Simpsons Series - May 11th, 2008

DATE: May 11th, 2008

SPEAKER: Pastor Kevin Snyder

TITLE: The Life of Marge & Other Women

THEME: Developing A God Shaped Family In A Simpson-Filled World

Introduction

We are beginning a series of messages on Family Relationships. I’ve entitled it “Building a God-Shaped Family in a Simpson-Filled World.”

It is designed to be a contrast between a God-shaped family and the Simpson family.

Simpson family is the longest running cartoon and sitcom on network television. It has been on TV since 1989 and has over 400 episodes.
It’s producer Matt Groening described them as

“They’re just like the rest of us. Only exagerrated”

Others have described them as the typical American dysfunctional family.
“The American family at its most complicated drawn as simple cartoons.”
George H.W. Bush said back in 1990: “We’re going to strengthen the American family to be more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons.”

They are portrayed as having Canadian leanings or faith.

They attend church every Sunday
They say grace before meals.
Their next door neighbour, Ned Flanders, is a committed evangelical Christian. In fact on American College and High School campuses the word most associated with the word “Christian” – other than Jesus- is not the pope or Mother Teresa or Billy Graham. It is Ned Flanders described by one as “television’s most effective exponent of a life well-lived.”
Graphic: Simpson family praying
When faced with a crisis they turn to God & pray aloud. God often answers their prayers & intervenes in their world.
They believe in a literal heaven and hell.
Despite the temptations to be unfaithful (3 in all) Marge and Homer have remained faithful to each other.
They are not afraid to talk about faith. 10% of the shows have specifically religious themes, and 30% of all the content reflects spiritual topics.

But no one would lift them up as models of a God-shaped family. They are far from that.

They are a family struggling and for the most part quite irreverent and dysfunctional.

And so here we have this family that

goes to church,

prays at meals,

talks about spiritual things,

but

the biblical Jesus has minimal bearing on their choices, lifestyle, values, and morality.

I believe in that way they are a description of our context today.

It is rather common for people to attend church, perhaps pray at meals, but the Bible doesn’t play much of a shaping role in their family.

George Barna: Study – said 50% of people attending evangelical churches do not claim to have a personal commitment to Jesus Christ.
Other studies have shown that in terms of ethics and morality there is little difference between churchgoers and non-church-goers except that in the area of mood….less depression.

And so we may not like the Simpson’s, but maybe Groening is right. - “They’re just like the rest of us. Only exagerrated”

And over the next several weeks we want to look at ourselves through this family and into God’s Word and see how we can shape our “all-too-much Simpson family” into a family that is being shaped by God.

This being Mother’s Day I want us to look at Marge.

Many women can relate to Marge.

Marge is the wife of homer. The mother of Bart, Lisa, & Maggie
Her most notable physical feature is her blue hair, styled into an improbably high beehive; she is proud to have never met anyone with taller hair outside Graceland.

Marge was named after, and loosely based on, Margaret "Marge" Groening, mother of series creator Matt Groening.

She was once a police officer in Springfield, took therapy for road rage, was jailed for shoplifting, became a gambling addict, showed alcoholic tendencies, was an unwilling participant in a cross-country police chase, overdosed on steroids, cheated on a cooking competition and developed amnesia. She has also sold prescription drugs at her garage sale which she was jailed for.

Puts up with a lot

Doormat for husband and children

Only one who really encourages church attendance & pushes family. She is the spiritual leader in the home.

Has hit some breaking points where she’s had enough. Left Homer a few times

She has high morals but has had her own share of escapades in her closet

She is the discipliner of the children….Homer just strangles Bart when he gets mad at him.

She is talented but doesn’t believe it.

She knows a lot about her family and is attentive

Graphic: split screen: Marge on one side/ conversation on other side

Homer: Marge, quick, what's my blood type?
Marge Simpson: A-positive.
Homer: Aw, nuts!
Lisa Simpson: You know his blood type? How romantic!
Marge Simpson: A mother knows everything about her family.
Lisa Simpson: Oh, yeah? What's my shoe size?
Marge Simpson: 4-B.
Bart: How many teeth do I have?
Marge Simpson: Sixteen permanent, eight baby.
Lisa Simpson: Rings?
Marge Simpson: I don't want you wearing rings, it looks cheap. But three.
Homer: How many hairs on my head? Without looking!
Marge Simpson: Oh, Homie, you have lots of hair.
Lisa Simpson: Earmuff?
Marge Simpson: XM.
Bart: Allergies?
Marge Simpson: Butterscotch and imitation butterscotch.
Bart: And...?
Marge Simpson: Glow-in-the-dark monster makeup.
Bart: Ooh, impressive

She wants to engage with her kids

Marge: Have you noticed something about Bart?
Homer: New glasses?
Marge: No. It seems like something could be troubling him.
Homer: Probably misses his old glasses.
Marge: I want to get more involved in Bart's activities, but then I'd be afraid of smothering him.
Homer: Yeah, and then we'd get the chair.
Marge: That's not what I meant.
Homer: Admit it Marge, it was.

This being Mother’s Day I asked myself…

What does Marge and women like her need today?

I mean many women can relate to Marge in a less exaggerated way, of course.

Women who feel under appreciated and often a doormat to their families.

Marge reflects many women who…

try so hard to be the moral and spiritual beacon in a family that seems only mildly interested. Who are spiritually alone in that there husband does little to encourage that, other than show up with her on Sunday.
Women who feel unappreciated and often disrespected by their families, even though they might know they are loved.
Women who don’t recognise what they have to offer as far as talents.
Women who wrestle with their own demons from their past.
Women who feel they are left to be the discipliners because all the father does is get angry and vent not discipline.
Women who know what it is like to hit the breaking point in their lives and marriages.

What does the Bible have to say to Marge and other women sitting in the pews like her?

What does she need?

I think 1 Peter 3:7 gives us the right response:

“Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

A. Respect & Consideration

Looking at what Marge goes through at times we might find it easy to conclude that what Marge needs is a different husband.

I mean living with Homer is no piece of cake.

I’m sure her girlfriends would ask: “So why do you stay with him? Why do you take that?”

And perhaps Marge asks herself the same question at times.

Marge like many women over the years has taken to absorbing the hurts, and pushes them under the proverbial rug. She takes it until she reaches her breaking point and then it pours out. She boots Homer out of the house. Which she has done a few times.

This is not a new thing.

Women over the centuries have been more or less been disrespected and not considered.

However, Marge is different from many women in the world who have no choice….they are powerless to fight back….to boot the Homer’s out of the house when they go to far.

One look at the statistics on women in our world, and one has to say little about the need for respect & consideration.

Violence causes more death and disability worldwide amongst women aged 15-44 than war, cancer, malaria or traffic accidents (Directorate of Public Health)
One in three women worldwide has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some other way, most often by someone she knows. One in four women were abused during pregnancy (Amnesty International; www.amnesty.org)
In the UK, in 1999, 37% of female homicide victims were killed by their present or former partner, compared to 6% of men. This totalled 92 women – one every three days (www.homeoffice.gov.uk)
Three out of four fatalities of war are women and children (Network for good)
In the former Yugoslavia, 20,000 women and girls were raped during the first months of the war (Physicians for Human Rights)
Between 200,000-300,000 women are trafficked to Europe every year (Human Rights Watch)
Well over $7 billion a year is generated from sex-trade trafficking (Peace Women)

Women at home

1 out of 7 married women worldwide are raped by their spouse and marital rape accounts for 25% of all rapes (Wesley Center for Women)
Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury and death for women worldwide (Intervarsity press)
Every day 6,000 girls undergo female circumcision (Amnesty; www.amnesty.org)

Women’s health

16.4 million women in the world are living with HIV and AIDS (U.S. Pharmacist; www.uspharmacist.com)
55% of all HIV positive adults in sub-Saharan Africa are women (Afrol; www.afrol.com)
Around half of pregnant women in Southern Asia and one third of women in many countries in Africa receive no antenatal care (UNAIDS; www.unaids.org)
Around 60% of women in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia have no skilled attendant present when they give birth (UNICEF; www.unicef.org)
One woman dies every minute from pregnancy related causes, most of which are preventable (RHRC; www.rhrc.org)

The plight of girls

2 million females are killed before or at birth simply because of their sex (www.indiafemalefoeticide.org)
More than 60 million women are ‘missing’ from the world today as a result of sex-selective abortions and female infanticide (Amnesty; www.amnesty.org)
In China, the 2000 census revealed the ratio of girls to boys is 100:199. The norm is 100:103 (chinadatacenter.org)
Of 8,000 foetuses aborted in a Bombay clinic, 7999 were female (learningpartnership.org)
Annually, 2 million girls worldwide are forced into marriage (secondsightresearch.tripod.com)
5,000 women in the world are estimated as killed in ‘honour killings’ (Christian Science Monitor; www.csmonitor.com)
Every year in India, 5000 brides are murdered or commit suicide because their marriage dowries are considered inadequate (www.learningpartnership.org)
Every year, 2 million girls between the ages of five and 15 are coerced, abducted, sold or trafficked into the illegal sex market (International Humanitarian Campaign Against the Exploitation of Children; www.helpsavekids.org)

Education

More than half of women in the world, over the age of 15, cannot read or write (Women’s Learning Partnership; www.learningpartnership.org)
Two thirds of people who cannot read or write are women (Women-watch; www.un.org)
Two thirds of the children who receive less than four years’ education are girls (Women’s Learning Partnership; www.learningpartnership.org)
Nearly 60% of children not in school are girls (Women’s Learning Partnership; www.learningpartnership.org)

Women and poverty

Women produce nearly 80% of the food on the planet, but receive less than 10% of agricultural assistance (Peacekeeper; www.iamapeacekeeper.com)
More than 1 billion people live in abject poverty on less than $1 a day. 70% of people in abject poverty are women (www.kamilat.org)
Only 1% of the world’s assets are in the name of a woman (SEWA; www.unesco.org)
Although women do two thirds of the work in the world, the rate of paid employment for women is two thirds that of men (International Labor Organization; www.ilo.org)
There is no country in the world where women’s wages are equal to those of men (Women’s Learning Partnership; www.learningpartnership.org)
Worldwide, when women do the same work as men, they are paid 30-40% less than men (Feminism; www.newint.org)

Women and power

Women occupy only 2% of senior management positions in business worldwide (Businessweek; www.businessweek.com)
Only 15% of parliamentary seats across the world are held by women (www.globalpolicy.org)
Women ministers remain concentrated in social areas (14%) compared to legal (9.4%), economic (4.1%), political affairs (3.4%) and the executive (3.9%) (www.un.org)
3.5% of the world’s cabinet ministers are women and women have no ministerial positions in 93 countries worldwide (Feminism; www.newint.org)

One only needs to see that to recognise that there is an incredible need for respect and consideration for women.

1 Peter 3:7

“Husbands in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

Be considerate..treat them with respect.

Men, Church, we need to do that. The Kingdom of God is to be different. The community Jesus came to establish does not look or treat women as those statistics indicate. And we need to be out front like the OT prophets who were a voice for the widows and the orphans.

What is called for in our world is not just flowers for your Mom…great thing.

But a movement that calls for justice, and respect, and consideration for women who are the primary victims of violence, discrimination, abuse, rights being denied around our world.

And folks, I have to admit that I sometimes am embarrassed. I get embarrassed that when we should out there being an advocate, and calling men in our world to be respectful and considerate, we have been instead spending most of our time hair-splitting, and trying to figure out whether women should be elders, or teach, or use their gifts in leadership, or wear head-coverings and focused on the word “submit”

Could it be, in light of our world situation, that we need to underline and get focused, and preoccupied with the words respect and consideration!

When I read those statistics, it would seem women have got the “submit” part down alot more than we have the respect & be considerate part down. I dare say we would make our world a better place if we spent our time emphasizing that message a lot more!

And maybe it is time to shift some of our energy & focus to another word in Scripture ( respect, consideration) that will make a positive difference in our world.

The 2nd thing I think Marge needs Support & Encouragement

I think Marge gets tired of pulling the family load alone sometimes.
Being the spiritual initiator.
Being the discipliner.
Being the mediator.
I think she gets discouraged with how little difference it seems she makes.
I don’t think Marge is alone in that.
There are many women who feel their influence is so small.They had hopes and dreams for their kids….and they turn out more like Bart.
They had hopes of shaping a God-shaped family and it turns out dysfunctional & moving from crisis to crisis.

And they are discouraged.

The Bible speaks of Mary when they brought Jesus to the temple to be blessed.

There was a man Simeon at the temple who took Jesus in his arms and blessed him and said to Mary:

“This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2: 35)

Mary experienced that sword as she watched helplessly by and saw evil nail her innocent son to the cross. Oh the pain of that.

I suspect there are women who can identify with the feelings of that statement – a sword will pierce your soul.

You gave birth to these little bundles of joy with such dreams and hopes and expectations. And then years later your soul have been pierced with pain.
You bleed over the predicament and consequences their children face.
You bleed over the hardships of their children.
You hurt.
Your soul has been wounded.
And you feel helpless to do much.

What can be said to you?

Well, we could give you a pep talk and fire you up to keep going.

Not sure that is what you long for.

Sometimes it is just knowing you are not alone. Someone understands. Someone can relate. Someone like Marge.

And I don’t want to presume to understand, but I would like us as a church this morning to minister to the unseen, often unspoken wounds of Mom’s in particular this morning.

How?

a. Scripture Verse of Encouragement

Just a few verses down from our passage in Peter are some words I want you to hear this morning. Let them wash over your soul.

v. 12 – “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous

and his ears are attentive to their prayers.”

God hears your prayers. He knows your hurt. He knows the wounds of your soul. He understands.

b. Support Group

Let you know there is a support group for parents whose kids aren’t turning out like they planned. A chance to go and bleed with each other, and pray for each other, and care for each other. If interested, talk to Ralph Aman. Put you in touch.

c. Encourage Each Other

Refer to the Token you received this morning – encouragement notes

2 things you can do with those

a. Minister to each other - Write a note to another woman and just let them know you care, are thinking of them, and encourage them. Be a blessing to another woman

b. Husbands & Families: Maybe take that pad and hand them out to your kids and have everyone write an encouragement note to Mom. What you love and appreciate…

And give those to Mom at the dinner table.

d. Special Prayer for you.

Pray for you as women and for mothers today.

Want to invite all the females here today to stand.

Pray for girls
Women
Moms, Grandmoms

May the Lord bless you!

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