Fixer Upper: Support From Your Other Family

It was a pleasant afternoon. Jesus was inside a small home that was packed with people. He taught from a stool while the crowd packed around him. Some sat on the floor. Some kneeled close by and others stood in back as he taught.

Suddenly, there was a commotion near the front door. One of the disciples, Andrew, ducked out – and came back in moments later lifting his hand and beckoning for Peter to come near. Peter approached, put his ear to Andrew’s mouth and listened to the message. Peter, being a bit bolder, waited for Jesus to finish his next point before interrupting:

Um…Jesus. I’m sorry to interrupt, but…your family is here. Your mom…Your siblings…They are outside waiting for you.

Jesus looked out at the crowd that had gathered around them. Looks of interest and happiness were quickly replaced by looks of disappointment.

You should go Jesus.
It’s your family.
We understand.
 
But Jesus didn’t go.
Jesus put a finger to his lips.
And spoke:

Who is my family?

The crowd was silent…a bit confused…but silent.

Your mother?
Your brothers?
The people outside… whose house you grew up in?

Jesus shook his head.
He looked around the room
And answered his own question:
 
Who is my family?
Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven.
That’s my family.

Shocking, isn’t it? Today we’re going to examine the Scriptures to discover (1) why Jesus make such bold statement and how it affect us;  (2) Who is a part of his spiritual family and (3) Why spiritual family is important as it leads to blessings for your earthly family. Before we begin, let’s say a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. Why the Bold Statement?

The text for the lesson is Mark 3:31-35. Before we get into the bold statement, let’s get a breakdown on who Jesus’ earthly family was:  

There’s Mary. His actual, biological mother. You might know her best from the Christmas story - she is the one who was visited by an angel and told she was pregnant with and would give birth to a Son – even when she had not done anything that would result in having a child.

Then, there was Joseph. If you remember, she gives birth to Jesus while pledged to be married to a man named Joseph. Joseph, who was not Jesus’ biological father, but was his earthly father. A half father of sorts. Although – he’s not mentioned n Mark 3 or anywhere beyond Jesus’ childhood years. It’s likely he’s passed away.

Then there are his brothers. Take note – Jesus was absolutely the firstborn – it’s why Mary was called a virgin. But after Jesus, there is no reference in Scripture to Mary and Joseph remaining celibate NOR does God make them swear to remain celibate as some kind of special homage to being Jesus’ parents. Nope. In fact, it mentions that Jesus has four brothers. Mark 6 names them: (ready for this Jeopardy fact) James, Joses, Judas and Simon.
So why doesn’t he leave work to see them? It doesn’t sound like they are there to protest. Maybe they wanted to say ‘hi’. Maybe they just wanted to bring him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It seems a bit rude to ignore them, doesn’t it?  

But here’s the truth: Jesus was not rejecting his family.  He was simply using the moment to teach something very important:
There is no family more important than the family of God.
Why?

The family of God is the family that will be in heaven.
The family of God is the family that is eternal.
The family of God is the family that is at peace with their heavenly Father.
The family of God…lasts.
Which leads to a second question:

II. Who is in God’s Family?

Have you ever used Ancestry.com? Apparently, you can go backwards pretty far into your family history and see if you are related to anyone important. Sometimes you find out you are related to a king or a nobleman or a famous NFL player. Other times…a drunkard or criminal.

But if you go back far enough will you run into Jesus?
He’s Jewish so…would you have to be Jewish to be a part of his family?

Jesus said about his family tree: “Whoever does God’s will is my family.” (4:35)

Which sounds nice.
But is initially quite daunting.  

Because the Bible makes it clear:

God’s will is to keep his commands.
God’s will is to keep his commands all the time.
God’s will is to be…perfect.
To love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind – all the time, all the time, all the time.
To love your neighbor as yourself – yesterday, now and always.

Based on those standards – how many of you can claim membership into the family of God? (If you’re nodding your head, yes – you are lying to yourself!)  

To think of it another way: Families have things in common. you all have deep blue eyes. Maybe you are all over 6 foot tall. Maybe you have red hair. Maybe you all have unibrows. The males in my family have male pattern baldness in common…awesome.

What’s God like? God is holy. God is perfect. God has no sin.
What’s his family to be like? Holy. Perfect. Without sin.
What are we like? We are not holy. We are not perfect. We have sin.

We are nothing like our heavenly Father! How could we be related?
 
Simple:
Faith.
 
Have you ever been to a family reunion? One of the greatest things about a family reunion is the family reunion t-shirt. It’s usually very cheesy and not at all fashionable and yet everyone in the family feels compelled to wear one as a way to mark themselves as a part of the family.

Galatians 3:26 You are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  
Do you get it? We are God’s family…not because we do his will perfectly. (We don’t). We are in God’s family because we are wearing the invisible reunion t-shirts that say: God’s family – Perfect. Holy. Forgiven.
 
Because Jesus is God’s Son in every sense of the term.  He is holy, perfect and without sin.
 
And in faith – he covers up our sinfulness with his holiness.
He clothes us with His perfection.
He wraps us in his – “not-having-sin-ness.”

When the Father looks at you, He doesn’t see your sin; He sees Jesus’ righteousness.
He doesn’t see your sinful past; He sees Jesus.
He doesn’t see no good, dirty rotten, never a part of my family, sinner; He sees family.
 
And now John 6:24 says this, “The work of God is this – to believe in the One He has sent.”  This coincides pretty well with Jesus’ phraseology: “the One who does the will of God is my family.” It teaches us one very simple truth:

Jesus’ family...God’s family…The eternal family is…
None other than believers.
 
Not the perfect.
Not the Jewish.
Not those who have “done enough.”
 
But believers.
 
Is that you?
Do you believe in Jesus?
If so, you are a part of His family.
 
III. Leaning On Your Other Family
 
And…here’s something cool:
If I’m part of God’s family by faith in Jesus, and you’re a part of God’s family by faith in Jesus…
Then we’re related!!!

In fact, we are related in what Jesus called the most important family of all.

That’s important to remember. All too often we think of the “church family” almost like a hindrance to our earthly family. As if putting too much time into our church family will be a negative to our earthly family. It sounds this:

No, I can’t attend worship this weekend – My earthly family needs to bond this weekend.
No, I don’t want to get to know that guy in church. He’s kind weird and I don’t want to be part of his family.
And…Yes, fine. I’ll go to church this weekend. I suppose I should keep my family membership alive.

That’s not how Jesus spoke about God’s family.
Jesus taught us that God’s spiritual family is actually more important than our earthly families, because that’s the family tie that lasts eternally.
Not that the two are opposed to one another.
In fact, being an active part of God’s family will lead to great benefits for your earthly family.

How so? Let’s look at Hebrews 10:23-24 for three awesome blessings that Spiritual Families provide:

Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

1) They Help Us Hold On  
Because…as we mentioned earlier…to be a part of the family of God is to believe in Jesus our Savior. To not believe in Jesus is to forfeit that membership.
Thing is, just because you believe now doesn’t mean you’ll believe later. The Bible is full of warnings like that and encouragements to stay strong in faith.

But our world doesn’t care as much.
It says you need more karate classes.
It says you need more family vacation.
It says you need more money and then your family will be happy.

Here’s where this spiritual family comes in.
We remind one another that there is something greater.
We remind one another that Jesus is greater.
We remind one another to hold onto the faith and stay in God’s Word.
 
It’s a reminder, by the way, that pays eternal dividends.
For you, your spouse and your kids.
 
2) They Spur on Love  
Because who else is going to remind you not be a jerk to your brother?
Or that you need to forgive your husband?
Or you need to be patient with your wife?

That’s exactly what God’s Word does.
That’s exactly what God’s Word calls our spiritual families to do to one another.

Sometimes through rebuke.
Sometimes teachings.
Sometimes a metaphoric slap upside the head.

The point is that we love one another and in love we spur one another on towards a greater love in our families.

Case and point:

Last week I preached on love in action. I preached how LOVE IS PATIENT. Remember that? I talked about how love doesn’t FEEL patient, but is patient even when it feels stressed, annoyed or upset.

Then, about 30 minutes after worship one of you asked how my house was going. I said it was coming alright and we had a decent amount done. But recently Julianna had mentioned that she wanted to add an addition little piece of drywall near the banister of our stairs. (Currently it looks kinda like an “L” and isn’t complete.) Here’s the thing – I just recently got around to sanding the drywall and painting the piece. So…in the course of this conversation, I was sounding a bit impatient and complaining about the fact that I was going to have to redo it all in order to put this extra piece up.
 
And I vented.
And I complained.
And one of you said: “Didn’t we just learn about patience?”

And I shut up.
And I was thankful.

That’s spurring on one another in love.
 
3) They Encourage You  
Because the harsh reality is that your family might disappoint you.
You might be estranged, divorced, single and lonely, or far apart from your biological siblings.
You might feel alone.

But you aren’t.

Let us not give up meeting together…but encourage one another.
 
When you’re feeling lonely, we’re here for you.
When you’re feeling sad, we’re here to dry your tears.
When you’re needing to vent, we’re here to listen.
 
And if you’re a part of this family, be ready to do that for others in this family.

Church isn’t just about what these “church people” can do for me.
Nope.
It’s also about what you can do for others.

So, pay attention.

Watch for those who are alone and go talk with them.
Pay attention to those you haven’t seen in a while and check in with them.
Notice when someone is sad and be ready to listen.

CONCLUSION:
Because…the Day approaches!

Which is nothing more than a simple reference to Judgment Day or the day when each of us is personally called home to heaven.
It’s coming and getting closer each week.
About 10 days ago it happened to one of our dear brothers, Victor Morats.
Any day it could happen to you or me.

That’s why Jesus focused on his spiritual family.
That’s why he wants us to focus on his spiritual family.
That way, our family and our family, is a part of God’s eternal family. Amen.