What are a Mother’s Responsibilities?
Opening Illustration: The movie maker clip from the Mother Daughter Banquet -
then the video clip from Blue Fish TV “Honoring Mothers.”
Thesis: Mom’s have the divine responsibility to be their children’s best teachers, best comforters and best advisors.
Scripture Text:
Proverbs 1:8:
8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
Isaiah 66:13:
As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
Proverbs 31:1-9:
1The sayings of King Lemuel—an oracle his mother taught him:
2 “O my son, O son of my womb,
O son of my vows,
3 do not spend your strength on women,
your vigor on those who ruin kings.
4 “It is not for kings, O Lemuel—
not for kings to drink wine,
not for rulers to crave beer,
5 lest they drink and forget what the law decrees,
and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.
6 Give beer to those who are perishing,
wine to those who are in anguish;
7 let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.
8 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
9 Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
Illustration:
When all is said, it is the mother, and the mother only, who is a better citizen than the soldier who fights for his country. The successful mother, the mother who does her part in rearing and training aright the boys and girls who are to be the men and women of the next generation, is of greater use to the community, and occupies, if she would only realize it, a more honorable as well as a more important position than any man in it. The mother is the one supreme asset of the national life. She is more important, by far, than the successful statesman, or businessman, or artist, or scientist. Theodore Roosevelt
Introduction:
What Is a Mother
A mother is someone special
With an understanding heart..
When others lose their faith in you
That’s just when hers will start..
A mother is someone loving
Who has the sweetest way
Of giving you encouragement
When skies are looking gray
A mother is someone helpful
Who will always lend a hand
And smooth things out a little
When they don’t go as you’ve Planned
A mother is someone dearly loved
And that is surely true
A mother is all these things
A mother just like you....
Being a mom is one of the hardest yet most important jobs in the world. A mom has many responsibilities! We want to say Thanks mom for all that you do throughout the year!
Today I want to look at a few of the most critical responsibilities a mother has to do for the Kingdom of God and for their children’s eternal destiny.
Illustration on Mother’s hard task of loving and letting go: Kahlil Gibran, in The Prophet, expresses well the hard task of a mother to love completely and deeply and yet always with the task of letting go. “You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you, for life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the books from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
T.S. – Mom’s need to understand that their responsibilities toward raising their children will and do make a difference in that child’s eternal future. The first and most important job a mom can do for her children is to be their teacher.
I. Mom’s are to be their children’s best teacher in life!
a. Proverbs 1:8: “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”
i. Your Dictionary - defines the word teaching as the follows:
1. To impart knowledge or skill to: teaches children.
2. To provide knowledge of; instruct in: teaches French.
3. To condition to a certain action or frame of mind: teaching youngsters to be self-reliant.
4. To cause to learn by example or experience: an accident that taught me a valuable lesson.
5. To advocate or preach: teaches racial and religious tolerance.
6. To carry on instruction on a regular basis in: taught high school for many years.
7. To impart knowledge and skill to: coach, discipline, educate, instruct, school, train, tutor.
ii. We see from the list above that mom’s influence and ability to teach in all these situations in a child’s life will make all the difference in their future.
b. Barna notes this about parents in his book Revolutionary Parenting that the most influential person in a child’s life is their parents.
i. “The fact that neither government nor schools are the solution to the problem is not a big deal. That’s because they are not the ones responsible for fixing the problem. The responsibility for raising spiritual champions, according to the Bible, belongs to parents. The spiritual nurture of children is supposed to take place in the home. Organizations and people from outside the home might support those efforts, but the responsibility is squarely laid at the feet of the family. This is not a job for specialists. It is a job for parents (pages 11, 12)…But one of the lessons that emerged from the research on which my earlier book was based was that churches alone do not and cannot have influence on children. In fact, the greatest influence a church may have in affecting children is by impacting their parents. The facts have been indisputably clear: In assessing the impact of churches, schools, and parents, it is the latter who have the most dramatic personal influence on a child” (pages, XVII).
1. Barna also notes that between the two parents mother’s and father’s the mom is doing a better job of teaching their kids about the spiritual dimension of life -- Barna survery:
a. Mom versus Dad: Men may enjoy advantages in physical strength, but they are much less likely than women to exercise their spiritual muscles. This gender gap extends to the typical family unit: mothers outpace fathers in terms of spiritual activity and commitment. In fact, the Barna survey examined 12 different elements of faith behavior and perspective. Mothers were distinct from fathers on 11 of the 12 factors. When it comes to spiritual perspectives, a majority of mothers said they have been greatly transformed by their faith, while less than half of fathers had shared this experience. Also, three-quarters of moms said their faith is very important in their life, while this view was true among just two-thirds of fathers. Mothers were also more likely than fathers to be born again Christians, to say they are absolutely committed to Christianity, and to embrace a personal responsibility to share their faith in Jesus Christ with others. Moms are also more religiously active. In a typical week, mothers are more likely than are fathers to attend church, pray, read the Bible, participate in a small group, attend Sunday school, and volunteer some of their time to help a non-profit organization. The only faith-related activity in which fathers are just as likely as mothers to engage is volunteering to help at a church. David Kinnaman, President of The Barna Group and the director of the study, clarified the role of gender in shaping a person’s spiritual profile. "Whether they are a parent or not, women in America have high levels of spiritual sensitivity and engagement. Men generally lag behind the spirituality of women - and particularly so if they are not a father. In other words, having children intensifies the spiritual commitment of men, but even so most fathers still do not measure up to the spiritual footprint of their parenting counterparts." From:http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrowPreview&BarnaUpdateID=270
b. So moms understand that you are your child’s best teacher – especially when it comes to spiritual matters and their eternal destiny.
i. Share about the tragedy of having a mom who does not teach eternal values to their children. The biggest disservice a mother could do to her child is not to teach them and prepare them to die.
ii. Story: The preacher G. Campbell Morgan had four sons, all of whom were preachers. The youngest son, Howard, considered a fine preacher, once took his father’s place on this side of the Atlantic while Dr. Morgan preached in London. Someone came into the drawing room when the family was there and, thinking to find out what Howard was made of, asked this question: “Howard, who is the greatest preacher in your family?” Without a moment’s hesitation he answered, “My mother.” Sometimes men and women who never stand at a pulpit preach the greatest sermons through living out the Word in their daily lives.
1. The truth is moms --- a primary responsibility of yours is to teach your children about the ways and the truths of God’s Word.
a. Don’t just leave it up to the church to do it – you need to be actively involved in creating a spiritual giant for the Kingdom of God.
b. You must teach your children about Jesus!
c. Story: When the will of Henry J. Heinz, wealthy distributor of the famous “57 Varieties” line, was read, it was found to contain the following confession: “Looking forward to the time when my earthly career will end, I desire to set forth at the very beginning of this will, as the most important item in it, a confession of my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior. I also desire to bear witness to the fact that throughout my life, in which there were unusual joys and sorrows, I have been wonderfully sustained by my faith in God through Jesus Christ. This legacy was left me by my consecrated mother, a woman of strong faith, and to it I attribute any success I have attained.”
i. Mom’s would your children say this about you in their wills?
T.S. – Mom’s do not underestimate the influence you have on your children when it comes to spiritual lessons and even the lessons of life. Mom be the best teacher your child ever had and also be the best at comforting your children when they need a loving touch.
II. Moms be the best comforter of your children.
a. Isaiah 66:13: “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
i. Comfort – Your Dictionary defines the word this way:
1. Tr.v. com•fort•ed, com•fort•ing, com•forts
a. To soothe in time of affliction or distress.
b. To ease physically; relieve.
2. noun.
a. A condition or feeling of pleasurable ease, well-being, and contentment.
b. Solace in time of grief or fear.
c. Help; assistance: gave comfort to the enemy.
d. One that brings or provides comfort.
e. The capacity to give physical ease and well-being: enjoying the comfort of my favorite chair.
ii. Story: My thirteen-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 braces 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 awhile. 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 away the hurting.” Margaret H. Cobb
b. Moms make sure that you make time for your children.
i. Children need to have the attention and the care of their parents – especially their moms.
ii. Mom’s play a significant role in a child’s development so we need to make sure that we make parenting our priority.
iii. One of the greatest and most meaningful things you can do for your children is to comfort them when they are hurting.
1. Make sure that you make the time to be there for your children when they need your loving touch and loving assurance.
c. Video Illustration from Blue Fish TV – This clip reflects on a mom who was considered to be the best servant and the best comforting mother of all times --- Mother Theresa!
i. This mother took comforting to a higher level!
1. Even though she never had a child of her own – she had more children across the world who she had touched by her loving comfort than any other women who ever lived on this planet.
a. She not only comforted the hurting herself she has taught 1,000 of other mothers how to do the same.
b. She has left a legacy that will live on into eternity.
ii. Here are some quotes from her own mouth from the website http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9709/mother.teresa/quotes/index.html
1. On poverty - "I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper’s wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?" -- 1974 interview.
a. "When I see waste here, I feel angry on the inside. I don’t approve of myself getting angry. But it’s something you can’t help after seeing Ethiopia." -- Washington 1984.
2. On the Nobel Peace Prize - "I choose the poverty of our poor people. But I am grateful to receive (the Nobel) in the name of the hungry, the naked, the homeless, of the crippled, of the blind, of the lepers, of all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared-for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone." -- Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, 1979.
3. On war - "I have never been in a war before, but I have seen famine and death. I was asking (myself), ’What do they feel when they do this?’ I don’t understand it. They are all children of God. Why do they do it? I don’t understand." -- Beirut 1982, during fighting between the Israeli army and Palestinian guerrillas.
a. "Please choose the way of peace. ... In the short term there may be winners and losers in this war that we all dread. But that never can, nor never will justify the suffering, pain and loss of life your weapons will cause." -- Letter to U.S. President George Bush and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, January 1991.
4. On abortion - Abortion "is murder in the womb ... A child is a gift of God. If you do not want him, give him to me."
5. On retirement - "God will find another person, more humble, more devoted, more obedient to him, and the society will go on." -- Calcutta 1989, after announcing her intention to retire.
a. "I was expecting to be free, but God has his own plans." -- Calcutta 1990, when the sisters of her order persuaded her to withdraw her resignation.
iii. Here is an article from CNN at her death: Legacy extends beyond India to the world!
1. (CNN) -- Nearly 50 years ago, Mother Teresa found a woman "half eaten by maggots and rats" lying in front of a Calcutta hospital. The diminutive Roman Catholic nun sat with the woman until she died. Soon after, she began a campaign for a shelter for people to die with dignity. Until her death Friday she made a mission of caring for the human castoffs the world wanted to forget. Accepting the Nobel peace prize in the name of the "unwanted, unloved and uncared for," she wore the same $1 white sari that she had adopted to identify herself with the poor when she founded her order, Missionaries of Charity. Her impact was mostly felt in her adopted home, Calcutta, where she directed the Missionaries of Charity for nearly 50 years. But the order’s work spread across the globe after 1965, when Pope Paul VI authorized its expansion. She created a global network of homes for the poor, from the hovels of Calcutta to the ghettos of New York, including one of the first homes for AIDS victims. Misery had a formidable and unrelenting foe in Mother Teresa; Whether it was in Ethiopia tending to the hungry or in the squalid townships of South Africa, Calcutta’s "angel of mercy" was there. In 1982, at the height of the seige in Beirut, the frail nun rescued 37 children trapped in a front line hospital by brokering a temporary cease-fire between the Israeli army and Palestinian guerillas. Her work was almost always praised. But her funding methods met with some criticism. Mother Teresa’s causes were financed by public foundations, private donors and scores of prizes. A 1994 British television documentary, "Hell’s Angel: Mother Teresa of Calcutta," accused her of accepting contributions without questioning the source, including the likes of Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier. Mother Teresa had a short response to such allegations: "No matter who says what, you should accept it with a smile and do your own work," she said. Under Mother Teresa’s guidance, the order focused much of its attention on giving comfort to the dying, a task the sisters continue. In an abandoned temple to the Hindu goddess Kali, Mother Teresa founded the Kalighat Home for the Dying. The order established Shanti Nagar (Town of Peace), a leper colony, in the mid-1950s on land granted from the Indian government. In India and beyond, Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity devoted their time to the blind, the disabled, the aged, and the poor. She opened schools, orphanages and homes for the needy, and turned her attention to the victims of AIDS as that disease increased in prevalence. By 1996, she was operating 517 missions in more than 100 countries. Perhaps, French President Jacques Chirac summed up Mother Teresa’s legacy best when he said after her death: "This evening, there is less love, less compassion, less light in the world."
iv. Mom’s be your child’s best comforter and also find other children who need to be comforted and loved as well and even pour into them. It will change their life!
d. Poem focused on the comfort of a mother:
Where There is Love
Where there is love
the heart is light,
Where there is love
the day is bright,
Where there is love
there is a song
To help when things
are going wrong
Where there is love
there is a smile
To make all things
seem more worthwhile
Oh blest are they
who walk in love,
They also walk with
God above
Author Helen Steiner Rice
T.S. – Moms be the best comforters of your family and of those around you! Moms remember in those special times of being a comforter to your children and others those times will live on into eternity. Moms also be the best at giving advice to your children even when they don’t want to hear it.
III. Moms be the best at giving your children sound advice for living the right kind of lifestyle and knowing what’s best for them and for others.
a. I have learned that there is one thing mother’s are really, really good at and that is giving advice to their children.
i. Can any one here relate to this action that mother’s do with fervency, determination, consistency, relentlessness, forcefulness, passion, and vigor?
ii. I have seen many movies and TV shows that highlight this character trait in some mothers.
1. usually it’s done with a comedic twist but it points to the truth that moms you need to advise your children in life and what matters most in life because it makes a difference in your child’s development and maturity.
b. Proverbs 31:1-9 (NASB): The Words of Lemuel (Advice he received from his godly mother).
1The words of King Lemuel, the oracle which his mother taught him.
2 What, O my son?
And what, O son of my womb?
And what, O son of my vows?
3 Do not give your strength to women,
Or your ways to that which destroys kings.
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
It is not for kings to drink wine,
Or for rulers to desire strong drink,
5 For they will drink and forget what is decreed,
And pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
6 Give strong drink to him who is perishing,
And wine to him whose life is bitter.
7 Let him drink and forget his poverty
And remember his trouble no more.
8 Open your mouth for the mute,
For the rights of all the unfortunate.
9 Open your mouth, judge righteously,
And defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.
c. Advice is defined by Your Dictionary as follows:
i. Noun.
1. Opinion about what could or should be done about a situation or problem; counsel.
2. Information communicated; news. Often used in the plural: advices from an ambassador.
ii. Synonyms: advice, counsel, recommendation
d. Listen to the King’s mom give advice to him and see how her advise shaped and impacted a whole Kingdom not just one little life:
i. Do not spend your strength on women who ruin kings.
1. Proverbs 31:3 (Amplified Bible) “Give not your strength to (loose) women, nor your ways to those who and that which ruin and destroy kings.”
a. Share the story about the prayer you prayed when you started dating this one young lady. And how the Lord brought you to this verse in the Bible.
2. The King’s mother said, “Lemuel stay away from those loose girls – don’t chase after them – run the other way and find a good godly woman!”
3. The Bible is very clear in warning the saint to stay away from the wicked and to not be entrapped in their wicked ways.
a. Proverbs 25:26: “If the godly give in to the wicked, it’s like polluting a fountain or muddying a spring.”
b. Proverbs 26:23: “Smooth words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a clay pot.”
i. Your Dictionary defines wicked as Evil by nature and in practice: "this wicked man Hitler, the repository and embodiment of many forms of soul-destroying hatred" (Winston S. Churchill).
1. That which is morally bad or objectionable: evil, iniquity, peccancy, sin, wrong.
2. Degrading, immoral acts or habits: bestiality, corruption, depravity, flagitiousness, immorality, perversion, turpitude, vice, villainousness, villainy.
3. A wicked act or wicked behavior: crime, deviltry, diablerie, evil, evildoing, immorality, iniquity, misdeed, offense, peccancy, sin, wrong, wrongdoing.
4. This mother does know best because many potential leaders for the Kingdom of God have been dethroned because of wicked women.
a. There have been far too many ministers, evangelists, pastors, and other men of God who have been dethroned because of the seductive ways of loose women.
5. This mother is warning her son to stay away from women like this because they will bring you down and destroy your influence for the Kingdom.
a. They will destroy your family, your ministry and even your relationship with the Lord.
ii. This mother goes on with more sound – godly advice to her son, “Lemuel - It’s not wise to drink wine and beer!”
1. Mother’s do know best and this mom says don’t go drinking and craving alcohol because it will make you forget the laws and cause you to mistreat people! Son it will even cause you to take advantage of people! – Why – Because it will cloud your good judgment.
a. Kinney and Leaton in their book “Loosening The Grip” state these facts about the destructive power of alcohol and drugs:
i. Alcohol related deaths may run as high as 10% of all deaths annually.
ii. Alcohol use has been associated with the major causes of accidental death in the United States-motor fatalities, falls, drowning, fires, and burns.
iii. No one sets out to be an alcoholic but it all starts with the first drink.
1. The alcoholic’s life expectancy is shortened by 15 years.
2. The mortality rate is 2 ½ times greater that that of non-alcoholics.
iv. Those who use alcohol have a higher rate of violent deaths than those who do not use alcohol.
v. Studies indicate that 4 out of 5 suicide attempts, the individual had been drinking, and that 35% to 40% of all successful suicides of non-alcoholics are alcohol related.
vi. In as many as 67% of all homicides - either the victim, the assailant, or both had been drinking.
vii. Alcohol is reflected in national crime statistics.
viii. 50% of VA hospital beds are filled with Veterans with alcohol problems.
ix. The 1990 cost of alcoholism’s impact to society is estimated at $116.7 Billion dollars.
x. Alcohol use and abuse increases the rate of family violence and has been the leading factor in breaking up families in America.
b. Alcohol’s negative effects from website http://nickscape.net/recoveryzone/alcohol.htm:
i. There are numerous physical alcohol abuse effects. Alcohol is a poison to the body. The endocrine system of the human makeup treats it as such. Therefore it runs through the liver during natural detoxification. Being that it is a poison it erodes the liver causing cirrhosis. Cirrhosis can then lead to liver failure, which will eventually result in death.
ii. There are also the alcohol abuse effects that happen outside of the body. These consist of legal troubles and relationship problems.
iii. Many alcohol abusers experience difficulty in managing their lives. This unmanageability leads to destruction. This destruction comes in many forms. Some users lose jobs, while others lose spouses. These all lead the drinker to more drinking.
iv. More drinking leads the user to more physical problems and more physical problems lead to death.
v. Alcohol abuse effects are devastating. Some alcoholics will drive drunk and accidentally kill someone. Some alcoholics end up in jail or homeless. No matter how you look at it, alcohol abuse leads down a road that you don’t want to take.
c. From a recent 20 year study: Women who consume alcohol or drugs during pregnancy could do permanent damage to their unborn child, according to the first-ever long-term study into the issue. Researchers at Zurich University and in Germany have published their findings into fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Nearly 40 individuals with FAS or FASD (fetal alcohol syndrome spectrum disorder) were followed over a 20-year period, from early childhood.
i. The results, published in the Journal of Paediatrics, found while some physical problems such as cranial and facial deformities can improve over time, men whose mothers had consumed alcohol remained underweight while women often stayed overweight.
ii. And Professor Hans-Christoph Steinhausen at Zurich University, in collaboration with Berlin pediatrician Hans-Ludwig Spohr, was for the first time able to present evidence that "intellectual and behavioral problems persist and prevent most of the individuals from successfully working or living independently" Many retained mental disabilities which limited their employment opportunities and therefore kept them dependent on social services for their welfare.
iii. The researchers cautioned that it was not yet possible to determine the level of alcohol that caused damage to an unborn child, but recommended that women limit their consumption to no more than one glass a day.
iv. Steinhausen and his colleagues also investigated the impact of illicit drug consumption, working with drug addicts taking part in a Swiss treatment program and their offspring.
1. Intelligence: Tests found that the intelligence levels of children of substance-dependent mothers were significantly lower than the Swiss average and "there was an excess of children with subnormal intellectual functioning"(From website: http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/front/detail/Study_confirms_alcohol_risk_during_pregnancy.html?siteSect=105&sid=7746566&cKey=1177395854000).
iii. Lemuel, “Don’t give alcohol to less fortunate people because it could destroy their lives!”
1. She was warning him not to even offer this drink to other people because of its addictive power. She strongly tells him that this habit can lead people into destruction because it does help the less fortunate to forget their misery but it will lead to a compounding of their problems.
a. Many people use alcohol and other drugs to relieve their stress but this stress management technique leads to addiction which makes their stress worse and even life threatening.
2. From the statistics above we should never try to help people deal with their problems by giving them alcohol or drugs.
a. It may be a quick temporary fix to stress but it leads to addiction and ultimate destruction.
b. Remember it all starts with the first drink or the first hit.
i. And listen up friend God will hold you accountable!
iv. Lemuel, “Speak up for those who can not speak for themselves!”
1. I love this quote that I heard from Bishop George McKinney who spoke at a conference called, “Leading Like Jesus”:
a. Listen up America: “God did not intend nor design the womb to be a tomb!”
b. He noted that it was time for the church – for Christians and for this society to here the truth about abortion.
i. He said it’s, “Stinking thinking to think that its right for you to kill your baby and God’s okay with that!”
2. The cause of abortion is an issue that needs advocates. We need to stand up for the one’s who cannot stand up for themselves. We need to listen to the advice of this godly mother!
a. Information from website http://www.abortionfacts.com/literature/literature_9410CV.asp --- Nowhere in the Bible does it say "Thou shalt not abort your children." Neither will you find specific words forbidding suicide, infanticide (killing newborn children) or same-sex marriages. Yet, the Bible clearly teaches us that these things are wrong. A small, but noisy group of people (who are very active on the Internet) wish to have you believe that the Bible condones abortion. Although it doesn’t take a Biblical scholar to conclude that the Bible forbids abortion, it may help you to see the facts laid out. Simply put, the Bible forbids killing innocent persons. If an unborn child is a person, abortion is prohibited by the Bible. Let’s look at the evidence:
i. The Bible condemns the shedding of innocent life. Few people would argue this point. The Bible clearly prohibits taking the life of an innocent person. It follows that if the developing baby is a "qualified" member of the human race, all of these scriptures apply:
1. Genesis 9:6 - Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.
2. Exodus 20:13 - You shall not murder.
3. Deuteronomy 27:25a - Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person.
4. Proverbs 6:16-19 - There are six things which the LORD hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood...
5. See also Exodus 23:7 and Deuteronomy 19:11-12
ii. A child is a "person" whether born or unborn. The Bible consistently uses the same word for a "born" or "unborn" baby.1 This is because the divine Author of the Bible did not recognize a material difference between the two. In Scripture, there is not some special event when a "human being" becomes a "person". Rather, he or she is a person from the beginning who goes through growth and development both inside and outside of the womb. In the New Testament the Greek word "brephos" is used to describe the unborn, newborns and youth. In Luke 1:44, the word is used to mean unborn baby: "For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy." Then, in Luke 2:12, it means a newborn: "So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger." And in Luke 18:15, "brephos" refers to a young child: "And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them." In the Old Testament the Hebrew word "yeled" is used in the same way. In Exodus 21:22 it means an unborn child, "If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely...". And yet, in other Old Testament usages, it means "youth" or even a teenager. As late as the 16th century in our own culture, "child" was the word used for both the born and unborn baby. Late in the game, we have developed a new word, "fetus", to describe a developing baby2 (even this word is defined in some dictionaries as an "unborn human being" 3 ). Today, we often reserve the word "child" for a person already born.
iii. In the Bible, our worth as a human being or our "personhood" does not depend on how far along on life’s journey we have come. Instead, we are beings who are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). Each person is valuable because God created him or her that way. It doesn’t matter whether a person is still in his mother’s womb, a newborn, a toddler, an adolescent, or a senior citizen. Only quite recently has the concept of "personhood" surfaced. There are some in our society who want to find a developmental stage where they can justify that the fetus is only a collection of organs, not really a person. Carl Sagan put that fetal stage at perhaps 6 months, when the cerebral cortex is in place. Only then, he feels, should we confer "personhood" on a fetus.4 Such ideas are clearly subjective. It would seem that these discussions of personhood only arose from a need to justify the act of abortion. Certainly, they are not expressed in the Bible. Quite to the contrary, the Bible story shows that "personhood", or reaching one’s full potential, comes from knowing God. A person develops and is preserved through his communion with a personal God who reveals Himself to us in love. The Bible consistently links our "personhood" to the time we are formed (conception), or even before in God’s "mind".
b. According to the Bible, God knew you before you were born so having someone choose to abort you means they choose to kill you and snuff out your life!
3. Share about CNN representative from New York.
a. He accused the president of killing soldiers in Iraq but in his next breath believed that partial birth abortion was good for America.
b. What a mockery – he accuses the president of murder of soldiers but then approves of murdering young babies in the mother’s womb.
i. Who is the one murdering who?
v. Lemuel, “Speak up and judge fairly!”
1. “Lemuel you need to deal with those who do wrong and help them to see the error of their ways.”
vi. Lemuel, “Defend the rights of the poor and needy!”
Conclusion:
Mother’s have the responsibility to:
• Be the best teachers of their children!
o Teach them lessons of life.
o Teach them spiritual truths.
o Teach them morals.
o Teach right from wrong.
• Be their child’s best comforter!
o Mom’s make sure that you make time to comfort your kids.
o Make them the priority in your life!
o Moms be there for your children especially in times of need because it will make a eternal difference.
o Mom’s be like Mother Theresa – comfort others!
• Be the best advisors you can be to your children – they need your insights!
o Tell them to beware of the wicked ones who will bring them down.
o Tell them to stay away from alcohol and other drugs.
o Tell them not to lead other people a stray with drugs.
o Tell them to speak up for what is right and for those who cannot speak for themselves.
o Tell them to speak up and judge others fairly.
o Tell them to defend the rights of the poor and the needy.
Altar response: How many mothers here today and future mothers want to be the best they can be for the Lord with their children? Raise your hands and we will pray for you today to be the best for your child by receiving help from the Lord.
