Mothers to Model
A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
Praise God for the wonderful examples of godly women that each of us have. But in addition to having those in our lives to whom we can look, there are women in the Bible who provide worthy models for mothers. The world of the Bible was a man's world, so there are not very many accounts given about the women. However, when one does look for women in the Bible, one quickly notices that there are both good models, and not so good models. Right at the beginning we have Eve, the mother of all mothers. She gets accused of influencing her husband and starting the slide down the slippery slope of sin. Then there's Sarah who snickered in the tent when the Angel of the Lord told Abraham that she would give birth to a son in her old age. And when confronted with this, she lied and said she didn't laugh. There's the wife of Lot who disobeyed the command of the rescuing angel and looked back on the burning cities. And we also have Mrs. Job, who will go down in history as the woman who gave the ungodly advice to her suffering husband, "Curse God and die!" But we also have some commendable models of womanhood and motherhood in the Bible. For example, there's Hannah, who "in bitterness" of soul cried out to God who heard her prayer and blessed her with the child Samuel. Hannah kept her promise and dedicated her son to the Lord, and Samuel became a great spiritual leader in Israel. Of course there's also the mother of Jesus, Mary, who demonstrated faithfulness in the midst of what must have been the most difficult road ever walked by any mother. She brought a child into the world under the most unusual circumstances, and then stood by and watched while He died after extreme persecution , torture and ridicule. But the mothers that I want to hold up as wonderful models, are the mother of Timothy, Eunice, and her mother Lois. They are little known and discussed - their names appearing only once, in II Timothy 1:5: "I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also." What we first learn is that these were women of "sincere faith". Theirs was not a religious pretence - they had faith, and they lived it. But not only did they possess this special virtue, this verse tells us they passed it on to their son and grandson, Timothy. We first learn of this family from the book of Acts, chapter 16. This was when Paul, on his second missionary journey, came to a town called Lystra. Timothy's mother, Eunice, was a Christian with Jewish background; although her husband was a Greek - the inference is that he was neither Christian nor Jewish. This piece of information might provide a word of encouragement to mothers today who find themselves in a situation where they are endeavoring to bring up their children as Christians, but they do it alone. Unfortunately there are many families where a Christian mother is trying to bring up her children without the support of a Christian husband - either he s not present in the home at all, or else just not interested. Although this is a most difficult task, what we learn about Eunice and Timothy is that it is not an impossible task. Evidently, Eunice and Lois were quite successful. A number of years ago a prominent Christian speaker made this comment, "God doesn't have any grandchildren". What he meant by this was this: just because your mother or father is a Christian, that doesn't automatically mean that you too are a Christian. Each individual has to come to their own confession of faith, and develop their own personal relationship with the Lord. Notice that in Acts 16:1 Timothy is identified as a "disciple". He himself was a Christian believer, probably having come to the Lord during the First Missionary Journey of Paul and Barnabas. After all, it was in Timothy's home town, Lystra, where a lame man was dramatically healed, and it was there that Paul was stoned, apparently to death, and then came back to life. But even though each one must accept Christ personally, Paul recognized that something had been passed down through the generations to Timothy. Though belief is an individual decision, the readiness to believe was there. It was easy for Timothy to believe, because he grew up in the context of faith - he saw it all around him every day. There is a popular idea among some parents that when it comes to religion, they want their children to be able to grow up, and when they are old enough to check out religions, they will then decide for themselves what their belief system will be. A number of years ago I was hosting a half hour Christian Television program aired on a local cable network. During each program I would interview a Christian believer, primarily talking with them about how they came to know the Lord, and what He had done in their life. I well remember one man, who if I remember right, was a Pastor of an Evangelical Congregational church. He related to the audience how grateful he was to have been brought up in a family where he was able to discover what it meant to be a Christian. He said it was kind of like learning to enjoy eating fish. His parents could have said, "We don't bother feeding our son fish, because when he grows up he can decide for himself whether or not he wants to eat fish." But they didn't do this. They fed him fish, and so built in him a taste for fish. They enjoyed it, and they inculcated in their son an enjoyment for fish. He said, "This is the same way it is with Christianity. When children are brought up in an environment where their parents enjoy living the Christian life, and give their children every opportunity to participate in what is involved with being a Christian, then the children will more likely follow the Lord when the time comes for them to become a believer. I wonder how we today could provide an atmosphere where "sincere faith" could be observed and picked up by children and young people in our homes? Here are few ideas.
2. When problems face the family, children need to be led in prayer. No, they don't need to know all the details and feel the full burden of these problems, but they need to see that their parents are praying and trusting God in difficult circumstances. 3. Family members - children especially - should actually hear their names being spoken in prayer. 4. When correction or discipline is necessary, explanations should be given which includes Biblical principles. 5. Children should be retold, over and over again, the stories of God's faithfulness in meeting the needs of their parents and other family members. Now I said that Timothy's mother and grandmother were only named once in the Bible. However, there is another indirect reference to them in II Timothy 3:14, 15 - "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." The NIV is the better translation here. Whereas the KJV speaks of Timothy being a "child", the word used here clearly is intended to convey the idea that Timothy began to be exposed to the Scripture even when he was a baby. Who do you suppose it was that taught Timothy the Word of God? Of course, it was his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois. There are many things that children will learn, whether or not they are actually, intentionally taught. For example, most children will learn to feed themselves, they will learn to walk, they will learn to talk. Parents and other grown-ups may help with this, but children learn these things almost instinctively. But Eunice and Lois evidently understood that young Timothy would not learn how to feed himself with spiritual food, nor learn to walk with God and talk with God unless they taught him. As never before, today's Mothers need to follow the examples of these godly women, and take it upon themselves to teach the Scriptures to the children, from infancy. Granted, this is not an easy task, and there are many distractions and obstacles.
2. Schools, sports activities, private lessons and many other things take up huge portions of time so there seems to be little time left over at the end of the day. But look at the fruit which came as a result of the teaching by Timothy's mother and grandmother. Timothy was respected by the other members of his church and community. He became a member of the traveling team ministering the Gospel throughout Asia Minor and Greece. Later he became the leader of the church at Ephesus, perhaps even the Bishop of the entire region. Two books in the Bible carry his name. All this because a mother and grandmother took the time and made the effort to teach little boy Timothy the Word of God. So even while we take this opportunity to express our love and appreciation to our mothers, we also extend this challenge. Live out before your children and grandchildren a life style of "sincere faith", and make whatever effort is needed to teach them the Word of God. No, this doesn't exempt the fathers from their co- responsibility in the training of children. But mothers, even if there is no one to support and help you in this task, you be faithful, and some day you will realize the fruit, even as did Eunice and Lois  - - Return to Top of this Page  - Email a Link to this Page
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