Mother’s Day is a special day for appreciating mothers and we can do that by honoring them on Mother’s Day with an encouraging message for the whole family.
Free Mother’s Day Sermons provides a brief history of Mother’s Day with a free sermon that explains why we need to appreciate our mothers.
History of Mother’s Day
Some suggest that Mother’s Day can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece. They say that Mother’s Day was in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the gods.
However, it seems that Christians in England during the 1600’s celebrated a day in honor of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Later, Christians included all mothers in the day of celebration. They named this day, Mothering Sunday. It was celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent.
When the English colonists settled in America, they discontinued the practice of Mothering Sunday.
In the 1870’s, Julia Ward Howe was horrified by the carnage of war and appealed to mothers to speak out against war. She began an international movement to promote Mother’s Day For Peace. This movement celebrated peace, motherhood and womanhood. However, she failed to get formal recognition for Mother’s Day For Peace.
In the 1850’s, Anne Marie Reeves Jarvis started a movement called Mother’s Friendship Day. This movement improved the sanitary conditions of the war. In fact, Ann saved many lives by teaching women in her Mother’s Friendship Club the basics of nursing and sanitation. However, it was Jarvis’ daughter who finally succeeded in introducing Mother’s Day on May 10, 1908.
Anna Jarvis held a church service to honor her mother, the late Mrs. Reese Jarvis, in the Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. It was from this point that Mother’s Day was celebrated in recognition of mothers. On May 14, 1914 the president of United Sates of America signed a proclamation that designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
What began as a Christian observance quickly expanded into a more secular observance leading to the giving of flowers, cards, and gifts.
Anne Jarvis started a tradition with the wearing of carnations on Mother’s Day. Wearing a red carnation showed that one’s mother was still alive. Wearing a white carnation showed that one’s mother was dead.
Mother’s Day Message
The Mother’s Day message is primarily focuses on mothers because they are very special and we need to appreciate them. The Bible says, “Honor your father and mother” (Eph 6:2).
Honor means to hold your parents in the highest regard, and this includes an attitude of appreciation, praise and thankfulness.
This post honors mothers by providing a mother’s day sermon, which calls children to show their appreciation for their parents, especially their mothers.
Appreciating Our Mothers is a mother’s day sermon that looks at four reasons why we need to appreciate our mothers.
They are…
- Mothers are God’s gift to us
- Mothers care for us physically
- Mothers care for us spiritually
- Mothers love us fervently
Free Mother’s Day Sermons
The Bible places a strong emphasis on families. It is the family unit that brings stability and security to a person’s life, especially a child’s life
So parents are very special people and it is important that we appreciate them, especially mothers. And in many ways, that’s why we have mother’s day.
(Illustration) A little boy forgot his lines in a S.S. presentation. His mother was in the front row to prompt him. She gestured and formed the words silently with her lips, but it didn’t help. Her son’s memory went totally blank. Finally, she leaned forward and whispered the cue, “I am the light of the World.” The boy’s face lit up and with great feeling and a loud and clear voice he said, “My mother is the light of the World.” (Source Unknown)
Although the boy got the Bible verse slightly wrong, we can forgive him for thinking that mothers are special and we need to appreciate them
One lady said these thoughtful words about her mother: “In the week before my mother died, I held her hands, and saw them become frail and bony. But I remembered them as they had been in life–strong and capable, wielding a shovel or an embroidery needle, holding my hand as I walked to kindy long ago. As she lay there in her last days, I looked at her hands and held them and remembered how those hands had sometimes held onto me.”
This lady had a special mum, and it seems that she appreciated her in many ways as she lay there on her death bed.
(Illustration) A small boy invaded the lingerie section of a big department store and shyly presented his problem to the salesclerk. “I want to buy my mom a present of a slip,” he said, “but I don’t know what size she wears.” The clerk said, “It would help to know if your mom is short or tall, fat or skinny.” She’s just perfect,” beamed the little boy, so the clerk wrapped up a size 34 for him. Two days later mum came to the store herself and changed it to a size 52.
In the eyes of this small boy, his mum was perfect.
Yes, mothers are special and we need to appreciate them.
In fact, the Bible says, “Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth” (Eph 6:2).
Honor here refers to an attitude. It’s an attitude of respect.
As someone said, “Honor means to hold your parents in the highest regard.”
But also I believe ‘honor’ includes an attitude of appreciation, praise and thankfulness.
To honor our parents is to hold them in the highest regard. It means we appreciate them. We are thankful for them.
Do you appreciate your parents? Do you appreciate your mother?
Sometimes, we think they are too restrictive, too harsh or too demanding.
But what would we do without our parents. What would we do without our mothers?
So, this morning I want to encourage you to show your appreciation to your parents, especially your mother on this mother’s day.
Now, to encourage you, I want to look at some biblical reasons why we need to appreciate our parents, especially our mothers.
The first reason we need to appreciate our parents, especially mothers, is because….
1. They are God’s gift to us (Genesis 1:27-28)
In Genesis 1:27-28, it says, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.’”
Also in Genesis 2:24, it says, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
As someone said, “God ordained the family unit as a place of companionship and propagation, a place of socialisation and learning, a place of stability and security and a place of refuge and shelter.”
And when the family unit functions as God intended it to function, we will see our parents as God’s gift to us. We will appreciate them, honor them and respect them.
I suppose I didn’t realise this until I became a Christian but when I look back now I am thankful for my parents. They brought me up in a stable and secure environment. When life got too hard, home was a place of refuge and shelter.
The second reason we need to appreciate our parents, especially mothers is because…
2. They care for us, physically (Proverbs 31:27)
In Proverbs 31:27, the Bible talks about a Godly mother and it says, “She watches over the affairs of her house and does not eat the bread of idleness.”
Many mothers have devoted their entire lives to the home and the care of their children.
An old saying says this “Man works from sun to sun, but a woman’s work is never done.”
You know, this is so true in many homes. It seems that mothers are the hardest-working people in the world!
They do so much for us. For example:
- Washing our clothes, ironing, folding and putting them away.
- Cleaning the house we lived in.
- Often, cleaning the rooms that we messed up.
- Putting away our toys that we left out.
- Picking up behind us.
- Prodding us to do better in life and in school.
- Helping us with our homework. Making us do our homework.
- Teaching us responsibility by giving us certain chores to do.
- Advising us about all of life (work, morals, dating, etc.)
- Comforting us in times when we were hurt physically or emotionally.
- Disciplining us for our bad behavior (which meant being spanked in various ways and with various tools or being verbally reprimanded).
- Forgiving us for our bad behavior. (Where would we be without our mother’s forgiveness?)
The third reason we need to appreciate our parents, especially mothers is because…
3. They care for us, spiritually (Deuteronomy 6:7)
As James Keller said, “Every mother has the breath-taking privilege of sharing with God in the creation of new life.”
And when God places a child or children in your arms, His will for you is to bring them up in a home where they will know God, His Word, and Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord.
This is one of the greatest privileges a parent can have and that is to impart spiritual truth to their children.
As the Bible says, “You shall teach them diligently [ie., God’s word] to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:7).
The Bible encourages every parent to impart spiritual truth to their child or their children. ”Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
(Illustration) Dwight D. Eisenhower said this of his mother, “My saintly mother taught me a devotion to God and a love of country which have ever sustained me in my many lonely and bitter moments of decision in distant and hostile lands. To her, I yield a son’s reverent thanks.”
It was his mother’s spiritual training that encouraged Eisenhower to serve God and his country.
(Illustration) Dr G. Campbell Morgan had 4 sons and they were all preachers. Someone once came into the drawing room when all the family was there. They thought they would see what Howard, one of the sons, was made of so they asked him this question: “Howard, who is the greatest preacher in your family?” Howard had a great admiration for his father and he looked straight across at him and then without a moment’s hesitation he answered, “My mother.”
So often, mothers are the ones who impart spiritual truth to their children.
Bill Fix said this of his mother, “I will not forget the day the doctors told us that Mum had terminal cancer. I was devastated by that news. Things did not seem to change for Mum, though. Whenever I visited her she was busy cooking or baking, doing a load of clothes, or sewing or working on something else. As she worked, she hummed a tune that seemed so beautiful to me.
I will never forget when I spoke with her about the cancer. She was so calm. She told me that this was not really her home. She said she had a home in Heaven and that she would be going there soon. She told me not to worry, that she would be all right. Although that brought tears to my eyes, she continued to hum. I saw a beauty in my mother that I had never seen before.
In her affliction she had become radiant. When she died, she was 59 years old. I have replayed her words many times: ‘This is not my home. I have a home in Heaven. I’ll be all right.’ She is at her eternal home today.
Since that time I have become a pastor of a church where I have had an opportunity to see many people, like Mum, go to another home. As I minister to many of them, I am reminded of her — afflicted, yet radiant.”
All these men appreciated the spiritual input of their mothers.
Our parents not only care for us physically, but also they care for us spiritually.
Sadly though, many parents today only care for their children physically and not spiritually.
We are more concerned about the physical than the spiritual….and yet it is the spiritual training that we set a firm foundation for their adult lives…we can influence our children so much in this area.
The fourth reason why we need to appreciate our parents, especially mothers is because…
4. They love us fervently (1 John 4:7)
I was reading the story of Solomon Rosenberg and his family. And this true story came out of WW2 and the holocaust and we all realise that the holocaust took the lives of millions of people. This story illustrates a mother’s love.
Solomon Rosenberg and his wife and their two sons and his mother and father were arrested & placed in a Nazi concentration camp. It was a labor camp, & the rules were simple. “As long as you can do your work, you are permitted to live. When you become too weak to do your work, then you are exterminated.”
Rosenberg watched his mother and father marched off to their deaths, and knew that next would be his youngest son, David, because David had always Rosenberg watched his mother & father marched off to their deaths, & he been a frail child.
Every evening Rosenberg came back into the barracks after his hours of labor & searched for the faces of his family. When he found them they would huddle together, embrace one another, & thank God for another day of life.
One day Rosenberg came back & didn’t see those familiar faces. He finally discovered his oldest son, Joshua, in a corner, huddled, weeping, & praying. He said, “Josh, tell me it’s not true.” Joshua turned & said, “It is true, poppa. Today David was not strong enough to do his work. So they came for him.”
“But where is your mother?” asked Mr. Rosenberg. “Oh poppa,” he said, “When they came for David, he was afraid & he cried. Momma said, `There is nothing to be afraid of, David,’ & she took his hand & went with him.”
When I read this story, it made me realise that a mother’s love for her child is very special.
But when I thought about it even more, I realised that there is someone who loves us more than our parents, and His name is Jesus Christ … Christ died for us so that we can experience God’s love.
You know, God’s love in our lives make all the difference.
It is God’s love in a child’s life that enables that child to see his or her parents as God’s gift to them.
It is God’s love in a parent’s life that enables a parent to care physically and spiritually for their children.
It is God’s love in a parent’s life that enables a parent to love their children as God intended them to love them.
And it is through Jesus Christ we can acquire God’s love, and when we acquire God’s love, we are able to love as God would love. As the Bible says, “Let us love one another, for love is of God” (1 John 4:7).
Jean Barron spent several years living in a little mobile home that was pretty dilapidated. She tells about raising her kids in that kind of environment. Then one day her son came home and announced that his best friend had run away from home.
Jean Barron said, “I looked at my child and said, ‘I don’t understand. He lives in such a nice house and seems to have everything any child could ever want. Why did he run away?’”
Her son answered, “Well, in their home they have a lot of environment, but not very much love. In our home we have lots of love, but not very much environment.”
A parent’s love makes a difference.
Conclusion: We need to appreciate our parents, especially our mothers.
Why? Because they are God’s gift to us, they care for us physically and spiritually and they love us fervently.
Let’s show them our appreciation today.
But remember that God loves us more than our parents, and when we experience God’s love through Jesus Christ, we will appreciate our parents and we will be thankful for them.
Message was compiled by Rev. D. Blackburn BA GDM
