Good morning, brethren. It's good to be with you this Lord's Day morning. You can turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 3. The Gospel of Mark chapter 3, we're going to look at verses 31-35 this morning, but I will begin reading at verse 20 to set the context.
We're going to look at the family of Christ in verses 31-35, but we'll begin reading at verse 20. Then the multitude came together again, so they could not so much as eat bread. But when his own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of him, for they said, He is out of his mind. And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, He has Beelzebub, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.
So he called them to himself and said to them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.
No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, lest he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house. Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, whenever blasphemies they may utter. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation, because they said he has an unclean spirit. Then his brothers and his mother came, and standing outside they sent to him, calling him.
And a multitude was sitting around him, and they said to him, Look, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. But he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, and who are my brothers? And he looked around in a circle at those who sat about him and said, here are my mother and my brothers.
Whoever Does the Will of God
For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and mother. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our great God, we are thankful for the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are thankful, O God, for the work of our elder brother. We're thankful that he was perfect in every way, he was righteous in every way, and he came to die on behalf of his people, to save his family from their sins. We're thankful, O God, for the family of faith. We're thankful, O God, that people can be part of the family of Christ, be part of the people of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're thankful for this gift that you do give. We're thankful, O God, that People from every tribe, tongue, and nation can be brought into the family. We're thankful, O God, that in Christ there's neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. We're thankful, O God, that your gospel does not discriminate, that there is salvation for whoever believes and looks to the Lord Jesus Christ, and whoever believes on Him can be part of that blessed family of Christ.
We confess, O God, that even as we know that we have assurance that we are part of your family, for those that have believed, we confess, O God, that we still need your Spirit. We confess, O God, that we still need reminders. We confess, O God, that sometimes we do not love the family of Christ as we ought. We confess, O God, that we do not love our elder brother as we ought as well.
So we ask, O God, that you would send forth your Spirit, that your Spirit would work amongst us, that your Spirit would be pleased to convict your family, that you'd be pleased to have your family knit together all the more. We're thankful, O God, our Father, that we can call upon you as our Father, and we ask that you would do so, that you would knit us together in the blood of Christ, knit us together in the truth, knit us together in what your Word says. We ask, O God, that You give us illumination by Your Spirit. Help us to better understand the things found in Your Word.
Help us to understand the difficult things found in Your Word. We pray, O God, that Your Word would be edifying for us. We pray, O God, that You would strengthen Your saints this day, that You would convict Your saints this day, that You would cause us to die to sin and be conformed to the image of our elder brother. But, O God, if there are any here today who do not know you, we pray that you would change them, that you would save them, that you would work in them, that they would see the blessedness of Christ, that they can be part of the family of God through faith in this perfect One.
We know, O God, that He is the only perfect One, the only righteous One who lived this life, and we're thankful, O God, that He did so to save His family from their sins. So, O God, we pray that today would be the day of salvation, that you'd be pleased to save sinners this day. We pray in all things, O God, you would be glorified. We pray these things in the name of Christ.
Amen.
Introduction
Well, as Mark takes us through his gospel, takes us through the life of Jesus, he's answering a very important question. Who is Jesus? And he drives to the point where Peter confesses in Mark chapter eight, you are the Christ, the son of God. But as we're making our way to Mark chapter eight, little by little, Mark is revealing to us who Jesus is in the gospel of Mark.
Now, Mark sets apart his gospel really with places, Galilee on the way to Jerusalem, then Jerusalem, So we're in the Galilean ministry here in Mark chapter 3. The subsection focuses on insiders and outsiders with respect to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, Jesus has demonstrated his might, Jesus has demonstrated his power, Jesus has shown forth his authority. How would people respond to that?
And there are insiders, the 12 in verses 13 through 19, and then there are outsiders, unexpected with his family, as well as perhaps unexpected with the religious leaders as well. I guess expected based on Mark 2, but if you were part of that time, you'd be like, wow, the religious leaders don't seem to like this one. So insiders and Outsiders. And specifically verses 20 through 35 is set apart with the outsiders, with what's called a chiasm, namely bookends.
You have the family on one end, which sets apart the Pharisees in this hostile confrontation with the Pharisees, calling him Beelzebub. But nonetheless, we have to return to the family in verses 31 through 35. And the problem we do see here is, as I've said already, unexpected outsiders. You see, there is spiritual opposition.
Jesus notices it. Jesus, obviously, is engaging in it. You see, one of the blessed things about Mark is he has more exorcisms than any other gospel that we see. He has many demonstrations of Christ's power over the spiritual world.
The battle has already been won. Jesus has crushed the strongman. There is no battle, really. Jesus has won, yet the scribes and Pharisees confess that Jesus has Beelzebub with this important confrontation we see in verses 23 through 27.
There's spiritual opposition going on, but Jesus has already won. But you see that spiritual opposition manifests itself in physical ways. Yes, with the scribes and Pharisees, but also perhaps in an unexpected place, namely with blood families. See brethren, if you believe on Christ and your family does not, there's going to be tension.
There's going to be ridicule. There's going to be difficulty. There's going to be division amongst families over religion. Those close to us by blood most likely will not support us in our love for Christ.
Most likely they will ridicule us for it, and that still is a reality today. And so Jesus writes, or Jesus says, or Mark writes for us, Jesus' words concerning the family of faith. And that's what we see in verses 31 through 35. Mark is emphasizing those who have Christ's true family, namely those who do the will of God.
Who is part of the family of Christ but those who do the will of God? Now what does it mean to do the will of God? That's a question we'll unpack as we go through, but keep that in mind as we go through. What does that mean to do the will of God?
And
Jesus's Earthly Family
we'll seek to answer that under two headings this morning. First of all, Jesus' earthly family, verses 31 and 32. Secondly, Jesus' spiritual family, in verses 33 to 35. So Jesus' earthly family, and then Jesus' spiritual family.
So let's first look at Jesus' earthly family in verses 31 and 32.
The Family Arrives as Outsiders
As I said, it's a chiasm, it's a bookend, it goes with verses 20 and 21. Now Mark is the only one who gives us this 20 and 21 section compared to the other Gospels. And notice we see in verses 20 and 21, Jesus has called the 12. He's come back to his house.
Fame has spread. Everybody wants to see this wonder worker. Everybody wants to see Jesus. So you see the scene.
It says in verse 20, then the multitude came together again, so they could not so much as eat bread. It was so tight. Everybody's arms were bejumbled up and mixed up that they can't even eat a piece of bread. There are too many people.
There's nothing they could do. They all want to come and see Jesus. His fame had spread. They've seen his power at work.
They've seen this wonder worker. And so his fame has spread and even has spread to his family as well. It says in verse 21, but when his own people, referring to his family, heard about this, they went out to lay hold of him, for they said, he is out of his mind. Our brother is nuts.
Sorry, scribes and Pharisees, we're embarrassed by him. We'll take him away right now. They want to come, lay hold of him, take him away. It's not a good laying hold of.
They're embarrassed of their idiot brother. They want to take him away. They want to remove him. Maybe it was for some well-meaning.
Maybe they want to take him away so that he didn't look like an idiot. Or maybe perhaps they thought he was exhausted and said, hey, we're going to take you away from everything going on. Nonetheless, the words do indicate it was not for a good reason. They came to lay hold of him, and as it says in verse 32, they were seeking of him, or seeking him to take him away.
And so in verse 21, they're coming. Verse 31, they finally arrive at the house. They can't get in. There's too many people.
The windows, the doors, everything's crowded. Everybody's crowding around because they wish to hear Jesus Christ. And so they come, verse 31. Then his brothers and his mother came.
Now Jesus does have an earthly family, doesn't he? Now it doesn't mention Joseph here, most likely because Joseph was already dead, but we know in Mark chapter 6 there's names given with respect to who his family is. Mark 6, 3. Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon?
So Jesus has an earthly family. Jesus has brothers that he played with growing up. Jesus had brothers he probably did woodworking with growing up. And so then they hear about what's going on with their brother, and they want to take him away.
Again, they're embarrassed of him perhaps, or perhaps they do want to make sure he's taken care of. He's too tired, they want to remove him. So they come. His brothers and his mother came, and notice standing outside.
Mark is perhaps the most detailed of all the gospel writers. What's interesting is we don't get a lot of information in verses 31 through 35, even with what the family's necessarily thinking. We get some indication and implication, and even, too, we don't necessarily get what the family says to Jesus' response. But Mark gives us some interesting spatial recognition.
He's emphasizing theological points with these spatial words. Standing outside. mentions it twice. They also mention, as well, the multitude sitting around Him. Twice.
Outsiders and insiders. Those outside the house and those sitting amongst the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says the family, the one who are supposed to be the closest with Him, are standing outside. Contrasting with those sitting with Him.
Standing outside, they sent to him, calling to him. They can't send a text at this time. We're here. Come out now.
They can't give him a call. They can't honk their horn. So what do they have to do? They have to tap on the shoulder of the guy in front of them and play a big game of telephone.
Let's hope that the message doesn't get mixed up as they get there. But they tap on the phone of the one guy. Hey, I'm Jesus' mom. These are his brothers.
We're here. Next guy taps on the other guy's shoulder and says, hey, Jesus' mom and brothers are here. So on and so forth till finally it does get to the Lord Jesus. Christ, verse 32, and a multitude was sitting around him.
Family outside, multitude inside. Family outside standing, multitude inside, sitting around him. And they said to him, Look, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. Here comes, here's the message, your mother and your brothers are here to take you away.
Seeking, as I said, is not a positive thing here. Verse 21, they came to lay hold of him for they said he is out of his mind. The family believes that they have certain rights that Jesus must honor. Now, perhaps even Jesus' response, we kind of are puzzled by it.
Allegiance to God Over Family
Is Jesus violating the fifth commandment? You see, Jesus is demonstrating here that he must do what God says over what his family says. He must do what God, the Father, says versus what his earthly mother says. And when they're coming to lay hold of him, when they're coming to seek him, what they're doing with that is taking him away from his mission.
His mission was to come and preach the kingdom of God. His mission was to come and set his face like a flint to go towards that cross, and his family, however well-meaning, came to stop him from doing that very thing. thing. He must do what God the Father says and not what his family says. And so they come to take him away from the mission.
And what's interesting, as Mark contrasts his family's well-meaning desire to perhaps take him away to preserve him, it's contrasted with the Pharisees and their hostility. The Pharisees engaged in the unforgivable sin. They're hostile. We hate him.
We want to take him out. Chapter 3, verses 1 through 6. They wish to destroy him. And now here come the ones from Jerusalem in chapter 3, verse 22.
All the way down, they send in the big guns. Time to take this guy out. He's got Beelzebub. They ain't playing games anymore.
They want to take this guy out. And there's this hostility against the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. But opposition to the mission can come in subtle ways as well. And it is a subtle way with the family, because even though they mean well, they're still seeking to take him away from his mission.
Brethren, just because we mean well doesn't give us the right to engage in something. Just because we have someone's best interest at heart doesn't always mean it's the best thing to do. We sometimes justify our stupid actions by saying, well, we meant well. Brethren, sometimes I wish people didn't mean well.
Sometimes I really wish people actually were out to get me because I know where they stood. You hate me? That's fine, wonderful. But then when someone is meaning well, they're like, but we meant it for your good.
That's nice. I appreciate that. It still doesn't help the situation whatsoever. And so the family was very much acting like that.
They meant well, but it wasn't the right thing to do. Ryle says, the slanderous suggestions of enemies and the well-meant remonstrances of ignorant friends were like powerless to turn him from his course. He had set his face as a flint towards the cross and the crown. He knew the work he had come into the world to do.
He had a baptism to be baptized, and he was straightened until it was accomplished. Any sort of opposition to this mission, Jesus very much vehemently opposed. Even Mark, after he confesses, you're the Christ, the Son of God, and then Jesus says, I have to go die. Peter says, no, that shouldn't be the case.
What does Jesus say? Get behind me, Satan. Jesus knew his mission. Jesus knew his task.
Jesus knew where he was supposed to go, and no familial bloodlines could stop him from doing that very thing. He had a specific task, and he was making his way, especially in Mark's gospel, towards Jerusalem, towards that cross, to die for his family. Now, with respect to the overarching section, insiders, outsiders, we must understand, brethren, that we are going to interact with outsiders. I know that offends everybody today, insiders, outsiders.
We all got to be inclusive and love one another. Fine. But the Bible speaks about insiders and outsiders. And how do you determine whether one's an insider or outsider?
It is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And sometimes outsiders might be the very family we have dinner with, might be a father or a mother, might be a wife, might be a child, might be a sibling, That is the reality that we face in this life. Not everybody in our families comes to faith in Christ. That's difficult and hard, and we desire that they would be saved.
But nonetheless, before they are saved, we still should interact with them. And even if we interact with them, we must deal with the reality that they might ridicule us for it. They might even mean well. They might even be like, I don't know about this God thing, this Christ thing.
It seems a little odd. A book written 2,000 years ago. They might have our so-called best interests at heart. They might not.
They might hate us and ridicule us and belittle us and bring us down. But nonetheless, we still must interact with them. We live in the world, we are not of the world. When we become Christians, we don't go out into the bush, into the boonies, and live by ourselves, so that nobody finds us, so that no sin enters in.
That never works, brethren. Sin's like a weed, it always finds a way. Sin always finds a way. It doesn't matter if you're in the bush by yourself, you still have the, we, you, me, we all still have the flesh that we think with.
We still all have the remaining corruption that we battle with. It is always there. And so we must interact with unbelievers. You want to know why?
So hopefully we can share the gospel with them. So hopefully that they can be saved. So hopefully that they can come to saving knowledge in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is good for us to have non-Christian friends.
Don't sin with them. Don't sin with your non-Christian friends. But nonetheless, we still should interact with them.
The Fifth Commandment Still Applies
This passage does not teach that we get to neglect our earthly families whatsoever. The fifth commandment still applies, brethren. And if you live and if you're a Christian, believe on Christ, and what we teach is we teach that the law still does abide. The fifth commandment, brethren, still abides.
And it doesn't just talk about father children to parents. It talks about every sort of relationship, inferior to superior, superior to inferior, Equals, now it might sound offensive in our day and age again, I'm talking about bosses or employers and employees, that's the context as well. Fathers and children, that's the context as well. Equals, it's not just what children ought to do or inferiors ought to do, but how superiors ought to act as well.
And that includes all of our families. all of our earthly families, everyone we engage in and interact with, we ought to treat them all with dignity and respect. This isn't get out of a bad family situation card. This isn't get out of a bad marriage card. Jesus says, these are my mother, these ones are my mother and my brothers.
That's not how that works. He's making an important distinction, which we'll see as we continue to go through, but it does not mean we necessarily neglect our earthly families. As the Westminster Divines say in the Westminster Larger Catechism, lawful commands Jesus had a command from the Father that he must engage in, so they would take him away in an unlawful way. He must lawfully do what his Father says.
But the Golden Rule still applies. The Fifth Commandment still applies. That is part of God's will for the Christian life. The Fifth Commandment, loving our families, and the Golden Rule.
And you know what's interesting about the Golden Rule? I remember Pastor Butler exposited this when we first started coming here. I still remember it. The Golden Rule says, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Not how they actually treat you, right? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And that includes your families as well. Your families might not like everything you say, but you ought to love them anyway.
That's very hard, isn't it? We're very, very prideful, selfish, self-serving people. We don't like to admit we're wrong. We don't like to be ridiculed.
But nonetheless, the Bible says we must endure it for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So that's Jesus's earthly family.
Jesus's Spiritual Family
Let's then look secondly at Jesus's spiritual family in verses 33 through 35. As I said, he is not violating the fifth commandment. It's a teaching point. He's taking a question, he's taking a situation, reasoning, using a rhetorical question to drive the point home.
Verse 33, but he answered them saying, who is my mother or my brothers? You see, he's talking about the reality of the Kingdom of God. And yes, there is an allegiance-type focus here. Allegiance to the Kingdom of God must come first.
And that might require difficult decisions with respect to our earthly families. It doesn't necessarily say we have to neglect our earthly families, but if our family ever says to us, us or Christ, you always pick the Lord Jesus Christ. We always choose Christ. There is an allegiance we must have that trumps even bloodlines, that trumps even family situations.
That might seem harsh for us. If it's harsh for us, it was ten times harsher for the world in which Mark is writing. You see, at that time, people typically didn't necessarily leave the home, so to speak. There wasn't a lot of housing.
There wasn't a lot of job situations. Jobs weren't a plethora, multitude of things you could do. You typically did what your family business was. And typically what happened is you probably had many, many people living under one roof.
You had the great granddad, the ruler of everything, his wife, the queen, the situation. Then they probably had all their kids that lived with them, their spouses, then the grandkids. Everybody lived under one sort of place. That's how it operated in that world.
Now in our day and age, that's tough. You know, we love our in-laws. We love our families. But once we leave, we're like, we're gone.
We don't want to go back. If we have to for certain situations, we will. But typically, we're like, we love you. We'll see you for five days.
Then get out. Because I don't want to see you again. Because I want to go back to my own house. That wasn't like that at that time.
So it was even more of a taboo thing for Jesus to say this at this time. Who is my mother or who are my brothers? Verse 34. And he looked around.
Jesus looks around in verse 5 as well. It's an authoritative type look. In verse 5 he says, And when he looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, Stretch out your hand. An authoritative look over the scribes and Pharisees' wickedness regarding their scruples on the Sabbath.
And then in verse 34, it's a positive authoritative look, and he looked around in a circle at those who sat about him, those who are near to Christ, those who are close to Christ, those who are sitting with the Lord Jesus Christ. What's interesting is in Mark 3 14, when he appoints the apostles, only Mark includes this little word that they might be with him. that they might be with him. Same thing here in verse 34. He looked around in a circle at those who sat with him, namely, those who were with him.
Those who are considered the family of God, those who are considered part of the family of Christ, are those, as he'll say, who do the will of God. But even here, it's those who sit amongst the master's feet. I surmise, brethren, sometimes we don't always sit at the master's feet, do we, as Christians? Sometimes we stand, we're moving around, we're perhaps like Martha doing everything, rather than like Mary, sitting at the Master's feet.
We're standing rather than sitting and communing and praying and being with the Lord God Almighty. And He looked around in a circle at those who sat About him and he points to all those around him probably includes the Apostles, but it probably includes more as well Those who are with him the 12 certainly from verses 13 through 20, but many as well. And again, the context is what? Insiders and outsiders with the response with respect to the mission of Christ.
Who do they say that he is? Who do they say that Jesus is those are the ones who are part of his Family. Now some wise guy might say, what about Judas Iscariot? It's a teaching time.
The point and emphasis here is that family is not based on bloodlines, but based on faith. That's where the true and proper family of Christ is. It's based on faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we come to believe, we are what?
Brought into the family of God. That's why we say brethren. It's a little easier to say that rather than brothers and sisters. Brethren, I know it's old school, but it's easier to say.
We call a fellow Christian a brother or a sister. Why? Because we are part of that family. The church is the family of faith and churches ought to act like families together.
Families of faith. Now that doesn't mean everybody's happy. It doesn't mean everybody is everybody's best friend. What it does mean though is like families When there are spats with your family, your sibling, you go and say you're sorry.
I mean, that's pretty standard when it comes to, you know, the light of nature, families, mom and dad. Mom and dad grab the two kids and say they're sorry. Brethren, if somebody does something against you, You know, first of all, go tell them Matthew 18 or Matthew 5. I'm getting them mixed up, but they're both there.
If you've wronged someone, you go tell that person how you've wronged them, say you're sorry. If you feel wronged by someone, you go to that person, say, you've wronged me, because maybe they don't realize that they've wronged you. Maybe they haven't thought about it. Maybe they're like, oh, I didn't mean to hurt you.
I'm really sorry. But usually it airs things out. Does that usually happen in the family of faith? Typically, if someone looks at us funny, we're bent out of shape for the rest of the week, aren't we?
Somebody had a twitch in their eye, and they're like, wow, that guy was mean-mugging me. Jim's word, right? Jim says mean-mugging a lot. We do that.
We take things so seriously. We get so offended so easily. The Bible prescribes what we're supposed to do. Clear the air. clear the air with one another that we might still operate as the family of faith.
The family of faith doesn't mean everybody's holding hands all the time. It does require some taking of, removing our pride, saying we're sorry, asking for forgiveness. That's part of the family of faith. It requires interacting with one another, caring for one another, loving one another as part of the family of God.
Here are my mothers and my brothers. And then verse 35, he gives the familial rules of the spiritual family. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and my mother. Now, just as these outsiders are unexpected, the insiders are also unexpected.
See, the reality of Jesus' teaching here is one of great joy and inclusion. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister. He adds that in. Whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, and my mother.
Yes, it's an exclusive allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, But it's also an inclusive allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever Mark's audience here are Gentiles. They're not Jews. In fact, one of the things Mark makes pains to show as he goes through is to engage in what's called covenant lawsuit.
Israel, the ethnic people of God, are no longer the people of God. The Pharisees thought that they were the people of God. They probably thought that they were doing the will of God. But in reality, they were very much against God himself.
They were outsiders. They engaged in the unforgivable sin. But Jesus here is breaking down that barrier. Whoever Whoever, whoever does the will of God.
John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. For whoever believes in me shall not perish, but have eternal life. I know as Calvinists you're probably thinking, he said whoever. Brethren, whoever is a just is a fine way to describe what's going on.
Whoever we can use with respect to the gospel call. Not every single person without exception, but every single person without Distinction. You don't have to be a Jew to be part of the people of God and the family of God. You don't have to be a male to be part of the family of God.
You don't have to be rich to be part of the family of God. How are you part of the family of God? Whoever does the will of God. Whoever believes in me.
Yes, all the ones who believe will evidence they're the elect. I get all that. When it comes to the gospel call, we believe as Calvinists that we believe in a gospel call, and God does not discriminate whoever believes on Him. Whoever believes on Him.
And the beauty is, even earthly families can certainly be part of the same spiritual family. Nothing is said about how Jesus' family or what they said about Him. Thanks, Jesus. Thanks.
I raised you and helped you. What a jerk. That's not what we see here. Or maybe they thought that, but we don't get that.
But nonetheless, Jesus' earthly family is still part of the family of faith, are they not? Mary, James, Judas, they do become part of the spiritual family. And we do pray to this end for our earthly families. I've seen many situations, many parents especially, grieving over their unbelieving children.
Many children grieving over their unbelieving parents. That is a reality. And we ought to pray to that end that they would hear the gospel, that they would be saved, that they would come to Christ, that they would be part of the family of faith. The point is that Jesus is making is full allegiance must be to me.
And if our earthly family says us or Christ, we say Christ. There is an Old Testament counterpart to this. A little harsher than what Jesus does, but Exodus 32, golden calf scenario, golden calf incident, as Moses, or God, purges the people, purges evil from amongst them. Verses 25 through 29.
Now, when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained, for Aaron had not restrained them to their shame among their enemies, then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp and said, whoever is on the Lord's side, come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. And he said to them, thus says the Lord God of Israel, let every man put his sword on his side and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp. Let every man kill his brother.
Every man his companion, every man his neighbor. So the sons of Levi did according to the words of Moses. And about 3,000 men of the people fell that day. Then Moses said, consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, that he may bestow on you a blessing this day.
For every man is opposed his son and his brother. So there is that Old Testament allusion back there in Mark chapter 3 verse 35. Whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and my mother.
The Will of God Defined
Now, what is the will of God? There's a massive, I guess it's not that big of a misunderstanding today regarding the will of God. You see, the modern focus does seem to be, with respect to the will of God, how is my life going to play out? Who am I going to marry?
What job am I going to have? What kind of Christian service will I engage in? And typically with jobs, people are in a job they don't like, and they want to be in the ministry, and so they're apathetic. And if nobody recognizes them, they then go engage in something they shouldn't by appointing themselves.
The point is, it's all about what God is doing in my life. What is God's will for my life? Am I doing God's will? That is what theologians call the providential will of God.
Yes, brethren, you are in the will of God. Everything that comes to pass in this life is part of the will of God. God doesn't give us a wonderful thought or a wonderful word from Him. Right into our minds it says, you're going to be a lawyer, you're going to have 15 kids, you're going to grow old and die at 85.
That's not how this works. You see, it unfolds in history. It unfolds in time and space. We don't just sit back and let go and let God.
If you want to do something, you want to be a lawyer. Find out what it means to be a lawyer and pursue it. And if you find out you're not very good at that, that's okay, and you can do something else. God opens and shuts doors in his providential will.
So yes, you're always in the will of God. You can never not be in the will of God with respect to the providential will of God, or the secret will of God, Ephesians 1. But the second way theologians distinguish with the will of God, it's that first, that providential.
The Revealed Will and Sanctification by Faith
The second is what's called the revealed will of God, or namely, how we ought to live by faith. This is where we might not be doing the will of God. Romans 12.1, 1 Thessalonians 4.3, 1 Peter 2.15, but we'll look at 1 Thessalonians 4.3. Explicit, conspicuous, as we see in 1 Thessalonians.
Even Romans 12.1 is conspicuous as well, but 1 Thessalonians 4.3. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you should abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. Will of God not engaging in sexual morality. Romans 12.1 Will of God.
It's setting up the application section. Loving, kindness, caring. The will of God is basically doing what God says, not to be saved, but because we have been saved, and we do it by faith. We do it by faith in Jesus Christ, Hebrews 12.1.
Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. That is God's will for our life. That we honor Him and we honor man. That is God's will for your life.
That we worship Him aright. That we care for others. That we don't kill other people. That we don't look at others with lustful intent.
That we work hard in our own jobs. That we're not liars. That we're content. That is God's will for your life.
As far as the other things go with the providential will, yeah, that will unfold, but God is very clear about what His will is. Now, the important emphasis I want to say with respect to that is live by faith. Live by faith. And I think that's what Jesus is getting at in verse 35 with respect to the context.
You see, I don't really think this is necessarily a try-harder passage, nor is it a passage about how we live in community. I've heard that one before, brother and sister and mother and how we all get to live together and eat a meal, but whatever. That's not what it's talking about. Faith in Christ is what he's talking about.
Notice the context. Notice with respect to what the Pharisees say. Notice with respect to what his family says. Notice in respect to the response to who he is.
The Pharisees say that he is Satan. His family says that he is nuts. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and my mother. Whoever believes in me, the other clear exhortation in Mark's gospel is Mark 1 15, and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.
That is God's will, brethren. Repent and believe in the gospel. Yes, in the Christian life, we still live by faith. Now, that doesn't mean we still, to some degree, seek to put away sin, but nonetheless, we do it by faith.
I think we sometimes get that mixed up in the Christian life. I think sometimes we go, we're in by faith, we remain in by works, I've got to try harder without the power of God. That's not how the Christian life works. Sanctification, brethren, is received by faith.
Believe God that you have died for me that you're cleansing me that you're causing me to die to sin Help me Oh God to die to that sin and then by his power go out and kill that sin. That's how it works together There's this working with that, but it's primarily by faith But even here, how do we enter in we enter in by faith not by our own doing? How do we stay in brethren so to speak? I don't even like saying it like that, but we stay in by the power of God through faith.
And even, too, as Mark leads into the Kingdom parables, all about the Kingdom of God and what that means and what that looks like. How do we enter in to be Kingdom citizens? How do we act as Kingdom citizens? That is the will of God.
Family by Faith, Not Blood
France calls the parables the paradox of the Kingdom of God, because it's unlike anything the world has ever thought of. Family is no longer by blood, but family is by faith. And family is by faith in our elder brother. to bring that familial imagery home once again. In Romans 8, Hebrews 2, but especially Romans 8, 29, Jesus is called our elder brother.
We believe on our elder brother. We believe that he was the one who was perfect in every way, for whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Jesus is the only perfect family member, and it's in this perfect family member that we are part of the family of God. The will of God is by faith.
Kingdom citizenship is by faith. Physical, traditional descent is irrelevant. That gives great hope for people who aren't Jews, right? It gives great hope for people who think that they cannot be part of the family of God, or perhaps who've never had a family to begin with.
There is the family of God that, if you believe, you can be brought in and cared for as such, and especially cared for by God, our Father, and by a brother who loves us unlike any other brother. Ryle says again, that all true Christians drink comfort out of these words. Let them know that there is one at least who knows them, loves them, cares for them, and reckons them as his own family. What though they may be poor in this world, they have no cause to be ashamed when they remember that they are the brethren and sisters of the Son of God.
Although they may be persecuted and ill-treated in their own homes because of their religion, they may remember the words of David and apply them to their own case. When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me How is one brought into the family of God? Who is a mother and a brother and a sister? It is by faith.
The marks of an insider is by faith. The marks of an insider is the one who does the will of God by faith. And we should bring home the fact that we do obey by faith. And one of the beautiful things that we see in this section is that they were near to him.
Application: Draw Near to Christ
Brethren, are you near to Christ? Are you close to Him? One of the ways that we get to be drawn near to Him is in worship, in a corporate setting. That's why we should not absent ourselves from the means of grace.
Brethren, we need to be here to hear the Word of God, to be with the brethren, to be with our family, to hear the Word of God preached, to sing with one another, that we might be part of the family of God by faith, that we might be with Him. But as well, are we with Him throughout the week? Now, I know we have jobs that we have to engage in. You glorify God by doing your job.
But are you neglecting prayer? Are you neglecting Bible reading? See, brethren, if we neglect those things, it's going to be very hard for us sometimes to draw near to our God. God says, draw near to me, and I will draw near to you.
There is this blessedness of being near the Lord Jesus Christ. We should fight always to be near the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I confess that doesn't always happen, does it? Many things come up, we don't always want to be near Jesus.
Ask God to forgive us for that, soften our hearts, cleanse us all the more, convict us of it, and cause us to be near Him once again. This is how we are near Him, in His Word, privately. This is how we're near to Him when we pray the Word privately. This is how we're near to Him when we gather together and hear the Word.
This is how we're near to Him when we sing and pray with one another the Word. of God. We ought to want to be near to our brother, just like a little child, a little sibling, wants to do everything his older brother does. His older brother plays hockey. He goes and puts on his jersey and goes out and smacks a few balls with his brother.
His brother wants to work on his car. The younger brother goes and wants to sit there to help his elder brother work on the car. The same thing is true in a spiritual sense. Jesus was perfect in every way, and we ought to be near to him, that we might love him, care for him, and do what he says.
Who then is Jesus? He is the elder brother who does God's will and came to save his family from their sins. The most important thing today is that idea of faith, not works. The most important thing today is believing on Jesus Christ.
Who do you say that he is? What do you say about him is the most important question you can ever be asked in this life. And it is the key distinguisher between an outsider and an insider. Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?
Do you believe that He came to die for your sins? Do you believe that He came to save His people from their sins? Do you believe that He is perfect in every way? Do you believe that He is the only one who can take away your sins?
In Him you will find forgiveness of sins and a perfect, loving, kind elder brother, and you can be part of the family of God. But again, there's insiders and outsiders. Insiders are those who are sinners who are redeemed. Outsiders are those who are sinners who perish.
What you say about Jesus has eternal and familial ramifications. Believe on this elder brother and you shall be saved. Well, let's pray.
Closing Prayer
Our God, we are thankful for Christ, our Lord, and Christ, our perfect one. We're thankful, O God, that we can call you as our Father. We are thankful, O God, that we have that blessed connection with you based on the merits of Christ, that we can pray to you through the Son by your Spirit. We confess, Father God, that we take this for granted.
We confess, O God, that calling you Father is something that we do not always consider its significance. But God, help us to do so, that you are our Father, and you love us in a way that no father on this earth could. O God, we're also thankful for our elder brother, who is that perfect one in every way. We know, O God, that we could not do your will, and he came to do your will perfectly and rightly and righteously, and nothing stopped him from going to that cross, for which we are thankful.
And, O God, we confess that as your people, even your family still has sin, even your family still has remaining corruption, O God. We confess, O God, that we have sinned against you even this past week, but we're thankful, O God, that our sins are forgiven in our elder brother. We ask, O God, that you would conform us to his image, that you cause us to die to sin. We know, God, that your word is true.
We believe by faith that you can help us die to sin. We believe by faith that you will lead us along the way, along the pilgrim's passage to that celestial city. And we're thankful, O God, that you will do so, and that your word is true, and you are faithful to do it. So God, we ask that you would encourage us this day.
We're thankful, O God, for that reality that we are part of the family of God. We are thankful for the gift of faith that you do give to us, and we pray, O God, that this would be encouragement to our souls, that we are part of the family of God, that you would spur us on to do what a family ought to do. Help us to love you, help us to love one another, help us to be near to you, help us to sit at your feet often, O God, we confess we do not do do as we ought we pray that you'd help us and soften our hearts to this that we might be near you all the more thank you for your love with an eternal love that we see in the cross of christ that christ came lived died and rose again for wretches like us so watch over us protect us keep us we pray we pray that you be glorified in the name of christ amen what we're going to call