MOTHER' S DAY

Every year it seems the scripture reading for Mother's Day is inevitably from Proverbs 31, the virtuous woman, and of course I didn't want to disappoint anyone. This passage used to just crack Cheryll and Sherrie up. They would be sitting there, shaking their heads, we better get to work on buying that field so we can plant that vineyard. And it does seem a little hard to fathom anybody doing all this. Talk about a A super-mom overachiever. I even read about one poor woman who was doing her daily devotions from Proverbs, and her daughter found her sighing in frustration and despair, on the verge of tears. She was frustrated that she could never live up to the standard set for her. She might do a little knitting, and might make the kids a few clothes, but she was never going to see a field and buy it, and then plant a vineyard. Up before dawn to line out the servants, and then up after the rest of the house has gone to bed, spinning her cloth, plus, have time to help those in need and even her own children call her blessed. She must have had grown kids, certainly not teenagers, she told herself.

It does cause us to wonder, A what is God trying to tell us? But as we read this we must remember the culture in which it was written. Cheryll's favorite fictional novel is Pearl S Buck's The Good Earth. She weaves a whole story based on the Proverbs 31 wife. The story takes place in China, and Pearl Buck's parents actually were missionaries in China, so she has some knowledge of the Asian way of life. When we read our Bibles, we must remember the culture of the Orient is a much closer depiction of the culture, and the way people in Bible times lived. Poor O-lan, she was a hard working peasant girl. She had a baby one day and was right back out working in the field, the next day and she was only half a row behind. Hard work and suffering were the norm. Some things never change through the centuries. Women still work hard. Many of you women have full time jobs and are still doing most of the work around the house, and the care of the children. If we were to write about the virtuous woman of today, it would be a pretty daunting list. Women, sadly, have been underappreciated for years for the role they play. So it is neat that we have a day set aside to declare our appreciation for the hard-working women in our lives. Churchill said mothers are the social engineers of tomorrow. They are shaping the next generation. This is HUGE. Women play a vital role in society and I can't imagine where we would be without them.

There is an old joke I'll tell in honor of Kenny; This preacher was going on and on, extolling the virtues of women one Mother's Day. He was laying it on thick, and asked, A ...where would we be without them? An old, little grey haired guy pipes up from the back, A In the garden! Of course I don't believe that for a second that Adam wouldn't have found a way to mess it up all by himself even if Eve wasn't there! But it is a good thing there are some women around to lend a little sanity to this old world.

Can you imagine if there were no women? If the poor kids were being raised by only dads? "Dad I  cut my arm off! Go get the duct tape and bring it in here" or "Get my Makita and some screws too." And if was during a good ball game, oh forget it. "Just put ice on it and it will be ok till half time, and quit bleeding on the carpet"! My brother was over last week and his little boy is only 2 and he was having a miserable day, crying and kind of clingy. Randall said he had a bad night he was up several times, and even threw up at one point. Cheryll asked him, "Does he usually throw up? Maybe, just maybe, he's sick." My brother has a Masters degree so he's no dummy, but he's just not a mom!

Back to our Proverbs virtuous woman. Verse 31 ends with, "...give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate." There is one thing women throughout the ages have always had in common, and it is really cause to give them praise. It doesn't matter if they live in a mud hut in a Messi village or a little house in the suburbs. They all share this wonderful Christ-like attitude of servant-hood. I would like us to restore some dignity to this post so that we may not look down on this noble venture. Because our dear savior took this very same role.

Our text for today is found in Philipians 2:4 (page 831 in your pew Bible). Verse 4 of chapter 2, " Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant." Mothers have this attitude already built in and it is one we can all learn and benefit from. Verse 5 tells all of us to have the same attitude as Jesus. Jesus would have never come and ransomed us if he was looking only to His own interests, and just turning a blind eye to the needs of others. No true servant, of which we should all be through our union with Him, watches for opportunities to serve. Remember the night before our precious Jesus was crucified he was washing his disciples'feet. He did this to be an example to them of how to behave. We don't wash feet anymore in our culture but it still serves as an example for us to follow. He who was the greatest of all, stooped down to do the task reserved for slaves. He wasn't just acting like a servant, He WAS a servant.

"What causes fights and quarrels among you?", James asks. A Don't they come from your selfish desires that battle within you"? A servant has no selfish desires, they live to serve. There is no inner turmoil because they don't have these feelings of entitlement that is so pervasive in today's culture. Just a few days before the foot washing incident, Jesus was welcomed into town as people recognized Him as the Messiah, and then He washed their feet, and suffered and died for us. From the gospel of John 13:13 we read, "You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them."

Every year at camp I tell the high school boys if they want a really great marriage, instead of trying to be the top dog, instead of trying to be the boss of the house, be the servant. Instead of grappling for position on top of the heap dive under and seek opportunities to serve you wife. This can work in any relationship, but it is really great in a loving Christian home.

The way of the servant , the way of humility is not the way of the world, but it is the way of Christ. And we are blessed if we do this. And we can do this. Most of us grew up with a person who modeled exactly for us how this is to be done, our moms. So we know how to serve, so we just need to get busy and do it. Before we were old enough to read we saw servant-hood in action, in the lives of our mothers.

Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me let him take up his cross and follow me." He is talking about serving the human race, not joining in the rat race. I had a friend one time who couldn"t believe I was not interested in making lots of money. "Don't you want to be a success?" he asked. Oh yeah, I do, I really want to be a success, and Jesus gives us the formula. It's found in losing yourself in service to others. The Proverbs 31 wife knew this, and our moms showed us how.

Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten was a best seller a few years ago. But I'll even go a step further. Everything I needed to know I learned from my mom well before kindergarten. How to play well with others, how to clean up your own mess, don't hit, don't bite. Share everything, say sorry, then of course we picked up a few things on our own, like warm cookies are the best. Moms taught us to share, and to worry about the well being of others. This is the heart of servant-hood. Sharing of yourself and putting the needs and feelings of others first.

I would like to read a poem today. Unawares, by Earma Lent. It kind of puts this in perspective; They said, "The Master is coming to honor the town today, and none can tell at what house or home The Master will chose to stay." And I thought while my heart beat wildly, What if he should chose mine, How would I strive to entertain, And honor the guest Divine! And straight I turned to toiling, to make my home more neat; I swept and polished and garnished, And decked it with blossoms sweet. I troubled for fear the Master might come ere my work was done, I hastened and worked the faster, And watched the burning sun. But right in the middle of my duties, a woman came to my door; She had to tell her sorrows, and my comfort and aid to implore. And I said, "I cannot listen, nor help you any today, I have greater things to attend to." And the pleader turned away. At last the day was ended, and my toil was over and done; My house was swept and garnished and I watched in the dark, alone. Watched, but no footfall sounded, No one paused at my gate; No one entered my cottage door: I could only pray and wait. I waited till night had deepened, and the Master had not come. "He entered some other door," I said, and gladdened some other home. My labor had been for nothing. And I bowed my head and wept, my heart was sore with longing, yet in spite of it all, I slept. Then the Master stood before me, and His face was grave and fair; "Three times today I came to your door, and I craved you with pity and care, three times you sent me onward, Un-helped and uncomforted, And the blessing you might have had was lost, and your chance to serve has fled. "O Lord, dear Lord , forgive me! How could I know it was Thee?" My very soul was shamed and bowed, in the depths of humility. He said, "The sin is pardoned, but the blessing is lost to thee; for comforting not the least of Mine, you have failed to comfort Me."

Poor lady she had a spotless house but she missed getting to spend some time with Jesus. That was a cute little story, but it was just that, it really doesn't apply. What about the pastor who is busy working on his sermon so he can glorify God on Sunday morning, and doesn't have time to talk to the woman who's marriage is on the rocks who drops by to see him? Oooh ouch! We're on our way to Bible study, to grow in grace and knowledge, to be thoroughly equipped for good work...what is that car parked on the side of the road with the flashers on? Oh Lord, I don't have time to stop! I'm on my way to Bible study! Somebody else can help her. "Whatever you have done for the least of these my brothers, you have done for me." There is something special in giving yourself in service to others in the name of Christ. We all want a purpose in life, we want to know that our lives mattered. In serving others we can find the joy and purpose for which we were intended. We will be blessed, Jesus said, when we serve.

There are as many opportunities to serve as there are people in the room. We all have different gifts and abilities which our heavenly Father has given us to use in the serving of others. Our mothers were the first ones who modeled servant-hood to us and we really honor them when we go and do the same.

There are two great moments in a persons life: the moment you were born and the moment you realize why you were born.

Being a servant takes many forms. We can use moms as an example. Sometimes being a servant means letting others go first, sometime maybe it's just letting other have a chance to serve also. So that everyone can feel a part. Just like when we were little kids we wanted to help. Our moms were patience and gave us a dust rag and some pledge. Even though we didn't really help much we still enjoyed helping. When we were old enough to use the lawn mower, what a great feeling. somewhere along the way we lost the desire to serve and it must be rekindled. Remember Jesus's words? If we serve, we will be blessed. And the Creator of the universe knows how to bless!

Why did Jesus take the form of a servant? Because he had compassion, he didn't want to see us suffer. So compassion is another mark of those with a servants heart. Shortest verse in the bible speaks volumes. John 11:35 "A Jesus wept." This short verse tells of our Savior's compassion. He wasn't weeping because Lazerath was dead. He knew with a word he could bring him back. He surly wasn't weeping because he was already in heaven. No he was weeping because others were weeping and he shared their grief. He had compassion. Compassion breaks down walls, it soften hearts. I read about a young intern at a pediatric hospital. He had this marvelous way with the children, they loved him, they would let him do things to them that no body else could get away with. And they do some pretty mean stuff to kids in hospitals; bone marrow biopsies, sticking them with needles, tying their little hands down. The hospital staff noticed he had this special way with kids, but he didn't think he did anything special. So they assigned a nurse to watch to see what his secret was. It wasn't until weeks later when the nurse was on the night shift that she discovered his secret. On his last round of the evening, he would kiss and hug every child, and tuck them in real tight. He had compassion. When we have compassion and reach out to people like Jesus did, with a servants heart, we touch lives. We make a difference.

The New York City Police raided this upstairs loft apartment several years ago. It was in a really depressed area of the city. The scene was something you might expect in Victorian England. In England they would cram so many factory workers into a room there was no place even to lie down, so they strung ropes across the room so people could sleep standing up, just sort of hanging out. This upstairs apartment was almost like this, just a flop house really in what used to be an old dance hall. Gay little paper decorations still hung from the ceiling, but every square foot of floor space was crowded with derelicts and drunks sleeping or leaning against the wall. After searching the crowd the police arrested 6 people with needles and packets of heroin, and they also arrested the host, who was charged with harboring drug addicts. At police headquarters the seedy look man who had the apartment leased, claimed he was actually well to do and that he had chosen to live among the homeless in order to provide for them food and shelter and clothing. He said his door was always open to all and he didn't know it was against the law to feed and clothe people with a drug habit. When the police checked him out they learned he had been to Princeton, and Oxford, and was indeed a millionaire. He shied away from organized charities but had a servant's heart and just wanted to help people. The Hispanics in the neighborhood called him A Papa Deijo, papa God. What a blast it will be to get to meet him one day! He didn't see the homeless as a blight on society, but as an opportunity to serve.

Jesus told us the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all our heart mind and soul. And the second is like it to love your neighbor as yourself. You see these two commandments are related. If we love God we will also love His children. You can't do one and not the other. In loving others we serve them, we look for opportunities to serve.

This guy, who's name escapes me, went and spent some time with Mother Teresa in Calcutta. When he got home, everybody wanted to know what she was like. He told them she was a short, little, wrinkled old grandma, who had a tendency to be kind of gruff, and she had terribly deformed feet. One of the sisters explained it to him after mass one day the reason. They got piles of hand me down shoes and she would always dig through the pile until she found the worst pair, because she wanted the others to have the best.

Servant-hood takes many forms. Deformed feet. A host at a skid row flop house. A doctor giving out hugs. Buying fields and planting vineyards. Taking kids to ballet, whatever it may look like they all have this in common. Servants will be called blessed. Blessed are the moms who modeled this for us, teaching us to be like our Savior. "Blessed are those who give of themselves in the service of others. And her children will call her blessed."

Let's pray. Our most gracious heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity to honor the hard-working women in our lives, the ones who modeled servant-hood to us. We know they are blessed but Lord we pray that they may feel they are indeed blessed and appreciated. I pray for those who's mothers have gone on ahead. Maybe some who are experiencing the first Mother's day without their mom. Comfort them. And wrap your arms around those women who long to be mothers, who want children but have none. Comfort them. And Lord, I just thank you for your promised blessing on all of us who practice being a servant. Grant in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit in us all. A servant's heart. In your precious name, we ask this. Amen