A Mother's Expectant Hope
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Our nation has set aside this day to celebrate mothers. That is because mothers are perhaps the most important classification of human beings in this world. That being said, most of you have been in this church for the length of my ministry, almost six years, may have noticed that I do not very often preach a typical Mother’s Day or Father’s Day message. Let me give you some of the reasons I, as a general rule, don’t:
1. My charge from God is to preach the gospel, and so I struggle with magnifying anything other than the gospel.
2. I have known several women who were not able to have children, for various reasons. Many of these dear ladies feel so out of place on Mother’s Day. They feel, whether accurately, or inaccurately, that they are being judged for something they could not help.
3. My own relationship with my mom during my teenage years as well as adulthood was a bit strained.
This year I have prayerfully chosen to preach a Mother’s Day, and Lord willing a Father’s Day message, and my goal is to do so in such a way as to magnify the gospel of Jesus Christ. You folks probably know by now that I am not all that comfortable with topical messages. I like to preach through a passage rather than on a topic. But today I am hoping to take somewhat of a topical/character sketch approach as we consider the expectant hope of a mother.
I well remember the expectant hope that Gail and I had as we were awaiting the arrival of each of our children. To a point we could argue that we have that same type of thing going on now as we wait to hear whether the State of Michigan will allow us to adopt our little 7-month-old foster son, or not. Since his name is the middle name of our second son, we have considered renaming him. Our second son’s name is Caleb Michael, and we asked him what he thought we should name this child. He replied “Caleb Jr.”
For this morning I want to consider what a mother should hope for. As we consider a mother’s expectant hope we will take a broad view of Eve, who is the mother of all the living. Turn in your Bible to , which is where we will begin.
Let’s beginning by considering
A Future Mother’s Hope for a Husband
Mrs. Degree
When I was a student at Moody, one of the common questions that we ask fellow students, as we met them was regarding what are they studying. I was a Church Music major, others were missions majors, or Bible and Theology majors, etc. More than once I came across a female student who said that she was pursuing an MRS degree. Being the dense fellow that I am, I’m pretty sure I had to have someone spell that out for me.
Sadly, over the last half of a century or more, this particular aspect of parenting has dropped significantly in our society’s eyes. There are instances when I actually think this is for the best. What I mean by that is that sometimes it may be best for an unwed, expectant mother to remain single. I have an instance within my own extended family where a female cousin had broken up with her boyfriend before they discovered that she was pregnant. After, what was at that time considered to be a scandalous discovery, she was forced by her parents to marry the man she had broken up with. This marriage did not end well! (Though the children that it produced are very dear to me!). Taking one wrong and compounding it with another wrong does not make a right!
One man for one woman
All that being said, God’s clear intention is for a marriage to occur first before the act of marriage is put into practice, which in turn aims to produce the hoped-for child. The biblical account of the sixth day of creation points to the fact that God made one man for one woman. Let’s look at
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
The danger of taking a nap
Moses, the human author of Genesis, goes on in chapter two to explain how both man came to be and how woman came to be. Adam came from dust, while Eve, was fashioned out of one of Adam’s ribs. As I considered this fact this week an interesting, and yet unimportant thought popped into my head. The first time that Adam ever took a nap, God performed surgery on him. You just never know what might happen during a nap!
Matthew Henry had some interesting insight into Eve being fashioned from a rib of Adam’s.
That the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.
The pinnacle of creation
Eve was the pinnacle of the six days of creation. She was literally the last thing that God created during this very busy week. And Adam was the epitome of what every future bride hopes for in a husband — he was the best merely human example of a knight in shining armour riding on a white horse.
In God declared that all He had made on the sixth day, including the union between a man and his wife, was very good.
Let’s move on to consider a
A Mother’s Future Hope for a Child
I think we can all agree, before a child is even conceived most hopeful-mothers begin the process by hoping for a child. In today’s day and age of contraceptives, women who are on a career path often wait until they have their career established before beginning the process of becoming a mother. Though they may choose to wait, still, in most women there is a general desire to be a mom. I say most women because there is always the exception to the rule.
Eve’s expectant hope
Eve, too, had what I believe is an expectant hope for a child. From the time she was fashioned from Adam’s rib, Eve had been commanded to be fruitful and multiply. Think about it, if Eve had conceived and given birth to a child before the fatal events of , then she would have truly been super mom — she would have been the perfect mother, as she had been the perfect wife.
But that is not how the story goes. One of the reasons why I don’t think that man lived very long in the Garden of Eden in a state of sinless perfection is that Eve had not yet conceived a child before sin entered the world.
Sin entered the world after the command to be fruitful and multiply
God was not surprised by sins’ entrance
The entrance of sin into the world changed everything. But don’t think for a moment that it took God by surprise. Nor should we imagine that God had imagined the possibilities but was not aware of what would in fact happen. Paul indicates in that believers in Jesus Christ were chosen for redemption before the foundation of the world. Therefore, the entrance of sin into the world was in keeping with God’s eternal plan of redemption. This does not mean that God is to be blamed for sin. Nor does it mean that man is not responsible for his sin. God is always just. God is always righteous.
knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Back to Eve and her expectant hope, I don’t want to dwell on process by which sin entered the world, this morning. It is a familiar story, and fits best in a different context than this message.
But even from the very time of the entrance of sin into the world, the was a hint of an expectant hope. Let’s look at the startling announcement that God gave the serpent, whom we know to be Satan, regarding his certain defeat. Consider
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
The hope of a Redeemer
From this announcement we see that Eve must have had an expectant hope that her future son would bring redemption by bringing upon the head of the serpent a decisive blow. I imagine that when Eve gave birth to Cain, her firstborn, she probably thought that he would be her redeemer. But rather than redeeming his mother, he pierced her heart with a violent uprising against his brother Able.
Sometimes a mother’s hope and expectations are not met
Sometimes a mothers hope and expectations for her children are met with tragedy, such as with Eve. Many of you mothers out there, not to mention you fathers, have had your hearts pierced by the actions of your children. Many of you grandmothers have had your hearts pierced by the actions of your grandchildren as well. If this describes you, know that the announcement of a Redeemer is just as much for your benefit as it was for Eve. We will talk more about this as we move on to consider how
Mothers Hope for a Child who is Happy & Healthy
Many of you mothers out there delivered your children before the advent of ultra-sound technology. Therefore you could only guess as to the sex of the child that you were carrying in your womb. Ultra-sound technology changed drastically over the ten year span between the birth of our oldest child and our youngest.
When Gail was expecting Tim, her doctors would not perform an ultra-sound unless they suspected a problem. About two weeks before his birth, they suspected that he was breech and so they ordered the ultra-sound. But the lab technician was not allowed to tell us the sex (though we coaxed it out of her anyway!). Five years later, when Gail was carrying Caleb her doctor at that time performed his own ultra-sounds in his office. The umbilical cord was in the way and prevented us knowing if this child would be a Caleb or a Courtney. When she was expecting Amanda, the same doctor as with Caleb was now sending his patients to the hospital for an ultra-sound. And we had a very clear picture of a little girl!
All of this to say that most parents don’t really care about the sex of the expectant child. They just want to have a baby that is happy and healthy. And it appears that Eve was exited about the birth of her first child.
Eve’s excitement about being a mother
Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.”
Notice, that even in her now fallen state, she recognized that this child was a gift from God. Yes, Adam and Eve were the instruments that God used to reproduce this child, but it was only by God’s directive that it happened.
Both the ability to bear children and the inability to bear children are gifts from God
You know, it is by God’s directive that certain folks are unable to reproduce as well. It may seem like a curse to those who desire to be parents, and they may never understand the why of it, and yet they need to trust that God has a reason for what He does, and does not do. Just as our own family needs to see God’s hand in this whole seemingly messed up process that we have been going through for the last couple of years!
The story of Cain
We obviously know the story. Cain, the first person ever to be born was not a happy man. He was jealous of his brother Able. God looked with favor upon the sacrifice that Able offered from the flocks, but he rejected the offering that Cain offered from the fruit of the ground.
I truly believe that this sacrifice must have been a sacrifice of atonement, which meant that it had to be a blood offering. There ain’t no blood in vegetables! Cain rejected God’s prescribed method of atonement and put forward his own. Ultimately he was saying, with his offering, “God, my way is just as valid as your way!”
God’s warning
Truly, Cain’s anger was toward God more so than toward Able. God even warned him about his brewing anger in
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
Sibling rivalry
But Cain allowed his envy and jealousy to brew to the point that He acted against his sibling. Sibling rivalry is as old as the birth of Able. I’m thankful that my brother and I have not had a lot of sibling rivalry. I believe that we owe that our mother who preached at us the importance of having peaceful relations with each other. But that is not the case in most families. After our step-mom passed away last year there was a lot of bickering going on among her children. (I hope none of them are listening today…). I talked with my brother about it, and he mentioned how lucky we are to not always be fighting with each other. Apparently that is not the case for most families. We certainly don’t agree on everything, but we recognize each others right to have a wrong opinion, and just move on.
Eve’s pierced heart
Eve’s heart must have been pierced to the core as a result of sibling rivalry that led to Able’s murder. Note what she said after the birth of Seth:
Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
A mother’s role with adult children
Sometimes mothers of adult children have to step in and referee a fight between their children who are acting like toddlers instead of adults. That’s not always easy to do because we have much less authority over our adult children than we do over those who are younger. But sometimes a mother needs to take a stand for what is right, even if that means a time of alienation from the adult child who is in the wrong.
Eve should have been able to see what was brewing inside of Cain, but she didn’t. Since the world had never experienced violence up to this point in time, perhaps she had no way of seeing what might happen if Cain didn’t mend his ways.
Though a mother’s hope for a happy, healthy child is not always met, there is still hope that God will redeem that child from destruction. Let’s consider now a
Mothers Hope for a Child who is Happy & Healthy, and Excels at the Things They are Passionate About
Cain and Able both excelled at things they were passionate about. Cain was a tiller of the ground, and Able was a keeper of the flock. And I’m sure that Eve took pleasure in seeing them develop skill in these things.
A part of parenting is helping a child learn just what it is that they excel at. And being honest with them about what they do not excel at, without breaking their spirit. Since, in most cases, moms spend a lot more time with their children than dads do, they are especially insightful about such things. Solomon instructed his son to
Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.
Moral instruction and career paths
I believe that this refers to both moral instruction as well as to career paths. I believe that Adam and Eve worked together to teach their children about the fact that sin brings death. I can imagine that they taught them about how they were spared immediate death because God put forward an animal to die as their proxy. They may have even taught them that the death of this animal provided for them a covering to hide their nakedness. I wonder if they understood that the covering the death of this animal provided for them was a picture of the salvation that the Seed of the woman would one day bring? Because in His death, Christ was the proxy for His own, paying for the penalty of their sin. And He also provided a covering for them, robing them in His true righteousness. Let’s consider a mother’s greatest hope:
Mothers Hope for a Child who is Happy & Healthy, and Excels at the Things They are Passionate About, and who Loves the Lord
Though it is clear that Cain did not love the Lord, it is equally clear that Able did. He offered a righteous sacrifice which was both acceptable and pleasing to God.
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.
Mothers and grandmothers
Most of you ladies in our congregation are not only mothers, but you are grandmothers. Because of that fact I was tempted to focus on being a grandmother today, because that seems the most applicable for this congregation. But the same things that are said of mothers are true of grandmothers as well, and that is because a mother’s work is never done.
Regrets over children
Some of you may be regretting the way your children have turned out in the adulthood. If you are a mother of multiple children you may have examples of some children who turned out to love the Lord, just as you desire, while others who have not. Take courage because there is still reason to hope expectantly. That is because our hope is in the Lord, and not in ourselves or our children.
The importance of prayer
Grandma Chapman
The most powerful thing you can do for your adult children is to pray for them without ceasing! I remember as a child that my Grandma Chapman was staying with us for a period of time. I don’t recall the reason why, but there is something I vividly recall. Every morning before my brother and I headed for the school bus, she would pray with us — I think we each took a turn praying. And on this occasion our grandma prayed with us as well. And she prayed an individual prayer for each of her adult children. And she thanked God for the hope that she had that He would save each and everyone of them.
Eve’s expectant hope was not fully fulfilled by any of her first generation of children.
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,
so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
My friends, place your hope in this One who came to redeem.
Let’s pray.
Closing Song: #308 THERE IS A REDEEMER