All Scripture is God – Breathed and useful for…
2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV) 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, …
But this year we are going to be paying special attention to the Red Letters.
Let’s begin to look at some conversations with Jesus…
The first one recorded took place at His Fathers house.
Luke 2:39-52 (NIV)
1) Parenting skills: v. 39 – 45
a) Kids will do as they are taught.
i) Mary and Joseph were faithful to things of God and their children were faithful to things of God.
(1) Acts 1:14 (NIV) 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
(a) Stay out of the house of God for any and every excuse and don’t be surprised when your kids don’t want to come to church.
(b) You must be faithful with the things of God if you want your children to.
(2) You must be faithful and sacrificial.
(a) The journey to the temple and festivals were not easy…
b) Those who attended the festivals usually traveled in caravans for protection from robbers along the Palestine roads.
i) It was customary for the women and children to travel at the front of the caravan, with the men bringing up the rear.
(1) A twelve-year-old boy conceivably could have been in either group, and both Mary and Joseph assumed Jesus was with the other one.
(a) Communicate! Learn to communicate!
(2) Their caravan probably included a large number of people.
(a) So it was not until they were ready to strike camp that Mary and Joseph checked for Jesus among the other travelers… and found him lost.
2) Temple Court:
a) After three days they found Him in the temple courts.
i) The “three days” refer to the time since they had left the city.
(1) They had traveled one day’s journey away from the city (Luke 2:44); it took them a second day to get back; they found Him on the following day.
(i) Mary expressed all the normal emotions of parents who have lost their children.
(ii) Mary and Joseph were acting like they had a normal parent-child relationship with Jesus.
1. They were not living in the light of the great miracles and prophecies they had experienced concerning their son.
a. Momma was still Momma!
b) The Temple courts were famous throughout Judea as places of learning.
i) At the time of the Passover, the greatest rabbis of the land would assemble to teach and to discuss great truths among themselves.
(1) Jesus would have been eager to listen and to ask probing questions.
(a) It was not his youth, but the depth of his wisdom, that amazed these teachers
(2) By the time Jesus was 12 years old, He understood His mission on earth.
(a) Emphasis children’s camp and youth camp / convention.
3) Learning/ Studying
a) When they found Jesus, He was interacting with the teachers of the Law, listening and asking intelligent questions.
i) Everyone... was amazed at His understanding and His answers.
(1) When Mary and Joseph saw Him, they were astonished (exeplagçsan, “struck out of their senses,” perhaps with joy;).
b) Luke 2:49 (NKJV) 49 And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?"
i) His statement confirmed that He knew His mission and that His parents also should have known about His mission.
(1) Jesus surely felt concerned that he had caused his parents distress, but it made perfect sense to him that he would be in his Father’s house,
(a) This is the first mention of Jesus’ awareness that he was God’s Son (he called God “my Father”).
(i) His relationship with his Father in heaven superseded his human family and even his human home.
ii) Mary and Joseph knew he was God’s Son, they didn’t understand what his mission would involve.
(1) You can’t fully understand another man’s mission.
TS. Do you want to be a preacher? Do you want to be a minister? Stay in the House of the Lord.
c) The Determination of the Preacher / Minister
i) Our Lord Jesus is the ultimate example of determination.
(1) As a child, he asked, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?"
(2) As a man he said John 4:34 (NIV) 34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
ii) Are you really determined to be a minister?
(1) Jesus said that His food is to do the will of the father.
(a) It was what kept Him substained.
1. What keeps you going?
2. Should people assume that you are in the House of your Father?
3. Should people assume that you are fellowshipping with your Father?
4. Should people assume that you are in the presence of your Father?
5. Why or Why not?
TS. THESE words of Jesus are very interesting because they are the first recorded utterances of our divine Lord.
No doubt he said much that was very admirable while yet a child, but the Holy Ghost has not seen fit to record anything except these two questions.
Nothing else is recorded18 more years… of nothing.
What can we learn?
4) Obedience: V 51 & 52
a) Jesus returned to Nazareth . . . and was obedient.
i) Jesus understood his identity with God, but also was not yet supposed to go about his earthly ministry (that did not happen until he was thirty years old).
b) Obedience will earn you favor with God and men.
i) "grew in wisdom" – became a friend with men.
(1) Jesus, the Uncommon Common Man
(a) thirty years passed between the end of Matthew 2 and the beginning of Matthew 3.
(i) He was called a Nazarene.
1. Nazarene was practically a byword meaning “despised”; yet, God chose Nazareth to be His Son’s home.
a. Think about it: the King of Glory living in Nazareth for thirty years!
(b) Jesus’ life was both supernatural and common.
(i) As a carpenter’s son:
1. He learned about earning a living and dealing with people.
a. Until He was thirty, God lived an ordinary life in a plain town.
i. He worked at common tasks and walked down dusty streets.
ii. He listened to small talk and bargaining in the marketplace.
iii. Imagine it! The King of kings and Lord of lords lived in obscurity for three decades.
b. Before He launched into Ministry
i. How long have you been saved?
ii. Do the things God tells you to but be sure to keep it in God’s time.
iii. That is difficult for us.
(ii) Much of life is routine.
1. dishes and clothes to wash,
2. errands to run,
3. endless routine jobs to do.
4. School to attend, homework to do.
5. Etc.
i. these small moments are preparation for the big moments
(2) Jesus is familiar with the details of life.
(a) He lived like and fully understands humankind.
(i) Jesus was faithful in the small things, submitting himself to His parents and to the will of God.
1. Consequently, He was faithful in the large things, impacting all life in this universe and beyond.
(b) Sometimes you may feel you are having a dull Nazareth day.
(i) Embrace God’s plan for your life. Eagerly invite Him to work what He desires through your faithfulness in the small things.
(ii) Invite Jesus to share your day and your life with you.
1. Ill. Photovations – Tim & Charles – hung out because they were interested. We became friends
a. We’ve got to get to know Him. Truly know Him, like a man knows his friend.
Remember that He is Jesus of Nazareth—He still enjoys spending an average day with a common person.
Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know?...
Jesus is still about His father’s business… restoring relationships.
Become someone’s friend.
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Selected Bibliography
Special thanks and acknowledgement to Sermon Central and their contributors. Points and or illustrations may have been drawn from materials found on their website: www.sermoncentral.com.
A Treasury of Great Preaching. Austin, TX: WORDsearch Corp., 2005. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
Brown, Francis, S.R. Driver, Charles A. Briggs. The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1906. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
Eims, LeRoy. Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be: Growing Into the Leader God Called You to Be. Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 1996. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
Gaebelein, Frank E. Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1976-1996.
Harris, R. Laird, Gleason L. Archer, Bruce K. Waltke, ed. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Chicago: Moody Press, 1980. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
Jamieson, Robert, A.R. Fausset, David Brown. A Commentary: Critical, Experimental, and Practical on the Old and New Testaments. Toledo, OH: Jerome B. Names & Co., 1884. WORDsearch CROSS e-book. Commentary contained as a single volume.
Life Application Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1988. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
McGee, J. Vernon. Thru The Bible with J. Vernon McGee. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1983. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
Meyer, F. B. Expository Preaching: Plans and Methods. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
Peters, Ruth. Bible Illustrations – Illustrations of Bible Truths. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1998. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
Tan, Paul Lee. Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations: Signs of the Times. Dallas, TX: Bible Communications, 1998. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
Thayer, J. H., trans. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament New York: Harper & Brothers, 1889. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
Thompson, Frank Charles. Thompson Chain Reference Bible. Indianapolis, IN: B. B. Kirkbride Bible Co., 1997. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
University, Global. Synoptic Gospel. Springfield.
Vine, William E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1940. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
