FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF BABY JESUS2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Follow The Example Of Baby Jesus

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. Well, as we begin here in Matthew chapter 2 this evening, I've titled the message, Follow the Example of Baby Jesus.

Follow the example of baby Jesus. Now we know that Jesus, of course, is our example. And we typically think of that in the context of Jesus as an adult and the ministry that he did and the way that he lived. And there's some, you know, great things for us to consider in the example of Jesus. But as we prepare to celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus, we

my heart, my mind has been just reflecting on and considering some of the elements of Jesus as a baby and how that should prompt us to walk with the Lord and the example that he sets for us that we can follow. And so there's three points that we'll be looking at and following the example of baby Jesus. Three ways that we can do that.

Three different passages we'll see that will help us and instruct us as we reflect on the Lord, how we can then model after him and behave in the way that God has called us to. And so the first thing that we'll see here is found in Matthew 2, verses 9 through 13. Here's point number one this evening, trust in the sovereignty of God. And I want to encourage you to consider that this evening, to trust in the sovereignty of God.

Now, as we jump into Matthew chapter 2, we're just taking a little bit of a segment of the

the passage where the wise men come from the east to visit Jesus. And it's probably about a year or so after the actual birth of Jesus when they actually arrive. And as they make their journey, they're on their way, they get to Jerusalem, and they're not exactly sure where to find the baby. And so they ask around, they have to talk to Herod, they talk to the religious leaders, and they get a little bit of direction.

But then in verse 9, something amazing happens. It says in verse 9, They're still a little bit not sure where exactly to find this baby that had been prophesied by the star that they sought.

But then when they leave Herod, then the star appears. And it tells us that they rejoice when they see the star. The star that they had seen now shows up again and leads them, stands over where Jesus was as a child. Now, as you consider this, I would just begin to ask us to consider, how did this star just suddenly appear?

right? They saw a star in the east, then apparently they didn't see a star because they didn't know exactly where to go. Then, you know, they had to ask for directions. They didn't get real clear directions, but then all of a sudden the star appears again. And this really speaks to us and can cause us to consider the sovereignty of God and to help us trust in the sovereignty of God.

When we use the word sovereignty, the word sovereignty means supreme power or authority. In talking about the sovereignty of God, we're talking about kind of a few different things. We're talking about the power of God, talking about the knowledge of God and the all-knowingness of God, talking about the authority of God to rule and reign over all things.

A phrase we will often say is that the Lord is on the throne, and that's a reference to his sovereignty. He's in charge. He gets to say what goes and what doesn't go. He gets to establish his will and accomplish his purposes. And as you think about the sovereignty of God in the context of Christmas, I would encourage you to consider that Jesus had an absolute trust in the Father's sovereignty.

Jesus had an absolute trust in the sovereignty of his Father. Picture Jesus and the Father talking in eternity past. And of course, I'm just making this up, and this is just a little bit silly, but you know, Jesus is talking to the Father, and he says, okay, Father, so what's the plan again? And the Father explains, okay, well, you're going to be born of a virgin. You're

And Jesus is like, wait, wait, I have to become a baby? Like an actual baby? Like I'm not just going to be pretending to be a baby? Like I'm actually going to become baby Jesus? And the father says, yes. And I can imagine Jesus, you know, in this scenario, like scratching his head a little bit and says, okay, and who's this girl that I'm going to be born to?

How many kids has she had before? Can we trust her to take good care of me? What if she drops me? What if Mary drops me and I get hurt in the process? How do we know that they're going to be good parents and be able to take care of me? What if a scorpion crawls into my manger?

Or what if I'm born in Corona instead of Bethlehem, right? As the plan was established in eternity, the plan had the expectation of God being in full control of all the details.

And it's really awesome to consider the idea of Jesus in eternity trusting the sovereignty of the Father to the degree that he was willing to become a helpless little baby there in the manger. He trusted the authority of God, the power of God, the omniscience of God, the all-knowingness of God. If God is not sovereign, this whole thing is a huge risk to take.

There's one chance, and if it's left up to chance, that's a huge risk to take. But no, God is sovereign. He reigns on high, completely and thoroughly, so much so that Jesus could become a baby without any nervousness or restlessness.

He, like even before he's born, as the Lord executes this plan of salvation for us, is trusting in the sovereignty of God.

Now here in this passage in Matthew chapter two, we see the sovereignty of God at work in a few different ways, a few different examples of the sovereignty of God. It's a subject, of course, we could talk on and on and on about, but just to highlight a couple things, here in verse nine, the sovereignty of God is demonstrated in this star that appears at just the right time. God used a star to speak to these wise men.

They saw the star in the east. Again, they're arriving perhaps up to a year after the actual birth of Jesus. And so a year ago, they saw a star that prompted them to start this journey to come to Israel.

They knew there was something significant. We don't know how they knew it was significant. We don't know much detail. A lot of commentators and scholars speculate that perhaps they came from the area of Babylon and the ministry of Daniel had impacted them and his writings and records perhaps had caused them to understand when they saw this star to make the journey. We don't know any of that for sure, but God used this star,

to speak to these men and to lead them. It's the sovereignty of God in the heavens at work. Many have considered, what is this star? What was this star? Was it a comet of some kind? Was it, you know, some kind of meteor? Was it two planets converging together? Perhaps you saw that this week, Saturn and Jupiter, you know, drawing close together and almost looking like one star, one bright star.

They say it was last seen like this 800 years ago and won't be seen like that again for a long time. And so perhaps it was something like that. But as you follow along the idea here, the star showed up. The star disappeared for a while. They had to ask for directions. And then the star showed up again right when they needed it and led them to the exact location of Jesus.

This is God orchestrating astronomical events in the heavens. The sovereignty of God being demonstrated in this star that led these wise men.

Well, there's a couple other examples of God's sovereignty to consider here. In verse 12, jumping down a couple verses, after the wise men had visited Jesus and given their gifts, it says, And so here we see the sovereignty of God at work in warning them about Herod.

Because God knew the heart of Herod. God knew the intentions of Herod. God knew what would happen if the wise men proceeded as they planned and went back to Herod. So God intervenes into their plans, into their life, and warns them in a dream.

He warns them in a dream. God has the power to speak to these guys through a star. He has the power and the ability to speak to them through a dream. Now, there might be ways for us to conjure up strange dreams, but to have a specific dream given is a work of God, a demonstration of the sovereignty of God. God knew what these wise men needed to change their plans, to change their direction, to

And he was able to present to them this direction in a way that they understood, in a way that they knew this dream was from God. And they took heed to the warning because God in his sovereignty gave them exactly what they needed for the steps ahead. In a similar vein, we see the next example of God's sovereignty in verse 13. It says, "'Now when they,' that's the wise men, "'had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord "'appeared to Joseph in a dream.'"

saying, Arise, take the young child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word. For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. And so here's Jesus, still a baby, still very young, still very vulnerable, and God knows what's about to happen. Even though the wise men go back a different way, Herod is about to wreak havoc on the children of Bethlehem.

And so God now appears to Joseph in a dream. Again, demonstrating the omniscience of God, demonstrating the ability of God to really step into the dreams of Joseph and bring forth a message with clear direction, instructions about what to do, but also with a timeframe, with a timeline. God here is declaring, I know the best place to go.

I know where is the best place for you to take Jesus to be safe and secure while these events unfold. And I know the best time to come back. Except for I'm not going to tell you the best time to come back yet. You're going to wait there until I tell you. And God here is declaring the future. There's going to be a time gap. There's going to be a delay, a wait.

And then I will tell you when it's the right time again. Because God is sovereign and he's able to understand and know when the right time is and know that when it is the right time, he'll be able to give Joseph direction on how to come back and when to come back. God says, I'm capable of speaking to you again when it's time.

You and I, we can make plans, right? And we can hope to and think that and kind of count on that we'll be able to do something in the future. But we don't have all authority and all power to be able to say that with absolute certainty. But here the Father has full sovereignty. He's able to know what's best. He's able to know the what ifs.

He's able to promise direction in the future, to interject instructions when they're needed. In all of this, we can see that Jesus trusted in the sovereignty of God to make all of these arrangements, to have all of these plans, to give all of these directions. Jesus trusted his father. He became a man, but started as a baby.

Again, what if a scorpion had crawled into his manger? What if Herod had found him? It's quite a risk to take for the Son of God to become a baby if the Father is not sovereign. But Jesus rested fully and completely in the Father's ability to manage all possible circumstances and scenarios.

And in that, baby Jesus provides a really excellent example for us to follow. If Jesus can trust the Father to that degree, with the stakes so high, with the stakes, you know, incredibly high for all of eternity, for all of humanity, if Jesus can trust the Father to that degree, oh, let us learn to follow that example. Let us learn to trust in the sovereignty of God, to trust and to rest in

that God is on the throne, that he does have plans for you that are for good and not for evil, that he is able to work all things together for good to those who love him and are the called according to his purpose. You can trust and rest no matter what you see happening in life, even if the Herods of today are executing these horrible plans and have these malicious schemes and have these terrible ideas.

God is able, because he is sovereign, to navigate through those and to work out what's best for you. And let me say it this way. If God needs to move a star for you to experience what is best, he can and he will. If God needs to, like, rearrange the planets or make Pluto big enough to be a planet again, right? Like, if that's what would...

be necessary for you to experience the best of eternity and the best that would be for you. God can do that because he's sovereign and he will do that because he wants what's best for you. You and I, we can really trust and rest in the sovereignty of God. There is no limit to what God can do and he wants what's best for you.

If Saturn and Jupiter need to come together again and it's not scheduled to happen for another 800 years, God can make it happen tonight. He's sovereign. If that's what's good for us, if that's what we need, God is able to work that out, to accomplish that. If God needs to warn you, if there's something going on and God says, man, this really isn't good, right? I know what's gonna happen. I know what's about to unfold and there needs to be this warning given. God is able.

to speak to you in a dream, to send forth an angel, to speak to you through the scriptures, to deliver a message to you as you seek him, God is able to reveal himself to you and warn you about things you need to be warned about. He's able to direct you like he directed Joseph with his family and how he was to go forward in those dangerous times. The sovereignty of God is

is something that we can rest and trust in. God is able to speak and move and change things and work in supernatural ways. It doesn't mean that we'll always understand the plans of God and the purposes of God. Nothing is promised to make sense in this life, but it will make sense in eternity. And so we can trust and rest no matter what circumstances we go through.

We might experience circumstances and think, man, if I was God, I would have, you know, kept me out of this. I would have avoided this situation. But we can go back and rest and trust in the sovereignty of God. If he wanted to warn us and get us out of the way, he's able to do that. If he needs to move a star, if he needs to, you know, rearrange the nations, if that's what's good for us and what's best for us, he can do that. He will do that.

We can rest and trust in the plan of God and the ability of God to accomplish his purposes for us as we seek him. And so here I see a great example here in Jesus that we can rest and trust in the sovereignty of God. Now, as we continue to consider these things, I want to turn now to Philippians chapter two for point number two. So Philippians chapter two, here's point two, humble yourself before God.

humble yourself before God. First of all, you need to trust in the sovereignty of God. But along with that trust comes a humility. And let's flip over there to Philippians chapter 2. And we're just going to look at a couple verses here. It's a really iconic and important passage in the scriptures about the Lord and him humbling himself. But looking at just a couple verses here, verses 5 through 8.

we'll see here some important things to consider in following the example of Jesus. And so here it is. Philippians chapter 2, starting in verse 5, says this, "...let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men."

Here we see Paul talking about Jesus. And he calls us to consider his example that we might adopt his pattern and follow his example.

He calls us to consider the example of Jesus that we might follow in his footsteps. And in many ways, it's a similar train of thought to the previous point. Trusting in the sovereignty of God really flows into humbling ourselves before God. Again, thinking about Jesus in eternity past. Jesus has always existed because he is God.

Now again, it's the triune nature of God, which is a great mystery, and yet the reality, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, three in one, one God, and yet the distinct persons or personalities here within the one God. And so here's Jesus eternally existing in glory with the Father, with the Holy Spirit. Here's Jesus, creator of the heavens and the earth.

Colossians chapter 1 verse 16 tells us that by Jesus, all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible. Jesus is the creator. Here is the creator having eternally existed in glory with the Father, with the Holy Spirit, existing in perfect fellowship with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. And yet in his deity, Jesus is

makes the decision to become a man, to add humanity to his deity. This plan of salvation requires that he become a man and experience humanity. And so Jesus humbles himself, coming from this place of glory, this place of majesty that we can't even imagine. He humbles himself and he goes from glory to baby.

It's an awesome thing to consider. He goes from glory to baby, complete dependence upon his parents. As you think about the humbling of Jesus and where he was and where he came, you can understand it's not possible for anyone in all of history or anyone ever to come, it's not possible for anyone to humble themselves as much as Jesus did.

To go from glory to baby is the greatest amount of humbling that will ever be possible. And Paul looks at this and he says, now follow his example. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.

Here, Paul is saying, look, that Jesus is God. He's in the form of God, meaning he has the character, the nature of God. He is God. He's equal to God. It's not robbery for him to take that status. He's not taking a status that doesn't belong to him. Way back in history, right? Satan wanted that status. It was robbery for Satan to try to be equal with God.

But it's not robbery for Jesus to have the status of equality with God. No, that's his rightful place. That's exactly who he is. That's consistent with his nature and character. And yet all of that being said, going on into verse seven, it says, he made himself of no reputation. And so Paul is saying, look, consider this. Jesus being God, being equal to God, Jesus emptied himself.

Pastor David Guzik encourages us with this. He says, As we consider these things, it's things about Jesus that we must not just be in awe of and appreciate,

but then to imitate. So let's consider a few different aspects of this without getting into too much detail. First of all, we see that Jesus made himself of no reputation. He went from equality with God in glory in the heavens to no reputation. Now think about this. Previously, if Jesus was in the presence of any creature, there would be immediate and absolute worship.

If Jesus was in the presence of anything, if he walked into the room, if he, you know, some creature came into the presence of the Lord, it would be immediate and absolute worship because he is the creator. But now, having become man, he made himself of no reputation. Now there's no recognition. There's no worship. The wise men came and worshiped. There was, you know, a few that had insight from the Lord, but nothing.

It was just the few. Isaiah chapter 53 verse 2 tells us that there was no form or comeliness that would make someone desire him. No beauty that we should desire him. When he came as a man, it was inhumanity, in plainness. It was of no reputation. Now, literally, in the Greek, it says he made himself of no reputation. It means that he emptied himself.

And there's, you know, great discussions and thoughts that could be had over this idea of emptied himself. And to what extent and what exactly does that mean? Jesus emptied himself of his glory, of his authority, of his power. He didn't cease to become God, but he limited himself to experience humanity. Again, Jesus did not pretend to be a baby. He became a baby.

He really humbled himself to that degree and experienced life much like you and I have experienced. Well, another aspect to consider as we seek to imitate Jesus in this, first of all, we see that he made himself of no reputation. Secondly, here in verse 7, it says that he took the form of a bondservant.

He took the form of a bondservant. This word bondservant, it's the Greek word doulos. And I like this particular definition of this word for bondservant. The definition is that it's someone who is altogether consumed in the will of another. Someone who's totally and fully consumed in somebody else's will. And that is a very accurate description of Jesus.

John chapter 6 verse 38, Jesus himself says, I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. He's altogether consumed in the Father's will. I didn't come to do my will, he says. I came to do the will of the Father who sent me. And he proved it a little bit later on in Matthew chapter 26, there in the garden of Gethsemane,

Right before the cross, Jesus is there praying to the Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. He was seeking the Father's will. He was consumed in the Father's will. The Father's will mattered. His will did not. That is what it means to be a bondservant. And that is what Jesus was.

And so when the Father's will was for Jesus to be a two-year-old, Jesus was a two-year-old. And he experienced life as a two-year-old. As he began to grow in age, the Father's will, submit to mom and dad. And so Jesus, altogether consumed in the Father's will, submitted to mom and dad. As he continued to grow in age, the Father's will for Jesus was to learn the carpentry trade from his father Joseph.

So Jesus learned how to be a carpenter. He learned how to fashion things and make things out of wood and stone. He learned to work hard. It was the Father's will for him. He's altogether consumed in the Father's will. And so he's learning the trade. When it was the Father's will for him to be involved in public ministry and serve the people and teach the people, Jesus, fully immersed in the Father's will, served the people and taught the people that

when it was the Father's will for Jesus to die for people. Jesus immersed in the Father's will, completely concerned with and desiring to fulfill his Father's desires, he died on the cross for you and me. He humbled himself, made himself of no reputation, fully immersed himself in the will of the Father as a bondservant. And then in verse 8, we see that the third aspect of this to consider, and that is

He became obedient. In verse 8, it says, Now, of course, these things overlap and go along with each other. Because Jesus is fully immersed in the Father's will, he's obedient even if it costs him his life.

You might call this extreme obedience, but this is really just regular obedience. Obedience to the point of death is not something that is unique to Jesus when it comes to the Father. Jesus sets the example here for us. And as you think about Jesus, as you celebrate his birth over the next couple of days, humble yourself before God. Think about the example that Jesus set for us.

that you might humble yourself before the Lord. And just like Jesus, how Jesus emptied himself, well, that's the pattern for you and I, so that now, as I consider the Lord, as I reflect on the birth of Jesus, I need to allow this reflection to impact me in a way that I empty myself, to make myself of no reputation. My reputation does not matter. It doesn't matter if

what my reputation is when I am seeking to glorify God. Now, it's not that we, you know, should have a bad reputation, but in some ways we might have a bad reputation because we've made ourselves of no reputation and instead sought to do the Lord's will. I would ask you to consider, how much do you do for the sake of your own reputation?

In the workplace, you know, the way that you behave, the way that you engage in conversations, the things that you do, how much do you do to try to preserve or establish some kind of reputation for yourself? And how much do you do for the sake of God's reputation?

The conversations that you engage in and the things that you do, how much do you do to establish God's reputation in the minds of the people around you? How much of your life is about you or will you empty yourself and make your life more about God? Jesus made himself of no reputation and he became a bondservant, one who is altogether consumed in the will of another, specifically the Father.

This is the example for us. Are you altogether consumed in the will of the Father? When I'm altogether consumed in the will of the Father, it means that anytime God expresses His desire, my response is, your wish is my command.

My response is, yes, that's your desire, Lord? Okay, that's what I'm going to do. There's no wrestling, you know, well, God, I know you want this, but here's what I want, and let's go my way. Here's my direction, God. Now, would you please bless this? I know you want me to go this way. I know you want me to handle this this way, but here's what I'm going to do, and would you please be with me and help me in this? No, no, no, there's none of that. I'm altogether consumed in the Father's will.

anytime I have any hint, anytime I have any inkling of what it is that God wants, well, that's the path. That's the direction. That's what I'm going to do. And if the Father's will is for me to be a two-year-old, well, then I'm going to be a two-year-old. And if the Father's will is for me to submit to mom and dad, then I'm going to submit to mom and dad. If the Father's will for me is to learn the carpentry trade, well, then I'm going to learn how to put things together and

If the Father's will is for me to serve people, to teach people, to die for people, not my will, but your will be done. That's the role of the bondservant. It's the example, the model that Jesus set for us. He submitted to the Father. He humbled himself to the point of this kind of servitude unto the Father. And again, it feeds into the last aspect of that is that obedience. Obedience to the point of death.

Am I willing to obey God no matter what it costs me? Am I willing to obey God no matter what? But Lord, that's going to, you know, cause me to not have a salary. But Lord, that's going to cause me to not be that happy. But Lord, that's going to cause me to not have, you know, that much pleasure. But Lord, that's going to be painful or that's going to be difficult. It doesn't matter. Lord, you've revealed your will. You've expressed your desires in your word. You've spoken to my heart directly.

I'm gonna be obedient to the point of death. Whatever it takes, whatever it costs, to humble yourself before the Lord means you will be obedient to the point of death. It means you'll be altogether consumed in the will of the Father. It means you'll empty yourself and be more concerned about his reputation than your own reputation. Wow, what a great example Jesus sets for us to trust in the sovereignty of God.

to humble ourselves before God. Now, thirdly and finally, we'll look at Luke chapter 2. You can turn there with me. Luke chapter 2. Here's point number three this evening. Grow and become strong. Grow and become strong. As we head over to Luke chapter 2, we're heading back into the account of the birth of Jesus by Luke, the author of this gospel.

And we're going to be looking at a little bit after the birth of Jesus here in verse 39 and 40, when Jesus is taken to the temple and presented. It's a couple days after his birth, and they offer the appropriate sacrifices. And then here's what we read in verse 39 and 40 of Luke chapter 2.

It says, so when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Let me read verse 40 again. And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

Here we see the progression of the life of Jesus. He grew and became strong. He was a baby. I mean, he was God in glory and majesty in all eternity. And then he was a baby in a manger. And then he grew. He grew physically. He grew spiritually. Now, the scriptures don't record a lot of the growing up time of Jesus, right?

The scriptures focus on his birth. We have a few chapters here, Luke chapter 2, Matthew chapter 1, that record the account of his birth. We have one instance of him as a young man at 12 years old. It's also found here in Luke chapter 2, verse 49, when he is there at the temple with his parents. But then we don't really have anything about the life of Jesus until his public ministry when he's about 30 years old.

And so we know about his birth. We know about one occasion when he was 12 years old. And then the majority of what we know about Jesus is just the timeframe of his public ministry from about 30 to 33 years old. Now, let me ask you a really important question. It's kind of hard. So you put your thinking cap on and start to think. Get ready for it. Are you ready? How old was Jesus when he was born? Do you know, Pastor Cisco? How old was Jesus when he was born?

He was zero, right? He was minutes old, and then hours old, and then days old, and then weeks old, and then months old. How old was he when he was born? That's what we see here in Luke chapter 2, his birth. And then we see him again when he's 12 years old. Now, let me ask you another really hard question. How long did it take for Jesus to become 12 years old? Of course, it took 12 years. Now, just think about that.

12 years. Here you have the creator of the heavens and the earth. Leaves glory, enters into a manger. He doesn't come to earth as a fully grown adult. He enters as a baby, and he follows the process of life, growing up the, you know, painful moment by moment, minute by minute. For 12 years, he's growing from little baby in a manger to 12 years old.

And then we see him again as he enters in the public ministry. He's 30 years old. Here's a hard question. How long did it take for Jesus to become 30 years old? It took 30 years. He spent 30 years growing up. He experienced 30 years of life before we really even know anything about him. He grew, it tells us here in verse 40.

He grew physically. His body developed. His mind developed. His skills developed. He experienced summers and winters and hot and cold. He experienced this life and seasons and years upon years upon years. He grew physically. But here it also highlights that he grew spiritually. He became strong in spirit. He was filled with wisdom.

and the grace of God was upon him. He grew physically, but he also developed his relationship with the Father from this new angle, right? He had a relationship with the Father from all eternity, but as a man, he developed and became strong in spirit. He developed a strong relationship with the Father, a strong spiritual life. As a result, he's filled with wisdom.

He has the wisdom of the Father because he has this strong relationship with the Father and the grace of God is upon him. Here again, Jesus sets the example for us. And these are some important things to follow in his footsteps. Grow and become strong. Listen, I want you to understand, you get to decide how much you grow. When it comes to the physical side, listen, it's gonna take you 50 years to get to 50 years old.

There's not much choice and not much say you have about that. But when it comes to the things of the Spirit, understand that you have a large say in how much you grow. You have the opportunity, and maybe I should say it as responsibility, to determine how much you grow. You get to make that decision. It is something that is in your arena. Now, submitting to the will of the Father is

We don't get to say everything about our spiritual life. We don't get to say what our spiritual gifts are going to be. We don't get to say what our calling is going to be. But we do get to say how much we will know the Lord, how much and to what degree we will walk with the Lord, how much we will grow and be strong in spirit. We get to determine that. That's something that is in our arena and that we must engage in deliberately.

Now part of that I would encourage you to think about as you think about growing and becoming strong is patience. Because much in the same way as physical growth takes the time that it takes to grow, spiritual growth takes the time that it takes to grow. Just like physical growth, it happens little by little and it happens day by day. Let me encourage you, don't try to take shortcuts.

Don't try to jump ahead and take shortcuts to try to grow spiritually. And it's going to take some time. Don't try to take shortcuts in the sense of, well, I'm not going to spend the time now. Later on, I'll try to hurry up and catch up. That's not a good decision. That's not a good way to try to approach things. Because you can't jump ahead and

in the things that take the amount of time that it takes. At the same time, I would encourage you, don't quit because you want to be 30, but you're still 12. Don't quit because you're not where you want to be in your spiritual growth. Sometimes it can be quite frustrating. You wish you were beyond those struggles. You wish you were beyond those issues.

You wish you were 30, but you're 12. You're still working through those teen years, spiritually speaking, and wrestling with those things and those battles and wishing they were done. But grow and become strong. It requires patience, little by little and day by day, to walk with the Lord, to know him, and to allow him to develop in you what it is that you need. And so become strong in spirit.

Like Jesus. Build your spiritual life. It's not overnight, and you can't just like, all right, I'm going to sit and read the Bible in one day and, you know, try to catch up. No, no. It's little by little, day by day, spend time with God in the Word. Little by little, day by day, spend time with God in prayer. Little by little, day by day, spend time worshiping God.

Little by little, day by day, spend time with God's people and experience fellowship with his children. Little by little, day by day, serve the Lord. Exercise the gifts and take steps of faith as he prompts you. It's not just one big giant leap of faith. It's daily steps of faith, little by little, to become strong in spirit.

It's about that ongoing, day-by-day, moment-by-moment relationship with God where you are building your spiritual life and you become strong in spirit because you're developing your relationship with God. Well, Jesus was strong in spirit and he was filled with wisdom. Pastor Tom shared a lot about this last week and so I'm not going to get into much detail here. But you have the opportunity to have the wisdom of God. James tells us in James 1.5, if you lack wisdom, ask of God.

And God gives liberally and without reproach. You can have the wisdom of God. You can have all the wisdom that you need for what it is that God has set before you. You can be filled with wisdom. Ask, gain wisdom from God. Seek him for his will, for his ways. And we see that the grace of God was upon Jesus. Following in his example, receive the grace of God.

Again, this is something the Lord has spoken to us recently. On Sunday, we talked about the grace of God. God's grace is there for you. And how do you get it? It's like receiving any present. You accept it. You say, thank you. Receive God's grace. Believe it when God says he loves you and wants what's best for you. Believe it when God says you have access to him no matter how you've been behaving, no matter what you've done. Believe it when God says...

He wants to do good things for you. Believe it. Receive it. Walk in it. Enjoy the grace of God. Again, to a great degree, you get to decide how much you grow, how strong you are in spirit. You get to decide how much wisdom you have, and you get to decide how much of God's grace you experience in this life. What a great opportunity for us as we look at the example of Jesus.

to grow and become strong. And so this evening and over the next couple of days, as you prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I'd like to encourage you, follow the example of Jesus. Let the celebrations, let the accounts that are being told and the memories of Jesus and the things talked about regarding Jesus, let that stir up in your mind the call to follow his example.

Jesus trusted in the sovereignty of God. He trusted fully and completely. He rested in the reality that God was on the throne and his plan was going to be fulfilled. Jesus humbled himself before God to a great degree, humbled himself greater than anyone else ever could, taking on that position of a servant, being fully consumed in the will of the Father, obedient to the point of death.

Let the accounts of Jesus and the celebrations this next couple of days remind you to humble yourself before God, to put yourself in that place where as soon as you have an idea and understanding of what God's will is, your wish is my command, Father. I'm going to be obedient to the point of death, altogether consumed in your will, not my will, but your will be done, regardless of what it takes, no matter how much it costs. Humble yourself before God. It means to obey him.

without reservation, without limitation, but a complete surrender to him. And let the celebrations of Jesus encourage you and remind you to grow and become strong, just like Jesus did. It takes time, it takes years, but it happens moment by moment, day by day. Develop your relationship with God. Invest in your relationship with the Lord. Take steps of faith and go forward as he puts things upon your heart.

Allow your spiritual life. You get to decide how much you are filled with the Holy Spirit and how much you're filled with wisdom. You get to decide. So make that decision and let it be to move forward, to grow and become strong in the things of the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word and your instruction here about Jesus. Lord, you've provided for us a great example to consider and to follow.

I pray, God, that you would deepen our understanding of you, develop in our minds and in our hearts, Lord, even greater understandings about these things that we might follow your example in a way that honors you and brings glory to your name. Lord, we pray that you would help us to decrease, that you might increase, that your name might be magnified in our lives. God, I pray that you would help us to move forward in our relationship with you, to develop,

to grow, to be filled with more and more of you, your wisdom, your will for your glory. And as we celebrate your birth, Lord, we recognize that all of this comes because of what you've done for us, your goodness and your grace. And Lord, the gift that you have given and the grace that you have demonstrated, the love that you have shown. Lord, as we consider that the only reasonable response is for us to follow the example of Jesus.

and to love you and to walk with you to this degree. And so, Lord, help us. Help us to see you more clearly that we might follow in your footsteps. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.