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Do you feel like
you are completely Christmas-ed out?
This week of the
year elicits one of two responses. Either – “Whew! It’s finally over! Get these
decorations down, now! I don’t want to hear another Christmas song until next
December! I never want to see another ham. Now open up the schools and get
these kids out of here!” Or – "I love Christmas. This was so much fun, let’s
keep lighting the decorations until the neighbors complain. We can watch Miracle on 34th St one more
time. I can’t wait until next November so we can start this again!”
OK, how many fall
into category 1 or what I call “WooHoo!”? How many in category 2 or “BooHoo”?
Well, I hate to
break it to those “WooHoo” folks, but Christmas isn’t over quite yet, at least
as far as the church calendar goes. We are smack in the middle of the Christmas
season.
Traditionally, Christmastide
is the 12 days from Christmas Day until Epiphany, which is celebrated on
January 6th. During this Christmas season, we focus our hearts on
God made flesh in Jesus Christ. It is a time to reflect on what Jesus means for
us. What does it mean that God entered into our lives – faced all of the joys
and sorrows and hopes and disappointments that being human brings. God not only
faced those things, God embraced them. In Jesus, we see God’s relentless
pursuit of us. The lengths to which God will go to redeem us. God sent Jesus to
redeem humanity. To bring us back into right relationship with God. To
reconcile our relationship. And for all who believe, they have eternal life – a
life full of love and hope – a life lived in faith, a life lived empowered by
the Holy Spirit.
This morning we’re
going to look at one of the ways God, through the life of Jesus embraced all of
the ups and downs of being human.
Before I read,
though, I have a question, and I want you to be honest. How many of you have
ever left one of your children behind? Left them at a gas station? Lost them in
the mall? Accidently left them at home?
I want us to
watch a video that’s going to set up our scripture this morning.
*video*
So, can anyone
relate to that? Believe it or not, it leads us into our scripture for this
morning.
Luke 2:40-52
New Living Translation (NLT)
40 There the child grew up healthy and
strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him.41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the
Passover festival. 42 When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the
festival as usual. 43 After the celebration was over, they started home to
Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at
first, 44 because they assumed he was among the other travelers.
But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among
their relatives and friends.
45 When they couldn’t find him, they went back to
Jerusalem to search for him there. 46 Three days later they finally discovered him in the
Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking
questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and
his answers.
48 His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his
mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been
frantic, searching for you everywhere.”
49 “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they didn’t understand what he meant.
51 Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was
obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart.
52 Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with
God and all the people.
Growing
up, I loved to go to the mall with my mom. While my mom looked at clothes, my
brother and I would hide in the racks of clothes. We would try to scare her,
make her think she’d lost us. The circular ones were the best, because we could
climb under the clothes into the center and just sit there and giggle and
listen to her call our names as she looked for us.
Well,
one time, I lost my mom. I was probably 8 or 9 years old and somehow, I lost
her. It was around Christmas and the mall was packed. It’s a really vague
memory for me. I remember crying and I remember how crowded the mall was. It
was around Christmas, and my memory is of thighs and hips everywhere. I was
short, and the people were shoulder to shoulder. Eventually a woman about my
mom’s age saw me crying and helped me look for my mom. It was probably 5 maybe
10 minutes, but it seemed like a lifetime. I was scared and embarrassed.
My
mom was scared, too. I’ve had brief moments of losing my kids. It’s amazing how
many thoughts – horrible thoughts – your mind can conjure in less than a
minute. I cannot imagine what my mom thought in those 10 minutes. Imagine that
times 400. That’s what Joseph and Mary experienced. 3 days. It took them half a
day to realize he was gone, then they kept travelling for a day looking for him
in their caravan of pilgrims. Then travelled a day and a half back to
Jerusalem. When they find him in the Temple, Mary’s frustration comes through.
“Why have you done this to us?”
There’s
an interesting line at the end of this passage. After they returned to
Nazareth, Luke’s gospel tells us that Mary “stored all of these things in her
heart.” The NRSV says that Mary “treasured” these things in her heart. That
sounds right for a parent. Your son gets lost, smarts off to you when you find
him, and you “treasure those things in your heart.” All of these experiences,
even (or maybe especially) the scary ones, help to make us who we are. The same
is true of Jesus. Twice in this passage we are told that Jesus grew. In fact,
the story is sandwiched between those statements.
Verses
40 and 52 both tell us that Jesus grew. “the
child grew up healthy and strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor
was on him.” And “Jesus grew in wisdom and in years and
in favor with God and all the people.” Throughout our lives, we are growing. We
grow in years, and hopefully we grow in wisdom, and we grow in favor with God
and with people. I think this offers us a good guideline for our own spiritual
growth. We can look at our spiritual growth in terms of these four areas of
growth.
First we need to establish what is meant by spiritual
growth. 2 Peter ends with this instruction: “Be
on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked
people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.” Paul’s letter to the Colossians says this: “Take off
the old human nature with its practices and put on the new nature, which is renewed in knowledge by
conforming to the image of the one who created it.”
If we are to
grow spiritually, we grow more and more into the image of God.
So from our
guideline for growth, how do we grow into the image of God? First, we grow in
years. In other words, it takes time. We can’t make ourselves or renew
ourselves into the image of God. It is only by the Holy Spirit working in us.
And it is something that takes time. We can open ourselves to the work of the
Holy Spirit. Through prayer, Bible Study, worship and other spiritual
disciplines we allow God’s grace to work in us renewing our hearts. But it is
not an instantaneous renewal. You have to stick with it.
As we study we
grow in wisdom. We grow in knowledge of God. But it is more than simply
acquiring knowledge. Being wise means learning how to think carefully and act
virtuously in complex situations where one is tempted to think simplistically
or act recklessly. We become wise as we learn how to live as followers of
Christ.
As we spend time
with God and we learn how to live as followers of Christ, our relationship with
God grows. As our relationship to God grows closer, we grow in favor with God. The
more God knows us, the more God likes us. As we grow closer to God, we become
more like God. In growing closer to God, we are being renewed into God’s image.
All of this
requires growing in our relationship with others as well. We are created to be
in relationship. Relationship with God, but relationship with other people as
well. Regardless of what we think, we cannot do it on our own. Spiritual growth
requires community.
There are four
areas of growth that help renew us into the image of God. We grow in years as
we spend time with God in prayer, reading the scriptures, worshiping. We grow
in wisdom as we learn more about God and how to live as followers of Christ. We
grow in our relationship with God and we grow in our relationships with others
as we live and worship and serve together.
As you see here
these four areas of growth are a cycle. As we spend time with God, we grow in
wisdom and our relationships with God and others grow. As those relationships
grow, we increase in wisdom. And so on and so on. All of which leads us to
becoming more like God.
This time of
year, we talk a lot about change. We talk a lot about things we want to do
differently. It’s resolution time!
This year, what
can you resolve to do for your spiritual growth. What can you do to allow God’s
grace to work in you to help you grow into the image of God?
©2012 - Scott Coats
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