Seeking Jesus In The Temple

SEEKING JESUS IN THE TEMPLE (LUKE 2:39-52)

I was a teenager when the Billy Graham crusade came to Singapore in 1978. The older leaders and advisers to the young people drove seven hours, taking us students in several cars across the border to attend the event. We were ecstatic. For many of us, it was the first time entering the country. We had to obtain our passport, get parents’ permission and sleep in churches to save money.

Thousands and thousands of people turned out on the opening night. We were told to stick to one another. At the end of the first night, like other attendees, we left the stadium hurriedly and returned to our host church around 10 p.m. The excitement, joy and chattiness of the 30 or so boys and girls that night was shattered when someone asked, “Where is Lee? Did anybody see him? Whose car was he in?” Lee was only 14, the youngest in the group and everybody’s favorite mascot.

There was no way in the world the leaders could return to fight stadium traffic. Further, they did not know Singapore well enough, so notifying the authorities was a real possibility. We were worried for Lee, for the leaders and the church. An hour or so later, Lee burst into the scene and all our fears were gone.

I interrogated him, “Where did you go?” but Lee was defiant, “You have the nerve to ask, of all people????! I kept my eyes on your shoes, your pants and your every stride in the mad rush of the crowd. I was sure that I could not go wrong. After following you for a while, I looked up and noticed it was not you! I was behind the wrong person. So I sat on the curb until a taxi driver pitied me and offered me a free ride.” At least he was smart enough to remember our foreign residence!

When Jesus was 12 years old, a puzzling, an inconceivable and an unexplainable thing happened. His parents looked in vain for him on the way home to Nazareth from Jerusalem. How could it happen? Losing your kid in the mall? Forgetting where you parked your car? Leaving your house with water boiling on the stove? It happens more often than you think.

Have you ever lost your way or lost the Lord on the way to church? How about to fellowship and in service? How can we guard ourselves from a fruitless, an unproductive and a wasted time of worship at church?

Worship is a Growing Relationship: Look to Him

39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. 41 Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43 After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. (Lk 2:39-43)

A typical American family was driving home from church one Sunday. Dad was fussing about the sermon being too long and sort of boring. Mom said she thought the organist played too loudly during the second hymn they sang. Sister, who was a music major in college, said she thought the soloist sang about a half note off key during most of her song. Grandma said she couldn't hear very well - since they were sitting toward the back.

As the family pulled in the driveway, little Willie, who had listened to all of this, started to fuss about the woman who sat in front of him with that big hat. Then he paused, nudged his dad, and said, “But, Dad, you gotta admit, it was a pretty good show for a nickel!” (Charles Swindoll, Growing Deeper)

What is worship? How do you know you have been to worship and not merely been to church? The word “worship” is derived from the word “worth-ship,” suggesting that God alone is worthy and deserving of our worship and praise.

Worship is a growing and genuine relationship, not a stagnant or stale one. It comes with a response. A worshipper is an active participant, not a passive observer. When worship is not a growing experience, it becomes a ritual, an exercise, a routine.

Like many worshippers today, Joseph and Mary, sincere, simple and spiritual as they were, made the fundamental mistake in worship: they lost the Lord! They lost touch with Jesus, lost sight and lost track of Him. Many worshippers fix their eyes on other things such as the rituals in religion, the attendance of people, the leaders at work, the activities, the festivities and all that jazz. Their eyes wander off the center to the sideshow, majoring in the minor, substituting the essentials for the non-essentials. They have fun but not focus, and they are in attendance but not at attention.