Knowing you are apart of the Family of God

If you have a bible this morning please open it up to Matthew 12. I have titled the message this morning Knowing you are apart of the Family of God. Pray with me.

So today is the last message in chapter 12 of Matthews Gospel. And we have yet another important text to look at. All throughout out the gospel of Matthew Jesus has said some pretty controversial things in that time, and today will be no different. Because Jesus is making the bold claim that you show you are apart of Gods family by doing the will of God not just being physically related to the Son of God.

Let us get in the text. Matthew 12:46-50

Matthew 12:46–50 ESV

46 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. 48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

For those taking notes today my main idea is this.

Whoever does the will of God belongs to the family of God.

Now before I unpack this text and its meaning I need to discuss a few important details that are not directly tied to the text but are important to our own Christian faith.

One most of your bible translations you have do not include verse 47.you will see this in a few other places in scripture as well. And there is no verse 47 specifically in the ESV translation from which I preach from. And that is because most manuscripts we find do not have it, and this in no way disproves the reliability of the scriptures because in all these instances we see no theological differences.

For example even in the omission of verse 47 we see no real change to the text we are in . For example in this text scholars believe the scribes added a few words just to make the text make since to the reader. So the scribe may have thought the words he replied to the man who told him did not make sense unless this man was first introduced, so he inserted, your mother and brothers are standing outside, asking to speak to you.

In this example and others we see these little things not affect the meaning of the text nor any kind of theological doctrine. But you need to know what they are and how they do not effect the truth of God’s Word.

Secondly we see Mary and Jesus brothers in the text, and while I hope we know that Mary had physical children and Jesus had real brothers the Roman Catholics dont believe that, and for me their understanding of Mary and this family leads to some real issues.

Catholics will claim something called the perpetual virginity of Mary meaning she was a virgin her whole life, and that these brothers Jesus had were not of Mary rather they were of Joseph and he had these kids before their marriage. But these things are not true.

In my study I found a former devout Roman Catholic say… I don't have an axe to grind, but I'm addressing this now because that's my background and I notice these things. When I read "brothers," I say, "What? Jesus had brothers?" But I've included it here to say that the exegesis of Scripture must determine doctrine, and thus if Jesus had brothers, then Mary was not a perpetual virgin, which means earlier in Matthew when we read that Joseph "took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son" (1:24b, 25a), the word "until!" means what it always means.

That Mary was a virgin at Jesus birth but did not stay that way…

Ok now that we got those things out of the way back to the text.

We see starting off in verse 46 that Jesus is ministering and someone says your mother and your brothers are asking to speak with you..

And you have to look at some other scriptures to see the dynamic of Jesus relationships with his own flesh and blood.

You would think that his family would be super followers of Jesus Christ because they have seen him really closely, but that is not the case.

See Jesus family is outside here in the text because they are outsiders to the family of God in this moment I think this is why Matthew is emphasizing here the fact that they are outside. . And you can say how can you say that pastor? This is Jesus mother and Jesus half brothers how can this be.

Mark 3:21 ESV

21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

His own family is saying he is out of his mind. I have preached this before but the hardest people to reach are even your own family.

In Johns gospel we see his family question him again. John 7:1-5

John 7:1–5 ESV

1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him.

So all these things that Jesus has experienced in his own family has led up to this question. Who is my mother and who are my brothers?

this is a spiritual question not just a physical one.

Lets go back to the main idea.

Whoever does the will of God belongs to the family of God.

Jesus is showing us here that those who are truly related to Jesus Christ who are apart of his family are related to him by a relationship with him. The spiritual family of God is connected to him by faith. Not human blood. Blood is not thicker than water. A term that you here often. In fact I got this idea from one of the commentaries and I thought it was so good and really highlights what Jesus is teaching here in the Matthew.

The commentator I got this from said. blood might be thicker than ordinary water, but the water Jesus has to offer the waters of baptism is thicker than blood. Our family is made up of people who are our own flesh and blood but our spiritual family is those who have faith in Christ. And Jesus says people who are my family are those who do the will of God.

Few points this morning to add to that main idea.

I want you to see this point first…

Those who do the will of God walk and talk in a certain way.

Now we can go back the the sermon on the mount for a little while now, and I purposefully preached through that section of scripture over many months so that we as a church would learn how to live the Christian life. It teaches us how to be disciples of Christ.

In FACT one man said. There may be no do in the word disciple, but there should be. We somehow need to cram it in there, for do or does is the disciple's distinctive. So, how is your doing doing?

You see, one is not a Christian by a mere profession of faith, church attendance, generous tithing, or baptismal rite. One is a Christian by being a “doing disciple." So, as Paul perfectly exhorts, In 2 Cor 13:5

2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV

5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

This does not mean we are saved by works I have told you that 1000s of times by now but a saved person walks differently and talks differently and begins to be transformed into the image of Christ.

Michael Green summarizes this concept .he writes of Matthew here bringing the importance of decision about Jesus to a climax. It is possible to be religious like the Pharisees, and still not be part of the kingdom of God. It is possible to be physically related to the Messiah himself, and still not be part of the kingdom of God. Religious practices and religious pedigree are utterly inadequate to bring anybody into the kingdom. There needs to be an acknowledgment of who Jesus is, and a determined decision to follow him.!?

That's good. And I'll add to that-not merely a determined decision to follow Jesus, but a disciplined doing of God's will.

Pierre Bonnard writes, "The essence of discipleship is not mere profession, right doctrine, or even charismatic phenomena, but doing the will of God

Matthew 7:21–23 ESV

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Now how do we walk and talk in a certain way. We learn from this book right here.

Let me just highlight a few of the things that Jesus has already taught us in Matthew specifically in the sermon on the mount. That teach us how to live out the will of God.

He taught us how to live out the will of God by coming to him poor in Spirit. From the get go we have to acknowledge the fact that we can do nothing to save our selves but need God’s grace in order to be saved. That living in his will will cause us to be broken over our sin, and see our need for Christ and humble ourselves to see God for who he is and what he has done and live for him. We will be people who live in the word of God hungering and thirsting for more of this.. More of the word. That is Gods will to learn everything we can about our Lord and Our God. We will be people who are merciful because we have been forgiven and we will do the will of the Lord by being pure in heart seeking purity over the desiring of the flesh.

Will we face persecution with the right hearts knowing our reward is great.As people doing the will of God we will be the Salt of the earth because this world is in such decay. We will be lights of the world so others will see how glorious the light is. We will be people who believe in the scriptures.

And we will have different attitudes we will check our anger deal with our issues and seek to restore relationships. We will have different sexual standards that focus on our hearts and our actions. We will be truth tellers in a world full of lies. We will seek to be different seeking to not always get even but going the extra mile helping those in need, because Jesus did those things.

We will love our enemies because we who were once an enemy of God loved us. Those who do the will of God will be givers. We will understand that everything we have belongs to God. We will give to the glory of God, we will give showing God who is the Lord of our life.

To be people who do the will of God we will be people of prayer. We will pray towards God and not man. That we pray in adoration to the God. That we pray Gods kingdom Comes, that we pray the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven that we pray that God meets our needs. That we pray for forgiveness. That we pray we are not led into temptation.

As people who do the will of God we will fast focusing on our own desperation for God. Having this redeemed heart that lays up treasures in heaven, with a clear focus, serving him. We do the will of God by not worrying because our God will take care of our needs. We do the will of God by learning how to judge someone biblically with self examination, and the right spirit. We do the will of God Asking the Father for help persistently, and confidently. Treating others as we would want to be treated. We do the will of God following the narrow Path and not the wide gate, and on our path we will watch for false teachers watching their life and doctrine, and on that path we follow Jesus obediently having God’s word as our foundation.

Those things are just some of the ways we will do the will of God just in Matthew.

But it does not even end there. YOU find the will of God all over the scriptures. Want to know the will of God look to the Word of God. And want to know you are apart of the family of God do the will of God.

Last point is this…

Whoever believes in this life in Jesus Christ can be apart of the Holy Family.

Why include this as a point.. Well I know each and every one of us have family who do not believe in Jesus right now. Some of us listening to this sermon would do anything to have a loved one come to know Jesus Christ by faith and live the Christian life.

One of my commentaries said something really insightful that I was thinking in my mind as I read this text but they articulated better.

If you have a family member who does not believe in Jesus right now, give it time. For this isn't the last time we see Jesus' family, is it? Michelangelo's famous Pieta pictures Mary holding her son, Jesus, after his death. And while the Gospels don't portray that, John does say she was present at the crucifixion: "When Jesus saw his mother ...standing nearby, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold, your son! [John]' .. [John], behold, your mother!'" (John 19:26, 27). John is commanded to take care of her. You see, Mary would look to the cross of Christ literally. She was right there looking. And spiritually, on that day or soon after, she would rejoice in God her Savior.

After the resurrection and on the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came in power upon the church, who do we find inside the upper room, with Jesus' disciples? "All these [the twelve apostles minus Judas] with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of less, and his brothers" (Acts 1: 14). Isn't that wonderful? Through faith in their resurrected Lord, these outsiders in Matthew 12 have become insiders in Acts 1. Through faith they became part of the true family of God. blood related or not.

Jesus' mother became his "mother," his brothers his "brothers."

What happened when the wind of God breathed upon that room? That family preached Jesus as Lord, Jesus' brother James most notably becoming the head of the church in Jerusalem.

we see that in Acts 15:13-21 and Jesus own brother writes a letter of the New Testament. The book of James which states in the text James 1:1 .

James 1:1 ESV

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

Things can turn around for the lost spouse, or brother, sister, child and I believe God changed the hearts of those family members in the way he did to show us something very important that those in our family can be changed by experencing the death and resurrection personally. that he can every changed even your own families heart. I have had family members walk from death to life that I never thought would and it can happen to those you love as well just like it happened to Jesus own family.

As we close and go into the next section of the gospel of Matthew I want you to earnestly continue to pray for those whom you love dearest that they would come to know Jesus Christ, and live out the will of God. There has been alot of talk on our Wednesday night studies and I have talked with various pastors and Christians I have talked and listened to asking why are their so many people out their that do not believe in Jesus Christ or this is a big one while they may believe but they want no part of the church.

Well there is a-lot of reasons people give for not believing, for not being connected to a local church but a big one I see that I have to be very careful of and so do you is so many outside of the church don’t see the church living out the will of God… they don’t see people who know the scriptures and live out the scriptures… they just see a bunch of bible thumpers who say they believe this book, but are not even that sold out to Jesus themselves. They are not doing the will of God. We need to be people who are doing the will of God so others can see what the will of God is and we need to do that as a church.

Jesus family had no excuse to not believe and when the death and resurrection happened everything changed, and I am asking you today are you living apart of the family of God so that others who are not apart of the family of God would come to know Jesus. We need to be in the business of doing the will of God as a family together so that others will come to know Jesus Christ.

To me their is nothing better to know that even though may family is full of all this sin and rebellion towards a Holy God I have a family of God right here in this room and outside these walls who I can grow with, whom were also adopted into, whom I get to share this great inheritance with and whom I share the same spirit with living in us.

Are you apart of the family of God and if you are are you doing the will of God.

I cant have you leave here today thinking you belong to the family of God just because you grew up in Church or have a Christian background. The Jews thought being an ethnic Jew was enough for them to saved you are saved by a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In fact Romans..

Romans 3:21–26 ESV

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Want to be justified by God have faith in Jesus repent of your sins and trusting in Christ and live out the will of God. Church let us live as one big family living out the will of God.