Sermon Tone Analysis

| *Title:                                         Are Mothers Necessary* |

| *Sermon Notes:* Jerry de Gier | *Sermon #:* |

| *Subject:* motherhood | *Given:* January 14, 2006 |

| *Occasion~/Group:* Pasadena | *Written:* January 2006 |

| *Word File Name:* are mothers necessary.doc

| *Updated:* |

 

 

 

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I.                    Introduction

 

“The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.”

Those words were coined in 1865 by W.R. Wallace.

Is it true?

Do women, mothers in particular, have that much influence over the outcome of events that shape the world?

If this is true, what type of people should those of us who are mothers be and do we value, truly value the place that women, especially mothers, should have among us?

How do mothers sometime feel about themselves?

Read Perfect Madness, pages 4 & 5

 

Is this how some of the mothers in the feel?

This mess!

Is it that way and if it is, why?

Is it because that is the reality of the life the mother leads or is it a perception based on something else?

What do mothers contribute to this society and others and are they necessary for stable families?

Let’s ask the question today….

*II.

**S.P.S.*

 

Are mothers necessary?

! III.

Body

 

A discussion about mothers should also take into account all women at some point and let’s build a foundation first about women and their contributions and their responsibilities.

Gen 1.26-28—

So women, just the same as men are created to have dominion over the earth.

They are to help subdue the earth and the creatures and plant life that is on it.

Women are to be educated and illuminated in God’s word just as men are.

But we have different roles.

Does this mean women are relegated to home and that’s it?

The Bible doesn’t say that specifically.

It does say that the women has an important spiritual role to play in God’s Kingdom.

Rom 8.14-17-

 

So women have the same destiny as men do.

They have the same importance in God’s eyes as men do and men should realize that and treat them as such.

There are obvious physical differences and God through Peter tells us to treat them accordingly – this instruction is given through the relationship of marriage.

 

1 Pet 3.7-

 

They are physically weaker than men – we should treat them accordingly.

They are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ just as the men are but are sometimes limited in the physical work that they can do.

So women do you feel equal to man in this description.

We have not brought marriage into the picture yet – that is another issue.

For now from the scriptures men and women have equal billing when it comes to God.

So are you doing what is necessary to make relationships grow?

Are you learning to make friends and be a friend?

Are you fostering a close relationship with God?  Are you growing in leadership skills?

So we move on to mothers – mothers are women, too!

You have educated yourself, grown in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and his righteousness and now have found a suitable mate and have had children.

All the attributes that you had as a single person should have carried over into your marriage.

You have the same relationship with God, you were created to subdue the earth just as men are to do – what has happened along the way that some women feel that they are in a mess?

Where do feelings of inadequacy and being overwhelmed by everything come from?

Why do some women feel like second class citizens and maybe even second class members of God’s family?

Let’s discuss some of the influences that could make this a reality in some of the mothers lives that are listening here today.

*The wonderful world of marketing.*

Read Perfect Madness, pages 12-14

 

Have we bought into the idea the activity is productivity and growth for our children?

Have we given our children mental participation badges for being in more activities than they need to be so that we can feel good about their social development?

Enola Aird, founder of the Mother Project states this:  Read page three of Boston Globe Article.

Why not shut off the television?

Why not stop comparing ourselves to others in this way?

What do we have to lose except the balance of our lives and the lives of our children?

Read The Three-Martini Playdate, pages 117-119

 

Don’t fall into the trap that tells us we have to do these things – don’t feel obligated to push your children into so many activities to match their friend activities or your expectations or the ones you have learned from marketing.

Read “Confessions of a Slacker Mom” pages 5-6, 10-11.

Have we allowed the culture of our time create a vision of what we think our families should be – especially our children?

Is it now putting weight in our minds because we haven’t fulfilled that perfect picture that we have allowed to be formed in our minds?

What do you think, ladies?

*Keeping up with the Joneses*

 

Read Perfect Madness pages 41-42

 

What’s important here?

Is it the child’s well-being or are we trying to put up the right image?

We need to ask the question once again, “what does this child need?”

 

2 Cor 10.12 –

 

Why do we want to do this?

Paul states that we don’t make good sense when we do!

We have many different income levels in this room.

Let’s stop comparing ourselves to each and work within the sphere that God has given us.

Have you compared yourself to God and Jesus Christ lately?

Read Paper #2, paragraph 2

 

Materialism has taken on a winner takes all mentality – the one with the most stuff animals wins the best mommy prize!

Confessions of a slacker mom, pages 19-20

 

It’s not the biggest pen, the most padded crib, the most colorful clothes or the most toys, it’s how you truly treat your children.

What does this child really need not what are the parents of the other child going to think if I don’t have certain items.

Moms are not thinking about their children now they are comparing themselves to other moms (and Dads, too!)

 

*Don’t be a control freak.*

Perfect Madness, pages 47-48

 

Are we tirelessly trying to control every moment of our child’s life?

The perfect school, the perfect relationships, the perfect sports and etc.  Do we give our child the chance to grow up somewhat on their own terms.

Do we allow their minds to develop?

Prov 22.6

 

Train up a child in the way he should go and even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Training up doesn’t mean suffocate them with you minute by minute ideas of how their life should be.

Training them here means to guide them.

In some cases it means to make the conditions right for growth to occur, like a seed.

The Message Bible put it this way:

 

Point your kids in the right direction—

when they’re old they won’t be lost.

Why am I addressing this to the mothers?

It falls on you as the homemaker to do this for the most part.