Harvest Jr. HighMatthew 12
Posted by Adam | Posted in Daily Devotion, Matthew, Uncategorized | Posted on 31-08-2010
0
Jesus Family
Matthew 12:50 “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
My sister and I used to be so mean to our younger brother. When he was young we would pick on him and tell him that he was adopted. I know that this is a common thing among siblings but there were a few times we had him convinced. I always wondered what it would be like to find out one day that your parents are not your actual parents. I know being adopted does not make you any less part of the family but I still think it would be shocking.
In this short little section in Matthew 12:46-50 Jesus teaches us an important lesson. Earlier in the chapter Jesus made the Pharisee’s really mad because he picked some grain and healed a man on the Sabbath. They took the sabbath day very seriously and made a day that God intended for our benefit a burden on the people. And from then on the Pharisee’s were planning to kill Jesus.
But now Jesus is teaching and apparently the crowd is so large and it is so crowded that His own family could not get to Him. So a man told Jesus that His mother and brother were there to talk to Him and Jesus made His reply in 12:49-50(above). What does that mean? Was Jesus disrespecting His Mom when He said that? Jesus was making a point. His point was that even being a part of Jesus earthly family does not earn you salvation. He was not dishonoring His family.
A right relationship with Jesus is the only thing that brings salvation. But, this relationship is not just a verbal acknowledgment of Jesus as Savior. Matthew 7:21 says “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” It would be shocking to say the least to get to die believing is Jesus only to stand before God and Him tell you that you are not His son or daughter. It is a belief in Christ that submits to God that saves. It is the will of God that you trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior! Are you part of His family? Look at your life, do you live a life that is honoring to God? What is holding you back?
If Jesus paid it all on the cross and I can not earn God’s favor, why do I need to do the will of God? In Matthew 12:33-37 Jesus talks about a tree that is know by its fruit. You know wether or not a tree is good by the fruit that it produces. A tree that produces apples is an apple tree. A tree that produces Oranges is an Orange tree. In the same way a person is known by how they live their life. A person who does evil is an evil person. A person that acts like Christ is a Christian. When you become a Christian, you become a new person(2 Corinthians 5:17). So if you are a new person, you will act like a new person. If you are not a new person, you will act the same. You are known by your fruits. What kind of fruit does your life produce?
