THE PARENT-CHILD NARRATIVE
Mother’s Day
Rebekah Clanton
Woodland Church
Sunday, May 14, 2023
(1 John 3:1, NRSV) “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called the children of God; and that we are his, that is what we are.”
1. RELATIONSHIPS HAVE EXPECTATIONS.
(2 Corinthians 6:16b-18, NIV) “I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people…and I will be your father and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
2. CHILD’S EXPECTATIONS:
- Apprentice: Show
- Applause: Encourage
- Affection: Love
3. PARENT’S EXPECTATIONS:
- Responsive: Love
- Reflective: Respect
- Rewarding: Accomplish your best.
4. GOD’S EXPECTATIONS:
a. Perpetual Relationship
(Jeremiah 31:3, NLT) “Long ago the LORD said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.”
b. Interactive Blessings
(Malachi 3:10, NIV) “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”
c. Longing for Full Potential
(Romans 8:19, NIV) “for all creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.”
5. JESUS SHOWS US THE PERFECT PICTURE
a. Valuable
(Matthew 6:26, ESV) “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
b. Embodying
(John 14:8, CEV) “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.”
c. Protective
(Matthew 26:53, NIV) “Do you think I cannot call on my Father and he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels?”
d. Rights
(John 1:12-13, NIV) “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
(Jeremiah 29:11, NIV) “For I know the plans (thoughts) I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”