In Honor of Motherhood Images

 

 

Download the Notes:

05_13_2018_InHonorOfMotherhood_DonRuhl

 

 

In Honor of Motherhood

Some ideas for this sermon come from a tract by John Waddey, Motherhood

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • May 13, In the year of our Lord, 2018

Prelude:

  1. We owe our mothers to such an extent
    1. that we could never repay the debt we owe them.
    2. I do not know that they are looking for repayment.
  2. We honor mothers because God created them.
    1. Genesis 2 shows that God created the first mother:

      22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man (Gen 2.22).
    2. Earlier in the biblical record,
      1. Moses showed that God gave the woman to the man
      2. that they together might populate the earth:

        28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth…” (Gen 1.28).

Persuasion:

  1. Being a Mother Is a Gift of God
    1. Psalm 127 makes a wonderful statement about children,
      1. hence about motherhood:

        3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
        The fruit of the womb is a reward.
        (Psa 127.3)
      2. Motherhood is a stewardship from God.
        1. To fulfill that sacred responsibility,
        2. He especially designed the woman
          1. to be able to conceive and to bear children and
            1. to nurture and
            2. to raise them.
    2. To be a mother is a holy privilege.
      1. In Genesis 4, Eve showed that she understood
        1. how a woman and God join together
        2. in making another human:

          1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD” (Gen 4.1). 

          1. Of course, the man was involved, but
          2. she knew that ultimately the whole process was of God.
      2. In John 16 Jesus spoke of this tremendous phenomenon.
        1. Surprise, surprise, He created the amazing phenomenon:

          21 “A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world” (John 16.21).
    3. When God blesses a woman with a child
      1. we observe a thing of beauty in her life.
      2. First Timothy 5 shows that motherhood,
        1. which should happen within marriage,
        2. is honorable:

          14 Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house, give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully (1Ti 5.14).
      3. Genesis 1 shows that God created motherhood:

        28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth…” (Gen 1.28).
  2. Affirmations of Truth Regarding Motherhood and Birth
    1. All human life is sacred and must be protected by society.
      1. Mankind is made in God’s image (Gen 1.27).
      2. As the Creator and Author of life (Acts 17.25),
        1. only God has the right
        2. to take a human life.
      3. He himself attached the death penalty to the crime of murder (Gen 9.6).
    2. A child need not be planned to be loved and wanted.
      1. How many of us can be certain we were a planned birth?
      2. The idea of a planned child
        1. has been given to us more by Planned Parenthood, than anyone.
        2. Thus they reason that if a child is unplanned, it should be aborted.
    3. Poverty is no crime, nor does it make motherhood shameful.
      1. Mary and Joseph were poor.
      2. Yet how they blest our world because they let Jesus live.
    4. If necessary adoption is always preferable to abortion.
    5. Abortion is a horrid, barbaric evil
      1. for it the sheds innocent human blood.
      2. According to Proverbs 6 God hates the shedding of innocent blood,
        1. whereas the opposite would be true,
        2. that He loves those who save innocent blood,
          1. such as the mother who does bear children:

            16 These six things the LORD hates,
            Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
            17 A proud look,
            A lying tongue,
            Hands that shed innocent blood…
            (Pro 6.16–17).
  3. We Need Mothers
    1. Like Eve who saw her child as a gift from God – Gen 4.1

      1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD” (Genesis 4.1).
    2. Like Sarah who accepted motherhood later in life – Gen 21.6–7

      6 And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.” 7 She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age” (Genesis 21.6–7).
    3. Like Jochabed who protected her son and gave the world Moses – Exo 2.1–10

      2 So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank (Exodus 2.2–3).
    4. Like Hannah who dedicated her son to the Lord – 1Sa 1.26–28

      26 And she said, “O my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the LORD. 27 For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. 28 Therefore I also have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the LORD.” So they worshiped the LORD there (1 Samuel 1.26–28).
    5. Like Mary who accepted motherhood, although poor – Luke 2.22–24

      22 Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the LORD”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons” (Luke 2.22–24).
    6. Like Eunice who taught her child from his earliest moments – 2Ti 1.3–5

      3 I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, 5 when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also (2 Timothy 1.3–5).

Exhortation:

  1. Today, we honor you our mothers.
    1. Our mothers have accepted God’s gift
    2. of being His partner in giving the world the new life of tomorrow.
      1. We remind ourselves of our duty
      2. in helping those who make their commitment to life.
    3. May we not fail or forsake them!
  2. The best thing that a mother can do for her children
    1. is to be a Christian.
    2. Mothers, when you follow Jesus Christ,
      1. you not only enhance your motherhood, but
      2. you speak volumes to your children
        1. about what ranks supreme in life and
        2. about where you get your guidance for motherhood.
  3. [Use the Ethiopian to teach how to become a Christian]