“Preaching on Christ - The Sovereign Servant”

 

TOPIC:‌“Christ - His Virtuous Life”

                  by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌St. Luke 2:40-52

 

‌‌“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man”

‌‌(2:52)

 

‌Most of us have our own imaginary idea of what we think Jesus looked like centuries ago. But may I say quite frankly, we know absolutely nothing of His form, His height, the character of His face, or any of His features. There is not a trace or a hint of the physical appearance of Christ in the Bible. None of the New Testament writers attempted to physically describe Jesus. Not only that, but no painters have ever displayed the genuine physical features of Jesus. Perhaps the reason for this is because we would worship the portrait more than the Person of Christ.

 

‌Whatever the purpose, and there is one, let us be content for the present with the recorded information that we have of the life and character of Christ as found in the Gospels. I want in this message to trace out certain facts about this Jesus of Nazareth and try to lift the veil over the mystery of some aspects of our Savior's life.

 

I.

 

‌Consider, first of all, the EARLY YOUTH of Jesus. Notice again the words of our text: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (V. 52).

 

‌There is a holy silence about the boyhood of Jesus. As a matter of fact, of the first twelve years of His early life we have only a few recorded sentences from the pen of St. Luke to it. Luke alone is the one who tells us that Jesus was presented in the Temple at Jerusalem by His parents. The brief revelation we have into the boyhood of Jesus is found in the words of our text. This sentence sums up the growth and development of Jesus from birth until He was twelve years of age.

 

‌After Joseph and Mary returned from Egypt, Jesus grew up in the town of Nazareth. It was a time of natural physical growth as Jesus developed like every other little boy. It was a period of discipline, devotion to God, and unquestionable obedience to His mother and father. Jesus was reared in poverty as His parents were extremely poor, His father being a humble worker as a carpenter. He was helpful in the daily routine and duties around the church. And according to Mark 6:3 it would seem probable that Joseph and Mary had a number of children other than Jesus.

 

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