So today, since it is Mother's Day, in
most parts of the world actually, and I've
never heard of any Wives' Day.
I don't know why.
So presumably we combine wives and mothers together
on this day and appreciate our wives and
our mothers and our wives who are mothers.
And so I thought I would share with
you from scripture the good and bad examples
of seven wives and seven mothers from the
Bible.
So first of all, wives.
Most people think of a Christian wife only
in relation to Ephesians 5.22 where it
says, wives be subject to your husbands.
And as the church, verse 24, as the
church is subject to Christ, so the wives
must be subject to their husbands and everything.
So the only example that many people think
of, particularly, you know, dictatorial husbands, is, think
of the church, submits to Christ 100%.
And Christ is perfect, the church is not.
So it's easy to submit to a perfect
husband like Christ, but there are none like
that.
So we shouldn't forget that.
When the church is subject to Christ, he's
being subject to a perfect person.
So no husband should take that alone as
an example and try to make his wife
submit.
Because the Bible also says in Ephesians 5
.21, be subject to one another.
They must, each wife and husband have got
a boundary which they must respect.
But that's not the only example of submission.
You know, wives may feel inferior saying, oh,
what an example I have.
My husband's example is Christ, but my example
is the church, which is not a great
example.
No, sisters, your example is Jesus Christ.
Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 11 and
verse 3.
Here it says, read it carefully.
Christ is the head of every man.
And man is the head of a woman.
And God is the head of Christ.
And so the submission of the ultimate example
taken here is, he's talking about submission there
in that first passage.
That's why I asked the woman to wail
her head later on.
It's the submission of Christ to the father.
That is taken as the first example.
That's perfect.
The man submitting to Christ is not a
perfect example because most men don't submit perfectly
to Christ.
So in this verse, the perfect example is
God is the head of Christ and Christ
is the head of every man.
And so the example that a woman has
ultimately of submission is how did Jesus submit
to his father?
That is the example that you have to
follow ultimately to God, because though your head
is a man, his head is Christ.
So you're ultimately under the headship of Christ,
so that if your husband asks you to
do something contrary to what Jesus says, you
don't have to listen.
Contrary to what Jesus says means not what
you think Jesus said, but what the Bible
says.
So keeping that in mind, Christ is the
example for every wife.
We have good and bad examples in scripture.
The first one I want to turn to
is of course Eve, the first wife mentioned
in the Bible.
And we are told in 1 Timothy about
Eve and chapter 2.
The reason why the Holy Spirit says a
woman must not exercise authority over a man,
even at home or in the church, is
because of two reasons.
1 Timothy 2 verse 13, because Adam was
created first.
That's the number one reason.
And the second reason is, it was Adam
was not deceived, very clear.
Eve was deceived and fell into transgression.
For those two reasons, the Holy Spirit says
a woman must not have authority over a
man, either at home or in the church,
and she must not teach in the church.
She can share God's word, prophesying.
The Bible says men and women can prophesy,
which means encourage, share things to build up
others.
Certainly, sisters can share something that'll bless all
the children.
Many Sunday school teachers are women who teach
children.
1 Timothy chapter 2 says older women should
teach younger women.
The only exception is they're not allowed to
teach men.
So looking at Eve, what was her problem?
Even though she was created and she knew
that, created to be a helper to Adam,
and she knew that Adam was created first,
and when she was created, her eyes were
open and she didn't see Adam first, she
saw God first.
Only later on, she knew there was a
person called Adam.
So ultimately, a wife must be submitted to
God first and say, Lord, you're the head
of my life.
And if you have asked me to be
a helper to my husband, I'll do that.
She was taken to Adam and she was
created to be his helper.
I'm sure she knew that, God would have
told her.
And she knew that Adam was her head.
And that's the first mistake she made.
She took over the headship.
As they walked into the garden, there was
one tree that God kept to test Adam
and Eve, will they obey me or not?
That's all.
If there was no tree like that, their
obedience would not have been tested.
And Eve went towards the tree of life,
to the tree of knowledge, sorry, not the
tree of life, away from the tree of
life.
And when the serpent came up to speak
to her and suggested something, what should she
have done?
She should have consulted with her head.
She was only the helper.
Adam, what do you think?
Let's pray about this.
Talk about it together.
This beautiful animal has suggested that I partake
of this fruit of this tree.
And together, they could have decided the story
would have been very different.
But because she did not care to ask
her husband and did whatever she felt she
should do, she took over the headship and
brought chaos and confusion into her home and
into the rest of humanity.
So that's a great warning for wives.
Whenever you come to a decision in your
home, it's always good to discuss matters with
your husband.
Even if your husband's not born again in
earthly matters, he may be wise.
In spiritual matters, if he's not born again,
then you can consult with godly people.
But otherwise, a woman has to be submitted
to her husband.
A second example, which is, so Eve was
a bad example.
A second example in chronological order, is Mrs.
Job.
Have you heard of Mrs. Job?
Job, the book of Job chapter two, you
see Job was written before Genesis, by the
way.
Because Job lived long before Abraham, and Moses
wrote Genesis.
So Job is actually the first book of
the Bible.
And in the first book of the Bible,
you read of an extremely God fearing man,
such a man that God could point out
to Satan as an outstanding godly man, but
who had a very difficult wife.
That's sad.
You've seen that through the years.
I've seen it myself.
Some wonderful godly men who've got very difficult
wives.
And Job's wife was one like that.
In the beginning, we don't read much about
her, she accepted the fact that Job bowed
down and her children are all dead.
It must have been a terrific time of
pressure.
Imagine having 10 children and all of them
dying in one moment.
All your husband's property lost in one moment.
And seeing the husband worshiping God and said,
well, the Lord gave, the Lord took away.
When I came from my mother's womb, I
was naked.
When I go there, I'll be naked.
So I have no complaint against God.
I worship God.
And it doesn't say that she said anything
at that point.
Okay, well, at least I've got my husband.
We are together.
She seemed to be okay up until that
point.
I don't know.
But when she saw that God had removed
the other hedge, the first hedge was around
the property and that was everything was destroyed.
And second hedge was around the children.
That was also gone.
The third hedge is around, the hedges are
described in Job 1 verse 10.
And when the third hedge, the one around
her husband's body was taken away, that he
became sick.
And he was probably a leper, leprosy or
something like that.
Because you read that he's sitting outside the
city later on, scratching himself.
And you see what she says to her
husband in Job chapter 2, with all the
boils from top to bottom, from the head
to feet.
And his wife says in Job 2 verse
9, look at what we have faced.
You're still holding fast to your integrity.
Curse God and commit suicide.
It's the first example of a wife telling
her husband to commit suicide because she's fed
up.
She doesn't believe in a loving God anymore.
And Job said, you're speaking as a foolish
woman speaks.
If God is God, can't we accept good
as well as adversity?
So instead of being a help to when
her husband was sick, because the loss of
children was a loss of her husband too,
husbands too.
The loss of property was a loss of
her husbands as well.
He suffered as much when the children were
lost and when the property was lost.
And now when he is suffering with sickness,
instead of being an encouragement, she was a
pain to him.
Here's a warning to wives.
When you see your husband suffering something or
going through some type of pressure, don't be
like Job's wife and add to his problems.
Maybe he's facing a lot of pressure in
this case of work.
You probably don't realize what an evil boss
he has.
And you know, that shared all that with
you.
Maybe he's in risk of losing his job.
Don't be like Job's wife.
Let me go to example number three, a
third wife.
And that is Sarah, the wife of Abraham.
He was known as Abraham in the beginning.
And we read something about Sarah in 1
Peter 3, which is very good.
1 Peter chapter 3, it says here, Sarah
submitted to her husband, verse 6, 1 Peter
3, 6.
Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord.
And you wives have become children of Sarah.
If you do what is right without being
frightened by any fear.
What was the fear that Sarah would have
had right at the beginning?
One day, Abraham comes to her, Abram those
days, in Ur of the Chaldees where he
was 75 years old and retired and he
had built a house and he had enough
savings to live comfortably there.
And the wife was very happy though they
had no children.
They had a house and a lot of
money to live on and living comfortably.
And one day, Abraham says to Sarah, we
have to leave all this and go leave
this country, leave this country, house, everything.
And Sarah says, where are we going?
And why?
He says, God has spoken to me last
night.
And I don't know where we're going.
We're just going to follow God.
How many of you wives would submit to
a husband like that?
I'm sure Abraham was, though he didn't know
the Lord at that time, must have been
some type of God fearing man like Cornelius,
didn't know Jesus, but he was a God
fearing man, a Roman centurion in that extent.
So Abraham must have been something like that,
that God chose him.
And Sarah must have seen this husband of
mine, he's an upright man.
And he's not telling me a lie when
he says God spoke to him.
She said, Lord, let's follow.
Amazing that she was willing to chuck her
home and her land and her relatives and
everything and go with Abraham to not nowhere,
just believing that God was leading.
Abraham submitted to Abraham calling him Lord.
I'm not saying that you can have the
same confidence in a husband who's not God
fearing, but it's an amazing example.
That's what I say.
If you have a God fearing husband, you're
a very fortunate wife.
I'll tell you that.
If you have a husband who's listening to
God, who can hear God speaking to him,
boy, don't ever devalue that.
You're a very fortunate, blessed wife.
If you have a husband who knows how
to hear God and speak and speaks to
you what God spoke to him.
I mean, there are not many husbands like
that.
So be thankful that you have a husband.
But even though Sarah started well, we read
later on in Genesis 16, she also made
a mistake.
No wife is perfect.
You know, when she didn't have children for
a long time, Abraham had told her, God
says he will bless me and bless all
the families of the earth through me one
day.
That was said to him even when he
was in Ur of the Chaldees.
You read that in Genesis 12.
But after a while, you know, when the
prayer promises of God not fulfilled, many years
go by, they've already been married 10 years
and left Ur of the Chaldees 10 years
ago and still no child.
And Sarah wonders, where's this promise that 10
years ago God said to my husband, he
will bless all the families of the earth
through my seed.
And I don't have any children.
She began to lose faith.
Very easy after a while for a wife
to lose faith, even though she started well.
And so one day she tells Abraham in
Genesis 16 and verse 2, see the Lord
has prevented me from bearing children.
Please marry my servant woman, Hagar, whom they
brought from Egypt.
And let's have a child to her and
I will be there when she bears a
child.
And I'll take that as my child and
let's help God because God seems to have
a difficulty here.
And so I don't know whether God's promises
will be fulfilled.
So we have to help God to fulfill
that promise.
What a crazy idea.
Don't think you have to ever help God
to fulfill his promises.
He can do it very well without your
help.
And that trying to help God is what
created confusion.
And Ishmael was born and Isaac and Ishmael
started having it when later on, 14, 15
years later, when Isaac was born, Isaac, Ishmael
was 15, 14, 15 years older than Isaac
and began to fight with him when they
grew up and a lot of fights.
And finally Sarah said, send him away.
And Isaac and Ishmael fought and all these
4,000 years since then, the descendants of
Isaac and the descendants of Ishmael have fought
with each other, continued for years.
But that is all because of one mistake
that Sarah made and Abraham, I believe, foolishly
listened to his wife at that point.
So we have to be careful when we
give advice to our husbands, which comes from
our own mind, contrary to, and which is
a result of not trusting God's promise.
If they had said, let's pray God and
ask God together, in those days, God would
speak to Abraham clearly.
Let's ask God together, Sarah should have said,
why haven't we got children?
How long do we have to wait?
God wouldn't have told him how long to
wait, but he was still reasserted his promise.
Don't, don't fear Abraham.
I promised you, you'll see the best of
all the families on the earth.
They will be blessed.
So that was the good and bad of
Sarah.
The next example we see is, this is
Lot.
In Genesis 19, we read of God's judgment
on Sodom and Gomorrah where Lot had gone
to make money and in mercy to Lot,
because he was Abraham's nephew, God sent angels
there to pull Lot out of Sodom and
Gomorrah and told him, get out and take
your wife and your two daughters, Genesis 19,
13, and get out of the city because
God's going to punish the city.
And even Lot hesitated, but it says in
Genesis 19, 16, those angels pulled his hand
in the hand of his wife and two
daughters and took them out and said, now
escape for your life and don't look behind
you, Genesis 19, 17.
And then go to the mountains.
And then Lot said, okay, you can't go
as far as the mountain.
Can you allow me to stop somewhere halfway
or something?
And the angel said, okay, stop in Zohar
and I will not punish that city.
And then the Lord rained brimstone on Sodom
and Gomorrah.
But it says Lot's wife was 26, was
just behind Lot, Genesis 19, 26, looked back.
What did she look back for?
There's something there.
Oh, all my ornaments and jewelry and money
and all the fancy clothes I bought with
the money that my husband earned in Sodom
and my lovely house, which I could build
with the amount of money much better than
the tents that we were living in when
we were with Abraham and all that wealth
lost.
She turned back and immediately she became a
pillar of salt.
The judgment that fell on Sodom and Gomorrah
fell on her.
Immediately she became a pillar of salt.
She couldn't make any more progress.
That's the point.
A wife who is more attached to material
things and looks back when God said, don't
look at those things, look ahead to what
God's trying to save you from the judgment
of the world.
And you're still occupied with the pleasures and
maybe not just the riches, but all the
fun she had in Sodom where it's a
place full of pleasure and entertainment and everything
else.
And a lot of wives can be such
a drag on their husbands being more interested
in watching movies that are not good and
TV serials that defile them and drag their
husband back.
Blessed is Lot, he didn't look back at
all.
And look back, they become stationary.
They don't make any more progress.
You may not become a pillar of salt,
but what it means you will make no
more progress in your Christian life.
You'll be stuck there for the rest of
your life.
That's a tragedy.
One who's supposed to be a helper to
the husband is now stuck.
And the result is her children, her daughters
go astray.
Imagine the way she brought up her two
daughters, that they commit adultery with their father
later on.
How could two girls do that?
Even in the world, we don't hear of
such things happening.
Sodom must have been such an evil place.
And this mother, this wife was a pretty
hopeless wife to Lot and that's a bad
example.
Then the next example we see, which is
a good one, is in the book of
Ruth, Ruth who married Boaz.
In Ruth chapter one, we read that an
Israelite called Elimelech, Ruth 1-2, with his
wife Naomi, left Israel because there was a
famine and went into the land of Moab
and remained there.
And there his two sons married women from
Moab.
One was Ruth and the other was Orpah.
And then Elimelech, the father died and his
two sons also died.
Finally, it was Naomi, the widow, plus her
two daughters-in-law that were left.
Those daughters-in-law had no children, Ruth
and Orpah.
And finally, Naomi decides to go back to
her home country and tells her daughters-in
-law in Ruth chapter one, verse eight, go
return to your mother's house and may the
Lord deal kindly with you as you have
dealt with me.
And may the Lord grant you to find
rest and maybe you'll find husbands there.
And initially they said, no, no, no, both
of them, we'll return with you to your
people, Ruth 1-10.
Both Ruth and Orpah said that.
But Naomi said, return my daughters.
Because I don't have any more children to
be born to be your husbands.
And I'm too old now to have a
husband, to have a son, to marry you.
So are you going to wait till I
have sons and their sons grow up even
if I get married again?
No, it's hard for me.
So the thought of, you know, that I
won't get a husband is what she put
before them.
You won't get a husband if you come
back with me to Israel.
And initially Orpah and Ruth, it says they
lifted up their voices and they wept.
Oh, we have to leave you, our dear
mother-in-law.
They looked so loving.
But we read Orpah kissed her mother-in
-law and went back to Moab.
Ruth clung to her and said, her mother
said, see your sister-in-law has gone
back to her people and her gods.
You can also go, you'll find a husband
there.
And Ruth said, please don't ask me to
leave you.
I don't want a husband.
I want the Lord.
Where Ruth 116, your God will be my
God and your people will be my people.
Where you die, verse 17, I'll die.
There I'll be buried and nothing but death
will part you and me.
She was devoted first of all to the
Lord.
She didn't want to go back.
And that one single decision that I want
the Lord more than a husband is what
made her a very blessed woman.
You read later on in the last two
verses of Ruth that she became the great
grandmother of David.
Amazing.
She married Boaz who had a son whose
son was Jesse, the father of David.
Amazing.
And you read in Matthew chapter one, she's
in that line of genealogy of Jesus.
She was the great grandmother of David.
How did that happen?
A Moabite coming in this line and Jesus
choosing that line because of this wonderful wife,
that Ruth was and faithful to the Lord,
even though her husband had died and a
wonderful daughter-in-law that she was to
a mother-in-law.
It's very rare to find godly daughters-in
-law who will appreciate a godly mother-in
-law and value her.
There are bad mothers-in-law.
I know plenty of them in the world.
Most of them are probably bad, but you're
very fortunate, my dear sister, if you have
a godly mother-in-law.
Sometimes you may not appreciate it.
I've seen enough mothers-in-law in the
world to see how daughters-in-law suffer.
And sometimes you can take a godly mother
-in-law like Naomi for granted.
Ruth did not.
She valued and appreciated her mother-in-law
and so she became a godly wife later
on to Boris.
Wonderful example.
And example number six now is a bad
one.
If you turn with me to 2 Samuel
chapter six, you read about one of David's
wives.
David married many wives those days.
It was sort of permitted, I presume, unlike
today.
In 2 Samuel chapter six, David married Michal.
Michal was the daughter of Saul.
And Saul had promised, he said, I'll give
you my daughter if you kill so many
Philistines.
And he thought David would be killed by
the Philistines.
If you kill 100 Philistines, I'll give you
my daughter.
He thought he'll never kill 100.
He wanted to get rid of David because
David was a threat to his throne.
But David went and killed 100 Philistines.
And so then Saul said, I can't give
you my eldest daughter.
I'm going to give her to somebody else.
But Michal, one of the other daughters of
Saul said, she was in love with David,
this wonderful young man who had killed Goliath.
And so Saul allowed her to marry David
and they were in love with each other.
But they didn't remain like that.
One day when David was bringing in 2
Samuel 6, bringing the ark into Jerusalem and
wanted to bring it all the way to
Jerusalem.
We read as the ark was brought to
Jerusalem, you read later on in verse 16,
2 Samuel 6, 16, as the ark of
the Lord came into the city of David,
Michal, who was the daughter of Saul, looked
out of the window and she saw David
dancing there before the Lord.
And she was disturbed.
Oh, my husband is dancing there.
And so when she said she despised him
in 2 Samuel 6 and verse 16.
And it says here that when David finished
offering the burnt offering and came back to
the house, Michal began to speak rudely to
him in verse 20.
Oh, how you uncovered yourself.
He didn't really uncover himself.
He was just dancing.
What she meant was you made yourself cheap.
You're a king.
And you made yourself just like one of
the ordinary people.
David was a man who says, I'm just
one of God's people.
He didn't exalt himself as king, but Michal
didn't like that.
I'm the queen.
And how can you behave like that before
these ordinary people?
You must have some dignity.
And David said, I will be humble in
my own eyes, verse 22.
And the others don't despise me like you
do.
And what happened?
God punished Michal, 2 Samuel 6, 23, that
she did not have any children until she
died.
That's a bad wife who despises her husband,
not for something evil that he did, because
he took a lowly place to be one
like the other people.
Sometimes a wife wants her husband to be
esteemed and equal to the big shots in
the world.
And when he is a godly person who
humbles himself and becomes like one of the
ordinary brothers in the church and seeks to
esteem everybody as more important than himself, sometimes
a wife can be disturbed by that.
You see, that's below your dignity to serve
these lowly people.
Sad.
Don't be a wife like that.
Now we turn to one example of a
good wife in Acts of the Apostles in
chapter 18.
We've seen some good and bad ones so
far.
So example number seven is Acts 18.
You read in Acts 18 that there was
a man called Aquila who had a wife
called Priscilla.
And they had met with Paul and he
was a tent maker.
And through Paul, they got converted.
And interestingly enough, Priscilla seems to have come
to know more of the scriptures than her
husband.
Sometimes a wife is more knowledgeable in the
Bible than her husband.
And here's a good example of that.
And we read that when they went to
the synagogue one day, Acts 18, 24, they
heard a man called Apollos, an eloquent man
who was mighty in scriptures, but he knew
only as far as the baptism of John.
That's all.
He didn't know anything further.
He esteemed John the Baptist.
He didn't know further about Christ dying and
being raised up and the new covenant and
all that.
And he preached as much as he knew
in verse 26, Acts 18, 26.
And it says when Priscilla and Aquila, notice
Priscilla's name comes first, the wife.
She heard him.
She didn't go up to him and say,
hey, Apollos, I want to tell you something.
Boy, I really love that.
She took a humble place, even though she
knew much more of the scriptures than her
husband, Aquila.
She took a humble place and said, can
you please come home?
They took him home.
I believe they took him home there.
It says when it says they took him
aside, they took him home and there they
explained the way of God, Acts 18, 26
more accurately.
I believe Priscilla was the one who did
that.
That's why her name comes there first.
And she did that in such a gracious
way, you know, not humbling this man who
was obviously a man well-versed in the
scripture, but didn't know any more.
So you think of a wife who knows
about the new covenant because she's submitted to
the teaching in the church and is a
godly woman.
And she hears someone who's knows only as
far as the old covenant.
Even today there are people like that.
And you want to share something with that
man, invite him home and sit with your
husband and in submission to your husband, as
he shares, you also share.
Take that place of submission and open the
eyes and God can anoint you to open
the eyes of even brothers who are ignorant
of the new covenant.
Not if you act like a bossy woman,
but like Priscilla.
And later on you read in Romans 16
about Priscilla and Aquila again, they had a
church meeting in their home.
Wonderful.
So there's an example for women who know
more of the scriptures than their husbands.
So now we've seen seven wives.
Now let's look at seven mothers.
So again, for mothers, you know, we all
know God is a father and God is
a loving father, our father who art in
heaven.
But we all know that God is also
a mother.
I want to encourage all mothers by pointing
out to you that God is also a
mother and Isaiah speaks about that more than
anybody else.
Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 66 and
verse 13.
The Lord says to Israel, as a mother
comforts her children, so I will comfort you.
As a mother comforts her child, so I
will comfort you.
So there God compares himself to a mother.
He's not only a father, he's a mother.
And that's a wonderful example.
And again, in Isaiah chapter 49, he again
uses the example of a mother.
In Isaiah 49, 15, when Zion said, verse
14, the Lord has forgotten about me.
The example he uses is not a father.
He doesn't say a father won't forget his
child.
He says, can a woman, Isaiah 49, 15,
forget a newborn baby whom she's nursing?
She may forget a grown up child, but
a newborn baby whom she's nursing, can a
woman not have compassion on this little baby
when he dirties the diapers or does foolish
things?
It's one she's nursing, a little baby.
Even a mother may forget her baby, but
I will not forget you.
I'm a much more compassionate mother than even
her.
So that's an example for mothers to be
compassionate towards your children.
God is your example.
Whenever you find a difficult child, look at
that verse and say, have compassion on him.
Like God had compassion on a wayward Israel.
It's a great example for mothers.
So now turning to the example of mothers,
again, we have good and bad examples.
The first one I can think of is
Eve again.
We've seen her as a wife.
Now we see her as a mother.
In Genesis 4, 1, she gave birth to
Kim.
Now remember this, no baby had been born
into the world until then.
Nobody ever thought that a human being could
come out of a mother's womb.
Today we are familiar with it.
But think of Adam and Eve who had
seen that only God can create a man,
only God can create a woman.
God made Adam from the dust of the
ground and God made Eve from Adam's rib.
It is God who did it.
But all of a sudden, Eve discovers that
from her womb, a human being has come
out.
And you know what she says?
Literally what she's saying in Genesis 4, verse
1 is, I have made a man.
It's not only God who did it.
I have made a man with a little
help from the Lord.
It's very easy for a mother to become
proud of her children or what she accomplished.
See the type of child I brought up.
See the type of so easy.
Of course, the Lord helped me a little
bit to bring up this godly son, but
it was I who did it.
Oh, beware of that, dear mothers.
If your children are godly children, put your
face in the dust.
Don't ever follow Eve and say, look at
my godly son or daughter whom I brought
up with a little help from the Lord.
Here's the first example of a proud mother.
And what is the result?
She imparted that spirit to her son Cain.
I'm sure she did.
Cain saw that.
You know, children invite something.
You don't have to say anything.
Children look at their mothers and invite something.
And they, oh, if my mother can do
something like that, I can also do some
things with the help of the Lord, but
I'm going to be somebody.
And it's that pride that finally led Cain
to be a one who became jealous of
his younger brother and murdered his younger brother.
So often, so many children grow up acquiring
habits from their mother, bad habits.
And they become a pain in the home
to the other children and to humanity in
general.
And later on, they have children who turn
out like that because later on, you read
at the end of Genesis chapter four that
Cain's descendants also became murderers as you read
in Genesis four, verse 23.
So we reproduce after our kind.
So there's a bad example of a mother
who thought that she had accomplished something.
Be careful.
The next example of a mother I can
think of is Rebecca, Genesis 25.
In Genesis 25, verse 28.
Sorry.
It says here, Genesis 25, that Rebecca had
twins.
And verse 24.
And when those twins came out and grew
up, verse 27, Esau was a hunter and
Jacob was a simple man who liked to
live in tents.
You know, children can be so different, born
from the same mother, even twins, completely different.
Esau, man who's out in the open all
the time and wants to be playful and
games are more important than Jacob, the more
studious type.
God's plan.
And sometimes a father can be foolish in
favoring one.
Isaac loved Esau just because he loved good
food.
And it's possible that you have a preference
for one son because he's good in something
you want to be good in.
But Jacob, but Rebecca loved Jacob.
So this is what led to finally a
separation between these two brothers.
And that was Rebecca's fault.
She should have loved both her children equally.
And one has got a taste for one
thing, another has got a taste for another.
A good mother will not prefer one over
the other.
She will not prefer the one who's good
at games over the one who's studious, or
the one prefer the one who's studious over
the one who's more interested in games, outdoor
life.
These are two examples here.
One who wanted to be outdoors and one
who was mostly at home.
She could have loved both of them equally.
But because she had preference, and later on,
unfortunately, the father also had a preference, it
brought a division in that family that divided
Jacob and Esau for many years.
And Esau almost wanted to kill Jacob, like
Cain later on, but God spared him.
So there's a bad example of favoritism.
Be careful as a mother that you don't
show favoritism.
It says God has no partiality.
And if you want to be like God,
ensure there's no partiality in your life.
Meditate on these things.
I'm going through them quickly.
You can later on meditate in your own
time.
The third example I have is Hannah.
In 1 Samuel chapter 1, we read she
didn't have, you know, her husband had, again,
two wives.
It was very common those days.
And the first wife had many children.
But Hannah, the second wife, had no children,
we read in the first few verses of
chapter 1 of 1 Samuel.
So she prayed.
She went to the temple and prayed.
And she said, Lord, if you give me
a child, I will dedicate him to you
as long as he lives.
And later on, when the child was born,
she kept her promise.
That's wonderful thing.
Only her son was born, Samuel.
And she brought the son to the temple
to the high priest and said, in 1
Samuel 1, 27 and 28, for this boy,
I prayed.
And I promised the Lord that I'll hand
him over to the Lord.
And the Lord granted my petition and I
will not go back on my promise.
I have dedicated him to the Lord as
long as he lives.
He's dedicated to the Lord and he worshiped
the Lord there.
And she worshiped too.
And you see her wonderful prayer in chapter
2, verse 1 to 10, which is the
prayer from which you read later on in
Luke chapter 1, Mary who bases her prayer
when she hears about Jesus being conceived in
her womb, bases it on the prayer of
Hannah.
You compare Mary's prayer with Hannah's prayer.
It's amazing.
She prayed and thanked the Lord and gave
that son over to the Lord.
Now, today we are not called to make
our son full-time Christian worker because there's
no temple today.
The Lord is everywhere.
What we learned there is not to dedicate
our children for full-time Christian work was
no mother can do that.
No one can go into full-time Christian
work until God calls him.
My mother did not dedicate me to full
-time work.
My parents brought me up in the fear
of the Lord.
That's all.
God called me specifically 56 years ago.
It was in the month of May, the
6th of May, 1964.
God called me specifically.
And that is when I responded.
When I will inform my parents, I'm quitting
my job in the Navy.
You cannot dedicate yourself, your son or daughter
to full-time Christian work.
If God doesn't call them, they'll make a
mess of their life if they go into
full-time Christian work.
Well, what you need to do is dedicate
them to the Lord, to be wholehearted disciples
of Jesus in whatever profession He may call
them.
And that's the example we have in Hannah,
to keep your promise.
Lord, you gave me a child.
I'm going to bring him up to fear
you and love you and to be your
disciple, teaching the ways of God from childhood.
Amazing example.
And you see the way Samuel was as
a young boy and grew up to be
a prophet.
You have to give a lot of credit
to what the mother did in the early
years before she took him to the temple,
because Eli was a very poor example as
a high priest.
He could not have helped Samuel at all.
He was a backslidden, good-for-nothing high
priest.
How did Samuel become such a godly prophet?
It was the work of Hannah, the mother.
In a few years, she knew that in
a few years I had to send him
off and he won't be with me.
I'll only see him once a year or
so.
But I've got to do everything possible.
Remember this, my dear sisters, mothers.
Your child is going to be with you
also only for a short while.
One day he'll leave home, maybe to college
or go to work and leave your home.
And if you haven't done a proper job
by that time of instructing him in the
ways of the Lord and showing, teaching him
the Word of God, he will fail and
part of that responsibility will be in your
hands.
And if he grows up in a godly
way, be thankful for that.
But if you want to be that, then
give time to God yourself and make sure
that you teach your children the ways of
God, mothers.
The next example I have is Jochebed.
Have you heard of Jochebed?
Jochebed was the mother of Moses.
She was the daughter of Levi and she
married Levi's grandson.
So she married her own nephew.
And we read about her.
Levi must have brought her up in some
godly way because they were all slaves in
Egypt.
And Jochebed was a slave and her husband
was a slave many years, not an easy
environment to bring up a child in.
And there was a decree that all sons
were born had to be killed.
And that was the time when Moses was
born.
We read in Hebrews 11 and verse 23.
White faith, Moses, he's talking about the faith
of the parents now.
This faith of the parents is mentioned in
this wonderful chapter, Hebrews 11, where it speaks
of fantastic things like the walls of Jericho
coming down and the Red Sea being split
and lions being slain by the power of
God and people being raised from the dead.
And in the midst of all these fantastic
things is the faith of a mother.
That's Jochebed, Moses' mother.
She did not allow for that child to
be killed.
She did not kill that child.
A warning to mothers not to abort the
babies God gives them.
She did not kill that child.
Thank God she did not.
There would have been no Moses.
She said, no, this is the child that
God has given.
And so Hebrews 11, 23, as long as
possible, because soldiers would be going up and
down the Israeli camp to see if there
were any babies crying.
What a job it must have been to
keep that child quiet for three months.
I don't know how she did it, but
she was so concerned that no soldier must
kill this child of mine.
Beyond three months, she couldn't do it because
the baby becomes bigger.
But for three months, she hid it.
Remember, it was she who did it because
the father would go to work at six
o'clock in the morning and come back
probably at eight o'clock at night.
He hardly saw that.
Those slaves were made to work day and
night.
And here's Amram, the father going to work
at six o'clock in the morning, coming
back.
By the time he goes, the baby's asleep,
not woken up yet.
By the time he comes back, the baby's
gone to sleep.
He hardly saw the little baby Moses.
All the time, it was Jochebed, the mother
who brought up Moses.
And she knew that one day, as Pharaoh's
daughter said, let her bring him, once he's
old enough to sort of run around and
take care of himself, bring him to the
palace.
And she knew that I have this boy
with me only for a few years.
And after that, he's gone.
And I don't know when I'll ever see
him again.
And look what she did as a mother.
It says when Moses was growing up at
the age of 40, and out of the
40 years, maybe about 30 years at least,
was in the wicked palace of Pharaoh where
that wealth and simple pleasure and a lot
of evil company.
And at the end of that, seeing all
that for 30 years, at the age of
40, it says Moses rejected three things.
He rejected the pleasures of sin, Hebrews 11,
25.
He rejected secondly, the wealth, he rejected the
wealth of Egypt, verse 26.
And verse 24, first of all, sorry, he
rejected the honor of men being called the
son of Pharaoh's daughter.
Secondly, he rejected the pleasures of sin, verse
25 and 30, rejected the wealth of Egypt.
These are the three things that people are
drawn by in the world, honor, simple pleasure,
and wealth.
And it says here in verse 24 to
26, Moses rejected all of them.
Imagine if you have your son with you
only for 10 years, and he goes away
for the next 30 years, you don't even
see him.
And at the age of 40, he remembers
those values that you put into his head
and stands up for God, you're a blessed
mother.
Really, you have to appreciate Jochebed what a
fantastic job she did in preparing Moses to
be the man of God he became finally.
He made mistakes, but God chose him because
he rejected these three things.
The next example, of course, we have is
the most wonderful mother of all, Mary.
And when we think Mary, you know, many
Protestants don't appreciate Mary because they're afraid of
being Roman Catholic, because Roman Catholics worship Mary,
almost, or probably they do worship Mary.
They pray to her and all that.
So the result is a lot of Protestants
despise her.
I don't despise her.
I think Mary is the most wonderful mother,
perhaps in the whole Bible, because she was
willing to face the reproach.
When an angel came to her and said,
you're going to have a child in Luke
and chapter one, you're going to have a
baby.
And she says, how can I have a
baby?
Luke 134, I'm a virgin.
Holy Spirit will come upon you.
You'll have a child and be called the
son of God.
And look what Mary says.
Okay, verse 38, wonderful word for any sister
to say.
Here I am Lord, born slave of the
Lord.
Let it be done to you according to
your word.
Imagine all the thoughts that went through Mary's
mind at that time.
I, a virgin, conceived in a small village
called Nazareth.
Imagine how I'll be the gossip of the
whole village.
I have a big stomach before I'm married.
And everybody comes to know this girl is
engaged to Joseph, not yet married, and she's
already pregnant.
And then I thought she just gave herself
to some Roman soldier or something like that.
Imagine the reproach she would have thought that
will come upon me and my little boy
will have that reproach all his life as
he grows up.
She didn't say, oh Lord, this is too
much for me.
I can't bear that reproach, please choose somebody
else.
There are many sisters who are not willing
to bear the reproach of Christ.
Not in this way, this is a tremendous
reproach, but in other ways.
There is a reproach of being a disciple
of Jesus even today, when you stand up
for the truth and stand up for the
principles of God's word.
Brothers and sisters have faced reproach.
It says in Hebrews 13, let's go outside
the camp, bearing the reproach of Christ.
There is a reproach.
There is a type of Christianity, which is
Babylonian, but you don't have a reproach.
But if you're wholehearted and radical, yeah, then
there will be a reproach in following Jesus.
And Mary is an example of willing to
take that reproach because she wanted to glorify
Christ.
And Mary is an example of allowing the
Holy Spirit to come upon her and produce
Christ in her.
And that's an example for all your sisters.
Allow the Holy Spirit to come upon you
and fill you and produce the life of
Jesus in you.
Just like Mary allowed the baby Jesus to
be born in, little by little that baby
grew and the likeness to Christ can grow
more and more in you.
Outstanding example for all sisters.
And you see later on, when she was
in Cana and told Jesus, she knew that
Jesus is the son of God and 30
years he had obeyed her in the home.
And now in Cana, she goes up to
him and says, they don't have any wine.
Can you do something?
And Jesus turns around to her in John
2, 4 and says, what have I got
to do with you woman?
My time has not yet come.
She does not get offended.
Wonderful.
He had never spoken to her like that
in 30 years.
And now he calls her woman.
You know, he was saying, now I'm under
my father.
Don't interfere in my life.
He respected her and cared for her.
He read of the cross and he was
hanging on the cross.
He cared for his mother.
So he didn't forget about her, but he
wanted her to know right from day one.
I'm not your son now.
I'm a son of God.
I have a ministry and please don't interfere
with me.
Who is my mother?
Those who hear the word of God and
do it, he said later on.
So, and what Mary didn't get offended.
That's the wonderful thing.
She didn't get offended.
Be a mother who's not offended when your
son is going to wholeheartedly follow the Lord
in some way, which you can't understand.
Submit to God.
And we read here, she goes to servants
and says, whatever he tells you to do,
do it.
Okay.
The next example, number six is Mrs. Zebedee.
A bad example.
I hope you know who Mrs. Zebedee is.
The mother of James and John.
She was very happy.
She was a disciple of Jesus.
And she was very happy when Jesus chose
James, her two sons to be his inner
circle of three, Peter, James, and John.
But she knew that Jesus was gradually training
Peter to be more of a leader.
And so she comes to try and influence
Jesus to put her sons a little more
forward.
And so you read in Matthew chapter 20
and says to Jesus in Matthew 20, verse
20 and 21, she bowed before Jesus and
said, I have a request of you, Lord
Jesus.
Just one request.
When you come in your kingdom, you know,
the thief on the cross already said, please
remember me when you come in your kingdom.
That's all I want, Lord.
Just remember me.
Don't forget about me when you come in
your kingdom.
But the mother of James and John had
a bigger request.
When you come in your kingdom, make sure
my two sons, not Peter, James and John
will sit one on your right hand and
one on your left.
How many mothers there are like that who
are seeking to push their children forward in
an unrighteous way to promote their children above
others, even in the church, or trying to
show that my children should be exalted over
other children in the church.
Be careful, dear sisters.
Be a good mother and don't follow the
example of Mrs. Zebedee.
God determines who is going to sit on
the right hand and left hand of Jesus.
God determines who's going to be anointed to
serve him.
James finally died before he could even have
much of a ministry.
You read in Acts 12, and John lived
more than all the other apostles.
That's all God's choice.
Be willing for your children to fulfill God's
will for their lives.
Maybe others will have a greater ministry than
your children.
Submit to them.
Accept it.
Don't seek to promote your children over others
in the church by trying to push your
children forward in the church.
I've seen this happen.
Please make my child come forward and do
something.
Please make my daughter or my son come
and do this and do that.
And you try to speak to the elders
and try to influence them.
The same thing happens today that Mrs. Zebedee
did.
A very bad example.
Don't be a mother like that.
Let God.
Promotion comes from the Lord, we read in
Psalm 75.
If you are a mother like Mrs. Zebedee,
you're a bad mother trying to promote your
children.
I tell you this, you will ruin your
children.
Fortunately, James and John were not ruined because
Jesus straightaway told her, you don't know what
you're asking.
You don't know what you're asking, Matthew 20
verse 22.
It's not in my hands to do these
things.
Let them drink the cup which I drink
and be baptized with the baptism which I'm
baptized.
Let them take up the cross.
That's what Jesus said.
And that's what I would say to you
all Mrs. Zebedees today.
Teach your children to take up the cross,
to drink the cup that Jesus drank instead
of trying to promote them in the church.
I've seen mothers do this.
And I tell you, I have no respect
for such sisters who try to promote their
children secretly, subtly and delighted when their son
or daughter is pushed above others in the
church, maybe in playing some instruments or in
sharing something.
You're an evil mother if you're trying to
get your children to be in competition with
others.
Humble yourself and say, Lord, if you promote
them, I'll accept it, but I'm not going
to do anything behind the scenes to promote
anybody.
You will ruin your children.
They will get the same pride that you
have.
I've seen that.
Some children are promoted by their mother or
by their mother and the children develop the
same pride of the mother and exalt themselves
and they destroy themselves because God is against
the proud, whether it's a Mrs. Zebedee or
anyone.
Okay.
The last example, number seven is Timothy's mother.
Wonderful example.
We conclude with that.
See, if you read in Acts chapter 16
and verse one, that Paul came to Lystra,
Acts 16, verse one, and there was a
disciple there called Timothy.
And he was the son of a Jewish
woman who married a Greek.
But Timothy had such a good testimony, not
only in Lystra where he was, but even
in other towns.
People from Typonium who came to Lystra said,
boy, that's a godly young man, only 20
years old, Timothy.
And Paul is a man of discernment.
He could see through people in a few
minutes.
And he looked at Timothy and really heard
him testify a little in the church and
heard the testimony from others and said, I
want you to be my coworker.
Imagine a godly man like Paul choosing a
20 year old to be his coworker.
And that was not because he was promoted
by his mother.
No.
Timothy's mother was not like Zebedee.
This is Zebedee trying to promote her son.
He left it to God.
And God through Paul chose Timothy.
And later on when Paul writes to Timothy
in 2 Timothy chapter one, we read, Paul
writes to Timothy and says, I am mindful
of the second Timothy one five, I am
mindful Timothy of the sincere faith within you.
Not Bible knowledge, but faith.
That's the important thing.
It's not how much Bible knowledge you're cramming
into your child's head.
How much faith in God.
They didn't have Bibles in those days, but
she could train her child in faith, which
was first in your grandmother Lois, and then
in your mother Eunice.
I think that's how it's pronounced in the
Greek, Eunice.
And I'm sure that is in you as
well.
So where did he get his faith from?
From his mother.
And we know his father was a Greek,
probably a businessman who had no interest in
God.
He was a mother who single-handedly raised
this boy to be a godly man.
I wonder how she, you know, she had
her grandmother also had faith and had put
some of that into her heart, but somehow
she went astray and married a non-Jew.
The Jews were not allowed to marry Gentiles,
but she went and married a Greek.
Maybe a time in her life when she
became a little backslidden and wayward and went
and married this Greek businessman who was rich.
That happens sometimes to people who have godly
mothers.
But I'm sure Eunice prayed and prayed and
prayed.
Eunice is a great example, prayed and prayed
and prayed for her daughter.
Sorry, Lois is a great example, prayed and
prayed and prayed for Eunice and brought her
back, even though she was still married to
a Greek.
And when she had a son, Eunice said,
Lord, I'm sorry for backsliding and marrying outside
your will, but now please help me at
least to bring up this son in a
godly way.
There are women who miss the will of
God in marriage, but who have children and
who bring up that child in a godly
way, even though their husband is ungodly.
Single-handedly bring up their children to be
like Timothy.
There's hope even for those women who married
unbelievers.
That's the example here in Eunice, to have
godly children and you'll get your reward in
the final day.
Just because you missed God's will somewhere in
life, even in marriage, don't get discouraged sister.
God's got a plan for your life and
God can make your children grow up to
be servants of God like Timothy.
But you have to devote yourself and communicate
faith to them, not just Bible knowledge.
You communicate faith by in a time of
trial, Timothy must have seen Eunice's mother saying,
let's pray Timothy.
And father was not praying, but Timothy and
the mother would pray.
And Timothy, we are going through a little
financial struggle now.
Let's pray and ask God to help us.
Or we're facing some opposition from relatives.
Let's pray and ask God to forgive them
and let's love them.
Or from neighbors who are difficult, Timothy, let's
pray.
Let's not be evil towards our neighbors.
Let's be good to them.
And all types of different situations, God allows
in the life to train Timothy to be
a man of faith.
And the mother was the one who trained
that little child from a young age to
have faith.
So that by the time he was 20
years old, he was a man of God.
Blessed are you mothers, not if you cram
your Bible knowledge is important because we have
a Bible and our children must know the
Bible.
But more than that, if you can train
your children to have faith in God in
difficult situations, there are many children who have
Bible knowledge who are useless to God.
But along with the Bible knowledge, if they
have faith in God, God is my father.
He will never let me down.
He loves me just like he loves Jesus.
He will care for me like he cared
for Jesus.
You have trained them for life, even if
they are poor or rich.
Blessed are you mothers.
I have this picture behind me.
You can have a look at it.
Jesus washing Peter's feet.
This is the calling of all wives and
say, Lord, make me a washer on the
feet, not literally, but one willing to do
lowly jobs like Jesus.
Jesus is your example to wash the feet
of your husband, to wash the feet of
your children.
One day they will rise up like it
says in Proverbs 31 and say, you are
blessed.
You're a blessed mother.
So dear brothers, mothers, dear wives, follow these
examples and stay away from the bad examples
that we saw.
And God will bless you as a wife
and a mother.
We want many godly wives and godly mothers
in our churches.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, as we bow before you, only
you can raise up a godly wife or
a godly mother.
I pray you'll do that in our churches.
Many, many.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.