The Mother Chosen By God (Mother's Day Message 05092021) Judges 13:1-6

The Mother Chosen By God (Mother's Day Message 05092021)

Text: Judges 13:1-6

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Introduction:

If you wonder why the world today is in such turmoil. If it seems that right has been turned into wrong and immorality and perversion has been elevated to the highest forms of personal choice and freedom, then wonder no more.  The answer is not in our schools, not in our universities not even in our government courts, it is in our homes. It is in our families. God's design and purpose for the family has been denied, denigrated and disregarded and we see the consequence in the riots, the corruption and the hatred that has become the norm for our modern society. It seems every element of a stable and safe society is being attacked and torn down. Marriage, the institution meant by God to be the building block of all human civilization has been almost eliminated. More couples are living together than are married and they have been brainwashed to believe that fornication is the equivalent of love. Even worse, men are marrying men, women marrying women and sometimes men marry women who then decide they don’t want to be men or women and switch genders. Families should be safe havens not social experiments or centers of chaos. And if families should be a safe haven, then Mothers are the very core of that safety by the God’s design.

So lets ignore the world out there this morning and go back to God’s plan, God’s design and God’s choice for changing the world, Mothers. That’s right mothers are that important to God, that He often begins with them when the world needs a good kick in the seat of the pants.

If you are a Christian, you know this. The famous preacher G. Campbell Morgan had four sons in his family and all of them became preachers. Once a friend of the family asked, “So tell me with all these preachers in the family, who is the best?” The eldest son, looked at his brothers, looked at his dad and then looked back at the friend and said, "Mother."

Now I thought to begin by giving you a deep, theologically correct, historically accurate definition of a mother, but then I thought who needs that? How about instead a checklist of how you can know you are one of the special breed, called A “modern day Mom.”  You can know you are up to the battle by the see yourself in following checklist. 

You know you’re a real Mom when: 

The kids are fighting, and you threaten to lock them in a room together and not let them out until someone's bleeding or unconscious.

Peanut butter and jelly is eaten as a meal at least once a day, by your kids and by you.

You're willing to kiss your child's boo-boo, regardless of what body part it happens to be on.

Your baby's pacifier falls on the floor and you give it back to her after you suck the dirt off, because you are too busy to wash it off.

Spit is indeed your number one cleaning agent. 

You count the sprinkles on each kid's cupcake to make sure they're equal.

You retreat to the bathroom to be alone and ignore the little fingers reaching under the door.

Your child throws up in public and you catch it, but if someone else's kid throws up at a birthday party, you aren’t fazed just keep on eating birthday cake.

Your child insists that you read 'Once Upon a Potty' out loud in the lobby of the doctor office, and you do it.

You hire a sitter because you haven't been out with your husband in ages, then spend half the night talking about and checking on the kids.

You hope ketchup is a vegetable because it's the only one your child eats.

You hear your mother's voice coming out of your mouth when you say, 'Not in your good clothes,  Do you think we are made of money, You’re going to fall out of that tree and break your neck or Do you have clean underwear on, because you might get hit by a bus and have to go to the hospital.”

Finally, You know you are a mom, ready for the battle of rasing a family when, “You stop criticizing the way your mother raised you and realize how smart she really was.”

The Choice of God -Judges 13:1-3

1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. 2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. 3 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.

Manoah's Wife Is Chosen

This is of course the story of Samson, the greatest fighter of Israel’s history, but I don’t want to talk about Samson. I want to talk about his mother. A mother who is not even named in scripture and yet this nameless woman was chosen by God when He determined to change things for His people.

In the story we read that once again Israel is being judged by God for her national sins. God allowed the Philistines to oppress the nation for forty years, longer than any other oppression. The Philistines were a powerful sea-going people with colonies all throughout the Mediterranean Ocean. They were one of the first to move from bronze to iron and it gave them a major advantage when it came to fighting.

Toward the end of that time our story begins with the wife of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan in the village of Zorah near that Philistine border. The Angel of the Lord appears unto Manoah’s wife, not the husband, but the wife. This angel, I believe this was once again God the son in pre-incarnate state, appearing as He had to Moses, Joshua, Gideon and now Samson’s mother.

Notice something unique in this appearance in chap1 Jdg 1: 17-20 And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour? 18 And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? 19 So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. 20  For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.

The Angel of the Lord would not give his name for it was secret. The name of Jesus was revealed first to Mary the virgin mother of Jesus Christ, it was not yet time to reveal it. The Angel tells them to make an offering and then ascends in the flame up to heaven. A type or symbol of the offering that Jesus himself would one day be by offering himself as a sacrifice for sin and then ascending to heaven 40 days later. In the book of Revelation, we read that Jesus has a secret name that no man knows but himself. This angel, this messenger is Jesus.

What we see in this amazing story is that God himself chose this family, this mother to raise a child who would be a great man, a judge of Israel and a deliverer of his people.

 Mothers, God has Chosen You

Its not likely any mothers here have had such a epiphanic event in their own life before the birth of any of their children, but even though you weren’t visited by an angel and watched as He ascended back to heaven, I want to remind mothers today that just like Samson’s mother and all the other mothers of heroes in the Bible, you also have been chosen by God.

Every mother is chosen by God, either by design or by providence and each mother has the potential to raise up a child that can change the world they live in. History may not make note of the changes but the people who are touched by God’s heroes of providence will.

Every parent should understand that they have been given this opportunity this responsible by God.

Psalm 127:3–4 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

Psalms 113:9  He maketh the barren woman to keep house,(to live in, watch over, keep together a home) and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.

Mothers you do not need divine revelation from God to know that God has blessed you and chosen you.

Illustration: Why God Made Mothers

Children especially know that God has a special calling for moms. These are some answers to the question, “Why God made Moms” from elementary school age children. They were asked the following questions:

Why did God make mothers? 

1.  She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is. 

2.  Mostly to clean the house. 

3.  To help us out of there when we were getting born. 

How did God make mothers? 

1.  He used dirt, just like for the rest of us. 

2.  Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring. 

3.  God made my Mom just the same like he made me.  He just used bigger parts. 

What ingredients are mothers made of? 

1.  God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean. 

2.  They had to get their start from men's bones.  Then they mostly use string, I think. 

Why did God give you your mother and not some other Mom? 

1.  We're related. 

2.  God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me. 

Transition:

After God chooses Samson’s mother, he also give here a charge to keep.

The Charge of a Mother -Judges 13:4

Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:

 The Angel Gives God's Charge

Samson’s mother was to keep herself and in doing so she would also keep her child.

She was not to drink wine nor strong drink. She was to keep herself from any unclean thing. (Food and infection.) These things were done for the health of her child and to establish the kind of child she would have even before he was born.

God understood that the child would be influenced, protected and shaped by the mother even before that child was born. The mother’s charge began not when the child was delivered but from the moment the child was conceived.

Have you ever been to an ordination service for a preacher or a deacon and heard the charge to that preacher given in a sermon? Well, now let me give and even more important charge to even more important people in God’s plan. Let me apply God’s charge to Samson’s mother to all mothers.

 The Preacher Gives God's Charge

We see several things in this passage from God viewpoint concerning this unborn child and I believe all unborn children.

First, we see that in God’s eyes a mother is responsible for what she does to her own body because it directly affects her unborn child. That is something only our divine Creator could know.

Secondly, we also see that a mother is expected by God to make sacrifices for the good of her child.

I realize that among Christians these things are not shocking but, in a world, where abortion is considered a right and under the present administration something to be proud of and where young children are left alone and unprotected so that their mother can go out drinking and partying, these things need to be reemphasized.

So here is me reemphasizing, God holds mothers and fathers accountable for the welfare of their children before they are born and until they leave the home. They are yours to care for, spiritually, emotionally and physically. It is hard, demanding and most times unappreciated work, but it is not unnoticed. For whoever else may not see your sacrifice and care, God sees, God knows, and God will reward. And perhaps the greatest reward is a child grown to be an adult who loves the Lord, attends His house and raise up your grandchildren in a way that you know God is honored.

Proverbs 31:28-31 28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praiseth her. 29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. 30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

The greatest work of her hands is her children and that is why mothers are so important in God’s plans.

Transition

How important and even powerful are mothers? Well in God’s hands they can change a nation.

The Change of a Nation Judges 13:5

For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

Samson The Catalyst

The Lord told Samson’s mother that this child would begin to deliver Israel.

What Samson began against the powerful Philistine nation, Samuel and Saul would continue and David would finally finish. But God’s plan for that deliverance began with Samson’s mother.

After 40 years of oppression, near slavery, a man yet unborn would rise to do great things for God and for the people of God, despite his own personal weaknesses and flaws.

What a great inspiration for this mother to have all the days she is raising her child. It would keep her going through illness and difficulty. It would inspire her when times were the most difficult and dark. It would strengthen her when she was at her weakest and most vulnerable.

She knew that this child was a gift from God and he will change their world and help their people.

Can One Child change the world?

We all know that the answer is yes. Most of the world’s greatest changes have been brought about by just one man, most for evil but many for great good.

Hitler nearly destroyed a world and was responsible for the death of millions upon millions of people. Jews through the holocaust and millions of others through World War II.

One man started WWI with an assassination of a King.

One man named Darwin invented the theory of evolution giving mankind a scientific way to deny God and much of today’s education, science and life has been shaped by that false belief system.

One perverted man named Kinsey, wrote a book on sex that seemed to legitamize any perversion as normal. He is responsible for the modern day Sexual Revolution and all the pain, suffering and perversion that has come with it.

But also remember, that Noah, believed God and humanity was saved, that Abraham believed God and the nation of Israel was born. Joseph remained faithful and his nation was saved from starvation.

And above all others one man whose birth was also foretold by an angel to his mother, came into this sinful world, born of a virgin and died on the cross. One man who changed not just the religious world but history and even eternity. One man named Jesus born into this world by the most famous and blessed of all women Mary.

Luke 1:28-33 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Mothers, grandmothers, parents God has chosen you to raise your children and you also must keep before your eyes and heart the significance of that reality. God has chosen you, and He can and will use your child to do good perhaps even great things. Children are like pebbles thrown into the pond of life and the ripples they send out affect that life.

You should believe that they have the potential to change this world for the better and for the cause of Christ. It may not be in a way that history will record but they will change it, for better or for worse they will change the world, just by being in it. The good that they do will very much depend upon what you believe about God’s calling in your life as a mother and parent.

Illustration: Susan Wesley, mother of John and Charles

Let me give you one last story in the hopes of inspiring you, not to mimic, but to see the potential for your influence in the lives of your children.

Let me tell you the story of Susannah Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley. She was the youngest of twenty-five children, and she had nineteen of her own, ten of those died in infancy. Perhaps because of the loss, Susannah invested herself into her family. She spent one hour each day praying for her children, but did not stop at just praying. She also took each child aside for a full hour every week to discuss spiritual matters with him or her. Her most famous children, the hymn writer Charles and the preacher John, were used of God to change the world of the 1700s throughout England and much of America.

Here are a few rules she followed in training her children:

1. Subdue self-will in a child and thus work together with God to save his soul.

2. Teach them to pray as soon as he can speak.

3. Give him nothing he cries for and only what is good for him if he asks for it politely.

4. To prevent lying, punish no fault which is freely confessed, but never allow a rebellious, sinful act to go unnoticed.

5. Commend and reward good behavior.

6. Strictly observe all promises you have made to your child.

In one of her devotions, she answered the question, “What is sin?” She answered, "Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or removes your desire for spiritual things, that is sin to you."

Transition

God doesn’t call you to be Samson’s Mom or Susannah Wesley but He has called you and if you will trust Him, He will use you in amazing ways.

Conclusion:

What this passage teaches us is that when God wants to change the world, he first choses a mother.

He did it with Hannah, Samuel mother. He did it with Samson’s mother, He did it with Mary, Jesus’ mother. And I believe he is still doing it today. Great people come from great mothers and God is still choosing great mothers today to raise great children to change the world, change communities, change hearts and shape the next generation.

This my first Mother’s Day after my Mom has gone to heaven and if you asked me if God had chosen her, guided her and used her to make me, guide me and show me how to be used of God, I would tell you that my Mom was a testament of God’s existence in a very troubled, broken family and that without her, I would not have made it through. I know God used my Mom and I believe scripture tells us that if we just look and listen that God can use all Moms. It is His plan, it is His desire and it is His most tender yet powerful design.