A Mom Like Mary

luke chapter 2 verse 7. now this is a verse just one verse it relates to the life of mary and she's the theme of my message today and of course always jesus luke 2 7 and she mary brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger a feed box because there was no room for them in the inn that's how jesus entered the world that's how mary brought him and i want to speak from her life today and encourage all of you moms to be a mom like mary if you're not a mom or you've already raised your kids then there's still a lot to learn from the life of mary the mother of jesus a mom like mary please be seated and thank you for worshiping the lord and standing as you did well i want to take a moment to honor every godly mom who's in the house and watching online and i also acknowledge that for many people not just a few mother's day is an especially difficult day for a number of reasons and i'll not list any of them today i'd like to honor the memory of my mom who passed away this past year on christmas day this is the very first year in memory that i could not give her a purple card i always found something that said nice things about my amazing mom but it was always purple because that was her favorite color and i also want to honor my precious wife this year 44 years july 28th we celebrate our 44th anniversary i know we don't look old enough but we got married very young at least she did and while we were on vacation joel justin and i were walking together and a lady stopped us and asked if we were triplets i'm not making this up i was very honored i don't know how much they paid that lady but it wasn't enough my wife is is a truly godly lady what you see here is who she is all the time an amazing wife mom and grandmother we call her nana our grandkids do and our church family we don't talk about our family a lot publicly but it's mother's day we're really blessed to have a godly pastor's wife who loves the church and loves ministry and frankly puts up with a very busy husband because church work never ends i also want to honor our three daughters-in-law in the order that they were married to our sons alonda the wife of joel and mother of lincoln zara and nora he led the service earlier theresa the wife of justin the mother of warren and rhett justin played base a while ago kenzie the wife of ryan and mother to camden and kendall kinsey sang a while ago and ryan was singing a while ago if we would have been together they would have thought there were four you know quadruplets in that family not triplets short bald amazing people no doubt something like that but to every mom here would you just take a moment with me and applaud them and celebrate motherhood and the moms who are a whole lot like jeep [Applause] several people have contacted me yesterday and today you know the first mother's day without my mom and while i miss her i'll tell you that because she was an amazing mom who lived the full life of 90 years my grief is mitigated by a tremendous amount of gratitude because she was an amazing godly selfless mother and so it makes mother's day a whole lot easier and i just want to drop this in how do you want your children to remember you because that day will come and i hope that you want to be remembered for a person who loved god first loved their family second found a place to serve god in ministry and was a selfless generous person now the bible elevates the role of women and especially mothers to a place of special honor we know in the in the law we are taught to honor this is one of the ten commandments honor your father and your mother that the lord your god as he commanded you that your days would be long on the land and that it would go well with you this is the first commandment with promise and the bible rewards us according to that verse and this was quoted in the new testament for showing honor to our parents proverbs 31 28 talks about a godly mother a virtuous woman that her children rise up and call her blessed her husband also and he praises her many daughters have done well but you excel them all he said charm is deceitful beauty is passing but a woman who fears the lord she shall be praised that's the secret to longevity of mattering and making a difference in other people and being honored as you love god and serve your family he says give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates so as much as there is a blessing in honoring your mom the bible also says that there is a curse when you mock your father and when you scorn obedience to your mother this is a particularly gruesome verse that the ravens of the valley will pluck out your eyes and the young eagles will eat it so it's a high motivation to me to honor my mom we do well to honor our moms and also to follow the example of godly mothers in the bible the bible said that you're the daughters of sarah if you do well and are not afraid with any amazement you don't chicken out on living by biblical principles knowing that they always pay off so it would be a worthy goal for every mom to desire to be a mom like mary the mother of jesus so i want to talk about her today and relate some things from her life that i hope would strengthen and encourage you mary according to the bible was highly favored of the lord to become the mother of jesus christ she is called blessed among women she's called the mother of our lord now mary was not perfect and she shouldn't be worshiped mary cannot answer any prayers of yours as she does not intercede on your behalf but because she was chosen to be the mother of our lord a character study of her life would surrender insights for each of us even if we're not a lady or a mom so i've been pondering the story of mary and her role as the mother of jesus and for her it was certainly a high honor highly favored of the lord but if you read through her story it was also a very unique and difficult assignment that really called for a very special lady so look it's let's look at her life first of all mary was morally pure deeply committed to the lord submitted to his will when we meet mary she's betrothed to joseph and betrayal there was a formal ceremony a binding contract prior to the consummation of the marriage but it was more than what we would call engagement but even though mary was committed to joseph she maintained her virginity and moral purity until the time that they came together lawfully in marriage after the birth of jesus christ and despite this commitment she didn't take it as permission when she was told that she would conceive and bear a son that it would happen while she was still a virgin it confused her a little bit because she never considered compromising her moral principles for anything mary knew that god would never ask that of anyone her question was how shall this be seeing i know not a man and when gabriel explained that the holy ghost would overshadow her and that holy thing that would be born of her would be the son of god mary spoke some words that i preached about before through the years luke 1 38 this is her surrender to god and mary said behold the handmaid of the lord be it unto me according to thy word and the angel departed from her mary submitted herself to the will of god but it never brought a conflict to her moral purity her commitment to god's word her submission to god's will never conflicted in any way being a mom like mary means staying true to god's word and obeying god's will whatever the cost in your life in our culture today maintaining one's moral purity seems to be valued in a low way but biblically we should maintain virginity unto marriage regardless of what society says there's a biblical standard and expectation and god would never ask of you something that you could not do but i will add now that if you have failed and fallen short of the glory of god while there will be consequences god will forgive you and god will restore you and you can have a pure spirit again regardless of what you've done in your life before this day you can start over amen but i just want to clearly state that we should never justify what the bible condemns no matter what the culture says when god looked for a woman to be the mother of the messiah he looked for a woman who was morally pure so i ask you are you a woman like mary mary was also a spiritual woman she demonstrated a grasp of god's grand plan she had no trace of arrogance because of her favored role in that plan she served in a role that no other human being in human history would ever serve to be the mother of the messiah but no matter who she was mary maintained a sincere genuine humility through everything that god did in her and through her when mary visited her cousin elizabeth elizabeth prophesied over her and said blessed art now among women and blessed be the fruit of thy womb and elizabeth said how is it that the mother of my lord would come and visit me when mary responded to elizabeth a spirit of song a prophetic song came on mary it is called the magnificat for the first words of this song my soul does magnify the lord and my spirit has rejoiced in god's my god my savior and everything that mary did she never magnified herself she considered herself as a humble instrument of god's purpose but it was god that she magnified through this unique role that god would call her to serve she has a grasp of scripture she quotes numerous scriptures and parts of them in her song to the lord so here's a lady probably an older teenager who knows her bible which for her would have been the old testament it was committed to memory she would teach it to her son and then her other children mary was a spiritual lady morally pure knew the bible walked with god amen are you a mom like mary but then we get into the darker side of mary's life not morally but the difficulty she faced when she assumed this role there is a tremendous amount of misunderstanding that mary would face of course joseph thought that she was with child before marriage by a man and was thinking about putting her away privately he didn't want to make her a public example but while he thought on these things the lord showed him what was going on mary was misunderstood by joseph she was accused by other people of being morally unpure in the ministry of jesus he was accused of being an illegitimate child mary absorbed all of that when simeon the prophet i believe he was a prophet spoke over jesus and joseph and mary he said in luke 2 35 yea a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts be revealed what simeon said to mary is that jesus your son will go through suffering but you as his mother will share that suffering with him and while a real sword would pierce his side or a spear there would be a sort of pain that mary would experience for being the mother of our lord that's why i said that while she was highly favored blessed among women it took a very unique person to be misunderstood as mary was in john chapter 8 they said to jesus you know in a sarcastic way we were not born of fornication implying that he was an illegitimate child jesus would be rejected and despised of men he would come to his own and they would turn him away and mary felt the pain that jesus felt as his mother like every good mother does when children are mistreated and hurt when they're in pain dads feel that pain but really moms feel that pain in a very unique way but i want to say to every mom how you handle the mistreatment of your children telegraphs a tremendous important message to them if you have a bad spirit and you convey it to your children if you allow them to have a chip on their shoulder because you have one on yours if you allow yourself to be offended and get a wrong spirit it does nothing good for your child it's okay to take up for them when you can but don't undermine authority and don't undermine their success by the way you try to intervene as a helicopter mom in their life [Applause] mary absorbed a lot in her life that jesus suffered amen when he hurt she hurt that sword pierced through her own soul also mary was like that and if you've ever gone through a time like mary went through then maybe you are a mom like mary now there's an interesting season for mary and jesus in their relationship when he started his public ministry mary and joseph should have been somewhat prepared for this because when jesus was 12 he told him don't you know i should be about my father's business now his stepfather joseph was a carpenter and maybe they thought that's what he meant but he was in the temple talking things of god and the bible clearly says in luke 2 49 that when jesus said that verse 50 that they did not understand his saying joseph and mary were scratching their heads wondering what jesus meant when he said i must be about my father's business kind of back off a little bit mom and dad i'm 12 now you ever heard that well he went home and was subject to them but then when jesus ministry really started when he was 30 mary kind of inserted herself a little bit there is this first miracle at a marriage there's a marriage of cain of galilee and the bible tells us first that the mother of jesus was there and then it tells us that jesus and his disciples were also invited to this wedding feast they didn't go together but mary was there and jesus was there and in the course of the celebration they ran out of wine now probably not wine like you think that might be purchased at the liquor store but they ran out and mary did what only moms can do ladies have perfected this art she hinted to jesus she didn't blatantly say anything she just kind of threw a hint out there she walked up to her son and said they have no wine now you know what that means like do something about it you can you should i'm your mom now the problem with this this skill that women have perfected is that men have never perfected the skill of knowing what you mean when you hint just saying but jesus knew exactly what his mom meant and he said back to her woman the new living translation softens and says dear woman i don't know if it's really dear woman or not but but woman he doesn't say mom woman what have i to do with thee mine hours not yet come back off mom i'm not ready to start my ministry i have a feeling mary just looked at him like yeah know you're perfect and sinless but i'm still your mom better do what i say what did you say they have no wine well needless to say jesus worked a miracle that day his first miracle he turned water into wine but there was this interaction with mary and jesus where mary wants to be mom and jesus says whoa whoa whoa whoa there's a limit you're my earthly mother but you're not my heavenly father and there's a limit to your role now i know that these days some kids just won't grow up and get out on their own but when they do mom you've got to back off a little bit there are some things that you can't control and there's a lesson in the ministry of jesus that there is a line that jesus drew that said hey mom i know you're concerned i don't want to make you mad but that's not where you speak into my life this is something i get my direction from somewhere else so when your children are on a fast and you don't like it because they're hungry when your children are saying yes to god and you're afraid they might move to a far away place a city or country that's time for your mom to say i'm backing up as a mob and i'm turning him and her over to their heavenly father to do his will and not my will there's a line mom you got to be careful about that and my goodness it sure isn't easy because once a mom always a mom now there's a time in the ministry of jesus it's recorded in matthew 12 mark 3 luke 11 when jesus is super busy ministering to people the bible tells us in mark 3 20 that they were so busy that the disciples and jesus did not even have time to eat now every mom you don't have to raise your hand or say amen but if your kids are hungry and not eating like they should and not getting proper nutrition that bothers you jesus is grown he's at least 30 but he she hears that he's not eating right this is in your bible it's a rather obscure story it is mark alone who tells us when his family heard what was happening they tried to take him away and they said whoever it was mary or his step-brothers he's out of his mind they said new living translation new american standard bible he has lost his senses in the original language it speaks of psychic derangement they think jesus has gone overboard with this ministry stuff he's fanatical in his mission and mary doesn't like it his brothers his half-brothers they're not happy about it one commentary says that his family wanted to deprogram him matthew says that while jesus was speaking to the crowd his mother and brother stood outside asking to speak for him they said hey would you please tell jesus it's mary his mom and it's us for and and we need to have a word with him tell him to stop the sermon and come outside we're very concerned about him this is the same story and jesus says to them who is my mother and who are my brothers now if i'm mary i'm going who's who's my mother boy you better not forget your mother but here is that line between divine calling and domestic responsibility he points to his disciples and said look these are my mother and brothers and anyone who does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my brother and i am sure that mary got her feeling served he didn't come outside he didn't submit to his mom in ministry he was answering a higher calling you see jesus was passionate he was purposeful the hour of the cross was ever in his mind he would not live 70 or 80 years he would never marry he would never have children for three and a half years he gave it everything he had he saw the cross looming large he said i must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night is coming when no man can work and there's this place in the ministry of jesus where mary is really struggling and suffering with this separation of the ministry of jesus and jesus her little boy that she birthed and raised her maternal instinct is very strong and to be a mom like mary probably means worrying about your kids even when they're adults even if they're changing the world once a mom always a mom for many years when we would go back home to see my parents my mom and most sometimes my dad mom would like remind me of things like i was 16 again you know and at times i want to say mom you know i'm leading a bible college mom i'm running the general youth division mom i'm the pastor of a church but moms just want to step in there and be mom and all i'm gonna say to every mom is be careful how you insert yourself in the will of god be careful how you try to to protect your children from something a commitment that they're making to the lord because that's a place you just have to respectfully back away and while you're the earthly mother they have a heavenly father mary had to live with a lot of uncertainty and loss in her life if you think about mary when she said yes to the plan of god boy it meant it meant a lot of suffering that sword that pierced through her own soul also before giving birth she's nine months pregnant great with child the bible says she's got to go 90 to 100 miles from nazareth to bethlehem there's no uber drivers it's on foot maybe a donkey we don't know for sure she's got to go 100 miles in primitive times on really bad roads to birth jesus christ that's just the beginning of what she went through she has her baby boy the messiah is born in a barn laid in a feed trough wrapped with strips of cloth the baby wrap of the poor there's no midwife mentioned at the birth of jesus christ so perhaps mary had to give birth alone to her firstborn son god in flesh for the next couple years mary and joseph will stay in bethlehem and they will eke out in existence maybe he started the carpentry business back up again thank god for the wise men who came in that time and blessed him with extravagant gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh but when jesus is about two years old he's a toddler there is a warning of an angel herod has issued a decree that all the baby boys two years old and younger in the area of bethlehem will be put to death so maybe in the middle of the night they grab their belongings they pick up baby jesus they flee over 400 miles down to egypt that's the life that mary is living pain uncertainty difficulty you know worrying about the safety of this little boy that god has entrusted her with mary is deeply devoted to jesus christ in his infancy in his growing years she was there teaching him when he increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with god and man she watched him grow into manhood she saw the initiation of his miracle of his ministry she was there at that first miracle mary was deeply committed to her son jesus christ even to the point that when he was illegally charged and tried and he was taken to calvary to be put to death the bible tells us in john 19 25 now there stood by the cross of jesus's mother and mother's sister stood by the cross jesus's mother excuse me let me just try that one more time now there stood by the cross of jesus his mother and other mary's three mary's so she here she is a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also she is watching her son his back has been beaten the crown of thorns is in place the nails are in his hands and feet he is hanging there six hours passover friday afternoon before passover started at sundown she is standing there watching standing there watching her son die i cannot imagine how mary felt as she watched the boy that she birthed and watched his entire life and now she knows that she is losing him she knew this was coming when simeon spoke of the sword she knew this was coming when john the baptist said behold the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world mary like every jew knew that lambs only take away sins when they give their lives so here she is at the cross with an empathy that only a mother can feel and i see mary feeling that sort of shared suffering piercing her own soul mary could not change anything that he was going through but she could just stay and be there to the end what a mom mary was to jesus christ children expect to see their parents pass away but children do not expect to see their of me children expect to bury their parents parents really have a hard time when their children pass away i'm fully aware that their moms in this house right now dads as well who've lost their children i went through my funeral messages and at least a dozen men and women in our church lost their children and i just want to say today that if you're a mom like mary that god understands exactly how you feel and mary stood exactly where you stand she conceived and then carried jesus in her womb for nine months she nursed him and nurtured him she watched every step of his life she believed in him she worried about him she loved him and then she lost him he was dead if you've ever mourned the loss of a child you might be a mom like mary whether that child passed from this life or walked away from god and is backslidden today not serving the lord that's a pain that only a mom can really feel this past wednesday night may 4th i taught an entire lesson inspired by this part of my message on living with loss mary learned to live with loss she learned to learn her lessons look to the future and lean on the lord that's the essence of what i taught on wednesday night i encourage you to go back and listen if you were not here mary but the story of mary does not end at the cross the story of mary continues we have one final glimpse of mary in the bible that comes from the book of acts it is very likely that mary was standing with the others who watched jesus ascend into heaven and heard him say to those people go back in jerusalem and i want you to wait for power from on high i want you to go back and stay there because we find mary in jerusalem in and up a room with the other disciples with the 120 waiting for the holy ghost to come amen that's what jesus told his mother to do and that's what she did acts 1 and 14. these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and mary the mother of jesus and with his brothers they had finally come around and were followers of him amen it's amazing to me that there are no accidents in the bible we know that mary is there for a reason that it doesn't matter if you're highly favored of god if you're morally pure if you're blessed among women or men you need the gift of the holy ghost just like mary the mother of jesus no matter how good and godly you are you've got to have the spirit of the lord living in on your life mary is there it's over a week it could be 10 days she had heard her son say but you shall receive power after the holy ghost is come upon you that lady needed power in her life she is there acts records what happens on the day of pentecost 120 including mary the mother of jesus and when the day of pentecost was fully come they including mary were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they including mary were sitting and there appeared unto them including mary cloven tongues like as a fire and it sat upon each of them and they were all including mary filled with the holy ghost and began to speak with other tongues as a spirit gave them utterance yes mary the mother of jesus received the gift of the holy ghost on the day of pentecost she spoke with other tongues as a spirit gave her the utterance and if you've ever received the holy ghost then you might be like mary whether you're a mom or not and if you have it might be good to take a moment to thank god that you have the comforter that you have the peace that you have the power that you have the promise that you have the gift of the holy ghost working in you strengthening you enabling you [Applause] amen and if you've never received the gift of the holy ghost if you want to be a mom like mary then you need to repent of your sins you need to be baptized in water in the name of jesus christ and god will fill you with the gift of the holy ghost amen and no matter what you go through no matter what you face he will be with you he will never forsake you he will never abandon you he will be there for you amen the disciples of jesus christ and mary they knew what it was like to have jesus with them but in his ministry jesus told the disciples that the spirit of truth i am dwelling with you but shall be in you he said i will not leave you comfortless but i will come to you paul said that it is christ in you that's what the holy spirit is it is christ in you the hope of glory now this is pretty amazing to me mary knew what it was like to carry christ in her womb and bring him into the world and at the crucifixion mary lost him for a while but at pentecost she found him forever amen for no one can take the spirit of the lord out of your life mary needed christ in her to cope with all the uncertainties of life single mom older widow what would she face for the rest of her life mary needed the holy ghost to comfort her in the loss of her husband joseph jesus you know ascended but gone history would say two of his brothers were died martyr's deaths mary needed the holy ghost to guide her through all the decisions that she would make and the bible promises that the holy ghost would be a guide if you've not received the gift of the holy ghost it is more than the evidence the evidence just lets you know that there is a power in your life that will never leave you will always guide you will give you a piece that is beyond understanding that will comfort your broken heart mary needed that and so do we would you please bow your head lord i i pray right now for every one lord in this house today for mothers and those of us who are not moms lord i pray right now amazing insights in the life of mary that come from your word we've mined as many as possible lord to share today to encourage and strengthen and instruct i pray lord that the women who call this church their home would aspire to be a mom like mary all of us have a long way to go to be like her and even farther to be like you i pray lord that you would help us not make excuses for our failings lord but that we would repent turn our lives over to you i pray today god for moms who have experienced lost like mary that you will let your comfort be with them today for they are moms in this house lord who have lost their mothers their moms in this house who have lost their children the lord is unfathomable but it is a fact of life the sword the piercing mary so lord we felt that sword of pain and shared suffering with others lord but i'm praying today god that you would come near us today come close to us lord in our weakness in our brokenness in our great need i pray that you had come to us today in our dysfunction come to us in our sin and forgive us when we ask we desperately need you today and i pray lord for the comforter to come in jesus name amen