Luke 2:50-52

Luke chapter 2. I read from verse 41 through 52, our focus on verses 50 through 52. Now, his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover, and when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarred behind in Jerusalem and Joseph and his mother, knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey, and they sought him among their kin’s folk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back to Jerusalem seeking him, 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. and all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. 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. And he said unto them, how is it that he sought me? Wished ye not that I must be about my father’s business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. 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, and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. God blessed to us his sacred and holy work, a word this morning. There was a little girl who fathered. A father followed her father through a carefully dug and planted garden, and she followed in his footsteps. She stepped exactly where he stepped, and she said to him, Daddy, if you don’t get mud on your feet, I won’t get any on mine. Now, spiritually, following in the footsteps of a godly parent keeps your feet from getting muddy, by sin. But even better is to follow in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ experienced all aspects of being a human. He knew what it was to be an infant. He knew what it was to be an adult. He went through all stages. In here, as a 12-year-old, he provides an example. certainly for children to emulate, and hopefully all Christians as well. Now, Jesus has attended the Passover feast with his parents. But when they left, they’ll return back to Nazareth. He remained behind unknowingly to them. His anxious parents returned to Jerusalem, looking for him everywhere. Three days, they find him eventually at the temple. And they were amazed to see him hearing and answering questions of the Jewish doctors of the law. Mary reproves Jesus for troubling his parents by remaining behind, for she doesn’t understand his motivation. But Jesus explained his purpose, and his purpose was, he says, I have to be about my fault. there’s business. Verse 49. And at this point, we want to look at our text this morning, verses 50 to 52. We’ll look at it from the point of view of Christ’s example, in particular, for children. Let me begin by saying this. You should be subject to your parents, as we see Jesus was. And as we look at this, it reminds us of this. recognize the relevance of the Fifth Commandment for you as a New Testament Christian. While Jesus showed a sense of his superior obligation to his Heavenly Father, he also respected his earthly parents. Though he thought it not robber to be equal with God, yet he humbled himself. And we find he was subject unto his human parents. In order to fulfill all righteousness, Jesus faithfully and cheerfully obeyed the Fifth Commandment. Those who think that the New Testament, Christian, is not under obligation to obey God’s law. Need to read their Bibles more carefully. For I read in Ephesiansiansians. 6 verses 1 to 3 children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right honor thy father and thy mother which is the first command with promise that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth. So here we are in the New Testament and we see the law of God being applied to those children who are in the church. Children, do you shall respect for your parents as Jesus did for his? Do you obey them as Jesus did with regard to his parents? Because God will hold you accountable if you are a rebellious child. You’ll notice that Paul talks about living long on the earth, taking that promise from the Fifth Commandment and applying it here to all who are children, that if you want to have a long productive life, you should obey your parents. When George Washington was 15 years of age, his brother obtained for him a mid-shipman’s position in the British Navy. His luggage was already on board the ship, and he was just ready to aboard himself when a messenger came. with a message from his mother. His mother had written commanding him not to go, and it was a pretty strongly worded message. And though he had set his heart on going to see, George Washington went back home and returned to school. He didn’t like school. He especially didn’t like mathematics. But he was subject to his mother. His mother gave him a very nice penknife and said, always obey your superiors. God will not let your filial affections go unrewarded. Proverbs tells us that the principal part of true knowledge is the fear of the Lord. And what does he say immediately after that? Respect your parents. Respect the next ones in line of authority over you. You listen to their instruction because you will profit from the spiritual. it will be an ornament of grace upon thy head, he says, as well as providing earthly honors chains of gold about thy neck. Proverbs 1 verses 7 to 9. How much are you like Jesus in this regard? So you should recognize the relevance of the Fifth Commandment for today. You should be subject, should be in subjection to your parents, even when your parents don’t understand your motivation. Though Joseph and Mary were believers, they didn’t fully comprehend what Jesus meant in verse 49. Now, it seems obvious to us, but evidently it wasn’t obvious to them. Sometimes even believers are astonished at you when you are motivated to please your Heavenly Father, and sometimes they don’t understand your motivation. There are children who are saved by God’s grace and taught of God who somehow supersede their parents in divine things. And because of this, your parents may not grasp the motivation you have to please God behind some of your actions. They may not get your motivation. Yet despite, superseding your parents in spiritual thinking, you’re obligated, he says here, I think in this teaching, to respect and obey them. Jesus shows us the pattern. Since God’s thoughts are higher than man’s, you should think God’s thoughts after him. But people may not understand that. They may not grasp what your motivation is. The Word of the Lord comes to a little Samuel. It doesn’t come to Eli, the high priest. Now think about that a moment. He’s the high priest of Israel. But who gets the message from God? This little boy, Samuel. Yet Samuel is not lifted up with pride. He doesn’t lord it over as if he’s somebody special. He’s still in subjection to Eli, isn’t he? You recall how young David, he’s not old enough to be in military service, so he’s still home with his dad taking care of the sheep. But his brothers are in Saul’s army, and here they are lining up in battle formation against the Philistines. And David is sent by his father to take some cheese and some various food supplies to Saul’s army and find out how his brothers are doing. And when he gets there, he hears this Philistine giant going forth, Goliath, making this challenge to the Israelites. Give me a man. We’ll have a one-on-one battle. Whoever wins that, we’ll take that as the victor in this, instead of having a battle between our armies. David is incensed by Goliath’s arrogance. Who is this uncircumcised heathed, this philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? David begins to inquire about how the king promises to reward those who go out and fight Goliath. Other people in the army and are paying attention. David’s statements are getting circulated, gathering attention. He’s to talk on the army camp, and his older brother, Eliab hears about it. And he is steamed. What’s this young punk doing here? He should be back home taking care of the sheep. So he goes up and he rebukes David for his pride in his naughtiness of heart as he perceives it. You arrogant, little punk, you know, you little boy, you shouldn’t be like, you know, what are you talking about here? But he didn’t understand David’s most. motivation. David says, what have I done? Is there not a cause? Isn’t there a reason to fight God? David is thinking about God’s glory. This giant needs to be silenced. These heathen need to know that the Lord God rules and reigns in this earth. He’s thinking in that direction. His brother, who’s superior to him, is thinking something completely different. David wants both the Israelites and the Philistines to realize that Jehovah God is the true and living God. That’s his motivation. That’s why he’s ready to go out and fight. Eliab is not thinking on the same level as David. He’s not thinking on this spiritual level. So he misunderstands. So while your parents may not grasp your spiritual intentions at times still show subjection. I think we see that. A third thought is this. You should lay up in your heart those things which presently exceed your capacity to comprehend. Neither of Christ’s parents understood what Christ said in verse 49. But you are told that Mary his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. While she didn’t understand what he meant exactly, she kept thinking about it. She stored it away in her memory and pondered. She, what he said. At this point, it’s beyond her. Normally children struggle to comprehend more mature spiritual things. They’re often too young to grasp what I will call abstract spiritual truth to any extent. For example, you wouldn’t expect your children perhaps to read the Song of Solomon and easily grasp its teaching. It’s hard enough sometimes for adults to grasp. some of its spiritual significance. Could they? Yeah, they could. But it’s not an easy thing to think abstractly and with the symbols and so forth. But the principle applies to everyone. Is there anything in God’s word which is beyond your comprehension? Well, there’s many things in there and I find beyond my comprehension at times. And so I think this would be so. we shouldn’t reject it, but rather it should be placed up, it kept in our heart that we might ponder it. Think on it. Don’t say I can’t understand it, therefore I reject it. Say I can’t understand it, therefore I have to think and pray about it. Maybe God will grant me an understanding of this. This is God’s word. While there’s much in it that is spiritual milk, And really it’s pretty plain and easy to understand. Some of it is spiritual meat, and it takes some chewing to understand. And so we have to realize that. What at first is dark to you, so that you may not immediately grasp its significance, may afterwards, when given divine illumination, become plain and easy to understand. You say, oh, I got it. look at chapter two of the book of john if you would and the disciples here we find something stated with regard to them john two verses 18 to 22 then answered the jews and said unto him what sign showest thou unto us seeing that thou doest these things Jesus answered and said unto them destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, 40 and six years, was this temple and building. Now we’ll rear it up in three days. But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus said. A true disciple in Christ, who is, is, let’s say, maybe a babe in Christ and knowledge. When it comes to what Jesus says, perhaps for a period of time, in this case for several years, they didn’t grasp the meaning of what he meant and what he was talking about here in this passage. Unlike the world which will quarrel with Christ as the Jews did here, well, you couldn’t possibly do that. It takes 46 years. to build this thing and you’re going to raise it up in three days. His disciples sort of silently respect what he says. They sort of just keep it in mind. They don’t say anything more about it. So they store it up in memory. They don’t presently understand it. Eventually, the Spirit reveals to them exactly what he meant, and all the lights go on and say, oh, of course, that’s what he was talking about. So it wasn’t so mysterious after a period of time. In the book of Daniel, read in Daniel chapter 7, he has this prophecy. We’ve been talking about it in Bible study of these four beasts that come out of the sea and so forth. These four beasts represent the four world kingdoms that would precede the arrival of the kingdom of God. The revision relates to how the people of God would fare, particularly under this fourth beast in his little horn and how he would attack them and so forth. And the little horn would persecute the saints and make war with them until God judges them and the saints prevail and so forth. Possessed the king. When you get done with the vision, we read that Daniel was deeply troubled by the vision. His countenance turned pale. He didn’t fully understand it all. He tells us this. He said, I kept the matter. in my heart, however. Daniel 728. I kept thinking about it. I couldn’t fully grasp it, but I just kept it there and kept thinking about it. He waited carefully. What was revealed him. It was very deep to him. It was very dark for him. But he kept thinking about it. And that’s what we have to do. Follow Mary’s example. We may not understand it. Put it aside. Put it up here in my mind and your mind and your heart, so to speak, and think about it. Way it, pray for illumination regarding it. So you should subject yourself under your parents. We see the relevance of the Fifth Commandment for today and lay up in your heart, which you can’t presently and understand. Secondly, you should increase in wisdom and in favor with God and man. Now you’ll notice verse 52. Jesus, increase. in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Now you should increase in wisdom as you grow in stature. As you grow physically, you ought to also grow spiritually here. In the perfections of the Godhead, nothing could be increased. Because in Christ, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge exist in His Godhead, divine nature. He doesn’t need to grow in wisdom there. But as a man, his human nature would go through both bodily and mental improvement. So Jesus grew in body, so he also grew in body, so he also grew with regard to his human faculties. you increase with age. He also increased with wisdom. Suppose there’s a family, and they have a garden, and you see next to the house the faucet with water there, and you see a big water pot, and you see a small water pot. Now, the mother and daughter go about and they water the flower garden. They both have a big watered. a watering can, if you would. One’s big, and one’s small. They both fill them up, and then they go out and water the flowers in the garden. The large one for the mother, the little one for the daughter. Now, the daughter’s pot is filled with the same water as the mother’s. It’s just not, the capacity isn’t as much. The daughter’s pot is filled, but it’s a smaller capacity. Eventually, the girl will be able to use the larger water pot. Use the same one her mother uses. But for now, she can’t. She’s small and she needs the small. So Christ here could be full of wisdom regarding his age as his capacity may be smaller at a younger age. But as Jesus grew, his capacity for wisdom increased and it was also filled. And so being full of wisdom as an adult was greater than being full of wisdom let’s say as a child. Now, you can learn from this that it’s not enough, certainly to be content with bodily growth. We like our children to grow and grow up and physically everything go well with them, and that should be something we should be concerned about. But also, in addition to that, our desire should be, they also grow in the things of the Lord. You know, when I was young and maybe when you were young, your children, or small. You know, the parents put a mark on the wall. You know, he’s this age and this is the height, you know. And they get up a little higher, and you can see the progression of their height each year. But we should think about, you know, are our children growing in spiritual knowledge also? Are we increasing their understanding and teaching as we, as they go along, are they able to comprehend more about what God’s word says, about spiritual matters? So shouldn’t you be just as concerned about them spiritually as you are about them physically? God would have you grow into an adult spiritually and not remain a spiritual baby with stunned growth. So you should measure your progress in regard to your wisdom, your faith, your patience, your patience, your joy, your peace, so forth. Because the more you know the Word of God, and the more of that is assimilated into your life, the wiser you become. So I encourage everyone, especially children, to follow Christ’s example. Here, let your spiritual wisdom match your age. Think about the things of the Lord. Because that’s important, essential for you. She had increased in wisdom as you grow. You should increase in favor with God and man. Now, obviously, Jesus did not need any pardoning grace because he was perfect. He had no sin. He had a sinless human nature. However, he was granted divine grace or favor, and many spiritual gifts were bestowed upon him. He was granted the spirit of wisdom and understanding, as well as the counsel, might, knowledge, and fear of the Lord, according to Isaiah 11, verse 2. All these graces rendered him acceptable to God and man. The great love and favor of God rested upon him as the God man, and he was held in esteem and affection by good men who appreciated the graces that he had. those who have the honor and happiness of knowing him thought highly of him. Those believing young people who grow in wisdom will also grow in favor with God and their fellow believers. What you read here is not something unique to Jesus, something you couldn’t achieve in a million years. For it is written of Samuel in the book of Samuel, first Samuel, 2.26. And the child Samuel grew on and was in favor both with the Lord and also with men. Very similar statement. So there’s no reason you can’t do the same as someone who has come to know the Lord as a child. Notice the patience of Jesus as he’s preparing for the ministry and the public ministry that he’s going to enter into. He’s only 12 years old. He’s got to wait quite a number of years yet before he’s going to enter into his public ministry. He has to wait for the entire development and maturity, all his graces, and all his gifts. Then, increasing in favor and affection of God and man, he would be ready to burst upon the scenes and enter into his public ministry. Sometimes people, especially young people, think they can dive right in, begin to serve Christ in public ministry of some kind, and yet many times they’re not prepared for the ministry. Moses tried to be the leader of Israel early on, but it was several decades later after he had watched the sheep on the backside of the desert for 40 years, that he was actually read. to lead the nation of Israel. So be patient. Develop Christian graces. Wait for God to open the door for public ministry. You can always serve God privately behind the scenes. You can always serve God in the capacity that he gives you. But God would have his men who are going to preach prepared. And he would have those who would do any type of public service for the Lord. or prepared for that occasion. And so he, Christ here shows us again. I think this idea of, you know, don’t rush in the ministry. I was in the seminary. The guy that was a first year student. He just, you couldn’t wait. He wanted to get in the ministry right away. Why don’t have to go through schooling? Why have to do all this? Well, maybe you didn’t have to go to the schooling, but you needed prepared. You needed some kind of training in spiritual matters. And just from discussion with him, I could see that he had plenty of areas that needed developed like I did at the time. We were still young. And so people are just, you know, I want to rush it and do, they’re not ready yet. God seasons men for that. And so we see Jesus here going through the seasoning process. Now you can get about another 18 years ago seasoning. And you might say, man, that’s a long time the way. patiently. He waits. He develops as a human being here. That aspect so that he’s ready when the time comes for him to step on the stage publicly and begin that ministry. He’s now ready. Interesting, isn’t it? With a little girl who followed her father through the newly planted garden, wisely stepped exactly where he stepped. If her father didn’t get any mud on his feet, she wouldn’t get any mud on his, hers. Well, spiritually following in the steps of a godly parent is beneficial, but more important is to follow in the steps of Jesus Christ. And here we have them as a child. Here we have some ideas about what it would be like to follow Christ as a child, see. So as a child, learn this from Christ. The perfect example. You should be subject to your parents. You should increase in wisdom and in favor. With God and man. Those are the things that I see coming out of our text. Well, let us close with a word of prayer.