Mother’s Day Sermon at Missouri Veterans Home

[Sermon given by Lou Hodapp - 5-9-10]

Happy Mother's Day to you all. Most of us happily remember our mothers and how they took care of us. For those few whose mothers did not live up to your standards, remember at least that she gave you life and you wouldn't be here without her.

When I was young, my family used to sing a song to my mom every Mother's Day. It was simply titled "Mother".

M is for the million things she gave me

O means only that she's growing old.

T is for the tears she shed to save me

H is for her heart of purest gold

E is for her eyes with love light shining

R means right – and right she'll always be

Put them all together they spell MOTHER – a word that means the world to me.

It is right and proper that we set aside a special day every year to remember our mothers.

The church which sponsors these services here for you veterans is named GRACE church. GRACE is a big word in the vocabulary of God. Grace is a free gift of forgiveness and love bestowed by God without regard as to whether we deserve it or not. In fact, no creature could ever earn it or deserve it.

When you think about it, a mother, on a human level, is kind of like Jesus.

Jesus' was willing to bear pain and heartache in order to birth children of God.

It is somewhat like the labor of a woman as she gives birth. Her love for her child is forged through self-sacrificing love, as she gives of her own previously youthful, free-of-stretch marks body for her child. This action of pain and love forms a bond that only mothers understand – a love for their child that few children completely appreciate, unless and until they too become mothers of their own children. Mothers forgive us and love us without regard as to whether we deserve it or not. As God gives grace, so does a mother humanly give grace.

We could never deserve to be God's children partaking of His very nature. We could never deserve to be forgiven of the punishment for our sins. But there is an old saying that – it never hurts to ask.

In court trials, there is an occurrence which has become routine but almost laughable to both sides. After the opening arguments by the prosecution and then by the defense, the defense always stands up and files a motion for dismissal of the case on the grounds of insufficient evidence. This is almost always instantly refused by the judge. But the defense figures that it never hurts to ask!

Well God is the ultimate merciful Judge. We can never deserve to have the case of sin against us dismissed. But it never hurts to ask for it! In fact, asking is exactly what God wants us to do. When we see that we are worthy of judgment for sin – when we are driven to understand the depths of the tragedy of our sins, all God asks for is a willingness to TRY to turn away from sin. And since sin is basically an attitude of independence from God, we must ask for and trust in the Life of Jesus Christ to cause us to live by God's ways and standards.

When we ask, that is, when we have faith that there is a legal way for our case to be dismissed, the GRACE of God begins to take effect. There ARE sufficient grounds for the dismissal of the case against us. What are the sufficient grounds? When we accept Christ as our Savior and Lord, we instantly become a NEW PERSON! That person who was indicted for the crime of sin no longer exists! The case must be thrown out of court when we ask in Christ's name because they have the wrong person.

God now gives us access into His grace. The letters in GRACE can mean: God's Riches At Christ's Expense. The Bible is chock full of the promises of God's riches that come with becoming a Christian and a child of God. And these become ours at Christ's expense – because his death paid the penalty of sin for us and changed us from sinners to saints.

God is all-knowing. Naturally! God is all-powerful. Sure! But the greatest characteristic of God is how He uses this knowledge and power – GRACE! His plan from the beginning is to share His riches with us humans by our free choice to just ASK for it.

Our position is one of absolute powerlessness to defend ourselves before God. It is as if we stand before God the Judge with no defending attorney to plead our case. The prosecution has presented an overwhelming opening argument. And there can be no defensive argument. All we can try is to assert the thought before the Judge, "But I'm not really that bad!" But if we were not that bad, Christ would have had no need to die. But as the apostle Paul said, all have sinned, all have come short of the glory of God.

God's plan of salvation can never come to us by weighing the "good" things we have done against the "bad" things we have done. Because before we receive God's grace at conversion, nothing we do is "good" or "righteous" – in right standing with God. Even things apparently good are done with the wrong motives. We have an independent spirit before conversion.

When that independent spirit has been beaten down by circumstances and we come to conversion and union with Christ as a new person, that strange brain of ours usually acts up again. When confronted with the reality of a Christ-slash-man union, we say, "But I'm not that good!" OH but you are! By grace – by nothing done to deserve it and by nothing done that God can't forgive it, we become members of the God Family.

Originally, there was just the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Family. Now since the establishment of the church at that first Pentecost, there is now John/Christ, Peter/Christ, James/Christ, Martha/Christ, and even YOU/Christ – put your own name in there if you have accepted Christ as Savior and Lord. The God-Family has now birthed many children, each containing the very nature, the very spiritual DNA of God.

So we see that God's grace is the key to everything. God, through grace, draws the sinner to repentance. God, through grace, makes that sinner a saint and child in the Family. God, through grace, builds awareness of and trust in the guidance of Jesus from within.

Let's talk a little about the guidance of Jesus from within.

Psalm 23 says, "The Lord is my Shepherd – I shall not want." John 10 says, "I am the Good Shepherd – the good Shepherd gives his life for his sheep."

As a Christian, Jesus Christ, the Shepherd, lives within you. Perhaps the earthly relationship between a shepherd and his sheep can help us to better understand our relationship with Christ.

Any sheep, if treated with kindness and affection, soon attaches itself to its new owner. Sheep are remarkably responsive, for the most part, to the attention and care given them by a good shepherd. This is especially true in small flocks where the owner has opportunity to bestow his personal affection on individual animals. They quickly become his friends. A select few are actually pets. They follow him as faithfully as his own shadow. Wherever he goes, they are there. It is in his company, and because of his presence, that they are ever secure and at rest. The same truth applies in our relationship to Christ living in us.

And Christ is an "eastern" Sheepman. How does an eastern sheepman gather up his stray sheep? How does he bring home the wanderers and stragglers?

He does not use dogs the way western sheepmen do. He does not resort to horses or donkeys to herd them home or round them up. Nor does he employ helicopters or Hondas as some western ranchers do.

No. The eastern shepherd uses his own pet sheep to gather in lost sheep. Because these pets are so fond of being near him and with him, he has to literally go out into the hills and rough country himself taking them along, scattering them abroad. There they graze and feed alongside the wild and wayward sheep.

As evening approaches the shepherd gently winds his way home. His favorite pet sheep quietly follow him. As they move along in his footsteps, they bring with them the lost and scattered sheep. It is a beautiful picture.

The Good Shepherd simply asks me to be one who will be so attached to Him, so fond of Him, so true to Him, that in truth I will be like His PET SHEEP. No matter where He takes me; no matter where He places me; no matter whom I am alongside of in my daily living, that person will be induced to eventually follow the Shepherd because I follow Him.

Second Corinthians 12:9 says, "My GRACE is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness."

Let's pray – Father – we hear your call of grace to us and we come to you humbly accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and Shepherd. From this point forward, to the best of our ability, we will follow and trust in Jesus. We thank you, we thank you for your grace. We don't deserve it – we can never earn it. But we are freed from punishment because of it.

Holy Spirit, keep us in awareness of who we are in Christ. When troubles come, and they always do, our relationship with Christ WILL see us through.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Again, Happy Mother's Day!