Summary
The sermon is about the childhood of Jesus Christ, specifically his growth and development from age 12 to 30. The pastor reflects on Luke chapter 2, verses 51-52, which describe Jesus' growth in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man. The sermon explores what it means to grow in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man, and how Jesus' humanity was legitimate and complete. The pastor also discusses the concept of being in the world but not of the world, and how Christians are called to grow in understanding God's word and into spiritual maturity. The main questions addressed in the sermon include: How did Jesus grow and develop as a human being? What does it mean to grow in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man? How can Christians apply these principles to their own lives? The sermon teaches that Jesus grew up in an ordinary family setting, was obedient to his parents, and developed physically and mentally like any other human being. He learned and matured, and his growth was balanced in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man. The key takeaways from the sermon are: * Jesus grew up in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man (Luke 2:52). * Jesus' humanity was legitimate and complete, and he matured physically and mentally like any other human being. * Christians are called to grow in understanding God's word and into spiritual maturity (Ephesians 4:15). * Being in the world but not of the world means that Christians are to shine the light of Christ in a darkened world.
Key Takeaways
- Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man.
- Jesus' humanity was legitimate and complete.
- Christians are called to grow in understanding God's word and into spiritual maturity.
- Being in the world but not of the world means that Christians are to shine the light of Christ in a darkened world.
The Sermon
Last Sunday, we heard from Pastor Angel about the mother of Moses, and this morning, we'll take a peek into the earlier years of Jesus as recorded by Luke.
Luke chapter 2 records the birth of Jesus from verses 1 to 20. If you look at chapter 2, and then his circumcision when he was presented at the temple when he was 8 days old in verses 21 and 40.
In the temple, it is there that he was officially given the name Jesus. In the temple, it is there that they met with Simeon and then Anna the prophetist who gave their blessings.
And then in verse 41, Jesus was already 12 years old. And here we have a glimpse again of a young Jesus when he and the whole family went to Jerusalem to attend the festivals.
Okay, the Passover festival I believe, and you remember the story they have to travel two or three days to Jerusalem to attend the 7-day long festival.
And after the festival, as they traveled home, there they are like a walking one day already that they noticed that Jesus was not with them.
And they realized that Jesus was missing and they have to go back to Jerusalem again to search for them.
And the following day, they found Jesus in deep conversation with the teachers of the law, and they were so amazed.
Luke said that they were so astonished at what they saw in the temple.
But going back to losing Jesus, you know, it really got me thinking, you know, when they found out that Jesus was not with them.
I was asking how could they lose Jesus, you know, how could you lose something so precious?
And so also we can ask this question to ourselves, how could we even lose Jesus, you know, in our life?
We are supposed to have this relationship with him.
We are supposed to be close to him.
But you know what?
It will never be our intention to lose Jesus.
And that's unthinkable for me.
But just like Mary and maybe Joseph for that matter, they were so preoccupied with the journey, you know, maybe they were thinking already of what they will be doing when they got home.
And so they did not notice that Jesus was not with them already.
And then they realized that they lost him, you know, that Jesus was missing.
And that they will never have peace until they find him again.
So they searched for Jesus and they found him with the teachers of the law.
And it says in verse 47 how the teachers of the law were so amazed at his understanding and his answer.
And we see in verse 48 that Mary started to reprimand Jesus.
Okay, you put yourself in Mary's place, you know, they already lost like five days already, just searching for Jesus.
So he reprimanded Mary and Jesus.
And Mary said, "Son, why have you treated us like this?"
Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.
And then in the next verse, see how Jesus answered Mary.
And he said, "Why were you searching for me?"
He asked, "Didn't you know I had to be in my father's house?"
And they did not understand what he was saying to them.
But they should have.
And I think Mary should have understood what Jesus meant.
You know, did she forget how he got pregnant while he was still a virgin?
And deliver the baby Jesus?
Did she forget what the angel of the Lord told her about the baby that she will be carrying?
Of course, you would have known these things.
And for Joseph, maybe it's awkward for him, you know, because in the New King James Version, it says there that I have to be I have to be on my father's business.
And you know and Joseph was standing there as his father and said okay now he remembered that he is not really the real father of Joseph.
And so they must have understood all these things.
And it says there that Mary treasured all these things in her heart.
I'm sure that from then on she would have a different view of her firstborn son.
Knowing that Jesus is now aware of his true identity.
Maybe not yet fully about his mission.
But Mary would have remembered that Jesus is going to be the savior of the world.
But not it is not yet his time.
Now, after this incident, the next time that we will hear of Jesus is when he is already 30 years old.
You know, in the next chapter in chapter 3 when he came to John the Baptist to be baptized and start his ministry.
Now, what happened with the years before that?
We don't know.
We call it the 18 years of silence in the life of Jesus or the missing years in Jesus' childhood.
Now, did he go to school?
Did he have playmates also?
You know, did he learn to his father's business, carpentry?
Did he learn to make uh, you know, carpentry works?
Yes, we can assume that he may have done all that.
But our text in verse 52 has summed it all up for us.
What happened in that missing 18 years, how he grew from childhood to adulthood.
And that is from 12 years old, when we last time that we heard about him.
And then uh to 30 years old when he started his ministry.
Our text said he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.
What does it mean to grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man?
Let's break it down.
First of all, it means Jesus grew as an ordinary boy.
In an ordinary family setting.
And uh, I think if he lived a remarkable life, people would have noticed it.
People would have known uh if his life was so special from from other kids.
But in Mark 6 chapter 3, it tells us that the people had known him as the son of a carpenter.
Mark 6 chapter 3.
Uh, they were asking where did this man get these things?
You know, seeing him teach and do miracles.
They asked, "What's his wisdom with this wisdom that has been given him?"
"What are what are these remarkable miracles he is performing?"
"Isn't this the carpenter?"
"Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James and Joseph, Jodas and Simon?"
"Aren't his sisters here with us?"
And they took offense of him.
Now, let's not talk about uh Jesus having brothers and sisters.
But uh what we can see here is people are uh know know the family.
They are familiar with Jesus.
He is uh the son of a carpenter.
I think he's doing carpentry also, you know.
And so uh this is tells us how Jesus lived his life, you know, his uh his childhood life, his childhood years.
And uh again, uh Luke is reminding us uh in the text that we have in a text that was given to us how he grew up.
Luke is reminding us that Jesus' humanity was legitimate.
It was complete like any other human being.
He matured uh both uh physically and mentally.
It means that he was not born with an instant ability to walk, speak or for example make a furniture, you know.
He learned as children learned.
He grow as children grow.
Of course, uh we heard some stories about uh Jesus childhood uh to fill uh the vacuum just to explain what happened to him all these 18 years.
We heard a story that uh Jesus went to China to Nepal you know that he studied Hinduism and Buddhism and then returned to Jerusalem when he was 29.
One one writing said that Jesus uh studied with a mystic group in a Jewish mystic group in in Israel called uh essence or the asenians.
And then we heard of the gospel of Thomas.
Anybody heard the gospel of Thomas?
There Jesus did uh some miraculous uh miraculous deeds.
You know, one time he cursed a boy, the the boy he was playing with and the boy died.
I think this was it by accident, but then he revived uh again the boy and and he he lived again.
And many many other things.
Yeah.
I think uh in the cir Roman Catholic circle, we heard the stories like Jesus uh uh making mud into a bird or something like that.
Again, uh these are all tales and uh proven to be fabrications.
Again, just to to fill the gap to explain uh what happened in these missing years.
Now, we know from the scripture is that Jesus grew up in wisdom and stature and in favor of God and men.
That's all.
That's all we need to know.
And for us it tells us everything we need to know.
One is that he grew up in wisdom.
Here suggest it suggests that Jesus growth was not merely in the accumulation of knowledge.
You know that he learned all these things and fill us his minds with all this learning.
But also in uh practical application.
Wisdom in in biblical sense involve living in a way that honors God and uh you know align his uh align with his will.
In Proverbs 2 uh verse 6 it says for the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
And Jesus as he increased in wisdom would have grown in his understanding of the scripture also.
And his uh ability to discern God and discern God's will.
And this growth is in wisdom signifies that even as the son of God.
Jesus underwent a process of learning and understanding.
Which prepares for him uh for his public ministry.
Now, but does wisdom comes only from God?
Oh, yeah.
In fact, James said in uh James 1:3 that if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to you.
However, James also wrote in chapter 3 that there are two kinds of wisdom.
Worldly wisdom and the godly wisdom.
Of course, the worldly wisdom is the kind of wisdom that are inherent to man.
You know, we are born with uh a kind of uh of uh wisdom also.
Uh but of course it was corrupted by sin uh as with our uh human nature.
And so sure there are many of us, many people around us that you know we consider as wise.
Uh but you know the word wise now uh would uh mean uh something else.
Not not in the biblical way.
Some people uh know how to use their brain.
They can sense danger.
They can get out of danger.
They can read read signs.
They can calculate.
They know how to prosper.
But often times it is for their own gain and interest without regards for others.
That's why uh James described worldly wisdom as selfish ambition.
It is unspiritual and even demonic.
While godly wisdom is pure, visible, gentle, without hypocrisy and so on.
It is the wisdom that reflect who God is.
Now to grow in stature on the other hand refers to Jesus physically uh developing.
You know his physical development.
He grow in age.
He grow uh he grows stronger in in in the physical uh in his physical body.
And this as aspect of his growth is crucial.
This is important because again it highlights his full humanity.
It tells us that he is really human though divine.
Jesus has to experience life as a human.
Of course without uh without sin.
But subject to the same physical processes as any other person.
This is necessary for him again to fulfill his role as the son of man and savior of mankind.
We see that uh Jesus development and growth is balanced.
It is not uh lopsided you know in one area and neglecting others.
This balance is seen in how Jesus grew in wisdom stature and then in favor with God and man.
His growth in wisdom ensured that he could live a life pleasing to God.
And his stature allowed him to engage with the world around him meaningfully.
In Philippians 2 we have here verses 7 and 8.
It emphasizes Christ humility and obedience.
Min says he made nothing by taking the he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.
Being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man.
He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death.
Even death on the cross.
And uh this balanced growth prepared Jesus for his divine mission on earth.
To Think About
- How can I apply the principles of Jesus' growth in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man to my own life?
- What does it mean to grow in wisdom, and how can I cultivate practical wisdom in my daily life?
- How can I balance my growth in spiritual maturity with my engagement with the world around me?
- What does it mean to be in the world but not of the world, and how can I apply this principle in my daily life?
- How can I shine the light of Christ in a darkened world, and what are some practical steps I can take to reflect God's love and light to those around me?