From The Desk Of Pastor Toby Powers
Truth Baptist Church
Bremen, GA
WHAT DOEST THOU HERE?
Sermon 7
Luke 2:40-52
Intro: As a child, TWICE, my parents left me at church! As just a toddler they left me at Union Hill Church, thinking I had gone home with my grandparents, and as a grade school kid, they left me at Temperance Church in Carrollton. In both cases they supposed I had gone home with my grandparents, and in both cases I was still at church. Unlike the boy Jesus in our text, however, I had found a quiet place in the sanctuary while there was a meal in the fellowship hall, and I went to sleep!
Can you imagine the fear that struck the hearts of Joseph and Mary when they talked with their family and realized that they had left Jesus in the big city of Jerusalem? This was the largest city in the region, and it was during the busiest feast time of the year! Furthermore, it was at a time when there was civil unrest, and the city was occupied by Roman military forces. It was one of the worst possible situations in which to lose a child. Joseph and Mary combed the city searching for our Lord. After three days, they found him in the Temple. Mary reacted as any mother would, but our Lord simply asked, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”
Notice some of the beautiful illustrations in this story:
1. Jesus was working, even when others could not see it and did not know it (v. 43).
2. They could not find Jesus, so they began to ask others, “Has anybody seen Jesus? Can anyone tell me where to find him?” They began with their family (v. 44); it is a sad thing when nobody in a family can tell you where to find Jesus. They started back where they came from (v. 45); that’s a good place to start! If you once had fellowship with him and you do not today, go back to where you lost his fellowship and seek for him.
They found him in the house of God (v. 46). That’s a good place to find him!
3. They found him after three days of looking (v. 46). He can be found because of what happened on the third day!
4. Once Mary found him, she never let his words out of her heart again (v. 51).
Today, however, I want us to look at this passage in light of the study we have been doing for the last seven weeks. We started by looking at Elijah in the cave as God asked him, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” In subsequent weeks we asked this same question of David, Solomon, Paul, the Christian, and the rich man. Today, as his parents seek him in the Temple, I want us to direct that question to our Lord. “What doest thou here, Jesus?”
I. I’M HERE TO SHOW THE WISDOM OF GOD: v. 40 & 52, As our Lord’s human frame grew more capable, his divine nature was communicated more and more. Here he is as a young boy in the Temple questioning the doctors of the law (v. 46-47). It is not that he is asking to find out the answer, but rather it is as if he is quizzing them and showing them their error! He is the wisdom of God. I Cor 1:20-21 “Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” Jesus was the bodily manifestation of the wisdom of the Lord. Proverbs 8 tells us that the Son of God is the wisdom of God. v. 14, “Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.” v. 22-30 “The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.”
II. I’M HERE TO DO THE WILL OF THE FATHER: v. 49, John 6:38, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” Our Lord was here at the behest of his father, and his father had a specific plan. Jesus stood in the Temple one day as a young man and read from the prophecy as recorded in Luke 4:17-22, “And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?” Like today, there were many who did not believe in him and many who did not understand his purpose, but it did not stop him from doing the will of his Father! Even in the garden, he prayed, “Not my will but thine be done,” and he did his father’s will all the way to the cross!
III. I‘M HERE TO WORK A MIRACLE: Matthew 8:29, as Jesus crossed into Gadera, there was a possessed man who approached our Lord with Satan speaking from him, “What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time.” They wondered if Jesus was there to cast them utterly into hell as he will in the last time. Satan knew not the purpose of Jesus in that place that day, and many times he does not know. But Jesus was there to work a miracle! In the previous verses, Jesus commanded his disciples to sail to the other side. While on the other side, all we find him doing is casting out these devils, then he passes back across the sea where he came from. Aren’t you glad that from time to time he will seemingly go out of his way to work a miracle in an individual’s life!
IV. I‘M HERE TO GIVE MEN THE WAY TO HEAVEN: John 14:1-6. Jesus is the way, and he is the only way!
Conclusion: Many have wondered why Jesus came, but he answered this question for us in John 10:10, “I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Why would you die lost, when Jesus came to give you life?
To hear sermon audio on this sermon or hundreds of others go to www.trumpetoftruthonline.org and click on “Hear The Sounds Of The Gospel Trumpet.” There are also scores of outlines there listed in order by Scripture Reference.
