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of the congressional committee seeking to determine whether the President of the United

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States should be impeached. The question which seemed to become the bottom line of that whole

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inquiry was, what did the President know and when did he know it? Do you remember that

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question being asked over and over again? Well, that same question, asked in a far different

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context and with necessary reverence, might be asked regarding our Savior. Part of the

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Son of God's self-humbling in coming in His incarnation was the limiting of certain of

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His divine prerogatives as He united Himself to our sinless humanity. The babe in the manger

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was the God-man, yet He knew nothing more than an infant. The Christ went through a

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process of learning, though He is the God who knows all things. He even came to understand

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in time who He was and what His mission was in the world. And so we reverently ask, what

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did He know and when did He know it? The text that we're looking at today makes it clear,

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but by the time Jesus was in the pre-adolescent time of life, He knew those details. Luke

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writes as a Gentile for Gentile readers, and he emphasizes the humanity of Christ, not

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neglecting His deity at all, but emphasizing His humanity, that He is in fact the Son of

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man as well as the Son of God. As we look at our text this morning in Luke chapter 2,

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and I'm not going to read it before we deal with it as we normally do to try to save a

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little voice, but as we work our way through this text, I think you will see with me that

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Jesus Christ was truly human. He experienced what it means to be one of us. Our text records

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three experiences which were His as the Holy Child. And I think as we look at these, we

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will be able to identify to some extent with each of these experiences. And as we do, we

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will see some lessons to learn. We will be able, I hope, to follow His example. He became

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one of us that we might become like Him. For example, as the Holy Child, Jesus grew as

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a person. Verse 39 says, And when they had performed everything according to the law

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of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth. Now Luke, for

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his purposes, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, does not talk about what happened with Herod

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and the children in Bethlehem. Matthew talks about that. For Luke's purposes, he does

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not talk about their going down into Egypt. But he simply goes directly from the birth

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to their eventual residence in Nazareth where Jesus spent most of His childhood. This does

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not mean that the gospels contradict each other at all, as some liberal scholars, so

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called, like to try to tell us. It simply means that the gospels complement each other.

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The writers chose to include what they did for particular purposes. Luke goes on to say,

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Remember, He was a physician. And the child continued to grow and become strong, increasing

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in wisdom. And the grace of God was upon Him. And so we see the first experience of our

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Lord talking about these early years, primarily in Luke's mind from the time he was in Nazareth

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until the time he was about twelve. Perhaps we have here a period of some ten years, maybe

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a little less. During that time, Luke says, Jesus genuinely developed as a child, just

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like any child develops. And yet, of course, He did so in a unique way. He continued to

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grow and become strong, says Luke, increasing in wisdom. One commentator, Dr. Geldenhuis,

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says it this way, As a true human child, Jesus passed through a process of physical and spiritual

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growth and increase. This verse expressly tells us that the intellectual, moral, and

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spiritual growth of Jesus as a child was just as real as His physical growth. He was completely

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subject to the ordinary laws of physical and intellectual development, except that in His

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case there was nothing of the influence of sin or shortcoming. Physically and spiritually,

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He grew up perfectly as no one before or after Him. He was truly man, but a perfect man,

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even in childhood. Then He quotes another commentator by the name of Plummer who says,

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His was a perfect humanity developing perfectly, unimpeded by hereditary or acquired defects.

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It was the first instance of such a growth in history. For the first time, a human infant

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was realizing the ideal of humanity. So understand that Jesus grew and He increased. He developed,

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just like any child does, with the exception that there was no sin within Him to impede

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that development. Luke tells us that the grace of God was upon Him. In other words, God's

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love and power was upon Him to guide, protect, and support Him every day of His childhood.

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G. Campbell Morgan adds this thought, Grace is first that which delights and charms. Grace

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secondly is desire to impart to others the things that make them happy. Grace finally

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is the activity that does this at all costs. The grace of God was upon the child.

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We notice in verse 41 that His parents did their part in faithfully setting before Jesus

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an example. It says His parents used to go to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the

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Passover. In the Old Testament there were three feasts each year at which the males

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of Israel were required to go to Jerusalem. But the people of Israel never really followed

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that law. By the time of our Lord's coming, they only observed this with the Passover

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feast. So Joseph and Mary every year would do what they knew they should do. They went

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to Jerusalem and the indication is that they took Jesus with them during those years. Is

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there not a wonderful example here for all of us who are parents? It's not just enough

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for us to teach our children. We must show our children. They must be able to hear from

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our lips what is right, but they must also be able to watch our lives to know what is

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right. As Jesus grew as a person, so God wants you

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and me to grow and develop as well. He wants us to become fully that unique person that

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He desires us to be, which He has created us to be. And so my application this morning

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is this. Although we have sin that dwells within us, even as children of God, let us

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determine by God's grace not to allow ourselves to be anything less than the fully developed

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person that God wants us to be. Satan is a master at stopping growth, stunting potential,

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and sidetracking possibilities. Satan is the great spoiler of all times. He seeks to do

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everything that he can to derail God's purpose in your being here. Won't you determine

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by God's grace not to play His games? Won't you ask God to give you discernment to see

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that person He wants you to be and determine by His grace to become fully that person?

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I only know of one way to really do that, and that is to live as Jesus did during the

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days of His childhood as He grew, and that is to acknowledge the Lord as Lord of your

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life so that God's grace, His favor, may continually rest upon you. As you acknowledge

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Him Lord of your life, then He will be free to work in you to bring forth all of that

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potential, all of that growth and development that God has placed in there.

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But I am talking to some people this morning who are playing games with the devil, and

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you are running in a direction in your life that could mean that God's purpose for you

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will be thwarted. You say, well, God forgives. Yes, God does forgive. Bless the Lord He forgives.

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But when you and I rebel against His Lordship in our lives, there are consequences that

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we sometimes suffer. And the result sometimes of those consequences is that God's best

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purpose for us, God's fullest purpose for us, cannot be realized. So whether we are

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young or old, whether a child or a grandparent, it behooves us today as we think about Jesus

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growing to determine that we will do everything that we can to grow and to develop, that we

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will make the right kinds of friends and associations because those people influence us, that we

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will read the right kinds of books that will stimulate us to godliness, that we will be

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in the word of God and in prayer so that God is working in our lives. As the holy child,

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Jesus grew as a person. Dear child of God, won't you grow? And if today somehow you are

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being manipulated by the devil or you are held in a snare by him so that you are not

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growing and developing and becoming the person God wants you to be, won't you today deal

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with that thing in your life? I pray you will. Secondly, I notice that as the holy child,

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Jesus knew His identity and purpose. Now the story that is told here is very familiar.

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When Jesus became twelve, he went up according to the custom of the feast and as they were

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returning, Joseph and Mary, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed

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behind in Jerusalem and his parents were unaware of it. That's not unusual. How would you like

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to be the parent of a perfect child? You think sometimes it's hard to raise sinners. How

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would you like to raise a perfect child? Jesus had never done anything disobediently. Undoubtedly

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he was fully responsible at twelve years of age and they assumed that he was with the

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children and it may be that they were in a caravan in which the men were in part of it

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and the women in another part. Joseph assumed Jesus was with Mary and vice versa. The fact

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is that though they supposed him to be in the caravan, they went a day's journey and

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they began looking for him among their relatives and acquaintances and they did not find him.

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So it says they returned to Jerusalem looking for him. Now two days have passed. They've

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gone out a day from Jerusalem, now they've come back to Jerusalem. It says it came about

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after three days they found him. Probably here's the third day when they were looking

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for him. They found him in the temple sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening

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to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding

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and his answers. And when they saw him they were astonished. They were just beside themselves

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when they saw what was taking place. And as mother said to him, son, why have you treated

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us this way? Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.

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Well we see Jesus at twelve years of age in the temple. Perhaps debating, teaching, listening

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for sure. At thirteen a Jewish boy became a son of the covenant in a ceremony that is

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still observed today somewhat in what is called Bar Mitzvah, which means son of the law. Jesus

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was approaching that age of life when he would go through that ceremony and become a son

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of the covenant according to the Jewish custom. And it was typical that parents would be sure

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that children were with them a year or two before that age when they went to Jerusalem

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to help prepare them for that experience. Here we see Jesus was able on this occasion

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at twelve years of age to sit down and to deduce things from scriptures which his teachers,

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the teachers, the rabbis of Jerusalem had never seen before. And as parents came in

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finding him they were astonished. And the words of Mary express what any mother might

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say to him in mildly scolding him. But Jesus responded by saying, Why is it that you are

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looking for me? Did you not know that I had to be in my Father's house? These are the

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earliest words ever recorded that Jesus spoke. The very first words in all of scripture that

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Jesus spoke after the incarnation. We see a couple of important things here in this

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statement. We see a statement of his understanding and a statement of his mission. Here we find

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out that at twelve years of age what Jesus knew. He understood who he was. Now they had

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mentioned Joseph as his father, verse 48, your father and I. Jesus may have played on

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that and he speaks about my father, the speaking of his heavenly father in verse 49. So Jesus

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understood here his unique relationship to God as his father. He says, My Father. This

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is the first statement of his consciousness that he was unique in his relationship to

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God. That he was not like the other boys and girls. He was different. That God was in a

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very unique way his father. He understood that. And he also understood what he was to

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be busy doing. I had to be in my Father's things, my Father's business, my Father's

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house. The word is put in there by English translators. The idea is, Jesus said I have

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to be about those things that concern my Father. So he understood that his mission was unique.

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He was different from other children in this respect and he knew it. As the holy child

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of twelve years of AIDS, Jesus knew his identity and he knew his purpose in being in the world.

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I want to stop there for a moment and talk about application. The first question I want

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to ask is this. Who are you? Do you know who you are? Of course I'm not talking about the

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name that's applied to you. Hope all of us can remember that. But I'm talking about your

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truest identity. Who are you? What is your deepest identity as a person? If you have

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come to faith in Jesus Christ in that personal saving sense, then perhaps the answer that

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we ought to give to that question as Christians is this. Who am I? I am a child of God. And

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I can address God as Father. Not precisely in the same way that Jesus could, because

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he was God the Son. But as a child of God through faith in Christ, I can look up to

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the God who created everything that is and I can say to him, Father, that's who I am

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and that's who you are. And is there any identity in all of the world that matters

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more than that? You could answer the question, who you are, by talking about the job you

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have, where you live, the children you have, the things you possess. All of those have

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to do with our identity in an earthly sense, but in an eternal sense. We are children of

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God through faith in Christ. And the second question is equally important. If you are

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in fact a child of the eternal God, then what is your mission in life? Isn't it more than

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just to go to college and to get a job and bring home a paycheck and have a wife or a

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husband and children and build a home, prepare for retirement, finally, hopefully get to

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that point where you can retire and then die? Isn't there more to life for a child of God

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than that? Of course there is. God has business for us to do in this world. So like Jesus,

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we must be able to say, I must be about my Father's business while I'm doing my job,

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while I'm gathering these things, while I'm preparing for the future in a wise sense.

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I must be about my Father's business. That is priority number one in my life. Now if

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that's the case, if that's the answer we ought to give, then it's wise for us to look

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at our activities, what we're really doing, to look over the past week's calendar and

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say, does that reflect my Father's business? Do the decisions that I make, the things that

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I do, do those things reflect my mission? I believe that only a right relationship to

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God can answer the three questions that have challenged philosophical thinkers from the

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beginning of time. Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? Only a right relationship

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to God can answer those three questions. If you don't have that relationship with Him,

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I hope you will establish it. You may do so, but it will cost you something. It will cost

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you everything. Jesus said you must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me. You have

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to be willing to lay everything on the line in order to receive everything as a gift from

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Him. Are you willing to follow Him, to be a child of God, and to know a mission in this

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world that can be described only in heavenly terms? But we have to go on to the third experience

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of Jesus as the Holy Child. As the Holy Child, He was faithful to do what He should. Verse

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51, He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them. We

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see here perfect humanity exhibited along with the previous statement of His deity when

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He called God His Father in that unique sense. For here we see in verse 51 the ideal boy,

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His will was to do the will of His heavenly Father, and as a child that was expressed

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by His subjection to His earthly parents. When it says that He was in subjection, it

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means in a continuous sense. The word here is a military term. It means to rank yourself

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under your superior. Our Lord gives an example here for children of all time, of all generations,

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to be in subjection to parents. This aligns perfectly with what He says elsewhere about

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obeying your parents, honoring your parents. But we're not talking primarily to children

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at this point this morning. So we might ask this question, how long is one required to

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be in subjection to parents? There are those who answer that differently. I believe that

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the answer to that, though biblically, is this, that one is required to be in subjection

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to parents as long as one is dependent upon them. In other words, there comes a time when

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subjection to parents is not the right expression for that relationship. Respect must be lifelong.

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Honoring parents, that never ceases. But to be in subjection to them is a certain part

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of the life. Jesus was faithful to do what He should as a child. This same word about

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being in subjection is used in the New Testament of us in several relationships, not just as

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children but as adults. We offer, for example, Romans 13.1 to be in subjection to governmental

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authorities that God puts over us. Now we know there's a balance to that. We're to

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obey God rather than man when there's a conflict. But the point is that generally speaking,

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you and I are to rank under our superiors when it comes to subjection to our governing

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authorities. The word is used in Ephesians 5.21 of our subjecting ourselves to one another

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in the church. We are to be a submissive people to each other, not trying to gain power, not

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manipulating, not playing politics, not playing games in the church, but in honest, genuine

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humility subjecting ourselves one to another. And the word is used of employees by application.

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Titus 2.9 tells slaves to be in subjection to their masters. That's not a perfect parallel

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to employees for sure, but the principle is the same, that as an employee I am to be submissive

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to my boss. But then it's used again in James 4 of our submission to God. An attitude of

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rebellion, an attitude of resisting God's appointed authority in my life is sin. Faithfulness

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to do what we should and to be submissive to God's ordained authority in our lives

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is to follow in the footsteps of the Holy Child Jesus, who faithfully did what he should.

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My point this morning is this, that Jesus Christ, whose life we will be studying over

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these next months, was fully human. He experienced the spectrum of what it means to be human,

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except for human sin. He grew. Are you growing? Are you today in the process of becoming the

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person God created you to be? Jesus knew who he was, what his mission was, and his life

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was ordered around that. Are you ordering your life around who you are and what your

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purpose and mission is in the world? And then Jesus was faithful to do what he should as

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a man in subjection. Does that describe your spirit? Does the word submission grate against

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you? To be honest about it, it does with all of us in certain relationships. We need the

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Spirit of God to soften us, to humble us, and to make us willing to submit to those

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that God places over us in our lives as his appointed authority. God helped us to apply

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this to our lives today. Know this, that Jesus became a man, that he might fully identify

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with all the feelings that are within you. He was tempted in every way like you are,

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but he never sinned. And he identified with you in that way that he might perfectly today

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meet your need. Will you let him do it? Let's bow together. Dear friend, our Savior had

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to be God in order to save us for all of eternity, but he also had to be man, and he was. And

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he understands what you're going through. He understands the temptations that you feel,

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and that perhaps you've stepped into, and he's able to help you. Has Satan somehow

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sidetracked your life? Has he stunted your growth? Please, don't allow yourself to become

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spiritually handicapped. Be the person God wants you to become. Will you determine that

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by God's grace right where you're seated this morning? Are you living according to

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who you are? And are you doing what God wants you to do? Are you busy about the Father's

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business? Are you submissive or rebellious? Are you willing to obey God's authority in

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your life? Or are you disobedient and resistant? God will only bless our lives when we're

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submissive. Will you give that area of struggle over to him? As we close the service, I'd

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like to pray for you if today there is a decision that you are specifically making, and I'm

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going to ask you to stand where you are. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed, but

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if today there is an area of your life, your human life, where you have sensed God speaking

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to you and you're saying, Lord, Son of God, Son of Man, today in this area of my life

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there's a new beginning. I'm committing my life to your Lordship. Would you stand where

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you are? We don't have time for a come forward invitation, but I ask you to stand. Join these

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others who are standing. It makes no difference what others think if they see you. God needs

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to see you. He needs to know the sincerity of your heart. I'm going to close in prayer

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in just a moment. Others are continuing to stand if you need to. Father, I'm grateful

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that your Holy Spirit works. Despite human weakness, your Word is powerful. And today

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by the Spirit, these who are your children have sensed a need, in some respect, you know

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what it is to respond. Thank you that you hear them, you see their heart's desire, and

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you're going to answer their prayer. And I pray that you will work powerfully to bring

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deliverance. I pray that you will work by grace so that each one will become that unique

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and special person that you've created him or her to be. Thank you for ministering to

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us. And Father, we pray for someone here today who may need to know Christ that that life

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transforming decision will be made before that person sleeps another night. That there

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will be a yield in us to Christ and an invitation to him to come in. In Jesus' name, would you

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all stand with me please?