Biblical Motherhood & Trusting God Through Grief (Mother's Day)

You're listening to the Bridgetown Church podcast with

Pastor Chris Ochoa where our vision is Jesus, our mission is

people, and our cause is love. Thanks for tuning in.

Let's dive in. It's Mother's Day.

My name is Chris Ochoa. I'm the pastor of Preaching and

Vision here at Bridgetown Church.

We're going to do things a little bit different today.

We have an abbreviated meet and greet because we want to make

sure we can get the most done as possible in our short amount of

time together. Our time together this morning

is going to be structured a little bit differently than our

usual Sunday gatherings. Today's Mother's Day and as a

church body, we want to celebrate you moms, you warriors

at home who are taking care of your kids, taking care of your

husbands, taking care of your home.

We want to celebrate you today. With that being said, me as your

pastor, I would be naive and remiss to not include those who

today it's it's not an easy day. I'm keenly aware that today it's

not a celebratory day for a lot of moms out there.

Maybe you, maybe this is your first Mother's Day without your

mom. Maybe you as a mother, this is

your first Mother's Day without your, your child.

I'm keenly aware that today is not celebratory for some women

here. In fact, today it might be the

hardest day that you've had in a long, long time.

It's a day of grief, a day of her, a day of longing.

And we would be remiss if we didn't think about you today.

So what I wanted to do this morning is we wanted to do some

heart care. And I wanted to point you

specifically for those who are dealing with grief this morning.

I would wanted to point you to the hope of Jesus.

I don't want to forget you this morning.

So with that being said, I'm going to do things a little bit

differently today. Now at Bridgetown, we love the

Bible. As your pastor, I love the

Bible. I believe that it's impactful.

It changes you to be the person that God's called you to be.

And we aim to submit our lives under the authority of scripture

and the direction of its author, the Holy Spirit.

That's what we believe about the Scripture.

It's in that spirit. First Corinthians chapter 14,

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

Paul addresses the Corinthian church about an orderly service,

and here's what he says. He says what then, Brothers,

when you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a

revelation. Let all things be done for

building up. Let two or three people speak

and let the others weigh what is said.

Let all that's done be for the building up of the church.

Well, it's in this spirit that we will do a split message

today, a split sermon in an orderly fashion, just as Paul

commanded in First Corinthians 14.

It has been placed on the heart of one of our sisters here,

Elena, to share her story and what she's currently walking

through in this season of her life.

It's a testimony of loss, but it's also a testimony that

culminates in the hope of Jesus. And we want you mothers here

today that are dealing with grief to hear from Elena.

Now, why are we doing this one? For the mutual encouragement of

our women here sitting in darkness today.

Then also for Elena herself, because she wants you to know

where she's at and how what God's been doing in her life.

Understand, Elena, she's not a pastor.

She's not a teacher, nor does she sit in any other

professional position. What she is, she's a dear sister

in Christ who wants to share her story of hope and hope that

appoints you to Jesus, you who are struggling today.

So here's what it's going to look like on today.

Elena's going to come up and share her story.

And afterwards, I'm going to come up and with our remaining

time, I'm going to give you a biblical perspective, the

biblical mandate for what it means to be a woman and the call

to motherhood. So that's what we'll do today.

When, without any further ado, here is Elena.

Is this on? OK, so I'm going to start by

asking you something. Have you ever had to trust God

in a season where that didn't make sense?

Where your heart was grieving and your faith was being

stretched at the same time? Or a season where loss kept

showing up and you didn't have answers?

Because this past year, that's exactly where I found myself.

For those of you that don't know me, my name is Elena.

My husband Daniel and I started coming to Bridgetown back in

2023, and we've been blessed by this church family in the past

year. God has been telling me that I'm

going to share my story, but I didn't know when or where that

was going to happen until a few weeks ago.

He put it on my heart to talk to Pastor Chris.

So side note, I didn't plan on being here today.

Mother's Day is that easy for me.

So when I talked to Pastor Chris, I thought, OK, we'll pray

about it in a few months I'll be up here.

But he said how about Mother's Day?

And I was like, the one day I wasn't going to be here and I

just knew it was from God and that was God's plan.

So here I am. I'm going to back up a few years

here. Back in 21, I had to start

caretaking for my dad. He ended up becoming bedridden

and was on Hospice. That same year, my mom was

diagnosed with breast cancer. I found myself being a full time

caretaker as well as a therapist.

In that year, Daniel and I got married and even though we had a

lot on our plate, we wanted to start a family.

A year later, trying to conceive, we found ourselves out

of fertility clinic to get tested.

I read a devotional that day and it was about Sarah and Abraham

and basically the part of Sarah compromising.

As I went in we talked about testing IVF and when we left

that day I felt God tell me don't be Sarah, don't compromise

and trust in Him. Our test came back clear,

everything was good except I had a polyp that needed to be

removed. Later that year in May God

started to give me promises and showed me a pastel rainbow as a

symbol of his promise. So anytime I saw that it was a

reminder of His plan. Later that year in November we

were pregnant. Our baby was due in July and

Daniel and I were going to be parents on December 19th.

We went into our appointment and I just had a weird vibe and a a

bad feeling and when the doctor came in he told us that our

baby's heart was not beating. In that moment I felt like my

world stopped like in the movies.

Instantly I shut down trying to block any emotion.

I didn't understand why God would give me a baby just for

this to happen. Did I really hear the doctor say

that my baby didn't have a heartbeat?

Why us? For the next few days I cried

and I felt like my worst nightmare has happened.

We had to go through Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with

smiles on our faces even though we were broken inside.

And on December 28th I miscarried at home.

The feeling of losing your baby is the worst feeling in the

world. A feeling a piece of you is

gone. The hope, the plans, the name

you had was all taken in one moment.

As a mom, you start to question what did you do wrong?

I felt I failed to keep my baby safe.

I questioned did I do too much, did I stress?

And people can tell you it's not your fault, but it's hard to let

it go. Thank you, I questioned God a

lot and I don't didn't understand why he allowed us to

go through all this. During that week though Daniel

and I both saw a rainbow. I saw one over our house and

Daniel saw one with his mom and a stranger even tapped him on

the shoulder and told him turn around you need to look at that.

I feel that that was God showing him the promise.

And in that midst of pain, we had a sense of peace.

In 2024, we had a little bit of a healing year.

We named a star after our baby and people kept praying for us.

I didn't tell Daniel, but I was discouraged that we weren't

pregnant again. In August of this year, my mom

was now diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Getting news like that changes your life.

I started to focus on how I can make each day count and my focus

was no longer on getting pregnant, but on my mom.

In 2025, it was rough. In the beginning of the year, my

mom got sick, one of my dogs and a close friend of mine passed

away. And in the middle of February I

found myself having a mental breakdown.

I was upset, broken, crying. I thought I was losing my mind.

I realized soon after I wasn't having a mental breakdown.

I was pregnant, but I had to ask God why now with everything

happening at that time, Angie gave me a verse.

It was Psalms 41 through 3 and it says I waited patiently for

the Lord to help me. He turned to me and heard my

cry. He lifted me out of the pit of

despair, out of the mud and the mire.

He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked

along. He had given me a new song, a

hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what He has done

and be amazed, and they will put their trust in the Lord.

Angie then prayed over me and in that moment I felt God mourned

me that I would be attacked. On week 6, we went to the

doctor's appointment and we heard a heartbeat.

Tears rolled down my face, but in a sigh of relief, we had a

healthy baby. A week later, however, my aunt,

my mom's sister, passed away. If you're keeping count that's

lost #3 on April 16th, we went to our next appointment and

during the ultrasound the technician just kind of pushed

on my stomach, which I thought was a little weird.

And we went into the other room waiting for the doctor.

The doctor questioned if I was in pain or bleeding and I said

no, and he proceeded to tell us that our baby's heart had

stopped. Daniel asked what does that

mean? And the doctor looked in a cold

way and said your baby's dead. My worst nightmare was happening

again. My world stopped.

I went home and I was broke down, fell to my knees sobbing

but found myself praying to God asking God those same questions.

Why let me get pregnant for this to happen.

All I kept hearing God was say trust me and and one way I said

that means nothing to me at this point.

And he reminded me to read Psalms 41 through 3.

And I realized at that moment that when he said that I was in

the pit of despair. It was not from my first

miscarriage, but now. So I kept holding on to the

promises that he's given me on Easter.

I asked for clarity. Do I grieve or do I pray for a

miracle? Angie was given words that God

told her to share with me. I'm going to share just a few.

He told her to sit. Let me know for that child she

is caring, has my heartbeat that I have placed in her womb.

That child that I have placed in her womb shall live.

And that verse I gave her the word was for now, for today, for

Elena and Daniel to hold onto it my truth, our lives and for

their faith to give birth to a miracle.

In that moment I just again felt God say trust me and I had some

hope. But we went to our next

ultrasound and there was still no heartbeat.

I questioned God, you said that my baby would live what is

happening? And at that moment again, I

found myself like just sobbing, breaking down on the floor.

A part of me felt like I had been lied to.

I planned to not come to church anymore.

How can I listen to a sermon and believe anything that's said up

here? But then at the same time I

found myself journaling again, talking to God.

On May 12th, God told me to read Job.

And I told God I don't want to read Job.

I know what Job means. So I obeyed and I read and there

is one part that stood out to me and it said, do you still want

to argue with the Almighty? Right away I was convicted.

Who am I to question God? Who am I to listen to, to not

listen to what He's telling me? Why do I listen to the enemy but

not Him? At that moment I surrendered my

baby to God. I asked Him to give me strength

to grief and I felt like God was telling me again to trust His

plan. I woke up the next day with

cramping and symptoms. I was hemorrhaging and needed to

have surgery that night. I went through the first surgery

and then found I was losing more blood.

I started to feel weak, scared and thought I was going to die.

The doctor told me I needed to have a second surgery and if it

didn't work I would have a hysterectomy.

Thank God the medication did work and that didn't happen.

As I was recovering, I still had to take care of my mom and dad.

My mom's health was declining at this time, but I pushed it all

down because I needed to stay strong for her.

My mom was my best friend, my confidant, my biggest support,

and even though I was grieving my baby, I put that aside

because I had to focus on my mom.

Four months later, my mom passed away.

I felt like my heart was crushed at this moment.

I thought about the book of job and started to feel like my life

was falling apart. I started to think about how I

cannot go through another loss, but a part of me felt like my

job season wasn't wasn't over. My hope was fading.

Sorry. I was trying to reconnect with

God, but I found it difficult. Like I said, I felt my job

season wasn't over and I was right.

In November our bird and my dog who was my baby boy both passed

away. I beg God stop the loss.

I asked what was I missing. Why are you keep taking things

from me that I love? As the year ended I was numb but

still trying to heal. In the beginning of the year I

had another loss. The sibling of my golden passed

away. This is number 8 if you guys

lost count. All the grief that I had been

dealing with came up at this time.

I felt like I was going to throw up and I couldn't breathe.

Grief can be a lonely place. Not many people are comfortable

with someone who is dealing with grief.

So I would text a small group of friends and talk to God when I

needed support. I went through some depression

and I felt like I would not recover.

In the beginning of the year, I did a Bible study with some

friends called Not What I Signed Up For.

It talked about Joseph's story and how God uses our

opportunities to help us grow in faith to depend on God.

I started to learn that when I prayed for my family members, my

dogs, or my babies, I was still trying to control what happened.

I said I was surrendering, but I didn't fully surrender until I

had no other choice. I had faith but was still trying

to manipulate the outcome. In this study, I learned in

Genesis 5020, what was intended to harm you, God will use for

good. This has become a verse that I

am reminded, I remind myself of often.

People have asked me if I've felt like Job through all of

this, and a part of me does. But I didn't lose my health and

I didn't lose my house. So I don't like to say I'm too

much like Job because I'm OK in those areas.

During my season, I kept telling people that I wasn't done and I

felt like the losses were still coming, but people also

followed. How did you get through this?

And my simple answer is God. My heart was shattered and I was

reminded in Psalm 3418 the Lord is close to the broken hearted

and close to those who are crushed in spirit.

There is nothing I could go through that God would not meet

me there and support me. Don't forget I question God a

lot. I got angry with Him, I yelled

at Him, but I still went to Him. My faith wasn't strong

throughout everything I went through.

My faith varied in size. Some days it was big and other

days it was the size of a mustard seed.

The one thing that didn't change was the fact that I talked to

God. I shared every emotion I had.

I don't have answers to why I lost my babies.

I don't have answers to why I lost my mom or had eight losses

in one year. But I do know that I serve a God

that loves me and was with me during those times.

He was wiping my tears from my face.

He was holding me as I wept in grief.

Faith isn't believing God will give you what you want when you

pray. But faith is believing in God

and trusting His plans when they look different.

Some of you think, why did Angie tell me why my that my baby

would have his heartbeat and that it will live.

And earlier this year, God showed me my baby does have his

heartbeat and my baby does live, just not in the way that I

wanted. Daniel and I don't know what our

future holds. All we know is God has given us

a promise. We hold on to that and trust God

keeps his promises. And Daniel, 3/18, it says even

if God is still good. In my story, I've learned that

even if I had eight losses in one year, God is still good.

Even if I don't have a baby, God is still good.

Even if and fill in the blank, God is still good.

So if I can ask you those questions again, have you ever

had to trust God in a season that didn't make sense?

A season where you lost, kept showing up, and you didn't have

answers? So if you find yourself in that

season that doesn't make sense or you're dealing with loss,

you're not alone and you could still trust God even here.

And remember, even if God is still good.

There we go. This morning Chris will be

preaching on the topic of Biblical motherhood.

Our sermon texts will come from various places throughout the

Bible. I will read these scriptures

now. Please follow along on your

phone or on the screen as I read.

Hear the word of the Lord Genesis 2.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to

work and keep it. Then the Lord God said, it is

not good that the man should be alone.

I will make him a helper fit for him.

So the Lord God caused a deep sleeve to fall upon the man, and

while he slept he took one of his ribs and closed it up its

place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord had

taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the

man. Genesis 1.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God.

He created him, male and female. He created them, and God blessed

them, and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply and fill

the earth, and subdue it, and have a dominion over the fish of

the sea, and over the words of the heavens, and over every

living thing that moves on the earth.

Matthew 28 And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in

heaven and on earth has been given to me, Go there for it,

and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the

name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

Titus 2 But As for you, teach what accords with sound

doctrine. Older women likewise are to be

reverent in behaviour, not slanderers or slaves.

Too much wine. They are to teach what is good

and so train the young women to love their husbands and

children, to be self controlled, pure, working at home, kind and

submissive to their own husbands.

That the word of God may not be reviled.

This is the word of the Lord. Elena, that was a beautiful

story. God is good.

I'm reminded of first Peter chapter 3.

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

Peter says, you know, you want to know what a strong woman

looks like. Like the women of old, like

Sarah, they do three things. They love their husbands.

They hope in God and they fear nothing.

They hope in God and they fear nothing.

Elena continue to hope in God and fear nothing.

He's for you this morning I wanted to give you a an

overview, a biblical overview of what it means to be a woman and

the call to motherhood. I don't know if you've seen it

or not, but in our culture, in the news, in social media, in

your random discourse throughout the day, it seems like

motherhood has fallen into disrepute.

Motherhood has fallen into disrepute.

It's not popular to be a mother today.

There's things like movements called the anti natalist

movement or let's not have babies.

Let's not have babies because the economy is rough, there's

wars everywhere. Why would I bring a baby into

this screwed up world? There's a rise in our young

people today, especially young women of I don't need a baby.

That baby is an inconvenience to me in my life and my dreams of

what I want to do. Is this the biblical call for

what a woman is to be this morning?

I want to accomplish 2 things in our short time together.

I want to expand our view of motherhood as worship to God.

And then two, I want to contend. My contention is that you ladies

are at your happiest. You'll be at your happiest.

You're most satisfied when you live out your design of

motherhood. Now what does that mean?

Well, let's talk about it. An iPhone.

I have an iPhone SE You have a cellular device?

Oh, yeah. For all the Android people out

there, I'm sorry. Your iPhone is designed for

communication, to make phone calls, to surf the Internet.

It's not designed for anything else.

It's designed for communication. Now, a shovel is designed to dig

holes. What happens if I use my iPhone

as a shovel? It's not going to work.

An iPhone works at its best when it works according to its

design. It doesn't work well as a

shovel. Good luck building a sand castle

on the beach, scooping it out with your little 6 inch iPhone

SE. Your design determines function

in the same way you look at your body, your lower back.

A lot of people out there, you're suffering from lower back

pain. Well, I came from a the physical

therapy realm at Kaiser Permanente.

That was my previous job before becoming a pastor.

You have your low back pain over constant overuse year after year

after year. The problem is low back pain

stems from everybody bending over at the back.

While your lower back was not designed to bend, your lower

back was designed to brace. That's what your abdominal is

for, your abdominal muscles, and then your lower back is designed

to brace. It braces the twisting motion.

What does bend are your knees and hips.

So that's why when you're doing a proper squat or you're

supposed to pick something up from the floor, you're supposed

to bend at your hips and bend at your knees, not your lower back.

Your lower back is not designed to bend like that.

Design determines function. Things function at their best

when they function according to their intended design.

But beware, and the improper function of something can

maladaptively alter the design. If I bend over at my back year

after year after year, I'm going to be bedridden at the end of my

life. If I use my phone for something

it's not designed for, to build a sandcastle on the beach, I'm

going to have dents in it. It's no longer going to work.

We have a term for this. It's called maladaptive

patterns. And you think about this in

life, it's a term that can be applied to all sorts of things.

Maladaptive patterns, maladaptive movement patterns

like we just talked about with your body, maladaptive social,

social behaviors, drug use, pornography, things that can

alter your brain. Your brain is not made for that,

but it can alter the synapses in your brain to where I need to do

these things in order to feel OK.

Maladaptive patterns, improper function Can maladaptively

maladaptively alter your design? Now our current culture has many

opinions on motherhood. I call them maladaptive

patterns. Maladaptive patterns on what

motherhood looks like. What does it mean to be a woman?

We must reject and have We must reject these opinions and have a

biblical basis both for womanhood and motherhood.

Who are you ladies? Who are you?

What are you made for? How do you live out that vision

that God has for you? Well, we go back to the

Scriptures. We go back to the Bible.

So here's our overview of our sermon this morning. 4 quick

points. We're going to talk about God's

design for motherhood, God's design for women, motherhood as

a calling, and then motherhood as a ministry.

So let's begin. Our first text this morning is

Genesis chapter 2. It reads this.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to

work it and keep it. Then the Lord God said it's not

good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for

him. So the Lord God caused a deep

sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his

ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made

into a woman and brought her to the man.

Now in this text before us, we see God giving man a task.

What's that task? God created Adam to steward,

cultivate, and have dominion over the Garden of Eden.

Adam, I've created this beautiful garden.

I want you to take care of it. I want you to bring out all the

potential. I want you to make it beautiful.

Take care of it, man. From the very beginning, we see

God has desired to work with humanity in partnership.

He doesn't need Adam. God doesn't need anybody.

He could do whatever he wants. For some reason in the counsel

and the wisdom of God, he decides to work with people.

It brings them glory to work with people.

In the same way that I can easily make breakfast in the

morning for my family. But when my daughters want to

help, even though it multiplies the time it takes to make

everything by like 10, they want to make it with me in in the

same way God designed man to work in partnership with him.

Now says here in verse 18, the Lord God looked at man and

looked at this task and said, you know what?

It's not good that this man Adam is alone.

This is the first time that God says something's not good.

The rest of the creation narrative it always ends with

and it was good and it was good and it was good.

The only time that God says it's not good is when he sees the

task he's given Adam. He sees Adam, they're all alone

and he's like, this is going to be too hard for this guy,

especially this guy. He's going to need somebody.

God views the creation of Adam as incomplete.

He's incomplete. He's missing something or

someone to help him accomplish the task set before him.

So God causes a sleep on Adam and he creates woman.

Her name is Eve. With a specific design in mind.

Do you see it here? I will make him a helper fit for

him. A helper helper.

Women, what is your design? What are you made for?

You're made to help other people.

You're made to help. Now lest we think that this role

as helper denotes an inferior status, understand this In the

Old Testament, the exact same Hebrew word used for helper will

be used 21 * 15 of those times it's used of God aiding divine

help. This does not denote inferior

status. What it does do is give your

God-given role. So you're made to help.

Now begs the question, well help who?

Who do we help? Who do you help ladies?

The answer the man and the men need your help.

Eve is brought to Adam as his helper and she is fit for him.

She's compatible. She's like the missing puzzle

piece to his life. She's complimentary to what he

is. She is his helper to accomplish

the task that God gave Adam to beautify the Garden of Eden, to

steward it, to take care of it when Adam, when Eve is brought

to Adam, at that point, mankind is now complete.

Now as a side note, you're made to help ladies.

A word to young women. Here's a word to young women,

what I would tell my daughters and what I will tell my

daughters. What does this mean for you?

It means get to work, get to work.

You're made to work. Ladies, avoid a passenger

Princess mentality. That's not who you're made to

be. The Proverbs 31 woman, we always

talk about this example, this standard of what biblical

womanhood looks like. Throughout the whole text, a

common thread is woven through and it and it it's this idea

that she works with her hands. She takes care of everything.

You think about it in the ancient Israelite culture, who's

taking care of the family business, the family farm, the

home, everything. When the husband's going to war,

it's her. Young ladies, avoid the

passenger Princess mentality. Avoid becoming an influencer.

I'm just going to say it. I'm going to tell my kids and

don't become an influencer. Do something with your life.

God's made you to do something great.

You're made to help people. I kind of imagine it like this.

What did it look like when Eve was brought to Adam?

It's almost like Adam. There he is, tilling and

gardening, the Garden of Eden. He's got the rake upside down.

He's like, oh gosh, this is taking forever.

My lower back hurts. I'm bending over too much.

There she is, Eve. She sees him with the rake

upside down and she says, what are you doing?

I don't know. Give me that.

Let me show you how to do it. I kind of think that that's how

it went. But this idea that Eve, when she

shows up on scene to help Adam, she completes him.

At that point it becomes poetry. Eve completes Adam and she's

made to help him steward the garden.

Women, beware of your current culture.

When they tell you who you should be, You need to reject

the white noise of influencers, social media, and popular

discussion. I know you're doomed scrolling

every night before bed for hours on end.

Here's a cultural maladaptive pattern, if you will, of who

culture says you should be. 1 bad maladaptive pattern that the

culture popularizes is internalization.

Internalization. This is the idea, young ladies,

that the focus and center of your life is you.

You do you. You live your best life now.

This is all about your peace, your career, your freedom.

That's what the culture is telling you.

It's this mindset. Don't tell me what to do or who

to be. Hey young ladies, you don't need

them. Just cut them out.

Cut the toxic people out of your life.

You don't need men. You're better than that.

You would do whatever it takes to keep your peace.

That internalization, that popular culture is telling young

ladies on how to live, who to be.

Do you understand that? These thoughts, these words,

they're repackaged. It's just a repackage.

Live from the garden. What did the serpent tempt Eden

with? What did he say to her?

Did God really say, Did God really say that this is who

you're to be? What I'm doing is taking you

back to the scriptures. Yes, this is what you're made

for. This is what you're designed

for. You're designed to help other

people. You're designed to be selfless.

You're designed to think about other people, not yourself.

Don't internalize. Don't cut people off to build up

your empire, to build up your career, to build up you and

yourself, to keep your peace, because I promise you it will

manifest in loneliness because you're made to help other

people. What I'm arguing for is that

function, properly understood function stems from your design.

That when you carry out your proper function, you will be at

your happiest. Now with that said women, you

are created by God to help others.

This design in you is a sacred that that's going to run

throughout the tapestry of your life.

And whether you know it or not, this brings God glory.

You are glorifying God when you are living this way now because

your design should determine your function.

You are therefore at your happiest when you're helping as

God intended. God desires that you would

cultivate a helpful heart toward other people of generosity,

kindness, selflessness, grace, and love.

Now you are called to get to work.

You are. You don't have to stay at home

to be a stay at home mom. I'm just going to say tell you

that right now, you don't have to be.

You can. That's awesome.

What I'm biblically reminding you of is have your career, have

your family, have your financial freedom, but through it all

serve for the sake of others. You serve for the sake of

others. That's the design for women.

Now, motherhood. Motherhood is an expression of

that design of the woman. Let's go to Genesis chapter one.

It says this, So God created man in his own image, in the image

of God. He created him, male and female.

He created them and God blessed them and God said to them, be

fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and

have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of

the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the

earth. Here we see that men and women

are created in the image of God as a partner pair.

They share the same status as divine image bearers, but the

roles are different. Together, they both complete

humanity. What does Adam mean in Hebrew?

It means human, human Adam. Adam means human.

What does Eve mean? It means life.

Together they make human life. If you miss 1, male or female,

you're missing part 50% of what it means to be human.

You complete one another. God gives this pair made in his

image. He pronounces a blessing on

them. He gives them a mandate to

expand the Garden of Eden before Adam.

I've made you to take care of the Garden of Eden.

Now I'm going to. I'm going to make it higher.

Now that she's here, she's going to help you.

We're going to make the rest of the earth like Eden.

I want you to multiply it, fill it, beautify it and rule it.

This is a divine blessing from God to hit this partner pair,

this man and woman made in his image to rule and reign on his

behalf, to make the rest of the earth like the Garden of Eden.

He says be fruitful and multiply to the man and the woman.

This is a divine blessing to procreate, to have babies.

The woman is therefore called in her role as the divine image

bearer to participate in this creation mandate through

motherhood. This is the design of women

through motherhood. Understand Church, that true

womanhood will extol the virtues of God.

It extols the virtues of God. Women are created in God's image

and that are designed to mirror Him in ways that man just simply

cannot. Man cannot image God in the ways

that a woman can. The main expression of womanhood

alongside helping is motherhood. Women are called to

childbearing. They're called to childbearing.

Now, before you throw tomatoes at me, we're going to expand

that a little bit. What does that mean?

Childbearing. Women are called to

childbearing. They're called to fill all of

creation with little mini humans, little mini images,

little mini representations of God.

God desires a family, a family of image bearers that bring him

glory. And as a woman bears and raises

children, that woman is actually worshipping God.

To rear children to birth, to discipline, to teach, to

instruct, to raise up a child in the way of the Lord, is worship

to God as Creator. You are marrying Him in his

design for you when you child bear.

Well, now that begs the question, what about women who

have suffered the loss of a child or cannot have biological

children or have no desire for biological children?

How do they participate in imaging God through helping and

motherhood, through embracing the Gospel, Through embracing

the gospel. And here's what I mean by that.

One of the most remarkable moments in the Gospels is John

19. Jesus is hanging on the cross.

In John 19 verse 26 through 27, it says this.

John 19:26–27

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved

standing nearby, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son.

Then he said to the disciple, Behold your mother.

And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Let me set the scene, tell you what's going on here.

This is one of Jesus final discourses from the cross and

it's remarkable. He's speaking to his mother

Mary. Mary's at the foot of the cross,

watching her son be brutally executed.

As Mary watches her first born child, her baby boy, her heart

and her soul. As she watches him fade away on

the cross, Jesus lifts his head and speaks tenderly to her.

And here's what he says. He tells her that John, who's

standing nearby, the beloved disciple, is now her son.

He then looks at John and he says, Mary, she's now your

mother. This is a pivotal moment in the

Gospel narrative because it's strange things happening here.

It is at this moment where Mary ceases to be the mother of

Jesus. Here Mary is no longer the

mother of Jesus. She is now his disciple.

Jesus is no longer Mary's son. Jesus has become her Lord.

Mary is now a disciple. You see what's happening at the

cross here. As Jesus says to Mary, Mary,

behold your son. Son, behold your mother.

He's inaugurating a new family. John and Mary are not

biological. They're not biologically

related. Yet what he's doing is he's to

taking two people who were formerly strangers.

And because what he's doing on the cross through the Gospel

he's inaugurating, he's birthed and giving birth to a new

family, a family of his disciples.

Jesus expands the calling of motherhood.

Now the family of God has expanded beyond merely the

biological family. You think about Matthew chapter

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

12 where people are trying to silence Jesus.

They're saying he's saying all these outlandish, crazy things.

They say, Jesus, your mother and your brothers are they're

they're calling for you. You should go home.

Stop speaking. Go, go home.

Your mother and brothers are calling for you.

Jesus looks at the crowd and he replies, Who are my mother and

my brothers? I'll tell you who my mother and

my brothers are, those who do the will of my father.

You see, he's not downplaying the role of a biological family.

He's calling his disciples to think bigger.

It is no longer about a biological family, it's about a

spiritual family. The family of God is based

around adoption. We who were once strangers and

foreigners to God have now been adopted by God into his family.

So through the Gospel motherhood now extends beyond only bearing

biological children. Your call women to help and your

call to motherhood now expands beyond merely having your own

children. It's now a spiritual endeavor

and Jesus in Matthew chapter 28. The reason why we read this the

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Great Commission. Remember, we read Matthew

chapter, I'm sorry, Genesis chapter 1 about God giving Adam

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

and Eve a a mandate to make the world like Eden.

Hear Jesus with all authority gives his own mandate, the Great

Commission. He says, go therefore, and make

disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of

the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them

to observe all that I've commanded to you.

And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age, with all

authority here, the Lord Jesus, He now gives his disciples a new

mission that Harkins back to the original creation mandate.

Women, you are called to participate in this endeavor

just as you were called to participate in the beginning.

The Great Commission now reframes motherhood.

Motherhood becomes discipleship. Motherhood is now discipleship.

Here's a sobering fact. Moms, your children, they're not

believers. I know we like to think that our

our kids are like the pride of our eyes and the greatest thing

ever, but understand until they've confessed Jesus Christ

as Lord, they're not believers. They are not Christian.

By extension, the goal of your motherhood for your children is

discipleship. It's not to give them their best

life. Now.

This is so tempting. We want what's best for our

kids. We want them to come to become

doctors. We want them to become lawyers.

We want them to be financially set.

But why? All those things are temporary.

Do they believe in Jesus? Do they believe in the gospel?

The goal then, is that you disciple your children in such a

way that they would one day believe in the gospel and

embrace Jesus Christ as Lord. Your goal, mom's, is to aim for

holiness, not happiness. Holiness, not happiness.

Ice cream in the morning makes my daughter's very happy.

It should never be. I'm calling you women to view

your motherhood now because of the gospel through the Great

Commission to view motherhood as ministry, ministry.

Titus chapter 2. Here's the charge for you

Titus 2 · chapter mention

mothers. But As for you teach what

accords with sound doctrine. Older women likewise are to be

reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much

wine. They are to teach what is good

and so train the young women to love their husbands and

children, to be self controlled, pure, working at home, kind and

submissive, submissive to their own husbands that the Word of

God may not be reviled. Here Paul displays motherhood as

a ministry. What does motherhood look like

in the family of God? He calls on older, mature,

spiritually filled women of faith to disciple those who are

younger, especially young women. Now listen women, as I wrap up,

listen to this, here's here's the gist of my message this

morning. Here's what I want you to

understand. Women, some of you are called to

be biological mothers and God will provide the grace that you

need for that. Some of you are called to be

adoptive mothers and God will provide you the grace that you

need for that. But all of you are called to be

spiritual mothers, and God will provide the grace for that.

Is it controversial for me to say that you won't know your

biological children forever? Remember harkening back to your

biological children, they don't believe in Jesus right now if

they've not yet professed Him as the Lord.

Is it weird to think about this thought?

You won't know your biological children forever, but you will

know your spiritual children forever because they're in the

family of God. The prayer for you mothers is

that one day your biological children will become your

spiritual children as well. That's the prayer.

So some ways that you disciple your spiritual children.

How do you do that here? According to Titus, you teach

them the Scripture and you preach to them the gospel every

day. You discipline them when they

are not walking in step with that gospel that they profess to

believe. You loved them when they're

struggling with their faith, when they're walking through

darkness just like you've walked through darkness.

You love them through it. Some meditations I want for you

to understand as we end that motherhood is an expression of

the woman's design. You are made to.

You are created in partnership with men to image God when you

help and when you child bear. The women are imaging God just

as they are designed to do. Motherhood then becomes your

worship unto God and he is glorified through it.

How do you glorify God? You image him through

motherhood. He often calls himself Israel's

spiritual mother, if you will. Jesus as he's weeping over

Israel, he says, O Israel, Israel, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

the town that kills its prophets and the people I sent it, how I

long to gather you in. Like baby chicks, like a mother

hen gathering in baby chicks. When you biblically express your

motherhood, you are worshipping God and he's glorified through

it in Christ. Motherhood has now been expanded

beyond having merely biological children.

God has begun a new family through the gospel, through the

life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we are united through the

head that is Jesus Christ. The family of God, understand

now supersedes your bloodlines. His family has expanded.

Some are called to bear biological children, some are

called to bear adopted children. All are called to bear spiritual

children. I would be remiss to give a word

to the men as we end if I didn't give a word to the men.

Men, we'll talk to you in like a month at Father's Day, but just

for now. So women, moms, make sure

they're here and they don't watch golf or something, Bring

them here. A word for the men.

Now if the woman was created to help others, to just pour out

for helping others, well then who helps the woman?

Man, it's you. This is the the beauty of the

design. You're called to sacrifice for

her. You are obligated to take care

of her. She is the helper made to help

you as she pours out day after day after day.

Men, You are called to help her and to take care of her.

You have a duty, men, to call these women to the sacred task

of womanhood and motherhood. And then it is your calling to

put your wives and mothers in the best position to succeed at

that calling. That means helping them take

care of the babies. Let mom go to the spa.

Let mom go to Panera Bread and order a cup of coffee or

something. You have a duty men to make sure

that your wives and mothers are in the best position to succeed

to fill out their to live out their calling of motherhood.

Is motherhood worth it? Yes, resounding yes, motherhood

is worth it. Is it hard?

Yes, it's worth it when God curses Eve in Genesis chapter 3

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

because they ate of the forbidden fruit.

The calling doesn't change. He says you're still going to

have a child. You're still going to

childbearing. That word in Hebrew, we, we, we

tend to think about, Oh, there, there's, there's pain in

childbearing, meaning there's pain in birth.

That's why women go through war, giving birth to a child.

No, the word in Hebrew isn't a specific instance.

It's child rearing, meaning from birth to end, from birth to end.

Your childbearing, your childbearing doesn't stop when

you push your children out. That's when it begins.

Motherhood is hard, but is it worth it?

Yes, motherhood is sanctifying because guess what?

You stop thinking about yourself and you live out that vision

that God has for you of helping, helping other people, helping

these little humans eat, sleep and grow.

Motherhood is sanctifying. Motherhood is satisfying.

Why is it satisfying? Because it's what you're

designed for. As you live out your design,

what you were designed to do, when you function properly, you

will be at your happiest. And when you were at your

happiest, living out your God-given design, guess what?

Motherhood is glorifying. Motherhood today becomes

worship. It's worship unto God.

And He is well pleased when you mother well.

So this is a call, a call to mother.

Well, this is a call to continue in exhortation.

We have mothers here who are amazing.

We have spiritual mothers here who are amazing.

I am here to remind you that your work is not in vain.

God is well pleased with it, through all the tears, through

all the lack of sleep. Through all the anger and

frustration, God is pleased with it.

When you're living out the design He has for you,

Motherhood is worth it. And today we celebrate you.

We love you, moms. We hope you enjoyed this

message, and we'd love for you to join us in person every

Sunday at 10:30 AM. For more information and

updates, visit wearebridgetown.com.

Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next week.