A Godly Mother

“A Godly Mother”

Text: Isaiah 7:10-15

I. Welcome

II. Introduction

While we love our mothers or their memories, I think most preachers wrestle with sermons on this day. We just don’t want to preach on Hannah or Jochebed every second Sunday of May. And, I feel it may be a little intimidating to hear sermons about our Lord’s mother on this special day. So, I looked back to see what I preached on last Mother’s Day and found it was a blank sermon outline because my wife was in the hospital. Thankfully, she is with us this morning and I’ll try to fill in that outline that only contained our scripture reading from Isaiah. So I hope you’ll open your Bibles on this Lord’s Day and Mother’s Day as we study for a few minutes about “A Godly Mother”. And, we urge you to be like the Bereans in Acts 17:11 and search the scriptures daily to make sure we’re preaching the truth of God’s word.

III. Lesson

Most of us look at our scripture reading this morning and have no idea how the prophecy of verse 14 applies to evil King Ahaz. But we certainly recognize its application in Matthew 1:23 as it pertains to the virgin birth of the Son of God. Can you imagine all the anxiety Mary must have felt as she began to realize what she had been chosen to do? She had not only been given the responsibility for giving birth to the Messiah – God’s Son – but also to nurture and to raise Him to manhood. As best we can determine from scripture, Mary’s only qualifications were that she was a good Jewish girl, a virgin from the tribe of Judah. God didn’t expect her to raise Jesus as a single mom but provided her a husband to love her and assist her with this child. I believe that has always been God’s plan for the home: sexually moral husbands and wives loving and raising their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That doesn’t mean there is no forgiveness for sexual immorality! That doesn’t mean there is no forgiveness for having a child out of wedlock! That doesn’t mean there can be no forgiveness if someone had an abortion! That doesn’t mean you’re any less of a woman because you never bear children! All I’m saying is that God’s plan for the home has always been a godly husband and a godly wife and He provided for that even in the miraculous birth of His Son. It is an awesome responsibility to bring a child into this world and a mother bears the majority of this burden both physically and emotionally. I like the words of Abraham Lincoln who said: “No man is poor who has a Godly mother.” Mothers are the most powerful influencers in the world. Let me draw your attention to a poet by the name of William Ross Wallace who penned these words in 1865 under the title What Rules the World:

BLESSINGS on the hand of women!

Angels guard its strength and grace.

In the palace, cottage, hovel,

Oh, no matter where the place;

Would that never storms assailed it,

Rainbows ever gently curled,

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world.

Infancy's the tender fountain,

Power may with beauty flow,

Mothers first to guide the streamlets,

From them souls unresting grow—

Grow on for the good or evil,

Sunshine streamed or evil hurled,

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world.

Woman, how divine your mission,

Here upon our natal sod;

Keep—oh, keep the young heart open

Always to the breath of God!

All true trophies of the ages

Are from mother-love impearled,

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world.

Blessings on the hand of women!

Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,

And the sacred song is mingled

With the worship in the sky—

Mingles where no tempest darkens,

Rainbows evermore are hurled;

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world.

Mothers, I’m not sure if you know just how much power you wield. But, let me add one quote from a female novelist named N.K. Jemisin: “(A mother) can be glorious or terrible, benevolent or filled with wrath, but she commands love either way. I am convinced that this is the greatest power in the universe.” Because you are the major force molding the life of a child, please strive to be the godly mother God wants you to be. You see, God wants all mothers to be godly mothers just as He wanted one for His Son. So I want us to spend the remainder of our time looking at what constitutes a godly mother. Please don’t assume there is an order of priority in this list because there isn’t but, first of all, godly mothers will dress modestly. Turn if you will to 1 Timothy 2:9-10 – in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. The context here is the worship assembly and modest apparel is not about what is not sexually revealing – that is covered by propriety and moderation. The modest apparel refers to dressing up in extravagant dress that equates to wantonness and wifely insubordination. A godly mother dresses like a lady – not trying to draw attention to herself. Secondly, a godly mother teaches her child. We know the proverb – the general truth – found in Proverbs 22:6 – Train up a child in the way he should go,