Sermon Tone Analysis

*Where is Jesus?

(Luke 2:41-50)*

*Intro: **Give Background (vv.

39-42).

*Back to Galilee. 12 yrs later.

Annual festival of Passover was celebrated at the beginning of the New Year, which corresponds to a date in months of March and April.

Passover was the opening day and feast of the seven-day feast of Unleavened Bread.

It commemorated the Exodus from Egypt and the passing over of the death angel.

This story occurs after the seven-day feast.

* Read Luke 2:43-50 *

 

*1.

**Jesus is often left behind in the busyness of life **(vv.

43-44a)*

a.        80 mile journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem.

20-25 miles a day, making it a 3-4 day journey.

Mary and Joseph were not bad parents.

They simply thought Jesus was with the large caravan of people with whom they were traveling.

b.

We do not know what Mary and Joseph concerned themselves with on this first day’s journey, but they were unaware that Jesus was not with them until the end of the day as they settled for a night’s rest.

c.

It reminds me of the reality that we so often move away from Christ in our own lives.

Sometimes we do not even recognize it until we have traveled miles away in our spiritual journey.

Our own busyness and matters of the day get in the way.

Often times there is nothing inherently wrong with what we are doing.

It is just that we are so busy we leave Jesus in the dust.

We start doing our own thing.

*ILL: Paul left Nancy at a gas station on cross-country trip.

Northwest state.

Are we so busy in our own lives that we have moved away from Jesus and do not know it.*

*APP: *Get your priorities right.*

*Quote: “Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.”

French Writer Jean de la Bruyere (1645 - 1696)

Get your priorities right.*

*Our commitments reveal our closeness to Christ or lack of.

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:21

* *

*2.       **We often look for jesus in the wrong places **(v.

44b-5) *

a.

They looked in the caravan, where family and friends were suppose to be.

They traveled back to Jerusalem and *anxiously looked* for Jesus in the city.

They probably looked in all the places one would look for a 12 year old boy.

Two days searching, traveling, and searching, but they could not find Jesus.

b.

They did not know fully who Jesus was, or they would have known these places are not where Jesus would be found.

We, who are believing in Christ, should not be so foolish as to look for Christ in the wrong places.

Joseph and Mary had a valid excuse, but we do not.

*APP: *We look for Christ in all the wrong places.

You don't go cutting down trees looking for gold: you know it is found in the earth.

You don't go digging in the earth looking for apples, because you know they come from a tree.

You don't go to a grocery store to buy a coat.

You don't go to a clothing store to buy a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk.

You don't go to the hardware store to buy gas, or to the gas station to buy nails.

When it comes to looking for Jesus, we often look to our own musings.

We say “I think” instead of “I know, because God says.”

When it comes Christ, we often look to our family and friends.

We say things like, “I have always heard that, instead of “The Bible says.”

When it comes to getting closer to Jesus, we often look to famous preachers, and self-called anointed teachers, or we even look to worldly wisdom from entertainers and faulty thinking from pundits and politicians who think they know more than God.

We say things like, “I heard ‘so and so’ say ‘such and such,’ instead of quoting from God’s Word.

*Don’t be deceived by false expectations or faulty beliefs about Jesus.

Whether it is Our own; our family; our friends; the world in which we live.*

*ILL: *Guy Goma waited in the reception room at the local television station of BBC 24.

After being directed by the Television producer to a live, on the air, studio, Guy was asked about a lawsuit within the Apple Computer ranks concerning internet downloading of music media.

Guy Goma was asked three questions in the 2 minute, live interview.

The obviously shocked and confused, Guy Goma, did his best to answer the questions.

As it turns out, Guy Goma, a national from the Congo, was to be interviewed for a support job at the Television station.

It was only later that it was discovered that the expert on technology, Guy Kewney, was still waiting in another reception room.

The mix-up occurred when a producer went to collect the expert from the wrong reception room in BBC Television Centre in West London.

The producer asked for Guy Kewney, editor of Newswireless.net,

who was due to be interviewed about the Apple vs Apple court case.

After being pointed in Mr Goma's direction by a receptionist, the producer - - opened the door of the reception room and asked: "Are you Guy?" The wrong GUY answered in the affirmative and was whisked up to the studio.

Mr Goma said his interview was "very short", but he was prepared to return to the airwaves and was "happy to speak about any situation".

He added that next time he would insist upon "preparing myself".

*BBC News 'wrong Guy' is revealed *2006~/05~/16

* *

*3.       **Jesus is always right where he is suppose to be **(vv.

46-49) *

a.

After three days, they found Jesus in the Temple.

b.       Jesus simply stated that He was right where He was supposed to be.

He was in His Father’s House, about His Father’s business.

*APP: *If we are not experiencing Jesus as we should be, the problem is not with Jesus.

The problem is with us.

Jesus is always where He is supposed to be.

Be where Jesus is.

Jesus was consistently worshipping in God’s House, studying God’s Word, Witnessing about who God is and who He was, He did the work of the Father.

This is where we will find Jesus.

This is where we can expect Him to be.* Are we where Jesus is?*

* *

*4.       **To truly Find Jesus, We Need to Understand who Jesus Is (vv.

50, 47, 49) *

a.        Mary and Joseph did not fully understand who Jesus was.

b.       Luke has informed us that Jesus is unique in chas.

1-2.

In verse 47, we, again, see that Jesus is no ordinary human being.

He is now 12, but He was no ordinary 12 yr old boy.

His “listening and asking questions” was supernatural.

c.        Jesus understood who He was.

This is the key point of this passage.

Here, Jesus speaks his first words in Luke’s gospel in v. 49.

His words reveal His identity and His purpose or mission.

i.

God was Jesus’ father.

Jesus was His Son.

This is no ordinary relationship.

This is an intimate connection with God.

No one spoke of God like this in Jesus’ day.