Isaiah 49:14-16; Isaiah 66:12-13; Jeremiah 31:20; Hosea 11:1-9; Ephesians 3:17-18
Intro: - video clip – Anita Renfroe singing “Momisms” from the video “Total Momsense” – 3:20 .
That speaks for itself, doesn’t it? Truth is stranger, and funnier, than fiction.
Gina Doll was 7 months pregnant and playing with her 4 yr old nephew Connor. Being a boy, he was getting a little too rough and was pressing on Gina’s belly to the point where it hurt. She told him, “Connor, please don’t press on my tummy – there’s a baby in there.” Connor looked shocked and said, “You mean, you ate a baby?”
Mothers Day, 2011. How did we get here? I could answer that with the history of Mother’s Day – Anna Jarvis, born in WV in 1864 wanted to do something to honor mothers. She pushed for a day to be set aside to do that. Then, in 1914, Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day a national holiday and it’s been happening here ever since.
I could answer by tracing what has happened to motherhood over the centuries – what has changed, and what hasn’t, and how it has developed into the complex web that it is today.
Or, I could just say we got here by our mothers – every one of us, good or bad, happy or sad, we all had a mother who carried us and gave birth to us and that’s how we got here! That’s how Paul could write
1 Corinthians 11:11-12
In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman.
So, yes, we owe our very existence to our mothers. But we also know we owe them more than just getting us here and started.
A Mother's Day card said: "Now that we have a mature, adult relationship, there's something I'd like to tell you. You're still the first person I think of when I fall down and go boom!"
Quote - Theodore Roosevelt - When all is said, it is the mother, and the mother only, who is a better citizen than the soldier who fights for his country. The successful mother, the mother who does her part in rearing and training aright the boys and girls who are to be the men and women of the next generation, is of greater use to the community, and occupies, if she would only realize it, a more honorable as well as a more important position than any man in it. The mother is the one supreme asset of the national life. She is more important, by far, than the successful statesman, or businessman, or artist, or scientist.
There are all kinds of ways we could honor godly moms today and talk about their great value to society and every one of our lives. But I want to do something different this morning. I want to deepen our appreciation for godly mothers by looking at some specific Scriptures that speak of God’s love.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not going to end up suggesting that God should be called our “Heavenly Mother” or that He’s just really in touch with His feminine side. But all that is feminine was first created by God, and all that’s beautiful and feminine about motherhood today comes from the mind of God. So, God finds it appropriate to use a mother’s love to help us understand His great love.
Ephesians 3:17b-18
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
It’s an awfully big love – with width and length and height and depth. It’s something that we can hardly grasp. It will even take power to understand it. Just how much does God love us? How can we begin to appreciate it? If only there were something most of us could already relate to, something in life that would be a good picture of God’s love – say, a mother’s love! That’s exactly what He does.
The setting is Hosea, the first book in what we call the Minor Prophets. Israel has fallen away from God – like a wife that wanders off from her husband for other men. They’ve been worshiping false Gods, turning to idols instead of the one True God. They knew better. So, there is an Assyrian invasion in their future. God is going to allow them to be punished by those cruel, warring people, and He’s even giving Israel fair warning by the mouth of Hosea. But as He does, listen to the appeal God makes while He speaks about His mother-like love for His chosen people:
Hosea 11:1-9
"When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them. "Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent? Swords will flash in their cities, will destroy the bars of their gates and put an end to their plans. My people are determined to turn from me. Even if they call to the Most High, he will by no means exalt them. "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man-- the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath.
I. The Patience Of A Godly Mother Shows Us God’s Patience With His Children
Can you hear the disappointment of God as He speaks about His people? “It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.”
Godly mothers are patient people. It takes patience to carry a child around for 9 months, with all the fun things that accompany pregnancy. It takes patience to live through the years of being sleep deprived, to smile and get a child another helping before you’ve had your first. It takes patience to drive a kid to every activity and to belong to the PTO and band boosters when the kid just assumes that’s why you exist. Moms, you’re a picture of patience to us, and that expression of love is a picture for us of God’s patience.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
I’m sure glad I had a patient mother! But I’m even more blessed to know that God is patient about the day of His return – that He’s waiting for more people to have the chance to respond to His love while they have the chance. When I consider the patience my mother had with us 6 kids, I have a deeper understanding of the patience of God.
There’s a picture entitled "Answered Prayer.” It shows the mother of Augustine kneeling in prayer by the couch of her wayward son. It’s a picture of patient, persistent love. Later, that wayward son turned out to become an important influence in church history. That’s the kind of love Godly mothers demonstrate. And when they do, it gives us all a picture of the patient love of God.
God speaks in a similar way in Jeremiah 31:20:
Jeremiah 31:20
Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him," declares the LORD.
That brings us to a 2nd point about the model for love:
II. The Sacrificial Heart Of A Godly Mother Shows Us God’s Compassion for His Children
Mothers are givers. They have to be. It starts with the sacrifice of their own bodies in order to bear a child.
Story – It was true in Joplin, and it seems true in a lot of cities, like Rockford – You walk into one of the main entrances at a mall, and there’s Victoria’s Secret. I’m so glad that every mall has a Victoria’s Secret right there where I can walk by it. Want to know Victoria’s Secret? Victoria’s Secret is that ladies who’ve been through 3 pregnancies can’t wear their products! Moms made sacrifices to get you into this world, and to get you on your feet after that. Most of us have no idea what we really cost our mothers. I think today God would have us ponder those sacrifices and realize how much God has loved us like a mother loves.
The story of what we’ve cost God has always included the compassion He has for His people. That’s partly what we find in the book of Isaiah…
Isaiah 49:14-16
But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me." "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.
Will a mother forget the baby she nursed as an infant? No way! There’s a special bonding that occurs between a mother and her babies. She’s not going to forget that child. Neither will God forget His people. And while it was a practice for some servants to have their master’s name somehow inscribed on their hands, there were never masters who inscribed their servant’s names on theirs. But God says He has inscribed Israel on the palms of His hands. He won’t forget them.
Now, for this picture of God to work for you, you have to have a good impression of motherhood. Maybe you’re one of those people who have a less than positive view of motherhood. Maybe you’re feeling guilty about your failures as a mother, or remembering very painful and maybe even abusive experiences you had with your own mother. There have been irresponsible mothers who neglect and abuse their children. So how can these words speak of something positive and encouraging? Some of you may not have had such a great mother. Or maybe you’re a mother who feels she hasn’t done such a great job at it. Or maybe you’re a woman who has always wanted to be a mother but couldn’t. You know what? Whatever your state, God still says this: even if mothers were to forget, He could never forget you! And God didn’t forget Israel. He brought them back to their homeland, and eventually He sent them a Messiah who loved them with that mother kind of love. Jesus said,
Luke 13:34
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!
And with the great compassion of God, Jesus went on to pay the ultimate sacrifice for their sin and for your sin and mine.
The good news is that when we’re feeling forsaken and forgotten, we can find comfort, not in an imperfect or maybe even an abusive mother, but from God Who won’t forget us and Who won’t fail to have compassion on us, even when everything seems a mess and the best of human mothers runs out of resources to help us. God would help Israel back after they were exiled, and He’ll help us back to real life and joy in Him as well. Listen what He says later in Isaiah:
Isaiah 66:12-13
For this is what the LORD says: "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 dandled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem."
Dandled. I never heard that word until I first read it here in this verse. That’s what it’s called when you bounce a baby up and down. Dandle. You do that to keep a baby happy; to let him know you’re there; to make him smile. Can you picture that’s the way God will deal with His people? Why? Because He loves and cares for them. Because He has compassion for them.
Illustration: One speaker said: I often tell my kids when we are in places where there are thousands of people and getting lost from us can happen in a few short seconds, “If you get lost from us, watch for a mother who is pushing a baby in a stroller or holding a young child by the hand, and ask them to help you find your mommy.” Nothing is safer in those situations than appealing to a mother’s love and to the motherly instinct.
Our mothers fed us, nourished and protected us with their own bodies before we even saw the light of day. I don’t know anyone else who loves me enough to carry me around for nine months. But a mother’s sacrifice doesn’t end there. They keep on giving. They give up sleep for midnight feedings. They give up personal goals to help their children achieve their goals. Ask yourself how many times you got a new outfit and mom wore the same old clothes, or how many times she gave you the last helping at supper when she was still hungry.
That kind of protecting, compassionate, self-sacrificing love is the kind of love God has for His people.
2 Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
I read a story about God creating mother and how one of the angels is watching Him and commenting about the mother. As the angel asks about the project, God tells him, "I am close to creating something very much like myself." I suppose that is why today is very special - because we recognize that a mother’s love is probably the closest human example we have to God’s love.
Now, moms, I hope this gives you a challenge this morning. You see, instead of reading through Proverbs 31 again and pointing out how the woman described there is perfect and you’re not, we’ve taken an aside this morning to look at the perfect love that God has for us. And as we’ve looked at it, we’ve seen how God is willing to compare His love to the love of a mother. That certainly gives you something to live up to, doesn’t it? I want to challenge you to keep that perfect model of love in front of you. When you have questions about how to do this mother thing, when you feel like you’re on your last nerve, when you feel your caring being drained away, remember the kind of patience and compassion God has for us. Remember that His word is counting on your motherhood to help explain His love for people! Your family will thank you for it!
And here’s something for all of us – when moms succeed at this, we owe them, don’t we? They deserve our praises, not just because they’ve done a good job for our homes or for us personally, but because they’ve contributed something to the Kingdom of God. I’m glad God chose this illustration to speak about Himself. It helps me realize just how vital Mom’s role is once again. It makes me want to go back to Proverbs 31 and read the last couple verses that talk about the husband and kids singing the praises of the godly woman. In fact, I will…
Proverbs 31:28-31 (NIV)
Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
She deserves it!
CONCLUSION
Ephesians 3:17b-18
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
I pray that for all of us this morning. I pray it for us who are already followers of Jesus because that love compels us to serve Him faithfully. I pray it for others this morning too, because if you realized just how huge the love of Christ is for you, even though you haven’t loved Him to this point in your life, you’d respond to Him with gratitude and devotion.
That’s what we want to ask you to do this morning…
