Honoring the Biblical Call of Motherhood

Sunday 12^th April, 2019

United Church Madang Sunday Service

Mother’s Day Service

Theme: Honoring the Biblical Call of Motherhood

A message adapted from John Piper’s “A Tribute to Ruth Piper”.  

Bible Reading: Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:10–17

I want to begin off by sharing with you 7 examples of women in the Bible who exceeded expectations.

Immediately we can think of women like Mary, Eve, Sarah, Miriam, Esther, Ruth, Naomi, Deborah, and Mary Magdalene. But there are others that have only a small appearance in the Bible, some as few as one verse. 

While plenty of women in the bible were strong, capable women, these ladies didn’t sit around waiting for someone else to get the job done. They feared God and lived faithfully. They did what they needed to do.

Here are 7 examples of ordinary women showing strength in the Bible:

·         Shiphrah & Puah, Tamar, Rahab, Jehosheba, Lydia, Priscilla, Phoebe

There are many strong women in the Bible who depended on God more than themselves. Some had to lie to save others, and others broke tradition to do the right thing. Their deeds, as guided by God, are recorded in the Bible for all to read and be inspired by. God empowered all women to be strong and follow his call, and he used the actions of these women to inspire and teach us years later through the biblical text.

On this day every year, we honor motherhood and in that we glorify Jesus Christ who designed it, created it, and blessed it by his incarnation (embodiment) in Mary’s womb and by his words from the cross to John, in one of the most beautiful acts of final care for Mary: “[John], Behold your mother” (John 19:27).

Luke 23:26-28

Luke 23:26 As they led him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country. They placed the cross on his back and made him carry it behind Jesus. Luke 23:27 A great number of the people followed him, among them women who were mourning and wailing for him. Luke 23:28 But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

What I want to share in this message is the biblical calling on a woman’s life to weave a fabric of family life out of commitment to a husband and his calling, and commitment to her children and their training, and commitment to Christ and his glory.

In other words, to honor the biblical calling that makes marriage, motherhood, and home-management, in the context of fundamental Christian discipleship, the central, core, dominant commitments of a woman’s life.

There are millions of single women, and many will stay single. There is a grace from God for that—a very special grace and for some even a calling. There are women who are single mothers and the marriage element in the calling I just described is painfully missing. Jesus Christ has a grace for that. There are women who are married and cannot, or, with their husbands, choose not, to have children. Jesus has a grace for that.

And there are mothers who weave together their mothering and their marriage and home management with part-time or full-time employment outside the home—some because they may have to (like single moms), others because they see it as part of their calling and have found creative ways to connect plans so as not to compromise their core commitments at home, and others, sadly, because they don’t have core commitments to supporting the husband’s calling, and pouring their lives into their children, and managing a home for the glory of Christ.

1.1     The aim of this sharing

My aim is not to talk about all of those circumstances.

According to Rev. John Piper, Marriage is a parable of Christ and his church? Motherhood as the life on life transmission of a God-centered, Christ-treasuring worldview? Home management as the creation of a living organism that nurtures the peace of Christ and the righteousness of God?

These are the three ways we can remember the women in our life today thru the roles they play.

• The women who believe that God’s call on your life is marriage, the joyful support of a husband and his calling as you display what the relationship between Christ and the church looks like,
• and motherhood, the transmission of a God-centered, Christ-treasuring vision of life to your children,
• and home-management, the creation of a beautiful and simple place and a living organism called a home which becomes, not only for the family, but also for the community a refuge of Christ’s peace and launching pad for God’s righteousness.

Your role is the one we want to honor especially today, because you are probably not going to get the encouragement or the honor from the secular world.

This is a very important calling that many of you embrace, with little understanding or encouragement from the world.

In Titus 2:4-5, Paul said to Titus that the older women should “train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be despised.” Many of you have heard that calling as rich and deep and precious and high and holy and confirming your heart’s longings, and as absolutely essential for the shaping of a God-centered, Christ-exalting church and culture.

To you I direct this message as a word of honor and encouragement.

1.2     2 Timothy 3:14-15

First, look with me at 2 Timothy 3:14-15:

But as for you [Timothy], continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it [mark those words] ¹⁵ and how from childhood [this signals to us who it was that taught him these things] you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

1. From Whom Did Timothy Learn the Word?

I want you to see two things. First, who is Paul talking about in verse 14 when he says, “. . . knowing from whom you leaned it”? He is talking about Eunice and Lois, Timothy’s mother and grandmother. There are three clues that lead us to this conclusion. First, Paul refers (in v. 15) to this learning as happening “from childhood.” Second, we see in 2 Timothy 1:5 these words, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.” So Paul has already connected Timothy’s faith with what he got from his mother and grandmother.

The third clue is the answer to the question why Paul did not refer to Timothy’s father. The answer is found in Acts 16:1 where Luke tells us about how Paul chose Timothy in the first place as missionary partner. So Timothy is the product of a home with a believing mother and an unbelieving father. That’s why Paul did not say that Timothy learned the scriptures from his father. He didn’t. His father didn’t believe them. But his mother and grandmother did. That is who Paul is referring to in 2 Timothy 3:14.

2. Remembering the Character of Your Godly Mother Is a Great Incentive to Holding Fast the Scriptures She Taught You

Now the second thing to see in this verse is that remembering the character of your godly mother is a great encouragement to holding fast to the scriptures she taught you. Let’s read it again so you can see this. Verse 14: “But as for you [Timothy], continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed”—that is, don’t give up your faith, don’t give up the scriptures, don’t give up your salvation. Then comes these crucial words referring back to Eunice and Lois: “knowing from whom you learned it.”

In other words, Timothy, one of the ways—not the only way—one of the ways to strengthen your faith and persevere through hard times and not give up on the scriptures is to remember who introduced you to word of God and the way of salvation. Remember your mother, and your grandmother.

So let’s make very clear: the apostle of Jesus Christ in this text bestows on motherhood and grandmotherhood a great honor. You have a calling that can become the long-remembered ground of faith, not just for your children—mark this—but for the untold numbers who will be affected by your children. And that’s in addition to all the other thousands of ripple effects of faith in your life.

To these beloved women in my life who are mothers to me;

• Kari L. Airi
• Olive Tatoi
• Morasi Hanua

To the mother of my children;

• Rosemary P. Airi