Jesus Reaches Inside His Home
Thus far, we’ve studied how Jesus reaches out and across to people. Now we take a look at the way Jesus reached inside his own household to point out who his true family is.
In Matthew 12 as Jesus teaches, as is their custom, someone interrupts him. Someone in the crowd brings a message from his biological family. Jesus uses the break to point out the criteria for Jesus’ household: someone who does the will of his Father. The ties that bind a Christian home are not based on bloodlines or relatives but on surrender to Jesus as Lord. Just as Jesus explains in Matthew 7, “he who does the will of my Father in heaven” is the one who enters the kingdom of heaven. The same goes for his family.
Jesus Points Out His True Family
Matthew 12:46-50
46While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. 47Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” 48But to the one who had told him this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49And pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Jesus calls us to reach inwardly to those under our roof. A household fully surrendered to Jesus as Lord is one that “does the will of my Father in heaven.” That kind of home includes widows who dedicate their lives to Jesus and a husband and wife devoted to each other. A home can be a group of people who share a mission together and serve one another and the world in the process. When not every member of the family is a believer, the Bible instructs us how to show them the life of Christ by our good conduct.
How can we do this?
- Engage your family in Bible study, mission service, prayer, and spiritual disciplines. Whatever you work on personally plan to do as a family.
- Care for individuals and families in times of need. Connect those people to our deacons and benevolence ministries to assist them.
- If you are married, continue to strengthen the marriage that you are in now; and remain faithful to God’s plan for biblical marriage.
- Adopt a weekday classroom and get to know the faculty and parents that are involved.
Robert Schnase writes about a large growing church that wanted to strengthen homes right in their midst. They celebrated the birth of triplets to a couple in their congregation, but they didn’t know how to care for families with multiples. When the church secretary contacted families with twins, they learned what these homes needed to help their marriages and their children best. A few weeks later the church launched a new ministry and extended it to the church’s preschool. In the “Multiples” network, they discovered many more families that needed assistance, counseling, activities, and love.
On Wednesday nights at 6:00 p.m., a “Mom’s Connection” group meets together to pray, study scripture, and learn together about motherhood.
What other ways do you see our church strengthening homes?