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WHAT A WISEMAN KNOWS ABOUT MOTHERS
Mother’s Day, 2007 Jay Davis Robison 1 KINGS 3:16-28
Happy Mother’s Day! Of course should celebrate moms more often,
Let’s face it, mothers do a lot for us they have a special place
Perhaps their greatest contribution is The things moms teach us
About RECEIVING: "You are going to get it when we get home!"
About LOGIC: "Because I said so, that’s why."
MEDICAL SCIENCE: "Stop crossing eyes they’ll freeze that way."
RELIGION: "You better pray that will come out of the carpet."
GENETICS: "You’re just like your father." "were born in a barn?"
JUSTICE: "When you have kids, I hope they turn out just like you.”
TIME TRAVEL: "If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock
you into the middle of next week!"
FORESIGHT: "Always wear clean underwear,
In case you’re in an accident."
CONTORTIONISM: "Will you look at dirt on back of your neck!"
WEATHER: "It looks as if a tornado swept through your room."
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Millions starving in China you
won’t eat your peas!"
DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE: & "If you fall out of that tree & break your neck, don’t come crying to me”
THE CIRCLE OF LIFE: "I brought you into this world,
and I can take you out."
Moms are pretty complex, I’ve never been one so I am no authority
Why I must lean on Bible open God’s word
see how it applies to us today
1 Kings 3 when Solomon wisest man in world became King
difficult case before him 2 Mothers with a problem
1. Mothers ARE NOT PERFECT
I do not say this to drag mothers down but to build them up.
No one needs to be treated with more tenderness than our mother.
Impossible job God allows miracle of life inside you
Or God chooses you to be adoptive parent
Sometimes we too hard on them. Sometimes they hard on selves.
Passage today two moms these are not “Mothers of the Year”
Fact that no characters named, or towns, means principles to learn
The two mothers in this story were prostitutes! Living under roof
Babies conceived in sin probably don’t know who father is
That grabs you! Makes you sit up in your pew & take notice!
Clearly they not ideal Mom, what ways do you come up short?
You know best circumstances in world not prepared motherhood
But God gives us ability to accomplish what we not qualified to do.
Real mothers do not have to be perfect. They’re works in progress
From moment of conception mothers experience changes.
Physically & emotionally they different spiritually they need God.
Everyone here today has an imperfect mother All of fall short.
Why did Solomon, king over God’s chosen people,
even take the time to worry with two prostitutes?
These women, & sinful men who paid for them out of God’s will.
Principle: GOD CARES ABOUT ALL MOTHERS
This passage doesn’t teach right to be prostitute.
Doesn’t comment on behavior of stealing baby and lied to the king.
Doesn’t teach resolve debate by killing innocent kids
Does show us king smart enough to appeal to maternal instinct
2. Mothers WILL FIGHT FOR THEIR KIDS
Moms fight for defenseless & their kids forever defenseless.
There is nothing as strong AS A MOM WHOSE CHILD IS
THREATENED
If you don’t like me, something I’ve said or done, no like sermon
All I have to say to you is 570-992-7051 you call that number
Tell 5ft the 70+ yr old lady on the phone, You have a problem
w\one she calls “My Son Jay” I’ll pray for you
A mother’s love is universally well known. See it in animal kingdom
No one wants to get between a momma & her baby….
National Geographic caught a mom in action
2 dramatic pictures side by side.
1 was of a burned out forest w\a bird underneath a burned out tree.
bird was a ghostly silhouette of ash at the base of the tree.
2nd picture showed a fireman kicking this ashen silhouette
only to discover half dozen little chicks alive!
Mom bird died self wrapping around her chicks to protect young.
These women were FIGHTING OVER A BABY
It seems that heroine of story & roommate gave birth at same time,
Sadly one mom rolled over son and killed him, so took living son.
Both moms claimed living son theirs. Speeches by the women,
Vs 18 the central dilemma is repeated for Solomon three times
The women alone were there no one witnessed the event
Babies are very young. Each one was fighting to be a mother
As Deborah Kemp was pumping gas, a man jumped in driver’s seat
of her car & began to pull away. 6 year-old daughter asleep in back
Deborah, to protect Ashley, grabbed hold of door & steering wheel
She was dragged for several blocks. "I wasn’t trying to be a hero,"
"I was concerned for my baby...that was part of me in that car." Kemp eventually managed grab thief, pull him from car & beat him
w\an anti-theft club device while he apologized begged her stop.
Driverless car went out of control and smashed into a restaurant.
Then Ashley woke up. Deborah had ripped pants bloody knees
Her daughter was not injured at all. Suspect was unable to walk. He had a broken leg and other fractured also had head injuries.
Also a fight for their future and who becoming
Daily battle, Suzanna Wesley, John and Charles Wesley’s Mother
Had 19 children, 12 of whom live. She was telling one of her kids
something someone said “That’s 10th time you’ve them that.
Suzanna replied, “If I’d only told them nine times, I would have
wasted my time.” You understand what she meant right?
Robert Strauss could have been referring to parenthood when he
said “It’s a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t quit when
you’re tired, you quit when the gorilla is tired.”
3. Mothers KNOW THEIR CHILDREN
True mother in this account examined her child in the morning.
She sensed something was wrong, and looked closely at the child.
Through her grief she looked and discovered it was not hers.
This mother did what mothers have done for centuries
in time of uncertainty or heartache. She looked at the child.
She was able to detect dead one was not hers.
From the earliest moments after birth, moms just look at babies
Moms know when their children are lying, or sick
They know when there is something kid wants to hide
The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne." Vs 21 TNIV
Tragically 1 of babies died when mother accidentally suffocated him.
When she realized what she had done, she arose, and exchanged her
dead son with the son of the other woman.
In the morning, 2nd mother awoke to great grief when she saw
the dead baby lying by her breast
Moms know their children Oh my baby my baby
Went to college with a man named Mark on a curvy road
Involved in serious car accident battered and bruised
In hospital 120 days in ER heard familiar footsteps
Then loving voice oh my baby my baby What can I do to help you
Gave Mark reassurance
4. Mothers LOVE THEIR CHILDREN
This is what we know most of all about Mothers isn’t it?
Wise King Solomon knew it too, situation in 1 Kings 3
Impossible to prove by conventional means no witnesses or DNA
He came up with an idea to find the real mother
Then the king said, "Bring me a sword." He then gave an order: "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other." The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved OUT OF LOVE for her son and said to the king, "Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!" Vs 24-26 TNIV
Personal sacrifice is an obvious part of mother’s love.
Begins by sacrificing own bodies to carry child in womb 9 months.
No mother’s child ought to get over that sacrifice!
But a mother’s sacrifice doesn’t end there. They keep on giving.
They give up sleep for the midnight feedings.
They give up personal goals to help children achieve their goals.
They sit in the rain at ballgames, eat at McDonalds, pick up socks
Moms go over and over math with 3rd grader
Make sacrifices so they will be better scholars, better musicians
Don’t forget to make some sacrifices so they will be better people,
Like getting up Sunday Morning so they are in church,
getting them to youth group, helping in VBS and children events Making spiritual health an investment.
We honor moms for all the giving they do.
They remind us of God who is sacrificial and giving.
He gave His only Son for a world of wayward children.
Solomon knew this about Moms
One mom wanted a baby so bad steal someone elses
Other loved her child so much willing to give up her child.
She would give up her opportunity of being a mother for her child. That’s what set her apart from the other woman.
“There is no moral authority like that of sacrifice.”
South African Writer Nadine Gordimer
Sydney J. Harris (1917-1986) The most important occupation on
earth for a woman is to be a real mother to her children.
It does not have much glory to it; there is a lot of grit and grime.
“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!” Rose Kennedy (Celebrating Mothers: A Book of Appreciation. Edited by Glorya Hale and Carol Kelly-Gangi. MetroBooks, 2002.)
That kind of love should not go unnoticed and unappreciated. Respond to moms with great love and appreciation. And respond to the God who created motherhood the same way.
told kids: “If you ever get lost in a crowd and separated from us, there is one thing that you must do. You find a mother with children or pushing a stroller and you go ask her to help you find your mother and 99% of the time, you’ll be safe and OK.” Why? There is great safety in a mother’s love.
WHAT A WISEMAN KNOWS ABOUT MOTHERS
Mother’s Day, 2007 Jay Davis Robison 1 KINGS 3:16-28
The things moms teach us
1. Mothers
These are not “Mother’s of the Year”
Mom, what ways do you come up short?
Principle:
2. Mothers
There is nothing as strong
National Geographic caught a mom in action
These women were
3. Mothers
The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne." Vs 21 TNIV
Oh my baby my baby
4. Mothers
Then the king said, "Bring me a sword." He then gave an order: "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other." The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved OUT OF LOVE for her son and said to the king, "Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!" Vs 24-26 TNIV
“There is no moral authority like that of sacrifice.”
South African Writer Nadine Gordimer
“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!” Rose Kennedy
