Biblical Motherhood
Bible study by Pastor David Walker
Pastor David Walker notes that mothers have frequently found themselves in situations where they really did not know what to do, having to trust God to get them through and provide help, because resources can eventually get depleted. Without the Lord to lean on, it is hard to fathom how anyone makes it.
Beginning on Mother’s Day and continuing through Father’s Day, Pastor David Walker presents a series of messages on building a healthy home. Looking around society today, things are in a mess, crumbling and falling on every side. Believers must return to the Bible to recalibrate some things, re-examine their lives, and ensure they are living as God desires.
The foundational principle begins in Genesis 18:19 with Abraham:
Genesis 18:19 “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”
The Lord said that Abraham would follow Him and teach his children and household. Out of all the nations, God selected one man:
Genesis 12:3 “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
Our nation would do well to take heed to that truth. God chose Abraham, gave him Isaac, Isaac had Jacob, and Jacob had twelve sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel—the nation God chose to place His name upon the earth. Jesus Christ was born of the seed of Abraham, the son of David after the flesh, meaning our Savior is of Jewish descent.
From a practical standpoint, God saw a man who would do right and teach his children to do right; consequently, God blessed him, his nation, and ultimately the entire world through Jesus Christ because of how Abraham guided his household. Living in our homes as God intends is of tremendous importance.
Turning to the Mother’s Day passage, God addressed Abraham’s wife:
Genesis 17:15-16 “And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.”
What a remarkable declaration for an individual—to be named a mother of nations.
A church is no stronger than the families in it
A church can be no stronger than the families and homes within it. A person may reside in a house, but the question remains: do you have a home? God founded the nation of Israel from that single home of Abraham and Sarah. Rather than taking aim at everyone else in the world, believers in Jesus Christ should examine their own lives for areas requiring instruction and correction.
None of this is possible without the Lord Jesus Christ. For anyone lacking the assurance of personal salvation, faith in Jesus Christ is where it all begins. Christ saves the soul and establishes the foundation upon which to build. Good families, marriages, children, and church networks depend upon making Jesus Christ primary; until that is done individually, it cannot happen in the home.
If you are not saved today, you have to believe in Jesus Christ today to save you from your sins.There is a real heaven to gain and a real hell to shun.
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
Jesus died on the cross, paid the penalty for sin, and rose again the third day. Christianity is not a man-made philosophy written centuries ago by someone now dead and buried; it rests in a living Savior, the man Christ Jesus, who sits at the right hand of God. He is real. Pastor Walker said, “I’ve talked to him this morning, and He responded through His word.” Your foundation needs to be the Lord Jesus Christ.As the Apostle Paul wrote regarding the judgment seat of Christ:
“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:11)
Building upon any other foundation will fail.
Biblical Motherhood
The home and mothers are indispensable. George W. Truett, a conservative pastor of First Baptist Dallas years ago, stated:
“The home is the crowning institution. It is essentially a woman’s contribution. It is a woman’s greatest contribution to civilization and to Christianity. The country will go to pieces without good homes. The churches will be undone and defeated and will fail without good homes.”
Truett’s assessment has proven prophetic. Furthermore, Truett observed that the downfall of every character can be traced to some defect in the home life. The late Adrian Rogers likewise stated:
“The great problem today is not delinquent kids, but drop out dads and misguided moms who have failed to hand down God’s truth from one generation to another.”
People study manuals, blueprints, internet guides, and recipes for pets, building projects, and cooking, yet often neglect God’s blueprints for marriage and parenting. We need blueprints and we follow them when building a house. We follow a recipe to create a dish. But it’s amazing how we do not follow the Bible when it comes to building our families. When a shirt is buttoned incorrectly at the beginning, it ends wrong; starting off wrong produces wrong results. Yet for those who have made mistakes in broken homes, God is merciful even if we can’t turn back time and undo our mistakes:
“…and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
The issue is not that mistakes were made, but whether one learns from them.
The Enormity of Motherhood
Motherhood carries immense weight. Even from the cross, Christ spoke to His mother in:
“When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.” (John 19:26–27)
Scripture commands honor toward parents. It also comes with a promise with long life.
“Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.” (Ephesians 6:2–3)
Proverbs 30:17 gives a stark warning:
“The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.” (Proverbs 30:17)
When Napoleon was asked about the greatest need of the French nation, he answered, “Mothers.” When the mothers are bad, the nation fails.
D.L. Moody attributed his accomplishments to his mother, and Daniel Webster credited his mastery of English to his mother’s teaching. When the four preacher sons of G. Campbell Morgan were asked who among them was the greatest preacher, all answered in unison, “Mom.”
We put emphasis on good fathers, but we also need to have emphasis on good mothers.
Biblical Examples of Motherhood
Scripture provides profound examples of mothers:
- Eve: Described as “the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20). Formed from Adam’s side—neither from his foot to be trampled nor from his head to rule—she fulfilled a nurturing role. Upon bearing her first son, she declared: “I have gotten a man from the LORD” (Genesis 4:1), recognizing the life as God-given. A mother knows that this precious life came from the Lord.
- Mary: Blessed among women, though not to be worshipped or venerated above God. Scripture speaks of Jael in Judges 5:24: “Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.” When a woman praised Christ’s mother, Jesus replied in Luke 11:28: “Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” She was a great woman – not the mother of God, but the mother of the man Christ Jesus. In the Magnificat, Mary displayed genuine humility:
> “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.” (Luke 1:46–49)
Mary followed Jesus faithfully all the way to the cross, even when His earthly brethren doubted Him during His earthly ministry.
- Jochebed: The mother of Moses trusted God in a perilous time when Hebrew boy babies were ordered killed. She placed Moses in a small ark of bulrushes on the river, surrendering him to God before receiving him back to nurse and raise him when Pharaoh’s daughter found him. Biblical motherhood recognizes that mothers are stewards entrusted by God with precious lives, not the ultimate creators of them. That’s a responsibility given by God.
- Hannah: Barren and seeking the Lord in 1 Samuel, Hannah vowed that if God gave her a son, she would dedicate him to His service all the days of his life. God granted her Samuel, whom she brought to the tabernacle under Eli the priest; he grew to be a mighty prophet and priest. We have two books in the Bible named after Samuel, one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament.
- The Shunammite Woman: In 2 Kings 4, when her miraculously given son died of heatstroke, she sought Elisha. When asked if it was well with her family, she answered in faith, “It is well,” committing the outcome entirely into God’s hands. What a statement of faith! “It is well if he lives, it is well if he dies” – she said that even though she didn’t know the outcome.
- The Syrophenician Woman: In Matthew 15:21–28, this Gentile mother sought deliverance for her demon-possessed daughter. When tested with the truth that “it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs,” she persisted in faith: “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Her humility and persistent intercession secured her daughter’s healing. The apostles tried to chase her away, but she humbled herself and persisted because she was concerned about her daughter.
- Lois and Eunice: Paul commended young Timothy’s godly heritage:
> “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.” (2 Timothy 1:5)
Pastor Walker talked about women who got married early around 15-18 years old. By the time they are 20+, they are already able to train their daughters to also work in the farm. They are mature. Women who wait until they are 40+ to have children today, are going to find it harder.
Expectations of Motherhood
Titus 2:4–5 details biblical expectations for mothers:
“That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”
Love must be taught and chosen; it is not mere emotion or lust. “Love is not something that just trips over or just happens.” Just as mothers continue to love wayward or incarcerated children despite their deeds, biblical love is unconditional, mirroring God’s love. Mothers choose to love their children, even if they do not agree with what their children do.
There are a lot of effeminate men these days who are singers, they sing sappy love songs. Are they right in their minds? When you have the Lord Jesus Christ, you have a love that is full of glory. God loves unconditionally, and it’s similar with how mothers love their children. Titus 2:4-5 is kept so that the word of God is not blasphemed. And the word of God is blasphemed a lot in this country today.
The home serves as an extension of a woman’s heart. While a man often finds his identity in what he does, a mother identifies deeply with who she is. Before the war, women worked twice as hard at home. After the industrial age, they started careers and were no longer working hard. A woman’s work is never done, the saying goes. Above all earthly titles, (an employee, a mother, an American, etc) however, a believer’s primary identity must remain in Jesus Christ. As Psalm 9:17 warns:
“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”
1 Timothy 5:14 instructs younger women to “marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.” While the husband is established as the head of the home to maintain God’s order, guiding the house encompasses tremendous leadership, care, and industrious labor. A home with two heads is a monster. We have to have order in the home. Mothers are however called to guide the house.
God designed the home to have both a father and a mother, making broken homes and societal redefinitions deeply damaging. The home cannot have a father and a father or a mother and a mother. Preachers should have to preach this.
Mothers must speak several types of words into their children’s lives:
1. Words of Indictment and Discipline: Administering necessary correction. Mothers have to punish their children.
2. Words of Encouragement and Praise: Acknowledging good behavior rather than constantly saying “no.” There ought to be some words of love and encouragement.
3. Words of Love: Verbalizing affection so children hear clearly that they are loved. The kids need to hear these words from their mothers.
Mothers are called to be parents rather than their children’s best friends. Maybe when the children become older, but until then, you’re to be a mother. You can’t be lining up at Chick Fil A because you want your children to like you. You’re not their best friends. You need to want them to love you, but you need to want them to love God.
While friendship and mutual respect may develop in adulthood, parents must guide, teach doctrine, and instill discipline without fearing their children’s temporary displeasure. Furthermore, children need a mother’s physical touch, nurture, and comfort, which studies consistently confirm are essential for emotional and physical development. No hand can dry tears like a mother’s hand. No hand can help a wound like a mother’s hand. Studies have proven that babies need to feel the mothers’ touch.
The Responsibility and the Reward
Children are on loan from God. When Pharaoh’s daughter spoke to Jochebed, she said:
“Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.” (Exodus 2:9)
God speaks similarly to mothers, placing children in their care to be nurtured for Him. There’s a reward waiting for the mothers for doing what God tells them to do.
While parents should raise their children faithfully, mothers must not perpetually blame themselves if children stray in adulthood. Blaming parents entirely for every outcome would equate to blaming God for the fall of Adam and Eve. Every adult individual must ultimately stand responsible for their own choices. Children can’t keep blaming their parents for the upbringing either.
“So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:12)
God gives us mothers so that we can have boundaries in our lives. Our parents may drag us to the church but that’s a good “drag” to have.
Consider Hagar in Genesis 16 and 21. Used as a surrogate by Sarah and Abraham during a lapse in their faith, she was eventually cast out into the wilderness. God made it clear that Isaac was the child of promise, not Ishmael. Yet when Hagar was cast out, God saw her faithfulness as a mother, met her in the wilderness, provided for her, and preserved the boy. God sees the mothers and honors faithful mothers.
Motherhood is an enduring calling; a woman never ceases to be a mother, even when her children are grown or after they have passed. God is going to take care of the mothers through faith.
An old illustration tells of an angel searching the earth for the most beautiful thing to carry back to heaven. After gathering the rarest and most beautiful, and fragrant rose of the earth, a baby’s smile, and a mother’s sacrificial love pouring out like a mighty spring, the angel found upon reaching heaven’s gates that the rose had withered and the child’s smile had faded to a frown, but the mother’s love remained as pure and vibrant as ever—the only treasure whose beauty and fragrance endured all the way to heaven.
Pastor David Walker concludes by urging mothers to be faithful to their calling. Some of the mothers are trying to do many things – wear many hats, but you have to do what is right in the sight of God. Don’t listen to the devil’s lies, the world’s philosophies. Be a faithful mother.
Original sermon audio: https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermons/51224172116369