A Godly Mother - Luke 1:5-7
INTRODUCTION:
Happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers and grandmothers. This is the day set aside for honoring our mothers, for thanking them for all that they do and have done for us. As I prayed and thought about my message for this week I began to think about what it is that makes a godly mother and I began to search the Scriptures for a description of a godly mother and God led me to just three verses and the description of a woman who was to become the mother of a very important son. This is not a passage I ever thought of using for a Mother’s Day message, but we have set before us what makes a godly woman who in turn becomes a godly mother. Let’s pray and then look at these verses that the Lord gave me this week.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Luke 1, this morning we will be looking mostly at verses 5-7. Please stand in honor of the Word of God and follow along as I read these verses.
Luke 1:5-7
“In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.” (Luke 1:5–7, NASB95)[1]
BACKGROUND (Luke 1:5)
Luke, the author of this Gospel is giving an account of the life of Jesus and after introducing this as his theme in the first four verses of this chapter launches right into the history by telling us that this part of history began in the days of Herod, king of Judea. This was Herod the great who ruled in Judea as a puppet king for Rome from 37-4 BC, this is the Herod who had a great building project of expanding the temple mount and making it larger and grander. This was the period of time that this took place and during that time there was a priest by the name of Zechariah, he was a descendant of Aaron through the line of Abijah. During the time of king David there had been so many descendants of Aaron that David had divided them into divisions by their family’s name and there were 24 divisions. Each division would serve at the temple two weeks out of every year and this arrangement had continued even into this time in history. Zechariah or Zacharias which ever your Bible says was of the family line of Abijah and his division was the eighth division.
Zechariah’s wife was Elizabeth and she too was a descendant of Aaron. The priests of Israel could marry any virgin woman who was of pure Israelite descent, but it was especially commendable to marry a woman who was also a descendant of Aaron. Luke has begun his history by giving us the time period, and by introducing us to two people, a priest and his wife.
ELIZABETH WAS RIGHTEOUS IN THE SIGHT OF GOD (Luke 1:6)
Verse 6 is applied to both Zechariah and Elizabeth, but since we are focusing on our mothers today, I would like to focus on Elizabeth in verse 6. I want to break this verse down into two parts and look at what it says about being a godly woman and mother. First, it says that Elizabeth was righteous in the sight of God. In other words, In God’s judgment Elizabeth was right with Him. Some want to say that her righteousness was something she had attained through how she lived, but we know from Scripture that righteousness is not something that we get for how we live, or what we do. Because we are sinners just as Elizabeth was a sinner there is nothing we can do to make ourselves right with God, that is impossible for us to do because we are sinners by nature and the only thing that we do deserve is death, separation from God forever. So how is it that Elizabeth was righteous in the sight of God? Elizabeth was righteous in God’s sight the same way that anyone can become righteous in God’s sight. Elizabeth was righteous in God’s sight the same way that Abraham was righteous in God’s sight. Way back in the book of Genesis, chapter 15, verse 6 we read, “Then he [Abraham] believed in the Lord; and He [the LORD] reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6, NASB95)[2] The only way that we can become righteous in the sight of God is by faith in God. The apostle Paul speaking about us being justified before God says this in Romans 4:2-8, “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.’” (Romans 4:2–8, NASB95)[3] Paul teaches us that justification, a big word that means being made right with God, being righteous in God’s sight is not something that we can work to attain, it is credited to us for our faith, our belief in God. For those in the Old Testament before Jesus Christ came and died on the cross for their sins, and rose from the dead; they were looking ahead and in faith believed that God would send a Deliverer to save them from sin and Satan, they believed this because God had promised to send the Deliverer. For you and me we look back at what Jesus Christ did on the cross and we believe that He was the Deliverer who God promised to send and His death, burial, and resurrection paid the price for our sin and conquered Satan and sin and by believing this we are justified, we are righteous in God’s sight. We know now that we are righteous because of Christ and it is His righteousness credited to us that makes us right before God. We are the blessed that David speaks about in the Psalms because are lawless deeds have been forgiven, are sins have been covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, and our sin the Lord will not take into account because Christ paid the penalty for our sin, and by faith in Him His righteousness covers us and makes us righteous in the sight of God.
Elizabeth was righteous in the sight of God because like Abraham she believed God and she believed that He would keep His promise to send the Deliverer to free her forever from Satan and sin. She was looking forward to and waiting for the coming of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. She was justified, made right before God because of faith in God and His promises. This is the first step in becoming a godly woman and mother, it begins with faith, faith in Jesus Christ and His death, burial and resurrection. Because Elizabeth had faith in God and was therefore righteous in His sight she had a relationship with Him; she could pray, she could hear and learn the Word of God and meditate on His promises. You too can have a relationship with God by agreeing with God that you are a sinner, and believing that Jesus Christ died for you sin, as your substitute enduring the punishment for your sin, that He was buried, and three days later rose from the dead forever triumphing over sin and death. When you believe this you are righteous in God’s sight through Jesus Christ and you enter into a relationship with Him. You can talk to Him in prayer, you can read and study the Word of God and meditate on God’s promises to you. This is the first step in becoming a godly woman and mother or a godly man and father.
ELIZABETH WALKED BLAMELESSLY IN ALL THE COMMANDMENTS AND REQUIREMENTS OF THE LORD (Luke 1:6)
The second half of verse 6 says that Elizabeth walked blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. This makes it seem that Elizabeth was perfect, how could she be blameless. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20, NASB95)[4] The word blamelessly refers to motives. Because she had been declared righteous in the sight of God because of her faith, this motived her to seek to obey God, to walk with God and obey His commandments and requirements, it does not mean that she could do that perfectly all the time, but she was trying to do what was pleasing to the Lord. This is the second step in being a godly woman and mother, because you are forgiven and because you have been declared righteous in Jesus Christ, your desire should be to walk blamelessly with the Lord. For you and me we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us to help us in our walk. We also have a direct line to God so that when we mess up and fail and fall into sin we can confess that sin to Him and be forgiven. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, NASB95)[5] Jesus Christ forgives and cleanses us from the unrighteousness of that sin and gets us back on the right track again, seeking to walk blamelessly with Him. It is all about motive, as forgiven sinners our desire should be to please the Lord in all that we do. I know that sometimes as moms and dads we feel that we have messed up big time, I am sure that Elizabeth felt that way at times too. But her overall motive was to seek to obey God by keeping His commandments and requirements. So a godly woman and mother is one who is righteous in the sight of God because of her faith in Jesus Christ, and one who is seeking to walk with God blamelessly, and when she fails she confesses her sins, and Jesus Christ forgives her and she moves on. Does this mean that we are then exempt from the troubles of this world? No, and we find that Elizabeth was not either.
ELIZABETH WAS BARREN AND OLD (Luke 1:7)
In verse 7 we read that Zachariah and Elizabeth had no child because Elizabeth was barren and she and her husband were old, past the age of child bearing. In the Jewish culture the ability to bear children was considered a blessing from God. Psalm 127:3 says, “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.” (Psalm 127:3, NASB95)[6] It was a great disgrace to be unable to bear children. The Jewish people of Elizabeth’s day would have wondered whether God was displeased with this couple, did God look upon Elizabeth or Zachariah with disfavor? God does not always do immediately that for which our heart desires, so that in the end the glory might go to Him. This couple reminds me of another couple who were childless for many years, but whom God had promised He would make a great nation from, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. God withheld the present blessing so that the future blessing would be greater and it would be recognized as truly an act of God. Just as God was not displeased with Abraham and Sarah, He was not displeased with Zachariah and Elizabeth, but so His glory might be displayed in both couples God waited until it seemed impossible that either would ever have a child.
ELIZABETH WAS PREPARED BY GOD TO BE THE MOTHER OF JOHN THE BAPTIST (Luke 1:13)
God was working to bring about His perfect plan at the perfect time. The names Zachariah and Elizabeth show how each piece of God’s plan was perfect. The name Zachariah means “God remembers,” the name Elizabeth means “the oath of God.” When you put the two names together it says, “God remembers His oath.” God had been at work many years before leading the parents of these two people to name their children so that when they came together their names would announce God’s purpose. The names of Zachariah and Elizabeth point back to the first promise God gave to the first man and first woman after the first sin, the promise to send a Deliverer who would crush Satan’s head. The oath is addressed to Satan, but the promise is for man. In the history of Zachariah and Elizabeth we are introduced to the climax of the spiritual battle between Satan and God. This single touch makes it evident how much importance God attached to Jesus coming, for even His forerunner’s birth was carefully planned. The fact that this was a longstanding marriage, yet childless also played a part in God’s purposes, for Elizabeth’s conception was a sure sign that something remarkable had happened. God had prepared Elizabeth to be the mother of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Deliverer, Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION:
Did you know that as a mother God prepared you to be the mother of your children and what will your children be, who will they become? God has a purpose for their lives and you being a godly mother by being righteous in the sight of God because of your faith in Jesus Christ, and by seeking to walk blamelessly with God will be a help to your children, first to see their own need for a Savior, but second to find the purpose that God has for them. We want our children to be all that God wants them to be, to help them reach God’s full potential in their lives.
Maybe you are here this morning and you are thinking that you have blown it, you have put your faith in Christ, but you have not tried to walk blamelessly with Him and you feel that as a mother or a father you have failed in the parenting department, it is not too late. Confess your failure to God and ask Him to help you to seek to walk with Him and to help you be the parent that He wants you to be. Praise God that we have a Savior who is our high priest who can help us. The author of Hebrews say in chapter 4, verses 14-16, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14–16, NASB95)[7] Jesus Christ understands our weaknesses, draw near to the throne of grace and receive His mercy and His grace to help you in your time of need.
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[6]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[7]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995