Prepared to Grow
Fresh Air: How The Gospel Renews and Revives • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 viewsThe gospel shows us that in order to grow spiritually, we must first learn to listen and seek God’s wisdom.
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I love New Years. I love it because the beauty of a new year is that it brings hope to us, usually. Usually a new year means that there is hope for change - a change in outlook, a change in appearance, a change in circumstances or maybe even a change in our spiritual state. We are afforded an opportunity to let go of the previous year with all the frustrations, the problems and the pain that we experienced in it and embrace the possibilities of the new year.
This new year though feels a little different. Instead of the natural shift that beginning a new year brings, it feels like 2022 is dragging 2021 behind it like a piece of toilet paper attached to a shoe. The COVID restrictions recently re-introduced have brought forth a frustration and weariness in many of us. It feels like more of the same, but not in a good way. Which is why we will have to be people who choose hope this year; people who choose to change and grow. We will have to decide to let go of last year and do what it takes in order to become who God wants us to be.
Some of you have tried this before. You decided to lose weight and get in shape in 2021 but by Christmas you chose to just "embrace who you are.” Some of you chose to read through the Bible in a year but the bookmark is still at Leviticus. Some of you decided that 2021 was going to be the year you were going to slow down at work and spend more time with family or friends but your google calendar shows a different story.
So what’s going to make this year any different? Well, today, as we start this new teaching series called Fresh Air: How the Gospel Renews and Revives, I am going to challenge you to change your approach and your mindset when it comes to growth.
As many of you know by now, I have a history in martial arts. I took Karate as a child, and as a young adult, I trained in Taekwondo. Before experiencing a call to be a pastor, my dream was to teach Taekwondo as a career. Well, since moving to Ontario, I have taken it up again. Starting all over as white belt, and progressing slowly from there, I am again enjoying this sport. But in the first few weeks of my return, I made a horrifying discovery. I am no longer 20 years old. When I went back, for the first few classes, I started exercising and working like I was still a 160 pound 20 year old. That led to more than one quick trip to the bathroom to throw up or sit on the floor hyperventilating because I was so out of shape and I was trying to go too hard too soon. In my mind, I could still do all this amazing martial arts stuff that I used to when I was 20, but my reality was different. I had to learn, and I’m still learning, to allow myself the slow journey of growth.
One thing that I take comfort in, is that Jesus grew as well. When we think of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s life, we tend to focus on his birth, death, and resurrection. What we don’t often look at is the process and preparation he went through on his journey to the cross. God did not send his Son to earth to save the world in a single day. Instead, Jesus spent thirty-three years growing and preparing to complete the Father’s work by being mindful of what was most important to God and being fully present in each of his interactions with others. The same is true for us. None of us are fully equipped for everything we are called to do right away. It takes years of preparation and growth in order to be able to fulfill what God has called us to and as the calling shifts, the need for more growth increases. When I was a 21 year old volunteer youth leader, I had “this much” knowledge and experience working with youth. And now, I have more because I have learned a lot in 22 years. I’ve learned from books, schooling, other leaders, and mostly from failures as well as successes. But the point is, in order to serve God to the fullness of what I am called to, I had to grow. I had to grow in knowledge and in maturity and I still need to. I’m not done yet. I am not perfectly mature (obviously) and I don’t know everything yet either. Just as Jesus had to prepare himself for ministry and had to grow, so do we all. And that’s what we are going to look at today in the scriptures.
So let’s look at today’s passage found in Luke chapter 2.
Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.” “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they didn’t understand what he meant. Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart. Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.
Pray.
This passage is the only account of Jesus’ life between his birth narrative and his emergence as a 30 year adult in the Bible. Here, Jesus is 12 years old, which in Jewish culture, meant that he was close to entering a new phase of life - early adulthood. I know, it’s hard for us to imagine 13 year olds as adults, because I have worked in Jr. High ministry and I’m telling you, I don’t trust some of them with a butter knife, much less the responsibilities of adulthood. But in Jesus’ time and culture, there was no such thing as “teenager” or “adolescent.” His entire childhood has been about preparing him for being an adult at age 13 - for taking responsibility for his faith and embracing his role in society, which beautifully we see a glimpse of here in this passage. Jesus would be known, as an adult, as a rabbi and here we see him embracing that future through his exploration of Jewish faith.
Jesus is at the temple in Jerusalem and the reason he is there is that it is Passover. Last week, as we talked about the Christian ritual of communion, I talked about the passover meal and its historical roots and spiritual meaning to the Jewish people. Passover was one of the three festivals that all Jewish men were required to celebrate in Jerusalem. Not everyone went to all three of them, because travelling was expensive and difficult so if people had to choose, they would often choose this one. And because of the difficulty, the danger, and the cost of travelling, people would do it together as a caravan. Usually, the women and children led the way and set the pace and the men would follow behind them.
When the celebration was over, everyone started back and the caravan was on its way. Some people may look at this passage and wonder how parents could lose a child for three days and not notice. I have two answers to that question: First, have you seen Home Alone? I mean, it’s entirely possible. Second, because of the way the caravan worked, it would be easy for Mary to assume Jesus was with Joseph and the men at the back of the caravan while Joseph assume Jesus was with Mary and the children at the front. Also, because there were lots of families travelling together, it would be easy to think Jesus was with one of the other kids, having a sleepover and playing Mario Kart.
When they realized that Jesus wasn’t there, the immediately went back to Jerusalem and found him at the temple. Now, I have questions that this passage has no answers for. Jesus was there for three days. Did they feed him at the temple? Did he sleep at the temple? Did Jesus live as a homeless teen for three days, scrounging out what he could? I have no idea and the Bible hasn’t seen fit to give me an answer to those questions. But the passage does answer another question of mine: How do we grow as people?
1. We grow best when we are in the garden of God’s presence.
1. We grow best when we are in the garden of God’s presence.
Every parent chooses to parent their kids differently. In this passage, I admit that I am amazed at Mary and Joseph. They have been frantic with worry looking for their lost child in a large city. They finally find him and they lovingly admonish him by asking him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”- Luke 2:28 NLT. Now, if I did what Jesus did, and hung out at the temple in a major city by myself at 12 years old while my parents left assuming I was with them, then my parents would have acted a bit different. My mom would have run up to me, hugged me, made sure I was okay, and then beat me senseless and my father would have stood there in solidarity with my mom, shaking his head at my stupidity. But it’s different for Jesus. Jesus has this special connection to the temple. We don’t really know how much Jesus knew at this point about who he is and how he would save humanity through his unjust condemnation and death. But Jesus knew that the temple was more than just the building where people worshipped God. He responds to Mary and Josep’s admonishment by saying “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” - Luke 2:49 (NLT).
With this one response, Jesus shows that he knows a couple of things:
Jesus knows that God is his father - although he is God incarnate, conceived by the Holy Spirit, Jesus is also fully human and his statement shows that he has developed a personal, loving connection between himself and the person of the Trinity he calls “Father.” And right there, there is something for us. Do you know that one of the ways that God relates to you is as a father? It is not the only way, for God also acts as a mother to us as well, but there is something about the father image that Jesus has articulated here. A father should be a person who loves deeply, who is present to their kids, who provides for them, who protects them, who teaches them and who guides them and for some of you, that describes your father very well. And for others, the very term “father” is traumatic because of what you experienced and as a father myself, all I can say is “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that the man you call father failed you.” Even the best fathers on earth are pale imitations that are corrupted by their own sin and haunted by their own demons. I had a great father on earth. A man who loved me, who supported me even if he didn’t agree with me, who was generous and always present to me. And I see how that affected me. And I have seen in many of the people whom I have pastored over the last 20 years, how having bad experiences and unhealthy relationships with their father has affected them. It becomes a life-long wound for many people. But I offer hope. Because God relates to us as a father, he exemplifies what it truly means to be a Father. Look at this definition of God’s fatherhood in the psalms:
The Lord gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly. He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For those of us who had good fathers, God is the ultimate form of that; the exponential degree of all the goodness you experienced. For those who had terrible or just absent fathers, God is the redemption of the idea. The perfect father who never leaves you or forsakes you. The one who loves you as you are and yet empowers you to grow. The one who is present to you and who listens to you. Jesus knew God as his father and you can too.
Jesus also knows that the best place to grow is in the presence of God. The temple in Jerusalem was both literal and symbolic. It served as the literal place where the substitutional animal sacrifices could be offered and as a place where people could gather to worship God. But symbolically, the temple was where God resided. If you wanted to be near God, you had to go to him at the temple. And so Jesus, in his desire to learn and grow in his faith, went to the temple to be with God. You can grow as a person reading books. You can study the Myers-Briggs personality profile and understand your Enneagram type. You can read any number of “self-help” books and journal your thoughts and feelings every day and you may grow some. But you cannot grow into the fullness of who you can be outside of the presence of God. His presence is like good soil which facilitates our growth. You can water plants perfectly and give them all the Miracle-Gro that you want, but if they aren’t in good soil, they won’t grow to their full potential. The same is true for us. There are lots of external helps, but we have to plant ourselves in God’s presence to grow properly.
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
Jesus knew, and he teaches us, that the best place to grow is in the garden of God presence. That means our prayer times are essential for our growth because that’s where our hearts connect to God in faith. It means our personal study of the Holy Scriptures is essential for our growth because God reveals himself through them to us. It means the corporate worship of God as a church is essential for our growth for God both meets with us when we gather and he uses each other to help us grow. Some days you will be the one who grows. Some days you will be the reason someone else grows. We need to intentionally plant ourselves in the garden of God’s presence and together, we will grow into who we called to be.
Our passage teaches us that the best way we grow is in the presence of our Heavenly Father. It also teaches us that the best way to grow is through listening and asking questions.
2. We grow through listening and asking questions.
2. We grow through listening and asking questions.
While Jesus was hanging out at the temple, he wasn’t playing mission impossible, dutch blitz or extreme bingo, like many jr. high students might today. He was actively engaged with the adults in spiritual learning and growth. When Mary and Joseph found him, the passage says that Jesus was “sitting among the religious teachers, listen to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.” - Luke 2:46-47 NLT As a pastor, my greatest desire for you is that you listen to God and ask questions. Jesus says in Revelation 3:20 ““Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” - Revelation 3:20 NLT. The key to greater intimacy with God is listening for his voice speaking to you. The reason this is such a big deal to me is that I know personally how easy it is to get into a rhythm that doesn’t really listen for God. We lead lives that are busy, and we measure success with productivity. Add to that the world we built of constant distractions, and spending time listening for God has become harder. But if we develop the habit of listening for God, I am convinced we will hear him speaking to us in a myriad of ways. We will hear him speak to our hearts and minds, reminding us of truth we have learned and communicating his will. We will hear him speak to us through the Bible, as we read it. I’ve been working on this practice more and more in my life and you know what book has encouraged me lately? Leviticus. An OT book about God’s law has been fantastic for me to read this time because God has been speaking to me through it. We will hear God’s voice through each other, as we speak words of challenge and encouragement. We will hear God’s voice speaking to us through the preaching we listen to, the podcasts that stir us and the music that elevates us. We grow through listening. But to grow to our most true selves, we have to listen to God. There are many voices out there to listen to, including the ones in our own heads. But if you will focus your listening on God, as Jesus did at the the temple, you’ll learn to tune out all the voices that aren’t from God and that’s when you will grow into your best self.
But Jesus didn’t just passively listen. He asked questions and he gave answers. I think too many of us are significantly more concerned with being right than we are with learning well because to learn well means we need to ask questions.
When we become curious people who ask questions, amazing things happen:
Asking questions leads to wisdom - James 1:5 “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.”
Asking questions leads to intimacy with God - questions act like a drill that moves you past the surface and takes you deeper
Asking questions leads to respect - It shows that you are humble enough to learn, and people respect those who are humble.
Let me give you some examples of questions that can help you become the person God is calling you to be.
For personal growth over bad habits or unhealthy thinking, ask “Why do I do that?" “Where did I learn to think like that or act like that?” “What would healthy living or thinking look like?” “How would Jesus respond to the same situation?”
When it comes to reading the Bible, ask it lots of questions: “What’s happening in the passage?” "How is God encouraging me in this passage?” “What is God challenging me to do through this passage?” “Is this passage descriptive or prescriptive?” “What is the author intending on communicating?” “How does this passage relate to Jesus and his atoning work on the cross?”
For growth in relationship, ask questions: “What do you need?” “How can I help you?” “What are some areas I need to grow in?” “What can I do to help you thrive?”
Asking questions leads us to better intimacy with ourselves, with God and with others and is how we will grow both as people and as followers of Jesus. After all, even he asked lots of questions. And what happened as he grew up? Luke 2:52 “Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and all the people.” - Luke 2:52 NLT
Conclusion
Conclusion
A new year brings with it an opportunity to make a decisive change in your life. There isn’t a single person here in the room or watching online who has reached perfection. We are all still spiritually growing and changing. The gospel tells us that God loves us just as we are - messed up, broken, sinners. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more or less than he does right now because his love for you has nothing to do with your actions. But, because he loves us, God wants us to grow and become more like Jesus. Because Jesus is fully human, without the sin nature that we have, he is the picture of humanity we need to become like. To become more fully human is to become more like Jesus and God’s heart for us is to become more fully human. So, as you pursue growth and change this year, my hope, my prayer, my challenge for you is that you will plant yourselves well in the garden of God’s presence, that you allow him to transform you and that you will listen for his voice and ask lots of questions.
Pray.