← ArchiveSunday, May 11, 2014DateMay 11, 2014Speaker—TextGenesis 3Passages in this sermonGenesis 33:54Genesis 3:208:26Genesis 1:269:28Isaiah 54:126:00Genesis 127:56TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00All right, again, let me wish all of you a happy Mother's Day. And some of you are like, well, Brad, I don't have any children. And I would wish you a happy Mother's Day also. In the past six years in full-time ministry, I have not ever addressed a Mother's Day or even a Father's Day.0:30But here's what I want to do. Before we even get started, I want to make sure that we have an understanding. I want to address mothers biblically. Because there could be an opportunity to celebrate the wrong thing. And so I want to make sure that we're celebrating the right thing, not just the day, not just because it's a day set aside. I want to make sure that we're celebrating moms, women particularly, in a biblical sense.0:59And so Mother's Day is the third most celebrated holiday in the world. Let me give you a little bit of some facts about how Mother's Day came about. It's the third most celebrated holiday in the world, just behind Christmas and Easter, and it dates back to ancient Greece. But it wasn't until 1872 that Julia Ward Howell, author of The Battle Hymnal of the Republic, suggested the idea here in the United States that there needed to be a day set aside, a celebration for moms.1:20And so she felt the scars from the Civil War, and she felt like that could be healed, a day set aside for moms could be healed, honoring mothers. She died in 1905, before she ever saw her dream fulfilled. However, her daughter, named Anna Jarvis, took up the crusade.1:47She spent a fortune trying to promote the cause. In honor of her mother's death on May 12, 1907, Anna made a small tribute to her mom at her church in West Virginia. She donated 500 white carnations for everyone in attendance to wear. It was seven years later that President Woodrow Wilson officially established Mother's Day as a national holiday to be held on the second Sunday of May. And that was in 1914. On a sad note, Anna saw how commercialized the holiday became, and she became so embittered because of it, she filed a lawsuit in 1923 to stop a Mother's Day festival.2:17She was even arrested for disturbing the peace at a Mother's Day convention, quite some lady. She said, this is what her quote, A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone else in the world. I know, as I mentioned Mother's Day, I saw about eight guys go,2:45So you will be going by CBS on the way out, picking up that card. Shortly after her death in 1948, while living in a nursing home, she told a reporter that she was very sorry that she had ever started the whole thing. So this is a lady that established it, this is a lady that brought it forth, and she even recognized that even today we are so commercialized in our society that sometimes we celebrate the wrong thing. Sometimes we'll celebrate the day instead of the woman.3:15So in honor of Mother's Day today, we're going to address that biblically and define what motherhood is. Because if we have a chance, and I had a mic, and I took it to everyone around here, and I asked you, what is motherhood? What does it mean to be a mom? What is motherhood? Everyone would address it to having children. And that is a huge, don't get me wrong, that's a huge part of it, okay? But that would be the typical answer, is it's addressed to children, it's attached to children, mothering children.3:41Now the problem with that is a bit of a biblical one, and I'm going to show you what I mean here in just a second. In Genesis chapter 3, we have the fall of man. So I want you to turn to Genesis chapter 3, we're going to kind of bounce between 1, 2, and 3. So in Genesis chapter 3, we have the fall of man. God creates the world in rhythm. He creates the world in a way that everything kind of lines up, everything is working the way it's supposed to.4:08So he creates the world in rhythm, functioning correctly, everybody in their part, everything doing its part. So before the fall, the world was a beautiful place, there was no strife, there was no sorrow, everything works. Everything God created worked well, worked seamlessly, everything was pretty much a beautiful reality. And then we have sin that entered into the world and kind of messed the whole thing up.4:34And so today, that's what we're dealing with today. The narrative of how sin entered into the world is that Adam and Eve were walking through the garden, Eve begins a conversation with a serpent, and in that, Eve takes a bite of the fruit, gives it to her husband, and he takes a bite of the fruit, and guess what? He was there with her the entire time. Now, I understand that a lot of women, over the years, you guys have gotten a lot of heavy criticism because of this.5:01Okay? And so us in the church have had to go, no, it's not the woman. The guy was there the whole time. He was just too ignorant to do anything. Okay? He was just, he was there, he just let it happen. And so, what is he, who is the first person that he asked for? As God's walking through the garden, and not Eve, he asked for Adam.5:30That's the first person that he asked for. He doesn't ask for Eve, he does not blame Eve, he blames Adam. And Paul would testify this in the New Testament, that sin entered into the world because of the sin of man, not because of the sin of woman. And so, you've got the fall of mankind, and everything that was going on, everything that was right, is fractured and is broken because of that one moment in Genesis 3. And all of a sudden, wine gave way to drunkenness, food gave way to gluttony, sex gave way to all kind of perversions, and all that God created, the good and right in the world, everything that was in rhythm, all of a sudden is out of tune, is broken, is fractured.5:59And so, God begins to say, because of your sin, here's the result. And he addresses the woman, and he says, because of your sin, there's going to be difficulties. There's going to be pain in childbirth.6:27Everything that seems, if you read those things, all of them for the woman rotate around the home. And it's very interesting if you read through those things. Then he begins to address the man. Interesting enough, for the man, the struggles of the man exist outside of the home. I'm going to make you work. You're going to toil. You're going to have difficulties in the workplace. And if you read through that list, you'll see that this outside of the home, that the man usually has these problems outside of the home.6:54And with the woman, it's inside the home. It's difficulties in childbirth. And then after the fall, after everything has been fractured, and after everything has been broken, that's where we pick up in Genesis 3, verse 20. It's a very, very interesting verse for several reasons. Here's what it says. The man called his wife Eve. This is where Adam calls his wife Eve. And you would have thought after the fall, he would have called her something else.7:24You would have thought after what had happened to mankind, you would have thought that he would have named her something different than Eve. And so the man called his wife Eve. Now, it's very interesting that the name Eve means because she was the mother of all living things. That's what the name Eve means. It means mother of all living things. And so if you go down to chapter 4 for me, let's turn to chapter 4, verse 1.7:59Now, Adam knew his wife. In some versions, it had relations with his wife. And she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. And again, she bore his son Abel. And Abel was the keeper of the sheep, and Cain was the worker of the ground. Now, let's put these two things together, these things together. Adam called the woman Eve because she's the mother of all living things. Genesis 3.20, she's the mother of all living things.8:26But, but, what did she not have in Genesis 3.20 yet? She didn't have children. And so as we read this, as we look at this, she's called the mother of all living things before she had children. And so it seems then that motherhood is more extensive and maybe deeper than physically having babies. It's more to that.8:56Now, here's the deal. I know a lot of you women that went through natural childbirth are going, no, he did not. You, Brad, you're not taking that from us. No. And then those of you that had epidurals, you're like, whatever. No, you're not. My wife's over there going, I had an epidural. And it still is, anyway. So it seems that motherhood is more extensive. Maybe even more deeper than physically having babies. Let's take a look at this.9:27Let's go back to Genesis 1.26.9:37It seems that something's going on here, that there's something essential in the woman that makes her motherly, that makes her motherly before she has children. Before children even enter into the world, there's something about her. And then let's look at Genesis 1.26. Then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish and over the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.10:03This is a conversation between the Trinity. It's a conversation between the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. It says, let us make man in our image. In verse 27, so God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. And then it says, male and female, he created them. All right, so God wanted to display his imagery in the universe. He creates mankind in his own image, male and female in his own image.10:33And so he begins to create and picks up some dirt. We all know the story. He picks up some dirt. He breathes into it, forms a man, and he tells the man to find a helper. He looks all over creation and no one is suitable for him. And so God knocks him out, takes a rib out of his side, and he creates the woman. He creates the female. And although they are equal as far as the imagery of God, and they're on the same playing field as far as the imagery of God,11:03you would be crazy to think that they are the same. That they are the same. They are unbelievably distinct in creation. Unbelievably distinct in creation. God wanting to display the width and the breadth of who he is creates man, and then he creates woman. And as a rule, there's a distinction between the two. Man is designed physically stronger. Now, I know some of you women would be like,11:32ah, I think I can take him. But as a rule, that's just kind of how it is. Men are designed physically stronger. Women are designed to be more meek, more softer. And so there is a difference between the two. That's just really kind of not really an argument there. Just look around. There's not an argument there. So God creates woman more physically different than man, and he plays itself out over and over again. God makes the woman physically as a comforter, as a nurturer.12:04She's softer. She's quieter. She's more nurturing. She's more gentle. Now, those of you that know us really, really well, we just had, Lane will be four weeks old. She's holding him tomorrow. He'll be four weeks old tomorrow. We have a three-year-old. His name is Luke. If you ever had him in the nursery, you will not forget him. You know him. He makes himself known. When we had Luke, there's a lot of different things going on in our life.12:36I had just finished up my master's, and so we were just really busy. Same thing, we were still pretty busy and everything, but Luke was our first. And with Luke, everything was just kind of brand new. Now with Lane, it's kind of like, well, whatever. Those of you that have two now, you kind of know. It's just different. It really is. But with Luke, it was brand new. Everything was just, everything was new for us. And so there are often times when I'd be trying to quiet Luke down a little bit and everything,13:03and he just would not get quiet. And all of a sudden, Mom would come in, and he'd be like, let me have him. And I would be like, no, I can fix this. There's that competitive spirit, man, you know, I am man. And Mom was like, no, let me have him. And so within seconds, it would be quiet. I'm like, what the hell in the world? Just this week, Lane, bless his heart, because his brother's going to have to deal with.13:34Lane was the same thing this week. It was just, he was just having some tummy issues and everything. And so I was holding him, trying to quiet him down. And I began to hum to him, try to sing to him. That didn't work. I began to pray, then beg Jesus for help. Because he just would not be quiet. Luke is going, Dad, shut it up. Dad, here, do something. He's taking his sock off.14:04You know, here, put that in his mouth or something. And so, you know, Luke is all upset and everything. And all of a sudden, Mom comes in. Let me have him. And Luke's going, Mom, take him. Take him. And so she grabs him, pulls him close to her. Quietness. Now, it's just very interesting. She pulled my son close. The softness of her skin, the softness of her voice makes Luke, made Luke, and now Lane feel safe.14:34Feel safe. And they quit crying. God designed her as a nurturer. God designed women to nurture. The Bible calls Eve to nurture before she has any children. Motherhood, more than it was going to be having babies, although that's a huge part of it, was going to be instead the role of the woman and how God created the world to function.15:04Now, let me be very, very careful here because I don't want you to hear me saying that nurturing has something to do with house cleaning and cooking. I didn't say that. Okay? Don't walk out here and say, the brat said that women should cook and just clean the house. No, I did not say that. Okay? There's a very intrinsic difference between the two.15:29And I want you guys to understand that before I go any further. In fact, the scripture tells us that God nurtures us by speaking the truth in love. He speaks the truth in love. And sometimes that's very aggressive. Sometimes that's very aggressive from mom. Sometimes that's very aggressive from dad. Sometimes that's very aggressive from just the woman that's the teacher in the classroom that's nurturing those little boys.15:53Nurturing those little girls. Sometimes that's from the Sunday school teacher that's the female Sunday school teacher that's trying to teach those young ladies. Do you get where I'm going with this? So, in other words, it's not necessarily mothers. God's designed us differently. There's a book, and I've mentioned this before. I know I mentioned to some parents, maybe in a class or something.16:22There's a book called The Trophy Kids Grow Up. It's a very interesting read. Not too crazy about the author, but it is very interesting. It's called The Trophy Kids Grow Up. There's a term in the book that's been coined called helicopter parents. Have you guys ever heard of that? It's called helicopter parents. I'm a youth pastor, and so I see this often. You do too. Just go down to the ballpark. You'll see it. They hover. They just kind of hover.16:51They get all up in their kids' business, and they run their kids' lives. They're literally just kind of playing their lives out through their kids because they didn't make it in the All-Stars. So, they want their kid to. It's not just sports. It's in academics. You see parents, man, they're just pushing their kid, pushing their kid, pushing their kid because they didn't do too well in school. That would probably be me. Luke, man, you've got to make straight A's. If I do that, y'all hold me accountable to that. But anyway, it becomes sinful.17:18And that's what this book's talking about. It becomes sinful to the point where it almost is overbearing. So, let me just read this a little bit. Helicopter parents are accused of being obsessed with their children's education, safety, extracurricular activities, and other aspects of their children's lives. Critics have criticized helicopter parents for becoming overprotective of their children and for failing to instill with them the sense of independence and a can-do attitude.17:44Helicopter parents are also accused of overprogramming their children and for failing to allow them free time to play and explore on their own to play as kids. Helicopter parents defend their parenting practices, say that they are only looking out for their children's safety and education. Now, in most cases, mom and dad was found enabling their kids by creating environments for them.18:08In other words, they would put them in this bubble. And they would say, this is the bubble that you exist in. And this is what you're going to do. This is how you're going to do things. And it becomes very, very sinful. Let me just kind of explain.18:38My child's not doing good in the school. Well, that teacher's terrible. Let's change teachers. See, they're creating an environment. Instead of stealing the kid, no, you're going to deal with it. Being motherly, you're going to deal with that teacher because guess what? When you get into college, you're not going to get a choice. Here's another one. My child's not having playing time that he deserves. So the coach is terrible. Let's change teams. And so this goes on over and over again.19:07And guess what? The kid is seeing this happen. This junior is seeing this go on in his life and is seeing his parents cater these different things for him. And so guess what? He becomes to the point to where he's entitled. He's entitled now. It's like, hey, I deserve that. This is what I did. Man, my parents, they say that this is, if things ain't going right, man, I can just go somewhere else and do this right here. It's the same thing with church. We get parents who go, hey, man, that church's not feeding me,19:38so I'm going to go down the road. So guess what? Then we raise a generation of church hoppers for visiting here with us. Love you. No, we really do. And here's what happens. As they grow up, in this study, they became to develop this anger and rage towards everyone who didn't give them what they want. Anger and rage.20:10Because they have been taught by mom and dad that you are entitled to get what you want. Because if we would just give them what they want, and I don't know if you've ever been around anybody like that, they don't understand that the common denominator to the problem is them. Have you ever been around somebody like that? They just don't get it. And that's the way a lot of these young teenagers, not in our group. Yeah, we've had a couple. We've had to straighten them out. But we're raising a generation of entitled kids.20:39They think that they deserve. You say, Brad, where is this going? Where does motherhood play into this? It's not biblical nurturing when we enable. Biblical would be, no, you're going to the class like everyone else. You're in college now. Get off the Xbox. Study.21:09Study. Sometimes that's aggressive to some. And some is harsh. The idea of nurturing, if you break it down in the Hebrew, is the woman provides nourishment. That's what she does. She provides nourishment. The scripture would say that if you're an older woman, if you're an older woman, you should be nurturing younger women, whether they're your children or not. Whether they're your children or not. You older ladies in here,21:38I'm not going to point you out, but you older ladies in here, some of our younger ladies need help. They may not ask for it. They may not come to you and say, hey, how did you do this? But you guys have been there and you've done it. You've made those mistakes. And you have so much richness of valuable information, of nourishment to teach our younger generations.22:07It's the reason why we do gender grading in the youth department. I always try to get older women teaching younger women. Older men teaching younger men. It's biblical. I would take it a step further and tell women of all ages that they also have a role to nourish, impress men. Young men. Children. Godly men. I thank God for the teachers that I had.22:37I married a first grade teacher. I had failed the first grade. Failed the fifth grade. Married a first grade teacher. I was like, ha. But I had some really godly teachers. Women in my life that really pushed me. Really. And I was lost. Man, I had grandmothers that prayed for me. Not my grandmother. I know she did.23:06But I have other ladies in this church, man, that would pray for me. Let me know. Send me cards. Miss Birdie Edge. If you knew her, you usually got a card from her. She was a nurturer. She was someone that she didn't care whether or not you were her kid or not. She was going to try to instill some biblical values into you, whether you were a male or female. We need more of that. We need more of that. I plead with our teenagers, our young ladies.23:36And we need to teach our young girls to fall in love with Jesus. To fall in love with Jesus so that when she gets older and starts to date at 35, she knows the difference. She knows the difference between a godly man and an immature boy. She knows the difference. And mom, we need to be instilling that.24:05Ladies, we need to be instilling that in this younger generation. And so when that young lady, when that guy comes along and he's trying to play games and he's that young boy and he's immature, she's going to be able to identify. And she's going to be able to say, listen, I think you're nice, but here's the problem. I'm looking for someone who loves Jesus because if they love Jesus with their whole heart, they'll love me like Christ loved the church. And that's the example that I want. And guess what? That in itself is also showing nourishment to that young man because he's going to be like, what?24:35I have, I don't know if you guys knew this or not, and I've shared this with someone who's teenagers. I have guys sometimes that would come visiting in our youth group. And I had a guy one time, I'm not going to name him. This has been a long time ago. He was like, man, how can I ask this girl out? He's asking the youth pastor how he can ask one of our ladies out. And so I'm like, dude, you need to go somewhere else. We love you, but don't come here shopping.25:06And by the way, her daddy will kill you.25:20And her mama will hang you. And so that's being motherly. That's holding accountable. I mean, have you ever read the statistics in the United States of masculinity in the U.S. right now? I mean, it's ridiculous. It really and truly is. I mean, that's Father's Day. I need to move on. Nurture, nourish comfort, encourage love.25:49That's the whole role of the mother. And by that, I mean female in this room. Ladies in this room. Isaiah 54.1. You don't have to turn there. This is what it says. I would say in this verse especially. I would say that in this place that you're the mother of this community. Whether or not you have physical children and all. Listen to this verse. Sing, O barren one who did not bear.26:17Break forth into singing and cry aloud. You who have not been in labor. For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married, says the Lord. So, the scripture says, admonish. The scripture says to come on. We need you, mom. We need you, ladies.26:46To nurture. To be the mom. To be the encourager. So, in the beginning, I said that we're in danger of celebrating the wrong thing. We're in danger of celebrating the wrong thing. And don't get me wrong. We got my mom a little gift and everything. We had Mother's Day last night, yesterday afternoon. We're going to go to Jessica's mom after the service and everything. And, man, I appreciate my mom. I love my mom. I love my wife.27:15She doesn't, she has no idea how much I appreciate her. Especially now that we have two kids. It's good because she's a great mom. She's that nurturer. She's that person that comes along when, man, I can't handle it. And takes care of things that I'm just not equipped to do. So, don't get me wrong. Moms are very important. Mothers are very important.27:45But, in the end, it's the wrong celebration because we can celebrate the day and not that special woman that God has placed in our life. Let's not do that. Here's what I mean. Genesis 1. Let us make man in our own image. And the Trinity agrees because it was, because it always does. And they make mankind in their image. Both male and female in their image. So that in the female nurturing and nourishing and mothering,28:11we have an aspect of the character of God that is so readily seen, so not readily seen in the male. If you read the Bible, there are these times of masculinity that God shows that is dominant. Man, when you read of Jesus' return, he comes back with a sword. He is marked up, ready for war.28:42And he's going to slay nations. It doesn't get any more masculine than that. But then if we read other areas in the New Testament, we see where there's this nourishing, there's this nurturing. So there's this other side that he communicates, a nourishing, an encouragement, a life-giving part of the character of God. And so my dad, growing up, told me to suck it up. He was aggressive, very pointed.29:13Boy, you better do right. My mom would hear me cry. And let me lay my head on her shoulder. Nourishing. This is God displaying himself, oftentimes in our parents. Oftentimes in our parents. And so we celebrate moms.29:43Yes, we do. But why? Because of Christ in them. Because of Jesus in them. Because of what Christ is communicating to us about himself in them. The gentleness, the compassion, the sensitivity. And I know a lot of you in this room are probably like, well, not all women. I know a lot of you.30:12I know a lot of you. And so that is true. That is very true. Because of the fall, there is sin. And maybe there's times when that mom wasn't always a good mom to you. And so there's forgiveness. There's that time we need to move past those times.30:38It's also the reason why, as far as far as the fall is concerned, we have such a lack of servant leadership in males. That's another sermon. But in the rhythmic way that God created it, this is what it is. And I'm grateful for my mom. I'm grateful for what my wife puts her hands to our kids.31:07And when she puts her hands in mine, it's softer than mine. I'm grateful that she's different. I'm grateful that she's more sensitive. She's more compassionate. Because I just want to create war. I just want to make war. That's what the man does. The woman, not so much. Very different. I know some of you are like, man, I don't have kids, Brad. And you want children.31:38And man, we have some friends of ours, Jessica and I do, that are dealing with those very hard times in your life. And I would say to you, be a godly woman to those that don't have godly influences. Be a godly woman to those that don't have those influences in their life. Be a mom to those that maybe didn't have that mom. It's what God created you for, to nurture, to encourage.32:05It's how God wired you. It's how he wired you physically. It's how he wired you mentally. It's how he wired you emotionally. And then again, there's some of those here that have a hard time forgiving your mom. And I think it's kind of time to let go. That's why we need the cross. And man, there's those moms that are here, man, you're just doing a great job. You're just knocking it out of the park. And you just got everything lined up, ready to go.32:35And the home is just a warm, safe place. There's no wrath there. There's just this wonderful feeling of comfort in that home. And that's what we need to celebrate. We need to celebrate moms and women that are godly women. So what's God telling us? What's he communicating to us?33:05What's he saying to us? May he be praised for the display of his perfections and the mothering gifted to us in the women around us today. In the women around us today. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for my mom.33:29I don't know she had to put up with a lot. And Lord, but she was steadfast. She was compassionate. She was stern when she needed to be. I thank you for that. And Lord, I thank you, Lord, for my wife.34:00Lord, you created her for me. You created us for each other. So Lord, I pray, Lord, that we would honor you by being parents, godly parents, and would raise our children in a godly home. And Lord, I pray, Lord, that I would praise her all the time.34:25Because she's worthy of it. And Lord, I thank you, Lord, for the moms that are here. Lord, I thank you, Lord, for the ladies that are here. Maybe even those that don't have moms. Lord, I pray, Lord, that you would just instill in them. Lord, I pray, Lord, you would show them someone that they need to just attach themselves to. To help out. To nurture. And we thank you, Lord, for this day.34:54And may we celebrate it. And may we celebrate it every day knowing. That, Lord, you created helpmates for us. You created women for that compassionate role in our life. That encouragement that we need. In Jesus' name. That, Lord, I pray, Lord, I pray, Lord, I pray.35:18That, Lord, I pray, Lord, I pray, Lord, I pray.More sermons on Genesis →
