True Motherhood
TEXT: Exodus 2:1-10
TOPIC: True Motherhood
Pastor Bobby Earls, First Baptist Church, Center Point
May 14, 2006 – Mother’s Day
Motherhood is as old as time itself. In the beginning, when God created Adam, He also created Eve, the mother of all living.
A mother is the Bible’s most honored woman, and great stress is laid upon the influence of mothers. Ezekiel 16:44 says, “as is the mother, so is her daughter.” The word “mother” or “mothers” appear in the Bible almost 300 times.
Where there was an Abraham, there was a Sarah. Where there was a Issac, there was a Rebekah; where there was a Jacob there was a Rachel. God has always had mothers He used to help shape human history.
So it is fitting that today, we set aside a time to pay tribute and honor to the wonderful and precious mothers God has given us.
In doing so, let’s look at one of the oldest accounts of motherhood recorded in the Scriptures, the story of Jochebed, the mother of Moses.
Please take your bible this morning and turn to the second chapter of the second book in the bible, the book called Exodus, Exodus chapter 2. Would you stand with me to give honor to the reading of God’s holy word?
EXODUS 2:1-10, NKJV
1And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. 2So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. 3But 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. 4And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.
5Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. 6And when she had opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?” 8And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother. 9Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
True motherhood is realized in the mother who properly nurtures her children and as a result, is graciously rewarded.
I. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF TRUE MOTHERHOOD, Exodus 2:9a
Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her,
“Take this child away and nurse him for me,”
· The Educating of Scriptural Knowledge
and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:15
· The Employment of Parental Discipline
He who spares his rod hates his son,
But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.
Proverbs 13:24
· The Exercise of a Consistent Christian Example
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
Psalms 1:1-3
THE SCULPTOR
I took a piece of plastic clay
And idly fashioned it one day
And as my fingers pressed it, still
It bent and yielded to my will.
I came again, when days were passed
The bit of clay was hard at last
The form I gave it, still it bore
But I could change that form no more.
Then I took a piece of living clay
And gently formed it, day by day
And molded with my power and art
A young child’s soft and yielding heart.
I came again when years were gone
It was a man I looked upon
He still that early impress bore
And I could change it, nevermore.
Author unknown
We need mothers who can mold young lives with Christ at the center. Mothers, our children are looking at our lives and using them as a pattern.
A survey taken of teenage girls showed that 85% said they wanted to be like their mothers.
A little boy went alone to buy his mother a present. He told the clerk that he wanted a slip for his mother. “What size do you need?” asked the sales clerk. “I don’t know,” said the boy, “but she’s almost perfect.” With that the clerk gave him a size 34.
After Mother’s Day the mother brought the garment back for an exchange. She needed a size 54.
· The Encouragement of Faithful Attendance to the House of God
18But Samuel ministered before the Lord, even as a child, wearing a linen ephod. 19Moreover his mother used to make him a little robe, and bring it to him year by year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice…… 21 Meanwhile the child Samuel grew before the Lord.
1 Samuel 2:18-19
· The Example of a Praying Mother
11And the Angel of the Lord said to her:
“Behold, you are with child,
And you shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
Because the Lord has heard your affliction.
Genesis 17:18
II. THE REWARD OF TRUE MOTHERHOOD, Exodus 2:9b
and I will give you your wages.”
· The Satisfaction of Seeing Your Efforts Crowned with Success,
Her children rise up and call her blessed;
Her husband also, and he praises her:
Proverbs 31:28
· The Contentment of a Clear Conscience,
Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
· The Hope of Heavenly Rewards,
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Matthew 6:19-20
“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me,
to give to every one according to his work.
Revelation 22:12