Serve the Lord with Gladness -- Loyal OK Peace UCC

Serve the Lord with Gladness

For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' he is not to 'honor his father ' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Matthew 15:4-7a

Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding. The father of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him. May your father and mother be glad; may she who gave you birth rejoice! Proverbs 23:22-25

Each of you must respect his mother and father. Leviticus 19:3

Cursed is the man who dishonors his father or his mother. Deuteronomy 27:16

The eye that mocks a father, that scorns obedience to a mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures. Proverbs 30:17

Serving God is a fun thing to do! As a child I confused it with dressing up in a scratchy wool suit and playing stupid games with kids I didn’t like. But when I learned that God loved me and understood when I messed up, it changed my whole outlook on this Christianity bit!

If you are not having fun as a Christian we need to have a talk!

Being a mother should be a lot of fun too! Now don’t take me wrong… being a mother is serious work! It is both serious – and work! My wife says that it is the hardest thing you will ever do! But what fantastic rewards! What long nights wondering if the child will get well! What long evenings wondering if the teenager will ever come home!

Being a child should be a lot of fun no matter what the age we are. How can this be? When we fill our hearts and homes with love! When we get over being selfish and self-centered and begin to serve one another with gladness. When we mature to the point that making someone else happy brings more satisfaction than getting your own way.

Work diligently to make your parents proud! Parents, work diligently to make your children proud!

The mothers and grandmothers here today should appreciate the following question, which was seen on a church sign:

If evolution is true, how come mothers still have only two hands?

Perspective is everything… meaning how you look at things makes a difference. For instance, one lady writes:

My first grandson was noisy and active. After raising three daughters, I found his boyish energy an entirely new experience. Still, I hadn't realized just how great a challenge little Matthew was until one morning I overheard my daughter talking to her son. “Matthew,” she said, “You'd better settle down today. We haven't even had breakfast yet and Grandma has already thanked God three times for giving her daughters!"

June Cerza Kolf, Quartz Hill, California; Christian Reader, "Kids of the Kingdom."

I thank God that I had godly parents. Even before they got saved they had high moral standards. But what a difference salvation made! Joy and peace became more prevalent.

Not everyone here has children – and some may never. It is not a calling that we all have. But everyone does have a call to serve others. And we do have a call to care for these who come under our influence. Parents model the way to live, then the children go look at other adults to see if grown ups really act like that… if they don’t it can be very confusing to a child.

Aunts and uncles cousins and acquaintances all influence us. When I first began pastoring in the 1970s we had a couple in our church that were a real blessing and inspiration to us. You may remember TI and Naomi Montgomery. TI counseled me in many ways that my own dad never could have. Dad didn’t have the same abilities and experiences that Brother Montgomery had. One year we were giving a pair of socks to every dad present. The person handing out the socks skipped Brother Montgomery and I said, "Wait! You missed one." Everyone in the building was confused because he didn’t have any children. Roberta looked at me and said, "He isn’t a dad." I was dumb-struck! I responded, "He isn’t? He is like a dad to me!"

I have chosen a few ways to be a great mom, picked by a list compiled by Live It editor Whitney Von Lake. She introduces her list by stating, "Motherhood is a great privilege and responsibility. You may feel pressure to be 'the greatest mom ever,' but please, don’t strive for unrealistic goals! Instead rely on God’s grace to help you every day in your role as a mom. Then God’s greatness will shine through you."

1. Take time for personal renewal in the midst of serving your family… even if all you have time for is a long, hot bath.

2. Reduce clutter in your house and life.

3. Don’t worry about fixing gourmet meals for your family. Just be sure that the meals are nutritious.

4. Accept the fact that there will always be laundry to do.

5. If you feel so stressed that you are considering the risk of going insane. remember that God gave you a sound mind and He will be there to comfort and guide you through the tough times.

6. Pay attention to your inward beauty – it enhances your outward beauty.

7. Accept the fact that mistakes happen. You may have declared loudly that you would not make the same mistakes your parents made… but you probably will. Realize that God still loves you and will help you.

8. Don’t rush through life. Commit your daily schedule to God.

9. When the child asks incessant questions he really wants you to slow down and listen. Do it!

10. Discover what motivates you and the members of your family – then you will know how to encourage them!

11. Create special memories for your children.

12. Spend time daily with God.

13. Remember that God is more powerful than any circumstance.

14. Share Christ with your family – and your friends.

15. Pray for others often.

16. In all you do, strive to serve out of a sense of love, not mere duty.

M – O – T – H – E – R

“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!

-Howard Johnson (C. 1915)