The Characteristics Of A Godly Parent

“The Characteristics of a Godly Parent.”

Exodus 2:1-10, Heb. 11:23-27

Good morning, I want welcome you to this

Mother’s Day service. I want to begin by giving you the

There are of course some words my mom said but I swore I'd never say and of course I did;

“If you get hurt don’t come crying to me.”

“Close that door, were you raised in a barn?"

"I'm not chasing you; you'll have to stop sometime. And when I catch you - you are going to be sorry”

“And just what part of no is it that you do not understand?'

“Stop that "you'll put someone's eye out!"

“Stop crying or I will give you something to cry about.”

"Finish what's on your plate; there are starving children in the world.'

I am keenly aware that Mother’s Day for some of the ladies in our congregation can be bitter-sweet for some. In the minds of many people there is no one in the world like their mother. For most, mom is a very special person. Others, how-ever, have memories of mother that are not all that special. Perhaps the relationship was strained for some reason or the other.

But my purpose today is not to just speak the mother’s but the father’s as well. Today we are going to look at Jochebed and Amram, the parents of Moses. These can be very pertinent for us today because they reared Moses in a difficult time and in a pagan culture.

In this age of selfishness and materialism, we need to look at the characteristics of parents that we would do well to emulate. In today’s message we will look at Amram and Jochebed, the parents of Moses, to see the characteristics of a godly parent.

“And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. 2 So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and

pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. 4 And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. 5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. 6 And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?” 8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother. 9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So, the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So, she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

A severe famine had caused Jacob and his sons and their families to move to Egypt where Joseph was by this time Prime Minister, second in power only to the Pharaoh. From a small band of 70 members (Ex. 1:5) that number had grown to perhaps in excess of two million. And when a new Pharaoh came to the throne (Ex. 1:8) he began to see the children of Israel as a threat (Ex.1:9-10). So, Pharaoh devised a plan. First, he decided to enslave the Israelites (Ex. 1:10-11). But the Bible says that “the more oppressed the more they multiplied and spread.” (Ex. 1:12). The Pharaoh’s response was to increase the workload (Ex. 1:13-14) that was ineffective as well. Frustrated that his plans had not proven effective to curtail the rapid growth of the Israelites, he puts into effect a policy that calls for the Egyptian midwives to see that all the male children born to the Israelites died (Ex. 1:15-16). But the Midwives made excuses for why the Israelite baby boys survived (Ex. 1:17-21) Finally, in desperation the Pharaoh commanded that all the male babies born to the Israelites should be cast into the Nile River (Ex. 1:22).

The Nile River was the habitation of the Egyptian God, Sobek, the crocodile god. Thus the solution to the Pharaoh’s woes was also an offering to Sobek the crocodile god of Egypt.

Notice four facts about the parents of Moses.