Brothers and Sisters in Christ

Matthew 12:48-50

He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?"

Pointing to His disciples, He said, "Here are My mother and My brothers.  For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother."

Notice here how Jesus breaks the connection to earthly bloodlines.  He's making a point here to the people:  being blood relatives of Abraham is not enough to save you.  The only thing needed to be part of God's family is to believe in Jesus as Savior.  Jesus is not preaching the Law here.  He's not saying that we have to perfectly obey the Law to be His brother or sister.  He says, "whoever does the will of My Father..."

The will of God the Father is for everyone to believe and be baptized.  The sweet Gospel message that Jesus is teaching here is that whoever believes and is baptized is His brother and sister.  Through faith in Jesus we become heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Through Jesus we have received the full rights of sonship.  This is what it means to do the will of God the Father.

Thankfully, Jesus has done it all for us so that we are able to do the will of the Father.  It is through the blood of Jesus and His work of salvation that we have been reconciled to our Heavenly Father as His dear children.  Graciously, this is all a gift from Him.  It is not something that we have, or can, earn or deserve.  What a gracious and loving Father we have!  Let's share Him with the world!

God bless.

Jason Fredrick

The Lost Brother

Luke 15:31-32

"  'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.  But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

These verses are the conclusion to the Parable of the Lost Son.  The father is talking to his older son, because the older son was upset when his brother came back and was treated like royalty.  The younger son had demanded his inheritance from his father, then left for a distant land, and squandered his father's wealth on wild living and prostitutes.  This is why the older son is so mad.

Do you have a hard time celebrating when someone comes to faith?  What about when it's a close relative, like in this parable?

For most of us, it's much easier to celebrate that "lost son" returning when it is someone that we aren't close to.  We haven't felt the effects of their rebellion.  Having an outsider's perspective we can truly celebrate that that person has come back to the fold.

It's much more difficult when it is someone close to us, like a brother.  When it's a close relative we know well the full effects of their rebellion.  They have hurt us, their parents, maybe even their spouse and children; and we have had a front row seat for the whole thing.  This is when our love is tested.  Can we truly forgive, and celebrate that our brother who was dead is alive again?

Even though this is tough, we must not hang on to our anger and resentment.  We must forgive.  We must celebrate that our brother will be in heaven with us.  The danger of hanging on to that anger and resentment is that we can very quickly find ourselves trading places with our found brother.  Anger and resentment can very easily lead us into rebellion against our Father.  Just look at how the older brother reacted to his father's love in this parable.  We have to fight the temptation to get mad at God when He gives love and forgiveness to those we deem to be unworthy of it.  Guess what:  None of us are worthy of God's love and forgiveness!

Thankfully, God sent His Son to pay the price for all of our sins while we were still sinners!  He paid our debt while we were still His enemies!  That's why we can rejoice every time a lost brother is found, because all of us were that lost brother at some point, or points, in our lives.

God bless
Jason Fredrick

Quote of the Week: Letters to the Church

There have been times in history when shepherds became corrupt.  God confronted the shepherds strongly in the Old Testament (Ez. 34), and Jesus did the same with the religious leaders of His day.  His solution was to replace the professionals and train a group of ordinary, uneducated people to change the world.  People like you.
The Church is in dire need of a fresh wave of godly leadership.  I pray all existing leaders would be renewed or replaced.
(Letters to the Church, Francis Chan, pp. 125-126)

Stay Faithful

Luke 4:24

"Amen I tell you:  No prophet is accepted in his hometown."

Jesus spoke these words when he returned to his hometown of Nazareth and was teaching in the synagogue.  He read Isaiah 61:1-2.  When he finished he proclaimed, "Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  

Amazingly, this didn't excite the people who were there.  Instead, they began to question his credibility.  They all knew him.  Many of them had grown up with him. They knew his parents, his brothers, and his sisters.  As Jesus continued, the people only got angrier.  They already knew him so they had already defined in their own minds who he was and what his place was among them.  The place they had decided for him was not that of the Messiah.

When Jesus didn't do any miracles, but instead pointed out to them that their forefathers had rejected Elijah and Elisha, the people tried to kill Jesus.

This may be how you're feeling right now: You want to be part of the ministry of your congregation or organization, but the people "in charge" have already defined your role as being something else.  Often, it can be very difficult to break into ministry if you are still a part of the church that you grew up in, especially if you haven't had any formal training.  It's amazing how elitist and credentialist the church can be.  

Thankfully God is not.  He actually prefers to use the un-credentialed to shame those with an elitist mentality.  Just look at who Jesus chose to be his apostles.  He didn't go to the temple or the synagogue to find the men he would call to that ministry.  He went to the lake shore and to the tax collector's booth.

This lesson isn't just for service in the public ministry.  No matter what field you are in, you will run into this attitude at different times.  Any time that you step out of line and begin to pursue something new, something better, this danger is always lurking.  People like you playing your role, the role they are comfortable with.  They don't always like it when you decide to change or redefine your role; especially if you are doing something to try to totally change you life for the better.

If you don't believe me, start homeschooling your children, or start a business, or quit your job and start studying for public ministry.  Actually, you don't have to do any of these things, just start telling people that you are thinking about it, or that you are going to.  Stand back and watch their reactions. You will be amazed at the sage advice and wisdom you receive.  Usually, it will be an attempt to discourage you from pursuing your purpose.

Some will be encouraging.  You will be surprised, though, by how many are not.  Many will encourage you to reconsider your decision.  If you haven't dealt with this before, you will be surprised by how often the attitude you get is, "Who do you think you are to do this?"

Don't take this reaction personally.  This is the way we are all naturally wired because of our sinful nature.  When you decide to do something great with your life you expose the fact that most people aren't doing great things with theirs.  Your light exposes their mediocrity and apathy.  Non-achievers want to believe that everyone is like them.  It makes it easier to continue making excuses to themselves. 

Don't let them hold you back.  You need to do what you've been called to do to inspire some of them out of their mediocrity.  God has prepared, in advance, works for each of us to do.  You need to faithfully honor your call, so you can help others recognize and submit to theirs.

Don't give in to your critics and nay-sayers.  Instead, listen to the only voice that truly matters, God's.  Submit to his call and his plan and it won't matter what anyone else thinks.  Just be prepared for the opposition.  Satan opposed Jesus.  He will oppose you.  That's why Jesus gives us the promise, "Stay faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life."

God bless
Jason Fredrick

Quote of the Week: Letters to the Church

Part of my responsibility as a good dad is to make sure I raise my kids in such a way that they are capable of leaving my home to start their own... This should be the goal of every pastor as well.  If we are not careful, we end up with people who have been sitting in churches for years and complaining they aren't being fed to their liking.  This is the same kind of dysfunction as a thirty-year-old complaining about his mom's cooking.  The goal of a good pastor is to raise up good pastors.

While many pastors boast of how many children sit under their care, doesn't it make more sense to boast of how many have graduated from their care?  Isn't it more a sign of failure when children are unable to leave the house?  Raising thousands of consumers is not success.
(Letters to the Church, Francis Chan, pp. 118-120)