Honor Our Mothers

We've just heard about our Heavenly Father, and I would like to switch now to another thought. And that is simply today. I'm going to be talking about mothers, to all of us. And when I address this subject, please understand this is going to touch everybody, whether they are a mother or not, whether they be man or woman, because this is going to draw all of us into this incredible subject about motherhood.

Here we are on Mother's Day weekend, as we call it. It's become a very big event in America.

It is a very worthwhile event. Unfortunately, at times, it's become overly commercialized because, well, we are in America. But it does touch something very, very special. When we think about mothers and Mother's Day weekend, a lot of money is spent on this day. There's flowers, there's cards, there's gifts. And I think all of us realize that tomorrow will be the most trafficked day on the telephone because everybody's going to call their mother. This all acknowledges a reality of a very, very special relationship that I'd like to talk to all of us about today.

Mothers are unique, and most likely that they were the first face and perhaps the first voice that we heard, even when we didn't understand it, because we had just come out of this very long, dark canal into this world of light. And here was this woman that had given literally her physical awe, and but when she saw us, she forgot all of that pain that we men caused and gave birth to a new life. It's interesting, too, that when you think about all the great battles that have occurred on Earth, and all the warriors that have gone into the charge and perhaps have been mortally wounded, and even near death, that is very, very incredible that the last words and oftentimes the last conversations, because they just go back in their mind at that moment, as they're talking to their mother, or they call out for their mother. They know that if their father knew where they were, that they would find them on the battlefield. And as a man, you go out and you conquer and you search and you find, but that father is not coming. And so it is somewhere deep into that child in each one of us that calls out for that mother. That's why I would like to address this subject today to all of us. Join me if you would to Proverbs 14. Proverbs 14, and let's notice the Word of God regarding these ladies. In Proverbs 14, and let's pick up the thought if we could in verse 1. The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands.

It speaks of the woman of wisdom that builds her house. I like to develop that for a moment, and that is simply this, that in the truest sense, in that gender sense, if I can use that, the difference is between a man and a woman, and why God created woman out of the man's very bones and out of his very flesh. Men are builders by nature. That's what comes with the gender.

Men are builders. They build structures, but there's a difference between a house and a home, isn't there, folks? There's a real difference. Men build houses. Women, women develop homes.

Men are into lumber and nail and tile and comp shingle.

Women are into relationships. Both are needed, and that's why God created both man and woman.

When you think about it, motherhood is, in a sense, an incredible opportunity. It can also be a painful privilege when we think about it. I think of the example of young Mary, young Jewess, a lady of Nazareth. She had the unique privilege of being a mother to the very Son of God. And yet, when you think about Mary, all the pains and all the pleasures of motherhood were hers to be understood and are understood by mothers everywhere. Mary was the only human present at Jesus' birth who also witnessed his death. She saw him arrive as her baby son, and she watched him die as her Savior. In all of this, it reminds us we that are older, we that are parents, we that are family members of others, that there are many, many chapters in an image of Mary, and many doctors in anyone's life. But here's what I'd like to share with you. The words of Mary in Luke 1. Join me if you would there. In Luke 1, verse 38. Because this is what every mother and every parent has to basically come to when it comes to their little one that is going to be their life. In Luke 1, verse 38. After Gabriel had pronounced to her what would be her opportunity and privilege. Then Mary said, Behold, the maidservant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. The most important words out of all of this is like the old Beatles song out of the 60s. Let it be. And that is something that we as adults, as parents, have ultimately got to do with our young ones, no matter what comes along the way. Once that life is born, and we recognize that at times life is not, life comes at us for that which we have not planned for, that we have to have that confidence and put that little one into God's charge and our life into God's charge and say in faith and in confidence and in love towards our heavenly Father, Let it be. The lore and the rhyme of old that comes out of the scriptures that I think is so well scripted out of Fiddler on the Roof. And I think all of us remember that song that the mother sings, kind of a Jewish chant where they're singing and they're doing the song over the Sabbath candles. And the lady sings the song where it says, May you be like Ruth and like Esther.

I think that's familiar to all of us. Let's talk about this a little bit, ladies, if we can.

Gentlemen, listen in. Apply it to yourselves. Ruth and Esther, these are names that leap out of the Bible to us as women of faith. But here's something I want to share with you. These were not overnight wonders. These were not what we call starlets or top 40. And or later on, later on you say, what were their names? Who was that B actress or C actress back in the 40s and the black and white movies? They just didn't light up a marquee for a moment. These were ladies whose examples have stood the test of time, whose values were ageless and whose values are needed as now more than ever rather than yesteryear. Back then, back in Bible times, and these remain Bible times when you think about it because we still have God's holy word, these were individuals who taught their children and encouraged them to follow their example. And that was very, very important. I'd like to turn to an example here in 1 Peter 3. Join me if you would. Let's open up to the epistle of 1 Peter. I know we have been going through that, but let's look at 1 Peter 3 for a moment. A verse here in 1 Peter 3 and verse 3. Notice what the Bible says about ladies.

Do not let your adornment be merely outward, arranging the hair or wearing gold or putting on fine apparel. Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and a quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. It talks about an adornment which is not spoken about in today's world. You notice the magazines, the billboards, the bombardment of advertisements.

It's all about what women are wearing on the outside, what they're hanging on the outside rather than what they're wearing on their insides and what their hearts are ordained with and adorned with and what God intended all along. That's very challenging in today's society with this cultural just bombarding us and trying to saturate us to change the gender roles and the God-given roles of men and women. That it's all flash, exciting everybody to do this and to do that.

And isn't that beautiful? But we've always got to remember beauty is only skin deep, ugliness runs all the way to the bone. And the beauty that God is talking about is that which adorns our heart. Now, when you see this at first, you say, oh wow, you know, this is Sarah, she must have been like Jurassic Park and all this stuff about being submissive to Abraham and well, what is this? Like a caveman grabbing the woman by the hair and dragging her into the cave or what's going on here? But let's talk about Sarah for a moment. Sarah was a woman that was sought after. She was a tremendous woman in her own right. Pharaoh and Abimelech wanted her to be their queen. I would suggest at Sarah's age when she was moving from situation to situation between Pharaoh and Abimelech, she was not just a spring chicken. She was not in these men's eyes just simply a trophy. But what was inside of her, her inner core, those values, had to be very, very attractive to these men beyond just simply skin. It was her heart and what she was adorned with.

And yet, when you think about this, we often think about this, but to think about Sarah for a moment, to recognize that this woman was granted the privilege of raising one that was a type of Christ.

You think about that for a moment. That Sarah raised Isaac, and Isaac is literally one of the great typologies of the Old Testament. This son that, in a sense, was willing to be sacrificed by his father. And you don't have in this one scripture, boy, did they have a battle up there on the mountain and they were fighting and Isaac was trying to run away and his clothes were torn? No. It says that, you know, in that sense, he was a willing sacrifice.

Was that only Abraham, ladies and gentlemen? What was the impact of this woman upon Isaac?

But you say, but wait a minute. Hold on. Last time I looked at my husband, he's not necessarily the father of the faithful.

And we recognize that we live with human husbands. I'd like to share another story with you out of 2 Kings. Join me here for a moment, just reading through the scriptures today to encourage us about the values of God's kingdom. In 2 Kings 21, join me there for a moment. How many of you have ever heard of Jedada? Is that kind of a household word?

Thank you, Evelyn. There's always one. Always one in the crowd. Thank you, Evelyn.

But Jedada, let's go to 2 Kings 21. And let's pick up the thought in verse 19.

Ammon was 22 years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshulamath, the daughter of Heraz and Jadpab. And he did evil on the side of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. So he walked in all the ways that his father had walked, and he served the idols that his father had served, and worshipped them. He forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and did not walk in the ways of the Lord. And then the servants of Ammon conspired against him and killed the king in his own house. But the people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Ammon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place. Now the rest of the Acts of Ammon, which he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Azah.

Then Josiah, his son, reigned in his place. Now here's what I want to share with you. Notice chapter 22 verse 1. Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedadah, the daughter of Adiah of Bosecath. And notice now verse 2. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right hand and or to the left. I have a question for you as we bring forth these scriptures for your consideration. How could an eight-year-old boy begin to reign without the guidance of a wise and loving mother? Think about the difficulty which she must have had raising him, as it were, quote-unquote, in the church. And or let's use another phrase, in this way of life. Ammon, the father of Josiah, her husband, must have been quite antagonistic. But obviously, Jedadah was a woman who prized her role and wanted obedient, stable children. Imagine in the turmoil of court intrigues, she must have provided a refuge of peace and learning that allowed Josiah to absorb her influence rather than that of his father.

I think all of us know monkey see, monkey do. We know that children just look at us and soak in our examples, examples that also need to be laden with instruction. But she did that.

Why do I bring this to you, friends? The point is never underestimate the role of motherhood, what God can do and what God can do through you. And the one thing I want to share with you is, as mothers, grandmothers, and yes, mothers in the Lord, because I will be dealing with that subject before we're done, you don't always see the results day by day or month by month.

I'm going to read a letter to you, a personal letter that was written to me many years ago, but I will share that at the end. Motherhood is tough when you say let it be, because the first thing that is to be is dirty diapers, later dirty clothes, later things that might surprise you because that's not necessarily how you trained the young one.

And then if you have boys, it's those dirty jeans from climbing buildings, mountains, and everything else in between. Later on, there is this, and later on, there is that you will not always see the work that you put in day by day, but to know that if you have committed your little ones to the Lord, that He has a purpose for them, and that He will bless your work. That's the most important thing. Right now, our young daughter, Amy, she has little Mason, and the only thing is he's not little. He's two years old, and he is not little. You can ask the grandmother. He has a sweet spirit. He probably runs from Susan's side.

He has a sweet spirit, but he is gigantic, and he's exploring. And you know, at the end of the day, as you know so often, just with the physical energy, and the wear, and the tear that it takes to be a mother to hold this miracle in the making. You think it's a miracle, you give it to the Lord, but you're exhausted, or just the pulling on your skirt, or these days, sometimes the pulling on your pant leg, whatever it is, or pulling on your hair, or anything they grab, and we won't go into that. That, you know, you're just worn down, and worn out, and you go to bed, and you just want that minute of break, and that quiet time before you scream.

You need that time. You don't see it day by day. Join me if you would in 1st Peter 3, 1. 1st Peter 3 and verse 1. This is a scripture that really impacted me when I first came into the Long Beach Church back in 1963. Many women that were coming into the church at that time did not have member mates, and some of you that have been in the church later on, your husbands were not member mates, and you still had to do that, which is correct and right in the Lord.

Wives likewise be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives. And when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Again, do not let your adornment be merely outward arranging of the hair, or wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel.

Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and a quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God and also adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed the Lord, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are, if you do good and are not afraid with any terror. Sometimes the loudest sermon that we can preach is not our words, but our example. Notice what it says in 1 Peter 2, 15, for this is the will of God that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

I wonder if this is what Jedidah considered when she raised that little boy, Josiah, to become one of the good and one of the great kings of Israel. I'd like to read from Leroy Brownlow's book entitled Today is Mine. It's from May 9th. It's a journal that is dated.

It's called Mother's Work. A mother works and works, and the willingness with which she does, it is the chief contribution to a pleasant and a happy family. It has been said that the thrush goes to work at half-past two every morning during the summer and works until nine thirty at night, a straight nineteen hours during which it feeds its young over two hundred times. The blackbird works seventeen hours and feeds its little ones a hundred times a day. In the home, the energetic mother is up early and retires late.

Like the hard-working bird, she does it for those who are so precious to her. A man's work is done from son to son, but a mother's work is never done. Ladies and guys, that's why Mother's Day is the busiest phone day of the year. If you don't get it when you're young, you don't get it when you're a teenager, hopefully wisdom sets in and you honor that parent as you grow older.

In this age of expanding opportunities for women, we cannot lose sight of the God-given roles for women and that satisfaction which comes from them. God intended our ladies to be nurturers and to touch that next generation.

I'd like to just read a few psalms and let God do the talking here. Join me if you would in Psalms 127 and verse 3. Psalms 127 and verse 3. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is a reward. And thus we see that children are not the end result of evolution, but that they are a gift from God. I want you to think about that.

And as we move into this subject, there's something that I want to mention to you here.

And it's always very, very important to understand what I'm speaking to is, again, not just simply those that are biologically mothers. Here's something I want to share with all of you. Please hear me. This may be the most important part of this message. Being a mother is biological. Being a mom and mothering is an action that moves beyond the womb.

I want to share something with you. I love Luke 18. I'll go to other scriptures here in a moment.

In Luke 18. And join me if you would in verse 28.

This is about Peter when he was going to, again, follow Christ with all of his being and was wondering where he might go. He said, Peter said, Since we have left all and followed you, so he said to them, Assuredly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parent or brother or wife or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time and in the age to come eternal life. Yes, we may be born to a mother and or we may not even be a biological mother, but that does not exclude us from being a mom of mothering, of nurturing, of developing those relationships. We realize that even sometimes people have walked into this way of life and perhaps their family has not been overly excited about this way of life and all of a sudden they're devoid of their parents and they're looking for family. They're looking for this Christian family of fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters.

And if you notice what it says here in this verse, which is very interesting, that many times over that we will not just simply receive parents, but that we will receive children.

Allow me to take you to another verse. Join me if you would in Psalm 68. Psalm 68. Psalm 68. In Psalm 68 verse 6, notice what it says, God sets the solitary in families.

He brings out those who are bound into prosperity.

There are times when people come into this way of life and they need encouragement, they need nurturing, they need mentoring, and God will take that single person and put them into a family. So you see, this message involves everybody as we deal with the present and we touch the future. Join me if you would for a moment in 2 Timothy 1.5.

In 2 Timothy 1 and verse 5, again showing the importance of our ladies as they touch the future and what God can wrought through them. I'm giving you this message. I hope it is a message of encouragement to all of our ladies and gentlemen that we truly validate what God is doing with our ladies. In 2 Timothy 1 verse 5, this is Paul speaking. He says, When I called remembrance, the genuine faith that is in you, speaking of Timothy, which dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother, Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore, I remind you to stir up that gift of God, which is in you by the laying on of hands. But where did that come from? Join me if you would in verse chapter 3 verse 15. Chapter 3 verse 15. Let's notice what it says here.

Actually, 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3 verse 15. 2 Timothy 3 verse 15. Speaking again of Timothy, And from childhood you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Who taught Timothy those scriptures? Just remember, Timothy was part Gentile and part Jew. He had not been circumcised. The father was a Gentile. It was his mother that was a woman that was in the Word. It was his grandmother that was a woman in the Word being Jewish and having the scriptures of the Old Testament. That steady, slow, deliberate, stable, pouring out, not preaching, but pouring out in proper measure the Word of God. Very much in what we call the Jewish way of teaching them when you're in the way. That when the matter would come up, that you would give them an answer from the scripture. Not a long answer. Are you with me? Not a long answer. Not as long as Mr. Weber's sermons. But that you would give them the appropriate answer and in the appropriate way. And not only tell them what, but also to share why we do what we do. Very important.

Join me if you would in 1 Timothy 5. In 1 Timothy 5, we have an opportunity to touch the future, whether we be biological mothers or spiritual mothers that are good at mothering. You know, sometimes, you know, Susan and I, when we were raising our girls, this is self-disclosure. Sometimes we just did not necessarily have the proper gifts for dealing with different of our children. There might have been, not that we didn't love them, that they didn't love us, but at times, we could sometimes see the need that it'd be nice to turn them over to an aunt or turn them over to an uncle. Turn them over to, not turn them over our knee, but turn them over, well, no. Anyway, to have additional guidance, additional molding that might not just simply had been in us. And so that all of us can responsibly have this impact upon the next generation. Notice what it says in 1 Timothy 5 and verse 9.

It says, Do not let a widow under 60 years old be taken into the number. This is talking about taking care of people by the church. And not unless she has been the wife of one man, well-reported for good works. If she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saint's feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work.

These are values that are to be developed in our ladies and in our mothers and those that are mothering to the next generation. Today, I'm afraid that a lot of the values that are being passed down are dealing with just simply how fast can you text? How quickly can you learn the next technology? This is not to diminish technology, but to understand the balance. And or how can you pluck your eyebrows? We have three daughters, so I've been around women, let me tell you. So, anyway, how you can do this and five granddaughters. And how do you do this and how do you do that? It's all about how you can do that, which is on the outside of the person, which at the end of the day is beginning to become old, gray, and wrinkled, and depart this earth. What are the values that are long-lasting? I'd like to read from Barkley for a moment.

Barkley, the commentator, has a message on this. Please just allow me to read it briefly for you.

The pastoral epistles are always intensely practical, and in this passage we find seven qualifications which the church widows must satisfy. It's not just simply being a widow. This is womanhood. This is Christianity within a lady. They must have been the wife of one husband in an age when the marriage bond was lightly regarded and almost universally dishonored. They must be examples of purity and fidelity. They must have earned an attested reputation for good works. The office bearers of the church, male or female, have within their keeping not only their personal reputation but also the good name of the church. Nothing discredits a church like unworthy office bearers, and nothing is so good an advertisement for it as an office bearer who has taken his Christianity into the activity of daily living. It says they must have nourished children.

This may well mean more than one thing. It may mean that widows must have given proof of their Christian piety by bringing up their own families in a Christian way. But it can mean more than that. In an age when the marriage bond was very lax and men and women changed their partners with bewildering rapidity, children regarded as a misfortune. This was the great age of child exposure. When a child was born, he was brought and laid before his father's feet. If the father stooped and lifted him, that meant he acknowledged him and was prepared to accept responsibility for the upbringing. If the father turned away and walked away, the child was quite literally thrown out like an unwanted piece of rubbish. Doesn't that sound interesting today when you consider, are you with me, abortion?

It often happened that such unwanted children were collected by unscrupulous people, and if girls brought up to stalk the public brothels, and if boys trained to be slaves or gladiators for the public games, it would be a Christian duty to rescue such children from death and worse than death to bring them up in a Christian home. In other words, today we talk about rescue centers for dogs and for cats. The Christians of old were rescue centers for children that were not wanted. Those that had an arm made in the literal image of God.

So this may mean that widows must be women who had been prepared to give a home to abandoned children. They must be hospitable to strangers. Ends in that ancient world were notoriously dirty, expensive, and yes, immoral. Those who opened their homes to the traveler or the stranger in a strange place or to young people whose work and study took them far from home were doing a most valuable service to the community. The open door of the Christian home is always a precious thing. They must have washed the feet of the saints. That need not to be taken literally, although the little sense is also included. To wash a person's feet was the task of a slave. They must also help those that were in trouble. In days of persecution, it was no small thing to help Christians who were suffering for their faith. This was to identify oneself with them and to accept the risk of coming to a like punishment. They must have devoted themselves to all good works. Every man concentrates his life on something. The Christian concentrates his on obeying Christ and helping men.

These are not the values of putting earrings on or something in your hair or the latest fashion. Ladies, this is something that you have done all of your lives moment by moment when it's convenient and inconvenient. When you want to drop dead after a long day of work, and yet your child is there for you. In this age of the microchip, character is still learned heart to heart. I want you to think about that for a moment. In this day of the microchip, character and values and love are not learned from a mainframe. That's why it's very interesting. If you'll join me in Proverbs 31.

Proverbs 31. Let's pick up the thought in verse 28. Proverbs 31 is interesting in that it's oftentimes called the chapter about the virtuous woman. You look at this and sometimes ladies can see this list and or they can hear a man give this list in the sermon and they go, oh boy, that sure ain't me. It's not how I'm feeling today.

And yet really what Lemuel is doing is it's a composite thought of everything that his mother has contributed over a lifetime. Maybe not minute by minute, not maybe even hour by hour. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes really just like the Bible tells you to do.

And sometimes just the energy that you had to do it. And so there's this reflection of the virtuous woman. But notice what it says in Proverbs 31 verse 28. Her children rise up and call her blessed and her husband also and he praises her. How important is it to be a mother or to have the gift of mothering in a spiritual sense? I really ask you ladies to contemplate that. You know, recently we have been as a church developing and looking at the Bible as what it talks about in the matter of gifts. The matter of gifts. And also in the matter that every part of the body contribute that which it has as it is led by the Holy Spirit that all might be towards God's praise and God's glory. What our children and what our grandchildren and what our great-grandchildren need. I don't think I need to go any further at this point because Joe's only 39.

Is to understand this. What our children need more than ever in this next generation is what you have to give. Again, I'd like to share from Brown Low as I begin to conclude another entry out of May 10th which followed May 9th. Mother's rocking chair. I think I put this in this month's bulletin. Mother's rocking chair. Let me tell you about an old chair that symbolizes greatness in child training. It was mother's rocking chair. It had to have rockers because she had so many cares and troubles to soothe. There the children sobbed out their hearts and worries. Their advice was given. Their character was developed. Their nobler aspirations were born. Their sympathy was extended. Their assurance held sway. Their sleep was more inviting than in bed.

It was a combination of nursery pulpit, classroom, lecture hall, library, and study room. Whatever it was, we desperately need that today. Squeak and all. I always like to find those squeaks, didn't you?

To find the squeaks. For even the squeak was music. Music to the heart.

Mothers are to always be there. Ladies, that's your assignment from God. You are precious and you are wonderful, and I just want to honor you before God. And the honor that is mentioned by the Scripture and the responsibility, I know it doesn't come easy. I want to share with you, it's very interesting that, what does it say in Revelation 14, 12? About those that keep the commandments and have the faith of Jesus. I know sometimes we look at that as far as in tribulation or in a future time, but you know one of the most important commandments to keep is the fifth commandment. If you would join me in Exodus 20, verse 12, let's just take a look here for a moment. Exodus 20, verse 12, notice what it says. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. That's not just simply when you're 15, that's not just simply when you're 18, that we as children, whether we're young or old, whether we're adult, whether we're grandfathers and grandmothers ourselves, and there's a generation before us, we are to honor our parents. Very interesting if you look at Proverbs 23, 22.

Notice what it says here. Proverbs 23, verse 22.

Listen to your father who begot you and do not despise your mother when she is old. This is practical Christianity. This is not about prophetic timetables. This is not about apocalyptic words. This is about what we are to do. Christianity 101. We are to honor our parents, not merely on a day, not merely tomorrow, to get the card, to make the phone call, but to be there those many, many tomorrows. Life has a way of going in circles.

When we were young, our parents taught us how to talk and what to remember and would diaper us.

Life is a circle because our parents get older. Sometimes we have to remind them how to talk.

When they get older, at times we have to diaper them. At times we have to return all that love and all that concern when they no longer even necessarily understand love or concern, but they understand that presence. And that is very, very important to do. That is a tough part of life, but it's a joy in life. It's a chapter that allows you and me to become complete in Christ.

John 19 verse 25. Remember what I told you earlier about this way of life? That sometimes God sets the single person into a family. And that is Jesus said that you will have fathers and mothers that you do not know and children that you are not aware of. This is not a biological matter. This is a spiritual matter to where all of us can either learn fathering or learn mothering. And notice what Jesus did at the end of his life as he's stuck on a cross, nailed to a tree, as it were. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. And when Jesus therefore saw his mother and this disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, remember what? As the one that in that sense was the God of the Old Testament, the Word. When he said to honor your mother and the one that inspired the Proverbs when he said do not despise your mother when she is old. Notice what he says here. He says, he saw his mom, he saw this disciple whom he loved, which is John, standing by. And he said to his mother, woman, behold your son. Before he died, he took the responsibility to take care of his mom.

And then he said to the disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. That is incredible. A mother and a child have a bond that never ends.

Here we find a mother loving her child and child honoring his mother. This is how to be Christlike.

I'd like to conclude with a thought by Emerson that will introduce a letter that I'd like to read to all of you. There is no such thing as a self-made man. To a rightful degree, men are what their mothers made them. I'd like to read a letter to you.

And Susan just recently discovered this letter. Sometimes it's good not to throw everything away.

And sometimes it is good to have a collector in the family.

And I had not seen this letter for nearly 40 years from the time when I graduated from Ambassador College in 1973. It's one of those letters that you write when your son or your daughter are graduating from high school or college. I'd like to share a letter that my own mother, Thomasine Weber, and all of you here in Redlands know her.

Talk about touching the future. And this letter was not just written in 10 minutes. This is what I'm going to talk about Susie's mom. And I know all of you could talk about your mom, but we'd be here till the sun goes down. And I've got the microphone. But that this was not just a letter written in five minutes. This was a letter that had been written over 22 years that was inscribed in my heart. The values and the principles that my own mother, Thomasine Weber, instilled in my heart. I'd like you to hear the words and recognize that you are. Please understand. I only encourage you to even be more with your own children or grandchildren.

She wrote this card on your graduation. It says, Climb high, climb far, your goal in the sky, your aim the star. You know, we always like to pick out cards that have kind of nice little words.

But as those personal words that are always important. This is 1973. Dearest son, congratulations. The final chapter of your school life has finished and a new chapter just beginning.

Walk carefully. Remember your lessons well. Welcome responsibility and leadership, for you have been trained well, both at home and school. Always use these tools to be a help to others, to guide and to comfort. Give of yourself strength and knowledge. Don't hold back.

Never compromise your principles. And when in doubt, turn to our Father in heaven. He will never forsake you, nor deny you the help you need. Keep His laws always, and trust in His promises. Hold fast and endure to the end. Your Father and I have given you all that we can and taught you all that we know. Now you are on your own. And this is always nice, and this is why a parent is always there. Our love and prayers are with you, always, mother and dad. I was reading through this this morning. Maybe I've described or described this to you before that, as you all know, when you were all my mom's friends, my mom at the end had Alzheimer's. My mother did not really even know me, knew my presence, knew I was somebody special. I told her I was your banker, and her pastor and her friend. But there, Susan and I were talking about this the other day. And it's just incredible that even though she did not know anybody, what she said here about her Heavenly Father, she never forgot her Heavenly Father.

I think I told you about an incident or two that sometimes when I took her at the end to the facility where I had to drop her off, and it had to be a kind of a quick drop off for certain reasons. And I'd go to the door of the facility, and just in those five or ten seconds, which when you have Alzheimer's can seem like a lifetime, she was like a little child lost in a boat at sea in that car. I had the door open, but that doesn't mean anything when you have Alzheimer's. And I would look back, and her head would be up to the sky, and she would just be talking about Heavenly Father. Never forgot. Forgot everybody including her son on earth, and her husband, who she thought was another son, but she never forgot her Heavenly Father. See, ladies? I'm doing better right now.

Those are those small, dynamic, incredible lessons that we impress on our children from birth to high school to college, that we educate and we put so far down deep into our child's heart that nothing that comes along can take that away. Susan's mom died two years ago, and I know a lot of it, especially in the baby boom generation, a lot of our mothers are dying, or our parents are dying.

Susan's mother was an incredible lady, and I had just the best mother-in-law in the world.

And at her funeral back in Ohio, different people got up different ways, the kids, Susan's brother, or others. And the one thing that was always brought out about Shirley Leimbach was, if you needed God's attention, you called on that woman to pray for you, that she was a prayer warrior, that her first instinct and her first reflex. You know that old line where we say, if it's big enough to worry about, it's big enough to pray about? It's a nice line. You hear it in sermons, but sometimes how often do we do it?

And with Shirley Leimbach, it was prayer. Many, many years ago, Susan was about 25 or 26, or her grandfather died. And they had gotten the family together. We were out in California, and they were going to do one of those two-nighters to get back to Ohio for the funeral that was going to be there for her mom's dad. And they had all gotten into the car, and they were all ready to go. Gas was in the car, enough clothes were in the car, and you know, all the packing was done, but there was something where it was not quite tight enough to go yet. And Susan just said, well, wait a minute. Oh, well, well, well, wait a minute. Because the car was crowded, you know, you're kind of ready to roll down the windows and get to going. And she said, we haven't done something. We haven't prayed. You can do all the right things, but not the best thing. And that's to pray. All goes back to childhood. Mothers, do you hear me? Those that want a mother continue to mother hear me? Fathers hear me? We touch the future by what we do today. And so, ladies, I honor you today for your labor of love down through these many years. You are a special part of God's creation. And that's why tomorrow, if your mother is alive, honor her, love her, and call her. And for the rest of us who are marvelous on this day, let us remember that there's a living legacy that lives well deep inside of us to pass on to the next generation.