WILL THE REAL MOM PLEASE STAND UP?
1 Kgs. 3:16-28
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. We all know what today is! It’s the Special day to Celebrate all our Mothers! That’s why Mother’s Day is the 3rd most celebrated holiday, just after Christmas and Easter.
2. If we’re not mothers, we still all have had mothers, so we can appreciate the special place they hold in our lives.
3. Being a mother isn’t easy. One said, “It’s not easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it.”
4. Mothers never stop being mothers, even when their children are grown. One son said, “During one of my visits to my parent’s house, my mother made blitzes (a pancake rolled up with sour cream inside). After a while, she said, ‘Bob, why don’t you have a couple more blitzes.’ He answered, ‘No, I’m stuffed; I’ve already had 8 of them.’ She said, ‘Actually you’ve had 11, but who’s counting?’”
5. This morning we’re going to read about 2 mothers locked in an unusual situation, and how God brought a solution to them.
B. TEXT
1. 16 Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me. 18 The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us. 19 “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. 20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. 21 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.” 22 The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.” But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king. 24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. 25 He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.” 26 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!” But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!” 27 Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.” 28 When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.
C. THESIS
1. Solomon was asked by God what gift would he like and he had asked for wisdom. Solomon used his wisdom of the MATERNAL INSTINCT; that if the infant were put at risk, the real mother would become evident.
2. God says, “Will the Real Moms Stand Up?” and be great mothers. WHAT LESSONS CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS STORY?
I. THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A PERFECT MOTHER
A. MOTHERS ARE TOO HARD ON THEMSELVES
1. I don’t say this to drag mothers down, but to lift them up. No one needs to be treated with more tenderness than our Mothers. Sometimes, we are too hard on them; other times they are too hard on themselves.
2. Dennis the Menace once vocalized the haunting thought of mothers when he yelled from his time-out chair; “If you’re raising me right, how come I get into so much trouble?”
3. Why is it that sometimes, Godly Christian’s kids don’t serve the Lord, and go from one tragedy to another? Many Christian parents have felt like failures or felt like God has let them down. “Other’s kids didn’t go bad.”
4. THERE’S AT LEAST 3 THINGS TO REMEMBER:
a. God knew we wouldn’t be perfect parents; there is enough room for us to make mistakes.
b. Second – Kids can make their own mistakes. Many godly people in the Bible had ungodly kids – Moses, Samuel, Eli, etc. But this didn’t mean they hadn’t done a good job. Some are compliant and others are strong-willed (so we can’t judge).
c. Thirdly God will be faithful to His promise to save your House. God’s Word says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household” Acts 16:31. You may never see it; your kids may be saved on their death-beds. But God is faithful in His timing.
5. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” Prov. 22:6.
B. GOD LOVES IMPERFECT MOMS
1. These two moms were prostitutes. Their babies were probably produced in sin. The question is, “Why would Solomon, king of all Israel, be concerned about these two women?
2. Because God was concerned about them. Despite their imperfections, God loved them. The same is true of you, Mom. Despite your perceived imperfections, God loves you!
3. It’s the grace of Christ that makes us acceptable to God, not our own goodness. Smile, Moms! God loves you. The second lesson from the story is…
II. GOD HAS ANSWERS FOR A MOTHER’S PROBLEMS
A. PLENTY OF PROBLEMS
1. Don’t look for a stress-free motherhood; it doesn’t exist. From giving birth, to raising teenagers, to grand children – motherhood is stressful.
2. On mother was asked, “If you had to do it all over again, would you have children?” She responded, “Yes, but not the same ones.”
3. One of the mothers in this story had a terrible problem – her friend was trying to take her baby.
B. GOD SUPPLIES THE ANSWERS
1. Whatever your problem is, God wants to help you with it. God gave wisdom to Solomon to restore this baby to its rightful mother.
2. All kinds of mom’s need help today – single moms, adoptive moms, spiritual moms, step moms, moms with special circumstances.
3. Kids today have special needs. That’s ok. God can give you wisdom to reach them for Christ. The 3rd lesson of this story…
III. THERE’S NOTHING LIKE A MOTHER’S LOVE
A. THEIR SACRIFICIAL NATURE
1. Solomon knew the intensity of a mother’s love and counted on its selfless motive to determine who the real mother was.
2. The real mother would care more about the welfare of her child than for her own happiness. If her child was in danger, the real mother would sacrifice everything to save it.
3. ILLUSTRATION.
a. Police don’t know where Deborah Kemp found the strength, but she knows. Her six year old daughter Ashley was in the backseat while she was gassing up her car.
b. Just as she finished, a man jumped in the driver’s seat, started the car and drove away. The 34 year-old mother was dragged on her knees for several blocks as she clung to the door and steering wheel of the moving car.
c. “I wasn’t trying to be a hero,” she said. “I was concerned about my baby…that was part of me in that car.” Kemp eventually pulled the suspect from the car and beat him with an anti-theft device while he apologized and begged her to stop.
d. The driverless car went out of control and smashed into a restaurant breaking a gas line. That’s when the child woke up.
e. Kemp suffered only ripped pants and bloody knees. The child was not injured. The suspect couldn’t walk; one leg was broken and the other fractured, and he had head injuries.
B. A MOTHER’S GIVING NEVER STOPS
1. At the age of 32 Rebekah began chemotherapy for breast cancer. She gave the cancer a gallant fight for 18 months, but it was a losing battle.
2. Realizing she would not see her 3 young daughters grow up, Rebekah decided to make tape recordings to be played on special occasions.
3. She made an audio tape for their first day at school, sixteenth birthday, first date, baptism, wedding, etc. She told them she was going to live with God, so she was leaving with Daddy recordings they could listen to when they grew older.
4. Rebekah seemed satisfied until the end, when she realized she had left one recording unmade. “This is my most important recording,” she told her closest friend.
5. “Ruthie, Hannah, and Molly, some day your Daddy will bring a new Mommy home. I want you to make her feel very special, and how proud you will make me feel if you are kind, patient, and encouraging to her. Please bring her dandelions to put in the special vase, and most important, hug her often. Please don’t be sad for long. Jesus cried…He knows how sad you are and He knows you will be happy again. I love you so much, Hannah, Ruthie, and Molly. Big hugs, You First Mommy.”
6. Rebekah died two days later. Four years after her death, her husband remarried, and those three girls listened to a tape
that defines the depths of a mother’s love. [McHenry’s Stories, #761.]
CONCLUSION
A. WE WANT TO HONOR ALL MOTHERS TODAY
1. Those that have passed on and those we still have with us.
2. We want all of our Moms to stand – including substitute moms, adoptive moms, step moms, etc.
3. Let’s ‘give it up’ for all these Moms! Let’s PRAY for them that God would make them the BEST Moms that they can be – and HEAL any broken hearts.
B. THE CALL
1. The greatest thing any of us children could do for our Moms is to give our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. No Mom wants her child to miss heaven.
2. Just like the Mom in the Bible story, Moms want their kids saved from (spiritual) death.
3. Raise your hands if you need to make your relationship right with God. PRAYER.
4. We’re having a Water Baptism service on Sunday A.M., May 26. If you’ve been saved, then you need to be baptized. Come meet me up here at the front after we dismiss today.
5. Mothers, don’t forget to bring your kids tonight at 6 P.M. for the Kid’s Crusade, with 2Talk42 Puppets, Skits, Bible stories and fun with Brian & Vicki Cockerham.
6. Don’t forget your chocolate covered strawberries on the way out and take a picture at the photo-booth! Happy Mother’s Day!
[This message is a rewrite of Brian Atwood’s message of the same name.]
