When God Became Man

Well, the title of our study today is, When God Became Man. When God Became Man. We're going to continue in our studies in Luke. So if you'll open your Bibles, let's open together to Luke chapter 2. We're going to begin our study in verse 39. Luke 2 verse 39 will be the foundation of our study today. You know, most parents understand the experience of misplacing one of their children. I could probably go around the room, and if you are a parent, maybe you've come across that where you've misplaced your child, whether it be at a grocery store or perhaps at a park, and it's that horrible feeling that creeps up the back of your neck when you realize your child is not where you left them, or they're not where you expected them that they would be.

And it's that very kind of relatable, typical human experience here, which Luke will record here in these concluding verses of chapter 2. We're going to pick up here where Jesus and His parents are now returning back to their home. They're coming back home after the spring holy days, the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So let's see what occurs here. Luke chapter 2. Let's read verses 39 through 52.

Luke records. So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own city, Nazareth. So we're speaking about Christ and His parents. Verse 40. And the child, speaking of Jesus, grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.

His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the Feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and his mother did not know it. But supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day's journey and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem seeking Him.

Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all those who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they, that's Mary and Joseph, saw Him, Jesus, they were amazed. And His mother said to Him, Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your Father and I have sought You anxiously.

And He said to them, Why did You seek Me? Did You not know that I must be about My Father's business? But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them. Verse 51, Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, back to Nazareth, and was subject to them. But His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Let's stop there. So what an incident. What an incident that we have here. This little incident actually is, in fact, the only recorded material in the Gospels of Jesus growing in His boyhood as a young man.

This is it. This is the all of it. And I'll remind you that in entering into this Gospel of Luke, which we did a month or so ago, that in opening His Gospel, Luke said that He wanted to provide to us an account and provide the material that was necessary for us to know. So there's certain knowledge, albeit limited knowledge, that Luke here is inspired by God to provide for us concerning this period of time of Christ's earthly life, as He's here growing and developing as a young boy.

And here, in this remote city of Galilee, is where the boy Jesus would grow. And as we read, it's from here that His parents took Him up to Jerusalem, to the feast. Incidentally, when you see places in the Bible where it refers to, as here, the Feast of Passover, there in verse 41, it's referring not only to the Passover, but also referring to the feast days, namely the Days of Unleavened Bread. In the same way, we might say, where are you going for the Feast of Tabernacles? Or where are you going for the feast? Innately, we're not excluding the Eighth Day.

We're speaking about that as well. But sometimes in Scripture, you see a reference to the totality of the feast days, like in this way here. And so Luke records that Jesus now made this particular journey with His parents at the age of 12. And it is in the course of the pilgrimage back home from these feast days that He's misplaced. And in actuality, He doesn't even become part of the crowd which was heading home from Jerusalem.

And again, we can understand this. Perhaps this is relatable in this way. If you're a parent, you might be able to identify with this. Perhaps in their journey back home to all the various places, the women and the preteens, the younger ones, let's say, were in one group. Mary was heading among that group, with that group. Surely she didn't see Jesus' face amongst the crowd. Perhaps she assumed that He was with His Father. Perhaps the Father's heading back with the older group.

Jesus, at age 12, He would have been either the older of the little ones or the younger of the big ones. So He probably could have fit in each group. Perhaps likewise Joseph thought, he's with his mother and not seen his face there. Of course, when they both get home, they both say the same thing. Where is Jesus? Where is He? I thought you had Him. I thought you had Him. Perhaps you've had that conversation. The fact of the matter is that neither one of them had Him. They might now be at a time of darkness, a day's journey back home to Galilee. It's now dark. They say, we'll head out in the morning, back to Jerusalem. So a day's journey back to Jerusalem. They arrive at nighttime. Of course, we can't go and try to find them at night. So we arrive to this third day. There in verses 46 and 47. Now so it was after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. All who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So after the third day, they find Him in the temple. Mary and Joseph arrive. Luke records this dialogue. Verse 48. And they saw Him. They were amazed at their son. Mary says to him, Son, why have you done this to us? Don't do this. You know, stay with us. Look, your Father and I have been seeking you anxiously. You know, Jesus responds then. You know, whenever you confront your child in that way, they come up with a number of responses. I don't know if this response had we've ever encountered from one of our children who we've misplaced. Verse 49 again. And He said to them, Why did you seek Me? Did you not know I must be about My Father's business? Now, the staggering thing here about this little recording from Luke is that all of this is unfolding in the context of a question and answer session amongst between a 12-year-old Jesus and these seasoned religious leaders, these teachers. Then this kind of temple setting was such to where a pupil, someone that wanted to learn, would come and sit. They would ask the questions of the teachers there in the temple. The teachers would give the answer, would give the information. Then there would be this question and answer session where the teacher then questions the pupil to find out how much they've retained, how much understanding they've received from that session. So this interaction was happening here. Perhaps Jesus was getting quizzed. At the end of verse 46, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. This is the environment here. It says that the teachers and all those who were around marveled at how quickly He was able to grasp these things and articulate them so effectively. It is quite staggering. This is a 12-year-old boy. It's an extraordinary thing. I have it an easier time to equate the Son of God, the Word who was with God. I'm okay with Him coming in a manger. There He is, Christ born. Okay, got it, the Son of God. I'm okay with, and I can get, you know, Jesus. There's the Lamb of God coming to take the sin from the world. There's the Son of God. Got it. But a 12-year-old boy, Jesus Christ. That's one to really contemplate a little bit. We all know 12-year-old boys, you know? And what they can be like as they grow and as they mature. So this is quite extraordinary. And when we come to a passage like this, we, of course, do our best to try to glean exactly what Luke is trying to get across to us here. And we can largely come away from a story like this, amazed in terms of the extraordinary nature of this boy, Jesus. This is amazing. This is supernatural.

And it would be correct for us to come away from this passage with that sense of the extraordinary. That would be a good thing. But, but, in focusing solely on the extraordinary nature of this interaction, we may miss something crucial. If we're not careful, we may miss that the fact that this incident is actually sandwiched between two summary statements. Summary statements which actually point us to the absolute ordinariness of Jesus Christ. Again, there's two summary statements that we cannot miss, and they point us to the absolute humanness, or the absolute typicalness of Jesus Christ. I wonder if you notice that. This incident is sandwiched between verse 40 and verse 52. Let's read this again. Because in verse 40, Luke records, verse 40, And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Okay? And then verse 52, verse 52 again, And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men, he increased in these things. So with verse 40 and verse 52, Luke here is not only speaking about the extraordinaryness of Jesus, but he's also speaking about the ordinary nature of his childhood development. And I think in putting our focus onto that reality today, it's going to hopefully connect us with, in a way, with Jesus Christ more than we've ever been connected before. So this is what we want to do today. We want to come to this recording. We want to ask, what do I, what can I learn from Jesus Christ in relation to the typical or the ordinary aspect of him growing up here on earth? And if I can say so reverently, we want to put our focus on just how ordinary, or maybe better put, how typical Jesus's development was. So we're going to build our study on these two anchoring verses here, verse 40 and 52, and we're going to consider this growing. We're going to consider this increasing of Jesus that began at this early age.

And maybe first to notice is the words which he responds to his parents here. This response. Why are you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business? So it's an interesting response, and I think within this response, there's an inkling given to us of the self-awareness that's beginning to grow in Jesus Christ here at age 20. Young Jesus Christ. A sense of self-awareness was beginning to grow not only in his parents, no doubt, but also, I believe, in Jesus Christ himself. Because think about it. We have to recognize that there were points in his development where the awareness of his godhood would have been increasingly coming to him. And the significance of that reality increasingly dawning upon him. He's becoming self-aware of these issues. Luke, in the summary statements, tells us that the child Jesus grew and he became strong in spirit. Yes, he was filled with wisdom and the grace of God, yes, but verse 52, he increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. Now, in relation to the child growing and coming into knowledge and stature, as we think about this, I really want you to kind of put yourself there and think about, what have I thought about this in the past? As you think about it, as I did this week, we may unintentionally find ourselves a lot closer to the heresies of the first century than we realize. I know I found myself kind of leaning towards some ideas and thoughts that may be closer to some of the heresies that ran through the course of the church when it had to do with the person of Jesus Christ. And it did not have to do with the deity of Christ. Rather, one of the initial heresies that ran through the church was the denial of the true humanity of Christ, the true humanity. Some of the early writings would say, he walked upon the sand and he didn't leave footprints. There were no footprints. So they denied the humanity of Jesus Christ.

And that's why, Luke, in the church, you will see them labor hard to combat that heresy.

In fact, there was a bishop who became a great threat. In the early centuries, his name was Apollinaris. Apollinaris. And his teachings really took a hold and they garnered widespread influence. And it was a heresy. He taught that while Jesus may have been normal or typical physically, when it came to the matter of his psychology, his psychological makeup, the development Apollinarius said he was not typical. He taught. Because he taught the heresy that you had a Jesus with a human body, but he in fact did not have a human psyche.

In fact, he taught he had a fully divine psyche, a fully divine mind, a fully divine psychology, if you will. So Apollinaris had a less than human view of Christ. In the heresy taught that the Logos came the eternal one who was with God since the beginning. But what you have in Jesus Christ is the union of a fully divine mind within a fleshly body.

Jesus was not fully man when it came to his mind or his psychology. So again, this was a great heresy that was taught in the early centuries. And why is this teaching a heresy? Why is that a heresy? Well, it's because of the fact that the Scriptures teach just that, yes, God was with us, no doubt, God with us. But it also states that Jesus Christ was fully man, fully God, fully man. He came into our existence. His identity didn't change. He was still God.

But now he was absolutely man in every way, a mortal man, therefore subject to growing and increasing in all physical aspects. So therefore he came. He grew. He increased not only physically, but also psychologically. Now, you might be sitting there and thinking to yourself, okay, okay, why does it matter? Why does it matter? Well, it matters greatly because make no doubt, it was crucial for Dr. Luke to speak to this matter and to point out in verse 40 that this child grew and became strong in spirit, became filled with wisdom. In verse 52, he increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. Why? Because he had a human mind. He had a human psyche. In the same way, we don't think of Christ's physical growth as being supernatural.

You know, we don't think that way. Where you came to is his carpentry storefront.

You know, and one day he's three and a half feet physically, and then you come the next day and he's over six foot tall. You know, we don't think of his physical growth as being supernatural in any way. Well, likewise, likewise, just as he grew physically incrementally, you know, his bones lengthened according to his genetic composition. He had his own DNA. And so, in the same way, then when you think about the development of his mind, you don't think that somehow or another that took place that is in some way beyond the ordinary or typical of our human experience.

You don't think Jesus Christ emerged from the womb knowing the alphabet, do you? You know?

Or knowing his colors at six months old, you know, he was able to rattle off his colors. No.

His mother sat with him and said, the grass is green, and said, the sky is blue, just like any mother would.

Jesus would go off and play with his friends and he would come back. And like typical sons or a typical daughter would do, asked his parents questions and they answered. He became wiser, Luke says. He grew in wisdom. And as the years came, he accumulated an ever increasing knowledge in common sense. And the boyhood influences were the very things that allowed him to grow and to increase in wisdom. And that's what he did.

Now, in what way did he grow and increase? Throughout these years, you know, there's a period of his life that the Bible is really silent about, you know, from about this time to the time he started his ministry. There's really a cloud of silence in Scripture. So in what ways was he growing and increasing? Well, no doubt he was a student and growing and increasing his knowledge in nature. That would be one aspect. Growing and increasing in his knowledge of nature.

So he went out, he saw the lilies, he saw the birds, he saw the harvest, he saw the shepherds, shepherding. He thinks about all these things, he begins developing his understanding. Later, these things become the illustrative material when he steps out into his ministry.

He says in Matthew 6, we won't turn there, but he says in Matthew 6, consider the lilies and how they grow. They don't toil or spin. He says that it speaks of the sparrow that falls, and not one of them falls that's without the knowledge and will of God. So he says, so don't worry, don't worry.

God looks after the lilies, you know. He says it's time for harvest. In fact, the fields are white for harvest. Uses that illustrative material to talk about the disciples' participation in God's plan of salvation and calling men and women. Later, he says, I'm the good shepherd.

The good shepherd knows his sheep. So he grew and he increased in the knowledge of the sheep.

He was able to teach people about their nature. He says to them, to what can I compare this generation? Well, they're like children sitting in a marketplace. You know, never satisfied, spoiled. Where did that come from? Well, he said, and he observed children in the marketplace and how they tugged and pulled at toys, I'm sure. Didn't want to share musical instruments. It came from his observation. Likewise, he observed and knew what it was for a young man to go off to a big city and come home broken and penniless and ashamed. And so he had no difficulty later on turning to the crowd and saying there was a certain man who had two sons. And one of them said to the father, give me the portion that is due to me, and they divided it up, and so on. Where did he get that source of information from? He was a student of human nature.

How was he able to say, and two men went out on the corner and one stood and looked up to heaven and said, I thank you, God, that I'm not like other men? And the other couldn't even raise his eyes.

Where did he come up with that teaching for self-righteousness?

He was a student of human nature. He grew in wisdom regarding human nature.

I wonder if you ever thought about that he was a student of Scripture and that he increased in his knowledge of Scripture. You ever thought about that?

You ever think about that he studied Genesis, the prophets, you know, Isaiah, Psalms, Jeremiah, so on?

In fact, could we say that it would have been a probable occurrence, and that perhaps when Mary would call Jesus down to dinner, she would say, now, Jesus, before you take a bite, I need you to recite to me your memory Scriptures.

Probable. He grew in his knowledge of the Scriptures. Do we find that difficult to accept?

You see, if somehow we have an unintentional view of Apollinariism from Apollinaris, you know, this can affect our thinking, and we won't have a real Christ. We won't have a real Savior who grew and increased in Scripture. So he's able to step out in his ministry, immediately tempted by the devil. And how does he respond? He quotes the Bible. How was he able to quote the Bible? Because he learned the Bible. When did he learn the Bible? When he was growing in wisdom and knowledge, he increased in the typical ways that we do. He increased in his knowledge of labor and laboring and carpentry. Is this not the carpenter's son? They said. And of course he was. It's a wonderful thought that for the greater part of his existence, he worked with his hands, you know, chiseling and hammering, whatever they had in those days.

This is not mine. I read this, but perhaps his marketing slogan over his shop was, My yokes are easy, you know. But it's interesting to think about that someone, you know, I bet Christ really put forth love and care into his workmanship. And so, you know, someone knew that the neck of their oxen would never be chafing, you know, under one of the yokes from Jesus of Nazareth's workshop, you know.

So later in his public ministry, he's able to go out and say, come to me, all you who are heavy laden and take my yoke upon you. My yoke is easy. My burden is light.

He grew in his knowledge of home life, home life. You know, he had brothers and sisters.

There's a couple of references in Scripture. One of them, we won't turn there, but it's Matthew 13.

It speaks of Jesus's brothers and sisters in Matthew 13. It's very likely that Joseph died early on. So Jesus, being the older brother, he would have been the man of the house for a large, maybe a portion of his life. He would have had that experience.

So think about the parables that would have come from his growth and wisdom by experiencing those things. You know, he's able to talk about the lady who lost the coin, and they turned the house upside down looking for it. You know, how did he get that reference? Well, he had been there, I'm sure.

How was he able to talk about heaven in relation to the baking process and the quantities and qualities of leaven and whatnot? You think he took the role of baking for the family at certain points?

You know, he experienced these things. All these factors would have contributed to this child growing and becoming strong and being filled with wisdom and the grace of God resting upon them. In other words, he underwent the normal intellect development, the intellectual development.

So I hope this is connecting you to Jesus Christ in a way like never before.

I hope you're just connecting to him.

He grew and increased in his experience and understanding of human emotion.

Human emotion. You know, Christ had loss in his life.

I'm sure he died at his father's funeral. He certainly died when Lazarus, what does he, when Lazarus dies, what does he do? He weeps real tears. We have that picture of him in the Garden of Gethsemane. The words which are described there, again, we won't turn there, but it's Mark 14.

The words described there at the Garden are very emotional. The words that Mark records is that he was troubled and deeply distressed. So if we would have been in there, we'd have asked Jesus, how are you feeling right now? He would have said, frankly, I'm really distressed and I'm really troubled, but aren't you God? Yes, I am God. So why are you distressed and really troubled? Because I'm really man as well. I have normal emotions, and as the years have gone by, I've grown in my depth and understanding of these emotions. And in fact, I got to tell you, I'm so troubled at the prospect of being a sin bearer for my perfect father that if there were a way for this cup to pass from me, I would like to do so, you know. Emotionally, he went to the outer limits of his human endurance, almost overwhelmed emotionally. He grew in his emotions. And not only emotions like that, which are distressful, but he also grew in other types of emotions. He navigated his affections, just like you and I do. What have you thought about that?

He grew and increased and navigated in all the human affairs and all the affections of physical life.

He actually expressed these kind of things and the need for and his enjoyment of human relations.

All throughout Scripture, we see this recorded if you're looking for it.

You know, I think some of us have the false impression that somehow or another, he wanders through life and he goes places to places and he just really doesn't carry. You know, he has this relationship with his Father in heaven, which he did, but all other relationships, you know, really didn't matter. Oh, no, that's not true. He was actually on our plane in our human affection. I do want to turn here and show you this because I want you to look for this in Scripture.

Mark 3 verse 14. I want to show you this when you start to look for connection with Jesus in an emotional way and to see that he really grew in this way and increase in this way, you might start to look for it and see it throughout other places of Scripture. Mark 3 14 is one such place. Here in Mark 3 14, Jesus called the 12th and there's a phrase here that just always really struck me and I want to show it to you here. These little moments are fascinating. Look at this. Mark 3 14. When he or then he, Jesus, appointed 12, and here it is, that they might be with him and then he might send them out to preach. And we'll stop there. So he chose the 12. Why?

So they might be with him. Why did he choose the 12 to be with them? And then to go forward and and go forward with for him. But first, to be with them. Why did he want them to be with them?

He liked their company. He wanted their company.

He knew there was a job to do and he was glad for their companionship.

And even in the midst of the 12, you will find a particular affection with certain of those 12.

Particularly, in looking at Scripture, we can glean that Peter, James, and John had somewhat of a special affection, a special relationship with him. Those three, Peter, James, and John, often went with him. The others didn't. Like in the Garden of Gethsemane, who does he take?

In this moment, the biggest moment of his need, who does he take? Well, he takes the three most special to him, Peter, James, and John. Why did he do this? For someone to be with him in this challenge. Think about someone that you would want. If you were going through a medical issue or a loss, you would want that person or these individuals with you. Just because they have a special affection that you share with them. In the same sense here, Jesus and his humanity is the same. He grew and increased in his experience and emotion of affection. Let me show you one other place. I think you'll be able to really start to notice this throughout Scripture. One other place this is found is in John 6. Let's just turn there. One other place. John 6 verses 66 through 67.

Here, John is going to record something where he points to the affection, this emotion of Jesus Christ. I hope this is making Jesus personal to you. He's your personal Savior.

Here, John 6 verses 66 and 67. John's going to record the discourse of Christ, given the nature of the bread of life. And a great number of the crowd would turn back. Look at this. John 6 verses 66. From that time, many of the disciples went back and walked with him no more. All right, let's just stop there for a moment. So many at that time went back and walked with Jesus no more. So Jesus says, who cares? What do I care? Let him go. No, that's not what he says. Look at this. Verse 67. Verse 67. After they walked with him no more, verse 67, then Jesus said to the 12th, do you also want to go away? In other words, you're not planning on going as well, are you?

See, I want to bring you to these seemingly insignificant, seemingly insignificant, small recordings. We want to connect to this 12-year-old boy growing and increasing in that temple to become our Messiah, to become our Savior. Think about this recording in terms of human affection, and it reads totally different, doesn't it? Here, Christ is bringing the gospel, the good news. He had just fed the 5,000. He recognizes those, some there are not getting it. And so he turns to them and says, let me explain to you about what all this is about. And as a result, droves and droves leave him. How would you feel? Would you turn to those in your core group and say, hey, I just want to check, you know. You're not going to leave as well, are you?

Why would he ask that? He loved him. He grew in his affection for this group. It was with him.

That's why I would say, when you take these moments like the three friends, the three particular friends in the Garden of Gethsemane, and he says, I just like you to come and just be with me. Stay awake with me. Just stay here. Come back there sound asleep. Guys, could you just not watch with me?

So, if we understand he was fully connected in his psychology, in his emotions, then we understand the immensity of his walk on this earth. As the scripture says, we have a high priest who's not removed from our humanity in every way.

So, as we begin to bring this study to a close, I hope you're thankful to Dr. Luke for bringing these things out. He brings these things out in a particular way that the other gospel writers don't. Perhaps it is his training. He thinks in these terms and he records these things. He wants to bring us to Jesus Christ, the man. Yes, he was God, but he was also man.

If you're tempted to say, I don't think anyone else understands what's going on up here.

I don't think anyone understands the deep longings of my inner being.

Well, I'll offer you today, hopefully in a more personal way, your personal Savior and your friend.

Here he is, this 12-year-old boy, Jesus Christ, this child growing, becoming strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, increasing in wisdom and stature, in favor with God and men.

This 12-year-old boy would grow moving on from this temple moment and he would steadfastly move toward the fulfillment as to why the Father sent him. And on the faithful day would come that the last day of his physical life and he would proclaim, it is finished.

It is finished. That's the declaration. Tetelestai, he said. And in a way, he's saying, there it's directly related to that 12-year-old boy who said, did you know I needed to be about my Father's business? And on that last day, he said, the business is finished. I finished my Father's business. He is real. And he came. And he grew.

And he increased for you and I. For you and I. Truly man. Truly God.

So will you put your trust today in the God who became man?

Thank you.