The Family of God
Mark 3:31-35
Introduction:
We had a great time visiting our family in NJ… The 50th anniversary
celebration for Mary Ann’s sister and her husband was kind of a “family
reunion” for Mary Ann’s side… It was a little awkward seeing relatives my age
and even younger, and not recognizing them and thinking, “They have really
aged!” And then I look in the mirror and think who is that old guy! We stayed for
the week with our daughter and family, and, as always, it was hard to say
good-bye. The night before we left Mary Ann told our granddaughter, age 4½,
that we would be leaving early the next morning. She gave Mary Ann a big hug
and said sadly. “But WHY do you have to go?” (It was so touching when we prayed
with her that night, she wanted to pray for us,
and prayed that we would have a safe trip back to Maine!). Those good-byes are
hard! Even so, what did we say on our return? “It is good to be home!” We
are part of a family here as well.
The sermon title today is “The Family of God.” God has designed the
church, the local community of faith that gathers together for worship, Bible
study, prayer, and fellowship. We encourage and equip each other for reaching
our world with the Gospel. God would use us to bring those in our “sphere of
influence” into His forever family. [Remember: 95% of those who believe come to
faith primarily through an existing relationship.] That is God’s plan. As I
think you heard last week, “There is no
plan ‘b’”! In today’s passage, we
see Jesus’ “birth family” come to see him, and we hear Jesus teach about “The
Family of God.”
A note about the
context. Remember back in Mark 3:21 we read, “And when His own people heard of this, they went out to take
custody of Him; for they were saying, ‘He has lost His senses.’” Your
translation may say “His family” instead of “His own people.” That translation
is really an interpretation based on today’s passage. I don’t think we can make that jump. Read
Mary’s prayer, and the faith and understanding it expresses in the early part
of Luke’s gospel. She believed! She didn’t know the details of how this story
would unfold, but there could be no question that she knew that Jesus was the
Christ. His younger [half] brothers were another story, they didn’t “believe”
it seems until after the resurrection (John 7:5; cf. Acts 1:14). Even so, I don’t think we can jump from v.21
to v.31 and assume this was a “family intervention.” All we can say for certain
is that it was a family visit. And Jesus uses the occasion to teach his
disciples, and us, about the family of God.
The Maine* Idea: Trusting and obeying God shows that
by God’s grace we have been born into His “forever family.”
I. A wrong assumption: Christianity isn’t a birthright!
Our relationship with God is not inherited from our birthparents, but is attained
through the new birth (31,32). It
has been rightly said that “God has no
grandchildren, only children!” Take a look at our passage in Mark 3:31…
31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to
him and called him. 32 And a
crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, "Your mother and your
brothers are outside, seeking you."
We have different realities and ideas about
“family” relationships among us. I was talking with someone this week who
expressed his thankfulness that his children and grandchildren are all right
here in the Boothbay region. Others are spread out… Paul and Miriam B. don’t
exactly live around the corner… Nor does Dan C. Jr. and Mika… For now the Roberts have everyone close by…
the Becks have to take trips to California and New Jersey… the Conn’s kids are
spread out from California to Kuala Lumpur! You get the idea! A few of your families go
back a long way right here on the peninsula. It was very common in the biblical world for extended families to stay for
generations in the same town. Not
surprising since God gave the land to the tribes of Israel as an inheritance,
and it was passed down from generation to generation. Families were big, and
they were close.
“Family” was important to life in
Israel… and family is an integral aspect
of God’s design for humans… Much of the teaching in the Bible points to our responsibility
to respect God’s design for the family: husbands are to love their wives as
Christ loved the church; wives are to respect and follow the leadership of
their husband in the Lord, parents are to protect and teach their children the
way of the Lord. Children are to honor their mother and father. I am giving that background to make the
point that this visit from Jesus “family” would not have been unexpected… It’s
what families do! We don’t know how long it had been since they had been
together, and the twenty-mile trip from Nazareth to Capernaum would not have
been a big obstacle—they were family after all.
It is also true
that God had chosen the Jews to have a special place in His program – and that God
still has a future plan for Israel (the extended family of Abraham!): a
blindness in part has come upon Israel until the fullness of the
gentiles comes in. What does that word
“until” imply? There will be a future turning of Israel to Messiah
Jesus. At the same time, John the Baptist warned the leaders not to presume
that their lineage guarantees their standing with God…
“And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our
father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for
Abraham…” (Matthew 3:9).
The Jews could not presume on there physical descent from
Abraham to put them in good standing with God. They needed to believe! The same
is true in our context. Our church has a long history—208 years? Some of you
have a long history in this local body—generations. But our physical birth into
a believing family doesn’t guarantee our eternity. We must be born again,
personally trusting in Christ alone for our salvation. That new birth makes us
a part of the family of God!
In speaking to
the importance of our spiritual family in the Lord, the local church, we should
not assume that the Lord is implying that we should not value the family that
we were born into or in which we grew up. Even at the end of His life, Jesus
made sure His mother was cared for… As he hung on the cross, He spoke to the
beloved disciple and to Mary his mother, “Behold
your son …behold your mother” (John 19:26,27). Clearly family is important
to the Lord, so much so that when he gave the ten commandments, one of them was
the suggestion that we “put up with our parents” right? No, it was the
commandment to honor our father and
mother! We have an enlightening scene that
is recorded only in Luke’s Gospel, when Jesus was twelve years old. The family
had traveled to Jerusalem for Passover which was their custom. As the caravan
of the extended family packed up to return to Nazareth we pick up the story in
Luke 2:43-49…
…And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed
behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the
group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among
their relatives and acquaintances, 45
and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for
him. 46 After three days they
found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and
asking them questions. 47 And
all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents saw him,
they were astonished. And his mother said to him, "Son, why have you
treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great
distress." 49 And he
said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must
be in my Father's house? … 51…and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these
things in her heart.
Jesus was not disrespecting his earthly family. But he
realized that His relationship with His Heavenly Father had to be His top
priority. Please don’t misunderstand what I am saying. God created the family.
He used family relationships like husband and wife, like parents and children,
to illustrate His love and care for the church. He talks about how a believing
spouse can “sanctify” their unbelieving mate… They have a live-in missionary
after all! If God so highly values families what is Jesus saying here?
As important as
“family” is, when you are “born again” you become part of something even more
important: a spiritual family, you join the “forever family” of God… Some need to make a choice when they believe
in Jesus. In certain cultures, and in certain places, to identify yourself as a
Christ follower may mean being rejected and disowned by your family. Jesus says
you become part of another family when you believe…
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has
left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for
my sake and for the gospel, 30
who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and
sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age
to come eternal life…” (Mark
10:29,30).
We are part of a new family, a spiritual family, when we put
our trust in Jesus. Family is important,
it is God’s design. But, even more important is trusting and obeying God. It
shows that by God’s grace we have been born into His “forever family.”
II. In Christ, we
belong to God’s “Forever Family” (33-35).
33 And he answered them, "Who are my mother and my
brothers?" 34 And
looking about at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother
and my brothers! 35 Whoever
does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother."
A key
question: “Who are my mother and brothers?” Typical of His rabbinical style Jesus
seizes the opportunity to teach His followers on the occasion of His family’s
visit. Also, typical for a first century
rabbi, he introduces His teaching with a question designed to engage the
attention of His listeners. Remember the context: first century Judaism. Family
was foundational. Jesus intentionally is using a shocking “question”
to make a point about the new spiritual reality that He was calling His
followers to embrace. “My mother and
brothers are here? Who are my mother and brothers?” Jesus is not denying
His family, but he intentionally uses a surprising question to rivet the
attention of those around Him. Sometimes
we can use language that can hurt or offend unintentionally. Most of you know
that our daughter is adopted (if you have not met her, the fact that she is
Asian might give that away!). Through the years we’ve had people ask, “Do you know anything about her real
parents?” I l know there is no malice in that question, but a better term
would be “birth parents.” We are her real parents. If you have trusted
Christ you’ve been both born (John 3:3-5) and adopted (Gal 4:5,6) into
God’s “forever family.” God is really our Father. We are really
brothers and sisters. In fact, it is eternal, and that is about as real as it gets. Jesus said that He must come before our
biological family…
34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to
the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man
against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. 36
And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than
me is not worthy of me… (Matthew
10:34-37).
How did your family react when you first believed? If
they were believers they surely rejoiced. But if they were not, they might have
thought you were losing your mind, or had been lured into a cult! If you came
from an orthodox Jewish family or an Islamic family they might have even
disowned you. In some contexts in Iran or Afganistan or Pakistan it could be
much worse. In that same context Jesus says that to follow Him we must be
willing to take up our cross. We Americans don’t quite get that in the same way
as believers in some other parts of the world.
A Shocking statement: Here is
my family! As precious are
our family ties are to us, they don’t take priority over our commitment to God
and His family (our spiritual family). Jesus clearly loved his family. We see
that in the care He takes for Mary even as He hangs on the cross. But now He looks
at those sitting around him, his followers, and He calls them His family. Do you think about church that way? Do you come here not to sit among strangers
(or even acquaintances and friends!) but to be with your family?
A Vital
Truth: Obedience to God rather than physical relationship is the mark of family
relationship. Look back at verse 35, “Whoever does the
will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother." Obedience demonstrates we are in
his family. Charles Spurgeon said, “I will ever maintain
that by grace we are saved, and not by ourselves; but equally must I testify,
that where the grace of God is, it will produce fitting deeds.” Isn’t that
exactly what Paul wrote in Ephesian 2:8-10?
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this
is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them.
We can’t boast, because “…of Him we are in Christ Jesus…” (I Cor 1:30a). It is all grace—God’s
unmerited favor. But God didn’t immediately take us into His presence… He left
us in the world… He saved us on purpose, for a purpose. “Obedience”
demonstrates our faith, it is an aspect of the “good works” for which we were
created. And it is a visible testimony to the world that God has done a work in
us, and we belong to Him. John wrote, “By
this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his
commandments…” (I John 5:2).
What is God saying to me
in this passage? God
designed the family. It is a key aspect of His plan for humans, it’s is
something we are right to cherish. But don’t miss what Jesus is saying here:
Trusting and obeying God shows that by God’s grace we have been born into His
“forever family.”
What would God have me
to do in response to this passage? Remember the old song, “Trust
and obey, there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
That is what we were created for, and it tells the world we are His. You may
not have an extended “biological family” that is very present and active in
your life. It may simply be geography, it may be that they haven’t yet believed
and so a certain “distance” has developed. If you know Christ, you are
already part of God’s family. You are surrounded by brothers and sisters.
Let’s live like the family we are: caring, loving, forgiving, fellowshipping,
united in our love for our Father, choosing to love one another. What does that
look like?
One thing we
can do is choose to be together… In
the early church, they broke bread from house to house, taking their meals
together with gladness and sincerity of heart. Hospitality is a great way to
get to know one another better, to share in each other’s lives. We can also
meet together, prioritizing times like Sunday School, or through the summer joining
in our “Church on the Go” meetings (on Wednesday nights at 6:30). These are great opportunities to come
together for singing and fellowship, the Word and prayer. The format may vary a
little week to week, but the important thing is that we come together for
“family time,” and together spend time with Father. And remember the 12-year-old
Jesus in the temple… we too need to be obediently engaged in the “family
business,” bringing the Gospel of Christ to the people around us! What a
privilege it is to pray that God would open the hearts of our family and
friends, and by His kindness lead them to repentance and faith! It may be that God would use you to reach
them! AMEN.
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