What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

A Series on God’s Call to Ministry

Luke 2:41-52

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%202%3A41-52&version=NIV;TPT

[Preface: How do you know what your calling in life is? Will you know from a big bang experience? Or will it come quietly, almost imperceptible? Will you be inspired by the stories of a visiting missionary; or a book that opens your eyes to the needs of a specific people group; or from your own life experience? This series is about God’s call to ministry for your life; what it means or doesn’t mean.]

What do you want to be when you grow up? 

At the age of five, I wanted to be a cowboy. At thirteen, I decided to become a geologist. At twenty-four, I wanted to work with inner city kids. At fifty-two, I wanted to be an insurance agent. At seventy, I want to retire.

What did Jesus want to be when he grew up? A carpenter like his Dad? Or, the long awaited Messiah? And how did he finally realize that he was the Son of God and that his purpose was to save the world? Did an angel tell him? Or, was it like his cousin John when Luke wrote, “…the word of God came to John”.

We know very little about Jesus as a child. Did the other kids make fun of him because he was born out of wedlock? Did his Mom and Dad tell him about the supernatural circumstances that surrounded his birth? Did he sit in the synagogue school and daydream about being the Messiah someday?

What we do know is that at the age of twelve, Jesus seemed to have a very real sense of who he was. The following interaction took place when Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem while his parents thought he was with them on the caravan returning to Nazareth. Instead, three days later, they found him in the Temple.

⁴⁸ His parents were shocked to find him there, and Mary scolded him, saying, “Son, your father and I have searched for you everywhere! We have been worried sick over not finding you. Why would you do this to us?” ⁴⁹ Jesus said to them, “Why would you need to search for me? Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be here in my Father’s house, consumed with him?” ⁵⁰ Mary and Joseph didn’t fully understand what Jesus meant.           TNT

More important than knowing what you want to be when you grow up, is knowing whose child you are. 

This question brings back many memories of Saturday mornings when my Dad would go to the bank and take me with him. As we walked into the bank, everybody knew that I was Dwight’s boy!

At the age of twelve, Jesus needed to be in his Father’s house because he knew, not only who he was, but whose he was; and as a result, he changed history. We need to ask ourselves the same questions. Do you know who you are, and whose child you are? If so, how has that touched the lives of those around you?

What Doesn’t Kill You, Makes You Stronger

A Series on the Milestones in Jesus’ Life

Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:40-46

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+14%3A32-42%2CLuke+22%3A40-46&version=NIV

 

In 1888, the German philosopher Nietzsche wrote what has been translated as, “Out of life’s school of war—what doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.”

 

The truth is, life is full of pressure and stress. It has the capacity to make you stronger; or to defeat you. You can experience stress anywhere. At work or at home; financial or health; even stress due to changes in your life; and life is always changing. Everybody experiences stress. Even Jesus did.

 

Arguably, the most stressful time in Jesus’ life was in the Garden of Gethsemane. A garden that he had visited frequently with his disciples for prayer and meditation was now a garden of unimaginable pressure and stress.

 

³³ He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. ³⁴ “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” ³⁵ Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him.           Mark 14

 

⁴⁴ And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.         Luke 22

 

While his closest friends slept, Jesus called out three times in desperation to his “Abba, Father” asking him to remove the cup from him. Jesus was under immense pressure and stress.

 

In fact, Gethsemane, in Hebrew, means “oil press”. It’s a place for squeezing the oil from olives. Facing this pressure; this stress; this real life olive press; was a milestone for Jesus.

 

What stress are you facing today? How will you deal with it? Like Nietzsche’s quote, will it make you stronger in your faith?



Jesus dealt with his stress through prayer. Should we do anything less?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Guys Wear White Hats

Galatians 4:1-7

 

 

 

Rules are a part and parcel of our western world. If you break a rule, there are consequences, or at least there’s supposed to be. If you live by the rules, you’re considered a good guy. In terms of the old Western movies, you wear a white hat, because the bad guys, the rule breakers, wear black hats.

 

Paul knew well what it meant to live by the rules. In Philippians he referred to himself as, “a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless”. Paul lived according to the Law as well as anyone could. But it wasn’t enough.

 

Jesus spoke to the rich young ruler about the commandments. The ruler said that he had kept them all since he was a boy. You can hear his pride and self-righteousness in his words. But even before this exchange, Jesus had told him that only God is good. In other words, obeying the commandments can’t make you good. Uh oh. So much for white hats.

 

In Galatia, there were Judaizers, who were Jewish Christians. They believed that a number of the ceremonial practices of the Old Testament were still binding, and insisted that the Gentile believers abide by these, particularly circumcision. Paul responded in today’s passage with his attack on this belief.

 

“And that is the way it was with us before Christ came. We were slaves to Jewish laws and rituals, for we thought they could save us.  But when the right time came, the time God decided on, he sent his Son, born of a woman, born as a Jew,  to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law so that he could adopt us as his very own sons.”   Galatians 4:3-5 TLB

 

The Galatians, the rich young ruler and, before his conversion Paul, all thought that the Old Testament Law and rituals could save them. Clearly, that is not true. They are inferior to the freedom that we have that comes through Christ.

 

However, for us, it may not be the Jewish law and rituals, but our own set of rules and expectations; our own pride that leads to self-righteousness. Do we wear the right cloths; go to the right church; say the right things; pray in the right way? We have our own set of rules to make us feel like we wear a white hat, but that can enslave us in the same way that Paul described.

 

Bottom line: It’s not whether you wear a white hat or a black hat. It’s not about rules, but a relationship. It’s not about attending church, but being a child of God. It’s not about maintaining control, but surrendering control to Christ.

 

 

 

Friday Night Football

Galatians 4:1-7

 

Previous to my Senior year of high school, my Dad took a job in Morehead, Kentucky. However, I stayed and lived with family friends so that I could finish high school with my friends. At one point in the fall, my Dad returned to complete some final details for the move. While there, he attended my high school football game on a Friday night. Normally, I didn’t play much, but I really wanted to get into the game and make him proud.

 

Finally, the coach called my name and I went in on offense. It was a running play to the opposite side of the field. The runner was probably thirty yards away from me, but I was desperate to do something, anything to impress my Dad. So I picked out an overweight lineman that was huffing and puffing, and put the hardest block on him that I could. He hit the ground with a great thud, and exhaled whatever air he had left in his lungs. To this day, I don’t know if my Dad saw me do that or not, but it was for him.

 

In Galatia, there were Judaizers, who were Jewish Christians. They believed that a number of the ceremonial practices of the Old Testament were still binding, and insisted that the Gentile believers abide by these, particularly circumcision. Paul responded in today’s passage with his attack on this belief.

 

“And that is the way it was with us before Christ came. We were slaves to Jewish laws and rituals, for we thought they could save us.  But when the right time came, the time God decided on, he sent his Son, born of a woman, born as a Jew,  to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law so that he could adopt us as his very own sons.”   Galatians 4:3-5 TLB

 

Paul knew well what it meant to try to live by the Law. In Philippians he referred to himself as, “a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless”. If you read this verse carefully, you will see that Paul defined himself according to his perceived ability to obey the Law. But in today’s passage, Paul suggests a better way for believers to define themselves.

 

“Because you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. He is the Holy Spirit. By his power we call God Abba. Abba means Father. So you aren’t a slave any longer. You are God’s child. Because you are his child, God gives you the rights of those who are his children.”      Galatians 4:6-7 NIRV

 

The Law does not define who I am. My job, my family, my church, the things that I have done, even my personality, does not define who I am. But my Heavenly Father does. I am His child, and like my earthly Dad on that fall evening years ago, I want my Heavenly Dad to be proud of me, so that someday He will say to me, “You are my son. With you I am well pleased.”

 

 

(This was actually my second devotional on the same passage. The following was my first. You decide which you like better.)