Grace Summit Community Church || Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

Questions We Ask Jesus

05.11.08 Mary's Question (Mothers' Day)

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Happy Mothers’ Day

Pick a card, any card – actually, you have some homework. There was a song in the mid-late 90’s by Joan Osborne – What if God was One of Us? – It had a line in it - If you could ask God just one question, what would you ask?

We are starting a series on questions people ask Jesus.

Many people had that opportunity. I bet your question was answered in the gospels.

Lord, we thank You that You are a holy God. Lord, that Your name is holy. You are set apart – You are above us – and yet You bowed down to live with us and die for us. Thank You that the Creator of all things became a part of creation to save His creation. You love us deeply; help us to see and understand that love. As a mother cannot forget her nursing child, You cannot forget us. Your love is stronger and greater than any parent’s for a child. Remove distractions from our hearts.

The first recorded question – that was asked Jesus in the gospels – the first person to ask a question was his mom.

Luke 2: 41 And His parents used to go to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when He became twelve, they went up [there] according to the custom of the Feast; 43 and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. And His parents were unaware of it, 44 but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day's journey; and they [began] looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 And when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, looking for Him. 46 And it came about that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. 48 And when they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, "Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You." 49 And He said to them, "Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's [house?"] 50 And they did not understand the statement which He had made to them. 51 And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all [these] things in her heart. 52 And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Now, in beginning this, it is important to understand – Mary was a mom. At times we put her on a pedestal – she was a great woman and a great hero of the Bible. But she was a real mom – with all the stresses, frailties and fears that come with being a mom.

Picture it – you are a day’s drive from your vacation point and you realize – you do not have one of the kids! (Someone call children’s services!)

They were astonished – amazed – struck out of mind! To put it in our language – when Mary realized – and they spent 3 days looking for him – it is basically saying – She freaked out. I chose this passage a while ago for this day – but just Tuesday we got a phone call from my sister in law – we usually joke – but she was not up for joking – my nephew and another second grader left school without being noticed. And then they decided that the other boy wanted to go to his house – and her son spent some time looking for the building – while in the meantime, they discovered that the boys were missing and imagine how trying that would be for a mom.

48 And when they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, "Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You."

She was angry. She was upset.

By the way, there is an insight into parenting here – even if you have the best kid (Jesus was the best of kids, right?!) Along with the joy and love of parenting – you need to expect disruption, stress and anxiety. No matter who you are or who your kid is – there will be times where they drive you to anger.

When he or she was a baby – you felt such love and never imagined that you could get angry with this child…

“Parenting is not for cowards” – it reveals who you are more than anything else.That is true for everyone – if someone says it is not, write them off – it happened to Joseph and Mary!

The best of folks in the Bible – The apostle Paul got into arguments with other pastors and they split over it! We have the same frail humanity – and yet God chooses to bless and encourage us. God is still there and working. As long as you try to do things God’s way, He will work through that disappointment. That is not the point of this passage – but it comes out there.

Often, the lessons aren’t learned in the questions – but the answers. What you normally discover – His answers are never as simple and predictable as you might think!

48 And when they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, "Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You." 49 And He said to them, "Why is it that you were looking for Me?

If your son said that to you after you were looking for him for 3 days?! The anger level went up that much!

Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's [house?"]

Do you not understand who I am? Have you forgotten what happened 12 years ago and an angel appeared to you – Dad, did you forget that the angel came to you in your sleep and explained to you what is going on? Do you not remember?

In living life and raising this 12 year old – they had forgotten who He was! He had become familiar and commonplace to them. They had lost the joy and the wonder and reverence for who they had a relationship with. I would ask us that question – when we first come into this relationship with Christ, there is this tremendous excitement – everything is new – there is a desire to obey and serve and follow God. But in time, we become familiar in our relationship with Christ and it loses that joy – and we lose a sense of wonder – and what we want to look at today is just that – what do we need to do to get that back. You can maintain that wonder in your relationship with God. But too often we let it go – we tend that way as humans – we take each other for granted – we get too at ease and not at our best – and we do that with God. It is critical that we not do that.

Did you not know I had to be in my Father’s house?

Her words before that – “Your father and I” – and He clarifies – You are thinking from a human perspective only – you are viewing this entire circumstance from a worldly perspective. He is living and viewing life from a different level – a different purpose and priority in life. His business is to be about doing His Father’s business. In order for us to do the same, we need to first be Kingdom People. We need to focus on His things. Too often, most of our time is spent focusing on the things of this world. As long as your thoughts are going to the things of this life, you will lose the wonder and joy of that relationship with Christ.

Before this He talks about all those things we tend to worry about – and how the flowers and birds don’t get anxious -

Matt. 6: 33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. 34 "Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. [Each] day has enough trouble of its own.

Seek FIRST! First in your life – what is most important? Is it the kingdom of God? Ask yourself in honesty – is God’s kingdom first? As you go through the life of Christ – what you will see – in his relationships with people – He is stressing the priority of the relationship with God first. That is the key to maintaining a great relationship with God.

In our Men’s group – we were talking about this this week – how do you get victory over a struggle? I think this is the primary task – put God first. If you struggle with anger – and Christ is not first, then you will not get over that issue. It starts there.

Townsend and Cloud – the Boundaries Series – they wrote a book – How do People Grow?

They went through their counseling practice – and they realized they shared the same methods in all these peoples’ lives. Some changed – many did not. Those who changed had a radical transformation of life – where Christ became first in every area of their lives. Those who maintained this Christ First Relationship were the ones who changed.

Matt 8: 19 And a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go." 20 And Jesus ^said to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air [have] nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

Very welcoming…

21 And another of the disciples said to Him, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father." 22 But Jesus ^said to him, "Follow Me; and allow the dead to bury their own dead."

He is not telling him to not go to a funeral – the issue is in the word, FIRST. This had to do with what became a priority in your life. You cannot follow me if anything is a higher priority in life.

Matt. 10: 37 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 "He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it.

The things that are most important in life – those things that are priceless – cannot take priority over your relationship with Christ.

He is not saying – Don’t have a relationship with your family – but what is first? Jesus tells us to love our wives and to love our families – but He must be first. Those important relationships cannot come before Him.

It is a delicate balance. We don’t neglect family for ministry! It is a heart issue – what is the most important thing in your life? Is it Jesus or is it something else?

How do we do this?

Matt 22: 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 37 And He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 "This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 "The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

In the past 6 months, Starbucks has lost 30% of its value on the market. Recently, the original founder was re-introduced as its CEO – he sent a memo – “These things we know to be true…

He listed what really mattered and what they valued as a company that made them great and how he felt they had lost those primary values.

Jesus is saying – these are the things that really matter.

36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 37 And He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 "This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 "The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'

We put Christ first by loving Him with all of our hearts – then we demonstrate that by living for others. That is where it all starts and that is where it all ends. It is not more complicated than that. You don’t need to read any more Christian books or listen to more Christian programs – and those are fine things to do – but this is all you need – to love God and to serve others. It is pretty simple – but the reality is that we allow other things to come into the way of that.

One more verse on this –

Matt 28 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. "

What He is saying is simple – in loving God and loving our neighbors, we are to tell them about Christ. In a world where we don’t talk about religion – we need to share Christ – it is important to talk about our faith story – it doesn’t have to be complicated – just tell what Christ has done for you. That is what people did in the Bible – telling what God has done for them.

Let’s pray.

Father, we thank You – As Carol shared – you give us so many opportunities that we miss to touch a life – it may be a brief minute where we say, I’ll pray for you – Christ can help you in this circumstance – look to Him – trust in Him. We won’t do that if you are not first in our lives. We ask You this week that You would not be so familiar and common to us – that we would love You with all over our heats souls and mind.

Grace Summit Community Church | 2960 Bailey Road | Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio 44221 | 330-922-3550
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