Family Rejection

Family Rejection

Who are my mother, my brothers, and my sisters?  What happens when your family rejects your walk before the Lord?

By Rev. Greg Schermerhorn

This is a difficult problem, but one that many Christians throughout history have experienced.  Even our Savior and Lord Jesus experienced rejection by his family.  What do I mean by rejection, you ask?  Well, rejection takes many forms from the blatant, even militant variety to the would-be “spiritual” sounding type.  Rejection is given by non-believers and believers alike.  In this context, the common thread is a disbelief in your ability to know and follow God’s plan for your life.  From the non-believer, the rejection is from the view of the world and is, by default, opposed to God and His plans.  From the believer, it is, in some ways more insidious because believers think they know what you should do and what is in your best interest, even if their thoughts are in direct opposition to the leading of the Lord in your life.  The truth is, rejection and opposition are going to be facts of life for the believer in Jesus Christ, especially for those who are fully committed to serving Him.

Now, don’t take this as a “Doom and Gloom” pronouncement.  It is not intended that way.  It is intended as a caution so that you can be prepared for this issue when it comes up in your life.  Studying Jesus’ life reveals that He experienced rejection from His own family.  Mark 3:20-35 tells us the story of Jesus teaching in the vicinity of His hometown.  His family, that is to say Jesus’ mother Mary, His half-brothers, and His half-sisters went to go see Him and bring Him home because they believed He was crazy or “out of His mind”!  When they arrived to “get“ Him, the crowd told Jesus that His Mother, His brothers, and His sisters were there seeking Him.  Jesus replied in this way:

Mark 3:33–35 (NKJV)

³³ But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” ³⁴ And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”

Jesus was doing the will of God the Father, as He was called to do.  He was not going to allow His misguided family to deter Him from the mission He had been given by God.  Was this a hard decision, sure, but it would be impossible for Jesus Christ, the Son of God to sin and disobey His Heavenly Father.  Was it disrespectful to His mother, brothers, and sisters?  No, because they were asking Him to turn His back on the mission God had given Him.  They were, in fact, being disrespectful to Him and His calling.

God set up authority structures for us in our lives to guide us and to protect us.  We have all been under the authority of someone and are all still under the authority of someone and or something.  For example, we were all under the authority of our parents as we grew up.  Your parent’s authority was defined by the government’s law and by God’s law.  Both government and God had areas where their authority exceeded your parent’s authority.  Your parent’s could not ask you or demand that you do something contrary to the government’s law or God’s law.  While many will debate the authority of government over a parent and child relationship, Christians will not debate the authority of God over children, parents, and government.  God’s authority is the ultimate authority for the Christian.  If government law violates God’s law, the Christian will follow God’s law over government law.  Thankfully in America, the instance of that violation is far and few between.  As Christians, we are admonished to be in subjection to authority as Rom 13:1-7 requires of us.  This includes the area of paying taxes.  Overall, we must be subject to the authorities in our lives unless they are violating God’s authority.

Jesus said :

Matthew 10:34–39 (NKJV)

³⁴ “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; ³⁶ and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ ³⁷ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁸ And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁹ He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

Jesus said He would cause division in families.  Why?  People would have to choose their loyalties…Jesus Christ or family.  Even today, many family members cannot bear the fact of being placed in a seat behind the Son of God!  But Jesus is very clear on this matter when He says, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” 

Family is not the only source of rejection.  Friends can reject you too.  Family just seems to hurt more because we have been taught our whole lives that “Blood is thicker than water”, “You can only count on family when things get tough”, and “In the end, family’s all you’ve got.”  Most of us have heard statements like this our whole lives and have had them drilled into us so that they have become a part of who we are.  Jesus teaches us differently as we just saw.  Our true family are those who seek God and do His will!  Our true family are our brothers and sisters in Christ!  This family is not one church or denomination.  It is the BODY of Christ.  That is, the ENTIRE body of believers in Jesus Christ around the world!  This is our family!  So we, as born-again believers have a huge family that will love on us and accept us for who we are in Christ!

Jesus said something else about rejection:

Mark 6:4 (NKJV)

⁴ But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.”

Jesus was not accepted by His own family, His own relatives, His friends, and by His neighbors.  The whole area around where He had lived growing up rejected Him because they could only focus on His past.  Now, that’s a funny thing considering Jesus was the sinless Son of God.  How much more difficult is it for us, who have a sinful past, for our families and friends to focus on our present life versus our past indiscretions?  Here is the context of what Jesus’ contemporaries said of Him:

Mark 6:1–3 (NKJV)

¹Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. ² And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, “Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! ³ Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him.

If your relatives and friends have rejected your Christian walk and service to God, you are not alone.  You are in the very best of company.  As you have seen, our Savior and Lord suffered the same rejection.  Take heart and know that this is expected.  Don’t let your commitment to the Lord be weakened by an unbelieving relative or a weaker believing relative.  Keep a strong witness, always remembering who you serve.  They will try their best to derail you.  Your relatives and friends may even become the unwitting instruments of Satan in their “well meaning” attacks on your behavior.  My best advice to you is to remember to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and your heart open to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  Remember the admonition by the writer of Hebrews:

Hebrews 12:1–3 (NASB95)

1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

I hope you find encouragement that our Savior is our living example of perseverance and overcoming.  Jesus is the source of our identity and the source of our strength.  Only with Him can we do all things (Phil 4:13) and to Him we must give all honor, glory, and praise in all that we do (1 Cor 10:31)!

Open Letter to President Barack Obama

Open Letter to President Barack Obama

Mr. President:

Why have you decided to interject the United States of America into the middle of the Arab and Israeli conflict?  Surely you know that this battle has raged for centuries, yea even millennia, long before the existence of our great nation.  You claim to be Christian, but you persist in actions that deny your claims.  Your present Middle-Eastern policy toward Israel is an affront to the American people and an abomination before God Almighty.  This conflict existed long before Islam existed as a religion and you are allowing us to be drawn into a fight, on the wrong side of the issue.  Just in case you have forgotten, this nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values.  Yes, that means the basis and origin of the Christian values lay in Judaism.  Denial of fact and rewriting of our history cannot change the fact that 24 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence held seminary degrees and some of those were ordained ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Mr. President, you have called yourself a Christian, but you are acting wickedly.  I cannot fulfill the obligation of Matthew 18:15-17 privately with you because of our respective positions in society.  Here is what the Word of God says:

Matthew 18:15-17 (NASB95)

"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."

Mr. President, I am a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven first, and an American second.  This is the only forum in which I may have a possibility of communicating with you.  I have zero possibility of speaking with you privately, especially as a pastor of a Bible-believing church.  Scripture says of the seed of Abraham, Israel:

Genesis 12:2-3 (NASB95)

"And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

The Arabs are the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s other son, of whom was also promised to be a great nation.  Genesis 25:18 says he settled in “defiance of all his relatives.”  This “battle” or squabble between Arabs and Jews has been going on now for nearly 4000 years.  Really, this is a family feud that has gone out of control where brothers, families, and cousins have over the time of 40 centuries become tribes, nations, and religions warring against each other.

Mr. President, you have demonstrated that you prefer issues that are near to the hearts of the practitioners of Islam.  Your record speaks for itself and cannot, in truth, be denied.  It is alright for you to have a personal preference as a private citizen, but you are representing us, the citizens of the United States of America.  You are representing all 308 million of us Americans, not just the small Muslim population.   I must also remind you that your constituency is here inside the borders of this country.  You are not President of the world.  Please stop pandering to our enemies.  It makes you and us look like fools.  You declared at the beginning of your presidency that the USA was no longer a Christian nation.  You were greatly mistaken about that issue and others.  Last November, the American people reminded you and the others in Washington DC who is in control:  We the People.  Our founders knew and understood Psalm 127.

Psalm 127:1-2 (NASB95)

"Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep."

They founded a nation to honor God and seek His benevolence and protection.  Today we seek to fraudulently remove Him from every aspect of our public and private lives claiming “separation of church and state”, a clause that doesn’t even appear in the U.S. Constitution.  Mr. Obama, surely you know the very first book printed by our government was the Holy Bible!

Our great nation’s founders understood something else too.  They knew that they did not know everything.  Sure they had tremendous wisdom, humility, and meekness.  But they knew that they needed God’s help more than they needed anything else to protect our Republic and to prevent it from degenerating into a democracy or an oligarchy.  Our founding fathers also understood Psalm 33:

Psalm 33:8-17 (NASB95)

"Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance. The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men; From His dwelling place He looks out On all the inhabitants of the earth, He who fashions the hearts of them all, He who understands all their works. The king is not saved by a mighty army; A warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false hope for victory; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength."

Mr. President, as you turn your back on Israel as the leader of this nation, you bring God’s judgment upon us all.  This is not a matter for your personal preference; it is a matter for you to do the right thing as every President has done since the refounding of the nation of Israel in 1948.  You have an obligation to support Israel’s right to exist on the land where they belong, in the land where they have more than 4000 years of historical claim.  There is no other group on the face of the Earth that has the same claim or that is also in possession of the land.  When the Jews were not in their land of promise, it was a dry and barren place.  When they returned in 1948, the desert started to bloom and the land of Israel was reborn into the land flowing with milk and honey once again.  Sir, I know you have been there just as I have been there in the Holy land.  God has blessed the land because His chosen people, the Jews, are there.  I have photos from the late 1890’s – 1915 that show just how barren it was before the state of Israel was reborn.  Do not let your personal preferences, pride, and arrogance bring judgment on this nation. 

Rev. Greg Schermerhorn

Equip The Kingdom Ministries

My Jesus Lives

This is original art is titled "My Jesus Lives".   What a magnificent thought and reality as Easter approaches!  Jesus is alive!  He is risen from the grave!  What wonderful truths that have given us the opportunity to receive eternal life!  I'm so thankful to serve a living Savior, not a dead and powerless idol.  There is power in the blood of Jesus Christ..."life changing, soul changing, wonder working power in the precious blood of the Lamb!"

© 2007 Greg Schermerhorn.  All Rights Reserved.

Birthright

Birthright

By Rev. Greg Schermerhorn

Have you ever really contemplated the birthright you have in Jesus?  I mean, as a person who has received the free gift of salvation accomplished by Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection from the dead?  Yeah, salvation means that you will go to Heaven when you die, and I DON’T meant that lightly, BUT salvation gives us so much more than just an escape from Hell!

When you received salvation from God, you went through three distinct processes:  justification, reconciliation, and regeneration.  Justification is where God declared us as righteous in His sight.  This is a judicial pronouncement that we are “NOT GUILTY” of our past sins because Jesus has paid the penalty for us.  We would NEVER be able to stand before God guiltless without Jesus’ help.  We are justified by faith because Jesus took our sins away.  We can’t be good enough, ever work hard enough or long enough to earn our salvation.  Only God can give it to us and Jesus is the only way.

Ephesians 2:8–9 (NKJV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Reconciliation is the termination of enmity with God and the establishment of friendship with Him.  In other words, two former enemies have been brought together as friends because sin no longer separates a Holy God from the forgiven person.  This gives us the ability to have a personal relationship with the Godhead:  the Father, Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.  This reconciliation and new friendship is only possible because Jesus was the propitiation for our sins.  What is propitiation?  The substitutionary act of Jesus taking our place on the cross of Calvary to be the atoning sacrifice for all mankind causing God to look upon those who receive Jesus’ substitutionary atonement (aka-salvation, getting saved) as righteous because Jesus is righteous.  This act by Christ completely satisfied God the Father and made the continuance of animal blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin unnecessary.

2 Corinthians 5:18–19 (NKJV)

¹⁸ Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Regeneration is where the soul is reborn as a new creation.  The soul is the psychological part of us or psyche and is where our wants and desires exist.  This part of our persona has been at war with God since the time we were born.  When we are born again, that salvation experience changes our soul.  We become a new creation with a new nature that has new wants and desires that replace our old sinful nature.  At that moment, the warring with God ends and God’s peace that passes all understanding begins.  This is a peace that only a Christian can understand.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

 Romans 6:11–14 (NAS)

¹¹ Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,

¹³ and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

¹⁴ For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 5:1 (NKJV)

5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Philippians 4:7 (NKJV)

⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

This is just the start of what happens at salvation.  You have a marvelous birthright!  You, because of what Jesus has done for you, have been adopted into God’s family as a son or daughter!  I mean a FULL ADOPTION, God has made you a joint-heir with Jesus!

Romans 8:16–17 (AMP)

¹⁶ The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.

¹⁷ And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.

Indeed, you were a sinner that has been saved by grace, God’s amazing grace!  Learn who you are NOW and chose to leave your old self in the past.  Chose to LIVE in the resurrection power of Jesus. Realize that He has given you a spirit of power so that you can live victoriously in your new nature. 

2 Timothy 1:7 (AMP)

7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.

Who are you by birthright? 

·         You are God’s child (John 1:12)

·         You are Christ’s friend (John 15:5)

·         You are in Christ and He is in you (1 Cor 6:17)

·         You are a saint (Eph1:1)

·         You have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph 2.18)

·         You are complete in Christ (Col 2:10)

·         You are a citizen of Heaven (Phil 3:20)

·         You are God’s workmanship, created for good works (Eph 2:10)

·         You are born of God and the evil one cannot touch you (1 John 5:18)

·         You are free forever from condemnation (Rom 8:12)

·         You can do all things through Christ, who strengthens you (Phil 4:13)

·         You are a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16)

·         You may approach God with freedom and Confidence (Eph 3:12)

·         You cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39)[1]

When you take hold of who you are in Jesus Christ, and really let that sink in, it WILL change you!  You will find that it is easier to live in your new nature and cast aside your old nature.  The true you has been changed and transformed.  Now, it is against your true nature to sin!  The sin nature is not a part of you anymore; it is your past, not your present, or your future.  It was crucified with Christ, so it is dead.  Your birthright is Life!  This is not a complete and exhaustive list of your birthright in Jesus Christ.  It is just a very high overview that skims the surface.  At the very least, these Scripture passages demonstrate how much God not only loves us as His adopted children, but how much He loves the world.  I am constantly reminded of John 3:16-17 (NKJV):

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

In the Amplified Bible, that first line reads, “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world…”.  That world is us, humanity.  Praise God that He loves us so much that He planned from the beginning of time a way for us to be forgiven and restored to sweet fellowship with Him!

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[1] Ronald Cobb, “Who Am I?” (Foundations of Biblical Counseling, Luther Rice Seminary, Lithonia, GA, February 7, 2011) excerpt.

The Only Sure Bet

The Only Sure Bet

Rev. Greg Schermerhorn

People make lots of bets today.  I’m not necessarily talking about the lottery, poker, other or forms of open gambling.  Certainly these types of bets are prevalent in our society, but the bet I am writing about today is the bet on our future.  So many people today are leveraged to the hilt with debt.  They have bet their financial future that they will be able to make enough money to pay that bill tomorrow.  So many people are living their lives buying everything they want right now on credit.  They buy and buy, with the hope of being able to continue to pay their bills, with hope and anticipation of a future date where they will somehow, if not miraculously be able to get ahead of their dreaded payments and retire.

This same wishful attitude and lifestyle has crept into the hearts of people who would consider themselves to be Christian.  They attend church on the occasional Sunday, but live a different life during the rest of the week.  This is not isolated to a particular denomination, culture, ethnic group, or nationality.  People around the world are betting their eternal soul that they can live their life chasing after anything they wish without consequence because they consider themselves Christian and basically good.  My friends, that’s a bad bet that could cost you everything for all eternity!

Stop rolling the dice!  You can know for sure that your eternal future is secure.  Jesus said several things about Himself and eternal salvation and the security of that salvation so that we would know He is the sure bet.

John 3:3 (NAS)

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:3 is where Jesus is talking with Nicodemus, a Pharisee who was considered to be a righteous man by his Jewish countrymen.  Jesus teaches him that he must be born again.  This is a new concept to Nicodemus, so Jesus explains that he must be born of water and the Spirit to enter the Kingdom of God or Heaven.  This discussion leads to one of the most well know verses of the Bible.

John 3:16–17 (NKJV)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Johns 3:16-17 together tell a great part of the story of God’s love for mankind.  The Amplified Bible says, “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world” that He sent His Son Jesus to be the final and complete atoning sacrifice for our sin, the sins of the entire world for all eternity!  Verse 17 emphasizes that God didn’t send Jesus to judge the world, but to save the world from the judgment it was already under due to its sin.

Romans 10:9–11 (NAS)

that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

Romans 10:13 (NKJV)

For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Romans 10:9-11, 13 says that salvation is an act that is as simple as confessing verbally that Jesus is Lord because He is the incarnate Son of God, believing in your heart that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead demonstrating His accomplishment of our ultimate atonement for sin then we WILL be saved from eternal death and separation from God.  Verse 13 emphasizes that this invitation to receive salvation is open to everyone who calls out to the Lord.  We simply have to receive the work that Jesus has done on our behalf.

John 14:6 (NAS)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

John 14:6 is where Jesus teaches that He is the only path to God the Father, and therefore to Heaven.  He is very clear that He is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE; NO ONE will get to heaven unless they go through Jesus.  Being good is a great thing, but it has nothing to do with going to Heaven.  Only a personal relationship with the Savior will allow you to enter Heaven’s gate.

John 10:27–30 (NAS)

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. “I and the Father are one.”

Your salvation is secure if you have received Jesus as your Savior!  Hallelujah!  Here, Jesus says that all who know Him (ie:  have a personal relationship/saved) are His sheep, He know us, we follow Him, He gives us eternal life, we will never perish, and NO ONE CAN SNATCH US OUT OF HIS HAND!  Oh, and Jesus adds, My Father (God) gave you to me and He is greater than all things and NO ONE can snatch you out of HIS HAND EITHER!  Once you are saved, you are always saved.  At the moment of salvation, God changed you into a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NAS)

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

The sure bet is Jesus Christ, the lover of your soul, as well as, the rest of you.  He has demonstrated His great love for you by creating you, by laying aside His divine prerogatives to be born as a human to know firsthand our struggles, by dying a cruel death He did not deserve, and by being resurrected to intercede on our behalf at the right hand of God the Father.  As the old hymn says, “Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe.  Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed me white as snow!”  The sure bet is eternal, not temporal.  It’s time to stop sowing wild oats and get serious about your future.  Become a fully committed follower of Jesus Christ.  It will radically change your life.