Church Sermon - May 12, 2002

A MOTHER’S LOVE

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Old Testament Lesson; Acts 1:(1-7) 8-14
Gospel Lesson; I Peter 4:12-17; 5:6-11
Sermon Text; 2 Timothy 2:5 and 3:14-15

In the year 1908, through the very hard work and efforts a woman by the name of Anna Jarvis, our country declared the second Sunday in May to be a Sunday when we, as a nation, honor our mothers. And certainly it is fitting that each one of us should honor the lady who bore us in her body for nine months. It is fitting that we should honor the lady, who in great pain, gave birth to us. It is fitting that we should honor the woman who spent countless hours and sleepless nights taking care of us. It is certainly fitting that we should honor the woman who cooked countless meals for us, who washed countless numbers of clothes for us, and who mended countless socks for us. It is certainly fitting and proper that we should honor the one who sacrificed more for us, than we can ever possibly imagine. And, it is certainly fitting that we should honor the lady who gave up her own needs so that our needs could be met! It is certainly fitting and proper that we as a nation should honor that lady who wept for us, prayed for us and gave her life in service for us.

In fact, if there is anyone who should truly honor their mothers, it is those in the Christian church. After all, it is God who instituted that estate of motherhood. And, it is God who tells His people to honor your father and your mother. And, so Christians, above all should honor the estate of motherhood and should honor those who hold that glorious office of being a mother.

In fact, we see how highly God, Himself, honored the estate of motherhood, when God, Himself, took an earthly mother to himself. It was Mary who bore our savior in her body. It was Mary who gave birth to our blessed savior, in pain. It was Mary who spent countless hours, comforting and caring for our Savior, Jesus. It was Mary who spent many hours in prayer and sacrificed great things for our Savior, Jesus. The scripture tells us it was Mary and Joseph to whom Jesus was obedient. Jesus honored his mother. Even while on the cross, Jesus saw to it that Mary was cared for after his death. Certainly even our savior honors the estate of motherhood and the person who holds that office of mother. And, we ought to do the same.

How then is motherhood honored? It is honored in three ways. First of all it is honored when those who hold the office do it in a God pleasing way. Secondly, it is honored when children honor those who are their mothers. And lastly, it is honored when fathers view their wives, the mothers of their children, in the proper way.

Motherhood is honored when those who hold that great office of being a mother live the way that God had intended them to live. But, what is it that God expects of mothers? Certainly there is a great deal expected of mothers. But I think the simplest and yet most profound statement I have ever seen on motherhood, I happened to see in a cemetery. One day we were driving through the countryside and saw an old cemetery, so we stopped to look at the old grave markers. There inside was a little grave marker that had been white at one time, but over the years had turned gray and was covered with moss. Walking up to that grave marker, we couldn’t help but notice the only thing on it was a simple, carved hand, and a single word below. The carved hand on that gravestone was pointing up to Heaven. Underneath that carved hand there wasn’t a name or a date. It simply said, "Mother."

What a profound statement on motherhood! It is ultimately the duty of Mother to point the way to Heaven for her children. That is the highest call of being a mother.

It takes women of great beauty to do that. But, what does it take to be a woman of great beauty? Well, scripture tells us in I Peter 3, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold and jewelry and fine clothes. Instead it should that of your inner self. The unfading beauty of a quiet and gentle spirit which is of great worth in God’s sight."

In God’s eyes, a beautiful woman is a woman who has a quiet and gentle spirit. A beautiful woman is someone whose spirit has been quieted by the forgiveness of sins through her savior, who died for her. A beautiful woman is someone who has a gentle spirit. A beautiful woman is someone who goes out, gently living and serving her savior, the way her savior served her. That is a beautiful woman in God’s eyes.

And, how beautiful the woman is who gently holds that little baby, for the very first time; that little baby who God placed in her hands. And, as she looks at that little child, she knows it is not her child. This child is God’s child. And, there will come a day when God will demand an accounting of her. He will ask of her, "Where is MY child?"

How beautiful is the woman who sees to it that the little soul; that eternal, little soul is cared for. How beautiful is the woman who takes that little child to the waters of Holy Baptism and there sees to it the Holy Spirit, by grace, enters into her little child. Through Baptism, that little child is brought to a saving faith in Christ, our savior. In God’s eyes what a beautiful mother and woman she is!

What a beautiful woman she is, in God’s eyes, when that mother, seeing that little Christian realizes that her child has a great enemy. That enemy, Satan, is going to try to take that faith away from her child. And, from the very first days, (from infancy, as scripture tells us) that mother sees to it that her little child is fed with the Word of God. She sings to her little child, those beautiful songs, such as: Jesus Loves Me, This I Know and I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb. She reads Bible stories to her child. She tells her child about Jesus, so that the little one, in those most formative years comes to know, be built up and trust in Jesus as its savior.

How beautiful, in God’s eyes, is the woman who knows that when that child reaches school age, it won’t be long before her child will be grown up and off on its own. That mother knows that it won’t be long now and her child will be facing a dangerous world with many temptations, many troubles, sorrows and trials. She understands how critical it is for her little one to know as much about God’s Word and to be built up in the saving message of Christ our Savior, now while her child is young. And, so she sees to it, even through sacrifice, that the church is able to aid her. She brings that little one to Sunday School and Christian Day School, so that her little child can learn everything it possibly can about God. She wants her child to know how God deals with His people, loves His people, gives promises to His people, as well as commands to His people. And, through that knowledge, that little one is built up in its faith. How beautiful that woman is, in God’s Eyes!

What a beautiful woman she is when that child becomes a teenager. And, even though that child, like a lamb with a lot of energy that is ready to jump out of the sheepfold, that mother still has a loving, gentle, expectation that her child will be in submission to her and in submission to the Word of God. She sees to it, in her home, that God is put first and His Word comes first. She sees to it that the child continues to come to church and hear the Word of God and be built up in faith in our savior. Through many tears she speaks to that child, as it is going down a dangerous path. She kneels in prayer to God, many nights, praying for the soul of her child. She sees to it, with all of her might that her child is kept safe in the faith. What a beautiful woman she is in God’s eyes!

What a beautiful woman she is, when her child ultimately grows up and enters adulthood. Like Monica, the mother of Augustine, she continually keeps her child in her prayers. Augustine who lived many, many centuries ago, had been brought up in the faith, just like Timothy whose mother had passed down the faith to him. Unfortunately, Augustine had fallen away from his faith. For 20 years his mother, Monica, told him that she was praying for him day, after day, after day. And, she believed that he would come back to his faith. But he thought it was silly, until the day that he did come back to faith. He then became one of the most profound Christian writers of all time. Augustine once said, "I am thy child, oh God, because thou gave me such a mother." What a beautiful woman that is, who continues to keep her child in her prayers, long after that child has left home. It has been said there may be more people in Heaven because of Mom, than anything else! Just as that hymn says,

If you cannot speak like angels,

If you cannot preach like Paul,

You can tell the love of Jesus

You can say He died for all.

If you cannot rouse the wicked

With the Judgment’s dread alarms,

You can lead the little children

To the Savior’s waiting arms. (LW #318)

We honor motherhood when we have mothers who seek to be that kind of mother!

Secondly, motherhood is honored when children honor their mothers. Here, Paul talks to Timothy about how his faith was handed down from his mother, "As for you continue in what you have learned and become convinced of because you know those from whom you learned it. And, from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord."

If God told your mother, your Christian mother, "You have a choice. You can have your child grow up and become wealthy and wise. Your child can have everything go well in its life, become popular, well known and then famous, but not be a Christian. Or, you can have your child grow up, going through troubles, trials and difficulties, sorrows, sadness and pain in this life, but your child remain a Christian all of it’s life." Boys and girls, do you know what your Christian mother would chose? Your Christian mother knows the Bible passage, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and yet loses his own soul?" Your Christian mother would rather have you remain in the faith all of your life, than have wonderful things happen to you in this life, but lose your faith. Her goal, as a mother, is to see to it that you are saved eternally. She wants you and her to spend eternity together in Heaven!

We honor our Christian mothers when they lay before us that great heritage of the Christian faith and by the help of the Holy Spirit we pick it up. We honor our Christian mothers when we make it our own heritage by faith and build ourselves up in that most holy faith through the Word of God. How we honor our Christian mothers, when, as Luther says, "We do not provoke them to anger, but rather honor, serve, obey, love and esteem them."

To the fathers, how do we honor that state of motherhood? When you look at today’s scripture reading you will notice that there is one thing that is noticeably missing. It says, to Timothy, "I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also." What’s missing? Dad is missing. Dad’s faith is missing. Something tragic had happened to Timothy’s dad. Either he had died or he had left the family and was not an influence on Timothy anymore, or he was not a Christian.

Sometimes I think it is the tendency of dads to leave the spiritual upbringing to mom. They have changed the words of that hymn, which says,

To this,

Take my wife

And let her be

Consecrated, Lord to thee.

But shouldn’t it be also for a father,

Isn’t it the duty of a Christian father to see to it, in loving leadership, that he also points the way to Heaven? He needs to be there to help his wife, working as a team, pointing their children to Heaven. He needs to honor his wife, who sees that as her privilege, her duty, her job and her goal. Certainly motherhood is honored, when we treat it that way.

Bottom line, if every one of us looks at our own lives, we have not lived the way we ought. We have sinned.

If we are the mothers, we have not been the kind of mother God wants us to be. We have not prayed for our children the way we ought. We have not used God’s Word the way we ought. We have not set the example the way we ought. We have not treated our children the way we ought. We have sinned.

As a child, we have to admit that we have not honored our mothers, as we ought. We have not respected her the way we ought. We have not honored her, obeyed her, esteemed her, and loved her the way we ought. That is a sin. We have sinned.

If we are the fathers, we have to admit that we have not been the kind of father we should be. We have not prayed for our child the way we ought. We have not used God’s Word the way we ought. We have not set the example the way we ought. We have not treated our children the way we ought. We have not honored our wife the way we ought. We have sinned.

You know that scripture tells us that is a very serious sin. Parents, scripture says, "Whoever causes one of these little ones to sin, it would be better if a milestone were tied around his neck and he were tossed into the depths of the sea." That is serious in God’s eyes.

It is serious when children don’t obey and honor their parents. In Proverbs it says God despises the disobedient child.

That causes our hearts to be disquieted. What should we do? What should we do, when we realize that we have sinned against God’s state of motherhood? We need to turn to the Bible. There is a beautiful passage in scripture, which I will get to in just a moment.

For any of you who are troubled over your sin, I want you to remember when you were a little child and you were troubled over something, you were disquieted in your heart. Remember when that big dog was chasing you and you were frightened? Do you remember when you were teased at school, and you were disquieted in your heart? Do you remember when a problem was going on in your life and you were in great distress?

Where did you go? You ran to Mom. You sat down on Mom’s lap. Mom took you in her arms, wrapped her arms around you, put her cheek against your cheek and she comforted you, she calmed you, she quieted you. You then felt safe. You then knew that even though no one in his whole world likes me, my mom loves me and everything is going to be ok.

To anyone who is troubled over sin, listen to what God says in Isaiah 66, "As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you, and you will be comforted." Listen to what God says in Psalm 131, "I have calmed and quieted my heart like a mother calms her child on her lap, like a mother calms her child, my heart is quieted within me."

When our sin bothers us, when Satan rages against us, when death troubles us, when Hell frightens us, scripture invites us to run to God, just like we run to our mothers. God puts His loving arms around us. He calms and quiets our troubled souls. He puts His cheek against ours and speaks nothing to us but words of comfort. He tells us, "I have sacrificed all for you. I have given my life on the cross for you. Your sins are forgiven. I will never ever see those sins. I will not hold them against you. You are saved. I have defeated Satan. You are safe in my hands. I have defeated death and I have defeated Hell and you are safe in my hands."

Our souls are quieted. They are comforted and they are calm. We can then go forward knowing that our savior loves us and is with us, calming us and forgiving us. We can then commit ourselves to being the kind of mothers He wants us to be, for Jesus’ sake. We can commit ourselves to being the kind of children He wants us to be, for Jesus’ sake. We can commit to being the kind of fathers He wants us to be, for Jesus’ sake.

Amen.

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