Motherhood Reflects Aspects of God s Nature I Thessalonians 2:6b 9

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1 May 8, 2016 AM Pastor Ken Hepner Motherhood Reflects Aspects of God s Nature I Thessalonians 2:6b 9 Introduction: On this Mother s Day 2016 as we turn our attention to the Word of God this morning we are going to study some of what the Scriptures have to say about the Gift of Motherhood. The Lord has put it in my heart to have us think through this simple truth. What we see in good mothers is really a picture of some aspects of the nature of God revealed to us. In Ephesians 5:21 33 Paul writes that Christian marriage is an illustration of Christ s love for the church and the church s love for Christ. In portions of that passage we are taught that as a Christian husband loves his wife and lays down his needs to meet her needs it is a picture of Christ s love for the church. As a Christian wife loves and responds to her man s love for her it is a picture of how the church should respond to the love of Christ. Through Christian marriage the world around us gets to see the gift of salvation, holy, self-emptying, other-oriented love in the human heart. In the exact same way I believe Christian Parents are called to Model some aspects of the nature of God to their family members and to the people among whom they live. There are some aspects of the nature of God that children will more readily see as they look at their dads and there are some aspects of the nature of God they will more readily see as they look at their mothers. Scripture teaches us that there are many aspects of the nature of God. For example: He is holy, just, righteous, faithful, and true. He is compassionate, merciful, slow to anger, forgiving, and rich in love. He is nurturing, caring, and kind. In Genesis 1:27 there s a marvelous Biblical principle about how People Reflect God s Image. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. For the purposes of this simple study this morning, we are going to focus on how God uses the gift of motherhood as a visible Portrait of His Nature. God uses the process of birthing mothers endure, the bonding of the mother and the child, their nurturing and caring ways with their children as a picture for all. Through our mothers we all get to see something of how God works in our lives to give us spiritual birth, that is new life in Christ, to bond with us as adopted children, and to nurture us onward in His kingdom. John 1:12, 13 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband s will, but born of God. Philippians 1:6 being confident of this that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 1

2 The pictures of God we see in motherhood really are striking when you stop to think about it. Here are just four of them: 1. Consider the aspect of Joy at Birth how even the intense pain she endures to bring the little one into the world, the mother will be incredibly touched, smile, or even cry for joy over the little boy or girl laid in her arms. And when we repent and give our lives to Christ Jesus he says, I tell you the truth, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. 2. Consider the Bonding of the mother and child that happens almost immediately. She considers that little life part of her life, I gave you life as the little one is placed in her arms. In the same way the Father God creates a bond of love when we come to know Him as Lord and He gives us new life in Christ. 4. Consider the Nurturing aspects how a mother works tirelessly to feed and care for that little one who cannot care for himself. She feeds, bathes, caresses and makes him feel safe and secure. The Lord nurtures us as a Great Shepherd who calls us by name, working to feed us bread from heaven and to make us know we are secure in His great love for us. 4. And think about the Relationship that Develops and Grows between a mother and her child. She is the child s first window of learning and opportunity to expand his world. The relationship of mother and child is like no other on earth. It is totally special and unique. When mom is here the little one is OK. She can take away the sting of scratches with kisses and make oatmeal that is edible. In the same manner God builds a relationship with each of us and becomes our primary spiritual caregiver. He is our window of learning and growth. I thought about a host of Biblical moms we could have talked about this morning: Sarah, Hannah, Mary, Elizabeth, or Eunice. But the one that really touched my heart is the mom we read about in Matthew 15: She just shows up with Jesus one day as an unnamed person. She is simply called The Canaanite Woman. She has a broken mother s heart and she came to pour it out to Jesus. There are five striking things about her interaction with Jesus that I see in this paragraph of Scripture, things that real mothers are: Her heart was Moved with Compassion for the plight and spiritual wellness of her little girl. She felt deeply for her daughter who was suffering under demonic oppression and pain. I am touched by her Persistence when Jesus didn t respond to her. She stayed right at it to get the healing for her little girl. Jesus of course saw this and decided to use her faith and persistence as a message for his disciples who only saw a bi-racial person who in their culture-slanted thinking didn t deserve a miracle. See Matthew15:23, 24. His disciples came to him and urged him, Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us. He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. (You can almost hear their smug; well all right Jesus! ) She knelt in Worship and Reverence as He invited her to demonstrate her maternal love for her little girl. 2

3 She had Great Faith as demonstrated by her words, I ll take even the leftovers of your miraculous power, Lord, for that will be enough to heal my little girl! She Believed and Received from the Lord Jesus. Listen to the truth Jesus speaks into her life about her great faith. Matthew 15:28 Then Jesus answered, Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted. And her daughter was healed from that very hour. In this dear woman s love, compassion and persistence for her daughter we see pictures of God s love, grace, mercy, compassion, and persistence in reaching to us. God doesn t give up on us very easily. Jesus used her life as a picture of the how the kingdom of God is appropriated by faith, both for the disciples in the room with him that day and for us in this room this morning. When it comes to the kingdom of God what we may think is insignificant or unsophisticated may actually be a vehicle for God to do great things. The fact of the matter is that Jesus really does Call to His Heart and Use for His glory the least of these, the simple and ordinary things in the eyes of this world system s values, to demonstrate what grace and mercy are really all about, what it means to love deeply and care passionately. For the remainder of this message this morning we are going to turn our attention to Paul s incredible words to the infant church at Thessalonica about how motherhood is a picture of God s ways of working in the midst of His people. I. Gentle as a Mother Caring for Her Children: I Thessalonians 2:6, 7 We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her children. In verses 4, 5 of the chapter Paul gives us the context for his teaching using motherhood as analogous for some of the ways God works in His kingdom. Paul was the instrument God used to be a spiritual father to the church at Thessalonica. As apostles of Christ he and his companions could have expected their rights of having the infant church support them and care for their financial needs. Instead, they chose to give Care and Invest themselves in the people rather than demanding their right to be cared for. Paul realized a crucial truth that the Church in Thessalonica was in its infant stages of development. These people didn t know all the ins and outs of church life, how to care for pastoral leaders, or even the basics about stewardship. They were brand new babies in Christ so he started them out with teachings that were geared more toward helping them to understand elemental and fundamental things about the faith. They needed to know God loved them, what grace was all about, and to be people who learned how to pray. Paul knew another crucial truth. What they saw Modeled in his life as a Spiritual Father, God s instrument of preaching the gospel would be cemented in their thinking as much or more than what he said. As they looked at Paul they would see something of the nature of God 3

4 modeled in his life. So he chose to demonstrate God s gentleness and care giving for them as newly born children of God. God does in fact deal gently with us and I am so grateful that He does! Even when God convicts and rebukes us it is always done from a perspective of loving us so much that He wants the very best for our lives. God desires and works for our Growth in Grace and Development of Christ-likeness in us. As Paul worked among them as a spiritual elder, God was working among them and the nature of God is gentle as a mother caring for her children. Today here at Cedar Grove Church, God works gently among us and works among us through each one of us, when we reach out to one another in love, and choose to care about each other. The circumstances that prompted Paul to write this letter were pretty harsh and hard on the aging apostle s heart. He was responding to reports he heard that people had come to Thessalonica and were accusing him of being a money-grabber, a man of impure motives of wanting to appear to be something great in the eyes of people. He chose to rise above his critics who were attempting to create negative circumstances and appealed to the way he lived among them, gently and caringly. He was so thankful he could point back to the way he had conducted himself among them and appeal to the things they had seen in his life. Moms regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in, the Lord has chosen to put these beautiful characteristics of his nature into the hard drive of your internal guidance system as His daughter. He has given you the capacity to be moved with compassion, to respond in gentleness and care to the little ones in your life. Every time you do so you are a picture of God s heart to that little set of eyes who watch your every movement. II. He Loved Them So Much: I Thessalonians 2:8 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well because you had become so dear to us. The second aspect of maternal love Paul points to is how the gift of motherhood demonstrates the nature of God in the area of His Love For Us all. Have you ever watched the interaction of a mother with her young children, one who really loves those little people? There is a glow of radiant love about her as she interacts with her little ones. And the children can see and feel it flowing from her heart through her eyes, even if they are too young to comprehend. In their little minds they are thinking, Cool, I wonder if all the little kids get one of these big humans with all this love? A mother s love causes her to share her life with her child while he/she is in her womb and that sharing love never stops until death separates them. That child is dear to her heart in the womb, at birth, in early childhood, through the school years and into marriage. The mother s love moves her to give and to share her life with her child. It brings her great joy to give to her children. 4

5 That is another aspect of God s nature that Paul was demonstrating as the spiritual father, founding pastor of the church at Thessalonica. He writes, we loved you so much we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. Paul was their first role model of what God s heart of love is like. If the members of the infant church were as to see something of the love of God they would see it through the way Paul and his companions treated them. In John 3:16 we have the gospel in a nutshell. God s nature is a love that reaches, gives, and strains in holy and self-emptying love for the highest good of the object. It is love that moved him to come to earth and take on the cross paying the wages of our sin, which was death. For God so loved the world that he gave his One and Only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Ephesians 2:4, 5 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in transgressions and sins it is by grace that you have been saved. Moms in your giving, reaching love that shares your very life with your children you are demonstrating another beautiful aspect of the nature of God. Our Father God is a giving, reaching, merciful God because of His great love for us. The sacrifice Jesus made for us is a demonstration of the depths to which the love of God will reach to redeem us! III. Paul Labored, Toiled, and Worked Hard: I Thessalonians 2:9 Surely you remember brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. It is true that Paul was primarily speaking about being a tent-making pastor while he served the Lord Jesus in Thessalonica. He chose to work at his craft for his support, making tents. Paul says he toiled night and day to earn a living so he could preach the gospel to them without expecting them to pay him. Yet, I think it is also true that these words describe something else regarding how motherhood reflects certain things we see in the nature of God. The first word that Paul uses is the word Toil or Labor. When you tie that word to motherhood it can have some red flag connotations for women: the words labor room come to mind, Do your breathing honey! Labor and delivery are huge alarm words. Yet that is exactly how a child is brought into the world. A mother goes into labor to give a child life. When a woman goes into a delivery room she doesn t look at the clock on the wall for an end to the experience. She is there for one purpose: to birth her baby! The Scriptures teach us that God also gives us new birth through the labor Jesus performed on our behalf. 5

6 Titus 3:4 7 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. The second thing I saw in these words Paul used toil and hard work is that this is definitely a definition of what I see in God s gift of godly motherhood. What a difficult thing it is to run a home effectively, to very often be working outside the home and then to balance nurturing children, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and fix all the sore booboos. I am amazed at moms. You are in fact a priceless gift of inestimable worth. And so often you perform your tasks in your home for a family that shows little to no appreciation. It really is a good thing we have Mother s Day every year isn t it? Again what a picture of what the Lord has done for us all. Jesus endured incredible toil and hard work, agony and great travail, in the spiritual realm to purchase our salvation. He told his followers; My soul is overwhelmed to the point of death. When we pull this analogy of motherhood into our prayer lives for people we love, it can be a tool to enable us to see what is required to give birth to people whose wills are presently closed to the Gospel! Someone has to pray the price, to Travail and Prevail in Prayer for them! One of the things that we have been seeing as we have studied the Gospel of John on Sunday mornings for the past 6 months is one of the major themes of the Gospel. What John communicates is that Jesus came to accomplish to the very end the work the Father had chosen for him to do. When Jesus referenced this in the narrative of John s gospel he said, I must finish the work of Him who sent me. On the cross when he died for us he cried, It is finished. Moms as you serve the Lord from a heart of love and give of yourselves from the heart to work hard, toil, and labor on behalf of your family, remember you are displaying something of the nature of God for your family to see. You are a beautiful picture of the holy, self-emptying, other-oriented love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Conclusion: 6

7 May 8, 2016 Motherhood Reflects Aspects of God s Nature I Thessalonians 2:6 9 Introduction: We are looking at what the Scriptures teach us about the G of M. The illustration of Christian marriage illustrating aspects of the relationship of Jesus and the Church, Ephesians 5: C parents are called to M certain aspects of God s nature. We R God s I, Genesis 1:27. Today we ll focus on how mothers portray aspects of God s nature. John 1:12 13 and Philippians 1:6. Four pictures of this modeling mothers do: 1. J at B 2. B mother to child 3. N 4. The R that grows and develops We could look at a host of mothers in Scripture, but the one we ll focus on is simply called The Canaanite Woman, Matthew 15: Let s look at her portrait of motherhood: She is M with C She is P in her request for her daughter She is a woman of W and R She has G F She B and R, Matthew 15:28 The fact is the Spirit of Jesus really does C to His H and U for His glory on the earth people whom the world system sees as less than, simple and ordinary, to demonstrate the power of His kingdom to change a life! I. Gentle as a Mother Caring for Her Children: I Thessalonians 2:6 7 Verses 4 and 5 Paul gives us the context for his letter to them. He was a spiritual dad to them. He could have demanded support from them. Instead, the Apostles of Christ chose to C for them and I in them, rather than to demand support from them. 7

8 These people at Thessalonica were infants in Christ. They needed foundational truths, how to live the Christian life, to worship, to pray. Paul knew what they saw M by their S F would be cemented in their thinking as much as what he taught them. He chose to demonstrate God s gentleness to them. God deals gently with us. He desires and works for our G in G and our D in Christ-likeness. Moms, God has hard-wired these aspects of His nature into your I G S. II. He Loved Them So Much: I Thessalonians 2:8 Motherhood demonstrates God s great L F us all! The mother s love moves her to G and S her life with her child. Paul writes about his love for them as the founding pastor of their church. God s incredibly great love for us: a holy, self-emptying, other-oriented love that longs for the highest good of the object, John 3:16, Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:4 5. Moms, your G and R love is a picture of God s love for us all! III. Paul Labored, Toiled, and Worked Hard: I Thessalonians 2:9 Paul worked as a tent making preacher so their church wouldn t be burdened by supporting him. He uses the words T and L which mothers understand! The Scriptures teach us God gives us new birth through the labor of Jesus for us on the Cross: Titus 3:4 7. The second aspect of toil and labor to care for us is also modeled by mothers. What a picture of the truth about prayer. Someone has to pray the price for loved ones to be redeemed. Someone must T and P in prayer for people to be born again! The story of a mother s prevailing love 8

9 Discussion Starter Questions for Home Groups 1. What do you believe our being made in the image of God, male and female, means? 2. In your opinion, why does the Lord God choose to use human relationships to model spiritual truth about His kingdom? 3. What are your thoughts about the aspects of God s nature we see reflected in the gift of motherhood? What are some of those things mothers reveal? 4. What do you think about the interactions Jesus had with the Canaanite woman? What can we learn about motherhood from her? 5. Paul talks to the Thessalonian Christians about mothers reflecting God s gentleness to us. Can you think of ways God deals gently with us? 6. As you think about Christianity here in North America, do you think God s holy, selfemptying, other-oriented love is widely understood? How about lived out in practical Christianity? 7. When you think about toil and labor describing a mother in the birthing process and raising children, what images come to your mind from your own journey in life? 8. How do a mother s travail and labor relate to our prayer life with God, intercession on behalf of others? 9. Read together aloud the story of Samuel s mom Hannah in I Samuel 1. Discuss what attributes of God we can see through her actions. 10. In the message on motherhood reflecting aspects of God s nature to us, what are some things about God s nature and ways, we see in mothers, that you want to consistently remember and apply to your Christian life? 9