WILL THE REAL MOM PLEASE STAND UP

Text: I Kings 3:16-28

Introduction:

Now I know this is not your usual Mother's Day text, and some are probably thinking where is the pastor going with this. Well please pay attention closely this morning and I promise to get us to our destiny of the relevancy of this text of Scripture for Mother's Day.

I want you to note that these two prostitutes came to King Solomon and stood before him. One of them said, "My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone: there was no one in the house but the two of us.

During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him. So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast. The next morning I got up to nurse my son - and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that he was not the son I gave birth to.

The other woman said, "No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours."

But the first one insisted, "No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine. And so the argument ensued before the king.

Now King Solomon is faced with a dilemma. "This one says, "My son is alive and your son is dead; while the other says, No! Your son is dead and mine is alive."

All of us have heard the term - "The Wisdom of Solomon." Well this is where that term derived from. Because the King said, "Bring me a sword," So they brought a sword for the king. He then gave an order: "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other." What a dilemma?

Well the woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, "Please, my lord give her the living baby. Don't kill him!" But the other said, "neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!"

King Solomon's wisdom proved to be just that. Because he gave his ruling: "Give the living baby to the first woman. Don not kill him; she is his mother." When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held him in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.

QUITE A CLASSIC STORY! But do you know what one of the problems is with classis Bible stories? We often learn the primary lesson and fail to see the rest of the story. While this story is used of God to show He had given Solomon wisdom as he earlier requested, when he was first made king.

The story also provides MORALS OF MOTHERHOOD from an unlikely source. The first Moral of Motherhood from this story is:

I. There Is No Such Thing As A Perfect Mother.

Mother's don't get out the tar and feathers yet, I did not say this to drag mothers down, but to build them up. No one needs to be treated with more tenderness than our mother. Perhaps no one is more caring and nurturing than our mother. Sometime we are too hard on them. Sometimes they are too hard on themselves. I have often heard a mother say, after her child got into trouble. "I should have been a better mother."

The two mothers in this story were prostitutes! Their babies were evidently conceived under sinful circumstances. That grabs you! It makes you sit up in your church pew and take notice. Why would God use two women like this for an illustration? Why would Solomon, king over God's chosen people, even take the time to worry about two prostitutes? These women, and the sinful men who paid for their services, were living out of God's will. Maybe some of you have found yourself in that position.

Solomon was concerned about these two women because God was concerned about them!

I don't have to convince you that the church should stand for moral purity. But the church should also stand for forgiveness and restoration. These women were not living up to God's ideals - yet he still loved them. How often as a church do we forget these words: "But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8). Friend, if any of us had to wait for God to love us based on performance, we would all be out of luck. He loved us, when we were unlovable and tarnished by our sins.

No there is no such thing a perfect mother, except June Cleaver on "Leave It To Beaver." And there are no perfect mother's among the rest of us. Dad's wait your day is coming. If there is anyone in whose faults we should be willing to overlook, it should be our mother. Why? Because they overlooked so many of our faults, as they raised us.


So I challenge you today, maybe you did not have the best mother and she made many mistakes. Nevertheless, she is your mother. And the Bible tells us to "Honor our mother and father," and it does not qualify that command to only if they have been good parents. Well how about forgiving mom, because I am sure you were not the perfect little child.

Mom' s need to laugh a little too, and here are some excerpts from the "Children's Letters To God" series, actual authentic letters written by kids to God:

"Dear God, I read the Bible. What does 'begat' men? Nobody will tell me. Love Alison."

"Dear God, did you mean for the giraffe to like that or was it an accident?" Norma

"Dear God, I went to this wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that okay?" Neil

"Dear God, thank you for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy." Joyce

"Dear God, please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before. You can look it up on the Internet." Bruce.

"Dear God, please send Dennis Clark to a different camp this year." Peter.

"Dear God, I think about you sometimes even when I'm not praying." Elliot.

"Dear God, I bet it is very hard for you to love everybody in the world. There are only four in my family and I can't do it." Nan.

"Dear God, I didn't think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tuesday. That was cool." Eugene