05/14 - What Was Promised

What Was Promised

Ephesians 6:1-3

                                                    

Ways It Should, and Shouldn't, Be:

Ø       Last Night with the a Family...

• A little boy with (thankfully) a simple break (in two places!)
• A young mother being a very good Mom (now with two in slings!)
• Exactly how is should be!

Ø       This past week with a friend (who just turned 50)

• ...who shared her history of abuse and a mother who even now tells her she is a horrible disappointment
• Exactly the way is should NOT be!

Ø       Every mother a broken bearer of God's image

• Thankfully, more of us have had the former experience...
• Even with the occasional frustration (like maybe her being a tad overprotective), most of us have been blessed with Moms who have always, even during times of disagreements, shown us unconditional love
• For those who haven't, it is my prayer that you find joy in those "adopted mothers" that God has placed in your life.
• For moms here today, especially the new ones, may God bless as you perform the most challenging, rewarding task in life...
  
  

Promises, Blessings, and Rewards

Ø       "The first commandment with a promise"

• How do we understand Bible promises?
• "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it." Prov 22:6(NIV)
• We know this does not take away their freedom to choose, but we also know that all things being equal, a good start makes a BIG difference!
• Eph 6:3 "If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”"
• Commandment #5: “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you." Exodus 20:12 (NLT)
• If things are the "way they should be," then if you receive what you are given, you'll have a better life.Honoring doesn't always mean agreeing!  It means being respectful and not dismissing Mom (& Dad) as "stick-in-the-muds."

            *Remember the old joke about how when you were 16 your Mom and Dad were idiots, but by 25 you were amazed at how smart they had become?

• This is actually the basis for honoring traditions:

            *Parents hand down to you (hopefully) the best parts of their experiences and wisdom; their parents did the same for them, and so on.  With each generation knowledge is refined and updated in a gradual way, and the "baby isn't thrown out with the bath water"

            *Unless you have a "cultural revolution" like most of the major civilizations did in the previous century. Then the baby goes flying! (Ex: Scientists have recently found that baby boys and baby girls are different!)

Ø       Moms, you have reason to be confident in what you pass on!

• Yes, the world is changing... but people haven't changed!
• Yes, there are many new ways of doing things, but I'm glad my wife & I know some old ways (hobby farm upon retirement!!)
• Yes, there are more options for life and faith brought to us than ever before, but that has always been the case; never doubt the value of the faith you pass on, or at the least never doubt the necessity of proving by example that a life without faith and meaning is impoverished:
• Recently on Facebook:  ...On the one extreme you have heavy-handed indoctrination where the child never learns to think for themselves and winds up shackled to whatever authority figure they latch on to. On the other extreme is abdication, where those questions that are (generally agreed upon to be) the most important in life are treated as unimportant, and the child drifts through a superficial, un-examined life...  Hopefully my kids (yes, the "preacher's kids") know the following: questions of faith and the meaning of life are of the utmost importance for building one's life, Mom and Dad found answers to these questions and purpose in life through their (Christian) faith, they (our kids) have a responsibility to reflect on life and its meaning for themselves, and if their answers are different from ours we will not "disown" them.
  
  

And so, Mothers, Grandmothers, and those who stand in their stead...

Ø       We thank you, for your love, support, sharing, and caring...

Ø       We honor you for shaping the generations to come and passing down what you learned

Ø       We pray for you, for it is an awesome, overwhelming responsibility

Ø       We praise God for you, for in you we have received God's love