THE INCREDIBLE LIFE OF CHRIST- 1
By Ron Clarkson
We are going to look at the earthly life of the most significant person in history, that being the life of Jesus Christ. Before we begin our journey through the life of Christ, lets pray.
Prayer : Father, as we begin to look at the life of Jesus Christ, will you open our eyes in a new way. Some of us have heard bits and pieces of the story, but we've never seen the pieces come together with meaning or purpose, they have been isolated or disconnected anecdotes. Others are familiar with the story, all too familiar Father. When we look at the life of Christ we just don't get excited, or it doesn't really impact us like it used to. Father, would you do something for each and every one of us here. Would you open our eyes and hearts? Open them in a new way. Open them in a fresh way so we can see the life of Christ in a fresh way. A way that will move each of us. And when we leave, we will know that it has been worth our while, we will know we have experienced a genuine encounter with our loving God. Amen.
It's amazing what some people will buy and believe. In my preparation I ran into many stories that people have tried to "sell" regarding Jesus. He didn't head off to India to study under a guru nor was he whisked up into a spacecraft at age twelve and re-deposited on the earth at age thirty. I am excited about the things we are going to find out about the life of Christ.
Many times we hear of Jesus at Christmas, crucify him on Good Friday and sometimes resurrect him on Easter - and that's about all we do with him. But as we look at the life of Christ, we can see how significant his life was to his purpose for arriving on earth, and we can see how significant his life is for each of us on a daily basis.
We are going to look at the "WONER YEARS!" of life before he began his public ministry. Why were they significant? What happened to Jesus after Christmas? What events took place in his childhood and adult years that led up to those three short years when he spread his teaching that impacted the world?
Jesus Christ was born into this world, apparently, in an insignificant town, to insignificant parents, in an insignificant situation. In our Christmas series, "The Road to Bethlehem" we discovered, however, that the birth of Jesus was miraculous. Miraculous in its timing, location, manner and fulfillment. But when we left Jesus at Christmas, he was still in the manger, what happened next?
This is where my kids get upset when I tell the Christmas story because the three Kings, were not really Kings, but magi, experts in the study of the stars. And they didn't show up at the stable when Jesus was born, but probably up to two years later after Mary and Joseph had moved into the house. So I tell my kids, "forget the presents, I'll buy you some in a couple of years." The biggest problem is what to do with all the left over nativity scene pieces.
The Bible tells us these magi arrived in Jerusalem searching for "the King of the Jews." Their inquiry threatened the political King Herod. This guy was an animal. He told the Magi to report back to him when they found the baby, but God warned the magi not to return. God also warned Joseph and Mary to flee to Egypt to avoid Herod's wrath. Herod issued a region wide infanticide, ordered the killing of all male babies two years old and under. May be one of the reasons Christ had such a special place in his heart for children when he grew older.
The family of Jesus fled to Egypt, probably lived off the gifts from the magi, and then returned to live in the town of Nazareth a short while later after Herod died. It was in this town where Joseph and Mary raised Jesus, along with his 4 brothers and at least two sisters.
Imagine, for a moment what it would be like to grow up in a home with the very God/man living there. Imagine what it would be like to live with a perfect brother. I'm just now realizing how tough it probably was for my brothers. Imagine you have Jesus in your home, he is the model son. Your parents never catch him in a lie, he never got in trouble for doing something wrong. How many times you heard your mother say, "what's the matter with you, I don't understand why you can't be like your brother." Think about it, he never lost at 20 questions or trivial pursuit. It must have been tough.
We don't know for sure how his brothers or sisters felt about him growing up, but we do know they didn't follow his teachings while he was still alive. As a matter of fact, they thought he was a little mentally imbalanced, saying some of the things he said.
The home life of Jesus was moderate, not an affluent family at all, but they were rich in their cultural and religious heritage. Both the mother and the Father would teach the children in the home, and at age six Jesus probably entered formal education in the synagogue. Jesus himself had a working knowledge of Hebrew and Greek, and spoke Aramaic in his home. Joseph also was responsible to teach his son the family trade, that of carpentry.
Mary and Joseph, I'm sure were good parents, but even good parents make a mistake or two in their life. I remember my parents made a mistake one time that equaled a blunder by Mary and Joseph. My parents had 5 boys, I was the youngest.
One Sunday night on their way home from church they looked around in the car and realized they were one short... they had left me at the church. My brothers claimed it was intentional and I never could take a hint, but my parents would never admit that. Now, I loved it, because I knew how bad my parents were going to feel. And I milked it, I got more mileage out of that one incident.
The same thing happened to Jesus. When he was 12 years old he had traveled to Jerusalem in a large family caravan, not a Dodge, but camels, donkeys, etc. They were to go to Jerusalem, to the temple to celebrate the feast of the Passover, they did this every year. When they left Jerusalem to go back home, they left Jesus. Read: Luke 2:42-51
People were sitting around literally beside themselves in amazement at the wisdom, insight, knowledge and perceptiveness of this twelve-year-old boy. They recognized there was something different. When his parents showed up his mother rebuked him, "Why have you treated us like this? YOUR Father and I..."Immediately Jesus drew a sharp distinction between them and God. God was his Father. At twelve years old Jesus knew his mission and he was disappointed that his parents didn't understand it. After all, they knew of his miraculous birth, they had several visits from angels telling them exactly what his mission was . . . to be the savior of the people. Jesus, at twelve years old was conscious of his unique relationship and his primary obligations to His Heavenly Father.
The Scriptures tell us that Jesus, from this point continued to live in obedience to his parents, grew in his stature and his wisdom, and he grew in his favor with men and God. We don't here or know anything about Jesus until he appears some 18 years later.
At thirty years of age Jesus appears at the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist, God's special messenger who had been paving the way for Jesus to begin his public ministry. When John baptized Jesus the heavens opened up and God's voice came out and said "You are my son, whom I love. I am well pleased with you." God the Father could speak these celebrated words because Jesus Christ had lived a life characterized by obedience, and would now face one more life-forging event before recruiting his team of disciples and commence his public ministry.
This life-forging event was the temptation of Jesus Christ by Satan. Satan in three devious attempts tried to get Jesus to "take a short cut" in the mission God had given him. Jesus had been fasting for forty days and Satan approached him and said, "hey, since you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread." Jesus had the power to do it, but it was God's will for him to experience hunger and Jesus was committed to doing God's will.
Satan continued to preen the issue and told Jesus, "O.k., if you're the son of God, throw yourself off the top of the temple." Make this superman entrance then everyone would be impressed, they'd surely follow you. But Jesus would not take the shortcut, God wanted him to walk amongst the people, to live with them.
The third and final attempt by Satan to get Jesus to take a shortcut was in his offering all the kingdoms he possessed to Jesus, if Jesus would just bow down to him. Satan said, "I'll give you all that is mine, right now, just bow down… If Jesus takes the shortcut, Satan short circuits God's plan which includes the life and death of Jesus Christ. It would have meant no Good Friday, no Easter... no hope.
Why... why did Jesus have to go through all this? Why did the Prince of Peace have to be born in a cow's feeding trough? Why was he raised in a humble home in a no name town? Why did he have to be misunderstood by the family that was so close to him? Why did he have to experience the pain, hunger, solitude of the wilderness only to be greeted by temptation the magnitude of which none of us will face?
Why? He did it for me! That fascinates me. Do you realize he did it for you? He wants each and every one of us here to benefit from his life. No matter where we are on our spiritual journey with God, maybe your years down the road, maybe you have a brand new relationship with God or maybe your still seeking, no matter where you are you can grow closer to God because of the life of Jesus.
This past week a talked with a man who began to tell me what he thought of Jesus Christ. He had been through various major denominations, He had tried all the eastern mysticism practices, He had studied all the world religions, the claims of their leaders and could find none to compare historically or logically to Jesus. He told me you just can't argue with the empty tomb.
And I said that was great that he had come to that conclusion. He went on to tell me that he knew all about Jesus, but he didn't feel close to God at all. As a matter of fact, He felt God had disappointed him, and to him, God was no big deal. Life was no big deal, and he told me he had contemplated suicide many times and wouldn't care if he died tomorrow. Throughout the next 40 minutes together we concluded that he believed in Jesus, intellectually, but not in a personal trusting way. Its like having life saving medicine in your medicine cabinet, it has to be taken to do you any good.
You will grow closer to God when you know Jesus Christ in a personal way because JESUS CHRIST REVEALS God to me. From before his birth, Jesus was to reveal God to us, His name "Immanuel" - God with us. From his birth he was God in flesh, dwelling among us. Jesus Christ is the God/ man. Fully God and perfect humanity wrapped in one package. Our Scripture passage calls Jesus Christ "our Great High Priest." READ Hebrews 4:14
In the Jewish religious system, the high priest would enter the holiest place in the temple and sprinkle blood to cover the sins of the Jewish people. That is no longer necessary because Jesus Christ is the great high priest - he gives us direct access to God, we don't need another person to intercede for us - Jesus fulfills that purpose.
Jesus goes beyond this as our great high priest; he is able to do something very special for us so we can confidently grow closer to God.
(Please come back to read the part 2) ..May God Bless You All!
 
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