Mother’s/Father’s Day Celebration Sermon
Scripture Reading
Today we are setting aside this service as a special time to remember and honor Godly mothers and fathers. We do not just do so because we are in the season of mother’s and father’s day. We do so because one of the most basic of commandments in Scripture has to do with the relationship between parents and children; the fifth commandment says, “Honor your father and mother. And the Bible has a lot of precepts about parenting.
Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Proverbs 13:24 Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.
Proverbs 22:6 Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
Proverbs 1:8-9 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. 9 They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.
Psalm 127:3 Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. 4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. 5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
2 Timothy 3:14-16 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
As we honor Godly fathers and mothers, I could spend our time looking at what constitutes godly parenting. But since we are honoring both fathers and mothers today, I wanted to look at godly couples in the Bible. This idea struck me a couple of weeks ago, and I began thinking, “who are the godly couples in the Bible?” “Who are the examples of Godly parenting that include both a father and a mother. The reason I wanted to have a couple to look at is because I believe the best, the ideal parent is the one who is first devoted to their spouse. It is a great blessing to be raised by a parent who love the Lord, and tries to bring you up as the Bible prescribes. But it is a double blessing when you have two parents who love the Lord, love each other, and then out of those relationships, they love, nurture, discipline and train their children.
So, I started looking for a pair of Godly parents in the Bible. A pair who both did what was right in their parenting roles.
How about you answer that question, because at first, I was struggling to come up with godly couples in the Bible. I could come up with godly individuals who were married. But it was usually the husband or the wife who stood out, but not both. And often, there were things about some of their lives that were far less than godly.
So, what did you come up with?
There are a few. And many of them may not be complete pictures of godliness from both the man and woman, but they have moments of godliness. So, I made a list of these couples, and I took some principles from their lives to illustrate the godly example that great parents will set. And there are three areas I came up with; Faith toward God, Commitment toward your spouse, and Work together in the world.
Prayer
I. Faith toward God
The best examples of Godly parents in the Bible were good parents, but they were first good servants of the Lord. They had faith. They trusted God, and obeyed God. So Godly parents have faith in God. But what does that look like.
The Bible gives a short definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." What we hope for is eternal salvation, and it is what we cannot see. So, faith essentially has two components; it is belief in God’s Word and because I trust it, I obey its commands. If I have faith, I will believe what God tells me and I will believe that He knows best when He commands me to do certain things; so I will obey. The definition of faith fits perfectly with the old hymn; Trust and Obey. And there are wonderful examples of parents who had faith in Scripture. The book of Hebrews immediately comes to mind. You remember chapter eleven of Hebrews is often called “the Hall of Faith” because it goes through the stories of the Old Testament and talks about people who were examples of faith.
And out of all of those examples; Abel, Enoch, Noah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, out of all of those there is only one couple, who both is listed. It is Abraham and Sarah. Both are listed as individuals of faith.
Hebrews 11: 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed [j]by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise, 10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith even Sarah herself [k]received [l]ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she regarded Him faithful who had promised.
So, Abraham and Sarah are our examples today of a couple who had faith in God. So, what did that look like? They both did two things, trust and obey.
A. Trust
1. Abraham and Sarah
The first key element to faith is a simple trust in God. Good parents put their trust in God. Now, those are easy words to say, but much more difficult to actually do. Because trust is only truly worked out in a person when trouble comes in their life.
We can say we trust the construction of a boat all day long, but until it goes through a storm and our lives are at risk, do we really see how much we trust it. And our trust of God is only truly on display when trouble comes into our lives, or when following His commands brings difficulty. I read this little poem this week.
Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee, Trust Him when thy strength is small, Trust Him when to simply trust Him Seems the hardest thing of all. Trust Him, He is ever faithful, Trust Him, for his will is best, Trust Him, for the heart of Jesus Is the only place of rest.
Source Unknown.
And Abraham and Sarah were is an extra special set of parents. They are both listed as living by faith, even before they had children. Hebrews lists two examples of occasions when their faith was manifest. First was when God called on them to leave their home country and go to a new land that God would show them. And second was when they had to trust God that they would have a son.
The passage said that they both believed God. And even though we know that sometimes their faith wavered, for decades, they walked together before the Lord, living in obedience, and putting their hope in the promise that they would have a child. I can’t help but also think about Zechariah and Elizabeth as a New Testament example of believing God.
2. Zechariah and Elizabeth
Zechariah and Elizabeth also grew old together and were promised a child in their old age. Yes, they had doubts, but in the end they believed God, and brought a child into a household of belief.
These two couples trusted God’s Word. But they not only believed God’s Word, they obeyed it.
Trust in God is not really trust in God unless it works itself out in obedience to His Word.
One of the best examples of that kind of obedience in a Bible couple can be found in the story of….
B. Obey
1. Hannah and Elkanah
In the Old Testament book of 1st Samual we come across a woman named Hannah who is one of two wives of Elkanah. Elkanah’s second wife, Penninah had children by Elkanah, but Hannah was not able to have children though she desperately wanted them. Eventually she made a vow to God, that if He gave her a male child, she would surrender him to priestly service for his entire life. This was an extraordinary promise. She is asking to have a child, to then give the child back to God. She would have the child and then lose him.
Well God honored that request and gave Hannah a boy. She named him Samuel. Now, up to this point, we don’t know if her husband Elkanah even knows what she has promised to God. And up to this point he does not stand out as a great man of faith, or obedience. He has two wives, though he tries to treat Hannah fairly even though she didn’t give him children. But at his point in the story, he does something that distinguishes him as a man of faith.
Hannah has a son, Samuel, that she has promised to give back to God for service in the priesthood. But, according to Old Testament law, even though Hannah made a vow to God, Elkanah could have vetoed it.
Numbers 30: 6 “However, if she should [b]marry while [c]under her vows or the rash statement of her lips by which she has bound herself, 7 and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day he hears it, then her vows shall stand, and her obligations by which she has bound herself shall stand. 8 But if, on the day her husband hears of it, he forbids her, then he shall annul her vow which [d]she is under and the rash statement of her lips by which she has bound herself; and Yahweh will pardon her.
But both Hannah and Elkanah demonstrate faith toward God by their obedience. Hannah could have backed out on her vow. Elkanah could have vetoed her vow. But this is what went down when Elkanah hears of Hannah’s vow.
1 Samuel 1: 21 Then the man Elkanah went up with all his household to offer to Yahweh the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow. 22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “I will not go up until the young boy is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before Yahweh and stay there forever.” 23 And Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what is good in your eyes. Remain until you have weaned him; only may Yahweh establish His word.”
Elkanah was preparing to take the family back for the yearly sacrifice. And when he hears Hannah’s plan to wean Samuel, and then take him to the tabernacle to remain there for lifelong priestly service, he confirms Hannah’s vow. Neither he or Hannah know if she will have any more children. But they both put feet to their faith in fulfilling her vow.
So, together Hannah and Elkanah had faith in God, as evidenced by their trusting and obeying. All three of the couples I mentioned brought their children into a family of faith. And we are so blessed that they did, because they gave us Isaac, and John the Baptist, and Samuel; three men who also lived lives of faith.
Let me say this on this day where we honor Godly couples; the best thing any couple can give their children is an example of faith toward God. Trusting God and obeying God. So, the first examples of Godly couples in the Bible showed faith toward God. But Godly couples also have a second attribute.
II. Commitment to each other
We all know that the ideal of marriage is “’til death do us part.” And it is not just sticking with the same person out of obligation, but out of a mutual commitment to grow together in love and grace. But that isn’t always how it works out. Because men and women are sinful creatures, they don’t always live up to the ideal. And sometimes one is to blame more than the other. Sometimes both share in the blame. But that doesn’t change the ideal; the goal. The goal is that one man and one woman remain together in the marriage commitment for life. It is a goal that we want our children to live up to, even if we didn’t get there. So, we advise them to seek for mates who share their faith, and Biblical values. And there are a few examples of couples in Scripture who lived up to this ideal.
To be truthful, what I found in looking at couples in Scripture were few who had a rich story of marital commitment to each other. More often, I found couples who were imperfect in their relationships, but who, on occasion demonstrated that commitment in one act, in one moment in time. So, what we will do is to take those isolated examples of commitment as illustrations of actions that can lead to a lifetime of commitment to each other. I chose three such actions. What were those actions? Godly couples pray for each other, they listen to each other, they stand in the gap for each other.
A. Pray for each other- Isaac and Rebekah
We just mentioned the name Isaac a moment ago as the son of Abraham and Sarah. He was the son of their old age. And if we follow along with the story in Genesis, we find that Isaac also marries later. And he doesn’t just marry anyone. He marries a God-fearing, hard-working young woman named Rebekah. We are told in Scripture that Isaac loved Rebekah, and that the feeling was reciprocated. They were already on their way to living out faith before the children that the Lord would give them.
But, as with every couple in the world, then and now, there were obstacles in the way of their dreams being fulfilled. Rebekah was unable to conceive. The very thing that signified to her the favor of God, and the fulfillment of His promise, wasn’t happening. She wasn’t able to conceive.
What should any Godly parents do when they run into adversity? If they had followed the course of Isaac’s parents, they might have sought a surrogate mother to bear a child for Rebekah. But that led to all kinds of grief for his parents. So instead, they did what his parents should have done; they prayed to God about their trouble. Here’s how it went down.
Genesis 25: 19 Now these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham [i]became the father of Isaac; 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the [j]Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the [k]Aramean, to be his wife. 21 And Isaac entreated Yahweh on behalf of his wife because she was barren; and Yahweh [l]was moved by his entreaty. So Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of Yahweh. 23 And Yahweh said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.”
Isaac entreated the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren. The word for entreated here is sometimes translated “pleaded.” Isaac pleaded with God to allow Rebekah to have a child. And then it says that “the Lord was moved by his pleading.” The same word for Isaac’s pleading is used for God being moved. It’s like it is saying, Isaac opened up his heart to God asking for his wife to conceive, and God’s heart was opened by the sincerity and emotion of Isaac’s prayer for his wife.
Then she gets pregnant, but as time progresses, she senses some problem. She doesn’t know it, but she has twins. And she is experiencing more movement and discomfort than would be in a normal pregnancy. She is worried. As any mother to be worries about whether her pregnancy will come to term; especially since she struggled to conceive, she is worried that something is wrong. So what does any Godly parent do when they are worried? She prays, even as Isaac prayed. And God tells her that she will bear twins.
Part of the key to commitment as a Godly couple is opening your heart in prayer to God for your spouse. It’s easy to become resentful and to seek an exit from your commitment. It is easy to resign yourself to the conditions of your life. But dedicated prayer can move mountains of obstacles in a relationship and as a parent.
So, the first action that shows commitment is prayer. A second action that contributes to commitment is…
B. Listen to each other- David and Abigail
This is a more obscure story about a couple in Scripture. And again, David and Abigail are not a perfect example. We really only have one story about the relationship of this couple. Abigail will be David’s second wife. And this is how they met. David was a warrior from his youth. He was accustomed to going out and fighting battles on behalf of the Jewish people. He had risen high in the ranks of King Saul’s army. In fact, he was so blessed and empowered by God that King Saul considered him a threat to his throne and decided to kill him. But David had won many friends in his young years, and had 400 men come to him, even while he hid from Saul, and they went out with him raiding the enemies of Israel.
On one occasion, David and his men happened to be in the area where a rich Jewish man named Nabal was pastoring his many flocks. David and his 400 men protected the area from robbers and predators during the time they were in the area. When David was ready to move on, he sent some of his men to Nabal in the hope that in gratitude Nabal would provide some sheep for a BBQ. But this is how Nabal replied,
1 Samuel 25: 10 But Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master. 11 Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men [c]whose origin I do not know?”
This would have been considered the highest insult from Nabal to David. Not only that, it is the height of stupidity. If a man has 400 armed and seasoned soldiers surrounding your land, be nice to him. In addition to that, the customs of hospitality in their culture would have dictated that Nabal show gratitude to David for his protection. But Nabal chose rather to insult his benefactor.
And David took it as an insult. So much so that he was ready to take vengeance on Nabal, and on Nabal’s family. This hardened soldier went into battle mode and was ready to wipe out Nabal’s entire family. This was not right on David’s part. It wrong on multiple levels. He wanted to take vengeance, which was wrong. He wanted to kill a man for insulting him, which was wrong. He wanted to kill his family who were guilty of nothing. So, David is wrong, and he is rash and empty-headed.
How often do we do rash and foolish things?
But though Nabal was a fool, and David was unthinking, Abigail was neither. Abigail was Nabal’s wife at this time and she heard about what Nabal had said and saw the danger ahead. This is what she did.
18 Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread and two [g]jugs of wine and five sheep already prepared and [h]five seahs of roasted grain and one hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 Then she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
Then she met David as he was riding to Nabal to exact vengeance. This is what she said,
23 Then Abigail saw David; so she hurried and dismounted from her donkey and fell on her face [j]before David and bowed herself to the ground. 24 And she fell at his feet and said, “On me [k]alone, my lord, be the blame. And please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and listen to the words of your maidservant. 25 Please do not let my lord [l]pay attention to this [m]vile man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. [n]Nabal is his name, and wicked foolishness is with him; but I your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.
26 “So now, my lord, as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, since Yahweh has restrained you from [o]shedding blood, and from saving yourself by your own hand, so now, let your enemies and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal. 27 So now let this [p]gift which your servant-woman has brought to my lord be given to the young men who [q]went about with my lord.
She is a wise woman. She does a number of wise things. Her husband is home in a drunken stupor, so she doesn’t tell him what she is doing. She gathers a cash of food to take to David and his men. She shifts the blame to herself. She describes her husband as a fool and therefore not worth David’s time. But probably her wisest action is to appeal to David on the basis of his future.
28 Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant; for Yahweh will certainly make for my lord an enduring house because my lord is fighting the battles of Yahweh, and evil will not be found in you all your days. 29 And should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your [r]life, then the [s]life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with Yahweh your God; but the [t]lives of your enemies He will sling out [u]as from the hollow of a sling. 30 And it will be that when Yahweh does for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and appoints you ruler over Israel, 31 then this will not [v]cause stumbling or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having saved himself. When Yahweh deals well with my lord, then remember your maidservant.”
She basically says, “One day you are going to be king. And you don’t want this rash action to come back and haunt you. You don’t want this one moment of hot vengeance to be a blight on your otherwise righteous life.” Abigail was wise
And David listened to Abigail. But hold on, I thought we were looking at Godly couples? Abigail is married to Nabal. Well, this is what happened. Nabal ended up dying of some disease, not at the hands of David. And David ended up asking Abigail to be his wife. They end up married. And their relationship began because David chose to listen to Abigail’s wisdom.
The greatest and Godliest of couples listen to each other. And children who see their parents in prayer for each other, and genuinely listening to each other are truly blessed. David and Abigail are examples at least here in this moment in Scripture.
C. Step in the gap – Boaz and Ruth
What else do couples do for each other that enriches their children’s lives? They stand in the gap for each other. We all have strong and weak moments. One of the beauties of marriage is that when one of you is struggling, the other can be strong. One of the most beautiful stories of that is the story of Boaz and Ruth. Ruth came to the country of Israel as a foreigner and in poverty. But she loved her Jewish mother-in-law and refused to stay in her home country when Naomi her mother-in-law returned to Israel.
Though she was a young woman, her prospects for marriage were slim with Jewish men, because she was a Moabite. So, her prospects of getting out of poverty or having a family were slim. But she chose her devotion to her mother-in-law, and she put her trust in the God of Abraham.
Boaz was a wealthy established Jewish man in Israel. He was related to Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law. One of the greatest love stories in Scripture is how Ruth and Boaz came together as a couple. It wasn’t some Harlequin romance. It was Ruth going to work gleaning grain in Boaz’ field. It was Boaz noting the devotion and work-ethic of Ruth. It was Naomi playing match maker. And in the end, it was Boaz taking on the role of the kinsman redeemer.
You see, there was a commandment from God regarding preserving the name of a deceased man. If a man died without children, his brother, or closest kin was to take his widow as his wife, and the first-born child was to be considered the child of the deceased man. If there was no brother, then t was the closest kin.
That’s what Boaz did in regard to Ruth. Her husband had died without a child. Boaz steps in as the kinsman redeemer.
Now this custom is strange in the eyes of our modern world. But the story is a wonderful illustration of a man stepping into the gap for his wife. She was at a point of extreme weakness. He was in a position of strength. He came alongside of her to help in her weakness. Godly couples do that for each other.
Romans 15:1 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength
In that way they demonstrate God’s love that comes alongside of us when we are weak.
Godly couples demonstrate commitment to each other by praying for each other, listening to each other, and holding each other up. And finally…
III. Work together in the world
One of the most thrilling things that I noticed in Scripture about the Godly couples there is how many of them worked alongside of each other.
A. Boaz and Ruth
Boaz and Ruth first met each other at work. They were both in the field at harvest time bringing in the crop.
B. Priscilla and Aquilla
And this next couple are also a wonderful example of working together. But not only just working in the same occupation, or in the same space, but working together with a common purpose. Their names are Priscilla and Aquilla. We don’t know a lot about this New Testament couple, but we do know this; they were Jews, they were Christians, they worked together in leather working business, they actively shared their faith with those around them, they helped Paul in his missionary enterprise, they housed a church in their home. This is what we know from Scripture. Every time that they are mentioned they are either sharing the gospel with someone, working, or helping the church in some way. They are a busy couple with a common sense of purpose for their lives. They know that there is work to be done, and they set out together to get it done. And even their secular leather-working business is elevated from just a means to provide for their household, to a spiritual service that opens doors to sharing Christ and supporting missionary work.
Talk about what Godly parents should look like. That’s the whole package; unity spiritual purpose, hard-work, and Godly example. That’s a Godly couple.
So today we remember and recognize Godly parents. As we close, I realize that messages about Godly parenting usually does two things; one it inspires, but two it brings up regret. I have my own list of regrets about how I parented my children. But just like in any other sermon, my advice is the same; turn regret into a prayer of repentance, then take action to change. Yes, your kids may already be grown. But that doesn’t mean that your life is over, or that your influence in the world is complete. As long as you are still breathing you can pray, work, commit, and love.