The Hero In Our Story

Introduction

In many churches today, pastors will preach a message that will be encouraging and uplifting as mothers will be celebrated and honored for the wonderful things that they do on a regular basis. Mothers will be lifted up to “saint” status. A month from now, many of those same pastors will stand in their pulpits and call on men to stand up and do their job. Dad’s will be called out for being lazy, lethargic, and passive. They will be labeled as sinners with room to improve.

This morning we absolutely want to pause and give thanks to our Mother’s because of the things that they do. While this isn’t a Holy Day - it is a holiday and there are some holidays that are worth pausing what we have been doing and looking at what the Bible says on a specific subject. This doesn’t mean that we’ll throw 4 random application points together and forsake the study of the Bible - we’re going to study the Bible as we always do at FBC Salem. But as we do so, today of all days, it is imperative for us to remember something that can easily be forgotten. We all need Jesus. I was blessed to have a Christ-following mother growing up and I’m blessed to have a Christ-following wife today… Debbie and Lindsey Hayworth are two of God’s greatest gifts to me in this life but Debbie and Lindsey Hayworth both need Jesus Christ each and every day. Whoever you are, whatever you’ve done, wherever you find yourself at today, friend, you need Jesus Christ. You don’t need more of yourself, you don’t need to be the hero of the story or even the hero of today… We’re all background characters. The hero in our story is not ourselves. It’s not even our moms who seemingly are superheroes! The hero that we all need is Jesus Christ. Godly women point their families and friends to King Jesus and leave behind a legacy of faith in Him!

Mother’s Day is always a tough message to prepare for. It’s hard for this pastor because I was adopted and never got to know my biological mom, although God blessed me with the greatest mom I could have dreamed of. Mother’s Day might be hard for you because you might have had a falling out with your mom. Maybe she wasn’t there for you. Maybe you don’t have a close relationship with her or as close as you’d like. Mother’s Day might be hard for you as a young mother because you feel the weight of all of these expectations and you feel like you fall woefully short. Maybe Mother’s Day is hard for you because you have been rejected by a family member or loved one. Maybe Mother’s Day brings up feelings of deep loss that you feel as though no one else understands. Friend, regardless of if you are a mother or not this morning, you have a purpose and are of infinite worth because you are exactly who God designed you to be. Women, you are valuable today not because some boy or man says that you are, not because that’s what society says, but because the Bible declares that you are an image bearer of the most High God!

This morning, we’re going to look to the Bible to remind us who the Hero is in our story. We’re going to examine what Godly women strive to do in this thing called life. We’re going to mine out points of application from the text not to help us feel better about ourselves but in order to better glorify Jesus Christ in how we live our lives. This morning we’re going to be in the book of Exodus in chapter 2 as we look at the birth and adoption of a little boy named Moses. The same Moses who would go on to be the greatest leader in Jewish history is found in Exodus 2 cared for by his mother and sister who demonstrate remarkable faith in the Lord. This same Moses who will go on to deliver his people from their slavery is but a glimpse, a shadow, of the greater deliverer who will come from his line and save His people from their sins. This Mother’s Day morning, let’s read God’s Word together and be encouraged and challenged to reflect the love and life of Jesus Christ to those around us.

Exodus 2:1–10 CSB

1 Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son; when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. 4 Then his sister stood at a distance in order to see what would happen to him. 5 Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds, sent her slave girl, took it, 6 opened it, and saw him, the child—and there he was, a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.” 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a Hebrew woman who is nursing to nurse the boy for you?” 8 “Go,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. So the girl went and called the boy’s mother. 9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

This is the introduction we get to one of the most famous figures in all of Scripture. Moses would go on to do some incredible things and lead the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery… But before all of that could take place, we read that that his mother trusted in the Lord and in a time of chaos and conflict, entrusted her son to the care of her God. This morning let’s look at this miracle as we evaluate what our trust is placed in today.

Godly Women Trust in the Lord (1-4)

What are some of the things that you trust in? It seems like the list of things we can trust in keeps on growing smaller and smaller by the day. People betray our trust. Products that used to work no longer do or we can’t find them. Tools break down. What remains constant? Our God. We read in Exodus 2 that Moses’ mom was pregnant and hid him for 3 months. Why would she need to hide her son? What is going on in the context of this chapter of Scripture?

The first book of the Bible, Genesis, ends with the death of Joseph. Joseph was an advisor to the Pharoah in Egypt and had provided for his brothers and family in the past so they moved down to Egypt. The Bible shares with us that the Israelites began to multiply quickly while in Egypt and eventually a king rose to power who did not know Joseph. He viewed the Israelites as a threat to his people and began to oppress them. Sadly, this didn’t stop the fact that the Israelites were still growing so the king then decides to issue a command that any Israelite boy must be thrown into the Nile river. That’s the buildup to Exodus 2. There’s a command issued by the king that any Israelite boy must be killed. Enter Moses! The law of the land said that he should be thrown into the Nile… Yet, his mother hid him for 3 months.

Can you imagine the horror going through his mother’s brain in that moment? The penalty for disobeying the king of Egypt would have been death so your options at this point in time are either to give up your newborn son or try to hide him from the powers that be and put yourself and the rest of your family in danger. This is truly a position where you’re in a lose/lose position. Whenever you’re in that type of position, where do you turn? What can you do? The people in charge want to harm you - you can’t turn there. You can’t run away to a new place or town. You’re not going to hand him over… So you hide. I’m not sure if she just had the best behaved 3 month old in the entire world or what, but I can’t imagine trying to hide an infant from the powers that be. One little scream and then you’re done. Yet, she continued to trust in the Lord.

We read that after Moses became 3 months old she put him into a basket, coated it with tar and probably had some holes in it for air, and set him afloat in the Nile River. Now maybe at this point you think that she just left her son for random chance and stopped trusting in the Lord… Quite the opposite. In the moment when their life was literally on the line, she did her absolute best with the hand that she was dealt and then she trusted in God to take care of her baby boy. Our Kidz Choir boys and girls did a great job with their program last Sunday night as they performed “Spend a While on the Nile” and if you were unable to attend you can watch it on the church facebook page - it was great! They taught us some of the stories that took place in the Bible on the Nile River. Here are some quick facts about the Nile River to put it into perspective for us. The Nile provided the Egyptians with transportation, food, water, and fertile land for over 5,000 years. The Nile is recognized as the longest river in the world at over 4,100 miles long - or nearly 2,000 miles longer than the Mighty Mississippi here in the Midwest. The Nile was also filled with animals such as hippos and crocodiles that could grow to be 20 feet long. Into this might river goes 3 month old Moses in a tiny paper box. We aren’t told how long he was in the boat or how long his sister had to run to as verse 4 tells us. We just see that into literally a sea of disaster, in goes the future savior of these Israelites. How? Why? Because his mother trusted in the Lord.

Trusting in the Lord will look different in each context and in every family. For Moses’ mother, it was trusting that her God was in charge of the waters of the Nile and the boat her son was in. For Ruth, it was trusting in God and following her mother-in-law back to a foreign country and worshipping a God that she didn’t grow up worshipping. For Rahab, it was trusting in God’s power and faithfulness and protecting the Israelites spies instead of doing what would have benefitted her fellow countrymen. For you today, mother’s, grandmother’s, daughter’s, granddaughter’s, trusting in God might simply look like believing what the Bible says about you instead of what the world does. It might look like having a conversation with someone and inviting them to be your friend because they don’t have anyone else to turn to. It might look like simply taking God at His Word like Sarah did

Hebrews 11:11 CSB

11 By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful.

Sarah knew that the God who had promised her and her husband that they would have a child was faithful… and that was enough. Wherever you find yourself at today, look at God’s track record. Look at His Word. Look at what He has done for you in your life… Look at the blessings. Is He enough for you whenever disaster strikes? Is He enough for you whenever the Nile and all of its obstacles are gnashing their teeth at you? Do you trust that he will keep you safe in His Ark? Do you trust that He still directs boats in the sea of this thing called life? Trust in Him.

Godly Women Maximize Their Time (5-10)

We see that this boat miraculously makes its way to the place where the Pharaohs daughter was bathing. Moses’ mother was trying to hide her son and where does he end up? In the arms of the daughter of the man who gave the order to kill boys like Moses! This easily looks like a tragedy… However, we see that the woman protects his life. Not only this… Pharaoh’s daughter called to Moses sister, still watching from a distance, to go and get an Israelite to nurse this child. Who does she bring back? Moses’ mother! Moses’ mom who had worked so hard to keep her son safe now stands face to face with the enemy… Yet what had God done? He had gone before and turned what to our vantage point looks like disaster and doom into safety and salvation. Isn’t this what our God does!

Genesis 50:20 CSB

20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.

Think about the thoughts going through Moses’ mother’s head here. She had already prioritized her son over herself by keeping him hidden and protected for 3 months. She had gone to great lengths to protect him and she trusted that God would protect him when she put him in the boat (miniature ark - see Gen 6-8 as this is the same Hebrew word). Now Moses’ mother was given the opportunity to raise Moses for a period of time.

Mom’s and Dad’s… You only have your children for a period of time. You only get them for so long. Moses’ mom was given another 3-4 years here until he would go back to grow up in Pharaoh’s household… Lindsey and I have blinked our eyes and this summer we’ll have a 2 year old. Some of you are in the same boat today as you’ve blinked your eyes and your child is a teenager or driving a car or getting ready for college. Where did the time go?

There’s an expression that the days are long but the years fly by. In a world that prioritizes efficiency and seems to rush for each day to come and go, what do we need now more than ever? We need to make the most use of the time that we have. We don’t wish days away, although some days are tough. We don’t wish seasons away, although we look forward to new seasons to come. We take advantage of the time that we have today and we make a difference.

Sure, Moses would still have interaction with his biological family as the story unfolds in Exodus 2-4, but a big change would come… The clock had begun ticking down. Did you know that today is the oldest you’ve ever been and the youngest you’ll ever be? Today is a gift and tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. What will you and I do with the breath in our lungs and the blood in our limbs? We see throughout Scripture and throughout the history books that Godly men and women maximize the time that they have in order to make much of King Jesus. What about you and me? Are we maximizing our time each day? Did you know that there a little over 15,000 people in Dent County? How many of those 15,000 do you believe have repented of their sins and trusted in Jesus Christ? Not how many of them go to church or how many of them claim to know God… How many of them have been born again? 30%? 25%? Less? Probably. Friends, there are people in our schools who don’t know Jesus. There are people that we work with who don’t know Jesus… Are you ready? There are people in our families who don’t know Jesus Christ today!

What are you and I doing about that? We can all come together to celebrate Mother’s Day and these holidays… But ultimately, what do we all need? We all need the Gospel. In fact, the women who have impacted my life the most would want far less Mom and far more Jesus.

Godly Men and Women Leave a Legacy of Faith (Hebrews 11)

The story of Moses is one that we see play out in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. But Moses’ impact will be on the Israelite people forever. This was God’s chosen deliverer of these people. In fact, the Jews in Jesus’ day believed that the Messiah would be a mighty deliverer similar to that of Moses. Throughout all of the spiritual highs of Moses’ life, though, we also find many weaknesses. This is common of our God. He chooses the younger son, not the older son, and He does it twice. He chooses an old couple nearly 100 years old to be the founders of his chosen people. He picks a teenage shepherd to become his people’s greatest king. Each and every person that God calls has weakness and this is intentional. The work that God has in store for you as His child is beyond your power and ability. You literally cannot do it by yourself - and you are forced to trust in the Lord… You are forced to place your faith in your God, not in your self. Let’s look at how important faith is in the life of Moses and in our lives today in Hebrews 11:23-26

Hebrews 11:23–26 CSB

23 By faith Moses, after he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they didn’t fear the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter 25 and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin. 26 For he considered reproach for the sake of Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking ahead to the reward.

How would Moses get to this point in his life? By faith. From his very first breath, who was watching over him with their faith placed in the Lord? His mom and his sister.

We desperately want to leave behind this type of legacy of faith to those around us. Our family. Our friends. Our neighbors. We want them to see the Gospel in and through our lives… So, how do we have leave this legacy of faith in Jesus? First, you have to know Jesus Christ. A pastor that I look up to was once asked by a student, “Do you preach the Gospel to yourself like you preach it to us?” Talk about convicting stuff! For many of us, we can give other people the Gospel and the grace that they need to hear in their moment of need… But whenever it’s us we can fail to believe it. Ladies, you might place a burden of perfection upon yourself that you will never measure up to. You scroll through social media looking at this and that and you think, I’ve messed up. I’m a failure. My kids and family deserve better because so and so is perfect and does all these things that I don’t do… What do you need in that moment? You need the Gospel. You need the Gospel today to change the way that you look at your life. Not through a lens of performance and works, but a lens of Christ’s finished work and your faith in Him. Hear me, He’s with you. On those lonely, cold, dark nights when the rest of the world is sleeping soundly and you feel like you’re all alone… He’s with you. He see’s you. He paid for your debt. He loves you as His own. In every meaningless and stinky diaper change. Every second and third trip to the grocery store. Every chaotic moment. He’s is with you.

But it’s only through faith in Christ that this Biblical truth becomes your reality. It’s only through faith in Jesus that you can leave behind this legacy of faith to your children and family to follow. Perfection can’t be the goal… Gospel-centeredness must be. Why? Because we all need the Gospel. Even mom’s and grandma’s. Even dad’s and grandpa’s. Even 5 year old grandchildren and everyone in between. We all need to be reminded that we are not the hero of the story… Jesus is! We’re supporting actors and actresses. The best thing that we can do for others is to be a trail of stardust that points people to the superstar. To be a candle that shines a light for Christ. To be a faithful follower that says that I am here for a purpose bigger than myself and even if things don’t go the way that I expect, I know that there’s a Savior who holds me in His hand and He already has tomorrow in His plan.

Whenever we live with that type of mindset and we allow that truth to permeate our actions and thoughts, we leave a legacy of faith in the Lord that changes not only our lives but the lives of future generations of people as they see what God has done and what God promises to do in the days to come in His Word. This is the example of the early church leader Augustine. Augustine would go on to be a leader of a church in Northern Africa but he wasn’t always a faithful Christian… In fact, he was quite the rebel in his younger years. His mother, Monica, prayed every day for her son and she prayed that God would grab hold of his rebellious heart. Eventually, she sailed from northern Africa to Italy to talk with him and beg him to simply attend church. Augustine honored her wishes and began attending church and heard the Gospel preached by another church leader, Ambrose of Millan. Fast forward several decades and Augustine was not just a follower of Christ, he was a leader in the church fighting against heresy in the 5th century led by a man named Pelagius.

Augustine’s mother played an instrumental role in her son’s conversion simply because she cared about his faith. She cared enough about his faith to not only pray but she acted on it. She gave him a come to Jesus meeting and said, “Hey… it’s time to come to church.” Her faith made a life-changing impact on her son. Do we care enough about the eternal destination of our loved ones to have those types of Gospel conversations with them? Until the Gospel changes our lives and until we have saving faith in Christ, we won’t leave behind this type of legacy.

Conclusion

A couple of application points as we close:

If you are a mother and you get discouraged - don’t worry. God has called you to this task and He is faithful! Trust in Him.

This doesn’t make the difficult moments easier, but you can understand that there is grace whenever you fall short. More than that, you can take some of the pressure off of yourself as God is the author and creator of life - He knew exactly what He was doing whenever He made you a mother and He prepares people for those tasks. He doesn’t make mistakes and He has a purpose in all things! Because of that, trust in Him. Read His Word. Point your family to Jesus Christ and love on them as Christ loves you!

If you are not a mother or if you did not have a Christian mother growing up - understand that God has a purpose for you!

Mother’s Day can be hard for a variety of reasons… One of which is because you fail to see how you fit into this day and it brings you sadness and grief. Have you ever heard of a woman named Lottie Moon? Lottie Moon was in love at a time but felt God calling her to overseas missions… She didn’t marry or have kids and she became one of the most faithful and dedicated missionaries in the history of the church. Everyone has a different calling in life and while we certainly have dreams and society has this ideal picture of how things should work, please know that God knows best and that God has a unique purpose just for you. Don’t conform to the ways of this world to fit in with others - be transformed and follow the Holy Spirit as Romans 12:1-2 say.

If you are a husband, encourage your wife to continue to be an Atypical woman.

Being a new father and a husband to a new mother, I’ve seen firsthand the amount of time, dedication, blood, sweat, and tears that go into raising a baby. It’s been estimated that if stay at home moms were compensated for their hourly work they would make in the ballpark of $175,000… Other wives are holding 5-6 different hats between family, work, house, schedule obligations, groceries, and everything else… Husbands, this is a thankless job more times than not. There’s not always check to be had at the end of the pay period and if there is it can feel woefully short. There’s rarely a “thank you” to be given by the child or coworker either. Husband, be the one who encourages and supports your wife. Encourage her to continue to work hard and to point your children to Jesus Christ.

If you are a child, don’t settle for ordinary - be exactly what Christ has called you to be.

Though the world might tell you that you have to be this or that, focus on who Christ is calling you to be today in His Word!

The Psalmist says

Psalm 139:13–14 CSB

13 For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well.

Ephesians 2:10 CSB

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

Your life has purpose. Wherever you’re at today: 5, 25, 55, 85. You are here for a reason and that reason is to know Christ and to make Him known! To glorify God. To be salt and light. Let’s normalize talking about the true hero of the story… Not you or I. Not even grandma or grandpa. But Jesus Christ. Let’s normalize having conversations about our faith in God with our family like Susanna Wesley did with her 19 kids. Jesus is worth it! He is the hero and He stands today and calls us all - even mom’s - to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow after Him. Have you responded to the Gospel today?