Matthew pt. 45 - The True Family of Jesus

Is where we're going. So today, finally, we are

finishing. It takes me a lot longer to say

things than Jesus does because Jesus is a much better preacher

and he's better at everything. So we've been taking a few weeks

now and but we're, we're still in the same moment.

We're still in this moment where Jesus cast a demon out of a guy

and it should have just been happily ever after.

Everybody goes, wow, he's awesome, let's worship him and

love him forever. But instead the absurdity, the

stupidity, the hatred of Christ starts showing up.

And now Jesus is dropping bombs and bombs and bombs and he's

rebuking these guys. He's rebuking the religious

leaders. Is he rebuking the religious

leaders because they are religious leaders?

Everybody say no, no, that would be stupid.

Jesus doesn't hate religious leaders.

Jesus hates pride. I'm a religious leader.

Jesus doesn't hate me. But what Jesus does hate is

pride. So that's what he's attacking in

scripture. So whenever you you hear that

argument sometimes, well, Jesus, Jesus went after the religious

leaders. That's a true statement.

Why did he go after the religious leaders?

It was because of their pride and their rejection of the

actual word of God. So pride is always to be

rejected, whether it comes from me or you or anyone else,

doesn't matter. Pride is the issue.

And in that moment and in that day, sinners knew who they were

and the Saints supposedly knew who they were.

So there was some dynamics that were happening there.

Whereas in our day and age, things have shifted a bit,

haven't they? Sinners don't know who they are.

Sinners claim that they're not sinners.

Sinners even go so far in our context to say there is no sin.

How dare you for calling it such a thing.

It's just freedom and love and choice and everything's

wonderful. But the Scriptures are the final

answer. The Scriptures are God's answer

for everything. So Jesus is bringing clarity,

He's bringing rebuke, He's bringing correction.

And now finally, we come to the end of this section where he is

finished teaching, but only because he's interrupted by

someone. So that's what we're going to

talk about today. In your Christian walk, there

are going to be people far off, far off from your life, detached

from you, who try to get you to shut up about Jesus and his

Kingdom. These are enemies, and they are

usually easy to recognize because they have never shown

care for you, and you know that you should reject whatever they

tell you. But there's another group of

people that you're going to come across who can be much more

dangerous than your obvious enemies.

They can be much more dangerous for two reasons #1 because you

might find it harder to recognize their errors, and #2

because you might be swayed away from God's will for your life

because of their strong influence over you.

This, this group of people are your are your family and your

friends. And this is the pressure that

Jesus experiences in the passage that we're going to look at this

morning. Family and friends carry a

weight with us, as they should. That's a totally natural and

good outcome of a relationship, isn't it?

You and I spend more time together and we have more

influence over one another. So when I speak, you go, hey,

Joe, Michael has influence with me.

And when you speak, I go, hey, he or she has influence with me.

So it bears weight, right? We've got some gravity where

we're pulling one another, and that's a blessing of a

relationship. The closer we are with someone,

the more influence we have on them and the more influence they

have on us. But when it comes to our walk

with God, what happens when those were closest to when they

pressure US against our convictions?

This is when things get dangerous.

This is when things can get shaky.

So in those moments, God's Word is going to give us instruction

in that exact thing here today. So I'm going to read to you in

chapter 12. We're going to pick up in verse

46. So Jesus has just finished

dropping bombs. Dropping bombs, you Pharisees,

you're going to be judged. Here's how you're going to be

judged. Here's who's going to judge you.

And now we come to verse 46 while he was still speaking to

the people. So Jesus has not come up for air

yet. He's just dropping bombs while

he's still speaking to the people.

Behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside asking to

speak to him, but he replied to the man who told him, Who is my

mother and who are my brothers? And stretching out his hand

toward 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.

I read to you from the ESV. I made a mistake.

I meant to read to you another passage because the ESV removes

verse 47. So I'm going to read to you the

passage that includes verse 47. While he was still speaking to

the crowds, his mother and brothers were standing outside

waiting to speak to him. And someone told him, there's

verse 47. Someone told him, look, your

mother and brothers are standing outside wanting to speak to you.

Let me answer the obvious question.

Why would a verse be removed? Different manuscripts handle

things differently. Sometimes they would say, hey,

we feel like this one is more reliable.

This one is less reliable. We're we're sure about this.

We're not sure about that. It's nothing to panic over.

The word of God is super stable. It is still the anvil that has

worn out every hammer who's ever struck it.

And there's there's nothing to get distracted by here.

So there's no smoke and mirrors going on with pastors.

Just we're going to focus on what we're going to focus on.

We're going to keep moving forward.

So someone told him, look, your mother and brother and brothers

are standing outside waiting to speak to you.

Verse 48. He replied to the one who was

speaking to him, Who is my mother and who are my brothers?

Stretching out his hand toward 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.

God, bring us revelation and light on this.

Help us to see what was happening and help us to

understand what it means in this moment.

God, we pray that you would bring us clarity for our

relationships and that you would help us to stay faithful to you

in our convictions in the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

In Jesus name we thank you. Amen.

He is still speaking when this happens and his family comes to

interrupt him. So the, the, the short version

of what's going on here is Jesus's mother and Jesus's

brothers are panicking and they're afraid of all the

pressure that Jesus is receiving and it's impacting them.

They're feeling the emotional strain and pressure of who Jesus

is and what he's doing. You've got a family member who's

gone off the deep end and it's embarrassing to you.

And huge crowds are following this family member.

And now this family member is rebuking, rebuking firmly the

people who you looked up to, who your whole society looks up to.

And your, your, your family member is speaking as though

your family member has authority over all earthly authorities.

You're nervous, you're embarrassed, you're

uncomfortable. You're going, we'll talk to him.

That's what you're trying to do here.

You're trying to do damage control.

Now, for most of us, for our family members, that would be

the right thing to do if they were claiming to have the

authority of God, that would be the right thing to do for all of

us. By the way, in this case, it's

dead wrong. Mary and Jesus's brothers are

dead wrong in what they're doing.

So he's still speaking and they interrupt him.

This is a clue. You don't interrupt Jesus if you

believe in Jesus. Notice who interrupts Jesus in

the Gospels? His enemies, his opponents.

Master, what about teacher? What about and all?

All of the interruptions come from the fools who hate Christ

and who are trying to undermine Christ.

So we have other gospel writers who give us more context to

understand what was happening here.

We know that eventually Mary and the brothers of Jesus will

believe and will follow. We know that.

And yet we also know that right now they are struggling.

John 7 verse 5 tells us that not even Jesus's brothers believed

John 7:5

in Him. Then in Mark chapter 3, we see

Mark 3 · chapter mention

this exact event, this same scenario, the he's just told

them about you, the Pharisees. You've just committed the

unforgivable sin and he's, he's raining down all the judgment on

them. Mark 3 gives us the same thing

happening and it gives us more context, more precisely

described. So I'm going to take you there,

Mark chapter 3, turn to the right in your Bible.

Mark 3 · chapter mention

You're just going to go over one book.

So this is the same event. Mark chapter 3, verse 20.

Mark 3:20

Then he went home. The crowd gathered again so that

they could not even eat. And when his family heard of it,

they went out to seize him for they were saying he is out of

his mind. Man, how did that get in my

Bible? It's been there the whole time.

Mary and the brothers of Jesus are going, hey guys, we'll deal

with him. We'll take care of this.

He's out of his mind. We can continue here through the

context of it's the same event. Mark gives less detail than

Matthew does. Matthew has given us the play by

play. He said this, they said that, he

said this, they said that. But now you go in verse 22 where

they make the accusation Jesus is driving out demons by the

power of demons. And but then we continue to

verse 30 and then verse 31 Jesus said or the Scripture says, and

his mother and brothers came to him and standing out that side,

they sent to him and called him and a crowd was sitting around

him. And they said to him, your

mother and brothers are outside seeking you.

And he answered them, who are my mother and who are my brothers?

And looking, looking about at those who sat around him, he

said, here are my mother and my brothers for whoever does the

will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.

So in context, we know that they're not just saying, hey, we

just, we just want to hang out. If they wanted to be with Jesus,

they could have been with Jesus. But they're deliberately

interrupting what he's doing. Why there's they're telling

people he he's out of his mind. They're trying to make an excuse

for him. They're trying to justify they

love Jesus. It's very likely that they love

him. Remember Mary?

Everything Mary experienced, she hasn't forgotten those things,

has she? She hasn't forgotten the angels.

She hasn't forgotten the wise men when he was around 2 years

old. She hasn't forgotten the

prophecies. She hasn't forgotten the fact

that she was a virgin who got pregnant.

She hasn't forgotten any of these things.

None of this is lost on her. And still, guess what Mary is?

She's still struggling and she's still a person who is having

doubt and who still feels turmoil.

Though I know he's supposed to. But is he doing it right?

Is it? Was this the way?

I still had an expectation of how he was going to rule and

reign, and it wasn't quite like this.

We don't know all of her inner thoughts.

We just know that they're misguided at this point.

The crowds are massive. He's speaking like he's God.

He's out of his mind. He's out of his mind.

We'll talk to him. We'll go talk to him.

His family is panicked. They came to seize him, to get

him subdued, to get him under control.

There's an urgency for them. They're afraid.

Maybe Mary's knitting group, maybe her friends have been

putting pressure on her, saying, hey, Jesus sounds like he's

getting out of control. Maybe his brothers are being

mocked on the job site, and now he's blowing up the Pharisees

and claiming to be the Messiah and calling out every

hypocritical belief that the people held.

Jesus is not playing nice. Is Jesus good?

Infinitely, perfectly and completely.

He's always only good. But is Jesus being nice?

No, he's not. Sometimes we see Jesus being

nice, but niceness implies that he is, that his primary focus is

to be agreeable, and Jesus primary motive was not to be

agreeable. Jesus's primary motive is to

please the Father. That's his primary motive.

So Jesus says what would please the Father right now?

That's what I want to do. Well, that doesn't please any of

us, Jesus said. I didn't even take that into

account at all. It never even entered my mind.

I was only thinking about what would please the Father right

now. And if it also pleases you, good

for you, but I'm going to do what pleases the Father.

Well, that well, that puts you at odds with the rest of us.

Look what Jesus does here. Your family, your family calls

for you. Some people were uncomfortable

as Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees in this moment as he

tells them that they have committed an unforgivable sin

and that they'll be judged by the Ninevites.

Nineveh's going to rise up to judge you guys.

And people in the room are going, this is weird.

Hey, his family's got what? What?

Jesus? They're like We're saving him

from himself. We're going to help him.

He doesn't know when to shut up, so we're going to help Jesus.

Hey, Jesus, your mom and brothers, why don't you take a

breather? Things got tense in here.

And Jesus, what is he doing that moment?

Who are my mother and my brothers?

Why? Because he knows what the motive

is outside. He knows what's happening.

So he doesn't go. Tell him I'll be there in a

minute. Tell him another 15 minutes.

I'm almost finished with what I'm doing in here.

He double s down. Who's my mother and my brother.

Ouch, Mary. Ouch, Brothers outside who?

I'll tell you who. He points to his 12.

Those who do the will of the Father.

That's my family. Whoa.

It's almost like Jesus is divisive.

Are you starting to get that vibe 12 chapters in to Matthew?

Are you starting to pick up on that?

It's almost like he's always clarifying.

Remember what we've seen over and over.

The big crowds gather. You know what's coming anytime

the crowd starts growing, you know what he's about to do.

He's about to divide. Why doesn't Jesus love

everybody? Absolutely.

He divides for you so you can actually choose him.

He divides so you can make the right choice in that moment and

go. When Jesus, the big crowd goes

and Jesus goes, I know everything here isn't pure.

The bigger it gets, the harder it is to keep it pure.

He goes, I know I'll purify it right now.

And he's, he separates himself. He says I'm coming over here.

The Lord has always done that. Hey, if you're with Moses, go

stand over here. If you're with Cora, go stand

over there. Oh, you have to pick a side, and

then the earth swallows you up if you chose incorrectly.

This is what Jesus is doing. He's dividing.

He's clarifying. Why?

Because he wants to please the Father, He says, who does the

will of the Father? That's my family.

Family. Where?

Where is this principle of family even come from?

It's not an earthly construct. It's a heavenly one.

God is Father, so don't get it twisted.

Don't get it confused. God is Father and then he builds

families on the earth to image who he already is and what he

already wants to do with humanity.

OK, it's the cart that's in front of the horse instead of

the other way around. I said that wrong, didn't I?

Yeah, we want the horse in front of, you know, the thing, to

quote a famous politician, you know the thing, the figure of

speech that we all use all the time.

God is father and then he creates humanity and says this

will be family. I am the father of humanity.

Don't get it confused and think that, oh, we have families on

earth and we have daddies and we have mommies.

You know what? We're going to refer to God as

like a father. That's not how it works.

That would be backwards. That would be, that would be the

cart being in front of the horse instead of the horses.

God is Father and then therefore He establishes things in the

earth to image and to show us who He really is and what He's

really like. So this is the point.

God wanted a family, remember? That was why He started

everything for us anyway. That was what He wanted.

That was His purpose and that was His motive.

God wanted a family, so He created Adam and Eve and he

wanted them to be fruitful and multiply, and we were just

supposed to live happily ever after.

And he walks with us in the cool of the day.

We are getting back to that, by the way.

That's where we started in the very beginning, and that's where

we end. It starts with a family.

It ends with a family and the marriage supper of the Lamb and

Jesus who has rescued his entire bride and the Father is there,

pleased forever, and we are secure forever in the eternal

Kingdom. That's what God's doing.

So this is what Jesus is emphasizing when he's talking

about family. Who is my family?

Does Jesus care about his family?

We know that he does as a priority for a man dying on a

cross. We haven't talked a lot about

the the crucifixion in a while. We talked about it probably last

time, a lot in detail on Good Friday, the details of the

crucifixion, how excruciating and tormenting a crucifixion is.

But Jesus, as he's being crucified, sees to it that his

mother will be cared for. So Jesus isn't violating the

Scriptures and dishonoring his mother.

But Jesus is honoring his father, and that is the

priority. And that is an example for you

and I Why shouldn't dishonor my father and mother?

Of course you shouldn't. But beyond that, you should

always honor your father. So honoring your father always

comes above and beyond your father and mother or your

brother and sister or your son and daughter.

We can be encouraged by this. Well, encouragement might not be

the right word. We can be prepared for this

because Jesus also told us that our enemies would even be in our

own household. He already told us this in

Matthew. He said so.

So enemies can sometimes think that they're being helpful, and

sometimes someone who loves you can play the role temporarily

for the moment of working against you doesn't mean that

they want your downfall, but it means that they're misguided.

So I might be completely sincere in my care for you, but I can be

sincerely wrong. And this is where Mary and the

brothers of Jesus likely are in this moment.

They're feeling the pressures. We're not making excuses for

what is plainly sin, but at the same time we understand it's not

the same guilt as the Pharisees bear.

There is a difference of weight of sin and the Pharisees are is

far greater than what Mary and Jesus's brothers are

experiencing here. So they are sincere, they

believe they're correct, but they are dead wrong back in

Matthew 12, verse 48. But he replied to the man who

Matthew 12:48

told him, who is my mother, who are my brothers?

And stretching out his hand toward 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's response is also telling

of their motives. They weren't outside saying we

miss him and we were hoping to surprise him.

You know, can you, can you cut him off really quick and let him

know we're here? They want to seize him.

They want to speak to him. They wish to speak to him, when

really they should shut up and listen to him.

This is the problem with the Pharisees and the scribes that

were coming to Jesus. Hey, we wish to say something to

you. That's that's the wrong thing.

When you come to Jesus, you should come to sit at his feet.

You should come to say, I'm going to hang on to every word

that you have to say. But the temptation is always the

same. People want to put Jesus on

trial. Let's put Jesus on trial.

He has to answer for this. He has to answer for that.

People, we put Jesus on trial once and it will never happen

again. And it only happened because he

allowed it. It was a false trial.

It was a foolish trial. It will never happen again.

The next trial will be our own. He will come to judge the living

and the dead. He will speak to us.

We don't instruct the Lord of glory.

The Lord of glory instructs his people.

So you and I don't know what we would have done if we had been

there. So I'm not shaming or blaming

anybody, but we are clearly naming what's good, what's

right, and what's wrong. It's easy for us to look back

with our Bibles and have hindsight and go, if I, if I'd

have been there, tell you what I would have been, I would have

been inside. I would have been one of the 12.

And if he wouldn't have picked me, I'd have been #13 that would

have been able to shake me. That's my hope.

But I thank God I'm here now with the hindsight and and the

will to say, God, keep me faithful to you.

We need to remember that our convictions will not always be

welcomed or applauded. Jesus promised just the

opposite. It's been a hard adjustment, I

think, for the body of Christ to make in our society where

Christendom was the norm. And by Christendom, I don't mean

everyone was Christian, but the influence of Christianity was so

profound, and it still is. People in the West don't realize

that everything good, anything good that's ever happened to any

nation has been the influence of Christianity.

But what about this bad thing? We reject the bad thing.

We call it sin and evil. And also, any good thing that

happened came as the result of God's Kingdom breaking in

through his church. So it's been a hard adjustment

for us to make here in the West in particular, as things have

shifted more and more away from Christendom.

And we don't want just Christendom.

We want the Kingdom of God. We want every heart and soul to

love and follow King Jesus. And also Christendom is better

than secularism. If you had to pick, it's a real

easy choice to make. It's not a, it's not a

complicated one. This is how sometimes we this is

what we talked about last week when we think about our upcoming

election. Who do you pick?

Well, we'll take the lesser of two evils, obviously.

We'll take the slightly better or whatever you consider majorly

better. But still, we're not electing a

king. We already have a king.

His name is Jesus, and we're electing who do we think is

going to best promote righteousness?

That might even be a laughable proposition.

And still we need to make a choice and we need to do what we

think would please the Lord most.

So it's been a hard adjustment for us to make as a society, as

a as a church, but we must make it.

Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount.

Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say

all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in

heaven. For so they persecuted the

prophets who were before you. So Christians should have

enemies. If you don't have enemies, you

shouldn't step back and go, why don't I have any enemies?

What's going on here? I was promised that I would.

If I don't have any enemies, does that mean that I'm not

actually representing the truth? Does that mean that I'm not

standing for the truth? This isn't, this isn't a call to

go pick a fight. Jesus just saying, whenever

you're faithful for long enough, you will find a fight.

The fight will find you. You will have to speak up in a

moment when everyone else is silent, and even in a reasonable

moment when it's your mother and brothers.

Hey, hey, hey, hey. It's us.

Hey. I know the Pharisees are crazy.

I know they're giving you a lot of pressure.

Come outside and just talk with us.

That's tempting. That's clever.

Because they're not your enemies.

It's your Mama. She's outside.

Go talk to your Mama. Hey, we're looking out for you.

We're trying to help you here. That's clever.

That one's shifty. What is the will of the Father?

It's important to have your convictions coming from the Word

of God and from a a living relationship with the Holy

Spirit. Jesus told us like we said, our

enemies would be of our own household.

So what do you do when this pressure comes, When your family

pressures you to tone down your zeal for God?

Jesus gives us the example of how to respond.

He double s down. He he brings rebuke to his

family and then establishes what's actually good and best.

What's good and best is everyone who pleases the father.

No, I'm not going to get pulled off.

I talk often when I'm talking about conflict in my in my work

that I do when I'm working with clients, I talk about staying on

the Interstate. When you're engaged with

conflict with someone. Hey, let's stay on the

Interstate. Hey, you know, I want to talk

with you about this thing and and then you say, well, you used

to do this and I go hang on. That's an exit off the

Interstate. I'll own that.

And that's a separate conversation that I'm completely

willing to have. We can even write it down on a

post it note over here and come back to that later.

And yet in this moment, I intend to stay on the Interstate and

not take an exit because what what will happen sometimes is if

you take that exit, you'll find that folks in their flesh, all

of us have this capability. By the way, we have the ability

to take the exit, but we have no intention of hopping right back

on the Interstate. I want to get you on the exit

and then I want to take another turn.

Eventually I'll get you in the backwoods where I can murder you

and win the argument and say ha, ha.

And then you're apologizing to me when the whole time you came

to correct me about something. But now I flipped the whole

thing around, you know, because I have.

What is that? It's flesh.

Now some of you go, whoa, that sounds like me all the time.

Well, then that's that might be more of a stronghold that you

need to be very aware of and you need to repent of it is to be

repented of and confessed. But the point is Jesus doesn't

allow people to pull him off the Interstate.

He says I'm going to stay right here.

And they go, what about this and what about that?

He goes, yeah, I'm staying right here.

We said this. I heard what you said.

I'm saying what I said. I understand your tactic and

your motive is to distract me from what I'm doing.

Saying whenever you have conviction from the Lord to walk

out your obedience to the Lord, no matter what it looks like it

might be bringing rebuke to something that needs rebuke.

It might be. It might look like just your

sweet devotion under the Lord. Will people really rebuke you

for that? Oh, yes, they will.

And I'll show it to you in Scripture in a moment.

People will rebuke you for all kinds of things, loved ones and

family members who are close to you, and they'll go.

Should you really be doing it like that?

No, no, no, I'm with you. No, no, I believe what you

believe. I just wonder if you should be

doing it differently. How are we supposed to know

whether or not we should listen to them?

You gauge it by their own faithfulness.

The person who's coming to you, are they faithful and mature?

If so, I'm all ears. How do you judge if they're

faithful and mature? Do they have enemies?

That's another gauge. Do they have enemies?

Do people hate them for their love and following the way they

love and follow Jesus? So This is why everybody doesn't

get a seat at my table. I mean, everybody gets a seat at

my kitchen table, but everybody doesn't get a seat at the table

of influence in my life because, you know, the work that I do for

a living, I'm on the Internet. So you might imagine I get some

messages sometimes for the work that I do and just for the

Kingdom, the Kingdom preaching that I do.

And then the things I say about men and women in marriage.

I, I tend to hear lots of opinions.

It's just instant dismissal. Instant.

Well, couldn't there be some truth in it?

I don't have time to sift through this septic tank to look

for what might be a gem inside. Why?

I've got plenty of gems in my life who speak into my life.

I have a pastor who's not a coward, who speaks into my life,

who corrects me and who confronts me and says, hey, now

he's very wise. He's way wiser than me.

Like when Pastor Kim corrects me, I don't even realize it till

like the next day. And I'm like, oh man, he's good.

Wow. It's like he set the thing in

there and then the Holy Spirit works on it.

So we surround ourselves with faithful people.

This is not just you living in a silo and you doing everything on

your own. And you might just be an

egotistical blowhard who has convinced yourself that you

actually are faithful to the Lord.

You might just be a moron and you go, nobody loves the Lord

like I do. No, you're actually really

foolish. You're actually just really

obnoxious and you don't know it because you don't have faithful

Saints, mature Saints around you who can speak clear clearly to

you. People who are really doing the

work of the ministry, who also say, hey, brother, I love, I

love your heart. I love your seal.

Hey sister, I'm with you 1000%. And can we discuss this?

And it's someone who you can receive from.

It's someone who has and is bearing good fruit who is going

to come to Jesus in that way? Who can Jesus, who can come and

correct Jesus, who can come to him and go, Hey, we were

thinking maybe you should consider there's there's no one

he, he has, he has his father, he has the Holy Spirit.

He's solid. He doesn't need anyone's help or

or coaching. So doubling down is a good

response when you know you're doing the right thing.

I'll show you another example of family telling you to tone it

down. Turn to Second Samuel.

So this is you're gonna turn to your left, you're gonna go into

your Old Testament if you see kings, if you see first kings or

second kings, you're gonna keep going to the left and then

you're gonna go to Second Samuel.

I wanna remind you to bring your Bibles.

I want to encourage you to bring your Bibles.

The Bible that you read at home is the Bible I want you to bring

on a Sunday morning. It's going to help continue to

familiarize you with Scripture so you can continue to see where

are these verses. The Lord is going to speak to

you. You'll be able to highlight

things, meditate on things. It'll serve you well.

Second Samuel, chapter 6. Then go in verse 12, the Ark of

2 Samuel 6 · chapter mention

the covenant. This is not Noah's ark.

This is a, this is a box. We're not going to go too

detailed here, but it's a box. It was containing the presence

of the Lord. There was much rejoicing, much

honor should have been brought to the Lord through this process

as it was. So whenever you see the word,

the ark being brought in, that's what's being referenced here.

So we're in Second Samuel, chapter 6.

2 Samuel 6 · chapter mention

I'm going to start reading to you from verse 12.

And it was told, King David, the Lord has blessed the household

of Obed Edom with all that belongs to him because of the

ark of God. So the ark was stored at this

guy's house. So now the blessing of the Lord

is just all over this, this man's home.

So David went and brought up the ark of God from the House of

Obed Edom to the city of David with rejoicing.

David didn't just go grab the ark, throw it on his back and

say, hey, let's bring it fully into the city and let's rejoice

over it. This, this parade was bananas.

And when those who bore the ark, I say bananas that made it sound

irreverent. It was not irreverent.

It was incredibly elaborate and Worshipful is the is what I

meant to say they're very elaborate and Worshipful.

And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone 6 steps.

So we got four guys carrying the ark.

We have pole on our shoulders. No one is touching the ark.

Actually, I got touched the ark earlier in the day and he died

because of it. We'll go there some other time.

So we're walking. We take 6 steps.

One 23456 every time. They took 6 steps.

Do you know what happened when those who bore the ark of the

Lord had gone 6 steps? He sacrificed an ox and a fatted

animal. Wow.

Hey, David. No.

I love your zeal, brother. No, no, it's great.

No, no, no. I'm with you.

I love the Lord too. I love the Lord too.

But I think maybe if we could move the parade along and we

could, I don't know, like we don't have to kill that many

animals. Like, it's a lot of steps

between this guy's house and the city.

No, no, I'm with you. No, no, no, no, I love the Lord.

No, no, I'm with you 100 percent, 100%, totally, totally,

totally. But also, let's not do it this

way the way that you feel led to do it, the way you want to honor

the Lord. Don't do it that way.

Don't do it that way. Hey, hey, hey.

I know you want to give that money into that offering.

Hey, I know you want to bless that family.

Hey, I know you want to do this sacrificial thing as a

Christian. I love that about you, but I

think it's but don't do that. I think that's too excessive.

I think that's too much. Hey, I know, I know you know,

you tithe and give offerings, but I think I think you could

reel this thing in some you fill in the blank with maybe, maybe

we don't have any record that anyone objected there, but he

sacrificed an ox and a fatted animal.

Verse 14 And David danced before the Lord with all his might and

David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the House of

Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the

sound of the horn. David danced with all his might

and he was wearing a linen ephod.

So he's wearing a just a simple white linen garment, nothing

fancy, not looking like the king.

He had taken off his kingly robes and he was saying, look,

I'm just another one of the guys who wants to glorify the Lord.

This isn't about King David being here today.

This is about the Lord, the King of glory, getting honor, getting

praise, getting worship. That's a good thing, right?

Go David, Praise the Lord, man. Get after it, brother.

Verse 16, as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David

McCall, the daughter of Saul. This is David's wife.

Remember her when David killed Goliath?

This is the Princess that he gets as a wife.

McCall, the daughter of Saul, looked out the window and saw

King David leaping and dancing before the Lord.

And she despised him in her heart, dear God.

And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place

inside the tent that David had pitched for it.

And David offered burnt offerings and offered peace

offerings before the Lord. David is having an awesome day.

We're praising the Lord, we're worshiping, He's dancing.

It's joy, joy, joy, joy, honor the Lord.

He is worthy. It's all good.

And when David finish it, offering the burnt offerings,

verse 18, and the peace offerings, he blessed the people

in the name of the Lord of hosts and distributed among all the

people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a

cake of bread, a portion of meat, cake of raisins to each

one. Then all the people departed,

each to his house. He wanted this to be a feast.

This is a celebration. Hey, open the storehouses, open

up everything, distribute, distribute.

The people are coming. They're singing, there's

dancing. It's awesome, as it should be.

David is so excited. And David returned verse 20 to

bless his own household. So now the man of the house

comes home. The king is coming home to his

wife, to his children, to his servants.

What a day. And he wants to bring the same

blessings into his own household as he should, as a godly man

should, bringing his best to his family, Not bringing your scraps

to your family, but giving them your very best.

David returned to bless his household.

But McCall, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and

said how the king of Israel honored himself today,

uncovering himself before the eyes of his servants, female

servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers

himself. This is what he's met with.

She's being sarcastic and she's mocking him.

She said. I saw you dancing.

I looked out the window. You didn't have on your kingly

robe. You look like a fool.

You look like everybody else. It was embarrassing.

You look like a joke coming hard at him.

He's going hey, honey, I'm home. The King's ark is Look at you,

Mr. Dancing with the others today looking ridiculous.

And David said to McCall. So notice what McCall said.

You danced before the servants. You danced in front of the

servants. You see how you see how a

twisted heart Miss applies Even what he was doing?

Was David dancing before the servants?

Look, I'm dancing for you. Was that who he was doing it

for? David said to McCall.

It was before the Lord who chose me above your father, and above

all his house, to appoint me as Prince over Israel, the people

of the Lord. And I will celebrate before the

Lord. You know what?

I'll make myself yet more contemptible than this.

I'll be a based in your eyes, but by the female servants of

whom you have spoken. By them I shall be held in

honor. And McCall, the daughter of

Saul, had no child to the day of her death.

Interesting that the Holy Spirit and Samuel would include that

there. So what does David do?

Other translations? Whenever McCall corrects and

rebukes and he says, you think I was undignified today, I will

become even more undignified than this.

You haven't seen anything yet. He double s down.

You think that was bad? I'll do it again.

I'll go outside tonight all by myself.

He's making the point. I will not be pulled away from

the Lord of glory. This wasn't about David.

This wasn't about anybody else but the heart that doesn't see

that. So this is my point.

I proved to you, yes, people will come at you when you bring

strong rebuke and they'll go, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

I also think that's a bad thing. But I think the way we should go

about it is, oh, the answer to that is always by doing nothing,

by the way, because the people who rebuke you for bringing

rebuke never actually rebuke anything apart from people who

rebuke people. Did you follow that?

It's always the case, unless, of course, it's not and it's Pastor

Kim rebuking me. And then it can be received.

But the majority of the time, Christians who go to other

Christians go, Brother, I, I agree with you.

This thing is wrong and bad, but I don't think you're doing it

right. Here's the question you ask

those people. Oh, OK, show me how you do it.

I'm open. I'm open to instruction here.

Show me how you do it. Oh well I don't do it then.

I'm not open to anything you have to say.

Then you've lost influence with me.

Well that's really prideful of you.

Clever. Nice try, but thankfully I have

safety in my life and mature believers who are wise, who are

godly, who are not cowardly and who are not trying to be friends

with the world. To be friends with the world is

to be enemies with God. Don't be confused.

We should have many non believing friends.

But to be friends with the world is to be friends with the world

system and the God of this world who we hate, the Prince and

power of the air, Satan himself is our enemy.

So see that pressure doesn't just come when you're bringing

fire and brimstone. Pressure can also come when

you're joyfully praising the Lord, happily minding your own

business going. God is so good.

God is so good, people go pipe down with that.

It can come from anything. You need to be prepared.

What do we do? Jesus gives us the example,

David. David gives us the example.

Double down. Like I said, you've you've got

to have the wise protection in your life.

But once you know that you do, you can more happily and quickly

and easily dismiss nonsense. All right, we're going to go

back to Matthew 12. In Matthew 12, we are in verse

49 now. So we're continuing stretching

out his hand toward 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. What a powerful bond that was

building among the disciples, right?

Yeah. They're sitting there and

they're just like, I'm with him. I don't know what he's going to

say next. It gets crazy around here

sometimes, but I'm with him. I don't understand it all when

he says eat your flesh and drink your blood, I don't get that

either. But I'm still with him.

I'm with him, I'm with him. Well, what about your teacher?

I'm with him. Take it up with him.

That's all I know to say. That is such a wise and humble

approach. When you when you feel

pressured, you've got to explain, you've got to justify.

Take it up with Jesus. I've told many people to take it

up with the Lord when they're like, well, you and you and you

and I go, bro, I didn't invent it.

I just read it. Why don't interpret it that way

then interpret it how you want. The king will sort us out of

that much. I'm sure the judge will sort us

out. Me and you both, friend, enemy,

frenemy, whatever you may be. I'm with him.

Jesus is building a great bond among his disciples, saying this

is what it looks like to be my family.

It's to obey the Father, the family of Jesus.

We can determined from this passage the family of Jesus will

obey the Father of Jesus. That's how Jesus knows who his

family is and that's how we know who our family is.

He told us just moments ago up in the passage when he was

rebuking the Pharisees. The tree is known by its fruit.

The tree is known by its fruit. Don't confuse that with the tree

is saved by its fruit. The tree is dead, and Jesus

makes the tree alive. And then the tree is known by

its fruit. It had bad fruit before Jesus

saves it makes it new, and now it has living fruit.

So the tree is not saved by its fruit.

But the tree is known by its fruit.

It is identified by its fruit. And now we're seeing bad fruit

from Mary, the brothers of Jesus.

It's not as bad as what we see from the Pharisees, but he can't

allow it to pull him off of his obedience.

And you've got to have the same kind of wisdom to recognize

what's going on here. This person loves me.

This person cares about me, and yet something ain't right.

The Holy Spirit is telling you that something ain't right.

I can't pinpoint it. You better obey the Lord.

But yeah, but they need me to answer them.

No, they don't. You don't owe an explanation.

You don't owe an answer. If you can't articulate 1.

You just go, Hey, I love you and I think you love me, but in this

thing and this dancing before the Lord moment, or in this

rebuking the Pharisees moment, or in this fill in the blank

moment, I can't go with you on this.

This seems to me to be the will of the Lord and I'm going to

stick with the will of the Lord. They say that blood is thicker

than water, but it's the blood of Jesus that flows through the

body of Christ. It's the blood of Jesus that

flows through the church that's thicker than anything.

That was the point that Jesus was making.

Do we dishonor our families? No way, no how.

They are your first people. They are your closest people and

they should be cared for. And yet the bond in the body of

Christ, and we're going to close and Chris and Kayla are going to

prepare the elements to service communion.

The bond in the body of Christ is something that flows out of

Christ. We are a body.

That's the image that the Holy Spirit chose to use.

So we are connected to each other and most importantly,

we're connected to the head, Jesus.

And that bond is something that is inseparable.

It's something that builds great devotions.

And also we have to be trained and discipled into it.

The body of Christ should have strong bonds.

You should have deep love for the body of Christ.

You should have deep love for your local church, for the

Christians in your life, for the people in this room.

This is this has been a priority for us as a church from day one.

We said that when we were meeting at the Pilot house and I

was saying my intention in planting this church, I want to

plant the church that I want to attend.

And we want to just be a Church of simply New Testament

Christianity, which of course every church would say that and

we commend that. But in particular, we mean we

are going to be up in each other's business.

We intend to be up in each other's lives.

And I said that and I've continued to say that because I

want it to divide. I want it to separate.

So for the folks who are looking for an exclusive Sunday morning,

I just need you to be a preacher man, preacher man.

So go ahead and preach preacher man, if that's all somebody's

looking for. I want them to feel

uncomfortable and convicted in this environment and call to

deeper fellowship with the Saints to say that the body of

Christ was more than for you to come and be something that you

consume. The Church of Jesus is not

something that you come and take from.

The Church of Jesus is something that you are a part of.

So does the hand contribute? Yes, it does.

And does the body contribute to the hand?

Yes, it does. Blood flows into the hand.

It is. It is a reciprocal love

relationship all throughout the body.

But we've often missed that. The Western church misses that

and we become a consumer church. She goes, what do you have to

offer me? Well, we got YouTube worship.

How about that? Are you impressed yet?

No, you know, we set up our chairs with bicycles and AYMCA

and, you know, weights and junk around us.

Are you impressed yet? We got nothing to offer you

except Jesus and the fellowship of the Saints.

If that's what you're in for, then we're all in with you.

If you're looking for if you're looking for more, I don't know

that we'll have it. We want to be hospitable.

We want to be loving, but the bonds in the body of Christ,

that's enough. That's enough.

So we have to train westernism out of us.

By the way, let me clarify. I want us to have a beautiful

building. I want us to have our own

property. I want to build something

gorgeous that we love to worship in.

I want all of that. So don't don't hear things that

I'm not saying, but I am saying what I am saying.

So there's a lot of lot of good that can be enjoyed there.

But the point is the body of Christ is what makes it.

If we had nowhere to meet, we would gather in a field.

We would, we would figure it out.

Why? Because that's what the church

is. The church is the gathered body

of Jesus. So I'm the church all by myself.

No, you're actually not. The church literally means the

gathered people of God. So it is the gathered body of

Christ that is the Church of Jesus Christ.

I want to be in the family of God.

How can I know I am? Jesus said, do the will of the

Father. Jesus said that's how we know.

That's the fruit that tells us what's going on, not perfectly,

but faithfully. So we are the body of Christ, We

are connected to each other. We are family if God is your

father. But the dangerous thing is to

see, like with Mary and the brothers of Jesus in this

moment, you can be inside a Christian family and still be

outside of Christ. They're literally the mother of

Christ and the brothers of Christ.

And they were still, the Scripture made it plain with the

language. They were outside.

Why would you be outside if Jesus is inside?

Jesus outside. I want to be outside.

Wherever Jesus is is where I want to be.

You can be inside a Christian Church and still be outside of

Christ. There's nothing magical about

these chairs or this room or listening to sermons that are

faithful. So you can be close but still be

outside. You can be in a building in a

Christian family, but still be outside of Christ.

How do I make my salvation Sure? Well, only Jesus makes salvation

sure, and y'all can begin to service the elements.

Only Jesus makes salvation sure. Or where does my confidence come

from? Your confidence if you're a

believer, I don't intend to. I don't intend to plant seeds of

doubt inside of you. But if you feel unsure, if your

confidence feels shaky, how how do you build that confidence?

You do so by fellowship with the Father, fellowship with Christ,

and fellowship with the Saints. That looks like the word of God.

That looks like prayer. That looks like all the

spiritual disciplines we would refer to often.

They don't save us, but they build our fellowship.

If I felt distance with Natalie, I wouldn't say I wonder if I'm

still married. Are we still married?

Yeah, we're still married. But maybe I've been traveling

too much, and maybe we haven't been having soulful, quality

time together, hanging out and talking.

Maybe we've been busy and distracted.

Maybe fellowship needs to be strengthened.

So if that's where you're at, you say, I know I love the Lord,

I know I'm saved, but I still feel distance.

And sermons like this still make me feel this insecurity in this

fear. That is a conviction from the

Holy Spirit intended to draw you closer.

Do not drive away today and go, man, I felt convicted today.

The end. Conviction has a purpose, but

it's dangerous to keep swatting it away.

This is a family that's irksome and I'll just man, that keeps

coming up. That is the grace of God.

That is your God who loves you saying hey, hey, hey, let's get

together. Let's build this thing.

Let's do this thing for real. Really follow me, really walk

with me. I love you, son.

I love you, daughter.