Sunday, October 25 · Woodside Bible Church
Looking for Belonging
We were made to belong, and Jesus says the belonging we are hunting for is not finally carried by family or friends but by doing the will of his Father, which makes us his brother, sister, and mother.
The passages
While he was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him. One said to him, “Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you.” But he answered him who spoke to him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” He stretched out his hand toward his disciples, and said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
Matthew 12:46–50
Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.
John 19:26–27
When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him; for they said, “He is insane.”
Mark 3:21
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
John 6:29
Go deeper
Why do the people I love deepest still leave me feeling empty at the end of the day?
The sermon asks who is influencing you most and where your deep commitments really lie. Joseph and Mary raised him, but even they could not carry what he was on earth to do, and neither can any family carry the weight we set on it.
But he answered him who spoke to him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”
Matthew 12:48
Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them.
Psalms 145:18–19
Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
John 4:13–14
Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from Yahweh. For he will be like a bush in the desert, and will not see when good comes, but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, an uninhabited salt land. “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh. For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit.
Jeremiah 17:5–8
How do I stop being a prisoner to what people think of me?
The sermon tells about a young athlete whose teammates unfollowed him after a mistake and could not shake the rejection. Jesus stretches out his hand toward his disciples and calls them his family, not because they had earned it but because they were with him.
He stretched out his hand toward his disciples, and said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
Matthew 12:49–50
But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7
The fear of man proves to be a snare, but whoever puts his trust in Yahweh is kept safe.
Proverbs 29:25
For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ.
Galatians 1:10
Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1–2
What does it actually take to belong to the family of God?
Jesus says whoever does the will of the Father is his brother and sister and mother, and the sermon asks whether that is another thing to earn. It points to John, where the work of God is simply believing in the one he sent. The invitation is not a performance review.
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
John 6:29
For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
Matthew 12:50
But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:12–13
For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God; and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:15–17