Motherhood: the Grace of a Personal, Proactive Proxy (outline)

“Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.”

What is the goal of this sermon?

The goal of this sermon is ultimately to challenge every hearer to personally, proactively offer themselves fully and sacrificially because Jesus Christ can save to the uttermost

Why do we need this goal?

We function as if our status is our life

We tend to serve based on biological connection

We have lost sight of true sacrifice

We minimize common grace and miss its purpose

“God even allows people who couldn’t care less about Him to reveal something of His own goodness, whether they acknowledge him or not. This is called common grace.” - Mez McConnell book on Service, Chapter 2.

How will you accomplish this goal?

What is this common grace? Where does it come from? What do I need to do about it?

Body:

What is a gracious reality in motherhood?

Hebrews 7:27 - Brief background of passage

A Common Thread with Jesus

There are four words that reveal three principles. He offered up himself.

“He” tells us that what Jesus did to save is very personal.

“Offered” tells us that Jesus actively did this. Jesus was pro-active.

“Himself”, in the context of this verse, tells us that He was a proxy (a substitionary sacrifice).

A Common Thread with Good Mothers

Illustration: Dateline: “The Blue Blanket Mystery”

Answer: The common thread is that good mothers are personal, proactive; and good mothers are willing to offer themselves on behalf of their children.

App:

We should thank God for glimpses of His common grace still in our world.

Transition

If this common grace of personal, proactive, and proxy qualities are seen in mothers, where did it come from?

What is the Source of this gracious reality in motherhood?

There are three questions that I think we should consider when considering the source of motherhood. First:

Common Grace of Good Motherhood = Universal (international)

Illustration: Great Aunt in Spain

Common Grace of Good Motherhood = Timeless (generational)

Illustration: Hannah in I Samuel 1.

Common Grace of Good Motherhood = Priceless

Illustration: Good mothers in 3rd World Countries

Common Grace Qualities = Source Qualities

Universal = big enough

Timeless = live long enough

Priceless = inestimable worth

Illustration: Baseball game, Sun, Affects, Evidences — allow us to consider the nature of the Sun…light/warmth…When we consider the evidences, we can conclude some things about the nature of the source...

We can safely conclude that a timeless, priceless, universal source is God himself.

Exodus 34:6-7 “6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”

Common Grace of God in Creation

God is not aloof, but he is personal. God is not passive, but he is active. God is not selfish, but he is selfless.

Answer and meaning : The Source of this gracious reality is the good God. Common grace comes from Perfect Grace.

App:

Exodus 34:8 “8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.”

Worship Him not His Gift(s)

...we must be careful not to make idols out of identities that are part of God‘s common grace gifts as the creator. We are to worship the creator and not the gifts of the creator.

Romans 1:25 “25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”

Better Motherhood is Not the Answer

This also means, that if you think the answer to all of your problems is learning to be a better mother, then you have a tendency and probably already are worshiping the status of motherhood.

“Without the saving work of Jesus for us and in us, we will always default to self-worship.” [Mez McConnel, First Steps Book on Serving, Chapter 2]

Transition

What is this common grace - personal, proactive proxy qualities in motherhood. Where did it come from — God. How can we be sure?

How can we be certain of this gracious Source?

[that this is the source of this common thread in motherhood]

Context - Hebrews 7:25 “25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

Context - Hebrews 7:27

Jesus is Personal

As the author does this, he points out three particular truths about Jesus Christ.

Who is he?

He is sinless

He did not have to offer any sacrifice for his own sins

He is distinct from earthly HP, mothers, mankind…etc

I Peter 1:19 “19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”

Jesus is Proactive

Was he passive or active?

NOT divine child abuse.

In addition he offered himself as the sinless individual.

Hebrews 7:26 “26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;”

Holy - devout

Harmless - innocent, guileless

Undefiled - pure

Separate - distinguished

Jesus earned LIFE, but He received DEATH. WHY?

Jesus is the Proxy

He is the Substitute.

Motherhood has elements of common grace BUT NOT TO THIS DEGREE.

Romans 5:6-8 “6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Common grace is absolutely insufficient to save us;

to pay for our sins completely;

to pay for our sins at all,

Common grace is sufficient to point us to our real need.

Answer/Meaning: We can be certain of the Source (God) of this grace because we can examine Jesus Christ.

Illustration: Genesis 45:26-28 “26 And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not. 27 And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: 28 And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.”

App:

Will you take a moment and tell yourself something: “I believe that God is the source of common grace because in Jesus I see Perfect Grace?”

Transition:

What is this common grace? Where does it come from? What do I need to do about it?

How should I respond because of the certainty of this gracious Source?

Illustration: Idiomatic expression: “cannot see the forest for the trees...” - we’ve seen details, but cannot miss the big picture.

“What do these qualities tell us and command of us?”

(i) Point us to the reality of a Perfect Ideal.

How can we speak of these being good, unless consider the opposite.

(ii) Point us to honest Self-Reflection vs. Perfect Ideal

Personal, proactive, and proxy works NOT in comparison to others

But in comparison to the Perfect standard...

Hebrews 3:1 “1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;”

(iii) Point us to Probing Questions:

“Are the consequences of all those who don’t fulfill these ideals perfectly?”

Bad vs. Really Bad

Good vs. Partly Good — should there be consequences?

Depends on the Giver of those graces.

Do we believe that he is partly Perfect or completely Perfect?

If He is completely Perfect, what does He reserve the right to?

“Are we accountable to Him for these graces?”

Acts 17:24–32 (KJV 1900)

24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things...Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. 30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

App:

Carefully weigh what and how God sees you, not based on how you feel but on who He is and what He deserves.

Quote:

All of this motherhood stuff can be so heavy, can’t it? Life-crushing, heart-wrenching, back-breaking heavy. Can you feel it? Can you feel the heart weight? It is exhausting. We can’t do it. We can’t be the perfect mom. Our dreams of having our praises sung on a gilded Mother’s Day card fall flat because we know the words would be hypocritical at best. We can’t control our children’s hearts. We can’t fix their problems and give them joy. We can’t eradicate rebellion from their wandering hearts. We can’t even truly fulfill our role as mother well because of our own pride and selfishness. - L. Wareing, https://cometogbc.com/a-mothers-rest/

He deserves Perfection, but we cannot offer it...

If at any point the mark is missed, it is missed at every point.

Comparison is not one with another but you with Him.

Illustration: Kid’s swim test to see if they could swim in the deep end.

Both those who are are bad and those who are partly bad at good motherhood will receive the eternal consequence if you don’t meet up.

Quote:

Since God’s truth is that none of us are good, as moms, we have to admit the fact that there are times when we are bad moms. This is not because we want to be, but because it is our nature. - Barb Harville, https://cometogbc.com/all-mothers-are-bad/

(iv) Point us to Complete Grace

Cause us to search for Perfect grace, full grace, complete grace, sufficient grace.

This is a grace that allows all fully bad or partly bad records to be completely replaced by His grace. If you miss by a little or by a lot, you miss completely.

This is a grace that allows full forgiveness for all of our badness or for part of our badness.

This is a grace to which the common grace was pointing.

This is a grace that requires someone else to fully pay for our badness or partial badness.

This is a grace that requires pro-activity on the part of the One giving it.

This is a grace that is given from a divine Person.

This is the grace that is only found in Jesus Christ.

Will you stop trusting in your good motherhood, and start trusting in Jesus so that you might have eternal life?

(v) Point us to the Only Way to Endure as a Christian (personally & corporately)

Hebrews 13:15 “15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”

Quote:

God has chosen me, with all my inadequacies, to be the mother of our children. He has given me the opportunity to be used as an instrument of his grace and demonstrate Christ and His sufficiency, not my own. - Krista Barnett, https://cometogbc.com/how-the-gospel-changed-my-view-of-motherhood/

Christians, who have been radically changed by the personal work of Jesus, should be personally involved in the service of others — so as to not leave it for others to fulfill.

Christians, who have been radically changed by the pro-active work of Jesus, should not wait to be asked to serve the body (corporate worship or mainstream service)

Christians, who have been radically changed by the substitutionary offering of Jesus, should willingly sacrifice their comfort, their bodies, their time, and their resources for the advancement of others.

Motherhood and the qualities of Christ should be exercised as part of the lives of other Christians and not just your own clan.

App:

How should we then respond?

Answer/Meaning: (1) By refusing our own goodness, receiving Christ’s perfect goodness, and living the personal, proactive, proxy life.

Quote:

I want to live that life knowing that these earthly things are simply temporary. At best, they are tools for the Lord’s use. - M. Semenov, https://cometogbc.com/easily-missed/

Conclusion:

Christ-centered endurance means that I cling to Jesus as my personal, pro-active proxy; who then enables me to personally, proactively live the proxy life.

What are response questions for RH?

Will you refuse your partial goodness and receive Jesus today as your complete grace?

Because of Jesus’ personal, proactive, substitution, will you devote your life to this kind of service?

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