MOTHER’S DAY MESSAGE
“The World’s Worst Mother”
May 8, 2005
Pastor Brian Matherlee
Exodus 2:1-10
1 Kings 3:16-28
Everyone always seems to give the men a hard time on Father’s Day and sweeten all the ladies up on Mother’s Day. Now, don’t get me wrong, mom’s sure carry the heaviest load for the most part in parenting and deserve a day to be honored. But if Mother’s Day is the only day you honor your mother, shame on you!
Today, I have some pictures of candidates for the title of “World’s Worst Mother”. Somewhere, someone has the worst mother.
Picture #1 is “Mommie Dearest”-Faye Dunaway starred as troubled actress/mother Joan Crawford.
Picture #2 is a cartoon grandmother waving a cane saying, “You deserve a spanking”.
Picture #3 is a woman contorting her face. What kind of mother could she possibly be?
What would the world’s worst mother look like?
***elaborate***
I have a picture at the end of the world’s worst mother.
The Bible has much to say about parenting in general and mothers in particular. Moms are spoken about 255 times in the Scripture. There are positive references and negative references. The vast majority of the references give us a picture of the two main responsibilities of a mother.
The first principle role of a mother
is to raise their children
• The Bible says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6
• How do we train them?
• “But set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”--1 Timothy 4:12b (NIV)
• The Message translation puts it this way, “Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching. And that special gift of ministry you were given when the leaders of the church laid their hands on you and prayed—keep that dusted off and in use.”
o By word
o By demeanor
o By love
o By faith
o By integrity
o Teaching
1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."
2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."
3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
4. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident."
5. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."
6. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"
7. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
"You’ll sit there until all that spinach is gone."
8 My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I told you once, I’ve told you a million times. Don’t exaggerate!"
9. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home."
10. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
"If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way."
11. My mother taught me ESP.
"Put your sweater on; don’t you think I know when you are cold?"
12. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"
13.My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
"One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you
o Using gifts
The second principle role of a mother
is to release
In Exodus 2-10 we come close to finding the world’s worst mother. (Read passage)
What kind of mother puts their kid in the river? What kind of mother lets a pagan woman raise her kid?
Moses’ mother, that’s who.
Why did she do this?
• Look at chapter 1.
• Pharoah had commanded all the boy babies of Jews to be killed by midwives. The midwives refused so Pharoah told the people of Egypt to throw the Jewish baby boys into the Nile!
How could she do this? How could she release Moses?
1. She trusted God
2. She understood her role
a. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother”.
b. We work our kid’s entire life to ensure that they can fly well. Because they will fly!
Moses’ mother was one of the world’s worst not because she dumped him in the river and let a pagan woman raise him.
She was one of the worst because...
The world’s worst mother is the one who does whatever it takes to see the will of God accomplished in her children!
But that is Heaven’s kind of mother.
The last picture I have is of the worst mother I knew. She was my mother. She raised me to know Christ and, even though it was difficult, let me follow God’s plan and purpose for my life.
Moms—I want to pray for you today that you will trust God to help you raise and release your children. It’s the only way God would have it.
