HAVE YOU LOST JESUS?
… based on Luke 2:41-52
Let me reenact for you a daily conversation in the Smith home.
“Honey, have you seen my glasses?” “Honey, have you seen my keys?” “Honey, where’s my phone?” “Honey, do you know where the remote is?”
“Honey, I can’t find my coat?”
Does any of that sound familiar? Of course it does.
We’re all constantly misplacing things:
keys, glasses, phone, the remote, a book, clothes, the list could go on & on.
So, what do we do when we misplace something,
(besides yelling “Hey Honey … where is my __________”)? Well, we try to remember where we last saw it, & then we retrace our steps to all the places we’ve been until we find it. And guess what? It’s just where we left it.
Apparently, when we left it there, we thought we didn’t need it anymore. But then, before long it’s, “Honey, where is my __________?”
Well, that’s what we’re going to talk about this morning.
So, listen now to Good News, as recorded by Luke, to us who have gathered here for worship. Within our hearing now comes the Word of the Lord …
Every year the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover
Festival. When Jesus was twelve years old, they went to the festival as usual. When the festival was over, they started back home, but the boy Jesus stayed in Jerusalem. His parents did not know this; they thought that he was with the group, so they traveled a whole day and then started looking for him among their relatives and friends. They did not find him, so they went back to Jerusalem looking for him.
On the third day they found him in the Temple, sitting with the Jewish teachers, listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his intelligent answers. His parents were astonished when they saw him, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been terribly worried trying to find you.”
He answered them, “Why did you have to look for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand his answer.
So Jesus went back with them to Nazareth, where he was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. Jesus grew both in body and in wisdom, gaining favor with God and people. (Luke 2:41-52)
“The grass withers & flowers fade,
but the word of our God endures forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)
May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion, to His glory and to our edification. Amen
Scripture gives us only 1 incident in the life of Jesus as a boy,
& it’s that story we’re looking at this morning. The Holy Family is returning from Jerusalem. They’d been there for the Passover Festival.
As was the custom, the women & the men traveled separately.
The women began early in the day with the children. The men set out later, catching up in time to spend the evening hours together.
As the Holy Family starts toward Nazareth, Mary assumes Jesus is with Joseph. Joseph, at the same time, assumes Jesus is with Mary.
In point of fact, He is with neither of them. They have lost Jesus.
And that, it seems to me, is a word of caution for each one of us.
For anyone can lose Jesus.
I heard of a missionary from Zaire, & I have a great respect for missionaries. This Christian servant yielded to temptation & became a jewel thief. He was caught & convicted. He had lost Jesus.
Or of a Pastor who renounced his faith. His whole life turned out to be a lie. He had lost Jesus.
Or there was a Deacon in another church
who was caught robbing the congregation.
Anyone can lose Jesus … a missionary, pastor, elder, deacon, S.S. teacher.
It doesn’t matter what their position in faith is. Anyone can lose Jesus. Even Mary could lose Him!
When we read in Luke the tender stories of Mary’s relationship with her Son, we must remember Luke got those stories from Mary herself, many years after Jesus ascended to be with His Father in Heaven. These stories are written with emotion. We learn how much Mary loved Jesus …
of how she bore Him … how she laid Him in a manger. (Luke 2:17)
How she stood longest at the Cross, & how she lost Him.
And if Mary could lose Jesus, then any of us can lose Him.
And I think it’s interesting to notice that Jesus was lost in a crowd.
Our Gospel passage indicates that those with whom the Holy Family traveled were “relatives & friends.” It was custom of that day for a neighborhood to go together to the religious festivities. So, these folks with whom Joseph
& Mary & Jesus were traveling were good people.
They had together sung the songs of Zion. But it was these good people, who somehow managed to separate Joseph & Mary from Jesus.
The good, you see, can be the enemy of the best.
I think of a woman who possesses great energy & enthusiasm,
a human dynamo, given over to busyness. We look at such people with awe
& amazement, “how do they do all that they do?”
But I would suggest that busyness can separate us from the Savior.
We get so caught up in the hectic lifestyle of our world;
we’re constantly going going going & doing doing doing. It’s continuous activity from morning till night. And maybe that even includes some very significant, sacrificial service. But those activities may lead to the end of our private devotions, or our prayer time, or our Scripture reading,
or our worship attendance. The good becomes the enemy of the best.
Or the person who achieves some position in life.
And once there, they get caught up in the conformity that’s associated with it. And they take on the image that society says that they ought to have.
So, here’s a businessperson that doesn’t talk about prayer,
because businesspeople don’t talk about prayer. Here’s the student who announces that he/she isn’t interested in the things of faith.
Or we have the scientist who doesn’t believe in miracles,
or the maturing & sophisticated teenager who’s bored with Church.
Now it’s good to be busy. It’s good to be successful. It’s good to be a student. It’s good to be a scientist. It's good to be mature & sophisticated. But when these good things come before the excellence of Jesus …
then He’s being lost.
Then there is the problem of the familiar. This is an issue particularly for those of us in the clergy, who are involved in the “ritual” of religion. We become so acquainted with the Scriptures, so accustomed to the worship routine, that we do it automatically, without thinking, without a sense of awe.
We’re worshiping Almighty God for Heaven’s sakes!
My 1st pastorate was in Niagara Falls. I remember going down to the Falls one day, & overhearing a lady say the person standing next to her,
“It doesn’t excite me anymore. I’ve been here before.”
There are Christians who become so involved in the things of faith that the excitement disappears. And with it goes Jesus, because He is the excitement of our faith. Then there’s the saddest of all spectacles,
the theologian who doesn’t say his prayers. It’s one thing to talk about God, it’s quite another to talk to Him. The good becomes the enemy of the best.
Only one can stand in the preeminent place. (Exodus 20:3) Only one can be #1.
And that must be Jesus.
The best mustn’t be lost in trying to achieve the good.
And the danger is, this can happen without our even being aware of it.
Luke writes, “The boy Jesus stayed in Jerusalem. His parents did not know this.” It’s easy to become separated from Him in such a way that we’re altogether unaware of it.
Years ago, when I lived in Indiana, PA, this was before the Lord called me to be a Pastor, a friend & I had built a restaurant. Now it was located about ½ mile from my house. My house had 2½ acres of land,
& one Saturday I was out mowing my lawn. I stopped to go in & get a drink,
& as I was in the kitchen the phone rang. It was Clara from the restaurant.
“Rande, do you know where your daughter is?”
“Yes, she’s up in her room playing.”
“Are you sure, maybe you better check.”
My 4-year-old daughter, Jennifer, had gotten into her piggy bank
& taken some money over to the restaurant to buy some mints.
I had become separated from my daughter, & I was totally unaware of it!
So, the important question today is, have you lost Jesus & are unaware of it?
I’ve read over the years many definitions of faith. My favorite is …
“faith is the habit of the soul.” Faith is the habit of the soul. Faith is to have our soul in such a relationship with Jesus that the contact is habitual.
So, I ask you, is Jesus the habit of your soul?
Let me put this is practical terms. When you have nothing to think about,
is the thought that comes into your relaxed mind the thought of Jesus? Things that are important to us are anchored at the center of our mind.
At the beginning of a busy day, & pressed by responsibility,
we may push them to the outside edges, but as soon as we relax,
they bounce back into our consciousness.
Now, I’m asking, this thought which is most important to you, which contains the greatest source of your happiness & security … is it Jesus?
Make no mistake about it, this thought, whatever it is, is god to you.
That which is most important in our life; that which is our source of happiness; that which gives you & I greatest contentment;
that which captures our most complete interest … is god to us.
I was thinking about this on Friday afternoon,
as I was preparing this message, & with me,
this thought that creeps into the center of my mind is … Bear Creek Church.
This “retirement” ministry that I’m engaged in now for the past 3 years.
It gives me great joy & contentment as I involve myself in it.
And I justify myself by saying, “Hey, I’m doing the work I’m doing because of my love for God.” But the fact of the matter is, my mind returns to the task because of the joy I receive from fulfilling the task.
The task, the ministry becomes more important than Christ.
And the moment that happens, I’m in idolatry … & I’m losing Jesus.
For someone else, it might be personal relationships.
A woman once said to me,
“the most important thing in the world to me is my husband & children.”
“Rande, are you saying that to make a wife, or husband,
or children the most important thing in the world … is idolatry?”
Yes! That’s exactly what I’m saying. When the thought of this loved one becomes the center of our life, the source of our joy, our security, & our reason for being; then we begin to destroy that person. We’re placing unreasonable expectations & demands upon them. And the truth of the matter is, no one is able to live up to that kind of responsibility.
But, far worse, we begin to separate ourselves from the One who is to be at the center … the Lord Jesus. Britney Spears, (I may be the only Pastor in Christendom who is mentioning Britney Spears from the pulpit today), Britney Spears says, “my baby is my religion.”
But we read in Scripture, “Do not worship any other god,
because the LORD tolerates no rivals.” (Exodus 34:14)
One of the saddest stories to come out of the 2nd World War was the death of the French aviator & author, Antoine De Saint-Exupery.
He wrote some of my favorite stories: “The Little Prince”, “Night Flight”, “The Wisdom Of The Sands”, & others that are beautiful in word & thought.
On July 31st 1944, Exupery was flying an unarmed observation plane.
A German fighter attacked him, & his aircraft crashed, & he was killed.
The German pilot who shot Exupery out of the sky was at the same time completing his Ph.D., & had chosen as the title of his dissertation,
“The Life & Writings Of Antoine De Saint-Exupery.”
This young German had come to admire this great Frenchman & held him
with such deep respect & affection. He practically worshipped him.
When he discovered what he’d done, he completely fell apart.
He finally was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, repeating over & over
& over & over, “I have killed my master … I have killed my master …
I have killed my master … I have killed my master.”
When we keep Jesus from being “the habit of the soul,” or allow things to push Him from the center of our life … we can lose Him. There is, if you will, the killing of our Master. And the tragedy is compounded by the fact,
that when it happens, we’re not even aware of it. Isn’t that frightening? …
And that should be a stark warning to each of us.
Now, if this passage ended here, it’d be one of the saddest stories in Scripture. But thank God it doesn’t. The story goes on with Mary & Joseph finding Jesus. It takes them 3 days to do it, which indicates to me that it’s harder to find Him again, than to stay close in the 1st place … but they do find Him. And when they do, it’s in the Temple. That’s always been the best place to find Jesus … in the company of the redeemed. Ironically, when someone begins to lose Jesus, one of the 1st things they do is neglect the fellowship of God’s House. And this is where He’s so easily found!
I need to share with you this morning a little of my testimony. A # of years ago, I lost Jesus. And it happened in the midst of my pastoral ministry.
TESTIMONY
“He must become more important while I become less important.” (John 3:30)
“And I am sure that God, who began this good work
in you, will carry it on until it is finished.” (Philippians 1:6)
Well, I found Jesus again, & so did Joseph & Mary.
And notice what Jesus is doing when they find Him … What’s He doing? … He’s “sitting with the Jewish teachers, listening to them & asking questions.” That phrase, “listening & asking questions,” is a traditional one in Judaism.
It refers to the pursuit of the knowledge of God. Jesus is pursuing the knowledge of God! And that’s another good reference point for you & me.
Are you pursuing the knowledge of God?
Am I pursuing the knowledge of God? And if we aren’t … why aren’t we?
And notice that Jesus listens before His asks questions.
And He listens & asks questions before He speaks.
You know how frustrating it is, & it’s one of my pet peeves, to be in a meeting, & right in the middle of an important discussion, someone walks in & begins to talk immediately, when they have no idea what’s going on.
So, how do we find Jesus? … We find Him by being seated & listening.
We find Him by listening to the testimony of believers,
& the teaching of those who trust in God.
Now this passage is such an important one. It’s the 1st episode where Jesus appears as an active agent. And it gives us His 1st recorded words.
And it’s here that we find the underlining theme of His life …
“Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s House.”
God was His Father, & that’s how we can know Him too. (Galatians 4:6)
Sadly, I’ve seen Church leaders who didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. Their God experience was simply the ritual of religion. And there have been times when I’ve talked with giddy young girls, who I thought never had a serious thought … only to discover that their walk with Jesus was so deep that I was completely humbled when I saw it. And I’ve been shocked to see in some religious leader’s hearts terrible greed & selfishness.
And parents, who seemed so simple & plain,
but have sacrificed everything so that their kids might know their Lord.
I don’t know what’s inside of you, but I do know that it’s easy to lose keys,
& glasses, & phones, & even Jesus, especially in our world today. It happened to Mary & Joseph. It happened to me. And it can happen to you.
If it has, this is the place, now is the time.
And the most important thing is for you to find Him.
Jesus said … “anyone who seeks will find.” (Matthew 7:7)
MARANA THA
