The Perfect Wife And Mother Series

At church one morning, a Sunday School teacher was about to start her 4-year-olds' class when a little boy showed up at the last minute without any identification. The teacher managed to get his first name, but couldn't find out his last name.

"Brian, what's your daddy's name?" she asked.

"Daddy," he replied.

She tried again, "Well, Brian, what's your mommy's name?"

"Mommy," he answered.

She was getting a little frustrated when she suddenly realized how she might get the answer she needed. "Brian, what does your daddy call your mommy?"

His face lit up and with the deepest voice he could manage, he replied, "Hey, Babe."

(Susan Boatright, Savannah, GA. Today's Christian Woman, "Heart to Heart.")

Obviously, that little boy’s daddy loved his mommy. One very prominent theologian noted that: “The most important thing a father can do for his children is love their mother.” (Henry Ward Beecher) With that thought in our minds I want to talk about Eve this morning. Eve was the ultimate mother. In fact: “Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the MOTHER of all the living.” Genesis 3:20

Now, what I found odd was that - when I went looking for other sermons on the internet about Eve - I found didn’t many that talked about her being a “mother”. Out of all the sermons I saw, there only 2 or 3 that addressed that part of her life. And that makes sense when you think about it. I mean, let’s face it, the only part of the Bible story remember about Eve is the day she made a poor choice and ruined things for mankind. And I think that’s a real shame, because I believe there’s so much to be learned from this first mother of mankind.

For example - the 1st thing we need to realize is that she was the perfect woman. I mean she had to be. She was created by God to be what Adam needed in his life. The LORD God said, "It is NOT GOOD for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."… So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2:18, 20-23

The reason Eve was created by God was because - in all of God’s creation - there was one thing was NOT GOOD. Throughout the first chapter of Genesis it’s like a drumbeat: God declared this was “good” and that was “good”, over and over again. But the only time in the creation account where God said something was “not good” was when it came to creating the first woman because it was not good that the man should be alone. Eve made all the difference. It was like she completed God’s perfect masterpiece and until He created her, things weren’t completely “good.” And so Eve was the perfect creation of God. Don’t ever forget that.

And her marriage to Adam was the basis of every PERFECT marriage to this day. Jesus said “Haven’t you read, that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” Matthew 19:4-6

So, in spite of all their imperfections, Adam and Eve’s marriage to one another is our model for what marriage need to be like.

(PAUSE)

But was she a perfect mother? Well… no. She wasn’t perfect. But then she wasn’t all that bad either. I mean, bear in mind - she didn’t have an earthly mother to learn from. Everything she did as a mom… she had to learn from scratch. Dave Barry observed: “A perfect parent is a person with excellent child-rearing theories and no actual children.”

There’s no denying the fact that Eve was not the perfect parent. In fact, her 1st time out of the gate… she (and Adam) didn’t do so well. Their 1st born – Cain - was a rotten kid. He didn’t offer a proper sacrifice to God. And he couldn’t control his temper. And he blamed his brother for his own failures. And then… of course… he killed his brother and tried to cover it up. Cain was a loser

But by contrast - Abel was a great son. In fact Hebrews says “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.” Hebrews 11:4