Today, as we begin our summer months and hopefully a focus on more ‘family time,’ I want to look into just what being a family really means; we’re going to talk a bit about the importance of FAMILY. And, as we begin today, I want you to use your imagination and ask yourself this: What does Jesus’ really think about the idea of ‘family?’ Do you think Jesus’ earthly family was important to him? Jesus is often misunderstood when it comes to his attitude toward family. Listen to today’s scripture and I think you’ll have an idea about ‘why’ that is…
As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. 47 Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to speak to you.” 48 Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 49 Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. 50 Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!” – Matthew 12:46-50 (NLT)
Who are my mother & my brothers (v.48)? To some, Jesus comes off here as kind of ‘dissing’ his family. They have come to him, out of concern, even though they don’t fully understand what he is doing with his life. But, they came to him out of concern… With this type of reaction, however, you can see where some may interpret this in a negative way—like Jesus’ earthly family wasn’t very important to him…
On this day when we celebrate one of our very important ministries, we want to recognize that they do indeed follow up on what was truly important to Jesus… Stephen Ministry—named after the first Christian martyr, Stephen—does what all good deacons (like Stephen) did in the Early Church; they care for those who are FAMILY…
Let’s begin our time in God’s word today by talking about what Jesus’ real attitude was toward his earthly family. First, scripture makes it pretty clear that, to Jesus,
EARTHLY FAMILIES REALLY DO MATTER (Let me give some examples)… Jesus criticized those who did not honor their earthly families (Matt. 15:1-9, NLT). Scripture tells us:
“Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. 2 ‘Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition?’ they demanded. ‘They ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.’ 3 Jesus replied, ‘And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? 4 For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ 5 But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ 6 In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, 8 ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”
Again, Jesus criticized those who did not honor their earthly families!
Also, scripture shows us that Jesus made his earthly family a priority, even at the time of his death; he provided for his own mother’s security as he hung on the cross (John 19:25-27, NLT)! Do you remember this story?
“Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, ‘Dear woman, here is your son.’ 27 And he said to this disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from then on this disciple took her into his home.”
So, here Jesus gives John the charge of providing security for his mother in her old age… Remember, they didn’t have things like ‘Social Security’ back then; your family was your security … and you’d better have a man in charge or no one really listened to you … or would take care of you, so Jesus provided this security for his mom as his life was coming to an end… Folks, Jesus could have had a million other things on his mind (literally the weight of the sin of the world on his shoulders), but his priority was his earthly family; he took care of this very important business…
Finally, let me mention the fact that Jesus’ earthly mother & brothers were present in the upper room at Pentecost (Acts 1:14). Some think that maybe Jesus alienated his earthly family by what he said earlier (‘Who are my mother & my brothers?’) and yet here we find them waiting with the rest of the Church for the coming of the Holy Spirit—together in the Upper Room… Jesus loved his earthly family, folks, and the truth is that they loved him, too!
Our Stephen Ministry folks follow up on what was important to Jesus—loving others just like he has loved us and representing him in that way, right here through the local church…
Though earthly families are important to Jesus, he took the idea of family one step further to let us know that there is ‘a bigger picture’ from God’s perspective… Jesus wants us to know today that EARTHLY FAMILIES REALLY DO MATTER…
BUT OUR HEAVENLY FAMILY IS THE ONE THAT LASTS FOREVER! Jesus is introducing to the world, right here in this scripture, that … spiritual relationships are as binding as physical ones! This is the family we need to be caring for—caring for one another … AND for others whom God wants as a part of this family… This is the family we need to be working at getting along with—learning to love one another just as Jesus loves us…
Stephen Ministry, folks, recognizes ‘the larger family’—the family of God that lasts for eternity. They will love & care for ‘the larger family’ as if it’s their own! Why? ‘Because Jesus tells us that there is … a bigger picture, from God’s perspective. There’s a family that we can be a part of, not just temporally, but for eternity!
Again, what Jesus is really saying in the last part of today’s scripture is that … spiritual relationships are just as binding as physical ones, to those who believe in eternity with God!
As I close for today, ask yourself this: Whose family do I resemble the most? We’ve all heard it before, haven’t we? “Oh, I can’t believe how much you favor __________! (You fill in the blank!)” And, then, if it happens to be a family member that we think a lot of, we’re pretty proud at that moment, aren’t we? Our Israel guide who’s been a family friend for years, always talks about me in this way: “When I look at Rom, I just see a bigger version of R.A.! (My dad)” Those are proud moments… But, folks, the greatest compliment of all would be when someone looks at us and says, “You remind me so much of Jesus!”
When we were over in Israel, at the Jordan River baptism site, after all of our baptisms were over and we were headed for the hot showers … a young man stopped my brother, Stan, and wanted his picture taken with him… (See picture…) Can you guess why?
There is no greater compliment in the world than to be accused of looking (or being) like the One we follow, as Christians… So, do we resemble Christ in all that we are and all that we do? This is what our Stephen Ministers/Leaders are concerned with. Whose family do you resemble the most? What does your ‘family resemblance’ tell others?