Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Mother’ Day

Scripture: Prov. 31: 10 -31: Ezra 7: 5-10 May 11, 2025

Message: : “Ezra – Having Faith and Being Faithful!”

by Pastor George Gnade

Introduction:

1. Today is Mother’s Day. I pray all of you Mothers will have a happy day. In honor of Mother’s Day, I would like to compare the faithfulness of Ezra with the faithfulness God desires in our mothers.

2. We will begin by discussing Ezra.

A. In Ezra 2: 59–63, Ezra discusses people who came back to Judah out of captivity but “could not show that their families were descended from Israel.”

1. From the days of Abraham, when God promised him the Messiah would come forth from his descendants, it was critical that the Israelites separate themselves from those around them. 

a. Sadly they often intermarried with the world around them. After several generations, you couldn’t tell the difference.

b. This often affected what they believed and what their children believed. Often they wandered away from the truths of the Word of God.

2. Now there were exceptions to this rule. 

a. Women like Rahab (Joshua 2), Ruth ( Ruth 1), and Bathsheba (II Sam. 11) were from other backgrounds and yet, in spite of their sins and surrounding circumstances, they came to believe in the Lord and appear in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

b. The same could be said of Naaman who first doubted God and then came to believe in God (II Kings 5).

3. But the O.T. is filled with stories of many others who intermixed with the Israelites or the Israelites intermixed with them, resulting in people who wandered away from the Lord and were not faithful to the Lord. 

4. This type of problem could also affect the qualifications for a priest. He had to be able to show he was directly related to Aaron, Moses’ brother, who was chosen by God to be the first priest. 

a. So when the Jews returned to their own land and planned to rebuild the temple, those who claimed to be priests and wanted to serve in the temple had to be able to prove they were Israelites directly related to Aaron. Otherwise, they could not serve (Ezra 2:62).

b. In contrast, in Ezra 7:1-5, Ezra provides his genealogy and traces it all the way back to Aaron. He was not bragging. He was simply providing proof of the faithfulness of his forefathers.

5. Ezra wanted the Jews to know that he not only had faith in the true God, but that he was doing his best to be faith-ful to the true God. Consider what we are told about him.

a. In Ezra 7:6, we learn he was a teacher who was well trained in the Law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel.  As a result, the king of Persia “had granted him everything he asked for because the hand of the Lord his God was on him.”

b. In Ezra 7: 7-9, we are told how he left Babylon along with many other Jews and safely arrived in Jerusalem “because the hand of his God was upon him.”

6. How interesting that this is repeated twice, showing that he had earned their respect as well as the respect of the king who sent him on his way and provided him with all that he needed. In plain words, here was a man of faith who was also being faithful. God was blessing him for doing so.

B. Let me now draw your attention to a passage in II Timothy 2: 20-21.

1. Paul writes: “In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for noble purposes and some for ignoble purposes. If a man (or woman) cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful for the Master, and prepared to do any good work.”

2. Paul is writing to Timothy about God’s house, made up of Christians from all over the world. Of course, the Lord Jesus is the Master of His household. 

a. Paul compares believers to articles of gold and silver, at one end, to articles of wood and clay at the other. 

b. At the one end, there are those who are willing, with the help of the Lord, to cleanse themselves of wrong behavior (Vs. 23) so that they may be used of Him in the noble task of serving Him. 

c. This does not just apply to ministers and mission-aries. It applies to all of us and our desire and willingness to be used by Him. 

3. It is a call, not only to have faith, but to be faithful. Those willing to be faithful may be surprised at how God will use them wherever He has planted them.

C. That brings us to our passage about mothers in Prov. 31.

1. In Prov. 31: 10, it says: “A wife of noble character, who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.” In plain words, she is like silver and gold to the Lord.

a. Vs. 11 says “her husband has full confidence in her.“

She not only has faith, but is faithful to the Lord and her family.

b. Then it describes how available she made herself in the home as well as in the community. People looked up to her. She even reached out to the poor and the needy.

2. But above all, in vs. 25-26 it says: “She is clothed with strength and dignity… and speaks with wisdom with faithful instruction on her tongue.”

a. In vs. 28, it continues: “Her children will rise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises her.

‘Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.’”                    

b. “Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward that she has earned and let her works bring her praise at the city gate” (Vs. 30-31).

3. I believe the woman described in Prov. 31:10 is kind of like the perfect example. None of us are perfect. 

a. But God’s Word knows that and so does the Lord Jesus who died for us.

b. That is exactly why, in II Tim. 2:20-21,  Paul mentioned the call of the Lord to help us put away the sins in our past life and to aim at godly behavior instead. This process is what the Bible calls “sanctification.”  It is a never ending process until we die. God blesses those who take it seriously.

4. That is why I have often said I do not care about the mistakes of your past. I only care about where you are now and your willingness to keep on growing in the Lord. That is not just good advice for mothers, but for all of us.

In conclusion:

1.Always remember that the Lord, not only wants us to have faith in Him, but to live faithfully for Him. Ezra did that. Many godly women are trying to do that. God encourages all of us to do that. 

2.  Mothers who do their best to please the Lord are a wonderful blessing to their families. We should be thankful for them.