Motherhood illuminates God's connection to us

For as short as it is, Mom, is a huge word. Today we celebrate Mom. No matter who we are, for better or for worse we all have mom. I remember when my beautiful wife became a mom and described the feeling of having her heart on the outside. I am so proud of what Angie has done, and is still doing to raise up our daughters in the way they should go. To teach them about Jesus, and model faith it is such an all encompassing calling.

I cannot help but reflect on my own mom today as we now spend so much time together. Last year we were able to begin caring for my mom who has Alzheimer’s. It is quite a role reversal for us, and has given me time to reflect on what my mom meant to me. A few words describe my Mom’s example to me. Servant, she served her family with all her heart and took joy in laying down her life for others. This is one of the things which Alzheimers has not been able to take away from her it is so deeply a part of who she is. Whenever we sit down to eat together she will point at her plate and ask if i want some or if I got some as well, She would still gladly give me half of her dinner any time she sits down. This is how my Mom modelled the love of Christ to us, This is how we know what love is that Christ laid down his life for us and so we should lay down our lives for others.

For as long as I can remember my mom would get up in the morning with my dad, for years at about 5am and make him breakfast and a lunch before he went off to work, then she sleep a while longer till we woke up and get breakfast ready for us. She truly modelled Christ love towards my dad.

1 John 3:16 NLT

16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.

The central role of mothers in the story.

Motherhood is connected in the story to salvation narratives. Moses mom, Pharoahs daughter, Jesus mother.

This tiny word describes a monumental connection between persons. Nobody loves you like mother will. The jokes about this bond speak volumes about who this person is in our lives. Sayings like, “A face only a mother could love.”

Yo mama jokes story...

Mom = connected, comforter, caring, loving, self sacrificing, concerned, pray-er, hard worker, thoughtful.

As I grew up the reality that I lived in a magical house slowly faded into a convicting realization that no wizard or enchantment lay over our abode, rather in this house lived a saint. My mom

New Dictionary of Biblical Theology Jacob in Genesis 25:19–35:29

Throughout the account of the birth of Jacob’s sons and Dinah (29:31–30:24), the mothers (not Jacob) name the children and speak of the powerful ways of God.

Galatians 4:31 NLT

31 So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.

We are children of God’s planned new covenant not based in human effort but God’s grace.

Luke 11:27–28 NLT

27 As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!” 28 Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”

The importance of miraculous motherhood points us to God’s plan of salvation by Grace alone, by faith alone. Eve is promised a seed, Abraham is promised a seed, (Sarah has baby past her time),

Psalm 139:13 NLT

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Dictionary of Bible Themes 1215 God, feminine descriptions of

Nu 11:12; Dt 32:18

Dictionary of Bible Themes 1215 God, feminine descriptions of

God comforts his people Isa 66:13

Dictionary of Bible Themes 5721 mothers, as a symbol

Becoming a Christian is like birth Jn 3:5-6

Eve the mother of all - fell but is promised a savior, from her seed. -- hope from the very beginning

Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall. A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.”—Oliver Wendell Holmes

Sarah is promised a baby - when she is too old to conceive. (God’s promise; not our effort) - joy in having children

Moses mother receives her son back from the dead the deliverer, she teaches him about His people. - instruction, influence “the real power in this world is the hand which rocks the cradle....”

Mary is chosen; walks in obedience to God’s directions, believes in Jesus. - Faith and obedience - two sides of a coin

For God so love the world that his sent his only begotten Son, his first born. God intends for us to know him through the self sacrificing work of a mother The hopeful love of a mother, The joyful connection of a mother, the careful instruction of a mother, and the faithfulness of unfailing love.

God often longs to gather us into the protection of the shadow of his wings. He has given parents, and today we reflect on motherhood, our mothers, our God.

Referring to the work of moms... ..when people begin to talk about this domestic duty as not merely difficult but trivial and dreary, I simply give up the question. For I cannot with the utmost energy of imagination conceive what they mean. When domesticity, for instance, is called drudgery, all the difficulty arises from a double meaning in the word. If drudgery only means dreadfully hard work, I admit the woman drudges in the home, as a man might drudge at the Cathedral of Amiens or drudge behind a gun at Trafalgar. But if it means that the hard work is more heavy because it is trifling, colorless and of small import to the soul, then as I say, I give it up; I do not know what the words mean. To be Queen Elizabeth ... to be Aristotle ... I can understand how this might exhaust the mind, but I cannot imagine how it could narrow it. How can it be a large career to tell other people’s children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a [mom’s] function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness. -What’s Wrong with the World by G.K. Chesterton

Main idea: God gives the gift of motherhood to bless us but also to teach us experientially what He is like, God created fatherhood and motherhood as pathways to know Him more and understand how He relates to us. Ultimately Motherhood points us to the God who desires to gather us to himself.

Outline

Intro -

1 John 3:16 NLT

16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.

My mom’s life was about others because she had received the love of Christ. I can honestly say she has been the biggest example of Christ in my life.

We often refer to God as Father. And so does Jesus. However we do not think that this means, as some accuse us of, that God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ creator of all things is physically even anatomically a man. Jesus calls God is Father because we are meant to understand the type of relationship they have. In fact God created the family to instruct us actually and figuratively. We come to understand that God is not a distant tyrannical judge but a close Father. He is not identical to our earthly father, He is the perfect father. Full of mercy, unfailing love, and Grace. Throughout the scripture we see this anthropomorphism to help us understand God. Now to help us understand what I am saying we also see God calling us to take shelter in the shadow of His wings. I interpret the scripture literally, and taking into account that God can and has inspired some of the best poetry ever written I literally interpret this as a poetic analogy to the security and loving nature of our God, not that he is a wing-ed Father. So family is something God has designed to help us understand Him, to teach and invite us to know Him more. Jesus also compares God to a mother.

Both Father and Mother are relative terms, they describe not a person but a relationship of a certain sex person to others. Father implies a partnership a becoming one which has created another image of God, a child. God created a partnership, a team, a complimentary equality of two parts. Mother doesn’t exist in a vacuum. God is teaching us in His creation about His invisible attributes and eternal power. God the tri-unity, one in essence three in persons, co-equal, co-eternal, all equally God.

Genesis 1:27 NLT

27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God created humankind in His image - with a co equality, a co -mission, humans cannot accomplish the mandate given in creation alone. They are made to work together and in the act of procreation these two become one organism which reproduces images of God. They were never meant to be in a battle of the sexes or see each other as competitors. God in reproduced himself, creating male and female in his image. They are like him in many ways.

Psalm 36:7 NLT

7 How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings.

Matthew 23:37 NLT

37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.

Let’s look at God today through the lens of the Mother’s He has used to tell his Story.

Outline

4 Moms, Eve, Sarah, Jochebed, and Mary.

Eve - A Mother’s Hope

Eve the mother of all - fell but is promised a savior, a seed. -- hope from the very beginning

You might be thinking I am not a good mother, but remember Eve. Before her kids were born Eve helped break the world… You might think my mistakes have messed up my children’s lives, Eve’s mistake messed up all of creation for everyone. But Eve’s ability and moral perfection are not the focus of this story it is God, who pursues a woman hiding in shame and promises a savior.

New Living Translation Chapter 3

15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring.

He will strike your head,

and you will strike his heel.”

Eve understands the promise of a conqueror of the snake. And she begins to hope which we see in the birth of Cain.

Illustration - my Growth spurt. My mom had high hopes for me to grow...

Illuminates God: Mom’s hold onto hope for their children

Acts 17:24–31 NLT

24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. 27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. 30 “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. 31 For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”

Motherhood gives us a picture of parental hope, God desires that all should be saved, that we would seek after Him and find him.

Sarah - A Mother’s Joy

This is a hard story Sarah’s joy is delayed. Sarah is promised a baby - when she is too old to conceive. (God’s promise; not our effort)

Story of trying to fulfill God’s promise in our strength/effort.

Sarah laughs at God’s promise

Genesis 18:10–15 NLT

10 Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. 11 Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. 12 So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?” 13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” 15 Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh.” But the Lord said, “No, you did laugh.”

God gives Sarah joy and laughter in Isaac.

Genesis 21:6–7 NLT

6 And Sarah declared, “God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me. 7 Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!”

Children are a blessing, they bring unexpected joy - Terrible Theresa. Joy is not temporal happiness it is a deeper reality which endures even hardship.

Theresa -picture?

Our God finds joy in His children and gives his joy as a strength to us.

Ps 149:4-9

Jochebed - A Mother’s Influence

BLESSINGS on the hand of women! Angels guard its strength and grace. In the palace, cottage, hovel, Oh, no matter where the place; Would that never storms assailed it, Rainbows ever gently curled, For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world.

Moses is born at a terrible moment in history. Jochebed must have had a broken heart the moment she knew that son was born. Moses is brought into the world under a death sentence.

Exodus 1:22–2:4 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.” 1 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. 4 The baby’s sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him.

Moses mother receives her son back from the dead the deliverer, she teaches him about His people.

Exodus 2:11–12 NLT

11 Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. 12 After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand.

- instruction, influence

Woman, how divine your mission, Here upon our natal sod; Keep—oh, keep the young heart open Always to the breath of God! All true trophies of the ages Are from mother-love impearled, For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world.

God’s heart is for us to grow and learn, He takes on the form of the Woman wisdom calling at the town square.

Proverbs 8:32–36 NLT

32 “And so, my children, listen to me, for all who follow my ways are joyful. 33 Listen to my instruction and be wise. Don’t ignore it. 34 Joyful are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates, waiting for me outside my home! 35 For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord. 36 But those who miss me injure themselves. All who hate me love death.”

Mary - A Mother’s Faithfulness

Conclusion

But when people begin to talk about this domestic duty as not merely difficult but trivial and dreary, I simply give up the question. For I cannot with the utmost energy of imagination conceive what they mean. ...

To be Queen Elizabeth within a definite area... to be Whiteley within a certain area, ... to be Aristotle within a certain area, teaching morals, manners, theology, and hygiene; I can understand how this might exhaust the mind, but I cannot imagine how it could narrow it.

How can it be a large career to tell other people’s children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a [Mothers] function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness.

-What’s Wrong with the World by G.K. Chesterton

God planned that Mary would be the central character in Jesus parentage. That she would model faithfulness and devotion to God as Jesus grew.

Lamentations 3:22–26 NLT

22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. 23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. 24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” 25 The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. 26 So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.

Motherhood plays a central role in God’s revelation of Himself to us. From the beginning to the end of His plans Mom’s are vital to everything which happens and illuminate the Character and Nature of God.

The God who hopes all things. In spite of our failures He has made a way.

The God who rejoices with all of heaven when one person comes into His kingdom. Even when we might have given up on God’s promise he gives joy.

The God who has planned and prepared our lives and times to instruct and lead us to him. Even when we forget he reminds and pursues.

The God whose faithfulness is without measure, whose mercy is new every morning, who is full of unfailing love and forgiveness. Even when we don’t think we are ready true faith looks to God and away from our own failings.

God often longs to gather us into the protection of the shadow of his wings. This is possible because of what Jesus has done. You are invited again to put your trust in Jesus, not your own ability to mother or failures or hopes God is continuing to work out His plan in Jesus.