We Are Family

Well, this is the last preaching part of our annual Bible conference. This is our 25th Bible conference and it's just been a delight to have Peter come and bring the Word of God to us this last weekend. It's just been great. Now, those of you who don't know Peter, he's the pastor, one of the pastors at Grace Fellowship Church in Florence, Kentucky. He is the campus pastor of their Fort Thomas campus near Florence.

And so that means Peter's responsible for shepherding and some other guys with him shepherding a group of about 350 people. That's part of Grace Fellowship. Now, how did I ever get to know a guy from New York? Well, I first really met Peter. I had the privilege of supervising his counseling as he was pursuing ACBC certification. So that's when I first got to know him and meet him.

And then we ministered together in Albania some years ago and just had a great time working together. And, of course, we've been in contact since then. We talk periodically. We see each other at counseling conferences and so forth. And so I count Peter not just as a servant of God, but as a friend. And it's just been a delight to hear him open the word of God to us and talk about friendship.

It has just been, to me, a tremendous, just a tremendous ministry of the word of God, expanding my understanding of what it means to be a friend and starting out what it means to be a friend of God. That was just a great time together. Being a friend in marriage, being a friend with one another in terms of fellowship. God has just really ministered his word to us this weekend.

So I'm just anticipating God's blessing as he uses his servant to minister the word of God to us this morning. So Peter, God bless you, brother, as you minister to us. Is it on? No? An electronic piece of equipment with one button and still you managed to get it wrong There one button This is the eye This is Okay I see a green light Is it on? Okay.

I'm on? Great. Thank you, Tim, for inviting me. I just want to, before I open God's Word, just express to you, you the church and you Tim, what a blessing it has been for our family to be here for this past weekend. Tim has been talking about this conference ever since I met him. This is a highlight of Tim's ministry year.

He always talks about the Bible conference and how much fun it is and how the joy that he has with having the word ministered to the church by a variety of different speakers. And you've had quite the lineup, as I've heard, about the different people who have filled this pulpit for this event. And he has been really excited about this. And therefore, through that, I have been really excited about this since I heard about it in 2012 or 2013 or 2014, whenever he first started telling me about it.

And I can see why. and I just want to let you know something. First of all, you have, and this is not just some platitude, the pastor has to say this, it's been more my joy than it's been yours, but it really has been our pleasure to spend the time that we have with you, both here ministering the Word and then just in times of real genuine fellowship, talking about different aspects of life and ministry and the Word of God and friendship as we've spoken about it before. And that's been a real joy.

It's been refreshing to our souls. Tim said, we invite people to the conference because we enjoy serving them. We want people to come and serve at the conference because we enjoy serving them. And I didn't really know exactly what that meant, but it sounded really good. And now I have experienced it. And thank you for treating us really like royalty, like friends, like family.

It has been really a pleasure. And I just want to let you know that your church is not normal. This is not... You can take that as a compliment. This man's not normal. And LaRue Baptist is not normal And by that I mean there is something very really special here Among God's people, man, something really special and unique that I don't travel a ton, but I travel a good bit, and this is not normal.

And that can fill you with one of two things. It can fill you with pride, as you look at whatever other churches come to mind and think about how much you're better than them, I hope it would fill you with humility and a gratefulness to God to know that what you have here in the ministry of the word, in humble, humble leadership, and in relationship with one another is not normal and is very, very special and is of the Lord. James 1 and verse 17. every good and perfect gift comes from above.

So I hope you hearing that makes you appreciate more what God is doing among you and lets you know that from two people who are not part of this church, or six people, our whole family, who are not part of this church, we've been greatly impacted and sense that there is something very special that is happening as a result of God working in you and through you and among you. And I wanted to encourage you with that and say, along with the Apostle Paul in Galatians 6 and verse 9, may you not grow weary in doing good, knowing that in due time you will reap a harvest if you do not give up. Turn, if you would, in your copy of the Scriptures, please, to the Gospel of Mark and chapter 3.

The Gospel of Mark, chapter 3. As you do that, if I can ask you a rhetorical question, what comes to mind when you hear the word family? What comes to mind when you hear the word family? I can tell that different things come to mind just by your facial expressions right now. There were just straight facial expressions. There were smiles.

There was an occasional eye roll. I don't take that personally. It's because I said the word family. That sometimes brings out an eye roll. maybe it's your mother and father or brothers and sisters or family members that have passed on maybe it aunts and uncles cousins maybe it a dog I don know what comes to your mind when I say the word family Maybe it step step Maybe it a blended family of some sort Maybe it's in-laws.

Maybe it's growing up with a single mom or a single dad. I was raised by a single mom. What comes to your mind when I say the word family? Maybe it's good and great memories of family dinners and vacations and Christmases and Easters and birthdays and lots of jokes and lots of laughter, lots of inside jokes that you just had to be there because it's a family thing.

It's a PASMA thing. It's a La Rufa thing. You just had to be there. Maybe your family puts the fun in dysfunction. Maybe it's strife. Maybe it's pain.

Maybe it's abuse. Maybe it's neglect. Maybe it's a family business. Maybe you never measured up to the family. Maybe you were the proverbial black sheep of the family. Maybe you're the head of the family.

Maybe you feel like the rump of the family. Maybe yours was the personality of the family. When you walked in, the party began. maybe you never could measure up to the person who was the personality of the family. Maybe you're not like the rest of your family because you're the only believer. Maybe you're not like the rest of your family because you're the only unbeliever.

What comes to mind when you hear the word family? I ask the question because right, wrong, or indifferent, that's probably going to, in some way, to some degree, inform the way you respond when you see family metaphors in Scripture referring to the people of God. It perhaps shouldn't, but oftentimes it does. We come to the Scriptures with a preconceived notion of something because of experience.

You might say, yeah, a family, great, that's great, we're one big happy happy family in the people of God. But you also might say, oh great, we're family. There's many metaphors, many word pictures used in the New Testament to describe the church, the people of God. First Corinthians 3 says we're a field. You're a God's field. First Peter 5 says we are God's flock.

Romans 11 says we're an olive tree. I mean, we could go on and on and on. There's lots of metaphors that are used. to describe us as the people of God. But there are four main metaphors, four main word pictures used to describe the people of God. The body, buildings, marriage, and family. Again, lots of different word pictures, but there's four main ones that you find throughout the Scriptures, and particularly throughout the New Testament.

The body, buildings, or a house, marriage, and family. And I bring those up to say, of the four, body, buildings, marriage, and family, three of them are familial in nature. Right? Three of them are familial in nature. For example, the church is God's house. The writer of Hebrews, chapter 3 and verse 6, this is in your outline as well. but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son, and we are his house.

There we're referred to as a house. 1 Timothy 3, verses 14 and following. I am writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God. The church is called the house. The church is also called the bride of Christ. Revelation 21 and verse 9.

Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. The church is God's house. The church is the bride of Christ. And the church is the family of God. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 18 And I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me says the Lord Almighty.

Ephesians 2 verse 19 And so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. 1 Timothy 5 and verse 1. Do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father. Younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters in all purity. Father, brother, mothers, sisters. and hopefully you see that when we say that we are friends or we are family that's not just like a cute like pr stunt oh that'll get the people going that's not just oh the the pastor likes referring to people in that way that not it it from the word of god it from the word of god the Bible refers to the church the people of God more often in familial terms relational terms between one and another, than anything else.

And so it begs the question, what about you? How does the family metaphor impact the way you view your relationship with the Lord? Is that something that encourages you? Or is that something you have to get over in order for you to see the biblical goodness of it? Because it depends on what we're bringing to the table. Yes, it's God's word and God's word alone that we want to inform our worldview, but we're not unaware of sometimes the junk that we bring to it that we have to swipe away, clean away so that we can really extract truth from God's word.

And I'm just curious, how does the family metaphor impact the way you view your relationship with the Lord? How does it affect your perspective on relationships with others? More important than what comes to our mind with the word family, we need to see what comes to God's mind. That's why we're here. This is not just a support group for us to share our different perspectives and views on family and say, wow, that's interesting, wow, that's interesting.

Whether the memories are good or bad, whether they make you laugh or cry, what's most important is this. What comes to God's mind when he says, we're family? What does he mean? And so for that I want to read a large portion of scripture in Mark chapter 3. And if you are physically able, would you stand in honor of the voice of our king? Mark chapter 3 beginning in verse 1 this is what the word of God says again he entered the synagogue and a man was there with a withered hand and they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him And he said to the man with the withered hand, Come here.

And he said to them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill? But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out and his hand was restored And the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him how to destroy him Verse 7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea and a great crowd followed from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Edomia, and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon.

And when the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him. For he healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell on the ground before him and cried out, You are the Son of God!

And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, so that they might be with him, and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. He appointed the twelve, Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Baraginus, that is, sons of thunder, Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

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. verse 22, 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, hey, 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 of sins, 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 Looking around 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 my sister and my mother. Here ends the reading of God's holy word. May God add his blessing to the reading and the preaching and the hearing of it.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. So let's look back on our text today, and what we're going to do is we're going to walk through it, beginning in verse 1, just making some observation as we go on. This is a proclamation passage of Scripture, which means that this is a big deal. I know all Scripture is a big deal.

Every letter of the Bible should be read. It's all the word of God. It's all the word of Christ. I'm with you. I get it. But this is a proclamation passage designed, in fact, written, in fact, to build up to a point to hit that climax and to teach us something big.

So what I want to do is even though we're going to really focus on 31 through 35, I'm going to walk us through, because I don't want us to lose that buildup. So I'm going to walk us through, walk and like, walk the way a New Yorker walks. We're going to walk like that. Walk through verses 1 through 30 so that we can get a little bit of an idea of what's going on, hopefully so that that can pack in the most powerful punch for the Word of God as it's laid out to us today.

So in Mark chapter 3, if you want to follow along in your Bibles, Mark chapter 3, verse 1, again, he, this is Jesus, entering the synagogue, and there's a man with a withered hand. Okay, so get the picture. He's entering the synagogue. It is, in fact, on the Sabbath. There's a man there with a deformed hand of some sort that's called a withered hand. And verse 2 says they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse them.

So there's people who are watching me right now as I teach. I don't sense either, and hopefully I'm sensing right, I don't sense that you're watching me like waiting to trip me up or catch me in something. So I'm a baseball fan. Any baseball fans in the house? Great. Good.

Yeah, right. Baseball. Opening day is coming up. It's a great opportunity. Yeah, I can go on about baseball. I'm not going.

But if you look at Major League Baseball, there's a home plate umpire, an umpire at first, second, and third base. And usually, so long as second base is unoccupied, there is a second base umpire, and if you notice, he's standing back here like this. And if you're a baseball fan, so the home plate umpire is really calling strikes and balls, and the second base umpire, what's he really looking for?

One at a time. Does anybody know? Buddy, what's the second base umpire looking for as the pitcher goes into his windup? What's he checking? That's right. He's waiting to see if he balks.

And a balk means that he hasn't come set quite right. He hasn't. Perhaps his foot wasn't on the rubber. And if he calls balk, then all of a sudden, if there's anybody on base, they get to advance a base, and he balks. So in Little League, there's warnings. In Major League, there's no warnings.

He's just standing there and just waiting to see if he balks. There's always at least one umpire waiting, and he's just trying to catch him. Just trying to catch him. And that's the beauty of being an umpire. And in most cases, the umpire may not be right, but he's never wrong. And that's the way baseball works.

Until they introduced replay and everything went downhill. Moving on. I don't want to talk about it. I really don't want to talk. I actually really do want to talk about it, can you tell? But I really shouldn't talk about it.

That's what they're doing here, the Pharisees. They're just waiting. They have no interest in seeing, can he heal? What will he do? Will he teach from the word of God? What's going to go on?

They're just waiting to see if there's a way they can trip him up. And I'm not saying that just with suspicion. It says that in verse 2. They watch Jesus. Why? To see whether he would heal them on the Sabbath.

Why? So that they might accuse him. They're after him. They want to take him down. They're looking for something to trip him up. And so in verse 3, he said to the man with the withered hand, come here, because Jesus, what with him being the son of God, is aware of what's going on in the room.

It's not taking him by surprise. Wow, I wonder why these people... He can't be taken by surprise. Nothing's ever occurred to him. He knows all things. Fully God, fully man.

And he knows that these Pharisees are there waiting to trip him up. And he also knows this man needs to be healed. so what does he do? He pokes the bear and he calls this man to himself hey come here and then he says aloud to them So he calls the man OK and he chest bumping with them right And he says aloud to them, hey, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?

They're just quiet. They don't answer the question. They don't take the bait. They think they're one step ahead of Christ. And they're just quiet. verse 5 he looked at them with anger grieved at their hardness of heart so their hearts are so hard that even while Jesus is calling this person who needs healing and even while Jesus is asking this question they're just like yeah yeah yeah whatever is he going to do it?

I think he's going to do it is he going to do it? let's see if he does it if he does it we're so honest hardness of heart grieves the Lord angers the Lord. And then we see in verse 5, he looked around, he was angry, and he said to the man, stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. Look at verse 6, the immediate reaction.

Bulk! Right there. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him. How to destroy him. Not how to talk to him, not how just to call the bulk. Okay, now how can we destroy him?

Kill him! Yes, I think we can kill him now. That's literally the thought. Stretch out your hand. He stretches out his hand. Okay, they see it.

All right, we got it. You, you, you. Let's go, let's go. Let's do this. Let's destroy him. That's the mentality of these people.

And then in verse 7, Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, probably because he was going to be destroyed, right? He knows that he's going to be destroyed, so he goes to the sea. A great crowd followed from Galilee and Judea, from Jerusalem, from Edomia, and from beyond the Jordan, and from Mount Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.

But Jesus, verse 9, told his disciples, hey, have a boat ready, because there's going to be a crowd. So get a boat ready. Here we see the humanity of Jesus, right? Because Jesus has more than one way to be buoyant on water, right? There's been times that he walks on water. But he says, have a boat ready, because we are going to get in the boat and have to get away from the crowd.

So get that boat ready, because there's a lot of people coming, and some of them want to be healed, and some of them want to be taught, some of them want to destroy me It a mixed group So we need to have this boat ready because we coming and they coming and we might need to set out to sea Verse 10 says He has healed many and all who had diseases, pressed around him to touch them. And unclean spirits, they would see him and fall down before him and cry out, you are the son of God. I can't even picture that.

I don't really know exactly what that looks like. But somehow an unclean spirit in a person would just see Jesus, know he is the Son of God, and they would drop down and say, yeah, you're that guy. You are the Son of God. Do you see? This is a crazy scene, right? Crowd coming up to Jesus.

There's unclean spirits falling down. Jesus is trying to get away with his disciples, get a boat ready. People want to be healed. They want to be taught. He's got lovers and haters in the crowd, and they're trying to get him. This is a crazy scene.

And we do well to think about all of those details. And verse 12 says, and he strictly ordered them not to make him known. That must have been one of the hardest things to hear from Jesus as he was doing things that were miraculous in nature. Like in John chapter 9, he healed the man born blind and basically says, now don't tell anyone. How does that work?

This guy was blind his whole life, and all of a sudden he can see. I'm not saying Jesus didn't make a wise request. He's the Son of God. I'm sure what he was saying was wise. But can you blame the guy? The guy's born blind.

Listen, don't tell anyone. The guy's like, yeah, I'm probably going to tell someone. I'm probably going to tell. I can't think of anything else I really want to talk about now. And people might see me walking around and looking, and I'm seeing people for the first time. I've just seen a tree for the first time, having a little trouble holding this in.

So he is told not to tell people of these things. Here Jesus makes a similar request. We're told that he has told people before. Now don't tell anyone about this. He strictly ordered them not to make him known. Don't tell people that I'm the son of God.

These unclean spirits are like, we just fell down. How is that a thing? How am I supposed to not tell people you're the son of God? But Jesus is always talking about that and always telling people there's a time to make him known and there's a time not to make him known. Verse 13 says he went up on the mountain and called him those whom he desires Brings me back to our Friday night session right where John 15 we reminded that we choose our friends Jesus chose us to be his friends.

Here's a great example of that. Verse 13, he went up on this mountain, called him those whom he desired, and they came to him, and he appointed 12, whom he also named apostles, so that they might be with him, and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. So then he appoints the 12 and they're listed there. Verse 20 says, Then he went home and the crowd gathered again.

So verse 20 says, He went home and the crowd gathered again. He can't get away from the crowd. Cannot get away from the crowd. He goes home and the crowd follows him there. Before he went to the sea, the crowd follows him there. Would you look at verse 20?

Then he went home and the crowd gathered again so that they could not even eat. I don't know what that means either. What does the crowd have to do with him eating? Something. I don't know. Was it that he felt bad eating in front of the crowd because there were so many people so he couldn't eat?

Was it that they were just pressing up against him and boxing out and he couldn't eat because there were people literally, could he literally not eat? But suffice to say, the crowd, in some way, shape, or form, had an impact on him so much so that he couldn't even eat. Then in verse 21, we see this. When the family heard it, when his family heard it, they went out to seize him for they were saying he is out of his mind.

In the Greek, the word is a word that we get the word lunatic from. Okay? He, so his family, heard all that's going on and they're like, we've got to, he's lost it, he's gone. He's a lunatic. We've got to go out, we've got to help him. So his family goes out to seize him, trying to help him.

Now his family would have consisted of his mother, right? We see her later on in the text. His half-brothers, which are James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. And he also has half-sisters, who are not named here, but you can read about them in Matthew chapter 13. What we get from this passage about Jesus' family, I think, are two things. First, I think they're good family members.

They're concerned for the welfare of their brother and son. They're saying, he's going to hurt himself. Something's going to happen. We need to help him. Let's step in. We are family.

Let's step in. Let's help Jesus. just because he's lost his mind, and we don't want to see him be hurt. We love him. They're good family members. But I think there's something else that we get here. They probably, probably, to some degree, didn't really believe in Jesus.

Because if they believed that Jesus was the very Son of God, if they believed that Jesus was fully God and fully man, if they believed that Jesus was all-powerful and all-knowing, they wouldn't have been concerned for him for a minute and they surely wouldn't have called him a lunatic. So they probably to some degree either don't believe, have forgotten they believe, or struggling with unbelief in how they're relating to Jesus because all of a sudden they think that Jesus needs their help. And we, thousands of years later, who have the full counsel of the Word of God, know we've never read a portion of our scripture where the Savior needs saving.

We know that on the front end here in 2018. But way back then, sitting there in the moment, they thought that Jesus needed help. They thought that he was wacko. They thought that he might get killed, and they went out to help him. And they go looking for Jesus, and we really don't hear anything about the family until verse 31. And meanwhile, things get even wackier.

So in verse 22, that's where we are, Mark 3, 22, the scribes come down from Jerusalem, and they were saying, he is possessed by Beelzebul and by the prince of demons he casts out demons. So that's a strong accusation. And Jesus responds strongly. It grieves me sometimes when we have this one-sided view of Christ. Whatever side that is, we don't realize that he is both gentle and meek, but that he could also hold his own.

He's Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And he looks back at them, and he answers them. He understands what they are thinking, because he knows that. And he looks back at them and says, hey, I have an idea. How can Satan cast out Satan? Like, riddle me this, dude.

How does Satan cast out Satan? He's saying, what you're saying, first of all, at its very base level, doesn't even make sense. How does Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided, the kingdom can't stand. If a house is divided, the house can't stand. If Satan has risen up and is divided he cannot stand But it coming to an end He says first of all what you saying doesn make sense He debunks their accusation by saying this doesn't even make sense.

Satan's going to cast out Satan. So I just want to say publicly right here that what they're saying doesn't even make sense. But then he goes on to make another point, and he says this in 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.

For they are saying he has an unclean spirit. Now, the main point of our time today is not to talk about the proverbial unpardonable sin, but it's in the text. So let's go there just for a little minute. I find that even among conservative Bible-believing, evangelical Christians, sometimes the idea of the unpardonable sin is something that people actually fear and don't really understand and feel like it's something they can maybe trip in, or they might say the wrong thing, and all of a sudden they get on the naughty list.

That's not what's being said here. That's not what's being said here at all. Here is what's being said here. When he says in verse 28, all sins will be forgiven the children of man and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness. Here's what he's saying. If you are saying that the Holy Spirit is evil, and you are saying that God is evil, that sin can't be forgiven, because if you believe that God is evil, you're not going to look to God for forgiveness.

So therefore, you have one shot. You have one shot of forgiveness, and it's looking to Christ in faith, believing that he died for our sins. And if you believe God is evil, you're not going to look that way. So therefore, by virtue of the fact that you have ruled yourself out of that category, that sin's not forgivable because you're not looking to the one means of forgiveness you could have.

And all other sins can be forgiven because you can look to Christ and have forgiveness. You can look to Christ and be saved. But if you blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and you say, that man, whom we know to be the son of God, who can forgive our sin, you say, yeah, he's actually evil. Then you're out of luck. You've got nowhere to look, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide You own your sin because the one person you can look to to say take my sin you said no I not going to look to him He evil What else can I do Nothing And your sin remains and the wrath of God remains upon you So therefore, when we say, or when Christ says, listen, all other blasphemies can be forgiven, all other areas of unbelief really can be forgiven, but if you don't believe in the one dude, which would be me, who can forgive sins, that's not forgivable.

Does that make a little sense? So that's what he's saying here when he's saying these people are committing a grievous sin. When they say, they're not just saying that I'm a lunatic like my family's saying. They're saying that I'm evil. I'm a liar. I'm of the devil.

That which is righteous is actually evil. That's a serious thing. And therefore, forgiveness is not theirs. so now we pick it up in verse 31 and we see that Jesus's family is back on the scene 31 in a sense continues where we left off in 21 with his family and this this right here we see that his mother and his brothers come and they're standing outside and they sent to him and called him and there's a crowd sitting around him and they said to him which it makes me just smile if you just got to put yourself in that picture.

They said to him, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. Oh, hey man, they're here. He answered them, who are my mother and my brothers? Can you picture the guy who said Your mother is like, I feel like you know who they are. They're like family to you. They're right out there.

Like just confused. Just, hey, man, your mom and your siblings are outside. Who are they? Is that a trick question? I don't know what to do with that question. It's just an odd way to just picture that person standing there thinking, they're right there.

You know who they are. This isn't Jesus renouncing his family. Verse 33, he says, who are my mother and my brothers? 34, looking around 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. It's similar to what we spoke about in John 15, right on Friday, where there's that upgrade, if you will.

He is not putting his family down. He is raising others up to the level of family. He uses this as an opportunity to say, you know what? It's not just about DNA or lineage or name or bloodlines or last names, all the things that people, particularly of that culture, would have been obsessed with. It's not just about that. He expands the definition of family, just like on Friday when we looked at John chapter 15 and Jesus expanded the definition of who really is my friend?

You know, it's whoever does the will of my Father in heaven. That's who's my friend. Friendship is evidenced by the fact that we do God's will. We do the things that God wants. Here, he does the same thing with family. He's not renouncing his family.

He's not saying, away with them. even as was said before one of Jesus' last words on the cross was to make sure his mother was cared for right? John chapter 19. Not renouncing his family at all but what he is doing is bringing others up to the level of family and it's a striking word picture if you think about it a striking picture if you think about it because here we have Jesus' blood relevance right?

His mother and his siblings outside unbelieving. That guy's a lunatic. We've got to get him because he's going to get hurt. And pressed up against him are people that he's not related to at all sitting close to him and he says, you know what? This is family. So his real family, his blood family, outside, not close. people who he's not related to at all but who love to do the word of God to live out the word of God and believe in Jesus want to hear him they're right here and he says these are my family It's a real, real powerful picture.

Jesus redefines family. Not about bloodlines. Not about last names. Not about heritage. Not about DNA. In fact, if you look at verse 35, it's not even limited to anyone.

Look at that word, whoever. For whoever does the will of God. It's not whoever within a certain group of people. It's not whoever as long as we're kind of cool with each other. It's whoever. Whoever does the will of God.

He blasts it wide open. He is my brother. He is my sister. He is my mother. He is in essence saying this. You can have a new identity.

You can have a new identity right here and right now just by doing the will of my Father. Whoever seeks to please God like I'm pleasing God, we are family. It's about a new identity. It's quite a picture. With his mother and his brother still outside thinking they're going to kill him. Here we go.

He's going crazy. Well, let's be honest. How many of you at some point have ever been either outright called crazy because of something related to your faith? Or you just sense, I think they think I'm nuts. how many of you have ever had some experience like that at work with family with friends you just someone's looked at you and said yeah you are a nut I don't know if you know that you're a nut or you just think or they didn't say if they're being polite but they think I'm totally nuts they think I'm nuts because of how I live my life because of the things that I do because the things that I don't do you know Jesus is 100% God 100% man we can't deny the humanity of Christ.

How did it make you feel to be called crazy? Awesome. Means I love God. Yeah, I get the whole odd for God thing. It's cool to be odd. We're swimming upstream.

But there's also a little bit, I don't mind saying, it's a little, there's a little part of me that's like, oh, it kind of stinks to be called a nut. It's kind of hard. I can't help but wonder if Jesus would think the same thing. He knows what he's doing. Obviously, he's Jesus Christ. But we see the humanity of Christ throughout the scriptures all the time And while he being called crazy I don know that he just you know kicking down doors saying that right I crazy I Jesus There's a part of him also that it's his very own family that's calling him a lunatic.

I only bring that up not to get you thinking about if Jesus could relate, but just to say, I think that if you've ever felt that, you are not unlike Jesus. He's a man of sorrows. he is acquainted with grief. I really do think he knows what that is like. People saying, you go where? What did you do this weekend? I went to church extra.

Why? It was a Bible conference. What even is that? We confer about the Bible and we eat oatmeal. why would you why do you spend more time at church than you kind of have to you know that mentality that you kind of go to church to check the box you kind of punch in punch out just so God sees that you did the good thing why would you go to church you went on Friday night and Saturday morning wow extra credit huh and you get the feeling okay it's kind of weird to each his own you do you but a little weird identity theft is a pretty serious thing identity theft is a pretty serious thing that we have to deal with probably now more in our culture than perhaps any other time and it can be a real inconvenience or it can really wreck your life I remember, it was about a year ago So I found out on my credit card statement that I didn't really know how generous I was.

And I apparently treated a couple or a person to three nights in a hotel in Quito, Ecuador. They didn't even call to say gracias. Apparently I treated these people to three nights in Ecuador. I was thinking, yeah, I've never been to Quito, Ecuador. So I called the credit card company and it took about 20, 25 minutes and we had the situation rectified. Identity theft can be a real thing and at best it if that was inconvenient that was 25 minutes of my life I not going to get back But ultimately nothing really lost as a result of it My identity theft is always a pain but it can also tear you up big time.

I had a friend back in New York. Her identity was compromised, like, in a major way. And it took her years. No, when I say years, I mean literal, literal periods of 365 days to rebuild it. And for the greater part of two years, I mean it was all she could talk about because it's all she either went to work or worked on rebuilding her identity because her social security was compromised, her taxes were compromised her driver's license number was compromised this was like the identity theft that you always hear about and hopefully never experience but identity theft can even be on that end of the spectrum where it's wow we need to rebuild from square one I think it's the same with our walks with Christ I think at all times something is vying for your heart and mind vying for your affections sometimes it's out there right? sometimes it's out there it's a circumstance, it's a temptation it's something out there but it's not always this little demon that's hiding behind a bush it's not always out there you know what else it is? if you're anything like me, this is me it's not out there Most times it's in here.

Most times the greatest battle I have to do with remembering who I am in Christ is not because of something that happened out there. It's because of something that happened in here. And I've lost my focus. And I haven't focused on truth. And I'm giving in to my feelings. And I'm giving in to temptations that I think are coming from my own sinful nature.

That might be the scariest form of ID theft there is because it really seems so real. Right? and you start saying these things, you know, maybe I'm not loved by God. Maybe I don't really belong. I don't look a lot like the others. I hear what people say, and I don't think people think like I think. I don't think husbands ever struggle in communicating with their wives the way I do.

I don know anyone else like me I don know anyone else who thinks like this Maybe God is ashamed to have me in his family Maybe I not in his family So, sidestep, back to the importance of biblical friendship and fellowship. If we're in each other's lives, having those uniquely Christian relational experiences, it probably won't be long before I talk with Tim and Tim talks with me because we're in church together we'll say and I say something that sounds a little bit crazy and you know how shy Tim is with correcting me and so Tim says, what are you saying? But if I'm not in that uniquely Christian relational experience with Tim that's not going to get caught.

Does that make sense? He's not going to hear that to be able to speak truth into my life. that's why that fellowship is so important that we spoke about yesterday but the scariest form of identity theft ever is when my identity in Christ is compromised and you need to have a consistent diet of God's word reminding you who you are in Christ, reading it, listening to it, memorizing it whatever, having a consistent diet of God's word reminding us of who we are in Christ. When it seemed as if my identity had been compromised, I called someone who could do something about it, right?

I called up the credit card company and said, never been to Quito, so something's not bueno and we need to get this fixed really fast, and they fixed it. When I forget who I am in Christ, I need to call upon the Lord, listen to what he's saying from his word. I need to call upon the people of God, the friends that God has given me to remind me, listen, I know it seems really bad, but you also need to remember truth.

Listen, I know what you're feeling, but you have to understand that what you feel is not always real. It's just what you feel. And I just need someone to kind of remind me of that and say, hey, pal, God is good. Heaven is real. Jesus died for sinners. You are who you are.

Nothing has changed there. So I know outside circumstances are very hard or your perspective is off, but God's word remains the same. Friends, when our identity, the fact that we're family related to God and each other, when that identity has been compromised, we need to do something about it and fast before gets worse. So you need to rebuild and protect your identity by looking to God and his word and the people of God.

And here in our text today, we see the climax of this story. It's a pronouncement text, like I said, where Jesus makes a very big statement saying we are family, and he defines the we as those who do the will of God, those who are striving to please the Lord. That's what makes us family. That's this new identity, this tie that binds, that we're all having the same goal, that we long to be pleasing to the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5, verses 9 and 10. Whether we're present or absent, we desire to be well-pleasing to Him, and we can help each other out along the way. It's in your outline. It's point number three, I believe. It says you'll protect your spiritual identity by striving to be pleasing to God and God alone. Pleasing the Lord, the head of our family, reminds us that we are his.

The identity that binds us together is that we, imperfect as we may be, have a goal in life, a common goal in life, and that's to be well-pleasing to God. And we establish things within our lives to remind us this is who we are and this is what we do. I mentioned before I'm a big baseball fan we love baseball and every year before a holy day that you may be aware of it's called opening day every year before that high holy day the night before our family at least me and the boys sometimes the whole family we watch a baseball themed movie the night before opening day So, whatever, Field of Dreams.

What else have we watched? What's that? Come on, say it. Angels in the Outfield? Did we do Angels in the Outfield? I don't know if we did Angels in the Outfield.

Which one? Yeah, I can't remember. But anyway, there's... What's that? Pride of the Yankees. Pride of the Yankees?

No, we're Christians. So we don't... So we've... He's treaded into... I can't not comment on that. So.

I a die hard Mets fan a die Reds fan and a die fan of whoever is currently playing against the Yankees. I would root for anyone if they were playing against the Yankees. I'd root for the Taliban if they were playing against the Yankees. I don't... Yeah, I've got to roll it back. We do not root for the Yankees.

There's a righteous hatred there that I think is pleasing to the Lord. And we need to get back to the notes. Tim. Every year on the night before opening day, I watch a baseball movie with the kids. There it is. Every year I take off on opening day, the next day, and I take a day off and we go.

It's like a holiday in Cincinnati. I don't know if you've ever been around, but it's really cool. There's a parade and there's tons of food. And we'll go and we'll try to get into the game so we can get tickets. It's a big day for our family. Why?

We're the LaRuffes. This is what we do. We're the LaRuffes. This is what we do. Every year on Christmas Eve, Sarah gives us all one gift on Christmas Eve. and it's some form of sleepwear. So every year, it's like pajamas or slippers or a robe or whatever, a night shirt, something like that.

And Sarah gets all of these things wrapped and we all open them up on Christmas Eve and we use it that night and then on Christmas morning. Why? For the Rufus. This is what we do. living a life intentionally, seeking to do God's will together, desiring to please Him together, is key to keeping our identity protected. It's a subtle reminder when you're thinking, why do I do this?

Especially when you're looking out at the people who are living a life that is not pleasing the Lord and looks a lot easier. or if you looked to see how much you gave charitably to your church or to other ministries, you think you know what I could have done with that money But these are reminders when we tempted to think outside We say but we family This is what we do. We please God. This is what we do.

Living a life intentionally, trying to please the Lord, helps to protect our identity in Christ. We do these things as reminders. To us. So that we can grow. So that we can change. And so that we would be reminded.

Because first and foremost, before I'm anything. Before I'm a doctor or a construction worker or a mother or a father. Before I'm any of those things. I'm a Christian. There's my identity. And we're Christians.

We're family. This is what we do. What about you? What step, one step, what step can you take this week to bring one, just one area of your life, just a little more in line with God's will? Pick one. Oh, brother, I just could never even know where to begin.

All right, that's inaction. That's not going to help. Oh, so many. Good. Pick one. I wouldn't know where to start.

Oh, find a place, bro. Pick one. And what's one, just one area? Don't be overwhelmed by the list of nine or 19 or 90. Start with one. One area of your life that you can say, I'm a Christian.

This is what we do. This is what the Word of God says. We live a life to please the Lord. How can you help another brother or sister do the same? because if you're living in community with one another, you might, hey, I can pray for you about this. Maybe you can pray for me about that. Maybe we're both striving to do better in this area of our lives so we can pray for one another and encourage one another.

But that happens within the context of relationship. That happens within the context of friendship, biblical friendship, so that it's not just, hey, I know you don't know me, but I'm kind of interested in keeping you accountable because I'm cool like that. That's just a hard way to start a relationship. Hey, I got this list that I'd like to keep on you.

What's your name again? But if you have a friendship and a relationship within one another between one another that something you can build towards This is what we do What do you mean you confess your sins to one another? That's so awkward. Why would you confess your sins? It's what God's Word says, James 5 and verse 16. This is what we do.

This is who we are. spiritual identity theft is very real and we're wise to protect our identity in Christ. What's another way we can do that? How else does this new identity bind us together as the family of God? Well, we also need to remind ourselves what God says about us. And you need to protect your spiritual identity by increasing your Christ esteem.

Seeing yourself as God sees you. You know, as you read the New Testament, now I'm going to... Well, whatever. I'm not going soft here, I'm not going liberal here. Okay? Listen.

I love the doctrines of God's sovereign grace. Really do. They radically changed my life when I encountered them for the very first time and showed me who I am in Christ, that I was not spiritually sick, but I was spiritually dead, and that God gave me life and he raised me from the spiritual grave and brought me to himself and gave me the gift of faith.

Hallelujah. to Christ. I am well aware of and unapologetic when it comes to declaring the total depravity of man. That sin affects, infects, and defects every area of our lives apart from Christ. But do you know that as you read through the New Testament, it's very rare... Good, I'm so glad you're nodding. When Tim's not nodding, there's a little bit of worry in me.

It's very rare that the people of God are referred to as sinners. Calm down. Not that people of God aren't sinners. We certainly are sinners. But Romans 7, when Paul is saying, a wretched man that I am, is followed by Romans 8. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

It never ends on this, oh, I'm just a wretch, and then he just goes home. That's not a thing in the New Testament. And when Paul calls himself the chief of sinners. He's not speaking of himself necessarily in present day terms. He's I am the chief of sinners, but God doesn't look at me as the chief of. because of what Christ has done. We need to remember who we are.

I'm all about remembering that we were wretches. I'm all about remembering that we're spiritually dead. As long as me looking at the fact that I'm spiritually dead causes me to then look at the fact that Jesus Christ has made me something new. Because if I just get obsessed with I'm spiritually dead, I'm spiritually dead, trespasses and sins, trespasses and sins, it's like, well, what's the point?

I've been saved out of that. Do that so that you can then be amazed with this. We look at this, at who we are without Christ, realizing we are spiritually dead, to then say, woo-hoo, we're spiritually alive in Christ. I'm so grateful. This wasn't just an improvement. This wasn't just an upgrade in my life.

I didn't just get the new app for salvation. I was dead, and now I'm alive. Oh, I was sick, and now I'm on the mend. No, I was dead, and now I'm alive. It's Lazarus come forth, and he walks out of a grave, even after his body stinketh. This is an amazing thing.

We need to remember who we are in Christ. The Bible says in Ephesians 1 and verse 4-5, this is all in your outline, you are his perfect child. It says we are Jesus' holy sibling, Hebrews 2, verse 11, for he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers. We're told that we are an heir to the throne of grace, Galatians 4 and verse 7, so that you're no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. these things help to protect my identity.

When it's like, ah, you know what? You're still the wretch that you always were. When my own sinful nature or the devil or whatever you want, whatever makes you whatever, just is whispering lies into my mind You know what You not this new creation you claim to be You still who you were That old man is still there and it not really dead I mean you put off the old but he still right there so you might as well just put him back on, because that's not good.

And I look at scriptures like this that remind me of who I am in Christ, the fact that my salvation has been, that I've been sealed for the day of redemption by the Holy Spirit, and that nothing, nothing, nothing can change that. so what about you as we close do you think you need to rebuild your identity in Christ is there a specific statement that I mentioned under that last point that you would say that's actually kind of helpful I had forgotten that I had forgotten that I'm literally called a child of God that I'm literally called Jesus' sibling, that I'm an heir to the throne of grace. Maybe one of those things are an important concept for you to ponder and for you to recall. And as we close, what I want to do, I want to read to you from the Word of God.

I'm just going to read to you. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to do whatever you need to do to focus. So that means close your eyes, close your eyes. That means hold the hand of someone next to you. Just do that.

You might want to ask them. Do whatever you need to do to focus on the reading of God's Word. I'm just going to read God's Word, ask for you to focus, and then close in prayer. It's my hope and prayer that the Word of God would minister to you, either by way of reminder or by way of teaching by way of encouragement and I going to read to you a portion of Isaiah 43 that our brother read earlier today Just focus on the Word of God as I read it aloud.

Because this is what God's Word says. But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, and you are mine. when you pass through the waters I will be with you and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you when you walk through fire you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you for I am the Lord your God the Holy One of Israel your Savior I give Egypt as your ransom Cush and Seba in exchange for you because you are precious in my eyes and honored and I love you Father would you cause your word to run forth in a mighty mighty way Remind us of the importance of friendship.

Friendship with you. Friendship with one another. Friendship in our homes, through marriage, through parent-child relationships. Remind us of who we are in Christ. That you, O Lord, have called us out of darkness and into your marvelous light, that because of the work that you've done within us in raising us from the dead, you call us precious, you love, and you tell us that you love us.

Please help us to believe that, to remember that, and to live in light of that. May we not allow our identities to be compromised in such a way that we would live for another, even ourselves. And now, Lord, I ask you to do what I cannot do, and that is to keep preaching. I ask you to personally apply your word to the hearts and minds of your people long after the service is done.

And, Lord, as you seek to minister to us individually, show us what application looks like. show us the areas of our lives that we can bring more in line to your will and show us how we can apply your word your precious holy gospel to our life as we leave may we connect someday to every day until we meet again we pray in Jesus name Amen