Pursue What Is Good

1 Thessalonians 5:12-15.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Mother's Day Sunday, May 7, 2023.

Believers are instructed in a multitude of ways to do what is right and good, but as the Lord defines, not as we define it.  Therein is the rub.  Many people think that they are doing what is right, but they are not using the mind of Christ.  Instead, they have a different way of thinking, a different "wisdom."

Today, we have become so messed up on what is good that some in our government think that it is good to subvert the duty of parents to raise their kids, and seek to scam them into things like transgender surgeries.

It has never been easy to be a girl who is facing the reality of becoming a woman, or a boy who is facing the reality of becoming a man.  However, this is far more perilous in a society that is losing its moorings on the shores of truth.  Such young people need to be encouraged to have faith and trust God in this transition because God has good things for them that happen precisely because it is tough.  In fact, we should recognize that it is a kind of signature of God to create things in such a way that we will need to give ourselves to a it with a faith in Him.  It is not a blind leap of faith, but it is faith nonetheless.  I walk forward bravely trusting that God will use the hard situations in order to lead me to good things.

We can be frozen by fear.  Of course, no one stands still in life physically.  You will become a woman, but you can be stuck at the emotional level of a child in an adult body.  This tragedy is all too common, but it is not what God has planned for us.

Let's look at our passage.

Honor Mothers (v. 12-13)

Paul is writing to the Thessalonians, and he is not so much writing about mothers as he is writing about those who perform functions within the greater body of the Church of Jesus.

I want to remind us of the 5th Commandment in Exodus 20.  "Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you."

I will note two things about this command.  First, the command is addressed to the individual "you."  God is speaking directly to us as individuals and not just to society.  It is not "society's job" to honor mothers.  It is mine.  Yes, if we have a whole society of individuals who are honoring mothers, then we will see that society reflecting that honor.  This doesn't change my primary point.

The second thing is that the Hebrew word for "honor" has the sense of weight and even value. Now, value for things in this life is transitory.  However, it is often the blurred lines between price and value that cause the trouble.  Price is what I am willing to pay for something.  Value is the thing that is obtained.  No price is too high to pay for something that has great value (proverbs 31).  Thus, we need to recognize that moms (parents) have a heavy, valuable, place in our life.  Being a mom, and doing the things that moms do, is an important, heavy thing in our society, more important that any job you can do for our corporations today. 

Our society has done a great disservice to this Republic by treating moms as if they are nothing.  If we really understood just how incredibly heavy, important, and valuable being a mom was no one would want to do it.  This is similar to the way Jesus talks about how important fidelity in marriage is in Matthew 19:8-10.  The disciples respond that “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”  We tend to treat the heavy things of God lightly.  We do so at our own harm, and to the detriment of others.

There is so much dysfunction in our homes these days that it requires us to deal with the question.  What does it mean to honor a mom who doesn't deserve it?  Many have been hurt by parents, and only respond to God's call to honor parents with more hurt.  I do believe that we are meant to wrestle with this.  Just as a parent of an undisciplined adult-child wrestles with what it means to love in the current situation, so too an adult child has to wrestle with what it means to honor in the case of a parent who has been absent, or hurtful.  The honest wrestling before God helps us to become something better than we would have.  In fact, it helps us to become more like God.  The key is not to cast off the value or importance of what they were and are in your life.  You can't pretend they don't exist (i.e., act as if they are nothing) because they do exist.  Your heart and mind know that God wanted something better from them in their dealings with you.  Instead of walling them off with pretense, wrestle with doing what is right as God defines it.  Care for them in their declining years even if they failed to care for you in even minimal ways during your childhood.  By doing so, you witness to them of God's righteousness, and His offer of forgiveness and salvation for those who repent.  Ask God to help you to love them even though they are not lovely.  Ask God to help you to care for them even when they do not care.

In Thessalonians 5, Paul most likely is thinking of Church leaders, but he keeps the wording purposefully general.  Moms fit this category of "those who labor" among us.  The labor of being a mom is particularly close to the heart of God.  Mom's represent that one who labors through sorrow to bring a child into the world and then nurtures their life physically, emotionally, and mentally.  She represents a part of God's heart towards us.  God always intends the labor of our life to be a labor of love.  Yet, love is a very trying virtue, just as labor is a trying virtue.  Labor tries and tests us; it refines us, if we will lean into the purpose that God intends in it.

Think about all of the hard work that goes into being a mom.  It is no wonder that countless young women are fearful and intimidated at becoming a mom.  However, all labor has a way of bringing more out of us than we believed possible because we are capable not only doing more than we think, but also of becoming more than we are.  You can grow in ways that your flesh doesn't want to grow, but God designed for you to do, if you trust Him.

I am connecting the word honor with the word "recognize" in verse 12.  It involves not only seeing the labor that moms do, but also perceiving the value and heavy importance they have in our lives.  We need to see moms as God sees them.  None of them are perfect, but they are all incredibly important!  We only harm ourselves when we act as if it is something light and meaningless.

Moms not only have labor to do, but they also have authority from the Lord.  They are "over" their children "in the Lord" in order to "admonish" them.  Parents are directly authorized by God Himself.  He is the source of all proper authority.  This begins in the inherent ability of a man and a woman to conceive and to birth a child.  This natural ability demonstrates a God-given right that women have to birth a child.  When we act upon our right to have a child, it then activates a duty that we have to that child.  All rights have corresponding duties that go along with them.  If we exercise rights without doing the duties, then we create a mess.  The same God who gives us rights will also hold us accountable to the duties that we have in them.

It is tragic to see the many ways that the State is elevating itself and transgressing this primary authority of parents.  However, we cannot place all of the blame upon the State.  There is a reasons that we are here.  The rise of dysfunction within society overflows the home and comes out into our schools, our streets, and public in general.  If a child is being abused by a parent or parents, then the people in that community should step in to help the child.

However, here is the problem.  What is your definition of abuse?  In short, if you insert yourself in a situation in which another person has authority from God, then you had better be correct, i.e., using God's definition of abuse.  It is a holy ground between that parent and God, and God will hold them accountable.  If you step in, you had better take your shoes off (holy ground), be prayed up, and actually be led by God to intervene. 

When the State intervenes, its definition is not the same as God's.  Yes, there are some situations in which we can say that the State really did stop a horrible situation (their definition somewhat coincided with God's).  Yet, in other ways, the State is only creating another abusive environment in which parents are increasingly unable to protect their children.

It does not good to complain.  Instead, we must focus on doing our duty to the children in our lives, and helping moms to rise up to their labor in the Lord.

Paul then says in verse 13 to "esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake."  Esteem deals with how we think about people.  We are to think highly of them, and to do so "in love."  Love tests us all, as I wrote earlier.  Parents are to lead their kids in what it means to love.

Circling back to the parent who has done hurtful things, we should note that we are more likely to label something as hurtful when we are younger.  We can get angry that our parents ground us, or discipline us in any form.  Generally, people grow up and look back to recognize that their parents were simply trying to love them by teaching them something more important than immediate gratification.  Of course, they are not perfect in their attempts to do what is best for us, but neither are we perfect.

This understanding that we should esteem and honor people for the sake of the work that they do is important.  Like an arm-chair quarterback, we can look back and still be too harsh in our judgment.  In this sense, most people just need to have kids for themselves so that they will understand that it is a tough job helping a young person transition into adulthood.  We should respect and esteem that they had a difficult job, and that we ourselves had an impact on how difficult it was.  This should never excuse abuse, but it puts the labor of parenting in perspective.

The last phrase of verse 13 says, "be at peace among yourselves," in the NKJV.  That first part is actually a verb that is active.  It is not focused on merely resisting the urge to make waves, or be frantic.  Rather, it is calling us to actively be working for peace, a peacemaker, with others.  This is a big part of a mom's job, especially if there are multiple kids in the home.

Some people are not interested in peace, or they just don't know how to come to terms with peace.  In such cases, the best that a person can do is to put the offer on the table, and then to be open for change down the road.  You may have to give them some space.  However, always be praying for change, and ready to forgive when true repentance comes around.

I think peace is a minimum that God desires between us.  Even more, we should walk in love with one another.  Yet, we could say that peace is simply one facet of the virtue of love.  It is the best basis for peace with someone.  Absence of turbulence is nice, but we are called to active peacemaking.

Pursue what is good (v. 14-15)

Families really do need to hold on to what Paul says in verse 14.  Pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.  Our flesh will always bend things towards ourselves, even if just a little bit.  As I said earlier, we can also bend the definition of what is "good" too much towards ourselves.  We really need a relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit in order to hear the Word of God, and sense the conviction of the Holy Spirit in regards to what the "good" is that needs to happen in each situation.   This should be our prayer.  "Lord, please show me what will make for the good both for myself and for everyone involved."

Part of pursuing what God says is good will involve warning the "unruly."  This word pictures a soldier who is out of ranks and may even be AWOL.  This is similar to the biblical concept of submission.  It has the idea of taking your proper place within the ranks and performing the proper duty.  Thus, the unruly person  is refusing to embrace their proper place and duty.    This can be a child who refuses to listen to their parents, or a government who oversteps its bounds of authority. 

Those who castigate the whole biblical idea that God created young girls to grow up and become adult human females who are able to conceive, give birth, and raise a next generation to worship God and bless others, should slow down and think through what they are doing.  They are destroying the very foundation and fabric of what it means to be a woman- and a man for that matter.  They may rejoice in that because they want to replace it.  However, when you fight against the nature that God hard-wired into humans, you never come out on top.  Any society we try to create to replace one built upon a biblical world-view will end up being sub-par.  They will find themselves working directly against God, and they will have to give answer for that to Him.

Thus, a warning from a parent to a child involves cautioning against certain behaviors.  We do this socially when we warn people at a wedding that what God is putting together no one should take apart, those in the marriage included.  God will hold you accountable for working at odds to His purpose.

Yet, admonition, or warning, also involves teaching the good that a person should embrace.  We need to understand and promote God's good purpose in becoming a mom, for her, for the children, for the husband, and for society.  

All of us come into the world in a weak position.  If someone doesn't help us, we will die.  God's design makes it clear that the most likely people to take care of that child are the people who came together in love and produced that child.  Yes, the child will affect society and can be an asset or liability to it.  However, that does not put society in the best position to control the raising of that child.  The best scenario for any child is a male and female committed to a life-time, loving relationship, preparing them for life.

Next, Paul tells us to comfort the faint-hearted.  It pictures those who have lost heart and are discouraged.  The word "comfort" here is often used in the context of someone who has had a loved one die.  Mary and Martha were comforted by their neighbors when their brother Lazarus died.  The most common way that we comfort the bereaved is through stories about the deceased.  A young mother metaphorically is wrestling with the "death" of a past youthful life with little responsibility.  She needs us to comfort her, rather than to berate her.  Young moms need to hear the stories of older moms' and their own transitions.  It isn't easy, but it isn't as impossible as your heart and mind are telling you at the moment.  There is joy on the other side of the hard work of today, all along the way.

Paul then tells us to support the weak.  This deals with people who are in a weak position, whether through broken relationships, financial troubles, past trauma, etc.  This is similar to the faint-hearted.  We are told to support them.  Instead of looking down on young mothers, we should come along side of them and help, be a support.  What is it they need?  Experienced moms are in the best position to know how to come alongside of a young mom and support her.  In fact, mothering itself could be defined by helping the weak out of compassion and love.

We are also to be patient with all.  Patience here is the long-fuse term.  Yes, we need to hang in there and not quit easily, but we also need to restrain ourselves from "blowing up" to easily.  All relationships are made worse when we have a short fuse with one another.

Patience does not mean being silent and never dealing with issues.  Often, when a person blows up, it is because they have not talked about things that they should have.  Thus, patience ties in with peacemaking.  Whether communication isn't happening, or a person just doesn't change, we easily become weary with other people.  Understanding that moms who are actively raising kids are under a lot of stress all of the time should be in the back of our minds at all times.  No, they are not the only ones who deal with stress, but that does not undercut the point.  It only makes it more important for us all to work for peace and be patient with one another.

Of course, trauma and past hurts can make any relationship difficult and requires great patience on the part of the other party.  Sometimes both people have past hurts and difficulties.  Let us love one another through patience.

Lastly, Paul calls for pursuing what is good for yourselves and for all.  Another way to say this is to reject a "pay back wrong for wrong" attitude.  It is almost a knee-jerk response for us to give back to others what they are dishing out.  However, this never brings about lasting and good change.

As the culture wars heat up, it is easy to see people as the enemy, and to justify all manner of actions against others.  There are definitely some who have given themselves over to doing evil to others, but Christians are not to respond in kind.

There is a difficult and heavy thing here that we need to carry.  We don't want to do so, but the Lord calls us to it.  It is called a burden.  We need relationship with God as the foundation to a relationship with others, especially when they are being an enemy to us.

When we resist people who are doing unrighteous things, we must do so with an eye to helping them to see the truth.  We don't do them any favors by hiding in our closets or retreating from the public debate.  However, we need the wisdom of God as to how and when to interject the truth.

Our attitude can sour with a sense of hopelessness.  "It doesn't work...It won't do any good!"  Listen, you cannot change society, but you can make a difference in the experience of people in your sphere of influence.  Take time to support the moms in your life regardless of how well they have done in the past because their labor is incredibly important to our families and to our Republic.  If enough moms are encouraged to do a godly job in raising the next generation who knows what is possible in this land.

Pursue Good audio

What is a Woman?

Genesis 1:26-27; 2:18, 20-22.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on May 08, 2022, Mother's Day.

[Note: There is no audio available for this sermon.]

We will take a break from our series in the book of Acts in order to focus on mothers today.

It has come to my attention that there are some people who do not know what a woman is.  Since, moms are first women, it is important for us to understand exactly what a woman is.  Now, if these were just kids who couldn't define what a woman is, then we could rest at ease.  However, these are full-grown adults who have graduated from our "best" universities that are having a hard time defining what a woman is.  We have reached a point in our society where the definition of woman is essentially: you will just intuitively know it if you are one.

Of course, the halls of academia and the philosophers of our age are purposefully breaking down the clarity that God has built within His creation, within reality.  For them, there can be no “mothers” in the future.  Only professionals can perfectly create and train the next generation.  Only smart people can know how many kids we actually need.  It is humorous that, for all of their great wisdom, God did not agree with them.  Instead, He made man and woman as we really are.  In general, He gave the power of creating and raising children into the hands of moms and dads, and not to professionals.  This intelligentsia is currently muddling the definition of men and of women (similarly to how they have been muddling the definition of family and marriage) to the point that men can now be considered women and even mothers.  However, this is just a transitional stage.  The end game is to destroy the whole concept altogether.  Men, women, boys, girls, families are all doomed by the purposes of the current intelligence running this planet.

Let’s go back to the beginning in order to understand what a woman is.

An essential part of imaging God

Humans are unique among all living things on this planet because we were created in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27).  The Image of God, or in Latin the Imago Dei, is the essential difference between us and all other things.  Though evolutionists try to make man just another animal, it really doesn’t pass the sniff test.  There is something essentially different about humans and the Bible calls it the Image of God.

Throughout Genesis, we should recognize that the Hebrew word “Adam” starts out as a descriptor and only later becomes a particular name.  It can be used to mean the name Adam, or it can mean “a man,” or it can refer to “a human,” even “humankind.”  We should be careful reading maleness into the word in verse 26.  God did not say, “Let’s make Adam in our image…”  It is being used indefinitely and should be translated a “a man,” or “a human.”  Older translations that simply put “man” are using it to essentially mean human.  It is interesting that God states His intention to make “a human” and then the next phrase is “let them have dominion…”  Chapter one of Genesis pictures the individual and plural aspect of humans altogether.  It is not until chapter two that we are given an expanded look that emphasizes the maleness and femaleness of men and women.

We should note the plural aspect that is connected to God both in this verse and throughout the Bible.  It makes sense that God would design humans with a plurality, if we are to be made in His likeness.  Image and likeness are most likely being used as synonyms.  However, the word “image” is more of an external resemblance.  Whereas, “likeness” has a more abstract sense to it.  The image of God is not only connected to the male, but rather to humans.  The imaging of God is something that men and women have individually, but also as we operate together.

Women, you were made in the image of God in a unique way.  You must reject this androgynous notion where we work to erase all the differences between men and women.  To do so is to attempt to erase God’s image within us.  Women image God in ways that men cannot, and we image God together in ways that we cannot alone.  Your greatest value is not in being married or in having children.  Your greatest value is being an imager of God.

God’s purpose was to give humans dominion over the earth.  This too goes back to the image of God.  Just as God exercises dominion over the heavens, humans would be His representatives upon the earth.  The way in which we exercise such dominion is important.  We either rightly reflect God’s image in our dominion, or we image something other than God.  We are not to destroy the earth and its animals, and yet neither are we to elevate them above ourselves.

For today’s purpose, notice that it is both men and women who are to have dominion over the earth.  It pictures a side-by-side dominion of two beings, who are in the image of God, working together in one accord.

Verse 28 gives another command to humans (men and women).  They are to be fruitful and multiply.

This involves the sexual aspect of a woman and a man.  The woman, Eve, would also become Adam’s wife.  Together they would begin to populate the planet.  By the way, Adam and Eve had many children beyond Cain, Abel, and Seth. 

However, fruitfulness and multiplying are about more than reproduction.  What would God think of a family that had 20 kids, but never taught them the way of the Lord and how to be a righteous person like the one pictured in Psalm 1?  I doubt that he would say that they had done a pretty good job.

Fruitfulness would connect to how they tended the garden and how they exercised their dominion as they increased numerically.  Were they a blessing like a fruitful tree, or were they a curse like a poisonous berry?  Does life flow in our wake, or does death and suffering follow us all the days of our life?  Physical fruitfulness should be paired with the greater fruitfulness that is in harmony with the God we are to image.

In light of this, mothering is one part of what women do, and the birthing of babies is only one component of giving life to our children.  We should recognize that, in general, men and women pair up and marry.  Many of those go on to have children.  However, even Jesus recognized that not all are called or “given” to be married, and “given” to have children.  Matthew 19:12 says, “For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake.  He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”  Jesus points out that there are congenital reasons why some people don’t marry in adulthood.  There are also times like kings and masters who have control over another person’s experience in life.  Lastly, Jesus recognizes that some people choose to be single for the sake of doing God’s will.  Like Paul who counseled Christians to give thought to the single life, Jesus recognizes that some can “accept this.”  A woman does not have to marry and become a mother to have value.  Those things are valuable, and moms need to know that as a wife and as a mom they are of great value.  However, those valuable things are on a greater, foundational value of being an imager of God.  Single people who never marry or have children have not fallen short.  Rather, they have chosen a path that only a small percentage are able to choose.  Even the single among us are able to participate in being fruitful upon this planet in both natural and supernatural things.

Genesis 2:18-22 pairs the concepts of aloneness and help.  Adam would be alone if it were not for the woman Eve.  God did not choose to give Adam a petri dish and the knowledge of how to create another “man.”  He gave Adam a woman.  She would help him in the gargantuan task of imaging God, being fruitful, and subduing the earth.  She was God’s answer for his aloneness.  Notice that God let Adam experience aloneness before he let him experience the help of the Lord.  This is another aspect of being in His image and separates us from the animals.

It is easy to think of Eve being a helper as a subclass.  The term in Hebrew is ezer and is seen in names like Eliezer (My God is Help) and Ebenezer (Stone of Help).  It is always used in the context of great need.  When Israel was under military threat, they needed help and were tempted to look to the Egyptians or others to be their answer.  All throughout the Bible, Israel is counseled to look to God as their help, and not other people, other nations.  Here are several examples.  Deuteronomy 33:26, “There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to help [ezer] you, and in His excellency on the clouds.”  Psalm 146:5, “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God.” 

The woman is to be God’s help to do something that would overwhelm the man who is alone.  She is representative of God’s help.  It doesn’t come in the ways that we would create, but in a way that God creates.

The woman also represents humanity as a helper to God.  Christ and the Church are described as the Mystery that marriage is representing.  In a strange way, humanity is the helper that God has created for Himself in a display of His wisdom.  He who is the ultimate source of any Help creates a helper for Himself.

These things are all at the core of what a woman is, and is the foundation of what every mom is.  May God help us to honor the mothers in our lives and help them to image God as we all should.

The Expensive Gift

Matthew 26:6-13.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Mother’s Day, May 12, 2019.

Today is Mother’s Day and we want to honor each and every mom that works hard every day to take care of her family.  Today’s story is not necessarily about a mother, but it is about a woman who gives an expensive gift of love to Jesus.  I would say that a woman who gives expensive gifts of love to those around them is a very fine definition of what it means to be a mom. 

As we look at this story, I pray that all moms will find encouragement for their life of sacrifice, and I pray that the rest of us can also hear the call of the Holy Spirit showing us how to love in every situation.

She gives what she feels led to give

In this passage, the woman is unnamed, but we are told that it occurs at Bethany in the house of Simon the Leper during the week before Christ’s crucifixion.  This would make it highly likely that this passage is a parallel account of John 12 where a similar account takes place.  There we are told that this is Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus (the one who Jesus raised from the dead).  Simon the Leper is most likely someone who was healed by Jesus, otherwise he wouldn’t be receiving dinner guests.  Regardless, it isn’t important if we know the woman’s name for today’s purpose.  However, I will refer to the John 12 account from time to time.

Jesus seems to be at a meal that is interrupted by this woman who pours a small flask of expensive oil upon his head.  This is something that would not be very welcome in our society, but it would have been considered an honoring thing in this society.  The oil would smell nice, which would honor the person with both its costly value and its odor.  Also, anointing had the added social connection to the beginning of a priest’s service or the beginning of a king’s reign.  Israel would anoint their priests and kings as they launched their term of service.

However, we must recognize that the motivation behind the woman’s action is not made clear in the story.  One thing is certain; it is the Holy Spirit that is leading her to do this.  She loves the Lord and sought a way to show it.  Often our love for another person causes us to give things that cost us dearly.  In fact, the most costly thing that mother’s give is themselves.  What is it that stirs a woman to give herself to children, a spouse, and family?  I believe that it is the Spirit of God that stirs these things up in our hearts.

Others don’t understand her gift of love

We are told that the disciples are shocked that this expensive gift is being “wasted” in this way.  John 12 tells us that Judas the Betrayer was the one who led this rebuke, but clearly at least some of the other disciples joined in with him and voiced their disapproval.  The oil could have been sold and the money used for the poor.  Now, several things stick out with this objection.  It sounds very pious and also like good financial advice.  However, it doesn’t have the heart of the woman whose love is being spurred by the Holy Spirit.  In John 12 we are told that Judas was skimming money out of the treasury bag, which he carried.  Clearly his motivations are evil, but he masks the true intentions by mentioning the poor.  As for the other disciples, their motivations are not evil like those of Judas.  However, they are caught up in a wrong spirit that criticizes the woman’s gift.

People can often object to how we spend our time, our energy, and our money.  Those things that we do that are motivated by our flesh and selfishness are often deserving of such rebukes.  However, love often gives “wastefully.”  How much was Jesus worth?  In John 12 we are told that the oil was valued at 300 denarii.  This term is usually defined as 1 day’s wage for a common laborer.  That is ten months of wages!  In our terms today we would be talking about $20,000 or more.  That is a lot of money that might even make the most giving of us think twice.  Christ is not physically here for us to show our love like Mary was able to do.  How do we love Christ?  We do so by loving his followers as he loved us, selflessly and sacrificially.  We do so by obeying his command to share the Gospel with the world around us.  Now, there is no law of God that limits the actions of our love.  Yet, people will often criticize you when you love extravagantly.  They will tell you that you are forgiving too many times etc. and criticize your response.  However, don’t pay the critics any mind.  Just ask yourself this.  How is God leading me to love this person in this situation?  Then stick to what you believe He is saying.

Christ receives and defends her gift

It doesn’t really matter what others say about how you have loved those who are in your life.  It only matters what Jesus thinks about our love.  Christ not only receives her gift as a gift of love, but he also defends her before the other disciples.  Countering their “It should have been given to the poor” argument, Jesus states that the poor will always be there to help, but the opportunity to do this was quickly slipping away.  Jesus would be crucified within the week.

It is amazing that people will end up sacrificing the specific person or people that God has put in their life for the sake of the unnamed masses of humanity.  There is nothing wrong with loving humanity and giving to causes that touch them with compassion.  However, if I don’t actively love the specific people in my life then I am a hypocrite.  Another way to think of it is that, we can neglect our love of the human in front of us for the sake of our love of humanity.  It is almost impossible to love humanity in a concrete way, but it is possible to love the individuals in your life today.

God is not worried about waste in the same way that we are.  Sure, we should not waste our money and live on frivolous and selfish things, however, neither should we let others who have a vested interest in our time, devotion, and money, tell us how to use it.  Rather, let us ask the Lord each day how to give love to the people in our life, as well as what organizations to support that are reaching people who are not in my life.  Just know that God has your back.  He simply wants you to grow in your ability to love, to become more like Him.

Her gift of love is greater than she knew

Probably no mother has completely understood the full impact of their sacrificial love.  We should do our best to help them through countless thankful actions, but even we do not completely understand.  Yet, God does.  Jesus explains in our passage that she is anointing him for his coming burial.  We know from the Gospels that none of the disciples really accepted the idea or understood that Christ really would be rejected and executed.   There is no reason to believe that Mary understood any more than they.  Her significant sacrifice was doing something beyond what she intended.

It is important for us to quit analyzing our actions of love after the fact in such a way that we are left feeling worthless.  We may even judge them as worthless or wasted ourselves.  For every child who has squandered the love of a great mom, is a mother’s heart that wrestles with self condemnation and sometimes the condemnation of people around them.  Yet, we are in the worst position to judge the value of our love.  Only God knows the true value of the blood, sweat, and tears that you have poured out in love for your family.  And if it is done in devotion to Christ, it is infinitely more valuable.  Incalculable.  Priceless!   Don’t let the spirit of this world cloud up or infect your heart with fear and doubt.  Rather, keep asking the Holy Spirit for guidance and trust that He will lead you until you hear Jesus say the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

By the way, the actions of Mary’s love left the room smelling of a pleasant odor.  The attitude of the disciples, however, was stinking it up.  Is it a pleasing odor before the Lord?

The Lord honors her gift of love

Let me close by recognizing that Jesus said this woman would have the honor of being so connected to the Gospel that 2,000 years later her story would not only endure, but also be proclaimed alongside of the Gospel.  What an honor!  However, it is still only a temporal honor that is in this life.  If the world were to stand another 2,000 years, few of us would have the honor of having our story remarked about all around the world.  The greater honor is not the honors that we are given in this world.  The true honor is that which will be given to us in the New Heavens and the New Earth after our resurrection.  Let’s love one another, but especially today; let’s reciprocate some of the love that mothers have selflessly poured into our life!

Expensive Gift Audio

How Much Must a Mother Know?

Psalm 139:13-18.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Mother’s Day May 14, 2018.

Today as we honor mothers, I want to look at a passage that is normally reserved for proving that God sees the fetus in the womb as a human life.  The reason I want to do this is because a fetus does not lose its value when it is born, neither does it lose its value when it is completely grown and dealing with the rigors of life.  Thus moms, and frankly all of us, need to be reminded, over and over again, that God has created us, that He knows us better than we know ourselves, and that He has given a great amount of thought to our particular life.

We can lose sight of this in life.  The Psalmist who pens this psalm is not a baby in the womb anymore.  Rather, it is David and he had encountered many obstacles and difficulties in his life.  He was a man who had a heart for God, but had also failed God at times.  In this Psalm he is remembering God’s constant care, all the way back when he had yet to enter the world.  This thought fills him with the knowledge that it is still so, and he mixes it with faith at the end of the psalm where he cries out in prayer to God, “Lead me in the way everlasting!”

Moms, God has created you.  He knows you, and He is always thinking of you.  Lean upon Him today and cry out with David, “Lord Jesus, lead me in the way everlasting!”  You may not feel like you know enough to do the tasks before you.  But you only need to know this one thing: how to lean upon the Lord.

God has created us

We are jumping into this psalm mid-way through it.  If you do look at the verses leading up to this section, you will recognize that David ponders the reality that God’s Spirit is everywhere we go and knows everything that we experience, both externally and internally.  It is somewhat scary to think that there is a being who knows everything about us and from whom we can hide nothing.  David lists different places as if searching for a place to get away from God.  Heaven, nope God is there.  The grave, nope God is there.  The uttermost parts of the sea- nope, but His hand will lead me and his right hand shall hold me.  Darkness falls on me, but with God the night shall be as the light.  In the end David points out that God’s constant and inescapable presence in our life is not something to be ran from.  Regardless of where we go in life and what we end up facing, God will be there to hold us, lead us, and dispel the darkness.  How can we trust this?  David does so by remembering the most vulnerable time of his life, when he was in the womb.

David realized and sings about the amazing truth that God has created us.  Sometimes we think about childbirth as simply a natural thing that does not involve God.  But here we are told that God is just as active in the birth of every child as He was at the creation of Adam and Eve.  Sure, it is different, but God is involved nonetheless.  In fact, Psalm 100:3 says, “Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.  We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”  Thus the womb is seen by David as a secret and hidden place of this earth, where God forms each individual.  It is tragic that modern society has turned this truth into a travesty.  Childbirth is a partnership between God and humans, and as such, we should respect His involvement in the process.

As David thinks upon the amazing creation of a human being that goes on in the womb due to the work of God, he describes it with two adverbs: fearfully and wonderfully.  Humans are fearfully and wonderfully made and that includes you.  The more we contemplate and inspect the design of God in our bodies the more we are amazed with a reverent awe.  It is scary in a good way how wise and powerful God’s design is.  However, it also fills us with wonder.  Unless you work in fields that focus on the human body it is easy to lose sight of such a wonderful and fearful truth.  You are not an accident of the universe.  You are not somehow more deficient than any other human being.  You were meant to be, and God was involved in your making as much as any other human.

This becomes even more important as we enter a new era of technology, where we are discovering the processes of conception and how to manipulate them.  Our technology is leading to a point where a human being can be brought into the world, not through parents that will love and care for them, but through lab technicians.  Such a process has a dehumanizing effect, as we become a commodity that is created on demand by people rather than something that was as God fully designed.  Of course technology cannot completely throw off the design of God (it must still deal with DNA, Germline Cells, and such).  Yet, conceptually even those concepts could one day be dethroned in humanity’s unslakable appetite to remake things.  Even in the midst of such chaos, I believe that God is still there.  He sees our formation and is involved in ways we may not completely understand.  Our value as humans is not based upon the people who brought us into the world, or their particular DNA makeup.  Rather, our value is based upon the God who is the most important being involved in our existence.  Our value is not based upon what we may think or do in this life, but rather upon the sure intention of God.  He has formed you and covered you in a wonderful and amazing fashion.  You exist because of Him, period.

God knows us

In verses 15-16, David recognizes that, even more than God’s involvement in our creation, He also intimately knew us during that time.  The processes and events of the womb have become less and less hidden through technology.  But the main point is well taken.  What is a mystery to humanity, including a mother, God knows full well.  What man could not see, God could see and was working out His will, even when we were still being formed.  Yet, it doesn’t end there.

David says that before even one day had passed in our development, God has already fashioned particular days for us and had them written in a book.  Now we can attempt to make this only about fetal development, but David is clearly implying more than this.  There is a parallel between the unformed fetus, which goes through a certain amount of days that God has fashioned for it until it is fully formed, and a child who is born into the world.  Such a child has a particular number of days fashioned for it by God.  When we have fulfilled those days then we will leave this world behind and enter the next.  The knowledge that God intimately knows our formation and life is intended to be an encouragement.

God knows what the future holds, whether we are an adult facing a crossroads or a newborn whose life has yet to unfold.  Yes, a child is fully human and is as valuable as a person in their prime.  Yet, their life is not fully revealed yet.  We do not know yet what sort of substance this child has within it.  Every trial, joy, difficulty, and pleasure is part of our formation until we have fully become what we are.  Of course there are differences.  A fetus cannot make choices of what will be formed in them.  But as humans we can.  You may not know what tomorrow holds, but God does.  Instead of anxiety and worry, embrace the peace that comes from this knowledge.

I want to come back to the idea that God has written down the days determined for us before they occur.  That might be a scary thought to some, but on the other hand, when you think about God’s heart, it is an amazing encouragement.  No matter what you face and no matter what people tell you is the right path, God knows your every day and is intimately aware of all that you face.  He has made a way through it for you.  The things you fear today, may build in you the courage you will be thankful for tomorrow.  Trust God’s loving hands.  He knows your name and your very being.

God thinks about you

In verses 17-18 we see the thoughts of God.  Knowledge is directly connected to thoughts and both point to God’s care for you.  He has not forgotten you, nor is He too busy to give thought to your life.  David recognizes this as a “precious” thing.  Of all of the treasures of David’s life, the knowledge that God had given thought to his whole life is of incalculable value.  Just as childbirth is a partnership between parents and God to bring a new human being into the world, so life is a partnership between us and God to unfold to the world just who that human being is.  Just as I think about my life (and often worry), so too God thinks about it.  How precious is that?

In speaking of God we know that the quality of His thoughts is great.  One thought from God is greater than a million thoughts of the wisest man on earth.  Yet, David points out that God’s thoughts towards us are of great quantity.  If it was possible to count the thoughts that God has thought about you, it would be a great sum, more than the sand on the seashore.  That is a lot of thought.  In fact, if God gave that much thought to our life, then perhaps we spend too much time trying to imperfectly recreate all His thoughts towards us.  I am not advocating that a person give no thought about their life.  But that we can temper those thoughts with the knowledge that God has already given thought to those things that we don’t understand.  This is intended to give us peace and the freedom to trust Him and His design.  Believers must cling to this great truth rather than to worry and despair.

The last line of verse 18 says that “When I awake, I am still with You.”  Though it is a short statement, it speaks to the faithfulness of God.  He is constantly faithful to us.  When we go to sleep, we are taking a break from life and all of its worries.  But when we wake up we find ourselves still with God.  He does not sleep or slumber.  He is constantly watching over us and with us.  He is always there.  Yes, we often feel all alone, even when we are not humanly alone.  But God is always right there with you, regardless of how you feel.  Take time to develop a relationship with the One who created you, who knows you, and has given great thought to your every day.  Thus moms, dads, kids, and friends, you only need to know one thing to do what you need to do, and that is this.  You can cast your cares upon Him because He is the One who cares for you.

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