Joint Worship Service – July 17, 2016
Jesus Trains Us To Think Like His Disciple
Matthew 12:46-50 - 46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” 48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Dear fellow members of the family of God - united to Christ and to one another:
If you have ever watched the cartoon classic Winnie the Pooh, you know that the phrase “Think, think, think” is often uttered by Pooh when he faces a puzzling problem. Perhaps you can picture him sitting on that log with his paw gently pounding his head. Well today, our Savior wants us to “think, think, think.” But not because he has given us some head-scratching riddle, but instead he wants to train us to think, think, think like his disciple.
Do the words of Jesus in our text this morning surprise you? “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” It sounds so calloused, doesn’t it! Almost disrespectful! And here in our community and congregation where families are so often close knit, I suppose at first glance it might be hard to stomach. But let’s back up a moment and see what it is that prompted Jesus to say what he said.
In the gospel of Mark we get a little bit of background information, “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind’” (Mark 3:20,21).
Jesus’ mother and brothers had come to get him because they thought he was crazy. They were planning an intervention before things got out of hand. But the problem is, that’s the only reason they came! They weren’t there because they were concerned about a relationship with their Savior. They weren’t there to listen and learn. Instead, whether they meant to or not, they came to stop his work by interfering with his preaching and teaching. And when Jesus heard that members of his biological family were looking for him for these reasons, he used the occasion to teach that those who believe in him as Savior can enjoy a relationship with him that goes beyond earthly ties.
So you see, this was not a denial of family relationships. Jesus was not saying that family relations should be ignored or done away with. He is not speaking poorly of the blessings of family. Rather, he is highlighting a far deeper issue – the issue of a person’s relationship to him. And he is highlighting this because that’s the way a disciple of Jesus is to think!
A disciple of Jesus cherishes, above all else, their relationship with their Savior. So tell me, how is your personal relationship with Jesus? On a scale of 1-10, with one being poor and 10 being great, where would you fall? Would you characterize your relationship as strong or weak? Is this the first time you have thought about your relationship this week, this month? Maybe it is even the case that as you examine yourself, you find that there are other relationships which have taken priority over your relationship with Jesus?
Like maybe your relationship with your family? So that when Jane or Joe comes home, or the family gathers for a reunion, Jesus gets pushed aside like he’s the black sheep of the family. But remember what Jesus said, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37).
Or maybe it’s your relationship with yourself that gets the most attention? So that you live your life on the basis of what’s good for you, rather than on what God wants; failing to set aside time to work on your relationship with Jesus because you just want a little me time? But Jesus has something to say about this too, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). And if it isn’t these relationships, then maybe it’s your relationship with work; or your relationship with the internet or television; or your relationship with popularity?
That’s the problem with us, we get caught up so often in working on every relationship out there except the one we really need to work on. And this is a big problem, one that can and does have eternal consequences. For where we spend eternity is dependent upon our relationship with Jesus while we are here on earth. That’s why Jesus takes time today to train us to think like his disciple, because a disciple of Jesus cherishes and works on their relationship with Jesus above all else.
That’s what Jesus is getting at when he said, “‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’” Jesus pointed at all the disciples who were there to hear him, learn from him, believe him, and follow him – they were his real family. And you know what, he’s pointing at us as well.
That’s right, through faith in Jesus we belong to the Lord. What a comfort that statement is for every believer. This moves us to consider what God has done to make us his own. By birth and by nature we are God’s enemies born in sin and born sinful, but in the waters of Baptism, he washed us clean of sin and we were reborn as God’s child and Jesus’ brother or sister. In his Sacrament of Holy Communion, he reminds us of the sacrifice he made on our behalf – his very own body and blood. In his Word, the gospel message reassures you that the Son of God, your Savior, has made you part of his family. Now our lives are changed forever.
What tremendous blessings are now ours because Jesus is our brother! Through faith his perfect life is now our perfect life. The forgiveness he won is continuously being poured out on us. His resurrection insures us of eternal blessings. And they are all ours by grace. We didn’t earn our way into his family. We don’t deserve a place because of past performance. No, he put his name on us when he brought us to faith. He did all the hard work by suffering in our place. He changed us and brought us into his family.
I suppose, in this way, you could say Jesus is out of his mind. He’s crazy about you and doesn’t want to lose you to Satan and to eternal damnation. He’s so passionate about our salvation that he was willing to come to a sin infested earth to seek us wayward and lost sheep. He loves us so much that he was willing to rescue us by paying a debt that was not his – a payment that required a painful death on the cross and rejection by his heavenly Father. Yet, in so doing, he has now brought us into an unconditional relationship with him by faith and made us members of God’s family.
Now Jesus says that being a member of his family means doing the will of God. That begins by cherishing our relationship with him. We do that by being with him at all times, not just when it seems convenient. God’s will is that we repent of our sins and put our faith in Jesus for salvation. Being a brother or sister of Christ changes the way we speak, think and hope; it changes our hearts, and even the way we grieve. AND, it changes the way we feel, interact, treat and cherish our relationship with our fellow believers.
Yes, today as Jesus trains us to think as his disciple, he trains us to realize that all those who are brothers and sisters to Jesus are also brothers and sisters to each other. We belong to the Lord – as such, we belong to each other. We are united by a common faith in Christ.
It is a common faith which looks to Christ alone as the object for obtaining righteousness and salvation. It is a common faith which trusts only on God’s mercy in Christ. It is this faith, which is produced in hearts by the Holy Spirit without human cooperation that makes us into a family.
And what does a family do? A family helps each other out. A family forgives and warns. A family seeks lost brothers and sisters. A family promotes and does work together. A family seeks to preserve unity. Our Christian family is to have the goal of mutual comforting and strengthening in the faith.
Think about it, when members of a family come together they greet each other, have much to tell each other, have common interests to discuss, and their conversation is a source of pleasure and comfort. Well, we Christians are connected to each other even more closely than physical relatives. Here on earth we are in a strange land. God has called us out of the darkness of unbelief and brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son. In our hearts dwells the one Spirit. We have one Lord and Savior, one faith, one hope; we have the same work, the same interests and goals: we want to spread the gospel in the world and to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world as we together travel the narrow way to heaven.
But I wonder, do we really think about and appreciate our connection to each believer like that? Do we really look at the fellow member sitting across the aisle as a brother or sister? Do we have a real concern for the well-being of those fellow believers living half-way across the world? How often haven’t we got so caught up in ourselves that we are oblivious to the needs of our brothers and sisters in the faith? How often haven’t we grumbled or gossiped about others instead of cherishing our unity with them?
Every time we have a member become inactive in church, and we do little or nothing to try to admonish and encourage them in their faith, we are not cherishing our relationship with each other. Every time our congregation or synod resolves on a course of action, and we balk and resist and don’t participate willingly because it isn’t how we want it, we are not practicing family unity. Every time we have a worship service, and we really have no good reason not to be present to encourage, strengthen, and support one another, but then isolate ourselves from our brothers and sisters for only earthy reasons, we are not cherishing our relationship with each other.
But why do we do it? It isn’t how God wants it! We are united with the blood of Christ in an inseparable bond of faith. It’s time for us to appreciate and live in such a way that recognizes that we are brothers and sisters. It’s time to see our congregation and synod as more than mere organizational unity. It’s time to see it as a family that wants to and will do life together. It’s time to stop looking around each week and seeing people of different age, earthly property and education; people who are male and female, old and young, poor and rich; people who come from good backgrounds or bad, people who have said things that hurt me; and start seeing them as my brother and my sister.
We cannot afford to pooh-pooh this fellowship. If we do, we will miss out on so many blessings and will fail to think like the disciple Jesus wants us to be. Instead, may we be encouraged by a couple Biblical examples.
When on their journey to Jerusalem Paul and Barnabas reported in the Christian congregations about the conversion of the heathen - how did the people respond, “This news made all the brothers very glad” (Acts 15:3). When Paul was led captive to Rome and came into the vicinity of Rome, the Christians from two suburbs south of Rome set out to meet him. What impression did that make on the apostle? “At the sight of these men Paul thanked God and was encouraged” (Acts 28:15). At the beginning of his letter to the Romans Paul says, “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith” (Romans 1:11,12). And finally, “They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers” (Acts 1:14). It’s one of the happiest verses in Scripture. They believed in Jesus and were reborn, not just as physical brothers but as true brothers and members of Jesus’ spiritual family. Could you have written a happier ending?
God grant that this study of his Word this morning help us to think like his disciple, yes, not only think but also act. Amen.