the word was also used in a positive figurative sense to refer to "a weighty person in society, someone who was honorable, impressive, worthy of respect."

It is interesting that our language of a few years ago picked up on this use of the word "heavy" again.

My generation knows what I mean when I say "hey man, that's heavy" and I think the sense in which we used it and still sometimes use it is exactly the sense in which the Old Testament word was used.

In II Samuel 23:23 we read about the men who were highly regarded as warrior's in David's army.

It says about Benaiah son of Jehoiada, "He was held in greater honor…and David put him in charge of his bodyguard."

Here "Cabod" is translated "honor" and carries the sense we are talking about.

How does this word help us understand what it means to honor our mother?

To me it conveys the picture of someone who is substantial when it comes to worth.

It makes me think of someone who deserves to be respected because of who they are.

!!! 2. "Time"

      The New Testament was written not in Hebrew, but in Greek and so a different word is used in the New Testament.

The Greek word used in all of these passages is the word "Time."

It also has an interesting history of use.

This word is used in Acts 19:19, "A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly.

When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas."

The word "time" is translated, "value."

This word is also used in I Peter 2:7, "Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.

But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone," Here the word is translated "precious" and refers to the value of who Jesus is and what he has done.

The picture we have of the New Testament word "time" is that of value.