A Mother’s Lasting Influence: Faith, Grace and Integrity | 2 Timothy 1:3–7

What helps a mother’s influence reach beyond the years of raising children? Teaching from 2 Timothy 1:3–7, Pastor Chris Teien explores the sincere faith of Timothy’s mother Eunice and grandmother Lois, showing how everyday instruction, encouragement, and example can help the next generation follow Jesus.

This Mother’s Day message encourages mothers, grandmothers, mentors, and others investing in younger lives. Discover how to guide with grace, nurture God-given abilities, and model integrity while depending on God’s strength through your own weaknesses.

IN THIS MESSAGE

1. PASS ON A GENUINE FAITH

Paul recognized in Timothy the sincere faith that had first lived in Lois and Eunice. Their influence reminds us that faith is demonstrated through daily life as well as taught through words. Explain why you trust Christ, share His Word, and let those in your care see that trust shaping your choices. (Acts 16:1–5; 2 Timothy 1:3–5)

2. LEAD WITH GRACE AND LOVING GUIDANCE

Children need loving instruction, clear boundaries, and consistent correction. Help them understand what God teaches and why His ways are good. Patient guidance brings encouragement and accountability together as you nurture wisdom and character. (Proverbs 1:8–9; Proverbs 22:6; Proverbs 29:15, 17)

3. ENCOURAGE GOD-GIVEN GIFTS IN OTHERS

Paul urged Timothy to develop and use the gift God had given him. Parents, grandparents, and mentors can help younger people recognize their abilities and find opportunities to serve. Notice their strengths, offer thoughtful encouragement, and help them grow through practice and wise guidance. (2 Timothy 1:6–7; Exodus 18:17–23; Esther 4:14)

4. MODEL INTEGRITY EVERY DAY

Your example communicates what matters, especially when life is demanding. Honesty, humility, faithfulness, and reverence for God give substance to what you teach. Let younger people see you keeping commitments, admitting mistakes, and depending on the Lord in ordinary decisions. (Proverbs 31:25–31; Deuteronomy 4:9)

5. DEPEND ON GOD’S GRACE INSTEAD OF PERFECTION

You cannot meet every need or control every outcome. God’s sufficient grace invites you to seek His help in your weaknesses and continue serving with love. Rely on His strength as you fulfill your responsibilities and entrust those you love to His care. (2 Corinthians 12:9; 2 Timothy 1:7; Proverbs 31:30)

BE ENCOURAGED

Your faithful care matters, even when growth is difficult to see. Pray with someone younger, share a Scripture that has helped you, or encourage them to use an ability in service to others. Where you have fallen short, acknowledge it and seek forgiveness. Keep pointing them toward Jesus as you depend on His grace for your own growth.

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Helping you understand and apply God’s Word. Find sermon transcripts and more Bible teaching at Well.faith. Learn more at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.church. Questions or feedback? Email wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

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Chris T 0:16

Today I thought we'd do a special Mother's Day message. So I know that Mother's Day can be tough for those of you that aren't mothers or didn't have a great experience with your mother or wanted to be a mother and couldn't be a mother or lost a child or lost your mother difficulty. And then there are some mothers that are probably not here today because they were needed in the boat for the fishing opener to bait the hook, deal the snacks, and clean the fish. Maybe even cook the fish. I don't know. Whoever put fishing opener and Mother's Day on the same day, that's not right. Every now and then, Mother's Day and fishing opener is different. But when we come to Mother's Day, what we really want to look at is how to pass on genuine faith, how to influence people so that God can use them in the future. How to be a person that shares your faith in such a way that you're literally raising up the next generation. And that could be a pretty cool thing to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

A mother's love, so deep, so wide, a steady hand, a faithful guide. She wipes our tears. She calms our fears. She walks beside us through the years. She wakes before the morning light to pray, to serve, to guide, to fight. Not battles waged with sword or might, but prayers whispered through the night. But some are mothers not by birth, yet pour out love of boundless worth. They mother hearts, they shape a soul, they fulfill a mother's sacred role, a grandma's arms, an aunt's embrace, a foster mom who fills the space, a teacher, mentor, sister, a friend. They love like Christ without an end. To those who've lost, who grieved today, we see your tears, we hear you pray. A mother's love does not depart, it lives forever in the heart. O bless the mothers, our Lord above, for all they've done, for all their love.

Chris T 2:50

For in this love, so deep, so true, we glimpse, O Lord, a love like you're so as we think about the opportunities that we've had, or the people that we've known that have served in a mother's role, and I really want to focus on that key word of role. Biologically, people become mothers, and that's it's painful from what I hear. It's not overly difficult, but to actually be a quality mother that makes a difference in someone's life is a struggle, is a battle, is a lot of work. It takes training and resources and help. Sometimes other mothers help, sometimes they give you, teach you skills and teach you how to parent in ways that are successful. Sometimes the videos we have on RightNow Media, so rockwell.church forward slash right now gets you free access to a video subscription where you can watch all sorts of videos on self-help needs, like how to be a better leader, how to be a better parent, how to be even how to be a better grandparent. All of those things are good. But to be somebody that makes a difference in life, motherhood is a constant demand for the gift of love and caring. So to think about cultivating genuine life-shaping faith. To think about that. And we're going to look at young Timothy in the book of 1st and 2nd Timothy. We hear about Timothy, who was like Paul's protege, was like Paul's son in the faith. And so I don't have it on the screen, but I'm actually going to start in Acts chapter 16, where Acts chapter 16, verse 1, where it talks about Paul's secondary second missionary journey and about Timothy. So it says, Paul went first to Derby and then to Lystra, where he was with a young disciple named Timothy. His mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek. Timothy was well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Aconium, so Paul wanted him to join them on their journey. In deference to the Jews of the area, he arranged for Timothy to be circumcised before they left, for everyone knew that his father was a Greek. Then they went down, but they went from town to town, instructing the believers to follow the decisions made by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, so the churches were strengthened in their faith, in their faith, and grew larger every day. And then we come to 2 Timothy. So what did we learn here? We learned that Timothy grew up in kind of a mixed home. So if his mother was a Jew and his father was a Greek, a Gentile, then probably much of his faith in God was formulated around what he learned from his mother. His mother was influential. His mother raised up a young man who was had the foundation, who had the moral quality, who had the reputation to be able to be used by God. God took the faithfulness of that mother and then was able to build on it, was able to choose Timothy to be a leader of the Church of Ephesus, to be able to be all these things. And so Paul points out there that part of it had to do with his growing up, part of it had to do with his mother, part of it had to do with that. And sometimes in today's culture, it's really easy to just put the kids on autopilot and say, well, we'll take you to church so you can learn about your faith and not actually invest in their faith. I would encourage you, if you have opportunity with young children, to start reading to them Bible stories at an early age, like really early. Like I hope that in our nursery we have Bible books that we read to the kids, but to start that out very early in life to help them to know there is a God and that God cares about them and those things, and to know that it's important for them to know that it's important to you can be a really good thing. So now let's look at 2 Timothy verse 1. I'm just gonna read actually. I have a different Bible translation up here, though. I'll just go with this. In Timothy 1 3. Paul says, I thank God, whom I serve as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. So Paul is writing to, like I said, Timothy, and this might be one of the last letters that Paul writes because the end of his life is near. He has invested in Timothy. He expects Timothy to take on the ministry and to be greatly used of God to make a difference when Paul is gone. Paul realizes that he has run his race, he's finishing his race. What he's been called to do is about to be completed, and he is handing that off to Timothy, the next generation. And it should be our goal and desire to hand our faith off to the next generation that we tell them about our faith. We tell them about even how we got saved and how we grew up in the Lord and the things that we learned, and maybe when they're old enough, some of our struggles and how we overcame sin or how we still struggle to overcome sin and what God has done in our life and how He's answered prayers and all of these different things to cultivate genuine life-shaping faith, that could be a really good thing. But so Paul says, I pray for you, Timothy. And then he says in verse 4, Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. So this verse points out that if Paul is recalling Timothy's tears in a stoic culture where men didn't usually show emotion like that, that they must have had a special bond, that they must have been tight, that they must have really cared for each other. Paul literally calls Timothy his son in the faith. And so Paul is telling Timothy, I would love for you to be here with me right now, but I'm sending you this letter because I can't, because I'm doing God's will, I'm stuck in prison, doing what God's called me to do, and I'm writing you this letter that was is full of helpful instructions. And then he says, and this is the key part of this message, he says, I'm reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded now lives in you also. So he has this heritage of faith from his grandmother and his mother that was passed on to him. And I think that's noteworthy. I think that is something that we should really think about. How are we investing in the people around us? Like I said, maybe you have an opportunity to be a mother or a grandmother and invest in kids. Maybe that's not possible. Maybe you're a guy. But are you investing your life, sharing your faith, doing what you can to help kids find Christ? So you could, like my step-grandparents did for me, you could help pay for me to go to for a kid to go to camp, Bible camp. They also helped pay for me to go to Christian school twice. So I wasn't an easy child, but nonetheless, there were people in my life that kept reaching out. My stepgrandma told me she always she prayed for me every day. She prayed for me every day. I'll tell you a quick story about her. So she's gone to be with Jesus, but I think it's funny. So my stepgrandparents were independent Baptists, and they went to an independent Baptist church. And she told me that she couldn't come to my church because we had a drum set. She wasn't gonna come to a church that had a drum set. But to my surprise, one Sunday she showed up at my church, and I was excited to see her, and I had the message and everything, and when I was done, she said, Oh, thank you, Chris. That was a wonderful message. And then hugged her, she left and everything, and she called me later in the day. She's like, Is there any chance you could send me a tape cassette or a CD? I couldn't hear a thing. So makes me laugh. So nonetheless, she did pray for me all the time. Pretty cool. But nonetheless, she passed on her faith. One thing that I thought was admirable about them is they, to me, passed on the view or the idea of a godly traditional marriage. And so I was pretty into that, pretty excited about that. I knew at a young age that I wanted to get married and have that too, and God bless me with Julie. At the young age of 19, we got married and had our first or had our daughter, and it was good. But who is it in your life that you look to as a role model? Who is it that inspires you to be godly? Who is it that inspires you to follow Christ? So to cultivate that genuine life-shaping faith. So are you a mom, a grandma, a mentor carrying out the spiritual leadership in homes or extended families, sometimes alone? God knows and God cares. And as we think about how God can use us, as we think about what God has done in our lives, we really need to pass that on. We really need to pass on our faith to the next generation. I just want you to just think for a second. What are some ways that you can do that? What are some ways that you can make sure that happens? So when they come and visit, you can control the media. Maybe you listen to Christian music all the time, but maybe you have Christian music on the car radio or in your house. So there's some like 2,000 Christian videos on right now media. Maybe you control the TV channel and help them to watch inspirational, godly things. To be a mom or a mentor, to learn from Paul's example, to be faithful, ongoing in your prayer that shapes the next generation. Are you praying for others? Like Paul told Timothy, I'm praying for you. So even when you can't physically help, your prayers matter. And to know that you care for each other, that they know you care for them. Maybe you send, I don't know. Text messages are easy, but nowadays kids love written letters. Kids love getting mail. If you like wrote with your hand with pen and ink, that would be pretty cool. But nonetheless, investing, showing you care, showing that other people matter, to grow in your faith and help others around you to grow in their faith. And then to honor those people, like we do on Mother's Day, for grandmothers, mothers, and the success of even Timothy, who was a spiritual son and pastor. So it might have been hard in Timothy's house, because the Bible says that Eunice was a Jewish believer married to a Greek man, and Lois was likely a Jewish convert to Christ, and so it was a mixed-faith household, and maybe it was just one person in the house coming to church. Sometimes when you come to this church, you look around and you see guys with kids and no women, and sometimes you see women with kids and no men, and sometimes it's because they're single parents, and sometimes it's because one person's choosing not to go to church or they have to work or whatever. But to know that you can make a difference in the world. So someone's gonna have to invest in the lives of younger believers. And we need to really celebrate and we need to actually take people where they're at. We need to show grace. So to guide with grace and loving boundaries, to guide kids with grace, to in our lives be full of grace. You know, if a pregnant teenager comes to this church, we should be encouraging and not judgmental. We should do everything that we can to help her have that baby, or if it's not time for her to have that baby, to put that baby up for adoption. There's been a couple situations in our ministry where we've hooked up people that we knew wanted children with a woman that a young girl that wanted to put her child up for adoption and done that in the past. I remember one girl that was a teenage, pregnant teenager, and so she was even being encouraged by some people in the church to have an abortion, but she decided that she wanted to do the right thing. She actually disappeared for like her last trimester and then had the baby, gave the baby up for adoption, and later in life she got married and had her own children. But that putting the baby up for adoption, that enduring that I told her that she was my hero for doing that. That was pretty cool that she did that, and that can make such a difference. Taking people where they're at. We want to help them to grow in Christ. We want to help their kids to grow in Christ to build a foundation so that God can use them in the future, that God can use them to make a difference in people's lives in the future. And as our culture, it seems to push back against the things of Christ, but there's all these reports coming out now that young people, especially younger guys, are super interested in the Christian faith, super interested in learning the word, super interested in growing in Christ. What if God could use us to help those people to grow in Christ? There's so many things that we need to do as parents to have those good children, and there's so many things that we need to do to let God have those children. So, again, another story maybe I shouldn't share. But when my daughter was going to Crown College and she had met some guy, she weren't going out or anything, but she had met some guy that wanted to be a missionary. Part of me is like, man, I hope that she doesn't marry some missionary person that moves far away to another country because I'd really miss her. And I know people that their children are missionaries in faraway countries, and or maybe your children live far away, but God gives you that child and you raise that child up in the Lord, and then the Lord is free to do with that child what he wants to do. If God wants that child to be a missionary in a faraway different country, then you support that, you celebrate that, you praise God for that, and you show care and you do all that you can. Actually, nowadays the ability to communicate with people across the world is much better than it was back then. But and then sometimes we need to let our children go and just trust that God has got them, that we've done everything that we can to raise them up in the Lord, and we've always got an open ear, we're always ready to help and guide. But sometimes kids go their own way. Sometimes it's for a season, sometimes it's for a lifetime that they choose to walk away from the Lord, and that can be tough. But let your obligation, let your burden be, did I do everything that I could? Am I doing everything that I can to model faith to that person? All right, so let's talk about guiding with grace and loving boundaries. So in Proverbs 1.8, it says, Listen, my son, to your father's instruction, and do not forsake your mother's teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. So teaching isn't just rules, but to guidance, moral instruction, and life lessons. The imagery of garland and a chain speak of honor and dignity. In the ancient world, such ornaments were symbols of victory and status. Embracing a mother's wisdom adds beauty and strength to a child's character. So have you given the children the principles that they need to live by? Have you shared instruction that you don't just say, well, we've always done it that way, or the church says we have to do this, but you help them find in Scripture what God's word is, what God's desires are, and that we should live according to God's word. That it wasn't just your idea, you're not just a great moral person, you're not just the kindest, most loving person in the world as a mom or a parent, but that God loves you, you love God, and you're trying to apply the principles of God's word into your life, and you're so thankful for the opportunities and the blessings in his life, and that is a good thing. Are you passing that on? Maybe again you're not a mother, you're not a father, but can you be a spiritual mentor? Can you counsel other people? Can you help guide and direct and care? So, Proverbs 29, 15, to discipline a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child. And verse 17 says, Discipline your children, and they will give you peace of mind. It will make your heart glad. Sometimes parents get caught up in wanting to be the child's best friend. Sometimes parents want to do everything they can to have their kids like them, and they won't discipline them, and they won't tell them no, and there won't be consequences for their bad behavior, and they'll endure, like you see at the store, you know, screaming kids where moms don't do anything. And so, as a dad who did something one time, I thought that people were gonna think I was stealing our child, so he was being naughty inside the store. So I was taking him out of the store to the car, and he was screaming at the top of his lungs, Mommy, I want my mommy. And I'm like, I really should get a picture of this kid in my wallet. They probably think I'm taking this kid, but that there's consequences, and it's good to know later in life that there's consequences when you do what's wrong, because you learned it when you were a child. And one of the things that I think is important that we need to teach, especially little boys, is you teach little boys not to hit before little boys grow up to become big boys that are bigger than you. That, yeah, if they lose their temper and hit could cause a lot of damage. But to discipline your children, to guide your children, to correct your children, the goal of shaping their behavior and giving them wisdom, and it is a good thing. So Proverbs 22, 6 says, start children off in the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it. So dedicate a child or train up a child according to his way. So this is a general promise. So it doesn't always work this way 100%. There's not a guarantee that if you train up a kid in the faith the right way, that they're always going to stay on course. But often they return. Often there is like a spiritual adolescence, a rebellion period of time, and then they come to the end of that, they start to build their faith on their own, they come back to you, and you help get them on the right course, and then they follow the Things of the Lord. It's gone from being your conviction and them living under your roof with kind of a cultural Christianity to now it's their conviction and they want to learn from you more about how to grow in their faith. So how to know the things of God. And that is a good way to live. And that leads to helping others discover and develop their God-given gifts. So we had the privilege, and we don't tell everybody to do this, but we had the privilege of homeschooling our kids. So it was a financial struggle, but we were able to make it work. My wife stayed at home with the kids, and so she's been through elementary and junior high like four times. So hers and then three kids. And so we sent our kids to Worldview Camp to get them, when they're in high school, get them trained up in like philosophy and a biblical worldview, uh, Christian camps, Christian homeschool curriculum to help them discover and develop their God-given gifts. So one of the things that you can do with kids is to expose them to a lot of different things and see what they like and see what they don't like. Maybe they can check out different sports, musical instruments, nature, fishing, just all of these things in God's creation you can do and see what they like, see where they click. And then as they find things that they really like, then help them to develop that or get better at that. And it can be a good thing. When it comes to spiritual gifts, when it comes to just talents and things like that, it can be a good thing. So 2 Timothy 1.6, again, Paul then says, for this reason, he says it to Timothy, 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. Paul is saying that you have these gifts, you need to develop them more, to fan into flame, to rekindle and stir up the gift of God, the gift that God has placed in him. So a picture is a stirring dying coals into a bright burning fire. Timothy's gifts were present, but they needed fresh passion, courage, and intentional cultivation. So when we think about how to do that, we look at the kids' life and we look at what is it that they're doing good? How can we compliment them? How can we encourage them? How can we show them appreciation? You know, it's a really great thing when you invest it into the life of a child or into a person so much that they literally want to please you, that they want to make the right choice because they don't want to break their mother or father's heart, that they want to do the right thing because they know that you're rooting for them and you care for them and you want the best for them. In scripture, remember that Moses was reluctant to lead, or actually he was doing too much. He was doing all the work, and his father-in-law Jethro came along and encouraged him to delegate, said, You can't judge all these people by yourself. You need to choose some people and you need to share the workload. So David was overlooked by his family when Samuel was looking for the prophet, but God saw, but Samuel saw God's anointing on him. And then Esther was hesitant to act, but Mordecai, her uncle, urged her to embrace her moment of influence. And God uses parents, mentors, and friends to awaken our awareness of the gifts he's given us and to give us the courage to develop them. So, how can we do that? How can we invest into the lives of those around us? How can we be a gift spotter? How can we be a gift developer? It can be a good thing. So in 2021, salary.com tried to figure out how much moms are worth and all of the different jobs that they do. And in 2021, they thought that the average value of a stay-at-home mom, if you had to hire someone to do all the work, would be $200,000 annually. Figure they work 15 hours a day, seven days a week. Some of the jobs they do are chief financial officer, childcare, housekeeper, laundry manager, chauffeur, meeting event planner, kitchen manager, staff nurse, conflicts manager, interior designer, and there's more that they had listed. Number four, to model integrity every day. To model integrity every day. Proverbs 31 is pretty much written to a woman who's going to become a king's wife, so she has more resources than you probably do. But it's this is about her character, that she is clothed with strength and dignity. She can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue. Why can't she laugh at the days to come? Because she trusts in God. She trusts God with her future. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises her. Sounds like something that we might do on Mother's Day, huh? So what a good thing. What a good thing. It's not that the women are flawless, not that the mothers are perfect because we all make mistakes. Some go to the extent that, oh, I'm not perfect. What could I ever share with my kids because I'm not perfect? Wouldn't that be hypocritical? That's not smart. No, you share what needs to be shared and help to guide them. Maybe to live the life that you wished you would have lived when you were a child or a teenager. There's a warning actually in Deuteronomy 4.9 that says, Watch out. Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live, and be sure to pass them on to your children and your grandchildren. So here Moses is telling the generation, it's like, hey, you got to pass on what you learned, you got to pass on what you saw, you've got to pass on what God did. You need to not forget, not to give in. Maybe that means you're quick to apologize when you make mistakes. Maybe you go out of your way to show humility and forgiveness while you live transparently and show that you care. Make sure that your faith matches your words, and that is integrity. And the final point is to rely on God's grace, not your perfection, to rely on God's grace. So it turns out that I don't know if we trust Harvard anymore, but Harvard research found that 51% of mothers with young children experience serious loneliness, a silent epidemic. When you become a mom, your world shrinks. You trade adult conversation for nap schedules. Social media shows perfect snapshots, but real life can feel isolating, especially when there's no village, no support, no church stepping in. So we're trying to do what we can to develop a community to do more for young kids, and that's even why we're talking about playground equipment out there. But Second Timothy 1 7, Paul says, For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. Parents need that. All believers need that. We need our children to have that, to not be timid, but to have power, love, and self-discipline. What a good thing. So 2 Corinthians 12, 9. Paul has a thorn in the flesh. He's praying for God to remove it. He wants God to heal him and help him. But Paul says, But the Lord said to me, My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power can rest in me. So we're not perfect. I'm not perfect, you're not perfect, no parent is perfect, but we keep moving forward in God's grace. Our series is on God's grace. Listen to last week or the week before to find out more about God's grace. And some mothers they want to have the picture perfect life and the picture perfect home. But God says it's not about the looks, it's about the heart. Proverbs 31:30. Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. So think about it. Think about it for a minute. Who has influenced your faith journey? Maybe it's not a mom, maybe it's not even a grandma, maybe it's a person that you read about in a book or watched in a YouTube video or a friend or someone in the church, or who has influenced your faith journey in a good way. So, second question is how can you be a godly influence in someone's life this week? And so next week we're gonna talk about when God's grace heals your past and builds your future. So I'm gonna pray, we're gonna watch a Mother's Day prayer video for one minute, and then the worship team is gonna come up here and we're gonna sing. But Jesus, I thank you so much that you've given us your word, and I thank you've given us this life. I thank you for everybody that has invested in my life to bring me to this point today. My life hasn't been perfect, but people have had input where I've had experiences to make me the person with the character and qualities that I have that you can use. And I pray here that we would all see how you've been at work in our lives and how we can give that back to the people, to the younger people, to our kids, to our grandkids, to the people around, to the younger believers around, that we can invest in them and their faith so that we too can pass on these godly values, that you would be pleased and that we would be rewarded. And when our life is done, when we've spent all of our days, when we're about to meet you, that we would just have the satisfaction that we did the best that we could with the resources and the knowledge that we had, and that we would see spiritual fruit. We also pray for the wayward children that the rebellious kids, whether they're young or old, that they would return to you and bring joy to their mother's heart. In Jesus' name.