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The Maternal Mission

Brian Messerli
05/11/25 - Praise and Preaching Service

Genesis 3:15-16, 20 - There have been so many incredibly destructive lies from Satan snuck in to our culture through the Trojan Horse of feminism, and one of those lies is that women who choose to have children are less valuable than women who pursue a career because you’re “Just a Mom.”  If you really want to be somebody, you need to go get a career and move up the corporate ladder.  Now, the Bible is not against Mom’s working and making an income outside the home, but this Satanic lie that you’re not important and your life is empty if you’re “Just a Mom” has led countless women to sacrifice their children on the altar of their own personal ambitions, and countless Moms to feel trapped and unfulfilled, like they’re missing out on what life is REALLY all about.

But this is where the truth of God’s Word steps in to expose these lies for what they are, because to God, there’s no such thing as being “just a mom.”  To God, your role as a mother is INCREDIBLY important, and when we go back to the beginning of God’s intention for Moms, we learn that God has built into every mother’s body and soul a maternal mission.  Being a Mom isn’t a hobby, it’s not just a consolation prize because you couldn’t succeed in the corporate world; no, it’s a MISSION!  It’s a calling by God, it’s a ministry of eternal significance, and here in Genesis we see that the maternal mission is to crush Satan’s head by bringing life to the world through suffering in sacrificial love for your children.  Let’s explore this further…

The Maternal Mission

• Earlier in Genesis 3, it was Eve who was deceived by Satan and even though Adam is then one most blamed for this in Scripture because he failed as a leader, technically it was Eve who first brought death into the world through her sin.
  • YET, in an act of tremendous grace and redemption, God promises to use Eve as the conduit through whom He will REVERSE death in the world through life!  One day, one of her seed, or descendants, would crush Satan’s head for good and reverse death’s curse!  Now, Satan would crush her seed’s heel in the process, so he would hurt Eve’s seed, but Eve’s seed would deal a deathblow to Satan.  It’s like if you were to step on a snake’s head, and one of the fangs jabbed your foot in the process.  It would hurt you, but it’s the snake that gets the worst of it!
  • This is the very first prophecy about Jesus in Scripture!  Jesus was a great great great great great great great descendant of Eve!  And when Satan put Jesus on the cross, it hurt Jesus for sure, but it dealt a deathblow to Satan because he could no longer keep us in trapped in sin and condemned to death.
    • And that was all made possible by the motherhood of Eve!  It’s why the name “Eve” means mother of all the living!  Every human being who lived after Genesis 3 came from Eve!  And more than that, every human being who was brought to life spiritually by Jesus’ work on the cross came to life because of Eve who brought life into this world of death through motherhood!  But notice…
      • v. 16a - Part of the curse of sin in this world is that in order for Eve to become a mother, it’ll cause tremendous pain and suffering.  Bringing life into this world of death is going to be really hard and it’s going to hurt a lot.  Now, certainly men are called to suffer and make sacrifices for their children too, but Moms suffer for their children in a way that is FAR MORE physically and emotionally painful than the suffering of Dads.
        • For starters, there’s the birth process itself.  For Dads, the process of making kids is fun and only fun, maybe with the exception of Mom squeezing his hand and crushing his bones in the delivery room.  But for Mom’s, they’ve got 9 months of carrying this child inside them, with all the accompanying morning sickness, hormonal imbalances, fatigue and exhaustion, back pain, nerve pain, joint pain, shortness of breath, changes to their body that are painful physically, but also emotionally because it makes them feel less attractive, and that’s all before the birth itself, which some women have described as every bone in your body breaking at once.  One woman said this, which is actually a great way to describe the maternal mission:  “A woman giving birth is torn open in body and spirit, and yet out of the tearing, new life comes.”  It’s fascinating that God designed the woman’s body and birth process as a physical symbol and enactment of the maternal mission.
        • And of course, the pain of new life doesn’t stop there for Moms.  The nursing process can be physically painful, the sleep deprivation continues to tear at her soul, and then as the child grows and experiences pain for him or herself, Mom feels their pain much more deeply than Dad does.  When the child falls and scrapes his knee, Dad says it builds character, but Mom feels as if her knee was scraped too and her heart goes out to her child in a unique way from Dad.  And this continues for the rest of her child’s life!  Every time her kids take a risk or reach a new stage of life, Dad may beam with pride, and while Mom may be proud too, she’s hurting because her kids are needing her less and less and she’s fearful of the new dangers her kids will face.
        • And we see this maternal mission in the ultimate mother in Scripture, Mary the mother of Jesus.  Now, you would think if any mother was exempt from suffering from her maternal mission, it would be Mary because after all, her kid is going to be the perfect Son of God, so how could SHE experience the pain and suffering of motherhood?  Well, for one she still had to go through the painful birth process, without any epidurals by the way, but look at what the prophet Simeon said to her in…
          • Luke 2:34-35 - When Jesus comes, He’ll bring down the prideful and raise up the humble, and He’ll be a sign from God, but that sign will be rejected and opposed!  He’ll accomplish great things, like exposing the thoughts of people’s hearts!  Things Mary can be proud of, BUT Simeon also says to Mary, “It’s going to cost you.  It’s going to hurt you a lot.”  This is another great summary of the maternal mission.  Through your children, you’re bringing life and hope into this world full of death and despair, so it’s something to be proud of and filled with joy over, but it’s going to pierce your soul in the process.
            • Illustration:  In St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, there’s a famous sculpture by Michelangelo from the year 1499 called The Pieta, and it’s an extremely moving depiction of the maternal mission.  In order for Mary’s child to crush Satan’s head on the cross, this is what it would cost her.  This is what Simeon meant when he said her soul would be pierced with a sword.  Now of course, we know the story didn’t end there, because Jesus was raised from the dead!  But Mary didn’t know that at the time!  She just spent the last 3 years enduring the pain of watching her Son leave home to face new dangers, watching Him be ridiculed and mocked, rejected by His own brothers, put through a sham trial where people slandered His good name, then He was spit on, beaten, scourged, and crucified.
              • Yet in this sculpture, despite the devastating, brutal emotional pain Jesus’ ministry caused her, her face reflects a measure of peace and acceptance that her suffering and the suffering of her Son was necessary to crush Satan’s head and bring life to the world.
• Now, I realize Mary was a special case because her Son Jesus was the ultimate seed of Genesis 3:15 who crushed Satan’s head and saved the world.  But there is a sense in which every mother is meant to crush Satan’s head because Satan is the bringer of death, yet Mom’s are bringers of life, not just through the birth process, but by raising children who love and serve the Lord and who go out and thwart Satan’s purposes in the world by bringing life and human flourishing to their communities.  And while you may not lose your children at age 33 to crucifixion like Mary did, every Mom at different stages in her life feels like she has to let her children go as they get older, and it pierces her soul to do so.  Because as wonderful as being a life bringer is, but in order to fulfill this mission, it’s going to cost you and it’s going to hurt.

Now I realize this pain and suffering stuff sounds pretty scary, but I want to encourage Moms to reframe your suffering.  I didn’t read this book, but I saw a title for a book about Biblical motherhood that I loved and the title was, “Hard is not the Same thing as Bad.”  So I want to share with you 4 ways your suffering as a Mom, though a very hard thing, is actually a very good thing. 

1. Your Suffering as a Mom is a Reflection of God’s Heart

• As a Mom, you feel the emotional weight of sin’s curse in the world in a unique way from Dads, and when you do, you’re just reflecting the way God feels about sin’s curse.
• Genesis 1:27 - In order for God to reflect His heart and character using human images, He couldn’t just make one gender.  The depths of God’s nature and character are FAR too complex to be encapsulated in just males.  So even though God is most often presented as a Father in Scripture, He’s also presented as possessing the qualities of a mother, suffering tremendous pain and emotional agony as He brings life into the world through His children!
  • Isaiah 42:14-17 [Here He’s lamenting the fact that He’s going to have to discipline His people to bring them back to the light] - Another reason emotional suffering is a unique part of the maternal mission is because Moms are more likely to take their children’s disobedience personally than Dads are.  When kids disobey Dad, he sees it as a lack of respect, but if they disobey Mom, she sees it as a lack of love.  Especially when she considers all the pain she’s gone through for her kids, in the birth process and on a regular basis, so when they disobey her, she feels hurt and betrayed!  And that’s what we see with God in Scripture too!
    • v. 13 - Here God is pictured as a man, a warrior going to battle against the enemies of His people!  But then in the next verse He’s also pictured as a woman who’s had to endure the pain of His own people’s disobedience because they’ve trusted in idols instead of in Him!
      • Yet God’s maternal mission was to go through the pain of bringing His children to life again from the dead!  God knows it’s going to be painful for them because He’s going to have to bring judgment on them, and it’ll be painful and heartbreaking for HIM because He doesn’t want His children to suffer, but He knows He has to go through the pain and pay whatever it costs to save them from the darkness and bring them into the light!
      • Moms are especially tempted to be embittered, angry, and resentful toward their kids because of the pain they cause you.  Or even to just be bitter and resentful about life in general because of your suffering.  Instead, embrace the suffering because it’s a natural part of your maternal mission and being made in God’s image to fight against sin’s curse.  And even though it’s painful and costly, teaching your kids and guiding them to the light of God is all part of the process of bringing life into the world and crushing Satan’s head.  Forget feminism, God offers you TRUE female empowerment, that you can be a snake crusher by suffering to make sure your kids flourish!  And the truth is, God suffers every day for US just like mothers do, as He endures the folly of His own children and the pain we cause Him, while He shapes and molds and teaches us to be more like His Son Jesus.

2.  Your Suffering as a Mom is an Act of Grace and Compassion

• Isaiah 49:14-15 - This image is so powerful because 1) it’s emotionally impossible for a mother to forget her nursing baby.  She loves her baby more than life itself so to deprive her baby of his or her most basic needs would be a horrifying thought.  2) It’s physically impossible for her to forget her nursing baby because A) her baby will be screaming to let her know it’s time for feeding and B) Her body won’t allow her to forget.  I won’t get into anatomy on this, but God designed her body so that if she forgets to feed her baby, it’s physically painful for her.
  • And even later in life when the child grows up and is crying out in pain or has some other need, what mother is going to look at her child and say, “Eh, he’ll be fine, who cares?”  Now, Isaiah recognizes there might be some very rare case where an abusive woman forgets her child and has no compassion for their suffering, but he says even IF that were to happen with a human mother, God says it’ll never happen with me.  I’ll NEVER forget you, and I’ll NEVER just leave you crying for help without looking upon you with great compassion, eager to run to your side, pick you up, and take care of you.
    • The sculpture by Michelangelo I showed you earlier is called the Pieta, which in Italian means, “Pity” or “compassion.”  Mary is looking down at Jesus with so much compassion in her heart for the suffering He faced.
      • Now, it’s probably true that most Moms don’t struggle to have compassion for their kids when they struggle physically.  But some may lack compassion when their kids struggle spiritually.  It’s one thing to be compassionate when your kid scapes a knee or breaks an arm, but when your kids give in to sin and they disobey you, it’s much harder to be compassionate because now it makes your life a lot harder, and you’re struggling not to take it personally, and that’s when it’s tempting to lash out at them in anger, instead of showing them grace and compassion.
        • Isaiah 30:18 - Now, to be clear, it’s okay to express anger to your kids for their disobedience.  But that anger should be slow and not easily set off, it needs to be controlled and not flying off the handle, clear about what boundaries were crossed, not used to get revenge on your kids to make them pay for the suffering they’ve caused you, and it needs to be eager to forgive.
        • Isaiah 54:8 - God gets angry at sin, and He tells His people about it clearly throughout the prophets, but He’s slow to anger, controlled, clear, not vindictive, and He longs to show compassion to His children.
          • There’s a book called “Triggers:  Exchanging Parents’ Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses.”  I wanted to read it before this lesson because it looks great, but I didn’t have time.  However, I watched an interview from the authors and they said as Moms it’s important not to take your kids’ back talk, selective hearing, or disobedience personally because it’s part of their natural wrestling match with their own selfishness.  We all went through it as kids, and we continue to struggle with it now as adults.  But the important thing is to help them work through it without letting them trigger you into losing control.  One helpful quote from the book was:  “If the kids are loud and you’ve not had a moment’s peace, you still have to remain kind and in control of yourself.  Though it’s your trigger, you aren’t allowed to pull it back and wound those around you.  You must learn to control yourself, even on the noisiest days.”
            • And in the interview, they said one of the things they’ve found most helpful with their kids is that if they mouth off or say or do something disrespectful, they say to their kids, “Excuse me?  Do you want to try again?”
              • It’s a great way to offer your kids grace, and like Dwayne talked about a while back, it’s giving them a second chance!  Now of course, if they do it again you can discipline them, and if they need more heavy handed discipline, you can bring Dad in.  But by giving them an opportunity for a re-do (which we all wish we had in life), you’re helping them to take a step back and make a better choice.  You’re empowering them to win the wrestling match against Satan and their own selfishness, and in doing so you’re slaying the serpent with compassion and grace, instead of just anger and punishment!
• Because anger and punishment, while they have their place, only work temporarily, and usually it only works to change their behavior.  What you really want is to change their hearts.  And the best way to do that is through your God-given motherly compassion and grace, which puts yourself in their shoes and understands, “They aren’t sinning against me because they hate me, but because they’re facing their own internal battles, and I need to help walk with them through it, even if it’s painful and costly for me.”

3.  Your Suffering as a Mom Makes You an Amazing Comforter

• As I said earlier, one of the reasons Moms experience so much pain is because they’re so in tune with the emotional pain and needs of their kids.  She’s like a mirror reflecting our emotions back to us, as if our pain were her own.  It started during pregnancy because if her child is restless, she’s restless.  If there’s something wrong with her child in the womb, she knows it, she senses it.  But when all is well with the child, it’s well with her too.  And that continues as the child grows up!  When you come home from school upset about something, Mom can sense it.  She knows something’s off and she’s immediately asking, “Did something happen today?”  If you fall and break your arm, it’s as if Mom’s arm was broken too, and God uses this special emotional bond between mother and child to create a wonderful atmosphere of comfort in the home.  Because when we’re suffering, we just want to know someone understands our pain and hurts when we hurt.  Which is why when we’re hurt physically or emotionally, we typically run to Mom, not to Dad, because she feels and relates to our pain in a way that Dad does not.
  • Isaiah 66:12-13 - God promises in this grand vision that one day He’ll comfort His people as a mother comforts her children.  And here’s my question:  how is it that God has such a deep capacity for comfort?
    • It’s because He so deeply feels our pain.  In fact, this is a prophecy about the time of Jesus, who would come and take all the physical and emotional pain of our sin upon Himself, and God the Father will feel all the pain of living in this sin cursed world as if it were His own because of what it costs Him.  Which leads the apostle Paul to write this…
      • 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 - Paul says the more we suffer in this life, the more we’re able to comfort others because we know what it’s like to be afflicted and in pain.  Well, the same thing true of God.  Certainly God is all powerful and He could comfort us without sending Jesus, but by sending Jesus, God was proving to us that He knows what it’s like to be afflicted and in pain, so He can relate to us, as Isaiah says, like a mother to her children, and offer us comfort beyond our wildest imagination.
        • And because Moms are so well acquainted with pain and suffering, it makes her a tremendous comforter.  One writer said, “A mother is the one you run to when you’re hurt.  Her touch is the balm, her voice is the calm.”

4.  Your Suffering as a Mom Makes the Joyful Moments Even Sweeter

• Up to this point, this lesson may seem like an incomplete picture of motherhood, like it’s all pain and suffering, and it may make her sound like a victim, which is actually how our culture depicts motherhood.  But she’s not a victim, she’s a victor as she crushes Satan’s head, and not only that, if you were to ask Moms, “Is the joy of motherhood worth the pain of motherhood?” they would all say, “Absolutely!”  And in fact, it’s the pain you go through as a Mom that makes the joy that much richer and more joyful!
  • John 16:21 - Again, God designed the woman’s body and the birth process as an enacted symbol not just of the suffering required in the maternal mission, but the indescribable joy to be found in that mission too.
    • When you hold your baby for the first time, when your toddler first says your name, when they run towards you and throw their arms around you, when they’re laughing around the dinner table, when they do a kind deed, when you read to them before bed, when they say their prayers, when they graduate, when they get married, when they have grandkids, God has built in so many joyful moments along the way to remind you as much as it costs you to be a Mom, it’s all worth it to crush the serpent’s head so life can win over death in the end!
      • So Moms, embrace your mission, see the beauty in your suffering, soak in the joyful moments, leave bitterness behind, lead with love, compassion and grace, and remember your maternal mission reflects God’s heart.
        • John 16:22 - Jesus relates the pain of a mother bringing life into the world with the pain of His crucifixion.  Just like a mother in labor, Jesus and His Father in Heaven were going to suffer horrendous pain on the cross, yet in the resurrection, the immeasurable joy of having crushed Satan’s head and brought spiritual life to the world will have made the pain all worth it.
• Isaiah 49:15-16 - The word “inscribe” means to cut into something.  God is saying, “Just so you know I won’t forget you, and that I love you with a mother’s love, I’ll carve your names into my palms.  The walls of your city will be permanently engraved in my hands.”  In His motherly love, He’s willing to suffer and bear scars in His own body as a permanent and visible mark of His love for them.
  • And this was fulfilled ultimately in Jesus who allowed His hands to be pierced through with nails on the cross to show us God’s motherly compassion for His children and crush the serpent’s head by bringing life to the world.
• And if you’re not a Christian, it’s true your Heavenly Father loves you like a Father, but He also loves you like a mother and even though He endured tremendous pain for you on the cross, if you were to become a Christian and be made alive again this morning by faith in Jesus and by baptized into Him, the joy it would bring God will have been WELL worth the pain!

Bonus Example of the maternal mission:  The mother in 1 Kings 4 who was willing to give up her own child to the other woman who was a liar, if it meant giving the child life.  She had to go through the tremendous pain and sacrifice of giving up her child in order for him/her to live.