Sermons

Who are Jesus’ family?

Posted by Alex on
Sermon on June 24 by Pastor Roland Eskinazi

Scripture: Mark 3: 31- 34

Family has always mattered to God. So what are we do with Jesus’ shocking words here?

To choose Jesus means that:

1. YOU LOVE FAMILY, BUT NOT WORSHIP THEM! (v31)

  • Jesus had family, just like us
    It’s likely that Jesus may have been one of eight children (Mark 6:3). He loved family – as we do.
  • Jesus had tension in his family, just like us
    Amid the unusual tension, Jesus does not idolize his family or relationship to them.
    When Jesus is the sun in our solar system everything else, family and career take their proper place.

2. IN HIS FAMILY, YOU WILL GET FAR MORE! (v32-33)

  • ‘In My family, outsiders become insiders’
    We do not enter Jesus’ family through our background, or culture but through believing in His name

…to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
John 1:12-13

  • ‘In My family, grace not genes matter’
    Worship is broader than the church, but the church is not made up of ‘those around me’.
    We show we are truly family when we are all for Jesus, not against or indifferent to Him.

3. YOU SHOW WHOSE YOU ARE, BECAUSE YOU ARE (v35)

  • Doing God’s will is not performing, but being
    ‘…I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.’ (Eph. 4:1)
    Know who you are, know what you have been given – and you will live like a child of the Father.
  • Doing God’s will is not being served, but serving

It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.
Luke 12:37

Are you serving the Lord? Jesus delight is doing His Father’s will – obeying Him and serving us.
Which side are you choosing?

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house – yet it did not fall, because it’s foundation on the rock. 
Matthew 7:25

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QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

  1. Does it help us to know that Jesus has family- brothers and sisters? How and why?
  2. How is finding Jesus ‘interesting’ or ‘fascinating’ insufficient for being included in the family of God?
  3. How would you describe a Christian, and the marks of a true disciple to a colleague at work who asks?
  4. If Jesus defined His mission through service and sacrifice, how do we work this out in our lives and in the church? Why should serving sacrificially be as natural to us as breathing?

 

Photo credit FreeImages.com/
Gary Scott