Jesus…. Left Behind.
Opening Statement….. During this Holiday Season.. have we Forgotten Jesus Christ??
Have we forgotten Jesus?
How many of you have done any shopping for Christmas so far?… We have
We even braved Wal-Mart at 6:00 A.M. the day after Thanksgiving… now, you have to be desperate to save some money to brave Wal-Mart at 6:00 A.M. the day after thanksgiving…
It is always a wild and crazy time.
I remember a few years ago, the Wal-Mart in the little town we lived in had so many fights break out that they had to call the police in to keep peace and order.
The police are there every year now. I worked at that Wal-Mart for a Short time…. And I know for a fact that NOBODY wants to work in that turmoil the day after thanksgiving…..
I remember when Denise and I were shopping one year, it was so crowded that even getting a shopping cart was hard to do.. We walked in the front doors of the store and a shopping cart was sitting there where the carts usually were, and no one was near it… well, Denise just grabbed the cart and we started walking and then this lady that was talking with a man some distance away just starting cussing…. She called my wife some very obscene names and said, “I was about to get that cart”….
I was very proud of my wife that day….. she said, “Hey, if you need this cart that bad… you can have it..”
Have we forgotten Jesus??
Take you Bibles now if you would and turn to Luke chapter 2 verse 41.
Read Luke 2:41-49.
Prayer—
What a story… Now, from this one passage of Scripture, many messages could be taught… of course that could be said about any passage of scripture.. I could use this same passage of scripture for many different messages, but I will try and limit myself to one message this morning.
Now, lets look closely at this account in the life of Jesus and his parents, and see how it relates to our lives today.
Luke is the only Gospel writer that mentions the childhood of Jesus, and this is the only account of his childhood. It is referring to Jesus at the age of 12.
The seven-day feast of unleavened bread was being celebrated, and this feast always began with the Passover meal.
We know the Passover meal as it is portrayed in the famous portrait, the last supper.
We also know it as a representation of the sacrificial Lamb of God… Christ Jesus himself.
We celebrate the Passover meal when we have communion or, the Lords supper. We remember the sacrifice Christ made for us.
For the Israelites, it was, and still is, a very significant feast and festival. It was and still is a memorial celebration for them as well.
It was a time for the nation of Israel to celebrate what God had done for them as the tenth and final plaque descended upon Egypt.
It was a time for Israel to remember how God had sent death to every first born in Egypt that did not have the blood of a sacrificial lamb without spot or blemish, painted upon the doorposts of their house.
Israel was released from their bondage to Egypt. This was, and indeed still is, a time worth remembering and celebrating.
And in the book of Exodus, God had commanded that Israel remember his providential love for them. The Bible states that the celebration was to be held annually in the place that God prescribed… and that place was Jerusalem.
Now, everyone was allowed to participate in the feast and surrounding activities, but only males over the age of 20 and living within a specific distance from Jerusalem were Commanded to make the pilgrimage and take part in the celebration.
I think this goes a long way in showing us the faithfulness of Mary, and her strong desire to obey the teachings and commands of God.
V 41 says that EVERY YEAR His parents, plural, meaning Both of them, made the journey to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover.
Mary was so dedicated to God and to obeying God, that she was willing to make this most difficult Journey even though it was not required of her.
You see, this was not just some empty ritual for Mary and Joseph. They were not observing this celebration because it was the thing to do… they were not going because everyone else was doing it…..they were not going to Jerusalem just to be seen as being pious and religious by others… no..
They celebrated the Passover in Jerusalem because they wanted to obediently follow the commands of the Lord.
Christ said in John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command”
So, after the 7-day celebration came to an end the great throngs of people all started to head home.
Can you just imagine what this must have been like?
ILL. Promise Keepers IN Boulder. ……
Back in 1994 I went to a promise keepers conference in Boulder Colorado. It was to be the last conference they were going to have in Boulder. There were 14 of us from our Church in Mississippi traveling in a 15-passenger van. It was before they started having multiple conferences all over the country, so people were traveling from all over the country to this one meeting held in the football stadium in Boulder. I will never forget this experience that changed my life as I sat among 50,000 men in a two day conference as we worshipped and praised God together…
One of the men that was with us noted to me a couple of years ago, that of the 14 of us that were there, that many of us have surrendered to the ministry since that time. And most all the rest are extremely dedicated to the Lords work.
I will never forget that special time, but one of the things I remember specifically is when we left. It was already dark when the conference ended, it took forever just to get out of the parking Lot of the stadium and then, it was bumper-to-bumper traffic for miles and miles as everyone started heading home.
It was a sea of red taillights in front of us, and an ocean of headlights behind us. Many of you Have been in the middle of throngs of people trying to leave somewhere at the same time….
This is what it must have been like. The festival was over, everyone was trying to leave town at the same time. It was probably somewhat chaotic.
BUT!!!
Mary and Joseph traveled for a day before they realized that their Child, Jesus, was not with them.
Sure, the scene may have been chaotic, but how in the world could Mary and Joseph Forget about Jesus?
I mean, we have seen the movie home alone where the entire family leaves one child home all by himself… the entire family forgot about this child… but that is only a movie, it’s a comedy….
Most parents could not TRULY forget about one of their children.
And here was Jesus… the Holy Son Of God….. God Himself incarnate…. In the flesh, Immanuel, God with us…..
Mary and Joseph knew who Jesus was, the Lord had told them. They knew Jesus was God and He was also their Child…. HOW…… HOW in the world could they forget about Jesus????
Well, the fact is my friends, they did NOT forget about Jesus.
Look at verse 44 with me again….
READ VERSE 44.
They did not forget about Jesus, they thought he was with them.
We need to understand, the families traveled in caravans. You will notice that when Mary and Joseph started searching for Jesus, they looked among their relatives and friends.
All of the children in one caravan may have stayed with each other, playing as they traveled along.
I read one study of ancient customs that suggested that the men and women traveled separately because the women were slower travelers. It stated that the men did not leave as early as the women did.
It kind of reminds me of Christmas meals with my extended family.. where the women eat at one table and the men eat at another but they don’t eat together…. And I don’t know why..
The men would leave later than the women and they would all meat up together at a designated location to stop for the night.
Either way, it was such a large group of family and friends that Mary and Joseph took for granted that Jesus was among the Caravan.
They had not forgotten Jesus, but they had left him behind…
I can just picture Mary walking up to Joseph and asking him.. “where is our son” .. and Josephs response of “I don’t know, I thought he was with you”….
I can feel that heart wrenching feeling as they realize they don’t know where Jesus is, and no one else does either….
They looked for him for three days and then they found him in the temple…. And you know how parents can be.
Look at what Mary said in the second part of verse 48.
Read v 48B.
Now, look at Jesus’ response in Verse 49.
Read V 49.
Jesus basically says, “You know who I am, you should know where to find me”
Transition…
Friends, the world HAS forgotten Jesus.. especially so many in our country today.
Many people today don’t think about Jesus Christ at this time of year. Christ has been replaced by a fictional fat man with a great big smile…..
I will never forget the trouble we had with my family, parents, aunts, uncles, everyone, when we decided to focus only on Jesus Christ at Christmas time and we decided we would not take our children through a fantasy land of who who who is who…..
They went out of their way to go against our wishes and try to spread their idea of what our children should be told…
For many people the Christmas season is all about money. Watch the news any night of the week and you will see the economic side of Christmas. The fact that this time of year will either make or break some retailers.
For far to many people today, Christmas has nothing to do with Christ.
Why, Christ has become illegal. Christ is again on trial….
I have a good friend who is a mailman and he told me a couple of years ago, that he is not allowed to even say Merry Christmas to someone. …..
The best he can do, is to say, “Happy Holidays”… and that is here in our community… folks… that is sad…
Many people today have forgotten Jesus……
But, we are the CHURCH!
We are Christians…
We care about our fellow man…
We know what Christmas is all about..
Ask any of my kids… even the youngest one.. and they will tell you that Christmas is all about Jesus’ birthday….
Sure they still want presents… but they know what Christmas is all about….
Friends, WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN JESUS……..
But ohhh my friends…… so many of us are like Mary and Joseph……
We have not Forgotten Jesus…. But we HAVE LEFT HIM BEHIND,...
Some of us have gotten caught up in what the world has decided Christmas should be about…..
We have left Jesus behind….
This time of year, all to often, we think of Jesus JUST as the adorable, sweet, precious little Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger….
We get caught up in the Hustle and Bustle of the season…
We get concerned over finding those exact perfect gifts for those many who expect to receive something from us….
I don’t like those commercials like the one with the boy that hands his mother his Christmas list, and she says, “This is your List”….. and the boy says, well, page two is still printing….
Kids are being taught that Christmas is all about getting….
Or, We get into the very real religious activities at this time of year…. The activities where we are truly seeking to obey God and do God’s will, but we can see by looking at Mary and Joseph that even when we are involved in religious activities, we can leave Jesus behind….
How many times have I heard someone say,
Well, so and so is not going to be here this year……
Or, the family can’t get together this year,
Or, we aren’t able to do what We want to do this year….. so its just not going to be Christmas…..
Well, if that is true friends, then we have left Jesus behind…
I have heard it said, well, you don’t have the spirit of Christmas….
Friends, Jesus Christ is the spirit of Christmas….
Do I think there is anything wrong with the traditions of Christmas such as gift giving and decorating, and meals and fellowship….. absolutely not.
Traditions are wonderful things to bring family and friends together…. Lets just remember not to leave Jesus behind.
CONCLUSION… Christ came to earth as a gift to each and every one of us my friends…. The gift that truly keeps on giving…
He is the savior of the world… but we say that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday.. so what can we as Christians give HIM at this time of year….
Well, I think he told us….
Turn in you Bibles to Matthew chapter 25.
Read Matthew 25:31-40
In Matthew 18:5 Jesus said
"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.
In Mark 9:41 Jesus Said….
I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.
We can carry the Gospel to our fellow man…..
We can help our fellow man…..
We can even give a cup of water to someone…. In the name of Christ…. And if we do these things in the name of Christ and for the sake of Christ…. We will not have left Jesus behind….
I’m going to go back to the original scripture…
Luke 2:49
"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?"
Friends, if we have left Jesus behind this season…. We know where to find him….
He will always be about doing the work of the Father.
Christmas is still a week and a half away. This is not my Christmas message…. But I wanted us to realize that often we do leave Jesus behind. And I wanted us to have time to find Jesus, and bring him back into our lives, so we can truly enjoy this blessed season…..
Do you need to find Jesus today? If you do, you can come...
