And, The Child Grew Up

January 1, 2017     NOTES NOT EDITED
The Child Grew
Luke 2:40-50

SIS – As one who declares that Jesus is my Lord, and my example in life, I must grow up as He grew up.

READING:  Luke 2:40-50

Most people never get past Christmas.  They meet Jesus in the manger, but He never grows up in their story.  He remains the vulnerable, innocent, non-threatening babe that that gives us warm fuzzy feelings.  We can manage the babe in the manger.

The Manger Scene is the beginning of the story, not the end.  For me, the most significant words in the Nativity Story come at the end of that story, particularly these few words:

And, the child grew (v40)

Our grammar teachers drilled into many of us that we should never start a sentence with, “and.”  Greek knows no such grammatical rule.  In fact, the little word, “and” (de in Greek), begins many, many sentences in the New Testament.  It sometimes has more significance that at other times.  Often the little word, and, introduces an event one would normally take for granted but the writer wants to show it has literary significance. The event or circumstance introduced by “de” is something someone would normally expect to follow what had been said.  In this sense you could translate Luke 2:40 as:  “And, of course, Jesus grew up.”

The natural course of living is to “grow up” and mature.  The natural course of spiritual life should also be to mature and grow.  So often, however, in the case of far too many Christians, this is not the case.  Many Christians do NOT grow up.  They remain babies in Christ that never get past the “milk of the Word” or the “elementary principles of Christian living.”  Paul states the matter like this:

Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. ² I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, ³ for you are still controlled by your sinful nature (1Cor. 3:1-3).

Paul further clarifies what scholars now call the “juvenilization of Christianity” in Hebrews 6:1:

So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding.

Now, I want to warn you that this message is very strong.  It can easily offend us if our goal in life is not to become mature in Christ and increase our devotion day by day.  Most of us have fallen far, far short of where we should be at this stage in our Christian life.

We can ask ourselves a few questions to evaluate just how mature we are in our faith.  How much do we pray?  It seems anything less than 30 minutes a day, and one must ask if one really has “grown up” in one’s faith.  How many times have we read the Bible through from beginning to end?  Most believers have never read it through even once.  Can I quote at least 2 verses for every year I’ve been a Christian—word for word, and giving the references?  Do I volunteer in and through my church as many hours per week as I spend watching T.V.?  The average adult watches 5 hours of T.V. per week.  What if every church member regularly volunteered only one tenth of that much time to church ministry?  Do I share my faith regularly with others inviting them to give their lives to Jesus?  Most Christians—over 9 out of 10—never lead even one other person to the Lord in an entire life time.

If you are like me, these questions lead to painful conclusions.  I far fall short of the kind of devotion and commitment that Jesus had, or that the early disciples had; or, that most Christians have in places where loving Jesus may cost you your life!  I know I have not “grown up” in my faith as much as I could have, and certainly not as much as I should have. 

This is a New Year.  It is a clean slate, so to speak.  Today is Day 1.  I can start today “growing up in my faith” and becoming a responsible Christian adult. 

We will not have a “Happy NEW Year,” but we will simply repeat the same old year we had last year, and many years before.  I want to challenge us in the most forceful and significant way to REPENT of our juvenile approach to faith and, “grow up!”

As one who declares that Jesus is my Lord, and my example in life, I must grow up as He grew up.

Jesus grew up in His faith in four significant ways.

1.  He grew in the POWER of His faith (v40a,b,c)

⁴⁰ The boy grew up and became strong

Jesus was a powerful man physically  The other night, before going off to bed, I caught a rebroadcast of the blockbuster movie, “The Passion of the Christ.”  I caught it just at the scene where Jesus is led to the Roman courtyard to be flogged—or beaten.  The technical term is scourging.  It was often done to prisoners that were condemned to die.  Usually, the scourging was so brutal that the prisoner died before the Romans had a chance to crucify them.  Jesus did not die from the scourging that was so brutal scholars believe it actually exposed His internal organs.  Yet, Jesus still took the heavy crossbeam of His cross and carried it a great distance to the cross, before collapsing under its weight.  As you know, a man from the crowd, Simon the Cyrene, was commanded to carry it the rest of the way.  But, Jesus still got to His feet and walked to Golgotha.  Jesus was a powerful man physically.  He walked everywhere He went.  He spent long hours ministering to peoples’ needs.  He was a powerful man, physically.

Jesus was a powerful man intellectually. Notice our verse again.

⁴⁰ The boy grew up and became strong, filled with wisdom

Jesus never attended college.  He never wrote a book.  He only lived to on this earth 33 years—30 of them in total obscurity—yet even people with not religious persuasion at all know His teachings.  The Sermon on the Mount is one of the highest forms of prose in any language of any time.  The Lord’s parable of the Prodigal Son is known by people in every corner of the world.  If one reads the words of Jesus, one is struck by His wisdom in the same way that the Jewish police force were struck by His speaking.  On one occasion, the teaching of Jesus had created such a public commotion that the Temple Police were dispatched to bring Jesus before the Jewish tribunal of Scribes and Pharisees.  Here’s what happened,

⁴⁵ Then the temple police  came to the chief priests  and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why haven’t you brought Him?” ⁴⁶ The police answered, “No man ever spoke like this!” (Jn. 7:45-46)

The words of the Lord demonstrate a strong mind bolstered by a strong character.  Jesus grew up into an intellectually powerful man.

Jesus was a powerful man spiritually.  We read on in our verse:

⁴⁰ The boy grew up and became strong, filled with wisdom,
and God’s grace was on Him.

That’s the real source of the Lord’s strength.  He was physically powerful and intellectually powerful, but most importantly, He was spiritually powerful.  His power was fueled by God’s grace.  Jesus, as a man just like us, enjoyed the favor of God which was the source of His strength.

Jesus grew up into became a powerful Man of faith by growing strong physically, intellectually, and spiritually.

2.  He grew in the PRACTICE of His faith (39, 40)

 

³⁹ When they had completed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth
…………………….
⁴¹ Every year His parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival

I’m sure you have heard the old adage, “Practice makes perfect.”  Well, like so many such aphorisms, there is as much falsehood or truth in the statement.  Practice does indeed make perfect if what you are practicing is perfect and you are perfectly practicing it.  Otherwise, it is more accurate to state the matter in this manner, “Practice makes permanent.”  Practice transforms a behavior into a natural process.  This is why athletes are able to perform as if it takes not effort at all.  The effort comes from endless hours of difficult practice that makes the skills they practice second nature—or even first nature for that matter.  They become what they do.

This applies also to spiritual growth.  Jesus grew up in the faith by practicing the disciplines of the faith.  He became a prayer warrior by praying.  He became a Scriptural scholar by studying.  Jesus practiced the principles of His Jewish faith.  One such principle was to faithfully go to Jerusalem to observe three feasts each year as commanded in Scripture—the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Passover, and the Feast of Pentecost.  Jesus never missed one of these feasts.  He was a devout son of a devout stepfather and devout mother.  Faith is not simply an idea.  Faith is a practice. The more you practice the disciplines of faith like praying, Bible study, fellowship, and evangelism, the more these disciplines become a part of your nature.

According to one sports article, a typical pro athlete would train around 5-6 hours a day 6 days a week.  They are already professional athletes.  Professional basketball players already have the skills needed to play basketball.  Professional football players already have the skills to play football.  This is true of every professional athlete in every sport.  So, why do they practice so many hours each day?  They practice so that playing is a part of their nature.  Kobe Bryant doesn’t have to think about how to shoot a basketball, it is a part of who he is.  Tiger Woods doesn’t have to figure out how to hit a golf ball a gazillian yards, it’s who he is.  Practice makes something a part of our nature.

This is more true in spiritual matters than any other endeavor.  Playing basketball or football or fooseball are human endeavors.  Praying, studying the Bible, worshipping in church, and sharing the gospel are eternal matters.  We become more and more mature as we practice the disciplines of the faith.  

3.  He grew in the PROCLAMATION of His faith (46-50)

⁴⁶ After three days, they found Him in the temple complex sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all those who heard Him were astounded at His understanding and His answers. ⁴⁸ When His parents saw Him, they were astonished, and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for You.”  ⁴⁹ “Why were you searching for Me?” He asked them. “Didn’t you know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”  ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what He said to them.

You will notice how Jesus was growing intellectually.  He loved learning about the things of God.  “He was listening and asking questions.”  His pursuit of knowledge paid off.  Notice that in this passage Jesus goes from a passive position to actively sharing His faith.  We are watching him mature and grew up before our eyes. Verse 47 says:

⁴⁷ And all those who heard Him were astounded at His understanding and His answers.

I have known people who have had massive amounts of Bible knowledge—many having much more knowledge of the Bible and theology than I have.  I know a man who practically has the entire Bible memorized.  This is a great and wonderful thing; however, it serves no eternal purpose whatsoever if one never shares one’s knowledge of the Lord with others—and I mean particularly, others who are not saved. 

The very Jewish leaders and scholars Jesus was speaking to, had no idea Who He was.  We know that Jesus lived in obscurity until God chose to reveal Him to the world at His baptism by John. 

One application I draw from this passage is that the “gospel is given to us so that we can pass it on to others.”  Jesus spent three years teaching, preaching, and ministering to the masses.  The proclamation of the gospel was a huge part of His earthly ministry.  He spent three years proclaiming the message of redemption.  His death, burial and resurrection was the culmination of three years of His preaching—and over three thousand years of God’s prophets proclaiming the coming of the Messiah.  Proclamation of the gospel is a very significant part of what it means to “grow up in our faith.”  

Let me add, as you look at verse 50, that when we regularly share our faith, more people will fail to understand, or even misunderstand us, than will understand.  Jesus didn’t stop sharing.  We should never stop sharing either.  

We see evidence of Jesus’ spiritual growth in the power He had physically, intellectually, and spiritually.  We see the spiritual growth of the Lord in how He practiced the disciplines of the faith.  We see Jesus growing in the proclamation of the gospel about Who He is and what He came to do.  Power, Practice, and Proclamation are all indicators of spiritual growth modeled in the life of Our Lord.  But, the most significant indicator of the Lord’s growth in His faith in the Father’s plan comes when we see 

4.  The PRICE He Paid for His Faith (46-50)

⁴¹ Every year His parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival

Christmas is quaint, but it is Easter that makes a saint.  Nobody was saved when Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem.  The price that was paid for our salvation happened on a cross at Calvary.

Jesus perfectly fulfilled the will of His Father because Jesus was willing to pay whatever the price was for obedience.  And . . . it was a steep price to pay.  So heavy was the price Jesus would have to pay to be faithful to His Father, that Jesus actually sweat blood over it.  We read: Being in anguish,  He prayed more fervently, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground (Lk. 22:44)

Why did Jesus grew up so wonderfully to fulfill so perfectly His purpose in life?  He was a man, exactly like us in every way and with every temptation, but He “grew up” in a way that we simply do not—and are not—growing up.  Why?  Because He was willing to pay whatever price it would cost to be fully obedient to God.

Jesus held back nothing in His obedience.  He counted nothing in the world worthy to hold onto if it meant being disobedient—and that included even His life.  When Jesus died, He was naked and every last drop of blood was drained from His earthly body.  Jesus was completely consumed by His obedience to the point that all He had left was the favor or the Father, Who had declared at the baptism of His Son: "this is my son in whom I am well pleased!" (Mt. 3:17)

We could be more like Jesus.  We could be more powerful in our faith if, we were willing to pay the PRICE that Jesus paid.  Jesus paid it all!  The Lord knew what His faith was going to cost Him.  He knows what our faith is going to cost us as His disciples.  He never painted a rosy picture of what it would mean to follow Him as His people in this world.  Jesus offered all would-be disciples full disclosure:

“If anyone wants to come with  Me, he must deny himself, 
take up his cross daily,  and follow Me. (Lk. 9:23)

Those four words stick in my mind as the page turns on a new calendar:  “and, the child grew.”  The normal process following birth is, “growth.”  Otherwise, there is something terribly wrong.

Brooke Greenberg is the size of an infant, with the mental capacity of a toddler.   She died October 24, 2013, at the age of twenty still the size of an baby.  She still had her baby teeth.  She was never been diagnosed with any known genetic syndrome or chromosomal abnormality that would help explain why.  Doctors have no explanation for why Brooke does not get older.  Constant reminders of Brooke’s failure to grow up are family pictures taken throughout the years in which everybody gets older, but Brooke.  The family loved her and her Mom once said, “We love her just the way she is.”  That is admirable and what I would expect a loving mother to say, but the fact remains, Brooke’s story is unique, and heartbreaking, because, “children are expected to grow up.”

God expects His children to grow up, mature, and move beyond a juvenile expression of faith.  I wish I could tell you what you need to do, step by step, to mature in the faith.  It would take more than a sermon.  It would take a book . . . in fact, my best advice is that we start “applying what we read in God’s Book!”

I would love a “HAPPY” New Year.  More than a “happy” New Year, however, I long for a NEW year.  I don’t want to continue to practice the elementary principles of faith.  I don’t want to be controlled by the sinful nature.  I want to “grow up” in my faith, just like my Lord.

“And, the child grew up!”  (Luke 2:40).  Isn’t it time we got serious about “growing up in our faith?”