Growing with Jesus
Sunday, December 30, 2019
By Rev. James May
From the time of Jesus’ birth to his appearance at the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist, little is known about Jesus’ childhood and growing up. The only passage that tells us much of anything is found in the 2nd chapter of the Book of Luke verses 41-52, but in this short snippet of Jesus’ life under the care of his earthly parents we can learn much about what is needed for us to grow more into the very image of Christ.
This morning I want to give you somewhat of an analogy, comparing the life of Jesus as he is prepared and matures in his mortal body. Even though He was, and is, the Very Son of God, he had to learn to bring his own body, soul and mind under subjection and to overcome every temptation to sin lest his plan of salvation for all mankind would have been shattered.
This passage begins with one very important aspect of Jesus’ life as a child, a teenager, and a young adult. The thing that we must note is that Joseph and Mary were called his “parents”. Even though Jesus was God’s own Son and had all authority and power, he had to learn to obey his parents.
No matter how spiritual he might be, or how much understanding and spiritual insight Jesus had, or how much more understood than even Joseph and Mary did, Jesus was still obligated to remain under their authority.
When Jehovah spoke to Moses on the top of Mt. Sinai, he gave him the 10 commandments which are the foundation of the Law of Moses and the foundation for all righteousness and law in the Bible. The 5th Commandment is given to us in
Exodus 20:12 Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
In order for Jesus to suffer all things as we do, and to fulfill the Law on our behalf, he had to be first subject to his parents as we are commanded to be, and then obey his own law. To not allow himself, as the offspring of Mary and the son of Joseph, to be obedient to his parents would have been seen and it would have nullified Jesus’ ability to become the perfect man and our sacrifice for sin. If he had not allowed himself to grow up like every other child, and not obeyed his parents, Jesus would have become the Second Adam who sinned and there would be no salvation for mankind through Christ.
But thank God, Jesus had some godly parents who honored the Law and kept it as best they could. They attended the required feasts each year in Jerusalem and looked to the Ark of the Covenant behind that temple veil as their only way to be in the presence of God.
Luke 2:41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
To understand this picture let’s look at it from our own point of view as parents. Are there any 12 year olds in this room? I think there are a few in our church.
Now consider this. You pack up your family in the car and head off to attend a weekend retreat with the church in a city that is about 65 miles away as the crow flies; like going from here to Lafayette. It’s about an hour or so by car; 30 min by air, or, if you’re walking all the way or traveling in a caravan of camels, donkeys and carts, it would take 5-6 days since the route is about 90 miles through rough country.
Luke 2:42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
You know what happens next, but let’s read it any way to refresh our memories.
Luke 2:43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
Luke 2:44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
Luke 2:45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
Luke 2:46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
Now, here’s the scenario! Your 12 year old son is missing in the largest city in Israel, and the population of the city is vastly greater than normal due to the Passover Feast. You’ve searched frantically for three days and you have no idea where he might be, or whether he is still alive or not?
If that were your son or daughter, would you be calm, cool, and collected; or would you be acting like a crazy person looking for them? For three days they searched, until they finally found Jesus sitting in the temple talking with the doctors of the law.
The way this worked in those days was that the Sanhedrin Council would sit in a semicircle so that all of the members could see one another during debates. In front of the council there would a semicircle of seats where some of the greatest scholars in Israel would come to debate, to teach and to learn while in front of the Sanhedrin Council.
In effect, Jesus was found sitting with the educated elite of Israel as they sat before the congress of Israel, and he was entering into their debates on the Law of Moses.
Luke 2:47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
This goes to show us how much Jesus had already progressed in his maturity. He was God in the flesh, but he still had to learn to be God in his mind, body and soul. The Spirit was always there, eternal and powerful, but it came under subjection of his mortal body and understanding. Jesus learned what it means to grow up. He didn’t instantly have the understanding and the wisdom as a child. He had to learn day-by-day, just as we do. Even though he was God in human flesh, his diety remained in the background until he matured in his natural body to know how to handle the power that was on the inside.
Now I don’t know about you but if I found my 12 year old child debating and holding his own in front of the US Congress, I would be mighty astonished too. But it wouldn’t keep me from being very upset and angry because I had to search for him for 3 days, worrying about him the whole time. I have to hand it to Joseph and Mary that they didn’t take the Very Son of God out and get on him with a hickory switch! How would you have reacted?
First you hug them and rejoice because you found them safe. Then you’re proud of them for what they are doing. But then comes the visit behind the woodshed for making you worry and leaving without saying you were going!
Luke 2:48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
Now, I have to tell you that Jesus answer almost sounds like he was being a little arrogant, although I know that this wasn’t want he meant by it.
Luke 2:49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
Luke 2:50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
I can imagine Joseph thinking or saying, “Hey, I’m your father, and you need to be with me, never mind these doctors.” Mary didn’t understand it either. “Your father’s business is working in the carpenter shop, not in the temple. What do you mean?” They may have been so upset that they lost sight of the fact that their son, Jesus, was also God’s Only Son! Just for a moment, at least in their way of thinking, he was behaving more like an inconsiderate earthly child than a heavenly child. It was not the sin of rebellion on Jesus’ part. He was just doing what he was born to do. It was a missed communication.
But Jesus didn’t argue with them when they said, “Let’s Go!” He didn’t sit in front of the scholars and council and defy his parents and insist that he should keep on doing what he knew he was sent to do. He just kept quiet and was obedient to the commands of his parents.
Luke 2:51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
I can imagine it was a quiet trip home. They wouldn’t let Jesus out of their sight. Perhaps he was even grounded for the trip so that he couldn’t get out of their sight. We don’t know these things for sure, but I can only go by the fact that Jesus was obedient to his parents and honored their demands of him as he grew up.
Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
Now this last verse tells us a whole lot about growing in the Lord and learning to become spiritually mature and a pleasing child to our Father in Heaven.
When we think about Jesus as the very Son of God, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and having a name that is above every name, both in heaven and in the earth, it’s hard to think of him as having to learn wisdom; having to grow up into becoming a man in the flesh; and through all of his growing process to gain favor with God and man.
Like you and I, Jesus was not born knowing everything. He came into this world as a newborn baby with no more power or authority than any other child. His God nature remained suppressed until he grew up and little by little he grew in wisdom and understanding.
When we are Born Again by the same Holy Spirit that moved upon Mary so that she conceived Jesus, we become a new creation in Christ – a newborn baby, spiritually speaking. And even though this doesn’t happen to us until we are old enough to understand and receive Christ as our Savior, repenting of our sin and allow Jesus to begin to rule and reign in our lives, we are not instantly mature in Christ. All of our lives is a growing process in our revelation of Jesus Christ!
In the beginning we can drink of the milk of the word of God and that “milk” is powerful, making us grow quickly. But there is a lesson that the Apostle Paul gave us concerning just how much we know when all we have is the “milk”; that easy to understand and shallow teaching of the ways of God.
Hebrews 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Hebrews 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Hebrews 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
There are a lot of Christians who seem to never get past the “milk” of God’s word and never seem to mature very far from that point where they are first born into the kingdom of God.
Their understanding of God’s word is very shallow and on the surface. They’ve never learned to dig deep into the bed rock of the Word and find the gold nuggets that are hidden below the surface. They’ve never really applied themselves to a serious study of the Bible; nor have they developed any depth of understanding of the ways of the Lord.
So many people today are living right there! You won’t find them attending a church where the whole counsel of God is preached. They only want to hear the “Milk toast” sermons that make them feel good.
• Don’t preach to them about sin in their lives!
• Don’t tell them that they have to take time to mature in Christ before they start trying to be a prophet or a preacher!
• Don’t tell them that their understanding needs to be enlightened, or that they must prove their relationship with Christ through hard work and preparation!
NO! They want to jump right in with both feet and take off running like they know everything, when they have very little understanding of the ways of God, and no wisdom on how the Spirit works in the lives of people, and they often end up hurting a lot of people, or getting angry and walking away because they don’t want to take the time to learn anything and feel like they are being too restricted.
Let me just tell you that you might have the call of God on your life, and you may very well be used of God in great and powerful ways in time, but you better take time to learn how to rightly understand the word of God and how to control that anointing within you, or you’ll end up being seen as a “spiritual know it all”, or a “spiritual idiot” who has the anointing but no maturity on how to use it. You’ll find your ministry rejected by anyone who has matured enough to recognize you’re immaturity!
I must also add that “time spent in church” watching what happens doesn’t make you a mature Christian either. It may help, but in order to grow as you should, it takes a lot more than just observing. It takes doing, and the doing must be according to the perfect will of God in your life. You can have all the knowledge of what happens in ministry, but if you don’t have the wisdom of how to use that knowledge you become a dangerous influence. Your immaturity can drive people away and cause a lot of hurt!
What makes you grow in Christ is a fully committed and dedicated life, and spending a lot of time in studying the word and in prayer, seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit. You have to be humble and teachable!
You cannot have the attitude that “I know what’s best”, or “No one understands me”, or “nobody is going to tell me what to do, I’m doing what I think is right”!
We must learn to submit to those that God has placed in leadership over us as long as that leadership follows Christ! That kind of thinking is a clear sign that you lack spiritual maturity and only proves the point that you need to grow up in the Lord a lot more!
Even Jesus had to humble himself and submit to his parents. Even Jesus had to submit himself to the very Law and methods of spiritual growth that he had established. If Jesus had to grow up and learn and gain understanding and wisdom before stepping out into his earthly ministry, then why do we think we don’t have to!
I lot of people who have a real anointing to do a work for God have never been effective in any form of ministry simply because they don’t allow themselves to gain wisdom and understanding of how that ministry is to be done!
If there’s one thing that will destroy a ministry it’s the pride that is found in the leadership. Pride goes before a fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction! And that goes for Christians as well as sinners! You cannot short-cut God’s predetermined plan for your spiritual growth! Every one of us has to grow up, to learn and to gain wisdom as Jesus did. No one is exempt from this process of growing and learning – NO ONE!
It is a fact that some people grow up quicker than others in their understanding and use of wisdom. I’ve seen people who have been Christians for many years, yet they lack the spiritual maturity of someone who has only been a Christian for a short time.
Why? How does this happen? It’s all due to the same factors – humility; getting rid of pride and self-centeredness; willingness to come under authority even when it’s not convenient or easy to swallow; willing to admit that we need to learn and then submitting ourselves to study and learning; and most of all, being teachable, learning that no matter how much we know, we never know it all!
As a child, Jesus could have said, more than anyone who ever lived, that he didn’t need the guidance and help of his parents, or anyone else who was placed in authority by His Father in Heaven over him.
He was very God in the flesh, and yet he understood that, as a man, he needed help to grow up and learn how to be God in Man to have an effective earthly ministry.
The rate of growth into Spiritual maturity, wisdom, understanding, knowing the heart of God and how to live in obedience to his will is not dependent upon your physical age, but upon our willingness to submit to God and to grow in Christ and his Word.
Every one of us is different. We all have our unique gifts, calling, talents and desires of the heart. Because we are different, we will all grow at different speeds. Some here have exhibited a very strong and mature understanding of God while some have done just the opposite.
Let me tell you that as Pastor of this flock, It is my duty to keep watch over the flock and to protect you from spiritually immature people who would do more harm than good even though they may really have a call upon their lives.
There have been times when I’ve had to sit people down because they were completely out of order. There have been times when I’ve had to put restrictions on what some people are allowed to do. It’s never with the intent of keeping them down or putting down on anyone. It’s always with the intent of allowing them to grow in the Lord so that their calling and ministry can be rightly received.
I’ve had to take people off the platform, or out of their position, whatever it may be, simply because their attitude or their life did not exemplify the spiritual maturity needed to make their ministry effective. Like surgery, this process is not always pleasant, but it is necessary for the continued spiritual health of the church body. The Holy Spirit will not remain where sin is allowed to go remain. He will not move where pride is present!
The number one thing that Jesus did as a child so that he could grow in grace and in wisdom, and be accepted among men is that he humbled himself and took time to grow up!
As we come to the end of this year and prepare for the coming of the New Year, I think it would be a very wise thing for each of us to stop and take a serious accounting of how much we have grown with Christ.
• Have you matured in your understanding of Jesus and His Word?
• Do you have a greater wisdom today than you did this time last year?
• Is your ministry, your calling and your work for the Lord greater, or has it either stagnated or even ceased to exist at all?
• Are you still struggling to be humble before God, or is your sense of pride still stopping your growth in the Lord?
• Have you learned much more about God’s word than you did a year ago, or have you forgotten much of what you did know?
• Is your prayer life stronger, or is it weaker?
• Do you sense the presence of Holy Spirit more, and hear his voice more; or is the voice you hear only the desires of your own heart, or the voice of the devil leading you away from God and causing you to justify the sin in your life?
• Do you hear the very heartbeat of God, or have your spiritual ears become dull of hearing?
For those who are very immature spiritually, we all can see the answers to those questions whether you admit it or not; and for those who have grown in Christ and become more spiritually mature, we can see that too. Your life bears the fruit of your spiritual growth, whether its lacking or plentiful.
You can’t fool God. He knows the answer. And the chances are that you can’t fool anyone who has the spiritual maturity to discern the spirit within you.
Spiritual maturity is a blessing to the church, but spiritual immaturity is always an issue that must be dealt with, hopefully in a manner that will be beneficial to everyone involved, but it isn’t always taken rightly, and sometimes the pride in the heart won’t allow correction to be accepted.
Let us all commit ourselves to growing up in the Lord this year! Let us commit ourselves to prayer, to Bible study, to spending time in the presence of the Lord and learning his heart and his ways! This will help us to grow and become the church, the Bride, or the people of God that we must be in these last days.
Let us pray.
