SERMON STRUCTURE: A Mother’s Gifts to Her Children

Galatians 3:25-29

CIT (Central Idea of the Text): In Christ there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, slave or free, male or female. (16 words).

SERMON FOCUS: Women must not be regarded as inferior in any way, and in fact should be appreciated for their own special qualities.

MO: Supportive

SO: On this Mother’s Day, let us express our thanksgiving not only to our biological mothers, but to all those women who have nurtured us and affirmed us and encouraged us and inspired us throughout our lives.

TITLE: A Mother’s Gifts to Her Children

Then … the completed sermon should be evaluated in terms of how well it adheres to the CIT and SF, and accomplishes its SO.

INVOCATION

OUTLINE OF Galatians 3:25-29

1. Faith in Christ liberates believers from the discipline of the Law (3:25).

2. In Christ Jesus, all believers are children of God through faith. (3:26).

3. Those who have been baptized in Christ have “put on” Christ, as one puts on a garment. (3:27).

4. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female, for all are one in Christ Jesus. (3:28).

5. Those who belong to Christ are Abraham’s offspring, “heirs according to the promise.” (3:29).

SERMON DEVELOPMENT

A Mother’s Gifts to Her Children¹

Galatians 3:25-29

Introduction

1. In the calendar of the Church year, today is Pentecost.

1. The feast of Pentecost, also known as the Feast of Weeks, was the second major festival of the Jewish year.

2. It was a harvest festival, celebrating the approximately seven weeks between the harvest barley and the harvest of wheat in the spring.

3. It occurred seven full weeks after Passover, or 50 days by the Jewish way of counting, and hence the prefix “penta,” meaning “fifty.”

   1. In counting an interval of days or weeks, in Jewish thought, the day of beginning was reckoned as the first day. For example, from Friday to Sunday is 3 days: Friday is the first day, Saturday is the second, and Sunday is the third.

   2. For us, the day after the day of beginning is reckoned as the first. For us, from Friday to Sunday is 2 days: Saturday is the first, Sunday is the second.

4. The day of Pentecost is the day on which God poured out His Holy Spirit upon the Church, as recorded in Acts 2.

   1. Some folks call this day “the birthday of the church,” because it was from this day that the Holy Spirit was given to all believers.

   2. And as Christians, we believe that God gives the Holy Spirit to every believer at the moment when he or she accepts the Lordship of Jesus Christ and surrenders himself or herself to God’s control.

   3. The liturgical color for this day is Red, because red symbolizes both the power of the Spirit and the blood of those who have given their lives for others.

      1. We see this color only for one Sunday now.

      2. We shall see it again on Sunday 06 July, the Sunday closest to our national holiday of independence.

2. The other significance of this day is that it is Mother’s Day.

1. Mother’s Day was officially established as a national holiday by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914, though it had been celebrated sporadically since 1907.

   1. Mother’s Day is officially the second Sunday in May, so its date is fixed each year.

   2. Passover, and Pentecost, however, are like Easter; they are calculated by cycles of the moon, and like Easter, they occur on different dates between late March and late April each year.

   3. So it is simply coincidental that Mother’s Day and Pentecost occur on the same Sunday this year.

2. The role of the Holy Spirit is certainly an important consideration for us, but it can easily be deferred until after homecoming, which is next Sunday, so we will turn our attention today to a celebration of the gifts that our mothers have given to us.

Scripture

1. The Scripture that forms a foundation for our thoughts this morning comes from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, chapter 3, verses 25 through 29. I am reading from the New Revised Standard Version.

[Read here Galatians 3:25-29, NRSV.]

2. In these verses, Paul declares that as believers, there is no distinction of rank or privilege among us.

“You are all one in Christ Jesus,” he says. (3:28).

3. Now the Jews considered that the world was made up of two kinds of people: Jews, and non-Jews, whom they called “Gentiles.”

1. The Jews were God’s chosen people.

2. And the Gentiles of course were not.

3. And we, of course, were the Gentiles.

4. And the Greeks also considered that the world was made up of two kinds of people: the Greeks and the “barbarians.”

5. And while we are not exactly Greeks, perhaps we are a little closer to being Greeks than we are to being “barbarians” (though some might dispute that!).

6. In the culture of Paul’s day, there was effectively no distinction between slaves, women, and children — all of them were possessions of the male who was head of the household.

7. But Paul makes an important claim in these verses: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female, for all are one in Christ Jesus.” he says. (3:28).

8. Thankfully, in our culture, we affirm that one person cannot be the possession or property of another, and we work toward full economic and social freedom for everyone (though we do not always completely achieve that goal).

9. In our own time, women have come to fill many important roles in our nation, even to running for office as President.

10. And without detracting in any way from their significant — and unprecedented — accomplishments in professional and executive leadership in our nation and around the world, I think it is fair to say that women contribute even more to who we are, both as individuals and as a nation, through their roles as mothers — and wives.

11. Abraham Lincoln once said, “All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” And Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “People are who their mothers make them.”²

Exposition

1. What are some of the gifts that our mothers give to us?

2. Perhaps the first thing our mothers give us is affirmation.

1. She affirms each of her children as an individual.

   1. Each child has his or her own identity, the characteristics that make that child unique and special.

   2. In his encounter with the woman at the well, as recounted to us in chapter 4 of John’s gospel, Jesus affirmed the value of that person, and through her, all the rest of her village came to know Him.

2. Our mothers affirm that each of us is unique and irreplaceable.³

   1. Susanna Wesley was the mother of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, and of his brother Charles, who wrote many of the hymns we still sing today.

   2. But she was also the mother of seventeen other children — there were 19 of them in all!

   3. In writing about her, Halford Luccock humorously suggested that she might have gotten their clothes mixed up occasionally, but she certainly never got them mixed up!

   4. “Did Samuel sort of fade into John,” he asked, “and was Charles a misty blending of both? Would she have cared little if one had somehow slipped out of her life, finding ready comfort in the fact that she had eighteen left? If you have any doubt about it, read her letters to her children. Each one held his or her own individual place that none of the others, not all eighteen together, could fill.”

3. The second thing our mothers give us is inspiration.

1. Many of you do not know that I was named for a minister.

   1. My middle name is “Millard;” it was the name of my mother’s minister at her church in Durham.

   2. One of the earliest memories I have of childhood is that people would ask me if I was going to grow up to be a minister.

   3. And of course, as a child, and even for most of my life as an adult, I would have none of that.

2. But only the Lord knows the prayers my mother surely offered on my behalf, not only when I was a child, but I am sure -long after I became a grown adult.

   1. And she didn’t live to see who I have now become, by the grace of God, and by the persistence of her prayers and her quiet influence on my life.

   2. And one awesome day I will see her again, and Oh! How I will have to thank her!

4. Our mothers also give us is companionship.

1. In an interview for Today’s Christian Woman, writer and speaker Carol Kent says,⁴

“One day when [my son] Jason was young, we were eating breakfast together. I had on an old pair of socks and a fuzzy old sweater. He flashed his baby blue eyes at me over his cereal bowl and said, ‘Mommy, you look so pretty today!’

I didn’t even have my makeup on! So I said, ‘Honey, why would you say I look pretty today? Normally I’m dressed up in a suit and high heels.’

And he said, ‘When you look like that, I know you are going some place. But when you look like this, I know you’re all mine!’

2. And ladies, may I say to you that as husbands, we also appreciate the times we have you all to ourselves!

5. And finally, our mothers give us expectation.

1. A mother always expects the best from her children.

   1. Sometimes those expectations runs in material or social channels.

   2. But sometimes the expectations run in spiritual directions.

   3. And the greatest expectation of course is that each of her children will grow into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

   4. And I am profoundly grateful that my mother’s expectation of me in this regard has found its fulfillment.

6. Someone has said that the role of parents is to give their children both roots and wings.

1. Parents give their children “roots” by insuring that they are firmly grounded in their faith and in the moral and social values that equip them to be productive, responsible, responsive, and sensitive contributors to the culture in which they live.

2. Parents give their children “wings” by instilling in them the self-confidence and sense of personal accomplishment that equips them to be independent and self-sufficient.

Reflections and Conclusions

1. John Killinger’s book Lost in Wonder, Love, and Praise contains the following affirmation⁵

I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God,

Who was born of the promise to a virgin named Mary.

I believe in the love Mary gave her Son,

That caused her to follow him in his ministry

And stand by his cross as he died.

I believe in the love of all mothers

And its importance in the lives of the children they bear.

It is stronger than steel, softer than down,

And more resilient than a green sapling on the hillside.

It closes wounds, melts disappointments,

And enables the weakest child to stand tall

And straight in the fields of adversity.

I believe that this love, even at its best,

Is only a shadow of the love of God,

A dark reflection of all that we can expect of him,

Both in this life and the next.

And I believe that one of the most beautiful signs

In the world is a mother who lets this greater love

Flow through her to her child,

Blessing the world with the tenderness of her touch

And the tears of her joy.

2. On this Mother’s Day, let us express our thanksgiving not only to our biological mothers, but to all those women who have nurtured us and affirmed us and encouraged us and inspired us throughout our lives.