Love Illustrated — A Tribute To Mother | Bella Vista Church of Christ

Love Illustrated — A Tribute To Mother

Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
5/11/97 am

Love Illustrated — A Tribute To Mother

Reading — Luke 24.1-12


This morning, it’s appropriate that we pay tribute to mother. Jesus, is our example, more than once He paid tribute to His mother.

- Luke 2.51 tells us that Jesus went home from the Temple in Jerusalem and was subject to His parents... NIV says, He was obedient to them as he grew in wisdom, stature and in favor with God and man.

- Jesus paid tribute to His mother at the wedding feast in Cana, when He turned water into wine at her request.

- Then, one of the last things He did, on the cross, was to make sure of His mother’s future care.

Jesus was obedient to the Old Testament command and to the New Testament admonition of Paul to honor your father and mother.

When we read the Gospel narratives of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we find several women mentioned, as those who followed Jesus in His ministry and served His needs:
- Mary, his mother.
- Mary and Martha of Bethany,
- Mary Magdalene,
- Joanna,
- Salome,
- And Mary the mother of James and John.

What I want to do this morning is, to honor mother by noting the passionate devotion of these women in the life of Jesus. I want us to see them as an illustration, an EXAMPLE of genuine true love. I believe these ladies are an example of what it means to love God with all your heart, body, mind and soul. They loved Jesus with a reckless abandonment, with a passionate devotion.

LET’S TALK ABOUT JESUS AND THESE WOMEN FOR A MOMENT.
These women had seen Jesus go from an obscure carpenter, to the most popular man in all of Palestine. They had watched the crowds amass as word of His miraculous power spread. However, like most Jews, they had a wrong view of Jesus.

You see, for a thousand years the Jews had read the verses in Isaiah and Jeremiah which tell of God sending a Messiah, who would deliver Israel from bondage, like He had done years earlier in Egypt. A new Moses, if you will. This promised Messiah would come and would pale that other Moses in comparison. He would come and restore the Jews to, what they thought was their rightful authority in the world.

Now the Jews were under Roman bondage in the first century. So, as they read these Scriptures, they thought that God was going to send a Messiah that would deliver them from Roman oppression. This was wrong, but it was a natural mistake. God was not sending a Messiah to deliver them from Roman bondage, but to deliver them from the bondage of SIN.

But they didn’t understand this. They saw Jesus as a political Messiah. I mean, here comes Jesus:
- Healing the diseased,
- Feeding the hungry by the thousands,
- Raising people from the dead,
- And talking about establishing His kingdom.

What would you have thought? You would have thought He was the one. RIGHT? And He was the one. They had the right person, they just had the wrong definition, the wrong view of his purpose.  You see church, Jesus didn’t come to fulfill:
- Their purpose,
- Their definition,
- Their job description.

And Jesus is not here today to fulfill our purposes, our definition, our job description. Jesus came and EXIST today to fulfill God’s purpose, definition and job description. We must learn this. You see, sometimes we make the same mistakes with Scripture today, as did the Jews. Sometimes we have expectations of God and what He should do in our lives that are based upon our own misunderstanding of Scripture.

Have you ever noticed when the tide of popularity begin to turn against Jesus? It was when he begin to talk about being rejected, suffering and dying. People begin to leave his ministry, because that was not the kind of Messiah they wanted. For instance in Mark 8;
- Jesus feeds 4,000 plus people,
- He heals a blind man at Bethsaida,
- Then beginning in verse 31 he predicts His own death.

Remember what Peter does? Peter does, what many of us want to do, we want to advise God. Peter says, God forbid that you even think like that, you sure don’t want to talk of such. Jesus turns to Peter, rebukes him and says, Get out of my sight Satan... If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me But I want you to notice, that despite this, these women did not forsake Jesus.
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I believe this is why Judas rejected Christ. Jesus was not fulfilling Judas’ expectations and dreams, so he betrayed Him. You see, rather than give up his dream, Judas gave up Jesus. A lot of us are challenged to be like Judas. We all have our expectations of what it should be like when we follow Jesus:
- This is gonna work out like we want.
- That situation will disappear.
- This circumstance will be better.
- We’re not gonna have more money and less problems.
- We won’t be sick any more.
- All our relational difficulties will be solved.
- As students, we gonna make straight A’s in algebra II.

And when none of these things come about, we are challenged with the temptation to give up on Jesus. All of us could name some good people who were once faithful, but have left Jesus, became discouraged, because of wrong expectations. Perhaps some of us, here this morning, have given up on Jesus.

I want you to know these women in our narrative never gave up on Jesus. They saw Jesus go from the peak of his fame to the valley of desertion in a matter of months at the end of His ministry... Yet they never gave up. Everybody wanted a piece of Jesus when He was:  Feeding thousands, Healing the multitudes, and raising the dead.  But nobody wants anything to do with Him when He is:
- Arrested,
- Tried,
- And nailed to a cross like a common thief.

Even Peter gave up, but not these women. Mothers are like that aren’t they?

You see, we must learn, what the Jews of the first century had to learn... That God gives us what we need, before He gives us what we want. And He is the one qualified to decide what we need. That’s what makes Him God and us human.

- God sent them a Messiah to save them from their sins, before He delivered them from Roman bondage.
- God sent a Messiah to change their hearts, before He changed their circumstances.

God wants to change our hearts, before He changes our circumstances.
- We may have gotten on our knees,
- Fasted,
- Prayed all the way to work,
- All the way home from work for God to change our circumstances. But how many of us have prayed, with this kind of passion, for God to change our hearts? God wants to change our heart, before He changes our circumstances. Because God knows what the Scriptures tell us is truth, that: Contentment, Fulfillment, and Peace in life, have a lot more to do with what’s going on inside of our heart than what’s going on around us.

This is the kind of Messiah Jesus is. Jesus came first and foremost to change the hearts of men and women, boys and girls. So, do we give up or dreams or do we give up Jesus? These women never give up Jesus.  I want you to consider this:
- Who followed Jesus on the road to the cross?
- Who was at the foot of the cross?
- Who was present at the burial preparation?
- Who was there at His burial?
- Three days later who came to the tomb to honor Jesus?

The women! Hey! They didn’t come to the garden tomb expecting a resurrection. They just came to pay their last respects. They tell Peter and John, someone has moved His body. Then they see angels who told them, Jesus is not here... He is resin. Yet, a resurrection never crossed their minds. The bottom line is that these ladies were in love with Jesus.
- Things have not turned out like they expected them to.
- He is not going to be the kind of political Messiah they expected Him to be.
- Nothing has worked out like they expected, yet they never deserted Him.
- There is a lot about Jesus these women don’t know.

This is the reason we are looking at these women this morning... They are genuine disciples... They are in love with Jesus.

Do you remember the song that put Garth Brooks at the top of the country music charts? It was his song, The Dance. The song is about a relationship that has gone wrong.... Maybe from divorce or death, we don’t know which. Things just didn’t work out as was expected. The song is about the pain of this ruptured relationship. He addresses the question of, if I had known, going into this relationship, what kind of pain I would face.... Would I have even begun the relationship? Listen to what he sings:
Looking back on the memory of’,
The dance we shared beneath the stars above.
For a moment all the world was right;
How could I have ever known you would say good-bye.
But now I’m glad I didn’t know;
The way it all would end, the way it all would go;
Our lives are better left to chance,
I could have missed the pain, but I would have missed the dance.
Holding you, I held everything,
For a moment, wasn’t I a king?
If I had only known how the king would fall;
Then who’s to say you know, I might have changed it all.
But now I’m glad I didn’t know,
The way it all would end and the way it all would go.
Our lives are better left to chance;
I could have missed the pain, but I would have missed the dance.

This is a man acknowledging, even if he had of known all the pain he was going to face, he still would have invested in the relationship. This is a song much more about life, than about romance. This song is about A MOTHER’S LOVE. Did you hear the request the other day on the radio? A thirty year old woman called and requested this song. She had just lost her 2 year old son to leukemia. She asked that this song be dedicated to him. She was asking the question, had I known, even before you were born, what was going to happen would I have had this child.... Would I have given him life? Her answer was YES... YES... YES, I could have missed the pain, but I would have missed the dance. Church, this is the attitude of these women. This is the attitude of OUR MOTHER. Indeed, Indeed, they could have avoided the pain, but they would have missed the dance.

OK, APPLICATION TIME... WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THESE WOMEN THIS MORNING?

First, when life doesn’t turn out the way we expect it to, this doesn’t mean we stop loving Jesus. I think all of us must admit that, we have or will find ourselves, in a time and place like these women. We thought some things would work out differently... But they didn’t or haven’t yet! But just because things haven’t worked out like we expected them to when we set out to follow Jesus, doesn’t mean it’s time to desert Him. That doesn’t mean we stop loving Him.

Church, look around this auditorium, and see examples of those who life hasn’t worked out like they expected, yet they still love Jesus:
- Dottie and Cotton Adamson,
- Chris O’Neal,
- Osa Branstetter,
- Earl Herndon,
- Deb and Olga Smith
- Ophelia Berry,
- Betty Fritz,
- The Bob McCulley family,
- Dale and Virginia.

There are others, who things are not working out as expected, and we don’t know your story, because yours is a private storm. You’ve been through so much, yet you still love Jesus. The message for us here this morning is... No matter what happens, never, never, stop loving Jesus. Mother is our example.... No matter what happened, she still loved us. Like these women in our narrative, mother is our illustration of love. They could have avoided the pain, but they would have missed the dance.

SECONDLY, WE DON’T HAVE TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING ABOUT JESUS IN ORDER TO LOVE PASSIONATELY HIM.
- These women didn’t know Jesus was going to be resurrected, that the tomb would be empty.
- They didn’t understand the Old Testament prophesies they had been taught from childhood.
- They didn’t understand when Jesus plainly said, I am going to raise the third day.

You see, if we really love Jesus, we will come to know more about Him... God will see to that.

Even though they didn’t understand everything, they still loved Jesus with all their heart. And He revealed Himself to them. This ought to be an encouragement to all of us. We don’t have to know everything about Jesus to love Him. We don’t have to know everything about God to obey Him. Aren’t you glad mother loved us, even though she didn’t know everything about us? She could have avoided the pain, but would have missed the dance.

THEN THIRDLY, THESE WOMEN TEACH US THAT THE PURE IN HEART REALLY WILL SEE GOD.
- Things may not have worked out the way they expected,
- They may not have understood everything about Jesus,
But they were the first to see the resurrected Christ. Did you catch that?... The pure in heart shall see God. Why did Jesus present Himself to some of these women first? Because they were pure in heart

Do you know what it means to be pure in heart?  It means to be:
- Undivided,
- Fully committed,
- Utterly devoted, in our relationship to God.

Church, God demands single minded obedience.
- The command is, Love God with all our heart, body, mind and soul.
- Joshua, in his farewell address said, Choose today whom you will serve!
- Elijah, on Mount Carmel said, Why will you halt between two opinions, if Jehovah is LORD follow him, if Baal is god follow him.
- Jesus said, we cannot serve two masters.
- James rebukes those who would be double minded.
Pure in heart is a single minded heart, a heart focused on Jesus.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Mary Magdalene comes to the disciples saying, I have seen the LORD! This is a fulfillment of Matthew 5.8. The pure in heart really will see God.

What would have happened if these women had not have come to the tomb? What happens if we give up? What are we missing this morning, because we have given up on Jesus? First Corinthians 13 tells us LOVE never fails.
- Regardless of how dark the night,
- How uncertain the future,
- How rough the path you’re called to walk, DON’T GIVE UP.
- There may be a stone about to be rolled away,
- A resurrection about to occur in your life and mine.

Hebrews 13.5 says, He will leave us, never forsake us. Yes, they could have avoided the pain, but they would have missed the dance.

A few years ago, a military vehicle rammed into a hotel that had been converted to a Marine barracks, in Beirut. Over 250 Marines died in that terroristic plot. When word of the explosion reached Washington, a commandant by the name of Paul Howell, from the Pentagon left immediately for Beirut. As he walked into the hallway of that hospital, what he saw took his breath away. Marines lined up along the wall for as far as he could see. Many of them wrapped in bandages from head to foot. Some with a jungle of tubes dangling from all parts of their body. One of the soldiers, about halfway down the hall, recognized who officer Howell was and he motioned for him to come his way. When he got to this Marine, who was so wrapped in bandages he couldn’t speak, but he motioned for the clip board where they had his chart. On the back of this clip board, the wounded soldier, wrote two words... SIMPER FI. Simper Fi is the abbreviated form of the Marine motto, Simper Fidellis. It means ALWAYS FAITHFUL... ALWAYS FAITHFUL.

I’ll bet, if we did open heart surgery on these women, we would find SIMPER FI written inside their hearts. I know, if we did open heart surgery on MOTHER we would fine SIMPER FI... ALWAYS FAITHFUL. “She could have avoided the pain, but would have missed the dance.”

If you need strength to face your future.
If you need strength to be always faithful.
If you need a spirit of perseverance.
If you need to rededicate your life to loving Jesus.
Or if you need to demonstrate you love for Jesus by becoming a child of God by: Faith, Repentance, and New Testament baptism, immersion in water for the forgiveness of all your sins, DO IT NOW!

Written By

Bella Vista Church of Christ

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