December 27, 2009

Sermon Title: Divine Prescient

What is it that he knew and why?

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INTRODUCTION

A schoolteacher noticed that one of her young students appeared to be daydreaming.

“Quick, now,” she said to him. “Solve this problem: What are 2 and 4 and 28 and 44?”

“That’s easy,” replied her young charge. “NBC, CBS, HBO and the Cartoon Network!”

I.                  Not on our cable system

A.                 You have to admit that his answer was accurate.

B.                 It was not the answer that the teacher expected or wanted.

C.                 It is not the kind of answer that Jesus would give.

D.                But, then he did not have cable.

”Doctor! Doctor!”[1]

A mother takes her son to a psychiatrist and says, "Doctor, I'd like you to evaluate my 13-year-old son."

"He's suffering from a transient psychosis with an intermittent rage disorder, punctuated by episodic radical mood swings, but his prognosis is good for full recovery."

"How can you say all that without even meeting him?"

"Didn't you say he was 13?"

 II.           This might describe the typical 13 years old.

 A.                                   We are not dealing with a typical 13 or 12 year old.

 B.                                  This is a very precocious child and he is missing.

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MAIN BODY:

 I.              What are you going to do?

 A.            Call the police and enlist their cooperation in finding their son.

 1.                                   The Romans will not be any help.

 2.                                   They are the enemy,

 3.                                   There were the Temple Guard or Levitical police.

a.               They were more interested in enforcing Levitical Law

b.              They will not look for lost children.

 B.            Send out an Amber Alert

The AMBER Alert Program, named for 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies, broadcasters, and transportation agencies to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases. Broadcasters use the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to air a description of the abducted child and suspected abductor. The goal of an AMBER Alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for and safe recovery of the child.

 1.           There is no Amber Alert.

 2.           There are no Electronic devices at this time.

 C.            Have his picture printed on milk cartons.

 1.           There is little milk.

 2.           There are no milk cartons.

 D.           Print a poster and post it on poles.

 1.           There are no cameras,

 2.           There are no printing presses.

 E.            What are parents to do?

 1.           Hire Ethan Edwards to find their son.

 2.           John Wayne as Ethan spends years searching for his kidnapped niece taken by the Comanche Indians.

 3.           There is no John Wayne, no Ethan Edwards.

 II.          The parents have to do the searching for themselves,

 A.         They may enlist the help of some of the Jerusalemites that they know.

 B.         Several days pass when they hear of a rumor that there is a young boy in the temple of all places engaged in discussion with the teachers of Judah.

 C.         All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

 D.        When his parents saw him they were astonished.

 E.         Then you have the typical parental reaction to someone who has been missing for three days.

 1.          Child why have you treated us like this?

 2.          Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.

 F.          Jesus response is also typical.

 1.          Why you searching for me?

 2.          Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?

 3.          Or did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business.

 G.        Jesus increased in wisdom, in years, and in divine and human favor.

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 III.        He must be about his father’s business.

 A.         Wow, What did the people who might have been nearby think of him?

 1.          He was a dutiful precocious child.

 2.          He was going to be of great help to his dad.

 B.         What the people heard was not what Joseph and Mary understood.

 C.         The people assumed that Jesus was Joseph’s son.

 1.          We know different.

 2.          Jesus had a mission that went far beyond the immediate family.

 3.          He had to be about his Father’s (God’s) business.

 IV.       Then and now, Jesus didn’t teach to stun the crowds with new and outside-the-box ideas.

 A.          He came to fulfill the law — to put flesh and blood onto words they had heard all their lives.

 B.         He came to model a holistically fulfilling life.

 C.         He came to change people.

 V.          Jesus came to do the work of God.

 A.         Mary was probably as embarrassed, as she was shocked that her 12-year-old son went AWOL for a temple study leave.

 B.         In response to her surprise, Jesus asked: “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (v. 49).

 1.          The Message paraphrases Jesus’ activity as “dealing with the things of my Father.”

 2.          Or, as the KJV puts it: “I must be about my Father’s business.”

 3.          Both of these translations demonstrate how Jesus was different from those around him.

 VI.       Jesus was consumed by scriptural education.

 A.         We know that because the religious leaders were amazed by his “understanding and his answers. (v. 47).”

 B.         There are two different concepts.

 1.          Jesus could answer questions posed by the temple rabbis.

 2.          But he also showed understanding, which probably came from questions he posed (v. 46).

 C.         In rabbinical education, little value was placed on simply possessing information about God and Scripture.

 1.          Rabbis wanted to know if students had internalized, owned, wrestled with and understood information.

 2.          This was demonstrated through questions, not answers.

 a)          Could a student understand information enough to show wonder and musing about what he hadn’t learned yet?

 b)          Could he demonstrate that he had reflected on the Subject of the subject at hand?

 VII.     This 12-year-old boy didn’t just know about God. He knew God.

 A.            Somehow in the education that was part of his divine-human experience,

 B.          Jesus had personalized and internalized who God was.

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 VIII.  This leads us to questions of our own:

 A.           What do Sunday sermons feel like to us?

 1.          More information to acquire?

 2.          Something we patiently wait through before kickoff that afternoon?

 B.          Which is a more truthful expression for us: “I know about God” or “I know God”?

 1.          Do we feel comfortable exploring questions about God?

 2.          Are we in touch with our doubts and disbelief?

 C.          Do we chase answers for questions we don’t have answers to?

 1.          Do our questions show the depth and hunger of our reflection about God?

 2.          Jesus said he “must” be in his Father’s house — dealing with the things of the Father — about his business.

 3.          Mustn’t we, too? And how can we demonstrate that right now?

 IX.       Jesus grew in wisdom and favor. Verse 52 is a beautiful summary that covers Jesus’ life from age 12 to about age 30: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.”

 A.           As Jesus grew older, three things were true of him

 B.          He was smart, he was cool and he was loved.

 C.          The Bible says he “increased in wisdom,” people liked him and God was pleased with him.

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CONCLUSION

 I.               So, over time, how are we doing: getting smart? Getting cool? Getting loved?

 A.           Although it’s hard to measure change over short periods of time, we can look back over the last five years and ask how we’ve changed.

 1.          How has God helped me to become wiser today than I was five years ago?

 2.          How have I matured over the last five years?

 3.          How has my reputation with nonbelievers changed?

 4.          Is my reputation with my coworkers better, worse or the same?

 5.          How would my family say I’ve grown over the last five years?

 B.          Christian therapist and author Henry Cloud offers a simple paradigm for understanding Christian growth.

 1.          Growth = Grace + Truth + Time.

 2.          The genius of Jesus is that he is full of grace and truth (John 1).

 II.            Over time, we should be able to see Christ’s life and teachings changing us and causing us to grow.

 C.         People are discovering how to grow organs, cure plagues and help the blind see.

 D.         These are seemingly monumental and unimaginable tasks.

 E.         Jesus wants to accomplish much simpler things in us: deepening our souls and changing our lives.

 III.         Are we giving him a chance to change our worlds?

Amen!