Introduction and Announcements
Well, I want to thank you, church, for giving me the opportunity to take some time off after the Christmas holidays. We had a great time traveling to Kentucky where we saw my family and were able to spend time with my parents and my brother and his family. And it was just a really enjoyable time.
And then it was a blessing to be here last Sunday worshiping alongside you and not leading you in worship. So I was blessed by all the participants in worship and grateful for Mark and Dan preaching in my absence and continuing us in the Gospel of Luke where we'll find ourselves this morning.
So you could go ahead and turn to the Gospel of Luke chapter 2. Before I do that, I did forget to mention in my announcements, I said it's a season of babies and weddings in our church. Well, yesterday the Gravitz welcomed their second—not second granddaughter, second through Nathan and Cece, but five total. Is that right? Or how many grandkids? Yeah, five. It takes an engineering degree from a certain trade school on North Avenue to figure this out, right? No, but we're super excited that Amelia Claire arrived yesterday healthy and happy, and she joins her parents, Nathan and Cece, and her big sister, baby Paige, who is here with Tommy and Amy this morning. So that is so precious.
And then I also failed to mention that in the month of February, early February, Michael and Victoria Coulter, who are over here, are expecting their third child, which will be a baby boy. So that's super duper exciting. And we're hoping, or not hoping, we will have a baby sprinkle for them on January the 25th, which is the last Sunday of this month. So be thinking about that. Come prepared with lots of diapers and wipes, which are a huge blessing to families that are adding more kids to their number.
Well, as we turn to Luke chapter 2, I want us to read here, beginning in verse number 22 through the end of the chapter. So this is a longer section, but I want to read it so that we get the ebb and the flow of what God has recorded for us in his inspired word. So listen as I read.
When the time came for the purification rites required by the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the law of the Lord. A pair of doves or two young pigeons. Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Moved by this Spirit, he went into the temple courts. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the law required, Simeon took him in his arms and he praised God, saying, "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations, in light for the revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people, Israel." The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your own soul too."
There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old. She had lived with her husband seven years after marrying and then was a widow until she was 84. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Every year, Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up to the festival according to the custom. And after the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and their friends. And when they did not find him, excuse me, when they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days, they found Jesus in the temple court sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."
"Why were you searching for me?" Jesus asked. "Didn't you know that 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. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.
Here Luke is recording in his gospel an account of Jesus' consecration in the temple. After the birth narratives of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, Luke takes us back to the temple where he began his gospel. The first temple scene that Luke recorded was when the angel Gabriel appeared to Zachariah, John's father, and he told Zachariah that he and Elizabeth, who had been barren, would give birth to a son. Then Gabriel would appear to Mary and tell her of their coming son, the promised one, Jesus, that she would give birth to.
And now, Luke takes us back to the temple to describe Jesus' parents, his earthly mother and father, consecrating him for obedience. The idea in all of this is that God had sent his son, Jesus, into the world to live under the curse of sin and under the requirements of the law so that he could fulfill them and live in sinless perfection. Jesus would live in sinless perfection so that he could die as a sacrifice for our sins and give us forgiveness.
As Luke wrote his gospel, he was writing primarily to Gentiles. And he established from the outset and throughout Jesus' Jewish identity, but he also made it clear that Gentiles would be included in Jesus' salvation. His emphasis here, that we'll see this morning, involved establishing Jesus' humanity and his obedience under the requirements of God's law. Ultimately, Luke makes the point that anyone can receive Christ's obedience through faith. Anyone, including you and me, can receive Christ's obedience through faith. There is no other way to please God.
No matter how hard people may try to clean up their lives, and at a time like the beginning of the year, people make resolutions to do all kinds of things. Some people resolve that they will be nicer, that they'll stop being angry, or they'll quit being mean. Now, maybe they don't say it that way, but they strive, at least privately, in their own heart and their own mind, to be more pleasant around other people. Others make other kinds of goals that are more physical. They'll say, "I want to lose weight this year. So I'm going to stop eating this. I'm going to start exercising. Perhaps I'm going to take medication, whatever it is, but I am going to lose X number of pounds."
And for others, you might resolve in a new year to make a bigger change in your life. Perhaps this is the year that you change careers, or this is the year that you at least find a different job because you've reached the end of the job you're at. Whatever your resolution, most resolutions fall flat because we don't have enough willpower to follow through. We can make it part of the distance that we are eager to get excited, and we think about all the changes that are going to happen. But then most of us, especially on resolutions like diet, say, "The diet starts tomorrow, after this one more visit to Chick-fil-A, after this one more Diet Coke, then I'll start my resolution."
The point is, none of us are able to live up to what we hope. We have a saying in our culture that says "practice makes perfect." And for some reason, whether we do it intentionally or not, we almost act as though if we just practice resolutions enough, we will eventually master resolutions. But the reality is we cannot do that. Practice does not actually make us perfect. It may make us better. It may help us improve, but it can never eliminate mistakes and it can never overcome our sin nature. Even a virtuoso on the violin plays wrong notes from time to time. And even an all-star quarterback can throw the football to the wrong person. Practice may make us better, but it can never make us perfect.
God requires moral perfection to enter his kingdom, not mere improvement. God is not looking for people that will resolve to be nicer this year or lose weight or change careers or be a different kind of person so that they qualify to enter into his kingdom. God is looking for sinless perfection. This is why God sent Jesus into time and space to become a human being, so that Jesus could take on our flesh under the curse of sin, under the rule of law, and fulfill all the righteous requirements that God laid out. And Jesus did this incredibly because he was the Son of God.
Jesus did not have to resolve to be better. Jesus did not have to practice to become perfect. He was perfect from his birth until his death and even now at the right hand of the Father. And Jesus, in his moral perfection, lived a righteous life that none of us can live so that we can be forgiven.
As Luke presents Jesus in the temple at his tender age of eight days old, he's demonstrating that Jesus came into this world under a system that established God's righteousness. And from the moment Luke introduces Jesus, he describes him as the fulfillment of God's law.
And he would fulfill God's law by obeying it in every jot and every tittle. He said through the angel Gabriel in chapter 1, verse 37, that no word from God will ever fail. The idea being that Jesus would succeed at keeping God's covenant promises for Israel and for all people that would believe him.
God Requires Perfect Obedience
Luke wants us to understand, along with his readers, that we can receive Christ's obedience through faith. But first we must recognize, and this is my first point this morning, that God requires perfect obedience to his law.
Up until this time, no one had been able to obey the law in its perfection, and no one would ever be able to do that apart from the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
And Jesus was born in such a way that God saw to it that he would obey the law. In fact, Luke starts this narrative by bringing Jesus into the temple courts.
The Presentation of Jesus
One week after his miraculous birth in Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary made their way to Jerusalem. They traveled about five or six miles on foot. Maybe they had the aid of an animal for Mary. But in any case, they made their way from Bethlehem to Jerusalem so that they could present Jesus in the temple.
As devout Jewish believers who understood the law and its requirements, they were compelled to take Jesus for consecration. Jesus had been born under the law of Moses so that he could obey the law perfectly. And Joseph and Mary had accepted everything that Gabriel the angel had revealed to Mary about their son. After his birth, they gave him the name Jesus. We see that in verse number 21. His name meant Jehovah saves, pointing others to the salvation that is promised through God.
And then they brought Jesus not only with his name, but they brought him for the purification rites and circumcision that was required of the law. Jesus' parents here are giving two small birds as a sacrifice offering, and this was to indicate their poverty. They didn't have the money to afford a lamb. So the law provided a much more modest sacrifice of two doves or two pigeons. Joseph and Mary brought this modest sacrifice to consecrate Jesus.
But what they had no idea is that Jesus was actually the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the whole world. He would take their sins away. He would take everyone's sins away who trusted in him. Jesus would make all of us perfect because of his obedience that he gives freely to us.
As Joseph and Mary brought Jesus into the temple, they brought him there so that Mary in particular could be cleansed ceremonially. It seems that through her birth, as a birth process of any Jewish mom, she was considered unclean for seven days, and she had to come to the temple to offer a burnt offering. And this offering would help highlight her need for forgiveness and her need for purification from God.
This is further evidence that Mary was not sinless and perfect, as some claim. Mary was not a deity. She was not a co-redemptrix. Mary was a woman who sinned like other women, and Mary needed the forgiveness of God just as her husband Joseph, and just as each of us do. Mary made provision so that she could be consecrated, and she and Joseph also set apart Jesus.
Because these rites also involved the infant, Jewish boys would receive circumcision on the eighth day according to the law, which was recorded in Leviticus chapter 12. This circumcision would serve as a sign of God's covenant, distinguishing the Jews from the Gentiles. And for a firstborn son like Jesus, his parents would also honor him or consecrate him and honor the Passover. A son's circumcision and his consecration revealed his dependence on God for salvation.
And in this case, having Jesus circumcised and setting him aside for Passover was an indication that Jesus was under the law and he was fulfilling the law. His parents didn't skip or take shortcuts or make excuses. They didn't say, "It's too far to travel. We don't have enough money, and they won't recognize us anyway." No, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple because it was an act of faith-filled obedience.
Though Joseph and Mary were not perfect, they themselves were not without sin. They ordered their lives in such a way as to obey God. They brought themselves, when the law required, to present Jesus and to consecrate him unto the Lord. As they did this, they demonstrated that their faith and their confidence was in God and that they trusted God to do what Israel needed and what they needed, which was to deliver them from their sins.
The Impact of Parental Obedience
Parents and grandparents, our obedience to God impacts our children, and it impacts our grandchildren far more than we think. They catch what we do more than what we say. We've all heard it said, "Do as I say, not as I do." And yet, we call that hypocrisy, right? But when we do what we're supposed to do, what we say matters more.
And here, we see Joseph and Mary giving an example of faith and faithfulness. They demonstrated obedience by bringing Jesus to the temple so that he could be consecrated. If we give our children and grandchildren an example of faith-filled obedience with our lives, then we will give them the only thing that matters for eternity, which is a relationship with God.
And yet, think about how much effort and energy parents and even grandparents spend on giving our children everything but a relationship with God. In fact, we devote thousands of dollars to sports and to music and to other extracurricular activities. Not to say that those things are wrong, but why would we prioritize those things that are temporary to that which is eternal?
Joseph and Mary were presenting Jesus from the beginning of his life to God to say that this child would be set apart for his service in obedience to the law. We also have the opportunity to set our children apart. In our context as Baptists, we don't baptize infants. We don't even dedicate infants, but we do consecrate parents.
And we bring up and we encourage parents of new children to come and declare before the church that they want to strive to raise that child in a way that would honor God and follow him in faithful obedience. It's not to say that parents that choose to be consecrated are saying, "We're going to be perfect and we're not going to make any mistakes and we're going to do this all right." But no, they're saying in front of the church, "We actually want the church to help us do this; that it's a community project that we'll work on together."
So as we're in a season of young couples getting married and couples having babies, I think this is a great season to be reminded that we should be consecrating ourselves to raise our children to follow after God, knowing that our children will not be perfect either. That our children, just as we do, need a savior, and that savior is in Christ. So as we see in this passage, we can have the forgiveness of sins through the obedience of another. But we still must be obedient as we strive to follow after God. Well, as Joseph and Mary do this, they take this step of faithful obedience to go to the temple.
Simeon and the Recognition of Christ
God honors their obedience by sending them two unlikely people to affirm their faith. Their names are Simeon and Joseph.
We're first introduced to Simeon in verse number 25. And this is a man from Jerusalem who was righteous and devout, the text says. This man was sensitive to the Spirit's guidance as well. It says he was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. God was revealing his long-awaited Messiah, and Simeon would get to see him with his own eyes. What an incredible gift and opportunity.
For hundreds of years, the people of Israel had been waiting for the fulfillment of the covenant as it would come to fruition in the Messiah. And now Simeon was told privately by the Spirit of God that he would see it. That it wasn't just a hopeful wish, that it wasn't just his intent or desire, but that it was God's plan for Israel. So when Simeon was told by God to go to the temple courts, he must have hurried and made his way there full of anticipation. He must have went knowing, "I've been to this temple hundreds of times throughout my life, but this time it's going to be different. This time I'm going to see none other than the promised Messiah of Israel."
So when Simeon arrived in the temple courts and saw Joseph and Mary with their baby boy, he must have been overjoyed. He was drawn to them. It's possible there were other parents that were there with their babies that day. But Simeon took special notice of Jesus because the Spirit of God was directing him to the Son of God. And Simeon, without even introducing himself, picks up the baby Jesus and holds him in his arms and looks intently into his eyes, speaking words of grace and truth. He welcomed baby Jesus as the fulfillment of Almighty God's promise to Israel for salvation. The consolation, or another way of saying it, the comfort of Israel had now appeared in the form of a baby.
Simeon praised God for the Messiah and he blessed him for everyone in the temple courts to hear. He was unashamed and unafraid. He took this baby, which in itself would have been unusual for an older man to take a baby from the arms of his young mother. But here he took him so that he could declare his true identity. He wasn't a baby snatcher, and he wasn't a creep. Instead, Simeon was a follower of God who wanted others to see the glory of God and that God was a covenant-keeping God who honored his promises.
Now in the physical presence of Messiah, Simeon held the Lord Jesus and proclaimed a prophetic word for others to hear about his ministry. Simeon recognized that Jesus was from the God of heaven, from God the Father. He says in verse number 29, "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel."
This baby who had been born in Bethlehem, who was now being presented in Jerusalem, would bless Israel and all nations, Simeon says. He would be a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel, verse 32. Jesus would deliver Israel as he promised, and he would include Gentiles. This had been clear from the early days of the covenant. But the people of Israel downplayed it. And now God was saying through Simeon that this baby, this Jewish boy being presented in the Jewish temple, would be the savior of all people. It was an incredible message. It wasn't exactly on brand for him to be saying that in that context in the temple. And yet it was on brand for the promises that God had given Israel for the hope that they would have in Jesus.
Simeon told these young parents that Jesus was not only a gift to all nations, but that Jesus would divide people. He says that he would cause leaders to fall and the lowly to rise and that their son would be a dividing rod. People would speak against Jesus. They would even violently oppose him. But yet Jesus would expose their innermost thoughts and cause his own mother great sorrow.
Joseph and Mary marveled at what Simeon was saying about Jesus. Now, nine months after Gabriel had first appeared to Mary and three months after the birth of Elizabeth's son John the Baptist, God was powerfully confirming his promises in their lives and his will for their son Jesus. They didn't know Simeon before this, and God sent Simeon on after this, perhaps to die in short order. We don't know. I don't think he died immediately. But he said God had told him he could die after he saw the Messiah. So Simeon didn't have more interaction with Joseph and Mary, but what interaction he did have must have built their faith and encouraged them at the boy they held in their own arms.
When we walk with God in faith-filled obedience, God uses our faith to bless other people. That's what Simeon's faith was doing for Joseph and Mary; he was blessing them.
Over the years, God has graciously sent people into my life, including some of you, to remind me of His promises and to encourage my faith. Perhaps the Holy Spirit wants you to go and speak the hope of Christ to someone that He's put on your heart and on your mind, that He's given you a burden for.
And I would challenge you: it's not that you're going to recognize the Messiah, but you are going to proclaim the Messiah and to assure them of God's work in their lives.
Anna and the Persistence of Faith
So do not resist the Holy Spirit when he prompts you. Go, speak, and watch God work, just as Simeon did. Along the same lines, immediately after Simeon blessed Jesus, Joseph and Mary are directed to Anna.
Verse number 36 says, "There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Peniel of the tribe of Asher. She was very old, and she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was 84. She never left the temple, but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying. And coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem."
So here we have Anna, who was also living according to God's word, who wanted to faithfully obey and follow what God had revealed through his covenant. Luke describes Anna as a prophet. This woman would have been in the tradition of other female Old Testament prophets who spoke God's message of hope and judgment to God's people. Anna came from a northern tribe in Israel, the tribe of Asher, and she bore witness to God's Messiah for all the people of God, for all of Israel.
Imagine her life. For over 60 years, she lived as a widow. She probably became a widow in her very early 20s, as many young women married in this ancient Near Eastern context when they were 13, 14, or 15 years old. She would have been very young as a wife and very young as a widow. She had every right under the Old Testament law to remarry, and we saw that in Ruth and Naomi, whenever Ruth remarried Boaz. And yet, Anna chose not to remarry. She chose instead to devote herself to worship at the temple. So she chose a life of faith and obedience and faithfully served in the temple for over 60 years.
We don't know much else about Anna. But what we do know is when the Son of God appeared and Simeon recognized him, declaring what God was doing through him, Anna took note. She heard what Simeon was pronouncing and she went over to affirm the same. She also looked at Jesus, perhaps taking her in her arms, and says that she gave thanks to God. She received the message that Simeon had declared, and she rejoiced in what God had done, that here was the promised one, that they were no longer waiting, they were instead holding the Christ in their arms.
Anna affirmed Jesus' identity as the Messiah with thanksgiving and with her own testimony because she immediately turns, it says, to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem and she spoke about Jesus.
Simeon and Anna persevered in faith unto their old age. They did not become complacent about their relationship with God or withdraw from other believers. They didn't stop going to the temple and saying, "Hmm, temple worship is just for young people and people raising children." No, these two elderly saints stayed active and obedient in the faith. They engaged in God's work and they followed God's covenant-keeping promises with joy, anticipation, and gratitude. The faith of Simeon and Anna honored God and blessed other believers.
I just want to say, in a church like ours, I'm very, very grateful for the senior adults that God has in our congregation. I have been blessed and continue to be blessed by your faith and your faithfulness over many years. We have a great time when we get together for our senior luncheons, and we have one of those coming up later this month. But I think what is most encouraging is to see your faith continuing, that you haven't checked out as you've gotten older. Even though our society promotes retirement, and I don't think retirement is wrong, the Bible does not promote the idea of retiring from our relationship with God or the local church.
Here we have two steadfast believers into their 80s continuing to faithfully come to the temple in anticipation of what God would do. And I'm grateful that we have people in our church in their 70s and 80s and some in their 90s who continue to pursue worship and obedience and challenge those of us who are younger.
I want to encourage middle-aged adults, people like me who are half-century old and older, that we would persevere in Christ and persevere with the local church. It's sad, but in church demographics and studies, the people most likely to check out a church are people in middle age. It's because we're being pulled between raising kids who are becoming teenagers and college students and parents who have faltering health and require demands on that end. And in our care for our families, we can sometimes neglect the church. And I just want to challenge you, don't neglect the church. Your presence is needed and your faith is needed. Because those things will build you up, but they will also bless other people.
And for the young adults that are here, I want to challenge you. Don't just sequester yourselves to be only among young adults but learn from our senior adults. Pursue them. My generation often complained that the senior saints never pursued us.
And some of us turn that around and say, "Well, then we will pursue them." So I want to challenge you, young adults, let senior adults pursue you and you pursue them and form sweet relationships as you grow in your faith and faithfulness to God. As we do that, God will bless and strengthen our church with multiple generations.
We don't want to be a church of simply gray-haired or white-haired adults, and we don't want to be a church of just young people. We want to be a church of all God's family. And it truly is a family where we help one another and we bless one another. Here, Simeon and Anna blessed Joseph and Mary. These older adults blessed this young couple who were now going to be raising a child, but a very unique child, the Son of God himself.
After consecrating Jesus in the temple according to God's law, Joseph and Mary returned to Nazareth, about 70 miles north of Jerusalem. This would have been a long walk as they traveled, perhaps with others for safety. And as they traveled, they had time to reflect on all that had happened in the temple. I'm sure there were other people and other conversations beyond Simeon and Anna's that built their faith, that buoyed their hope in Christ, and gave them confidence that this boy Jesus would turn into the savior of all people.
Well, as they went away, Luke simply summarizes what happened over the next 12 years in verses 39 through 40. He says, Jesus, like other boys, grew and became strong. He was a normal, healthy human being. But unlike other boys, Jesus was uniquely filled with wisdom and the grace of God was on him. In other words, Jesus was not only a human being; Jesus was the God-man, the Son of God, the eternal Son of God.
And here as Jesus was growing up in Nazareth, living with his family, he was growing in obedience to the law. There was no part of the law that Jesus disobeyed. Instead, he did everything that the law required. He fulfilled even the fifth commandment, that he honored his parents and obeyed them. He was never cross with his siblings who would come later through Joseph and Mary's relationship. And Jesus never offended other people or did what was wrong for the sake of riling them, for some cruel joke, or from some sarcastic comment, or from some boyish or childish practical joke.
Jesus instead grew up in a way that honored God in every way without sin. And Jesus was none other than God himself. Early in his life, Jesus demonstrated his deity through his obedience. He did not have a sin nature like his parents, Joseph or Mary, or like you and me. Jesus was fully man and fully God, and he lived in perfect obedience to the heavenly Father so that he could fulfill all the righteous requirements of the law.
None of us are sinless. None of us can earn God's righteousness, but God gives us his favor through Jesus. God requires perfect obedience to his law, and only one person can be perfectly obedient, and that's Jesus. And that leads to my second point, and that is Jesus fulfills the law with grace and truth.
Jesus Fulfills the Law
Jesus fulfills the law with grace and truth. Beginning in verse number 41, Luke skips ahead 12 years after Jesus' birth, when Joseph and Mary were taking him to Jerusalem in the year that would precede what we commonly call now bar mitzvah. Apparently, Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem for every Passover each year. And whether or not they took Jesus every year, it's not clear, but they clearly brought him in his 12th year, and they brought him so that he could be prepared to be recognized as an adult in his 13th year. That's what the custom would have been that's referred to in verse number 42.
Well, when the festival was over, that is, there was not only the Passover, which was one day, but there was a celebration, the feast or the celebration of unleavened bread that lasted for a week. And Joseph and Mary and Jesus stayed and participated in all the activities in Jerusalem. But then Joseph and Mary started traveling home at the end of that week. And when they did, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, verse 43, but unknown to his parents.
So at the end of their first day of travel, they could not find Jesus among their relatives and friends. This would have been a large group of people making their way from Jerusalem back north to Nazareth. This wasn't just a handful of people. It was probably a hundred or more people that were traveling together. I would say more, most likely. So Jesus had been unaccounted for because Joseph assumed he was with somebody. Mary assumed he was with somebody. And then they finally realized he wasn't with them at all.
So they turned around. They spent a second day going back to Jerusalem to find Jesus. And on the third day, they found him in the temple. Imagine the anxiety that Mary must have been feeling in particular. That, Joseph, how could you lose track of your son? And I'm sure Joseph was thinking, Mary, why are you blaming me? What about you? And I'm sure there were some tense conversations and moments as they were searching not only along the road back to Jerusalem, but searching throughout Jerusalem, wondering where their son was.
And when they found him, they were astounded and amazed because Jesus was in the temple listening to the teachers of the law and asking them questions, it says, verse number 46. Everyone who heard Jesus was amazed at his understanding and his answers. No doubt they were marveling at his wisdom, especially considering his young age of 12 years old. But they were also probably astounded because of his modest parents. And after all, where were the parents? They were absent until they realized he had stayed behind and then they came back to find him.
But no doubt, the people in the temple also admired Jesus' ability to listen. It says that he listened to them, he understood their teaching, he received what they were saying. But then it also says they marveled at his questions. Jesus had incredible insight and wisdom. He was asking questions that made well-trained and experienced rabbis question themselves. And here, Jesus is doing this before Joseph and Mary could find him.
Once they found him, they were stunned. It says in verse number 48. And Mary quickly, as any mother would, said, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." Perhaps she said more, but her anxiety was palpable. She must have been incredibly relieved. Not only had she lost her son, but she knew the weight of the situation. This was no ordinary son. This was the son of God that she had lost track of.
So like any mother, Mary was worried about Jesus. But Jesus was not left alone. Jesus was in fact in his father's house, and he turned Mary's question into a declaration of his deity. "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know that I had to be in my father's house?"
For the first time in public, Jesus made a sharp distinction between his human parents and his heavenly father. He declared for all who were there listening that he was none other than the Son of God. He indicated that he had to be in his father's house. Well, the father's house did not refer to the high priest. This was not the priest's house. This was none other than God's house.
And Jesus is saying, "He is my father." Joseph may have been his earthly caretaker, but God Almighty was his heavenly father. Jesus didn't undermine his earthly parents' authority or ignore Mary's question. Instead, he was pointing to something more significant. And what was more significant than the fact that he was the eternal Son of God? He revealed his divine sonship to everyone in the temple, from people, ordinary worshipers to the rabbis and the priests.
But he did this to people that should have been expecting the Messiah. People that should have been looking like Anna and Simeon were 1 years ago for the coming one. They should have seen it in Jesus. Yet for 12 years, they ignored the words of Simeon and Anna.
And now they would be confronted with Jesus' own words and they would ignore them too. But Jesus would continue to live a life of obedience full of wisdom and grace. Wisdom for his knowledge of the law and its application to his life, and grace for his willingness to live a life of sinless perfection as a sacrifice for sinners.
Jesus did all of this so that we could have the forgiveness of sins, so that the people in the temple that day could have had the forgiveness of their sins. So throughout Jesus' life, he continued to submit to the law of God and obey it with grace and truth.
Jesus was not self-righteous. He did not come to judge, John says in John chapter 3, but he came to give forgiveness. Luke says Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. He developed like all human beings. He matured mentally in the wisdom of God, he grew physically in stature as a young boy, and he related spiritually with God the Father, and he connected socially with other people.
In everything that Jesus did, he obeyed God. There was no imperfection. He didn't have to practice to make himself perfect. He didn't have to make a resolution to stop doing something so that he could do what was right. Instead, he met all the righteous requirements of God's law in every thought and motive, in every word and deed.
He obeyed God's law perfectly, and he did not sin against his parents here. He did everything that was required of him, and he obeyed the fifth commandment to honor his father and mother. God requires perfect obedience to his law, and Jesus is the only one who fulfills the law, and he does this with grace and truth.
Receiving Obedience Through Faith
And that leads to my conclusion, which is the third point: We receive Christ's obedience through faith.
None of us are perfect. We're all sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God. We've rebelled against God. We're incapable of saving ourselves or of earning any kind of righteousness before God. Even our best works, Isaiah says, are none other than filthy, disgusting rags. We're born slaves to our sin, and we despise the Son of God.
We ignore him like those in the temple that day who liked to expound upon what they knew, who liked to dialogue about questions concerning the law, but when presented with the Son of God who was in his father's house, they ignored him. Some people ignore God by openly opposing him. They oppose Jesus and say he couldn't possibly be who he says that he is. But most people simply ignore Jesus and privately reject their need for him. They say, "Well, that's okay for you, for the religious types, but I don't need him. I'm okay. My life is going fine."
But Jesus came to bring us out of darkness. And the darkness is our sin and the curse that we live under in this world. We all know that something is broken and not right. We look at current events right now and we think that the world is spinning out of control with wars and rumors of wars. And yet all of this is just a demonstration that the darkness breeds trouble and it multiplies suffering.
But that darkness has been dealt with through Jesus, because God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to expose our sins and bring us into the light of his truth. The light of the gospel of Jesus Christ drives out the darkness of our sin and it brings us close to God.
The Apostle Paul asserted what Luke taught about Jesus: Jesus fulfilled God's law full of grace and truth so we can have his righteousness through faith in him. In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul emphatically wrote bookends to his letter. In chapter 1, he established the obedience that comes through faith in Jesus. And in chapter 16, he concluded with obedience through faith.
Hear what Paul says in Romans 1:5: "Through Jesus, we have received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for Christ, his namesake." And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. Paul starts his letter by saying our ministry is to call all people to obedience, but that obedience can only come through faith in Jesus. He concludes in chapter 16, verse 26 of Romans saying this: "So that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith. To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ. Amen."
Paul's point is that the only way we can experience righteousness, the only way we can have forgiveness, is through the obedience that comes through faith. God gives us faith as a gift, Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2. And that faith is a gift of God by his grace and his glory.
God isn't asking you to reform yourself or make yourself a better person. Boys and girls, God doesn't expect you to come up and be perfect. He knows that you sin. He knows you don't listen to your parents. He knows that you pick on your brothers and sisters. And he died for sins like those. Parents, God is not expecting you to be absolutely perfect and righteous. He knows that you'll make mistakes as you raise your children. He knows that you'll sin against your children, and yet he died for those sins. And grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends, carers, others, God also knows that you're a sinner, and God wants you to trust him unto salvation. He wants you to experience the obedience that comes through faith.
So we can receive Christ's obedience through faith when we believe that Jesus Christ is who he says that he is: the promised Son of God, the hope of Israel, the deliverer, the one who saves people from their sins, the Lamb of God who takes the sins of the world away.
My final question is: Are you trusting Jesus Christ for the obedience that only comes through faith? Or are you trying to improve yourself? Are you trying to practice so that you'll become more perfect? Are you trying to resolve to be a better person so that you can not only make other people happy, but maybe privately you want to ease your conscience and make God happy too?
Well, there's only one way for God to be pleased with you, and that is when He sees Jesus, He sees you. So place your trust in Jesus because the only obedience you have comes through faith in Him.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we commit this to you, we ask that you would help us to see Jesus. Help us to be like Simeon and Anna, who saw the Christ and recognized him for who he was.
God, help us this morning as we have seen the necessity of Christ's work, because only Christ can keep the righteous requirements of the law. Help us to receive the grace and the truth that he has given to us freely.
And God, I pray that you would help us to have the obedience that only comes through faith. Forgive us for efforts of moral reform or making ourselves better. But instead, help us to be gladly self-forgetful.
Help us instead to focus on the promises of God and Jesus, and give us the hope of eternal life that was promised for people just like us if we trust you for the forgiveness of our sins. And we pray all this in the glorious name of Jesus our Savior. Amen.