A Mother's Influence

A Mother’s Influence

Luke 2: 41 – 52.

Introduction

Our Scripture this morning is the Scripture I preached in my very first sermon. As far as I know, I have never told you the story of my first sermon. I preached my first sermon in the Zama Baptist Church of Zama, Mississippi. (Zama is pronounced Zamer. It is not spelled with an “R,” but it is pronounced with an “R.”)

It happened when I was working as a camp counselor at the Central Hills Baptist Retreat in Kosciusko, Mississippi. I had just finished my freshman year of college and was beginning to feel that God was calling me to ministry.

The pastor of a small church outside of Kosciusko, MS called the camp director, Brother Dan West, and asked him to find someone to fill the pulpit for him for the upcoming Sunday morning and Sunday night. Brother Dan asked Chris Dufrene to preach both sermons, because Chris had experience as a preacher. Chris was willing to preach the Sunday morning service but didn’t feel that he had enough time to prepare two sermons. So, Brother Dan asked me to preach on Sunday night.

I had never preached before, but I was willing to give it a shot. I had a sermon idea that I had been thinking about for some time. The title of my sermon was “Following Jesus.” It was based on the story of how Mary and Joseph lost track of Jesus and left him behind in the Jerusalem Temple.

I studied the Scripture and used a yellow legal pad to write out my sermon. I filled up 5 yellow pages of notes.

When Sunday morning arrived, all of the Central Hills counselors went to the church to support our friend, Chris. He did a good job. His sermon lasted about 45 minutes. We didn’t get out of church until close to 12:30 in the afternoon. I figured that was a good thing, since my sermon filled up 5 pages of notes…Chris was getting them ready for what they were going to experience in the evening service.

Sunday night was different from Sunday morning. The church didn’t have a full worship service. We only sang a couple of songs, and then it was time for me to preach. The service started at 6:00, and I remember getting up to preach at 6:15. It was perfect…I figured that would give me about 45 minutes to preach through my five pages of notes, and we would get out around 7:00.

I took my 5 pages of yellow paper into the pulpit. I preached and preached and preached. I preached my heart out that night. I carefully went through every word on all five pages of my notes. When I got to the very last point on my very last page, I looked at my watch. I had preached my entire sermon in 7 minutes!

If you have ever spoken in front of a group before, you know that it is possible to be talking to the group and thinking about something else. All these thoughts were running through my mind. “What am I going to do? I can’t stop after only 7 minutes! But I don’t have anything else to say. I have already said more than I know. Well…I guess there is only one thing I can do. Preach it again!”

I turned back to the first page of my notes and said to the congregation, “Let’s recap.” And I preached the whole sermon a second time. 14 minutes from start to finish.

On the Sunday of Mother’s Day, I am always faced with several questions. How can I preach a sermon that honors our mothers AND honors the Risen Lord Christ? How can I preach a sermon that relates just to the women of our church—and even then, just to the women who are mothers?

Today, I want to broaden our focus somewhat and preach about godly families and the High Calling of Parenthood.

Read Luke 2: 41 – 52.

41 Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.

42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom.

43 After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.

44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.

45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.

46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.

48 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."

49 "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"

50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.

52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

(NIV)

Jesus was one of those children who was in the church every time the doors were open. His parents were very serious about following the requirements of the Jewish Law—we know this because they had him circumcised on the eighth day. Jesus’ parents were serious about supporting the local synagogue in Nazareth—we know this because they made the customary sacrifice for a first-born son by offering two doves. And they were serious about attending the annual Passover Festival in the Temple at Jerusalem—we know this because Luke tells us a story about what was probably Jesus’ first Passover in Jerusalem.

In order for Mary and Joseph to attend Passover in Jerusalem, they had to make several sacrifices. They had to use up their entire two-week vacation from work to travel on a journey that lasted several days all the way from Nazareth down to Jerusalem for a week-long celebration…And then travel back home again.

More than likely Mary, Joseph, Jesus, James and the other children did not travel alone. The Bible does not tell us specifically, but we have discovered from ancient culture that in the interest of safety people usually traveled in groups. And it would not have been difficult for Mary and Joseph to find a group of religious pilgrims—just like them—who were willing to make the 70-mile trek from Nazareth to Jerusalem. After all, the Jewish Law actually REQUIRED all Jewish men over the age of 12 to attend the Passover celebration in Jerusalem.

Now 70 miles doesn’t sound very far by modern standards. However, there were no interstate highways and gasoline powered cars in the ancient world. The only way they had to travel was by foot. And the standard rule of thumb was that a person could only travel about 25 miles in one day. That puts Jerusalem about three days away from Nazareth.

The Passover festival was a special time for the Jewish people. You and I normally think of Passover as a time when the Jews remembered what God did for them to rescue them out of Egyptian slavery. God sent nine terrible plagues on Egypt, but Pharaoh refused to let God’s people go. Then God sent the tenth and final plague. The firstborn child of every family died suddenly, in the middle of the night. That is every family except the Hebrew families who had the Blood of the Lamb splattered on their doorposts. Death PASSED OVER these homes, and God commanded Moses to institute a feast to mark this as the beginning of the year for God’s people.

However, Passover was more than just remembering what God had done for the people long ago. It was a seven-day event that did two things…Remembering that God saved his people long ago…Celebrating that God has saved me…

After a week of celebration, worship, and feasting on wonderful foods Mary, Joseph and the other vacationers were tired and ready to get home. They gathered everything they had; they divided into two groups and they began to head home.

It was normal for large groups of pilgrims to travel in two groups. The first group was made up of all the women and children. The second group was all the men. The women and children traveled ahead of the men for one main reason. Since Nazareth was too far away to make it home in just one day, the women had to go ahead to find a comfortable place to set up camp for the night and to begin preparing the evening meal. The children traveled with their mothers and could normally be found playing and laughing and dancing alongside as they traveled.

I imagine that as Mary and the other women traveled along, Mary had a lot on her mind. She had to set up the tent for the family and prepare supper before Joseph and the men arrived. She had all that laundry to do once she got home. She had a full week ahead of her when she, Jesus and James finally got home. Where are Jesus and James? I haven’t seen them for several miles. Well, there’s James…I guess Jesus is traveling with the men now that he has finally turned 12.

I think this is probably how Jesus got left behind. A Jewish boy was considered a man when he became a bar mitzvah or the Son of the Covenant. Since this happened at age 12—and Luke tells us Jesus was 12—Mary thought Jesus was with the men, and Joseph never gave it a second thought.

When Mary and Joseph finally realized that Jesus was not with them, they did what any parent would do…They PANICKED! They rushed back to Jerusalem as quickly as they could and began searching in all the places where they thought Jesus might be. They looked on the Streets…In the Market Place…In the Toy Stores…On the Playground…At the Ball Field…Then, in a desperate move they looked in the Temple—Surely he won’t be in the Temple…

And that is where they found him…In the Temple…Sitting…Listening… Asking questions of the religious leaders…And the religious leaders were amazed that such a young man of only 12 would be so knowledgeable and interested in spiritual matters…

We can’t really blame Mary for being angry. She was just being a good mother who was worried about her child. Mary snapped at Jesus, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you!”

I just love Jesus’ answer… “My father? No, ma’am. I am in my Father’s house. I never left my Father’s side.”

Most of us are accustomed to hearing Jesus’ reply as something like, “I must be in my Father’s House.” But actually, Jesus never used the word “House.” He literally said, “I must be in my Father’s…”

This expression could mean “in my Father’s House”… “in my Father’s Business”… “in my Father’s Presence”… And Jesus spent his entire life doing just that…He spent time in the Temple…He did the Father’s Business…And He lived daily in God’s presence…

Jesus’ answer is not a smart alec reply. No, Jesus is surprised that Mary couldn’t find him. Jesus was surprised because Mary and Joseph had taught him about God’s Love…They had trained him to follow after godly ways…And they had demonstrated the importance of spending time with the Heavenly Father. He was only doing what he had seen them model for him.

This is the highest calling any parent could ever fulfill…To rear children in such a way that they develop into men and women of God…Men and women who earnestly desire to please God and spend time with him every day…

Jesus ENJOYED spending time with God, because that is how his parents trained him…

How can we fulfill this same calling with our children today? I say that we should follow the example set by Mary and Joseph…

They Lived Out a Godly Example for Their Children.

This is the only story the Bible tells about Jesus’ childhood…But it implies a lot about his parents’ spiritual life…

They lived and obeyed the Law and demonstrated what it meant to be faithful…

How can we truly expect our children to love God and live godly lives, if we are not modeling that for them at home? A hard truth for any of us to accept is the fact that most of us turn into the same kind of adults we watched our parents model for us.

They Took Their Children to Church.

Don’t you think it is interesting that the only story we have about Jesus’ childhood happened in church?

The Father’s House…God’s People…Both played an important part of Jesus’ life and development as a child…

How can we expect our children to go to church and grow with God’s people if we don’t take them to church as children? Ask yourselves a question: Do you go to church as often as your parents took you to church as a child? For many of you the answer is that you go to church LESS frequently than your parents. And, our children will more than likely go to church LESS frequently than we do.

They Helped Their Children Develop Into Whole Persons.

Read Luke 2: 52…And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Jesus grew and developed in four important ways…

Physically…Food, Shelter and Clothing…

Mentally…Education and Training…

Spiritually…Discipleship…

Socially…Children must learn how to get along with others…

Conclusion

The High Calling of Parenthood requires more than simply providing physically and educationally for our children…We are called to develop children into the Image of Christ.

If we do not model Christ like behavior and Christ like desires for our own children, then where do we expect them to receive that? Will our children learn to live Christ like lives at school? Probably not! Will our children learn to live Christ like lives at church? The answer is “Yes, But…” Yes, children will learn to love and follow Jesus at the church. BUT, parents have to bring your children to church.