Could this be the Son of David?

Transcription

1 Cornerstone Church April 29, 2018 We Are Family Matthew 12:46-50 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you. He replied to him, Who is my mother, and who are my brothers? Pointing to his disciples, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. Matthew 12:46-50 NIV THE CONTEXT: Jesus is back in Capernaum. In Capernaum Jesus entered a house wanting to eat. He is soon surrounded by crowds of people and cannot eat! o Those who wanted to be healed or delivered. o The Religious leaders from Jerusalem who wanted to find fault with Him o The Disciples were also with Him. The crowds are growing larger by the day. Prior to this gathering, four friends of a paralyzed man went as far as to tear open the roof of a home where Jesus was speaking to let their friend down by ropes to be healed by Jesus! Matthew records earlier that Jesus had healed a demon-processed man. All the people were astonished and said, Could this be the Son of David? Matt. 12:23 NIV We Are Family Matthew 12:

2 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Matthew 12:46 NIV Why were they there? Why had they made the 25 to 30-mile trip from Nazareth to Capernaum? Jesus entered a house, and the crowd gathered again so that they were not even able to eat. When his family heard this, they set out to restrain him, because they said, He s out of his mind. Mark 3:20-21 CSB His family wanted to: take charge of Him to seize him by force if necessary. Why? This is a hard one for us to swallow! HE S OUT OF HIS MIND. Jesus own family had concerns about His mental state! To protect Him! To protect their own reputation! Jesus family did not push their way through the crowd! The word was given to one person, who passed it on to another person, who passed it on to another, until it finally reached Jesus. I am under the impression that by the time that the Lord Jesus Christ got the message, all of the people in and around the house also knew the content of the message. Someone told him, Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you. Matthew 12:47 NIV We Are Family Matthew 12:

3 Some in the crowd may have snickered: Oh Messiah, your Mom is looking for you! He (Jesus) replied to him, Who is my mother, and who are my brothers? Matthew 12:48 NIV Jesus seems to pause and stare around the room at everyone! Jesus then points to the Disciples and makes an insightful statement: Pointing to his disciples, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. FAMILY LIFE IS INTERESTING AT TIMES! There is no perfect family! Certainly not mine! There are no perfect people! I m far from it (failing each and every day)! Last weekend a large segment of my family was home. For nearly three days twenty of us hung out together! Conversations / telling family stories to the next generation Preparing and eating Meals / Desserts Playing games! Taking naps! It was great! Was our time together, free of friction or disagreement? Yes, it was! Our time was absolutely perfect! Yes, we experienced the same squabbles each one of you face. It is true, Blood is thicker than water! The glue that holds a family together through good times and difficult times is: Love Forgiveness Christ as the Head of each family member s life! We Are Family Matthew 12:

4 Jesus wasn t breaking His family ties! Jesus was not being unkind to His family! We know that He took care of the needs of His mother while on the Cross, just before He died. We know that His brother James became a leader in the church writing the Book of James, and His other brother wrote Jude! Jesus wanted to communicate that there exists a greater and deeper bond beyond our earthly family! Jesus is talking about our eternal spiritual family! WE ARE FAMILY! Those of us who have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. God created everyone (physical birth)! We bear His Image within us (Imago Dei) and are capable of immeasurable good. God, however, is only FATHER of those born again (spiritual birth). Because of the fall we also are capable of the vilest evil imaginable. This is why we need a Savior! He (Jesus) said, Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. THIS IS A BIG DEAL! This is of supreme importance! Aside: The key to having a healthy earthly family is found in remaining connected to God s supernatural family the church. The family is in trouble! Many today in trying to stop the disintegration of the family have invested everything in family life, to the point of marginalizing God out of their lives. This is domestic idolatry! Familial Narcissism! We Are Family Matthew 12:

5 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Heb. 10:25 NIV OUR ADOPTION How we got into the Family! So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, Abba, Father. For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God s children. Rom. 8:15-16 NLT We get into the Family of God through Adoption! There is no other way to enter God s family! If you re an orphan, you don t adopt parents; they adopt you. Mark Dever Once you are adopted you take on the name of the one by Whom you were adopted. We are called Christians because we bear the name of the one who adopted us. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Eph. 1:5 NLT The famous evangelist D. L. Moody described the process of salvation with five key words (Greg Laurie): Repentance: a change of mind. A new mind about God. Conversion: a change of life. A new life from God. Regeneration: a change of nature. A new heart from God. Justification: a change of state. A new standing before God. Adoption: a change of family. A new relationship toward God. We Are Family Matthew 12:

6 In essence, we have been given the full rights of a son in the family of God as though we were born that way. We can stand in awe of a God who has the power and desire to forgive us and put His righteousness to our account. But by adoption, God is saying, Don t merely stand in awe of Me; come close to Me! Greg Laurie, Salvation Brings Adoption into God s Family devotional OUR DIVERSITY Different but the Same Good News our adoption is not based on our righteousness! For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. Rom. 3:23-24 NLT He Redeems He Adopts He transforms We are saved through faith alone, by grace alone, in Christ alone for God s Glory alone! Our family is diverse! GOD DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE IN ANY WAY BASED ON: Ethnicity Race Social Status Educational level GOD HAS A COLORFUL FAMILY THAT IS GLOBAL! After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. Rev. 7:9 NLT We Are Family Matthew 12:

7 Quotes from Pastor Dave Gibbons, New Song Church: There are no returns or exchanges on family members. You see, as a church, we are members of a family in which we have no say over who is in or who is out. Once a person accepts Christ, whether we like it or not, we are stuck together. Sure, we get to choose the church we go to and if we re lucky enough we find people we can do life with at that church. But what if we re called to more? What if we re supposed to go beyond our inner-circle and build bridges with those who we may not normally hang out with? We re stuck together, remember? This was the power behind the testimony of the early New Testament Church. The Church (the Family of God) was made up of: Jews and Gentiles (polar opposites) A plethora of Nations (Greeks, Jews, Romans, Egyptians) Rich and poor Prominent religious leaders and well-known prostitutes and sinners Lydia the seller of purple and Onesimus the slave The watching world observed the profound unity and love the family of God displayed even at times in the midst of persecution. When we find our identity anywhere other than Christ, our churches will be made up of warring partisans rather than loving siblings. Meet the Family of God Trilla Newbell Building groups merely based on affinity or similar interests and likes can produce temporary fleshly growth and results. They produce a temporary attraction. This is not much different than people rallying around their favorite Baseball or Basketball Team. We Are Family Matthew 12:

8 May the Holy Spirit drive Christians from seeking to build unity like those who built the Towel of Babel to a unity that comes from being focused on Christ who has transformed lives. Fleshly unity is where enmity, strife and jealously originate! Seeing the supernatural transformation of lives by Christ is compelling! What would it mean if we took the radical notion of being brothers and sisters seriously? What would happen if your church saw an elderly woman no one would ever confuse with cool on her knees in front of the church praying with a body-pierced fifteen-year-old anorexic girl? You fill in the blank! God builds this family! Meet the Family of God Trilla Newbell WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF JESUS! It is that simple yet profound! We may cultivate it, feed it, protect it, and use it. But we dare not pretend to create it. The Compelling Community, Mark Dever & Jamie Dunlop, pg. 14 OUR CALL TO UNITY Big View of the Family of God As I said at the beginning it is love and forgiveness that keeps and holds a family together. God s family is no different. Christians throughout the New Testament were often not on the same page: Paul and Barnabas parted ways over John Mark! Peter and Paul disagreed theologically! Most of the New Testament letters and epistles were written to settle problems in the church. Hellenistic Jewish Widows needs were overlooked. Jews and Gentiles were polar opposites! We Are Family Matthew 12:

9 Quotes from Pastor Dave Gibbons, New Song Church: What do we do with the family member that we may not get along with? Or look different from? How do we respond when a family member offends us? Do we avoid that person? Do we hold a grudge? Do we exclude them from our inner circle? Please don t misunderstand me; I know that boundaries are necessary to maintain healthy relationships, but I want to challenge us to cross over those natural barriers that we have built between ourselves and our brothers and sisters. UNITY IS NOT UNIFORMITY! If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Christianity is not merely about: Listening to Christian Radio Memorizing Verses Praying before meals Learning about God (studies and small groups) Using our Spiritual Gifts Matt. 5:46-48 NLT They are important aspects of the Christian life. They help us to grow and to know how we are to live! We gather to worship and hear the Word of God proclaimed! We work out and exercise love and forgiveness together as family! Love for God Love For One Another We Are Family Matthew 12:

10 WHEN THE FAMILY IS GATHERED TOGETHER: We increasingly show a willingness to put up with, to forgive, and even love a bunch of fellow sinners. Mark Dever We cannot live this out on an island all by ourselves! We demonstrate it when the people we have committed to give us good reasons not to love them, but we do it anyway. Mark Dever FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER! (Let it go Letgo.com) LOVING ONE ANOTHER! These flow right from the heart of God! He loved us when we did not love Him. He forgave us who did wrong! This is the gospel visualized and demonstrated for the lost to see! The supernatural message of the Gospel is invisible unless it shows up in lives that have been transformed! Our radically loving and forgiving one another reveals God to the lost, who need to know He loves them and wants to forgive them too! By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:35 CSB The power on display in the early New Testament Church and testimony to the lost world was God s people living resurrected lives through the power of the Holy Spirit seen by the radical love and forgiveness of one another! WE ARE FAMILY Let s go out and tell others! God wants to increase the size of His Family! Ideas gleaned from Mark Dever and Trilla Newbell We Are Family Matthew 12: