True Motherhood

Outline

3 Aspects of moms that we all can celebrate and emulate

I. A True Mother Loves the Truth

A. She knows the truth

2 John 1 - The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth.

B. She abides in the truth

2 John 2 - …for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever…

2 John 9 - Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

C. She instructs her children to walk in the truth

2 John 4 - I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father.

D. She guards herself and her children from deceivers

2 John 7-8 - For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.

II. A True Mother’s Love Flows from the Truth

A. God’s Word has much to say on what “true love” is

2 John 5 - Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.

Matthew 22:37-40 - And He said to him, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

B. Love is walking in the commandments of God

2 John 4 - I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father.

2 John 6 - And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

John 14:15 - If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

III. A True Mother Understands What Is at Stake

A. A great danger

2 John 9-11 - Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

B. A great reward

2 John 8 - Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.

I want to echo what everyone has already said in saying, “Happy Mother’s Day!” We know that every holiday brings visitors, family and friends that might not normally be a part of our church and we certainly want to welcome you. We are really, really glad that you are here.

As a church, holidays like Mother’s Day are certainly reflective days for us. As a pastor, I rejoice in thinking about all the mothers in our church that have been so instrumental and used by God in the raising of children. My wife, Erika, is a tremendous example of a child that has been the beneficiary of a mom that sought to raise her in the truth of Scripture. I personally count myself incredibly blessed by that investment.

There are many different perspectives that are significant in telling the story of Faith Church. All of them centrally tied to God’s faithfulness and his provision and glory. But you could talk about the story of Faith Church from the perspective of faithfulness in terms of longevity in the ministry.

• The fact that the last two senior pastors...Pastor Viars and his predecessor Bill Goode combined have served this church for over 50 years is astounding and a big part of the story of Faith Church.

Our church’s story could also be told from the perspective significant lay leaders who have been faithful in ministry for a long time.

• For example, there was an email that went out to our staff recently about one of these faithful leaders who has one of the 4 original keys to the Faith East Church building that he still uses because of the way that he and his wife serve.

• That key is over 30 years old which tells you that his service in that area is that old as well!

We could also tell the story from the perspective of different ministries that were instrumental in the story of Faith Church.

• It could be told from the Biblical Counseling ministries perspective...

• A large part of the story in the last 20 years could be told from the seminary’s perspective or the community centers perspective.

The point is, there is more than one way to tell the story of Faith Church. But if we don’t think about the perspective of lots and lots of mother’s who have been faithful to Jesus and His word? Well, we’d not only be blind to a huge perspective I think we’d be dishonoring the Lord and dishonoring faithful mom’s and there indispensable role in building the church of Jesus Christ!

So on behalf of all the pastors, we want the mom’s of this church to know that we are very thankful for you and we are praying for you.

Being a mom isn’t easy...I wouldn’t know from experience...nor will I ever know from experience!

• Now as much as that’s meant to be a joke...there is also the sad reality that there is real seriousness to that statement.

For example, an article from the blog of LEED University which is one of the largest universities in the United Kingdom wrote this in September of 2019 from a legal perspective...

Yet, paradoxically, the ruling brings into being a new legal category of “mother”, which is based on reproductive experience, rather than the traditionally sex/gendered body. From today, a ‘mother’ is not defined through binary sexed characteristics. And so, a man may be a mother as much as a woman.^[1]

Well that’s an interesting take...

And while that one might seem a lot easier for us to throw out, there are a lot of things that are a whole lot harder to discern between for mom’s today.

If you’re a mom you’re probably being pressed with all kinds of opinions on what you HAVE TO DO if you want your child to grow up well! And the stated or obvious implications for not doing these things is that you’ll hurt or damage your child.

• They actually start before your child ever comes out of the womb!

• If you eat this your child will probably die.

• Or if you don’t eat this kind of diet your child will probably die.

• Now maybe the diets don’t put it that strongly, but one poster I saw said, “Eating safely while pregnant.” Which obviously means that you could be eating “dangerously for your child.”

• There are the must do’s when it comes to how they play...are parents involved? Are they not involved? Are they somewhat involved?

• How many toys are involved...not enough toys and you’re depriving your child. Too many toys and your killing their imagination.

• Do you they play outside or inside...do they play barefoot or in shoes?

• And of course for each of these they aren’t just options, they are either right or wrong. Helping your child or hurting your child!

I know simply from the sheer volume of biblical counseling articles coming out on the topic, that mom’s are feeling a ton of pressure... “mom guilt” is a common term now-a-days...

Well the question becomes how do you sort through all the different opinions? They cannot all be true because when you read about the various philosophies they contradict one another!

The answer is of course, you need to be able to compare them to the truth!

I love what Ecclesiastes 12:11–13 says about the truth...

Ecclesiastes 12:11–13 ¹¹ The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. ¹² But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body. ¹³ The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.

Wow...I’m not sure Solomon had any idea just how endless the making of books could be!!

Mom’s I hope you feel the freedom...what book do we need to know? We need to know the Bible...and the good news about the Bible is that it’s true, and as v.11 says...it’s fixed. The truth isn’t changing every generation! It’s fixed!

And this is what that “one Shepherd” in v.11 said about himself when he came in the flesh as Jesus Christ.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Our annual theme this year has been Hope for Everyday Life.

And as we celebrate mother’s day this year, we’re going to be thinking about how there really is hope in this world of ENDLESS books and ENDLESS philosophies and ENDLESS opinions.

The hope for mother’s is found in the person of Jesus Christ who is the truth. He’s the one we need to navigate this word that sadly portrays what 2 Tim 3:7 says...

2 Timothy 3:7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

So there are lots of opinions on what it means to be a mom, but we’re thinking about what True Motherhood is. And in order to know what True motherhood is, we’re going to look to the Person’s word who created mom’s and motherhood.

• God’s Word is going to help us cut through all the endless opinions.

In order to do that, we’re going to be studying through the entire book of 2 John...and if you’re unfamiliar with Scripture and you’re thinking this is going to be a long sermon going through an entire book of the Bible! Fear not...when I was 7 or 8, my mother was trying to encourage me to read the Bible more and so she said she’d pay me $1 for every book of the Bible I read...can you guess what book I read first???

• That’s right...2 John!

You can go ahead and turn in your Bibles there. If you need a Bible please feel free to grab a Bible from chair in front of you. 2 John is almost at the end of the Bible and you’ll find it on _____ page in the back section of that Bible.

As we read we are going to be looking for 3 aspects of mom’s that we can all celebrate an emulate:

[Read 2 John...explain “chosen lady” from the get go]

Now, if you’re like me then probably when you read this you were thinking who is this “chosen lady”? Or in other versions it might say the “elect lady” or the “lady chosen by God.” But still the question is who is that...and if you’re familiar with the Bible that kind of address probably just sounds weird right off the bat, because we don’t have any other letter addressed that way.

So the most probable options are, this “chosen lady” is an actual person and she has actual children that are referenced in this letter.

The author is the apostle John, so of course he would be writing to a woman who he knows that is in another church and he knows her children.

Or the phrase “chosen lady” is a metaphor for the church that he is writing to.

• I think it is preferable to see this as a reference to the church he is writing to. However, if you’re wondering why we’d look at 2 John to talk about mothers if this isn’t written to an actual mother...I think because the church is metaphorically represented by a woman and the people in the church are referred to as children, motherhood is an easy and I think appropriate application.

If you look to the end of the book in the last verse you’ll notice that it says, “The children of your chosen sister greet you.”

• Now again some argue that’s an actual sister, but I think that refers to a “sister church.” Which if you’ve ever heard that phrase “sister church” this is one of the places that comes from.

• And this is one of the reasons we call other like minded church’s sisters rather than “brother churches.”

So I just wanted to get that out there at the start lest you be stuck on who that is while we are reading...

[continue reading 2 John...]

So with the time we have remaining we are looking at 3 aspects of mom’s that we can celebrate and emulate.

The first aspect is that true mother loves the truth!

I. A True Mother Loves the Truth

If you were half asleep while I read 2 John you probably picked up on the dominant theme of truth in this short letter.

v.1 says John loves this church and her children—that being the members of the church—in truth.

Also in v.1 he says not only he loves them in truth, but all who know the truth love them.

And in v.2 he says they love them in truth for the sake of the truth!

In v.3 the greeting to them from the Father and the Son, in the truth!

In v.4 John is rejoicing to here that some of the members are walking in the truth!

Then in v.9 and 10 he talks about abiding in the teaching of Christ and mentions teaching 3 times...the clear point is teaching that corresponds with the Truth!

Now, loving the truth may not be a unique characteristic to just mothers, but the feminine metaphor of mother for church easily lends itself to godly mothers...and true mother—meaning a mom who is obeying the design of God for mom’s is going to be a mom that loves the truth!

If that’s true, then of course she is going to know the truth.

She Knows the Truth

And my point here in knowing the truth is that there is a knowledge, and an intellectual ascent to the most important and fundamental truths of our existence and reality.

2 Jn:1 The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth

You see what ties John together with this church and what ties the sister church and anyone who knows the truth together with this church is the knowledge of the truth.

The question is, “What truth is that could be so important that it could unite people across states, across nations, across ethnicities, etc.?”

• It’s certainly just any simple truth...

• As far as I understand the majority of the world believes in gravity and yet war and hatred and disunity abound.

• So what knowledge of truth has such a profound effect as to truly unite and bond people together?

It’s the truth that John gave testimony to in the beginning of 1 John and also in his gospel.

1 John 1:1–3

¹ What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— ² and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— ³ what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

The truth is Jesus...it’s like what I read in the introduction a littler earlier from John’s gospel...

John 14:6

⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

The truth is Jesus...and the understanding that the truth is Jesus changes everything!

• The mom that knows that Jesus is the truth looks to Jesus words and knows that every word of Scripture is true!

• The mom that knows the truth looks to Jesus and sees that the motivation of Jesus is the right motivation for life...

• Namely, to please the Lord.

A true mom, knows the true TRUTH. And the truth is, what her children need more than anything else, is to know Jesus! And the reason she knows that’s the most important thing, is because she knows that’s the most important thing for her.

If you’re here this morning and the emphasis of knowing Jesus as the most important truth seems completely irrelevant to being a mom...or maybe you’d say, “I do know Jesus, but knowing Jesus isn’t helping me with blank in parenting...”

• Can I challenge you for a moment...

Most of us would agree with the maxim that says, “Those that don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

• So what that means is if we forget key dates and moments of our country’s history we’re going to be bound to repeat the same mistakes...

• So there are key national dates that are imperative for our country to remember to protect our national identity.

• Dates like 9-11, or the civil war, or the declaration of independence, or the civil rights movement...

If we believe that forgetting the lessons learned and forgetting the importance of those events would be detrimental to our nation, how much more detrimental would it be to miss the significance of the most important event in the history of the universe!

Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection according to Scripture is the center of history! It’s what divides our calendar, it’s what divides the times from not the last days, to now after Christ, we are in the last days! And if we turn to the last book in Revelation, we find that in heaven we will be singing to the Lamb who was slain for all eternity!

• Even in heaven, the cross will be central!

To forget or miss how Jesus is the most important truth to being a parent, is to miss the truth. Mom’s there is a ton of “truth” out there about parenting. Do not let all that “truth” distract you from the most important truth of Jesus!

She abides in the Truth

More than just intellectually knowing the truth, a true mother abides in the truth.

• The point here is that she isn’t just a person that can rattle of facts and pass a test. A true mom is a mom who rests in the truth, and stays in the truth and meditates in the truth.

2 John 2 for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever:

And again, the truth is Jesus...and this verse says that the truth abides in us and will be with us forever...that is characteristic language for John talking about Jesus!

The only way you can abide in Jesus who is the truth, and for Jesus to abide in you is if you have first died to your sinful, deceitful self in Christ.

• The beginning of abiding in the truth is by first recognizing that Jesus didn’t come to die for his sins...he didn’t come just as a good teacher or miracle worker.

• He came as the perfect, sinless son of God to die in the place of sinners on the cross, so that whoever would believe in him might not perish but have eternal life.

If you’ve never confessed your sin and acknowledged that the truth about yourself is that you justly stand under God’s righteous wrath, then I’m pleading with you to see that you need the salvation that only comes through trusting in Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross for you!

2 John 9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

A true mom that knows the truth and abides in the truth is certainly going to be teaching and instructing her children to walk in the truth.

Instructs her Children to Walk in the Truth

2 John 4 I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father.

Many of us could go around the room and give testimony after testimony of a mom that instructed us in the truth and taught us to walk in the truth.

• Not just to know the truth but also to apply the truth.

One of the truths that my mom and dad both taught me, but definitely my mom since my dad was out of town quite a bit was to go to church. Church was taught as important and it was modeled as important because we were there week in and week out.

• The habit was so ingrained in me that when I got to college, I wouldn’t have known it was even an option to sleep in on Sunday morning. Sunday mornings are for one thing, and one thing only. Church!

• If that hadn’t been taught, and I didn’t get plugged into Faith Church right away when I was in college, I am quite certain I wouldn’t be a pastor...and I wonder if I would have even still been any where close to walking with the Lord...

Another thing that my mother taught me was the importance and truthfulness of Scripture. She taught the word to me...even bribed me as I said earlier to read the Bible!! But also modeled the importance of it. I saw her read it, study it, memorize it, and seek to apply it.

Mom’s don’t underestimate how important your simple daily instruction and modeling of the truth is.

• I listened to a interview of John Piper this week and I was thinking about mother’s day this comment really jumped out at me. In this interview he was asked, “Why do you believe in the inerrancy and truthfulness of Scripture?”

• John Piper’s first response was, “Because that’s what my mother told me.”

Mom’s...I hope you heard that. How many arguments intellectual arguments do you need to teach your children that Jesus is the truth and his word is the truth? None. Just tell your children what you know.

• Mom’s you have an enormous responsibility and privilege to teach your children.

I also hope you recognized that John Piper didn’t say, “Because the youth pastor, or pastor, or church told me the Bible is true.”

• Mom’s it starts in the home. Don’t complicate it. Love the truth. Read the truth. Know the truth. Teach the truth.

• That’s what being a mom is really about!

• Your child’s 3^rd perfect grade report card isn’t going to matter much in eternity...point your kids to Jesus. Point them to the importance of his church, and his people and his word!

In doing that kind of instructing...a mom is also going to guard herself and her children from deceivers.

She guards herself and her children from deceivers

2 John 7–8 ⁷ For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. ⁸ Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.

When it comes to dangers, I think many mom’s and parents are fairly aware of “dangers”...I put dangers in quotes because many parents seem to be quite concerned about all kinds of dangers for their children.

• Many of the dangers are legitimate.

• Moms are concerned about who their children’s friends are.

• They are concerned about how they are doing in school.

• They are concerned about their entertainment influences.

• They are concerned about who their children date and of course who their children marry some day.

There are dangers and concerns in all of those areas. So John’s warning of their being deceivers might not be surprising...it certainly might not be encouraging news, but maybe not surprising.

Perhaps what is surprising is how she guards herself and her children.

Notice the connecting word at the beginning of v.7, “for.”

• - That connects back up with what he just said in vv.5–6 where he gives the commandment that we love one another and walk in love.

So the argument that I think John is making here is, we need to love one another really well 1) because it’s commanded, but 2) because there are many deceivers in the world which is the spirit of the antichrist.

So the question we should be asking, “Is why does loving one another protect us from deceivers?”

• I think the logic is something like this...when we love each other well, and solidly and joyfully what the world presents as “good” doesn’t look nearly as good as what I have in the truth and in my family as well as my church family.

When I think about this in my own home growing up, I knew that my parent’s loved me. I knew they cared about me and that they wanted the best for me. I knew that my parents weren’t lying to me and just telling me not to do things just because they wanted to be a kill joy!

• Don’t hear me say I was perfect or that they were perfect. That certainly isn’t the case.

• But what the world offered wasn’t nearly as attractive to me as it was to many other peers of mine, and I think in large part it’s because of the love that my mom showed me as well as my dad.

So a true mother Love’s the truth...and then tightly connected with that is that a true mother’s love flows from the truth.

II. A True Mother’s Love Flows from the Truth.

The point here that I think is very important that our culture gets so, so wrong is that truth and love go hand in hand!

• According to Scripture and definitely according to the letters from the apostle John, if you don’t know the truth you cannot truly love someone.

• Conversely if you do not love you cannot know the truth!

The only way to truly love is to know the truth and the only way to know the truth is to love.

So for example, the previous point about guarding our children and each other from deceivers being through love...in that outline that was put under a true mother loves the truth. It could have easily been put under this point of love flows out of truth.

But truth and love or so closely and tightly linked together that inform and implicate one another.

Now, to truly know what love is, we must look to God’s Word.

God’s Word has much to say on what “True Love” is.

2 John 5

5 Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.

Simply put...the command to love is nothing new. It’s all over Scripture.

Jesus even sums up the entire Bible into 2 commandments...

Matthew 22:37–40 (NASB 95)

37 And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

His summary in those two commandments is stunning in how simple it is, and yet in how comprehensive and broad it is. Loving God and loving others according to the Jesus is what everything in the Bible can be condensed to.

• - What does God expect of us? To love him with everything and then to love others.

Every commandment and prohibition in scripture is helping us love God and love others.

• - If God narrows his focus down to helping us love him and love others, then mom’s what do you think your focus should be?

Help your kids love God and love others.

Part of the way you do that is you need to love the truth...point them to the truth of what Scripture says love actually is.

• - Help them see how Jesus is the very embodiment of love.

• o The world has a lot of opinions about love...

• § The world says love is accepting everyone as they are

• § The world says that love is a feeling

• § The world says that love is something you cannot control

Mom’s help your kids understand what love actually is!

It’s walking in the commandments of God!

Love is Walking in the Commandments of God

2 John 4 I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father.

2 John 6 And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

Notice how walking in the truth and walking in the love is the same thing!

• In our modern way of thinking truth is thought to be cognitive while love is emotional and they aren’t necessarily related.

• But that is not at all what Scripture teaches!

The truth of Scripture makes and Jesus’ words make it very plain what love is:

John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

Our world doesn’t like to talk of obedience all that much anymore...mom’s I hope we don’t follow in the world’s footsteps.

Our obedience to the Lord is how we love him.

• It is not possible to disobey his commandments and claim that we love him.

• Every time we disobey it’s because I do not love the Lord.

Why?

It’s because everyone one of his commandments if for our benefit!

• Not a single commandment of God is there to get in the way of our joy, or comfort or peace or satisfaction.

• In our sinful, deceitful way of thinking we see the commandments of God as rules designed to kill our fun or keep us from something good.

• But they aren’t. Every single one is because of his great love for us.

Here’s just one illustration that many, many people can relate to...how many of us were warned by parents or friends or pastors that loved us, to not date someone or to marry someone for any number of reasons? (Either you’re not ready, they are not a Christian, etc.)

• And then how many of us chose to go that route anyway then regretted it down the road?

• When they warned us we didn’t take it as a warning of love. We didn’t see it as their great love for us. We saw it as them trying to get in the way of our happiness.

• And yet, how often we learn in hindsight that they said those things out of love...

Mother’s help your children know the truth of what love really is. Love always acts according to the truth, because the truth is what is most loving.

• Help your kids know that love shows itself clearly in obeying the Lord.

• Mom’s it starts as simple as Eph 6:1...children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

Help your kids understand that obeying mom is how they love mom. That will prepare them for obeying the Lord which is how they love the Lord.

So a true mom loves the truth, and loves out of the truth! The final aspect of a true mother we see in the text is that a true mother understands what is at stake.

III. A True Mother Understands What is at stake.

We already touched on this briefly in how a mother guards herself and her children from deceivers. But John further highlights how great the danger is.

A Great Danger

2 John 9–11 ⁹ Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; ¹¹ for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

That’s a really strongly worded passage. If we don’t understand what’s at stake we’re going to hear these words from John and cringe at them, and conclude what many people in our culture would conclude about these verses...they would probably say, “These are really unkind, unloving words.”

• How rude it would to not even receive a person into your house! How judgmental!

• And by implication as they judge the Scriptures, they would be implying that they are much, much more loving and accepting than God!

So I hope we won’t go there. But I do want to help us quickly understand what’s going on in these verses.

The clear command, and this is one of the great concerns of John and why he is even writing this letter, is that he doesn’t want people in this church to show hospitality or greet certain people at all!

• Now that should be a bit surprising to us considering how much of Scripture commends and even commands hospitality!

• Interestingly enough, 3 John which is a personal letter raises the opposite issue of someone who isn’t showing hospitality and he should be!

So, John believes in hospitality. But the question must asked, why is he so concerned that it not be shown here.

• The answer has to do with the position or vocation of these people. The people John is concerned about, isn’t just an unbeliever...it’s a person who is traveling to this church looking to teach.

One commentary put it this way:

The elder’s prohibition is not speaking about pagan friends or unbelieving relatives, but of those travelers who professed to be Christian in a teaching role, who may have had some standing in the church at large, but who were undermining apostolic authority and teaching. The point of the elder’s strong exhortation was to deny even the slightest opportunity for false teachers to influence or infiltrate the church, especially when the church of that time was meeting not in church buildings but in private homes.^[2]

Now, you might read that and go...well Pastor Viars is the one the hires new Pastors, he puts out the preaching schedule...so I guess this is something the pastors have to worry about and not me.

Well, maybe...but I want to encourage you to think about this in terms of your family.

• - There are influences that you need to think about and consider if they should have any place in your home at all.

• - We need to understand that our adversary the devil, is a roaring lion prowling around seeking someone to devour.

Mom’s there is a great danger. I hope you think about what’s a stake.

• - The daily monotony of meals, and laundry, and shuttling kids around, and breaking up arguments, and on and on it goes can drown out the clarity and truth of what’s at stake.

We need to be in God’s word, and in church, and around other believers that can constantly remind of us of what is at stake.

A Great Reward

But there isn’t just danger...there is incredible reward!

2 John 8 Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.

Here’s what I know...the best rewards are kept in heaven. The best blessing and rewards of this earth cannot compare with what is coming.

That’s why Paul would say in Romans...

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

John said early how he greatly rejoiced hearing some of the children were walking with the Lord!

In 3 john says this,

3 John 4 ⁴ I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.

There is great reward for living for the Lord...many in this room can give testimony to that!

• But do not miss the fact that the greatest reward is coming!

• It’s not on this earth.

• The most incredible blessings and rewards that God gives us now are just measly appetizers of what’s coming!

Mom’s what you’re doing for the Lord is worth it. As a church we want to encourage you today to keep going. Keep going. Keep going. There is a great word for your work from the Lord!

[1] https://transpregnancy.leeds.ac.uk/2019/09/26/of-trans-fathers-and-male-mothers-the-importance-of-centering-experience/#:~:text=Yet%2C%20paradoxically%2C%20the%20ruling%20brings,as%20much%20as%20a%20woman.

^[2] Karen H. Jobes, 1, 2, & 3 John (ed. Clinton E. Arnold; Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 271–272.