Sermon Tone Analysis

M. Clugston

    May 06~/08

 

            *THE MOTHER WHO SAVED A NATION*

*                                      *Exodus 2:1-10

 

*Intro:  *The life of a nation can often be traced back to the lap of a mother.

There is no place that comes through more clearly than in *Exodus 2*.

The nation is Israel… the baby is Moses… and the mother is Jochebed.

We discover her name in *Exodus 6:20 *but you will notice no names are mentioned in this passage because it is a passage about God.

Israel is trapped in Egypt.

They are entering into a time of oppression and they needed deliverance… and tucked away in this story is the story of a mother.

I want to look at */3 brief truths /*this Mother’s Day to encourage not only mothers, but fathers as well, as we look at parenting in particular plus children who have been kept alive and are being kept alive through the love and prayers of a godly mom.

*I.

The Problem     *vs.

1-2

 

    /“Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and give birth to a son.

When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.”/

/ /

/                                                                             /

                                                                              Pg.

2

 

    Now the reason she had to hid her baby was because the world in which she lived had gone crazy.

You find that in chapter *1:8 */“Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.”/

/ /

/    /You remember the story of Joseph when he came down to Egypt with 70 others.

Because he was 2nd in command, he brought righteousness and life and hope to this historical evil nation.

When Joseph went to Egypt, there was blessing that went to Egypt because God blessed Joseph and blessed his rule.

In fact, Joseph saved thousands of lives in the midst of a famine because the blessing of God was on Joseph.

*/But there was a problem./*

A king arose who had no commitment to the blessing from God that Joseph brought to Egypt and the result was that oppression and hatred and death came to this nation in which Jochebed had her baby.

In fact let me read it to you from *vs. 9-11*:

 

    /“Look,” he said to his people.

“The Israelites have become much too numerous for us.

Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.

So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor…”/

/ /

/    /

                                                                                 Pg.

3

 

    So Pharaoh oppressed the Israelites who were going on 2 million strong because he was insecure about the growth of this religious population in his midst.

*/It was /*in that culture that Jochbed gave birth to Moses.

*/It was /*a time when she had become a slave of Egypt… */it was /*a time when all hell broke loose and there was great chaos in the society.

/ /

/    /In other words, let’s get rid of the men.

*/This was /*a nation in crises.

*/It was /*a culture where the society */no longer /*respected its men… */no longer /*had value for the boys of Hebrew mothers.

*/Much like our day:  /*gangs… drugs… etc.  */Reminds/* */me that our /*culture no longer remembers Joseph or his God.

*/The more /*a culture drifts from God… */the more /*the people are in trouble.

When a culture */departs/* from God, */it departs /*from hope.

So this is the environment Jochebed had her baby.

The 2nd truth I want you to see is: 

 

*II.

The Person      *vs.

2

 

     /“When she saw that he was a find child, she hid him for three months.”/

/ /

/    /

 

                                                                         Pg.

4

 

    Now every mother thinks her baby is beautiful… even if it is ugly as all get out.

This does not mean that she thought that he was just a pretty baby.

The Bible tells us a little bit more about his prettiness that was part of Moses’ life.

*Acts 7:20 *says, /“At the time Moses was born, he was no ordinary child.”

/Now when Jochebed looked down on her baby boy, */she didn’t /*just see goo goo… she saw a baby who had the hand of God on his life.

*/She didn’t /*just see a 8 pounds 5 ounce baby… she saw the goodness and grace of God that gave life.

*/She/* */looked/* at her baby through the eyes of God and beyond his physical beauty.

*/Mom… if you are going to be a mother that is a mother of honor, then you must be a mother of faith.

/*This woman looked at her baby through the eyes of God even though she was living in a culture where the */religious people /*no longer worshiped God.

The reason the culture was falling apart was not only */that the king no longer /*remembered Joseph, */but the Jews no longer /*remember Joseph either.

It was a secularized culture even among those who reportedly knew God.  */So what was the result?

The culture /*was falling apart… */the boys /*were in trouble… */the people /*were becoming slaves… but in the middle of the mess, you have a mother who still believes God and for 3 months she hides her boy because she is a woman of faith.

Pg. 5

*/ /*

*/    I want to talk about this mother’s faith.

I want to /*talk to you mothers who have children who haven’t grown up yet to encourage you to not let the culture discourage you.

*/I want to talk /*to you teenagers to let you know that God is bigger than your world.

*/I want to /*let you know that the God of Jochebed can be your God too.

*/What I learn /*about this woman, the mother of Moses, was a mother who leaned on the strength of other women, who were also women of faith.

You see *chapter 2 *comes on the heel of *chapter 1*, (du) and you can’t appreciate *chapter 2... *what Jochabed did until you understand *chapter 1*... what the midwives did.

Pharaoh said, /“When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.

The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.

Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, ‘Why have you done this?

Why have you let the boys live?’”  /*(vs.

16-18).*

* *

*    /Please notice /*that they lied through their teeth:  /“The midwives answered Pharaoh, ‘Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive” /*(vs.

19)…* shows you how ignorant Pharaoh was to believe it.

Pg.

6

 

    */The midwives /*did not obey the culture… */they didn’t /*do what society said they ought to do… */they preserved /*the children.

*/When/* */the society /*was aborting the future, the midwives were keeping the baby boys.

*/When the society /*was throwing away and making life look meaningless, */they were /*holding life as sacred unto God… because they feared God.

Baby boys were saved who otherwise would have been killed and they feared God.  */And what does God do?  /*/“So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous.

And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own”   /*(vs.

20-21).*

/ /

/    /So when you take away the beginning of *vs.1 *and pretend there is no chapter division, this is one continues saga.

*/Or let me put it another way:  /*the midwives trusted God and would not throw away the kids to the culture.

*/There was /*another woman who picked up that same sentiment, Jochebed, a daughter of Levi, who had a baby boy, took care of him 3 months because she, like the midwives wasn’t going to throw her baby to the culture either.

*/In other words/*, she picked up on the faith of women who had gone before her.  */Moms:  /*the best thing you can do if you are having trouble being a mom… hang out with another godly mother who knows how to go through the hard times and stick it out and not throw in the towel.

Pg.

7

*/ /*

*/    We are living in a day /*when more mothers are physically walking away from their kids */or/* emotionally leaving and adopting careers.

They have left their home because the culture has made it too tough to raise kids in this kind of world.

*/But there was /*a woman of faith like the midwives, who had gone before her and she was part of a group of people who hung in there when the going got tough.

Her faith was encouraging to others.

That’s why *Titus 2:3-6 *says, /“Older women…they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”/

One thing that should happen in the church is that those who have already gone through their child rearing years should encourage this next generation to maintain a godly faith in a wicked society.

Look at *Hebrews 11:23*, /“By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”/

Now that’s very important.

*/Faith removed fear.

/*They were not afraid of the culture because they had their focus on the Lord.

*/Friends, things are bad in this world, but God is bigger than the bad.

/*This is a tough time to raise kids, so the question is not /“how bad is the culture.”

/The question is /“does God have your baby?”/

 

                                                                           Pg.

8

 

     When our kids were born, they were offered to the Lord.

We have dedicated babies on this stage as parents offer them to the Lord.

*/Do you know what that means?

/*It is not some nice ditty that you do to be spiritual, parents are saying, /“Lord, it is rough out here, but we believe you are bigger than the bad.

That if your hand is on our child, then no matter how bad things get out in the culture, you can still take care of my baby.”