God’s blueprint for building a Christian home
Happy Mother’s Day
Booker T Washington once said “If I have done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother”
Washington Irving said “A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”
John Gray is quoted by saying “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world”
Mother’s teach RELIGION: When grape juice is spilled on the carpet, she instructed, "You better pray the stain will come out of the carpet."
Mother’s teach LOGIC: From her decisive words, "Because I said so, that’s why."
Mother‘s teach FORESIGHT: "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident."
Mother‘s teach IRONY: "Keep laughing, and I’ll give you something to cry about."
Mother‘s teach about STAMINA: "You’ll sit there ’til all that spinach is finished."
Mother‘s teach about WEATHER: "It looks as if a tornado swept through your room."
Mother‘s teach THE CIRCLE OF LIFE: "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."
Mother‘s teach about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION: "Stop acting like your father!"
Mother‘s teach about ENVY: "There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don’t have a wonderful Mom like you do!"
A mother is a vital part of God’s blueprint for building a good Christian home. I want to look at some Images this morning that mothers provide in making the Christian home what it should be.
1.A Christian home should be a filling station, a place where you can go get checked and refueled and the fuel that keeps families going is love.
Hannah was a good example of a Godly mother who loved her child: she prayed for a son and dedicated him to serving the Lord even before he was born.
1 Samuel 1:11-11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
1 Samuel 1:20, 22, 24-28
20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”
22 Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.”
24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25 When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.
How much greater love could a mother have for her children than to give them into the service of the Lord? Is that not the same that is expected today?
Proverbs 22:6-6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
2. A Christian home should be a Storm Shelter, because children are not only looking for love they also need security.
Proverbs 14:26New International Version (NIV)
26 Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress,
and for their children it will be a refuge.
Children want to know that there is a place that they can be safe and have peace from all the storms of life!
A four-year-old and a six-year-old presented their mom with a houseplant.
They had used their own money to buy it and she was thrilled.
The older of them said with a sad face, "There was a bouquet at the flower shop that we wanted to give you. It was real pretty but it was too expensive. It had a ribbon on it that said ‘Rest in Peace,’ and we thought it would be just perfect since you are always asking for a little peace so that you can rest.
3. A Christian home should be an Emergency room, a trauma center for all the non- medical emergencies of life.
Every child is going to be wounded sooner or later! Someone is going to break their heart, call them names and when it happens where will they turn? They need a Christian home to turn to with sound Godly parents.
Margaret H Cobb tells a story- My 13 year old daughter is perhaps having more trouble than some teens” discovering who she is” because she is adopted from South Korea and we have no idea who her birth mother might be. Recently Amy received brace on her teeth and she was more and more uncomfortable as the day wore on. By bedtime she was miserable. I gave her some medication and invited her to snuggle up with me for a while. Soon she became more comfortable and drowsy. In a small voice that gradually tapered off to sleep she said “Mom, I know who my real mom is, it is the one who takes the hurting away.”
A Mother has her emergency room open 24hours a day 7 days a week!
4. A Christian home should be a schoolhouse. Someone else may teach your children math, how to type or about science, but at home is where children should learn about life. The Bible says that Mom and Dad’s teach about life.
Proverbs 6:20-23
20 My son, keep your father’s command
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them always on your heart;
fasten them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will guide you;
when you sleep, they will watch over you;
when you awake, they will speak to you.
23 For this command is a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and correction and instruction
are the way to life,
Children need to be taught how to deal with life and it needs to be taught in a Christian home. How to get along with people, how to be a good decent and honest person, about values what’s right and wrong, morality and its application verses immorality and its consequences. The things that are most important in life will be taught in the schoolhouse that mom and dad run.
A teacher was giving a lesson on fractions. Johnny suppose there were 7 of you 5 children and a mom and dad. Suppose there was a pie for dessert what fraction of the pie would you get. That’s easy Johnny said one sixth! What do you mean asked the teacher, don’t you know about fractions? Johnny said I know about fractions, but I also know my mother too, and she would say she didn’t want any!
5. A Christian home must be a Worship Center. A child shouldn’t have to wait until Sunday to worship God. Our homes ought to be holy ground because God is there and children should know God is real because He is real to their parents.
Timothy’s mother Eunice was commended highly by Paul:
2 Timothy 1:5-5 “ I am 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.”
Mothers must pass on to their children a faith to live by. Eunice raised Timothy to have a great faith in God despite their home being religiously divided. You can see the importance of generations of the Christian faith. And you can see that Lois, Timothy’s grandmother, played a pivotal role in grounding Eunice and Timothy in a sincere faith in God.
Children should know that God is real, not only by the bible stories they read, but because they are influenced by Parents and can see faith lived out within their families, because homes are a Worship Center where Christ is not merely spoken of, but lived out by pattern and example for all to see.
Rose Kennedy, Mother to John F. Kennedy was quoted saying in the book Celebrating Mothers: A Book of Appreciation.
“Whenever I held my newborn babe in my arms, I used to think what I did and what I said to him would have an influence, not only on him, but on everyone he meets, not for a day, or a year, but for all time and for eternity. What a challenge, what a joy!”
The greatest Mother’s Day tribute I have ever heard came from a successful businessman.
He said “I am a self-made man, but the blueprints came from my mother!” Mother’s get the blueprints from the architect, God.
Psalm 127:1
1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
A Christian Home will be a:
1. Filling Station, for all the tune up’s we need from time to time.
2. Storm shelter, a secure fortress, a refuge for their children.
3. Emergency Room, Always open to take care of whatever emergency arises.
4. Schoolhouse, teaching about life and how to grow up with manners and morality.
5. Worship center, where spirituality is not only taught but seen in the lives of the parents. God is a priority.
My message for all today rings loud and clear from Joshua in - Joshua 24:15
15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
We are so thankful today for mothers and fathers that have decided to serve God in their households and raise their children looking to God as a first priority in their lives and using His blueprint to build their home.
Some Illustrations used from Sermon Central Illustrations
