Jesus In The Temple - Laying Foundations For A Successful Faith Walk

Scripture: Luke 2:41-52; Col. 3:1-17 and Psalms 148

Theme: Jesus in the Temple - Laying foundations for a Successful Faith Walk

Proposition: Luke shares in this passage the need for us to provide ourselves and our loved ones with a 1. Strong foundation in the faith 2. A strong foundation in the Word 3. A strong foundation that can then be lived out in everyday practice

INTRO:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ who came to save the world from sin!

Welcome to the first Sunday of the Christmas Season. As you know, the Christmas Season lasts only 12 days. It begins on December 24th after 6 PM and continues to January 5th. Remember the song, The 12 Days of Christmas? It's based on the length of the length of the Christmas Season. The song centers about the sharing of greater and greater gifts each day of this season. It is based on the idea that since Jesus has been born each new day is a more glorious day than the one before. It is one of the songs that is a great deal of fun to sing and enjoy.

This morning, let's turn again to Luke chapter 2:41-52. Our writer shares with us one of the few stories that we have about Jesus' childhood. Other than some dubious extra biblical accounts we don't know a great deal of Jesus' life following his dedication to when He when baptized by John and filled with the Holy Spirit some 30 years later.

By itself, Jesus trip to the Temple is amazing story. It is a story of a family's faith, a family's frustration and a family's reunion. Any parent reading the story is caught up in Mary and Joseph's anxiety looking for and not being able to find Jesus for three days. Any parent can understand both Mary's frustration and joy in finding her son in the Temple safe and sound. It is a story that touches all of our hearts.

There is a great many truths in this simple little story. More than can be shared this morning. Therefore I would like to call your attention to this morning for a few moments to some of the truths that surrounds verses 46 and 47. Before we look at those two verses in particular, however, it is important that we have some back fill to our passage.

It is easy to read this story and see Jesus sitting at the feet of these rabbi's and scholars and think more is going on that really went on. We have a tendency to place Jesus in all of his divinity here in the middle of these scholars schooling them on the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. There is a tendency to see Jesus as some super human prodigy here and miss out on what Luke is really trying to share with us. To do that would be unfair to the rest of scripture. We would be reading into this passage things that it does not tell us.

We must understand that as Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-11, that when Jesus came to earth he made himself nothing, taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. Hebrews 2:18 further tells us that Jesus subjected himself to temptation just as every man is tempted.

Now, what does all of that mean? It means simply this. As Luke shares, Jesus was a 12 year old boy. He was not a superman or some super saint at this moment. Yes, He was God in flesh. He was fully human and fully divine. He did not come down to play any tricks on us. He did not simply wear humanity like a piece of cloth. He was fully human subjected to all the things that you and I have to endure. He had to be fed as a baby, he had to learn how to walk and talk and all the other things children do.

I say that because if we are not careful, we will miss the truths that Luke wants to share with us in this passage. The truth surrounding why Jesus could sit there and talk to these scholars. The truth why Jesus could sit there and not feel out of place with men five times his age. The truth why Jesus could hold his own with men who were deeply educated in the Law, the Prophets and the Writings.

The question that this passage begs us to ask this morning is simply this -

How can we be ready like Jesus to sit at the feet of men and women who are well versed in the Bible and feel comfortable, communicate intelligently and in fact amaze those that hear us.