ERC Mother's Day 2026 (2 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Kings 3:16-28)

This is ERC Sundays, the messages from Emmaus Rd.

Church in DeWitt, Iowa. ERC is a Church of people

devoted to knowing Jesus and making him known to others

through our faith, words and actions.

Find out more about our church at emmausrdonline.org.

Here's this week's message. We're here to hear an honor our

mother's here today, acknowledging that on Mother's

Day and seeking God's design and instruction for godly motherhood

this morning. I know Mother's Day itself can

bear a lot of different variety of of baggages and scenarios and

experiences based on based on lives.

Some some moms, you are here having a happy Mother's Day.

You, you are you are celebrating your children are just angels

and perfect in all the ways and you are so blessed as as a

mother and just smiles galore. I know there's other scenarios

though though too. Mothers who have experienced

loss, who who are maybe at conflict, maybe with their

mother or maybe even with their children.

Some of you have lost your own mother.

Maybe you haven't lost a child, but your, your mother is not

here on on Mother's Day. Maybe you have a complicated

relationship with, with your mom or with your children, your

grown adult children or maybe your child children.

And there's also those of you in here who are who are mothering

out in that title without those that are your that are your

blood. And maybe you have maybe you've

grown and raised your own kids and now you're you're in that

empty nester stage of life and you are still mothering others

in your life. All of those ways are affirmed

and valued in God's design for you in motherhood.

And there's parts of this message this morning too, that

that dads are, are going to apply to you or, or maybe even

prompt you as encouragers of of the mother or, or or wife in

your life, or even some of the women in your life that you see

acting in this way on behalf of others for the sake of others.

We're going to be in Second Timothy chapter 1 this morning.

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

I'm going to give you the punchline where we're going to

end up at the end of all this because we're going to jump

around a little bit. But what I want to leave you

with today is that godly mothers in God's design and His biblical

design leave a legacy through sincere faith and sacrificial

love. Your influence in God's design

shapes generations and in His image you reflect His heart.

We're going to be in Second Timothy chapter 1, starting at

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

verse three, reading in Jesus name.

Do we have it? We do.

OK, great. Thank you.

That was me. I have the clicker, Second

Timothy, chapter one, verse 3. I thank God whom I serve, as did

my ancestors with a clear conscience.

As I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.

As I remember your tears. I long to see you that I may be

filled with joy. Quick stop.

If you're not familiar, this is this is Paul writing to Timothy,

who was his his mentee. He was discipling Timothy in the

early church and he already has this clear emotional, relational

connection to Timothy. I remember your tears.

I long to see you that I may be filled with joy.

Moving on to verse five, I am reminded of your sincere faith,

a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother

Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you as well.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God

which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

For God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and

self-control. This is the word of God.

I want to jump right to the point.

Paul, in his second letter to Timothy here jumps to the chief

characteristic that he sees shining through.

Timothy, I'm reminded of your sincere faith that first dwelt

or or lived. It can be translated as well,

that lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice.

This faith displayed here is authentic, it's multi

generational and it's nurtured through the prayer and through

the daily example for Timothy going back to generations.

Notice he doesn't mention any paternal influence here.

Now, other historical texts would let us know that Timothy's

father came to faith after his mother did, but Paul here is

acknowledging the primary influence in in who would be a

very a factual and influential person in the early church came

through the faith displayed in his grandmother and his mother

and then passed down to him. Moms and dads, our faith is the

greatest gift we have to pass on to our children.

It comes with a great responsibility.

Paul here is also acknowledging his grandmother and his mother.

They did their jobs. They shone through, and in their

example, passed down this faith to Timothy in verse 6.

Because they did this for this reason, because they were

faithful to gift you this faith. I remind you, Timothy, to fan

and to flame that gift. They did it.

They raised you up in these things.

And now because you know these things, Timothy, it's go time.

There's a great measure of accountability to this gift of

faith. I hope that hits as peace

because I know there's some in the room that feel like you have

brought up your children in the faith and they haven't clung to

it in adulthood. Hear this freedom.

Hear this peace in God's Word, that there are two parts to

that. You can raise them up in the way

they should go. It's still on them to grasp it

and to fan it into flame. This gift.

Paul's kind of giving Timothy a kick in the pants.

Hey man, you know this stuff and we've said it before.

Once. Once you know the punchline,

once. Once you know the faith, once

you're in Christ, you know the key to eternal life.

Your choice is to respond and accept or reject it.

That's it. So for those of you that have

fought the faith, run the race, raised up your kids in the way

you should go, even if it seems like those seeds have not

sprouted, those seeds were planted and that's what God

calls you to be faithful to. We're going to jump back to

First Kings chapter 3 and look at God's design for the

1 Kings 3 · chapter mention

sacrificial and protective love of a mother.

First Kings chapter 3, starting at verse 16.

1 Kings 3 · chapter mention

It's up on the screen. You're welcome to turn there in

your own Bibles as well. This is a passage right after

Solomon, who was gifted a gift by God.

He requested wisdom. This happens shortly after First

1 Kings 3 · chapter mention

Kings chapter 3, starting at verse 16.

Then two prostitutes came to the King Solomon and stood before

him. The one woman said, Oh my Lord,

this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to

a child while she was in the house.

Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave

birth. We were alone.

There was no one else with us in the house.

Only we two were in the house. And this woman's son died in the

night because she lay on him. She arose at midnight and took

my son from beside me, while your servant slept and laid him

at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast.

When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was

dead. But when I looked at him closely

in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had born.

The other woman said, no, the living child is mine, and the

dead child is yours. The first said, no, the dead

child is yours, and the living child is mine.

Thus they spoke before the king. Then the king said this.

One says, this is my son that is alive and your son is dead, and

the other says no, but your son is dead and my son is the living

one. The king said, Bring me a sword.

So a sword was brought before the king, and the king said,

Divide the living child in two, and give half to this one and

half to the other. Then the woman whose son was

alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son,

Oh my Lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him

to death. The other said, He shall be

neither mine nor yours, Divide him.

Then the king answered and said, Give the living child to the

first woman, and by no means put him to death.

She is his mother. And all Israel heard of the

judgement that the king had rendered.

They stood in awe of the king because they perceived that the

wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

This mother was willing to lose it all for the sake of the life

of her child. She was willing to give up every

right, every influence so that that child could have life.

It mirrors the love of the father who gave everything, gave

his son, gave an unthinkable cost for the lives of his

children made in his image. A little closer to home, moms,

parents, we're called to give a lot.

Entering into parenthood is this self sacrificing love in every

facet. Timothy Keller in his book

titled Jesus the King gives us this reflection on parenting.

When you have children, they're in a state of dependency.

The only way that your children will grow beyond their

dependency into self-sufficient adults is for you to essentially

abandoned your own independence for 20 years or so.

You can make the sacrifice or they're going to make the

sacrifice. It's them or you.

Either you suffer temporarily and in a redemptive way, or

they're going to suffer tragically.

All real life changing love is substitutionary sacrifice.

Dads, I know you give too, but today's about the moms.

Moms in the small unseen moments, in the moments that you

don't want to be seen, that you don't want to be touched, that

you don't want to be clung to, that you feel like you've

already poured out all that you have to give.

You're right where God wants you to be.

And he promises that in his strength, his sustenance, he's

going to work out that calling in your life.

Mom guilt, I feel like is a is still a real and prevalent thing

and I want to tell you those feelings of a frustration or

overwhelm when you feel like you're at your end, you have

nothing else to give and you can't rationalize how you're

supposed to keep caring for these little gremlins that are

in your life. God the Father was right there

with you, and we might have to debate this a little bit on the

podcast. I don't theology man's gonna

have to double check me on this. But those I'm going to make my

case. Those feelings of frustration

and exhaustedness and just inexplicable confusion as to how

your offspring could act as they do.

None of that is sinful. In fact, God acts in that way

too. He sent the flood because he was

so confused about how his creation went so wrong that he

was ready to start over. Jesus flipped tables in the

temple in light of the people that would that were disparaging

that place of God. Now, yes, God the Father and God

the Son are acting on a different plane of righteousness

than we are. We are, we are not right to act

out in anger or frustration really to our children, but to

feel that and be in that place and then beat yourself up

because you feel frustrated or exhausted by your children.

I want to release you from that today.

God the Father felt that same frustration.

He responded in love. He responded with a peace that

surpasses all understanding. And because he did, that means

he can do that same thing in and through you.

So don't get caught in that cycle of I.

I know you're going to be overwhelmed.

I know you're going to be frustrated.

I am everyday as a dad. I'm certain my wife is too.

Don't beat yourself up because you feel that way.

God the Father is life and peace.

So celebrate those everyday sacrifices.

I know it sounds weird, but the sleepless or interrupted nights,

listening to stories that don't have a point, putting their

needs before yours again and again and again.

God designed us for that self sacrificing love because he

acted in the same way. He designed us for dependency on

him, and He struggled with his creation in the same way that we

do, so that we see this incredible self sacrificial love

from this mother willing to give up her child.

Think of the significance that Solomon's conclusion also gave

to this These two women were prostitutes, not high symbols of

morality. He wasn't looking to them for

advice on right and wrong, but because of how she valued life.

He knew that he could trust her morality as well.

He knew that she was telling the truth because of how she self

sacrificed for the life of another.

God worked in his wisdom through Solomon in that.

So going back to where we started with Timothy as we

together as parents, but especially you moms strive to

fan into flame this gift of God in your children.

Look at verse 7 again. God gave us a spirit not of fear

but of power and love and self-control.

Any of you in here in fear this morning for what you may not be

able to handle are the answers that you don't have.

God didn't create you to stay in that moment.

He gave us the gift of His word. He created you to depend and

abide on His power and love and self-control in your life.

That you would be an example, a generational example of faith

for your children, biological or otherwise, those that you

influence in your life. When we depend and abide in Him

and in His Word, this spirit of power and love and self-control

is lived out. To moms, A godly legacy of

motherhood combines a sincere faith, sacrificial love that is

empowered by the Holy Spirit. It's not on you.

We're all made to depend on Him. He's got you right where He

wants you to be, and it's in His strength that He wants you to

continue on. God bless you moms.

Thanks for listening to ERC Sundays.

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