NOTE: The following sermon was recorded through an outdoor PA system so the quality may suffer as a result.
Sermon Transcript:
So I want to take a few moments this morning, as you probably expect, to speak on the topic of Mother's Day, to talk about just our mothers for a brief bit, and kind of give the pulpit commentary on it, if you will. For the past few weeks, I'm sure many of you all have been receiving the same emails that I've been receiving, seeing the same articles, things such as top 10 gifts that mom will love this Mother's Day, or things like gifts for mom that she is absolutely guaranteed to love. And my personal favorite, one that hopefully doesn't ring true for me this.
year, best last minute gifts for mom for my fellow procrastinators. I ordered mine on the 30th of April, and so it won't be my fault this year, even though I don't think it came in yet. So we're just going to see, we're going to see how that goes. But regardless of all that, aside from the sales and the gift lists, I'm sure you've all seen those emails. I'm sure you've all seen those emails. I'm sure you've all seen those emails. I'm sure you've all seen those emails. I'm sure you've all seen those emails. I'm sure you've all seen those emails. You've all seen those things, but you've maybe seen one that said something like this, and this is what I wanted to start us with. This is a quote here.
It says, the email I'm quoting, Dear Jacob, at such and such, and I left the name out, at such and such company, we want to connect with you in ways that inspire and spark joy. So in staying true to that commitment, we understand that Mother's Day might be a sensitive time for many of us. If you prefer to pause any upcoming Mother's Day emails or texts, please click the link below, and we will take care of the rest. Do not worry. You will still be in the loop about our future promotions, launches,
and other company news as usual. Sincerely, such and such company. You know, if you haven't noticed, these emails like this have become very popular in the last couple of years, really since COVID. Marketing agencies have kind of taken this approach to many holidays. You know, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, especially Mother's Day. They've realized something. something. They've realized that these holidays and how they're experienced by individuals, it varies. That it's not always the same one-size-fits-all experience where we all go out, we all.
buy our gifts, we all go eat lunch and do stuff like that, and that's it. But instead, they've realized that for many folks, perhaps folks who've lost a mother, who've lost a father, lost a loved one, lost somebody, that Mother's Day is often a reminder of loss than it is a reminder to celebrate. You know, it digs up buried emotion, it digs up memories that maybe we've tried to repress, and all of a sudden the day of thankfulness and joy becomes a day of maybe sorrow or a day of.
sadness. So when I see businesses send out emails like this, like the one I quoted for you before, here's what goes through my mind, maybe from a little bit of a pastoral perspective. I don't see these emails as a testimony to maybe a marketing agency's kind of wit or, you know, their ability to speak to people. I don't see them as a clever marketing strategy to make me think that some multi-million dollar company, really cares that much for me. What I read when I read those emails,
when they offer to shelter me from such advertising, what I read is a testimony, to the inescapable influence of motherhood. It's a testimony to the power of motherhood. And I'm sure many of us here today would agree that we are the way we are because of our mothers. Or maybe for some of us, we are the way we are, because of the absence of our mother. Either way, the influence of a mother is always felt. And that's what these companies realize.
You know, having just become a father myself, I cannot put into words just how grateful I am, or even just to put into words how much my wife does, as a new mother in loving and caring for our child every single day. Feeding him, changing him, you know, putting him down, getting him up, burping him, holding him, doing all the things that ideally I would not, changing him especially, want to do, but regardless, day in, day out, that's what she's doing, and I'm not saying I'm not helping, I'm not completely out of the loop, but she does so much more, not to mention carrying little Jude around for nine months,
and so knowing that, knowing the influence that even my own wife has had on our son, knowing the influence our mothers have had on us, that you have, as mothers, have had on your own kids, it should come as no surprise then, that when God speaks to his people, that when God calls out to his people, in the passage we read before from Isaiah 66, God likens himself to mothers, he said in Isaiah 66 13, as a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you, Isaiah 49 15 says,
can a mother forget the baby? In trying to describe who he is in a way that we can understand, God uses the imagery of motherhood. He says that his actions and his ways are like a mother. As mothers are comforters, he is a comforter. As mothers have compassion, he will have compassion.
And he draws this connection because God knows that mothers are the best earthly illustration we have of undying love, undying commitment, and undying compassion. Good mothers embody these qualities more than anyone we know. And I'm sure when I say that, you think of either your mother and how she did, or perhaps your mother and how she didn't. But God knows that's true. God knows good mothers. Good mothers embody.
And so he says, So how exactly is God like a mother? What has he done that we know mothers do? You know, we all know so much so often that God uses the imagery of a father. Jesus called God the father, his father. And so that's usually what we're using. Then why does God call himself a mother? You know, if the old adage is true, if it walks like a duck, if it talks like a duck,
then how has God walked and talked as we know mothers to do? Well, God tells himself in a few passages, and I just wanted to read a few more for us during our time here. The first being from the Old Testament prophet Hosea. God says this. And you tell me if this sounds like, you know, if you're a mother, if this sounds familiar. Hosea says, So speaking of God's people.
And so now I'll first ask the mothers in the crowd, how many of you have, I think I know the answer to this, have a child that you love, have a child that you taught to walk, have a child that you led by the hand, have a child that you've shown love and kindness to? How many children have you lifted their burden? Have you fed them by hand? And yet, for some reason, as verse 3 says, they really didn't seem to care. They really didn't seem to acknowledge it.
They really didn't appreciate it, perhaps, as you felt you should have been appreciated. If you've ever been the mother of a junior high boy, I'm sure you know exactly what that is like. I was there. I'm probably still there to some extent with my mother, but, Especially junior high kids. I don't know what it is. Sorry for any junior high kids out here But that's just how it is, but that was me at that age, You know all of us have had a point in our lives where we've looked to our mother And we did not appreciate them for what they were doing for us.
I remember giving my mom the cold shoulder every time she even wanted to hug me as a junior high kid. And to think what that was like and to that God says I, Know what that's like, That's what my people have done to me. That's what my children have done to me. I promised my children blessing You know what God did with Israel We're all familiar with it promised them blessing took them out of Egypt split the Red Sea gave them the manna from above the water from the desert the.
Quail from the sky did all of these things through a desert if you will and, The more he called to them the further, away they went. The more he took care of them, God says, the less they even cared about me. And if you're a mother receiving that, you know that's heartbreaking. You know that's crushing. You know that even despite the rejection, despite the pain of that, you still love that child, which is often the hardest part of it all, because you might not.
even understand why, despite the rejection, you still care for them. Whether it's the cold shoulder of a teenager, or maybe the complete rejection of an adult child, you still love them. Mothers still love them. You care for them. You want what's best for them. You do anything to restore and keep the relationship. And to that, once again, God says, I know exactly how you feel. God says, I am a mother in the fact that I have loved my children. I have cared for my children.
I took them in my arms. I taught them to walk. gave them everything they needed, and even after all of that, even when they rejected my love and care, even when Deuteronomy 32.18 says they neglected the rock who begot them, and they rejected the God who has given them birth, God says, I still love them. And mothers, does that not resonate? Does that not sink in? Jesus said something like this in the New Testament. He said in Matthew 23, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, speaking of the same people, God's people,
the city that kills the prophets and stones God's own messengers, how often I have wanted to gather your children together, as a hen protects her chicks underneath my wings. Jesus said, I wanted to bring you in as a mother hen does, and yet you wouldn't let me, it says at the end of verse 37. So Jesus, even being the Son of God, speaks of God's heart, and says, all I ever wanted to do for my... children is be a loving mother to them. And yet you wouldn't let me. And yet you wouldn't receive.
my love. And in saying that, Jesus is saying, this is how strong a mother's love is. This is how strong motherhood is. It's the love of a mother that though being rejected, still loves the child. And again, I call upon the mothers to think of how that would make us feel. How that rejection would make us feel. Think of how that would stick in our hearts. And as to that, God says,
if that is the true measure of love that God has, then that is the love I have for my people. And I have a suspicion that, you know, even as a preacher of God's word, I'll never be able to truly grasp how much a, mother can love her child. I don't have that opportunity. I don't have that availability. I don't have that privilege, I would call it. I cannot physically, mentally, or emotionally comprehend the relationship a mother shares with her son, a mother shares with her daughter. I just, I will.
never be able to experience that. But for those of you that are mothers, you can. For those of you that have been in that relationship, you can. And you know exactly what God is saying here when he talks about motherhood. The low lows and the high highs of motherhood. And because of that privilege, I am envious of that. I am jealous of that. I think the reality of the situation is we just, if we can understand how much mothers love their children as we do, then we can understand.
just how much God loves us. Because none of us would doubt how much a mother loves her child. So then surely we should never doubt just how much God loves us. And so with that kind of privilege in mind of knowing God's love for us, we must then understand that with that privilege comes a responsibility. With such a great lofty view of God's love, there then comes a responsibility with it, and it is this. It's a responsibility born from the connection that motherhood shares with the almighty God of the universe.
God has already said, here is the connection I share with mothers, and so here is how I would want you to respond. And I just want to give us two very simple things to close out our look at God's word this morning. Two very simple applications, two very simple Mother's Day truths we can all apply to ourselves. Number one is this. If God is a mother to his children, and in 2 Peter 3.9 God says this about salvation. Let me tie the connection here.
He says, The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, the Lord is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to Him in repentance for salvation. And so the connection there is that if God is a loving mother to His children, and His first desire for His children is not for them to perish, but for them to repent and receive salvation, then a mother's calling for her kids should first and foremost be what? A desire to see repentance and a desire to see salvation in their lives.
Jesus illustrated this desire in Luke 5.32. Jesus said there's one reason for which He came to earth, and what was it? Not to serve, or not to be served, but to serve and to give His life for others. And so if Jesus was concerned with the salvation of others, if Jesus with the heart of a mother's concern was for the salvation of His children, then a mother's concern... ...for her own children should therefore be... the salvation of their children. God demonstrated, Jesus demonstrated it,
and so it should be true of us as well. Proverbs 22.6 says, Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it. There's probably going to be a span in the middle there that isn't quite as savory or as nice as we'd like it to be, but it says, When they are older, they will not leave it. So, as mothers, one thing I commend you to do, to preach Christ to our children. Give them the word of God from a young age, and they will not stray from it. Second point, last thing I'll close on here.
Just as a mother's desire is for her child's spiritual growth, her desire should also be for their physical growth. And what I'm speaking of there is their nurturing. And this comes back to what I read for us from Hosea before. God said he took his children in his arms, taught them to walk, fed them, did all these things. And so as mothers, that's what, that's what I commend to you. your children, care for your children, love your children. If our kids can see God and how we love them, then that will be a God that they desire to keep in.
their life. Because isn't that what we always want? You know, at the end of the day, that's what we want for our kids is that they would know our Lord, that they would know Christ, that they would know life in Him. And so I would say to close then that it's through our mothers that our children most clearly see the love of God. So then how are we as mothers, we as parents, we as all the above, being, God's love to them? And so with that, let me say a word of prayer and we'll go back into worship. Lord, we thank you for this morning. There's always so much we.
can say from your Word, God. There's so much truth to expound upon, but the reality is, God, is that your love for us is like the love of a mother. You love us, unconditionally. You love us unwaveringly. Even when we are, Knock down, drag out, hard-nosed against you, Lord, you still love us. And that is the love of a mother. And so, Lord, let that be true of the mothers here. Lord, I pray for the mothers here that you would help them in how they raise their kids.
I pray for the mothers here that you would help them in how they nurture their kids and how they provide for them, teach them to walk, lead them, care for them, nurture them, all the above. Because, Lord, it's in doing that that they are an image of God to their children. It's in loving their children well and preaching salvation and faith to them, that we are most like our Savior, Jesus Christ. And isn't that what we all want to be? And so, Lord, we thank you for this time. We thank you for providing this beautiful day for us.
And we just pray all of these things in your wonderful name. Amen.
