THE GLORY OF MOTHERHOOD

By Dr. Edward Watke Jr.

INTRODUCTION:

The word, Mother is one of the most beautiful words in any language. It is one of the first words that we learn to say as a babe. There is power in this dear word. I once read the story of a burglar who returned a stolen watch to the owner because he could not stand to see on the back of the watch the words, “To my son, from Mother, on his birthday!”

Thank God for what consecrated, praying, Christian mothers have meant to the world. The most influential person on earth is a mother.

• After a young man had accepted Christ as His Savior, and joined the church, his pastor asked him what part of this message made him want to live a Christian life. The young man answered, “Nothing that you said, but the way my mother lived in the home.” It was not preaching but practicing that won him.

• Upon you, mother, rests one of the greatest responsibilities in the world. There is dignity, honor, privilege, and responsibility in your position as a mother. God expects you to raise your children for Him. How any mother can live in sin and not be a true Christian is more than I can understand.

• Once during a conversation a woman asked, “How soon should a young mother start praying for her child?” An old physician happened to be in the group, and he replied, “Twenty years before the child is born.”

• Once I heard the story about a mother who went to a circus, and while standing by a bear pit, feeding the bears her little baby wiggled out of her arms and fell into the midst of the hungry bears. The baby’s body was quickly torn to shreds. The child was lost because she neglected her responsibility and was careless in holding her child. If you mothers are not careful, your boys and girls will fall into the pit of sin, and their immortal souls could be destroyed by the devastation of sin. My earnest prayer is that every mother will heed these thoughts.

• Your job is molding lives and shaping character of a child that has an eternal soul -- who has an eternal destiny. There was once a young man in a penitentiary who refused to take his mother’s picture with him when it was offered him. He replied, “ I don’t want her picture. I am in this place today because of her influence. She was the one who taught me to gamble, and I committed the crime that put me here because of the life she lived before me. “

Praise the Lord for the Bravery of a Godly Mother


1. A good mother is the bravest person on earth.

a. She forgets her own welfare when her children are in danger.
b. She will sacrifice her very life if needs be for her children. It takes bravery to fight the battles of life that a mother fights.

2. Praise God for the prayers of a mother.

a. Who will teach her children to pray.
b. Who will seek God’s face for their sake.
c. Who claims the Word of God for God’s work in the life. And will teach her children to pray.

3. Praise God for the love of a mother.

a. There is no earthly love like the comforting love of a mother.
b. How can anyone describe the joys and blessings of a loving mother who sacrificially ministers to our needs.

4. Her love reminds us of the Lord of the Savior!


The Glory of a godly mother -- Hannah

I. Hannah, Married a Man Who Loved the Lord. I Sam 1:3, 21

1. She married a man who with regularity and devotion served the Lord.
Christ said, “Thou shalt love the Lord the God with all the soul, and with all the heart.... “

2. It is a wise woman who seeks a husband who has yielded his life to Christ -- as Savior and Lord of his life.

3. A woman can endure many things in life if she has a husband who has God’s love in his heart and life.

II. Hannah, Herself, Loved the Lord: I Sam. 1:7

1. Year by year she went up to the house of the Lord to worship.

2. She did this in spite of her humiliation and the sorrows of barrenness.
Her heart cry was to the Lord.

3. She loved the Lord so much as she cast upon the Lord her sorrow and burden.
She looked with faith to the Lord for her answer and in her hurt.

4. A wise woman will never neglect her knowledge of the Lord as personal Savior and Lord. The Lord will be her Master indeed.

5. She realized her total dependency upon the Lord.


III. Hannah Wanted to Have Children: 1:9-11

1. Her prayer was for a man-child.

2. She considered her barrenness an affliction/ not a blessing as some women today might do.

3. One of the great tragedies is -- for a child to be born in a home where the child is unwanted and unloved. It is a wise wife who desires a child to rear for God’s glory. God answered her prayer.

IV. Hannah Gave the Child the Direction He Needed: I Sam. 1: 21-23

1. Here is a picture of the most tender and devoted attention a mother can give her child.

2. She did not leave his training to maids, or friends, or relatives while she was gone doing something else.

3. She gave the child, Samuel, a mother’s love and devoted care in those formative years.


V. Hannah Brought the Child, Samuel, to the Lord Early in His life!
I Sam. 1:24-28 See Matthew 18:11-14.

1. As soon as it was practical the child was ready to be given over to the Lord -- for His service.

2. She was not afraid he was too young to understand.

4. She so LOVE the Lord that she gave her son.


CONCLUSIONS:

1. Oh, the wonder, the blessedness of the power, influence and beauty of a Christian’s mother’s love.

2. Jesus only has a love greater than a mother’s love.

3. Christ died for us, and if we will trust HIM -- some wonderful day He will take us home to glory.

Jh. 14:6

Jh. 1:12

Jh. 3:3; Rom. 3:12, 23; 5:6; 5:8

Rom. 6:23; 10:9-11

Jh. 3:36; I Jh. 15:11

Once for all He took away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Once for all!


Sermon by Dr. Ed. Watke Jr.