Mothers Day 2024

Victories: 1. Mothers Day 2. Golfing

Prayer: Bethel Worship Center Mike Henson

Missionary Prayer: Rita Morris / Pray for the ESL Classes

In Jesus’ Name I pray.

Intro

I have been blessed to have not only strong Christian male influences in my life but to an equal extent I have had some amazing female voices speaking into my life and helping me to learn who I am, who God is, and how to deepen my relationship with God. I have my mother who continually shows me what it means to be brave yet caring, enduring, and kind. She is a treasure. I have my other mom who is my mentors wife Ellen Korthuis who continually shows me faithfulness and hope, wisdom, and grace. She is a treasure. And I have my wife with whom I cannot even begin to place an estimate on her worth to me and our family. She is my friend, my love, my sounding board and my visionary. She shows me daily just how blessed I truly am and she is a treasure beyond all worth. There are so many women who have touched my life and the lives of us all and today is a day when we aren’t just here to remember our moms but we are here to lift up, love, and care for all the women in our lives.

This concept of cherishing women is not new but it does have a long and not so bright past. While we still see women in our world used as sex objects, slaves, victims of criminal acts, and just plain mistreated we also see that women today have more rights than they have ever had and they are held in higher esteem than they have ever been held, and I for one am glad. Historically this has rarely been the case. As we look back at Christian History we in the church have not always been quick to give women the rights and esteem that they deserve. The historic role of the church on the topic of women was bleak and for that we should apologize. However, for women in the early Christian era, the church was the only place they could find any respite and hope. In his book, “The Rise of Christianity” by Rodney Stark, Mr. Stark gives us some startling facts. The Roman world of the first century was obsessed with sex and rife with infanticide and abortion, especially with any child born female or with any deformities or disabilities. As you can imagine those early medical procedures to do away with unwanted pregnancies were less than sound and often left the woman sterile afterward leaving her even less desirable. These practices were not the work of backrooms or evil doctors but were considered legal and expected. Girls as young as 10 or 11 were often given in marriage even before reaching puberty and expected to begin having children right away. And those who weren’t married off at these young ages were often sold into prostitution. It was not a safe nor caring world for these women. Due to all these problems in the Roman world, there was around a 7 to 5 ratio of men to women.

With those atrocious stats being the norms of the day in the most powerful nation on the face of the earth at that time; the future of the human race and not just the Roman citizenry was at stake. However, the early church played a huge role in turning this around as they actually valued women. To start with the early church immediately put a priority on marriage and prohibited divorce. The church valued the marriage bed prohibiting any sex outside of marriage. They cared for and valued women in general leading to the practice of child brides being done away with in Christian circles. The early church valued and cared for children of either sex and even those born with deformities and disabilities, leading to the outlawing of abortion and infanticide in these churches, The church cared for widows and orphans providing for them and giving them a place of safety. It is no wonder that the early church thrived first among women. Paul regularly wrote to and commended the work of women in the various congregations because they were vital to the growth of these churches. What do we take from all this? Women are treasures and we should treat them as such.

That being said we are starting a new series through the book of Proverbs and because the Proverbs aren’t written like really any other book in the Bible we can’t easily just go chapter by chapter, verse by verse as I would usually do. Instead, we are going to look at many of the themes of Proverbs and we are going to apply them to our lives. This means that it really doesn’t matter where we start inside this book because we are going jump around in order to define and apply the theme to our lives. Therefore let’s start this look at Proverbs at the end where we have probably the most woman-centered passage in the whole of the Bible, the Proverbs 31 woman. Read Proverbs 31:10-31.

She is Trustworthy

Let me start by saying that there is no need to feel like you aren’t of value if you are not a wife or aren’t married. Don’t get too caught up in the fact that this is a wife and a mother but instead take her characteristics as goals and not rules. If God chooses to give you the gift of singleness or He chooses not to give you any children at all that does not make you any less valuable nor does it make you any less of a Godly woman. There is nothing marriage or motherhood can do that would make you any more or less loved in God’s eyes. Therefore, as a woman who is dearly loved by God follow the 1 Corinthians 10:31“rule, Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” If you are seeking with your whole heart to be the best Christ follower you can be no matter what your circumstances, married or single, mother or not, you will find joy and hope in the Lord and not seek out your joy in titles or circumstances. Let’s take a look at this woman from Proverbs 31 and determine what lessons we can glean from her life.

Let me acknowledge that these verses can be daunting this Superwoman can be a bit much as we read about her many amazing characteristics. The Theologian Jonathan Akin said this about her, “She has haunted and terrified women all over the world for three thousand years. Her massive shadow and imposing stature towers so high that she is held in awe by all who dare to look at her magnificent and unrivaled portrait. Who is this wonder of a woman? Who is this larger-than-life lady?” (Jonathan Akin, Exalting Jesus in Proverbs, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2017), 170.)

If you have ever read through this chapter and then threw up your hands because to reach her level of perfection is impossible then let me warn you, “She is perfect and you are not.” This is not the description of the woman you must become in order to make your life happy or to make your family run, or to even reach heaven. No, she is a picture of who you should be striving after but with the knowledge that you will never get there this side of Heaven. The characteristics she embodies are goals and not rules.

This first characteristic is: She is trustworthy. This is as simple as letting your yes be yes and your no be no. She does what she says and she is found to be faithful in her words and deeds. The Author calls her a virtuous wife and uses a word meaning, strong, wealthy, influential, and righteous. Because of these traits, she is trustworthy to both her husband but also to all those around her. Being trustworthy is more than just words it is actions and deeds.

She is Capable

In verses 13-15, we see that part of her trustworthiness is that she is capable and willing to provide. This shows that she is willing to be active in her life and she desires to provide for herself and her family. It says here that she willingly works with her hands, and she is also diligent in bringing home food so that her household might eat. There is nothing too outlandish in these verses and one might say that it is only natural for a woman to act in such a way, but that is not exactly the modern mindset.

Today in our modern world of feminism the idea that a woman is expected to care for the household in the way described here in Proverbs is looked at as outdated patriarchal rules that should no longer be chained to a modern woman. But let's look at this poor woman whose life is scarred by her slavery to a man. She is found to be of great worth in verse 10, her husband loves and trusts her implicitly in verse 11, she is given the freedom to do what she wants throughout this Proverb, she is revered by others, she is loved by her family, She is praised by her husband. These aren’t rules to keep her down but she sees them as vital to who she is and how she loves and because of them she is cherished. These are all aspects that as women I would hope you strive for and not fight against, and they all come about because she is doing her best to be a virtuous woman.

She is Compassionate

The next attribute of this superwoman is that she is compassionate. This compassion is seen in how she cares for those around her as she provides for her family to make sure they are fed and cared for, however, she is not done with her compassion at this point.

I think what the author is describing here is the typical character of most women. Most women I know who have the love of Christ in their hearts care deeply about their family and friends. Women have the ability to not just have surface relationships but relationships that are deep and they are built upon intuition, empathy, and a motherly affection, even if they aren’t mothers. Even if you don’t currently fit this description at this time I believe that you have a greater instinct towards it than to men and I believe that your relationships are better for it because of your care, however, you are more likely to be hurt deeply by those relationships as well because don’t just kind of know them you have invested in their life.

Her compassion goes beyond just friends and family because they see the needs of the poor and needy in the community more readily as well. Often times women can see past just the open hand of the homeless or vagrant and instead she compassionately opens up to care for them in a way a man never could.

She is Respected

Our Wonder Woman is next respected and her respect comes from usually the hardest place of all; her family. Sometimes it seems that those that know us the best, respect us the least. The reason for this is twofold. First familiarity breeds disrespect. We can become too comfortable with someone that we forget to give them the respect they deserve and therefore it is all to easy to replace our respect for them as mothers, wives, daughters, or friends with contempt and harsh words. The second reason for this disrespect also has to do with our familiarity and that is we know the sinfulness of those around us. I have witnessed women use manipulation to get their way, I have seen anger and hatred come out of the sweetest of ladies, and I have seen the effects of sin and rebellion on broken relationships. Any woman you have ever known has one distinct problem to overcome; she is a sinner and her sin will often bring about the disrespect of others.

However, this virtuous woman has no such problem. Remember she is the perfect woman and her perfection is not what we should expect from you but instead, you should be growing in your walk so that you are becoming more and more like this ideal portrait of womanhood. This means you work hard to not just demand respect but to model it and teach it to those around you. You do what you can to live an upright life so that those around you will see that while you are not perfect you are trying to be more Christlike. Women may it be said of you as verse 31 points out, Proverbs 31:31 “Give her of the fruit of her hands, And let her own works praise her in the gates.” May your life also be praised by those around you. You will never earn the respect of everyone but you are loved and respected by the only one who counts: God.

She is Wise

The last characteristic I want to cover today is that the Proverbs 31 woman is Wise. Now this list of characteristics is not exhaustive because there are a lot more characteristics we could cover but I wanted to cover wisdom last because I believe it is the most important. Everything that she does points to her wisdom. From her trustworthiness and hard work to her compassion and respect in all these things she shows just how wise she is. But as verse 26 points out it is not just her actions that speak to her wisdom it is her words which she speaks that tell others the wisdom of her heart. It says that when she opens her mouth Justice and kindness is what come out. These are wise words given to those she cares about most, and because of these wise words, she is beloved by all who know her.

Her wisdom goes deeper than this though because in verse 30 her wisdom is made complete because she is a woman who fears the Lord. She has a Godly perspective and turns her fears over to her heavenly Father. Next week we are going to dig a lot more into this subject of fearing the Lord but suffice it to say today that this kind of woman does as Paul said in Galatians 5:16 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” The woman who fears the Lord knows that she does not own her own life, she knows that she was bought for a price and that her Savior loves her. A woman who fears the Lord asks the Lord for wisdom so that when she opens her mouth as verse 26 says out of it comes wisdom. A woman who fears the Lord knows that beauty is fleeting but that faithfulness and character show forth beauty that never leaves her. A woman who fears the Lord is praised by all who know her but more importantly, the glory of the Lord is always on her lips.

I know so many virtuous women and while none of them have all of these characteristics all of the time they are constantly trying to as Philippians 2:12 says, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;” May all the women in your life fear the Lord and if they don’t I think today might be the day when you need to tell them.

Gospel

Jesus died for our sins and because He did we can place our belief in that sacrifice. 1 John 1:9 says, “we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We have the promise of God that if we ask for forgiveness and believe in the saving power of Jesus we will be saved. And from the saving power of Jesus, we become new creations. 2 Cor. 5:17 states, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” This means that as Christians we get a fresh start we aren’t who we used to be and we have the power of God behind us to change who we are becoming. Glory to God in the highest for He has saved my soul and He can save yours to if you will let Him. If you aren’t sure then you can confess Him as your savior. If that is your desire today you can say this prayer with me. Bow your heads.

Dear Lord, I know that I’m a sinner. I’m sorry for my sin, and I ask you to forgive me. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I repent of my sins and I ask you to come into my life and take control. I make a commitment to follow you, and I trust you as my Lord and Savior.

Friend if you prayed that prayer today I ask that you come and speak to me after the service.

Benediction: Romans 15:5–6 “Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”