On Mother 101.docx

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On Mothers Day, many children will try to do something special for their moms like give them a

personal letter to express their love.

Angie, 8 years old, wrote: "Dear Mother, Im going to make dinner for you on Mothers Day. Its going to

be a surprise. P.S. I hope you like pizza and popcorn."

Robert card said: "I got you a turtle for Mothers Day. I hope you like the turtle better than the snake I

got you last year."

Eileen said: "Dear Mother, I wish Mothers Day wasnt always on Sunday. It would be better if it were on

Monday so we wouldnt have to go to school."

Little Diane wrote: "I hope you like the flowers I got you for Mothers Day. I picked them myself when

Mr. Smith wasnt looking."

And then theres this one from Carol: "Dear Mother, here are two aspirins. Have a happy Mothers Day!"

APPLY: Each of these children appreciated their mother. You can tell from their letters that they loved

their mothers. And while their gifts werent exactly perfect, they were trying, in their childlike wayto

show their mother how much they loved her.

Here in Proverbs 31, we have a King who trying to do the same thing.

Oftentimes, when someone preaches on Proverbs 31 theyll skip over the first few verses.

Theyll read Proverbs 31:10 A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies

in the belief that this is where this section of Proverbs begins.

But it isnt.

This famous section of Proverbs (that tells us about Godly mothers) actually starts with King Lemuel

repeating an oracle (literally a burden) his mother had for him

* He was reciting the advice that she gave him when he was younger.

* He was repeating the things she felt he needed to know to be a good boy.

It was her burden for him. She cared about how he lived his life.

In those first few verses, the king says his mother told him to

Be careful who he dates/marries. Dont hang out with questionable women. (vs. 3)

Not to drink alcoholic beverages it will cloud his judgment (vs. 4,5)

AND (because he was King) tobe sure to stand up for those who couldnt stand up for themselves. As

King he stood between evil and good for the sake of his people (vs. 8,9)


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Now, she might have told him a few other things as he grew up, like

stand up straight

brush your teeth

eat your vegetables

clean your room

BUT those didnt make the cut. Its these pieces of advice that stuck with him as most important

throughout his life.

Then King Lemuel goes on to describe what a noble/virtuous woman looks like, and as you can probably

imagine hes talking about his mamma.

Now, as most of you know, my mother just passed away a week and a half ago. Proverbs 31 was the text

that the preacher used for his funeral message, and he used this passage because my mamma was a

Godly/virtuous woman.

As I was preparing this message this morning, I got to thinkingif King Lemuel felt it was appropriate to

praise his mother in his message, I could do the same for mine. So, if you dont mind Im going to use

my mom for foundation for much of sermon.

(Of course, it doesn& #8217;t matter whether you mind or not, cause Im going to do it anyway).

It seems fitting that I would honor her by using her life as the basis of what youll hear today.

My mom had three great loves in her life

Her God

Her husband

And her children

IN THAT ORDER

Nothing else mattered to her nearly as much as those 3 things.

Someone once said - that people become what they train themselves to become as they grow up. And

ever since she was a little girl, my mother trained herself to be a godly woman. She seemed to build her

entire life around God.

Shed give chalk talks where shed teach while drawing picture on an easel

She would sing specials for church and sing in church choirs. In fact, I remember as I grew upthat


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she had the whole family up in the choir loftwe made up almost half the choir.

And she played piano for church worship

ILLUS: She recalled that when her church initially approached her to play hymns for worship she was

hesitant, because she really didnt know that many hymns at the time. But the preacher gently told her

theyd start with the ones she knew and go from there.

Even a few days before her death she was still playing those hymns on the piano at my brothers home.

My point is thismom was sold out for God.

Every Sunday of her life that she could do so shed get up and go to church.

She was faithful to her God, and I believe that God rewarded her for her faithfulness.

She even met my daddy at church.

It was at a youth group function called Christian Endeavor. It was held in one of those old church

buildings where the youth met in the basement and off in one room was a huge furnace. Mom says that

got her off by herself and kissed her right there behind the furnace in the basement.

Now dad wasnt much of a church goer

He was a mans man - strong, self-assured, a natural athlete (basketball and baseball)

In fact, he was such a good athlete that he was offered a sports scholarship to a major university of that

day, but he turned it down feeling that he needed to stay on the farm and help his folks with the crops.But my point isdad never felt much of a need for God. He was pretty much self contained - a force

unto himself

Hed gone to the youth group that night because hed been invited by a friend, and hed kissed mom on

a lark (he wasnt real serious at the time), Dad was a popular handsome man that the girls kind of

gravitated towards, and his girlfriend at the time was one of the local beauties.

But when dad found that girl sitting on another mans lap/ kissing him, Dad walked away from her for

good and decided hed take another look at this girl hed kissed down behind the furnace in the churchbuilding.

There was something about moms godliness that appealed to him. This was a woman he could trust not

to go kissing on another man.

And sodad married mom (which was one of the reasons I was born)


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Proverbs 31:30 says: Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to

be praised.

And mom was a woman who feared God. She was a Godly girl, and dad was drawn to her because she

was Godly - he still wasnt all that sold out for God. In fact, she was faithful to God that Dad got a

little jealous. It got to the point where Dad even tried to talk her out of going to church so much.

Mom told of the time Dad tried shaming her into not going.

He asked her Would you really be comfortable in heaven if I were in hell?

Mom thought for a moment on that and replied: Would you really be happy in hell if I were

there with you?

Jesus said Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone

who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me Matthew 10:37

Now that doesnt mean we shouldnt love our families. What it does mean is that God honors us

when we place our affection for Him above all else.

And God did that for my mother.

Over time, moms gentle and quiet love for God began to wear at Dads defenses, and one day -

when they were at church - the invitation was given and dad surprised mom by suddenly getting

up from his seat and walking down front.

On their way home from church the Holy Spirit had exerted such an influence on him that dad

pulled over to the side of the road and began to weep. And from that day forward, mom says he

never used a curse word again.

He later became a Sunday School Superintendant and even an Elder in the church.

King Lemuel says that a virtuous woman is successful if Her husband is respected at the city

gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. Proverbs 31:23

Thats her objective: that her man is respected and highly regarded, and a virtuous woman does

everything she can to accomplish that goal.

And in that, God honored my mother.

And God honored her even more when Dad died and assured her (in a very special way) of

where dad was going.


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(pause)

Proverbs 31 also tells us that a Virtuous woman speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction

is on her tongue. Proverbs 31:26

This is a woman who teaches her children about God.

Shes a woman whos NOT satisfied if her son/daughter are just good at math/science.

Shes NOT satisfied if her children are ONLY successful in the business world.

Because until her children understand the value of Gods Will/ and His Word - she knows that

their success in this world will be empty.

Jesus said: what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Mark 8:36

ILLUS: Every night before bed, mom read Bible Stories to me. She read them over and over

again. In fact, I remember one night when I was about 10, she was reading one story where the

name of the Bible character was difficult to pronounce and she stumbled over it.

Without even thinking about it, in my childlike mind I wanted to help her and pronounced it for

her. You could tell it shocked mom, but shed been so faithful in telling that story that I knew

that persons name almost as well as I knew my own.

Moms faith in God has always been a touchstone for me.

And Ive always valued her advice because Iknew it would be built on Gods word.

ILLUS: At one church I served I was faced with a difficult decision. A group of troublesome

members had worked for a couple of years to get me fired and finally succeeded in getting the

board to get me to leave. But their methods and motivations were so corrupt that the church was on the

verge of splitting in two because of this board decision.

I didnt mind being fired as much as I hated the idea that it would split the church.

On Saturday morning, I was rocking my 2 year old son (Jonathan) and praying to God. I had a sermon for

that Sunday, but given the circumstances, it didnt seem appropriate. I asked God to help me come up

with something better when an idea for a sermon occurred to me. I was half-convinced that this idea

had come from God, but the concept for the sermon seemed so dangerous that I was afraid it would

only make matters worse.

So I told God that IF this were from HimId need the permission of my wife and my parents. Now,


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getting permission from my wife wasnt going to be hard. She was so upset with the church shed have

probably given me a loaded shotgun with instructions and given me permission to shoot whoever I

wanted.

But the odd thing was that just a short time after I finished my prayer Mom called. This was Saturday

morning we never talked on Saturday morning. Every week that Id been at the congregation, we

always talked on Sunday Night after worship.

Well mom, why are you calling? I asked

Oh, no reason, just felt like calling she replied

Well, its funny you should call and then I went on to explain what I wanted.

Let me talk to Dad for a moment, she said and I waited while they talked.

She came back on the line and said Its ok as long as you dont mention any names

That Sunday I preached one of the finest sermons Ive ever given in my entire ministry. And I was

publicly challenged by one man who accused me of having named names - but I knew I hadnt done

that because I had studiously avoided that because my mamma had told me to.

But I preached that powerful sermon because my mother listened to the promptings of God one

Saturday morning and called me just to talk.

ILLUS: Not long ago, I read about some research published in the October 2004 issue of Psychological

Science that mothers have a strong influence on whether or not their children have strong consciences.

whether they instinctively choose between right and wrong.

whether they are selfish and prone toward cheating or if they share with others and play by the rules

of life.

Now - you might get the impressionbecause Ive indulged myself this morning and used my mother as

the focus of this mothers day sermon that I believe she was perfect in every way.

Youd be right.

I do think that.

But I know too much about Scripture to really believe it.

Mothers have a significant impact on what their children regard as being important, but Godly mothers

are different from other kinds of mothers. A Godly mother realizes that - for all the strengths they can


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share with their children - they also have weaknesses that can also influence their kids.

ILLUS: Not so long ago, I read about research that told that mothers not only taught their daughters how

to be women, and one of the things that caught my attention was that these mothers also seemed to

pass along some traits that werent all that desirable. Without realizing it these mothers passed on their

prejudices and character flaws.

WHY?

Because, just like everyone else, every mother has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Thus, a

wise mother realizes she PERSONALLY can only lead her children just so far into so becoming righteous.

Sooner or later, her own shortcomings will become part of what her kids imitate.

So, if theyre wise mothers/ Godly mothers/ virtuous mothers/ they put a high priority on Gods

influence in their childrens lives.

ILLUS: Near a church in Kansas, there can be seen in a cement sidewalk the prints of two baby feet with

the toes pointing toward the Church. It was said that 20 years ago, when the sidewalk was being laid, a

mother secured permission to stand her baby boy on the wet cement. The tracks are seen today plainly.

The Mother had wanted her little boy to start aright.

CLOSE: Some of the greatest men of our nation recognized the influence of their Godly mothers:

Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying, "All that I am I owe to my angel mother." George Washington said almost exactly the same thing: All that I am I owe to my mother

General Douglas MacArthur said, "My sainted mother taught me devotion to God and a love of

country which have ever sustained me. To her I yield anew a son's reverent thanks."

Thats my testimony to you this morning. Just like King Lemuel praised his mother in Proverbs 31 I

praise mine before you this morning

And its my prayer that every mother here this morning might have the honor of having her children

arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: declaring "Many women do noble

things, but you surpass them all." Proverbs 31:28-29

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