Family of Outsiders | Oren Martin

Kylen Perry: Porch, how are we doing tonight? Are we doing all right? Good to see you. Hey, thanks so much for always making time to be with us here on your Tuesday evening or whatever evening it is that you're tuning in with us, because we know so many of you are not just here in the room, though it's great to see all of you; some of you are also tuning in online, especially our Porch.Live community. Can we give it up for Porch.Live? Special shout-out to Porch.Live Des Moines, Porch.Live Dayton, and Porch.Live Greater Lafayette. We love you guys, and we're so glad that you'd be with us.

If this is your first time here, if you're jumping in midstream through our series right now, we have been journeying through The Relationship Series. What we've been doing as we've been walking through this series is asking…What is God's design for how we're meant to connect with each other? Not just in dating and romantic relationships, though that's very important, but also in all manner of relationships, the variety of different opportunities we have to interact with one another in life, whether it's friendships or dating or marriage or work or the relationship you have with yourself. That's the idea of this series.

Tonight, we're going to be diving into your relationship with family. To help us do it, we have invited a very special guest to teach us this evening. Before I tell you who it is, I do just want to lead with this. When I was considering whether or not I would make the move to Dallas, Texas, to join the team here at The Porch, this individual was a big selling point for why we felt it was a good reason to come, because this guy is not just intellectually acquainted with God (though he is, and you'll see that); he is intimately acquainted with God.

He's deeply enchanted with the person of Jesus. So, I'm really excited for you all to hear from my good friend Dr. Oren Martin. Oren is a dear friend to me. He's a former professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where he taught on theology. He also is now the senior director of equipping here at Watermark Community Church, so you can learn from him yourself, not just tonight, but in other areas of the church as well.

Before he comes up, I want to read to us the Scripture we're going to be studying together. If you have a Bible, turn with me to Mark, chapter 3. Mark is one of the four gospels we find in the New Testament. We're going to be early into the book. This is what it says in Mark, chapter 3, picking up in verse 20. This is talking about Jesus Christ.

"Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, 'He is out of his mind.' And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, 'He is possessed by Beelzebul,' and 'by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.'

And he called them to him and said to them in parables, 'How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.

But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin'— for they were saying, 'He has an unclean spirit.'

And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, 'Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.' And he answered them, 'Who are my mother and my brothers?' And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.'" Let me pray for us.

Father, we're eager to learn what this Scripture has to teach us tonight. I believe, Lord, that every word we just read has deep relevance for every person here tonight. I pray, God, that you would open our eyes to see the beauty of Christ as we study through this passage together. I pray, God, you would help us to know how we are to interact with our own families, as we are now a part of your family for those who place their faith in you.

God, I'm so grateful for every soul here. Thank you, God, for my friend Oren Martin, that he would give the time to come and teach us this evening. I pray you would fill him with your Spirit and lead him along and he would speak your truth. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Porch, would you welcome my good friend Dr. Oren Martin?

Oren Martin: Good evening! How are we doing? It is so good to be here with you all. Kylen welcomed everyone, so I don't have to do all of the obligatory, "Welcome, Porch and Porch.Live." He already did that. We're thankful. It is not lost on me that we have a full room of people who are here to gather to sing God's Word, to hear God's Word. That is amazing. So thank you. We don't take that privilege lightly. It is a joy to be able to open God's Word with you.

As Kylen said, we are continuing the series on relationships. We've talked about friendships. You've talked about marriage. Tonight, we're talking about family. Now, there are probably a few in here who are not originally from Dallas. If you're not from Dallas, if Dallas is not your hometown, would you raise your hand? Yes, I would raise my hand too. That's actually more than I expected. I'm a little bit overwhelmed right now. I may have to go home.

I am in that same boat with you. As a result (it's very common), we can often try to find our family elsewhere. Where do people try to find it? You might think of gyms. You might think of CrossFit. You might think of some kind of running clubs or book clubs. (Maybe not book clubs unless you're people like me.) These groups often gather around common interests.

But as Christians, those who claim the name of Christ, where do we find it? What does that mean for us? What does it mean for our natural or earthly, nuclear families? Well, our passage tonight helps us answer these questions. Before we do that… I know Kylen prayed, but just for my own heart, would you join me in prayer really quickly? I'm going to pray from Psalm 123.

To you, O Lord, we lift up our eyes. Lord, we confess that oftentimes we lift up our eyes and just see obstacles. We see conflict. We see difficulties. We see suffering. So, Lord, we acknowledge that it's good to lift up our eyes, because it is you who are enthroned in the heavens. You reign above it all.

Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, O God, our eyes look to you, to the Lord our God, until you have mercy on us. We ask tonight that you would have mercy on us, O Lord, that you would have mercy on us. Lift our eyes to see Jesus in all of his glory and beauty and splendor. Fix our eyes on him. It's in his name I ask, amen.

Let me just tell you a little bit about myself. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I had a wonderful family. I was so thankful for the gift the Lord gave me in the gift of my parents, who were believers, and my older sister, who I guess I'm thankful for. I mean, as younger brothers, do we have to be thankful for our older sister? Yes. I have a wonderful sister. (If you're listening, Shiloh, I love you, even though you've scarred me for life.)

When I was 18 years old, my father passed away. He died of AIDS that he contracted through a lot of sin that he was hiding from us, from our family. He was living a double life. My family blew apart in the wake of that. My mother, pretty soon after, remarried an unbeliever. As a result of that, I was angry. I was an angry 18-year-old who was still grieving over the loss of my best friend, and she had the audacity to do what she had always instructed us not to do…not to date, not to marry, someone who doesn't follow Jesus.

So, what did we do? My sister and I cut her off. We didn't talk to her for three years. My life, for about three years, just spiraled downward. I was hopeless. I was seeking joy. I was seeking contentment. I was seeking to numb the pain of my grief with anything and everything the world could throw at me, and I was hopeless.

One day, my sister, who lived up in College Station… She and her husband were students at Texas A&M University. Like a great older sister does, she called me and said, "Oren, you are an idiot. You are living like a fool." She saw my hopeless state. I'd actually just been fired from my job for stealing car parts to sell on the side because I was racing cars, and we sold them for car parts. It was a big Mustang ring.

Let's just say I was not in a good place. I was unemployed. I didn't have a home. If you've seen the movie Dumb and Dumber… You know, "We've got no food. We've got no clothes. Our pets' heads are falling off." That's how I felt. So, my sister was like, "Why don't you move up with us?" So, out of feeling like I didn't have anywhere else to go, I moved up with my sister and her husband. She said, "You're welcome to live with us on one condition: that you go to church with us." I was like, "Fine. All right." Free room and board.

So, I started going to church with my sister. After about a year, I had heard something. God opened my ears to hear what I hadn't heard before. He opened my eyes to see what I hadn't seen before, and that was the beauty and the glory of Christ who came to die for a sinner like me. He lived the life I couldn't live. He obeyed perfectly in my place. He died the death for my sin that I deserved to die, and he was raised from the dead.

Through trusting in him, through giving my life to him, by receiving him, God filled me with something I had not had before: joy, peace, love, acceptance, security, and assurance. Even more, he gave me a family. That church became my family in the wake of not having a family. In the subsequent years, I saw the Lord work in my life and through my life and my family's life, and he brought my mom's husband to faith in Christ.

He restored my relationship with my mom, and by God's grace, we have an incredible relationship. She actually texted me yesterday and asked me if we get wings after we die. It's a great question. I was like, "O Lord, have mercy. No, we don't get wings." I come to you tonight and tell you what a glorious Savior we have. God did not spare his own Son. How will he not also with him freely, graciously, give us all things? One of those wonderful gifts is the gift of family. So, that's what I want to focus our attention on tonight.

Here's my main point that I want to talk about tonight: Jesus is making a new family on earth gathered around himself, and he's doing it with outsiders, which changes everything. Before we get there, we need to clear some ground because, as Kylen said, we're in Mark, chapter 3, which means there are two chapters that come before. So, we need to get our bearings a little bit and understand where we are in the context of Mark.

Mark's very first words in chapter 1, verse 1 (you don't have to turn there), are "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." That's like the title of his book. This is what his gospel is about. Gospel just means good news. What Mark is saying is this is the beginning of the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Now, why is it good news? Mark spends the next 15 chapters telling us why it's good news. Basically, the gospel is good news because God did what you and I couldn't do. That's the gist of the gospel. God did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He just goes off for 15 chapters, painting a glorious picture of who this God is, the very Son of God, that God, in the person of the Son, became flesh. As John says, "The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us." He "templed" among us.

The eternal Son, who's from the Father, was sent from the Father in time to become man and live the life we couldn't live and die the death we deserved to die. Mark paints a beautiful picture of how he is the better King, the better Son. He brings God's kingdom, God's rule, and God's authority to earth, and that is a good thing.

He shows us in detail after detail how Jesus is the authoritative King who has authority over sin, death, Satan, evil, creation, unclean spirits, and disease. He has authority over everything and everyone. This brought all kinds of responses. Even in Mark, chapter 3, in the text we're in, by then people are questioning him. They're accusing him. They don't really understand who he is. They're confused about him.

Some recognize him. It's interesting that the only people who recognize him up to this point are the unclean spirits. They confess him. "You are the Christ, the Messiah, the King, the Holy One of Israel." Everybody else is kind of like, "What's going on? Who is this guy? He's making these amazing claims." In our passage tonight we'll see what his family thought of him and how Jesus responded.

So, it's important to know the context of where we are in Mark, but it's also important to see how Mark makes our main point that Jesus makes a new family gathered around himself. It's important to see how Mark makes his main point, and we cannot miss it. You probably got confused a little bit when Kylen was reading. There's a point for that.

If you notice, Mark introduces his family in verses 20 and 21. It says his family heard all that Jesus was saying and saw all that Jesus was doing, and they went out to seize him. That's a word that's used throughout the rest of his gospel to mean to arrest him, to control him, to take charge of him. Why? Because they were saying, "He is out of his mind." His family thought he was nuts, he was crazy.

So, Mark introduces his family in verses 20 and 21, but then he immediately jumps to the story about him being accused of working with Satan. It's kind of an abrupt shift. Then, after he deals with that story, in verses 31-35, Mark jumps back to his family and tells us their response. It kind of feels like, "Here's family, and then here's Satan accusing him and Jesus responding, and then going back to his family. What's going on here?"

I'm so glad you asked. This is a literary device Mark frequently uses throughout his gospel called a Mark sandwich. It's actually a pretty technical theological term, but it sounds funny. Who doesn't like sandwiches? Well, Mark liked sandwiches. He does it all throughout his gospel. What do I mean by that? This is a literary device he uses to make a point. Stay with me here.

The middle of the sandwich, verses 22-30, help us understand the outside of the sandwich. The middle of the sandwich helps us interpret, understand, apply, and receive the main point of the text. So, what do I mean by that? Well, while his family is trying to control him (there's the outside of the sandwich), and the scribes are accusing him of being on the same team as Satan (they're rejecting him), Jesus, in the middle, out-kings them all and displays his unrivaled control and authority. It is a brilliant literary point to make.

Mark is telling us, in the middle of this story, that Jesus is the strong man who plunders and destroys the so-called strong man of this age. He says in verse 27, "But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods…" He's referring to Satan, to evil activity. "…unless he first binds the strong man." That assumes that this strong man who is bound is bound by a stronger man.

It's interesting that back in Mark 1:7, John the Baptist says, "You know what? As great as I am, there's one coming after me, and he is mightier and stronger than I." Mark is telling us who this mightier one, this stronger one, is. This stronger one is Jesus. In this passage, the ones who think they're insiders…on one hand, his blood family and, on the other hand, the scribes from Jerusalem… I mean, they're God's people. Right? Israel.

The ones who think they're insiders, family and scribes, are in reality outsiders, and Jesus seizes the moment to reveal who the true insiders are. So, we have to see what Jesus is doing. Why is this important to his audience and to us? Well, at that time it appeared that Satan had won. Do you see what they say? They accuse him.

Verse 22: "'He is possessed by Beelzebul,' and 'by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.' And he called them to him and said to them in parables, 'How can Satan cast out Satan?'" He quotes those famous words of Abraham Lincoln. "If a kingdom is divided against itself…" I'm just kidding. Abraham Lincoln got it from him. I'm just making sure you're following. "And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand."

Maybe, in contemporary terms, a basketball player is not going to score in his own goal or a football player is not going to score in his own end zone. Or, if you're like my daughter who loves Dancing With the Stars, a dance team is not going to score points for the other dance team. Jesus is exposing their absurdity. If I were on the same team as Satan, why would I be working against Satan? That's his point, and that's an important point.

These people have been under the dominion of Satan and satanic activity for generation after generation after generation. Just imagine. If you know the history of Israel, it wasn't a pretty history, going all the way back to the garden of Eden where God created Adam and Eve to have life with him and fellowship with him, and instead of listening to his word, they listened to the word of a serpent. "Did God really say…?"

Instead of believing God, instead of taking God at his word, they took the word of the Serpent and unleashed a world of sin and death in their wake. It began with their own children, Cain and Abel. Cain murdered Abel. It just continued and escalated after him…Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the nation of Israel, David.

Every person after Adam and Eve fell into sin was a sinner and died just like their parents. The Old Testament ends with Israel in exile away from the Promised Land, away from the promises of God, because they were under the rule and dominion of Satan. They'd been waiting. They'd been waiting for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years.

"When is God going to fulfill his promises? When is the Messiah, the King, going to come and display his authority and put the other kingdoms down? We're tired of being ruled by Babylonians and the Assyrians and the Medo-Persians and (in Jesus' day) the Romans. We're tired of it. We need the King to come in long fulfillment and anticipation of God's promises and prophecies of a king who would come and break into history and save his people from worldly dominion."

So, it appeared at this time that Satan had won. Mark shows us in wonderful ways that in steps the Son of God, the Word who became flesh. In fact, John's gospel tells us he is the light who shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. Friends, this was the King they had been waiting for. This was the King they needed, but unfortunately, it's not the king they wanted. They wanted a king who would deliver them from Rome, but Jesus is a greater King who delivers them from sin, Satan, and death.

Jesus shows the folly of their accusation, and Jesus says that anyone who condemns the ministry of Jesus as the ministry of Satan is guilty of an eternal sin. This is what it means to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit, John tells us, works to glorify and to exalt Jesus. Jesus says, "When I leave, after my death and resurrection, I'm going to send you another Helper, the Spirit of truth, and he will indwell you. He will not just be with you; he will be in you. He will take from me, and he will make it known to you. He will guide you into all truth." And he did that.

He guided the disciples in the truth, and they wrote that truth down, and this is what we have through the pages of the New Testament. So, this is what it means to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit works to glorify Jesus. In the words of J.I. Packer, the Spirit's work is a spotlight work. The Spirit's ministry is a spotlight ministry. In other words, the Spirit exists to shine the light on Jesus, not to glorify himself.

So, to reject the Holy Spirit is to reject Jesus, and to reject Jesus is to reject God himself. But there's hope. Look at verse 28. "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin…"

People get worried about "Oh, did I commit the eternal sin? Did I commit that blasphemy?" Let me just say it in clearest terms. If you're worried about that, you haven't committed it. It actually should give you great assurance. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is finally rejecting the work of the Spirit who shines his light on Jesus and, thus, is to reject Jesus. Jesus says, "I will forgive all sins and blasphemies."

This is an amazing story. Do you remember the story of Stephen in Acts, chapter 7, who preached probably one of the best sermons ever? Stephen is accusing the unbelieving Jews, unbelieving Israel, for resisting the Holy Spirit because they were rejecting Jesus. He says, "You always resist the Holy Spirit, just like your fathers always did." It's amazing that it goes on a few verses later and tells us there was a man in the crowd who stood and looked approvingly at all that was happening.

What had happened was they murdered Stephen. He's one of the first martyrs of the church. Do you know who that man was? His name was Saul. Saul would be renamed Paul, depending on where he went to share the gospel, and Paul is that man Jesus comes to just a couple of chapters later and says, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And Jesus saves him. Jesus forgives him. Jesus gives Saul his very righteousness so that Saul, once an enemy of Jesus, is now a friend.

Do you get what's going on? Jesus shows up and has mercy on him, and Paul never got over it. He says, "I'm the least of the apostles. By God's grace I am what I am. I am the chief of sinners, but Jesus had mercy on me." Friends, marvel at God's mercy. If you are here tonight, no matter where you've been, no matter what you've done, as Richard Sibbes says, there is more mercy in Christ than sin in you. Do you believe that?

So, what's the call? Go to Jesus where there is mercy to forgive. Go to Jesus where there is mercy to help. Go to Jesus where there is an unending fount of mercy to endure, to give you wisdom, to give you assurance. Okay. Let's turn our attention back on the main point Mark is making that Jesus is plundering Satan's house to make a new family for himself, gathered around himself, and he's doing it with outsiders.

This is why we're here tonight, and this is what I want to focus the rest of our time on. This is what I want us to see, because this point changes everything, particularly in relationships with our families…parents, siblings, and everyone else. So, with the rest of our time together, let me point out three things. This is going to blow your minds. Are you ready for this?

1. Jesus had a family. Is that amazing? You're like, "Really? You taught theology, and this is what you came here to say?" You're like, "Yeah. We already knew that." Well, it's actually interesting that in the early church that's one of the most predominant heresies. Actually, in 1 John it says anyone who denies that Jesus has come in the flesh is the antichrist.

There is a whole host of heresies. You can study them. One is called Monophysitism. Another one is called Ebionitism. Another one is called Docetism. They denied his humanity. Now you're thinking, "Yeah. This is what we paid for. Give us some good theological terms." No, that's important.

That's why all of the creeds…the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Chalcedonian Creed…in the first five centuries of the church confessed Jesus was genuinely, truly, fully human. "He was born of the virgin Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit." Why? Because they denied it.

So, it was very theologically important to affirm that Jesus was and is truly and fully human, but there's also a very practical point for us tonight. Jesus knew what it was like to have a family and all of the dynamics that come as a result of being part of one. Notice the mess of Jesus' family. They tried to seize him. They thought he was crazy. They thought he was out of his mind. They thought he had lost his marbles.

It's helpful that Mark doesn't airbrush that out of Jesus' family. He wasn't concerned with putting up an Instagram page where it kind of looks like Jesus' family was perfect. They go on family vacation. They all get along. They sing "Kumbaya." There's no conflict. There are no arguments. Mom and Dad love each other. Siblings never fight. Yeah, right. Raise your hand if you've ever had a vacation like that. Not many of us, I don't think. I sure haven't, and I love my family.

That may be the way of social media, but it's not reality. The truth is family life is complicated. It's hard. It's stressful. It's messy. We are sinners. We sin against them. They are sinners. They sin against us. And when they sin against us, we're sinners, and we respond sinfully, and when we respond sinfully, they respond sinfully. There's a cycle.

It's extremely helpful to see something of the messiness of Jesus' family. It's actually an amazing comfort. Hebrews 4:15-16 says, "We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." I'm sure that drove his brothers and sisters crazy. He was perfect. He was without sin.

But, friends, that's a comfort. He can sympathize with our weaknesses. He knew what it was like for his family to need saving. Does your family need saving? So did his. Does your family have conflict? So did his. Does your family think you're crazy? So did his. Now, you may be. I don't know. I'm not judging that. Some of you may have left your old life of sin to find your new life in Jesus, and it has come at a cost.

That happened to me. When I didn't enjoy the sin that I used to enjoy, my family was like, "You're a dud. You're no fun anymore." Do you struggle with misunderstanding, being misunderstood, tension, stress, and conflict? Go to Jesus with your burdens and your anxieties, and he will give you, out of his own abundance, what you need.

2. Jesus makes a new family gathered around himself, and he's doing it with outsiders. This is what we see in verses 31-35, and this is a staggering claim. Think about family in Jesus' day. Think about how important it was for you to be identified as an Israelite. After all, they were God's chosen people. They were God's treasured possessions. Exodus 4:22 calls Israel God's son. They weren't like those Gentiles, those outsiders, those nations that aren't Israel. What's going on here?

"And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, 'Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.' And he answered them, 'Who are my mother and my brothers?' And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.'"

What's going on here? Is Jesus trashing his family? Is he like, "Y'all are dead to me"? No. Jesus isn't saying that. In fact, if you go and read throughout the other three gospels, it shows us that Jesus has a deep love and concern for his family. Jesus' first miracle in John was a miracle at a wedding. His mother was like, "Jesus, we're out of wine," and Jesus was like, "Well, it's not really time yet," but he granted her request.

Fast-forward to the end of the gospel. Do you remember what Jesus says as he's hanging on the cross? He looks down at his mother and says, "Mother, behold your son," and he says to the apostle John, his beloved disciple, "John, behold your mother." Do you get what's going on here? Think about it. In his final breaths, Jesus was caring for his mother. He was saying, "Mom, John is going to care for you. John, care for my mother." Why? Because he loved and cared deeply for his family.

Perhaps he was thinking about that Old Testament passage in Exodus 20 where it says children are to honor their father and mother. We see that in this moment, caring for, looking after, having a deep love and concern for his mother. So, what's happening here? Here's what's happening. Though Jesus loved his family, his primary relationship and allegiance was to his Father and the saving mission he came to accomplish. In other words, the gospel was paramount.

The gospel was primary and Jesus' purpose and saving mission. Though he loved his earthly family, they could not distract him from his saving mission. In John 17:1-2, he prays, "Father, the hour has come." He's praying to his eternal Father as the eternal Son. "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him."

Jesus, though he loved his family, came to make a new one, a family from every tribe, language, nation, and people. That's amazing. So, what's for us here? What do we say about this new family Jesus came to make? It's interesting that as you go on and read the New Testament, the church is described in beautiful familial terms.

The church is a household of faith. The church is composed of believers who unite themselves together under mutual obligations to love each other, bear one another's burdens, grieve with each other, weep with each other, rejoice with one another, and care for each other. And what are they called? Brothers and sisters in Christ.

He calls the older women in the church to be mothers to the younger women in the church. He calls the older men in the church to be fathers to the young men in the church. This is part of my story, losing my family, my father to death and my mother to being angry. What I gained in my church were brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers, and they helped me along. What a gift we have in the church.

Friend, are you lonely? Do you need someone to bear your burdens? Do you need someone to weep with you, to rejoice with you, or to care for you? This is what God has given us in each other. If you are a member of Watermark Community Church, this is why we exist for one another. If you're not a member of a local church, we would love to talk to you more about it. If you are a member of a local church and are just visiting The Porch, praise God you're here. What a gift you have in your local church. Don't neglect the family God has given you and me.

3. Jesus' family gathers around and listens to him. This is what we see in verses 34 and 35. Notice what I read. What's the mark of someone who belongs to Jesus' family? Jesus says in verse 35, "For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother." Now, what does that look like? Well, let me ask you this. What were the people around him doing? Answer: they were sitting.

And where were they doing it? Literally, they were doing it around him. And what were they doing sitting around him? They were listening to him. These people were simply gathered. Jesus looks about, and they're already there. They're gathered around him. They're sitting there, listening to him, hanging around him. That's amazing to think about. "Whoever does the will of my Father, he is my brother, my mother, and my sister."

What does this "doing" consist of? Sitting, being, hanging around, listening. It's similar to John 6 when people asked Jesus, "What must we be doing to be doing the works of God?" Jesus says, "This is the work of God: that you believe in him whom he has sent." "What do we do?" Believe. "No, no, no. What do we do?" You believe. "No, what do we do?" You sit around Jesus. You hang around Jesus. You listen to Jesus through his Word.

How do outside people get on the inside with Jesus? Not by doing but by believing; not by achieving but by receiving, by banking our lives on his Word and work, by receiving him. Doing the work of God is not fundamentally rooted in our work. Why? Because we are sinners, and our work only brings condemnation and eternal judgment from a holy God whom we have rebelled against. But God in his mercy has made it possible for us to not do but believe, to not try to achieve and earn his favor but to receive the one who already has.

This is why God says from heaven, "This is my beloved Son; listen to him," because he has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. He obeyed in our place. He died for sin in our place. He was raised in our place. He is seated in our place. That's why Scripture can speak of us as Christians. If you have received Christ, what happens to you? You have died with him. You've been raised to walk in newness of life. You've been seated with him in the heavenly places.

When we receive him, we receive his status, his sonship, so God the Father can call us sons and daughters of God and Jesus can call us brothers and sisters, co-heirs with him. Friends, when Jesus takes up residence in us, he changes our hearts, our desires, our wants, our minds, and our wills so that we want to do what we ought to do.

Does that describe you tonight? I knew, as a kid, what I ought to do, and I couldn't do it, and I didn't do it, but that's what describes a Christian. A Christian wants to do and can do and will do what he or she ought to do, because God makes it possible. He removes our hearts of stone. He gives us hearts of flesh. He writes his law on our hearts. He causes us to walk in his statutes. Why? Because he cleanses us from the inside out and gives us his Spirit so we can, we want to, and we will.

Doing God's will means we hang around Jesus, listen to Jesus, gather around Jesus, and find our lives in Jesus. Let me ask you this. When Jesus looks around to see who is hanging around him, does he see you? That's a great question to know if you're on the inside, if you are part of his family. Are you hanging around him? Do you gather regularly, weekly, with his church, with his body, to hear his Word preached and sung and prayed and ministered? Are you hanging on his words?

When you applied for that job or started that business or went on that date, did you seek counsel from him and his Word? Friend, he will not lead us astray. He's a good shepherd who will always lead us to righteousness, to green pastures, to still waters. So, what's the call for us tonight? The call for us tonight is the first step in doing God's will, the first step in becoming part of his family, is to come under his kingship and authority, and that is a good thing, because, friends, sin is a bad king.

The Enemy comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy, and that brings death, but King Jesus comes that he might give us life and life abundantly. So, we can take Jesus at his word. We can come under his authority, because he is a good king. His ways always lead to life. His ways always lead to peace, rest, assurance, and love, and he provides for us what we most deeply need.

Friend, what do you need from Jesus tonight? Do you need family? There's good news for you. You can find it in this church. Maybe you need deliverance. You can find it in his redemption. Do you need righteousness? You can find it in his obedience, death, and resurrection. Do you need forgiveness? You can find it in his condemnation.

Do you need strength? You can find it in his power over sin, Satan, and death. Do you need sanctification? You can find it in his holiness. Do you need comfort? You can find it in his rest. Do you need wisdom? You can find it in him in whom are the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Here's what happens when we become part of his family. When we become part of his family, we receive an assurance, a love, and a freedom to go about the family business, freedom to love our earthly families even when it's hard, courage to speak the truth in love, knowing they need the same Jesus and what he can give them as you need from him too, and he's eager to give.

Do you know what sends missionaries to reach the unreached with the good news of Jesus or to our neighbors or to have hard conversations with our families or to business ventures that leverage all we have for the sake of the gospel? Do you know what does that? It's understanding deeply that we who were not a people have become his people, that we who had not received mercy, as Hosea says, have now received mercy. Not guilt or fear that we're not doing enough, but freedom to live fully in him with a settled and joyful conviction that everything is rubbish in the surpassing worth of following, knowing, and being found in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let me finish by saying this. If this seems impossible for you, it is, but be encouraged, because Jesus is the only one who perfectly did God's will. And you know what? He did it for us and for our salvation. He did it in our place in that great exchange where we who are sinners lay our sin on Jesus and Jesus, who is righteous, credits us with his very righteousness.

God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says. He's the only one who perfectly did God's will, and he did it for us and for our salvation. Do you remember those precious words in the garden of Gethsemane? He prayed, "Father, not my will but yours be done." He did God's will. He fulfilled all righteousness so that, receiving him, we receive everything we need, even a new family. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we come to you, and we say with Peter… After you, Lord Jesus, looked at your disciples and said, "If you want to follow me, you have to have all of me. You can't just follow the parts you like. You have to eat my flesh and drink my blood," the very flesh and blood that would be crucified on a cross.

Jesus tells them later on, "If you want my path to glory, you have to take up your cross and follow me." He looks at his disciples, because many of the people around him walked away. They were not hanging around him. They were not listening to him. He looks at his disciples and asks them, "Do you wish to also go away?" And we have those precious words of Peter. "Lord, where else do we go? For you have the words of eternal life."

O God, would we have the heart of Peter, that we say to you, King Jesus, "Where else do we go? For you have the words of eternal life." So lead us. Satisfy us. Save us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.