Sunday – January 7, 2018 Gospel of Luke – “The Day Jesus Went AWOL” Luke 2:32-53

Sunday – January 7, 2018 – Read the Word on Worship

Sunday – January 7, 2018 Gospel of Luke – “The Day Jesus Went AWOL” Luke 2:32-53 from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

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Luke 2:49-51
Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.”

In Luke 2:39-52, we have the only reference in Scripture to the years between Jesus’ birth and the beginning of His ministry when His age was about 30. Some of the apocryphal gospels that circulated in the early centuries of the church contain fanciful and miraculous legends from the childhood of Jesus. He touches some clay birds and they come to life and fly away. He touches a plow that Joseph had botched up and it is instantly made right. Some other legends are more disturbing: The young Jesus curses some bothersome children who immediately wither up or drop dead. After such fanciful tales, the account in Luke of Jesus getting left behind at the temple sounds pretty tame!

The Old Testament (Deut. 16:16) prescribed that every Jewish man should appear before the Lord for three feasts each year: Unleavened Bread (Passover), Weeks (Pentecost), and Booths (Tabernacles). By the time of Jesus, it was customary for those some distance from Jerusalem to attend only one feast. Joseph and Mary’s custom was to make the 80-mile journey from Nazareth each year for the Passover. This incident happened when Jesus was 12. It must have been the most exciting time of the year, to leave the small town and go to the capital for this celebration that drew thousands of worshipers.

If you have ever had a child get lost, you can identify with the panic that gripped these conscientious parents. You always think worst case scenario — such as Jesus was kidnapped and we’ll never see Him again. Joseph and Mary had a lot more time, three days in fact, to think the worst. Given the amount of time, one can appreciate Mary’s emotional words, “Son, why have you treated us this way? Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” Jesus responded, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?

The parents of our Lord struggled as to how to put together the facets of our Lord’s nature, His humanity and His deity. In our text, the humanity of Jesus had so dominated their thoughts that they forgot to reckon with His deity, which was the basis for his actions and response to them. You and I have the same struggle in recognizing both the divine and the human elements in our Christian lives. This is the tension between the element of divine work in our lives and human responsibility. You see, the struggle of Mary and Joseph is not so unique as it might first appear. There is a kind of incarnation which is going on in the life of every Christian – the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and our personal response to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Let us not deny the divine nor the human in what God is doing in our lives.

Sunday – September 6, 2015 Revelation 2:18-29 “Thyatira: Tolerating Tolerance”

Sunday – September 6, 2015 – Read the Word on Worship

Sunday – September 6, 2015 Revelation 2:18-29 “Thyatira: Tolerating Tolerance” from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

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Word On Worship – Sunday – September 6, 2015 Download / Print

Revelation 2:20-21
‘But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. ‘I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.”

“That’s a long story.” How many times have you heard this statement? Often it is the first response from a Christian who is asked how they came to faith in Jesus Christ. After studying this text, I’ve concluded that the statement, “That’s a long story,” also applies to divine judgment. In 1 Kings 21, Ahab and Jezebel committed a terrible sin. This king and queen appear to have had a second palace in Jezreel, and adjoining the royal property was a vineyard owned by a man named Naboth. The king decided that he would like this property as well. He offered to trade with Naboth for a better piece of property or to pay him a premium price in cash (silver). It wasn’t a bad idea, and it was a generous offer, except for the fact that the Law of Moses forbade an Israelite from selling his family inheritance.

His wife, Jezebel, was not about to take “no” for an answer. She took matters into her own hands, instructing the leaders of the city to obtain false accusations against Naboth, and then to carry out his execution for “blaspheming God and the king,” as well as Naboth‘s sons. Ahab might have found a measure of solace in the fact that he didn’t really know how Jezebel was going to acquire this property for him but he knew her well enough to know it would be neither legal nor moral. He was the king, and he allowed her to act in his behalf – and with his authority.

It is not until 2 King 9 that we see the wheels of justice catch up with Jezebel. It is here that Jehu races toward Jezreel in his chariot, accompanied by soldiers loyal to him, ready to storm the city of Jezreel. See the approaching army, Jezebel retired to her tower to apply makeup and continue in her way of manipulation and intimidation. It has served her well with her husband Ahab and in the past protected her position. If this woman was as mean an employer as she was wicked as a queen, no one would have shed any tears at her death. Jehu commanded his supporters, standing by the queen, to throw her out the window, and they did. She fell to the ground to her death where she was trampled by the wheels of Jehu’s chariot.

God does know how to deliver the righteous from judgment and how to reserve the unrighteous for judgment. Our text is ample proof of that. My question to you, my friend, is this: Are you going to be among the righteous, who are spared from divine judgment, or are you among the wicked, whom God is reserving for punishment? Sinners often gloat over the fact that God seems to be doing nothing about their sins, and so they feel that they are free to continue to live in sin, without fear of divine judgment. God has made it clear that there is a day of accountability and we are to be ready.