My Favorite Jesus - Pt. 3 - Bearded Jesus Series

Favorite Jesus

Pt. 3 - The Bearded Jesus

I. Introduction

During Christmas our attention is turned towards the sweet, 8 lb. 6 oz, golden diaper, little bundle of baby God. There are lessons to learn from Infant Baby Jesus . . . Salvation is often hard to discern and at times even harder to accept. He teaches us ugly is the new beautiful. He teaches us that detours can be divine. There are lessons to be learned from a less favorite version of Jesus . . . Jesus as a teenager. He teaches us that God will drive us crazy, we can become so routined in our life that we can actually walk away from Him and not realize He is gone, and that we are supposed to take Jesus home with us!

The religious leaders of Jesus' day had difficulty recognizing the arrival of God in their midst because they couldn't accept His form! In John 5:37 Jesus addressed this shortcoming - "And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form,"

So again my question to you is "What is your favorite Jesus?" Are you willing to learn from the Jesus that doesn't fit your "favorite" box? What if rather than a baby Jesus wants to teach us lessons as the bearded Jesus?

II. Text

Luke 2:52; John 1:29-34

And Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people.

John 1:29-31The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, "Here he is, God's Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I've been talking about, 'the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.' I knew nothing about who he was—only this: that my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptizing with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God."

32-34John clinched his witness with this: "I watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him. I repeat, I know nothing about him except this: The One who authorized me to baptize with water told me, 'The One on whom you see the Spirit come down and stay, this One will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' That's exactly what I saw happen, and I'm telling you, there's no question about it: This is the Son of God."

III. The Bearded Jesus Truths

A. The Bearded Jesus teaches us that growing up is not an option!

We would like to keep Jesus cute and cuddly, but Luke states it very clearly. . . Jesus grew up! As much as we would like for him to smell like baby powder and lilac Jesus grew up. He grew up and became tough, a whip swinger, a carpenter, a man's man if you will.

If you never come to grips with Jesus as anything other than the Christmas Child, then your own maturity and development as a Christian will be stunted! The baby story may be the most attractive, but you have to allow the grown up truths that Jesus' life is full of to take up root and residence in your life!

It doesn't matter if you sing the Toys R Us theme song (I don't want to grow up) with all the conviction you can muster you still have to grow up! Jesus didn't remain a baby! As cute as the manger scene seems, how freak show looking would it have been if at 33 Jesus was still wrapped in swaddling clothes trying to curl up in a cattle feed box? He didn't remain a teen! He matured. He grew! We have a mandate to grow up! Are you maturing? Are you developing? Are you a 20 year old baby? Are you a 40 year old baby?

Do you still handle disappointment by throwing a tantrum? Do you still fight for your own way? Are you still selfish? Are you still mouthy? Anti-social? Untrustworthy? Then perhaps you frozen in baby state or teen state! There should be more favor and more understanding in your life now than when you started this relationship with Christ!

If all you do is worship the baby you will remain a baby! If you only have a teenage relationship with Jesus you are stunted! It is time to grow up in your relationship with Him. Yes, the bearded Jesus' lessons are hard and the standard is difficult to live up to, but He grew up and so must you! He couldn't stay a baby and neither can you. When I was a child I spoke as a child . . . now I have to put away childish things and be a man! Too many of us are still acting and reacting like babies and it is time to grow up!