Bunbury
Wed pm
4/08/10
“Forget something sport?”
Intro: *** A young naval officer was undergoing his first sea training on board a naval ship. His responsibility was to safely steer the ship away from the wharf & set it on course for a voyage out to sea. He carefully went through all the procedures of disembarking the wharf & checking all the vitally impt points. Step by step he went through them all confident that he hadn’t forgotten to do a single thing. Finally the ship glided away from the wharf smoothly, the command was given for the engines to be throttled to ⅓ speed for the first 10 minutes. Men were buzzing everywhere on the bridge & the young officer was feeling very good about his efforts as a call came from the captain. The captain congratulated the young officer for a textbook perfect disembarkation from the wharf & for doing it in a very short period of time. Then the captain added, “There is one thing you’ve forgotten though, an unwritten rule when disembarking from the wharf is to make sure the captain is on board the ship b/4 you disembark!”
This story gives us insight into human nature ……… sometimes we overlook the most impt things in our lives.
Is Captain Jesus on board w/ you?
The most impt thing we forget is Jesus!
It’s all very well that we may be involved in a work of God but do we remember that at the centre of that work of God is a personal r/s w/ Jesus Christ?
*** Many of growing have heard the phrase “Forget something sport?” Usually it would be one of our parents or a teacher saying it to us. More often than not if someone said this to you it was b/c you had forgotten something very obvious / very apparent that shouldn’t have been forgotten. Like a car door you forgot to close of your lunch that you forgot to take w/ you to school .... maybe even forgetting to say please.
Our text is one of those situations where something so obvious / so clearly apparent has been forgotten.
Joseph & Mary the parents of Jesus have forgotten Jesus!
While we might be inclined to be very critical of them for doing this, it’s something that in subtle ways we might do too.
T/n I want to minister a sermon I’ve called ‘Forget something sport?’
Text: Luke 2:40 - 50 (NKJV) 40And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. 41His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. 43When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; 44but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. 46Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. 48So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” 49And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” 50But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.
# 1. Getting caught up in life.
A. Life places so many demands upon us.
a. Just living life is often a full time job!
i. There are bills to pay / food to put on the table & much of the time it seems as though every time we take another breath there is a new expense to be met.
ii. This means that we’re involved in the ongoing task of hunting & gathering.
iii. Or to take it out of cave man language & put it into a modern context – working a job, paying the bills, putting food on the table & keeping a roof over our head.
b. While all of these things are necessary they can sometimes draw on all the energy we can possibly muster.
i. At times all the pressures of life can be simply overwhelming.
*** When I first starting working out at the yoghurt factory it was a steep learning curve. I remember one night being put on the sour cream line. This is where they produce the sour cream & then send it out along a conveyer line to be boxed & palletted by hand. The process is pretty simple – fold up a cardboard box, put the sour cream into the box, run it through a taping machine & stack it on a pallet. Not rocket science by any measure!
But the first time I was put on the line w/ two other guys, one of them experienced, another one as lazy as the day is long & me, the new guy who was learning. At first it was OK until I realised that I couldn’t just do one thing, I had to do about 3 things @ once! In effort to keep up..... the boxes weren’t folding properly & I was trashing some, sour cream tubs were overflowing from the conveyer belt & boxes needing to be stacked were piling up ready to be stacked. If I had another set of hands I might have kept up a bit easier.
But what made it worse when I got home & told Coral that there were only three of us on the job she said we normally do it very easily w/ just two!!!
ii. Life is like that sometimes – isn’t it? It seems to come at you @ 1,000kms / hour!
iii. For most of us all of life revolves around just keeping up, making sure that all the bases are covered.
iv. Close to the surface of our thinking is the obligation that the Bible places on us to take care of the material needs of life.
c. Think about the emphasis that the Bible places on you & I taking care of needs of life.
i. The Scriptures say ....... working / earning money is a basic necessity of life.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 (NKJV) For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.
ii. The W of God also states that if you don’t take care of this area then you’re worse than an infidel / unbeliever.
1 Timothy 5:8 (NKJV) But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
iii. The Proverbs are full of scorn for those who refuse to address this area of life.
Proverbs 6:9-11 (NKJV) How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep— So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.
B. There are even more demands placed upon the life of a believer.
a. If this is true for an average person / family / husband / wife .... how much more so is it true for a Christian?
i. You see what I’m saying to you is that not only do believers have a secular / earthly / practical / bodily needs of life but the spiritual needs also.
ii. If you’re going to live for Jesus you’re going to have to take care of your spiritual upkeep / needs.
iii. You’re going to have to read your Bible / pray / be in church / witness / outreach / tithe / live righteously as well.
*** I heard about one man who decided that "in" and "out" baskets on his desk weren't sufficient. Instead, he labelled them: Urgent, Frantic, Overdue, Forget it!
I know how he feels!
*** Sometimes in life it’s kind of like having one of those machines that serves up tennis balls to you going crazy & balls come hurtling at you at 100 miles/hour. You begin by trying to hit them all back & end up missing a number of them & eventually you curl up in a heap on the ground & hope that not too many hit you.
b. I imagine that Joseph & I have no doubt that Joseph & Mary found th/s getting caught up in the same scenario.
i. Like any good Christian parents they are having to grapple w/ all the demands that life is throwing at them.
ii. Here they are ..... the ones given the responsibility of being the earthly parents of the Lord Jesus – the Messiah!
iii. They have been given this incredible gift / wonderful privilege of protecting / overseeing / providing for the One who will redeem the entire human race.
iv. As the right kind of parents they are committed to making sure they cover not only the material bases but the spiritual bases of life.
Vs 41-42. His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast.
c. It’s conference time ....... They’ve been up to Jerusalem involving th/s in the work of God.
i. Here are parents who feel the weight of their spiritual obligations ...... not only to God but also to their children.
ii. But it’s in this setting that things go terribly wrong for them! The problem here is that we can easily make .......
# 2. A deadly assumption.
A. The deadly assumption we make is to forget the most impt thing.
a. Think about what has happened here in the lives of Mary & Joseph.
i. An angel appears to Mary one day & says .....
Luke 1:28 (NKJV) “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
ii. When Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth the baby in her womb (John) leaps as she hears the voice of Mary who is carrying the Messiah!
iii. Joseph who is going to dissolve his r/s w/ Mary thinking that she has been unfaithful to him but again there is angelic intervention.
Matthew 1:20-21 (NKJV) But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
iv. Joseph & Mary realise that they are most favoured people ever to draw breath ....... Jehovah God has entrusted the birth / upbringing of the Messiah into their hands!
b. Do you get the pict here?
i. This is not just a pict of Mary & Joseph getting used to having Jesus around – this is a pict of us!
ii. As Paul puts it ........
2 Corinthians 4:7 (NKJV) But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, .......
iii. We have been given the greatest privilege imaginable ....... that we would be chosen to be the heirs of salvation.
c. But the problem here is the same problem that Joseph & Mary were facing.
i. We begin to take for granted what has been placed into our care.
Vs 43. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem.
ii. The very one who God gave them & was to remain the centre of all their attention had been left behind!
B. Have you forgotten something – sport?
a. It’s all very well that we are busying our/s w/ life & all it’s demands but how is your r/s w/ Jesus?
i. Have you stopped to ponder what He thinks of all of the activity / busyness of your life.
ii. Or more imptly ..... is your r/s w/ Jesus at the centre of everything you are involved in now?
iii. B/c the truth is that sometimes we can be so preoccupied w/ life that we forget / ignore the one we are supposed to be living for!
Luke 10:41 (NKJV) And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.
iv. You see the problem is that we can be concerned / worried about many things & forget the one all impt thing – Jesus!
v. Have you forgotten something – sport?
*** Not long after we moved to Kalgoorlie to begin pioneering our first church we went shopping one Friday afternoon. Like many young families we didn’t have too much cash & so when pay day came shopping was always a highlight of the week. We had finished our shopping & loaded it into the trolley & began making our way out of the supermarket. Pushing the trolley out to the car park with Tina & Mick talking to the kids we suddenly remembered something …… Where’s Jesse? He was only about 4 -5 months old. We had left the pram by the checkout while we loaded the groceries into the trolley & then walked out of the supermarket forgetting all about him. We rushed back into the supermarket where we had left him & thankfully found him still sleeping in his pram. This was an impt lesson to us not to leave behind what was really impt!
b. Have you lost the wonder of what God gave you in Christ?
i. When we first get saved, many can still remember being ‘wonder struck’.
ii. I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see ....... Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!
iii. We were completely swept up in the wonder of salvation ...... that God would choose me to be saved.
iv. We’d pray / read our Bibles / witness / give almost everything ....... there was such a hunger that consumed us!!!
c. The great danger we face as Christians is being familiar w/ the presence of Jesus.
i. That’s what happened to Joseph & Mary ..... they b/ca familiar w/ His presence & didn’t even notice He was missing.
Vs 44. but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him...
ii. Your r/s w/ Jesus is just that – a relationship! It has to be maintained / worked at / kept up.
iii. The Bible says of Samson.......
Judg 16:20 (NKJV) 20…… But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.
# 3. Don’t forget something sport?
A. Don’t forget to ask the one impt thing – Am I in the company of Jesus?.
a. Like I said earlier ..... life can get so impt, we can b/co so consumed w/ the taking care of the business.
i. And none of it may be evil / bad / ungodly, in fact it may be very good.
ii. But here’s the issue as we go about our daily lives, as we meet all of the demands – the bills / family / leisure / church – are we still in the company of Jesus?
Vs 44. but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances.
iii. They made the presumption that Jesus was in their company. ......
b. It’s exactly the same presumption we can make today.
i. Its not hard to be busy about the things of God while forgetting the God of the things we’re doing!
Luke 10:41-42 (NKJV) And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
ii. Maybe it’s time to ask our/s the question ....... w/ the passing of time have I missed the point?
iii. Is Jesus the ‘Captain of your salvation’ on board w/ everything you’re doing / occupied / involved w/?
B. Notice one impt point here – Jesus doesn’t give in to their negligence.
Vs 49. And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
a. And what’s just as impt is that He won’t give in to our negligence either!
*** Home Alone is the story of a family going on vacation. They wake up late for a flight & in their frantic endeavour to get to the airport in time they remember all their luggage / passports / cash etc but they forget their youngest child. When they arrive at their destination they are terror stricken to realise their youngest son is still at home, forgotten & most imptly w/o them!
One of the plots of the movie is the efforts of the parents, now in another city & unable to catch a flight back home due to being snowed in. But eventually they are able to make the connection & get back to the one they have left behind.
i. In a very real sense the same thing might have happened to you.
ii. You might find that life has moved on some way / time / distance now since you remember being in His company.
iii. There’s only one real thing you can do .....
Vs 45. So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him.
b. Rediscover Jesus – let Him once again b/co the Captain of your salvation, steering / guiding your life.
i. Find out where you went wrong / lost Him / ventured out of His company & get back into His presence.
