He Walked In Our Shoes

I don't know about you, but I don't want to walk out of here this morning the same as I came in.

I want to be growing in Christ. I want to see what God has for me today in his word.

Because there's a message that we're going to look at today.

And Luke really says to us, he walked in our shoes.

He walked in our shoes. In fact, Eastwood, the first two chapters of Luke are

the only access that we have to the nature of Jesus's childhood.

And while we might be tempted to imagine that child Jesus almost like a fully

formed adult in a smaller body, the passage before us that we read today,

it gives us a different picture, doesn't it?

I mean, living in his hometown of Nazareth, Jesus actually did obey his parents

in Luke 2, verse 51, we see.

Luke 2:51

He grew physically like any normal young person.

In verse 40, we see that. He was filled with wisdom as a child.

We read that earlier in verses 39 and 40, but also continued to grow in wisdom as time passed.

We read in verse 52 and in verses 41 through 52, Luke really relates one particular

episode from Jesus's early life.

And though we can't know for certain, it does seem reasonable to conclude that

knowledge of these events were passed on to him by who do you think?

Mary, who had treasured, as it says in verse 51, all these things in her heart.

Though she didn't understand their significance at the time,

verse 50 tells us that, she must have later come to see the significance of

Jesus' mystery statement, if you noticed it there this morning in verse 49.

Didn't you know I had to be in my father's house?

Didn't you know I had to be in my father's house? So you can imagine today as

we move along, astonished and confused, right?

Astonished and confused. I mean, the details of the story might feel familiar even in our day.

Many parents know the panic, somebody can raise their hand, of realizing that

a child has gone missing in a crowded place. Anybody? Ever happened to you?

And the relief of actually finding him or her unharmed. And in this case,

the crowds were in Jerusalem, right?

For the annual Passover festival, we learn in verse 41 and 42.

At the conclusion of the celebration, Mary, Joseph, had begun to make their

way back north to Nazareth when they realized that Jesus was not among their traveling party.

We saw that in verse 43 and 44. And after what must have been a harrowing three-day

search, I mean, have you ever lost your child for three days?

Can you imagine the feelings of parents, right?

Three-day search, probably no sleep or very little, right?

And these were opportunities here where they're searching for this boy in the

temple courts they're listening to, questioning the religious scholars they

find him there, who were teaching there.

We saw that in verses 45 through 46. Apparently, he was oblivious to and uninterested

in the frantic search that had been underway.

So what follows is a series of astonishments and confusions, right?

But as we'll see, Jesus knew all along where he needed to be at this time.

But those who heard Jesus were amazed at his understanding of the matters that

were being taught. You remember that, verse 47?

Mary and Joseph were actually astonished that Jesus would be sitting there,

seemingly so indifferent to their distress, in verse 48.

And in response to Mary's rebuke, right, the child Jesus seemed genuinely surprised

that she and Joseph had not been able to figure out exactly where he would be.

He talks about that in verse 49. And in the end, though, his parents did not

understand what Jesus was talking about. It tells us plainly in verse 50.

They just didn't get it. And this is so, it's indicated in this interaction

between Mary and Jesus, right? Verses 48 and 49.

In fact, in her rebuke, Mary tells Jesus that his father, and she means who?

Joseph, right? And she had been searching for him.

And in response, what does Jesus do?

Jesus seizes on this mention of his earthly and adoptive father,

Joseph, in order to remind Mary that his true father is where?

In heaven. His words are well chosen.

Jesus is not insensitive or a thoughtless son here to his mother.

He's actually been in his father's home doing his father's business,

doing his father's will for the entire duration of their search.

But we see in this interaction today that Jesus and Mary are coming to grips

with the fact that theirs will not be a normal mother-son relationship.

We get a glimpse here, church, of Jesus' understanding of his favored relationship

with who? The father, right?

Verse 40, verse 52. Even as we see that Mary is still wrestling here with what

this would mean for their earthly family.

But our experience, church, of coming to understand Jesus is often a bit like Mary's.

Jesus's identity, get this, as the Son of God means that he will always,

church, displace things from their seemingly normal place in our life.

Embracing Jesus as your Savior means that other relationships in your life,

not to mention things like ambitions, loves, attitudes toward others,

They will be rearranged and reconfigured.

If you need to look a little further, look at Luke 14, verse 26.

Luke 14:26

We haven't got there yet. But everything else in your life, in my life,

Eastwood, needs to accommodate Jesus.

If he is the son of God, it cannot be otherwise if he said he is, right?

Well, that brings us to a sense of identity.

And at first, it may seem odd to us that Luke chooses to include this story.

I don't know about you, but you're looking at it like, why did he include this, right?

Roughly 12 years pass in the period described in chapter 2, verse 40.

And another 18 years is going to pass between the end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3.

But the only indication that we have of what was going on during those 30 years

of Jesus' life is contained here.

Luke clearly here, church, must have had a purpose in making room for this particular

story Remember, he had an orderly account.

Luke was a physician, right? I mean, he wanted the details, right?

He had eyewitnesses and all this coming in, but it was an orderly account.

And so we need to resist any temptation that we have to just gloss over this

passage, you know, as an interesting but just insignificant story because it's not insignificant.

In fact, perhaps Luke's purpose is to show us an early glimpse,

if you will, of Jesus's understanding of who he was.

Who he was and what he had come to do as both the fully divine son of God and

the fully human son of Mary.

Jesus was in a unique situation. In fact, in this passage, we actually see a

tension arising between the normal obligations of a 12-year-old boy and the

obligations that actually come to the boy,

Jesus, in his unique role as the son of God.

And when those two commitments come into tension, Jesus says something.

He says that he must obey the will of his heavenly father.

That phrase there, I want y'all to get this today, that phrase translated as

be in my father's house could also be understood as be about my father's business.

Some of y'all may have that.

Two themes actually emerged from this account. First off, we see clearly,

church, that Jesus' sense of his own identity as the son of God meant that he

was obligated to do his Father's will.

Aren't you glad that he realized his identity?

Aren't you thankful that he actually fulfilled the mission that God had called him to do?

And it's worth noting that Jesus found doing his Father's will to be delightful.

You can look at John 4, verse 34 to see that.

John 4:34

In fact, we mustn't think that Jesus was normally constrained by the Father's

will over and against his own desires.

They were part of who he was, right? Jesus' first words actually in Luke's gospel

tells us here that he had to be in his father's house.

That Greek word there, de, translated there, has less of a sense of inevitability,

like where else would I be?

Where else would I be? Right? And more of a sense of this was required of me.

That's what it's saying. This was required of me.

And then second, we see that Jesus was passionate about what?

He was passionate about the scriptures, church. He was passionate about God's word.

Even as a young man, as he listened and questioned the teachers too,

as we see in verse 46 that we read today,

his own understanding and answers that he gave as well surpassed those,

it says, that could have been expected of somebody his age. It tells us that in verse 47.

Theologian C.D. Agin asked this, and he answered, and then answer this question,

he said, who does this event reveal or what does it reveal of Jesus's character?

First, it shows us that he obediently submits to God's purpose for his life.

Second, Jesus's interaction with the teachers in the temple shows us that he

desired to understand scripture.

He's glad to be in his father's house. In other words, it's a delight for him

to be in his father's house, learning more about his father's purpose from his father's word.

So you see what we have here, church, and I pray that the lights come on here for all of us.

We have submitting by submitting.

This is very countercultural, and I'll explain that more in a minute.

But Jesus' submission to his father's will is a wonderful example to us.

Though Jesus's relationship with his father obviously is unique,

those who belong to Jesus, that's us, if we know Christ, right?

We become sons and daughters of God in a very real way, Scripture tells us.

Luke 6, 36 tells us that. Luke 11, verse 2.

Luke 11:2

And so if Jesus's status as the son of God came with a strong awareness of the

will of God, it must be that Jesus's followers, us here at Eastwood Baptist

Church, will share that passion as well. Amen?

If Jesus' church was zealous to understand the will of God through the word

of God, we ought to share that zeal.

It's also significant, I think, that Jesus did not use his relationship with

the Father as an excuse to rebel against his earthly parents.

But what did he do? He instead was submissive to them. Look back at verse 51 of chapter 2.

He was submissive to them. He went with them. If there was ever a child who

could make the case, Eastwood, for not listening to his parents, it was Jesus. But he did.

He listened to his parents. And when he gently reminds Mary that Joseph is not

his father, at least not in a primary way,

he's not using that fact as an excuse to assert his own will,

just to be cruel or anything like that, though he's worthy of all honor and worship.

Jesus actually submitted to the authorities. I want y'all to see that today.

He actually submitted to the authorities that his Father, Heavenly Father, had placed in his life.

And this important way that followers of Christ can stand as a witness,

church, against the prevailing attitude of our culture.

What I mean by that?

Well, respect and submission are not virtues that our wider society values or

encourages or cultivates.

Suspicion of authority abounds in our day, does it not?

If you doubt it, simply look to chat rooms on the internet or talk shows on television.

Sometimes this mistrust of those politicians, some have police officers they

say they can't trust, parents, all that, different things that happened.

Some scenarios people say, well, that's well earned. But sadly,

authority is often abused in our fallen world, is it not?

But the reality is that many who exercise some kind of power over us will attempt

to use it for their own selfish purposes.

And in addition to that, get this church, the pride in our hearts inclines us

to believe that we generally know better than those whom God has placed over

us in authority. Think about it for a minute.

It's no wonder that we balk at the idea of allowing others to determine what we do.

Remember though, that the authorities that Jesus submitted to here,

in this case, the authorities were who? His parents, right?

But you might wanna look too in Luke chapter 20, verses 20 through 26.

Luke 20:20–26

They were no less sinful and fallible than those in our day.

Is my point. And Jesus actually did always know what's best.

He could say that, where we don't.

But he was still submissive. He understood that submission to authorities in

his life, limited and fallible, although they were, right, was a way of submitting

to his heavenly Father. We can say the same, y'all.

Submitting to the authorities that God has placed over us, whether they're not going to be perfect.

We live in a fallen world, even imperfect authority by submitting as Christ

asked us to do it. We're submitting to him.

We're submitting to him. We'll talk about that more as we go on,

but we could actually ask this question, example or savior?

Is Jesus our example or savior? Well, the problem, of course,

is that you and I are not like Jesus, are we?

I thought I'd hear a big round amen on that one, Brother Ronnie. We're not like Jesus.

We do not always delight in doing the will of our heavenly father, do we?

It's obvious. All we got to do is look around in our culture today and our churches.

We often long to be free from God's will, imagining that we could be happier.

Have you ever been here before?

Happier if we could have our own way. Christians are actually sometimes the

worst offenders when it comes to disrespect for God-given authority. Did you know that?

We're happy to obey our leaders in the church, as it says in Hebrews 13,

17, so long as they don't instruct us to do anything we don't want to do.

And then we think we know better and we just sidestep that command.

We respect those who rule over us in government as it says in Romans 13,

1, so long as they enact and enforce the policies that we advocate.

Oh boy, I hope some toes don't start hurting here in a second,

but y'all, this is true. I want y'all to get this today.

Wives submit to their husbands, as it says in Ephesians 5, verses 22 through

Ephesians 5:22–24

24, as unto the Lord in everything, so long as they're getting their emotional needs met.

Otherwise, I take a different path. I'm not going to follow God's word.

That's not what the passage says. You see what I'm saying? Sometimes we only

submit when it goes our way, right? Or when we think everything's right for us.

You know that Christ submits to God. He's in submission to his Father's will.

God has placed authority over us in every area of life.

And we wonder why sometimes when we don't submit, even to imperfect authority,

God didn't say in this word, you just submit when people are perfect, did he?

No, we're all imperfect. He said you submit as to me in everything.

There's no guesswork there.

It's just whether we believe it or not, whether we do it. And when we don't

do it, we wonder why our lives end up in a pile of ashes.

We try to blame God, but all along we haven't submitted to his word.

We haven't submitted to his authority.

And so Jesus's example helps us by correcting our behavior, church,

and demonstrating that what we should do.

But in the end, guess what? It condemns us by revealing to us how terribly we

have failed to keep God's law.

You see, when we see Jesus's example, we see that we're not righteous in and of ourselves, are we?

We need a righteousness and obedience that comes from outside of us, don't we?

So while Luke 2.51 may seem like an insignificant aside story,

in reality, the entirety of our salvation, Eastwood, depends on this story.

If Jesus had not been obedient to his parents and submitted to the authority

that God had placed in his life, he would not be perfectly holy and could not

be a perfect sacrifice for your sins or mine.

1 Peter 1, verses 18 and 19.

1 Peter 1:18

If he were not the obedient child that you and I should have been,

he would not possess a righteousness that he is able to give to those who trust in him.

You see, that says that to us in Romans 5, verse 19.

Romans 5:19

Aren't you thankful that Jesus is both our example, and as a result, he's our Savior?

Y'all, we can see here the shadow of the cross already. Readers familiar with

Luke's entire narrative, if you've read through this before,

you can see the shadow of the cross that's just falling across,

even the seemingly homey little vignette of a family looking for a missing child.

You see, Jesus' commitment to his father's word and his desire to be about his

father's business, as we saw in verse 49, would eventually lead him to what? To give up his life.

In fact, in the Garden of Gethsemane, you'll probably remember,

we see Jesus' desire for his father's business come to full fruition, don't we?

As he contemplated the terrors of the cross there in the garden,

chapter 22, verse 42, Jesus prayed for his father's will to be done, did he not?

Even if that meant, church, that his own personal will would be frustrated.

Jesus obeyed and he submitted himself to the will of his heavenly father.

Even when that decision meant that he would go to the cross to suffer and die

for the sins of his people.

And only in that way, Eastwood, could forgiveness be made available to rebellious

and disrespectful people like you and me.

We don't like to think of ourself that way, do we?

But it's what God, what his word says.

You see, Eastwood, Jesus submitted to the father's will and the Father's will

was that he should die for all of the ways that his people had sinned against

him, including our unrighteous distrust of authority.

Y'all today, I pray this morning as we look deeper in God's word,

as we review over this passage, that we'll realize together of our need to submit to the word of God.

Y'all, we have every Sunday before we leave, y'all know the motto we display,

right? Living, learning, loving.

And it really is just pointing us to the Great Commission, right?

But y'all, it's more than words that we recite, is it not?

When we submit to God's word and to God's will, to go out and be a witness,

to be on mission, to go out into this world, to seek and save the lost,

are we submitted to God's word? Do we follow his word?

Or do we just like to the sound of I do devotions or I read my Bible three days

a week or every day for that matter.

If we obey, if we read it and we don't obey it, what good is it when we don't submit to God's word?

If Jesus had not submitted to God, thank the Lord that he did. Thank God he did submit.

Otherwise we would have no hope.

And y'all, it's a reminder today that submission to authority that God has placed

over us, that could be a boss at work, that could be, you know,

even in marriage, right?

It could be in any sphere of life.

If God's placed authority over you, he expects you to submit to that authority, right?

And just because we don't agree with somebody doesn't mean it's conflicting with his word, does it?

Submission to authority, even imperfect authority, is a way of submitting to God.

I pray today, if there's some area in your life, from my life,

that God's Holy Spirit this morning, as we look at this story of Jesus's childhood,

that we'll say, Lord, is there anything that I'm not submitting to your word in?

Because you see, it's really Jesus who we are offending, right? The most.

Because when we don't submit to what his word tells us to, we're not submitting to him.

Y'all, don't let your life be a life of disobedience. Don't let your life be a life of disobedience.

Follow his word. Are you submitting to what he said in his word.

Y'all, I tell you what, my challenge to all of us is if we really believe what

we say we believe, let's get on mission like we need to be.

I challenge everybody here today, and I'm not just saying this out of any kind

of selfish way at all. I'm telling you because of what God's Word says.

I challenge you to be faithful to the services at Eastwood Baptist Church.

I challenge you to come to Sunday school, to get involved in a small group,

as God tells you to do, to grow in your faith.

I'm not talking to people who honestly have issues that you can't health-wise. You know that.

I know some people cannot help it. I'm talking to the vast majority of us,

probably 95% of us or more, that we just choose to not obey God's word.

We just choose to come to church when we feel like it. We choose to obey God's

word when it suits us, when it suits our fancy, right?

But y'all, we are on a mission. God has called Eastwood Baptist Church to be

on a mission for his kingdom.

And you can't be prepared. You can't be a mighty warrior.

You can't be somebody who follows the son of God when you are not submitting

to his word when you are not growing in the faith.

Y'all, that's the challenge today. He's walked in our shoes.

He knows what it's like. He grew up, I mean, from a baby, right?

He knows what it's like. He's been in our shoes. He knows what it's like to

have those conflicts in our lives. He knows what it's like to submit to authority.

He knows ultimately what it's like to submit to his Father's word.

And I pray today that God's Holy Spirit today, maybe if there's some areas in

our lives that we need to submit to his word, I don't care who we are, me included.

If there's an area I'm not submitting to his word in, I need to repent of it.

And I need to say, Lord, forgive me for not submitting to your revealed word.

And Lord, I want to surrender to that. I want to surrender to follow your will

for my life. That's where it's at, church.