Join RiverLife to celebrate moms, moms-to-be, grandmas, aunties, sisters, and all the incredible women who have played a part in your life. We’ll hear from Jeremy Garland, our Kids Min director, share a Mother’s Day sermon on how moms surpass them all. You’ll have to join us to hear more!

Transcript

Good morning church, it’s a pleasure to be up here this wonderful Mother’s Day morning in what is both my first and depending on how I do, probably my last sermon I’ll ever preach. If this is your first time here at RiverLife and you find me boring or my message doesn’t go so well, I hope you will give us another try when our amazing pastor Greg or wonderful associate pastor Kong are preaching. You might be asking yourself, why are they having this newbie preach on Mother’s Day? Do they not like moms here at RiverLife? On the contrary, as the Kids ministry director, moms literally gave me a job! We love all moms and especially moms here at RiverLife. We just know that there is no one quite as gracious, understanding or forgiving as a mom. So if this utterly tanks, I know they won’t hold it against me, not forever, at least.

Before we go too far, I just want to clarify the term mom or mother, because you will hear me say it a lot this morning. We aren’t going to redefine the meaning, but we are going to expand it a bit. If you are an Auntie that celebrates, cares for, and cherishes the life of a niece or nephew, you are “mom.” If you are a woman that tries to inspire, educate, and care for your students in our hurting school systems, you are “mom.” If you are a sister who acknowledges your parents are struggling to find time, so you help around the house and take care of your siblings, you are “mom.” If you are a wife struggling to conceive and have spent hours and hours praying to the Lord for a child of your own, but have been asked to be patient, you are “mom.” There is no single qualification that makes someone a mom, and I am sure I missed many more women that mother in their own special way. There may not be one qualification, but there is however one commonality,

“Motherly influence surpasses them all!”

Proverbs 31:28-29 says

”Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.””

That’s powerful, high praise! Many women do it well, but moms do it better! The church is full of moms. We are so lucky for that. I asked a handful of our Riverkids what they loved about the women in their lives, and I got some pretty awesome answers! Jalen told me, “Mom helps us with chores, she’s reliable.” Lily didn’t even have to think about it, she said, “I love to sleep with my mom, she’s cuddly!” Kaleb wanted to share about Auntie Alicia, “She lets us sleep over at her house!” Ethan shared, “Mom helps and she’s kind.” Malachi said, “Mom is caring and helpful, and a little bossy.” He said it like it’s a good thing so hopefully that doesn’t get him in trouble. Sorry Malachi! Isn’t it amazing how the little things stand out to kids. They need help and moms give it to them. They need a little extra love and mom’s are kind and caring.

Kids need a little direction, so moms make sure you know what they expect. Mom’s give us what we need. When I was young, Ms. Lavern always had a piece of Fruit stripe gum for any kid who asked. You might remember those. There was a zebra on the packaging that had a soccer ball for some reason. The gum had tongue tattoos, how cool was that. The flavor was gone in about 45 seconds, not quite as cool, but still. Best gum I ever had!

Then there was Ms. Eileen, our organist. She was small and had hair as white as snow. She was the most kind, sweet old lady I had ever met. Then came Ms. J, my childhood best friend’s mom. I spent more time at her house on Sunday afternoons than on my own. Boy could she cook! Apple dumplings, Halljushki and Gobs were just a few of my favorite foods at her house! She led worship at our church. She didn’t have an amazing voice or a big stage presence, but when she told us to put away our hymns and pull out our little blue chorus book, the Holy Spirit never felt quite so close. In high school, my best friend’s mom was mine too. She was mama Fig and boy, could she cook! She’s Bolivian, and she had two types of corn dishes. One hot, one cold, both delicious! I’ve never loved corn quite as much.

They say the fastest way to a man’s heart is through their stomach, well that works for little boys and teenagers also! Mama Fig was the most caring woman I had ever met. She would make you a shirt if you needed one and then cook you dinner. These are just a handful of the women who mothered me. Motherly Influence Surpasses them All. Of course, there is the one Mom who has been there since the beginning. This is my big ‘M’ mom. She still claims to me, even after all of the ridiculous things I have done in my life. Crazy right? Moms take you as you are, and trust me, I was a handful growing up, and that was a lot to take. I didn’t know how to walk anywhere. I was either running ahead or wearing holes in all my pants by sliding around on my knees.

At home, I had nothing but energy, and sitting still wasn’t my style. My mom tells the story of a time she was talking to one of my teachers, she was terrified to hear how disruptive I was during class, but my teacher looked at her with obvious confusion and said, “Jeremy is one of the most behaved children that I have!” My mom couldn’t believe that. She popped her head in my class once and saw me sitting quietly at my desk, and I even raised my hand to ask a question. Surely, that wasn’t my son. She jokes that I saved all the crazy just for her. She’s not wrong.

You see, I have social anxiety, and I am an introvert. Being around people that I am not comfortable with is nerve-racking, paralyzing even. But at home...with Mom....I’m safe. I am free to be me. Moms, thank you for letting us be ourselves and putting up with our ridiculous amount of energy. And to my Mom, I know you will watch this sermon later today. Thanks for putting up with me and encouraging me along the way. I wouldn’t be here preaching this sermon without you. Motherly Influence Surpasses Them All.

Some of you might be excited about a Mother’s Day message, and some of you might have mixed emotions. In fact some of you might be dreading this sermon, because it is going to bring up hurt or painful memories. Maybe your mom doesn’t look like our Proverbs 31 example. Maybe it goes even further. Perhaps your mom played favorites, was overly critical, controlling or just wasn’t there. Our mother’s influence follows us wherever we go, regardless of her intentions.

That’s true for our moms, but that is also true for us. I’m sure you’ve all experienced a time when you had good intentions but found a poor outcome. And that presents a question for every one of us. What do we do when our influence does not mirror our intentions? We are going to take a look at a story today that explores how good intentions lead to less-than-good influences on two sons. It’s the story of Jacob and Esau, twin boys to Rebekah and Issac. They were an odd pair even from the time of their birth. Esau was born moments before Jacob, but not for Jacob’s lack of trying. Genesis 25:25-26 is a rollercoaster of information and, honestly, pretty unbelievable. Let’s read it.

“The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they
named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel;
so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.”
We start with Esau, whose name literally translates to hairy. That’s one hairy
baby! It doesn’t stop there, the hairiest baby to ever exist is dwarfed by his twin brother
trying to birth himself by sheer impatience. He might not have come out first, but he
wasn’t going to be forgotten. Jacob means “he grasps the heel,” which is exactly what he
did. Aren’t you glad they don’t name babies this way anymore? That’s a lot of pressure,
I mean being born is stressful enough, without having to worry about making a grand
entrance and looking good while doing it.

But the story we are talking about today isn’t about the beginning of these boys' lives, but rather at the end of their father’s. Isaac was old, sickly, and his eyesight had faded. He made a secret plan to bless his eldest son, but it wasn’t secret enough because Rebekah caught wind of it.
Genesis 27:6-13

6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.’ 8 Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9 Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”

This is the beginning of Rebekah’s good intentions. She saw that her husband was about to secretly bless their eldest son. That wasn’t going to slide. Now, if you are an elder sibling, I am sure that you have noticed something about your mom. She always protects the baby! No matter how old you are, no matter how independent or grown you act, she will only ever see the youngest as her little baby. Rebekah’s baby is about to get jipped, so her fight or flight instinct kicks in, and she decides to fight the system. She has a plan ready to go in no time flat! Maybe not the best plan, but a plan nonetheless. Even Jacob, whose name is an idiom for deceiver, is like, “hold on a second, can we do that?”

11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. 12 What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.” 13 His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.” “Just do what I say,” isn’t that the most mom line ever? Don’t talk back, do what I said. Don’t bring logic into this, I’m your mother and logic has no power here! Do what I said.

But in all seriousness, listen to the lengths she is willing to go for her son. Her good intentions lead her to sacrifice herself, “My son, let the curse fall on me.” What curse could have come about from such a simple trick as this. This blessing that Isaac was to pass on to Esau was not an inheritance or anything monetary, but for a man like Issac who found favor with God and was faithful and righteous, his blessing was tantamount to a promise from God. So on the other hand a curse from Isaac was as if God himself was shunning you. Rebekah risked it all for Jacob.

There are two sides to this coin, because there are two brothers. Rebekah and Jacob successfully pull off their plan by the way of some goat stew and the very same goat’s fur on Jacob’s baby smooth arms. Isaac tastes the stew and feels Jacob’s arms, and gives the blessing to Jacob, and he exits. Esau returns from hunting and makes some tasty food for his father. He takes it to his father, expecting a blessing, instead he finds his father eating a meal of trickery and lies. It dawns on them both what Jacob had done and Esau is desperate in verse 28, “Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.” Esau had just lost his last chance at prosperity. Jacob had already taken his birthright at the cost of a bowl of soup back in Genesis 25. Now two chapters later, he lost his blessing to a bowl of stew. Remember how a man’s stomach is a path to their heart, well for Esau it was apparently a path to ruin.

That brings us back to Rebekah, had she considered the influence this would have on Esau? To take what belonged to Esau was a betrayal. Surely, he would be wounded by this and take revenge. Esau threatens to kill Jacob when their father passes, so Rebekah makes plans to save Jacob once again. She convinces Isaac to send him away to her father’s land so that he might find a wife there. So Jacob goes. Remember that curse we talked about? The one that Rebekah offered to take on herself? After Jacob leaves, she never sees him again. Her curse wasn’t one she had to live with for a day or two or even a few years. She literally took it to her grave.  There is one more piece to this story that is important to know, God made a promise to Rebekah.

Genesis 25:23

The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” Rebekah knew, from the time of Jacob and Esau’s birth, that Jacob would one day lead over Esau. Perhaps her intentions were to help God’s plan. Maybe she thought that this was the only way to ensure what God said would come true. No matter where she came from or what she did, her influence on Jacob and Esau was monumental.

Motherly Influence Surpasses Them All. Jacob took deception and favoritism into his own family. He had a favorite wife and a favorite son. That favorite son was Joseph, and his older brothers, who were not favorites, planned and schemed to have him removed from the picture. Esau went into life with no birthright and an afterthought of a blessing from his father. He had to work hard to earn everything, but God still blessed him.

It’s funny how that works. Rebekah had good intentions with Jacob but influenced him to be a deceiver and play favorites. She had less than good intentions with Esau and yet her influence gave him a reason to work harder and be better. This brings us back to the question: “What do we do when our influence does not mirror our intentions? Thank God for His Sovereignty! Even though Rebekah, through good intentions, intervened in God’s plan, it didn’t change the outcome. He still accomplished what He said He would.

Paul said it best in Romans 8:28

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." We touched on this last week in our Kid Talk segment, and I am going to pretend like I planned that! People like to have control. God is sovereign above all others, He lets us pretend that we have control but He is doing major work from behind the scenes. We might be able to control our intentions, but we don’t get to control our influence. Mothers, your influence surpasses them all, and some days it will feel like you are doing right by your kids, but my mom shared with us that she frequently felt like she was failing us all. She never gave up though, and we never felt like she failed us either. So I want to encourage you, don’t let the fear of failure keep you from leading by example and trusting in God’s plan. Keep on mothering like your life depends on it! Because for us kids, your husbands and even your fellow moms, our lives depend on your influence!

Kids and husbands, look back to Proverbs 31:28-29. Do you honor and praise the moms that you have in your lives? If not, then today is the day to start! And I hope you won’t stop once the day is over. Mother’s Day shouldn’t be just one day we celebrate the women that mother us, but it can be the day we remind ourselves to go a little further to show our love for her and praise her for all she has done.

And it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t share the conclusion to the story of Jacob and Esau. These brothers don’t meet again for more than twenty years when Jacob has to pass through Esau’s land. Jacob prepares a very generous gift, a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of livestock. When they met, something incredible happened, Esau ran to Jacob and wrapped his arms around him in an embrace. They wept together. After what was probably several minutes, Esau asked about all the livestock he saw around them, and I don’t want you to miss this part.

8 Esau asked, “What’s the meaning of all these flocks and herds I met?” “To find favor in your eyes, my lord,” Jacob said. 9 But Esau said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.” That is what being thankful for God’s Sovereignty looks like!

Esau has every reason and right to be bitter or angry even, but he forgave Jacob even though he never asked for it. Esau could have taken the gift from Jacob, but he saw his own plenty and knew what God had already given him. He could have accused Jacob for all the past wrongs he clearly was guilty of, but instead he offers grace to Jacob. You also have an opportunity to show this kind of thankfulness today! Forgive where you find hurt. When you look back and see what you may have lost, find your plenty today. Pray for grace, and watch how God restores you.

Look to Rebekah as an example of motherly influence meeting God’s plan.
Look to those who've had a motherly influence on you and thank them for their influence, good or bad, because God used it to bring you to where you are today! Let’s pray and thank God for motherly influence.