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Sermon Notes

May 14, 2023

Distinguished: Attributes of a Godly Mother

Luke 1:46-55

Happy Mother's Day!  Being a Mom is one of the most challenging jobs this world has ever known and we do not give enough credit for everything Moms do.  They have to act as doctors, cleaners, chefs, referees, personal assistants, teachers, meal planners, chauffeurs, organizers, life coaches, personal stylists, chief financial officers, entertainers, handywomen, sleep coaches, rule enforcers, investigators, translators, dental hygienists, travel agents, researchers, crisis negotiators, personal trainers, bargain hunters, encyclopedias, comforters, laundry services, and lifeguards. These are just a few of the jobs that Moms are tasked with throughout their lives. This morning we want to take a moment and say thank you to all the Moms for all your hard work and dedication to your role as a Mom.

Since we are talking about Moms and everything they do, let’s talk about Christian Moms.  While this partial job list is impressive, have you ever thought about what a Christian Mom is called to do?  Not only do they carry out all the tasks mentioned here but are also called out by God to a higher standard - they are set apart and they are distinguished. This morning I’d like to look at a Christian Mother from the Bible to see what attributes she carried and exemplified in her life. These examples are to be an encouragement and guide to help, not just the Moms amongst us but all of us who are Christians, in order to be able to live distinguished lives.

  1.  A Distinguished Mother knows her identity in Christ - Luke 1:46-47

46 Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.  47 How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! 

All throughout scripture we see wonderful godly Mothers like Sarah, Jochebed, Hannah, Lois, and Eunice (grandmother as well!). This morning I’d like to look at Mary, the Mother of Jesus, specifically during Mary’s visit with Elizabeth. It’s during this visit that we clearly see Mary’s response to the events that have been happening to and around her since an angel visited her to bring the good news of her pregnancy. Let’s take a look here in Luke as Mary begins to worship through a song/prayer (when we worship these two can be hardly differentiated). We can learn a lot about a Christian by the way they worship.

We are living in a day and time when many people struggle with their identity. There are so many people tempted to grab onto so many different things that God never intended for our identities because they want to have something they can claim as their identity.  Moms can face this same temptation as well.  Sometimes we can hear a Mom say something such as “My kids are my everything”. While we can understand the sentiment involved with this statement because of the time she has committed to her kids, her love and devotion for them, the truth is our children (or anything else for that matter) cannot be a Christian's identity - they cannot be our everything.  God said in the Ten Commandments that you will have no other gods before Me. When we elevate someone or something in our lives above and into the space that’s only meant for God, not only are we being disobedient, but we are setting a standard that will never be obtained by the one we placed in God’s rightful spot in our lives. It’s unfair for them and it’s unfair for our growth as a Christian. God is our everything.

Mary shows she is strong in her identity in God by calling Him “Lord”, by calling Him “my Savior”, and by stating how her soul (or her everything) sings praises and rejoices in Him.  Everything that she was, was being poured out in worship to the One who was rightfully her everything.  She wasn’t just worshiping the Lord, she was worshiping her Lord.  It was a personal relationship that her identity flowed from.  Mary had been through some almost incomprehensible troubles in her life as of late, but she still maintained and proclaimed her identity in God - even when things around her seemed like they were falling apart.

We find ourselves in a little different situation than Mary as we have the entire picture that Mary only had a snippet of.  Jesus Christ is risen and it’s in Him that we find our identity.  It takes a lot of faith to put your identity in Christ because there are so many things vying for our attention. As we spoke last week, when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are reconciled to God through Christ's death.  We are made new in Christ. We are no longer slaves to sin, and we live by, in, and through grace.  When we identify with Christ in His death, anything this world has to offer will always fall short (no matter how much of a blessing it is to us). We are dead to this world and alive in Christ and just like Mary, we are to stand fast in our identity that is found in Christ alone no matter the circumstance. He is our firm foundation in the storms of life.  Christ is our identity because we are His and He is ours.

  1. A Distinguished Mother recognizes God’s work in her life - Luke 1:48-49

48 For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.  49 For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.

More and more we are living in a thankless world. People expect things to be done for them and they never bother to take a step back to be thankful for what they have and what has been done for them.  They don’t bother to have a spirit of thankfulness, let alone voicing any type of verbal thanks.  Godly mothers are the exception to this rule. Look at Mary’s next response here in verses 48 and 49.  She remembers where she came from and what God has done to bring her out of that situation.  She is thankful for all of the things God has done for her. She can see His fingerprints all over her life, and she is grateful.  She calls all the things God has done for her great, and by doing so it shows us another way of how thankful she is for all He has done.  She knows they are all great because they come from God and everything God does is great.  Even if these things are considered small in the world’s eyes, she knows their source and expresses her gratitude.  Psalm 69:30 says “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving". That is exactly what we see Mary doing here.

How about you?  How are you at seeing through the hardships and struggles in your life to see God at work, to see His fingerprints, and thank Him for it all?  It takes us knowing that God is good at all times. It takes us having our identities based in Christ (especially during hard seasons in our lives), and no matter how busy or overwhelmed we get, we must take a step back from it all, be still, and reflect on our lives to see how God has worked day in and day out. We must realize all the blessings that God has given us and take the time to thank Him for the things with a grateful heart.

  1. A Distinguished Mother knows the character of God - Luke 1:49-54

49 For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.  50 He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him.  51 His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.  52 He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.  53 He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.  54 He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful.

The only reason we can truly know anything about who God really is, is because He has revealed Himself in the Bible.  So to understand God’s character, we must know scripture.  This is very evident in Mary’s entire song because it parallels Hannah’s prayer that is recorded in      1 Samuel.  Mary knew scripture and was using it to worship God for who He really is and what He was doing in her life.  There is a danger when we don’t go to scripture to form our view of who God is. If we don’t, we find ourselves worshiping the god we made in our own imagination instead of the God in whose image we are made. Ultimately that god we created will let us down, but the God of the Bible will never fail.  Notice the attributes of God that Mary mentions as she worships:

God is Holy

Day and night the angels are around the throne in heaven crying out “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Rev. 4:8).  God is holy (or set apart) and He is nothing like what the world thinks He should be.  He’s much greater than we could ever imagine and it’s in this attribute of Holiness that Mary finds comfort.  When things don’t make sense to us, we can firmly rely on a holy God who is set apart from all of our expectations, and He always comes through right on time, in the perfect way.

God is Mighty

In Isaiah 9:6 we see that Jesus would be called “Mighty God”, but what did that mean?  The title given here in Isaiah to Jesus meant that He was strong and had great power and authority - He was the ultimate leader. Mary knew even though she was on a path that seemed impossible that she had a "Mighty God" who would not only lead her but was greater than any trial, temptation, or storm that she would ever face.  She didn’t know it yet, but her faith was in a God who would also conquer the greatest enemy of all - death.  God is mighty and mighty to save.

God is Merciful

Going back to knowing scripture is where this last attribute of God comes from.  Mary speaks of God’s repeated mercy upon Israel.  All throughout the old testament, we see God’s persistent mercy shown upon the children of Israel even after they turned away from God time and time again.  Mary knew that she needed that same mercy in her life as well.  The mercy she so desperately needed would ultimately come from the death of her son, but nevertheless, Mary knew that God was a merciful God and she celebrated that in her worship.

  1. A Distinguished Mother tells her children - Luke 1:55

55 For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.”

So far we have looked at aspects of a godly Mother that are internal - to know her identity, recognize what God has done in her life, and know God for who He is. The last thing I want to look at is perhaps the most important. After a godly Mother establishes her own solid foundation and faith she takes all of this and pass it on to her children.  We read in 2 Timothy that Paul applauds the faith of not only Timothy’s Mom but also his Grandmother.  Godly Mothers must pass on what they know about their faith in God.  This is how Mary is able to finish her song, it’s because she knows the promises that were given to Abraham. It wasn’t because these promises were written down at first and passed down from generation to generation, but rather they were told and shared from parents to children all down through the ages.

Deuteronomy 6:7 tells us “And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”  This is something that we have to do today as well. We must take our faith seriously and treat it with the seriousness it deserves when it comes to our children.  One of the more harsh realities in life is that our children aren’t ours. They are only entrusted to us for a season to steward and raise them in the Lord. Then “As arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior” (Psalms 127:4), having done our best to shape them, we must aim them, pull them back, and there comes a time when we have to let them fly.  How we prepare them for that flight is by sharing our faith with them, disciplining them as God disciplines us, living our faith out in front of them, and encouraging them to trust Jesus just as we have.  They will know God is real by how we live, not out in public, but rather how we act behind closed doors.

I hope you have seen that even though we have spoken about these godly attributes exhibited in the life of Jesus’ mother Mary, and spoke about them in the context of Mother’s Day, these are wonderful reminders and encouragements as we live out our Christian life in a tough and trying world.  Your life might not be as hectic as the Mom’s life we described at the beginning, but in this world full of shifting sand, we never know what tomorrow holds. We must have our identity in Christ, recognize His work in our lives, and know His attributes as we share with our families the wonderful hope we have that only comes from Jesus.
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