back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 7.31.2022
00:14:03.320 |
This life is an altar where I want to offer my soul 00:18:31.320 |
Okay. So you guys know what I'm talking about. Okay. 00:18:36.320 |
Better than last week, but we'll see the full number coming in. Okay. 00:18:45.320 |
All right. God is patient with us, so we need to be patient. 00:18:49.320 |
Let me give you a couple of announcements before we get started. 00:18:52.320 |
Next Sunday, we have communion service schedule. 00:18:56.320 |
So again, every communion that we have, it's important, the significance of it, 00:19:02.320 |
and it's meant for us to focus our attention upon Christ and what He has done. 00:19:07.320 |
And so, you know, we don't want to participate in a kind of nonchalant and unworthy manner. 00:19:12.320 |
And so we want you guys to prepare your hearts. 00:19:15.320 |
And so that communion service, again, is next Sunday. 00:19:20.320 |
The other thing is spiritual development courses. 00:19:22.320 |
So we have two classes that are starting on August 21st. 00:19:26.320 |
And so OT survey, which is being taught by Pastor Peter Chung. 00:19:31.320 |
If you're not taking the OT survey, OT survey or the NT survey classes, 00:19:34.320 |
I strongly recommend that you guys take this class because 00:19:38.320 |
so much of what you are studying in the New Testament is connected to what's happening in the Old Testament. 00:19:43.320 |
It's a fulfillment of some of the, a lot of the things that are happening in the Old Testament. 00:19:47.320 |
So if you have a vague understanding of the Old Testament, 00:19:50.320 |
you can still understand the New Testament, but you're going to have a much shallower understanding. 00:19:54.320 |
And so if you have, if you're not exactly sure about the timeline, 00:19:59.320 |
about why the prophets are there and what is the content of this thing, 00:20:02.320 |
I strongly recommend, it's a four week class. 00:20:07.320 |
So you have time for you to go and grab lunch and come back. 00:20:12.320 |
And so if you haven't taken that, I strongly encourage you to take that. 00:20:15.320 |
The other class being taught by Pastor Mark, that's also starting on 8/21, 00:20:20.320 |
but it is only for three weeks, one hour at a time. 00:20:23.320 |
And this is basically going over how to do inductive Bible study. 00:20:27.320 |
I know that those of you who've come to our church and you're not used to doing inductive Bible study, 00:20:31.320 |
it's intimidating because to open up the Bible and then, and then instead of asking us, 00:20:35.320 |
what does this mean, you kind of dig through the scriptures yourself and it takes some time. 00:20:41.320 |
So it's not, it's not complicated, but it does require some commitment that we don't just, you know, 00:20:46.320 |
we don't just open up the scripture and then see what the Lord has to say today. 00:20:50.320 |
And then it's like, oh, you know, this is what he means. 00:20:52.320 |
We don't approach any other literature that way. 00:20:56.320 |
And we shouldn't approach the Bible that way, right? 00:20:58.320 |
The Bible is written from the beginning to the end for a specific purpose. 00:21:01.320 |
And so we want to understand what he meant and how the early church understood that. 00:21:05.320 |
And so in order to do that, we want to do inductive Bible study. 00:21:08.320 |
So if you have a difficult time doing inductive Bible study, 00:21:12.320 |
or if you're new to the church and you've never done that before, 00:21:15.320 |
I strongly recommend you take that class and that will help you with the other things that we're doing. 00:21:21.320 |
Okay. And along with that, our second Peter Bible study is starting on August 31st. 00:21:27.320 |
And so if you have not signed up for that, please sign up for that as soon as possible. 00:21:31.320 |
And I know there's a handful of you who are planning to take it, but you haven't signed up. 00:21:36.320 |
We need you to sign up as soon as possible today, if possible, because if you don't sign up on time, 00:21:41.320 |
we are going to be putting people in the small group, so we won't be adding you to an existing small group. 00:21:47.320 |
What's going to end up happening is everybody who came late are going to be in the same small group. 00:21:52.320 |
Okay. And then, which means that you may be like all over the place, 00:21:57.320 |
the different people that are coming in. And so we're not going to be able to purposely put you in a small group. 00:22:02.320 |
We're just going to have to randomly whoever signs up late. 00:22:05.320 |
So if you are planning to do it, please do it ASAP so that it will help us to organize these things better. 00:22:11.320 |
Okay. I think that's it for the announcements. 00:22:15.320 |
All right. So let me pray for us. And again, we have a physical offering box in the back. 00:22:19.320 |
If you have a check or something physical that you need to drop off, 00:22:23.320 |
it's right underneath that big clock as you are leaving. 00:22:26.320 |
And for the rest of us, we'll give you a minute to give your offering electronically. 00:22:31.320 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for guiding us and leading us. 00:22:38.320 |
Lord, we know that this is a tremendous privilege to be able to come before your throne, 00:22:45.320 |
to call you our Abba Fathers, to sing these praises. 00:22:48.320 |
Lord, if we become so inoculated to worship Lord God, 00:22:54.320 |
where it's more just habit than anything else, 00:22:57.320 |
I pray that you would stir our hearts, Lord God, to lean toward you. 00:23:01.320 |
We know, Father God, that this life is limited. 00:23:06.320 |
That no matter how much our dreams may come true in this world, 00:23:14.320 |
that we may invest in eternal things, Lord God, not temporary things. 00:23:18.320 |
I pray that you will keep us sober, to wake us up, Lord God, 00:23:22.320 |
from the things that we've been entangled in, 00:23:24.320 |
that your word, your spirit, the songs, our fellowship, all of it, Lord God, 00:23:28.320 |
may point us to you and to realign our whole lives, Lord God, according to your word. 00:23:35.320 |
May this offering that we give to you, may it also be an act of true worship that we give, 00:23:40.320 |
may it be multiplied for your use. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 00:28:43.320 |
Amen. Ephesians 1-7 reads, "In him we have redemption through his blood, 00:28:48.320 |
the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. 00:28:52.320 |
What peace and what joy to know that Jesus paid the debt of our sin, 00:28:56.320 |
not just a portion, but all of it, so that we may stand fully forgiven and fully justified by his blood." 00:29:24.320 |
I hear the Savior say, I hear the Savior say, 00:29:31.320 |
Thy strength indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and pray. 00:29:56.320 |
Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. 00:30:17.320 |
Thy power and thine alone can change the leper's spots and melt the heart of stone. 00:30:41.320 |
Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. 00:31:04.320 |
And when before the throne, and when before the throne, 00:31:11.320 |
I stand in incomplete, Jesus died my soul to save, 00:31:35.320 |
Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. 00:31:44.320 |
Sin had left, sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. 00:32:09.320 |
Oh praise the one, oh praise the one who paid my debt, 00:32:17.320 |
And raised this life up from the dead. Oh praise the one who paid my debt, 00:32:26.320 |
And raised this life up from the dead. Oh praise the one who paid my debt, 00:32:35.320 |
And raised this life up from the dead. Oh praise the one who paid my debt, 00:32:46.320 |
And raised this life up from the dead. Oh praise the one who paid my debt, 00:32:55.320 |
And raised this life up from the dead. Oh praise the one who paid my debt, 00:33:24.320 |
Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. 00:33:41.320 |
If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 2, 00:33:45.320 |
I'm going to continue our series in the book of Luke. 00:33:48.320 |
The text we're looking at is in verse 39 through 52, 00:33:53.320 |
but for the sake of time, I will just read the first two verses. 00:33:56.320 |
And again, I strongly encourage you when I put those questions 00:34:01.320 |
and the passage that we're looking at, because it's a narrative, 00:34:04.320 |
we're covering a larger portions that we would normally do in an epistle. 00:34:09.320 |
And so try to read that, at least know what's going on in the context, 00:34:12.320 |
and you'll be able to get more out of the sermon that way. 00:34:15.320 |
Okay, so I'm going to be reading verse 39 to 40. 00:34:18.320 |
When they performed everything according to the law of the Lord, 00:34:22.320 |
they returned to Galilee to their own city of Nazareth. 00:34:25.320 |
The child continued to grow and become strong and increasing in wisdom, 00:34:29.320 |
and the grace of God was upon him. Let's pray. 00:34:33.320 |
Heavenly Father, we come before you seeking to hear from you, 00:34:39.320 |
wanting to know your heart, who you are, what you've done, 00:34:46.320 |
that all of it would cause us to see a greater glimpse of your glory, 00:34:50.320 |
that we would learn to love you, honor you with all that we have. 00:34:55.320 |
I pray that you would give us soft hearts, that we may be molded easily by your word. 00:35:02.320 |
Open the ears, Lord God, that we may be eager to hear. 00:35:05.320 |
And a will, Father, that is willing to obey and to apply all that you teach us. 00:35:10.320 |
So we pray for your grace and your Holy Spirit to work mightily this morning. 00:35:16.320 |
You know, when we're young, we don't think too much about our parents' childhood. 00:35:22.320 |
Maybe some of you guys don't know much about your parents, 00:35:28.320 |
your mother or father, and what they were like when they were children. 00:35:31.320 |
You know, and a lot of times we don't even, we're not even curious until they're out of our lives. 00:35:36.320 |
And then when we get older, we say, "Oh, I wonder what my dad was like when he was my age." 00:35:40.320 |
Or, "I wonder what my mom was like when she was a teenager or, you know, in elementary school." 00:35:47.320 |
You know, when I was young, of course, everything that I knew about him was my experience 00:35:56.320 |
But it wasn't until after he passed, I was like, "Oh, I wonder what my dad was like when he was a kid." 00:36:04.320 |
Well, the benefit that I have is my dad actually wrote a memoir and he wrote an autobiography. 00:36:12.320 |
And so there's certain things about my dad that I find out now just from reading his autobiography. 00:36:17.320 |
And one of the things that was interesting to me was that my dad said that when he was about 15 years old, 00:36:26.320 |
I said, "Koreans had weights back then? You know, 1940s, 1950s?" 00:36:30.320 |
And so it was interesting because he was saying, you know, like at that time, nobody actually lifted weights. 00:36:36.320 |
But, you know, he was explaining why he started lifting weights and all that. 00:36:40.320 |
And then I was like, when I was younger, I felt this connection, kindred spirit with him 00:36:44.320 |
because I lifted weights when I was younger, right? 00:36:49.320 |
And this is before all this, like, exercise craze. 00:36:58.320 |
Jacqueline Lane started this craze and then it evolved into what it is today. 00:37:02.320 |
But anyway, so the more I'm learning about this, oh, there's a lot of things that I didn't know about my dad. 00:37:10.320 |
And it kind of reveals a lot about who he was when I look at his childhood. 00:37:14.320 |
I say all of this because when we think about Christ, 00:37:19.320 |
almost everything that we know about Jesus is after he starts his ministry at the age of 30. 00:37:28.320 |
Now, we know we've been studying about his birth and we know how his parents were, 00:37:31.320 |
by the way that they were faithful to the law and did all of this stuff. 00:37:35.320 |
But Jesus himself, we don't have much to go by. 00:37:38.320 |
In fact, the only text that we have in the whole Bible that describes these 30 years after his birth narrative 00:37:48.320 |
The only statement that he makes in those 30 years is recorded in verse 49 where it says, 00:37:53.320 |
"Why is it that you are looking for me? Did you not know that I had to be in my father's house?" 00:38:00.320 |
In 30 years, at the age of 12, he states that. 00:38:03.320 |
In fact, he states that and he's turning the tables on his parents because his parents lost him. 00:38:08.320 |
And they go back frantically, look for him and say, "Why did you do this to me, to us?" 00:38:12.320 |
And Jesus turns the table on him and, "Did you not know that I was supposed to be here?" 00:38:18.320 |
Again, I don't know if he said it in that tone, 00:38:21.320 |
but all we know is that that's the only statement that we have in those 30 years. 00:38:26.320 |
And this narrative that we see here in verse 41 to 52 about him losing him, finding him at the temple, 00:38:33.320 |
how he's asking questions, he's growing and maturing and that's all we know about his childhood. 00:38:39.320 |
So, for sure, this is not written here randomly. 00:38:46.320 |
This is the only statement given to us by Jesus. 00:38:48.320 |
And if this is the only thing that is revealed to us about those 30 years, directly linked to him, 00:38:57.320 |
So, this morning we want to comb through this and to try to glean as much as possible 00:39:02.320 |
because it does give us a glimpse into what Jesus was like as a child. 00:39:07.320 |
It does give us a glimpse as to what it may have been like to raise the Son of God. 00:39:13.320 |
And so, by doing so, it kind of connects us to Jesus' humanity in a way that I think we would, 00:39:19.320 |
maybe we wouldn't have as rich of a knowledge of if we didn't understand what's going on. 00:39:24.320 |
The beginning of this narrative starts in verse 40, basically by telling us, 00:39:29.320 |
"This child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him." 00:39:39.320 |
He said he was continuing to grow, becoming strong, in wisdom, in the grace of God. 00:39:43.320 |
And that summarizes everything that's been happening up to that point. 00:39:46.320 |
And then at the end of the narrative, verse 52, it describes the next 18 years 00:39:51.320 |
before he shows up as a full-grown adult at age 30. 00:39:55.320 |
It says, "And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men." 00:40:00.320 |
And so that's it. Those two phrases, that the beginning and the end, basically says similar things. 00:40:07.320 |
Growing in wisdom, in favor of God, in favor of men, and that's what was going on up to age 12, 00:40:12.320 |
and that's what's going on after the age of 12. 00:40:14.320 |
And so this story basically is sandwiched by those two statements that he's growing, 00:40:19.320 |
he's maturing, wisdom, favor, by the grace of God. 00:40:29.320 |
I already explained why Jesus shows up at the age of 30, because in the Levitical teaching, 00:40:35.320 |
it says that 30 is the age where they considered you have experienced fullness of life. 00:40:40.320 |
Now, it doesn't mean that you experience everything that you could possibly experience as a human being. 00:40:45.320 |
Jesus was not a father, he was never a mother, he was never a grandfather, 00:40:48.320 |
so it doesn't mean that every possible experience you could experience as a human being, Jesus experienced. 00:40:53.320 |
But 30 years was enough to be able to live a full adult life, 00:40:57.320 |
to say that now you can minister at the temple as an adult. 00:41:03.320 |
Well, at the age of 12 was when they transitioned to adulthood. 00:41:08.320 |
So Bar Mitzvah, as you guys know, is the Jewish community celebrates that as a transition into adulthood. 00:41:14.320 |
They're not quite adults yet, but they're not children yet. 00:41:16.320 |
So from age 12 to 13 is a transition that takes place. 00:41:19.320 |
Now, the Bar Mitzvah was not introduced to the Jewish culture until after the time of Christ, 00:41:25.320 |
but there was an understanding in the Jewish culture where the age 12 was the last year of your childhood. 00:41:32.320 |
So the fact that age 12 is emphasized here is purposeful. 00:41:37.320 |
It's not just random that we find story about what's going on at age 12, 00:41:41.320 |
because basically Luke is telling us that this is what was going on in his childhood up to 12, 00:41:48.320 |
and then the next time we see him as a full-blown adult. 00:41:53.320 |
Now, in this childhood and his growth to adulthood, to age 30, it says he grew. 00:42:04.320 |
Now, that may not seem strange to see because every child grows. 00:42:10.320 |
But you have to understand we're talking about the Son of God. 00:42:13.320 |
We're talking about God himself who created the universe. 00:42:17.320 |
All things are created by him and for him, and to have him described as he grew. 00:42:29.320 |
No. According to, we don't know what age he was, but he was created as a man 00:42:33.320 |
because when Eve was created, they were able to procreate. 00:42:37.320 |
So Adam is not described as an infant. So he was created as a grown man. 00:42:43.320 |
Again, we don't know exactly what age he would have been, 00:42:46.320 |
but Jesus came to this earth from the very beginning, 00:42:53.320 |
experienced all that every human being could experience. 00:42:59.320 |
Now, that may sound like a luck thing, but those of you who've experienced 00:43:05.320 |
bringing children home from the hospital, you know how vulnerable an infant is. 00:43:11.320 |
I remember growing up, my dad would always say, "Peter, whatever you touch, you break." 00:43:18.320 |
And I didn't disagree with him because I remember as a child, 00:43:24.320 |
I'd be in some sort of a band and I'm playing the castanets or something, 00:43:28.320 |
and then at the end of the class, it's broken. 00:43:30.320 |
And it wasn't like I was trying to break it, I was just curious how far this would bend. 00:43:37.320 |
And so, yeah, I don't disagree with him. I'm curious. 00:43:41.320 |
So I just go, "I'm curious," I just kind of act. 00:43:43.320 |
And so my dad would always say to me, "Whatever you touch, you break." 00:43:47.320 |
And obviously he said that out of frustration. 00:43:50.320 |
But I remember when we were given Jeremy as an infant, our first child, 00:43:55.320 |
and after a couple days of resting, and they hand the baby over to us, 00:43:59.320 |
and they said, "Now it's your responsibility." 00:44:01.320 |
And it was just ringing in my head, "Whatever you touch, you break." 00:44:07.320 |
I said, "These people are crazy. I don't know how to raise this kid." 00:44:11.320 |
And I remember early on how Esther would constantly be on the phone at the hospital. 00:44:17.320 |
"Is that normal?" He coughed. "Is that normal?" You know what I mean? 00:44:20.320 |
"How thick is the poo supposed to be? It seems kind of watery." 00:44:26.320 |
Because neither of us knew, and we didn't have adults around at that time, 00:44:32.320 |
But if you've experienced raising an infant, you know how vulnerable they are. 00:44:42.320 |
You don't have to do anything. Just out of neglect. 00:44:48.320 |
So it's strange to think that the Son of God experienced infancy. 00:44:52.320 |
He was completely dependent upon somebody else, His own creation, to take care of Him. 00:45:01.320 |
Every infant has to learn how to talk, how to eat. 00:45:05.320 |
Remember when you feed them, and they come out sucking milk, 00:45:08.320 |
and if the mother doesn't produce enough milk, 00:45:11.320 |
and at least in our generation, we have alternatives. 00:45:15.320 |
We have Similac and different things that you can feed. 00:45:20.320 |
And then when they are out of that stage, you start to introduce solace, 00:45:25.320 |
and then you have to make sure that all the bumps are grounded out, 00:45:28.320 |
and everything is so that they don't choke on anything. 00:45:31.320 |
And then the next stage, they learn how to crawl and then walk. 00:45:35.320 |
You could tell when you walk in today, when you walk into a home, 00:45:38.320 |
if there's an infant or a young child in the home that's just starting to walk, 00:45:43.320 |
and their fingers are shaved off, or they got some rubber bumpers everywhere, right? 00:45:47.320 |
You got to make sure everything's tied down, so everything's safe. 00:45:50.320 |
It has to be safe, at least in this generation. 00:45:53.320 |
You know how much work and time goes into raising a child, 00:45:57.320 |
and how vulnerable they are every stage of their life. 00:46:04.320 |
it means that He went through all that stage to grow, to mature. 00:46:10.320 |
He was completely helpless, and these young children, Mary and Joseph, 00:46:14.320 |
like His physical life was dependent on their faithfulness to take care of these childs. 00:46:20.320 |
So for any other child, you say, "Yeah, He grew." 00:46:27.320 |
I think one of the most horrible things that they have done in modern medicine with children is, 00:46:32.320 |
they say, "Your child is 5%. Your child is 10% weight." 00:46:38.320 |
You know? I don't know why they don't do that with intelligence. 00:46:43.320 |
You know, and then the parents come home, and it's like, "They're only 5% or 10% or 20%," 00:46:48.320 |
and it makes you anxious, like, "Oh, they're behind, and you need to do this." 00:46:52.320 |
It's hard enough to raise children, but now you have all these extra things that burden you. 00:46:57.320 |
But we all know just how much time and effort it is because they're so vulnerable. 00:47:03.320 |
Jesus, when it says they grew, the Son of God, 00:47:07.320 |
experienced growth, helplessness, like anybody else. 00:47:12.320 |
He says not only did He grow physically, He says He grew strong by increasing in wisdom. 00:47:18.320 |
Now, when He says He grew, He grew strong. He's not talking about physical muscles. 00:47:24.320 |
I often hear about people interpreting it and say, "Well, Jesus must have been so muscular." 00:47:30.320 |
See, it says He grew strong because He was a carpenter. 00:47:37.320 |
That's not what He's referring to. The "strong" here is actually in Greek attached to wisdom. 00:47:41.320 |
So the way that we should understand it is He became strong by increasing in wisdom. 00:47:46.320 |
So His strength was directly linked to Jesus growing in wisdom. 00:47:52.320 |
Which is a really strange thing to say because we don't typically describe a 12-year-old as being wise. 00:48:01.320 |
Typically we think of wisdom as somebody who's kind of lived a long life, experienced the hardship, 00:48:05.320 |
and went through some trials and difficulty, and He became wise because of that. 00:48:10.320 |
But when a child at that age, we don't usually say "wise." 00:48:15.320 |
We usually describe them as being smart, maybe articulate, or maybe obedient, maybe clever. 00:48:22.320 |
But we don't attribute wisdom because the way we describe wisdom is somebody who experienced life. 00:48:30.320 |
But you and I also know, we know plenty of people who experienced life a bunch of fools. 00:48:41.320 |
You guys can all think of, just because you're old doesn't mean you're wise. 00:48:48.320 |
I know plenty of people who've gone through horrible things and difficult things, 00:48:51.320 |
and at the end of it, they're not any more wiser than they were when they started. 00:48:56.320 |
So wisdom isn't automatically just because you got old. 00:49:00.320 |
And obviously, specifically, that's not what it means here. 00:49:04.320 |
So what does it mean to describe Jesus at 12 being wise? 00:49:12.320 |
Well the word wisdom in the Greek dictionary says, "skill in the affairs of life, practical wisdom, wise management." 00:49:22.320 |
And the wisdom that is described in Jesus is, not only was he learning, but he was applying. 00:49:27.320 |
So his understanding of life and about the law did not come from book study. 00:49:32.320 |
It wasn't just that he went there and he started growing understanding about the Bible, 00:49:39.320 |
You can study the Bible, know, experience life, and have all this knowledge crammed in your head, 00:49:44.320 |
and you're living in compromise, self-centered, and you're no longer wise. 00:49:50.320 |
You're no more wise than you when you first started. 00:49:52.320 |
The wisdom that the Bible talks about is directly linked to learning the Bible and applying the Bible. 00:50:01.320 |
Wisdom is knowing what God had created, what he intended, and living your life in accordance to what God had intended. 00:50:07.320 |
You can study the Bible and become a PhD and still remain a fool. 00:50:12.320 |
You can go to church all your life and become a leader and be a fool. 00:50:17.320 |
You can have all the experiences. You could have gone to war and experienced hardship, 00:50:25.320 |
Wisdom of Jesus is described, again, through Hebrews 5.8, it says, 00:50:31.320 |
"Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things which he suffered." 00:50:35.320 |
That's how he became wise. Not only did he learn the truth, he applied the truth. 00:50:46.320 |
That 12 years, that this is what it was like. He was living an obedient life. 00:50:49.320 |
He was studying. He was growing in knowledge, growing in application. 00:50:54.320 |
That as a background, we go into verse 41-44, gives us the narrative. 00:51:00.320 |
The only narrative of his childhood that gives us a glimpse of what it was like, maybe, for his humanity as a child. 00:51:07.320 |
Verse 41-44 says, "Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover." 00:51:15.320 |
"When he became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the feast." 00:51:18.320 |
"And as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware." 00:51:26.320 |
"But suppose it, him to be in the caravan and went a day's journey, and they began looking for him among their relatives and acquaintances." 00:51:33.320 |
So first thing that I want to highlight here, is that just like we looked at last week's passage, 00:51:40.320 |
where the parents are obedient, they lived according to the law, and it reveals to us that his parents were very faithful Jews. 00:51:52.320 |
See, in the Jewish tradition, there's three specific festivals that was commanded for the Jewish men to come and attend in Jerusalem and go to the temple and celebrate. 00:52:02.320 |
Those three festivals were the Passover, Pentecost, and the Tabernacle. 00:52:08.320 |
But because of the diaspora, because of them being carried along to Syria, to Persia, to Babylonia, they were all spread out all over the world. 00:52:16.320 |
They couldn't make that journey all three times. 00:52:19.320 |
So, faithful Jews, not all Jews, but faithful Jews chose the Passover to be the day where they would make this travel. 00:52:26.320 |
According to this passage, it says that they did this every single year. 00:52:35.320 |
The Passover, although it's only one day, the Feast of Puth would come right after that. 00:52:39.320 |
So if they stayed for the whole thing, they would be staying somewhere around seven to eight days. 00:52:44.320 |
It's a five day journey to get there, five day journey to go back, which means about 17, 20 days out of the year, 00:52:51.320 |
they would pack up their bags and come to Jerusalem to celebrate this festival. 00:52:59.320 |
And at this time, the majority of the Jews did not practice this because it was too hard to pack up their bags and make this journey every single year. 00:53:07.320 |
So one, it tells us that Jesus was raised in a very godly home who obeyed the commandments, all of it. 00:53:14.320 |
But it also reveals about Mary, because the commandment to make this journey was only commanded to men. 00:53:21.320 |
So the fact that Mary and all the children packed up their bags and they went together tells us something about Mary's faith. 00:53:29.320 |
So in other words, it's telling us that Jesus was raised in a very godly home with good examples of following the law. 00:53:35.320 |
Now, we talked about last week why this is being emphasized for us. 00:53:38.320 |
Because in every way, Jesus was obedient to the law, even as an infant. 00:53:43.320 |
So it's in this context that we are told that Jesus gets lost. 00:53:52.320 |
You know what's really important, interesting here? 00:54:07.320 |
He said, it describes Jesus for the first time and the last time as what? 00:54:15.320 |
Typically when we think of Jesus, we think of as an infant where his parents and all the things that are surrounding him. 00:54:23.320 |
As a full grown man, we know what he's saying, we know his personality, we know how he interacted with people. 00:54:28.320 |
But here and only here, it says the boy Jesus. 00:54:35.320 |
Now I already told you why the age 12 is significant. 00:54:38.320 |
It's because in the Jewish culture, that's when they transition at the age of 13 to prepare for adulthood. 00:54:44.320 |
They were no longer children, but they're seen as adolescents preparing for full adulthood. 00:54:52.320 |
We may just kind of skim over this, oh he was a boy, and this happened when he was a boy. 00:54:57.320 |
The Bible says that Jesus experienced temptation in every way and yet without sin. 00:55:07.320 |
And right around that age 12 is when testosterone kicks in. 00:55:12.320 |
And all of a sudden, it's like a different human being walking down. 00:55:17.320 |
Right? They went up as a child and all of a sudden, just instantaneously, they walked down, their voice changed. 00:55:24.320 |
Right? And possibly, and again, I don't want to get in trouble, but you know when Jesus says in verse 49, 00:55:32.320 |
"Why is it that you were looking for me? Did you not know that I had to be in my father's house?" 00:55:36.320 |
That maybe Jesus said, "Why is it that you were looking for me?" 00:55:41.320 |
And did you not know that I had my father's house? 00:55:46.320 |
Because that's when that happens, at age 12. Right? 00:56:00.320 |
If there's any period of time that you would like to just black out, my guess is somewhere around age 12 to maybe 14. 00:56:09.320 |
Right? It's a blur. Like you're an adult, but you're not an adult. 00:56:14.320 |
Right? You're thinking, but you're not thinking. 00:56:19.320 |
It's a very strange period between that stage where you're transitioning into an adult, 00:56:24.320 |
and obviously, we can say that age 12 back then is more mature than maybe age 12 today. 00:56:30.320 |
12 is a significant number because that's where they're transitioning. 00:56:37.320 |
I mean, legally it happens when you're 18, right? 00:56:42.320 |
You're 18, you can be independent, you can, you know, there's more things you can do. 00:56:45.320 |
Or maybe 21, right, is when the transition happens. 00:56:51.320 |
If you ask the girls when that happens to the men, they say maybe 30. Right? 00:56:56.320 |
Maybe some of you wives are waiting for that to happen. Right? 00:57:02.320 |
But at least on paper, it's supposed to happen, right, at least in our culture, 17 to 18. 00:57:11.320 |
But why I want to highlight this is because we typically think of Jesus as a perfect human being, 00:57:17.320 |
and we see glimpses of His suffering and His humanity. 00:57:22.320 |
But there's no period when we see the weakness of humanity, the frailty, 00:57:29.320 |
than when they were infants, and then when they were children, because that's when, you know, like, 00:57:34.320 |
sin, I mean, we're all born with original sin, but where sin really just kind of comes alive, it feels like, 00:57:45.320 |
The Bible says that He was tempted in every way, yet without sin. 00:57:57.320 |
Age 12 is for boys in particular. Maybe some of you happened earlier, maybe some of you happened later, 00:58:03.320 |
but up until that age, like, you're not aware. 00:58:05.320 |
You know, it's like your whole world is like centered around your parents, 00:58:09.320 |
until all of a sudden they wake up, and then they're more concerned about what their friends think. Right? 00:58:14.320 |
So up until the age 12, you may go to sleep with your hair, you know, pushed back on one side, 00:58:20.320 |
and you just come out like that, because you don't care at that age. 00:58:23.320 |
And all of a sudden, they hit puberty, their voice changed, and then they start doing their hair, 00:58:29.320 |
you know, and they got to wear certain pants, or their shoe has to match their socks, 00:58:32.320 |
and the socks has to match their sweater, whatever. 00:58:36.320 |
So all of a sudden, the whole world opens up, and then you start to want to be independent of your parents. 00:58:43.320 |
And another thing that happens during that period, outside of wanting independence, 00:59:02.320 |
I mean, you think about, because we think of Jesus as the Son of God, primarily. 00:59:08.320 |
But we think of Jesus and his humanity, right? 00:59:12.320 |
And he experienced what every human being experiences, yet without sin. 00:59:17.320 |
So a lot of times you hear stories about how Jesus, you know, if he made a cabinet, 00:59:22.320 |
there was never anything that was ever wrong. 00:59:27.320 |
So you think of as a Son of God, he got up and he ate everything that he wanted to eat, 00:59:35.320 |
Never had to worry about him because he was a perfect Son of God. 00:59:38.320 |
But the Bible doesn't describe him that way in his childhood and growing up, 00:59:48.320 |
That's why when Jesus is at the Garden of Gethsemane, 00:59:52.320 |
in his humanity, he was praying and wrestling 00:59:56.320 |
because he saw the pain that was coming in his humanity. 00:59:59.320 |
It makes no sense as a Son of God why he would plead with God, his Father, 01:00:08.320 |
He says, "Nobody takes my diet. I lay it down by my own accord, 01:00:13.320 |
And why the Son of God who did that would be crying before God? 01:00:21.320 |
You know, I think at the beginning of this year, 01:00:22.320 |
I gave an illustration about his hypostatic union of his humanness, 01:00:29.320 |
You said, remember when I showed you an illustration about the water and the oil? 01:00:36.320 |
If you look in the cup, the water and oil is still distinct. 01:00:41.320 |
And you look at the cup and you say, "That's Jesus. 01:00:49.320 |
"Even though in every way he was God, he emptied himself and he became nothing," 01:00:54.320 |
it's a description of Jesus' hypostatic union, 01:01:00.320 |
where he was still God, but during his humanity, he veiled himself. 01:01:04.320 |
He did not tap into his omniscience or his power. 01:01:12.320 |
And that's why Jesus is saying to his disciples when he's about to go, 01:01:17.320 |
he says, "It's better for you if I go, because when the Holy Spirit comes, 01:01:25.320 |
How can creation do greater things than what the Son of God did? 01:01:30.320 |
He's referring to the miracles and everything that he did in his humanity. 01:01:35.320 |
And so when the Holy Spirit comes, that you will do even greater than that. 01:01:45.320 |
He grew. And the Scripture tells us that he disappeared as a boy. 01:01:53.320 |
And then we can look at that and say, "Well, why did it take them so long?" 01:01:58.320 |
Right? Why did it take them a whole day to find Jesus? 01:02:02.320 |
Right? Are they just parents who just, you know, weren't paying attention? 01:02:10.320 |
So my guess is they were coming back from the trip and, you know, 01:02:14.320 |
the Scripture tells us that Jesus had at least four other brothers. 01:02:25.320 |
so my guess is that him being the oldest and he's 12, 01:02:28.320 |
they probably had little ones running around and maybe even infants that they had to hold. 01:02:31.320 |
So by the age of 12, you know, you're able to go. Right? 01:02:35.320 |
And him being an obedient son, my guess is they didn't worry about him. Right? 01:02:41.320 |
Because he was obedient. That's who he was. That's how he acted. 01:02:47.320 |
Now, I remember when I was younger, you know, I didn't have that same privilege. 01:02:55.320 |
You know, I used to get into so many fights that I remember one time I came home and I got suspended. 01:03:01.320 |
And I was sitting home in the middle of the day and my dad was going to come by 01:03:05.320 |
and I thought I was going to get into trouble. 01:03:08.320 |
And my dad opened the door, he walked in, saw me sitting in the middle of the day. 01:03:16.320 |
Oh shoot, I'm going to get into trouble. And he looked at me and he said, "Who won?" 01:03:20.320 |
And, you know, I was kind of surprised, taking it back. 01:03:25.320 |
He's like, "Who won?" And I just kind of sheepishly, I said, "I did." 01:03:29.320 |
And then he just turned his head and walked upstairs. 01:03:32.320 |
And I remember at that time thinking, "Wow, my dad's awesome." 01:03:38.320 |
But now looking back at it, I realize how exhausted he must have been. 01:03:45.320 |
And so when he saw me at home, it wasn't because he was like, "Oh, I'm going to show him some grace." 01:03:56.320 |
It was just, I think he just didn't know what to say. 01:04:05.320 |
So my guess is that because he was an obedient son, he was the obedient first son, 01:04:10.320 |
and they had to take care of their own kids, that they just assumed that he was going to be there. 01:04:15.320 |
And so after a day's journey, they recognized because it was time for him to come home. 01:04:19.320 |
And he always comes home. No matter where he is. 01:04:21.320 |
Maybe he's going out playing with his friends or whatever he's doing. 01:04:24.320 |
At the end of the day, he would come home and sleep at the tent with them. 01:04:27.320 |
So that's why I think it took all day for them to realize that Jesus is not here. 01:04:32.320 |
And once they realized that, they pack up their bags and they got to go back and find him. 01:04:38.320 |
And it says that it's three days it took them. 01:04:41.320 |
So we don't know if it's counting one day there, one day back, and one day to look for him. 01:04:47.320 |
Or whether it was one day there, one day back, and it took them three days. 01:04:50.320 |
So whether he was gone for three days or whether he was gone for five days, 01:04:54.320 |
can you imagine the frantic nature of this encounter? 01:05:01.320 |
Again, I remember early on at our church, when our church was much smaller. 01:05:06.320 |
And some of you guys, I don't even remember who you were. 01:05:11.320 |
But we were meeting at Northwood Park, and it was maybe about 70, 80 at that time in our church. 01:05:18.320 |
And we came after service and our children were missing. 01:05:26.320 |
And I think Jeremy was maybe about six or seven, and Zachary was five or four. 01:05:35.320 |
And Faith was two, and this was before we had Isaiah. 01:05:40.320 |
And so obviously, you know, we're at a park with a bunch of strangers walking around. 01:05:44.320 |
And so I remember Esther and I frantically looking for our kids for about 40 minutes, and we couldn't find them. 01:05:51.320 |
And so we're freaking out. We're about to call the police. 01:05:55.320 |
And we're like, "What the heck? What's going on?" 01:05:56.320 |
And then all of a sudden, we see our church people driving back, and the door's opening, 01:06:00.320 |
and our kids are just jumping out of the car with Jamba Juice in their hand. 01:06:05.320 |
So the college student at that time just had a bright idea, saying they wanted Jamba Juice. 01:06:13.320 |
With no car seats, nothing. They just jumped on, disappeared, went to get Jamba Juice, and showed up at church like nothing happened. 01:06:22.320 |
So obviously, we were like, "Oh my." We were relieved, but at the same time, it's like, "Oh my gosh." 01:06:30.320 |
It's like, "I know you guys are not used to taking care of kids, and you don't know what it's like, 01:06:34.320 |
but you cannot take two-year-olds and four-year-olds and seven-year-olds in your car and disappear from the parents for an hour." 01:06:49.320 |
I mean, some of you guys, you know, who have young children like that, you can imagine how, 01:06:54.320 |
what we felt like for that 40 minutes when we were looking for our kids. 01:07:02.320 |
He's not an infant, but remember, they're five days' journey away. He's still a child. 01:07:07.320 |
And they're in Jerusalem. This is not a familiar place for them. 01:07:10.320 |
And the whole reason why they travel in caravan is for their own safety. 01:07:15.320 |
So they don't know if they lost Him during the caravan. 01:07:18.320 |
They don't know if somebody came in, He dropped, He fell where He is. 01:07:24.320 |
And so when they finally meet Him, in Luke 2, verse 48, it says, 01:07:29.320 |
"When they saw Him, they were astonished. And His mother said to Him, 'Son, why have you treated us this way? 01:07:33.320 |
Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.'" 01:07:37.320 |
So again, it's an understatement to lose your child for three months, 01:07:43.320 |
five days' journey away from home with bandits that are constantly trying to attack you. 01:07:49.320 |
And then they find Him. It's like, "Son, why have you treated us this way?" 01:07:52.320 |
And they were anxious. And they were anxious for a reason, 01:07:54.320 |
because Jesus has never done anything like this before. 01:08:03.320 |
So again, it gives us a glimpse of what that relationship must have been like. 01:08:07.320 |
Even though He was a Son of God, it's like, why would you do this? 01:08:11.320 |
And then Luke 2, verse 49 says, "And He said to them, 'Why is it that you were looking for Me? 01:08:15.320 |
Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?'" 01:08:19.320 |
What this tells me is that Jesus' childhood was like any other child. 01:08:25.320 |
Even though the prophecy was given, even though it was an immaculate conception, 01:08:30.320 |
that in the period of raising Him, they raised Him like any other child. 01:08:37.320 |
It's like when Jesus says this, it's like they didn't understand. 01:08:40.320 |
Mary treasured it in her heart, but she didn't fully understand. 01:08:52.320 |
So like every parent, you remember when you raise your children, 01:08:57.320 |
and they go to school, and they're attached to you when they're young, 01:09:00.320 |
and all of a sudden you've got to send them off to school for the first time? 01:09:03.320 |
And then how, remember how anxious you felt when the kids were going? 01:09:08.320 |
And just watching them, and eagerly waiting for the school to finish, 01:09:20.320 |
You know, you guys probably, you're going to say, 01:09:26.320 |
And you're in your car, just ready to take off, to enjoy freedom for the first time. 01:09:30.320 |
I guarantee you, your parents are at home praying for you. 01:09:35.320 |
You're going out, and it's like, "Man, if he is as reckless as he is at home, 01:09:39.320 |
what if he does that when he's out on the street, or when she's out on the street?" 01:09:44.320 |
I guarantee you, your parents were not eager. They had to. 01:09:48.320 |
You know, they're frantic about giving you control, 01:09:51.320 |
hoping and praying that you'll be able to handle this. 01:09:56.320 |
You know where I see the most where this kind of comes to heads, 01:10:06.320 |
You know, where this comes is like, you're eager to get married and become independent, 01:10:10.320 |
start a new life, and you know, with my best friend. 01:10:13.320 |
And all of a sudden, your parents start to put their hand in. 01:10:17.320 |
And they start to, you know, squeeze a little bit, 01:10:22.320 |
It's like, "Oh, why are my parents doing this? They were perfectly fine." 01:10:26.320 |
Because that's where you're eager to kind of go, 01:10:33.320 |
just the last bit of influence that they want to have on you. 01:10:38.320 |
And so it's much more difficult for parents to let you go. 01:10:49.320 |
When you were sick, they were the ones there. 01:10:51.320 |
When you had diarrhea, they're the ones who cleaned all of that. 01:10:56.320 |
So to pour that much care and concern and prayer and anxiousness over a child, 01:11:02.320 |
and then to all of a sudden just kind of let them go, that's not easy. 01:11:05.320 |
That's why I always try to encourage the people, 01:11:10.320 |
young people who are getting married, is like, "Yeah, you know, maybe it's not fair, 01:11:13.320 |
and maybe they're tightening grip or whatever." 01:11:15.320 |
It's just, you'll experience one day when you raise children, 01:11:20.320 |
When Jesus says to his parents, "Why is it that you were looking for me? 01:11:25.320 |
Did you not know that I had to be in my father's house?" 01:11:30.320 |
It was time for them to recognize why he came. 01:11:37.320 |
Now, he's not going to be completely independent yet. 01:11:40.320 |
In fact, most scholars believe that Joseph, his father, passed away soon after this encounter. 01:11:47.320 |
There's no record of his father in church history, 01:11:53.320 |
of him being around anywhere after this infinite. 01:11:55.320 |
This is the first time and last time we hear of Joseph. 01:11:58.320 |
So most people believe that Joseph probably lost his father, 01:12:01.320 |
which many people did at that time, and he had to grow up quick. 01:12:04.320 |
So he became the father figure to all of his siblings early on. 01:12:08.320 |
But when Joseph says to his parents, "Did you not know?" 01:12:12.320 |
In essence, he was telling his parents, "You need to let go. 01:12:21.320 |
Now, why is this so significant to all of us? 01:12:24.320 |
You know what's interesting is after all of this, in verse 51, 01:12:29.320 |
it describes the next 18 years of his life the same way that it's described the first 12 years. 01:12:34.320 |
It says, "And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men." 01:12:41.320 |
But then along with that, in verse 51, it says, "And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, 01:12:56.320 |
He created them. Everything was created by him and for him, 01:13:02.320 |
He submitted himself to the teachers of Israel, asking them questions, 01:13:07.320 |
and they were surprised about how he was learning. 01:13:13.320 |
He did all of that to prepare himself for the cross. 01:13:19.320 |
Every single one of us, we learn to be disciplined for the next stage. 01:13:25.320 |
If you're students, you wake up early, take your units and turn papers and cram for your studies. 01:13:33.320 |
Why do you do all that? Is it because you, "Man, I just love knowledge." 01:13:40.320 |
But the rest of humanity, you do it because if you do that, you get the grades, you graduate, 01:13:48.320 |
You start Monday through Friday, so you can get good money, get promoted, 01:13:51.320 |
save that money so that you can buy a house or take a trip. 01:13:54.320 |
So everything that we do, we sacrifice because we think there's a greater payoff by these sacrifices. 01:14:01.320 |
Jesus lived his whole life sacrificing to prepare him for the cross. 01:14:12.320 |
Every little thing that he did in subjection, 01:14:16.320 |
learning from the scribes who later on he describes that these are people who, 01:14:19.320 |
you know, you need to obey them because they put themselves in the seat of Moses, 01:14:32.320 |
Every single thing that he did from the moment he was born until the day he died 01:14:37.320 |
was to prepare himself to be the perfect sacrifice without defect. 01:14:44.320 |
He's the only human being who was specifically born to die. 01:14:55.320 |
This is not just some interesting facts about his childhood. 01:15:13.320 |
Because they sacrificed for us, maybe not perfectly. 01:15:24.320 |
We can't help but love them because we are recipients of the love that they gave us. 01:15:37.320 |
Every willful thing that Jesus did and continues to do was for us. 01:15:47.320 |
So when we believe that, we love because he first loved us. 01:15:55.320 |
So I pray that even this story is a reminder to us that God declares with all his might, 01:16:07.320 |
Gracious Father, we pray that your word would continue to impact us. 01:16:13.320 |
And when we understand the depth of your sacrifice, 01:16:17.320 |
what Christ suffered and endured on our behalf, 01:16:21.320 |
not simply so that he can be sympathetic toward us, 01:16:26.320 |
but that he would know how to guide us and lead us and help us in times of need. 01:16:33.320 |
I pray, Father God, that as we continue to study his humanity, 01:16:38.320 |
his suffering, loneliness, rejection, humiliation, betrayal, 01:16:52.320 |
help us, Lord God, to see him as a human being, 01:17:00.320 |
That our love for him would not just be theory, but reality. 01:17:51.320 |
I have counted, lost, spent and worthless now 01:19:48.320 |
Oh to know, oh to know the power of your risen life