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Mom, Our Greatest Treasure (Luke 1:5-7, 14-15, 41-45, 57-58)
14 Plays6 months ago
When some in our country identify and list our National Treasures, they include historical documents, geographical locations of national significance, cultural icons such as entertainers, professional athletes, Presidents, media moguls, etc.
Personally, I would say that our greatest national treasures are our mothers. George Washington claimed, “All I am, I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.” Abraham Lincoln said of his mother, “I remember my mother’s prayers – they have always followed me all my life.”
I think Luke, the physician, historian and writer of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, would have agreed with me since he had more to say about mothers than any other gospel writer. One of the mothers that he featured in his writings was the mother of John the Baptist, Elizabeth.
In honor and tribute of all mothers, let’s see what Luke said about Elizabeth in Luke 1:5-7, 57-58. She certainly raised a fine son according to Jesus’ tribute, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than he…” (Matthew 11:11).
Mothers Show Us How to…Endure Hardships, 1:5, 7
Mothers Show Us How to…Encourage Relationships, 1:5, 7
Mothers Show Us How to…Enrich Discipleship, 1:6
Mothers Show Us How to…Enjoy Fellowship, 1:14-15, 41-45
Mothers Show Us How to…Enthrone Christ in Lordship, 1:13, 15
Growing in Grace Devotions and Inspirations
Hosted by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church 1700 Milam Street Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Theme
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message. If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, FBCColumbusTX.org. And now take your copy of God's timeless word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
00:00:44
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace. So glad you're here with us today. Today we're going to celebrate mothers. I get really excited whenever it comes to Mother's Day. If there's any group in our country that I think needs to be honored, it's definitely mothers.
00:01:00
Speaker
I know that I've always appreciated so much my mom's character and sacrifice and love and so many things. And then also my mother
Mothers as National Treasures
00:01:10
Speaker
-in-law. I was in a Bible conference one time and I heard a preacher named Peter Lord say that his mother-in-law was the travel agent for all of his guilt trips. But that's never been the case for me. I've always appreciated my mother-in-law. She is so sweet.
00:01:26
Speaker
But anyway, and then I've watched my wife. She's loved on our two daughters, but definitely I would say, you know, America has this thing called national treasures. You ever thought about, you ever looked up some of our national treasures? You should do that sometime.
00:01:41
Speaker
You know, some historical documents are called our national treasures, certain geographical locations that are of national significance. They're they're definitely national treasures. You got cultural icons that are entertainers and professional athletes, presidents and media moguls and so forth. There's just a lot of different ones. But I've never really seen on the list that people would say,
Elizabeth’s Faith and Journey
00:02:11
Speaker
You know, really our mothers are our greatest national treasures. So that's what I want to talk about today. I want us to look into scripture at a mom that is mentioned in the first chapter of Luke that I think you're going to really be blessed. And certainly if you are a mom or a grandmother, I just want to thank you for all that you've done for your family. And I pray that this message would be an encouragement to you because we definitely want to honor
00:02:39
Speaker
all of you who are mothers out there. George Washington said of his mother, all I am.
00:02:46
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I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her. Even President Abraham Lincoln, he reflected back on his life and he remembered his mother praying for him. And he said, I remember my mother's prayers. They have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. You know, I know that my mom,
00:03:16
Speaker
definitely prayed for me. You know, there's so much that could and should be said about mothers and motherhood itself, but I just wanted to take a time to look at this mother named Elizabeth that is mentioned here in the first chapter of Luke. Elizabeth is actually the mother of John the Baptist. So I want to read a few verses and kind of summarize some main points about her life.
00:03:45
Speaker
If you're able to read God's word with me, then look at Luke chapter one, verses five through seven, but we are going to skip around a bit, so just be prepared. If you're listening, then just hang on tight. Here we go. Luke chapter one, verses five through seven. In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name
00:04:15
Speaker
was Elizabeth and they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years. Hold on. We haven't heard the rest of the story. Let's go down to verse 14 and 15.
00:04:39
Speaker
And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb." The message from the angel to Zechariah. So it's getting exciting as God's saying, I know that you've not been able to have children, but get ready because I'm about to bless you.
00:05:08
Speaker
Whenever God did bless her and she was pregnant, she went to visit with another mother. And here's what happens when Mary goes to visit Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she exclaimed with a loud voice, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
00:05:37
Speaker
And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." That's verses 41 to 45. But now a couple more verses toward the end of the chapter, verses 57 and 58.
00:06:08
Speaker
Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth and she bore a son and her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her and they rejoiced with her. Isn't that a wonderful account of Elizabeth and how at first she couldn't have a baby, but then finally she did. Oh, and don't you know that her husband Zachariah was so excited. You know, I did hear that the evangelist Billy Sunday,
00:06:38
Speaker
encouraged us to encourage and say nice things to our wives. As a matter of fact, here's the way he put it. This was Billy Sunday. He said, try praising your wife, even if it does frighten her at first. Now, guys, it may surprise your wife when you say some of these kind of nice things to her, but I want to encourage you to do it on this Mother's Day. Let's look at some of these things that we can honor our mothers for.
Parallels with Modern Mothers
00:07:05
Speaker
You know, I believe the first reason why we
00:07:08
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should honor our mothers is because they were the first to show us how to endure hardships, how to endure hardships. Let's look back at verses five and seven of our text. You know, we could assume that people back then in Zachariah and Elizabeth's day, we could assume that they had it easy in the good old days. But here's the thing, Elizabeth had to endure the moral corruption
00:07:37
Speaker
that was going on in her country. You know, did you catch who was in charge in the days of Herod, king of Judea? And that's when it starts. Well, Luke anchors everything to real life. And real life, for those who study history, they would be able to tell you that Herod, Herod the Great ruled 33 years. He murdered three sons and he murdered one of his wives.
00:08:05
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You may say one of his wives. Yeah, actually a cat may have nine lives, but Herod, he had nine wives. But anyway,
00:08:15
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The country was being led by someone who was devoid of a moral compass. And so that's where we step in to this whole introduction to this mother named Elizabeth. We also see that there was something missing in her family. She had to endure the personal omission in the family.
00:08:38
Speaker
You know, there were several women in scripture that simply were barren. They could not have kids on their own. Verse 7 says, but they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years. So just think about not only Elizabeth, but how about Sarah and Rebecca and Rachel and Hannah. You know, it was also difficult on them culturally because
00:09:07
Speaker
People assumed that if you can't have a child naturally, physically, well, some must be wrong with your life. Listen to what it says in verse 24 and 25, especially verse 25. It says, after these days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach.
00:09:36
Speaker
among people. Somehow I got the feeling that people were just looking down on her. I did hear about one mother who was putting her four-year-old to bed one night, and she said, little Johnny, tonight is the last night that you can raise four fingers. Tomorrow, what will you say when people say, how old are you, Johnny?
00:10:03
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And little Johnny got a smile on his face and he said, I'll tell them now I'm a handful. Oh my goodness. Sometimes mothers endure hardships because they're dealing with people like me when I was a younger kid.
00:10:18
Speaker
But anyway, I think that's one reason we need to say, thank you, mom. We honor you today, mother, because you showed us how to hang in there and persevere through times that are hard. But let's go to a second reason that we can honor our mothers today. I believe that they also show us how to encourage relationships. You know, not always, but I'd say in most cases, the heart of the home is the mother.
00:10:48
Speaker
Think about most mothers, they serve, they care, they sacrifice, they forgive, they nurture, perhaps more than anyone else in the family. I believe that also a mother could demonstrate a vision for a relationship through their commitment to marriage. You know, I've heard a lot of ministers and preachers and Bible scholars say, if you want to know how to raise really good, healthy kids that feel
00:11:18
Speaker
a sense of security in who they are, just love one another in the marriage. Well, that's definitely the case for this woman, Elizabeth.
00:11:30
Speaker
You know, I heard about after a wedding, a dad thought he would have a little talk with his son. He's now married. And so he wants to make sure that his son was listening whenever they were going through the wedding ceremony. And so he's hoping that his son listened to what the minister said. And so the father says to his son, maybe during the reception or sometime after, he said, son, how many women should a man marry in his lifetime?
00:11:58
Speaker
His son thought about it, and he said, well, I'd say 16. And the dad was shocked. He said, son, what? 16? And then the boy began to explain. He said, well, preacher said during the service, four better, four worse, four richer, and four poorer. That comes to 16, doesn't it? That guy's got a lot of growing to do before he gets it.
00:12:24
Speaker
that marriage is all about commitment. But also I think that mothers demonstrate the value of the relationship through the continuation of a marriage. You know, it tells us here in verse five that Zachariah had a wife from the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth. It tells us in verse seven though that she and Zachariah were both advanced in years. So I think they'd been together
00:12:54
Speaker
for a very long time. It just seems to me that each year of our marriage, it just seems to get sweeter and sweeter. This year, my wife and I are gonna celebrate 39 years.
00:13:10
Speaker
39 years of marriage. And so I'm just telling you, that's what I think a mother can do. She can definitely encourage relationships.
Enriching Family Discipleship
00:13:21
Speaker
But I think another thing that mothers can do, since verse 6 speaks about the spiritual commitment and dedication of both Zachariah and Elizabeth, I believe they can also enrich discipleship. You see, Elizabeth, just like her husband Zachariah,
00:13:40
Speaker
They were both PKs.
00:13:43
Speaker
priests' kids or preachers' kids, you know, God noticed a level of discipleship in their marriage that went beyond just religion. It went beyond rituals. You know what it was? I believe it was real. That's why God says, you know, remember, the Holy Spirit is inspiring Luke to write these words about Elizabeth and Zechariah. He says in Luke 1.6, and they were both righteous before God.
00:14:12
Speaker
walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. I believe that the Lord was the core of their family life. What is the core of your family life? I love my two daughters, but I want you to know that my daughters, our children should never be the core
00:14:33
Speaker
of our family. It should be Christ. And I believe that that's who was the core of Elizabeth and Zachariah's relationship. The Lord was the core. But I believe that the word was the standard for their daily lives. That's why it says here that they were walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. Have you ever heard of a guy named Tim Tebow?
00:15:00
Speaker
He's a former football player. I think now he's on ESPN sometimes as an announcer and so forth. But Tim Tebow wrote a book called The Ripple Effect, and Tim Tebow credits his mother with being the key to his success.
00:15:16
Speaker
But he says in the introduction to his book that his mom never expected that she would be known on a national stage. He says, for most of her life, she was serving quietly and faithfully as a wife and a mom, choosing life for her child in the face of medical risk, answering the Lord's call to mission work in the Philippines, and homeschooling before anyone knew what the word meant. But all along the way,
00:15:47
Speaker
her experiences and her consistent everyday choices to follow the Lord and to serve wherever he placed her, were creating unexpected ripples of influence throughout her family, her community, and her world. And they would end up extending far beyond anything that she ever imagined. You see, that's how I think every mother has a great opportunity
00:16:14
Speaker
to impact our world. And it all begins with the way that they deepen the discipleship in their own lives, but also the discipleship of their kids. I believe that mothers also should be honored because of another thing.
00:16:29
Speaker
They know how to enjoy fellowship. You know, in our family, there's one person who seems to enjoy family vacations more than anyone else. There's one person who enjoys meals around the table with family. There's one person who enjoys playing games together more than anybody else, devotions together more than anyone else. You know who it is? It's my wife. It's the mother of my daughters.
00:16:58
Speaker
You know, is it like that in your family? I think it's like that in a lot of people's families. You know, the one trying to hold things together, the one bringing refreshing joy to the relationships in the family, usually it's the mom. I think that that's because a lot of times the mother is really trying to be filled with the Spirit of God, just like we see mentioned over and over again in this chapter,
00:17:27
Speaker
about Elizabeth. You know, I believe that she was the fountain, the fountain for the fellowship in the family. And where did she find the fountain? It's that internal fountain of the Holy Spirit overflowing in her life. You know, even the angels' words are, whenever your baby boy John the Baptist is born, he'll be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. You can read over in verse 41 where it says, and Elizabeth,
00:17:57
Speaker
was filled with the Holy Spirit. I believe that God can give us resources that emotionally we don't have. I've met mothers before that I believe they were genuine when they were saying, you know what? I'm completely out. I'm depleted. I don't have anything left
00:18:16
Speaker
to give to anyone else. I believe a mom can definitely get there. But I also believe that the Holy Spirit, His fullness, He can overflow. He can overflow in a mother's life. And that's why I believe that in these verses, for example, in verse 14, He's saying, you know what? Whenever you give birth to that baby boy, John the Baptist, you will have joy and gladness
00:18:41
Speaker
And get this, and many will rejoice at his birth. Wow, many will. Then down in verses 42 and 45, whenever Mary goes and visits with Elizabeth, she says, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Do you see what's happening?
00:19:05
Speaker
It's like now she's pregnant, she's expecting, she's waited a lot longer than Mary has waited for a child because she was barren all those years. But still, there's something that happens when we're full of God and that something is an outflow toward other people, an outflow of joy, a genuineness, a genuineness that cares about the rest of the members in the family.
00:19:34
Speaker
I think that's so amazing whenever you can watch what happens whenever Mama is filled with the Spirit of God and overflows on a daily basis with the Lord. You know, after Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, she blesses Mary and counts her blessings and so forth. But notice what happens. Because Elizabeth was filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit, it says, the baby in my womb leaped
00:20:04
Speaker
for joy. I believe that happens whenever a mom is so full of the Lord that joy is just coming out of her in her daily life. I believe it can't help but spill over on the kids and the kids are just happy. They're just joyful and they're just thanking the Lord for the blessings that he has given to them. And of course, dad got in on the action as well because Zachariah in chapter one, verse 67, he also has an inflow of the spirit
00:20:34
Speaker
that led to an overflow of praise and joy in his life.
Enthroning Jesus in Family Life
00:20:39
Speaker
If you ever want to read how joyful he was, then you can read Luke 1, 68-79, because man, he lets it fly. Joy was just all over the place. But where did it all come from? It came from the Lord. It really did. And that's why I want to give you one more reason why I want to honor mothers. I believe that oftentimes,
00:21:01
Speaker
Mothers are the ones who show us how to enthrone Jesus as Lord, to enthrone Him Lord over our lives. How do they do that?
00:21:13
Speaker
Well, I've seen it modeled in my mother's life. I've seen it modeled in my wife's example over and over again. And that is when I would walk into the den or the living room in the mornings and I would see my mom, I would see my wife, either one, with her Bible open, having a quiet time with the Lord.
00:21:35
Speaker
I believe that prayer and surrender is the way that we invite Christ to rule in our lives. We can ask him in prayer. You know, in verse 13, the angel says, your prayer has been heard. I believe that Zachariah and Elizabeth would take all of those needs that they had. They were saying to God, Lord, if you ever wanted to entrust us with kids,
00:22:02
Speaker
We would sure praise you. We would try our best to honor you. And so now, when the angel tells Zachariah, you're going to have a baby boy, what does he say? He wants to make sure they get the connection that your prayer has been heard. And your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. Oh, man, don't you know that would have been exciting? But it all began with them putting God
00:22:30
Speaker
first in their lives, even when they didn't have kids, they still were saying, Lord, I want to say you're the one that runs life and we want to come to you and offer our life to you. I think that's a great way for any mother or any father, for that matter, to start the day by just praying over whatever you're wanting in your life.
00:22:54
Speaker
But then the other thing is, inviting him to rule in our life also means that we yield to his plan. We yield to his plan. I don't believe that Zachariah and Elizabeth had any plan. There was nothing on the radar for what God was about to do. He was going to give them a boy, and that boy was going to be great.
00:23:17
Speaker
before the Lord, it says in verse 15. He talks about how others are going to turn to the Lord through this son of theirs. You know, it's amazing to me when I think about how, you know, in this passage in Luke chapter one, just before the New Testament begins, do you know that there was 400 years of silence? That's right.
00:23:45
Speaker
400 years of silence between the ending of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. So that's where all of our gospels begin with that period of time. But all during that time, until John the Baptist opened his mouth, I'm telling you, God was silent. And so I'm just thinking, isn't it amazing that because this mother and her husband walked with God,
00:24:14
Speaker
God blessed them with a baby boy. And not only that, when he did that, God began to speak to a generation. Wow. I think that should be incredible for any mother or father. As a matter of fact, Isaiah 43.6 says that all of us have turned us astray.
Parental Influence and Guidance
00:24:35
Speaker
We've all gone our own way. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to be placed on him.
00:24:41
Speaker
their son John the Baptist was going to prepare the way for Jesus Christ. You know, I wonder if we are preparing our kids for what's coming in their lives. God's got a great plan for our kids' lives, so we should speak God's truth into them. I know that sometimes they can be hard to handle and so forth,
00:25:04
Speaker
I mean, hey, I got two girls. Some of you have a family full of boys. So I'm not saying it's easy. But all I'm saying is, Steve and Annie Chapman, a couple of Christian singers from the past, they did a survey one time and they said, what is it that you heard the most from your mom? And here's what some of them said that they heard over and over again. You just ate. It'll be good for you. Not another word.
00:25:34
Speaker
Don't touch each other. Don't you look at me like that. I'll give you something to cry about. Ask your father. If you pick at it, it won't heal. Shut your mouth and eat. Hurry up. Don't run. Don't be so smart.
00:25:53
Speaker
Oh my goodness. I hear my own voice in some of those things. I hope that someday people will not ask my daughters, what's the thing you heard from your father the most? Hopefully it won't just be negative things where they were out of line and I was trying to straighten them up. You know, Josh McDowell in his book, Disconnected Generation, says that we really ought to be intentional in trying not only to correct our kids,
00:26:22
Speaker
But we ought to be intentional about finding ways to encourage our kids, to affirm our kids. And I think it does take intentionality. So, Mom, thank you for showing us how to do all of this. Thank you for enriching our lives and blessing our lives. If you give me the honor of closing in prayer, I would like to close with a prayer and ask God to bless every mother that's listening to this message.
Closing Prayer and Blessing
00:26:51
Speaker
Father, thank you so much for all the mothers that are out there and all the grandmothers. We never know who all is gonna be listening, but thank you for their sacrifices. Thank you for their love and thank you for their commitment.
00:27:04
Speaker
Thank you, Lord, for their character. Thank you, Lord, for so many things that they have shown us by their own examples of how to follow the Lord. Many of them have taught their kids about Jesus and about the Bible for years and years. And so we have no way of knowing how all of that is now coming to a tremendous harvest of thanks to God.
00:27:30
Speaker
But thank you for each mother. I pray that you have blessed them on Mother's Day. Some mothers may not be able to be with their sons or their daughters, their grandsons or their granddaughters, but would you really give them a special Mother's Day and let them know just like you included Elizabeth in your word? Let them know you're watching. You're watching and you have not forgotten how they have loved their families well.
00:27:58
Speaker
So give them your very best today. May their hearts overflow with joy as the Holy Spirit works deep within them. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Okay, well moms, I do hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day. And I hope you'll just know that you're loved and you're appreciated. And I hope that today you felt honored. God bless.
00:28:30
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milan Street, Columbus, Texas.