Category: Band

At times, I think that we have possibly read the Bible too many times because we miss what it can say. It seems to me that we frequently will read quickly over a passage and will determine in our minds that it has a particular meaning that is different from what it is actually saying. Here is one like that for me today:

Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Mark 3:31-35

Jesus draws a line with regard to his family, saying that he is not necessarily tied to his family by blood and he will not be dissuaded from his work just because the rest of his natural family thinks that he should be doing something different.

No, instead, Jesus is going to be about the work that God has given him to do, and those that are his mother and his brothers and sisters will be determined by those that are doing God’s will.

The part that struck me today was Jesus saying, “Whoever does God’s will…” as he referred to his family members. I think that, for me, I had it in my mind that Jesus was talking about those who weren’t sinning. I suppose if I were to rewrite what Jesus said with what I had in my mind, it would be something like: My mother, brothers, and sisters are those that are here with me, not sinning.

But of course, that is not at all what Jesus said. He said that his family are those that are doing God’s will. But do we know God’s will? Do we understand what God’s goal and mission is, what he has been doing and is still working toward to bring to completion?

If we do know what God is doing, and we want to be considered part of Jesus’s family, shouldn’t we also be doing these things? It seems that it is only in this way that we can be considered part of Jesus’s family. Otherwise, we can be left outside calling to Jesus, but he won’t respond.

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We have written a course on how we can know God’s will and how we can find the purpose for our life within God’s purpose and plan. You can see that here:

Finding Your Purpose in God’s Plan

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:17

Jesus has no problem in entering Levi’s house, sitting with his friends, the tax collectors and the sinners, staying with them, eating and drinking together with them. But the Pharisees see what Jesus is doing and criticizes Jesus for being with those who need him even more. They are spiritually sick and need the doctor. And the doctor, Jesus, has come to make them well.

If only we, as the church, would take the same view as Jesus. We routinely say that we want to see the lost saved, but we take little to no action to do what Jesus did. We have not gone to share the Gospel, we have not made many, if any, disciples of Jesus, and we have not taught many, if any, people to make disciples of others. And what is worse, we instead stand in the way, creating special classes of Christians that can do religious works like baptisms or lead the Lord’s Supper.

And all that we have to do is to learn to go where the sick people are instead of keeping them collected in our hospitals.

OK, today is the day that we transition back into the Gospels, today into the book of Mark.

It isn’t abnormal for me because I am frequently thinking about the Kingdom of God and its level of relevance in my life, but as I read Mark 1 today, I’m noticing again that Jesus begins his public preaching with these words:

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Mark 1:14-15

This chapter seems to show Jesus bursting onto the scene. There are dramatic things happening everywhere he goes:

Jesus is baptized and the heavens open and God speaks audibly.

Jesus goes into the wilderness and does spiritual battle with Satan.

Jesus begins to put his team together by calling the first disciples.

Jesus starts driving out demons and healing people, creating huge crowds wherever he goes.

But in the middle of all of this, he also announces a revolution. The Romans control the Israeli land, and speaking against the Romans would result in death, but Jesus bursts onto the scene and announces a new Kingdom, the Kingdom of God.

Jesus is announcing a new Kingdom, but it is not a political kingdom. It is not a kingdom of this earth. It is one Kingdom to rule all other kingdoms and there is one way into it: To repent and believe. We call out to God asking for forgiveness for how we have lived without him and we move forward in belief and reliance upon the King.

In the Kingdom of God, Jesus is the King. Jesus said that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. We, therefore, live under a new authority, that is the Kingdom of God and the kingship of Jesus Christ.

Paul has been writing to the church in Corinth, speaking to them about how they have had those that have been in sin but that he has been rebuking them, calling them to repentance, to unity, and to a demonstration of love for one another and toward Paul. Then, at the end of the letter, in verse 11, he says:

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

2 Corinthians 13:11

Paul had just told the Corinthians that they should examine themselves to see if they are in the faith, and that they should realize that, if they pass the test of their examination, they have Christ living within them! So now, he says that they should rejoice! They are rejoicing that, even though they have all of these problems that Paul has been addressing, they have Christ within them and God is moving mightily amongst them.

But the reason that I wanted to highlight this particular passage is what he says next. He say that they should strive for full restoration. Based on the context in that he says that they should encourage one another, be of one mind, and live in peace, I believe that means that he is speaking of restoration between the believers within the church. He says that they must strive to achieve this restoration. So often, we deal with discord through distance or anger, but the truth is that striving is required. To restore relationships, whether as a husband and wife, as friends, or even as brothers and sisters in Christ, it requires effort. It requires work. Blood, sweat, and tears. Probably a lot of each! Paul calls the Corinthians to strive to reach the point of restoration…something that I believe that he calls each of us to do within our relationships today.

Verses 11-13 say this:

I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing. I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles. How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!

2 Corinthians 12:11-3

Paul talks about the “super-apostles”, seemingly defending himself against accusations leveled at some point by the Corinthian church that Paul is a lesser apostle than those who were disciples of Jesus.

Today, we seem to do similar things in the church. Previously, as people wrote books in an effort to highlight specific areas of the faith, some lifted up those people as heroes in their faith. Now in these days, we have YouTube, Facebook, and many other platforms that drive audiences toward a new type of spiritual hero, leading us back to the same type of scenario that we see with the Corinthian church, lifting up the hero preacher or hero author in the faith, often instead of focusing on lifting up Christ himself.

We must, as a continual point of focus, continue to focus on Christ. We must leave behind the super-heroes, and instead always look forward to the cross of Christ as the only hero of our faith. He who has saved us and he who continues to lead and guide us as our King is the only one to receive the glory and honor from his people.