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The 60: Family Unexpected | Mark 3:31-35 | Life Unexpected

Debrief

Debrief offers an abridged outline of the Sunday sermon for individuals or Community Groups alike, to re-engage the content of the Sunday sermon. This outline is far from complete, but serves to give a track or road map to walk through the content of Sunday in another context during the week

Everything is different when Jesus is in the mix…….Life with Jesus changes everything…….Even the way we see Family.

What Jesus is going to tell us this morning is that there is a Biological Family that comes through Birth, and a Spiritual Family that comes through Re-birth…….there is a Natural Family you’re in by Blood, and a Spiritual Family you can be in by His Blood.

Are You Part of The Family of God?

God’s Family Is About Proximity NOT Pedigree (v:31-32)

Being part of God’s family is all about how close you are to Jesus, NOT:

  • How long you’ve gone to church, or been part of a specific church, or
  • How many generations you’ve been part of a Christian family

People that assume they’re close to Jesus should think twice and make sure (2 Cor.13:5)

People who assume that they’ll always be far from Him should think twice and have hope that they can be too. (Eph.2:13)

At this point, Jesus’ natural family think they’re close to Jesus, when they’re really far away.

Outside: the external side or surface of something; the external appearance of something

If Jesus’ own blood family is called into question in terms of being part of the family of God, why not any of us…….no matter how many trappings of Christianity we have?

How do I know I’m on the inside? How do I get close to Jesus?

  1. Believe who Jesus is
  2. Listen to what Jesus says
  3. Go where Jesus goes

God’s Family Is About Activity NOT Pedigree

Being part of God’s family is all about how much you obey Jesus, NOT:

  • How long you’ve gone to church, or been part of a specific church, or
  • How many generations you’ve been part of a Christian family

What Jesus is saying is, whoever does the will of the Father, like the Apostles, are part of God’s family. The Apostles are the ones Jesus was specifically referring to, and to all those who would live like the Apostles.

  1. With Jesus (3:14)
  2. Speak the Words of Jesus (3:14)
  3. Do the Works of Jesus (3:15)

Mark was writing to Christians in Rome, were it could have been convenient to confess Jesus privately and blend in publicly. Mark is reminding them that this is not real Christianity.

Matthew, who was there that day on the inside of the house, confirms this thought (Matthew7:21).

James, the brother of Jesus, who was mostly likely there that day on the outside of the house, later believes in Jesus and says the same thing as well (James 2:17-18)

How do I know if my activity is the ‘will of God’?

  1. Repent (1:14) (Contrition, Confession, Course Correction)
  2. Follow / Obey / Emulate (1:17, 20; 2:14)
  3. Preach (3:14)
  4. Help & Heal (3:15)

Are You Acting Like You're Part of The Family of God? If you follow Jesus, the reality is you have a NEW and IMPORTANT family

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. – 1 John 3:1

But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. – Philippians 2:22

Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity. – 1 Timothy 5:1-2

Are You Treating One Another Like Family? Are Taking Responsibility For The Family?

The “One Another’s” of The New Testament Church Family

  1. Be at peace with one another (Mk. 9:50)
  2. Love one another (Jn. 13:34)
  3. Outdo one another (Rom. 12:10)
  4. Live in harmony with one another (Rom.12:16)
  5. Do not stumble one another (Rom.14:13)
  6. Welcome one another (Rom.15:7)
  7. Instruct one another (Rom.15:14)
  8. Comfort one another (2 Cor.13:11)
  9. Serve one another (Gal.5:13)
  10. Bear the burdens of one another (Gal.6:2)
  11. Be kind to one another (Eph.4:32)
  12. Forgive one another (Eph.4:32)
  13. Sing to one another (Eph.5:19)
  14. Submit to one another (Eph.5:21)
  15. Tell the truth to one another (Col.3:9)
  16. Teach and admonish one another (Col.3:16)
  17. Encourage one another (1 Thess.5:11)
  18. Exhort one another (Heb.3:13)
  19. Stir up one another (Heb.10:24)
  20. Gathering with one another (Heb.10:25)
  21. Confess sin to one another (Jam.5:16)
  22. Show hospitality to one another (1 Pet.4:9)
  23. Act humbly to one another (1 Pet.5:5)

Diving In

Diving In offers a few questions to help you re-engage the concepts from Sunday. Feel the freedom to use all of the questions, or to simply camp out on just one. These questions aren't intended to answer all the issues that surface through the thrust of this weeks' message, but to simply raise them and allow you time and space to process them, ideally in the context of your Community Group.

  • Is there any way you sense you've been banking on pedigree in your life with Jesus and not PROXIMITY and affectionate, Gospel-driven ACTIVITY?
  • How close are you to Jesus today? On a scale of 1 to 5, where would you put yourself in terms of proximity to Jesus? What do you sense has contributed to your closeness or 'farness' from Jesus?
  • When was the last time you believe you clearly heard what Jesus said about an important issue or decision in your life? How do you regularly hear from Him? What does that tell you about your proximity to Jesus?
  • Would you say you're faithfully treating people around you at The Village as part of the family of God? If so, how?
  • Would you say you're faithfully taking responsibility for the family of God that gathers at The Village? If so, how? What responsibilities are you helping to shoulder? Is there much joy in that? Obligation? Affection? Desire?
  • Of the 23 'One Anothers' below, which one is the most natural and joyful for you? Which one is the one you need to improve on the most? What do you sense is underlying that?

Deep End

The Deep End is a short and simple formation exercise you can use to dive deep into your heart before God. Feel the freedom to divert from the directions if that makes it easier for you to connect with Jesus in this exercise.

  • First, quiet your heart before the Lord. If you find yourself distracted by various thoughts (things on your “To Do” list, etc.), don’t “fight” the distractions, but rather spend some time praying over those things. Hopefully soon your heart will quieted down and you will be able to hear the Lord speaking to you.
  • Next, spend some time reading over the list of 'One Another's From The NT' above. Read through the list 2- 3 times.
  • After this, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you which one is most natural for you. Ask the Spirit to remind you of examples of instances that was shown to be true. Take a couple of minutes to thank the Father for gifting you the way He has and allowing you to be used by Him to care for the family of God in that way.
  • Next, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you which one is the least natural for you. Ask the Spirit to remind you of examples of instances where you could have cared for someone in that way, but didn't. Take a couple of minutes to consider that and repent of those instances if you have yet to. Ask the Spirit to reveal to you one specific way you could care for someone in the family of God in that way this week.
  • End your time by reading 1 John 3:1, being reminded that you are part of the Family of God. Take some time to thank Him for all you've known that to mean in your life till today.

Digest

Our digest section is all about helping you to memorize and meditate on God's Word so you'll be able to better digest it. Take some time to commit these short verses to memory this week:

Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother. - Mark 3:35

My hope is that these simple exercises in The 60 will help what we discovered during this week be distilled, and deepened in your heart and life with Jesus.

Matt

For The Elders

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