February 27, 2011
Scripture:
I’d like to take a moment to look at Luke 22: “And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer … and he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you” (vv. 14 - 15 & 19 & 20). Let’s contemplate what’s happening here. The Lord is sitting down to eat the passover with his disciples and He institutes the Lord’s supper. Before Him is the cross; he knows all the details of what will happen to Him: He knows all the spiritual and physical suffering that is before Him. Is He upset? He says, “With desire.” Can we sense His love and His feelings for his disciples, and you and me. He knows that they will be devastated, so He instituted this supper. He longs for us to gather around Himself. Imagine all the love it took for Him to do what He did for us! My point is this: I come here to remember the Lord, because His love has touched me. I want to show Him that I love Him. It is a matter of the heart. How strong is your love for the Saviour?
Hymn 367 - When He cometh, when He cometh
Prayer
1 Samuel 18:5-13, 27-30
V.v. 5-8: Last time we were talking about the love between David and Jonathan. Unfortunately, the next story isn’t about love. Saul had David stay at the castle to be one of his warriors. One time, while they were on their way home from a battle, they were met by women, who were dancing and saying, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” They were saying that David was a better warrior than Saul. We can see that the Lord was with David in his battles; but that made Saul envious and he was afraid that David was going to take the kingdom.
V.10-13: As time went on, Saul had days in which he was sad. David was called on to play his harp to sooth Saul’s spirit. Saul was envious of David and wanted to kill him, so while David was playing his harp Saul threw a javelin at him; however, the Lord protected David. Next, Saul made David the captain over hundreds and thousands in hopes that David would be killed in battle. Again, the Lord protected David and he came home every time.
As part of the reward for killing Goliath, David was to be given one of Saul daughters. Saul told David that he would give him Merab to be his wife if he was valiant in battle. When Merab was ready to be married, instead of giving her to David, Saul gave her to someone else. Instead of Merab, David received Saul’s other daughter, Michal, as his wife.
We’ve read four times that David behaved himself wisely. To understand that, let’s turn to Joshua 1:7 & 8. To prosper and have good success, we need to obey the Bible and apply what it says. As we grow in the Lord, we will be able to “behave ourselves wisely.”
This is about all that we get between the time that our Lord was a baby, and the time that He presented Himself to John the Baptist and the people.
V.40 In children’s meeting, we heard that if Joshua kept and meditated on the law, he would do wisely. Jesus was filled with wisdom, and yet the grace of God was upon Him. He brought something new. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” God wanted Joshua to govern his life by a Book. And though it might sound strange to some, God wants us to do the same thing. That passage in Joshua is the only place in the Bible where we have the word ‘success’. Meditation on the Word is God’s formula for success.
Sometimes when we meditate on things (like God having no beginning or end, or His infinite love), we can’t understand them. Think about what we have here, however. We have the Eternal Son of God - who had no beginning and has no end - growing up. He didn’t just appear, like an angel would, but was born as a baby so that He could go through the same process that we do. Later on He became a carpenter like His father, Joseph. Can you imagine? He asked questions, even though He knew all, and He went up to the feast that He Himself instituted when the children of Israel were leaving Egypt.
They went up to the feast, and an interesting question is: was Jesus a disobedient child? No. He was in a situation that none of us has ever been in. He had two fathers. And when it came to obeying One or the other, He had His priorities right and obeyed His heavenly Father. Most children’s first words are, “Mama” or “Dada”. Here we have the first recorded words of the Lord Jesus, “I must be about my Father’s business”. We can connect that with His last words on the cross, “It is finished”. In between those two quotes was a perfect life, filled with serious business.
Well, long before Jesus ever said, “I have come to seek and to save that which was lost”, He was supposed to be lost and was being sought for. He stayed behind in Jerusalem after the feast, and His parents didn’t realise it until they were a day’s journey away. They went back to Jerusalem and finally found Him - after three days - in the temple. When He died, our Lord was ‘lost’ again for three days and after he was ‘found’, He said something else about the Father. “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” His business brought us into relationship with his Father.
One wonders why God didn’t direct Mary and Joseph right to Jesus; why He wanted Jesus to have those three days by Himself. When they found Him, He was in the midst of the doctors; hearing them, and asking questions. What were those questions? They were probably probing questions, trying to awaken the doctors to their sinfulness. They were all astonished at His answers, and His parents didn’t understand His answer when they asked Him, “Why have you done this to us?”.
Jesus went back to Nazareth with Joseph and Mary, and was subject to them. That is what the law taught: children obey your parents. How could He be anything but what He Himself had instructed? Jesus then increased in four areas; in:
Wisdom - intellectually
Stature - physically
Favour with God - spiritually
Favour with man - socially
These are the four dimensions that we should be always trying to grow in, and that we sometimes pray that our youth will grow in. And note, He didn’t just grow in relation with God and man, but in favour with them.
Hymn 31 - Jesus, that name is love
Prayer