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Within the church, the mothers are not just the ones who have biological children, but older women who take a motherly posture, the ones who hug, love, and encourage us. In return, we take care of and love them, all with a special dignity reserved for older women.

"[Encourage] older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity." 1 Timothy 5:2

Do you love your mother? I love my mother. I adore my mother. There are also women that are in the church that are older, not a ton of them, but both of them are very godly. That’s Mars Hill. Older women are the women in the church whom we should treat like mothers. You love your mother. You encourage your mother. You open a door for your mother. You rise when your mother walks into the room. That’s chivalry. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do. Older women are supposed to be treated with a particular kind of dignity.

"When you become a Christian, the people in the church become like mothers and fathers, like brothers and sisters to us, and all the sudden we have a wonderful, loving family."

And this is countercultural because in our culture there is not often a high respect and high esteem held for older women. But in the church, it’s completely different: older women and younger women are to be loved, and older women in particular to be loved like mothers, cared for, prayed for, looked after, respected, and admired. There are some women in this church who very much take on the motherly posture. They’ll hug you. They’ll love you. They’ll encourage you. There are a few women in the church who call me "son." Here, we’re not talking about our biological mothers, but those women in the church who acts like our mothers. Some of you grew up without a great family, and when you become a Christian, the church becomes a great family. These people become like mothers and fathers, like brothers and sisters to us, and all the sudden we have a wonderful, loving family. Some of you also have a wonderful biological family. I’m very close to my mother, father, two brothers, and two sisters. They all live in Seattle. I see my mom and dad every week. I love them very much. In a sense, I’m doubly blessed because I have a family by birth, and I have a family by new birth. It’s wonderful. My mom, Debbie, stayed home and raised five kids. Should something happen to my dad, the least I can do is take care of my mom. Should my dad die, I’m going to take care of my mom. We don’t even need to discuss this. It says right in I Timothy 5:4 that I need to repay her because this is my mother.

"Honor your mother and father. Look after your mother. Care for your mother. Love her."

This is my mother who shuttled me back and forth to Little League and stayed up at night when I was sick, and she fed me growing up. She loved me. She prayed for me. This is my mom. Ladies, these are good things to aspire to. If one day at the end of your life you want to finish well and you want people to love for you and care for you, this is a good model. Honest to goodness, this is my mother. I can honestly say that she’s one of the most generous, helpful, kind, sweet, dear women. I adore my mother. If my mother needs anything, I’ll take care of it. Jesus died for our sins, rose for our sins, takes away our sins, reconciles us to each other, reconciles us to himself, sends us the Scriptures, sends us his Spirit, and sends us the grace to empower us. He also calls the women to the high honor of motherhood, and he calls the church to look after the older women like mothers. Honor your mother and father. Look after your mother. Care for your mother. Love her. This post is adapted from Pastor Mark's 2004 sermon on 1 Timothy 5:1–16. For more, read his piece, "Women I've Learned From," from last fall's Biblical Womanhood series.