God's Models of Maternal Love 1 Sam 1:9-10, 2Tim 1:2-5, Mark 7:24-3
God's Models of Maternal Love
1 Sam 1:9-10, 2Tim 1:2-5, Mark 7:24-30
Introduction:
It was Mothers Day and Mom was surprised by her 7-year old son with breakfast that morning. He had made her coffee! As only a mother could she drank what was the worst cup of coffee in her life. When she got to the bottom, in amazement she stared at three of those little green army men in her cup. Puzzled but not wanting to embarrass her son, she asked " Honey, what are the army men doing in my coffee?" Her son answered "Mommy, it says on TV, the best part of waking up is soldiers in your cup!"
An acquaintance of mine who is a physician told this story about her then four-year-old daughter. On the way to preschool, the doctor had left her stethoscope on the car seat, and her little girl picked it up and began playing with it. Be still my heart, thought my friend, my daughter wants to follow in my footsteps! Then the child spoke into the instrument: "Welcome to McDonald's. - May I take you order?"
The Bible is God's revelation of all things that pertain to us as His highest creation. All that we need to know, first about Jesus in who we have salvation by grace through faith. But the Bible is not only concerned with the life after this life, but also with the life this side of eternity. There are few things about our present life that God's word doesn't address. Character, Qualities, family, business ethics, it's all in there. Smartphones. __ well that's not in the Bible But all you need to know about smart phones is they don't make you smart, just the apposite and quit using them in church.
One thing the Bible is very detailed about is Parenthood, Fathers and Mothers are exhaustively given instructions and principles and guidelines. God created the family and made it the cornerstone of all society and the church. And God made mothers the cornerstone of the family. This morning let's look at some models of motherhood that God's word presents to us.
A Model of Investing - 1 Samuel 1:9-12
So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the LORD. 10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. 11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.
Hannah Invests Herself
Hannah’s story:
Hannah and her husband lived in the times of the Judges, one of the worst times in the history of Israel. The book of Judges sums it up with the phrase. Judges 12-25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
She is without a child and to her and in that time this was a terrible shame, as we hear in her prayer it was an “affliction.” To Hannah being a mother was the fulfillment of her purpose in life, the reason she had been created. As Adam and Eve, the father and mother of mankind, where told to multiply and replenish the earth, Hannah also knew this was part of her reason for being.
Yet that yearning, that purpose is unfulfilled and becomes a deep sorrow in her life, as the KJV so eloquently phrases it, a bitterness of soul. If it was not hard enough, her husband’s second wife “provoked her sore and vexed her” (In the Bible we never see a marriage with more than one wife ever being happy. It was never the Lord’s design and it would always cause stress and unhappiness.)
Elkanah and his family travel to Shiloh, where the tabernacle was set up during the time of the Judges, and they sacrifice and worship there, probably at Passover. On one of these trips Hannah makes a vow to God.
Hannah makes a mother’s vow to God. 1 Samuel 1:11 O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head
There were two parts to this vow. The son would be given to the Lord all his life and no razor shall come upon his head.
This was a dedication of the child to God’s service in the tabernacle and that he would be a Nazerite, a separated one, marked like Samson by his long uncut hair, never drinking wine or eating anything from the grape vine and never touching any dead thing. He was to be set aside, sanctified to the Living God and wholly dependent on God no one and nothing but Jehovah the God of Israel.
That prayer is answered in 1 Samuel 1:19-20 And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her. 20 Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.
God answered Hannah’s prayer and in response Hannah name her son, Samuel or Shemuel which means "his name is El" or his name is God. Samuel was named after God who had heard his mother’s prayer.
For the next few years Hannah poured all her love and time into her son, nothing else took priority over this sacred task.
1 Samuel 1:22 But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide for ever.
From the birth of Samuel until he would be weaned, which might have been as long as 4 or 5 years old in a time when there were no bottles, Hannah devoted herself to Sameul.
Finally, probably when Samuel was only about 5 or 6, Hannah fulfilled her vow 1 Samuel 1:24-28 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the LORD in Shiloh: and the child was young. 25 And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. 26 And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD. 27 For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: 28 Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.
Even though Hannah gave Samuel to the Lord to be raised by Eli the high priest she was not not done investing her life in her child.
She had given all her time and all of herself to him when he was at home.
When she took him to the tabernacle she had given him love of God, 1 Samuel 2:2-3 There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. 3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
She gave her continuous love in the symbol of a new coat every year when they would come to sacrifice at Shiloh. 1 Samuel 2:18-19 But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. 19 Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
The 1st Model of Maternal Love Is Investing Yourself
Just like Hannah, mother’s your time is limited. We don’t know how long that time is but we do know that it will not last forever. One day your child will leave. And the only time you have to pour your love into your child is right now. Hannah realized this and nothing else would take the place of that time of intense love.
Hannah made a vow to give Samuel to the Lord, but whether you realize it or not, all children are a gift from God and in the end will be reclaimed by God.
Psalms 127:3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
It must have been so hard for Hannah to see her young child claimed by God and given fully into His service, but it is much harder to see child leave the home, reject God and be claimed by this world with all it pain, sorrow and sin.
Ways to invest yourself in your child.
Show affection to your child, don't be afraid to say I love you or to hug their neck or affectionately pat their arm.
Play with you child, never be to old to build sandcastles or drink imaginary tea or wrestle on the floor. Play is the way you enter your child's world and show them it's a world you enjoy.
Listen to your child, turn off the TV, get your face out of your smartphone (some children don’t know what their parents look like without the glow of a lcd screen on their face.) look into your child's eyes and sincerely listen to what they have to say. No stronger message can you send of what child means to you than to listen intently to them. (Lauren will grab my chin and turn my face to look into hers if she thinks I'm not paying close enough attention.)
Include your children in your plans and activities. They are people not luggage or decorations, they need to feel involved in the things that involve them. They shouldn't to be the boss, but they should be made to realize that their opinion is important to you, because they are important to you.
Remember they are children. They are not miniature adults sent to drive us crazy. They did not choose their parents or their siblings. In reality they usually act better than most of our coworkers and friends. Be patient yet firm when mistakes are made. Correct the mistake without making the child feel like they were a mistake.
Discipline your children the way God’s word tells us to Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Molding in Clay
I took a piece of plastic clay I came again when days were past;
|
I took a piece of living clay I came again when years were gone;
|
A Model of Instructing - 2 Timothy 1:2-5
To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; 4 Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy; 5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
Eunice and Lois teach Timothy
Here we learn of two women who were great influences in the life of Timothy, a mother and grandmother filling their son and grandson with their knowledge of God’s word and their faith in Jesus Christ.
This instruction made Timothy ready so that when Paul encountered Timothy, and the Spirit moved him he was ready to accept follow Jesus as his savior and Paul as his mentor and father in the faith.
Eunice and Lois showed their love for Timothy especially, as Paul notes, in their instructions and teaching.
The 2nd Model for Maternal Love Is Teaching
The most formative years of a child's life are spent closest to his mother, or at least they should be. Our society today has made almost impossible for a child to stay at home with their mother until they like Samuel are around 5 or older. Today, we pick up children as young as 3 for public school and daycares take infants so their both parents can work to afford all the things this world has convinced them are needful. Contentment is a sermon topic for another day, but today I want to emphasize the importance of a mother’s influence on her young children.
A mother’s responsibility in teaching a child is as great as the father’s, but her opportunities, especially in those early years, are much greater and become more deeply ingrained.
Proverbs 1:7-9 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
The personification of wisdom in God’s word is female.
Proverbs 2:2-4 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine
heart to understanding; 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up
thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver,
and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
A child learns by hearing, seeing and experiencing his mother's teaching, in her words, her actions and through her life.
A child learns of God in a mother’s bedtime story
A child learns of sacrifice in a mothers skipped meal
A child learns of love in a secret good night kiss
A child learns of patience in a mother's old dress.
A child learns wrong from right in mom's scolding and
praising
A child learns gentleness and strength in mom's warm
embrace.
A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, 5, Ryan, 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for one of her spiritual and moral lessons. "Boys, If Jesus were sitting here with you, He would say, 'Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait." Kevin the 5 year old, turned to his younger brother, the 3 year old, and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus!"
Article by Carolyn Barta in The Dallas Morning News "I remember messages from 'Mama'
|
I grew up in Dallas back in the days when moms were called Mama and everybody learned early that Mama knows best. Moms were big in those days on simple homilies. Like "Mind your mama." and "Don't sass Mama." There was, it seemed, a saying for everything. "Can't never did nothin'. That was the standard response to any excuse that began with "I can't." Or, "Do you think money grows on trees?" That was the standard response to any request that began with "I want." (We were often "broke," but never "poor.") "Why is your lip stuck out?" was the standard question for the pouter. A good threat was to beware of gettin a "dose of your own medicine." "Because Mamma said so," was usually a good enough reason for anything. Moms don't talk like they used to. And that's too bad. There was a sense of reassurance that someone really cared when Mama barked: "Get in here out of that hot sun! You're hot as a pistol, and your face is red as a beet!" Or "Jump in that tub! You're elbows and knees are so dirty they're rusty!" "On those rare occasions when it was necessary to get a "switch," we were always told in advance, "This is going to hurt me more than it'll hurt you." The switches actually were few and far between. But those were the days when children were "seen and not heard." And it was a widely accepted practice for parents to discipline children. If you got in trouble at school, you knew there would be double trouble at home. Mama would have marched an errant daughter right back up to the school to sit through a scolding twice, so she could hear it for herself. Along with the discipline came plenty of TLC. The ultimate in pampering was to have a "pallet" spread out on the floor or the grass with something cool to drink and your library books spread all around you. By the time my kids came along, the pallet was fixed in front of the TV by the Mama who had become Granny. When they were growing up, my sons were shocked to find that their more affluent little friends in North Dallas had never slept on a pallet.
|
Here were some other messages I remembered. -Work hard, and you will be rewarded. -Study hard, become educated, and you will have a better life. -If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. You can do better. If you make a B in school, you can make an A. Failing is unacceptable. -Anything worth doing is worth doing well. And finally, you can do most anything you "set your mind to." -Live by the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Be courteous and considerate of others. -If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. -Pretty is as pretty does. -Honesty is the best policy. -Respect your elders; obey your parents. -Maintain a spiritual life. Say your prayers- daily. -If the church doors are open, be there. -Nice girls don't ...(argue, fight, talk back, talk dirty, swear, smoke or go all the way.) -Family comes first. Families take care of each other. They are there for each other. Family dinners are important. Families are together on important occasions - deaths, births, birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and of course Mothers Day. -Ones home is kept clean and straight. Everybody works around the place. The house is at least, always picked up. Dirty dishes aren't left in the sink. -Once the bed is made, nobody sits on it. Don't ask me why. That was just one of the rules of life. The most important things were family, friends, home, work, school, church. There wasn't a lot of clutter. The focus was on how to live a good life, not just have a good life. A good life, not just a good time.
|
G. Campbell Morgan had 4 sons all of which became preachers.
One day the eldest son was asked jokingly, "Well, tell me son, who in the Morgan home is the best preacher?" The son looked at his dad and then replied, "Mom."
A Model of Interceding - Mark 7:24-30
And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. 25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: 26 -- The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. 28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. 29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. 30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.
A Syrophoenician mother intercedes for her child.
This seems at first a harsh story, Jesus will not respond to this poor mother’s prayer for her child. When she comes to Him, He responds, Mark 7:27 Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.
Why would Jesus say something like this? First, understand that Jesus was sent by God the Father to Israel, not to the Gentiles, in this case they are the children. Israel was the first priority.
Secondly, this is Jesus and Jesus is the master of all teaching. There is both a lesson for the disciples for not heeding her prayer at first and a lesson for us. Only Jesus could do what we see Him do here.
When she hears His response the mother doesn’t walk away, the way we have seen many Jewish seekers do, instead her maternal love refuse to accept the logic, not because it was wrong but because of her love for her child. Mark 7:28 Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.
Her love was inseparably tied to her faith. In faith, she knew that even one crumb of Jesus’ power was enough to heal and deliver her daughter and so she intercedes no matter the seeming objections or obstacles
And the love and faith of a foreign mother for an unseen daughter moves Jesus to make and exception to the plan of the ages. Mark 7:29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
The 3rd Model of Maternal Love Is Praying
Let me plainly ask our mothers, grandmother and all parents and grandparents, “Are you really praying for your kids and grandkids?” I don’t men you think of them fondly and have a general wish for their well being. I mean to you pray, specifically, consistently and faithfully for you children? Do you name them in your prayers? Do you bring before God their specific needs and challenges?
Most of our prayers to today have about the same power as a sentimental Hallmark card because we as parents don’t really, truly, fully pray.
This is a duty of love that doesn't stop when they are grown. "The prayers of a mother never stop, never die."
Pray is often called "standing in the gap." To stand in the gap meant that in a battle when the frontline of defenders had been breached, a soldier had fallen, then another soldier would step up to fill the gap lest the enemy break through the line.
Mothers and fathers you stand in the gap for your children through prayer. Time spent in prayer is time spent fighting for the lives, the future and the souls of your children and grandchildren.
WP Mackay's mother's bible returns after he pawned it to lead her son to God.
Rizpah Refuses To Quit
2 Samuel 21:8-11 8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: 9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. 10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. 11 And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
A mother fights for her children long after they have been hanged by the King.
Conclusion:
When you look at these Biblical models God has provided to us in His word.
you may feel like overwhelmed, or that somehow you have failed. You’re just not all the mother God wants you to be. But, please remember there are no perfect mothers. There are only imperfect mothers who refuse to quit.
Follow this guideline and by God’s standard, you will not fail.
Add the undying love you have for your children to the unfailing love that God has for you.
Trust that in God’s forgiveness and love, you can subtract your mistakes and heartaches.
And should you feel you lack what is needed, remember God’s love, grace and hope are ever multiplied but never divided
Comments
Post a Comment