Just a second.
If you want, you can open up your Bibles to Mark chapter 3.
We're going to be looking at Mark chapter 3, verses 31 to 35.
It's on page 997 of your pew Bible.
Let me open up my own Bible.
While you're opening up your Bible, have you ever noticed certain families have definitive
characteristics?
Interests?
Rhythms?
Like, some families have similar physical characteristics.
Does anybody know a family with the family unibrow?
Some families share an interest in politics.
And so in one family, you can have people on, like, total opposite sides of the spectrum,
and yet they're all passionate about politics.
Some families share rhythms together.
They gather once a month for a meal, or they're regularly getting together to celebrate birthdays
and holidays.
I don't think anybody would argue that families are not important.
They are important.
Your family, your biological family is where you should be experiencing deep, meaningful love, right?
Accepted, protected, provided.
You're trained.
Sometimes you're corrected.
You're comforted.
Well, this morning we're going to see Jesus do something radical.
He's going to redefine His family from biological ties to theological ties.
And we're going to see that in Mark 3, 31 through 35.
We're going to see a new family gathered around Jesus in His house.
This morning I want you to behold your king with His family, His new family, His theological family around Him.
Let me get you up to speed.
At the beginning of Mark 3, verses 1 through 6, Jesus heals the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath day.
Jesus is going to keep poking the Jewish religious establishment because He is the Lord of the Sabbath,
and He will do what He wants on the Sabbath.
And then in Mark 3, 7 through 12, what we start seeing is this massive crowd following Jesus.
And it starts in verse 8, branching.
People are coming from Tyre and Sidon, which means now Gentiles are coming to follow Jesus.
To hear of them, to see what He's doing.
In verses 13 through 21, Jesus appoints His 12 apostles.
But in verse 21, we see that not everybody is enthusiastic about Jesus.
His family thinks that He's out of His mind, and they go to collect Him.
In verses 22 through 36, we have these scribes, the religious professionals,
but they come from Jerusalem, which is kind of like Washington, D.C.,
to send the feds to check out what's going on in your hometown.
And so they send these scribes to see what's going on.
And these scribes from Jerusalem, they accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the prince of demons, by Satan.
And Jesus says, you are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.
You are attributing to Satan what the Holy Spirit's doing.
That is terribly wrong.
It's unforgivable.
What we do know is that the Holy Spirit gives people new life.
Causes them to be born again.
So what happened is that Jesus, in chapter 3,
Jesus is gathering a following.
And it's becoming kind of more visible.
It's taking on leadership.
But in addition to a following, He's also causing a stirring of opposition.
In fact, some people don't believe who He is.
In Mark 3, 31 through 35, Jesus will need to decide between His theological family and His biological family.
Have you ever been in that position before?
Where you feel like you need to decide between the unbelieving blood relatives in your family
and then the believing non-relatives of your church?
Have you ever felt like you've been in that position?
I have.
Not an easy place to be.
So let me read Mark 3, 31 through 35.
And His mother, Jesus' mother, and His brothers,
He had brothers,
came and standing outside, they sent to Him and called Him.
They were standing outside and calling for Jesus.
And a crowd was sitting around Him.
And they said to Him,
Your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you.
And Jesus answered them,
Who are my mother and my brothers?
And looking about at those who sat around Him,
He said,
Here, here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God,
he is my brother and sister and mother.
May God bless the hearing of His word.
I want you to behold three groups of people in this passage.
Group number one, verse 31.
Behold the people standing outside.
Notice who they are.
Verse 31, His mother.
Mary.
This is the woman that miraculously conceived Jesus in her womb by the Holy Spirit.
Mary gave birth to Him.
And raised Him.
She would see Him crucified.
And she would be one of the first eyewitnesses of His resurrection.
That Mary.
And His brothers are there too.
And you might be like,
What?
Jesus had brothers?
He had brothers.
And sisters.
Flip in your Bible in Mark,
to Mark chapter 6,
verse 3,
2 and 3.
Jesus is back in His hometown, Nazareth.
And a prophet is not welcome in His hometown.
And so He's in the synagogue,
preaching on a Sabbath.
And the people who heard Him are astonished.
And they're saying,
What did this...
Wait, where did this man get these things?
What is the wisdom given to Him?
How are such mighty works done by His hand?
Is this not the carpenter,
the son of Mary,
and brother of James,
and Joseph,
and Judas,
and Simon,
four brothers,
and are not His sisters?
Here with us.
At least two sisters.
It's plural.
And they took offense at Him.
Yeah, Jesus.
Jesus had brothers and sisters.
Now you may be like,
Whoa!
What does that mean?
Well, they're half brothers and sisters.
So Mary gave birth to Jesus.
And then,
Mary and Joseph had more children.
And if you were raised in the Catholic faith,
what this is pushing against
is the perpetual virginity of Mary.
It's not so.
Not according to the Gospel of Mark.
Jesus had brothers and sisters.
Half brothers and sisters.
Which brings about humanity to Jesus.
It's kind of like,
Whoa!
Could you imagine being raised in a household
with Jesus as your brother?
Like, trying to get on His nerves
would be impossible.
But that's not the point.
Here's the point.
These people standing outside
of Jesus' house,
because this is Jesus' house that He's at,
they're His blood relatives.
And typically,
your blood relatives are in your house with you.
But they're outside.
I mean,
these are the people that He's shared a lot of life with,
a lot of history with,
but they are outside.
That's where they are.
Not inside with Jesus.
Outside,
apart from Jesus.
So who?
Blood relatives.
Where?
Outside.
Notice what they're doing.
They're standing.
You might be like,
Okay,
that's fine.
They're standing.
But what's going on here in this passage
is a contrast.
And this is going to be contrasted to sitting.
The opposite of standing is sitting.
And what we're about to see in a minute
is that sitting is the humble posture of a disciple.
So,
we have blood relatives on the outside
standing apart from Jesus.
And why are they there?
Why has His mother and His brothers come?
Well,
would you look up to chapter 3,
verse 20 and 21.
And Jesus went home to His house in Capernaum.
This is where He healed the paralytic.
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's out of His mind.
His mother and His brothers aren't there
to follow Him
and to sit at His feet.
His mother and His brothers are there
to bring Him home.
Hey, Jesus.
You've gone a little too far.
It's time to come home.
They're not there
to do God's will.
Now,
you may be thinking,
whoa,
hold on a second.
Mary's there?
Doing that?
How do you explain that?
Well,
it would be the same way
I would explain
John the Baptist
sending some of his disciples
to Jesus
and asking Jesus,
are you the Christ?
I think this is a moment
of wavering
in Mary.
And we can all relate
with that.
So,
who?
Blood relatives of Jesus.
Where?
Outside?
What are they doing?
They're standing.
Why are they there?
They're there to take Jesus away,
not to follow Him.
Does anyone in the room
have non-Christian
family members
who think that you
are out of your mind
because you believe
that Jesus is alive
and you're following Him?
I do.
I have relatives
who think I'm really crazy.
You're in good company.
Your King
knows exactly
how you feel.
He knows the heartache.
So,
behold the people
standing outside.
Jesus'
biological family.
Now,
let's behold the people
sitting inside.
32.
And a crowd was sitting
around Him
and they said,
your mother and your brothers
are outside seeking you.
So,
here's another group of people
in this passage
and it's in contrast
to the people,
the biological family
of Jesus.
Who are they?
Well,
it's a crowd.
It's unnamed.
It's unnumbered.
But they're in Jesus' house.
They're inside
with Jesus.
Jesus.
Now,
I kind of want to know
who these people are.
But I think
it's safe to say
we do some hypothesizing.
Jesus has just
appointed His 12 apostles.
So,
I think it's pretty safe
to say that the 12 apostles
are in the house
with Him.
And if you actually
look back
at Mark chapter 3,
starting in
verses
16 through 19,
you have the naming
of the 12 apostles.
There are two names.
I just want to draw
your attention to.
First,
is the name
in verse 18,
Matthew.
Do you know who Matthew was?
A.K.A. Levi?
Chapter 2, verse 14,
Jesus calls him
to follow Him.
Do you know what He did
for a living?
He was a tax collector.
You might think,
well, that's kind of like IRS.
It's worse.
What He did was this.
Matthew was Jewish
and he was hired
by the Roman occupiers
to collect a tax
from His fellow Jews
in order to pay
the Romans.
And He would make
He would make
a lot of jingle
off that.
And so,
He would have been
perceived
by His fellow Jews
as a traitor.
Here's what makes
this interesting.
It's the last name
in verse 18.
Simon the Zealot.
Do you know
what Zealots did?
Zealots passionately
hated the Roman occupiers.
So do you know
what this means?
In Jesus' 12 apostles,
we have a guy
that's seen
as a Jewish traitor
and we have a guy
who hated Roman occupiers.
How about that?
Having dinner
with those guys together.
Two ends
of the political spectrum.
This was a diverse crowd.
Who else?
I'm guessing
there were women,
Mary Magdalene,
Salome,
maybe people from
Tyre and Sidon,
some Gentiles there.
We had country folk there.
We had city folk there.
It's a diverse crowd.
I think this is
the sample congregation
of Daniel chapter 7
verses 13 and 14
where the Ancient of Days
gives the Son of Man
an everlasting
and indestructible kingdom
of people
from every nation,
every tongue.
I think this is
a sample of that.
It's an unusual
assembly of people
and you can believe it.
They had a variety
of different backgrounds
and you can bet
a variety of different baggage.
Did you notice
where they are?
Not outside
apart from Jesus.
They are inside
with Jesus.
At one point
they would have been
outside from Jesus
but now they're
inside with Jesus.
Did you notice
what they're doing?
They're sitting.
They're sitting
around Jesus.
They are interacting
with Jesus.
Hey Jesus,
do you know your mom
and your brothers
are outside?
There's relationship
there.
There's this contrast
between the outside people
and the inside people.
Why are they there?
Why is this crowd
sitting at Jesus' feet?
It's the same reason
Mary in Luke 10.37
sat at Jesus' feet.
She chose the better way.
She was learning
from Jesus.
I mean,
he was the greatest
teacher,
rabbi ever.
So they're sitting
at his feet
which is this
humble posture
of a disciple,
a learner.
He's the rabbi.
They're the learners.
They're saying
give us more.
Teach us.
So behold the crowd.
Unrelated to Jesus
but inside his house
sitting around him
and at his feet
learning from him.
So do you all
see the contrast?
Verse 31,
Jesus' blood family
outside.
Verse 32,
this crowd
sitting inside
at his feet.
Who will Jesus choose?
His family's there,
biological families.
Hey, Jesus,
come with us.
Who's he going to choose?
The third group of people
I want you to see,
well,
it's not a group.
It's your king.
Behold your king.
In verses 30 through 35,
who will he decide
between his biological family
or this crowd
sitting around him?
Let's not forget
who this is.
In chapter 1,
we learn that
Jesus is the son of God.
That God the Father
himself said so.
Remember at the baptism
of Jesus,
the heavens open up,
the spirit descends,
and then there's this voice.
This is my beloved son
with whom I'm well pleased.
That's God the Father,
the ancient of days,
saying of Jesus,
you're my son
and I delight in you.
What that means
is that Jesus,
the son of God,
is totally God
and totally man.
That's who is
in the house here.
but it's not just
the son of God.
Chapter 2,
we learn that he's
the son of man.
A king
with whom the ancient of days,
God the Father,
would give an eternal
and indestructible kingdom
made up of peoples
and nations
and languages.
A diverse crowd,
if you will.
It's this Jesus,
the son of God
and the son of man
who has been put
into a position
of having to decide
between those outside
and those inside.
And so what do you think
he's going to do?
He's going to teach.
Jesus, remember,
is a rabbi.
He's a teacher.
And he sees
the teaching moment
and takes it.
And so what we're
about to see him do
is classic rabbinical
teaching technique.
He's going to ask
a question
then answer it.
So the question
is in verse 33.
Remember what's happened.
His blood,
his biological family
is outside.
Hey, where's Jesus?
His crowd on the inside
and around him
saying,
Jesus, hey,
your mother
and your brothers,
they're outside.
They want you to come.
And then to which
Jesus says,
to the people inside,
who are my mother
and my brothers?
Now, if you were there,
you would know,
you would know instinctively
that Jesus is getting
at something bigger
than genetics.
You would know that.
What Jesus is doing
is challenging
the common idea
about family.
The common idea
of being bound
by biological blood
and birth.
He's challenging that.
Anybody hear the expression
blood is thicker than water?
That means family first.
We put an emphasis
on who our birth parents are.
And what Jesus is doing
is he's raising
the possibility
of a different kind of family
with different kinds of bonds
that prioritize it
over a biological family.
That's what Jesus is doing.
So there's the question.
Who are my mothers
and my brothers?
And then in verse 34
and 35,
he gives an answer.
But I think that there's
this like dramatic moment.
In verse 34.
So he asks the question,
who are my mother
and my brothers?
And he says,
and looking about
at those who sat around him,
this is what I think
he's doing right there.
I think he's making eye contact
with everyone
in the house.
Who are my mother
and my brothers?
Pause.
Looking into the eyes
of everybody around him.
And then he says,
with hand motions,
here,
here are my mother,
my brothers,
while making eye contact
with everyone in the house.
Here is my family.
Here are my people.
What he's doing here is,
he's saying,
we're united by a different blood,
a different birth,
for a different purpose.
The different blood,
of course,
is not biological.
It's the blood of Jesus.
A different birth,
of course,
is the birth of the Spirit of God.
Born again.
And the purpose is,
verse 35,
for whoever does the will of God,
he is my brother
and sister and mother.
He's just redefined
who his family is.
Radical.
Not those folks outside.
Not the lady that gave me birth.
Not my brothers.
Y'all.
Blood-bought.
Spirit-born.
Doers of God the Father's will.
You're my family.
The definitive family trait
of the family of God.
Is to do our Father's will.
To do the will of God.
That's the definitive trait
of who we are.
We're blood-bought.
Born of the Spirit.
And our aim is to do the will
of God our Father.
Jesus is saying,
those in my family,
obey my Father.
Because Jesus' Father
is our Father.
Behold your King.
He has just spoken
a definitive word
on what characterizes
his family.
Obedience to the will
of the Father.
Now, I started this sermon
by talking about
different families
sharing different
kind of characteristics.
You know,
the unibrow
and politics.
Some families
are foodie families.
Other families
are musician families.
Some families
are packer families.
Some families
are bear families.
According to Jesus,
the definitive,
non-negotiable
characteristic
of His family
is doing the will
of our Heavenly Father.
Does this sound familiar?
Our Father who art in Heaven.
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done.
On earth,
in our lives,
as it is in Heaven.
You see,
Jesus has already
decided
who His people are.
Not those outside,
standing.
Those inside,
sitting around Him.
Now, could you imagine
if you were there
and you heard
Jesus say this
and He made eye contact
with you?
You heard Him say that?
Here are my mother
and my brothers
and He's looking at you.
That's exactly the point.
You mean,
you're more committed to me
than your own mom
and brothers?
That's exactly the point.
This is the new family of God.
So this morning, Christian,
as a blood-bought,
spirit-born,
doer of God's Word,
you need to hear
what Jesus is saying to you.
Here are my mother
and my brothers
and my sisters.
You all.
By His grace,
you are part
of His kingdom.
You are part
of His family.
You're beloved.
You're a member.
You have a new father.
God the Father
who loves you dearly.
And you have a new family,
the church.
So now let's bring this to bear.
Just as our King
prioritized
His new family
over His old family,
so must we.
We must prioritize
our church,
our new family in Christ,
blood-bought,
spirit-born,
doers of the Father's will.
Just as He prioritized us,
we prioritize us.
We have
been united
by His blood.
We've been united
by the Spirit's birth.
We've been united
now in a purpose
to do the will
of God our Father.
So the question
now becomes, right,
what does that look like?
How do you go about
prioritizing
the new family of God?
Let me try to apply this
in a couple different ways.
The first way
is to think differently
about one another.
The classic thing
that we do
is when we see each other,
we focus on our
external appearance.
We need to think
biblically about one another.
We need to see each other
fully for who we are
in light of God's Word.
Now let me ask you a question.
Do you think Jesus,
do you think He thought
less of His mother
and His brothers
standing outside?
I don't think so.
He just knew
they weren't inside.
I don't think He thought
less of them,
but He definitely
thought differently
of those inside
sitting around Him.
So this morning,
I want you to hear this.
I'm not calling you
based on God's Word.
I'm not calling you
to think less
of your non-Christian parents,
to think less
of your non-Christian siblings,
to think less
of your non-Christian children.
That's not how we apply this.
To be honest with you,
if you have
non-Christian parents,
there's heartache there.
If you have
non-Christian siblings,
there's heartache there.
If you have
non-Christian children,
there's heartache there.
You spend a lot of time
praying for your
non-Christian children.
It's one of the biggest
burdens you carry.
So we're not to think
less of the non-Christians
of our lives,
or love them less.
That's not the application
of this.
What we do need to do
is prioritize
the family of faith more.
That's the application.
And it begins
with thinking differently
about one another.
And I've already
given you some categories
to be thinking
about each other.
Just imagine this.
Let's say you walk
into the sanctuary
and you bump into
a brother in the Lord
and three things
come through your head.
Oh, blood-bought,
spirit-born,
doer of the will of God.
Whoa, hey!
That'd be cool.
You bump into a sister
at festival.
The categories that
come through your mind
is, man, she is my
blood-bought sister,
spirit-born sister,
and she too is doing
the will of our Father.
You know what's
going to happen?
We will esteem
each other more highly.
We will consider
others better
than ourselves.
We will hold
each other
in higher regard
because we're
seeing each other
as God sees
one another.
We share
the greatest thing
in common.
Any image
bearer
can.
We have been
united by the
triune God
and brought
into His family.
Blood-bought,
spirit-born,
doers of the will
of our Father.
So the first
application is
let's not
focus on
externals
as much
as remembering
who our
brothers and
sisters are
in Christ.
Another way
to prioritize
one anothering
the family
of God,
God,
well,
the picture
is right here
in the passage.
We gather
together.
We come
together.
We see it
right there
in verse 32.
And a crowd
was sitting
around Him.
A diverse
crowd
united together
around Jesus.
Every Sunday
at 10 a.m.,
we're living
out Mark 3.32.
A crowd
gathered around
Jesus.
That's this.
That's who we are.
That's what we're
doing.
It's happening
almost 2,000
years later
when this was
written.
In a very
different place.
But it's
happening.
A crowd
of diverse
people
gathered
together
around Jesus.
Brothers and
sisters,
we gather
together
on a Sunday
morning
because of
Jesus.
Because of
His blood.
Because we've
been born of
the Spirit
to do
God's will.
We gather
to behold
Jesus.
We gather
in order
to live
for Jesus.
The reason
for our
gathering
is Jesus.
Together
following Jesus.
That's who we are.
That's what we do.
And in 3.32,
we see God's
new family
gather together
around Jesus
too.
That becomes
something that
we can now
say, okay,
that's what God
wants for us.
This is His
will for us.
Good things
happen when
God's family
gets together.
God things
happen when
God's family
gets together.
So,
here's how I
want you to
think about
our Sunday
morning
gatherings.
Think of
them as
a family
reunion
once a
week.
Sunday
at 10 a.m.
A family
reunion of
brothers and
sisters in
Christ coming
together around
Jesus to hear
Him speak,
to worship
Him, to sit
at His feet,
to wait for
what comes
next.
You know
what the
question becomes?
The question
becomes this.
how many
Sundays is
enough?
How many
Sundays is
enough to
gather together?
I mean, is
one Sunday a
month enough?
Is two
Sundays enough
for us to
gather?
Would that be
God's will for
us?
I think the
real question
is this.
How important
is it for
God's family
to gather?
That's the
question.
And what we
see throughout
the Bible
is it's
extremely
important.
This is
gathering around
our King,
our Lord,
together.
Let me try
to spell
this out
for you.
I actually
did this
at a wedding
recently
and thought,
man, I want
to do that
on a Sunday
morning.
If you meet
once a month,
gather with
God's family
once a month,
if you prioritize
it at once a
month,
do you know
how many
times a year
you gather
with God's
people?
Twelve.
Do you know
how many times
you gather
with God's
people over
50 years?
600.
Now that
might sound
like a lot,
but over
50 years,
there's a lot
more things
that are going
to be formative
in your life
than the
gathering with
your church.
How about
two times a
month?
24 times a
year?
Over 50
years,
that's 1,200
gatherings over
that span.
Better than
600.
But how
about if
you're aiming
at every
Sunday?
Let's just
say 50
Sundays a
year.
Over 50
years,
that's 2,500
gatherings with
your family
of faith.
Now let me
ask you this
question.
what will
be more
formative?
What will
be more
spiritual
healthy for
you,
for your
biological
family,
and for
your
theologically
family?
What would
be healthier
over that
span?
Of course,
the more
frequent the
better.
Good things
happen.
God things
happen when
God's people
get together.
So here's
what I'm
going to
urge you.
Don't
settle for
minimal.
Aim at
maximum.
Let's aim
high, not
settle for
low.
Let's seek
to gather
together because
we have been
united by the
greatest thing
possible, the
triune God.
We're blood
bought, spirit
born, seeking
to do God's
will together.
Let's aim for
every Sunday
because we're
a family.
want to be
together.
There's a
classic mistake
that Christians
make.
It's thinking
that church is
for me.
I go to
church for
me.
And yes,
in one level
you do.
But do you
also know that
you go to
church for
your family?
For us?
Here's some
obstacles.
Children's
sports have
encroached
upon Sunday
morning.
We all
know it.
Parents,
it's an
opportunity to
train your
kids.
To help
them understand
priorities and
important things.
What's more
important?
Getting to
your kids
games or
getting to
church?
What will
form them
over time?
It's not
if you're
forming your
kids, it's
how you're
forming your
kids.
Maybe you
have a work
issue.
You can't
get to our
Sunday morning
gathering regularly
because of a
work commitment.
Well, maybe you
need to ask your
manager, hey, can I
take Sundays
off so I can
be at church
with my
family of
faith?
And if it's
like, no, maybe
you should be
saying, maybe I
should be looking
for another
job.
It's that
important.
Maybe you're
kind of like,
well, I'll
tell you what,
I've got a
house full of
kids and trying
to get them in
the minivan and
they get to the
church building and
then get them
into places and
then they get
off their
schedule, they
miss their
naps, it is
so inconvenient.
It is.
The question
is, is it
worth it to
gather together
as a family
of faith?
Yes, it is.
And form them
over time.
How about just
a classic
selfishness?
Sunday morning
is me time.
It's my
opportunity to
sleep in.
I only get
one morning a
week to sleep
in.
Sunday morning
is it.
It's the one
time I can
catch up on
doing some
things around
the house.
How about you
move me time
to we time?
We the
church.
Your family's
gathering.
Come gather
with us.
If you would
open up your
Bible to
Hebrews chapter
10 verse 24
and 25.
It's on page
1194 of your
pew Bible.
We read
this.
And let us
consider how
to stir up
one another
to love
and good
works.
Well, how
do you do
that?
Well, we're
told how not
to do that.
What gets
in the way
of that?
25.
Not neglecting
to meet
together as
the habit
of son.
You see,
not gathering
frequently gets
in the way of
stirring one
another up to
love and good
deeds.
But encouraging
one another
by gathering
together.
And all
the more
as you see
the day
drawing near.
We
prioritize
one another
as God's
family by
gathering
together as
often as
we can.
Good things
happen when
God's people
come together.
Good things
happen.
He forms
us.
Maybe you
are not in
God's family
yet.
But
the first
thing you
need to do
is come
to Jesus.
Repent
and believe
the gospel.
Claim
him as
your Lord
and Savior.
And then
you get
to be
welcomed
into the
family of
the blood
bought.
The family
of the
spirit born.
The family
of those
doing the
Father's
will.
Who love
to gather
together as
often as
we can.
In
conclusion,
Mark 3,
31-35.
we
behold our
king.
And he
is standing
in the
middle of
his new
family.
Jesus has
radically,
radically
redefined his
family.
He doesn't
think of his
family primarily
as a
biological
family.
He's thinking
more about
this group
as his
theological
family.
United
by his
blood.
United by
the birthing
of the spirit.
United by
doing God's
will.
Here
are my
mother
and
brothers
and
sisters.
Amen.
Lord Jesus,
would you
do a
work in
us where
your will
be done.
Would you
add to our
number like
minded brothers
and sisters
who want
to gather
and who
want to
live for
you.
Father,
hallowed be
your name,
your kingdom
come,
your will
be done
on earth
as it is
in heaven.
Amen.