If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Luke chapter 2. This morning, as we close out, or actually the Advent season has been closed out, we celebrated Jesus' birth, we're going to look at how Luke closes out the very beginning of his gospel, as he tells the narrative of the birth of Christ. Chapter 2, verse 41, let's actually start at 39, going to 52, and when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee to their own town of Nazareth, and the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover, and when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom, and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but when they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem searching for him. After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to men and asking them questions, and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers, and when his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, son, why have you treated us so? Behold your father and I have been searching for you in great distress, and he said to them, why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's house, and they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them? And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them, and his mother treasured up all these things in her heart, and Jesus increased, and wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God and man. This is God's word, let's pray for the preaching of it. Lord Jesus, it is so good to be here, it is so good to be with your people, and to hear your word. And I do pray that you would, by your grace, lead us at this moment, as we hear from your word, that you would instruct our hearts, that you would encourage us, by the truths that we find in your word, by the we are broken people that have run from you. We are people that need to know, and be certain of your truth. Increase our faith, as we look at this passage, and guide us, even now, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Well, leading up to Christmas, in the tenant household, we have several questions to ask our kids. Some of them have to deal with Advent, and some of them have to deal with what they want for Christmas. And as we entered into Advent, we would seldom ask, what do you want for Christmas? And my daughter always, without a doubt, without skipping a beat, said she wanted a dollhouse, and she assumed that she was going to get it, so much so that she was praying for it and thanking God that she had already gotten it before it had come. Well, the dollhouse did show up on Christmas morning, and she has not stopped playing with it. It is her favorite toy, and she loves it. Along with her dollhouse, she got her three favorite characters, Cinderella, Snow White, and Belle. And they all have different kind of closed change, and she gets to play with this dollhouse, and she loves it. One morning this week, as I got up early, and they were playing, I went into her room, and she was playing with her dollhouse. And I asked her, I said, do you like your dollhouse? And she says, yes, Daddy, I love my dollhouse, but it's too small for me, Daddy. I can't fit in it. I want to be in there with Cinderella and Belle and my favorite friends, but it's too small for me. Daddy, can you help me change Cinderella? She's a four-year-old, my daughter longed to be in a different world. She longed to be in the world with her little action figures, little dolls in her dollhouse. And she longed for that, and she was frustrated that she couldn't be there. Well, this passage this morning is about how Jesus enters into a different world, that he was not hindered by who he was, but he pierced the darkness and he came in, and he's been with us. He lived with us, he walked with us, he spoke with us, he entered into a different world. He entered in, if I can say this, into the dollhouse, because he loves us. And that's the very point that Luke is trying to make with this passage, the very point that Luke is trying to hammer home at the very beginning of his gospel, that Jesus enters into our world as a child, as an infant, as a boy, as a 12-year-old. He enters in, as a rescuer, as the promised one, as the Messiah, the three points that he makes out of this passage that I want to draw out this morning. But first, is this that Jesus comes and he's human, he's very flesh, he's man, he also comes and he's divine, he's God of God's. But the last point I want to draw out this passage that Jesus comes and he's worth following, he's worth following. And so let's start by looking at our first point, which is Jesus came and he was human. Luke, in the first couple of verses of this passage, refers to Jesus in three different ways. He calls him a boy, he calls him a child, and he calls him a 12-year-old. Though what's Luke's point, Luke's point is he's trying to tell his readers the original honest and you today is that Jesus, the son of God, the second person of the Trinity, had to grow up. He took on human flesh and he, just like you and I, had to go through normal human development. He had to grow up into his body. He had to physically grow, his muscles and his bones had to get stronger and had to get bigger because he took on flesh to come to be like us. Jesus no doubt as a child, as an infant woke up in the middle of the night as any child does wanting food and crying out for his mommy. And Mary and Joseph no doubt went in and got him and fed him and burped him and rocked him and put him back to sleep as a child. And then a few months later, Jesus would learn how to sit up the back, the muscles in his back and his bones would get stronger and he would learn how to sit up and play with toys. And a few months later as his bones grew and his muscles grew, he learned how to crawl. And follow his mommy and daddy around the house. And a few months later, his hands and his eyes started to coordinate with each other and he started developing hand-eye coordination to be able to pick up things and throw things. He tried to experience his world by picking up things and putting him in his mouth like any infant would because he took on flesh. He was human. He went through this normal stage as a human development that all of us go through. Where children go through. Later on he would learn how to run and follow his daddy and walk. As his bones, again, grew stronger and stronger and his muscles got more and more developed. Now, let me remind you, I'm talking about the second person of the Trinity, God himself. The person who Paul tells us in Colossians created the world and spoke the world into being. The second person of the Trinity takes on flesh and grows up as a little child. He was human. He had to physically grow. Did anybody else in here, as you grew, get accused of preparing for a flood, like I did, that you would walk into your Sunday so class or you'd go to school and people were like, is there a flood coming? I was like, no, why? Because your pants go to your ankles. Because I was growing, my body had to grow and my mom had to constantly buy me more and more shoes and more and more shirts and more and more socks and more and more pants because my physical body was maturing. And there's no doubt that Jesus had to have more and more sandals and more and more tunics as he grew and matured as he took on flesh and was human. Like you and like me, Luke wants us to understand that from the very beginning of his narrative, of his historical narrative, that the Messiah, that his gospel points toward who Jesus claims to be in his gospel came. It did not take on that mantle at age 30, but he was the Messiah from the very beginning and he was the Messiah as a boy, as a child and even as a 12 year old. He matured physically, his human body had to grow, but he also matured intellectually. Some of us make a mistake in our own theology as we think about who Jesus was, the boy Jesus. We make a mistake in thinking that he was a human and he took on flesh and had a human body and he was limited by that, but he had a godly mind, he had a divine mind. He wasn't limited by that, unless it's not true, that's actually a heresy that was condemned by the church in the 4th century. Jesus indeed had a human mind, Jesus had to learn things, Jesus had to go to school, Jesus didn't come out of Mary's womb and know the name of all the stars and all the constellations. He didn't know that because he had a mind like yours and like mine and he had to grow. His intellectual capabilities had to be enhanced over time. Donald McLeod and his book, The Person of Christ, put it this way, Jesus observed and learned and remembered and applied. This would have been impossible if he had been born in possession of complete body, in a complete body of knowledge and wisdom. Instead he was born with the mental equipment of a normal child, experienced the usual stimuli and went through the ordinary process of intellectual development. What is he saying? He's saying that Jesus had a mind like you have a mind and he had to grow. He had the mental equipment and the mental capacity to learn things and he had to learn things. Have you ever been watching on Saturday morning, a woodworking show or known what it's like to be a carpenter, some of you in here know how to work with wood? It's not an easy thing to do and you just had to learn that skill. It's not like he came out of the womb and knew how to make a crib immediately like that. I knew how to cut wood, I knew how to sand it down. These are all things that he as a little child had to learn because he was human and he came in human flesh as a child or as a parent to children. There are several stages of development that I love and some of you can echo this sentiment. If at one stage they think that I'm their hero and they love to see daddy when he comes home after work and no doubt when I unlock that door or when my alarm beeps, when I'm pulling into the driveway, the kids say daddy's home, daddy's home and what do they do? They run to the door and they give me a big hug because they're excited that daddy is home and he's here to play with them, play with the dollhouse or play basketball or play with trucks. They're excited that his daddy is home. Well, there's no doubt that Jesus had that experience too along with Joseph when Joseph would come home from his work or came out of the place where he did work. Jesus would run to him and give him a big hug and say daddy, you're home, I'm so glad you're here now let's play. Jesus had those moments with his father and as mothers there's no doubt when you think about some of the most heartfelt moments you've experienced with your child is when they're infants and you're feeding them right and they're right there in your lap and there's a moment when they acknowledge you for who you are as their mother and they stop feeding for a second and they look up and they smile at you right and it melts your heart because they're acknowledging you and their minds. Have been working to understand, okay, this is the person that feeds me and takes care of me and they're so happy to be fed at that moment. Well, there's no doubt that Mary had that experience with Jesus Mary knew what it felt for Jesus to smile at her as an infant and it warmed her heart Jesus was a human he took on human flesh and went through all the normal stages of human development physically and mentally. To be the perfect savior for you and for me Jesus knows what it's like to be in junior high because he was a junior high at one time Jesus knows what it's like to be a five year old if you're in here and you're a five year old or you're six year old or seven year old or an eight year old or nine year old or three year old Jesus knows what it's like to be like you because Jesus was like you one time. In parents when you think about your children when you think about the stages of development they're going through and you're struggling with them and you see the sin in their life and you're hurt by it. You can say Jesus knows what that's like. He knows the temptations that they have. He knows the struggles that they have as they grow up relational struggles with all sorts of people as we read in the passage Jesus was part of a community. In a traditional setting children were raised and more of a community setting with relatives and acquaintances Jesus had weird uncles and weird aunts Jesus knew what broken relationships were and he navigated those as a little child in parents would you take comfort this morning. He knows what it's like to be a five year old and a six year old and a ten year old because he was like that but Luke doesn't stop there. Luke tells us this person the second person of the Trinity enters into our world and he's human but he's not only human he's divine and we see that in several ways here in this passage the first way I want to show you is through verse 40 and 52 where it says in the child grew and became strong with wisdom and favor filled with wisdom and favor of God and the favor of God was upon him in the verse 52 and Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and favor with the Lord that favor with God and man. What does Luke saying here? Luke is saying that Jesus as a 12 year old a junior house student is filled with wisdom. He is here in the temple courts and he's amazing everybody around him there astonished what he is saying as a 12 year old. Now, let's we forget wisdom does not come simply because you ask the Bible tells us to ask for wisdom it'll be given to you and God does it tremendously and miraculously and moments of struggle and moments of anguish and moments of pain God can communicate and give you wisdom in that moment but as you read the word of God wisdom does not is not developed simply because you pray for it and it's given to you those are extraordinary circumstances like James talks about during the suffering he has people to ask for wisdom and we give them but as you read the proverb you read the wisdom literature wisdom comes to people as they walk the path as they walk in righteousness as they walk before the face of God day by day obeying his commandments over and over and over again and what that does is it forges a character it forges our character and God gives this wisdom and it ports wisdom to our hearts that we might grow up and be wise people that's what that's what that's how we gain wisdom if you read anywhere in the Proverbs it's all about that. actually if you would turn with me real quick to Proverbs chapter 2 the very beginning I think it's on 528 in the pub Bible listen to what it says verse 6 for the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth come knowledge and understanding he stores up sound wisdom for upright he's a shield to those who walk an integrity guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints verse 20 so you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous for the upright will inhibit one habit the land and those with integrity will remain in it but the wicked will be cut off from the land and the treacherous will be rooted out of it this is just a small little example test size for what all of Proverbs is talking about the wisdom of Proverbs is that you would walk before the Lord in faithfulness the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom as the word tells us now why is that because as you fear the Lord as you acknowledge him you understand who you are as a creature and what you owe him and you walk before him in faithfulness and obedience over and over and over again in the book of Proverbs talks about being faithful and being obedient to him and a bank his commandments because out of that it forges your character and who you are and God makes you into a wise person well here is Jesus as a 12-year-old as an unbelievably wise person that is astonishing everybody around him the greatest theologians of the time with the law are there marveling at him and he's asking them questions and debating them and he tells Mary something and she's a stonus she doesn't even know what to say because he's filled with wisdom from the very beginning he's been obedient to his father even as an infant even as a two-year-old a three-year-old a four-year-old Jesus walked before the Lord walked before the face of the Lord in obedience and his character has been developed into a wise human being that's an impossibility for you even as a 12-year-old those with the greatest hairs those with no hair Jesus so much wiser than you are as a 12-year-old although you've experienced much life Jesus wisdom as a 12-year-old surpasses your wisdom we should be astonished at this and it's a sign that Jesus is divine that he is who he says he was the second person of the Trinity the Son of God and he obeyed God perfectly in every way and we see it in the way he's wise with these people and how people are astonished by him what were you like when you were a 12-year-old do you remember this I could tell you what I was like I was an idiot right I'll never forget this past week and I was thinking about this past and you're going like 12-year-old what year was it I was a 1989 what happened in 1989 and you know you can only remember certain things that happened as you grow up well I remember in 1989 on Valentine's Day my parents gave me one of those huge Hershey kisses those enormous Hershey kisses for some reason they make during the holidays and mine was put in the freezer probably because I couldn't take that much chocolate at that time my parents didn't want me to have it I came home one day as a seventh grader walked in said I want some chocolate I walked up grab this frozen Hershey kiss held it like this took the knife went and the knife went right through my hand like who does that I'm seriously an unwise 12-year-old does it we all know what it's like to be a 12-year-old because we were there we're unwise we're not full of knowledge we don't obey the Lord we struggle and yet Jesus here is a 12-year-old and he's filled with the wisdom of the Lord so much so they're sitting in the temple courts and he's amazing people Jesus is divine but secondly Jesus tells us in verse 49 something that's very unusual during that time he says this in his response to Mary as they have been looking for him and running after him or why are you looking for me did you not know that I must be in my father's house now for us that seems fairly innocuous or painless of course he's in the temple he's the son of God that's where he should be and that's what he should call it his father's house but in this time in this stage that was radical scandalous because throughout the Old Testament God is referred to his father very very very seldomly almost never but when he is referred to his father it's in a very corporate kind of patriarchal saying like God our father as a nation he is our father but never once in the Old Testament is God referred to as my father it's only here in Luke chapter 2 from the mouth of Jesus and by the way these are the very first words ever recorded of Jesus Christ he says I must be in my father's house what is he saying he's saying I'm the Messiah I'm the second person of the Trinity and this is my father's house and this is where I belong he is my father he personalizes something that hasn't been personalized to this moment in history he's claiming his deity Jesus divine and he's human and he's coming to this world for you and for me now if something is divine it almost seems ridiculous because we're not divine and similar I used to work for this family and I used to run errands from all the time and they would always feed me lunch and for some reason they love to go to the woman's exchange I'd say women's exchange all the time in St. Louis not saying anything about the food if you work there and she always used to get this chicken salad sandwich and if it was a good chicken salad sandwich she would always say something like this this is divine or this is from the gods I'm like what it's chicken salad come on it never made sense to me it was kind of like a divine chicken sandwich you know what she's saying she's basically saying it is so good it must be from the gods it must be from God himself ladies and gentlemen the incarnation is so good and so amazing the only way we can explain it is it's from God he entered into your world as a human being and it's true it's true now why does Luke have this passage it's because he wants you to be competent and certain as you read the very beginning of his gospel that you and I would be certain to the truth of this narrative are you certain of that reality in your life that Jesus came as a human being the second person eternity and was a carnit man and lived till he was 33 and was killed for you and for me are you certain of that some of you this morning might be struggling with that reality because of some suffering you've had over Christmas or somebody hasn't been there that was there last year and your certainty has been shaken would you hear this passage and would you be certain that Jesus is real and he really came for you and for me but lastly so what do we do with that Jesus is worth following I really see this in kind of the historical context of this passage we notice here that Jesus is going up to Jerusalem for the Passover now as we read in Deuteronomy chapter 16 there's no reason for Jesus to be there because the only ones that are commanded to be there are the head of the household, the fathers they're supposed to go to the three greatest feasts that the Hebrew nation celebrated the feast of unleavened bread and weeks and boosts they're supposed to be present in Jerusalem during those feasts and here is Jesus being led by Joseph and Mary to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover and there's no reason for him to be there now we also know that in the Hebrew tradition that when a child turns 13 he becomes accountable to the law to him by himself it's actually referred to as the son of the law that's where we get bar and bot mitzvah that tradition that the Jewish nation celebrates this to this day they become fully accountable to God themselves when it turns 13 but Jesus in this passage is not 13 he's 12 so what is he doing there why is Joseph taking him what's found in this reality is that the year prior to a Hebrew child being 13 and being welcome into the community and being a full contributing citizen to the Hebrew nation being a son of the law was a year of intense counseling I mean intense mentoring by his father the father when the child was 12 spent many hours with the child mentoring him and many different things so he would be prepared to take on that mantle as the son of the law and be a contributing citizen to the Hebrew nation and so Jesus is there being mentored by his father and there's no doubt that Joseph is walking Jesus around Jerusalem and showing him all the different things telling him about the temple and Jerusalem in the importance of the city and Zion and all these different things there's no doubt that that's what Joseph is doing with Jesus here but I believe I'm convicted and convinced that there's something else happening here and through the writing of Philip Reichen and the preaching of Tim Keller I'm convinced that not only is Jesus here being mentored by his heavenly father I mean his earthly father he's also being mentored by his heavenly father the Bible tells us twice kind of bookens this passage by saying Jesus or God's favor was upon him the favor of God was upon him in verse 40 and verse 52 and Jesus and Chris increased in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man that word there for favor is the same exact word for grace that we get in the New Testament the grace of God his heavenly father was upon him and there's no doubt to me that what's happening here why Jesus is in Jerusalem at this point at age 12 as he's being mentored by his earthly father he's also being mentored by his heavenly father and as he walks the streets of Jerusalem and his earthly father is telling him where he can sell his goods as a carpenter there's no doubt that his heavenly father is telling him you too will walk these streets once again but you'll be carrying a cross and as his earthly father takes him to the temple and shows him the temple and everything that happens there at the temple there's no doubt that his heavenly father is telling him you are the temple and you will make this structure obsolete and there's no doubt at the season of Passover as Jesus is walking around Jerusalem and there lambs everywhere to be slaughtered and there he sees he sees his father sacrifice this lamb and serve it to his family and the blood is sprinkled everywhere there's no doubt that his heavenly father is telling him you are the Lamb of God your blood will be spilled for these people Jesus is being mentored by his heavenly father as much as he's being mentored by his earthly father here in this passage and what does he do what does he do with that we'll look at verse 51 and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them and his mother treasured up all these things in her heart what does Jesus do he gets up quietly from interacting with these theologians he goes with his parents and submissively walks back to his house and is submissive to them knowing that he's going to give his life for them understanding as a 12 year old that he is the Messiah that he is the Lamb that is to be slain and he gets up and he walks back and is totally submissive to his family an obedience before the Lord Jesus Christ as a 12 year old does that for you and does that for me because he loves you because he pierced this world for you and for me to be completely obedient in every way to his earthly parents which he didn't have to be but he was and he knew it he knew who he was and he knew what was coming for him and he gets up and he's obedient now for me I'm out right if I hear something like that I'm done thanks I'm out peace that's not for me what Jesus is not like that Jesus enters in and is obedient and we should follow him someone that's willing to die for you in every way and live a life for you and be sacrificed for you is worth following and I will encourage you even today that you reflect upon how well are you following the Lord Jesus how well do you understand what he teaches and how well do you love him for what he's done for you and how do we take this passage and how do we apply it completely to our lives well quickly just two points two times in the gospel Luke records Mary saying this and his mother treasured up all these things in her heart do you treasure the reality of Jesus Christ do you ponder the reality of Jesus piercing this world and living amongst a broken people to save them including you do you ponder that in your heart is it something that you hold dear is it the anchor of your soul or is it something that you maybe you hear about once a week maybe you think about once every couple of weeks ladies and gentlemen got himself came to you and came to me and lived a life for us and died of death for us that we couldn't die so that we were deemed and we would know the truth and the reality of the gospel and we should ponder that on a daily basis and hide it in our hearts but secondly are you certain of that as Luke said at the very beginning of this gospel are you certain of that reality of who Jesus is or are you struggling with it this morning are you sitting in that pew thinking oh well it's Christmas season I might as well go to church but I'm not really certain if I believe this this is why Luke wrote the gospel of Jesus Christ that you would be certain that's why you have pastors that's why you have elders that's why you have a community a devoted community that you can wrestle with that reality with them and I'm encouraging you this morning if you're not certain in that reality that you would come talk to somebody talk to me Samuel Murray Richie Bill Jeremy or an elder or anybody in here that follows Jesus Christ getting involved in a devoted community that you might be encouraged in your faith that you would be certain of the truth that have been taught you on a regular basis from this pulpit would you do that let's pray following heaven we thank you for the reality of your gospel that you took on flesh you became like us in every way that you might be the perfect redeemer for us that we might know peace with you we might know healing and comfort from our God Lord I pray that all those in this room would be certain of that reality and it would change their life would you do that by your spirit we ask in Christ name amen