Honoring Our Mothers
By H.C.McSwain
Was delivered
at Naborton Baptist Church
on 5/12/96, Also 5/9/99,5/14/00,05/14/06
Exodus 20:12
"Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may
be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth
thee."
The word "mother" is used over 200 times
in the Bible. It is used more in the Old than in the
New; however, this is probably because of the size
of the two.
I suppose for all of us the word
"Mother" brings many fond and wonderful memories to
our minds. (I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't have
these wonderful memories of their mother.) These
memories might consist of the wonderful care our
mothers took of us, even memories of her personally.
If you are a Christian, it is probable
the first understanding of your spiritual needs were
due to mother's concern. I well remember mom,
because of obligations to her invalid mother-in-law,
could not always attend church services like she
would have preferred. But she didn't let me lay on
my forget-me-not on Sunday morning; no, she aroused
me and insisted that I go to S.S. and church. And I
was not always cooperative. In fact, I resented it
at times, but I usually went, especially when I was
young. But I grew older and more independent minded,
I resisted more. But I am thankful He gave me enough
wisdom to listen and after I became independent of
her, I continued to go to church.
The scene today is much different than
when we were children. For example, the term "single
mother" is very common (this covers a multitude of
things); the term "working mother" and perhaps
others that are not even thought of yet. Fertility
drugs have further complicated things; surrogate
mothers, invitrio mothers, well I don't know what
else is just waiting around the corner for mothers.
But we have almost lost sight of real Scriptural
motherhood. (And in my opinion, anything that causes
confusion is detrimental.)
If you pay any attention to the news
media, you have to conclude it is trying to destroy
motherhood, as we understand the meaning of the
term. Single mothers, surrogate motherhood, single
fathers, working mothers, divorce, career mothers,
and most all things that seem to work against what
the Scriptures teach in regards to motherhood, are
greatly reported, promoted and even glamorized.
Did you hear about the young girl over
in Marshal that got lost in the forest? They finally
found her. I said to Ann, where is world was the
mother? We come to find out she was supposed to be
in charge of her grandmother. She is missing, so
Social Services took her away from the grandmother
and father.
And why do you suppose the media is so
bent on tearing down the family? Any one with even a
rudimentary understanding of the subject would have
to say the so-called nuclear family is far superior
to any of the above named aberrations of motherhood.
The only reason we can come up with is they hate
Christianity and the Bible and wish to destroy them
or at least diminish their influence. Paul described
such people as opposing them selves. And while on
the subject, do you suppose the people of the media
practice what they preach? I suspect they have
regular families.
On Nancy Grace’s show Friday night, she
had five mothers whose children have been murdered
and the murders have not been solved. The one most
familiar was that of Mrs. Beth Twitty, mother of
Natilee Holloway, who was murdered on the isle of
Aruba about a year ago.
Picture of 122 year old mother, serene.
Four Ball players on ML teams will use
pink bats on mother’s day.
Julia Ward Howe was the first person to
suggest observing mother’s day. This was in 1872. A
real campaign in favor of making this an official
day was launched in 1904. It gained national and
official recognition in May 1914.
It is estimated
there are 80.5 million mothers in the U.S. There are
about 4 million babies born each year in the U.S.
There are about 5.6 million stay at home moms. There
are an estimated 10 million single moms.
Two Waskom women, a teacher
and teacher’s aid in the school system, have been
arrested for being intimate with a student in the
school. At least one of these women is a mother.
I. First Mother
Genesis 3:20
"And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she
was the mother of all living."
The word "Eve" means life giving or
mother of all living. So her name suggests the idea
of a mother. In fact, one of the first commands was:
Genesis 1:28
"...and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue
it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and
over the fowl of the air, and over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth."
To carry out this process was not
possible without Eve becoming a mother. But who
taught Eve how to be a mother? Was it programmed
into her mind or did God personally instruct her? Or
was she a good mother? We don't have the answer to
all the above questions, but we do know her first
born, Cain, killed her second born, Abel. As to
whether she was negligent, we don't know.
While we are on the subject, what are
the principles of motherhood? It seems to me that
the primary one is a good mother must not do
anything that is detrimental to the child’s welfare.
(Unless you are the U.S. Government.)
This also presupposes or suggests the
female of the human species will by nature, want to
become a mother. I can remember the great desire
that my wife had after we get married. However, I
have to admit there are a lot of women today that
don’t seem to want to be mothers and some that do
but are not very good mothers. And, this means the
ones who don’t want to become mothers, are going
against their own nature.
Even though many women have careers, and
accomplish many things that were unheard of in
previous times, I still believe both the Bible and
experience teach that motherhood is the most
rewarding thing she can experience. But this may be
largely lost in today’s world. And I am persuaded:
II. Motherhood Is Sacred to God
In fact, motherhood was so sacred to God
and to the Jews, that He made it a law that any
child who struck his mother was to be put to death!
We have drifted a long ways from that idea.
Exodus 21:15
"And he that smiteth his father, or his mother,
shall be surely put to death."
The same penalty was commanded if the
child:
Exodus 21:17
"...curseth his father, or his mother, shall
surely be put to death."
Do you think that we still hold
motherhood in high esteem today? Some of us do. Some
of us do not. We are gravitating toward the majority
that will not give much honor to motherhood. Why? It
has to be because the powers that be are rebels and
hate God and His Word. This is contrary to all rhyme
and reason.
What is the reason for such stringent
commands and penalties by God? Respect for one's
parents and especially one's mother, is the
foundation for all of society. A child, who has
little or no respect for his or her mother, will not
have any respect for other authority figures in
society. And this lack of respect has led to some of
the terrible things we see in our society today.
Obedience is at the core of order. In
the universe, all of nature complies with God's laws
and orders; in the work place, the workers must
comply with the orders of the day; in the army, all
must obey orders, or we will not have an army; and
in the home it is the same.
We are told in Proverbs:
Proverbs 1:8
"My son forsake not the law of thy mother:"
But this is assuming the mother is a
woman of wisdom and today we see many mothers that
have nothing to offer to their children. I can throw
a rock and hit several like this that all of us
know.
King Solomon honored his mother, even to
the point of giving her a seat beside him at least
on one occasion:
1 Kings 2:19
"Bathsheba therefore went unto king Solomon, to
speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to
meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down
on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the
king's mother; and she sat on his right hand."
King Lemuel (maybe Solomon?) says he
owed much to his mother:
Proverbs 31:1
"The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his
mother taught him."
I am of the opinion, that mother is the
glue that holds the family together. I do know that
after my mother died, our family was never quite the
same. And this is part of the reason for our nation
to be so out of order.
I heard Bo Jackson, the well known
sports figure say if it had not been for his mother
constantly being on his case, he would have surely
ended up in the jail house instead of on the ball
field.
Some people seem to want the government
to become a mother to many of our children. And
there are a great host of unfit mothers but the
government is not a fit mother either. They neither
have the resources nor is that our government's
business. Primarily government is to keep the peace.
And talking about surrogate mothers,
what about Dr. Laura? She has an audience of some 18
million. Why is she so popular? She has become a
surrogate mother to all of these callers. All she
does is apply a little wisdom to their questions. I
believe any mother here could do about as well.
III. Bad Mothers
Did you see the news about the state of
Michigan now has a parental responsibility law that
basically holds the parents responsible for their
children's deeds? This couple named Provezano, was
tried under this law and convicted of negligence in
the rearing and disciplining of one of their
children. The only way the state can win is to
simply fine them heavily as putting them in jail
seems counter productive. The truth is when a mother
or father for that matter, fail to being up their
children properly, there are no easy solutions.
The main thing that convicted them was
the police had already warned them previously, and
when the kid got into more trouble, the police went
into the boy's room and found all sorts of forbidden
items. The question was how could he have all these
things out in open daylight and the mother not know
this? I can guarantee you my wife would have known
it if any of our children had done something
similar. The Scriptures seem to teach that parents
are accountable:
And what do you think of the parents of
the kids that carried out the massacre in the
Columbine School in Colorado?
Deuteronomy 21
18 "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son,
which will not obey the voice of his father, or the
voice of his mother, and [that], when they have
chastened him, will not hearken unto them: 19 Then
shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and
bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto
the gate of his place; 20 And they shall say unto
the elders of his city, This our son [is] stubborn
and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; [he is]
a glutton, and a drunkard. 21 And all the men of
his city shall stone him with stones, that he die:
so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all
Israel shall hear, and fear." (It is easy to see
what God had in mind was to set a good example for
others to warn others.)
Not all mothers are good mothers. The
mother who lets a doctor kill her baby is not a good
mother. The mother who invites her boy friend in and
lets him abuse her baby or even kill her baby is not
a good mother. A mother who neglects her children is
not a good mother. And neglect can assume many
forms: lack of food and proper clothing, lack of a
good environment, lack of a good education,
neglecting to make every effort to teach coping
skills.
I saw a mother wildebeest drop her baby.
The narrator said that new baby must walk within 30
minutes to survive. The mother kept at it trying to
make it get up as she instinctively knew its
survival depended upon it walking immediately. Many
mothers today don't seem to have the instinct of the
wildebeest as they, by neglect, allow their children
to grow up and become leeches on society. Solomon
said:
(Our cat has four kittens and is a very
good mother-just about murders every dog that might
wander too close.)
Proverbs 29:15
"The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left
[to himself] bringeth his mother to shame."
It is said of Ahaziah, king of Israel,
son of Ahab:
1 Kings 22:52
"And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and
walked in the way of his father, and in the way of
his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the
son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin:"
Many mothers today have been dubbed
“Helicopter Mothers.” They are called that because
at the first sign of trouble at school for example,
they swoop down, pick up their little “darling” and
take him or her home, so the kid gets the idea that
he will never has to be accountable for anything.
(Use illustration of the Pat Taylor [Allyson] case
we saw on A & E, Wed., May 10, 2000.)
Another son of Ahab, Jehoram, bettered
his mother:
2 Kings 3:2
"And he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD; but
not like his father, and like his mother: for
he put away the image of Baal that his father had
made."
King Ahaziah of Judah was counseled to
do wickedly by his mother, Athaliah, daughter of
Ahab and Jezebel:
2 Chronicles 22:3
"He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab:
for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly."
She also:
2 Kings 11:1
"And when Athaliah the mother of
Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and
destroyed all the seed royal."
Asa, of the Davidic line, deposed his
mother:
1 Kings 15:13
"And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed
from [being] queen, because she had made an idol in
a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt [it]
by the brook Kidron."
The following seems to describe many of
the mothers of this present generation:
Judges 2:10
"And also all that generation were gathered unto
their fathers: and there arose another generation
after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the
works which he had done for Israel."
Proverbs 30:11
"[There is] a generation [that] curseth their
father, and doth not bless their mother."
Who is the worst example of a mother in
the Bible?
Revelation 17:5
"And upon her forehead [was] a name written,
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
2 Kings 9:22
"And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he
said, [Is it] peace, Jehu? And he answered, What
peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother
Jezebel and her witchcrafts [are so] many?"
IV. Today's Mothers
WHEN
KIDS WON'T BEHAVE
Copied
from TIMES, 9/23/96
Linda Sims laughs nervously, when she
mentions the holes her son Andre, 12, has kicked in
the wall; the three medications he takes that aren't
working; the 51 school days he missed last year.
And her embarrassment and fear show in
the long pauses that follow her admission that he
has called her inappropriate names-but she's afraid
to spank him "because he might hit me back."
Andre has Oppositional Defiance
Disorder, a behavioral condition doctors describe as
maddening and often untreatable. It means Andre and
children like him say "no" to everything.
Children with the disorder also scream,
swear, punch walls and sometimes parents, destroy
property and run away.
Doctors can't say conclusively who will
get ODD, exactly what causes it or the best way to
treat it. Twice the American Psychiatric Association
has changed the official symptoms. "Quite frankly,
nothing really works," said Barbara Ingersoll,
clinical director of Montgomery Children and Family
Health Services in Rockville, Md. and co-author of
Lonely Sad an Angry: A parent's Guide to Depression
in Children and Adolescents. "Nobody knows what this
disorder is." (Oh yes we do. It was called rebellion
in my day.)
"No matter what the parents do, the
child simply will not listen. Parents have called
the police, talked to the school system, they've
done everything legally possible. The parents are
powerless to do anything with it" said Dr. Clouither.
"Parents who tolerate any kinds of
behavior and are so nice, they are unable to apply
discipline, will produce ODD," said Dr. Dillon. It's
hard for parents to take the idea that they are
responsible for their children’s condition. And
they've fought those thoughts in their own minds.
1. Some of them are no more than children
themselves. This is not necessarily new as in times
past girls married early. But we have a generation
that doesn't have the same values the previous one
seemed to have.
2. They were not properly instructed from their
parents it seems. Yet they are accountable before
God and society. This sets up a bad situation.
3. Many of our mothers are husbandless, not manless
understand but just don't bother to get married.
This well describes many of our modern
day mothers:
Hosea 2:5
"For their mother hath played the harlot: she that
conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I
will go after my lovers, that give [me] my bread and
my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my
drink."
V. First Things First
As important and honored as mothers are
and should be, there is One even more important:
Matthew 10:37
"He that loveth father or mother more than me is not
worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me."
And a wise mother will take note of this
and by doing so, will actually reap more honor in
the long run. We see this illustrated in the a
grandmother and mother:
2 Timothy 1:5
"When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that
is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother
Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that
in thee also."
Conclusion:
We know that our nation is in trouble.
The root of that trouble is that our family life. At
the root of the family life is the failure of many
mothers to rear their children properly. What is the
remedy? Here is the formula:
Deuteronomy 4:9
"Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul
diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine
eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart
all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons,
and thy sons' sons;"
Deuteronomy 6
6 "And these words, which I command thee this
day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt
teach them diligently unto thy children, and
shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house,
and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou
liest down, and when thou risest up."
As our mothers go, so goes the nation.
And no mother can do her best job without knowing
the Lord.
I saw a woman on TV who got married, had
a child, got involved with the best man of her
wedding and took him into her house and bed along
with the real husband. What kind of child or
children do you suppose she will bring up?