Ross Tenneson

Pastor Ross preached from Luke 3:1-24 on John the Baptist's message of repentance. 

Repentance is How God Breaks Through

Ross Tenneson / General

Luke / Repentance; Baptism / Luke 3:1–14

Summary

Exegetical Main Point: True children of God must repent and bear the fruit of loving other people with their possessions.

Sermon Main Point: Repentance delivers us from death and brings us new life.

Sticky: We must repent daily to get more of God.

Sermon

Me (Connection)

Just the other night at dinner, I was out with my parents for my mother’s birthday. My cousin had come over for Christmas a few days earlier. Sometimes when we interact, I feel like she has some barbs and walls and won’t let me connect with her like I want to. I didn’t quite know it at the time, but our interactions had left me with a frosty heart. When I was talking with my parents at dinner, I blurted out something about her that completely lacked compassion toward her. My heart will crop up anytime and anywhere and the only option for the Christian is to repent in that moment.

 We (Tension)

I’m going to get into this more in the sermon, but repentance is related to acknowledge your wrong and seek to restore the relationship you have damaged. Thankfully, by the grace of God, I was able to repent in this situation. Other times though, it is harder to admit you are wrong and seek to restore the relationship you have damaged. We find ourselves in the worst situation when the person we do not want to repent to is God, and yet we need to. Here are a few reasons we don’t:

We may love our sin just too much and not want to let it go.

We may dread facing him and it is easier to just keep running away.

We may feel stuck and unable to return to him and don’t know why.

The question I want to answer in this sermon is: 

What do I do when I need to repent but I don’t want to?

And if you are not yet a follow of Jesus, I want to explain to you why repenting to God could be the most important thing you ever do in your life.

God (Revelation)

The Messenger (vv. 1-6)

Now that we have walked through Jesus’ birth narrative and a story of his childhood, we fast forward several years. He is now a man of thirty and he is about to begin his three year ministry. These three years will be the most consequential in history. Let’s see how Luke introduces this part of the narrative.

Luke begins in verse one by turning our attention back to the historical context. We are actually about to see a bunch of names listed one after the other. It may leave us wondering, “where is he going with this?” His slowing down is actually literary technique that is building a sense of tension toward a significant point.[1]

 He says in verses one and two,

3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

What do we see Luke is building up to? “the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” This phrase is a call back to Old Testament prophets.[2] After over 400 years of silence toward his people, God has finally begun to speak again. Through this poor prophet in the wilderness, God beings expressing his authoritative revelation: an authority that surpasses that of the earthly political and religious leaders whom John contrasts in this text.[3]

God gives his authoritative word to John in the wilderness. And he sends him into the region of the Jordan river.

What would be first thing God would want to say to his people after all this time of distance and silence?

Verse 3 tells us,

 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

So John comes out of the wilderness after being there for many years, back into civilization and starts preaching sermons about how people need to come and receive a baptism from him and receive forgiveness from God for their sins. He is saying, “your biggest problem is not what you might think it is. It’s not the political system, or your financial situation, or your divorce, or your poverty. Your biggest problem is you need forgiveness of sins.” That’s true for all of us this evening: our biggest need is for God to forgive us of our wrongdoing. And he brings this beautiful picture along with him to accompany his message: baptism.

In other words, “For anyone who receives forgiveness of sins, I want to accompany it with a beautiful picture: of lowering you down into the water and pulling you back out again.” The water symbolizes the washing away of guilt and shame and also of the new life as John would symbolically lower people into their grave and pull them back up out of it in a picture of new life.

John then references Isaiah as foretelling his ministry and what he is accomplishing. Like so many other references in Luke, these verses come from Isaiah 40,

4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

                  “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

                  ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

      make his paths straight.

            5       Every valley shall be filled,

      and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

                  and the crooked shall become straight,

      and the rough places shall become level ways,

            6       and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”

These verses speak of a highway God is constructing to come to his people The king of highway you would construct for the arrival of a king.[4] It is not a literal highway, it is a figurative highway. God overcomes every obstacle to his coming, including sin and rebellion and unbelief.[5] God was about to come and be among his people.

When he says, “all flesh shall see the salvation of God,” It adds into Luke the theme that people of all nationalities, not just ethnic Jews, will experience the salvation of God.[6]

Essentially, we see God removing obstacles in order to come to his people. He is filling valleys and leveling mountains to get to them. When God sets his eyes on someone to save, he does so with unstoppable power.

What obstacle could possibly stand in the way of God from coming to his people?

The Message (vv. 7-9)

We now get to see what the obstacle is and how God will remove it. Verse seven immediately reveals to us what it is. At this point, crowds of people had gathered to listen to John preach. Here is the beginning of his message to them:  

7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Is this what you would expect a man of God to say? We might think he would come and say, “God loves you.” Or, “you’re special just the way you are.”  Yet, that’s not what people need to hear. He’s not trying to hurt or demean the crowds of people: he is trying to show them something. Something they need to desperately see lest they will not be able to receive God when he comes and they will remain cut off from him.

What is it that they need to see?

That the greatest obstacle keeping them from God, above everything else, is their own sinful hearts. There’s nothing out there: no army, no mountain, no devil that is keeping them from God; it’s in here. That’s what’s the matter. This is what John means when he address the crowd as a “brood of vipers:” the imagery of snakes in the Bible image Satan and his rebellion against God. For them to be a brood of vipers means that the same rejection and rebellion against God is in their own hearts. John shows us that you don’t have to be a ruler to oppose or reject God, ordinary people do it all the time. And if we are all honest here, apart from the grace of God, we too have this same opposition and rejection to God in our hearts.

John then asks them this question: “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

There was a whole slew of people there in the crowd. Some sinners with a poor reputation and some religious leaders of the day. Yet, John adjusts all of their expectations. He declares that they have hearts that oppose God and not only will it keep God from coming to them, they will eventually face his never-ending wrath in punishment. This crowd represents all of humanity: this is who we all are apart from the grace of God.

Why is that?

The biggest reason is the God that John is proclaiming is a holy God! Do you know what the word means? It means God is so pure, so spotless, so perfect, he is utterly beyond us in every way, unimaginably so. And when he comes into contact with our sin, his holiness compels him to judge us! Hence, since God is returning to the earth to be kind and each of us are sinners, wrath is coming! The Bible says even if we die, he will raise us up to face the judgement.

John is not pulling any punches: he is being completely direct. Which is actually good for this crowd of people and is good for me and you also. One pastor puts it this way: “hard truths make soft people.”

I think the most important question at this point is: is there any hope for these crowds of people who are under the wrath of God— these crowds of people who represent all of humanity, even us?

In the beginning of verse 8, we see the alternative to living in opposition to God and his purposes. It says,

8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

The one solution to the object in our heart cutting us off from God and bringing his wrath upon us is “repentance and the fruit that comes from it.” Well, in that case, we better well know what repentance is.

This is a religious sounding word we throw around a lot. Think for a moment, how would you explain this to someone who didn’t know what it means.

The Greek word means most directly a “change of Mind.”[7] At its most basic level: it is the turning away from sin and instead turning toward God. It is the renewal of the inward man that results in outward change in how you live.[8] Here is how the Apostle Paul puts it in Acts 26:20

20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.

You might ask, “how can I flee from the coming wrath? How can I remove the obstacle in my heart so that God may come into my life and I may enjoy him?” (those who are not yet following Jesus, this question is for you)

The answer in a word, is “repentance.” Acknowledge in your heart that you are indeed a sinner and have need for a savior, and then turn to Jesus as your savior in faith and hope and belief. Trust that his perfect life and death on the cross pays for your sins and removes them from you. While I’m talking mostly about repentance, I want us to know that faith in Jesus goes hand in hand with repentance. They are two sides of the same coin. To turn from you sins is repentance and alternatively to turn to Christ in trust is faith. Here is how the Apostle Paul explains John’s message in Acts 19:4

4 And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”

You might ask, how do I know I have repented?

John’s teaching here is very helpful. He does not say merely “repent,” but rather, “bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”

Does anyone here like apples?

They are so good! (unless they are rotten or sour!) Good apples come from good trees. It’s the image God uses to show us what repentance is like. Repentance is the process of the tree (or in our case our hearts) changing from being corrupted to being holy. The “fruit” is the new ways we love God and others that grow out of our changed hearts.

The way you know if you have really repented is very simple. John is saying you know you have repented when your life changes and you don’t commit particular sins as much anymore— possibly some of them not at all anymore. There is an inward hatred of sin and remorse for the ways we have fallen short in repentance (Calvin). The way your life changes does not (and can never!) save you, it only shows that God has already saved you. God doesn’t save those who are righteous; he saves those who know they are not.[9]

And just to be clear, repentance is not only for unbelievers. Martin Luther taught us, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent'' (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

If you are already walking with Jesus, the most relevant question to ask is not, “did I repent back when I accepted Jesus?; rather it’s, “have I repented afresh today?”

I wake up needing to repent every day. The first thought on my heart in the morning is not, “only Jesus!” It’s usually much less holy than that. I need to turn immediately from the worries or the cravings I have and come to Jesus for help.

Now I want to raise an important question: why do we not repent sometimes?

John anticipates what is going on in the hearts of his listeners and what will keep them from turning from loving their sin to loving God. He warns them in the second part of verse 8,

And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

The Jewish audience who was listening to John thought they had no need of repentance. They thought that God was comfortable with their sin because of their connection to Abraham (the first Jew through whom God made the whole nation). They thought, “If I’m this guy’s descendent, then God will forgive me no matter what because he promised him spiritual descendents.”

They thought they were aligned with God’s kingdom, but they were actually opposing God for no greater reason than they hadn’t repented. And the question at hand is: how will they respond to John’s stinging rebuke? After all, baptism at this time was a ritual washing for gentiles to join the Jewish people, and here is John telling Jews that they, the descendents of Abraham, also needed a washing and cleansing.[10] He said to them, “you are not God’s people like you think you are, you need to become God’s people through repentance. God actually doesn’t need you at all: he could make worshippers from these rocks, but if your turn from your wickedness, he will forgive you.” This kind of language could get him stoned or killed by the crowd.

Before we see, let’s notice that John reveals in this verse one major thing that keeps us from repenting: we construct false understandings of ourselves in which we don’t see ourselves as in need of repenting. We think of all sorts of things that we use to convince ourselves that God is okay with us and we don’t need to renounce ourselves yet again and turn to him in fresh dependence.

What are some of the one’s you come up with?

Perhaps it’s some sacrifice or some good work that you have done, so God owes you.

Perhaps it’s that your parents were Christians and you grew up in a Christian household, so God must be alright with you.

Perhaps it’s that you pray a lot or read your Bible a lot.

Perhaps it’s that you go to church or you were baptized.

Perhaps it’s that your parents think you are a perfect child or you do everything you can to be the perfect parent.

For me, it’s “I’m not really that bad” or “God knows all the sacrifices I make and all the ways I serve him, so he is alright with me.”

And yet, whether or not you are a follower of Jesus yet, this is a need we all have each and every day: to repent. For the unbeliever, you need to repent so you can have your sins forgiven and for the believer we need to repent so that we can have more of Jesus today.

This brings me to my main point: We must repent daily so that we can have more of God.

In repenting, we both die and rise. When repenting, it will actually never feel pleasant because there is no repenting without renouncing yourself. At the level of your heart, you embrace that what you did fell short, and you part ways with your false identity that you are alright without God. Until we repent, we are all wearing a mask where we pretend everything is alright with us when it’s not. The mask the crowd was wearing is “descendent of Abraham.” The masks we wear are other ways we come up with the avoid the fact that we need God’s forgiveness for the particular sins in our lives.

When we repent to God, the mask comes off and that false version of ourselves dies. It’s that moment where we just kind of cringe and think, “could this really be me?” And yet it is the same moment where God removes the obstacle that was keeping him from our hearts and he comes to us! Some of my sweetest moments of communion with Jesus have been after my hardest falls. That’s because those falls bring me to repentance and I stop pretending I’m alright and plead desperately to Christ and he answers! And then, our lives and behaviors change to become more like Jesus. If you repent, you get to be with and be like Jesus. What could be better than that?

John is very clear. His command to repent is not a suggestion or something we should just ponder, but rather it is urgent! He says in verse 9,

9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Judgment from a holy God who cannot tolerate any sin is coming imminently. We are always one heart beat away from eternity, and quite frankly we never know if the next moment will be the one Jesus comes back and judges the earth. So, quite frankly, judgment is as close to us as a sharpened axe, laying beside the tree it is about to fell. And John is clear that part of judgment will be an inspection of our lives. He says “every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” As repentance is an inward renewal of our hearts that has outward effects on how we act and live, God will inspect to see if we have repented by whether or not our lives have changed at all. I just want to be clear: the Bible does not teach that we earn it or that we have to do enough good works to get God’s love. It teaches that once we have it, the evidence of our having received it is how our lives change. God will save us as we are, but never leave us as we are.

God can accept us as we are, even before we change at all, because of Jesus. Jesus hung on a tree and received the axe stroke of God’s wrath in our place already so we would never have to. The goodness of Jesus and all he has done is the reason we can lay down our false sense of our own righteousness and come to him in repentance and faith. I want to be clear here: changing your behavior does not put you in a right relationship with God. Your heart shifting from loving sin to loving Jesus and then placing your trust in Jesus to be your savior puts you in a relationship with God. Then, the way that inward renewal changes the way your live shows God has already saved you. Yet, we need to understand a critical warning here: if sin characterizes our lives and we are not turning from it, then the wrath of God still hangs over us. A true inward renewal will always show itself in outward transformation.

I have a word that I want to speak to those who do not yet follow Jesus (although this also applies to you if you are a follower of Jesus). Each of us is either fleeing to God or fleeing from God. Unexpectedly, the way to flee from God’s wrath, is to flee to God as savior through Jesus Christ. Please, if you are not yet a believer in God, think that you can run away and escape from him somehow. Here is what one Bible teacher named John Calvin said,

“For a good part of men, in order to escape the wrath of God, withdraw themselves from his guidance and authority. But all that the sinner gains by fleeing from God, is to provoke more and more the wrath of God against him.”[11]

If may feel safer, and more comfortable to flee from God now and not face him in repentance and be right with him. But oh, you will have wish you had when you leave this earth when you still had a chance to flee from his wrath.

This is actually a very scandalous message! The Jew’s message that God would save religious Pharisees is actually pretty tame. When John breaks down that notion and says repentance is the only way for God to save someone, it opens up the floodgates. Through repentance, any person can be saved! Were an Isis terrorist or a neo-Nazi to walk through the door and repent, they would be welcome into God’s people. How amazing how God has done it! The self-sufficient religious get left out, and the poor sinner who knows he needs a savior is welcome.

Now we can see the answer to the dilemma: how can I repent when I don’t want to by putting together the last few verses:

(1) We must see ourselves rightly as sinners in need of a savior. We have to take our masks off and forsake our false identities by reminding ourselves of the goodness of God. We hide from God when we don’t believe he is good and will receive us, yet come to God when he is good and know that he will forgive us. Romans 2:4 says,

4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

(2) Conversely, we need to remind ourselves regularly of how terrible God’s judgment is if we do not repent. John reminds us that the axe is laid by the tree and if we do not bear fruit, we will pass into the judgement of God. Rehearsing both of these truths: our need for a savior and the goodness of God, and the terrible judgement of God help bring us to repentance when we feel stuck.

I remember when I was stuck in the habitual sin of pornography, it was reminding myself of the wrath of God that helped me get free. I remember telling myself, “Ross you will either break this habit and stop doing this, or you will keep doing it and go to hell— it’s your choice.” And God used that powerfully to help me.

I want to talk about verses 12-14 on the midweek podcast and share with you a quote from Rosaria Butterfield about how powerful of an effect repentance could have in our community if we embraced it:

Paul knows how deep real repentance goes— how it undoes a sinner and remakes him, and how it leaves him raw, vulnerable, and transparent. I imagine Paul— years after the Lord had made him an apostle, years after his days of slaughtering Christians for religious zeal— breaking bread with a fellow believer and recognizing something in the shape of an eye, the turning up of a nose, the tone of a laugh or cry. I also imagine the horror that could have seized him, stopped him, made him gasp for breath. I can feel the recognition: that eye, that nose, that voice, so similar to someone he had murdered. Paul may have found himself at table fellowship with the children of a faithful mother that he had killed in his Pharisaical zeal. Repentance changes everything. Through it, you become something you could never imagine. And repentance is a gift from God. It cannot be manufactured or faked.

Repentance goes so deep and transforms us in such miraculous ways because it is a work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gets all the credit when we repent and he gets all the glory for what happens when we repent. It is a sweet, wonderful gift that shows us what a wonderful savior we have.

[1]  Runge, S. E. (2010). Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament: A Practical Introduction for Teaching and Exegesis (p. 216). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

[2] Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 159–180.

[3] Philip Graham Ryken, Luke, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, vol. 1, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2009), 114–125.

[4]  Morris, L. (1988). Luke: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 3, p. 112). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[5] Bruce Barton et al., Life Application New Testament Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 2001), 252–254.

[6] Bruce Barton et al., Life Application New Testament Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 2001), 252–254.

[7] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 640). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

[8] John Calvin, Harmony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, trans. David W. Rev. William Pringle, vol. 1, Calvin’s Commentaries 23 Volume Set (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2009), 190.

[9] Tim Keller sermon, The Dangerous God, https://gospelinlife.com/downloads/the-dangerous-god-6278/.

[10] [10] Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 30–34.

[11] John Calvin, Harmony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, trans. David W. Rev. William Pringle, vol. 1, Calvin’s Commentaries 23 Volume Set (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2009), 189.

Daniel Simmons

Theo Sandberg

Luke 2:39-52

Exegetical Main Point: Jesus matured and grew in his identity as  Son of God and as son of man, but his identity as a Son of God outweighed all other identities. Jesus was paving the way for all who would follow him as the forerunner of the new humanity.  

Main Point of the Sermon: Jesus grew and matured so that his followers could grow and mature.

Sticky: Jesus is the forerunner of the new humanity.  

One of the greatest hindrances to my spiritual growth in recent years is the pride of spiritual comparison. Instead of looking to Christ’s righteousness as my standard, I find myself looking at the world or others walk with Jesus to determine my level of spiritual maturity. Or I look to my fruitfulness in my work, my marriage, my prayer life, my bible reading, among other things to determine where I am with the Lord. I think, “Oh, I have what they have.” “I’m doing more than them in this area of life.” The problem with this thinking is that the Bible has clearly stated that all of us have fallen short of God’s standard for humans. No one’s got this thing perfectly right. So, when I look at anyone else to determine my spiritual maturity I get a faulty picture that leaves me stagnant in my faith. Can any of you relate to this? 

Sadly, this is the same kind of thinking that keeps the world lost in sin. “Those Christians are no better than I am.” Maybe they’re right! Maybe you’re right! Maybe you are further along than the average man, but what good is that to you and me if God’s standard is completely different than ours? 

       Many Christians, including some of us, still look like infants in our faith even after years.Rather than living as the powerful forces for the Kingdom that we were made to be, many of us are still nursing on the basics. What is it that keeps us from maturing in Christ the way that we ought to? Among many things, it is a misunderstanding of our identity. We have forgotten who we are fundamentally, who made us, and what we were made to be. 

We spent a lot of time in this Christmas season looking at Jesus’s birth, and today’s passage gives a glimpse of Jesus’s life as he grew and matured. Today’s passage is fitting because it shows us how to reset our hearts so that we can begin to grow like Jesus grew. You see, Jesus had a different standard. His standard was not the world or others, but rather his Father’s perfection. He strove to look like him. I do have good news for you today: Jesus grew and matured in his identity as God’s Son so that his followers could grow and mature in him.Jesus is the forerunner of the new humanity.  

Here’s where we’re going today:

Jesus is the Forerunner

Of the New Humanity

The Church is the New Humanity

Jesus is the Forerunnerof the New Humanity:  

Let’s read starting in verse 39: 

Verse 39 tells us that Joseph and Mary “performed everything according to the Law of the Lord”. These details that Luke shares of these early years of Jesus’s life are no throw away. He wants to show us that Jesus’s life fulfilled the Law of God perfectly. 

There’s very little written about Jesus’s childhood. In fact, Luke’s Gospel offers the fullest picture of Jesus’s birth and childhood. And it is a topic not discussed often. Jesus’s three year ministry, including his death and resurrection usually take precedence, and it makes sense. The cross and resurrection are the pinnacle of Christ’s work on earth. 

But the importance of the righteous life of Jesus lived in his first thirty years cannot be overstated. It is his perfect life – his spotlessness – that made his death and resurrection so important for humanity.Not only does his death appease God’s wrath for our sin, Jesus’s perfect life is actually counted to everyone who has faith in him, so that God no longer looks at our record of sin, but looks at all of our lives as spotless like Christ’s. Romans 8, which we are memorizing this month captures this point: “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us…”Jesus fulfilled the Law so that the Law might be fulfilled in us so that we could live in the power of the Spirit and no longer under the power of the Law and our flesh.  

Verse 40 tells us that “the child grew and became strong.” We spent a good deal of time this Christmas marveling at the absurd humility of our God who was born outside of his home town in horrible conditions, but we must marvel a little more! The maker of the universe submitted himself to the natural growth process of humanity. He nursed at his mother’s breast, he crawled in the mud, he babbled his first words, teethed, lost his first tooth, he learned to talk, learned to walk, falling and scraping his knees. He potty-trained; he went to school – whatever that looked like; he learned Hebrew so that he could study the Scriptures, as well as Greek and Aramaic the common languages. He had growing pains; finger pains – you know, when he was learning to swing a hammer; he experienced puberty and all the fun that brings, and worked till he was exhausted with his father, who was a carpenter. Jesus was a human. He didn’t have a halo glowing around his head or an odd symbol permanently made with his right hand like you see in paintings. Though he was the divine Son of God, he was a kid, growing strong and wise… for us. What a humble God! 

Luke tells us that Jesus was like every other boy, but two things set him apart. He was “filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.” Notice verse 52, which says something very similar: 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.When you see repeated statements in the Bible it’s important that you listen and look carefully at what the author is communicating. Luke has something that he wants us to see about Jesus. So, let’s look a little deeper at these words “wisdom”and“favor”that defined Jesus’s life.

Wisdomis most commonly defined in the book of Proverbs, which was written in large part by King Solomon, the one who sought the Lord specifically for wisdom during his reign. There, wisdom is depicted in a series of sayings that capture what it looks like to live skillfully and reverently. It so practical, but goes beyond worldly practical wisdom. Proverbs 1 describes wisdom as beginning with fear of the Lord. We’ve discussed this more in depth in other sermons, but in essence, a fear of God is a reverence and submission to him in all things. This, the Scriptures teach, is the foundation of all other wise living. Get this wrong and you will get everything wrong. You could be the most knowledgeable, experienced, and tried in good decision making, but the Scriptures teach us that if you don’t fear God you’ve missed true wisdom. 

Luke tells that Jesus got this right. How? Because God’s favorwas on him. Being born of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was not born of Adam’s seed. He did not have a sin nature, so there was no limits to God’s presence in his life. The Spirit of God was with Jesus in a unique way. 

Now, as we press into our text a little further we see an example of Jesus’s wisdom in action. We are told that when his parents left Jerusalem with the rest of the masses, Jesus stayed behind to be with his Father. His parents didn’t realize that he was not with their traveling party for several days. They were frantic. 

Can you imagine how Mary and Joseph must have felt when they realized Jesus wasn’t with them? “WE LOST GOD” Now, for the teenagers in this room, I’m not encouraging you to freak your parents out by staying at church secretly when they head home… but I am encouraging you and everyone here to learn from Jesus who is the forerunner of the new humanity. Let me explain. 

A forerunner is a trail blazer. They go ahead of the rest to show the way forward. Do you guys know who Bear Grills is? Man vs. wild? He gets dropped in the most extreme situations for weeks at a time with little to nothing and shows people how to survive on natural surroundings. Bear is a forerunner. Without a wise forerunner, everybody’s dying from eating the strange mushroom or making the wrong move. 

Jesus is the forerunner of the New Humanity:

Jesus was born to the sin-scarred world under the curse in order to pave the way for a new people, a people with new hearts who would again reflect the image of God to the world like we were originally created to do. When sin entered the world through Adam, our proper identity as humans was marred. We no longer perfectly reflected our Creator but began to reflect the rebel, Satan, the chief of the fallen angels. But in his life, through his death and resurrection, Jesus came to restore our true humanity. Jesus said, “Come follow me.” He is simply inviting us to follow him as he goes ahead of us.

Satan has been lying from the beginning telling humanity that freedom from God is to truly live, to be truly human, but Christ came to remake us and to show us the true path of wisdom. Jesus is the second Adam. He is the firstborn, the forerunner of a new humanity who would live in their true identity as God’s children.  

So what was so different about Jesus? Today’s text from Jesus’s childhood provides at least four lessons of wisdom that every human should learn from. 

Lesson 1:Jesus sought God’s face in community.Luke tells us in 46 that they “found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.” Even Jesus submitted to human teachers. The one who IS the Word made flesh (Jn 1:14), who GAVE the Word, learned the Word from fallible and sinful men. Listen to Proverbs 2, which exhorts the young and foolish in how to grow in wisdom:

       

Jesus lived this Proverb perfectly. Throughout Scripture God gave his Spirit to prophets, priests, and kings who instructed the people in God’s Law, and he continues to give his Spirit to the church so that we can be instructed in the full counsel of God, that we might know him and know who we are as humans. If you want to be all that you were created to be as a human being, if you want to look like Jesus, listen to the wise and mature, those who know and treasure God’s Word and walk by the Spirit. 

Lesson 2:Jesus sought God’s face personally. Verse 47 tells us that “all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. At the age of 12 the eldest teachers of the law were amazed at Jesus’s understanding. Similarly, during Jesus’s ministry people marveled at the authority with which Jesus spoke when he taught the Word. Where did this wisdom come from? From a personal relationship with His Father. Jesus knew God as Father and communed with him at all times. He told his befuddled parents, “didn’t you know I mustbe in my Father’s house? Not just wanted to be, but needed to be with his Father. You see, mankind was made to be in relationship with God in an intimate way, like a child with his Father. Jesus understood this not only as the divine son of God, but as the truest image of God as a man. Jesus as fully human did not have some special cheat code that he didn’t need to spend time with God like we do. No, he sought intimacy with his Father by the Spirit just like we do! If you want to be all that you were created to be as a human being, if you want to look like Jesus, know God personally as your heavenly Father. 

       

Lesson 3:Jesus’s identity as Son of God trumped every other human identity. Verse 48 tells us that Jesus’s parents were greatly distressed and didn’t understand why Jesus would treat them so. This was their child, so it makes sense for them to ask this question. But hear Jesus’s response: 49“Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” It should not be overlooked that these words are the first recorded words of Jesus. It was more necessary, Jesus says, to be with his Father in his house, than to be in his earthly father’s house. As a 12 year old, Jesus understood that his identity as God’s Son trumped his familial identity as Joseph and Mary’s son. 

If you want to be all that you were created to be as a human being, if you want to look like Jesus, you must know that your identity as God’s child must trump every other human identity. If you have faith in Christ, you have been united to him in such a way that Paul can say to the church, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave[g] nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

What Paul is not saying is that these things are no longer true of you – if you are a woman you are still a woman, if you are Hispanic you are still Hispanic. But what he is saying is that being united to Christ through faith makes you sons of God, and that that identity takes precedence over all others. This identity is an eternal, while many of your earthly identities are not. 

Some of you might ask, “But isn’t Jesus special? Isn’t his relationship to his Father different than ours? He can say these kinds of things because he is the divine Son of God who dwelled with his Father from eternity past as the second member of the trinity.” You’re right! Jesus had a unique identity as the Son of God and understood that reality even from his youth. But what we must not miss is this important reality that I have been talking about throughout this sermon of Jesus’s full humanity.

The Scriptures and the Church has taught and affirmed throughout history that Christ is fully divine and yet also fully man. He had two natures that were supernaturally united. 

But remember why Christ came. Christ was sent into the world by his Father to fulfill the loving plan of salvation set forth before time. He came as the forerunner of the new humanity and the new creation. Colossians 1 teaches us this truth speaking of Jesus, the God man:15 He is the image of the invisible God, thefirstbornof all creation…17 And he is beforeall things, and in him all things hold together.18 And he is the headof the body, the church. He is the beginning, thefirstbornfrom the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent [first].

Paul tells us that all of this is true about Christ because God intends for him to be first. Jesus came as the forerunner so that all who follow him will find what it means to live, to be human, to be an image bearer of God. 

In this short statement by the teenage Jesus we get a secret glimpse of his true identity and what we can assume of what the rest of his life looked like up until his ministry. But after these words, it was back to normal. We are told in verse 51 that “he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.” 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Obedience to God meant obedience to Jesus’s parents. Honoring God meant honoring them.

Luke’s birth narrative ends with Jesus growing  and maturing in manhood. This word “increased” in verse 52 is “προκόπτω” in Greek, meaning ‘to progress, advance’. I was helped by one commentator who points out that this word has lost its original sense ‘to make one’s way forward by chopping away obstacles’.[1]In his life of increasing wisdom and favor with God and man, Jesus was trailblazing for the new humanity.

Hebrews 5 pulls back the curtain a little more on this reality: 7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him…

He was going before us as our forerunner, suffering the world’s temptations, and yet perfectly modeling for us the paradox of living in two kingdoms with multiple identities in this world in between Christ’s first and second coming. He was showing the way. 

You may be shocked by these words “being made perfect” like I was when I first read them, but understand that this is not making a statement about a lack in Christ’s divinity, or even his sinlessness, but rather makes a statement about his becoming the mature image bearer of God that God intended for Adam and Eve and every man who came after them. Christ overcame and matured in this life so that we might overcome. This leads to my last point.

The Church is the New Humanity 

You may wonder why am I going to such great lengths to talk about this complex concept of Jesus as our forerunner. What I am trying to set up for you today is this reality that Christ came before us, growing and maturing the way that he did so that you and I could be set free from slavery to sin and be empowered to mature and grow like him. 

Christ was made perfect so that he could save those who follow him, creating a beautiful new creation with a new humanity who are not ruled by the flesh, the world, and the devil but by God’s Spirit as his children. This new humanity is the Church.

The New Testament expounds on Jesus’s life and ministry in order to train the church in our interactions with human government, employment, public life, marriage, family, etc. He trains us in wise and reverent living in every sphere of life. 

But again we are presented with the problem I presented at the beginning: many of us our not maturing. We are stuck. Our growth is stunted. And this is not a new problem in the history of the church. The author of Hebrews wrote to members of the early church, saying:

I admitted to you that this is true of me also. I’m afraid that many of us here could be condemned with similar words. We need milk rather than solid food because we lack maturity, though we ought to be so much further along in the fight against sin, our spiritual discernment, and in our handling of the Word. 

Rather than lettingyour identity as a child of Godinform all other earthly identitiessome of us are trying to fit God into our self-made identity. 

Rather than listening to Godly teachers and voices, many of us have given our ear and have been influenced by the world’s philosophy on dating, sex, money, food, and work.

Rather than loving God’s presence in prayer, meditating on His Word and putting it to memory, we are distracted by the American dream, by comfort, and games. 

Rather than seeing ourselves as blessed for being disillusioned by the world’s success and persecuted for our kingdom values, many of us despise meekness and humility, and fear the world’s critique, running from persecution.

By looking to things other than Christ to establish our standard for the Christian life, we have set our expectations far too low and even assume that we will live in constant failure. 

Let me ask you, Christian, to which world do you belong? Who defines who you are? Let me remind you who you are, church. You are adopted children of God in Christ. Jesus taught us to call God our father, to see him as our brother. This reality should shape the way you live in every way. 

       Jesus knew who he was and thus lived out that identity. SO HOW DO WE GROW LIKE JESUS GREW? 

1. You grow by following him. If you are not yet following Jesus, I want to urge you to escape the path of death by coming and finding life in Jesus. Jesus came to recreate humanity because of the fundamental problem of sin in the world leading to our death.  Unless you turn from the path of sin and put your faith in him, you will die in your sin apart from God, and that is not what he wants for you, or what we want for you. He went to the cross as a perfect man in our place so that all who believe would have the same relationship he has with his Father. We love you, so we speak this truth in love. Come and find your true identity in God today. Come and talk to me if you have any questions about this.  

2.  If you are in Christ today, he has caused his Spirit to dwell in you. So you must be led by the Spirit. “If you walk by the Spirit you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal 5:16). What does that mean? It means that you have two natures warring. The old man trying to make you live in that past identity, and the new man that wants to be like your Father. Those who walk by the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. All this means is that we fight by the Spirit to make our desires align with God’s desires. He rules every moment. Not me. Not my hunger, not my sexual desires, not my need for attention – the Spirit leads.  

3. So also we must remind one another daily in our DNA’s, 

MC’s, and in these gatherings who we are so that we can walk in that identity. Our aim is to “proclaim [Christ to you], warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Col 1:28).

       This is part of the reason we are taking the month of January and focusing on spiritual renewal: fasting and praying, memorizing Romans 8, and refocusing on our Bible reading. If our growth in Jesus is stunted, here is an opportunity for us to jump start our growth together. During this time we want to be asking ourselves, “Where have I not embraced and lived out of my identity as God’s son?” Would you join us in this pursuit this month? 

        

Conclusion: Jesus’s life in the flesh showed and empowered Christians to faithfully live in this world, maturing and growing until we see him face to face. Christians recognize with our Lord Jesus that God the Father creates the meaning and purpose of all other identities, thus we submit to him. This is true wisdom. This is what it means to be human.    

There is nothing easy about trying to live in this world as son, carpenter, dad, American, etc. There are so many identities. But if we follow Christ, our forerunner, the rest will fall in place, even unto eternal life. Keep your eyes on Jesus! 

[1]Marshall, I. H. (1978). The Gospel of Luke: a commentary on the Greek text(p. 130). Exeter: Paternoster Press.

Member Theo Sandberg encouraged us with a testimony of how God has used fasting in his life. 

Pastoral Team

Sam Choi

Benjamin Wilson

Ross Tenneson