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Evening Fellowship Service
All right, Jim has a song sheet that we're gonna be singing from in a few minutes, not right away, but in a few minutes.
It's called All At Last Is Well. Does anybody need a copy of that yet? All right, very good.
We're gonna start this evening. Welcome back, hope you had a good afternoon and got some rest and refreshment.
We're gonna start with, in your supplement book, number 36, number 36.
Tonight, the passage of scripture we're gonna be looking at is really gonna be kind of zeroing in on the different relationship circles of Jesus.
And there are four different circles of relationship that we see in this passage in Mark 3.
And so what we wanna be asking ourselves tonight is in which circle am I? Which circle do
I fit in? So our songs are gonna, a couple of them anyway, they're gonna go along that line.
So let's start tonight with number 36 in your supplement. I greet thee, whom I sure redeem her art.
We haven't sung this a lot, but not too awfully long ago we sang this. So let's stand together as we sing number 36.
♪ I greet thee, whom I sure redeem her art ♪ ♪
My only trust and savior of my heart ♪ ♪
Who pained its thunder, go for my poor sake ♪ ♪
I pray thee from our hearts all cares to take ♪ ♪
Thou art the king of mercy and of grace ♪ ♪
Reigning above every place ♪ ♪
So come, O King, and our whole being sway ♪ ♪
Shine on us with the light of thy pure day ♪ ♪
Thou art the life by which alone we live ♪ ♪
And all our substance and our strength receive ♪ ♪
Sustain us by thy faith, by thy power ♪ ♪
And give us strength in every trying hour ♪ ♪
Thou hast the true and perfect gentle Lord of all ♪ ♪
Thou hast no harshness and no bitterness ♪ ♪
O grant to us the grace we find in thee ♪ ♪
That we may dwell in perfect unity ♪
Very good, very good song, ancient one. Back in the, what, 1500s that song was written, at least the text was, by John Calvin, so very good.
I'm gonna ask Ed Brill if he would please to lead us tonight on that.
Thank you, you may be seated. Let's read our text for tonight. It's in Mark chapter three.
Part of this text we looked at a couple of weeks ago, but we'll come back to it, look at it a little bit, and really focus on the last five verses mostly.
Six verses, five verses. Mark chapter three, we'll read verses 20 through the end of the chapter.
All right, Mark three, beginning verse 20. Says, then the multitude came together again so that they could not so much as eat bread, that is,
Jesus and his disciples. But when his own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of him, for they said, he's out of his mind.
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, he has Beelzebub, and by the ruler of the demons, he casts out demons.
So he called them to himself and said to them in parables, how can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.
No one can enter into a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.
Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men and whatever blasphemies they may utter.
But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.
Because they said, he has an unclean spirit. Then his brothers and his mother came, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling him.
And a multitude was sitting around him, and they said to him, look, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you.
But he answered them saying, who is my mother or my brothers? And he looked around in a circle at those who sat about him and said, here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and mother.
So may the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word and the message to follow.
So all right, on this song sheet that you received tonight, this song was just recently written.
Then I read over it and listened to it the other day and appreciated the emphasis, especially in this day, in these days in our nation's history, in the world history, where so much is in chaos and confusion and conflict.
It's good to be reminded that all at last is well. So this is totally new to us.
So I'm gonna ask Kelly, please, to play it for us, and then we'll sing it together. All right, let's try just that first stanza.
We'll sing it a couple of times together. On the first stanza, River Flows in Perfect Peace. ♪
A river flows in perfect peace ♪ ♪ Before Almighty's throne ♪ ♪
And there the righteous take their ease ♪ ♪ They neither grieve nor groan ♪ ♪
But here the restless winds assail ♪ ♪ And seas with fury swell ♪ ♪
Until the Prince of Peace prevails ♪ ♪ And all at last is well ♪
All right, let's sing just that first stanza again. Help get that tune in our mind. On the first. ♪
Let's go on. ♪ A safe and happy city stands ♪ ♪
Designed and built by God ♪ ♪ Its vistas are
Emmanuel's land ♪ ♪ Its citizens are good ♪ ♪
We live for now as pilgrims here ♪ ♪ Maligned but not alone ♪ ♪
We know that city will appear ♪ ♪ And God will be our home ♪ ♪
A promised peaceful kingdom comes ♪ ♪ With Christ her perfect King ♪ ♪
The blind will see, the lame will run ♪ ♪ The deaf will hear and sing ♪ ♪
With longing hearts the church awaits ♪ ♪ Our Savior and reward ♪ ♪
All knees will bow, all tongues proclaim ♪ ♪ That Jesus Christ is born ♪
All right, very good. Would have been a good song to use this morning. But I didn't want to spring a new one on you on a
Sunday morning like that. Maybe we'll use that next Lord's Day. All right, we'll have an opportunity for some testimonies here in a moment, but I just wanted to let you know or share with you.
On the table in the library, on the table in the library, I set out several of those books that I mentioned last
Sunday morning in Sunday school on the subject of cultivating holiness, different topics along that, in that category.
So I think those are available to you, so you can go right in there. That's where they are. And I also put in there a
DVD. Someone just gave it to us last week on, are you familiar with Richard Wormbrand?
Would be the actual pronunciation of his name. The Romanian pastor was, spent years, years in prison when the communist, when
Russia took over Romania. And so he wrote the book, Tortured for Christ.
And this video is made from that book. I think it must be a pretty recent production.
And so that's available. I watched it last night and it's very, very sobering.
One of the things that's sobering about it is to realize how much we have not yet suffered, how little suffering we know.
Another thing that struck me about it is, he said at the end, after all that he endured at the hands of communist persecutors,
Russian persecutors, he said, I hate communism, but I love the
Russians. And I long to see them come to Christ. I long to see them saved.
And I thought that was quite a challenge. Because I think, what would my attitude be toward the people who took rods and strapped me in a position where my feet were sticking out and they just kept beating on my feet over and over and over again, day after day after day after day.
I wonder how, if I could say, well, I love these people. Yeah, I don't know, that would be a tough one.
And I understand that, I think it's the same producers who did this one, they're about to release a video on his wife,
Sabina, and what she endured. And I saw the trailer for that, I think it's on the video.
But anyway, and it talks about the video, the trailer shows the
Nazi years when Nazi Germany came into Romania as well.
So some pretty interesting, challenging videos. I think that one is being released first in November to coincide with remembering the persecuted church, praying for the persecuted church, which is an emphasis in the month of November.
So I look forward to that. All right, a word of testimony tonight. Anybody have anything to share?
God is blessed in this past week, worked in your life in some way, challenged you?
Anything at all? Okay, Roger? Amen, yes.
I saw the pictures, Lori posted a bunch of pictures from their 60th anniversary,
I thought it was yesterday. I thought that was a terrible day to have an anniversary, September 11th, it was just a celebration.
So your anniversary was what, August 12th, 60 years, so congratulations to.
Yeah, yeah, he said that's been by the grace of God, purely, yeah, he's told us the stories, yeah.
Great, anybody else? All right, let's sing again then, all right?
Number 311, 311 in our hymnals, more about Jesus.
And let's go ahead and stand again, shall we, as we sing together? ["More
About Jesus"] ♪ More about Jesus would
I know ♪ ♪ More of his grace to others show ♪ ♪
More of his saving fullness see ♪ ♪ More of his love who died for me ♪ ♪
More, more about Jesus ♪ ♪ More, more about Jesus fullness see ♪ ♪
More of his love who died for me ♪ ♪
More about Jesus let me learn ♪ ♪ More of his holy will discern ♪ ♪
Spirit of God my teacher be ♪ ♪ Showing the things of Christ to me ♪ ♪
More, more about Jesus ♪ ♪ More, more about Jesus ♪ ♪
About Jesus in his word ♪ ♪ Holding communion with my
Lord ♪ ♪ Hearing his voice in every line ♪ ♪
Speaking each faithful saying mine ♪ ♪ More, more about Jesus ♪ ♪
More, more about Jesus me see ♪ ♪
More about Jesus on his throne ♪ ♪ Which is in glory all his own ♪ ♪
More of his kingdom sure increase ♪ ♪ More of his coming prince of peace ♪ ♪
More of his love who died for me ♪
I think you may be seated. I'm sure you're well aware of it that each of us has our own circle, circles of relationships that are around us and they are an ever expanding circle and we can go beyond the four that we'll look at tonight.
But you think about it, there are those who are in your intimate circle, those who are the closest to you, people who really know who you are, really know what you're like and they like you anyway.
They, because you know who they are and you know what they're really like and you like them anyway.
And that's just, that's the way the intimate circle works. You accept the other person warts and all and you love one another and you care for one another and so forth.
That's your intimate circle. And expanding out from that is your circle of acquaintance.
There are people who know you, they may know a certain level of things about you and have, you know, just have a level of acquaintance.
A lot of people in church are like that, you know, that, you know, we know each other, but, you know, never really, haven't gotten really close to one another yet.
And by the way, that's one of the reasons why we're encouraging more of these fellowship times to, you know, to foster that a little bit.
It's like, you can't really get to know people if you don't spend time with them beyond, you know, the hour and a half in the church building and services and so forth.
Anyway, the circle of acquaintances. And then you might look at another circle of relationships that you would call a circle of hindrance.
And that's not like an expand, a circle of more people outside the circle of acquaintance.
It can be a circle within a circle, if you will, but these are people who know you, they know about you, they know what your ambitions are, your goals and so forth.
And in some way or another, intentional or unintentional, they try to hinder you from accomplishing those objectives or being what you want to be.
And then there would be the circle of rejection. These are people who know you and don't want to really have anything to do with you.
Maybe even hostile enough to you that they try to some way or another destroy you.
All four of these circles we see in this passage before us tonight that are around Jesus.
Individuals, people who are in these different circles that are in this one section of scripture.
And so I want us to notice, first of all, the circle of rejection. These are the people we looked at a couple of weeks ago in verses 22 through 30, where these scribes that came down from Jerusalem, and they were saying of Jesus that he has
Beelzebub and that by the ruler of demons, he's casting out demons. And so the circle of rejection are those who try to undermine him.
They try to take away from who he really is and claim that he is something other than what he really is.
And I want us to see that these same four circles of relationships still surround
Jesus, if you will, in the 21st century. Don't have to say a whole lot about the circle of rejection.
This is the majority of people on the planet, frankly. Somehow or another, in some way or another, they reject who
Jesus is. And if they were pressed and asked, who do you think Jesus is?
They would say something about him that is other than what he is. And if their claim were accepted,
Jesus would have to be rejected as the son of God and as the savior, as the Messiah.
These guys are saying that Jesus has Beelzebub, that he is a demon -possessed individual who is casting out demons by demons.
And Jesus points out that these in this circle of rejection are generally pretty irrational because as he confronts them with their charge, he says, wait a minute now, just think about this.
How can a house be divided against itself? How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, a house divided against itself, a kingdom or that house can't stand.
So what you're saying of me is just really irrational. And the same would be true with just about any accusation or charge of rejection of who
Jesus is. In the end, it is irrational in light of the truth of what is revealed about Jesus.
Well, Jesus is just a man. Jesus is an imposter. Well, think that through.
In what way has he shown to be an imposter? Jesus never really died on the cross.
Some go so far as to say Jesus never really existed. He was just a historical revision of a person who lived at that time.
And Jesus never rose from the dead and all these kinds of things. Well, again, putting those charges or those ideas up against the facts of history and the facts of scripture, they're pretty irrational charges.
And in the end, as Jesus points out in verses 28 through 30, those who are in the circle of rejection really face rejection.
This is the most extreme fate of the rejecter.
Jesus talks about those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit. They never can be forgiven.
They are those who with a sense of finality reject Jesus. Saying, I reject who he is.
I reject his claim. I don't have anything to do with him. I'm done with him. They completely cast him off.
And there is no forgiveness. There is no forgiveness. So the circle of rejection, especially those in this last most extreme category, face ultimately rejection.
This is the circle of rejection. But then there's a circle of hindrance. And this circle of individuals in this circle, they don't have the same attitude as the rejecters.
The hindrance that comes is coming here from those who are his own people, even his own relatives.
Let me show you, verses 20 and 21. As the multitude came together so that they, as Jesus' disciples, couldn't eat bread, his own people heard about this and they went out to lay hold of him for they said, he's out of his mind.
Who are these people? Verses 31 and two tell us.
His brothers, his mother came standing outside. They sent to him, calling him. A multitude was sitting around him.
They said to him, look, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. So who are these who are wanting to take
Jesus away and they're saying that he's gone out of his mind? His own mother and brothers.
Now, it's not that they don't know who he is. It's not that they reject him. It's just that they've come to the conclusion that he's gone a little bit insane.
He's gone a little bit overboard. He's become a little fanatical about what he's doing. He's so intent on doing this stuff that he's not even taking care of himself.
He doesn't have time to eat. And not taking the time to eat. It's like, their thinking is, it's like he's forgotten, or they have forgotten his background and he's forgotten his background.
He's forgotten who he really is in his background. He's forgotten his career as a carpenter.
He's left all that behind. And he's letting go of taking care of these basic necessities such as eating.
What's gotten into him? What's the matter with him? Now, we know in other passages of scripture that his own brothers didn't believe on him yet.
They hadn't come to faith in him as the Messiah, as their own savior.
Now, his mother has a different story. She knows the whole thing, but she's a mom.
Has the mother's heart taken over here a little bit and gotten a little bit concerned, overly concerned about her son's well -being?
Seems to be the case. And they thought, therefore, we need to act. We need to intervene here.
We're obligated, we're family, we're blood. We got to do something about this and intervene.
And maybe they wanted to do this because it was kind of embarrassing for them. This is our brother, this is my son.
Look at, so they felt like they had to act. And it wasn't like the rejecters who are screaming that he's got
Beelzebub and by the Prince of Demons, he's casting out demons. They were malicious.
They were malicious and they wanted to hurt Jesus. This circle of hindrance here, they don't want to hurt him.
They think they're helping. They think they're doing good. They think they're doing him a favor.
And they're also, of course, doing themselves a favor, they think. And if he has gone out of his mind, they perhaps think they're doing society a little bit of a favor as well.
So the circle of hindrance needs to act, needs to act. Now, by the way, those of us who are followers of Jesus and have any degree of seriousness about this, we can have in our circle of acquaintances and circle of people who know us and so are those who are in this circle of hindrance.
They intentionally or unintentionally think it would be good for them to kind of get us to calm down a little bit, not be so fanatical about our faith.
I mean, do you really need to go to church on Sunday night too? You know, that kind of a thing. Well, they're active in their efforts to hinder him.
Now, again, they don't think of it this way. They're not thinking about, oh, we got to go hinder what
Jesus is doing. No, they're thinking they got to rescue him, but they do so actively. And they do so in verses 21 and 31 because of really a reluctance to believe in his mission.
If they really understood and accepted his mission as he knows it to be, they'd be cheering him on.
They'd be cheering him on in it. But instead it's like they're dismissing it.
What would the vernacular be in our day for the end of verse 21?
He is out of his mind. Well, what would be the common expression that we would use today?
Maybe something like he's nuts, he's crazy, he's a little loony, maybe he's not dealing with a full deck, you know, those kinds of expressions.
This is the sentiment of what they're expressing here. And that is, what is that in effect doing?
Isn't that really kind of dismissing the cause? We've got to, he's out of his, what he's doing, he's expressing that he's out of his mind.
He's communicating that he's out of his mind. And they're ready to dismiss him for this.
Have you ever had any friends or acquaintances that became, that entered the circle of hindrance when you got serious about following Jesus?
Serious about your faith? I go back to my senior year of high school and the decision to really get serious about doing what
God would have me to do and discovering what that, discerning what that is. And when I finally came to that conclusion and decided
I'm gonna go into the ministry, I'm gonna go prepare, you know, and so forth, the guy who was really kind of my best friend through those years of high school, pretty much distanced himself from me.
And after that, I mean, we just drifted away and never really communicated after that.
Why? Because this wasn't his desire. This wasn't his world. This wasn't his interest to pursue a serious relationship with Christ.
I was crazy to want to do that kind of a thing. Well, there is in this eagerness to, this eagerness to solve the problem of our loved one, our relative, who's gone a little crazy, they're eager to restrain him.
Verse 21 says, they came to lay hold of him. They came to forcibly take him away.
Do you get the significance of that? How many times have you read this passage? And it hasn't really struck you, hasn't really hit you on what they were wanting to do.
They were wanting, Jesus is in the middle of ministry to people. He's in the middle of teaching the word of God to people.
And yeah, I mean, it's busy. He hasn't had any time for lunch or supper today, you know, but they wanted to forcibly take him away from that.
Perhaps not permanently, but still, nonetheless, what are they up to?
Wanting to restrain him. But look at how they do it. They come sort of subversively.
Subversively, they come in verse 31, standing outside, they called for him and they did so without explaining why.
Somebody go tell Jesus we're here and tell him to come out here. And this is a very subtle thing.
They tell the people, we just want to talk, tell Jesus we just want to talk to him.
In fact, Matthew tells us that. Look at Matthew's account of this. Matthew 12 and verse 46 and 47.
So I mean, Matthew adds this detail that Mark doesn't and it gives us a little bit of an insight into their tactics that they're going to employ.
It says in verse 46, while Jesus was still talking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and brothers stood outside seeking to speak with him.
Then one said to him, look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak with you.
So they're communicating, all we want to do is talk with you. Oh no, that's really not all they wanted to do.
What they wanted to do was lay hold of him and remove him out of the scene altogether.
So the circle of hindrance is deliberate. There's a deliberate effort to actively stop stop
Jesus from doing what he's doing. And look at how influential it is.
What is the, what would be the net effect? Jesus says in verse 35, whoever does the will of God is my mother and my sister and my mother and my brother and my sister and my mother.
What in effect would happen if these who want to hinder
Jesus are successful is that they would be hindering the fulfilling or the carrying out of the will of God.
Jesus is teaching these people, this is what God is like, this is what
God likes. This is the will of God for you. This is what you need to do. This is how you need to respond to who
God is. And if his mother and brothers are successful at taking him out of this scenario where he's telling what the will of God is, these who are listening to him are not going to know and they're not going to be able to do it.
Not going to be able to do it. Can you imagine the disappointment with the unbelief?
Because Jesus answered those who told him what was going on outside the circle of, around, surrounding him.
And Jesus answered and said, who is my mother and my brothers? I wonder if there was a, remember
Jesus is fully man and fully God. So I wonder if as fully man, he said this with a sense of pain in his heart.
Because, yeah, right outside this crowd of this multitude of people are those, the woman who gave birth to him and the brothers with whom he grew up, rubbed shoulders with and played with and all the rest of those things that boys do when they're growing up.
And he asked the question, who is really my mother and my brothers?
The point being that there is a distinction between those who are his blood relatives outside the circle and those who really are his close relatives, his mother, his brothers, his sister.
I can imagine a sense of disappointment with the unbelief on the part of those who are closest to him who thought he was a little bit out of his mind.
Well, how does Jesus respond to this? He didn't go. He didn't go.
Those who sought to hinder him, he didn't allow them to hinder him. He actually brushed them off.
Actually brushed them off. He didn't go. So this is a circle of hindrance.
You have a circle of rejection, you have a circle of hindrance, and then there is a broader circle of acquaintance in verse 32, this multitude that's sitting around him.
The acquaintances are interested in Jesus, but they're a little bit standoffish.
They sat around. Why the multitude? Why are all these people here? Well, they came, they wanted to hear what he had to say.
There's a certain level of excitement in this scene. A crowd has been attracted, and you know how it is.
Crowds attract crowds. Have you ever gone to like a concert or a play or something like that, and you get there and you look around, and there's hardly anybody there?
You know, what do you think? This probably isn't going to be very good.
This isn't going to be very exciting. You know, maybe I really don't want to be here anyway. And it's kind of like, oh,
Lance, back in the early 90s, 92, 94, something like that, we were living in Vermont.
Of course, having come from the Midwest, the Chicago Cubs were playing the
Montreal Expos. You remember that? Remember those days when there was a foot baseball team in Montreal?
And they played in the old Olympic Stadium in Montreal. And so we were living about, you know,
Montreal from where we lived in Vermont was about a two -hour drive. So we got tickets to go to this game, and we went up there to this game and went into the
Olympic Stadium to watch the Cubs play the Expos. And we looked around in this huge cavernous stadium that seated probably,
I don't know, 50 ,000 people, 35 ,000 people, more than that. And there wasn't hardly anybody there, was the way it seemed.
They said the attendance that night was a total, or that day was a total of 7 ,000.
Now, those of you who follow baseball, you know that 7 ,000, that's a COVID crowd, you know, social distancing and all the rest of that kind of stuff in a baseball stadium.
And, you know, when it came time to cheer, you know, they do the little thing on the organ, you know, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum.
You know, they do that thing and they're supposed to be cheering. And all these people are cheering and you couldn't hear anybody cheering.
It was like, well, this is really boring. Now, contrast that. Have you ever been to a game, comparably, a game where the stadium is packed out?
You know, like Wrigley Field, even though they're losers, you know, it's still, it's packed out. And there's just an enthusiasm and an excitement about all this crowd.
All right, here's all this crowd around Jesus. This is a multitude of people and they're acquainted with him, they're familiar with him, they've heard about him, they've heard some of the stuff he's done and some of the things he's said, and there they are.
But they're not really committed to him, not really committed to him.
It's kind of like they're caught between, they're caught between rejection and discipleship.
Which way are we gonna go? It's kind of like where they are. They're really hearers at this point.
Luke tells us that, in Luke chapter eight, he gives us this, he tells us the same account, gives us the same account.
Luke chapter eight. Again, you know, each of these gospel writers gives us a little different insight into the event.
Luke eight, verse 21. And Jesus answered and said to them, my mother and brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.
So here's this multitude that's sitting around and they are hearing the word of God, but will they do it?
Will they just be hearers? So these acquaintances are a little bit standoffish, if you will.
And if they remain simply in the circle of acquaintance, they're the ones that lose out, because they miss out on the blessing of intimacy.
They don't fit in with the rejecters, to be sure, but they're kind of caught in a spiritual limbo.
You know, there are a lot of professing Christians who are kind of like this. They go to church when they kind of feel like going to church.
They're not really seriously committed to walking with Christ and to allowing
God's word to impact and change their everyday life.
They're acquaintances. And then there's the last circle, the circle of intimacy.
These, of course, would be the disciples. And intimacy, as Jesus brings out in verses 34 and 35, this circle is the circle of the deepest relationship, the deepest relationship.
He says, those who do the will of God are my brother and my sister and my mother, a relationship that involves a camaraderie, a protection and a concern.
Those who are in that circle of the mother, the brother, the sister, that's the group that's really concerned about you, really concerned about you.
And also the group where there is a oneness. And what Jesus is saying is that those who are in my circle of intimacy, it's not about blood.
It's about their relationship to the word of God. Those who have the same passion to do the will of God as I have, those are the ones with whom
I have a real sense of camaraderie. Those are the ones who are really going to have my back, if you will, and are going to be concerned about the same things
I'm concerned about. They're the ones with whom I have a sense of oneness, the circle of intimacy.
But being in that circle is conditional. Jesus says, whoever does the will of God, what would that involve?
What would that involve? Well, I just jotted down seven different things that the
New Testament tells us are the will of God. And these are true for everybody.
We like to think about, I need to find God's will for my life, like a career or a kind of job or work or a mate or something like that.
But the will of God in this regard is not focused on those things.
What is it? Well, in the first place, salvation. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
It is the will of God for you to be saved. So respond to that desire of God's heart for your soul's salvation.
Those who trust Christ as their Savior, they put their faith and trust in Him, enter into this circle of intimacy.
Oh, but it doesn't end there. Doesn't end there. Romans 12, one and two. Again, verses you're familiar with.
Paul says, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service, it's your logical service. Don't be conformed to this world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove and demonstrate what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
So it is God's will for you to surrender yourself to Him. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
In Ephesians chapter six, let's look at this passage, a little less familiar, Ephesians six, verses six and seven.
A third aspect of the will of God presented in the New Testament has to do with your service.
He says here, we are to serve the Lord in sincerity of heart as to Christ, not with eye service as men -pleasers.
This is talking about the everyday work. Not with eye service as men -pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service as to the
Lord and not to men. And he's talking to slaves in the first century. And he says you need to do that work with the awareness that God has put you there for this time in your life.
Do it as unto Him. This is God's will. This is how you do God's will in your everyday occupation.
First Thessalonians 4 .3 says this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus, even your sanctification.
We've been talking a lot about that on Sunday mornings in the Sunday school hour. It is God's will for you to grow in holiness.
First Thessalonians 5 .18. Look at that passage for a moment.
Had it earlier this afternoon and it just kind of went right through my mind. First Thessalonians 5 .18.
Yes. In everything give, well, look at, after you have to put 16, 17, and 18 together, these three things go together.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks. For this threefold thing of rejoicing and praying and giving thanks, this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Rejoicing, praying, thanksgiving. This is God's will for you. And then 1
Peter 2 talks about our relationship to those in authority over us.
And it is God's will that we live with submission. It says, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the
Lord's sake, whether to the king or supreme or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.
This is the will of God, that by doing good, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.
And by the way, this passage has had a lot of debate going on in the last year and a half.
And to what extent do we submit ourselves to these edicts of government officials?
And I won't go into all of that, but one of the things that you ask yourself is, one of the issues has to do with levels, layers of authority.
Are we required to submit to the the cavalier dictates of a governor when he doesn't have the authority to issue a cavalier demand apart from the legislature and those kinds of things.
I don't want to get into all that, but our attitude needs to be, if this is a legitimate, if this is a legitimate order by the government that is designed for either the punishment of evildoers or for the praise of those who do good, we need to submit to those things.
That needs to be our attitude. And then a seventh idea of the will of God that's brought out in the
New Testament has to do with separation. First John 5, verses 15 to 17, don't love the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father isn't in him. All that is in the world, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the
Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.
He's making a stark contrast between the things of the world that we're not to love and the pursuit of that which pleases
God. Now, the point is that those who are intimate followers of Jesus in the circle of intimacy, if you will, who would be his closest relatives in a spiritual sense are those whose desire is to do and practice is to pursue the will of God.
And the thing about that is that kind of intimacy is available because back in our text,
Jesus says, whosoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and mother.
There's a wide circumference in that circle. Clearly, Jesus was looking at the people around him and he could see those in that circle, you know, the
Peter, Andrew, James, and John, et cetera, et cetera, the 12. They saw others in that group of people there who really had a passion for doing the will of God.
But when Jesus said this, remember, he is the God man. And it's like in the
Gospel of John in chapter 17, is it, where he spoke of having, or 10, chapter 10, and he spoke of having sheep that were not of this fold and those two he must draw and must bring to him himself.
He was looking beyond even his own life on this earth. He was looking at us in that whosoever does the will of God.
The other thing I want us to notice about this is that there are no favorites in that circle, right?
He just says, whoever is in this circle, those who do the will of God, they are my brother, my sister, my mother.
Well, which am I? Yep. What he's saying is that there's a sense of equality there.
There's a sense of unity there. There are no superstars, if you will, in that circle of intimacy, those who are closest to the
Lord Jesus. Now, the thing is that each of us stands in one of these four circles.
I don't think for a moment that there's anybody here that's in the circle of rejection. I'm pretty confident that's not the case.
Be very careful that you don't allow yourself to slip into the circle of hindrance where you think you got better ideas than those who are really wanting to follow
Christ and you're trying to divert them from it, intentionally or unintentionally. Don't slip into that.
It could be someone here that's just really in that circle of acquaintance. You're interested in Jesus, and yet you've not fully committed yourself to him.
My desire and my hope is that everyone in this room would find himself in the circle of intimacy.
Your real desire, your real desire, is to do the will of God.
Let's pray. Our Father in God, we thank you this evening for this challenge, and we pray that as we examine our own hearts, we would ask ourselves, what is it
I'm really after? What is it that I really want to do? Do I really want to do the will of God?
Do I really want to know more about Jesus? I really want to have a deeper love for him.
I might more effectively live for him. I pray, Father, we would be in that circle.
We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Let's close tonight with number 376 in our hymnals.
376, it's a song, More Love to Thee, O Christ, More Love to Thee.
And let's stand together as we sing, shall we? ♪
More love to thee, O Christ, more love to thee ♪ ♪
Hear thou the prayer I make unbended knee ♪ ♪
This is my earnest plea, more love,
O Christ, to thee ♪ ♪ More love to thee, more love to thee ♪
Let's sing the second as the last. ♪ Once earthly joy
I craved, sought peace and rest ♪ ♪
Now thee alone I seek, give what is best ♪ ♪
This all my prayer shall be, more love,
Dismiss us, O Lord, with your blessing, we pray. Help us to walk with you each day.