Scanning a crowd at a sporting event you see all sorts of things, very overweight men who are very underdressed, usually with a letter or a logo on their belly. You see people in costume, some that make sense, like a fan of the Minnesota Vikings dressed up as a Viking, and some that don’t like the guys in the green unitard at the Canucks games. You see people screaming and shouting and lifting a finger to the sky, hopefully the pointer. But the one thing you inevitably see is the people in the crowd shouting and mouthing the words. Hi Mom! Mothers are incredibly important for so many different reasons, and today is the day that we celebrate all that they do for us, and all that we forget to do for them.
I’d like to look this morning at an example of a Godly mother, and try to unpack a couple of foundations to being a Godly mother. Now, everyone has their opinions on motherhood, Oprah and Dr. Phil will give you plenty of advice, but even though there may be a bit of truth in what they are saying, without the foundational truth of God behind their words, there is no real eternal value and it is relegated to the arena of opinion rather than truth. So let’s start with a Biblical foundation. Turn with me if you will, to Exodus Chapter 2 Verses 1-9. If you’re there, say Thanks Mom!
Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”
“Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses,[saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
As background to this story, The Hebrews, were living in the land of Egypt in captivity. They had grown in numbers and the Pharaoh was getting nervous that they would outnumber and overthrow the Egyptians. To prevent this, Pharaoh decreed that all boys were to be killed at birth. They were to be thrown into the Nile. Now in our passage, we can identify three things that help to describe a Godly Mother. The first thing is that A Godly Mother Trusts God. The second thing is that A Godly Mother Teaches God, and the third thing is that A Godly Mother Turns Over to God.
Point 1 Explanation
Godly Mothers trust God.
It’s not hard to see that Jachobed trusted God. Can you imagine the scene? Here’s this young mother, knowing that she can no longer keep her baby hidden from the authorites weaving together what could very well be her young boy’s coffin. It’s not like she could head out to Wall-mart or Michaels and pick up a basket, she would have spent much time in prayer and contemplation, carefully assembling it. All the while asking God to take care of her new son. The basket is a symbol of her trust in God. She was not content to simply let the Egyptians throw Moses into the Nile to be eaten by Crocodiles. She trusted that God would take care of him and as we read later, her trust, her faith is rewarded
Illustration
In watching the Olympics that just passed, I was amazed to see blind skiers! Now I hear they have blind hockey too, and I’m sure Ed and Stephen would attest that I could qualify, but. . . Anyways, they had trained for slalom, dodging in and out of gates. (Andrew, if there) could you imagine skiing a slalom course with your eyes closed, that would be incredibly dangerous and difficult. Now, these blind skiers were paired with sighted skiers, the blind skiers were taught on the flats how to make right and left turns. When that was mastered, they were taken to the slalom slope, where their sighted partners skied beside them shouting, "Left!" and "Right!" As they obeyed the commands, they were able to negotiate the course and cross the finish line, depending solely on the sighted skiers' word. It was either complete trust or eat snow.
What a clear picture of the Christian life! In this world, we are in reality blind about what course to take. We must rely solely on the Word of the only One who really sees--God Himself. His Word gives us the direction we need to finish the course. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:5,6).
All Jachobed had was faith and hope. She had to trust that God would have her and her child well looked after.
Application
Mothers, Do you trust God? Jachobed stood on a promise, that God was her God. The God of her fathers and her people, she trusted and that trust was rewarded. As Moses’ sister Miriam watched the scene at the river, she approached Pharoah’s daughter and asked, . "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?" This trust is strikingly similar to the trust that Abraham, who was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac had, or Hanna who was willing to sacrifice Samuel for God’s purpose. We see that acts of faith and trust are rewarded. We read in Romans that Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. Radical acts of parental faith are not just desired by a distant God who merely wants our obedience, , but are understood by an intimate God, who is himself a radical parent who modeled sacrifice and trust through his son Jesus Christ.
I look out at a room full of mothers, of grandmothers, of great-grandmothers, and I’d like to tell you that that promise is for you as well, that if you trust in the Lord, He will direct your paths and be with you always. Just as he said to Abraham in Genesis 17:7 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
We as believers are grafted into this covenant and we can also stand on that promise, but we need to believe, we need to have faith, in Christ and his finished work on the cross and we need to place our trust where it belongs. This Basket Represents Trust in God.
So A Godly Mother Trusts God, but a Godly Mother also Teaches God
Point 2
A Godly Woman Teaches God
Explanation
It doesn’t state explicitly in our text, but let’s think about this closely, can you picture this mother weaving this basket together? As she did so, she was modeling her trust and faith in God.
Religious instruction was, until recently primarily the responsibility of the home. Deuteronomy 6 which was penned by Moses, talks about teaching the love and fear of the Lord. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
(Deu 6:4-9 NIV)
Moses’ mom had him until he was weaned, in some cases that was when the child was as old as 12. I wonder if Patty or Amy could imagine that. On the other hand, what a great time that would be (yes I am a man) but the intimacy and closeness coupled with talking about the one who not only created, but saved her son would have an amazing and lasting impact. Talking about God in the home was an everyday occurrence, and we need to talk about God in the same way. We need to teach our children and our grandchildren who Jesus is and why he’s important. We need Christ to be part of our everyday conversations and for Him to be the reason we do what we do. And our children need to see our faith.
Illustration
My former Pastor, Steve, used to tell the story of how he came to faith in Christ and what the major influence for him was. He came from home with an abusive father, and a Christian Godly mother. He never really liked church, but loved to sit and wash dishes with his mother. During this time, she would sing hymns of hope and of God’s power and of God’s strength and protection. She would talk about Jesus and that going to heaven came from faith in his death and resurrection. It sometimes took them an hour or more to do the dishes but it was a time that his mother used to connect not only him to her, but to connect him to God and to Jesus.
We don’t have much more in our text, that specifically tells us how or what Jachobed taught Moses, but we do know that he knew he was a Hebrew, and that he knew God. In the example of Steve and his mother, we have a good reflection of what probably occurred between Jachobed and Moses. Matters of God were discussed in everyday activities. Just a simple thing like talking about God with our children, makes a huge difference in their lives.
Now I learned a lot from my mother and perhaps yours taught you some of these same things. Here is a list of the top ten things I’ve learned from my mother.
1. My mother taught me to APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."
2. My mother taught me about RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."
3. My mother taught me about LOGIC.
"Because I said so, that's why."
4. My mother taught me about FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."
5. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home."
6. My mother taught me about IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."
7. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."
8. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
"This room of yours looks like a tornado went through it."
9. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"
10. My mother taught me about the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."
Application
But our mothers teach us so much more, compassion, care, sacrifice, One of my favourite quotes about mothers is by Tenneva Jordan. You may or may not have heard of her, she’s nine-evva’s older sister. Tenneva is an author and a mother who’s most famous quote is “A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie”. My mother modeled this, even as recently as yesterday afternoon when she let Connor her grandson have the last Mountain Dew, the last American Mountain Dew! (it meant a lot to him that stuff is like gold). In that moment, she was illuminating a Godly virtue, sacrifice, and though she didn’t put it specifically into words, she was modeling Christ to him.
When we look around at the church today, it’s pretty easy to notice that there are not a lot of young adults. Teens are leaving the church in droves. The home is 2 to 3 times more effective in reaching and teaching than any preaching or church program. Have you ever seen a little girl putting on mother’s shoes and make-up? Or a little boy wearing his father’s shirt and tie? Parents, grandparents, our children do what they see in us. It’s a hard truth, but every home is teaching the children and teens in it religion. Every home is a church. The question is whether they are teaching Paganism or Christianity. A Godly mother who teaches God, is like a candle lighting the way for the future; Preparing the young to be turned over to God. Which brings me to my final point.
A Godly Mother Turns over to God.
Explanation.
When Jachobed did all she could do, ...she had Trusted God for Moses, placed him in a small basket and into the Lord’s hands, she had Taught Moses, shedding light on who he was, who his people were and who God was, , she came to a point in time where she had to release Moses. He was to go and live in Pharaoh’s house as part of the princess’ family. She had to turn Moses’ over to God. He was going from his mother’s arms into a world that was completely antithetical to anything Moses had been taught. The Hebrews were in captivity, and what Moses was at the very core of his being, was an enemy to the world in which he was to go and live in.
I wonder if Angie Spellman can empathize with our story this morning. Her boy, whom she has cared for all these years, taught him right from wrong, that God is important, has modeled Christian virtue and values, has brought him to church and now, now she is at the point where he is about to go off into the world now that he has completed high school and is poised to take his first step out of the home.
We can look around at mothers who will be faced with this same privilege soon enough. Donna Gosman, Dawn McLean, Emily Black are a few who come to mind who are in 1 or 2 short years will be doing the same. Releasing their young, turning them over to God. They are doing what the grandmothers in the room have already had to do, they will be doing what Jechobed had to do.
Illustration
Here we have two balloons, both the same size and the same colour. Now if these balloons represent the life of a child, we could say that we trust that it would one day serve the purpose they were created for. We could say that by filling it, we are encouraging them or teaching how they should be, (and like blowing air into a balloon, sometimes you have to force that knowledge in). Eventually, you are going to have to release these balloons, turn them over if you will.
In the world of the Egyptians, Jachobed was releasing her son into a world that was against God and his people. This is sadly too much like what we release our children into. We release them into a world that doesn’t believe in God, or has the wrong belief. Into a world that will warp and sully their minds. A world that tells them that it’s okay to do whatever they want as long as it feels good. This world will pull us down into the pit of hell. If we are not filled properly.
Our children will be filled, mothers you will fill them and at some point you are going to have to let them go. To turn them over. The question is, when you turn them over, will they be pulled down into the godlessness of this world? Will post-modernism and hedonism win out? Or will they rise above? Will they become the beacon. The leaders, the example. The God fearing, Christ centered adult you’ve prayed they would be.
Well I guess it depends on what you fill them with. (release balloons) If we fill them with the same things that the world is teaching, we can’t be surprised when they decide they want to join the world. But if we fill them with something better, we can watch them rise above in the love of Christ.
This is what Jachobed did. She trusted God, she taught God, and she turned over to God. Moses became one of if not the most influential man in history. Mothers, your children have the exact same potential.
So mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, caregivers, thank you, where would we be without you. And mom, this basket, this representation of what a godly mother is. Mom, this one here is for you. The basket represents trusting God, the Candle represents teaching God, and the balloon, represents turning over to God.
Thank you, I love you.
Sara has asked the children to come up and after prayer, she’s going to help us here. Would you please stand for prayer.
Prayer for mothers as Sara organizes the kids.
