TLC: Tender Loving Care - Peti Szabad

Special Mother's Day Sermon recorded on May 10, 2026   

Part of the "Be a Blessing" series.   

Slides used in the sermon: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sLPbekoQZ9VxXMjtNIeTdQPm8LF1rBoG/view?usp=drive_link

https://linktr.ee/northpointema

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I want to wish you all a happy Mother's Day. I also want to take a moment to acknowledge that Mother's Day is not a happy time for everybody all the time. So we're sending love to those who who mothers who have lost children, mothers that uh have lost uh those that have lost their mothers, you know, those that are longing or or have longed to be mothers for a long time. Uh there's there's you know strained relationships. There's all life happens to all of us in different ways. So I just wanted to take a moment and acknowledge that and and send love to everyone out there. Uh but at this point we wanted to honor the those those moms and grandmothers who are present among us. Uh and we have just a little uh a flower for all you so can you please stand so we can give you uh a flower uh to take home? Uh we love you and appreciate you. Yeah. Do grandmothers get two? And and great great grandmothers get it like four.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Two flowers for angel and my mom. I will give it to them right now. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Good idea. We'll we'll we'll distribute the flowers and uh I hope I hope all of you feel uh loved and appreciated today. Just give the mothers a hand. And uh I actually have a sermon that is written about motherhood as well, so I can't wait uh to speak about this. Amen? So today's sermon is titled Tender Loving Care. And if you already have been moved to tears, that's probably gonna happen maybe some more times during this sermon. Uh but I want to start with a little light on a little lighter note. Uh as many of you know, my actually my name is Peti Sabad, and I I have the privilege of serving uh as uh the evangelist or minister for the North Point congregation. I'm also uh I'm also Hungarian and have only come to this country a few years ago. So when I, you know, that tells you that that I'm not always familiar with uh some of the the the slang and and different acronyms of life. So when I first saw TLC, it was on a Facebook ad that looked somewhat like this. I was looking I was looking for to maybe get a a a second car. Still run requires some TLC, and I didn't know what what part of the car TLC was. It's all of it. But I I I actually figured out that it was an acronym for tender loving care and uh an attention that uh sometimes uh guys have to show to their cars before it actually serves them well. Uh or or women. Anyways, uh but uh that's just I just I just but I've learned to appreciate that acronym of TLC, tender loving care. Now, moms, we we love you. Uh our love is imperfect and it's expressed imperfectly. Uh maybe you've had some amazing Mother's Days, and maybe you had some ones that maybe Jen shared about that that it just didn't turn out the way you wanted to turn out. Uh probably the most challenging time is when you're a mom of teenagers. So actually, uh the other day I saw this reel on Instagram, and this is uh this is Teenage Texts, Mother's Day edition.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

So please watch with me and uh and know that even though we're imperfect, especially as teenagers, we appreciate you. Hang on, it might not work. You want me to click it again? That was that. Um I thought that was hilarious. So if you're a younger person today and it's it's Mother's Day, do please do not tax your mom. This is this is just you know don't call her dude. And maybe she appreciates being called dude, but most likely not. Especially Mother's Day. Anyway, so so that's uh anyway, we love the moms. Here's here's here's I got I got two points today. Uh tender loving care. I want to talk about God's tender loving care and how God chose moms to display something about himself. And then uh my second point is imitate God, imitate moms. So, God's tender loving care. I I love this quote by uh um uh A. W. Tozer, who's a philosopher and a theologian. He says, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Now think about that for a moment. What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. You know, how do we see God? When you think of God, what what comes to your mind? What what images do you see? What feelings uh do you do you have? How do you you know how do you see God? Maybe you see some of these ways. You might see him as powerful, he's God almighty, he's unknowable, he's all-knowing at the same time, he's eternal, he doesn't need anyone, he's holy, set apart, he's just right? Are these all qualities of God? Yes, they are. Maybe you see them this way that God is loving, caring, close to the brokenhearted, tender, gentle, forgiving, merciful, and kind. Are these qualities of God? Yes, very much. So, how do we see God? Most of us see God. We have a little bit of a uh, you know, most of us don't have a very balanced view of God all the time, honestly. Uh I I don't I grew up as an atheist. I did not see any of these qualities in God, that therefore I was an atheist. I didn't want a God that that you know determined things or did this or that or the the other. So these that these two qual these two groups of qualities of God are actually, there's these these big words for it from Latin. Uh one of the one of these groups are called God's transcendence, that he is beyond human experience. He is not like us in all these ways. Uh that means that God is big, he's powerful, he's not bound by space and time, uh, he's he's all-knowing. All those all those things belong to this transcendent qualities of God. The other group of qualities of God is called imminence. That God is near, he is close, he wants to connect, touch, and be there in some very meaningful ways. So, got a question. Which one is harder for you to see when you think of God? Uh I'll I'll tell you what has been my struggle. I I didn't have a hard time seeing God as all-powerful, I had a harder time seeing God as loving and caring and near and emotionally connected. Uh and and many of us struggle with that, and I think one of the reasons God gave us moms. Because mom embodied that part of God's character in amazing ways. And uh I want to share a little bit about that today. The Bible uses an illustration uh again and again, uh a few times, that that displays this tender, protective, loving care that moms have for their children and this idea when a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. Now that's you know, I don't have uh, you know, chickens like a lot of ganjus do. But but but this is a sight to behold, how a mother hen is incredibly protective of her chickens and and how they go and hide under the wings. And the Bible uses this illustration to help us to see this is who God is, even though you know there's all these other illustrations in the Bible that talk about God's transcendence. This is in the Bible. In the book of Ruth. That's a story about a woman who actually didn't have children for a while and who lost uh her husband. And she and her mother-in-law were just the two women together. Uh what a story. Uh she ends up she ends up being blessed by God with child with with having children. But in that story, she's a foreigner woman, she comes back to Israel with her mother-in-law uh and and entrusts her her future and her life to God in this. And he meets a man, and and here's his perspective towards Ruth in Ruth chapter 2, verse 12. He tells her, May the Lord repay you for what you have done for her mother-in-law. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. In the book of Psalms, this image again we we meet with it in Psalm 91, verse 4. The the Psalmist talk about God. He said, God, he will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. There's some manly uh illustrations as well in that, right? But but but the softness and the tenderness of the hand gathering her chicks is right there. And Jesus, as he's he's coming into Jerusalem for his last visit before his crucifixion, just a little over a week before he would die uh for the forgiveness of our sins. He looks at Jerusalem, breaks down, and weeps for Jerusalem. And he prays. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you. Ha! Often I have longed to gather your children together as a hand gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. It broke Jesus' heart to see that that people did not approach God as someone who can provide that refuge, protection, tender care for them. You know, this image helps me to see how much God cares and how close I can go to God. He, you know, this it doesn't get much closer than that when you see it. You know, it's it that's how close God wants his children to come to him. But we gotta see that God is not a God that we need to stay distant from. God is a God that actually wants that closeness. He is an imminent, a near, a God who touches and connects. That's who he is. The other illustration in the Bible is this idea that God compares himself to a mother. Now, if you were God, would you do that? Right? God is bigger. God is God is, you know, God does that. He comes across, and when we think about God, we often think about him as a father. And and and the Bible does talk about God being the father, and Jesus teaches us to pray, our father, how be thy name, or how be your name, if you don't pray in King James, uh, which is totally fine. Uh but but God also comes across and explains himself to humans that he is like a mother to all humanity. And it's rare, but it's in the Bible. And and often it's easier for us to skip these things and think about God more as a father, and and yes, that's the primary illustration that he uses, but he has both of those things. In the book of Isaiah, there's there's some some of these things that are God's talking about in connection of God bringing in Jesus and the new covenant, uh, and and there's some prophecies with that. So in Isaiah 66, verse 12 and 13, we read, for this is what the Lord says, I will extend peace to her, and her referring to uh Israel uh and and people that are faithful to God. I will extend peace to her like a river and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream. You will nurse and be carried on her arm and dendled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you, and you will be comforted over Jerusalem. You know, God knew what was coming. This is 750 years before Jesus. God knew that Israel at this point is going to be taken away into captivity, Jerusalem will be destroyed, but God is going to bring those people back and not just bring them back to that same place, but comfort them and bring about a renewal and life to the new covenant. But look at the language he uses. As a mother comforts her child, you know, he will nurse and be care carried on her arm. Do you feel like this when you think about God? That's that's the image that we read here in Isaiah. You know, moms have a way with babies. It just as you see a mom with a baby and you melt. And there's just no way not to do that. You know, uh, I love I love the you know the connection that a mother has uh with their child, the bandled on the knees idea. And then and then who do kids run to when they get hurt? It's it's it's mom. It's you know, there's there's there's nothing with such a healing power than a kiss and a hug of a mom. Right? It works every single time. You know, God is like that. He wants to be that for you and for me. The question is, do we allow that to be? It's easy sometimes just to be religious, to do certain things, try to live a somewhat moral life, but but not have that emotional connection and nearness with God. I struggle with this. Why? Because, you know, growing up, I've I've grown distant from my parents, probably. And I have some great memories of as a young person being very close to them, but later, especially in my teenage years, it just it just it just wasn't working out. Uh part of the problem was I was a fairly rebellious teenager. Uh and and there's there's other things as well. But God thinks of himself both as a father and a mother. Deuteronomy 32, this is the Old Testament. After Israel was you know turning away from God and rebelled against him as they wandered around in the desert, God confronts them saying, You deserted the rock who fathered you, you forgot the God who gave you birth. Right? Even at the beginning of God creating a nation to himself through Israel, God was coming across both as a father and a mother. Isaiah 49, going back to Isaiah. Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born? Though she may forget, I will not forget you. Humans, we have imperfect life. And that's true on Mother's Day and every other day. You guys are amazing, but you're not perfect. But you know who's perfect? God. God. And and and we get to get a glimpse of God through mothers and how they have compassion and how they cling uh lovingly to their children. But my point is that that tender loving care that we experience from our from our moms, from our grandmothers, is something that God put in as a seed into their hearts. And God wants us to feel that and experience that from Him. Because God never stops caring for you.

SPEAKER_03 19:30

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Never stops caring for you. And uh so God has this tender loving care that we experience mostly through mothers. And then number two, now the second point is imitate God, imitate mobs. Uh we do need to imitate God, we know that. You know, that God said you know, he created us in his image. So the more and more we can be like him, the more that image comes to life, and the more we live the life that he actually designed us to live. So, how do we imitate some of this tender loving care? First of all, what is tenderness? Here are some synonyms: kindness, sympathy, affection, love, compassion. Uh, all of these uh, you know, they're they're very motion-filled words, right? Yeah, uh, there's gotta be some kind of an emotion. And God has this tender, loving kindness towards us. There's this prophecy, uh, there's this song uh after the birth of John the Baptist. His dad is uh Zechariah is a priest, and when John the Baptist is born, his dad, Zechariah, has had has been uh God actually took his voice away for the nine months of pregnancy, or however long that was. I, you know, sometimes I'm like some of us dads will probably do a little better at being quiet a little more when our wives are pregnant. Uh I sometimes I said some very unhelpful things. Uh you know, some some of the things are not not always helpful. So Zechariah had that, uh, but then when he he came, his son was born, God not just opened his mouth, but but but came gave him a psalm, a song, a prophecy. And here's what he said. And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the most high. For you we go before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven, to shine on those living in the darkness and the shadow of death, to uh and in the shadow of death, and to to guide our feet into the path of peace. That is that was you know, when he displays, he he describes God. He and and all the blessings that came through John the Baptist and especially through Jesus, he says, because of the tender mercy over God. You know, because God cares. That's why he sent his son Jesus. That's why he prepared a way for him. Because he's got this tender mercy. He doesn't could he destroy us right away? He's got the power. Of course he could. But he doesn't. You know, when Paul writes to the church in Philippi, he actually also talks about this quality of God in Philippians chapter 2, verse 1 through 4. It's a very this is one of the more challenging passages in the New Testament that calls us to imitate God's heart. Here's what it starts with. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, and this is the Christians. If any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility. Consider others better than yourself. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Can you imagine if we were as tender with each other in this church as mothers are with their babies? That we look at each other as fragile and as as need of tenderness, mercy, and kindness. What would that do to our fellowship? What would that do to this community? And let me be honest, there's there's a tremendous amount of gentleness and tenderness in our church. Can we imitate some of the moms and can we imitate God even more? Amen. Here's his take. What is love? Love is treating your heart with a great deal of tenderness, with understanding, love, and compassion. If you cannot treat your own heart this way, how can't you treat your partner with understanding? Wow. That's powerful. You know, we're sometimes our worst critiques, and and we're we we sometimes beat up on ourselves mercilessly. Your inner voice, things that go into your mind, uh, your your expectations, and sometimes a failure of living up to those expectations. How about if you treated yourself and your heart, your soul as a mother treats a baby? Wouldn't that be more nurturing? Wouldn't that help your soul and your heart to grow? Wouldn't that give you more ability to actually do something and love more? I believe we do. The other word is gentleness. And uh it's it's one of the synonyms for tenderness. Uh sometimes it's mistaken for softness, but it actually is, you know, it's here's here's a really good definition. Gentleness is strength under control. The word actually is comes from uh how people, when they put a uh a bridle in the mouth of a horse, they can actually tame a horse and make him gentle and not just be wild. It is the ability to stay calm no matter what happens. You know, not everybody is born with some gentleness physically. I'm a very clumsy person. When we first got married, my wife would have bruises just from me walking around in the kitchen and and bumping into her and stepping on her toes, and uh, and it's just the honest truth. Life happens to all of us. Uh, you know, gentleness is something that we need to grow and learn. It is a learnable quality. All right. God has this way of gentleness. God is amazingly powerful, but that power doesn't destroy us, it doesn't hurt us. He actually holds that power back from doing something that that is overwhelming, that is, that is too too harsh or too strong. In Isaiah 40, he it God is compared uh to a shepherd. He says he tends his flock like a shepherd, he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. He gently leads those that had young. You know, that's that's who God is. He he's you know, he's not big and strong without control. He actually has that strength under control, so he can be gentle. When Jesus called people to follow him, he called them to him. He said, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. What an amazing promise, especially in his 21st century. Don't we need rest for our souls? Yes, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am powerful and effective, I am uh mighty and glorious, I am gentle and humble in heart. Jesus chose those two qualities that he wanted people to focus on when they come and imitate him. And you will find rest for your soul, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. That's Jesus. I I had to work a lot on getting my view of God more in line with the Bible. Maybe that's your challenge today as well. That's okay. God is gentle, He's also patient, He works with us. It took me a long while. God calls us as followers in Colossians 3 verse 12 to be gentle. I love this passage. It says, Therefore, as God chosen people, holy and dearly loved. You see those two things? Holy means set apart. That's part of God's transcendence. You're not like anybody else, but you're also dearly loved. There's your connection. There's his immanence. Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. So as followers of Jesus, we are called to put this on like clothing, you know, get these qualities and and try and practice wearing them. You know, what is it, what is it, what does it look like if I try to be gentle as God is gentle or Jesus is gentle? And this is where mom comes in the picture. You know, when when I'm I'm so grateful for my wife, she's an amazing mom. You know, let me I'll show you guys just a couple pictures to teach to kind of illustrate. Not just about how amazing of a mom she is, uh, that that's that is picture number one. Uh right? But how much I needed to learn and how much I have learned from her. This is me. See the difference? That's at the moment of this lecture. At the very beginning of parenting here, he's like three weeks old. So don't don't don't just throw stones at me. I'm I'm like and this was in the time when pick when you could when we had regular cameras, not the ones where you can just delete the stuff, you know. Yes. So that's beautiful. Yeah, so uh I've over over the last 25 years since we've been parents together, I have learned so much gentleness from my wife, who has that loving, you know, our you know, our kids approached her very differently than they approached me. Uh and and and when I see God, I want to be a lot like the gentleness that I've seen, my wife, and I've seen you all all of you, mothers and grandmothers. That's that that that that is, I want to be treated like that. Because inside of all of us, there's a there's a small child. No matter how old you are, that's true. There's still a small child there. That is true. And that earlier this year, my wife taught a series of classes on understanding how our brain works and how we can change, called Rewired, which was amazing. And one of the activities that was that was incredibly powerful was we had to bring in a picture uh of ourselves as a kid. And uh I I I actually thought about a picture that I was gonna bring in, a picture where I'm 10 years old, and uh but we were just getting ready to leave, and in maybe an hour before we left the house, she said, Oh, I already got pictures for both of us. I'm like, okay, and I thought she picked that picture. Um so we get here, and this is the last activity of the class, and she gives me the the the picture that she picked, and it was a picture that I had not looked at probably in 10 years. It's actually not a picture when I'm 10 years old, it's a picture when I'm a baby. And uh and and you know, we had to we had to kind of look at that picture and talk to ourselves, our our our younger selves. That was the activity. And uh, and boy, some of that was very challenging. But this is the this is the picture. You know, and uh I I had the picture on uh I put it out because this there's this little baby inside of me still. That that wonder, that that excitement about what's life bringing? You know, I can't wait to live this life. You know, that's that's when I look at that picture, that that all those things come up and please treat me gently. Please treat each other gently, please treat ourselves gently. What a powerful thing it is. You know, I I that was that was a very powerful activity for me, and very grateful for my wife, even teaching that class.

SPEAKER_03 33:04

That was awesome.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

That's how Jesus treats you and with that gentleness, humility, loving, caring, kindness. We do need some TLC, some tender loving care. And God is there to provide it for me. To conclude, we actually gotta take communion and remember Jesus, but here's a way I want us to remember Jesus. In the Gospel of Matthew, after about uh Matthew writing about the teachings and the story of Jesus and the healings and all the things that Jesus did and how amazing it was, in the middle of the book of Matthew, the writer takes a moment and stops and says, all of this was to fulfill this Old Testament passage. And what Old Testament passage does he pick? He's referring back to the Old Testament and he's quoting at this point in Matthew chapter 12, verse 18 to 12, 21. Here is my servant whom I have chosen. This is about Jesus. The one I love, in whom I delight. I will put my spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out. No one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory, in his name's name, the nations will put hair. Matthew chose this passage. Yes, it has victory and justice in it, but what an amazing picture of the gentleness and tenderness of Jesus. Of a bruised reed, he will not break, a smoldering wick, he will not snap out. Uh I know, and I do have a few questions, but let's pray for the communion first. Dear God, uh, thank you for Jesus, and thank you for him being so gentle and humble at heart that we can learn from him. Also, thank you for the moms and the ways that that gentleness, that tender loving care comes into our lives, mainly through our moms. Uh, thank you for the ways that uh that uh that you're teaching teaching us to treat ourselves the way that you are treating us, God. Um thank you for just uh another opportunity today to to look at the word of God and and to see you more clearly uh and see you in a more balanced way. Yes, you are strong and powerful and almighty, and nothing is hidden from your sight, and you are there in the past, present, and future, and we can't really imagine that even that's hard to imagine. But you are also near, close to the brokenhearted. You care, you be full of mercy, gentleness, and tenderness. Thank you for being such a God, and thank you for Jesus, who displayed you in amazing ways, especially through his willingness to die on the cross on our behalf. Uh we celebrate him, his victory, his resurrection, as we take the bread and drink the fruit of the vine. Uh, and and we we want to put our hope in him. In his name we pray. Amen.