PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 428: THE FLOURISHING MOTHER, PT 10
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 428: THE FLOURISHING MOTHER, PT 10
The flourishing mother has a servant heart. When you embrace a servant heart in your home, it will free you to flourish instead of living in self-pity and depression.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to the Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies, a magazine bringing strength and encouragement to families across the world.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies. We are continuing our series “The Flourishing Mother.” I do trust that these things that we are talking about are helping you to flourish in your home. Remember God doesn’t want you to only survive and just barely get through each day. He wants you to flourish.
So, what is our point for today?
No. 12. THE FLOURISHING MOTHER HAS A SERVANT HEART
This is another secret, because until we learn that we are servants, and to embrace servanthood, until we realize this and embrace it, we won’t really flourish as a mother. Because when we think that we have to look after “Number One,” and we should be served rather than serving our husband, and our children, and our home, serving those around us. Until we get this, we’re going to be frustrated and thinking, “Poor me!” But when we realize that servanthood is actually part of the godhead, and that servanthood is part of who Jesus is, when we get this, it’s going to help us to flourish as a mother. It’s something we really need to get straight.
I think of that Scripture in Mark 8:35: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall find it.” This Scripture was a challenge to me as a young mother, because I thought that in mothering I was just losing my life, and everything that I wanted to do. Here I was, stuck in this home with all these children.
But when I realized the Scripture, and that it is an eternal principle, it’s a Kingdom principle, it’s a god principle. “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake, the same shall find it.” Did you know, precious ladies, that we don’t find our life in trying to look after Number One? No, it doesn’t work that way. It’s an amazing principle of God that when we lose our life in the lives of others, that this is when we find our life.
And so, as I embraced this Scripture and embraced this principle, I was set free from my “poor me” attitude, and “Why can’t people look after me instead of me doing everything?” Well, of course, we’ve got that so much in our society today, haven’t we, with this whole “me” attitude. But no, that only causes frustration, self-pity, and depression. When we live for others, it releases us into blessing. Can you say “amen” to that? Because this is when you will flourish as a mother.
I love that Scripture also, talking about Jesus, in Matthew 20:28, where Jesus said: “The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve.” Isn’t that amazing, that Jesus, the One who created us, the Ruler of the Universe, our Creator, our Redeemer, He came, not to be served. He came to serve. So, when we come into our whole role of wifehood and motherhood, we do not come to be served, but we come to serve.
Then we read this Scripture, which is in one of Jesus’ parables in Luke 17:10: “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” In fact, I have this Scripture here, but do you know what? I think we should actually look at the whole parable. It’s in Luke 17, so I’m just going to it. I should read the whole thing. Would you like me to read that?
“And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup.” The word “sup” there means “to eat.” In fact, that word is really the main meal of the day, the evening meal.
“And gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.”
Well, that’s quite a challenging parable, isn’t it? I think also of the testimony, not only of Jesus, but of Paul. In 1 Corinthians 9:19, Paul says: “I have made myself servant unto all.” Wow! That was his testimony.
Over in 1 Corinthians 15:10, he says: “I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” Paul wasn’t afraid of hard work. He poured out his soul and body for the gospel, for these young converts that he was bringing into the faith.
Over in 2 Corinthians 11, Paul testifies more. He says in verse 23: “Are they ministers (servants) of Christ? I am more; in labors more abundant.” He did even more than anyone else because he had a servant heart. He had the heart of Jesus.
In fact, we go back to the Old Testament, and we see the messianic prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament. OK, let’s go to Isaiah 42:1-4. There we see that Jesus is spoken of as the “chosen servant.” God called even His own Son a servant.
We go to Isaiah 49. This is quite an amazing, prophetic, messianic chapter, and prophetic chapter. Let’s read from verse 1: “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name. And He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in His quiver hath he hid me; And said unto me, Thou art My servant, O Israel.”
GOD IS GLORIFIED IN SERVING
Now here he is speaking to the nation of Israel and calling Israel a servant. “And said unto me, Thou art My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” You notice two things there that are coupled together, servanthood and being glorified. Listen to it again: “Thou art My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” God is glorified in our serving.
So, lovely ladies, when you feel as though you're just a servant, and I have to confess, I can remember back in the early days of my motherhood (until I began to understand the blessing and the glory of serving) I can remember, as I was having to do everything. I didn’t have older children at that time but all little ones, all needing to be cared for. Husband needing to be cared for. The house needing to be cared for.
And I can remember saying, “Oh! I’m just a jolly servant around this place!” Oh goodness me! What a terrible statement! I remember saying that. And then I heard the voice of Jesus in my heart saying, “Nancy, isn’t that what I came to do?” And I had to be rebuked by the Lord Himself. Yes, because even Jesus came to serve.
But here we see, in the Scripture, that God is glorified in serving. So, when you get tempted to feel like you're a servant, remember, in serving, dear mothers, God is glorified in you! And you are showing forth the attitude of Jesus. Amen? So, rejoice in your serving.
Let’s move on to verse five: “Now, saith the LORD that formed Me from the womb to be His servant.” Now it’s talking about Christ. It’s a messianic Scripture, because although God saved Israel to be His servant, they did fail. They failed so many times, didn’t they? Although we know God is going to finally redeem them. But they failed so many times.
And so, He now sends His own beloved Son. “And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and My God shall be My strength. And He said, It is a light thing that Thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth.”
This was God’s plan for Israel. It is still His final plan, because God says that He will. We’re meant to pray night and day and not get off the wall until God makes Israel a light to the world, a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 62:6, 7). But here we see that Christ Himself is going to do this. He will bring Jacob (that’s another word for Israel), He will bring Jacob again to Him.
And what does it say? “Raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel” which is happening now. They are coming back to the land. God is bringing them back more and more and more and more to the land, until they are all there and where He will reveal Himself to them.
So, we see that Israel was a servant, but Christ Himself is a servant. Here in this chapter, we saw Him, Isaiah 42, now Isaiah 49 and over in Isaiah 50, we see Him as the suffering Servant and again in Isaiah 52.
Let’s look at that one. Isaiah 52:13: “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.”
It’s amazing that this is the result of servanthood. Here it says, it’s speaking of Christ, it’s a messianic Scripture. It goes on to say: “As many were astonied at thee; His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men,” speaking of His crucifixion. And yet it says that there will come the time when he will be “exalted and extolled, and be very high.”
He is that already, but He will one day be that in the eyes of the whole of the world when He comes His second time, not to die for our sins, but to gather His saints, and to bring judgement to the world, and to bring judgement to sin. Yes, I think of that wonderful Scripture in Philippians 2. This is always such an incredible challenge to me also. It always was in my mothering.
TO BE A SERVANT IS TO BE LIKE CHRIST
Philippians 2:5: “Let this mind (or this attitude) “be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Yes, we are to be like Christ! “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant.”
Yes, Jesus came to take on servanthood. Isn’t that amazing? He didn’t come, although He was King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He didn’t come as a king. He came as a servant. Dear precious mothers, be encouraged by that. Realize that to be a servant is to be like Christ.
“And was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” But then, we read on, and we see that, once again, God is glorified in servanthood.
Here he glorifies Christ and says: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” And so, we always see that servanthood is coupled with glorifying, God being glorified. We see it in Christ in the Old Testament, and, of course, in the New Testament. We see it there.
Another Scripture that really speaks to me is 2 Corinthians 5:15. Let me take you to that Scripture, another Scripture that has always been such a challenge to me. I think maybe these Scriptures will be a challenge to you today, dear mothers, but embrace them, because they are eternal principles, and they bring you into freedom, and joy, and glory.
OK, 2 Corinthians 5:15: “And that He” (Jesus) “died for all.” Why? “That they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.” Did you get that? “That they should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again.”
So, we see here the revelation of the gospel. Jesus died, yes, He died for our sins, but He also died to set us free from our self-life, and from our flesh. Yes, He died to set us free from serving ourselves to serve Him. Yes, and how do we serve Him? Jesus is in heaven. How do we serve Him?
By serving His people here on earth, starting first with those who are right close to home. Our husband first, serving him. Yes, marriage is serving him and then serving our children. Of course, we’re going to be teaching them to be servants too. We’re going to teach them how they’re a part of the family, and we all work together. As the children grow, you won’t be just a slave doing everything. You’re teaching them also how to be servants, so you’re all working together. But we have this attitude. Yes, we no longer live unto ourselves, but unto Him.
I’d like to give you a few thoughts about this “unto Him.” Have you ever noticed these “unto Him” Scriptures? Oh, wow! There are a lot of “unto Him” Scriptures. This one’s in the New Testament. But I want to take you back to the Old, because everything in the New has its origin in the Old.
Some people don’t read the Old Testament very much. They just think, “Oh, we’re in the New Covenant! We’re in the New now. We don’t need to read the Old.” But guess what? Did you know where the New Covenant started? It started in the Old Testament. We read it in both Jeremiah and in Ezekiel. I’ll put the Scriptures in the transcript (Jeremiah 24:7; 32:39, 40; Ezekiel 11:19, 20; and 36:26, 27).
We read there that this is where God establishes the New Covenant. “I will make a new covenant with you.” And who does He make it with? First, He makes it with Israel. The New Covenant was in the Old and was first made with Israel. We are blessed to come into this glorious New Covenant. So even the “unto Him,” we should no longer live unto ourselves, but unto Him, it also has its origin in the Old Testament.
So, let’s have a look at some Scriptures. Exodus 19:4-6: “I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself.” He is talking to Israel here. “You shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all peoples of the earth.” We get it two times in that Scripture. “Unto Me.” “Unto Me.” Two times.
You see, God chose Israel to be a nation unto Him. Sadly, they didn’t always fulfill that but that was His plan. The word “peculiar” in the Hebrew is segullah, and it means “possession, valued property, private property, a special jewel.” And Israel was God’s private possession, His private property. In fact, God chose to be intimate with Israel over every other nation in the world. There’s no other nation to whom God made covenants with. God made four different covenants with Israel. We won’t talk about them all today.
But let’s go to Amos 3:2. He’s speaking again to Israel. “You only,” Only! Did you get that word? “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” That word “known” is the Hebrew word yada, and it means, “intimate knowledge.” It’s also used for sexual intimacy. You’re most probably aware of that. When you see that word in the Old Testament in the Hebrew, yada, it’s used of sexual intimacy.
Here God is using it to speak of His very intimate relationship with Israel. “You only have I known (in a very intimate way) of all the families of the earth;” God created all the families, and all the tribes, and all the nations of the earth, but it’s only with Israel that He made this intimate relationship and intimate covenant. The Bible tells us that God was a husband to Israel and He was married to Israel. God and Israel were meant to be a marriage of “only unto Him.”
This is what marriage is all about. I want to relate these “unto Him” Scriptures to marriage, because I believe this is where we get our original marriage vows, where it says, “To honor, and cherish, and forsaking all others; keep myself only unto you as long as we both shall live.” That is in the marriage vows if you use the original marriage vows.
I think it’s so great for couples today to say the original marriage vows. Some couples love to make their own vows, and that’s beautiful too. But I think they should also say the original marriage vows. I’ve been at a marriage recently where they made their own vows, and they were so beautiful, but they also said the original marriage vows as well.
What does it mean, “forsaking all others?” It’s a very important thing to realize. I believe that when we get married, we forsake all other relationships that are . . . (now, I don’t mean forsaking all other relationships. No. You’re forsaking the fact that you will never ever again go out with another guy on your own).
OK, maybe some guy you knew in college turns up and you’d love to catch up. You think, “Oh, we’ll go out for a cup of coffee together.” No, you won’t. No, because when you're married, you're forsaking all others, and keeping yourself only unto him, your husband.
Now, of course, you can go out together with your husband. As a married couple, you will enjoy such amazing relationships, and fun, and fellowship with other married couples, and even with other singles, and as you have children, with other families. You’ll have all those beautiful, glorious relationships. But you have them with your husband. You no longer will ever forsake that relationship to go out on your own. I don’t believe that that is right.
In fact, we read in Proverbs 5:15-19, and I’ll just pick out the parts of this passage. “Drink waters” (it’s speaking about marriage here) “Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well . . . Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.”
Yes, if you look up Deuteronomy 26:16-19, that’s where we see that Israel and God were in a marriage covenant. “You have declared today that He is your God, and you have promised to obey Him.” Wow, this just sounds like a marriage covenant, doesn’t it? Let me start again. “You have declared today that He is your God, and you have promised to obey Him, and keep His law and ordinances, and to heed all He tells you to do. And the Lord has declared today that you are his very own people, just as He promised, and that you must obey all of His laws.”
Deuteronomy 29:12-15: “That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into His oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day . . . for a people unto Himself, and that He may be unto thee a God, as He hath said unto thee, and as He hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
2 Samuel 7:24: “For Thou hast confirmed to Thyself Thy people Israel to be a people unto Thee forever: and Thou, LORD, art become their God.” Isn’t this such a beautiful picture of marriage? That was God’s plan for Israel, that they were to be married only unto Him. Sadly, they forsook Him over and over and over again, and they became like adulterers. He called them “an adulterous nation.”
But God is not giving up. He will never give up on Israel, because do you notice here in the Scripture I just quoted, they’re going “to be a people unto Him forever.” And so, He’s coming again, coming again, when they will understand that He is their Messiah. They will own Him. The New Living Translation says: “You made Israel Your very own people forever, and You, oh Lord, became their God.”
All right. Ezekiel 16:8: “I exchanged marriage vows with you. You became mine, declares the Almighty God.”
The New English Translation says: “I swore a solemn oath to you, and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declared the sovereign Lord, and you became mine.”
So, we see all these beautiful Scriptures of how God made this covenant marriage with Israel. This was the basis for our covenant marriage today with the Lord, of course, but with one another as husband and wife. We are to forsake all others and to be committed only unto him, our husband. Amen.
Well, just one or two more Scriptures so you really get this beautiful revelation for your relationship with the Lord, and with you and your husband.
Leviticus 20:24-25: “I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people . . . And ye shall be holy unto Me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be Mine.”
This is the same for marriage. I am separated from all others unto my husband, because I am his. I’m his special, private possession. You know, that’s why it grieves me when I see many young brides coming to the wedding altar. Many times, they’re showing cleavage and so much of their flesh, when, really, what are they doing at the altar?
They’re entering into a covenant of private possession with their husband, where they become his private possession, where their body becomes totally his. They belong to him. And yet, there are some who are showing off themselves to the whole jolly congregation when they’re meant to be making a very beautiful, private covenant with their husband.
OK, Deuteronomy 4:20: “The LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto Him a people of inheritance.”
Deuteronomy 7:6: “For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”
Psalm 135:4: “For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for his treasured possession.” Isn’t that beautiful? I just love how that correlates with us in our own marriage. Did you know that God called Israel “My people” over 170 times? And apart from calling them “My people,” He also calls them “My chosen.”
We who have now become His people and His very own, these are the words He says to us too. “My dearly beloved of My soul; My dear people; My dear children; My sons and daughters; My beloved; My flock; the flock of My pasture; My sheep; My sheep of my pasture; the object of My delight; My elect; My firstborn; My heritage, My inheritance; My glory; My planting; the work of My hands; My nation; My vineyard; My portion; My servant; My witnesses; My redeemed; My assembly.” Everything is “My, My, My,” and I can give you all the Scriptures for them. Such a beautiful revelation (Scriptures below).
But now, as we end this session, lovely ladies, remember that God, the Lord Jesus, and God was in Christ as the Lord Jesus died for us, not only to save us from our sins, but that no longer we would live unto ourselves, but unto Him which died for us. And so, dear lovely ladies, embrace your servanthood. Jesus came to serve, not to be served. We come into our marriage, and into the raising of our families, to serve, not to be served.
But in life, you will find great joy, great blessings. It becomes the delight of your life to serve because you are doing what Christ wants to do. And He dwells in you. He lives in you, and He is a servant in you. He loves to serve. Embrace servanthood, lovely ladies, and it will release you into flourishing in your motherhood.
“Dear Father, I pray that You will bless all these precious mothers listening today, and all the young people and children. Lord, help us all to have this servant attitude, Lord, that You have. You did not come to be served, but to serve.
“Lord, we pray that this will become also our attitude, that we will delight to serve. To serve our husbands, and to serve our family; to serve our home, and then to serve others all around us. Help us to live a life of serving. We ask it in the lovely Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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HOW GOD LOOKS UPON HIS PEOPLE!
The dearly beloved of My soul (Jeremiah 12:7).
My dear people (Jeremiah 14:17).
My dear children (Isaiah 43:6 and Jeremiah 31:20).
My sons and daughters (Isaiah 43:6).
My beloved (Isaiah 62:4).
My sheep (Ezekiel 34:6, 11, 12; John 10:14, 15, 27; and 21:16, 17).
The sheep of My pasture (Jeremiah 23:1).
The object of Muy delight (Isaiah 5:7 and Jeremiah 31:20).
My elect (Isaiah 45:4; 65:9, 22).
My firstborn (Exodus 4:22).
My heritage (Jeremiah 2:7; 12:7, 8, 9; 50:11; and Joel 3:2).
My inheritance (Exodus 15:7; Numbers 34:2; 2 Kings 21:14; Psalm 78:712; Isaiah 19:25; 60:2; 63:17; Jeremiah 16:18; and 47:6).
My glory (Isaiah 43:7 and Micah 2:9).
My called (Isaiah 43:1, 7; 48:12; and 63:19).
My planting (Psalm 80:8-15; Isaiah 5:2, 7; and 60:21).
The work of My hands (Isaiah 60:21)
My flock (Jeremiah 13:7; 23:2, 3; and Ezekiel 34:6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 31).
The flock of My pasture (Ezekiel 34:31).
My nation (Isaiah 51:4).
My vineyard (Psalm 80:8-15; Song of Songs 8:12; Isaiah 5:1-7; and Jeremiah 12:10).
My portion (Deuteronomy 32:9).
My servant (Isaiah 41:9; 43:10; 48:20; and Jeremiah 46:27).
My witnesses (Isaiah 43:10, 12; and 44:8).
My redeemed (Isaiah 63:4).
My assemblies (Ezekiel 44:4).