DAY #130: Mother's Day

Good Morning. Happy Mother’s Day to all moms today. Today I want to speak to everyone one of us who has a mom. I want to share with you some ways that you can honor her and respect her – not just today, but everyday.

The Bible makes it very clear that honor & respect are values that a stable family is built on, a stable life is built on. 1 Peter 2 says, "Show proper respect to everyone." What’s that mean? Everybody is worthy of respect.

This is a big deal to God, so the Bible is real specific about this. It says we're to honor our parents -- that's the fifth commandment. Exodus 20:12 (LB) says, "Honor your father and MOTHER, that you may have a long, good life." There’s no better day than Mother’s day to then look at how we do that.

Let me define respect for you this morning - Respect is showing value and honor to others by our actions. When we dishonor or devalue a person, we disrespect them. We disregard them. But to respect someone is to show value and honor.

Maybe you could think of it like this - every person that you’ve ever met has around his or her neck an invisible sign. If you look carefully enough, you can almost see it. It’s a sign that says, “Do I matter to you?” It’s a sign that says, “Do I have any worth at all in your estimation? Do you in any way honor or esteem who I am?”

Want to know if you honor/respect people? Ask yourself this question - Do people feel better or worse after they’ve been with you? Do people feel inspired, valued, respected when they are with you? Or do they feel worse, diminished, unappreciated? I find there’s some people I feel replenished by and other people I feel very diminished by.

You need to know this – you need to get this - Jesus Christ was absolutely the best in showing honor and respect to other people. He was amazing at this. People just felt valued when they were in His presence. He did it by the things that He would do for them and with them and the words He would speak into their lives. By His actions, He showed respect for other people.

Let’s look at one of my favorite stories in the Bible. It’s found in Luke 7. It’s a slice of life right from the ministry of Christ. Let’s read Luke 7:36-48. We find in this story what I like to call three signs of respect. They’re hanging around the neck of every person you will ever see in your life or have ever seen. Just to help you remember what they are, I’ve got a few signs I’d like to show you through the course of the teaching this morning.

This first sign is hanging around everybody neck that you will ever meet.
SIGN #1: THE STOP SIGN – This Means You Stop Talking and Listen Attentively.

I look at this story and it occurs to me what a wonderful listener Jesus was. He especially listened to this woman. And you can read the story and see that He listened to Simon the Pharisee, too. As a matter of fact, He listened so well to Simon the Pharisee, the Bible says that He read his thoughts. This was the Son of God, and He was paying good attention to even what Simon was thinking. But He especially listened to this woman.

You look at this story, and it could confuse you. You say, “As far as I can tell this woman never spoke.” You’re right. She never utters a word. Not even one. But Jesus listened to her. Wouldn’t you agree with me that this woman was saying something to Jesus? Wouldn’t you agree with me that listening goes way beyond just hearing the words that another person says? It’s seeing what’s in their eyes. It’s feeling what’s in their heart.

It’s reading between the lines. It’s listening in the moments of silence. This woman was speaking. She was speaking loudly in her tears and in her service to Christ and in the washing of His feet and the kissing of His feet. She had a message, and Jesus, it seems, was the only one who heard it. He was the only one listening to her.

Some time later in the Bible, the Apostle Paul was writing to Christians at the church in Corinth. He congratulated them on something. Paul’s friend Titus had visited those Christians some time earlier. Apparently he had a great experience. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 7:15, “Titus remembers the way you listened to him and welcomed him with such respect and deep concern.” Why did Titus feel respected? Because they welcomed him and because of the way they listened to him.

Let me ask you, are you a good listener? Would people around you say you really are a good listener? Do people feel like you’re fully present with them whenever they’re with you? Or is there anybody in your world who might just be whispering under their breath, “Would you please stop talking? Would you please stop advising? Stop rambling. Stop pontificating. Stop hyping! Stop hogging the verbal spotlight. Would you just stop and listen?” Last night, a quote from Sharon. I don’t need adice, I need you to wrap your arms around me and love me.

John Ortberg in his Teaching on Relational Intelligence tells a great story. He says, “Years ago my parents and I were stuck in a room with a mom and her 8-year-old son as we each waited for a family member to show up on family day at college. For one hour, this woman did not stop talking. She made Don King look like an introvert. And it’s not because we weren’t sending her signals because we were. Nobody would make eye contact with her. We were afraid that might encourage her. Nobody was nodding at her. Our bodies were facing the other direction. She could not stop talking. It was if she had taken some powerful verbal laxative. Her words were out of control. Finally after an hour of this her daughter came up stairs and into the room.

The woman stood up and said, “Gotta go,’ but she kept on talking the whole way out the door. ‘I’ve got so many things to do,’ she told us who didn’t care at all. ‘I’ve got errands to run, I’ve got dinners to fix, I’ve got to pick up your dad. And oh, yes, I’ve got to get some buttons.’ Then her 8-year-old son spoke, the only words he’d said the whole hour. He looked at his mother and said, ‘Mother, you need a button for your mouth.’ We all felt this was the prompting of the Holy Spirit in the life of that little boy.”

Let me give you an idea. Why don’t you get a button and put it in your pocket with your change or put it in your change purse. And every time you reach for change and you feel that button maybe it could be a subtle reminder, “Stop talking for a minute and value and honor what your mom has to say.”

SIGN #2: NO U-TURN SIGN - It Means You Keep Your Promises

If you look at this encounter between Jesus and the woman you will find a remarkable promise being made. He said, “Your sins are forgiven,” and Jesus keeps all His promises. Have you ever had someone break a promise to you? They told you they were going to do something that was very important, and they didn’t do it. Did that make you feel honored and respected, or did it make you feel discounted and disrespected? Pretty obvious answer.

Proverbs 25:14 says, “People who promise things that they never give are like clouds and wind that bring no rain.” That’s a pretty good word picture isn’t it? Clouds outside looks like rain and smells like rain but no rain. Some of us are like that. We say we’ll do something and we just don’t deliver.

When we keep our word, we honor people we respect them. We show them that they matter to us. We just don’t tell them what they want to hear and then blow it off because it isn’t convenient to keep your word.

Here is my encouragement to everyone of us here this morning. Maybe the greatest gift you can give your mom, your wife this mother’s day is the gift of keeping your word. It will do wonders for your relationship. Wonders for your marriage. It will demonstrate your love more than any material gift ever could.

The third sign you see around the neck …SIGN #3:THE YEILD SIGN - It basically means yield your rights and serve OTHERS.

This story in Luke 7 about this woman and Jesus is so tender, and it’s a picture of her service to the Lord. Without a word, without mention of the value of her deed, without thinking of the expense or the shame or the work or the demeaning nature of what she was doing, she just came to the feet of God’s Son and she served Him.

Have you ever had anybody in your life who has served you, with no thought to their own needs or desires? Or have you ever served someone like that? Paul wrote these words in 2 Corinthians 12:15 – it says “So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well.” Isn’t that a beautiful verse? That’s what yielding and serving is all about. Do you serve anyone like that?

I am so blessed – so fortunate - I get to see a servant’s heart up-close and personal almost every day of my life in my wife, Sharon. She is such a servant. She’s quite amazing. Probably the most amazing thing of all about Sharon is she’s not a scorekeeper.

Folks, serving is not scorekeeping. Our culture says, “I do for you, now you owe so many acts of service back to me.” “I did this, now it’s your turn to do that.” We get into this tit for tat, back and forth scorekeeping. I’ve seen so many shallow friendships, so many shallow marriages built on that kind of selfishness. That kind of serving is not yielding, it’s not serving.

What does yielding and serving look like? Service is when we do our very best for others. When we do a deed of kindness, not with reluctance, that’s not really service. Not with an ambivalence, that’s not service. Serving others is when we do our best for others.

That’s why I like the word “expensive” in this story when it talks of the perfume. This woman didn’t come with a that-will-do attitude. She didn’t just “get by.” She probably had cheaper perfume. But she wanted to do for the Son of God her very best. Jesus said it’s rare perfume – rare, expensive perfume. She wanted to offer her best. This is one way we do show honor and respect for God.

What was the issue with Cain and Able? Why did God smile on one of the brothers sacrifice and not the other? Let me clarify for you this principle - God doesn’t expect perfection. He knows we are incapable of giving that. The question is, are you doing your best? Are you giving your best? Maybe even coming to church this morning, you didn’t give much thought to the honor or the value you’d show the Lord through your actions. Like during service when we took an offering. Was it your best? Reaching out to others and loving them. Welcoming them – did you give your best?

Let me ask you, do you live in such a way that even subtly you communicate to others that they are here for you? Or do I in any way show others their value by being there for them? It’s called service. And at the end of the day it’s called respect. Bottom Line: Do you honor people? Have you been honoring your mom? Start anew this morning.

SO WHAT? In the story that we read this morning, people either see the woman as an interruption at best and a whore at worst. But not Jesus. Jesus saw her as a worshiper. And He saw her as a daughter in His kingdom. How do you see people? What do you see?

Matthew 9:36 (NIV), a verse I love, gives more insight into how Jesus saw people. It says, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Let me ask you, has there ever been a day in your life when you’ve started the morning with this prayer, “Lord, help me see every person I meet as You do.” What would change in your day? Maybe you can add that prayer to the other prayer we have challenged/encouraged you to start your day with. Maybe I can ask you on this day, this week, the rest of this month, Let me see my mom just like you do.