Life-Giver - "Through a Mother"

LIFE GIVER

GOD’S SPIRIT IN MAN

Sermon #3 “Through A Mother”

Being thankful to God involves being thankful for the people in our lives. It is through people that God had shaped who we are. It is obvious that you would not exist without your mother. Moms are indeed used by God to be life-givers. In so many ways God uses Moms to bring life.

When I was a child, my Mom was my biggest and may I say by far my loudest fan. Perhaps the loudest I ever heard my mom laugh was when I gave her a ride through the desert in my Baja Bug. I have many funny memories of my mom included when she caught the newspaper on fire in a restaurant but what I miss most about my mom are the conversations that I had with her as an adult. My mom held much of herself inside but occasionally some of that would slip by her guard and I could see into her heart. She had a deep love for God that many times was shadowed by deep pain. When she passed away I viewed it as her complete healing.  

We all have stories that we can tell about our moms. Times when they filled us with joy and other times when we felt disconnected and misunderstood. Maybe you could not imagine a more perfect mom, or maybe your mom struggled to be what you needed. On the other hand, maybe the mom here today need a reminder of your precious role. Whatever the case, this message focuses on the practical roles of the Holy Spirit that are fulfilled through moms. 

In Luke 13:34, Jesus speaks of Himself as a hen who gathers her brood under her wings. If Jesus speaks of Himself in that way, I think I am safe to speak about the parallels of the Holy Spirit and Mothers. After all, mothers are in so many ways life-givers. Many of the practical roles of the Holy Spirit are fulfilled through our Mothers.  Please read John 14:15-27 and consider the listed parallels between the Holy Spirit and the role of mothers as life-givers.

15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?" 23 Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. 25 "These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

1. Moms are our forever helpers. V.16

2. Moms don’t leave their children as orphans. V.18

3. Moms teach. V. 26

4. Moms remind. V.26

5. Moms are our peace providers. V.27

6. Moms still our troubled hearts and calm our fears. V.27

7. Love is shown through obedience to Gods commands.

With this list, there come the challenge for each one of us to accept the imperfections of our mothers. If your mother is living please take time to express your unconditional love. If you mother has passed away, then take this opportunity to express thanks to God for the good of your mother and release her imperfections allowing God to heal your heart and mind.            

Finally, as we seek to minister to one another as a Christian community may we need to help fill in each other’s blind spots. This type of ministry is to be done through caring relationships, and not a spirit of judgement. This also requires us to be open to the idea that each one of us need the perspective of the other. A Christian community is vast in its experience and knowledge concerning our relational roles. May the Lord bless all mothers for they are indeed life-givers.