Authentic Jesus: When He Was A Tween

Remember those handouts in elementary school? The teacher would pass out drawings with the question at the bottom, “What’s wrong with this picture?” We’d look closely for something that didn’t fit. A barnyard scene with a skyscraper near the water trough. A classroom with a hippo seated on the back row. We’d ponder the picture and point to the building or hippo and say, “This doesn’t fit.” Something is out of place. Something is absurd. Skyscrapers don’t belong in barnyards. Hippos don’t attend class...God was never a Tween.

However, as absurd as it may seem, God WAS once a tween.

A tween is a person between 10-12 years of age. They are not quite a teenager but are SO close to being one. A girl tween is said to be too old for toys, but too young for boys. Boys and girls in this awkward stage of life feel older than their parents think they are and long to be taken more seriously.

Yep, Jesus was once a tween.

Luke 2:41-52 (NIV)"Every year His parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When He was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. After the Feast 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 men."

Lets consider what this passage has to teach us.

First, lets look at HOW JESUS WAS RAISED.

1. Jesus was taken to worship.

The Scripture tells us in Luke 2:41-42 (NIV) “Every year His parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When He was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom.”

Even though God shared their soup they WENT outside of their home to worship. And so should we!

Hebrews 10:25 (NIV) “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

2. Jesus was left behind.

Translation: Jesus' earthy parents were not perfect! This was the original "Home Alone."

Luke 2:43-46a (NIV) “After the Feast 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...”

On the return home from their trip to Jerusalem, His parents did not realize He was not with them until they had gone a long way. The “three days” refer to the time since they had left the city. They had traveled one day’s journey away from the city; it took them a second day to get back; they found Him on the following day. And we can be assured that it was a LONG three days!

Have you ever lost a kid? Mary can relate.

Another thing we can take away from this passage of scripture is HOW JESUS AMAZED.

Luke 2:46-47 (NIV)tells us, “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.”

Jesus was interacting with the teachers of the Law, listening and asking intelligent questions. It says that “Everyone who heard Him was amazed” Literally it means that the everyone was "beside themselves in amazement.” They were witnessing a child prodigy!

Mary and Joseph were "astonished" (literally "struck out of their senses”) Luke 2:48-50 (NIV)“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.”

In response to Mary’s question about why He had treated them in this manner, Jesus drew a sharp distinction between them and God, His true Father. His statement confirmed that He knew His mission and that His parents also should have known about His mission. However, His parents did not understand this.

Jesus was basically telling them: “My Father is God and I must be in His house.

The word “must” was often on Jesus lips:
• Luke 4:43 (NIV) “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God...”
• Luke 9:22 (NIV) “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected...”
• John 3:14 (NIV) “...the Son of Man must be lifted up”

Jesus would continue to Amaze!


In closing lets see HOW JESUS SPENT HIS DAYS.

1. Jesus was obedient.

Luke 2:51 (NIV) “Then He went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But His mother treasured all these things in her heart.”

I like what The Bible Reader's Companion had to say about this verse: “When we see Jesus choose to submit to parents we realize a vital and basic truth. Submission is not an act of an inferior or an admission of inferiority!”

Phil 2:5-8 (NIV) “ Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!”

Eph 6:1 (NIV) “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”

2. Jesus was intentional.

Luke 2:52 (NIV) “...Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

Jesus GREW in every way (spiritually, mentally, and physically) and in favor with God and men. (People liked Him...He was invited to parties!)

The word “grew” used in Luke 2:52 literally means to “cut one’s way forward” Picture a machete in the Amazon Rain Forest!

Folks, its a “jungle out there” and you have to be intentional if your going to make progress in it!” Jesus teaches us how to spend our days...to make the most of every day! Have some goals. Don’t wait for life to happen to you—make things happen. Cut your way forward—be intentional. Don’t be happy with where you are at. GROW.

Jesus grew in a balanced way without neglecting any part of life, and His priority was to do the will of His Father. He knew how to listen and how to ask the right questions. He learned how to work, and He was obedient to those God the Father placed in authority over Him.

THERE WAS NO ROOM IN HIS LIFE FOR EXCUSES: The Boy Jesus grew up in a large family, in a despised city, nurtured by parents who were probably poor. The Jewish religion was at an all-time low, the Roman government was in control, and society was in a state of fear and change. And yet, when Jesus emerged from Nazareth, 18 years later, God the Father was able to say (Luke 3:22): “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”

He said that about His boy BEFORE He began His earthly ministry. God was proud of what His Son did with His life--as a tween and every day in between. :)

I want to make God proud like that!

Authentic Jesus: God With Us

I began last week by talking about the 400 years of silence between the OT and NT—In my mind that is where we had to start. We have to understand how desperate life is without a fresh Word from God. This week we are going to look at the first chapter of the Gospel of John. But, before we look at the beginning of that book, let’s look near the end and see WHY John wrote it. John 20:30-31 (NIV) says, “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”

First, think about the WITH-US of God.

John 1:1-4 (NIV) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.”

John takes us back, beyond Creation, to show that Jesus has been God the Son from eternity past. He existed before His birth, coequal with God the Father, the source of light and of life.

The Word. The Bible gives many titles or names to Jesus. When He is called “the Word,” we are reminded of His role in the Godhead from the very beginning. This title, “the Word,” teaches that Jesus is now, and always has been, the One through whom God expresses Himself.

But how did God express Himself in history past, even before the Incarnation?

In Creation!: Psalm 19:1-3 (NIV) “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.”

Colossians 1:15-17 (NIV) “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

I shared this video with my congregation Sunday:

The second thing we need to notice in the first chapter of John is the WITNESS for God.

John 1:6-9 (NIV) “There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through Him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”

Three things we should emulate:
1. John shined the light. (John 1:6-7, Matt 5:16)
2. John was not the light. (John 1:8a, John 1:15, John 3:30)
3. John shared the light. (John 1:8b-9)

God became a man so that you might become His child.

John 1:10-13 (NIV) “He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

God loves us sooooooooooooo much!

Authentic JESUS: Deafening Silence

To truly appreciate Jesus you must recognize what HIS presence replaces.

Before God sent Gabriel to announce His son's birth, God hadn't spoken a word to Israel in 400 years. Understanding the reasons behind the silent treatment is key to experiencing a fresh word from God.

3 REASONS WHY GOD BEGAN HIS SILENCE

1. Because they removed sources of conviction.

Amos 2:11-12 (NIV) “I also raised up prophets from among your sons and Nazirites from among your young men. Is this not true, people of Israel?” declares the Lord. “But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.”

2. Because they refused to pay attention.

Zechariah 7:11-12 (NIV) “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.”

3. Because God keeps His promises.

Amos 8:11-12 (NIV) “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.”

WHAT FOLLOWED HIS SILENCE

1. Unimagined Insecurity

Deuteronomy 32:46-47a (NIV) ...“Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Psalm 119:114 (NIV) “You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.”

Understand!...God's WORD had been so special to them--it is what had set them apart as a nation. They saw God's word as a shield that protected them. Now, take that away. Look at some of the things that took place during the 400 years of silence.

1. The conquest of Alexander the Great. In 336 B.C., Alexander, took the throne at 20 years of age and proceeded to conquer much of the civilized world. (He introduced crucifixion to this part of the world!)—even when God is silent He still has a plan.

2. In 250 B.C. the Greek translation of the Old Testament Pentateuch (first 5 books of OT)—called the Septuagint, Latin for seventy, traditionally believed to the number of men who worked on the translation.

3. In 168 B.C Antiochus IV stormed Jerusalem, entered the temple, and stole the treasures. A year later, he banned obedience to the Jewish law. In preHitler-like fashion determined to exterminate the Jewish religion.
He forbade
• The observance of the Sabbath
• He ordered that copies of the Torah must be destroyed.
• The Jews were commanded to offer unclean sacrifices and to eat swine’s flesh. (If you disobeyed you died.)
• To top it all off...The Temple in Jerusalem (as well as the Samaritan temple at Mt. Gerizim) became the place of the worship of the Olympian Zeus. He butchered pigs and poured their blood on the altar of burnt offering.

AND GOD WAS SILENT!

2. Unsatisfied Hunger

Amos 8:11 (NIV) “...I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.”

I like how Beth Moore put it: "At least part of the overall plan was to “invoke a famine of hearing the words of the Lord” in order to “provoke a hunger for hearing the Words of the Lord.”

A lack of spiritual nourishment creates spiritual hunger. They wanted something spiritual--anything. It is interesting to me that LEGALISM grew during that period...they were so desperate for something they settled for anything! Nevertheless, then like today, legalism left them hungry. Man-made rules never satisfy and hunger keeps your attention.

I am reminided of the parable Jesus told of the Prodigal Son: Luke 15:16-18a (NIV) “He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father...”

WHEN GOD BROKE HIS SILENCE

Galatians 4:4-5 (NKJV) “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Again I quote Beth Moore: “The time was not full until their spiritual stomachs were empty.”

Hebrews 1:1-3 (NIV) “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

I began this blog with a statement: To truly appreciate Jesus you must recognize what HIS presence replaces. Do you have feelings of insecurity? Are you spiritually hungry?

Jesus is your answer!

John 6:35 (NIV) Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."

New Sermon Series: Authentic Jesus

Contemporary culture has distorted the real Jesus. Consequently, the view that many people have of Jesus is simply not accurate. This sermon series is a quest for the real Jesus. Together we will discover that, through the lens of Scripture, the real Jesus can be clearly seen. The Authentic Jesus will forever change our life. All summer long it is ALL about HIM.