Today God has an encouraging word for all you moms here today… And He’s bringing it to you through the example of the two most famous moms in history. ? Who can tell me who they are?
1: Eve, mother of mankind and of the age of the law and judgment. GO EVE!!!
2: Mary, mother of our Savior Jesus and of the dispensation of grace, redemption and the salvation of all who believe.
Eve made the mess and Mary gave birth to the One who cleaned it up!
The Bible says after God created the heavens and the earth, He created Adam and Eve.
Eve had no one to learn how to be a mother from, how to dress, how to sit right or how to cook because there was no such thing as a mom yet. She learned everything she had to learn from God.
Like Eve, not all moms are raised with a nurturing mother at home, but the beauty of a close relationship with The Lord is that He teaches how to be everything He intends for us to be!
Eve had a unique challenge… She had a little time to learn a lot.
She learned how to be a parent by example…
The first thing God said to Adam and Eve was DON’T!
“Don’t What?” Adam replied.
“DON’T EAT THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT!” God said.
“Forbidden fruit? We have forbidden fruit? HEY EVE, WE HAVE FORBIDDEN FRUIT!”
Eve: “NO WAY!”
Adam: “YES, WAY!”
“DO NOT EAT THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT!” God said.
Adam & Eve: “WHY?”
“BECAUSE I’M YOUR FATHER AND I SAID SO!”
God replied, wondering why He hadn’t stopped creating things after making the elephant.
A few minutes later, God sees the kids having an apple and boy was He upset! (Can you relate?)
“DIDN’T I TELL YOU NOT TO EAT THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT?!”
Adam with apple hanging out of his mouth: “Uh-huh…”
Eve with apple hanging out of her mouth: “I don’t know…”
Adam: “She started it…” Eve: “Did not…” Did too, did not…
So, Eve learned discipline by God’s example… Having HAD IT with the two of them,
God’s punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own. Thus was the beginning of Eve: the first mother EVER, in all of creation!
But praise God for Eve! Let’s not give her a bad rap this morning. She had some unique challenges in her lifetime, which by the way was probably around 900 years… She had enough time in her life to give birth to over 300 children and that’s if she only had one child every three years.
Those kids knew how to multiply and they had the potential to give birth to ******** descendants before Adam returned to dust! Now you know eve had some challenges remembering birthdays and grandkids names! Thank goodness there were no real holidays back then or Christmas could really have been a nightmare for Eve!
Another tough time for Eve was raising the kids. Back then there was no Dr. James Dobson or Focus on the Family… And we all know Eve wasn’t going to take advice from Adam.
What woman ever has taken her husbands advice on raising the kids?
What man has ever taken a woman’s advice on how to drive?
When it came to child rearing, Eve had to be the world’s greatest inventor. She had to invent “Time Out,” the wooden spoon, and no TV for the rest of the day punishments for the first time… On top of all that, Cain and Abel always played too rough. They defined sibling rivalry for the rest of the world, so when she came in and told Adam, “Your son Cain just killed his brother Abel!” Adam probably just thought she meant one of the boys got hurt…
So Eve suffered some pretty unique challenges as the world’s first mom… And I’m sure many of you moms face some unique challenges of your own!
But there is reassurance in the story:
If you have persistently and lovingly tried to discipline your children and give them the best advice you know how, and if they still don’t listen, then don’t be too hard on yourself… Consider the fact: she learned from the greatest parent of all: Abba Father, and even HE had trouble raising His children. What makes you think it’s going to be a piece of cake for you?
Mothers spend the first 2 years of their children’s lives teaching them how to walk and talk, then they spend the next sixteen years telling them to sit down and shut up.
As their children grow, mothers learn that children are listening. They seldom misquote anything you say; especially when it’s something you shouldn’t have said.
Mothers discover the main purpose of holding children’s parties is to remind your self there are plenty of children more awful than your own.
Once they reach their teens, you quickly come to understand why some animals eat their young.
But the most experienced moms realize there is a reward for not killing your own children: grandchildren.
Eve had some unique challenges… She had those days when she wondered if she could do anything right. She grieved over her failures and her wayward son, Cain. He was punished by God and exiled… Surely this weighed very heavily on Eve’s heart for the rest of her life.
I have a friend who accidentally shot and killed his brother at a young age. It was an accident that he has never been able to live down. To this day he struggles with salvation and he’s required to take medications to maintain mental health…
His mother loves him but will always carry the anguish of the day that changed the lives of both of her sons forever. This was the burden Eve carried, along with the weight of the world. She realized her mistakes and lived out the rest of her life, ten times longer than ours, working that out with God but through those things she learned FORGIVENESS, DISCIPLINE, OBEDIENCE & ENDURANCE from God through her ordained ministry as a mother.
You may feel like Eve today. You may carry anguish over the past, present or future, but remember you have the greatest ministry you could ever have been called to! You still have God, you still have today and you still have forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
This brings us to the mother Mary… Mother of Redemption, Salvation: King Jesus!
Through her life we learn 3 simple truths about mothers today…
I: Mother’s carry a deep and overwhelming sense of pride for their children.
One incredible gift we have in our mothers is that whether we’re young or old, smart or dumb, pretty or just pretty ugly, momma will always love you…
From the cradle to the cross, Mary treasured her children and that’s made evident throughout the life of her son Jesus.
SHE CHERISHES HER NEWBORN BABY.
Luke 2:16-19, “So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,
18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
Notice Mary never gloated or bragged about her precious baby Jesus, although she had more reason to than anyone else on earth… He was and is The King of Kings…
No, the Bible says she secretly treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
SHE CHERISHES SEEING HIM GROW IN WISDOM & STATURE.
Luke 2:41-51, Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.
42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom.
43 After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.
44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.
45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.
46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."
49 "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?"
50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.”
Mothers may not always understand every situation they go through with our children. They may not understand the day we live in or why they face some of the trials they face as mothers, but they always cherish and treasure their children and this has become an incredible gift to the people they love…
II: Mother’s learn more about themselves through raising their children.
Mother’s Day video: TRT 3:45 (FROM FAITH HIGHWAY)
III: Mother’s Remember: Raising your children is the richest, most fulfilling ministry you will ever be called to in life. Enjoy it while you have it.
Mary could have had no greater ministry than to raise Jesus, to love Him, to teach Him discipline and support Him all the way to the cross. No matter how many people rejected or hated Jesus, Mary could still be found just a few feet away, supporting and loving her son to the very end.
John 19:25-27, “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
Moms are always there for us, rain or shine, in sickness and in health to the very end, and that’s what makes us who we are. For this, we owe our moms great honor and great respect!
26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"
27 and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”
Jesus was never too busy for His mother. In fact, even during the most important task of His life: the redemption and salvation of mankind, Jesus took time out to care for His mother.
Take a moment to honor our mothers: HAND OUT THE MOTHER’S DAY GIFTS.
Conclusion:
And as they employ their God-given ministries as moms, they begin to bloom into something much more beautiful than just a woman who gives birth. They learn, they grow, nurtured by God and fed by the love of their children and husbands, and in the end, they discover being a mother is the richest, most fulfilling ministry they could ever be called to. They realize that for every spoonful of baby food sneezed back in their face, for every hotdog or bowl of mac’n cheese they gave, they were fed too... They learned to love by the simplicity of their children’s love. They learned to obey God by the discipline they gave their children. They learned to trust in God because their children trusted in them.
MOMS: If you really get it, the relationship you have with your children will bring you closer to God. You will learn true love, obedience and discipline from God. You’ll learn how to be a great mother from God, and you’ll continue to learn things about yourself you never knew before because you see your own reflection in the faces of your children.
That’s the special gift of mom.
FINAL WORDS OF ADVICE FOR THE DAY:
1: Be nice to your kids. They will choose your nursing home some day.
2: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle:
“Take two aspirin” and “Keep away from children.”
