Determining Christ’s Family
How does Christ determine who is in his family? Jesus could have mentioned any stipulation here in Mark 3:35–consistently coming to hear his words taught or finding him likable to the point of not thinking he’s a lunatic or Satanic or even desiring him enough to invite him into your heart. It’s none of that; rather, it’s a life that is characterized by doing God’s will, not perfectly, but consistently. That’s why professing Christ is nothing in and of itself.
Being able to look back to a time when you realized God was real and believed in the historical fact that Christ died on the cross does not mean the gracious act of adoption into God’s family has happened. A true Christian’s life is characterized by doing the will of God as written on the pages of Scripture. This means that the will of God is not something that has to be found or discovered, but rather obeyed by faith.
We do not need more direction from the Lord in order to honor him; what he wants us to know about how to live in this world has been given to us in the Bible. Listen to these passages about the will of God:
Rom. 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
1 Pet. 4:1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world,the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
This is what glorifies God; this is how the church grows; this is how we can be called brothers and sisters of the Son of God.