Title: The Blessing of Motherhood
Scripture: 1 Timothy 2:15
Speaker: Nate Pickowicz
Well as we've been considering aspects of biblical womanhood from the scriptures over the last couple of weeks I've been reminded of a portrait of the excellent wife from Proverbs 31 Among all the virtues that she possesses from running her household to managing finances Providing for the physical needs of the family to teaching her children The passage toward the end includes a or concludes with a recognition of her faithfulness We read in Proverbs 31 28 her children rise up and bless her her husband also praises her saying many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all and Yet at the core of all of her accomplishments. It's not her business savvy It is not her crafting skills. It is not her meals It's not anything else that she provides that are praised It is her devotion to the Lord through her devotion to her family Namely to her husband and to her children and while much could be said about the benefit of being a godly wife This morning.
I believe our text focuses in on the blessings of motherhood Of course over the last half century. We have seen an all-out war on the nuclear family First the effort was to get the father is out of the family Which became a cultural epidemic through the 1980s and 90s you can read a lot more about this as a book that came out in 1995 by David Blankenhorn called fatherless America confronting our most urgent social problem the the damage done by fatherlessness has Again been epidemic But now since that time three decades ago in the 30 years since now We're seeing the other side of that problem the diminishing and devaluating a deterioration of motherhood in the Western world Well, how did this come about? How do we see such an attack on? motherhood and womanhood well according to Erwin Lutzer who has Written a book he's written several books about cultural problems But there's one that we're going to be studying pretty soon in our small group but one I want to point to Lutzer says that this has come by way of the most recent attack of cultural Marxism on Society that is seeking to do nothing less than overthrow Society as we know it his book. We will not be silenced responding courageously to our cultures Assault on Christianity he writes this it's very insightful He says in Marxism the family is perceived as a unit in which wives are suppressed by their husbands and Children are suppressed by their parents these clusters of oppression have to be broken up Mothers have to leave their homes and join the workforce So as Marx put it quote anyone who knows anything of history knows that great social changes are possible without the feminine ferment Social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex so Lutzer says feminine ferment or feminine upheaval is said to be the key to liberating the family from multiple forms of oppression and a Capitalistic pattern of passing on wealth from one generation to another Mothers have been encouraged to leave their children to another To excuse me mothers have been encouraged to leave their children for others to raise after all stay-at-home moms live in servitude To their husbands and are too easily satisfied if their grievances many of which are legitimate can be exploited Then they will be willing to stifle their motherly instincts and step outside the home and enter the workforce This can be sold as a step toward liberation and equality Marxist believe one of the benefits of mothers joining the workforce is that their children must then attend state-sponsored Daycare centers and schools where they can be taught about the errors of creationism the church and of course the Bible Children can be indoctrinated with the about the evils of capitalism and the benefits of socialism and economic equality For this to become a reality the education of children has to be taken out of the hands of parents and surrendered to the state and quote So we felt the pressure of this haven't we? We see it in the news.
We see it in social media. We hear it about it at work Somehow we've been led to believe that keeping a home and raising children are beneath women It's a waste of a woman's talents to do that Or we've been told that she should get a job to become independent in order to become empowered It's all about empowerment or that somehow her ultimate fulfillment is not going to come through loving her husband and raising her children But by accomplishing all of her external hopes and dreams Now there are cases and instances where women moms have to work outside of the home There's no choice for them, but we're not talking about that It's rather fighting against the stigma of motherhood and homemaking. That's the issue that women I remember talking to a Was a dinner we had and I was talking to a couple and I I asked the the wife who was sitting there because they were Talking they look career oriented in my mind I says well, what do you do and she responded and she says well I'm just a stay-at-home mom and I said just just to stay at home mom.
That's a huge job But in that moment she felt diminished like she had to apologize somehow for the fact that she was home raising their children Is being a godly woman a loving wife a nurturing mother is it enough I Believe scripture scripture teaches it is not just enough. It's actually God's divine design And so with that I would invite you to turn with me to first Timothy chapter 2. We're gonna look at verse 15 today First Timothy 2 and we're gonna focus on verse 15 But as you're turning there we consider chapter 2 of Paul's letter to Timothy The Apostle Paul has been focusing his attention on the posture of believers within the corporate gathering Chapter 2 is really about the church the body of Christ Functioning as a corporate body here and he calls all believers in chapter 2 to pray But specifically entrust men with leading the church in prayer, and he says in chapter 2 verse 8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension But then he turns from the men to the women of the church and encourages them in their faithfulness Verses 9 10 and 11 he says likewise. I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing Modestly and discreetly not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments but rather by means of good works as It's proper for women making a claim to godliness a woman must quietly receive instruction with entire Submissiveness and so we see here that Christian women are to be adorning themselves Not with fancy clothing or with accessories, but their adornment should primarily be that of good works verse 10 That you would clothe yourselves in good deeds that make beautiful the gospel of Jesus Christ Furthermore women are to be encouraged to devote themselves to discipleship by quietly receiving instruction with entire submissiveness verse 11 again Not attempting to over exert herself or cause a scene.
She's to learn quietly Quietly with a peaceful heart, and then he follows this saying by verse 12 He says, but I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man But to remain quiet again women are called in several places to teach other women and to instruct their children but the teaching the Exercising of authority over the men of the whole church is reserved for qualified men specifically pastors and elders And then he gives the reason verses 13 and 14 He says for it was Adam who was created first and then Eve and it was not Adam who was deceived But the woman being deceived fell into transgression in these verses We saw last week that this issue is one of biblical headship Which finds its origin in the creation that Adam was made first and then Eve from Adam and that even in the garden? He was appointed to be the head of his wife But also with regard to the fall it's because of Eve's Eve's deception that sin comes into the world yet because God upholds Biblical headship he assigns the responsibility of the fall to Adam We read in Romans 5 12 through one man referring to Adam through one man Sin entered the world and death through sin And so Paul is very clear from this passage that while Christian women may do any other thing they are not permitted to teach the assembly or to exercise authority over the men of the church and This then brings us to verse 15 Which is at the end of this discourse here if you look at the way that this letter is being written there's a block of verses here that are in the same theme the same point here and Paul is coming to the end of that portion of his discourse before he's going to launch into elder qualifications Which we're going to spend some time on and so then we read at the very end of all of this verse 15 he concludes by saying but women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in love and faith and sanctity with self-restraint now at face value this verse is Confusing I talked to several women this week, and I said I'm gonna be preaching verse 15, and they went all right They maybe I'll have some insight for them I don't want to oversell it, but I hope I can get us there This is these are challenging passages of Scripture, but this is a challenging verse I read commentary after commentary this week, and they all had different ideas about this verse So we'll see how it goes This verse is confusing and let me just walk you through some of the challenges here There are at least four major Challenges in verse 15 to the translation and the grammar alone For starters in the original Greek version the the word women at the beginning of the verse is not there That's been inserted by translators based on context Which leads some to think that maybe this verse is actually not referring to the women, but actually to Eve in verse 13 But rather they've inserted the word women because they think that the word they at the end of the verse in verse 15 is referring To the mother so that's one issue of grammar and translation There's also a question about the meaning of the word preserved the Greek word is Sozo in in which means saved or kept safe or preserved. What does that word mean in the context? There's also an issue of the word techno techno Ghania, which is childbearing Which and then the question is what is that referred to? There's questions about that as well and on the second half of the verse again Who is the word they referring to is it referring to women children husbands and wives as a family unit? these are just some of the textual questions that are being raised in the verse and Then there's the interpretive issues. What does this verse actually mean? I found no less than six major Views of this one verse this week six views, but I want to look at the most prominent ones I want to whittle it down because you have to God gave us a brain we have to filter through what what does this verse? mean we have to use our our powers of observation and interpretation and examine do the hard work of Examining the text and so I want to give you just a couple of approaches to this verse as we think through this clearly the first approach the first view is what I call the spiritual salvation view and It says that verse 15 is teaching that the Greek word sozo Should be translated as saved and it refers to a woman's spiritual salvation This is a very old view, but it's a relatively Popular view in earlier days and it refers or it asserts that faithful godly women are somehow Saved through the bearing of children Now when you read the verse at face value That's attractive because it looks like that's what it's saying that somehow if they continue and love and faith and Sanctity with suffers without self-restraint that somehow they're gonna find or secure salvation for themselves through their maternal responsibilities now again That seems like an obvious reading, but when you evaluate that in light of all the scriptures teaching it actually begins to fall apart For starters the Bible is clear that we cannot do Anything to earn or obtain our salvation by our works Ephesians 2 8 for by grace you have been saved through faith.
It is not of yourselves It is the gift of God not as a result of works Which includes childbearing that no one can boast and so not even giving life to another person Qualifies you to be saved by God Additionally there have been plenty of women countless women millions of women perhaps Who have had children and yet rejected the gospel their motherhood didn't save them spiritually So we can look at that interpretation and say that cannot be right That's not what Paul is trying to say here that women are saved spiritually through childbearing the second interpretation Could be called the physical Salvation view that God promises that if women continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint that he will save or preserve them physically through childbirth, I mean childbirth is a Remarkable odd thing. I've watched three of them and to see a person Arrive here in such a way. It's Jarring to say the least.
I don't know how that's physically possible and yet it happens every day But God seems to be maybe promising that there's gonna be some preservation through that process However, the weakness of that view that God is going to sustain all women physically is that it doesn't always happen that way Especially in the ancient world where Paul was writing this letter the odds of mothers dying and childbirth were very high It does not seem to be that that is the interpretation that we should accept one scholar Homer Kent writes this No scripture or scripture no more promises physical safety for every faithful woman and childbirth Then it promises good health to every Christian man God is not promising that as long as you're faithful You will be preserved and you'll survive through that process because in some cases again, it doesn't happen I mean we live in a country that's very privileged to have the health care that we have other parts of the world They are not so fortunate. And so this this is likely not the view This is probably not what Paul is teaching here in this verse a third interpretation, which is a lot more popular which we might call the Salvation through the birth of Christ view is a view here that it's not about the women in the passage but it's specifically focusing on Eve in verse 13 that the big idea here is that even though Eve was Preeminently responsible for Plunging humanity into sin and to the fall through her transgression The promise is later made or you know in Genesis 3 15 that one of Eve's greater children one of her seed Would be bruised on the heel by the serpent but he would ultimately bruise the serpent on the head and the prophecy is Universally regarded as a promise for the Messiah to defeat Satan on the cross Genesis 3 15 is ultimately about Jesus Defeating sin and death and evil and so true and ultimate salvation can only come Through the birth and incarnation of Messiah which came through the childbearing of Eve here Received by faith received by love received in sanctity. In other words the fruit of Christian life is evidences or evidence by faith in Messiah They take all that truth and they find that in this verse and I again, that's all doctrinally true There is no salvation apart from the incarnation of Jesus Christ If Jesus was never born into the world None of us have any hope of salvation at all.
And so again, it's doctrinally true. It's nothing false about that view But many scholars criticize the interpretation because it seems to read too much Into the verse is Paul looking at the end of a whole passage here about women and church Is he looking to land in this place where he's talking about the the incarnation and salvation through Jesus? Is that the place that he's going to be talking about that again? It raises some questions now I don't think we should write that off completely again Lots of scholars hold that view, but I'm personally just not convinced that that is what Paul is intending to say here Well, that's what I don't believe the verse doesn't mean what does it mean? I think the first thing we have to do as students of Scripture is To look at the passage and see what Paul actually is already saying What is the context? Context is so important my friends because all of us speak and think and write in a context if you just took Sayings and sentences out of context you get a whole bunch of mess all the time And so we have to consider what is the context of this passage? What is going on in this portion of the letter? Again in verses 9 through 15. He's addressing several things Including a woman's character and her good deeds But there's actually in the passage two key concepts that stand out if you look at the passage verses 9 through 15 Let's actually just look at this together.
Let's read it Paul says likewise. I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing Modestly and discreetly not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments but rather by means of good works as is proper for women making a claim to godliness a woman must Quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man But to remain quiet for it was Adam who was created first and then Eve and it was not Adam who was deceived but women being deceived fell into Transgression, but women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint two key ideas in this passage The first one is submission to headship in verses 11 through 14. That's one big key idea the second one is Childbearing in verse 15 as we're going to see that's going to become a very big key idea These are the key ideas in the passage And so once we understand that I think secondly we have to pay attention To what Paul is alluding to in this passage I think that when you look at this passage, it becomes very clear that as Paul is writing this letter He has Genesis 2 and 3 sitting on the table with him It's very clear that he's thinking about this and that's what I want to look at together the creation account and the fall and so Turn with me to Genesis chapter 3 and your copy of Scripture Genesis chapter 3 Keeping in mind here the context of Genesis 1 2 & 3 The creation account itself takes place in chapters 1 & 2 chapter 1 is generally a broader view of creation It goes up until chapter 2 verse 4. That's the general history of creation then once you enter into verse 4 you get into more of an actual history where you bring in Adam and Eve and you begin the Genealogy there and so you go broad history to a very specific history And so chapter 2 them is when we meet Adam and Eve for the first time and then chapter chapter 3 is the fall At this point here in chapter 2 going into 3 they're living together joyfully in the Garden of Eden So they're they're made in the image of God.
They're ruling over all creation. There's animals. There's plants.
There's joy There's happiness. There's no sin, but we know that by chapter 3 trouble is on the way. So look at chapter 3 with me Genesis 3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said to the woman indeed Has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? The woman said to the serpent from the tree from the fruit of the trees of the garden We may eat but from the fruit of the tree Which is in the middle of the garden God has said you shall not eat from it or touch it or you will die The serpent said to the woman surely you surely will not die For God knows that the day that you eat from it Your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good and evil when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes that the tree was Desirable to make one wise she took from its fruit and ate and gave also to her husband with her and he ate and the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and Made for themselves loin coverings.
So here we see that Eve is tempted by Satan in the garden She disobeys the Lord She violates headship of her husband and she leads herself and Adam into sin And then we see that in verse 8 here the Lord knows about this clearly and he begins to look for them verse 8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden of the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid Themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden and the Lord God called to the man and he said to Him where are you? He said because I heard the sound of you in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked so I hid myself He said who told you that you were naked. Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said the woman you gave me to be with me.
She gave me from the tree and I ate And Lord God said to the woman. What is this that you've done and the woman said the serpent deceived me and I ate and so now the Lord has come and we see this transgression The Lord has asked them about the transgression. Who does he go to first? He doesn't go to Eve He goes right to Adam who was responsible for Eve and when Adam has the opportunity to own up to it He doesn't he then blames both God and his wife He said the the woman that you gave me.
It's your fault her fault in your fault. That's how this all went down But so then the Lord goes to Eve and then she turns ahead and she blames the serpent. How does God respond to this? How does he respond to the transgression? He pronounces a curse? First thing he does is he curses the serpent verse 14 the Lord God said to the serpent Because you have done this Cursed are you more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field on your belly you will go and the dust you will Eat all the days of your life I will put enmity between you and the woman between your seed and her seed He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel And then secondly, he curses the ground itself verse 17 the second half of it God is saying to Adam But he says cursed is the ground because of you in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life So he curses the serpent and he curses the ground itself But embedded in the curse itself were the punishments for Adam and for Eve Beyond the suffering of physical death because remember God promises the day that you Sent against me the day that you eat of the tree you will surely die But the Lord pronounces more than just the punishment of death for sin He also includes more here in the curse.
Look at verse 16 To the woman he said I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth in pain You will bring forth children yet. Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you and then following that is the the Curse the what do you call that the consequences of the curse for Adam? Verse 17 he said to Adam because you've listened to the voice of your wife and he'd eaten from the tree Which I commanded you saying you shall not eat from it curses the ground because of you in toil You will eat of it all the days of your life both thorns and thistles It shall grow for you and you will eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face You will eat bread till you return to the ground because from it you were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall return and So for Adam and for all mankind He will be consigned consigned to work hard all the days of his life And it's not the kind of work that is clean and productive and satisfying But sweaty and dirty and difficult he basically says you're gonna work yourself back into the ground That's that's our curse guys Is that we are we are cursed in this way that it's not just that we get to be creative and have fun in the work No, we work hard and it brings us to the point of exhaustion and ultimately we die from working But we look at the consequences of the fall for Eve Again, what do we notice in verse 16? I will greatly multiply your pain and childbirth in pain You shall bring forth children and then he pivots and says and yet your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you Notice two things here number one difficulty in childbirth and number two challenges in headship Because we understand the interpreters understand here verse 16 when it says your desire will be for your husband It's not that she is desiring him in a physical way. That's not the sense of the desire The the sense of it is that she's desiring to be like her husband to have what he has But because the response here is that he will rule over you This is the battle of the sexes here now in Essence Adam and Eve along with all men and all women will struggle with the temporal effects of the fall For men we're gonna kill ourselves working for women They will experience severe pain and childbirth and they will also Chafe under the headship of their husbands and the question I have to you is don't you feel that tension? We feel all of that, don't we? It is not enjoyable for men to work so hard to the point of exhaustion and I can attest as an eyewitness it is not pleasurable for a woman to give birth to a child These are difficult things.
This is all part of the the Consequences of the curse of the fall, but it is not that men are from Mars and women are from Venus That's not the problem. The problem is that both of us were cursed in the garden and that's why there's tension We're not from different planets. We're from the same garden and We are all under the effects of the curse of the fall But I want you to notice again in your minds here What are the two main issues that Paul is pointing to in 1st Timothy 2 Headship and childbearing.
That's not a coincidence. I don't believe and So, how do we connect the dots? We're seeing the themes here. How do we connect the dots go back to 1st Timothy chapter 2? verse Timothy 2 15 We have to again look at okay Now we know that Paul is sort of dipping his toe into these themes and he's already addressed Adam and Eve in the verse here So we know he's thinking about the creation account.
But what is the key problem that Paul is addressing here? essentially the key problem in the passage at least in this context here is that the women in the church are Forsaking godliness and usurping God's authority in the design and what are the examples? Well, they wanted to be showy outwardly boasting of their outward beauty and yet Paul encourages them to display rather inward beauty They wanted to violate headship and then teach the men Exercising authority that Paul exhorts them to learn from him quietly in submissiveness Well, what about the issue of childbearing? Where does that fall into the line? Well, it is always and ever The temptation of women to cast off the blessings of motherhood in favor of something else Now that's not a rebuke against women who are unable to have children or women who did not have the opportunity To marry in time to start having children. That's not what this is about at all Rather this is an exhortation not to cast off and spurn perhaps the most key distinguishing mark of womanhood, which is the ability to have children in Fact in his commentary on 1st Timothy Denny Burke who's a scholar notes that he believes Paul is using this specific thing childbearing as a figure of speech known as Synecdoche, which is in other words a figure of speech that is a representative part to cover the entire whole So let me just give you another example of that if I just tell you that I got I got a new set of wheels You know, I'm talking about a car and not just the wheels themselves So if that's the the function if that's what Paul is doing that childbearing is a noteworthy symbol of a woman's wider home a homemaker and Caretaker role that maybe there's something to that It points to a grander pursuit than just the small things that we're talking about And so if that is the sense of what Paul's doing here Then he's taking a stand against the rebellious winds of worldly culture If a woman desires to please God and experience the blessings of his preservation and protection Then then she should submit to what he has laid out before her in his temporal design and even in the judgment in the fall when he says be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth in Genesis 128 and Obey him in doing that then we are to obey him even if the fall has made it painful When he says to wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord in Ephesians 522 obey him even if it's difficult some of you ladies are married to difficult men and Yet God still calls you to honor him Through submitting to your husband as to the Lord again in all the ways of godliness if your husband leads you into sin You don't obey that but you obey the Lord in righteousness but the point is that preservation and protection Does not come by virtue of usurping your husband's or even your church leaders your pastors authority and rejecting Womanhood or motherly function it doesn't come that way Well, how does preservation and protection and joy come? Well, it comes when you submit to yourself to the Lord and his designs in all godliness That's how it comes and in all of this there is blessing There is blessing and we see this in the passage of submitting yourself to the design and plan and purpose of the Lord Ladies God has designed and built you to carry forth life into this world that is a blessing and a privilege that men do not have and We can make all the jokes in the world about cultures insanity talking about how men can somehow become biological or self-identifying Women and then somehow give birth that's insanity We know that but the bottom line is that women have been given the blessed opportunity Naturally to carry forth life and it's remarkable. I'm going to think about this with me God uses a pleasurable perhaps one of the most pleasurable acts of Sanctity and unity in a marriage to create this life this divine spark that begins and Inside of a woman's body for nine months Unaided by any kind of outside human hands or touch God grows another life who has embedded in them a soul an eternal soul They develop and they grow it it insurmountable rates that are Unmimicked or unparalleled outside of the womb They grow and they develop and then at one point in time in a time that only God decides and only God knows This child comes forth in a way that should not happen physically But it does happen and they come into the world and you hold them in your arms and you have no other choice No other option than to proclaim.
This is a miracle of God We don't treat it as such because it happens every single day Millions and billions the nine billion people in this world. They all came about the same way We were all born into this world through a woman Because of the divine spark of God it's remarkable and Yet some women complain they can't preach a sermon Consider the folly of that God has blessed women with a remarkable responsibility but an honor To be the vehicle the vessel through whom life comes into the world Praise the Lord for that Praise God for his beautiful design and if that were not enough for you Consider this it is God's beautiful poetry That even though Eve's transgression brought about ultimate death because of sin It's by her motherly deeds that she's able to now bring forth life in childbearing Eve sinned and brought us into the place. We're at Even though Adam is credited with the fall and yet.
How does God redeem all of death by giving her all of life? In fact, that's what is said in Genesis 3 20 when Adam names his wife and calls her Eve He calls her that because she's the mother of all the living God gave life to Eve physically and Would ultimately give all of us life in Christ through an eventual son that she would produce through her lineage It's a remarkable poetry of God, and that's why we see that every single mother is a bringer of life Don't sell yourself short and believe the lie that being a mother being a homemaker raising children is somehow a less advantageous pursuit That somehow you're less valuable your your contribution is less to the world That is insanity. I Would even argue that why do we see so many of the problems that we have why are children out of control? Because the fathers never disciplined them and taught them but the mothers never cared for them We're dealing with the effects of a fatherless now motherless society Where the state are raising most of the children and is leading the world our known world into insanity and debauchery and ruin It is not all the social evils of the world. It's not microaggressions It's a failure to train up a child in the way that they should go Plain and simple, but every mother is a bringer of new life But I want you to see here that Paul is adding some conditions around this Preservation here again the word so Joe.
I'm rendering as preserve or kept safe Salvation is one aspect, but I think it's preserved here, which is what the New American Standard translates it as How are women preserved in such a way there are conditions here that Paul notes He says that the Christian women will be preserved if they continue first in faith First in faith the foundational element of Christianity is saving faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ Well, how do you continue though in the faith? You have faith to believe saving faith How do you continue in the faith well you must commit to Continuing to grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ Even moms are called to devote themselves to God's Word, and they must continue in the Christian faith And I'll tell you though you tell a tired mom. Hey, you got to keep on going in this. It's heavy.
It's hard to do Most moms struggle to find time and space because of the heavy demands of children I mean moms you can't even go to the bathroom without fingers underneath the door trying to get at you, right? It's hard. I mean moms with Three kids under five. I mean my heart goes out to you It's difficult isn't it in those early years it feels? Impossible let me tell you a story many of you moms have heard this story because Of the popularity of it, but there's a woman named Susanna Wesley.
She was the mother of John and Charles Wesley Susanna had 19 children 19 children of Those only 10 survived But she had 10 children that she was raising 10 kids in the house but Susanna created a practice where she would sit at the table and she would drape her apron over her head and She would sit underneath her apron so that she could read and she could read the Bible and she could pray And she trained her children that when you see mom with the apron over her head You are not to disturb me unless it's a dire emergency All right, and she trained her children to do that. Now. She didn't have very much time It wasn't hours and hours and hours here, but those precious few moments that she did get that time She could then go to the Lord with her cares and her concerns and she could get a Bible verse She could get some truth and it would give her the fuel to keep on going because she had the responsibility of caring for her house as Well as caring for the the spiritual fortitude for the the nurturing and the cherishing of her children in the faith How can you train up children in the faith if you're not strong in the faith? And I would even add to you young ladies if you're not married yet, or if you haven't had children yet start now Don't say all when I when I when I grow up and become a wife and have kids then I'll grow in the Lord No young ladies grow now start now get your spiritual disciplines in practice now So that you have it to carry you into motherhood and beyond Again, yes, ultimately fathers fathers are responsible For the discipline instruction of the children in the Lord.
That's according to Ephesians 6 4 dads. You have a responsibility If your children are going wayward from the Lord you need to take charge of that. It's up to you to lead them in the faith You are the head of the house in terms of authority However, it is the Christian mothers who do the most of the training in those early years, especially Dads are out working it is the moms They're the ones that are disciplining and training and correcting and reinforcing truth and doing the schooling Even at the earlier years and even if you send your kids to a different school a private school or public school Whatever you're still the one you're the backstop at home And so there's a huge responsibility for mothers to continue in the faith But you are also called to continue in love to continue in love see It's one thing to provide for and discipline and train your kids But you must also learn to love them the way that God loves them and every mom says well, of course, I love my kids But let me ask do you love them in the way that God loves them and there are days There are seasons when it's very difficult to show affection when that's so challenging What do you do if you have a child that's unruly and disobedient? It feels like all you ever do is correct ever have those seasons.
All I ever do is correct and discipline That's why Titus 2 for says that older spiritual mothers are to encourage the young women to love their Husbands and to love their children Older moms older ladies you have a responsibility as well. You've done your job. Your kids are grown and gone Well, guess what that other there's another portion of that You have an opportunity and a responsibility to encourage younger women to then do the same But this word for love here Paul uses the word agape Self-giving love it's divine love.
It comes from God and is the kind of love that we are to display to other people God like love and so yes motherhood is difficult I've never met a mom who says oh, this is a piece of cake Never heard it Never heard it. Maybe on Facebook. They make it look easy It's very difficult And yet even though it's difficult Do all you can to manifest genuine Christ like love for your husband and for your children and lastly Paul says that women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue also in Sanctity with self-restraint this word translated sanctity is Hagiasmos, it can be also rendered as holiness or sanctification It's important that Christian women continue to progress in their walk and pay a close attention to their life of holiness Before the Lord and then Paul adds with self-restraint That's the same word that we read about in verse 9 which refers to self-control or propriety or good sense Ladies it's so easy when you're tired To grow weary and let your spiritual walk grow slack or to let things ride or not to try or to seek out some kind of escape as Though some somehow there's going to be escape for you in something else Losing yourself in technology losing yourself in wine losing yourself in vacations or whatever.
It's going to be Now certainly you rest and relaxation is important, but that's not going to solve the challenge for you The Lord calls us to do difficult things He calls us to die to ourselves and take up our cross and follow him. That's hard. It's hard but the Lord desires that you keep on moving forward and Grow in Christ likeness that you grow sisters in the Lord grow in faith and love and sanctity What about for Christian women who are not able to have children, maybe they're not natural mothers is there a blessing for them Absolutely there is Because as a Christian woman you're going to be able to minister to others especially to other women Every single Christian woman has a responsibility in the body of Christ And I would I even add to that the concept of spiritual motherhood If you consider yourself to be an older woman in the faith now that the range of ages it determines I know that when Paul talks about older women in the scriptures.
He actually gives a number. He says over 60 But if you consider yourself to be an older or more mature woman in the faith consider the concept of spiritual motherhood spiritual motherhood It's very similar to what Paul does himself Paul from what we can gather in the scriptures is not married It doesn't have any kids and yet Paul was a father to many and at one point in 1st Thessalonians He actually refers to himself. We were like spiritual mothers to you all Paul includes that same concept of motherhood even in his paternity, but Paul didn't have natural kids So what did he do? He invested himself as a spiritual father into the lives of other young people So ladies the same thing for you to invest yourselves Into spiritual motherhood that you would even serve younger mothers and Help them in their difficulty in their trouble in their trials but also help them to experience the blessing and the joy of their responsibility and I'll tell you a Young mom who's tired and needs help For an older woman to come along and actually help her you'd be a godsend to her If you're gonna do this, however, it's important.
This is just this is not a pastor Then it's just a husband looking at every life here Ask them how you can help them Ask them what they need Don't just assume that you know what they need all the time be cautious about that But I'll tell you you come alongside a young mom and Sam here to help him here to encourage you. How can I help? You change their life So just because maybe you're older or just because you haven't had natural children on your own You have a tremendous opportunity to minister. We haven't even talked about Foster care or adoption or anything like that? I'm just talking about the regular needs of devoted life in the church.
And so women you have a huge opportunity and responsibility To devote yourself to the body of Christ and specifically to the families to the mothers and to the children We have so many people so many moms who are downstairs right now serving children. It happens every week We don't think about it because we're up here There's ministry happening downstairs right now to a whole bunch of kids and most of its moms Serving and loving the children of this church. It's a wonderful thing And so as you multiply your faith and love through others the Lord will bless you for your faithfulness He will reward you Above all to your sisters to be champions of the gospel To your husband to your children to other believers to the lost to become mothers of spiritual life Mothers of spiritual life.
Well, how do you do that? How do you become a mother? Spiritually to spiritual life. How do you do that? You do so by proclaiming the one who is the way and the truth and the life You do that by ministering the gospel of Jesus Christ to people The gospel that tells us and teaches us that even though all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God There is a Redeemer who has come to give his life who was born through the womb of a woman To give his life here as a ransom for many Who went to the cross and died to pay the penalty for sins? And even though we could do nothing to earn salvation he gave it to us as a free gift That by repentance of our sins and faith in Jesus Christ we have new life we have spiritual rebirth Why does Jesus use as that analogy? Because of the blessing and the wonder of it. We have spiritual rebirth in Christ Jesus Such a remarkable thing, but if you're here today and you don't know Jesus Christ as Savior Don't wait Don't drag your feet Turn away from your sins turn away from your life of self-dependence rebellion Put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and you will have spiritual rebirth He will grant you life everlasting What a remarkable gift to us.
Let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you for your word and Lord, even though again, there are Verses that are challenging that are taxing to us to try to unravel and understand We know that the meaning is very clear to you And Lord we trust and believe and hope that this is exactly what you've intended for us to hear this morning Lord your word is so beneficial to us It's through your word that you tell us what you desire for us to do and how you want us to live our lives Lord if culture is the Metric and the barometer for how we are to live. We will always be led astray We will always reject the design that you've given to us Lord for men for women for husbands for wives for families and Yet Lord when we submit to your design When your daughters submit to what they are supposed to be doing according to your design there is blessing There is honor There is fruitfulness and reward. And so Lord all of us on our own will turn aside and go to our own way and Yet you have called us back You have brought us back to yourself through Christ You've taken us in as spiritual children as adopted children you've called us your own Even Lord Jesus you said in Matthew 23 that your desire your heart's desire is to bring us Like a mother hen gathers her little chicks under her wing you desire to be a covering and a protection a nurturing care for us as children Thank you so much For the love and the nurturing and the care that you give to us spiritually and Lord I praise the Lord that you have given mothers to us.
I Thank you Lord for the blessing of such a thing We honor you we praise you all glory belongs to you our Father in Jesus name Amen