So again, we're taking a week off from Romans and to take some time to talk about the subject of mothers. We have to really ask this question, is this biblical for Christians to be celebrating Mother's Day at church? And obviously, it's not not biblical outside. It would be unheard of if you didn't practice Mother's Day.

But at church, is it right for us to say, you know what, all the other days we're going to be celebrating Jesus, but on Mother's Day, we're going to celebrate mothers. If we're not careful, it can easily turn into, we're going to worship mother today. You know, we're going to take a break from Jesus because every other day is Jesus.

Today is going to be Mother's Day. So we have to ask the question, is that something that a church should be doing? To take a day off and say, you know what, we're going to really honor the mothers. By the title and the text that we just read, you already know my answer.

It is absolutely necessary. And we want to look at the text and really see why is this particular command singled out? Not because I'm singling out, not because the United States has singled this out. We don't celebrate this because, you know, some somebody in U.S. history decided that we should we should honor mothers.

So we're going to join with them in honor of the mothers. We don't celebrate this. They just we are taking advantage of the fact that the country is celebrating this. And it is important, obviously. But the scripture itself singles this particular commandment out. He says, honor your father and mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

And this commandment is repeated again in Ephesians chapter six. And he says this commandment comes with the promise that if you want to live long to be blessed, to honor your father and mother. So why is this particular commandment singled out? The word for honor that is used here in Hebrew is the word "Kabbad." And the word "Kabbad" is related to the word "glory." And the word literally means to think heavily, to honor, to give weight.

That same word is used to describe honoring the temple, the sanctuary, or honoring the Sabbath. And what they mean by that is to take something that is sacred and consider it deeply. That you would think twice about how you approach it, that what you think about it, the activities that you do when you're around these things.

And so that's the same word "Kabbad" that is used when we are commanded to honor your father and mother. To think deeply. To put weight upon it. In fact if you study the Ten Commandments itself, you know that in the Ten Commandments you have two sections. You have the first section where the first four commandments are related to worshiping God, in our relationship with God.

It says to not have any other, to worship not any other gods besides Him, besides Yahweh. To not have any graven images of Him. Not to use His name in vain. And to keep the Sabbath holy. All of it in our relationship with God. The second part of it is our relationship with one another.

And some of you guys may remember, but it's honor the father and mother is the first one, that's the fifth commandment. And then it says do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear faultlessness, do not covet. You know that in the Bible, that they don't put lists together randomly.

Like today if I was to ask you, what's your ten favorite food? You know you might start with Korean barbecue or you know whatever, like you might Indian food and you might make a list of ten things. But it doesn't necessarily mean that it's in that order. Unless you specifically ask, you know, put it from your best to the worst.

Ten top things, right? In the scripture, whenever you see a list of things, it's almost always done purposefully. So whenever you see the list of the disciples, whose name is always on the top? Peter. Peter's name is always on the top. And along with Peter, you have James and John.

It's almost always, every list of the disciples is always listed that way. And there's a reason, because in the Bible, whether in the Old and the New Testament, lists were given with a particular purpose. It was to convey a message. So in the New Testament or in the scripture, when they say, oh these are the ten foods that I like the most, you know that whatever they listed the first is probably the best.

Whatever they listed the last is probably the worst, right? So when you apply that to the Ten Commandments, we know that the very first commandment is the most significant, most important commandment, which is not to worship any other gods but Him. And all the other commandments in the Ten Commandments are under that umbrella.

But again, as I said, the first four commandments is related to our relationship with Him. And then the second list of commandments is related to our relationship with one another. So we understand, in the first commandment, and then the other three that come underneath it, obviously, it's obvious that worshiping God and God alone would be the biggest and the most overarching commandment.

But when we get to the second list, think about what's on this list. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not commit adultery. Do not covet. Do not bear false witness. When was the last time you thought honoring your mother and father was of more significance than not killing?

Committing adultery. I mean, we would automatically think that murder would be on the top thing. You would think that out of this list, maybe you would say, do not murder, do not commit adultery, maybe even do not steal. And then you have maybe the coveting and bear false witness, maybe you kind of put the honoring your father and mother maybe on the number three or four of this list of six.

But not only is it the first one when it comes to our relationship with people, it actually comes with a promise that if you obey this, that God was going to bless you and you'll live long in the land. Some of you guys may be sitting here thinking, like, that's great.

It is so important. You know, maybe some of you guys who have children say, my kids need to be in here. Why didn't they not bring the Sunday school kids in here? Right? Maybe some of you guys are thinking that. Or maybe our kids are too young. If they're old enough, can you please do this message again when they're old enough to understand because they need to hear this.

Right? Or maybe some of you guys are sitting here thinking, like, you know, this is a great message. You know, it's for the Sunday school kids. You know, they need to hear it. But I'm not of that age. I don't live under my parents' roof anymore. So this is not as significant.

You know, I'm in my 30s. I'm a grown man. I'm in my 40s or 50s. This isn't relevant to me. Right? But in actuality, if you, one of the questions that I asked on Facebook as you're preparing is who was this commandment given to? Was it, you have 10 commandments and it said, you know, here's one, two, three, four, and then when you get to the fifth, you gather all the children.

We're going to go outside. We're going to have a Sunday school lesson. And then honor your father and mother. Right? If you want to live long. Right? In other words, if you don't want to die, you better honor your father and mother. And then they came back into the regular congregation and then, and then talked about the rest of the stuff.

Is that what they did? Who was this given to? To the children or to the adults? To the adults. This was given to the nation of Israel. It wasn't just a Sunday school lesson. In fact, when this particular commandment is repeated in Ephesians chapter 6, 1 through 3, it says, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." So basically that same fifth commandment is repeated in the New Testament. But the word for children here, the word in the Greek is "teknon." The word in the Greek that describes a small child in age or stature is "paes." "Paes," when you see the word "paes," it's referring to literal kids, you know, of age.

But the word that is used here, "teknon," is in reference to everybody. So that word could be used as in, "We're the children of God," right? When Paul says that the Corinthians were their spiritual children. So that word, in general reference, refers to adults and children. So that commandment, again, not only in the Old Testament, but even in the New Testament, is in reference to grown people.

Not just small children. This is not just, you know, "I have a job now. I pay my own bills. You know, in fact, I give my mom money, so now I'm an adult. So now I'm in the position of honor, you know, rather than giving honor." Well, again, clearly that's not what this is talking about.

This is in reference to all of us. There's not a single one of us where this text isn't a command that we ought to obey. So the question is, why is this commandment singled out? Why is it so significant that of all the things that are mentioned in the Greatest of the Commandments, he says, "It's the top." See, the Scripture clearly says, again, this is the main point of what we're doing this morning, that honoring your father and mother is the most tangible application of loving and honoring God.

Let me say that again. Honoring your father and mother is the most tangible application of loving and honoring God. Remember, when the Jews would continue to come to Jesus and try to stumble Him and ask Him, "What is the greatest commandment?" And the reason why they asked Jesus this question was, there was a constant debate in the Jewish community.

They had over 600 different laws that they were supposed to obey, right? They had some things written in the Bible. In fact, they had more things that they created above and beyond what the Scripture says. And so they were having a hard time obeying all of it. So basically what they were asking was, "Which commandments are worth five points, and which are worth one point?" Like, let's say if you're playing video game and you go straight after the ones that give you the best points, right?

You don't want to waste all your time trying to knock off the lower point. You want to go and get the most points possible. So they were asking, "Of all the commandments, and I can't do all of them, which are the ones that I really should obey first, and then not to worry so much about the lesser commandments?" That's really what they were asking, because this was a constant source of debate.

We want to appease God, we want to be righteous by our works, but which gives us the most points? In response to that, Jesus responds to them, Matthew 22, 37, "And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.'" This is the great and first commandment.

And second is like it. "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." And on these two commandments depends all the law and the prophets. I want to point out two things here, right? The first one is kind of a side point. The second point is the main point. The first one is, they're asking the question, "Which commandment gives me the best points?

Will get me closer to God?" Jesus' response was, "To love him with all your heart, love your neighbor as yourself, and all the other commandments are under that umbrella." Do you see what Jesus said? Jesus didn't answer his question at all. Like in a typical manner, he exposes the intent of their heart, just like he does with all the other questions they bring him.

They want to know, "Which one should I do?" When he says, basically, what do they say? "All of them." Right? "All of them." It's not necessarily what you do, but why you do it. To love the Lord your God, every commandment that you're concerned to keep, it's not which one is the greatest, but why.

Why do you do it? In all of the law, the base of why God commanded these things was love. Now, that's kind of a side point. The point that I want to get to this morning is the second one, where he says in verse 39, and he says, "The first commandment, love God, the second commandment is like it." Right?

"Homoy." It is like it. It is of similar substance. In other words, what Jesus is saying is, you cannot separate these two commandments. To love God and love your neighbor are similar. So you cannot love God and hate your brother and say that you love God. In fact, John makes that very clear in 1 John 4, 20.

If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, "Whoever loves God must also love his brother." Now in that text, he is not talking about a relationship with father and mother.

But the application is same. That if you say that you love God, and yet you don't love the people who are around you, he says your love is not true. Right? Loving God isn't how high you raise your hand during service. Right? Loving God isn't how well you're dressed, or how much money you gave, or how frequently you come to church.

He says, "If you love me, obey my commandments." And what is the greatest of the commandments? It's love your neighbor. Right? So the most tangible way to express and honor our Heavenly Father is to honor our earthly father and our earthly mother. So that's why he says these two commandments, loving God and loving your neighbor, are like each other.

They are similar. You can't do one without the other. In Matthew chapter 25, 42-46, it says, "For I was hungry, and you gave me no food. I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you did not welcome me. Naked, and you did not clothe me.

Sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me." Then they also will answer, saying, "Lord, when do we see you hungry, or thirsty, or stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to you?" Then he will answer them, saying, "Truly I say to you, as you did not do it to the one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." In other words, all those who are least and insignificant that you've ignored, in essence, they were in the presence of Christ in their life.

And what you did to them, he said, "You did to me." What you didn't do to them, you didn't do to me. The scripture describes our relationship with God in various ways. The way he describes the church and Jesus is bride and groom. Now, again, that's an image I really have to work hard to relate to, because, one, I'm not a female, and we're the bride in this illustration, so we kind of have to picture ourselves like we're the female.

And so what he's describing is a very intimate relationship. It would be easier if I was a female, I'd say, "Oh, I'm the bride." But that's, again, to describe a love, deep love relationship between Christ and His church. Sheep and shepherd is another description of the church in him.

That's a lot easier. Like, dumb sheep, that's definitely me. If I'm not led properly, I get distracted. I have adult ADHD, so I get distracted really easily. So it's like sheep. So when he said, "You're like sheep and he's a shepherd," that's for sure. I can relate to that.

I don't have to work hard to put myself in those shoes. It also describes us as friends. And again, it's a description that I can understand, but it's a little bit harder. Like, how are you friends with God? Are you a Savior? But all of these things describe a different aspect of our relationship with God that God is trying to convey.

He's using human relationships to describe how He feels toward us and what kind of relationship we should have toward Him. But all the relationships, all the illustrations that we see in the scripture, the thing that I have the easiest time understanding is a relationship between parent and child. There's a love relationship with Him where God is our Father, and at times He describes Himself as the Mother.

A lot of times when He's talking about the imagery of the Father, it emphasizes His strength, His sovereignty, His protection, His discipleship. But often when God wants to convey His tender love, He describes a love of a mother. When He's pleading with the nation of Israel, now this is not only true in the book of Isaiah, it's all over scripture, but in particular, those of you who have been following with us in the book of Isaiah, how often He uses that imagery as a mother to plead with the nation of Israel to return.

In Isaiah 46.3, it says, "Listen to me, O house of Jacob. Call the remnant of the house of Israel who have been born by me from before your birth, carried from the womb." He's describing a particular relationship that Israel has with Him, and He's describing it as a mother with a child in the womb.

Because there's a special kind of connection. He's saying, "Israel, you're not like any other nation." There's this love relationship, there's this specific connection He has with the nation of Israel. He's saying to return. Return to me because I love you as a mother who carries a child. I remember when my oldest son, Jeremy, or first son, when he was born, something that the hospital said to me that stuck with me even to this day.

As we were leaving, and anybody who's had their first child handed to them and you're leaving the hospital, it's kind of scary. You know what I mean? We used to own a dog when we were little, and we had three boys in our homes, and my parents used to have a little chihuahua.

We tortured that animal. You know, because we're three boys. We used to play catch with this thing. We did a lot of dumb things. And then, that was the last time I remember really caring for something that delicate. And then the next thing was my baby. So when they handed my first son to me, and as a leader of the home, I'm like, "Are you serious?

This is how it works? You have a child, and this child, if you don't feed it, it'll die? If you don't change his diaper to get rashes, then it'll die? If you don't wake up and take care of it, it'll die?" I'm thinking like, the last time I remember taking care of a dog, I didn't do a good job.

Now you're going to hand a human being? You would think there'd be some sort of a level. You go from nothing to human being. And I remember leaving the hospital with this baby just freaking out. You could tell a veteran parent versus the new parents. The new parents are usually cuddling their baby.

They're so afraid. It's like fine China. And then the parents who have three or four kids, they carry the baby like a football. You've gotten accustomed to holding this baby. Well, I was that dad. When we first gave the baby, I was so afraid. And I remember Esther, every time the baby would cry, every time anything would happen, run to the hospital.

I remember something they said that stuck with me. They said, and they said it to Esther, not to me. They said, "There is a kind of bond that happens between a mother and a child because literally the baby is a piece of the mom. And there is a connection that we can't explain scientifically.

That the mother's instinct toward the baby, because the baby was with the mom for nine months, that when they come out, there is a connection. So sometimes the mom would have an intuition that the baby is sick or something's wrong, and the doctors can't tell exactly what it is.

And I remember them saying to her, not to me, but her, "If you think something is wrong, but you can't identify specifically what it is, bring the baby in." And I remember listening to that, I was like, "That doesn't sound like medicine. That don't sound scientific." But it really stuck with me because even the doctors recognized that there was some kind of a connection between the mom and the child that they can't really explain.

There's a kind of an instinct between them. And it makes sense. Because that child literally is a piece of the mom. So when God decides to convey this message of love, what imagery does He use? The imagery that He uses is between a mom and a child. He says, "You've strayed away from me." But He says, "You're like, I knew you even in your mother's womb." In Isaiah 49, 15, can a woman forget her nursing child?

That she would have no compassion in the son of her womb? It's a rhetorical question. You know, He concludes it by saying, "Even these may forget. Even if that does happen, yet I will not forget you." But the first part of it is a rhetorical question. He's saying, "Have you ever seen a mom who's nursing a child who forgets the child?" In other words, He's using that imagery, that deep, intimate love of a nursing mother to convey to the nation of Israel.

That that's how much He loves them. And that's, He uses that imagery to convey to them, "Why would you run to idols who are nothing? They're just piece of wood. Why would you run to Egypt? They don't care about you like the way I care about you." So if you always, if you see God pleading with His people, He always conveys two things.

One, He is the only creator. And two, He loves and cares for them. And again, the most deepest, most intimate relationship that He uses to convey this love is the love of the mother. In Hosea chapter 11, verse 1 through 4, again, God is pleasing, pleading to Israel through the prophet Hosea.

And He, this is what He says, "Then Israel was a child. I loved him. And out of Egypt I called my son. The more they were called, the more they went away. They kept sacrificing to Baal and burning offerings to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk.

I took them up by their arms." He uses the imagery of a parent or a mother who is raising up a child and teaching them how to walk and to hold them. God has placed, if there's, you know, we all experience common grace, Christian or not. God has placed mothers in particular, fathers as well, but today is not Father's Day, like mothers in particular, because the greatest example of unconditional love typically is through our mothers.

Typically. So what Scripture says is, if you don't know how to honor and thank the people who have labored for you the most, how will you glorify and honor and worship a God that you do not see? If you don't know how to honor your father and mother who is tangibly or tangibly physically taught you how to walk, how will you recognize a God that you do not physically see?

See when he's talking about, "I taught Ephraim how to walk." Every single one of us, we learned how to walk because somebody taught us. And my guess is 99% of you were taught how to walk by your mothers, most likely, right? And your fathers helped. You know, we have a tendency to think that the people who labor the most in our lives, we just say, "Of course, you're supposed to, you're supposed to.

You're our mom, you're our dad, you're supposed to do that." And that oftentimes reflects the way we treat God. Only every once in a while when something spectacular happens, we win the lottery or we wanted some job and God gave us a job or, you know, we want to get into a certain school and God gives us that.

"Oh, thank God, God is so gracious to us." But on a day-to-day basis, we're just like, "Oh, of course, he's God, he's supposed to do that." And oftentimes that's the way it's reflected in the way that we treat the people who have done the most for us in our lives.

We just assume they're supposed to do it. So when our friends or acquaintances or coworkers remembers your birthday, does something, it's huge. "I can't believe you knew me. Why would you? You're so generous." And yet when it comes to our parents who wake up every single day to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you're supposed to do that, right?

Who taught you how to walk? Who taught you how to eat? I guarantee you, you didn't walk by yourself. You didn't wake up one day and look at your peers and say, "It's about time." You know what I mean? I'm behind. Everybody else is walking. You know, I'm about 11 months old and I'm starting to fall behind.

I better start walking. Somebody taught you. Somebody grabbed you by the hand and walked. And that didn't happen overnight. It takes months. Some of you, much longer. You didn't learn to eat by yourself. You didn't wake up one day and say, "You know what? I'm so hungry. I'm tired of this milk.

I need to eat some solid food." Right? And you didn't grab a spoon and start learning how to eat. Somebody taught you how to eat. Right? And you think that's nothing. You may think that's nothing. Those of you who've never raised a child or maybe tried to train a kid to eat, you know how much work goes into just getting them to put that food in their mouth and keep it in their mouth?

I mean, you've got to be like an actor, a philosopher. I mean, you have to trick him. You have to say, "Oh, here comes the whatever." And then you have to trick him and put it in their mouth. And you have to distract them constantly. And if they're sick and they don't have an appetite and the mom has to go find out, like, what is he allergic to and if he's allergic to this.

And then they've got to figure out, like, "Okay, this food has this too much in it. This is what's healthy." So they go through all of that to figure out just so that you could eat. So you don't die. That didn't just happen. You didn't just learn how to eat.

Your mom taught you how to eat. You think you taught yourself how to put pants on. You didn't. You're good at it now. Somebody taught you how to put that pants on. All of us will be walking around with shoelaces untied. If somebody didn't teach you how to do that.

Somebody taught you how to drive. You didn't teach that yourself. Somebody sat in the car patiently, paid the bills, taught you how to drive. Your hair would be a total mess. If somebody didn't teach you how to comb your hair. These are basic things that make you human beings.

Basic things. You wouldn't be able to come to church without these basic things. But because it is so basic, we have a tendency to kind of just assume. It just happened. I did it myself. Right? Remember what Romans chapter 1 says? They refused to acknowledge the Creator and rather gave credit to the creation.

You know where that starts? You know where you can see that being manifested? In the home. Where you don't recognize the person who is giving you the most, sacrificing the most. And you just assume it just happened. See that type of mentality translates into the way that we worship God.

See the most tangible way that we express our love and worship and thankfulness is the person that God has given us to take care of the most basic, fundamental, important things in our lives. That's why he says, "How do you come and worship a God that you do not see when you do not know how to give thanks to the people who are immediately sacrificing for you?" Who taught you how to walk?

Who taught you how to eat? Who taught you how to do laundry? Who taught you how to drive? All of these things is God's common grace that God has given us. He says, "I led them with cords of kindness and with the bands of love. And I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws.

And I bent down to them and fed them." Whenever we talk about love for God or God's love for us, you know, what's the first illustration that we think of? It's typically, I'm not saying it's always, I know a lot of us may come from a home that was broken and maybe you don't have good memories.

But even in the worst situation, he says, "Can a nursing mom forget her child?" He says, "The answer is absolutely not. It's because God revealed his love toward us and gave us an example through our moms that we're able to recognize who he is. We wouldn't be able to relate to who God is if it wasn't for the tangible love that was expressed through our parents." In Proverbs 30, 11 through 17, it says, "There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers." And then that section ends with verse 17, "The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the dravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures." I mean, it's pretty brutal, right?

Everything that he says in between is a description of a child who refuses to acknowledge their parents and honor them. And this is what it says. I'll read starting from verse 11. "There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers." Verse 12. "There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth." In other words, they look at themselves and say, "Well, I'm doing all of these other things." Right?

"There are those, how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift. There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, that devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind. The leech has two daughters. First daughter's name is Giv, and the second daughter's name is Giv, they cry." In other words, it's a picture of a selfish child, and all it knows how to do is to ask, "Giv, Giv, Giv, Giv, Giv." And the moment that you stop giving, they start whining.

This is a description of, again, in Proverbs, of a child who refuses to honor father and mother. "Three things are never satisfied. Four never say, 'Enough.' Sheol, the barren womb, the land that never satisfied with water, and fire that never says, 'Enough.' It is never enough." This is a description of an individual who all it knows, he's the center of the universe, and he says, "Giv, Giv, Giv, Giv, Giv." And no matter what you give, it's not enough.

So therefore, instead of recognizing what you have, you're always complaining about what you didn't get. How many of us, when we were kids, you know, after all day of mom sacrificing cooking and cleaning, at the end of the day, you know, you wanted some jambaljas, and mom said, "No." You wanted to watch a cartoon, and mom said, "No." You wanted to play a video game, and mom said, "No." And then you went to bed thinking like, "I hate my mom.

I wish I had the other mom, or my auntie, or whoever. They let me do whatever I want." See, that Proverbs is a description of that child. Now we may think, "Oh, we've outgrown that." You know, that's not us. We're more sophisticated than that. See, but God describes, and He examines our lives, and the reason why He says, why this particular commandment comes with a promise that if you honor your father and mother, you will live long and be blessed.

Above killing, above stealing, above lying, above adultery. Why? Because an individual, a society, who does not recognize and does not know how to thank the people or the people most tangibly above them, everything else unravels. A child who is selfish, self-centered, and never says enough, is not saying that they're going to become a murderer, but a society begins to unravel and begins to take a slow, declining path toward immorality.

So this is not a promise to an individual today if you go, "If I buy my mom dinner, I'm going to live another year." Right? That's not what He's saying. He's saying a promise to the society in general, to the nation of Israel, to God's people. And when we don't know how to recognize and give thanks to God, when the very fabric of the thing that God created us for is to worship Him, and we don't know how to worship Him because we become so focused on ourselves and my needs and what I want, that we forget what it is that we already have in Him.

He's given us His only begotten Son, and we spend all our days complaining about what we don't have. And when we become that child, and how is it evidenced? A lot of times in the way that we treat our parents, because they're the most tangible, they're the most giving, they're the most deserving of praise and honor in our lives.

And if we don't know how to give them praise, it probably reflects in the way that we think about our God. And that's why He is saying that if you obey these things, it comes with a promise. And it starts. And this is why this is so important. It's not simply about honoring mothers.

Honoring mothers, honoring our parents, is the most tangible way to give honor to our God. See, in the last days, in Romans chapter 130, in 2 Timothy 3, 2, it describes a society that has drifted away from God, the love of God has grown cold, and there is no desire for Him, and one of the descriptions of that is they will be haters of parents, rebellious.

You ever wonder why God didn't make us grown adults, you know, like, we always have that discussion, is it the chicken or the egg? You know, how old was Adam when God created him? Did He make him 40? I don't think He made him 40. My guess is, again, this is nothing based on scripture, this is just my guess, that he was probably 14, 14 or 15.

And the reason why, again, this is not in the Bible, don't go out and say, "Oh, he said this in the Bible." It's not in the Bible, okay? It's just my guess. Because that's the age when, you know, they're physically old enough to have kids, you know, and so physically they're old enough, right?

And maturity is very different depending on what culture you're in. So I think God made him that. But why did God make him an adult instead of a child, right? Whether, you know, we have this discussion, chicken or the egg or whatever, but every single one of us, we were born little children, completely helpless.

Even Jesus, He wanted to sympathize with our weaknesses. He didn't come as a crone man. Couldn't He have come as a 30-year-old and live three years? Why did He have to live 33 years to live perfectly and say, "Okay, now He's a perfect sacrifice for us"? But He came as a child.

Why did He do that, right? And why did He make us children and have to grow up, you know? And I mean, this is a human life that God's giving to other human, sinful human beings to take care of. I mean, we're selfish and we're lazy and we have all our problems.

Then you put another human being in that situation, you would think like, "God, what are you doing?" Why does God use these disciples who are fishermen who have already failed to carry out His greatest and perfect plan? Why? You would think that out of His salvation plan, that every part of that would be perfect.

But whenever you come to human beings, you pick Peter? John and James wanted to kill a whole community because they wouldn't receive Him? Paul, who murdered the first Christian, he's going to be a representative to the Gentiles? The church? These people were constantly fighting about who's the greatest in the kingdom?

Why would God use us for that purpose? Why does He allow us to experience this process of growing up and raising children? Obviously, today is Mother's Day, and I think starting from about last year when Jeremy started driving, I feel a little bit more free. Before, Mother's Day was go-to-work Father's Day.

Like that's what it was for me all these years. And I know it's like that for some of you guys. It's Mother's Day, so you made little cards and made it look like your kid did it, you know, but you did it, right? You have to work extra hard, and you don't realize how much work goes into just making breakfast.

If you don't cook breakfast every day, that's a lot of work just making breakfast, right? So all these other years, like, you know, I would have to wake up early and pretend like the kids did it. So I'd wake them up, and you know, and some of them are in the kitchen, and we're doing stuff, and usually something's burnt.

You know, the eggs don't quite turn out the way it is. And usually the food that we end up eating on Mother's Day is the worst food the whole year, usually, right? Now part of it is because I'm not good at it, and then the other part of it is because I involve my kids.

If we want to have good breakfast, the best thing to do is to order out. That would be the best thing to do, right? Find out what she likes, and then go order it, bring it, and then say, "Happy Mother's Day," and then go back to bed, right? But every Mother's Day, we're kind of like, "Okay, we have to go get the kids," and I can't just go and buy it because it wouldn't mean as much, so I got to drag the kids, and then I got to tell her, "We did it." Actually, I did it, but we said, "Tell her we did it," right?

For the last couple years, it's become more and more independent, so now the kids are a little bit older. Jeremy's got a job, and the other kids have a little bit of money, so starting from yesterday, I was like, "What are you doing? What are you doing?" So they went out and got bagels, flowers.

Faith was in charge of the decoration, and they all had their little parts, and they did it, and literally, I didn't have to do anything. And I showed up. So one part, I was very satisfied. I was like, "Wow, the kids are, now they're able to do it themselves." And the other part of me was like, "Where's my breakfast?" Anyway, that has nothing to do with the sermon.

That's just something I thought. And so going through all that, I said, "Oh, okay, now the kids are," you know? But even after all of that, right? I mean, Esther's breakfast is the best, to me. You know, it's Mother's Day, but it's like, okay, you know, thank God every day is not Mother's Day, or else we wouldn't be eating well, right?

Why go through all that process? Because the point of that process is to teach the kids, right? And I said, "Yeah, every year that we've done that, something was burnt, or eggs weren't cooked properly, the coffee didn't taste right, you know what I mean? Just not as good as when Esther usually does it.

But why do we go through that process? Why do we go through that drama and the headache?" Because the point of it is to teach the kids the importance that even if it's burnt, you know? I mean, we can have the best breakfast if I just spent enough money, went and got it, and just put it in front of her.

But the point of it was to give honor, and to say thank you, even with the burnt toast, right? With the burnt whatever, to say, "We love you." So the message and the gift is in the effort, is in the fumbling around, right? Why did God give us moms?

And go through all that trouble, with all that mess, with all the sinfulness and problems, in the context of all that, is revealing who He is. How He loves us. That even in the context of sharing the Gospel, He's not just interested in sharing the Gospel. He's interested in us sharing the Gospel.

He's not just interested in making disciples. He's interested in us, in the process of making disciples. He wasn't just concerned about the lost world. He was concerned about Peter, learning about the heart of God, in the context of being broken for the lost. That's why He involves us. That's why we have moms.

That's why we have dads. Because God is not simply concerned about the best toast that we can make. God is concerned about the process of us saying, "Thank you, God, for what you've done." And that is why the Scripture tells us, "Honor your father and mother." And it's the first commandment that comes with the promise, that we will live long and be blessed.

If we know how to recognize God's common grace, His love, His mercy, that He's shown us through the people that is most intimate in us, with us, then we will learn and understand who He is. Let me read it again, Ephesians 4, 6, 1-3. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Honor your father and mother." This is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land. If you can take a minute to pray with me as I ask the praise team to come up. And again, I want to take some time to invite you to pray.

I know some of us come from homes that maybe you don't have a great relationship with your mom. Whatever relationship that we have, again, we know we live in a sinful world. We're sinful, our parents are sinful, everyone that we've experienced life with is sinful. So therefore, sometimes we're going to have sinful experiences.

But part of what it means to be a Christian is to redeem what was lost. To restore what was lost at the fall. The effects of the sin that we've experienced in our families, in our relationship, that all of this stuff, because Christ first loved us, we love. Because he first loved us.

The most tangible way for us to say thank you to God is learn to say thank you to the people who are laboring in your life. Who have labored in your life. Learn to say thank you to them as a way of honoring and glorifying God. I know some of you guys come from homes where parents aren't Christians.

And the greatest gift that you can pray for for them is their own salvation. Not only to know your love, but the love that God gave you, that your parents would also know that same love. There's no greater gift that you can pray for for your parents than for that.

So take some time to come and pray that one day that God would open their eyes. That they may experience this intimate love that you and I have been affected by. And again, for the rest of us, that this application isn't really just about moms. Ultimately, it's about our Heavenly Father.

He came and experienced life as a child and grew up and was crucified. That He may become a sympathetic High Priest. So that He may understand us and we may understand Him. That we would come before the Lord and recognize that as we think of our mothers and their love for us, how much more when the scripture says, "Can a nursing mom forget his child?" And even if they do, I will not.

That we come before the Lord, ultimately, the greatest love and gift that you've experienced ultimately is because God cared for you. That on this Mother's Day, as we celebrate our moms, that you would look even beyond our moms and thank the Heavenly Father who has given you common grace to bring you where you are because of His grace in your life.