The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple – 1860 – William Holman Hunt (1827–1910)
Study.
He did it through study.
After being discovered in the temple studying and talking with the teachers, (Luke 2:46-49) he went home submissive to his earthly parents and…
… Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. – Luke 2:52
The implication is that Jesus, in becoming a man, had to go through all of the growth and phases of becoming an adult. He studied with the teachers and earned their respect as he learned. He grew into manhood just as any child would, by following his father’s lead.
Jesus, the ultimate example and master teacher, even showed us the way to grow in stature in God’s eyes. His expectation for us is to be perfect (Matthew 5:48) and he showed us the path to get there.
Just because people are not perfect and will never be sinless does not excuse us from trying. Depending on your Bible version, 2 Timothy 2:15 says to study (KJV), or to be diligent (NKJV), or do your best (ESV), to be approved by God.
As we work our way down the path toward perfection, we can be encouraged in knowing that Jesus went down the same path, and did the same work!
Baby in the womb at 17 weeks sucking his thumb and waving
It’s a baby.
Through his inspired writers, the Holy Spirit gave us the exact words to indicate how God feels about things. In Luke 1:41 and Luke 1:44, he calls a child in the womb “the baby.”
Throughout Luke 1, Elizabeth’s unborn child was able to be selected by God, be filled with the Spirit, and was aware when the unborn Jesus came into the room.
Who in history do we know that might have been more inconvenienced by an unplanned pregnancy than Mary – especially in her place and time? What if she decided to exercise her “rights” over her body?
In addition to this one event, there are a few more scriptures that reinforce that the only difference between an unborn life and a born life being that one is in the womb and one is not.
Take a look at these with me (as always, you can hover over the references to read the passage):
Galatians 1:15 – Paul was set apart even before his birth
Jeremiah 1:4-5 – Jeremiah was known by God even before he was “in the womb.”
Isaiah 49:1 – Isaiah was called “from the womb.”
Psalm 139:11-16 – we are wonderfully made!
Proverbs 6:17 – A few things God hates
It is challenging to go against the noisy crowd in these moral issues, but Christians have to keep trying. God’s word is not subject to change based on popularity.
Zacharias Writes Down the Name of his Son – 1486-90 – Ghirlandaio
Oooops.
In Luke 1, Zachariah heard some extraordinary news and it was definitely hard to believe. He was a priest carrying out his duties at the altar when the angel appeared and identified himself. (Luke 1:18) This should have been good enough for a man of God, but he let doubt rule the day.
Zechariah wasn’t the first one to ever doubt God. If we are honest with ourselves, we know he wasn’t the last. It is something that every Christian struggles with.
God doesn’t want us to be worried. He hates when we have doubt.
And He has told us that a lot.
Today, take your Bible out and look at all the ways that God let us know he wants us to put ourselves in his care and trust him:
James 4:7 – Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you
Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding…
Romans 15:13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope
Psalms 118:9 – It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes
Matthew 24:35 – Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away
John 14:1 – Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.
And the big one: Matthew 6:25-34 – Do not be anxious for tomorrow, God will take care of you…
Feelings of doubt, weakened trust, and worry are all dealt with through prayer and spending time in God’s word. (Romans 10:17) Some times are harder than others, but this is always the proper course of action.
Supper at Emmaus – 17th century – Matthias Stom (fl. 1615–1649)
They sure could frustrate Jesus!
After everything that happened on the last three days of Jesus’ life, the eleven remaining disciples chose not to believe the reports that Jesus was alive. Peter and John had even seen the empty tomb.
Jesus was frustrated enough with them that he rebuked the eleven the first time he was with them. (Mark 16:14) Hardness of heart seemed to be an ongoing problem for the twelve throughout their training. (cf. Mark 6:52)
Did they not really believe Jesus could be risen or was it something else?
Since he appeared first to Mary Magdalene and a couple of unnamed guys, I’ll go out on a limb and say it was something else. Why would Mary and these two unnamed disciples, that weren’t of the eleven, be who Jesus chose to see first?
There are an awful lot of Christians that act like that.
Somehow they are a little more deserving, they are a little more righteous or a little higher rank than another. God just doesn’t work like that though. (Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11) The gospel is for everyone and the Apostles were told to make sure all creation heard it (Mark 16:15)
As for us, we are to follow that example and make sure that we do all we can to spread the word exactly like they did. (2 Timothy 2:2) Sometimes it is a little difficult to reach out to another who is not like us. Whatever the reason for that is, it is a dangerous position to be in!
Take some time to consider Jesus’ rebuke when faced with a decision to help someone. A hardened heart does not get us to heaven.
It is hard to avoid feeling compassion for Pilate. (Mark 15:1-15)
In some respects, he tried to do the right thing. He knew Jesus was innocent. He attempted a few things to get the Jews to release him. He took the time to talk to Jesus personally. He even discussed it briefly with his wife.
But where it counts, he failed miserably. He might even be representative of weak people in general.
He was the leader – Nothing could really stop Pilate from declaring Jesus innocent and setting him free
He was free to not grant the mob’s wishes – Just because a mob demanded it did not mean he had to rule in such a way. He even had the military strength at his disposal to break up the crowd
He had the legal system as reinforcement – Even if his personality was too weak to stand up to the Jews, Pilate knew there was no legal reason to execute Jesus.
Once Pilate washed his hands of Jesus’ fate, he contributed as much to Jesus’ death as the Jews’ illegal trials or the person that drove the nails.
“Washing our hands” of something we know to be wrong is usually as bad as assisting in the sin. We often know someone close to us is sinning, but we say nothing.
It is difficult to rock the boat.
It is difficult to go against the crowd.
It is easy to hope it “just works out.”
Washing our hands of something we can influence – just hoping it will work out – is as good of a strategy as waiting for something different to happen without making a change. It is our duty as the “salt of the earth” to be an influence for Christ.
What did Jesus say about salt that has lost its ability to influence the taste of food?
It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. – Matthew 5:13
Sometimes we have to be strong enough to face the crowd to set things straight.
Christ before Caiaphas – ca. 1630 – Matthias Stom (fl. 1615–1649)
The Jews needed something. Anything.
And they weren’t going to stop until they got it.
As Jesus was enduring his first trial in front of the council, every word he said would be twisted against him. Jesus would finally give them what they wanted when he was ready, but they would take any and every lie, any bit of hear-say, or snippets of his teachings and try to convict him. They weren’t being too choosy about it. (Mark 14:53-72)
People aren’t much different now.
If someone doesn’t want to believe in God, it is easy enough for them to come up with a way to get to that conclusion.
Want to deny Christ?
It’s easy, just scoff at one of the key parts of the gospel and a denial can be completely justified. (At least in that person’s mind)
Even in light of all the miracles that were witnessed during Jesus’ ministry, the Jews ultimately believed what they wanted to believe. They didn’t take the time to investigate what they heard about. They didn’t take the time listen to Jesus and compare it to their own teachings. At the end of the day, crucifying Jesus was about being able to maintain the life they knew.
It takes a lot of time accept the gospel.
It takes even longer to want to live a Christian life.
What we do and what we say will give others a reason to accept or reject Jesus. The challenge for us is life a godly life without getting in our own way as a teacher. To do that we have to be:
Consistent – Sin is sin, we can’t be caught waving the Bible about one type of sin and letting another type slide
Knowledgeable – We have to know what we are talking about and not say things that simple logic or trivial Bible knowledge can dispute. Basic errors can cause our whole case and the best of our intentions to be suspect
Loving – Teaching is done best with a kind heart. Showing others a better way should be done with a gentle approach. Remember that we are asking them to change their life.
The key to making others interested is living a great life within the bounds of God’s word. We have an expectation of a generous reward – we should be wearing that on our sleeves!
We have the power of God supporting us.
We have a savior that told us not to worry.
Now go give them a reason to ask why we are so happy! (1 Peter 3:15)
