Mother's Day

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I know it’s Mother’s Day and all but I’m thinking about dads right now for just a moment and a particular dad. I’ve often wondered what goes through the mind of the father of a professional athlete. And I’m talking about a particular moment in time, I wonder what goes through their mind but I’ll get to that in just a moment. You see, I think about a dad who, all of a sudden, has a son or a daughter that grows up and makes it to the pros. For the sake of our illustration, let’s say he has a son who grows up and he makes it into the NFL. Now if you backtrack that, you have to think that a lot of time and effort went into his son to make it to that point. From the youngest of age, he probably had him in the back yard practicing with him, running plays. He probably made sacrifices to make sure he was on the right teams and he went to the right camps. Spent lots and lots of money to make sure he had the right equipment and the right shoes. More than likely, he was there at every high school game, video taping it and then after every high school game, watching it play by play, analyzing it with his boy, making sure he goes to the right college that would give him the best in to the NFL. He was more than likely in the audience at the draft as he made it to the big time.

Now this is the moment that I’m getting to. I wonder what goes through his head as he’s sitting in his easy chair and he’s watching the big game and there, on national TV, he sees his son making a spectacular play. The crowd erupts. Now the whole nation knows what a great player he is and all the time and all the effort and as this 250-pound lug comes trotting off the field and the camera goes right into his face and he looks right at the camera and this is the moment I wonder what the dad is thinking as he goes, “Hi, Mom.”

Moms. They just have a special place in our hearts. Dads are great but we’ll get to them in June. Today is mom’s day. Moms just have a special way about them. When you were hurt, you skinned your knee, you fell off your bike, who did you run to? You didn’t run to Dad. Dad would say, “Shake it off. You’re okay, boy.” No, you go to Mom because Mom would pick you up and she would hold you and she would bandage you up and send you on your way. Moms just have an instinctive way of knowing what to say and when to say it. When you need a word of encouragement and when you need a shove out the door. Moms are just a special gift from God. And so as a country, we’ve set aside a day. It’s not on the church calendar. It’s on our calendar as a nation, to celebrate mothers and for us to give thanks to God for moms and the gift they are to us.

This morning, though, I would suggest there are two things about a mom that really stand out head and shoulders above the rest. Two things that if your mom is still here on earth, you want to make a point to thank her for these two things. You want to thank God that mothers have these two qualities about them. And for those of you who are moms, know that this is the greatest privilege that God gives you.

The first thing is this: Moms are living examples of God’s love. Just by who they are and what they do, especially Christian moms, are living examples of God’s love. Let’s look at Timothy and his mom and his grandmother. St. Paul writes, “I’ve been reminded of your sincere faith which first lived in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother, Eunice, and I’m persuaded now lives in you as well.” Paul evidently is very familiar with this family. He not only knows Timothy who was a young pastor, a protégée of Paul but he knows his mom and his grandmother and he says just by observing Lois and Eunice and seeing their faith, “I also see that faith in you.” Just by the sheer example of these two godly women, you could see the faith that they had in their God. Acts 16 tells us that actually Eunice was married to a Greek man so Timothy’s dad is a Greek father but he has a Jewish mother. Pretty unusual for that time but that was the situation. So he has really a dad who’s an unbeliever but yet he has a mom and a grandmother who are believers in God, first of all the old covenant believing in God’s promises and His promise of a Messiah and a deliverer but now they have been convinced that Jesus is the Messiah and now they are believers in Jesus as their Savior and they have passed that faith down to their son and, just by who they are, without saying a word, they have spoken volumes to Timothy. Moms are living examples of God’s love. Now think about this with me for just a moment. Just being who they are and by nature the things that moms do and the kind of love they exhibit to their children really gives us a glimpse of the kind of love God has for us.

You see, I don’t know about you but I have a hard time comprehending the magnitude and the amazing-ness of God’s love for us. As scripture describes His love for us, it’s really hard to get a handle on it but yet He gives us the gift of moms and moms, just by who they are and what they do, give us a glimpse, a sliver, a light of the kind of love God has for us.

Let me demonstrate that by three attributes of a mom. The first one is this: Moms love unconditionally. It’s true. Moms will love their children unconditionally. It does not matter what a son or a daughter does, a mother will always love them. It doesn’t matter how far off the beaten path they may stray, it doesn’t matter what they say or what they do, moms will always love their sons and daughters. They may not agree with them, they may not like what they’re doing, in fact, they may be pretty vocal to their children saying they’re going in the wrong way and they’d like to bring them back to the straight and narrow but the fact is moms will always love their sons and daughters. And sons and daughters, you need to know that. No matter what you may have done in life, no matter what you may have said, I can guarantee you, you can always come back to Mom because moms love unconditionally.

The second attribute about moms. Moms are never too tired and they’re never too sick to care for their family. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter how late they’ve been up at night. It doesn’t matter how sick they’ve been, they are never too sick, they are never too tired to care for their family. I have a living example in my own home. For the last four to five weeks, my wife has been suffering from a severe sinus infection. I’m not talking of the light variety. She’s been to the family doctor three times. She’s been to a specialist two times. She’s been on two different antibiotics plus a nasal spray, a CT scan and the list goes on and on and on. This lady has been sick. Every morning, though, she gets up. She gets the kids breakfast. She takes them off to school. Every afternoon, she picks them up. She makes sure the family has dinner no matter how sick she is, no matter how tired she is, she takes care of the family. Me, I get a headache, I’m on the couch, “Honey, can you get me some Tylenol.” Come on, men, that’s how we are. Moms somehow have this extra source of energy, this extra motivation, they’re never too tired, they’re never too sick to take care of the family.

Third and final one. Moms will protect their children at all costs. Moms would rather suffer pain than to see their children suffer pain. You will see a mom from ten feet away dive to make sure the toddler is out of the way of the falling liquid that they’re pulling down on top of themselves. She would rather get scalded by the water than to see the child hurt by the water. Moms will do most anything to protect their children. They would rather feel the pain than to have their child feel the pain. That’s just what moms do. And there is a whole host of other things but you tell me. Is that not an example, a living example, of God’s love for us?

God says He loves us unconditionally. God’s word reminds us again and again and again, no matter how far we may stray from the beaten path, no matter what we may do, no matter how heinous the crime is, God says that He will always love us. He may not agree with us and in His Word, He may have some pretty stern words for us and He may want to bring us back to the straight and narrow but the fact of the matter is no matter what you have done in your life, no matter what you may do in your life, you can be assured of this, God will always, always love you. His love is unconditional. God is never too tired to listen to you. His Word says, “Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.” He is always there for you. Jesus said, “Ask, seek not, I’m here for you.” No matter what time of day, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, God is there for you. He’s never too tired. He’s never too sick. And God would rather suffer the pain Himself than to see any of you suffer that pain. Remember, God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son. God would rather take on human flesh and bone and be nailed to a cross and take the sinfulness of mankind, literally go through hell Himself so you and I wouldn’t have to. God would rather suffer the pain of sin than to see any of you suffer the pain of your own sin.

God has given us a glimmer, a living example of His love in our moms. You need to thank them for that today and you need to thank God for giving that example to us, that we could see that demonstrated in our own lives. And moms, you need to know what a privilege that is that you have, to show that kind of love to your children. And then I might even challenge you, if just by being who you are, you can have such an impact on your kids. Could you imagine if you were just a little bit intentional about that? Can you imagine the power when your son or daughter catches you praying or when they see you reading your bible? Or when one night you explain to them that you won’t be home with them tonight because you’re going to bible study because that’s a priority in your life. Just by living your lives, without saying a word, you can speak volumes to your kids. You can pass the faith down to them.

And that leads us to the second thing we can thank moms for and we can thank God for. It’s close to the first one. Moms teach the faith to their kids. In a very intentional way, they teach the scriptures and they teach the faith and they pass it down to their children. Case in point with Timothy. Now we know Timothy has a Greek dad so his dad isn’t going to pass the faith down to him. Traditionally, especially at this time, it was the role of the father to be the spiritual head and to pass the faith down to the children. It wasn’t so with Timothy. So St. Paul writes, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of because you know those from whom you learned it.” Yeah, Mom and Grandma, that’s who we learned it from. And how from infancy you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. How from infancy on, Lois and Eunice have been teaching Timothy the scriptures. From the youngest of age, he’s been exposed to God’s Word so the faith God created in His heart grows and matures throughout the year until we find him now as a pastor of his own church and a protégée of St. Paul himself. But it began with his mom and his grandmother instilling in him God’s Word and God’s love in his life. Moms teach children the faith.

I know God calls upon dads and fathers to be the spiritual head of their home but it is a shared responsibility between Mom and Dad. And let’s face it, at least in our society, usually it’s Mom who takes the lead. Think about it from your own life, who is the one who made sure you knew your catechism? Who’s the one who made sure you went to Sunday School and who’s the one who nudged you during church to keep you awake during the sermon? I’m guessing 90% of us would have to say Mom, she’s the one who did it. It’s a shared responsibility between Mom and Dad but moms seem to take that lead. They seem to take that role to make sure their children know God’s Word and they experience God’s love so the faith that was given to them at their baptism continues to grow and mature and become stronger so they can stand on their own one day. You need to thank your mom today, thank her that she got on your case to learn your memory work, thank her that she made you go to Sunday School, thank her that she nudged during the sermon so you could pay attention to God’s Word because she was passing on the faith to you.

And moms, what a great service you’ve done for us. And those of you who still have younger children, what a great privilege you have. Make sure that child, that faith continues to grow and mature as you feed to it God’s Word so they can grow strong in their relationship with Jesus because that’s two of the things moms do. They stand out head and shoulders above the rest because they’re living examples of God’s love and they pass down the faith.

Now normally, I’d wrap things up right here but there’s an addendum to my message so just forgive me for this. But as I was writing it, there are two things that struck me that could be going through some of your minds right now so there’s a third point about moms I want you to know. Moms are forgiven and loved by God. The reason I say that is because I’m fearful there could be a mom out there right now who is feeling guilty, who is saying to herself, “You know what, I was not a good example to my sons and daughters. I didn’t live up to this expectation, this picture that you just painted. That just simply wasn’t me.” Or maybe there’s a mom out there whose son or daughter has really strayed from the beaten path and is really leading a life that isn’t very pleasing to God and all of a sudden, all you’re doing is trying to blame yourself and thinking about all your mistakes. Would you just fall on the grace of God and know, this side of heaven, there are no perfect moms nor perfect dads. By God’s grace, we do the best we can to pass on the faith to our children to rely upon the grace of God and know He loves you and know He forgives you.

The second thing that crossed my mind this week is some right now could be feeling cheated, cheated in the fact that, you know what, your mom didn’t show unconditional love. It’s sad to think but it’s a reality in our world. Not all moms do that. Not all moms have that compassion. Not all moms are the great example of God’s love in our lives and I would encourage you to fall on the grace of God and I would ask you, “But has God put another godly woman in your life? Has He put someone else in your life who was that example of God’s love?” You see, as the years go by, I become more and more convinced being a mom is more about having a gift from God than it is about biology. It’s more than just blood. Moms come in all different kinds of relationships. So is there a godly woman in your life who demonstrated God’s unconditional love through their life? Is there a woman in your life who helped pass on the faith to you? Call her today, thank her today and thank God for her today because that’s what we’re focused on.

Today we’re focused on godly women, godly women who just by their life and who they are and by their nature are living examples of God’s love. They give us a glimpse of His love for us. Godly women who take the time and the effort to pass down the faith to others, to share the scriptures and to share the gospel and to instill that faith in others. And we want to thank them today or if they’re in heaven like my mom, we want to remember them and we want to thank God for them and the gift they were in our lives. And for those of you who are dads, if you have a son or grandson who grows up and makes it to the NFL, just deal with the fact when they hit the camera, they’re going to say, “Hi, Mom.” Amen.

Copyright 2008 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church