Jesus Series

Scripture

This Christmas I am taking a brief look at the three key human persons in “The Christmas Family”: Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. Last Sunday we looked at Joseph. On Christmas Eve we looked at Mary. And today we will look at Jesus.

When Jesus was twelve years old, his parents, Joseph and Mary, took him to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. Perhaps Jesus had accompanied his parents every year to the Feast of the Passover, but this year was important because the following year, as a thirteen-year-old, Jesus would officially become a “son of the law,” a full member of the synagogue, similar to the modern custom of bar mitzvah. Because of this, Jewish leaders suggested that fathers should train their sons in the observance of the Passover a year before they turned thirteen years old.

It would have been a wonderful time for Jesus. Jerusalem was a city of about 30,000 residents swelled with over 200,000 pilgrims during the Feast of the Passover. When the feast was ended, Joseph and Mary started their journey back home to Nazareth. Unfortunately, they did not realize that they had left Jesus back in Jerusalem. At the end of the first day’s journey, Joseph and Mary discovered that Jesus was not traveling with them. So, they returned back to Jerusalem. After three days, they found the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Jesus were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When Joseph and Mary found Jesus, she expressed their distress at Jesus being missing. Jesus simply replied, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” These were the first recorded words of Jesus. The Greek text in Jesus’ second question is literally, “Did you not know that it is necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?” Jesus had come to understand that he was the Son of God, and that God was his Father. His study of God’s word enabled him to understand that all of the Old Testament prophecies about God’s Deliverer found their fulfillment in him. And so this was a profoundly revealing moment for Jesus.

Nevertheless, even though Jesus now knew that he was God in human form, he went down with Joseph and Mary and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. This is astonishing! Jesus knew that he was God in human form, and yet he humbled himself in obedience to his earthly parents.

Then, we read a striking statement about Jesus in Luke 2:52, our text for today:

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2:52)

Introduction

Most of us have had the experience of seeing a child again after many months, and say to them, “My, how you have grown!” This past week I met a boy, about ten years old, that I had not seen for almost a year. Frankly, I did not recognize him because he had grown so much. In fact, his grandmother said that this past year he had grown about four feet! Well, not quite four feet, but he had grown a lot.

As we come to the end of 2019, and the end of a decade, and head into a new year, and into a new decade, will anyone be able to say of us a year from now, “My, how you have grown!” Many people make New Year’s Resolutions. A resolution is a commitment to act or do or achieve something. Resolutions are goals that they may want to achieve in the coming year. I would like to encourage each one of us to make a commitment to grow in the coming year as Jesus grew.

Lesson

The growth of Jesus in Luke 2:52 teaches us how to grow this coming year.

Let’s use the following outline:?

1. We Need to Grow Mentally (2:52a)

2. We Need to Grow Physically (2:52b)

3. We Need to Grow Spiritually (2:52c)

4. We Need to Grow Socially (2:52d)

I. We Need to Grow Mentally (2:52a)

First, we need to grow mentally.

Verse 52a says, “And Jesus increased in wisdom….” I would have preferred my first point to be something like, “We need to grow wisdomly,” so that it could parallel the rest of my points. I suppose I could have said that “we need to grow wise,” because that is really the area in which we need to grow.

Note that Luke did not say that Jesus increased in knowledge, or understanding. No, he said that Jesus increased in wisdom. Knowledge and understanding are prerequisites for wisdom, but they are not the same as wisdom.

Biblical wisdom may be defined as “practical skills associated with understanding and living a successful life.” Wisdom involves both knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge in different circumstances. Proverbs 9:10a says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” So, how does a Christian grow in wisdom? Let me suggest several steps.