Sermons – Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MN

Matthew 3:16-17 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

INTRODUCTION

Happy Father’s Day. As we did on Mother’s Day (with motherhood), after briefly considering the (non-Christian) origin of Father’s Day, we’ll take a closer look at the meaning of fatherhood in the bible. Specifically, we’ll see a paradigmatic example of what it looks like to be a good father as we examine the baptism of Jesus. Please pray that God would help us experience Himself as our one true Father and that all earthly fathers would rightly pattern our fathering after God.

FUN FACTS ABOUT FATHER’S DAY

In reading two of my favorite blogs (artofmanliness.com and thegospelcoalition.org) I was able to come up with this definitive list of the five essential Father’s Day facts.

* After listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909, Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Wash. wanted a special day to honor her father, a widowed Civil War veteran who was left to raise his six children on a farm. The first Father’s Day celebration, June 17, 1910, was proclaimed by Spokane’s mayor because it was the month of Smart’s birth.

* The first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was issued in 1966 (Mother’s Day was 1914) when President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. Father’s Day has been celebrated annually since 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed the public law that made it permanent.

* The rose is the official flower for Father’s Day. Wearing a red rose signifies a living father, while white one represents a deceased father.

* Father’s Day is celebrated in many countries in the world, including Australia, Bolivia, Canada, China, France, Greece, Honduras India, Iran, Japan, Nepal, Poland, South Korea, Thailand, and Zimbabwe.

* According to a 2012 poll, most dads would prefer to either spend quality time with their families on Father’s Day (40%) or receive no gift at all (22%). Gift cards were a distant third, at 13%.

As you can see, just like with Mother’s Day, Father’s Day does not have a distinctly Christian origin. Therefore, just like with Mother’s Day, preaching a sermon on Father’s Day about fathers requires a bit of defense.

My defense is simple. I’m hijacking secular Father’s Day in order to draw your attention to God’s primary presentation of himself. That is, of all the ways God describes his nature (consuming fire, refuge, guide, judge, helper, fortress, rock, shield, healer, etc.), “father” is the most common, consistent, and fundamental. Earthly fatherhood exists primarily to point to heavenly fatherhood. Indeed, earthly fatherhood is designed by God primarily as a means of teaching his people about himself. And that, of course, means that fathering is a high, high calling. Everything that makes for a good earthly father, then, has its roots in the fatherhood of God.

Therefore, it is appropriate for us to celebrate Father’s Day within the church when we are ultimately celebrating our heavenly Father and helping men to pattern their earthly fathering after Him…and that is most certainly what this sermon is intended to accomplish.

FATHERHOOD

With that, then, let’s look at Matthew 3:16-17 in order to gain a handful on insights into God’s fathering in order to better look to him and worship him as Father, and in order to become better fathers ourselves.

Deuteronomy 8:11-20 Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

 

 

Outline:

* Forgetting leads to disobedience

* Forgetting leads to pride

* Forgetting leads to false worship

* Forgetting leads to death.

Introduction:

Good Morning!

If you have been worshipping with us here at Grace for the last couple months we have been sitting in the judgement cloud of Hosea. Pastor Dave has been walking us through the layers of Israel and Judah’s sin to which God was not going to overlook any longer. Judgement was coming and Israel was going to reap the covenant curses that God promised in Deuteronomy.

Pastor Dave has brought us back to the book of Deuteronomy a couple times throughout our study of Hosea and this morning we are going to spend about 30 minutes in one text of Deuteronomy since the primary purpose of Hosea, like the rest of the prophets, was to call Israel back to obedience.

As dark as the message of Hosea was, we must remember that God was not over- reacting. He was not using hyperbolic language or blowing Israel’s sin out of proportion. Israel should not have been surprised by God’s judgment as they had succumbed to all kinds of impurities, rejected the knowledge of God and had chased after other gods. God was extremely clear about what Israel could expect if they rejected Him in the land that he had given them.

The text before us today in Deuteronomy is going to help us understand God’s righteousness as it relates to his judgment on Israel in the book of Hosea and although we are not under the old covenant and living in the Promised Land this text has a word for us.

I have been removed from seminary for about 3 years now but I must admit that the last 5-6 years has been one of the most spiritually dry seasons in my life. I do want to be clear it was not because of seminary. Seminary in fact brought grace, passion, and spiritual oxygen, but this spiritual desert has lasted many years. In the past I probably would have said that this was due to some very stressful seasons in my life with balancing school, work, and an internship along with family relationships, but this text has shown me my own heart and maybe more importantly it has shown me the Lord’s purpose and plan through this spiritually dry season.

I wanted you all to know this because if you feel you are in a spiritual desert right now Deuteronomy 8 has a word for you. If you feel that your relationship with LORD is growing and that your joy in the LORD is full, this text has a word for you.

Deuteronomy 8:11-20 Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

We don’t yet have a transcript of the sermon from today, but once we do, we will include it here.

Hosea 5:8-15 Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven; we follow you, O Benjamin! 9 Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of punishment; among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure. 10 The princes of Judah have become like those who move the landmark; upon them I will pour out my wrath like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth. 12 But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah. 13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound. 14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue. 15 I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.

INTRODUCTION

Every person on earth, the bible teaches (Romans 1:18-20), knows that there is a God and that they fall short of his perfect moral standard. This is part of what it means to be created in God’s image; and since every person who has ever been created has been made in God’s image, every person who has ever lived has had an inward understanding of these two things.

Sin and rebellion can suppress our experience of these two great truths, but they can never entirely wipe them out (Romans 8:21-25).

Practically speaking, this means that there are no true atheists and morality isn’t subjective. It also means that we are all forced to live with a measure of uncomfortable conviction. As we become increasingly conscious of our creatureliness and guilt, we can do our best to ignore those things, but they will eventually become too uncomfortable to bear. Once that happens (and it always will), we will be confronted with a choice between the (only) two available options. (1) We can attempt to come up with our own solution, or (2) We can accept the solution provided by God. Everyone chooses some variation of the first option first (Matthew 7:13).

In Hosea’s day the primary man-made solution was to look to other (fake) gods. That is, in the OT times, the primary solution for overcoming the uncomfortable feelings associated with the knowledge that they were under the God of the bible and that they fall short of his requirements, was to attempt to deny his esistence. The Israelites were looking to Baal to define morality (in a much more palatable way) and to rescue them from whatever they needed rescuing from. This is, of course, a fool’s errand because God is real and there is salvation in no one other than Him (Acts 4:12).

In our day the solution of choice seems increasingly to be an attempt to deny the need for a solution. That is, having assumed God’s non-existence, people today have also begun to assume objective morality’s non-existence. If we’re free to define morality according to our appetites rather than God’s nature, sin is only doing that which goes against our desires. Since we all live according to our desires all the time, there’s no need for a solution. We’re OK! But this too is a fool’s errand because, as I mentioned earlier, God has put this knowledge and nature and imprint into our very being.

To experience true forgiveness, restoration, freedom, and peace, then, we must look to God’s gracious solution; namely, salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. And in order to do that we need to have our eyes opened to the reality of God and the depth and evil of our sin. We cannot find help if we deny or minimize any of this.

An again, this is largely the purpose of Hosea. The book as a whole is meant to help God’s people recognize the futility of (1) denying the reality of God and the absoluteness of his moral standard,

Hosea 5:8-15 Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven; we follow you, O Benjamin! 9 Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of punishment; among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure. 10 The princes of Judah have become like those who move the landmark; upon them I will pour out my wrath like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to go after filth. 12 But I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like dry rot to the house of Judah. 13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound. 14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and no one shall rescue. 15 I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.

INTRODUCTION

Every person on earth, the bible teaches (Romans 1:18-20), knows that there is a God and that they fall short of his perfect moral standard. This is part of what it means to be created in God’s image; and since every person who has ever been created has been made in God’s image, every person who has ever lived has had an inward understanding of these two things.

Sin and rebellion can suppress our experience of these two great truths, but they can never entirely wipe them out (Romans 8:21-25).

Practically speaking, this means that there are no true atheists and morality isn’t subjective. It also means that we are all forced to live with a measure of uncomfortable conviction. As we become increasingly conscious of our creatureliness and guilt, we can do our best to ignore those things, but they will eventually become too uncomfortable to bear. Once that happens (and it always will), we will be confronted with a choice between the (only) two available options. (1) We can attempt to come up with our own solution, or (2) We can accept the solution provided by God. Everyone chooses some variation of the first option first (Matthew 7:13).

In Hosea’s day the primary man-made solution was to look to other (fake) gods. That is, in the OT times, the primary solution for overcoming the uncomfortable feelings associated with the knowledge that they were under the God of the bible and that they fall short of his requirements, was to attempt to deny his esistence. The Israelites were looking to Baal to define morality (in a much more palatable way) and to rescue them from whatever they needed rescuing from. This is, of course, a fool’s errand because God is real and there is salvation in no one other than Him (Acts 4:12).

In our day the solution of choice seems increasingly to be an attempt to deny the need for a solution. That is, having assumed God’s non-existence, people today have also begun to assume objective morality’s non-existence. If we’re free to define morality according to our appetites rather than God’s nature, sin is only doing that which goes against our desires. Since we all live according to our desires all the time, there’s no need for a solution. We’re OK! But this too is a fool’s errand because, as I mentioned earlier, God has put this knowledge and nature and imprint into our very being.

To experience true forgiveness, restoration, freedom, and peace, then, we must look to God’s gracious solution; namely, salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. And in order to do that we need to have our eyes opened to the reality of God and the depth and evil of our sin. We cannot find help if we deny or minimize any of this.

An again, this is largely the purpose of Hosea. The book as a whole is meant to help God’s people recognize the futility of (1) denying the reality of God and the absoluteness of his moral standard,

Hosea 5:1-7 Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is for you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor. 2 And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter, but I will discipline all of them. 3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore; Israel is defiled. 4 Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD. 5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them. 6 With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them. 7 They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

INTRODUCTION

This morning we’re going to begin looking at chapter five. In it we see similarities to the beginning of the previous chapter as Hosea renames his audience, charge, message, and rationale. From there we see five new aspects of the nature of God’s holiness, Israel’s sin, and God’s fierce jealousy—that is, we see several more facets of sin. Please pray that sinners would find help to repent and saints would find help for holiness.

BIG PICTURE (5:1-2)

In 5:1-2, much like in the beginning of chapter 4, Hosea set the stage for this section. He gave a high up perspective on what was to come.

He named his audience: the priests, the house of Israel, and the house of the king. No one is excluded. From the lowest to the highest, all of Israel is addressed.

He issued a charge (in three separate phrases, all with the same meaning): “Hear this,” “Pay attention,” and “Give ear.” In other words, “Listen up. What I have for you must not be missed. My message is critical.

He delivered the gist of his message (two phrases with the same meaning): “The judgment is for you” and “I will discipline all of them.” “Listen up, Israel—peasant, priest, and king—the jealous love and judgment of God are upon you and they will result in your severe discipline.” What a terrifying message that should have been. And yet, as we’ve seen over and over, it fell again on deaf ears.

Hosea named his audience, he issued a charge, he delivered the gist of his message, and finally, he gave the reason for the severe warning of judgment: “You have been a snare at Mizpah,” You have been “a net spread upon Tabor,” and “The revolters have gone deep into slaughter.” The reason for the urgent message of impending judgment and discipline was, as we’ve seen many times now, the cult/idolatrous/adulterous practices of the Israelites, especially her leaders (perhaps even including child sacrifice [slaughter]).

All of this provided the big picture for Hosea’s audience. Let me try to say it again with a simple analogy.

On a certain day of every month, at 1:00pm, the city of Wyoming tests their emergency alert system by blaring a siren for all to hear. If there happens to be a real emergency, that’s how we’ll know. That’s what Hosea was doing when he first prophesied the words here. He was firing off a warning siren. He was sounding an alarm to all of the people—high and low—in the northern tribes.

But, as we all know full well, it isn’t enough to simply know there is an emergency. Once we know that there’s an emergency, it’s critical that we find out what kind of emergency it is in order to respond properly to it. It’d be silly to head to the basement if a wild fire were ripping through. And it’d be entirely unhelpful to begin putting sandbags up if we were dealing with a tornado.

Hosea 5:1-7 Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is for you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor. 2 And the revolters have gone deep into slaughter, but I will discipline all of them. 3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore; Israel is defiled. 4 Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD. 5 The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them. 6 With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them. 7 They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

INTRODUCTION

This morning we’re going to begin looking at chapter five. In it we see similarities to the beginning of the previous chapter as Hosea renames his audience, charge, message, and rationale. From there we see five new aspects of the nature of God’s holiness, Israel’s sin, and God’s fierce jealousy—that is, we see several more facets of sin. Please pray that sinners would find help to repent and saints would find help for holiness.

BIG PICTURE (5:1-2)

In 5:1-2, much like in the beginning of chapter 4, Hosea set the stage for this section. He gave a high up perspective on what was to come.

He named his audience: the priests, the house of Israel, and the house of the king. No one is excluded. From the lowest to the highest, all of Israel is addressed.

He issued a charge (in three separate phrases, all with the same meaning): “Hear this,” “Pay attention,” and “Give ear.” In other words, “Listen up. What I have for you must not be missed. My message is critical.

He delivered the gist of his message (two phrases with the same meaning): “The judgment is for you” and “I will discipline all of them.” “Listen up, Israel—peasant, priest, and king—the jealous love and judgment of God are upon you and they will result in your severe discipline.” What a terrifying message that should have been. And yet, as we’ve seen over and over, it fell again on deaf ears.

Hosea named his audience, he issued a charge, he delivered the gist of his message, and finally, he gave the reason for the severe warning of judgment: “You have been a snare at Mizpah,” You have been “a net spread upon Tabor,” and “The revolters have gone deep into slaughter.” The reason for the urgent message of impending judgment and discipline was, as we’ve seen many times now, the cult/idolatrous/adulterous practices of the Israelites, especially her leaders (perhaps even including child sacrifice [slaughter]).

All of this provided the big picture for Hosea’s audience. Let me try to say it again with a simple analogy.

On a certain day of every month, at 1:00pm, the city of Wyoming tests their emergency alert system by blaring a siren for all to hear. If there happens to be a real emergency, that’s how we’ll know. That’s what Hosea was doing when he first prophesied the words here. He was firing off a warning siren. He was sounding an alarm to all of the people—high and low—in the northern tribes.

But, as we all know full well, it isn’t enough to simply know there is an emergency. Once we know that there’s an emergency, it’s critical that we find out what kind of emergency it is in order to respond properly to it. It’d be silly to head to the basement if a wild fire were ripping through. And it’d be entirely unhelpful to begin putting sandbags up if we were dealing with a tornado....

Hosea 4:15-19 Though you play the whore, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty. Enter not into Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, and swear not, “As the LORD lives.” 16 Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the LORD now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture? 17 Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone. 18 When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring; their rulers dearly love shame. 19 A wind has wrapped them in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

INTRODUCTION

The main point of Hosea, once again, is that God has a fiercely jealous love for his people. His love is such that he is entirely committed to that which is best for his people; namely everlasting fellowship with God! And his fierce jealousy is such that he will not allow his people to long leave his love.

Hosea was a prophet charged by God to proclaim to the nation of Israel that she had left God’s love and therein kindled his jealousy. Specifically, Israel had abandoned God for idols and drunkenness and prostitution. She had broken God’s covenant with her and taken other lovers for herself. Hosea was to declare in the most graphic terms the diabolical nature of Israel’s sins and their disastrous consequences.

The literary result is fourteen chapters describing the nature of Israel’s treachery, calling her to repent of it, explaining the destruction that was certain because she wouldn’t, and offering brief and scattered glimpses of hope for restoration on the other side of her destruction.

Because this book is heavy on describing Israel’s treachery and destruction (and light on hope) it can, at times, feel crushing. For Israel, that was largely the point. Likewise, for any non-Christians in this room, that’s largely the point—helping you to feel the weight of your sin in order that you’d turn from it to God for rescue. For the Christians in this room, however, it’s meant to serve a different purpose. Because we are in Christ, we need not fear God’s condemnation or judgment. Jesus took all of that upon himself on the cross. For you and I, then, the point is more about revealing to us the nature and depth of our sin for which Jesus died and from which we are fighting (in God’s strength) to turn.

Specifically, this text helps us to see (through familiar language and charges) that sin (by its very nature) is so serious that it spreads, sticks, and shames. Of course, by revealing to us the nature of sin God is not giving us a recipe to make it, but a strategy to avoid and defeat it. Let’s pray, then, that God would cause the unbelievers in this room to repent and believe and be saved. And let’s pray that God would cause the believers in this room to praise him for his rescuing mercy and sanctifying grace.

SIN SPREADS

One time when Jeremiah was still an infant he contracted some type of virus that caused him to throw up (I can’t remember if there were any other symptoms). This happened a few days before we were to head back to Michigan for Thanksgiving. By the time we were supposed to leave he was not entirely back to normal but Gerri and I thought he was well enough to travel…so we headed out.

Somewhere along the way we met up for lunch with one of Gerri’s oldest friends and for a few minutes with one of my college roommates. Eventually we arrived at my parent’s home in Michigan. We spend a day or two with them and then made our way over to Gerri’s parent’s. At some point we heard of our friends getting violently sick. Then it was my family. Then, while we were still with them, it was Gerri’s family. I was woken up one morning to Gerri’s dad making bathroom noises that I was absolutely certain were fake (but weren’t).

Jeremiah seems to have caught one of the most contagious and violen...

Hosea 4:15-19 Though you play the whore, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty. Enter not into Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven, and swear not, “As the LORD lives.” 16 Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the LORD now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture? 17 Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone. 18 When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring; their rulers dearly love shame. 19 A wind has wrapped them in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

INTRODUCTION

The main point of Hosea, once again, is that God has a fiercely jealous love for his people. His love is such that he is entirely committed to that which is best for his people; namely everlasting fellowship with God! And his fierce jealousy is such that he will not allow his people to long leave his love.

Hosea was a prophet charged by God to proclaim to the nation of Israel that she had left God’s love and therein kindled his jealousy. Specifically, Israel had abandoned God for idols and drunkenness and prostitution. She had broken God’s covenant with her and taken other lovers for herself. Hosea was to declare in the most graphic terms the diabolical nature of Israel’s sins and their disastrous consequences.

The literary result is fourteen chapters describing the nature of Israel’s treachery, calling her to repent of it, explaining the destruction that was certain because she wouldn’t, and offering brief and scattered glimpses of hope for restoration on the other side of her destruction.

Because this book is heavy on describing Israel’s treachery and destruction (and light on hope) it can, at times, feel crushing. For Israel, that was largely the point. Likewise, for any non-Christians in this room, that’s largely the point—helping you to feel the weight of your sin in order that you’d turn from it to God for rescue. For the Christians in this room, however, it’s meant to serve a different purpose. Because we are in Christ, we need not fear God’s condemnation or judgment. Jesus took all of that upon himself on the cross. For you and I, then, the point is more about revealing to us the nature and depth of our sin for which Jesus died and from which we are fighting (in God’s strength) to turn.

Specifically, this text helps us to see (through familiar language and charges) that sin (by its very nature) is so serious that it spreads, sticks, and shames. Of course, by revealing to us the nature of sin God is not giving us a recipe to make it, but a strategy to avoid and defeat it. Let’s pray, then, that God would cause the unbelievers in this room to repent and believe and be saved. And let’s pray that God would cause the believers in this room to praise him for his rescuing mercy and sanctifying grace.

SIN SPREADS

One time when Jeremiah was still an infant he contracted some type of virus that caused him to throw up (I can’t remember if there were any other symptoms). This happened a few days before we were to head back to Michigan for Thanksgiving. By the time we were supposed to leave he was not entirely back to normal but Gerri and I thought he was well enough to travel…so we headed out.

Somewhere along the way we met up for lunch with one of Gerri’s oldest friends and for a few minutes with one of my college roommates. Eventually we arrived at my parent’s home in Michigan. We spend a day or two with them and then made our way over to Gerri’s parent’s. At some point we heard of our friends getting violently sick. Then it was my family. Then, while we were still with them, it was Gerri’s family. I was woken up one morning to Gerri’s dad making bathroom noises that I was absolutely certain were fake (but weren’t).

Jeremiah seems to have caught one of the most contagiou...

INTRODUCTION

When it comes to sermon preparation, my aim on Tuesdays is to read and pray over the text I’ll be preaching on several times in order to wrap my mind around its meaning and logic. Many weeks that’s as far as I’ll get. Occasionally, however, if nothing unexpected pops up and I’m really cooking with gas, I’ll also be able to put together the sermon outline. On Tuesday this week, I was able to do both, and I was really excited about it. It was another harsh passage in Hosea, addressing Israel’s persistent whoredom, God’s warning to them to keep it away from Judah, and a particular rebuke to the priests and leaders. It was a hard message, but Hosea is a hard book. We’re fairly used to it by now.

Then I went to DG that night and was reminded that Sunday is dedication Sunday and Mother’s Day. I tried really hard to figure out a way to make the passage fit with the joy of new babies and our collective appreciation for the mothers of Grace. I thought about tying 4:15-19 (what would have been our text for this morning) back to 4:5 (“and I will destroy your mother”) or 4:6 (“I also will forget your children”), or even 4:10 (“they shall play the whore but not multiply”), but none of that seemed to capture the spirit of Dedication and Mother’s Day. So then I tried figuring out how the hyper-contagious nature of whoring, the stubborn heifer, Ephraim’s idolatry, and the wind’s wing wrapping spoke to our love for mothers and motherhood, but I couldn’t do so with exegetical integrity.

And so… no Hosea this morning. We’re going in a different direction. You’ll have to wait until next week to hear about Hosea 4:15-19.

This morning, then, I mean to highlight God’s good design in/for motherhood. To do so, I’m going to start by briefly sharing four facts about Mother’s Day and then finish with seven biblical thoughts on motherhood. Happy Mother’s Day. Let’s pray that God would help us to see his glorious plans and purposes for mothering, and that he would help us order our lives accordingly.

FOUR FACTS ABOUT MOTHER’S DAY

So, where did Mother’s Day come from? How significant is it in the U.S.? And what other fun facts can you tell me about Mother’s Day? I’m glad you asked. Very quickly, then, here are a few facts about Mother’s Day:

* In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation that officially established the first national Mother’s Day holiday to celebrate America’s mothers. Many individual states celebrated Mother’s Day before then, but it was not until Wilson lobbied Congress in 1914 that Mother’s Day was officially set on the second Sunday of every May.

* President Wilson established Mother’s Day after years of lobbying by Anna Marie Jarvis and the World’s Sunday School Association. Before that, though, Anna Jarvis’ mother, Ann Jarvis, had attempted to establish a version of Mother’s Day during the Civil War as a time for remembrance.

* Mother’s Day was the most important Sunday on the organized crime calendar. According to Joe Pistone, an FBI undercover agent, the mafia often closed for business when Mother’s Day arrived each May.

* Mother’s Day is the third-largest card-sending holiday in the United States, with 141 million cards exchanged annually. It is also the largest card-sending holiday for the Latino community. Interestingly, Ann Jarvis is quoted as saying, “A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother—and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment.”

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