HoHum:
Went shopping for Mother’s Day card- Most over the top sappy and syrupy sweet. Found one that made me LOL- Front (picture of a woman with two suitcases) Mom - I'm sure you've thought of it a few times... Inside: ...but thanks for not running away! Happy Mother's Day! Now that's honesty (maybe a little too honest)
WBTU:
Sermons for Mother’s Day fall into two categories: 1) Many of them are sentimental- they are like many Mother’s Day cards, sappy and syrupy sweet 2) Others talk about the perfect mother as described in the Bible. Many times these sermons create an unattainable standard for mothers that make them feel guilty for being less than perfect.
Both of these are unrealistic. Sentimental sermons are disconnected from real life and real people in the real world. “The perfect mother” sermons can be harmful. Much like men have difficulties measuring up to the perfect standards of the biblical father and husband, women are the same way. There needs to be balance of grace and truth.
Thesis: Let’s talk about the high value of motherhood, the glorious vision of motherhood, the taxing reality of motherhood, and the ultimate restoration of motherhood
1. The High Value of Motherhood (established at creation and through OT)
A. We find in Genesis 1-2 that God created Eve to be a wife and a mother. Motherhood, as part of God’s design, is good and valuable.
B. In the OT, mothers often named their children. 28 out of the 46 recorded instances of naming children in the OT were named by the mother.
In the 10 commandments, children are required to honor their father and mother.
D. Proverbs 31 is a passage that highlights some aspects of motherhood by showing us that mothers’ responsibilities focus on providing food, clothing and shelter.
D. From OT we might find some things difficult in this day. However, the standards for Israel were countercultural to the nations around them. Nations around Israel viewed women as slaves and property of men. However, the OT itself granted unusual respect to women like in Proverbs 31. The respect Israel’s women were shown would have been considered radical in that day.
The Glorious Vision of Motherhood (motherhood in the NT)
We find that motherhood involves raising children and managing the home. Although fathers are also commanded to raise their children and manage the home (Ephesians 6:4; 1 Timothy 3:4-5), especially when the children are young, mothers are vital to a child’s life. Because of situation surrounding birth, the mother is the most important parent when a child is born.
Raising children, particularly during their young formative years, is a task God gives to mothers. In Titus 2:4 we see that mothers are to love their children. Raising children involves training and instructing them in many matters like the Bible, ethical decisions, and life management. This high calling, of raising the next generation God’s way, is something God calls mothers to embrace.
The command to “be busy at home” (Titus 2:5) means that wives and mothers are to be devoted to home duties. This does not mean that a mother should refuse the help of others, nor does it mean that mothers cannot work outside the home. However, this does mean that God calls mothers and wives to be devoted primarily to the home. By following God’s instructions in Titus 2:3-5, Christian wives and mothers would earn the respect of outsiders, thereby preventing God’s Word from being maligned, which would be a help in the communication of the Gospel to others.
Even though many of these commands in the bible may feel restrictive and culturally unacceptable, we need to value what God values and know that God will uphold His Word and defend those who are faithful to it. God says these things for our good and the good of the home. We need to enable and encourage women to live out their God given calling.
The Taxing Reality of Motherhood
Despite this grand biblical picture of motherhood’s value and goals, we all know that motherhood can be painful, grueling, and broken. Many children have deep wounds associated with their growing up years because of defective mothering.
Since sin is a reality in our world this affects all things like motherhood. Sin ruins the high ideals of motherhood. Furthermore, God’s created world is corrupted and suffering inevitable follows even though there is no direct sin of one’s mother. This double cocktail of sin and suffering permeates our whole existence.
Because of sin and suffering, because of what we do and what’s been done to us, mothers can struggle with negative emotions and behaviors like: Shame, condemning guilt, debilitating anxiety, constant stress, hidden anger, bitter jealousy, and depression. In addition, because of our fallen world, there are additional struggles such as: being a single mother, having to also work outside the home to provide for the family, abuse from one’s husband, a lack of spiritual guidance and direction, and the list could go on.
Finally, there is a sense in which the demands of being a Christian make motherhood difficult. Jesus demands the total allegiance of mothers’ hearts- He wants them to love Him more than their husbands and children. Kostenberger, in his book, God, Marriage and Family says this, “Rather than preaching a gospel urging Christians to make marriage and family their ultimate priority.... Jesus placed natural kinship ties in the larger context of the Kingdom of God... one’s commitment to trust and follow Jesus may lead to division, not peace in one’s family (Matthew 10:34), and in this case following Jesus must take precedence (Luke 9:57-62).” From this we learn that motherhood is a secondary calling- Christ primarily calls women to be His disciples, to seek first His kingdom (Matthew 6:33). God not only sets the agenda for mothers, but following Him can (in some cases) make motherhood harder.
The bible is not naive about the reality of motherhood, and we shouldn’t be either. The demanding, burdensome, fatiguing reality of motherhood means that we should not only expect difficulties (and therefore not be too discouraged when this happens) but it also means that we should honor and support the mothers in our midst. Older mothers teaching younger
The Ultimate Restoration of Motherhood
Talking about sin has never been cool. And yet, without an understanding of sin’s tendencies, we’ll never be able to accurately discern why motherhood is hard and complicated. We have mentioned that due to the entrance of sin into this world- life is harder and more complicated than God created it to be. Why? Sin distorts everything. Instead of loving God and others, we love ourselves. This self love is so natural to humanity, that even our “good deeds” are tainted by self interest. We turn away from seeking God and turn instead to seeking our own way. We all reject God and Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Some people reject Jesus as Lord, choosing instead to live life according to their own standards and pleasures. Others reject Jesus as Savior, choosing instead to earn their way into a relationship with God. Whichever way we tend to live, whether we are more inclined to self indulgence or rule keeping, both groups are doing much the same thing: turning away from God and His grace. “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:22, 23, NIV.
How does this play out in motherhood? Simply this: motherhood becomes more about the mother than about serving the children for Jesus’ sake. Motherhood centers on the mother, rather than on God and His kingdom. Because the basic purpose of motherhood is distorted, these distortions then run deep into all areas of motherhood. Our sin makes it impossible for mothers to be who they should be.
When we are caught in the grip of sinful selfishness, we become like disgruntled infants: uncomfortable with life, with the way things are, always dissatisfied, always looking for something to make us happy. Discontentment becomes the backdrop for our lives. This backdrop of anxiety, irritation, and despair picture us as unruly infants in the weaning process. Our unruly hearts, craving all the wrong things, make us like unruly infants in God’s sight.
What we need, in the midst of our unruly, sinful selfishness, is the comfort of God. We need God’s comfort, God’s cleansing, God’s grace. “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you” Isaiah 66:13, NIV.
According to the context, God comforts His people (at that time Israel speaking of Jerusalem), by making redemptive promises to them. Though they have failed Him and turned from Him, God promises to cleanse and forgive them. God promises to bring them into a new world, where we will live with Him and others in perfect harmony. We experience comfort from God when we believe these promises.
As a caring mother approaches her unruly, naughty child, and whispers words of reassurance and grace to him, so God approaches us- in the midst of our sin- and makes promises to us: I can forgive you. I can cleanse you. I can give you a new heart and a new life. Turn away from sin and death and find forgiveness, life and peace with me.
This verse (Isaiah 66:13) is undoubtedly the greatest compliment Mothers could receive. When God wanted to use a metaphor to explain the compassion He has for His people, He compared HImself to Mothers.
Contentment does not come naturally (even to Christians) but only supernaturally as one learns that this life is no longer me living but Christ living in and through me. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20, NIV.
Invitation.
