Jesus is more important than family

I. Introduction

1. Prayers

2. Scripture memory

Romans 8:26 ESV

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Title and start

Catch..

Lucien of Antioch (an early Christian believer) said, ‘A Christian’s only relatives are the saints’. Was he correct?

The biblical family

There are 3 types of families in the bible

#1- The nuclear family (Gen.2:24, Ephesians 5:22- 6:4)

#2- The extended family ( Judges 6:15 refers to clans, 1 Tim 5:3-4 talks about grandchildren honoring grandma)

#3- The church family (1 tim 3:15 where church is called household of God, Luke 8:21- Jesus says those who follow God are his family)

So we

Review

Jesus has given the purpose of parables- to conceal and reveal

And the seeds of God’s word are dependent on good soil

that soil can only come from God’s work in people’s lives as he gives them good hearts to hear

You will recall the mark of a good soil was:

Luke 8:15- As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Bearing fruit was a key marker of someone who heard the word was someone who did good works

Then jesus said part of those good works is to let you light shine before others

A private religion is not ok in Jesus’ eyes

Here is a video to remind you of that

How Jesus family guides us to view family today

1) Jesus had a normal family showing family can be messy (20-21)

Interpretation

1. A righteous mom who sometimes worried

His mothers and brothers came, but in greek the verb came is singular

So the emphasis is on Mary’s action, she is the one with driving concern for her son

Are we told what she is concerned about here?

No, so what

Look back at Luke 1:26-28

Luke 1:26–28 ESV

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

What do we know about Mary’s character and traits?

Or what does Luke 2 about Jesus in the temple tell us about Mary knew about Jesus?

Mary may have evidenced some impatience

John 2:3–5 ESV

3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

But the church fathers Ambrose and Chrysostom accuse Mary of ambition, but without any explanation

Mary is a godly woman

She treasured the truths of who Jesus was supposed to be in her heart

Mary herself was a devout believer and she was not only the mother of Christ, but a disciple of Christ,

RC Sproul writes, “Remember Mary was human; she cared about her son, she saw him give himself away tirelessly, and she worried about him from time to time.”

Mary is not a virgin

Who is with her?

his brothers

The word can mean countrymen or larger group

Like in Acts 3:22

Acts 3:22 ESV

22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.

But in the context with a mother, it should mean actual siblings as others make clear later

Matthew 13:55 “55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?”

We know she was a virigin until after Jesus was born

Matthew 1:25 “25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”

The Roman Catholic church makes a big deal about this

Roman Catholic scholars say that all of them refer to the Lord's cousins and not His actual half-brothers or half-sisters

Thomas Aquinas provided four reasons why she had to always be a virgin

◦ Since Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father, it was becoming that Christ should also be the only begotten Son of His mother.

◦ Intercourse with Joseph would have "desecrated the virginal womb of Mary. This would have been an insult to the Holy Spirit, whose shrine was her womb.

◦ It would have been below "the dignity and holi-ness"of Mary to forfeit her miraculous virginity by carnal intercourse with Joseph.
 Such an act would also show that she was ungrateful or not content with being the mother
of Jesus.

It would have been "extreme presumption" for Joseph to have attempted to violate" Mary, whom he knew had conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.

But there is no biblical reason for her to be a

They explain this as a reference to children of Joseph by an earlier marriage or perhaps to cousins of Jesus. There is little evidence for such views and we should hold to the natural meaning

Secondly, we see Jesus’ family included

2. Unbelieving siblings who thought he was crazy

It helps to compare this passage with its use in Mark 3

Read

Mark 3:20–33 (ESV)

20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

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.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”

What did Jesus’ family want to do

His brothers did not believe Him

John comments, "For not even His brothers were believing in Him" (John 7:5)

But later we read they came to faith

After the ascension we read the gathering for prayer included

"along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers" (Acts 1:14).

Much later Paul writes that when he visited Jerusalem, he went to see "James, the Lord's brother" (Galatians 1:19), who by then was a leading figure in the church in Jerusalem Galatians 2:9-12;

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul also refers to "the brothers of the Lord”

1 Corinthians 9:5 ESV

5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?

Would Paul need to make that distinction if they were just other jewish people?

Application

Raise your hand if you have the perfect family?

How does Jesus having a normal challenging family encourage us?

How does Paul’s conviction about unbelieving family direct us to care?

Romans 9:2–4 ESV

2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.

2) Jesus had family in its proper place: under the guidance of God (20-21)

Interpretation

Someone comes along the tells Jesus that his family is waiting outside

You can imagine them being stuck outside the door here as a large crowd blocks the way

Who is missing from this group?

The father jospeh

Maybe Joseph had died by this time (Joseph is never mentioned after the trip to Jerusalem when Jesus was 12 in Luke 2:

Jesus’ family may have been trying to bring him to his senses (cf. Mark 3:21); as the eldest son, Jesus would have been responsible for the care of the family after Joseph’s death.

Maybe the brothers are worried Jesus is not doing his duty by devoting himself to ministry

Notice what we’re not told

It doesn’t say Jesus ignored them and told them to get lost

It doesn’t say what we did next

But Jesus uses this interruption in his teaching to speak an important truth

1. Jesus honored family

Jesus grew up that way

Luke 2:51- came to Nazareth and was submissive to them

The New testament calls for obedience of children

i. Col 3:20 explains that children must obey parents in everything

ii. The phrase has been thrown out there “OBEY right away, all the way, in a happy way.”

iii. This is what God says is right and necessary

i. Paul makes clear how serious disobeying parents is saying

2 Timothy 3:1–2- But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

Jesus taught about honoring parent

a. Adults should honor their parents

i. The word honor means to be heavy or weighty

1. Think of it like driving a boat with a bunch of people all on one side

2. The weight naturally drags the boat towards a direction

3. And you have to work overtime to get it to go the other way

4. So a parent should pull weight in our lives

5. Parents must be prized, or esteemed

ii. This includes financially caring for parents

1. Jesus rebuked the hypocrites for this

Matthew 15:4–7- For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said

2. Remember, there was no social security or protection, so an elderly’s person only security was their children

3. But these kids said, well… I can’t help you because the money I was going to help you with was given to God and you know, my budget line item to go to Hawaii can’t be changed, so sorry mom

a. Paul rebuked these people strongly saying

a. 1 Timothy 5:3–4- Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.

a. 1 Timothy 5:8- But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

a. To not care for a widow is to be worse than an unbeliever

a. Children and grandchildren are indebted to those who brought them into the world, reared them, and loved them. Fulfilling this responsibility is a mark of godly obedience

i. Illustration

1. No matter the age, a child will either honor or dishonor their parents

2. At perhaps the biggest way is just how we live

3. I walked into a door after a big rainstorm

a. There was a door matt inside and I stopped and wiped my feet without thinking about it

b. Someone looked at me and said, well, your mom taught you right

c. I made my mom look good by doing something respectful and caring for the place

How do you think jesus made mary look good?

At the end of his life He thought of his mother even when he hung on the cross in the agony of achieving the world’s redemption (John 19:26f.)

2. Jesus redirected family to those who follow God

Jesus redefined family in a huge way

In the Old Testament, the family was central to Gods plan for filling the earth and redeeming it

It was all about having biological children in the land, to keep the promise going

culture that grounded identity in the natural family, Jesus redrew family lines

think of the importance of Boaz being a kinsmen redeemer.. a close family member to Naomi and thus ruth

Apologist Sean Mcdowell writes

Family status is not determined horizontally by the natural family, according to Jesus, but vertically based on a relationship with God. Simply put, brother and sister in Christ are now more important than brother and sister in the natural family

Single people may not have a spouse, and most do not have biological children, yet along with married people, they are equal members of the family of God." -SEAN. MCDOWELL

a. God is above all

i. Jesus affirmed marriage, he blessed the children & we already saw how he went after those who dishonored parents

ii. But there is a limit to honoring parents

1. Remember, the 5th commandment comes after the first 4 & Ephesians 6 comes 5 chs

2. God takes precedence over family

iii. As jesus said

Matthew 10:36–37- And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 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.

v. But he honored his heavenly father first

the key is those who do the word, not just hear it

Knowing God is something more than knowing about God. It is a personal relationship, like knowing a friend

obedience is a criterion of knowledge in Scripture. If you want to know whether someone knows God, look at his or her life. First John 2:3–4 reads: “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (cf. Matt. 7:21–29

Illustration

RC Sproul wrote, “everybody believes in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, as if, by virtue of our natural birth in this world, we are the children of God”

But God is only a father to those who have faith, others are like their father the devil

John 8:44 ESV

44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Application

How do family relationships need to come 2nd to God?

Kevin deyoung- “One of the acceptable idolatries among evangelical Christians is the idolatry of the family.”

according to the Bible, the family is good, necessary, and foundational, but not ultimate.

Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 The Children of God

there are times when family members demand unreasonable attention, or even when they stand in the way of the ministry that God has called us to do. This kind of conflict is especially common when someone with non-Christian parents gets called to the mission field, or when family members selfishly believe that their needs are the only ones that matter. Thus there are times when the claims of family need to be set aside for the higher calling of our kinship with Christ. This needs to be done lovingly and respectfully, but also clearly and firmly.

The major lesson to draw from Luke 8:21 is that the true members of God’s family are the men and women and boys and girls who do what Jesus says; they “hear the word of God and do it.” This was the main thing that Jesus was saying. He took the request that his family made and used it as an opportunity to explain what it means to belong to the family of God.

In What ways can we dangerously disregard commands to honor our family?

Closing question

Close & prayer

God, enable us to not miss you for the gifts you give

Lord, we pray