Mother’s Day - May 9, 2021

We gather today first to worship God together and His goodness to us. We also acknowledge that it’s Mother’s Day and want to encourage and honor mothers today. It’s great to see so many celebrating with the women in your life.

Personal comments...

I know that not all women come to this day with celebration. Some of you men don’t either because you forgot it was Mother’s day until you got here. For some Mother’s Day is a difficult reminder of something painful in your past or in the present. I saw something this week that I want to read that attempts to acknowledge everyone who may be here in both joy and in difficulty.

To those who gave birth this year to their first child, we celebrate with you.

To those who lost a child this year, we mourn with you.

To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stains and spend most of their day smelling like sour milk and diapers, we appreciate you.

To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment, we walk with you. (Forgive us when we say foolish things. We don't mean to make this harder than it is.)

To those who have warm and close relationships with your children, we celebrate with you.

To those who have been forsaken by their children, we hurt with you.

To those who will have “emptier nests” in the upcoming year, we both grieve and rejoice with you.

To those who lost their mothers this year, we grieve with you.

To those who were encouraged to have an abortion, we weep with you, and we love you.

To foster moms, mentor moms, and spiritual moms, we need you.

To all of you, we honor you.

PRAY

If you have your Bibles, please join me in the book of Judges and chapter 4.

And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died. 2 And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.

3 Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.

4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment.

The book of Judges covers approximately a 400-year period of history of Israel when the Israelites entered the Promised Land and made it their home. The book of Judges is a dark book that showcases the depravity of human beings without any gloss. With great candor, the author of Judges shows the leaders or judges for who they are without candy coating their leadership and exploits. From the opening chapters of the book we find that the Israelites were half-hearted in the obedience of God.

The Israelites were stuck in a sin cycle. This cycle is presented in chapter 2:11-15 It went like this: First, the people rebelled against God. They turned away from God’s promises and began adopting pagan practices of the people around them. Second, when the people rebelled, God’s anger rose up against them and He allowed retribution from their enemies. Third, when the people felt the distress, they woke up and began to repent, calling on God to help them. Fourth, in His graciousness and mercy, God restored them by raising up judges to deliver them from their enemies and return the land to peace. But as soon as the judge died, they would begin the cycle all over again. Rebellion. Retribution. Repentance. Restoration.

There is a recurring phrase in the final chapters in the book of Judges that summarizes the fuel of this cycle, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

But in chapter 4 we’re introduced to a good and godly woman, a wife and mother, named Deborah who was a bright light in this darkness.

First, Deborah is called a prophetess. She is one of a few prophetesses named in the Bible along with Moses’ sister Miriam, Huldah from 2 Kings, Isaiah’s wife, Anna from Luke 2, and Phillip’s four daughters mentioned in Acts. A prophet or prophetess spoke on behalf of God. God spoke to these who in turn revealed to the people what the will of God was. These prophets and prophetesses were servants of God who mostly gave warning to the people to return to God in repentance.

Some of you may think your mother was a prophetess when she warned you about your own future when she said, “Just wait til your Dad gets home.” Or, “If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week.” That’s not the kind of prophetess we’re talking about.

You can imagine in such a dark time how difficult it would be to carry out a message to a people who had no interest in hearing from God. She believed in God and the covenant He made with Abraham to make them His people. She was open to the voice of God and not afraid to speak out the truth even if it was resisted.

Second, Deborah was also a wife. She is the wife of Lappidoth (thank you parents for not naming any of your sons Lappidoth). It’s interesting that the writer included this in his short bio of Deborah. By the time this was written Deborah was well known and her husband probably long forgotten but it was important to the writer for us to know, she was a wife. She lived in the covenant of marriage with Lappidoth. He must’ve encouraged her gifts and calling that God gave her to serve the people.

The most important quality of a godly mother is not first the relationship to her children, but the relationship with her husband. The greatest gift parents can give their children is to live in covenant with one another.

Third, Deborah was a judge. This was a national position in Israel. The role of a judge was sometimes like that of a judge in a court to use wisdom to settle disputes, and at other times, the judge was a military leader. Again, Deborah was serving a role in the most difficult of times. Their rival the Canaanites had been oppressing the Israelites for 20 years. Militarily they were superior, having 900 chariots at their disposal. The Israelites had none.

I love that it says she used to sit under the palm of Deborah and people would come to her for judgment. She had a palm tree named after her. “I’ll meet you down at my palm tree.” Sitting under a palm tree sounds like my kind of courtroom and a great place for military strategy.

Deborah’s wisdom was sought out. She made declarations and people listened. I have to believe this was not an ambition of Deborah’s. Sometimes the needs of the moment are thrust upon us. She was raised up by God for this season. He gifted her and placed her in a position of influence and she said, “Yes.”

Fourth, Deborah was a singer/songwriter. In chapter 5:1 “On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song.” What was the song about? A military victory that she lead.

6 She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun.

7 And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand’?” 8 Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.”

9 And she said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.

14 And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you?”

Deborah was confident, not in her leadership alone, but confident in the covenant promises of God. He promised to deliver the people from their enemies if they would obey him. She was acting in faith toward the promise of God for her people. She was reminding Barak and the people that God was going before them.

They did go up and God gave them a great victory over Sisera and his army of 900 chariots and thousands of soldiers.

And then she wrote and sang a duet with Barak about the victory that God brought through their willingness to act.

And in the song we find the final mention of Deborah’s bio. She was a mother.

5:7 The villagers ceased in Israel;

they ceased to be until I arose;

I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel.

Now some believe this mention as a mother, only refers to her as a maternal leader in Israel but it undoubtedly has double meaning. The people were living defeated, oppressed, lost and rebellious. And then — God raised up a faith-filled wife and mother of children to lead, to prophesy, to judge, and to fight, on behalf of her people.

We honor this Mom today.

Deborah’s life reminds us that God equips us and calls us into His work in our world.

Sometimes that call is outside the home to a vocation to serve the good of others in a way God has gifted you. And if you don’t have children in your home, sometimes that call is to serve as a mentor or adopted Mom to someone who needs a loving adult in their life.

And then sometimes God presents a need — you read an article, you see a solution no one else sees, you listen to a podcast, you hear Jesus’ words to minister to the least of these and to make disciples, and suddenly God births a passion in you that calls you into a work that you weren’t looking for, that you may feel ill-equipped for, but a call that is unmistakably yours.

You may find yourself like this wife and Mom Deborah — you hear the voice of God through His Word and you’re compelled to share His truth with the people in your life, people in your life listen to you and seek your wisdom, and with a new courage you follow Jesus wherever He leads.

We must also remember that Deborah served as judge for only a season. God raised her up for this special role for a purpose but only for a season and then she returned to her first special role as wife and mother.

A few years ago I asked the Mom’s in our small group if they ever compared themselves to other mothers. The answer was a unanimous, “yes.” They named several ways they have done this. Moms who work outside the home comparing themselves to home school moms or stay-at-home moms. Moms who feed their kids McDonalds comparing themselves to moms who use only organic food, or cloth diapers, or breast feed vs. bottle feed.

And of course, the never ending comparison of kids vs. kids. They see their friends’ kids sitting disgustingly perfect in a picture looking like they belong on an H&M commercial and it raises questions in them like, “Why aren’t my kids like that?” “What am I doing wrong?” I can’t even get my child to look at a camera and if they do they’re smiling like baby grinch.

But also, the comparison extends to how we define important work. Some Moms see another Mom engaged in a Deborah-like calling that seems so important and fulfilling — so radical for Jesus, while she’s neck deep in dishes, diapers, and the never-ending search for the other sock. And she begins to think, this isn’t as important as that.

Moms please hear me — sometimes God can do His greatest work in the mundane. Simple, consistent, acts of obedience is the fertile ground God uses to change a child’s life, and yours. The mundane matters.

This week I read an article by Tish Harrison. Tish is an Anglican priest and author of several books including the Liturgy of the Ordinary.

In the article she recalled her early 20’s when she was living radically for Jesus, she had a Deborah like drive to make a difference — living with homeless teenagers, attending a church called “Scum of the Earth,” and leading a tutoring program for impoverished immigrant children. She said she gave away clothes, went barefoot, and spent her time around the least of these. She was in a movement that challenged her to impact the world in radical ways but never learned how to be an average person living an average life in a beautiful way.

She wrote that in a monastic community home there was a sign hung on the wall that read, “Everyone wants a revolution. No one wants to do the dishes.”

Now Tish is in her thirties, married with two children living a more ordinary life. She says she still longs for a revolution where she can make a difference beyond her front door but has found that sometimes it takes more of a revolution in her own heart to do the dishes and be patient when she’s short on sleep.

She said, “…the bravery it takes to believe that a small life is still a meaningful life, and the grace to know that even when I’ve done nothing that is powerful or bold or even interesting that the Lord notices me and is fond of me and that is is enough.”

Some of you may be drawn to the comfortable and the status quo and you may need to be challenged to answer the Deborah like call to serve God’s work beyond the ordinary and the convenient life you enjoy. But some of you who are drawn to the extraordinary, to works that are seen to be especially spiritual and costly, you need to learn that there is meaning in the mundane. And perhaps the greatest work God wants to do through you today is to be attentive to the people in front of you. Both are the Lord’s work to do through you.

Mom, God’s opinion of you is not based on your radical Deborah calling, or the behavior of your kids, or your past mistakes, or your appearance. His opinion of you is not based on how well your kids are doing in the classroom or on the field, what college accepted them, what degree they received or whether they went to college at all. Gods opinion of you is not based on whether you have children, whether you’re single, married, or divorced.

No, God’s opinion of you is seen in the cost to His Son. Jesus gave His life for you so through faith in Him you could hear God say to you, “You are mine.” God’s opinion of you trumps all other opinions, even your own, and that should be enough.