About My Father s Business Pastor Korey Van Kampen Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church (WELS) Flagstaff, AZ December 30, 2018 - Grace and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. So the section of God's Word that we'll give our attention to this morning is our gospel lesson. We found in Luke, chapter 2. We'll hear again just the opening verse right now to set the scene for what we'll be talking about. It says there in that verse, verse 41, every year, Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. And so far God's Word. And so a question for you this morning. Have you done it yet? Well, of course you're wondering what the it is. Well, I'll tell you as of right now, you have maybe 38, 39-ish more hours to do this it that you have to do before the clock strikes midnight tomorrow evening, or I guess Tuesday morning. Whatever you call it. Have you made your new year's resolution? And actually, as I say this. I have something to admit. I rarely make new year's resolutions, mostly due to the fact that they're incredibly hard to follow through on. And sometimes they're hard to follow through on not because of any fault of our own. Sometimes you make a resolution. You know what? In the new year, I'm going to get in shape. I'm going to work out. And then about 10 days in, you get sick and it knocks you down for two weeks. So much for working out at five o'clock in the morning, right? Or you decide I'm going to eat healthy and then your job says, you know what? We're going to send you traveling for a couple of weeks. And you know how hard it is to eat healthy when you're traveling for work. Or you say, you know what? I'm going to be more generous. And then your car ends up in the shop and it costs you 2,000 bucks to fix it. Sometimes those new year's resolutions can be really frustrating. And yet, they didn't always start out that way. Did you know that the custom of new year's resolutions actually started in Ancient Babylon? And what the Babylonians would do is they would end a year by resolving to do something that they had left undone in the year before. And so their typical resolutions were a lot simpler and a lot more easy to keep. They might say in the new year, I resolve to return the farm equipment that I did not return last year. I resolve to return the farm equipment that I borrowed last month. And so they were very easy to keep. And that was kind of a typical new year's resolution in Babylon. Well today in our gospel lesson, as we look at Jesus here, actually, as a 12-year-old boy, mind you, his experience and his account speaks to us and really serves to teach us a great example or great idea for a new year's resolution, one that anyone can follow through on. And so let's dig into this account from Luke and see what this resolution is that Jesus would have us learn.
Now Luke tells us in this account that every year, Jesus' family went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. And the Passover was a special feast that commemorated how the Lord had delivered their people from Egypt, more than a thousand years in the past. And it was a feast that God had actually commanded every Israelite to go to Jerusalem and to celebrate it every year. And so Mary and Joseph, being faithful and upright and religious, law-abiding people that they were, every year they made that trip to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. And so they went this year. Except this year was to be a little bit different. You see, Jesus, their oldest son, and now he was 12 years old. And being 12 was a special age in the Jewish faith, because it marked a transition, a transition from being a child, being a boy, to being a young man. According to Jewish custom, a boy at the age of 12 became what they called a Son of the Law. That is to say that at the age of 12, he came under all of the same spiritual responsibilities as an adult did. It was kind of looked upon for them much the same way that we look upon our youth confirmation today. And so for this, it was a special trip for them into Jerusalem. And by the standard of no news is good news, most of the trip went pretty well because you don't hear anything about it. They went. They traveled. They celebrated the Passover just fine. But it was when they started to go home, that things interesting. As Luke relates to us, after the feast was over, Mary and Joseph began the trip back north to Nazareth. Now if you remember, back then there were no cars. Most people didn't have horse-drawn carriages or chariots or anything like that. They walked. That was the main mode of transportation. And for these religious feasts, often people would travel in big groups. Traveling in a large group was safer and it made the time go by faster. So you can picture Mary and Joseph traveling with probably a number of other people from their village, people who were in some way related to them or their neighbors and friends and so on, fellow Jews who lived in Nazareth and other communities up north. And in these big groups that would walk, what would happen is oftentimes the adults would cluster together and the children would kind of cluster together. And the children can kind of goof off as they walked around, like children are known to do. And the parents could walk together and just kind of know that the group of children was, yes, off there in front of them where they could see them and know that they were safe. Well, it was a threeday walk back to Nazareth. And so at the end of day one of that three-day walk where they stopped all together and set up for the night, that was when Mary and Joseph realized that someone was missing, that it was Jesus. They searched through all of their things. They searched through their relatives. They searched through all the children and couldn't find him anywhere. He was gone without a trace. Now if you've ever been responsible for a child or children who have turned up missing, even if they've only been missing for a couple of minutes, you can relate to how Mary and Joseph must have felt when they couldn't find Jesus
that night, that feeling of panic or of worry, of just not knowing where you child is. Just not knowing what might have happened to your child. Because you know that there's a lot of bad reasons that a child can go missing. And I'm going to guess that just about every one of those bad reasons must have run through Mary and Joseph's mind when they couldn't find Jesus. So immediately the next morning they headed back to Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem and on the way there, they spent three days looking for Jesus. And so finally, I think probably the last place that they decided to look. They decided to look in a temple, and of all places, that's where they found him. They found him in the temple sitting by the teachers. Sitting by the teachers, listening to them, asking them questions, answering their questions, and Mary and Joseph see all this and they're shocked. Not only shocked that their 12-year-old boy was in the temple of all places in Jerusalem, but even more shocked that their 12-year-old boy was sitting with the teachers and not finding some other children to cause some mischief with, which maybe a 12- year-old child alone in a big city. Yeah, probably find a lot of trouble to get into. And so we can understand why an exasperated Mary, when she finally found Jesus, would say to him, son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you. But Jesus' response to her reveals just how much Jesus knew about his purpose in life, and about what he was there to do even at such a young age. He didn't respond to his mother by immediately saying sorry, mom. I should have told you I was staying behind. Instead, genuinely surprised, he asks her, didn't you know I had to be about my Father's business? Now, you might notice that the translation that I quoted there is a little bit different than maybe what you're familiar with, a little bit different than the NIV that's printed out in your bulletins there. And I chose to make it a little bit different because the translation about my Father's business is more broad and reflective, I would say, of everything that Jesus had in mind, rather than just saying in my Father's house. You see, a more literal understanding, rendering, of the original would say, mom, didn't you know I had to be about the things of my Father? In other words, didn't you know I had to be doing the things that my Heavenly Father would have me doing? Well, that expresses on Jesus' part more than just a desire to be in the temple, but rather it expresses a desire to do the will of his Heavenly Father. I must be about my Father's business. And so that Father's business, his Heavenly Father's business, was so important to Jesus, that's actually what led him to in a sense come up missing from his group of family as they headed back to Nazareth. Now Luke tells us that when Jesus first said that to his parents that they didn't understand what he was saying to them. They didn't know what he meant. And maybe we need a little bit of help, too. See, what does it mean when Jesus said that he had to be about his Father's business? Well you see, even at the young age of 12, Jesus knew something about himself. Even at the young age of 12, Jesus knew that he was not just a regular boy, that we was
not just Mary and Joseph's son. He knew that he was the Son of God. So even at a young age, Jesus knew that his purpose in life was not just to play and be a good little boy and to grow up. No, he knew that he was put here on earth for a greater purpose, for a higher purpose, that he was actually put here on Earth on a divine mission to fulfill as savior of the world, a mission that he would fulfill in part by living a life perfectly devoted to God in everything he thought, everything he said, and everything that he did. So then, which means then, that a part of this mission of fulfilling God's will in everything meant spending time in God's temple, spending time in God's Word, growing in God's Word, listening to the teachers, asking them questions, soaking up all that he could from that Word of God and filling himself with those Words of God because that was his Father's business. Even more than that, later at the end of our text, it says that Jesus went home with his parents to Nazareth and was obedient to them. That, too, was his Father's business as well. Yet both of these by themselves, they're really only a part of Jesus' divine mission to be the savior of the world. But it's in that phrase, I must be about my Father's business, that we can find a wonderful resolution, a wonderful goal for us, a wonderful direction for us to go into the new year. In 2019, and beyond of course, but in 2019, let us be about our Heavenly Father's business. Now what does that mean for us? Well, just like Jesus knew that he had a greater purpose in life than just being a boy, you realize that our Heavenly Father has given you, he's given each one of you, a greater purpose in your life. A greater purpose than just going to work. A greater purpose than just paying the bills, than just raising your children, than just seeing the sights and the sounds of a good life. All those things are good. Many of them are even necessary parts of life, things that we have to do, but none of them by themselves is why God has put us here in this life, and in this world, and in this place. Now you and I have a purpose, and it's a purpose that makes an eternal difference. And we can say that your purpose and my purpose is to be about our Father's business, that is to set about accomplishing in our life the things that God would have us accomplish with our life, rather than the things the world around us would have us accomplish in this life. Now, there are many ways that we could describe what it means to be about our Father's business in this life, but I will say that you can find a good summary of what it means to be about our Father's business on the cover of your bulletin. Love God, love one another, love our community and world. It's not just a church mission statement, although it functions well for that. But it's also a great mission statement for the life of every single Christian. Why are we here on this Earth? We're here to love God, to love one another, and to love our community and the world around it. Well, loving God means worshiping him. And to be clear, what we mean by that, we mean everything that goes into gathering for worship. So it means meeting together with other Christians, hearing God's word read, taught, and explained, and applied to
you. And then through that Word, being led to admit your sin. And just as important, being led to see in Jesus Christ the forgiveness and rescue from all of those sins. And finally, it means responding to God's grace with prayers, with praise, and with offers of thanks and love for Him. Loving one another means loving your fellow Christians in your congregation here at Mount Calvary, getting to know them, getting to appreciate what it is that makes those Christians who they are. What makes them unique? Learning to pray for one another. Learning to suppose one another and so on. Yeah, growing in this way, growing in love with one another, it takes time. It takes intentional time spent together. And what better than to use some of that growing together in God's Word? And then finally, loving your community and world means seeking to do good. Seeking to do good, both spiritual good and at the same time physical good, which means, then, helping when we see there's a need. And of course, together with that, looking for opportunities to share the gospel. Whether that's sharing it through a conversation with another individual, or simply inviting someone to church. But all of this put together, all of it, is why God has put you and I here. He's put us here to love God, to love one another, and to love our community and world. That is to say that he wants us to grow in faith. He wants us to grow in love for others. He wants us to show his love to others in what we do, and he wants us to share his Word with them. And so that's what we would be doing as we set about our Father's business. Now, any plans for growth or any plan for moving forward like that has a key step in it. It's often a key first step, and that step is evaluation. And it's hard to decide where exactly you're going if you don't know exactly where you are. So in that way, it's good for us to evaluate ourselves and to honestly ask ourself the question how have I been at going about my Heavenly Father's business? On a scale of one to five, how willing are you, how willing are we to, from time to time, to put aside things that are eternally less important, things like hobbies, sports, work, Netflix, nights out with friends, and so on, so that we can worship, so that we can grow with other Christians, so that we can share the gospel, and so that we can make a positive impact on those around us. Have those things been our highest priority, so much so that we, like Jesus, might come up missing from some other events because we're so taken up with our Heavenly Father's business. Now look, I can tell you what our Heavenly Father seeks from every person is he seeks from every person, not for us to rate ourselves as a five, but he seeks for us to pass his rating with a five. Highest priority. He seeks for us that we would choose him, that we would choose his business, over everything else, every time, every decision. But we have to ask ourselves, well, what's the reality? And that's something that each of us can only answer for ourselves. But something that I can tell you is that any kind of rating less than a five, even a 4.9,that's still sin. Still a form of idolatry because it is letting something in this world, something created, become more to you than God is.
But now friends, when we realize that we fall short, when we realize that all of us are way short of a 4.9, let alone a five, that's when we can come to know exactly why Jesus was there. And that's exactly when we can rejoice that Jesus was all about his Father's business. You see, there's this big myth out there in today's world that Jesus came to be an example for us, or that Jesus came primarily to show us how to be good people or how to be kind to one another. That's not true at all. Jesus instead was there precisely because we aren't good enough on our own. But that's why we can rest in the fact that Jesus was always about his Father's business, that Jesus always put his Heavenly Father first every day of his life. He always up his Heavenly Father first every moment of his life, and he did it all perfectly for you. See, Jesus earned that perfect five rating, and he did it in your place and he did it in my place. And yet, there's even more than that. You see, being about his Father's business didn't just stop when Jesus was 12. It wasn't just about when he was a young boy. No, it stayed with him all of his life, and it eventually took him to a cross where he died for all the times that we were about our own business. Or he died for all the times that were about the business of the world around us, rather than our Heavenly Father's business. And you see, friends, because Jesus has done this for you, and because he's done it perfectly, you're forgiven of every failing. And you're accepted by God for who you are, not for what you can do for him or for what you can bring him. And because Jesus was about his Father's business, through his life and through his death, you were restored, and you were regarded as God's perfect child. That is to say that he sees you with a perfect five-star rating in every facet of your life, and he sees you with that rating by the life, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ. See, when by faith you see, when by faith you come to realize that Jesus, being about his Father's business, was all entirely for you, that's what so fills you up with love for him that you want to set yourself to be entirely about your Heavenly Father's business as well. So I must be about my Father's business, friends. Let's let that be our priority in the new year, and of course beyond that. One thing that I want you to know is that it's possible. It's more than possible. You can do it. It's possible to be a family man, to be a family woman, to be a husband, a father, a mother, and to have God's Word and work be your highest priority. It's possible to still have hobbies and to be involved in sports and to work on a career and to do lots of projects at home, and to still say I must be about my Father's business. It's possible to do all kinds of things, and to still have God's Word and God's will as our highest priority. But what it means is that at times, you'll have to sacrifice some things. At times, you'll have to put off something. At times, you might have to come up missing in a sense from some activity, or some other event in your life. But you see, friends, when that happens, God gives you a wonderful promise. Jesus, later on in his life, would say, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. He promises that when God's work and when God's will is our highest priority, that he will bless us in ways that go beyond our wildest imagination.
That he will bless us in ways that we can't even fathom. So yes, as we head into the new year, let us all together as a group of Christians, let us all set about being about our own business, not being about the world's business. Let us all set about being our Father's business, and trust his grace and will to guide us and support us along the way. Amen.