Today we come to a very significant passage of
scripture. Out of all that was
written concerning the life of Jesus Christ, this passage today is the only
place that gives us any detail of the missing 30 years of scriptural record
between the birth of Christ and
the beginning of His public ministry.
Over the centuries there has been a lot of speculation about this time
period of Jesus life, and especially in antiquity there were a few spurious
accounts that attempted to fill in the blanks of this part of His life, however
they were debunked by the early church as mythical fables with virtually no
truth to them.
So rather than fall into that trap of trying to speculate on
these early years of Jesus life and conjure up images of Jesus making chairs or
something in a carpenter’s shop, I would like to focus your attention today on
what the Holy Spirit obviously thought was the most significant event of this
30 year period that the scripture is otherwise virtually silent about.
By way of background, the passage tells us that Jesus is 12
years old. Most of us can picture
what a 12 year old boy might look like.
However, what may not be quite as obvious is the implications that age
would have in Jewish culture. He
is right on the cusp of transition between boyhood and manhood. At thirteen, a young Jewish male would
have a ceremony which would celebrate his coming of age. Today the Jews still practice that
ceremony with the Bar Mitzvah. Through that rite of passage he would be
considered to be of the age of accountability. And in those days he would be of the age where he would
transition from the tutelage of primarily his mother to the tutelage of his
father. Most young men from that
time period would follow in their father’s footsteps and begin to learn their
trade.
But Jesus is still considered a boy, though right on the
verge of that transition. And I
believe that the text in verse 40 encapsulates all of Jesus life from birth
through the age of 12. “The Child
continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God
was upon Him.”
Now remember the announcement of Gabriel concerning Jesus in
Luke 1:35, The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come
upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that
reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”
And what I think is important to understand is that contrary
to some teachings that say Jesus did not become God until He had come up from
the water at his baptism and the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove,
the truth is that Jesus was the Son of God, the Child of God from his birth. No less than God himself was lying in
that manger in the form of a baby.
And yet in some mysterious way, He laid aside some of His glory, some of
his privilege, to become flesh
like us, and to become subject to the same things we are subject to as humans. Hebrews
2:17 explains it this way, “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in
all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in
things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” And again in Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who
cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all
things as we are, yet without sin.”
So I believe that verse 40 speaks to the fact that Christ
submitted himself and humbled himself to become a man, the Creator of the
universe humbling himself to the point of becoming a human baby, of having to be nursed, of having to be
weaned, of having to be changed, of having to learn to walk and talk and have
all of the normal, human things of childhood happen in his life. He did not exert some special power or privilege
which allowed him to circumvent the normal events of growing up. He didn’t go around snapping his fingers and creating rabbits to play
with or healing childhood friends.
During this time in his life he subjected himself to become one of us in
every respect, and did so perfectly, without sinning in anything or in anyway.
This understanding helps us appreciate the reason that Jesus
lived until the age of 30 without ever beginning his ministry. Have you ever wondered about that? Have you ever wondered why He didn’t
start his ministry at 18 or 21? I
think this passage gives us clues to that, and several other scriptures confirm
the fact that Jesus had to live a perfect life, a full life, with all the
normal difficulties, trials and tribulations of life, all the sorrows, all the
joys, all the pain that we suffer, and do so without sin, that he might be made
our perfect substitute in all things.
This understanding gives new light to the verse I’ve been
quoting quite a bit lately, 2 Cor. 5:21
“[God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we
might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus not only exchanged our sins for his righteousness, but
he exchanged his righteous life for our sinful life. For thirty three years He fully lived the life we could
never live. God didn’t just send him to earth fully man on a Thursday and
crucify Him on Friday and raise him from the dead on Sunday. God let Him humble himself for 30 years
to become in all points like we are, yet without sin, so that He might exchange
that righteous life for our sinful lives.
This is what Hebrews 5:8 means when it says “Although He was
a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.” And also in Rom. 5:19 “For as through
the one man's disobedience [Adam’s original sin] the many were made sinners,
even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”
Isn’t it ironic that God in the flesh would subject himself
to 30 years of submission in order to learn obedience, and yet most Christians
today want instant sanctification?
We want instant maturation.
We want everything immediately, right now. There is no concept of submission and subjection to years of
learning and growing to gain wisdom and insight and grow in grace. Most Christians today can barely give
an hour a week and they expect to grow in the Lord.
There are a couple of secrets to spiritual growth I’ll share
real quickly with you this morning, and one is perseverance. Sticking with it. Being faithful in the little things. The other is being obedient to the
truth as God gives it to you.
Sanctification is progressive and so is revelation. Jesus said, to him that is given much,
much shall be required. So as God
reveals truth to you, no matter how insignificant you may think it is, be
obedient to what He shows you, and then He will show you more truth, and then
you exercise your faith by being obedient to that, and then He reveals more
truth and so forth. But if you
resist and reject the first truth, then don’t expect Him to say “Let’s just
skip over that, maybe we can come back later.” No, that’s as far as you’re going, until you are obedient to
that revealed truth. There is no
shortcut to spiritual growth. The
only way to grow spiritually is to be obedient each step of the way to the
truth revealed. It’s like
exercise, what is known as progressive resistence. You add a little more weight to the machine every time and
eventually you find that your muscles have grown. You can’t just put the weight on the top limit the first
time in the gym. Physical growth
doesn’t work that way, and neither does spiritual growth. 1 Timothy 4:7 says, “exercise yourself
unto godliness.”
So back to our text in verse 40, as the Christ Child
continued to grow and become strong the grace of God was upon Him. In other words, Jesus grew physically,
He grew mentally, and He grew spiritually. And I am the first to admit that I don’t know how God in the
flesh can grow spiritually, but I believe it must mean that as His mental and
spiritual capacities grew as in a normal child, He also grew spiritually in
relation to that capacity. Just as
his mind at age one was not equal to his mind at age 20, so I believe the
indication is that his spiritual capacity matured as well. At the end of the chapter in verse 52
it basically restates this spiritual, physical and mental growth again. Luke
2:52 “And Jesus kept increasing in
wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”
There is a principle in theology that tries to explain what
is really unexplainable by calling it the Covenant of Redemption. It refers to an agreement between Jesus
and God the Father before time began, somewhere in eternity past, that Jesus
would lay aside the glory of heaven and take on the form of a human to complete
the redemption of mankind. That He
would be fully God and yet become fully man, but in the process of becoming
man, He would lay aside some of His glory, some of His divine prerogatives for
a time, in order that He might be made in all points like we are, yet without
sin, so that He might become our substitute, to pay the price for our
redemption.
So Jesus entire life up to the age of 30 years old is
described in two almost identical statements found in verse 40 and verse
52. In both cases He is described
as growing, gaining wisdom, and having favor or the grace of God upon Him. And
as we have established, this whole period is encapsulated with the principle of
obedience. Jesus being obedient to
the foreordained will of God, willingly subjecting himself to become flesh and
endure all the humilities, indignities and trials of man. And
sandwiched in between these two summary statements is this story of how Jesus
was left behind in the temple.
And in this story we are going to see that obedience carried
out as an illustration of subjection to authority that I think is a primary
point that the Holy Spirit is making here. Out of all the possible events that the Spirit could have
chosen from this 30 year period of Jesus life, God chose this example of Christ
humbling himself in obedience, to be in subjection not only to his earthly
parents, but to His heavenly Father as well , so that Christ may be the example
for us.
As the passage states, it was the custom for Mary and Joseph
to take Jesus along with many relatives to the Passover each year in
Jerusalem. This would have been
quite an undertaking, involving a large caravan of many children and many
families from Nazareth traveling together for safety’s sake perhaps for the
long journey to Jerusalem which would have taken many days.
I’m sure you are familiar with the story. After the Passover, the caravan returns
and it’s a full day out before his parents realize that Jesus is missing. Traveling that night is not an option,
so the next morning they get up and travel back a full day’s journey to
Jerusalem. It must have been a
heart wrenching ordeal for this young couple. If you’ve ever lost one of your children even for just a few
minutes in a shopping mall or outdoors, then you know the absolute panic that
sets in. I remember when my
daughter Rachel was little, she loved to push the button on the elevator. And we were in this shopping mall in a
big city and it had an elevator that went down several floors into the parking
garage. And I remember Rachel got
in the elevator somehow and we were trying to get her off and the doors closed
on her and she was gone. We went
into an absolute panic. We ran to
the exit stairs and went flying down each course, ran out to the elevator only
to find it was still going. We
ended up finally running out to the bottom floor and there was Rachel standing
with some strangers in the parking lot.
It was a horrible experience.
I can’t imagine what it would be like to have your child missing for
three days.
So it takes a day to travel back to Jerusalem, and then they
spend the next day looking everywhere in the city. During the Passover, there were probably 2 million people in
Jerusalem. And the text tells us
that finally they found Jesus in the temple talking to the teachers there. Vs. 46 “Then, after three days they
found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening
to them and asking them questions.
47 And
all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.”
Here’s what I think happened. I think when his parents went to the temple Jesus went with
them. And when everyone else left
to go join the caravan Jesus stayed right there and was teaching the teachers
and whoever was listening to him.
I think it was an amazing thing.
This 12 year old boy sat down with the teachers, the scribes and rabbis
and the priests and as was their custom they would ask questions and then
answer them according to the law.
And I believe Jesus was giving insight into the law that no one could
believe. The teachers were
astonished at his wisdom. And what
we can understand here is that even though Jesus is 12 and obviously not mature
physically, yet his spiritual maturity at 12 far surpassed the rabbis that had
spent a lifetime in spiritual training.
I wouldn’t be surprised if for three days Jesus didn’t sleep
or eat. I’m reminded of the story
of the Samaritan woman who Jesus talked to while his disciples went to buy
food. And when they came back they
urged him to eat, and He said, “I have food to eat that you know not of.” And He explained that in John 4:34,
“Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to
accomplish His work.”
And this is further born out by Jesus answer to his mother’s
concern and worry that his parents had over him being found missing. Luke
2:49 “And He said to them,
"Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be
in My Father's house?" The
Greek rendering is perhaps more accurately “the things of my Father.” Or “my Father’s business.” I’d love to preach a message about the
need to be in the Father’s house if that was what the text was really getting
out. But it’s broader than simply
being in church or being in the temple.
The idea is that Mary and Joseph should have looked first in the temple,
rather than last, knowing what they knew about Jesus. But more importantly, Jesus knew who He was and what He had
come to do. He had come to do the
Father’s business. And so again we
see that by 12 years old, He has already matured spiritually to the point that
He knew who He was, and what He came to do. I’m sure that the Passover week had inspired Him as He
realized that He would be the Passover lamb which would take away the sins of the
world. And here is the point; He
was signaling that He had reached the age where He was not much longer to be
under the tutelage of his mother, but under the tutelage of his Father, and
that wasn’t Joseph, that was God the Father.
But the final point that I think the Holy Spirit wants to
make here is found in verse 51; “And He went down with them and came to
Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all
these things in her heart.” Jesus,
God in the flesh, full of grace and truth and wisdom, knowing He was of God and
what He had come to earth to do, continued in subjection to his earthly mother
and father until the time appointed by God was complete. The scripture makes it clear that God’s
will is for us to be under earthly authority, which is also God’s authority.
Jesus is showing that earthly authority has a dual purpose, and is not mutually
exclusive, but rather God has established earthly authority as representatives
of his heavenly authority. 1Pet. 2:13 “Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to
every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to
governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of
those who do right.”
Subjection is an essential principle that Jesus is modeling
for us in this passage. He
subjected himself to the plan of the Father. He subjected himself to the Law. He said I did not come to do away with the Law but to
fulfill it. To keep it completely
and fully. He subjected himself to
His mother and father. Jesus would
pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not my will but your will be done.” He understood and modeled submission to
authority. He said in John 5:30 "I
can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is
just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
Jesus modeled submission to authority because He wants us to
be under authority and under submission first of all to the Lordship of Jesus
Christ, then under the authority of our church leadership, and in submission to
one another. This principle is
repeated over and over again in the Bible. We are to be in subjection to the governing
authorities in Romans 13. We are
to be in subjection to our elders in 1 Timothy. We are to be in subjection to one another in the church in
Ephesians 5. Wives are to be subject
to their husbands in Ephesians 5:22.
The church is to be subject to Christ in Eph. 5: 24. Children are to be subject to their
parents in Ephesians 6. Workers
are to be subject to their masters in 1 Timothy.
The point is, we all are to be in subjection even as Christ
subjected himself. God did not
create any free agents. I’ve said
before that our American independence may be a good thing for America, but it’s
not a virtue that God wants for the church. God has designed the church to be interdependent, not
independent. We are to be serving
Christ by serving one another, not serving our will and our selfish desires.
The word used for subjection in the Greek is hupotasso,
which had a military connotation that was well understood in Greek culture.
This word was a military term meaning "to arrange troop divisions in a
military fashion under the command of a leader". In non-military use, it
was "a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming
responsibility, and carrying a burden".
I think it’s helpful to see the church as the army of
God. And God has established that
just as there are units in an army, like squads, or regiments or whatever, so
there are local churches in God’s army that are units with leaders and
authority of the people in that unit.
The whole army is under God’s command, but God has established local
authorities. And our job is to get
under authority in a local, Bible believing church. If they
aren’t preaching the Bible then get out.
But get under authority.
In the army, you can’t have soldiers wandering around from
unit to unit, deciding where or when they will serve today. “Well, let’s see. This unit is going on a march today,
that sounds fun. I think I’ll join
them.” That doesn’t work. And it doesn’t work when Christians are
wandering around from place to place based on what sort of entertainment such
and such church is having today.
You’re weren’t saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ to be
entertained, you were saved to serve the Lord, not your will, but His
will.
Folks, the church is the only organization that Jesus Christ
created when He came to earth. And
yet today the church is in disarray because we have sought to redefine it
according to how we think it should be or to make it more appealing to the
culture. It is basically in a rout
because we have left the basic principles that it was founded upon in search of
a more relevant, entertaining, world pleasing, carnal Christian pleasing
message. And the message is that
the church exists to serve you, rather than you serving God through the
church. We think the church exists
to give us a half hour pep talk and make us feel special and loved and send us
back out in the world with a pat on our head. We’ve lost sight of the fact that we are in a war, a
spiritual battle and that we have been called to forsake the world and serve
Christ, taking up our cross and following Him. You can’t do that watching a TV evangelist on Sunday morning
sitting on your couch in your bathrobe.
That’s not church. Church
is getting under authority, working as a unit with other believers in a local
body, serving Christ through serving one another, putting their needs above
your own.
Listen, I believe that the Holy Spirit is illustrating
through the young life of Jesus Christ one of the most important principles in
the gospel, and that is that of coming under authority. Get in rank. Take up your position.
Find your place in the battle.
Get engaged. Stay
engaged. Stand firm against the
assaults of the Devil, fighting the good fight of the faith. That one day we may say like Paul in
2Tim. 4:7 “I have fought the good
fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there
is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who
have loved His appearing.
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