Our Family in Christ

Introduction

You may wish to turn your Bibles to Mark the third chapter. Mark the third chapter. We’ll be going to that text in just a moment. Looking at that and two other texts as our main passages for our lesson this morning. It is good to be with you. It’s good to have so many who are with us from the area. Of course, it’s always good to be among the brethren here, and then, of course, to have those who are visiting from this local area, and those who are visiting really from across the country. And I hope what you found today is what I’ve been able to experience over the past ten years. A group of Christians who’ve come together because they love God, they love each other, the desire to praise him in song, the desire to remember the sacrifice that was made on all of our behalf.

And they desire to look into the word of God to study that. And I haven’t regretted being able to do that for any Sunday of the ten years that I’ve been here. And I hope that if you’re visiting today, that you’ll come back, and you’ll join these good brothers and sisters in Christ as they seek to praise God and to learn more of his word. I by chance looked in a mirror after Bible class this morning. Probably was straightening up my tie and noticed some more white hair in the sideburns and the just the side of the head. I didn’t have those ten years ago. They’re your fault. That and two little boys named Jared and Ethan, probably. But I wouldn’t trade them, and I’ll get more of those, and I’ll have more to say at the end today.

1. The True Family of Jesus

In Mark III chapter, we read in verse 31 of Jesus’ mother and his brothers arriving. Now, if you only read that, you would wonder why they were coming, and you would wonder about Jesus’ response he’s going to have just a few verses after that. When Jesus looks around those who have assembled and he says, Here are my mother and my brothers and my sisters, those who do the will of God. And you might think, well, Jesus is being a little bit callous about his own earthly family there, but in this context, he’s not being that at all. In fact, you look back earlier in the chapter, and Jesus had done some things on the Sabbath day that had brought some opposition, some challenges, of course, as Jesus would experience those throughout his life.

And then you go to verse 20, and when it says, When he came home, the crowd gathered again to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. And so here is Jesus out in the public, all the people coming to him, and yet Jesus already having these Pharisees and others like them who were opposed to him. And so you read in verse 21 that when his own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of him. For they were saying he has lost his senses. And certainly we understand from the gospel accounts that Mary in particular, Mary knew some things about Jesus, and she had been divinely instructed about the child that she bore, that this was the very son of God.

And you see in this case the misunderstanding about Jesus’ true purpose and his mission. No doubt Mary and the others with her, her, Jesus’ own brothers, did not think that Jesus’ mission was going to involve the animosity of his own people. Much less the animosity to the extent that they would be willing and desirous to kill him. And so they look at Jesus out there in the public, and there are already those who are willing to take his life, and they think he has lost his senses. So they are going to apprehend him on this occasion. And it’s there that Jesus says after they the word comes to Jesus in verse 32 Behold, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you. Answering them, he said, Who are my mother and my brothers?

Looking about at those who were sitting around him, he said, Behold, my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God, he is my mother, my brother and sister and mother. The true family of Jesus. The true family of Jesus was not one of earthly ties. It was not simply his physical mother in the flesh, although what we know about Mary from the gospel accounts would certainly indicate to us that she would also have been a part of this spiritual family as time goes on. Also, Jesus’ own brothers would have been a part of this same spiritual family. But in this occasion, in this context, their mind is not on the will of God. Their mind is on the physical safety and well-being of Jesus, the man.

And so in this context, Jesus says that my family is composed of those who want to do the will of the Father. It’s not my nation. It’s not the mother who I grew up with. It’s not my brothers who I played with out in the yard. It is those who desire to do the will of God. If you haven’t caught on yet, I’m talking about family this morning. The family that you and I experience as members of Christ’s body. We’ve said this before many times. The reason why we can call each other brother and sister is that we’ve been brought into one family with one father, and therefore we have been made something. My mother, my mother and father, my earthly mother and father are in the audience this morning, and they are a part of my spiritual family as well.

And I hope they won’t take offense to this when I say, You’ve been my family for the last ten years. And they know what I mean by that. I’ve been separated from them by 600 miles for most of that time, and while we get to visit and talk on the phone and email and chat and all those kinds of things, you’ve been my family. And I’ve been a part of your family. Because we have come together as those who desire to do the will of God. That’s Christ’s family. The family of God. Now, of course, Jesus takes this point on to make other points of it. And I want to just go to one other passage in this regard. Go over to John the 10th chapter, if you would.

2. Other Sheep: One Flock With One Shepherd

And John the 10th chapter is this wonderful passage about Jesus being the shepherd, the true shepherd, the shepherd that would truly look after the needs of the flock. But you’ll notice this in John chapter 10 and in verse 16. That Jesus said, after he has already said in verse 14, I am the good shepherd, I know my own, and my own know me, even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And then he says in verse 16, I have other sheep, which are not of this fold, and I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice, and they’ll become one flock with one shepherd. You didn’t know me before I arrived 10 years ago, and yet you made me a part of your family.

And there are others who have come in among us in the past ten years, who are not once part even of God’s flock to begin with. And yet that’s the beauty of God’s family. God’s family is always growing. It is comprised of those who desire to do the will of God. And so, even as Jesus is saying here, and making sure that those who heard him could understand that he’s talking about the family of God, the flock of God is not simply Israel, but others who would come into that flock. And that’s the challenge for us today, isn’t it? To always be looking out for those who are not of our tribe, as sometimes we might say. You get the idea of tribal affinity. Throughout human history, you have had tribal warfare.

And why is that? Why is it that tribes of people are constantly at odds with each other? Because you’re not of my tribe. I’ve got my tribe, and you’ve got your tribe. And so we’re always battling over resources and land and all those kinds of things. And that’s been the history of human events. You’re not of my tribe. Think of Jesus saying this in the first century context. You’re the flock of God, but there are other sheep who are not of this flock, and I’m going to bring them in too. And you look at the history in the book of Acts, and that whole history is of Peter and John and the apostles and Paul, as he’s added on to that list, and they are bringing more and more, specifically the Gentiles into the family of God.

They were at one time not of the same tribe. Jew and Gentile who had nothing to do with each other. And yet now in Christ, in his church, they’re one family of God. Well, you and I are constantly looking out for are those who may not be like us. In fact, you look around the room here today. There are all kinds of people who are not like me. We vary in so many ways. Ethnicity, age, social economic status, job, whatever you want to talk about, gender. We have so many differences among us, and yet we are part of one family. God has made us of his family. And so there are those out there today who are very comfortable in their lives. They are very comfortable in the world in which they live.

And they’re not yet a part of our flock. But God would have them. God would say, Come in. Let us always be of the mind that as we meet more and more people in our lives, that we have the attitude and the disposition of, come in. God wants you part of his flock, of his family. Will you do the will of the Father? There are likewise those who are out there who are struggling with all kinds of issues. Drug abuse, immorality of all kinds. And we look at these and we say that they are so far outside of us, and they are so far from the will of God. But God would say of them too, even as the passage that our brother Rob read for us this morning.

Think of those in the Corinthian context and what they have been involved in. Homosexuality and idolatry, fornication, adultery, all these kinds of things, and yet they were washed. And they were sanctified. And they were justified by the blood of Christ. Someone had to say to them at some point, you can be a part of this family as well. You’re not like me. You don’t have the same background as I do. You don’t have the same upbringing that I had. I didn’t experience all the problems that you did. And yet we can be a part of one family, God’s family. Will you do the will of God? Let us always define the church by that. Who is it that makes up God’s people, God’s church? Who is it that makes up God’s family?

3. A Great and Glorious Spiritual Family

It is those who will submit themselves to doing the will of the Father. And what a blessing it is to have a family like that. I’m turning back now to Matthew the 19th chapter. Matthew the 19th chapter, you may remember that in this chapter, Jesus is introduced to a man who we often refer to as the rich young ruler. That man came to Jesus on this day with a question. What shall I do? The idea in his mind, no doubt being that there must be some kind of commandment. There must be some aspect, maybe even of Mosaic law that I need to do. You’re a lawgiver just like Moses, so why don’t you tell me what must I do to inherit eternal life? And you recall Jesus’ conversation with that man.

Jesus begins to talk to him about various aspects of the law of Moses, and the young man says, All these I have kept from my youth. And so Jesus turns to him and said, if you wish to be complete, verse 21, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you’ll have treasure in heaven and come follow me. And you recall that young man’s response.

For he had many possessions.

Rich becoming a child of his, unless you think of it from this standpoint. The riches that he promised are the fact that you would be a part of this great and glorious spiritual family that he promised. You may have left father and mother and brothers and sisters. You following Christ may have even put a hardship between you and your spouse. And yet, what have you inherited in Christ’s kingdom? Far more. And you see how, again, even those material possessions and blessings were filtered out, if you will, through the rest of the congregation. You look at those passages in Acts 2 and Acts 4, and how when there were so many needy saints, and yet the brethren were taking care of them. The point being, let us never take for granted the great blessing that God has given to us within this family that we have.

This is a little slice of heaven for the here and now. We all long to be together, surrounding the very throne of God, being in the presence of God and of his son. But for the here and now, what has he given us? Each other. Brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, all one family, one blessing for those who would leave all simply to follow him. You turn back again to passages like Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10. And you read verses 34 and thirty through 39, you see just what a sacrifice it was for many to follow after Christ. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 10, in the beginning of verse 34.