When the Holy Spirit has birthed something in you, don't ever let anyone dissuade, discount or diminish what you are doing with your daily life in connection to the eternal purposes of God. Mary, a stay-at-home mother, and Joseph, while working a blue collar job, were both devoted to Jesus and were helping to raise God incarnate, the Savior of the world. Like these parents, we all want to be faithful and productive in our lives before the Lord, but ironically, in the midst of our daily pressures and routines, we can unexpectedly find ourselves in a place where we feel that we've lost our connection with Jesus, the relationship which was our greatest responsibility of all. As we begin the new year, we will look at how Mary and Joseph found Jesus when He went missing.
Finding Jesus
If you are not careful, your connection to Jesus can be lost.
Luke 2:41-52 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
Every year Jesus' parents made the trip to the temple. It was regular and according to custom. It is good to have God honoring customs in your life that will set you up for necessary frequencies of spiritual health and development.
For Jesus' parents to get to Jerusalem would have taken sacrifice - time off work, money, and energy to travel. If you want to meet with God in your daily routine, do not expect it to happen for you without sacrifice.
You can think that you are in the company of Jesus when really He is somewhere doing something else.
Mary and Joseph lost God but were confident enough to travel because of the community dynamic. Walking with others in a church family is great and how it is supposed to be, but never mistake having community for having Jesus.
Mary began looking for Jesus when He was missing. It is because He belonged to her. We need to position ourselves to look for three categories of people in the new year: 1) For Jesus our Lord; 2) Our brothers and sisters in Christ who have gone missing and fallen out of fellowship; 3) The lost, which we'll speak about more next week.
To make the trip from Nazareth to Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph would go from a town of hundreds to about 100,000 at the time. In such a setting, it is easy to get distracted, much like in Chicago, and in the meantime lose Jesus. It took Mary and Joseph three days to find Jesus. If you have been disconnected for a while, don't get discouraged if it takes you time to develop a rhythm in your time with Jesus.
People often wonder why they can't "find Jesus" in their everyday life. It is often because we think that He will follow us into the pursuit of our own personal ambitions and dreams rather than Him being about what He said that He is always about, the advance of His kingdom. When you recognize that we are to be submitted to Him and His purposes rather than Him being submitted to ours, we'll be able to reconnect with Him and know where to find Him.
Just as we discovered last week that Simeon and Anna were able to be introduced to the Messiah in the temple courts, Jesus again validated the fact that His purposes will always begin in and through His house, the church.
The best place to get reconnected is in the temple courts. Keep showing up– you at least know He's there.
"Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" We must have the same mentality as Jesus if we are to have our identity grounded in and our trajectory centered on the purposes of Jesus Christ.
It was a given that He needed to be in His father's house. Not only do you become what you behold, but you become like the company that you keep (1 Corinthians 15:33).
A person's ability to understand God, His gospel and its application to the season of life in which they find themselves does not depend on their age. Begin teaching your children how to relate with Jesus now.
Jesus wasn't so spiritual that He had no practical application of the Word of God. Jesus put the Word of God to "honor your father and mother" into practice by going home with Mary and Joseph. Obeying rather than merely being familiar with the commands of God will make you a better son, daughter, husband, wife, mother, employer, employee, sibling and friend.
How are you applying, not just being exposed to the Word of God?
Because of Jesus' study of and adherence to the Word of God, He grew in:
wisdom - the proper application of knowledge;
"The internet is full of information and empty of thought."
Tim Keller
and stature - the weight of a person's respected presence;
and favor - pleasure from and. therefore, the benevolent backing of someone;
with God - the most important and our constant pursuit;
and man - grows as we follow Jesus, even when people disagree with or reject our positions.
It will be the same for you as you search for Jesus daily and are set apart for His purposes. He went to the cross to pay the penalty for your wrongdoing and bridge the gap between you and God. As you repent of your sin and believe the good news of Jesus' resurrection, you can find Jesus, be cleansed and begin a new year with Him today. It will be a second chance and the beginning of a second life.
Second City Church- An Unexpected Journey Sermon Series 2015