MOTHER'S DAY

"THE 'EVE' OF MOTHERHOOD!"

 

TEXT:         Gen. 2:18-25; 3:20-4:2

 

INTRO:       We live in a time when Motherhood is not so easy!  Moms are expected to be great wives, great mothers, great business partners, great influences on society, and available for everyone!

 

It is a demanding time to be a mom!

 

ILLUS:    I read about a woman who telephoned a friend and asked how she was feeling, "Terrible," came the reply over the wire, "my head's splitting and my back and legs are killing me.  The house is a mess, and the kids are simply driving me crazy."  Very sympathetically the caller said, "Listen, go and lie down, I'll come over right away and cook lunch for you, clean up the house, and take care of the children while you get some rest.  By the way, how is Sam?"  "Sam?" the complaining housewife gasped.  "I have no husband named Sam."  "My heavens," exclaimed the first woman, "I must have dialed the wrong number."  There was a long pause.  "Are you still coming over?" the harried mother asked hopefully. - Bobby Moore, Any Old Port in a Storm (First Baptist Informer, First Baptist Church, Mineral Wells, TX, May 13, 1981), p. 1

 

Moms need to be aware that they are an important key to a healthy society, a healthy home, and a healthy Church; especially to a new generation of healthy children!

 

PROP SENT:    The Bible teaches us that motherhood is a God given gift that will bring life to those who walk with God and those who witness its example.

 

I.   FOUNDATION OF MOTHERHOOD    2:18-25

 

A.   Partner    2:18-23

1.   It would be impossible to talk about God's plan for motherhood without realizing that God required a certain foundation prior to motherhood ... marriage!

a.   Unlike many in our society today, the Bible teaches that motherhood does not come first, marriage does!

b.   God's model begins with marriage, a man and woman married who share life as partners.

c.   God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, a helper was made for him, not a slave, a helper ... an equal!

2.   God's plan for Adam was a single partner, only one Eve was made!

 

ILLUS:    Sometimes women are overly suspicious of their husbands.  When Adam stayed out very late for a few nights, Eve became upset. "You're running around with other women," she charged.  "You're being unreasonable," Adam responded.  "You're the only woman on earth."  The quarrel continued until Adam fell asleep, only to be awakened by someone poking him in the chest.  It was Eve.  "What do you think you're doing?" Adam demanded. "Counting your ribs," said Eve. – Source Unknown

 

3.   God never designed Adam to be alone and he never designed that children should be raised by a single parent.

a.   God however will minister where circumstances have disrupted this foundation, He promises to those who love Him and find themselves in a situation where their children are fatherless that He will be a father to the fatherless.

b.   God's grace will help those who can't control their circumstances.

4.   This partnership is intended by God to provide for mankind the proper foundation for spiritual, physical, and emotional well being.

 

ILLUS:   BONN, Germany -- A German group of psychologists, physicians and insurance companies who cooperated on a research project, designed to find the secret to long life and success, made a surprising discovery.  The secret?  Kiss your wife each morning when you leave for work!  The meticulous German researchers discovered that men who kiss their wives every morning have fewer automobile accidents on their way to work than men who omit the morning kiss.  The good-morning kissers miss less work because of sickness and earn 20 to 30 percent more money than non-kissers.  How do they explain their findings?  According to West Germany's Dr. Arthur Szabo, "A husband who kisses his wife every morning begins the day with a positive attitude." – Source Unknown

 

5.   When Adam looked upon Eve his first words were: "This is…"  (A demonstrative adverb in Hebrew which can be loosely translated, "WOW!").

a.   This was all he needed to be complete, this one woman!

b.   He did not see her inferior to himself, but equal – "bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh" ... identical but different!

6.  God establishes their "Partnership" before "Procreation"... a pattern too often neglected in our society today!

 

B.   Permanent    2:24-25

1.   God's plan was that this union be permanent.

a.   They would leave behind the bonds of parents when they established this new bond.

b.   No other mate was made for Adam for his entire lifetime!

2.   Too often the mentality today is that marriage is only something you commit to if you are pleased by the other person.

a.   Society today puts way too much emphasis on "feelings" and not enough on "commitment."

b.   Emotions don't always serve us well!

 

ILLUS:    A golden anniversary party was thrown for an elderly couple. The husband was moved by the occasion and wanted to tell his wife just how he felt about her.  She was very hard of hearing, however, and often misunderstood what he said. With many family members and friends gathered around, he toasted her: "My dear wife, after fifty years I've found you tried and true!"  Everyone smiled approval, but his wife said, "Eh?" He repeated louder, "AFTER FIFTY YEARS I'VE FOUND YOU TRIED AND TRUE!" His wife harumped and shot back, "Well, let me tell you something--after fifty years I'm tired of you, too!" -- James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 333.

 

3.   The society that unravels the marriage union will unravel its children!

a.   The best plan by God for motherhood is in a committed permanent bond called marriage!

b.   Motherhood would revive another generation if it was based on God's foundation!

 

II.  FAVOR OF MOTHERHOOD     3:20-4:2

 

A.   Privilege    3:20-24

1.   Adam gives this "woman" a name ... and indicates through the name a new hope and favor God has bestowed:

a.   He calls her "EVE" ... the name means "LIFE" or "LIVING."

b.   This is kind of interesting since they had just been banned from the garden where the "TREE OF LIFE" was!

c.   Though banned from the permanent "LIFE," "EVE" would be a "tree of LIFE" by becoming a mother to all living (a play on the words perhaps!)

d.   In doing so, instead of death being the final word after banishment from the garden the hope of new "LIFE" is given through EVE ("LIFE") ... and the promise comes that in her "SEED" would be hope to crush the serpent and redeem man!

2.   This gives to "motherhood" a great honor and privilege!

a.   Satan does not win!

b.   God offers up hope even in the face of death ... "LIFE" or "EVE" has the privilege of being used by God to defeat Satan through motherhood! ... one day it will be her "seed" that will crush the serpent, the promise of the Messiah.

3.   No mother should ever feel inferior to any career opportunities, no higher standing is given than being a godly mother!  (And by the way, this is true for fathers too ... no career is greater than fatherhood!)

a.   Mothers are not second class citizens in God's view of priorities.

b.   While the world may make it out as some sub-standard lifestyle God does not!

 

ILLUS:    Too many times women are made to feel that they should apologize for being mothers and housewives. In reality, such roles can be noble callings. When I was on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, there were gatherings from time to time to which faculty members brought their spouses. Inevitably, some woman lawyer or sociologist would confront my wife with the question, "And what is it that you do, my dear?" My wife, who is one of the most brilliantly articulate individuals I know, had a great response: "I am socializing two homo sapiens in the dominant values of the Judeo-Christian tradition in order that they might be instruments for the transformation of the social order into the teleologically prescribed utopia inherent in the eschaton." When she followed that with, "And what is it that you do?" the other person's "A lawyer" just wasn't that overpowering.  -- Anthony Campolo, The Power Delusion -- James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 380.

 

4.   Not only does God consider it a high honor to be a mother, but our children whether they understand it or not look to you mom for their guidance ... this also makes it a great privilege!

 

ILLUS:    It was a Rally Day program at the church and a little girl was to recite the Scripture she had memorized for the occasion. When she got in front of the crowd, the sight of hundreds of eyes peering at her caused her to forget her memory work.  Every line that she had so carefully rehearsed faded from her mind and she stood there unable to utter a single word. In the front row, her mother was almost as frantic as the little girl. The mother gestured, moved her lips, trying to form the words for the girl, but it did no good.  Finally, the mother, in desperation, whispered the opening phrase of the memorized Scripture: "I am the light of the world."  Immediately the child's face lit up and a smile appeared on it as she said with supreme confidence: "My mother is the light of the world!"  Of course, everybody smiled and some laughed out loud. Then they soberly reflected that the girl, in some ways, was not far from wrong. For the mother is the light of the child's world.  -- James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 381.

 

5.   If we lose the sense that motherhood is a privilege so will our children and society!

a.   In a broken world after the fall motherhood would be tough, but it would prove to be rewarding also, the future of mankind depended on this role!

b.   There would be pain and suffering for Adam and Eve, but there would also be victory and success, and her role as the "MOTHER OF ALL LIVING" would set the stage for a future Messiah that would come through the ordinary but privileged role of a MOM!

 

B.   Promise   4:1-2

1.   The reaction to Adam and Eve's firstborn child is interesting; Eve rejoices that God has given her a "man" with God's help!

a.   The expression here of "God's help" indicates that she and Adam viewed this as a hopeful sign of "life" not being extinguished by "death."

b.   It may be that Eve viewed this new life as part of the promise given in 3:15 about her "seed" that would one day crush the serpent.

c.   She sees having children as a part of God's promise to restore man, how different from the way society views having children today!

2.   Though a painful process after the fall, Eve took delight in Cain's birth and later Abel's because it restored hope as God's promise to yet destroy the serpent's damage!

a.   In this way God blesses motherhood, not only showing it as a privilege but also as a promise for a new day.

b.   Children are a sign of hope, motherhood gives the promise that something new has come, there are additional opportunities in another generation for God to work.

3.   Though the sentence of death had already been imposed on Adam and Eve the continuance of life as a promise through motherhood gave hope for the future!

 

ILLUS:   Years ago, a young mother was making her way across the hills of South Wales, carrying her tiny baby in her arms, when she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard. She never reached her destination and when the blizzard had subsided her body was found by searchers beneath a mound of snow. But they discovered that before her death, she had taken off all her outer clothing and wrapped it about her baby. When they unwrapped the child, to their great surprise and joy, they found he was alive and well. She had mounded her body over his and given her life for her child, proving the depths of her mother love. Years later that child, David Lloyd George, grown to manhood, became prime minister of Great Britain, and, without a doubt, one of England's greatest statesmen. -- James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 375.

 

4.   Moms are part of God's plan for a healthy future! 

a.   God honors you moms!

b.   And so do we!

 

CONCLUSION:   Though Adam and Eve were driven from the tree of life after they sinned God still gives a promise of life back to encourage hope and to start the plan of saving man – the gift of "Life" (Eve means "life" in Hebrew) ... motherhood!  Eve as a mother was a symbol of hope and God's love.  Motherhood is an honored role, part of God's plan of grace!