Daughter, Incline Your Ear

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Our first Scripture lesson this morning is taken from Psalm 45:10-17. Psalm 45 is a Royal Wedding Psalm, composed to celebrate the marriage of the King of Israel and a young maiden, however as we will learn in our second Scripture lesson, it is about much more. In Ephesians 5, Paul reveals to us a mystery that was not previously known fully, that marriage, along with our maleness and femaleness were designed by God from the very beginning to point to Christ and His Church. Understanding this, we discover that God’s grand plan of salvation through Christ is woven into the very fabric of creation itself. Now, for example, we look at the Garden of Eden in light of the Heavenly Temple of Revelation and we discover striking similarities. Adam, we discover, is a type of Christ and Eve a type pointing to the Church.
Moreover, we discover that we, because we are sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, are types as well. Men point to Christ and women point to the Church. Suddenly, the Song of Solomon and Psalm 45 are not mere love songs about the love between a man and a woman, but a love song about the love Christ and the Church have for each other. The first half of Psalm 45 praised the king concerning his beauty and might; ultimately it is a praise of Christ. Shane & Shane have done a beautiful version of this portion of Psalm 145 entitled, “Fairest of All”. If you have not heard it you might want to look it up on You Tube, you will be blessed.
The portion of Psalm 45 I will be reading from is the second half dealing with the bride and ultimately the Church. Let us now hear God’s Word.
Psalm 45:10–17 ESV
Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father’s house, and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him. The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts, the richest of the people. All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold. In many-colored robes she is led to the king, with her virgin companions following behind her. With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king. In place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth. I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.
In order that we may understand the true significance of this Psalm, let us turn to Ephesians 5:22-33:
Ephesians 5:22–33 ESV
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
May God now bless this, the reading of His holy and infallible Word.
This message is and it is not a Mother’s Day sermon. It is a Mother’s Day sermon because everything in this message applies to Christians mothers, but it isn’t a Mother’s Day message exclusively, because ultimately this message is about the Church, the Bride of Christ, and every Christian, be they a male or female is a member of that Church.
In addition, it is not your typical Mother’s Day sermon. Many women feel excluded on Mother’s Day, because they are not mothers. This message is a message that should encourage every woman, God has given honor and dignity to women and it is my prayer that every woman leaves this service feeling honored and appreciated.
We begin, with Christ Calling His Church to be His Queen.

Christ Has Called You as His Queen

We find this in the opening verses of text:
Psalm 45:10–11 ESV
Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father’s house, and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him.
Christ calls his Bride from out of the household of her birth. Earlier in Ephesians, Paul tells us in chapter 2, that because of sin everyone was born into bondage to sin and Satan. Christ saw a beauty in His elect that no one else could see. As we heard in Ephesians 5, Christ died for His Bride “so that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish”! All of this was foreshadowed in the Garden of Eden, where Adam was put into a death-like sleep and from his very flesh God created his bride Eve!
Not only did God give life to Adam and Eve, He gave to them dominion. In the same way, He has given dominion to Christ and to the Church. Repeatedly we are told in both Testaments that the Church shall reign with Christ, in other words, if Christ is King, then the Church is His Queen! For example, in Psalm 47:3 we read these words, “He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet;” John Calvin commented on this verse as follows:
“by the word [of God] the pastors of the Church exercise the jurisdiction of the Holy Spirit. For this very reason the Church is called a Queen, and the Mother of all the godly, (Gal. 4:26,) because divine truth, which is like a scepter to subdue us all, has been committed to her keeping.”
In the debates that swirl around over what Scripture means by the “wife submitting to her husband” and “women not exercising authority over men in the church” we tend to forget that God has given authority to women, and lots of it! As a daughter of Eve and as a type pointing to the Church, she has been given a scepter, but this is not the type of scepter the rulers of this world recognizes and respects.
Those neo-feminist women who are attacking biblical manhood and womanhood, are not aspiring to be “gentle and lowly” like Christ or “to give themselves up”, like Christ did for His church. NO! They are wanting to be “strong women” according to the standards of this world, women who exercise authority by coercion, domination and suppression.
O daughters of Eve, learn from the mistake of your mother Eve, who like the fallen angels “did not stay within [her] own [position] of authority” (Jude 6), and fell into sin. The fruit she ate was bitter, and it has brought death to us all! Why go to the same tree and eat the same fruit! Christ has redeemed you and you are destined for greater and better things!
One of these things is to serve alongside your brothers in the Church, as priests of God. This brings us to the second point:

Christ Has Called You to Priestly Service

Our benediction this morning is taken from Revelation 1:5-6, let me read those verses:
Revelation 1:5–6 ESV
and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Notice that this passage says not only that the Church reigns with Christ, but that it serves as a priest, leading the worship of Christ’s God and Father! Earlier I pointed out, that the Garden of Eden resembles the Heavenly Temple we read about in the closing chapters of Revelation. Many believe (and I count myself among them) that Adam and Eve served as priests in God’s Garden Temple in Eden. This of course was lost in the Fall, but God restored this when He called Israel to be His people. Repeatedly in both Testaments, we read of the people of God being called priests. In the New Heavens and New Earth, the angels will no longer lead the worship of God, the Church will. The angels will no longer have the front row seats, but the 24 Elders and the Church!
Women, you have a unique role in God’s plan to serve as types pointing to the Church. Does your life exemplify priestly worship? Did not Psalm 45, give us a beautiful picture of what heavenly worship is like?
Psalm 45:13–15 ESV
All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold. In many-colored robes she is led to the king, with her virgin companions following behind her. With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king.
I cannot help but think that Peter had this Psalm in mind when he wrote:
1 Peter 3:3–4 ESV
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.
As I think of such women, who adorned themselves with such internal beauty, I give God thanks for them.
O daughters of Eve, incline your ear, to whom are you turning the hearts of those around you to worship? Is it towards the gods of this world or is it towards Christ? This is what is at stake in 1 Corinthians 11, it is not about who is in charge, but who you worship and serve. You have power to bring life to church or to take it away. This brings us to the last point:

Christ Has Called You to Mother a Multitude

In Psalm 45, we read these words:
Psalm 45:16–17 ESV
In place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth. I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.
In leaving her family, the Psalmist is reminding this young bride that the promise of sons lays in her future. The ability to bring forth life is inherent in what it means to be a woman. Adam named his wife Eve, because she was to be the mother of all the living.
It is the inability of bearing children that makes Mother’s Day so painful for so many, and I do not want to make light of that pain. However, physical motherhood is but a shadow or a type pointing to something greater. There will be no marriage in the New Heaven and New Earth, but that does not mean that there will be barrenness. Citing Isaiah, Paul writes:
Galatians 4:26–27 ESV
But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.”
O daughters of Eve, incline your ear, whether you are married or single, young or old, with child or without, you are designed by God to be a life-giver, because you are type pointing to the church. In my earlier quotation of John Calvin, he said the church is “Mother of all the godly.” Here is that quotation again.
“by the word [of God] the pastors of the Church exercise the jurisdiction of the Holy Spirit. For this very reason the Church is called a Queen, and the Mother of all the godly, (Gal. 4:26,) because divine truth, which is like a scepter to subdue us all, has been committed to her keeping.”
The most obvious application is your active participation in and support of missions and evangelism, but there is a broader application as well. By this, I mean our lives can have a life-giving quality to them. In the book of Proverbs we meet two women. One is Lady Wisdom and by her words she brings life and wisdom. The other is the Adulterous Women and by her words she brings death and foolishness. A many a sermon has been preached from Proverbs 31 on Mother’s Day; but read it again with this idea of life giving in mind. What you will discover is that her life-giving power is not dependent upon having a husband and children, but rather upon her godly character. You too can be such a woman.
Proverbs 31:30 ESV
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
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