A Virtuous woman and mother. Mother’s Day Special Message. 2020

Grace Bible Church
pastor teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Tree of Life
Weekly Review
051020
Mother’s Day Special Message. 2020

This is a day to set apart and honor and reveal our love and gratitude for mothers. And, after teaching the many years when we honored Mother’s day, there is one passage that I have taught on concerning other subjects, but I have never approached it as one for Mother’s Day and that is Proverbs 31.

Most of you ladies know that PRO 31 speaks of the virtuous woman but today we will look at the passage as the virtuous mother. Therefore, we will honor the Virtuous Mother as she is seen in PRO 31, as the virtuous woman and my prayer for this message is for GOD the Holy Spirit to bring the two together, the virtuous woman who became also a virtuous mother.

We begin in PRO 31 however, with PRO 31:30, Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears OR REPECTS AND IS IN AWE OF the LORD, she shall be praised. I know some very beautiful women and they have wonderful husbands, they are very charming people, very nice people but that is not what gives them their beauty. What gives them their beauty is something else. Especially if they are mothers with virtue or virtuous mothers who not only have her GODly responsibility as a wife but also her GODly responsibility as a mother.

They fear or respect and worship the LORD. They have great respect for GOD. You do not have to be a beautiful person on the outside to be a beautiful person on the side GOD is concerned about which is on the inside.

Look at PRO 31:30 again talking about what is on the inside now, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain [the outside] but a woman who respects and honors the LORD shall be praised” [that’s the inside].

She has respect for GOD.

In PRO 31:25-26, we will see what's on the inside of the virtuous mother. PRO 31:25-26, Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

The Bible says, “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” By the way, to really receive all that PRO 31 is saying and teaching, you must remember that PO 31:10-31 is an acrostic Proverb which is a Hebrew way to file in alphabetical order the subject that is being studied. Each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet and represents an important fact that no believer could really understand until they found out what the file is because each file is a different Hebrew letter that means something that helps us to understand what is truly being said.

There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet and therefore we have 22 verses from verse 10 to 31 with each verse beginning with the Hebrew alphabet and helps us to understand what the author is saying. For example, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the letter Aleph which is equivalent to our first letter A - and the Hebrew letter Aleph speaks of prosperity, therefore look at the first verse in PRO 31:10 which is where the Hebrew acrostic begins with Aleph. PRO 31:10, An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels.

Now, back in PRO 31:25 we read, Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the future. This file indicates that the woman is the glory of her man and she wears his glory in her soul. The emphasis in this file is on the glory of her soul which includes a fantastic sense of humor. She's fun to be with. This is a beautiful sense of humor not the little girl giggles but a great sense of humor. Strength can especially come from her stability which is the result of a right relationship with her man who also is so grateful to have a woman with virtue that He is constantly treating her as the queen she is to him. She knows her place. She also knows her place and why she has been created because as a woman of virtue she believes what the LORD said.

GEN 2:16-25, And the LORD GOD commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” Then the LORD GOD said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." And out of the ground the LORD GOD formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the LORD GOD caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And the LORD GOD fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. And the man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” 

There is much instability in a wrong relationship. But when a woman finds her right man and honors and respects him, she becomes a stable woman, as a wife and as a mother. So, the whole point back in PRO 31:25 of the word translated Strength means stability, strength, and glory in the soul.

So, as a woman of doctrine, she’s quite a woman! As a woman of doctrine, she’s also quite a wife. She’s also quite a mother. As a woman of doctrine, she’s also quite a friend. And notice in PRO 31:25...And she smiles at the future.

Sachaq is a laughter based on relaxation and mocking. The mocking means she's not intimidated by the threats of the future. This is a laughter based upon good humor and inner beauty of the soul. She is a double, graced, out lady.

1. She has doctrine in her soul.
2. She has her right man.

That goes back to verse which describes her in her bedroom in the presence of her man, she is only clothed with inner beauty and glamour of soul in the bedroom. Her soul and her body receive maximum satisfaction and she shall laugh at the next day...she's been stimulated and satisfied mentally and physically. Now what is she going to laugh at? Well, first the domestic woman is going to laugh at the fact that she'll work around the house the next day. That's no laughing matter unless you have a sense of humor. She laughs knowing at times that the mess she just cleaned will come back again, no matter how hard she tries. You see, she is a mother!

Sometimes, it’s wait till your father gets home...other times, it’s I’ll just do it myself. She is mother! She is your best friend at times. William Congreve said Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. No one is angrier than a woman who has been rejected in love.

For other mothers, they are a businesswoman. She's got to wake up early, go to the office and that's laughing matter when you have a jerk as a boss. Then the one who supports her husband, she laughs even though she has the pressure of support, etc. In other words, the relationship that the man has with the woman gives them both inner happiness and a relaxed mental attitude --- when they’re working together.

Look at verse 26, when she speaks, the right man is thrilled because wisdom comes out of her mouth. Divine viewpoint and Bible doctrine is the basis of her conversation. So, she refrains from verbal sins.

PRO 31:26, She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

This is the seventeenth letter of the Hebrew file which is the “pe” file representing the mouth. This file deals with the verbal conversation of the man and the woman because communication is very important especially in Christian marriage. The first word in this sentence is the letter “pe” which is the word Piyhaa meaning her mouth. She is not only is beautiful to him but get this, she talks, that is, with wisdom. When she opens her mouth, her soul is turned inside out. As a doctrinal mother, she gives, especially her daughters, words of wisdom and reveals the doctrine of authority to both her sons or her daughters.

PRO 31:26, She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

She opens her mouth and her words reveal what's inside her soul. For the virtuous mother, she opens her mouth in wisdom. Wisdom is chokmah which refers to residential doctrine.

PRO 31:26...And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. Kindness is grace. On her tongue she has the doctrine of grace which means she has the power and the ability to keep herself from maligning, gossiping, etc. But even more important than that, she trains her children not to speak evil of others and to learn how to respect all authority in life. She is a doctrinal mother.
When a woman finds her right, man she doesn't have time running around ripping people apart with mental attitude sins or the sins of the tongue. And because of this attitude she passes this down to her children not just in words, but even more in actions. A doctrinal mother doesn’t blame her husband for the way that thing are going. She doesn’t add to the problems but because she is a doctrinal mother and therefore, she becomes a part of the solution instead. Of course, there  will be problems in every family, but the family doesn’t have to be destroyed because of the problems.

Most of you know and understand that there are three sides to every marriage and family where people have their satanic view of who was right and who was wrong. There is the woman’s side. There is the man’s side. There is the real truth. And really no one knows. I have seen and experienced the woman blaming the husband for everything. I have seen and experienced what bitterness and lies do to a woman’s complexion. I have seen the green-eyed lady who is so jealous that she has no fruit, no assembly, no place to serve GOD, no forgiveness. which makes her age faster and become uglier, and the turn around and blame others for every problem she has.

She may receive flowers on Mother’s day but deep down inside she doesn’t need flowers at all, she needs grace and mercy herself first…before she can give it to others. Her ugliness is only magnified by her lack of forgiveness. Here are the real assets of an amazing woman - my kind of lady. This passage is well worth reading if you are a mom or a wife since it outlines the real inner beauty of an amazing woman.

This proverb, PRO 31, was written by King Lemuel of whom we know very little though there are some scholars who believe that Bathsheba wrote Proverbs 31 for her son Solomon who had a terrible love life. We do know these words of wisdom were taught to him by his mother, so I assume she was quite a virtuous lady. Among other things, she warned him of sexual immorality. Solomon had warned his own sons (Proverbs 5:1-6) where he spoke openly about the seductive woman and the results of listening to her flattery in your life.

He told his sons that if they would listen to his wisdom and pay attention to his understanding that they could have discretion and insight into how the seductive seducer works her magic over the willing man.

So, PRO 31:10-31, we find King Lemuel’s mother's wisdom in describing a woman of virtue and a woman who is worthy of praise. Look at PRO 31:31, Give her the product of her hands, And let her works praise her in the gates. This sort of woman who is a virtuous mother is also a woman who is known in the public square says verse 31. In other words, let everyone in town know what an amazing lady this is. The virtues that she describes to her son or perhaps sons are not only outward characteristics but internal virtue as well.

If you are a wife or a mother, I hope you will use this study as a mirror to gauge how you yourself are doing. Proverbs 31:30, again, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain ….” 

Charm in the Hebrew refers to elegance or favor or beauty meaning outward beauty is not the most important feature in a woman. She should make herself look as beautiful as she can……for her man! And that is for all women because a woman whose soul is filled with doctrine is already beautiful within and inevitably, she becomes more beautiful overtly, especially with her countenance shining through. Deceitful in the Hebrew means a fraud or deception.

Let’s remember this, her charm is deceitful, it's a fraud, it's a deception. Beauty is vain. Beauty in the Hebrew means splendor or graceful. Vain means a vapor, empty, unsatisfactory. So again, charm is deceitful. So, here's a couple of principles to remember after we got through all of that.

1) The charm of a beautiful woman can be a fraud. She may simply use her beauty - this is what Bathsheba was warning her sons about.

2)  She may simply use her beauty and her charm to manipulate you.

3) Beauty is fleeting. It does not last forever. You can look in the mirror, can't you ladies? You can remember what you used to look like when you were 18, 19, 20. Go look in the mirror today. Beauty is fleeting, it does not last forever.

4) If this is all a man wants in his wife or a woman, he is going to be greatly disappointed if that's all he is looking for - only beauty.

5) The real beauty of a woman is in her soul. That's the real beauty of a woman. That's the real beauty of a mother.  And that's the real beauty of the “Virtuous mother.”

The final thing I want to remind you mothers of this morning is the number one priority in your life should be to respect GOD and obey His Word. It is not how attractive you are to the world but how beautiful you are to the LORD. It's not what kind of shape you are in - it’s what kind of shape your soul is in. And so today, I would like to say, Thank you to the Mother’s who live this way!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

Pastor Robert McLaughlin