Motherhood: An Illustration of God's care, concern, and commitment to His children

Motherhood

One of the consequences of Western society enthusiastically embracing the LGBTQ+ movement is the eroding of motherhood. If parenting only consists of loving adults who care for children, then what need is there for defining roles such as motherhood? Two men can parent a child just as well as a man and a woman. A man who thinks he is a woman can adequately care for a child just as well as any biological mother. Motherhood, in our society at some levels, has become archaic and obsolete, loosing its God derived significance. Frankly, I’m surprised we have not canceled the holiday already.

Motherhood is more than biological. I would agree with that. But that does not mean it can be replaced by a man. Motherhood is significantly designed by God to serve a purpose. For starters, God installed in His natural law that women become mothers. God gave women the right, responsibility, and privilege to bear children. Females are the only one to able to do this within the natural boundaries of creation. The LGBTQ community cannot naturally reproduce itself. It they stuck to their “identities”, their sameness, they would eventually not exist. Some of them would have to follow the natural order of things, or use technology to assist their cause. God did not intend for men to be mothers. He gave that to women. To change that or to try to manipulate God’s design for women in this role is an attack on motherhood.

Mothers cannot seem to catch a break in our culture. If its not eh LGBTQ community trying to rid motherhood, its the another group being snarky about the amount of children you have. I cannot tell you how many times someone has stopped Stacy in the store and asked, “All of those children yours?” What? No, we just make it a habit of picking up random toddlers from the neighbor and bringing them to Walmart around nap time. Its a thing.

The other side of that coin is the ridicule some want to be mothers face when they cannot have children. I don’t think we see this as much in society as we do in some church circles. It’s tough. It’s hard to hear people in your own camp say ridiculous things that make you feel like God has not given you children because your obviously unfit to be a parent. That is crazy talk.

I could spend a year or so preaching on the significance of mothers. This morning I want to offer the women of the church a word of encouragement. I want to briefly show you that you are irreplaceable ad necessary of the world. The reason for tis is that

Motherhood is used in Scripture to illustrate God’s care and concern for His people.

Motherhood illustrates God’s care for his peoples well-being.

Ulisse Aldrovandi, an Italian Naturalist and infamous Renaissance writer in the 1500’s. He is known by some as the father of natural history.

Aldrovandi describes hens as a noble example of love to their offspring and the symbol of motherhood. A mother hen will turn each of her eggs up to thirty times a day to maintain proper temperature and moisture for hatching. While in the egg, an embryonic chick can recognize its mother and respond to her heckling. After hatching, when the chicks are hungry, the mother hen will ensure each chick is satisfied before she eats.

At the first sign of trouble, Hens will gather her chicks under her wings ready to protect them at all cost. Aldrovandi notes, “under the shadow of their wings, and with this covering they put up such a very fierce defense – striking fear into their opponent in the midst of a frightful clamor, using both wings and beak – they would rather die for their chicks than seek safety in flight.”

We don’t have to travel far down this road to recognize the similarities among human mothers. God has wired mothers, both animal and human, to instinctively care for her children. even in our society, it is still odd to us to hear of a mother who neglects their child. Tender care for children seems synonomous with motherhood. It is no surprise that when you read the scriptures that God will use motherhood to illustrate his tender care for his people.

For example, Moses reminds Israel

Deuteronomy 32:9–12 HCSB

But the Lord’s portion is His people, Jacob, His own inheritance. He found him in a desolate land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, cared for him, and protected him as the pupil of His eye. He watches over His nest like an eagle and hovers over His young; He spreads His wings, catches him, and lifts him up on His pinions. The Lord alone led him, with no help from a foreign god.

The Psalmist says

Psalm 91:4 HCSB

He will cover you with His feathers; you will take refuge under His wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield.

Just before Jesus was to enter Jerusalem the final time, says

Matthew 23:37 ESV

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

You might say, “Pastor, Jesus is speaking about a bird.” Right on. Keep in mind Aldrovandi’s point. Hens are symbols of motherhood. Jesus used a hen to describe a characteristic of mothers who care for their children. Moses, the Psalmist, and Jesus are describing the heart of mothers when they speak of hens and eagles.

Like a mother who cares for her children by gathering them, sheltering them, feeding them, protecting them with her life, so God does with you, Christian. Has not the Lord sought you even when you did not want to be found, like a mother who pursues her children? Has not the Lord been a refuge for you when the storm raged against your heart like a mother who comforts her scared children during the thunderstorm? Has the Lord given you the bread of life and provided for all your earthly needs like a mother who births you and nurse you with her breasts?

God wired mothers to be this way because they illustrate the kind of care He has for you.

Motherhood illustrates God’s concern for transforming the heart.

Dr. Brenda Hunter wrote a book called, “The Power of Mother Love.” On the back of the book cover, the description of the book reads just how influential mothers are on their children. She says,

“Mother love shapes cultures and individuals. While most mothers know that their love and emotional availability are vital to their children’s well-being, many of us do not understand the profound and long-lasting impact we have in developing our young children’s brains, teaching them first lessons of love, shaping their consciences.” Dr. Brenda Hunter

Consider for a moment Hunter's statement, “mother love shapes cultures and individuals.” Listen to a few examples of what she means.

In the world of politics.

“My mother always seemed to me like a fairy princess: a radiant being possessed of limitless riches and power. She shone for me like the evening star. I loved her dearly.” Winston Churchill

“My mother was a saintly woman. I owe everything to her.” Lyndon b. Johnson

In the world of music, Marian Anderson, the first African American Opera singer (Contralto) says this about her mother,

“Not once can I recall from my earliest recollections hearing mother lift her voice in anger. She did not deliver lectures but guided us by her example. Mother gave balance to the home and led us into a rich spiritual life.” Marian Anderson

In the area of medicine, Christian Neethling Barnard, who was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplant operation, said this about his mother,

“Year after year my mother drove into us, “I expect you always to be first, not second, or third, but first.” Christian Barnard

In the realm of movies and entertainment, Charlie Chaplin, the pioneer of the movie industry, said this of his mother,

“In spite of the squalor in which we were forced to live, she kept Sidney (a brother) and me off the streets and made us feel we were not the ordinary product of poverty but unique and distinguished.” Charlie Chaplin

In the culture of art, Pablo Picasso, the great painter, said this

“When I was a child my mother said to me, “If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general. If you become a monk, you’ll end up as the Pope.” Instead I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.” Pablo Picasso

God has wired mothers to have the power to shape entire cultures and societies by the way they influence the heart of their children. Which is why he makes it clear in His word that a good mother leads her children in the way of the Lord.

Solomon told his sons,

Proverbs 1:8 ESV

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching,

A few chapters later he says

Proverbs 6:20 ESV

My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching.

Mothers are also given some responsibility to discipline the children, which is another form of teaching

Proverbs 29:15 ESV

The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

Old Testament Scholar, Dr. Peter Gentry, has pointed out that one of the unique features of the the Old Testament Scriptures is the reality that women are lifted up as equals to men when it comes to teaching the children. So, when the scriptures say,

Proverbs 22:6 ESV

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

it assumes the mother will have a profound influence on guiding the child’s heart in the fear of the Lord.

The bible is clear that your heart is the well-spring of life. From it comes all of your desires, affections, fantasies, thoughts and dream. The bible says

Proverbs 4:23 HCSB

Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.

Jesus says

Matthew 22:37 ESV

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

He also teaches us

Matthew 6:21 ESV

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Luke 6:45 ESV

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

There are over fifty verses in the bible that teach, admonish, and encourage you to consider your heart. God is most concerned with your heart; with what you believe about Him. It is in the realm of the heart that God works.

He promised Israel

Ezekiel 36:25–27 ESV

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Jesus told Nicodemus that the only way for him to enter the kingdom of God was through a new heart, a transformed heart, a spiritually circumcised heart that was born again,

John 3:3–5 ESV

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

How is one born again?

John 3:14–16 ESV

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

A new heart that has been transformed by the Spirit of God, spiritually circumcised, born again, believes upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul says

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

God is concerned about your heart. It is desperately wicked and needs to be circumcised, transformed, born again. God influences your heart with His Spirit and the gospel. He does heart work so that you can believe, and by changing your heart, he changes the individual, entire societies and cultures. The power and influence of mothers on the hearts of their children illustrates God’s power and influence on the hearts of his people.

That is why it is imperative that mothers trust in the Lord with all their heart and lean not on their own understanding, but acknowledge Him in their ways so that he can make their path straight. For a mother who does this will teach her children to trust in the Lord with all their heart and lean not on their own understanding, but acknowledge Him in their ways so that he can make their path straight. And by changing that child’s heart, entire societies and cultures can be transformed by the power of gospel.

Mary Ball Washington was the mother George Washington, our first President. Georges father died when he was ten years old. As a widow, Mary had to raise George and his siblings all by herself. She was steadfast in her faith. George Washington recounted how she held family prayers twice a day along with regular readings fro the bible. She taught George to rely on the Lord by the way she lived. She had a spot where she would go to pray for her children. George Washington is credited with saying, “All that I am I owe to my mother.”

God has wired mothers to have a profound influence on the heart of their children. A mother's influence has the power to shape entire societies and cultures. A mother’s concern for the heart of her child illustrates the power and concern God has for your heart. Just as a mother shapes the heart of a child, so God shapes the heart of his people. He uses Godly mothers to shape Godly children who grow up to shape society. he charges them to teach and discipline and train up child in the fear of the Lord so He can use them to fulfill His Great Commission.

Motherhood illustrates God’s commitment to life.

My mother had a way of reminding me the importance of knowing where your life hangs in the balance of things. She would tell me, often when I was acting the fool, she brought me into the world, she can promptly take me out of it.

God has given the mothers the right and privilege to birth children. Having the ability to bear a child is uniquely feminine. No matter how wonky our society becomes as it enthralls itself with transgender-ism, it can never recreate God’s design for women in motherhood. A man can never be a mother because a man, genetically speaking, will never have a baby. God has given that right, responsibility, and privilege to women. Mother’s bring life into the world.

Mother’s illustrate God’s commitment to life through birthing a child. A child is in the womb and must be born if it is to enjoy life on earth. Jesus uses the birth of a child to illustrate the new birth that must take place for one to enjoy eternal life in heaven.

Mothers not only bring life into the world, they have a God given/driven desire to sustain even at great sacrifice to themselves.

I read of a woman on the east coast in the early 1800’s set out to walk to a neighboring community with her infant child. It was winter. A short time into the journey, a blizzard quickly engulfed them. The next day members of her community found frozen to death on the road. To their surprise, they found the child alive. The mother had taken off her outer garments and bundled her child close to her chest. She used her body to cover the child from the snow.

Consider Moses mother for a moment. She gives birth to a beautiful baby boy. Pharaoh has ordered all new born boys to be thrown into the Nile River. She complies, however, she creates a floating basket and trusts that God will care for her son. Moses i dawn out of the water by Pharaoh's daughter. Moses sister happens to be there to advise Pharaoh's daughter that she knows a woman who could nurse the child. Moses mother gets three more months with her son. At approximately six months, she hands her child over to Pharaoh's daughter to be raised. Why? It was the only way she could sustain his life.

Think for a moment about how the world first knew Solomon was wise. A case is brought before him by two women who lived together with infant children. One child died in the night. So his mother gt up and switched her dead child with the other woman’s child. The other woman awoke to find her son dead, but soon realized it was not her son. Now Solomon has to decided who the child belongs too.

Solomon says get a sword and cut the child in two halves. Each woman will have a half. The mother of the child wept and told Solomon to give the other woman the baby. She could not stand the thought of her child perishing.

God has wired mother to bring children into the world and to do everything in their power to sustain the life of those children, even at great personal sacrifice to themselves. You can see how motherhood illustrates God’s commitment to your eternal life.

God demonstrates his love and care for you in this that while you were a sinner Christ died for you. Like the mother who gave her life for the sake of her infant son, or sacrificed her mothering for the sake of the child’s life and well-being, so God gave the life of his perfect Son, sacrificed what he loved most, so that you can have eternal life with him. The world sees the glory of God’s commitment to your eternal life, his loving sacrifice, through motherhood.

God cares for your well-being. God is concerned about the transformation of your heart, and God is commited to your eternal life, and nothing on this earth illustrates that more than motherhood. And just as a child trusts his/her mother, so God calls on you to trust Him. He says to you

Isaiah 66:13 ESV

As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

Psalm 131:1–2 ESV

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.

Does that describe your relationship with the Lord? Do you trust him? Have you repented of your sin and accepted his gift of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ?

As we close, I want to mention another truth about motherhood that illustrates God’s care and concern. Motherhood is not confined to only women who birth children. Motherhood is ingrained into all women whether to know it or not. Watch the way women naturally respond to a child’s cry or laughter. If a man hurts a child, even if they were just rough housing, mama bear instincts flare up in mom, sister, grandma, neighbor friend, church lady. That man will have a skew of women upset with him.

Adoption is where I see motherhood’s love reach beyond the womb. God has wired a mothers heart to love a child she did not bear without restraint. It’s a beautiful picture of the gospel. Through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, God saved a people for himself, adopting them into His family. We call him father. He calls us his sons and daughters. He has given us an inheritance in heaven alongside His Son.

So, those of you who do not have children, for whatever reason, are not left out on mothers day. You are celebrated because your mothering takes the shape of care, concern, and commitment, to the children God brings into your life; whether trough adoption or ministry.

Gladys Aylward was a British-born evangelical missionary to China in the 1930’s. She served in the Shanxi Province in Yangcheng county. She worked at an Inn where she served food and told stories of Jesus. She worked with over 200 orphans, even adopting five to be her own children. When the Japanese invaded her region in 1938, Alylward led over 100 orphans, 27 days over mountains to safety. She collapsed of exhaustion and typhoid fever. It took her several months to recover. God used a small single tiny woman to care for over 100 Chinese children through some of the worst circumstances of war. She said,

“Life is pitiful, death so familiar, suffering and pain so common, yet I would not be anywhere else.” Gladys Aylward

Spoken like a true mother. Ladies, understand that God uses you to display his care for his children, his concern for their heart, and his commitment to their eternal life. The world would not understand the depth of His love if you were not here being motherly. You are a picture of his grace and we are thankful for God using you to show us more of Christ.