"...And to Goodness, Knowledge..."

This month’s article is a continuation of the study of 2 Peter 1:1–11 begun in the previous e-Pistle entry.

In verses five through eight of his second epistle, the apostle Peter lays out a progressive program for spiritual growth. Beginning with the foundation of God’s gift of faith, Peter encourages his readers to “make every effort to add” to that faith which they have received “through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (see verse one). His list of things to “add” to faith presents us with a curriculum, if you will, for our spiritual progress and for our training of our children. Having challenged his readers that, as recipients of God’s gift of faith, they should strive to “add to (their) faith goodness,” Peter continues building this progressive “curriculum” by suggesting that, to goodness, knowledge must be added.

Goodness, the Foundation of Knowledge

One thing that is implied by the order Peter uses in this passage is that goodness is the foundation on which our spiritual knowledge is built. In the paradise that was Eden before the Fall, Adam and Eve possessed a pure knowledge, uncorrupted by the sinful nature. Their knowledge was of God’s creation as they knew it and of God Himself. All within their realm of knowledge was, by God’s own description and declaration, good. It was in this pure knowledge of God’s goodness, the goodness of God’s creation, and the goodness of human community (Genesis 2:18) that Adam and Eve enjoyed unbroken fellowship with their Creator and heavenly Father.

What they did not yet know was that, at some point, there was a corruption of some of God’s creatures – the devil and his fallen angels. Adam and Eve had no knowledge of this corruption and, truly, their innocence was bliss. It is interesting that a key feature of the serpent’s temptation strategy involves the enticement of “knowing good and evil.” This was presented by the enemy as appealing and as a further step toward God-likeness – something surely to be desired.

But, of course, it was a lie. Adam and Eve had the knowledge of “good,” though they may not have known to call it good. In fact, that was all that they did know. Satan was implying that they would increase their knowledge to God-like proportions simply by pursuing their desires in resistance to God’s will. But, there is no knowledge to be discovered, no wisdom to be attained in disobedience to God’s will and in rebellion to His authority. The Scriptures call the knowledge and wisdom of this world foolishness (see Romans 1:18 – 25 and 1 Corinthians 1:18 – 25). It is foolishness because it is not grounded in truth; it does not acknowledge God as God. Although “what may be known” is plain to all men because God has made it plain to them through creation, man has failed to glorify God as God and to be thankful to Him, and though he has continued to add exponentially to his vast store of information, he has indeed become a fool.

Attending a Christian school and college and teaching in a Christian school for nearly twenty years, I have often heard the concern expressed that students are too “sheltered” from the world, and that when they get out into the “real world” they won’t know how to deal with it. The implication is that learning in a Christian environment will handicap the students somehow. It seems that there are those who believe that a learning environment which provides greater exposure to a non-Biblical worldview would better equip young people to live in a fallen world. One might argue that God should have given Adam and Eve some experience of wickedness in order to prepare them for their confrontation with Satan. Though the refutation of this argument is not the purpose of this article – perhaps another time - I believe that this is faulty logic, and worse, it is all too familiar. We essentially heard this argument in the Garden at the foot of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, of which God had forbidden man to eat. We have heard this argument from the mouth of the serpent himself, the deceiver.

It is not being suggested that true knowledge is attained only by remaining ignorant of that which is evil. In a world that operates according to the law of sin and death, it would be impossible to do so. However, as the early chapters of the book of Job teach us, feasting upon the goodness of God is the best and only preparation for accepting the evil with which we are confronted in this world while maintaining the integrity of our relationship with God (see Job 2:9, 10). (Some strategies for “feeding” on goodness were discussed in last month’s e-pistle article.)

Satan’s strategy in the Garden was, in part, to open up the minds of Adam and Eve to more than what God had provided them and to more than what God deemed best for them. He wanted them to be exposed to evil; the evil of the idolatry of Self and all that results from that idolatry. But, as is suggested by the order of Peter’s “spiritual growth curriculum” in Second Peter chapter one, goodness is the foundation upon which knowledge is built. Christian parents cannot protect their children from exposure to evil since the sinful nature is inherent in all of us from birth, and we live in a fallen world. But, by God’s grace, we can and should seek to teach and set an example of a perspective that focuses on the sovereign goodness of God (see as an example Genesis 50:20) and that rests upon the certainty that God is at work for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28) in all things – the good and the bad things. At the early stages of the development our children’s intellectual lives, this foundation of “goodness” provides for them a solid base upon which to build an understanding of reality because it is truth. If anything shifts, the truth will not.

I don’t agree that the shielding of our children from the unrestricted and unevaluated messages of the world will handicap them for life in a culture filled with temptation. There is a big difference between engaging the world for the glory of God and entertaining ourselves with the spirit of the world (1 John 2:15 – 17; James 4:1 - 4). But, at the same time, we can make mistakes in protecting our children. It may be natural to a parent to want to protect a child from hurts and emotional traumas and even some negative results of his/her own actions. We may be inclined to shield them from some of the very unpleasant effects of age and illness and death. And there are certainly some circumstances where it is appropriate. But if we do this all the time, we fail to take advantage of opportunities to build our children’s knowledge upon the foundation of goodness. We need to engage their minds in applying the truths we confess to the realities of life in a world that yet awaits its restoration to God’s creation ideal. We need to walk with them through these difficulties, pains, traumas, and losses and show them how God’s people hold tenaciously to their good God through the greatest hardships with the confidence that “nothing shall separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

The study of this passage (2 Peter 1:1 – 11) will continue in the next e-Pistle entry.

"...Make Every Effort to Add to Your Faith Goodness..."

A wonderfully encouraging passage that stresses the primacy of the believer’s relationship “knowledge” of Jesus Christ – as opposed to picturing the Christian life in terms of religion or rules or rituals – is 2 Peter 1:1 – 11. After suggesting that relationship knowledge of the Lord provides grace and peace “in abundance” for the believer, Peter goes on to point out that God’s power “has given us everything we need for life and godliness” through that same deep, intimate, relationship knowledge of God. Finally, Peter challenges us to “make every effort” to pursue the spiritual growth that will keep us from being “ineffective and unproductive” in our “knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The pattern of spiritual growth that Peter outlines might be seen as a meaningful and effective “curriculum” for our Christian lives, and for our “training and instruction” (nurture and admonition) of our children. The “curriculum” begins with “faith”, therefore, it begins with God. As verse one says, “have received a faith as precious as ours.” The words, “have received” point out that this faith is not of ourselves. It is not something we have stirred up or initiated or even found within ourselves. It has come to us from outside of ourselves. It has come to us as a “gift of God.” (Eph. 2:8, 9) We have received it from a loving heavenly Father, the God of grace and peace.

Peter admonishes his readers to “add to (their) faith goodness”. It is goodness that is first in the “curriculum” as far as our efforts are concerned. This is a logical step in the progression of spiritual growth biblically and practically. Scriptural support for this idea may be seen in the previous letter that Peter wrote. In 1 Peter 2:2, 3 we read, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

Even the unregenerate have some affinity for goodness though it may be selfishly motivated. We are more inclined to those who are “good” to us than we are to those who mistreat us. This is even more uncorrupted in a child. For regenerate children, among the first results of the Spirit’s work in their lives is the “taste” of the goodness of the Lord in His loving provision of forgiveness and salvation. We continue from this “taste” to begin to feed upon that which is good as we learn more and more about what is good. This love of goodness and feeding upon what is good – and learning what is good – continues throughout our spiritual lives, but it seems to make sense that it is among the first steps in the process of our spiritual growth.

At the practical level, how then can we stir up the love and knowledge of goodness in ourselves and in our children?

There is an old story that tells of a conversation that a missionary has with a native chief. Speaking about his struggles with spiritual temptation, the native chief pictures the conflict he feels within himself as a dogfight between what he describes as a great huge, vicious, mangy, ill-tempered dog (which seeks to get him to do that which is evil) and a large, pure bred, well mannered dog (which seeks to encourage him to do that which is good). The missionary asks the chief, “Which one of the dogs wins?” The chief replies, “The one that I feed the most.”

What an insightful punchline! It seems logical that the love and knowledge of goodness will grow in accordance with our “feeding” upon that which is good. Of course, the Word of God declares itself to be spiritual food for us, and Jesus spoke (controversially) about feeding upon Him. (This certainly reflects the same idea of relationship with Christ that is spoken of at the beginning of 2 Peter.) The Word of God and the worship of the Living God must be the “main course” in our feasting upon goodness. But there are other complementary sources of “good” food.

“Stones of Remembrance”

Deuteronomy 6:20 – 25 and Psalm 78:1 – 8 are just two examples among many from Scripture which present to us a very practical strategy for feeding upon goodness. These passages reveal the importance of family testimonies of God’s grace and faithfulness as a source of nourishing, “good” food. It is so important for families to tell and retell the stories of God’s working in the lives of individual family members and the family as a whole. Children need to be exposed to the history of their family and its relationship with God through the best of times and the most difficult of times. They need to be reminded of the events where they watched their parents put their hope in God and of how God answered and provided and delivered them. They also need to hear their parents affirm their confidence in God even when God’s answers and provision and deliverance were not discernible to the finiteness of human understanding.

We all need these reminders. We need to put up “stones of remembrance” as Joshua did, or “Ebenezers” as Samuel did for God’s people. These were literal stone pillars that were erected that reminded the people, “With the help of the Lord, we have come thusfar.” I know a couple that has a shadowbox on their wall that contains their “Ebenezers.” They have placed things in the shadowbox that were chosen to remind them and their children of specific evidences of God’s care and power in their family.

My wife and I have established a tradition in our family to accomplish a similar purpose. Prior to the end of each year, Darby and I write letters to each of our children in special memory books kept for each child just for this occasion. As the children have become able, they have also written letters to each other in these memory books. In these letters, we reflect on things that have taken place in each life in the previous year. We seek to affirm one another and to express our love and gratitude for each other. Most importantly, we try to record the story of God’s work in our family and in each of us individually. On New Year’s Eve, we wake the children and welcome in the New Year by reading these letters to one another and enjoying a midnight breakfast. When the children are grown and establish their own families and traditions, they will be able to take these memory books with them and have a record of the faithfulness and goodness of God and a testament of our love for each other as a family.

Good Books

Stories that display goodness as appealing, that present a clear distinction between what is good and what is not good, are among the best sources - apart from the Word of God and Jesus Himself – that will whet the appetite of the believer and the believing child or the child of believing parents for goodness. Christian biographies; missionary stories; books by writer’s such as Horatio Alger, Jr., Oliver Optic, Martha Finley, Paul Hutchens, Ralph Connor, and C. S. Lewis; “living books”, as Charlotte Mason referred to them, like Charlotte’s Web and Johnny Tremain and Robinson Crusoe ; all these are wonderful grazing pasture for us and our children to “feed” upon goodness.

It is not just any book that fits this description. Many books that may be well written fail to represent good and evil as contrasting values. The modern “hero” is often portrayed (in books, television, and films) as a confusing - and confused – contradiction. He may be a capable police officer, for example, but he is also a philandering husband. Such stories can often desensitize us to the compromise of goodness, and this is especially problematic for young readers (and viewers). However, even as we get older, making accommodations to sin and corruption is a danger to spiritual growth. Hebrews 5:14 describes the spiritually mature as those “who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Confusing, or compromising the goodness of goodness will not help prepare us for maturity

“And God saw that it was good.”

In shopping for “good” food, it seems that another obvious source can be found in God’s creation. Concluding each of the brief accounts of God’s creation in its various parts, Genesis chapter one tells us that God declared it to be good. It makes sense that learning about and enjoying creation as an expression of the majesty and power of God is a marvelous feast on goodness.

Parents might find a great opportunity to expose themselves and their children to goodness by not leaving the study of nature to the trained science teacher. Get outside, look and listen. Take a walk. Pick up a leaf and study it. Lift a rock and see what is under it. Take a trip just to see some spectacular scenery. Ask questions about how things work. Explore someplace you have never been before. Watch some clouds instead of a computer screen. Lie under the stars and look for meteors instead of renting a movie. Develop a sense of wonder again as you foster the sense of wonder in your children.

Do Good

Feeding on goodness is not just an aesthetic or merely intellectual exercise. Neither is it an individual pursuit simply for personal benefit. Preparing and having a meal involves activity, and truly enjoying a meal involves sharing it with others. Likewise, feeding on goodness should lead us to action and should motivate us to respond to others in a godly way.

Hebrews 13:15 and 16 reads,

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

A very meaningful way to receive the nourishment of goodness is when we do what is good for others. There is clear instruction all throughout the Scriptures that identifies the goodness of doing justice, loving mercy, taking up the cause of the poor and the needy, caring for widows and orphans in their distress. Perhaps one of the best ways we can help to feed our children on this goodness is to seek those opportunities to serve people as a family. Participating in a mission trip; volunteering at a soup kitchen or clothes pantry; distributing blankets to the homeless on a cold night; visiting in the hospital; getting involved with our older children in a prison ministry; there are many good entrees from which to choose on this menu.

Conclusion

We need to make informed and intentional choices regarding this “diet” of goodness. To be uninformed and unintentional about it does not mean that we and our children will go unfed, but we will go hungry. The world and our own sinful natures will force feed us from the menu of corruption and ungodliness despite our best attempts to resist it or protect against it. But the smorgasbord of the world offers nothing that will satisfy.

On the other hand, as 1 Peter 2:2 suggests, once we have tasted that the Lord is good, the logical response is that we continue to crave what is best for us. And we will be filled.

The study of 2 Peter 1:5 – 8 will continue in the next e-pistle entry.

The Main Thing is to Let the Main Thing Be the Main Thing

There is an old German proverb that says, “The main thing is that the main thing is always the main thing.” Let me suggest that this bit of sage advice reflects a spiritual truth. No matter what circumstances change; no matter what we feel or think; no matter what corrupt values pervade our culture; no matter what temptations attack us; God is Sovereign, and we exist for His glory, and He is at work in all things for the good of those who love Him to conform us to the likeness of His Son. The proverb expresses a spiritual reality in mundane language. Over my years as a Bible teacher, I have found it to be of some value to rephrase this old proverb to suggest a spiritual strategy: The main thing is to let the main thing be the main thing. 

Now we would all like to think that we have a handle on this idea; that we have our spiritual priorities right. But every once in a while something – usually a dose of Biblical truth - shakes up our thinking and makes us re-evaluate. Some research I heard about several years ago from George Barna’s research group and a quote from John Piper has provoked just such a re-examination of thinking for me. In response to a questionnaire asking about top priorities in ministry, the largest percentage of pastors responding said that their top area of emphasis was discipleship and evangelism. In many ways, this is encouraging and exciting. It means that many American churches still embrace “the Great Commission” of our Lord Jesus (Matthew 28:19, 20). However, there is another way of looking at it. Consider this quote from Piper: 

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever. Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions.” 

   (John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions.) 

Does that shake up your thinking? It is true. Our purpose and our destiny is that we might be “to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:14). This prompted me to think about “the worship wars” that continue to afflict the American church, and I began to wonder if this might be a strategy of the devil like Balaam’s strategy for the destruction of Israel (Numbers 22 -25). Basically, the plan was to destroy Israel from within; to corrupt the Israelites’ values and compromise the worship of the one true God. Interestingly, Barna’s study revealed that the area of ministry that ministers emphasize the least – only 3% reported any significant emphasis at all in this area – is prayer, a fundamental aspect of worship. I thought about the decline of the family in our culture and wondered if it might be related to our inconsistency or abdication as Christian families to train our children as worshippers in the home and in the Body of Christ. It may not now surprise you to learn that, according to Barna’s research, the second least emphasized area of ministry in American churches (4%) is ministry to the family.  

Satan’s strategy in the Garden of Eden was very subtle. He encouraged Adam and Eve’s desire to be like God while deceiving them into failing to recognize God in His rightful place of authority in their lives. In other words, failure to worship. Is it possible that the enemy might actually encourage God’s people to desire to follow Christ’s Great Commission, while at the same time deceive them into relegating worship to a lower priority in their personal lives, in their families, and in the Church? If God is not in His rightful place in our lives, in our families, and in our churches, then everything else is in danger of becoming an idol - even good and right things. Without acknowledgment of God’s sovereign right to command his creatures, the desire to be like God was the pathway to sin for Adam and Eve. If worship is not the priority of the fellowship and the purpose of our churches and in our homes, all of our efforts in ministry – even evangelism – lacks the proper “fuel” and “goal.” It might not look like an idol, but an idol it will be nonetheless.  

Worship is the recognition and declaration of God’s ultimate worth. Our role in worship is to submit to Him and to adore Him because He is worthy. The old catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” The answer is “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever”; in other words, to worship. The Lord Jesus Himself tells us that God seeks worshippers. But the world, the flesh, and the devil conspire against our worship of God in spirit and in truth, and we have allowed these enemies to succeed in corrupting us from within.  

We, as American church-goers, seem to be most interested in having our needs met. We are hopping from church to church because of programs and facilities, bells and whistles. Parents shop churches for what they can do for their kids instead of committing to a worshipping community and taking the Biblical responsibility to disciple their own children. We argue about “worship” style, when what we are really interested in is the kind of music we like and dislike. Created by the Lord Jesus for unity (Ephesians 2:11 – 4:16), the Church remains fractionalized because the individual’s commitment to a body of believers seems dependent upon the answer to “What have you done for me lately?”  

God’s people must cease to be motivated primarily by what we get out of the Church as spiritual consumers. God is the Consumer in worship. “Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28, 29). Our sacrifices of worship are either consumed and destroyed as “wood, hay, and stubble,” or they are consumed and accepted as a “sweet smelling savor,” sacrifices with which God is well pleased (Hebrews 13:15, 16). We need to get our priorities right. We need to remember that “the main thing is to let the main thing be the main thing.” And our priority, our “chief end,” our “main thing” is to worship God for He alone is worthy. 

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.               (Romans 11:33 – 12:2)

Towards Wisdom, Stature, and Favor: Part Four

“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature…”

The Greek word translated “stature” refers primarily to a certain length of life or “a particular time of life, as when a person is said to be ‘of age’.” (Vine’s) The meaning of this word used in this context reinforces the view of human development that was integral to the culture of the Jews. At thirteen, a Jewish boy would become a “son of the law” (bar-mitzvah). But the Jews understood that young people developed at different rates; not all were at the same stage of maturity upon their thirteenth year. So, according to Alfred Edersheim in Sketches of Jewish Social Life, being “of age” was anticipated by up to two years in advance of the legal age of thirteen. Clearly, the Jews considered those going through puberty to be “coming of age.” They did not interpose an additional period of life (i.e. “adolescence”) between childhood and adulthood. Within the culture of the people of God, youths were expected to embrace their spiritual responsibilities and privileges during the transition into adulthood (early in their teens) and to become members of the congregation of God’s people (Edersheim). This is the natural progression of God’s design for our physical, emotional, sexual, social, and spiritual development. This is the developmental process displayed in the life of our Lord Jesus.

In American (and much of Western) culture, the young teen has come to be referred to as an “adolescent.” But “adolescence” is not descriptive of how God has designed us; it is an invention of our culture. Historian John Demos of Brandeis University and Virginia Demos in the Program of Human Development at Harvard University asserted, “The concept of adolescence, as generally understood and applied, did not exist before the last two decades of the nineteenth century. One could almost call it an invention of that period” (“Adolescence in Historical Perspective,” Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1969, 31, pp. 632-638).

Thomas Sowell, Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow of The Hoover Institution at Stanford University, writes, “Adolescence is a relatively recent thing in human history – a period of years between the constraints of childhood and the responsibilities of adulthood. This irresponsible period of adolescence is artificially extended by long years of education, much of it wasted on frivolities” (“Random Thoughts for April 2004,” Capitalism Magazine [on the Internet], www.capmag.com, April 30, 2004).

Chris Noxon has written a book titled, Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes, and the Reinvention of the American Grown Up. Noxon asserts that his two years of research uncovers a movement among young and middle-aged adults to re-experience their “childlikeness.” He reports on skateboarding moms, Disneyland visits without children, watergun tournaments, tag and dodgeball for adults. He informs us that half the people who visit Disneyworld are adults without children, which qualifies the Magic Kingdom et al as the most popular adult vacation spot on the planet, and he says that more 18 to 34-year-olds watch the Cartoon Network than CNN or any other cable news network. So now we are provided a justification for extending adolescence well into middle-age. A “middle-age crisis” is now just an extension of pubescence. Noxon says, “There are definitely people I talked to who admitted that what they were doing was an attempt to stay relevant. When you are surrounded by so much that tells you that youth is what sizzles, when you fall out of that sweet spot, there is a sense that you have to buy in or be forgotten” (information and quote from Jill Sarjeant, “Rejuveniles reinvent meaning of adulthood,” Reuters [online at Yahoo! News], Tuesday, July 25, 2006).

What a sad commentary. But what a great wake up call to guard against the national obsession with the youth culture. What an opportunity to reassess our church youth programs, which by and large focus on what is culturally relevant and popular among youth, with topical studies and gross-out activities rather than providing mature spiritual leadership, meaningful Bible training, and opportunity to serve in and through the Body of Christ as a whole for the glory of the Lord and the furthering of His Kingdom. And what a blessing to examine our own hearts, reflecting on whether we have a Biblical perspective on what it means to be “of age,” centered on the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, or if perhaps we have allowed our culture to shape our understanding of what a young person is to be.

“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

Luke comments on the early childhood of Jesus that, as he grew, “the grace of God was upon him” (2:40). The word charis is most often translated “grace,” and refers to a fundamental reality of the character and activity of God toward us. By charis, grace, we are saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works (adapted from Ephesians 2:8, 9). The same word, grace, is used again in verse 52, only now it is translated “favor.” According to Lawrence Richards, charis “means a gracious favor or benefit bestowed, and at the same time it means the gratitude appropriate to the grace received…The concept came to include both the gracious action and agreeable human qualities” (Lawrence Richards, Expository Dictionary of Bible Words, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1985, p. 317). This latter part of the definition seems to be what is being conveyed about Jesus’ growth as a young man. His “agreeable human qualities” were developing in relationship to God and with men.

Notice that, as a toddler, a general statement is made about the grace of God being upon him. Referring to Jesus perhaps a decade later, this increase in grace or favor is spoken of specifically in relationship to God and to men. These two relationships are the context in which Jesus himself later summarized the entire Scriptures: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matt. 22:37 - 40). Here are the two areas of human experience in which God has focused the thrust of His revealed word, and we are told that Jesus, at the tender age of twelve, was building a maturing strength and rapport in relationship to God the Father and with his fellow men. This is the culmination of a story which emphasizes Jesus’ recognition that he was a man under authority, his identification with the community of faith, his submission to his teachers and his parents, and his desire and effort to learn the things of God.

One of the sad realities in the church today is that many Christian young people think that they can have a growing relationship with God while they resist right relationships with their parents and authorities. Another heart-breaking truth is that much of our effort in youth ministry reinforces young peoples’ relationships primarily with each other, within their own peer group, nearly ignoring their need to serve (and perhaps teach, or at least set an example for) those who are younger and to learn in humility from those who are older. Most churches have bought in to a system of age-segregated, peer group-dominated Christian education without realizing that it has descended from the Darwinism of self-styled educational psychologists like G. Stanley Hall, rather than seeking to follow a model that mirrors the inter-generational nature of the family and the family of God.

Growing “in favor with God and men,” as Albert Barnes comments, “does not imply that he ever lacked the favour of God, but that God regarded him with favour in proportion as he showed an understanding and spirit like his own” (Barnes’ Notes on Luke 2:52). Another way of putting it is perhaps that God granted him favor in his spiritual growth while the young Jesus applied himself diligently to the knowledge of God, something like the way God granted Joseph favor in the eyes of Potiphar and the prison warden as Joseph displayed competence and trustworthiness in serving his masters (Genesis 39).

Growing “in favor with God and men” also suggests a social development that resulted in Jesus gaining favor in the eyes of his fellow men. From this passage, we can see that he behaved in an honorable manner in relationship to his teachers in the Temple which surely resulted in his finding favor in their estimation. In fact, Luke’s recounting of the story reveals that the teachers, recognizing that he was “of age,” apparently sought to bring the young Jesus into the discussion of spiritual matters. (As they certainly would do with any young man). When Jesus then shared his insight, the Scripture tells us, “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers” (Luke 2:47). Our attention is also directed to recognize that Jesus acted honorably and obediently to his parents, which would have met the approval of Mary and Joseph, and certainly should cause us to admire and respect the young Lord Jesus.

In a culture where “you are surrounded by so much that tells you that youth is what sizzles” (Chris Noxon, previously quoted) and where young people expend most of their energies seeking the acceptance and favor, if you will, of their peers, Christian young people need to be different. They need to be like Jesus. Young people who have been regenerated by the grace of God, who have been crucified with Christ, yet not them, but Christ lives in them (adapted from Galatians 2:20), must understand the Body of Christ in a way that reflects growing maturity. They must understand that the Body of Christ is not age-segmented and age-segregated. It is a unified whole, being “built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). The Body of Christ, the Church, is also pictured as the family of God, made up of an intergenerational mixture of related “family” members from very young to very old; from all walks of life; from varying cultures and life experiences; from diverse countries and languages and historical eras; all, one day, to join together around the Throne of the Lamb crying praises to Him in a loud voice (singular, Revelation 7:10), and in unity, to glorify and enjoy Him forever.

With this understanding in a corrupt culture, churches too must be different, and the ministries of our churches that are directed toward our young people must be different as well. We must communicate to our children and young people that they are a part of something bigger than themselves; that their understanding of and participation in the Body of Christ must extend beyond the needs and interests of their age group. We must assist them in developing a long-term view of the purposes of God in their lives and in His Kingdom. This begins with Christian parents bringing their children up in the training and instruction of the Lord, but it must also be reaffirmed in our churches. The “church” of Jesus’ youth as pictured in Luke chapter 2- the community of faith to which He was drawn as a twelve-year-old and which embraced Him as a young man who was “of age” – provided a context which affirmed and challenged very young men and women and called them to an identification with a “people,” not a peer group. How much more should our churches seek to foster a community of faith which lives as it truly is, the family of God!

Towards Wisdom, Stature, and Favor: Part Three

Verse 52 of Luke chapter 2 is one of the most familiar in the Bible. It reads, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” This is the conclusion of the account of Jesus’ visit to the Temple as a twelve-year-old boy where, when separated from his earthly parents for several days, he was found “in the Temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions.” Here is recorded Jesus’ famous and often misunderstood response when his mother expressed his parents’ concern over him during their search for him: “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” Luke tells us that his parents did not understand what he was saying to them (verse 50).

A Man Under Authority

The next thing we learn in the passage is that Jesus “went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them (his parents).” This is a critical part of understanding what is going on in this passage and in the character of the young Jesus. The Greek word translated “obedient” is from a root word which was a term primarily used of the military, meaning “to rank under.” It is sometimes translated “submit” and is used in Scripture to mean “to put in subjection, to subject” and “to subject one’s self, to obey or be subject to.” This is the God/man, Jesus the Christ, Creator and future Judge of all things, responding to his earthly parents as one who “ranked under” them. Simply put, Jesus understood even then that he was a man under authority.

The entire passage reinforces this truth. In saying that he had to be “about (his) Father’s business,” Jesus was not expressing some form of pre-teen rebellion or even simply a burgeoning independence from his earthly parents. What he was expressing was his maturing understanding of what his spiritual priorities were. His subjection to his heavenly Father came first. As the passage continues, and we read that Jesus was responding in obedience or submission to his parents, we can see that his priorities were in the correct order. He is not stretching the boundaries of his independence in an inappropriate manner. He rightly recognized the order of familial authority and responsibility established by God in both the earthly family and the family of God. In addition, this same sense of being one under authority is revealed in Jesus’ choices as a boy alone in Jerusalem for three days and in his response to the spiritual leadership in the Temple. He chose to be “in the Temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.”

This submission is a key, perhaps the key theme, of Jesus’ life and character. It is seen clearly here at the beginning of his life as a man, and at the end of his life as a man (on earth), it is revealed in his last expressions during the week of his passion. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is struggling with a conflict within himself which we cannot hope to begin to comprehend. Nevertheless, that conflict of his will as a man and his will as God is expressed when he prays to the heavenly Father, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” The Scripture reveals that he prays this same prayer three times (Matthew 26:39, 42, 44). This subjection of the Son to the authority of the Father is reflected again as Luke records Jesus’ final words from the cross, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). After his resurrection and just as he ascends into heaven, Jesus tells his disciples that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to (him)” (Matthew 28:18). But from twelve-years-old to his dying breath, Jesus understood that he was a man under authority and lived in submission to that authority, both earthly and Divine.

“And Jesus grew…”

Jesus’ character of yieldedness to his parents, to his spiritual authorities, and to his heavenly Father leads wonderfully to verse 52, the culmination of this account of his development as a youth growing into manhood. The word translated “grew” is a word that means “advanced” or “increased” which implies the furthering of what is already present. John Calvin makes an interesting and obvious observation about this word. He writes, “…we infer that this progress, or advancement, relates to his human nature: for the Divine nature could receive no increase.” This simply reminds us and reinforces that Jesus development as a human being followed a usual and predictable pattern, as it does with all of us.

This (Luke 2:52) is also not the first time that this has been said of Jesus. Earlier, in Luke 2:40, after Jesus had been presented in the Temple as an eight-day-old infant, we learn that Mary and Joseph return with Jesus to Nazareth “…and the child grew and became strong…” This phrase translated literally is “was growing and becoming stronger” and speaks of normal physical development. It also says of the paidion (“little child”) that “…he was filled with wisdom…” Literally, “being filled with wisdom.” The grammatical construction here implies that this filling of the toddler with wisdom came from outside of himself. Of course, it came from God the Father. These impressions are further strengthened by the words, “…and the grace of God was upon him.”

“And Jesus grew in wisdom…”

Later in the chapter, Jesus is referred to as “the boy Jesus” (verse 43). The word here is pais (“child”), because he is no longer a toddler but a twelve-year-old boy. Interestingly, Luke uses similar but not identical language to describe Jesus’ development. As a toddler it is said of him that he “was growing and becoming stronger”, a general developmental growth. It also says that he was “being filled with wisdom”, which we understand to mean a process which was prompted mainly by the developmental and purposeful design of God. (“As an infant he possessed the knowledge proper to an infant; as a boy, that proper to a boy; as a man, that proper to a man; as the anointed Messiah, that proper to one commissioned to establish the Kingdom of God on earth; and as the ascended and glorified Redeemer, that proper to one who, as man, and not simply God, rules the entire universe.” (The One-Volume Bible Commentary, edited by J. R. Dummelow, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1952.) Here as a young boy, it says of Jesus that he grew specifically “in wisdom.” This growth is certainly also governed by the design of God in normal human development. But it cannot be ignored that this immediately follows the exhibition of Jesus’ deliberate pursuit of learning from the spiritual authorities in the Temple and his submission to his earthly parents. It seems evident that this growth in wisdom resulted also from Jesus’ own desire for spiritual insight and his appropriate response to the spiritual leadership in his life.

The word for wisdom is sophia, meaning “insight into the true nature of things,” according to Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. This represents much more than learning. This is understanding of profound truths. This certainly means theological knowledge. Jesus was at that time period in life where he was moving out of childhood into maturity, a time when he was not only experiencing physiological change but also intellectual transformation. Even as young as he was at the time, he was purposefully seeking to develop his understanding of the Word of God and the ways of God. He pursued those who could contribute to his learning, and he submitted himself respectfully to their tutelage and authority. Like the writer of Proverbs 2 advised his son, Jesus turned his ear to wisdom, applied his heart to understanding, called out for insight, searched for it as for hidden treasure, and the result was that he understood “the fear of the Lord and (found) the knowledge of God” (from Proverbs 2:1 – 5); Jesus “grew in wisdom.”

As we Christian parents seek to raise our children in the training and instruction of the Lord, we really must purposefully disciple them in following the example of the Lord. When they begin to reach that age of growth known as puberty, we would do well to keep them mindful of Jesus’ own desire and effort to attain wisdom and discipline; to understand words of insight; to acquire a disciplined and prudent life; to do what is right and just and fair; to receive prudence, knowledge, and discretion as a young person (from Proverbs 1:2 – 4). We need to expect that, just as God made the Lord Jesus capable of the development of Godly wisdom at a young age, they too have that capacity. And if they are regenerate, if they have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in their hearts, they also have the power of God at work in their lives even beyond their natural human development. We must provide for them, in our homes and in our churches, an environment in which they are encouraged to seek the wisdom of God beyond themselves in the larger, intergenerational Body of Christ, not simply to advance at the rate of the rough mean of their peer group. Their experience of Christian community must not be limited to the homogeneity of youth culture. They must not be motivated by what is merely fun and culturally relevant, but by “the fear of the Lord” which is “the beginning of wisdom”, because Scripture warns that “fools despise wisdom and discipline” (Proverbs 1:7).

The study of this passage will continue in the next e-pistle entry.