Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Guardrails for moms

The following post is a sermon that Ruthie Woodworth from Crosspoint Wesleyan Church, spoke at MRWC on mother's day. the title is Guardrails for moms. Enjoy!



Guardrails for Moms

Maple Ridge Wesleyan Church

May 13, 2012  Mothers Day



Good morning!  Thank you so much for having me here this morning – I can’t tell you how honoured I am to be your Mothers Day speaker!  I want to especially thank Pastor Nick, and Beth – I have great respect for your pastor and his wife!  You may know already that they look after the junior VBS program during Beulah Camp, and it’s been a privilege for me to work under them the last couple of years there, and I just want you to know – they’re AMAZING.  Really.



It’s also kind of neat that I get to serve with a couple of fine Maple Ridgers in worship at Crosspoint – Jeff and Rose Staples daughters, Amanda and Leah, are really involved, and are representing the Ridge well!  And just yesterday I had the chance to talk to Matthew Moore – are some of his family here today?? – Stephen, my husband, is a colleague of Matt’s.



You might be asking yourself – what qualifications does Ruth bring, as a Mothers Day speaker?  Well, I do fit the ‘mum’ category – I have 4 daughters (all amazing, of course) – Stephen is outnumbered really bad.  Our oldest was 5 when the youngest was born, and I remember those preschool days (or DAZE) – mayhem.  No sleep, cold meals, worn to a frazzle…Yep.  And the school-age days – there was one year all 4 of our girls went to the same school (K, 2, 4 and 5), but other than that it was two or three schools, so parent-teacher interviews were challenging!  Homework, sports, music, sick kids… yep.  Then the teen years – mayhem.  No sleep, cold meals, worn to a frazzle…yep.  But lots of joy, lots of fun all the way through.  I’m a mum!



But really, I’m not qualified – if you’re thinking a Mothers Day speaker should be someone who did the whole parenting thing right.  Or mostly right.  I want you to know that I wanted to do right.  I wanted to lean on God’s strength, and His wisdom, not my own – but I messed up LOTS.  I’m SO GLAD that God never ever threw his hands up in the air (so to speak) and said, “I give up!”  He continued to love me, and forgive me, and teach me, and I learned.  I’m still learning.  One of the verses we’ll look at today says, “Let us learn together what is good.”  That’s how we do this journey – we learn together.  Join me, will you?



PRAY



So – guardrails.  They warn you that you’re too close to danger.  Crash through and you’ll pay the price.  It might just be really messy, or it might cost you your life, or someone else’s, but it always exacts a price.  However, encounters with a guardrail, even when you don’t crash through, can be painful.  Sometimes it was a scrape or bump, but sometimes I’ve ricocheted off, with all the damage that goes with that.  So today I DO want to talk about three of those guardrails, but first I want to talk about what the Word says about living life between the lines.  Hebrews 4:12 says that the Word of God is alive and full of power, so let’s hear what the Father has to say to us.  Will you read with me?  Philippians 4:4-8 says



Always be full of joy in the Lord.  I say it again – rejoice! 



Let everyone see you are considerate in all you do.  Remember the Lord is coming soon. 



Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.



Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.



And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.  FIX YOUR THOUGHTS on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.  Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.



Then Paul says again that the God of peace will be with you. 



There’s so much here to help us stay between the lines – be joyful (earlier in Philippians, the Word tells us “whatever happens, rejoice in the Lord”), be considerate, pray, thank God for all he has done, but THEN Paul says, “One final thing.  FIX YOUR THOUGHTS…”  That means to think on, to weigh, to ponder.  In my case, sometimes it means to force my focus away from the wrong, and really concentrate on the right.



I don’t know if many of you are like me or not, but I have found that many of my close encounters with guardrails came out of issues in my mind and heart.  Thoughts and attitudes. Jesus tells us (Mark 7:21) that out of the heart comes evil thoughts, greed, envy, lying, sexual immorality… and more!  The good news on THAT is that when we give our lives to Jesus, he makes us new.  We can FIX OUR THOUGHTS on something better.  Let’s look at that verse from Philippians – verse 8 – one more time.  Read with me!



And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.  FIX YOUR THOUGHTS on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.  Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.



Ack!  How can I change the way I think?  It’s the work of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 12:2 says, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”  LET God.  And it’s a process – a lifelong one.  Ephesians 4:22-24 says,



Throw off your old sinful nature, and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.  Instead, LET the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.  Put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy.



When we come to Jesus, he starts the process, as we LET him.  He will not force us.  The Spirit checks me – I get a twinge – when my thoughts and attitudes go down old paths.  Then I can decide to turn around, and refocus, to FIX MY MIND on the pure, the lovely, the things that are true, and admirable.



Sometimes, though, I get stuck.  My focus gets stuck in a bad spot, like, for example, on an old hurt.  And that brings us to our first guardrail – there’s a word for getting stuck on an old wound, and it’s grudge.  Unforgiveness.  It means I’ve fixed my thoughts on what someone did to me, how they hurt me.  And nursing a grudge (in spite of the word ‘nursing’) does NOT speed healing – it keeps it raw and ugly.  Jesus says (Mark 11:25), “Forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins too.  Beth Moore says that holding something against someone is to hold us to them.  Have I been forgiven. Then I must forgive.  Colossians 3:13 says, “Forgive anyone who offends you.  Remember the Lord forgave you so you must forgive others.”



GUARDRAIL #2  I’m scraping (or maybe ricocheting off) the guardrail when my mind and heart are full of anxiety, or worry.  Let’s go back to Philippians 4:6.



Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”



When I get stuck in worry, it’s almost always over something that I have no control over.  One of the kids is in a spot that could be dangerous, and I can’t help.  One is facing a decision that has HUGE repercussions, and they don’t seem to see them (at least not like I do).  Or maybe I’m worrying about what’s down the road.  When I’m here, I need to FIX MY THOUGHTS on Jesus – his love for me, his power, his goodness, his grace, his provision, his mercy, his majesty, his glory, his creation… Focusing on him puts my anxiety in perspective.  My life is in his hands.  I can trust him.  Psalm 100:3, which will be up on the screen in a few minutes, says, “Acknowledge (or KNOW) that the Lord is God.  He made us, and WE ARE HIS.  We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”



GUARDRAIL #3  James says in chapter 3, “The tongue is a flame of fire…it can set your whole life on fire…”  Jesus tells us that the words we speak come from the heart, and that’s what gets us into trouble.  Are my words unkind, or hurtful, or bitter?  Are they discouraging to others?  Are they misleading, or even untrue?  GUARDRAIL ALERT!  I’m scraping!  Sparks are flying!



Job 34:2-4  Listen to me, you wise men (and women!).  Pay attention, you who have knowledge.  Job said, “The ear tests the words it hears just as the mouth distinguishes between foods.” So let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good.



Taste your words.  Are they sweet?  Have you found that sometimes you’re left with a bad taste in your mouth from something you’ve said? Guardrail! I’ve gotten myself in trouble when the taste was bad because of the attitude of my heart, even though the words sounded good. The Holy Spirit can help us learn to sift our words before they leave our mouths.  Another process!  Think about a young child – if you want to know what they think, just ask!  They’ll tell you, in no uncertain terms.  I remember being in McDonalds with the kids.  Stephen had our 3 year old in his arms, and I was getting condiments and napkins (lots of ‘em).  There was a large man standing in line right in front of Stephen.  Yep, right in front of him.  So our tactful 3 year old says – loudly – “Daddy, look at that fat man with all the necklaces!!!”  No filter there!



Just before we leave this guardrail, I want to look with you for just a minute at that 4th verse of chapter 34 again.  It says, “Let us learn together…”  That’s how we do this.  That’s the church – learning from one another, learning with one another.  Forgiving each other, praying for each other, growing together.  That’s the church.



All of this – a new way of thinking, leaving grudges behind, and anxiety, and bitter, grumbly speech – is impossible without Jesus Christ.  He offers us transformation from the inside out.  Not redecorating – a complete renovation.  Not a tune-up – a total overhaul.  When we recognize how very much we need him, and accept his offer of forgiveness and a new life, he adopts us as his children!  Imagine!  This fatally flawed, weak person – loved, accepted and adopted into the family of Almighty God.  Amazing.  I’ve been on this journey for most of my life, and it still is just …  amazing.



And did you know that you can KNOW?  The disciples said to Jesus, We believe and we know you are the Holy One of God.  Jesus said, You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. 



And Psalm 100:3 says Acknowledge (or KNOW) that the Lord is God.  He made us, and we are his.  We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.



He made us, and we are his.  He will do this amazing work in us, if we will allow him to do it.



If you don’t know for sure that you are his…if you’ve never accepted the offer Jesus makes…if you’re stuck in the old ways of thinking and acting…you can KNOW, you can be forgiven and transformed, you can be FREE this morning.

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