Mother's Day 2023

Intro

Have you ever felt like a nobody? Perhaps it was when you were the last one chosen in a neighborhood or school game.

Maybe it was getting left out at the school dance when everyone was partnering up.

Maybe it was moving to a new place or community and feeling all alone even though you were constantly surrounded by people.

Or perhaps it was the time you were overlooked for that promotion at work, despite working harder and longer than your colleagues.

Well, it turns out you’re not alone in feeling alone! According to a 2018 study, more than half of American adults “report feeling as though no one knows them well at least sometimes, if not always” and just less than half regularly feel left out and alone.

There is something deep within us as humans that longs to be known. It makes sense doesn’t it.

We were created to be known by God and in relationship with him, but sin got in the way.

No one, I don’t care who you are, truly wants to be left out or forgotten about. We all want to matter to someone, even if it is just one person.

And today is a special day isn’t it? Today is Mothers Day. The day we set aside once a year to do what we should be doing every day, and that is honor mothers.

Because if there is one person or group of people who so often feel left out, forgotten about, like a nobody, or insignificant, it is mothers.

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard a mom speak of feeling like what they do doesn’t really matter.

As moms you put so much time and effort into your homes, husbands, kids, and work responsibilities, and more often than not for little to no credit from those whom you do these things for.

Well, if you don’t hear it enough the rest of the year, hear me say it today, you matter.

You matter more than you could possibly imagine. Your role as mothers is of more significance than you probably realize.

I hope today you leave here really believing that.

Power in the Text

In the Bible we see a mother who knew what it was like to be a nobody. In fact for most of the story, this mother’s name isn’t even mentioned. Her name is only mentioned two times in the entire Bible and only in genealogies.

I’m referring to Jochebed, the mother of Moses.

At the time of Moses’s birth, his people, the Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt.

The Bible tells us in the first chapter of Exodus that Pharaoh, or the king of Egypt believed that the Hebrew people who were living in Egypt were starting to grow too strong in number.

Exodus 1:9-11 NLT 9 He [Pharaoh] said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. 10 We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country.”

11 So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king.

So the Hebrew people became slaves and were living terribly difficult lives under Egyptian rule.

But God’s favor was on them and despite their difficulty they continued to multiply in number and strength and so Pharaoh decided he had to take it another step and ordered that anytime a Hebrew woman gave birth, if it was a girl, let them live. If it was a boy, kill them.

Exodus 1:22 NLT 22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River. But you may let the girls live.”

So we come to this place in the book of Exodus where we read about this unnamed mother giving birth to a baby boy. By law she has to throw him into the Nile river.

However, despite great threat to her own life, she breaks the law and for 3 months hides this baby.

Exodus 2:1-3 NLT About this time, a man and woman from the tribe of Levi got married. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River.

So three months goes by and she is able to hide this baby but eventually he gets older and noisier as babies do and she realizes she can’t hide him any longer.

If the Egyptians find out about him, they are both dead. So she does the only thing she can and she trusts in God to protect her son against impossible odds.

The Bible says that there was something about this baby that his mother saw as special. She knew that this child wasn’t like other children and so in faith she believed God had a plan.

She puts him in a basket, places him in the Nile river in accordance with the law mind you, but does so in shallow water among reeds. Away from crocodiles and other predators in the hopes that he might survive.

In fact, she has her daughter keep watch over the baby until eventually someone came along.

Exodus 2:5-10 NLT 5 Soon Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, and her attendants walked along the riverbank. When the princess saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it for her. 6 When the princess opened it, she saw the baby. The little boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This must be one of the Hebrew children,” she said.

7 Then the baby’s sister approached the princess. “Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” she asked. 8 “Yes, do!” the princess replied. So the girl went and called the baby’s mother. 9 “Take this baby and nurse him for me,” the princess told the baby’s mother. “I will pay you for your help.” So the woman took her baby home and nursed him.

10 Later, when the boy was older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses, for she explained, “I lifted him out of the water.”

I would imagine that Moses’s mom knew that Pharaoh’s daughter frequented this place in the river and place him there strategically, knowing that this would be his best chance as survival.

Not only did Pharaoh’s daughter save Moses, but she paid his actual mother to nurse him. This would have been for 2-3 years before he went to live in the palace as the Pharaoh’s daughter’s adopted son.

Big Idea/Why it Matters

This boy eventually grew into a man. And it would be this man who would one day encounter God at the burning bush, lead the Hebrew people out of slavery and through the wilderness journey on their way to the Promised Land.

This would be the man who would perform some of the most amazing miracles in all of scripture including the parting of the Red Sea.

He would receive the 10 Commandments and the entirety of God’s law.

It would be this Moses that would establish God’s covenant with the Hebrew people who would later be known as the Israelites and set them up as a sovereign nation and a holy nation and God’s chosen people.

And none of that would have happened had it not been for this nameless mother who took a risk and trusted God to do what only he could.

As a mother, look at what she did.

Saw that her child was special, she fostered his calling.

She took great risk to protect him even if that meant going against what her culture said she had to do.

We later learn that since she got to raise him for those first few years that she made sure she did everything in her power to ensure that Moses knew who he was and who his God was.

She made sure to pass on her faith and the faith of her ancestors. And when Moses was old enough to identify as an Egyptian and live in luxury and sin, he chose instead to identify and live as a slave with his fellow Hebrews.

The writer of Hebrews commends this mother.

Hebrews 11:23-26 NLT 23 It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.

24 It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.

One of the most important characters in the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery is an unnamed mother who exemplifies the characteristics of a godly woman for us to follow today.

Application/Closing

So moms if I may. When you consider the mother of Moses, do you follow her example?

Do you see your children and their gifts and talents? Do you foster them, or do you stifle them. Do you teach them how to use them for God’s glory?

Are you willing to go against the culture in order to protect them from this world. The culture will tell that your values as followers of Jesus are harmful and hurtful.

Are you willing to take a stand for truth and teach your children God’s word even if that means offending those who disregard it?

Like Jochebed, is your faith in God stronger than your fear of man?

Does the voice of an authority figure stifle the voice of God in our life?

Do the opinions of even friends and family have greater influence than that of the one who died for you?

Proverbs 31:30 NLT encourages us that “a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised” (v. 30).

How can you continue to grow your reverence and obedience to the Lord even when others with influence try to quench your faithfulness?

Like Moses’s mother, are you ensuring that your children are being raised to know who God is and what Jesus has done for them?

Are you raising them in a way that gives them the best chance possible at a life of reverent service to God?

Jochebed made the most of her time with Moses, using his early years to teach him about his Hebrew heritage—who he was and where he came from—so that at forty years of age, Moses would choose to identify as a Hebrew rather than an Egyptian.

Every day we have opportunities to teach our children about our faith in Christ. Never overlook the seemingly ordinary, mundane situations where you can insert Jesus into your conversations.

This could be as simple as:

(1) praying with your children spontaneously when a need or difficulty arises;

(2) reading Bible stories together;

(3) recapping how you saw God move in your life that day;

(4) discussing what you each learned during worship services; and

(5) brainstorming opportunities to serve together in the church

Moms, I hope you don’t feel like a nobody. I hope you realize how vital you are and how critical your role is in the next generation of Christ followers.

Don’t take you job for granted, rather walk in your calling as mothers with great intention and perseverance, knowing that you are raising disciples.

The world would be more than happy to raise your children. Don’t let it.

Happy Mothers Day.