Luke: An Orderly Account “Thinking He was with them…” Luke 2:41-52 December 31st, 2017
I. ACCORDING to the CUSTOM… (v.41-42)
A. Luke’s PURPOSE in WRITING. (1:1-4)
B. The POWER of REPEATED action. (v.41-42)
Luke has a clear purpose in mind as he begins to write his Gospel. He wants to set out an “orderly account” of the truth about Jesus. It was important for him that his audience, Theophilus, and all who would read after him, could clearly see the truth of what they had been taught about Jesus.
1. What spiritual practices do you regularly use to help your walk with Jesus? What benefits have you seen from this? What challenges do you encounter in doing this?
2. What rituals do you practice that have become too routine? How could you refresh them?
II. The DANGER of being UNAWARE. (v.43-48)
A. THINKING doesn’t MAKE it so. (v.44)
B. The ANXIETY of the SEARCH. (v.44-48)
C. When life REVOLVES around US. (v.48)
Most of us can’t imagine leaving the city without knowing for sure where our 12 year old is. But before you call up Child Protective Services on Mary and Joseph realize that their culture was much more communal than ours, and that at 12 a child was growing into a man. Nonetheless, there was a panic when they finally realized that Jesus wasn’t with the group. And 3 days of searching must have been a traumatic time for them.
3. When has life challenged what you thought to be true in regards to God and faith? What was the result of that experience?
4. When has Jesus made you anxious? When has He made you search?
5. How can we know if our faith revolves around us? What things can we do to keep centred around Jesus and not our own preferences?
III. RE-CENTERING life around JESUS. (Col. 1:15-17, 2:3)
A. GROWING in AWARENESS. (v.43; Mk. 8:17-18; Col. 3:2)
B. TAKING our CUES from Him. (v.44; Jn 13:13-14; I Pet. 2:21)
C. KNOWING Jesus’ PRIORITIES. (v.49; Mk. 1:35-39; Mt. 20:28)
There are things that this passage points out to us that we are wise to take heed of. Mary and Joseph had drifted into some sort of normalcy with Jesus. He was their 12 year old. And somehow they had lost the focus and awareness of who He was and what He was called to do. It was an unusual situation to say the least, parenting the son of God, the Messiah. They were the only set of parents in history who couldn’t truthfully say to their child, “Look, it’s not like the whole world revolves around you!”
6. Rate yourself from 1-10 on your daily awareness of God with 1 being completely distracted and 10 being fully aware. Why is that? Are you happy with that?
7. What might God be directing you in right now, and yet you are stugglind to surrender to the “cues” that He is giving?
8. What are Jesus top 3 priorities and how might it look if you reoriented your day to day life around those?