How Does GOD Grow in Wisdom? | Luke 2:40-52

He was not huddled in some corner waiting to be rescued. Rather, he was sitting in the temple with the teachers of the law, those gray bearded scholars who had spent their entire lives parsing every letter of the Torah, debating the finer points of the Levitical law, memorizing the prophets, and Jesus is there as a 12 year old engaging in debate and dialogue. And the text tells us that they were amazed at what he was saying and the answers to their questions that he was given. [00:04:03] (39 seconds)  #YoungJesusDebates

God wanted his son to succeed. The father wanted his son to be successful in his mission. When it says that the favor of god was resting upon him, although we can't be entirely sure what that means, I think we can say in the same way that every dad here wants their kid to be successful, in the same way that every dad here does what they can to give their child every advantage to be as successful as they can be in life, I think we can make the same conclusion here. God the father wanted the son to succeed in the mission for which he had sent him. [00:14:41] (40 seconds)  #FavorOnHisMission

And yet he's sitting here thinking about this, maybe by night, while the rest of his siblings are sleeping. And at some point, the Holy Spirit comes to him and opens his mind to understand, you have done no wrong. You have committed no sin, but you are about to be punished by God Almighty for everyone else. You are going to die for everyone. [00:37:09] (32 seconds)  #SpiritRevealedSacrifice

In Psalm 22, my god, my god, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from me? In Isaiah 53, it's saying he will be crushed for us. He's in the temple learning the word because when he is hanging on that cross for you and me, he will need that word. He is that word. [00:37:55] (30 seconds)  #WordMadeSacrifice

Although neither Mary nor Joseph could fully understand what Jesus meant by this, as it says in verse 50, they didn't understand the saying, it's clear that Jesus understood even as a 12 year old, as a young man, that his true father was not his legal human adoptive father, Joseph, but rather it was God almighty in heaven above. Jesus knew who his true father was. And even more importantly, he knew he had come to do the will of his true heavenly father. [00:06:25] (39 seconds)  #KnewHisHeavenlyFather

You have an enormous role to play as a parent, but the Holy Spirit has an even more enormous role to play. And for as much as you are called to minister to them, never forget that one of the best ministries, in fact, probably the best ministry you could perform for your children, is praying God's spirit would be working in their hearts. [00:33:52] (29 seconds)  #PrayForSpiritInKids

We, again, don't know the exact content of what this back and forth is with these chief priests or these pharisees or these religious teachers in the temple. We know that Jesus stayed and was there for three days after his parents had left and was engaging day after day, all day long with these guys in the back and the forth of the dialogue over the word of God. Jesus didn't fear debate. He didn't fear theological dialogue. He needed it, and he leaned into it to grow in his knowledge of the word. [00:22:28] (33 seconds)  #LeanIntoTheologicalDialogue

For example, they read the story of David and Goliath. Well, what did you think about that story? What is the stock answer that every kid is gonna give? Yeah. It was good. Well, that's nothing. It means nothing. Ask him pointed questions. Well, what did you think of David going up against a man that's nine feet tall, a giant compared to him? Do you think he was afraid? Of course. Why then does he face him? What is important to David more so than his own life? [00:27:50] (33 seconds)  #AskDeeperQuestions

Jesus delighted in the word. Jesus depended upon the Holy Spirit to stir and to cultivate within him an even greater love for the word. He was going into the word. He was digging into the word. He was seeking to understand the word. He was questioning. He was debating. He was engaging in theological dialogue, all as a young man to understand what the Bible was saying. [00:21:11] (26 seconds)  #DelightInScripture

But he was not sinful, which means that if Jesus spent three days in the temple and the back and forth in the debate of theology with these priests and these teachers of the law, what does that say about you and me and our need to engage in discussion, our need to engage in give and take and the back and the forth. If he has done it, he has done it to provide us an example. He has done it to show us that he himself engaged in it and that it is good for you and me as well. [00:24:04] (31 seconds)  #EngageLikeJesus

Now amazingly, what both of these verses indicate is that Jesus' wisdom, in this case, is not owing to his divine nature, but it is the expression of his growth as a normal human being, as becoming a man. One reason for seeing this wisdom as his growing in wisdom is that Luke speaks of Jesus very clearly in verse 52. It says, he increased in wisdom and in stature. That word stature means literally tall. He got taller. [00:09:13] (38 seconds)  #WisdomThroughHumanGrowth

But also what we need to see here from this account in the temple is that Jesus availed himself of every opportunity to grow in his knowledge from even the master teachers of the Torah, of the law, of the scriptures. So we can say that Jesus was a homeschooler. We can see we can say that Jesus went to school. But the one thing I want you to see is this. Jesus was a diligent student. [00:12:39] (26 seconds)  #JesusTheDiligentStudent

So Jesus is growing in his knowledge as a human, as a as a boy, because he is diving into the word and because he is allowing the spirit to work with him to open his mind to understand that word. Isaiah's prophecy tells us that the Holy Spirit is resting upon Christ. So as we think of the boy Jesus with these teachers of the law in the temple, not only did he have wisdom in his own heart and mind, but he was also under the controlling influence, the guiding direction, the empowering hand of the Holy Spirit. [00:18:15] (45 seconds)  #StudyFueledBySpirit

So often, we consider theological discussion a waste of time, or sometimes we even will say it can be divisive and hurtful. But, man, our understanding of theological needs a a theological discussion needs to change, don't you think? We should see such discussions of weighty biblical truths as opportunities to grow in our own understanding of God along with our subsequent growth and the application of god's word to our lives. [00:23:01] (31 seconds)  #TheologyThroughDiscussion

When Jesus was bored, his parents did not put a Nintendo DS in his hand. When Jesus was bored, his parents did not plop an iPad in his hands and say, watch Bluey on Netflix. Jesus memorized scripture. And when there was nothing to do, he was pondering that word that he had memorized. When Jesus had some free time in between his chores, when he wasn't learning from his father how to improve his skill as a carpenter, Jesus was pondering this text of scripture. [00:25:12] (50 seconds)  #ScriptureOverScreens

This passage should arrest every parent's attention. We see him here as a 12 year old, a young man, and he's so in love with scripture. He's so eager to discuss God's word that he stays behind in Jerusalem when it's time to go home to Nazareth because he cannot afford to miss out on this opportunity to debate the smart guys when it comes to the Bible. He goes after it. He wants it. He wants to grow. [00:26:02] (31 seconds)  #RaiseKidsWhoLoveScripture

So the question we should ask ourselves as parents is this. Are we raising children who love God's word the way Jesus did? That's an important question to ask. Are we cultivating in our children hearts the delight in the word of God, or are we merely enforcing external compliance, requiring Bible reading, requiring memorization, requiring church attendance? Now don't get me wrong. As a parent, you should require your kids to do those things. [00:26:47] (36 seconds)  #BeInLoveWithScripture

You are right to make them do those things. But if you don't ever speak to their hearts, if you don't ever try to engage them with the joy of scripture, then it just becomes a perfunctory obligation. If you would see your children fall in love with scripture, you must be in love with scripture. [00:27:25] (21 seconds)  #FaithFriendsMatter

And so when it comes to our kids, not only do they need to hear from us, not only do we need to cultivate in them as their parents a love for God's word, but we also need to make sure that they're interacting with other good friends around scripture. They're not just sitting here consuming it and going through the motions because mom and dad wants to go through the motions. They should be hanging out with other friends. They should be dialoguing together friends over the word, and you need to encourage that in them. [00:30:33] (38 seconds)  #ScriptureForHisMission

But I think every parent here can relate to this. There are just some moments in life when your kids are going through deep waters, and you come to them and you're like, but look. Look. Here's what the Bible says. And they say, yeah, okay, mom. Yeah, okay, dad. They've heard it before. They've seen it before. You've said it before. It's just in one ear and out the other. And it's in those moments that by God's grace, I've been so blessed by my kids having close friends who also love the word, where they were able to speak into their life as a friend in a way that the Lord used to minister to them [00:31:23] (43 seconds)  #SpiritRestingOnHim