Thursday: Jesus Teaches How His True Family Lives

This day's recap: recorded by the host.

Host 1 Welcome to Daily Recap of Sunday's sermon. I'm Michael and it's Thursday all week we're walking through Sunday's sermon from Pastor Aaron who belongs to Jesus. From Matthew chapter 12 verses 46 through 50 today is part four Jesus teaches us how his true family lives.

Host 1 As we heard on Monday the big idea is this because Jesus calls those who do his father's will his family we must put him first. and faithfully follow him. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we walked through the first point, Jesus identifies his disciples as his true family.

Host 1 That point ended on the privilege of belonging to Jesus. But it leaves a question hanging. Pastor Aaron put it this way, how do we know if we truly belong to him? He reminded us of something that he said through the series in Matthew, Matthew presents Jesus and when we are confronted with Jesus, there needs to be some self-examination.

Host 1 So that brings us to his second and final point. Jesus teaches us how his true family lives. Here's verse 50. Jesus says, for whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

Host 1 Pastor Aaron said, So Jesus couldn't be any clearer.

Host 1 Those who belong to his family are those who do the will of his father. In other words, there's a connection between belonging to Jesus and obeying God. Jesus isn't describing a relationship we can just claim to have, it actually shows up it looks like something.

Host 1 And that makes sense doesn't it? Think about everything God has done the son of God died on the cross for us God pursues us by his grace his spirit saves us and makes us alive in Christ we are united to him all of that should look like something Pastor Aaron said, it looks a lot like Jesus Christ at work in us.

Host 1 Those who truly belong to him seek to do the will of their heavenly father. Then Pastor Aaron took us back to Matthew chapter 7 verse 21. Jesus says, not everyone who says to me Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven

Host 1 but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven Pastor Aaron called that a scary section of scripture and he said Jesus warned us that it's possible to say the right things about him without actually following him

Host 1 So what does that look like for us? Pastor Aaron got very practical. We can grow up in church. We can go to Sunday school where teachers teach kids how to answer Bible questions. And he said that's really good we want to plant the word in our kids we want to trust the Lord to take those truths about Jesus and bear fruit but we can't save our kids That morning, Phil said the same thing to the parents dedicating their children.

Host 1 God uses parents as a primary means of grace. Parents train up their children in the ways of the Lord, they tell them about Jesus, they model what it looks like to love and follow him. But Pastor Aaron said, the one thing parents can't do is you can't reach into their hearts and make it alive.

Host 1 Pastor Aaron shared that he didn't grow up in the church himself. But he's raised kids in the church, and he's watched our church family raise kids in the church too. We've heard the catechisms, our kids can say all of these things, and here's what Jesus wants us to understand.

Host 1 It's possible to give a lot of lip service we can know a lot about God and his word and the scriptures we can even call ourselves Christians but none of those things by themselves mean we actually belong to Jesus Now Pastor Aaron was careful here These aren't bad things.

Host 1 We're called to them. They're really good things. They're a means of grace that God uses as he draws people to himself. But just because you can answer the questions doesn't mean your heart has been changed. Just because you grew up in the church doesn't mean it.

Host 1 And just because you prayed a prayer once and was celebrated for it doesn't mean it either. Pastor Aaron admitted that sounds scary but there's a reason Matthew puts this in front of us. We don't want to put our confidence in those things don't save.

Host 1 So who does? Only God. He reaches in by the power of his spirit and transforms our hearts. He makes us alive through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Pastor Aaron pointed us to Ephesians 2 verse 8 through 10.

Host 1 There we learn that we are saved by grace through faith. Not by works. But then Paul says in verse 10 that we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. So our obedience isn't the reason that God saves us.

Host 1 It is the fruit of his saving grace in our lives.

Host 1 We can't get those mixed up. Pastor Aaron said the works flow from the grace of God from the work of God from the Holy Spirit at work in our hearts. The heart has been changed. It's been made alive.

Host 1 So it produces things and it's going to grow. and that's where Pastor Aaron said there's a confidence that we should have. If you are a child of God, you've been saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ you've been united with Christ the Holy Spirit lives and dwells in you and you are going to grow.

Host 1 That's God's work. It's what he promises to do in us. And that's how you will know that you are a part of his family. Not because you claim to be, a lot of people claim to be part of the family Jesus is saying these are the ones who actually are they love God because the spirit is at work and has made them alive they can see God they burn with a passion to honor him they want to take steps of faith they want to deny themselves take up their cross and follow Jesus

Host 1 And Pastor Aaron reminded us that apart from Christ, we don't want any of that. Think about what you were like before you were saved. He shared his own story. He wasn't saved until he was 19. In his words, I didn't wake up with this thought, thought, Lord, what do you want me to do today?

Host 1 He woke up thinking about what he wanted to do that day, he didn't even have a category for sin. Just don't get thrown in jail don't get kicked out of school don't get suspended none of it was about whether something glorified God it was all about self how will this affect me will this get me where I want to be but when Christ saves us and the spirit is at work in us, as he put it, it changes everything, doesn't it?

Host 1 So here's a question to sit with today. Is your confidence resting on what you can say? Or on what God is doing in you?

Host 1 You can hear the full sermon at sgcatlanta.org sermons tomorrow we'll cover is he first in your life we'll hear how good God is at getting his people to where they need to be and Pastor Aaron's closing question for each of us

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