Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ "/His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.

And when He was twelve 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 who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.

So when they saw Him, 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./"

(Luke 2:41-50, NKJV) [1]

 

This is a familiar story to anyone who has been raised around the church or to anyone who has a Bible that they read with any regularity.

The account of Jesus, the eldest child of Joseph and Mary, being forgotten as the family headed home after the Passover Feast.

The idea of a child being misplaced somewhere by his parents was central to a couple of Christmas movies that we have come to enjoy in the recent past.

McCauley Caulkin played a young man who was left at home alone in the first movie and then in New York City alone in the second.

Part of the hilarity of the movie is that viewers soon discover that this young man, probably about the same age as Jesus, was not nearly so helpless as they feared.

He single handedly thwarted and captured a couple of bandits intent on robbing his home and then on exacting revenge in the second movie.

They were no match for this young man.

The scriptural account today is certainly understandable.

The family traveling in groups of friends and relatives, men normally in the front and women together in the rear, could have assumed that a child absent in one group would be present in another.

At any rate, they were a day into the journey before they missed Jesus.

Have you ever started out on a trip and then forgotten something?

If there is one thing that tests my patience, this is surely one of them.

I know, it’s human, we all do it but I just hate turning back and wasting time for something that I should have remembered.

And these people were walking.

So it was another full day back with the rest of the family and finally after 3 days the scriptures tell us that they found Jesus, almost oblivious to the fact that anything was wrong.

He wasn’t in a video arcade or in front of a game system.

I know how my own son gets when he is like that.

He loses track of time, forgets to eat, wash . .

.

you know what I mean if you are a parent.

In the Message, Eugene Petersen describes the reuniting of parents and child like this:

 

/"The next day they found him in the Temple seated among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions.

*The teachers were all quite taken with him, impressed with the sharpness of his answers*.*

But his parents were not impressed; *they were upset and hurt.

His mother said, “Young man, why have you done this to us?

Your father and I have been half out of our minds looking for you.”"

(Luke 2:46-48, The Message) *[2]* /

 

And then Jesus response that shocks us when we think about this level of awareness in the life of a 12 year old boy.

/"And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me?

Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”"

(Luke 2:49, NKJV) *[3]* /

 

Again in the message, Petersen paraphrases this response:

 

/"He said, “Why were you looking for me?

Didn’t you know that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father?”" (Luke 2:49, The Message) *[4]* /

 

Both Mary and Joseph knew that their son was from God, of supernatural origin but still the scripture tells us:

 

/"But they had no idea what he was talking about.

So he went back to Nazareth with them, and lived obediently with them.

His mother held these things dearly, deep within herself.

And Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people.

" (Luke 2:50-52, The Message) *[5]* /

 

And then, equally amazing, Jesus returned home with them and spent the next 18 years of his life there, the son of God, the son of a carpenter with the mind and heart of God, giving his attention to menial earthly matters and normal family conflicts.

If it had been me, I would have been impossible to live with – way too big for my britches.

When you have a teenager who thinks that he or she knows everything that is extremely difficult to deal with but when you have a teenager who does know everything then that is just plain frightening.

It would seem that Jesus was as intentional in those 18 years at home as he was in those 3 lost days in Jerusalem.

I do think there is a lesson here for everyone.

If God can live at home until he is 30 years old – “obediently” – with parents whose knowledge is clearly inferior to his own then perhaps we ought to be able to do the same.

And to parents, the ability to recognize the purposes of God at work in your children is so important.

They too have a heavenly father whose will for them is ultimately more important then your will for them.

God knows His plan for their life and it may differ from your plans for their lives.

Allow God to work these purposes out and reduce any unnecessary conflict in the process.

But anyway, the point of the message today is the idea of intentionality.

One way of explaining what is meant by */“intentionality”/* in the (more obscure) philosophical sense is this: it is that aspect of mental states or events that consists in their being of or about things.

Intentionality is the aboutness or directedness of mind (or states of mind) to things, objects, states of affairs, events.

Franz Brentano, more than any other single thinker is responsible for keeping the term “*/intentional/*” alive in philosophical discussions of the last century or so, with something like its current use, and was much concerned to understand its relationship with */consciousness/*.

The word */“intentionality”/* is ringing constantly in my ears, through my heart and soul.

I am being reminded that the best parts of life and spiritual experience do not come to us unless we pursue them.

Our experience with God can reflect second-hand faith or something brand new.

The second hand stuff comes from people living off of the experience of others, whether it is the sermons that we listen to or the books that we read or merely being a part of a church that is moving forward, along for the ride.

I’d like you to ask yourself today whether your experience with God and the process of your relationship with Him is intentional and deliberate or whether you are hoping to get to know Him by osmosis.

Is there a sense of “*/aboutness/*” to your life?

I know of one of our families who did not want to go home to spend Christmas with their earthly family because they wanted to be about something on Christmas Day that meant something and so they spent several hours of their day, as a family, about their father’s business, in the temple so to speak.

Accidental spiritual growth – doesn’t occur.

While there are parallels between the way that we measure our physical growth and the way that we measure spiritual growth, it doesn’t happen accidentally.

You cannot avoid growing physically but unless you give attention to your spiritual development it will not take place.

People who come to know God are people who pursue Him and focus their lives around His purposes and His pleasure.

It would be a similar expectation to hope that you might somehow reach an elite level of athletic achievement by chance.

Lance Armstrong and others like him are deliberate and intentional about the things in life that represent their priorities.

*/So was the apostle Paul.

Listen to his words:/*

 

/"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?

*Run in such a way as to get the prize*.

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.

They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

Therefore I do not run like a man *running aimlessly*; I do not fight like a man *beating the air*.

No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, *I myself will not be disqualified* for the prize."

(1 Corinthians 9:24-27, NIV) *[6]* /

 

Look at some of those words.

Don’t they stir your hearts?

·         */“Run in such a way as to get the prize”./*

The prize is there for everyone who loves the Lord but Paul says that he runs his race, his spiritual life as thought there is only one person who will get the prize.

Wouldn’t that be something if we all ran as though there were only one spot available?

·         */“I do not run like a man running aimlessly”./*

*/“I do not fight like a man beating the air.”/*

There is some point to all of this that is greater than making it to church on Sunday mornings.

Until we embrace our spiritual lives as more invasive than an hour and a half on Sunday mornings we will be more frustrated by what we know than anything else.

There are times when the service may run even a bit later but let me just remind you gently today that your relationship with God will take much more time than this if you are really to discover the heart of God.

It will require doing less of the things that make no difference and more of the things that matter.

It will require a re-prioritization of your life to the point that those who are not similarly focused will not understand and at times be upset with you over your decisions.

·         */Jesus was focused in this way throughout his life./*