Even His Own Family Thought He Was Out of His Mind

Sermon outline

Jesus Himself faced rejection and unbelief at home and never changed His vision for His family, so believers can break family cycles of failure by letting God's word change them first and by loving their households in the way 1 Corinthians 13 describes.

1. God knows you by name

   Through all his trials Job kept praising God without understanding why, sure that God would not fail him, and he was restored double. Let God be true and every man a liar: every situation man creates can change. God knows your sitting down and rising up, never gives more than you can bear, and sometimes allows pressure to release gifts in you, refining you as gold in the fire. He opens doors that need opening and closes the ones that need closing.

   “In your lowest possible state, God will not fail me.”

   • Job 1:8
   • Romans 3:4

2. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

   When Philip told Nathanael they had found the one Moses wrote about, Jesus of Nazareth, Nathanael asked whether anything good could come from there. People still read you by your background, by the suburb you grew up in, but that does not determine God's plan for your life. Jesus also grew up under a stigma about His birth.

   Illustration: It is like someone saying, you are from Newlands, or Greenwood Park, or Avoca: what good can come out of there?

   “That doesn't determine what God has planned for your life.”

   • John 1:43-46

3. His family said He was out of His mind

   When crowds gathered so that Jesus had no time to eat, His family set out to take charge of Him, saying He was out of His mind, because their brother was the one causing a stir in the neighbourhood. His brothers later told Him to go to Judea and show Himself to the world, for even His own brothers did not believe in Him. Yet none of this changed His vision. If you are the only believer in your home, walk in wisdom and love rather than telling your family they are going to hell. James, who did not believe at first, became a leader of the church in Jerusalem, and the family was present in the upper room before Pentecost.

   “The Word of God breaks family cycles of failure.”

   • Mark 3:20-21
   • John 7:1-5
   • Matthew 5:16
   • Acts 1:14

4. The tactics the enemy uses in a family

   He names the pressure points Satan uses to keep families in cycles of failure. Lack of communication: say respectfully what you did not like. Trust broken by betrayal and broken promises, remembering that children in the same home receive the same love differently. Financial stress, answered by tithing, sowing and giving together as a family and rising above poverty as a team. Substance abuse, answered by the word declared in the home. Emotional and physical abuse, which leaves people stuck at the age it happened and wearing the label of the black sheep, a self-sabotage they pass on to their own children. Unrealistic expectations, and a lack of healthy boundaries.

   Illustration: Years ago a cell group met in a home where one brother would slam doors and play loud music in his room during the meeting. The group carried on teaching without judgement, and one day he came out for prayer, and afterwards he was the one buying the cool drink and biscuits before every meeting.

   “So the word of God has the ability, brothers and sisters, to change a person's heart.”

5. Love at home: thirteen keys from 1 Corinthians 13

   A spiritual person is known by how they live at home, not only at church: tongues, prophecy, faith and giving without love amount to nothing. Love is patient, so do not confess that you are not a patient person, because patience is fruit of the Spirit grown by time with Him. Love is kind, does not envy but celebrates others' promotion, does not boast, is not proud, and does not dishonour family members while honouring outsiders. It does not demand its own way and is not easily angered, even when someone tries you straight out of prayer. It keeps no record of wrong, so stop going back decades for evidence that may not even be accurate. It always protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres, and does not write people off.

   “Don't say, "Well, I'm not a patient person." Don't make those type of confessions. Because what? You'll fail that test every single time.”

   • 1 Corinthians 13:1-7
   • Romans 5:5
   • Philippians 2:3

In this message