Wednesday: Putting Jesus First and the Privilege of Belonging to Him

This day's recap: recorded by the host.

Host 1 Welcome to Daily Recap of Sunday's sermon. I'm Michael, and it's Wednesday, all week we're walking through Sunday's sermon from Pastor Aaron, it's called Who Belongs to Jesus? In the text is Matthew chapter 12 verses 46 and through 50. Today is part three putting Jesus first and the privilege of belonging to him.

Host 1 Yesterday we watched Jesus stretch out his hand towards his disciples and say here are my mother and my brothers and we heard Matthew chapter 10 verse 37 whoever loves father or mother more than Jesus is not worthy of him Jesus must come first That might raise a worry for some of us So does putting Jesus first hurt our families?

Host 1 Pastor Aaron said no, no it's actually one of the best things we can do for them think about a husband and wife who are both seeking to love Jesus more than anything else as they follow him they learn to love one another more faithfully.

Host 1 He called that his marriage advice he shared his own goal for his marriage that his wife would love Jesus more than she loves him and in his words my goal as a husband is to love Jesus more than I love her.

Host 1 And what's the benefit? They actually love each other better. They learn to work through conflict in light of Christ. Who he is and what he's done for us. They learn to be patient with one another, they learn to serve one another, why? Because Christ came to serve and not to be served.

Host 1 He gave his life as a ransom for many. When we put on the mind of Christ and remember that he came to save us, his enemies, it helps husbands and wives consider the interests of others more important than their own.

Host 1 it's rooted and grounded in the gospel putting Christ first doesn't hurt marriages it helps them the same is true for parenting and children Pastor Aaron said parents who love Jesus first will seek to raise their children according to his word rather than simply doing whatever makes their child happy and children who love Jesus will learn to honor their parents respect them and obey them or in his words putting Jesus first doesn't make us love our families less it actually teaches us how to really love them but he was honest too following Jesus won't always make our relationships easier there may be times when obeying him means disappointing someone we love our families may not understand our decisions or agree with them and that's when it gets really challenging So here's his question for us, who do you love more, your mom and dad's approval or Christ?

Host 1 Christ must be first. not because our families don't matter but because Jesus Christ is worthy of our highest love and affection. And when we put him first we can trust him to help us love our families in ways that honor him and benefit them.

Host 1 Then Pastor Aaron brought us back to verse 49. Jesus stretches out his hand towards his disciples and says, here are my mother and my brothers. Look at who he's calling a family. These are his disciples.

Host 1 They're ordinary men, they're not perfect they're still learning what it means to trust him and they struggle with unbelief at times they don't always understand what he's teaching them and before long some of them will abandon him when he's arrested on his way to the cross yet Jesus looks at these disciples and he calls them his family and that's a privilege isn't it think about who saying it this is the savior of the world the son of God he has authority over sickness over demons he has authority over all of creation and even over death he came into this world to save sinners by allowing his body to be broken and his blood to be poured out and he calls his disciples his family And Pastor Aaron's own words, it's a privilege what a privilege

Host 1 and what's true of his disciples is true of everyone who belongs to him through his saving grace we're brought into God's family we belong to him and we have the privilege of calling God our father Pastor Aaron said there's no greater relationship we could ever have than our relationship with Jesus therefore he must come first.

Host 1 When we begin to see who Jesus really is and what a privilege it is to belong to him we begin to understand why he must come first there's no one greater than him So here is a question to carry today Is my love for Jesus teaching me how to really love the people at home

Host 1 You can hear the full sermon at sgcatlanta.org sermons. Tomorrow we will cover Jesus teaches us how his true family lives. Where verse 50 helps us answer a searching question. How do we know if we truly belong to him?

Host 1 I'm Michael thanks for listening and see you tomorrow.