“If you could go back in time to observe just one historical event, what would it be?”

This is one of the ice-breaker questions we use in our small groups; and over the years some interesting answers have surfaced.  Some were more “American” in nature:  “the signing of the Declaration of Independence” … “the Battle at Gettysburg.”  Others were more personal in nature:  “the day my mother and father met.”  And, of course, many were Biblical in nature:  “creation” … “the parting of the Red Sea” … “the Crucifixion and Resurrection” (being the most common answer).

Certainly, all of those events would be fascinating to witness.  Still, another event I would add to that list would be to observe the life of Jesus when He was growing up.  It would be interesting to watch how His parents related to their perfect Child … and how His younger “half siblings” responded to their perfect Brother.  (“Why doesn’t Jesus ever get in trouble!”)  Did He play games with others His age; or was most of His free time spent reading the Scriptures in Nazareth’s synagogue?  Perhaps most of His life – both at home and around town – was lived in the background, not calling attention to Himself.

Jesus, of course, did not start out as a fully developed adult male.  We are told that the Son of God was clothed in humanity as a developing Fetus in Mary’s uterus (Luke 1:31).  We also read that as He matured from childhood to adulthood, He “kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52).  That is, Jesus went through all the mental and physical stages of human development … and He did so without sinning.

These stages of human development suggest the possibility that there was a time – during His infancy and early childhood – that a very young Jesus was not aware that He was Israel’s long-awaited Messiah.  (It is unlikely that the mind of the newborn King, lying in Bethlehem’s manger, had developed to that point.)  But certainly, by the age of 12 He knew (Luke 2:42-49).  Had Joseph and Mary told Him?  Or did they wait for “an angel of the Lord” or the Spirit of God Himself to do so?  And was this revelation gradual or in a moment of time?  We do not know.  But by whatever means His Divine status and calling were revealed to Him, can you imagine what that must have been like … to come to the realization that all the Messianic prophecies referred to Himself!

And what was it like for this young Teenager to attend synagogue every Sabbath, listening to the rabbi read passages foretelling of His coming Crucifixion and eventual reign over the nations, knowing (secretly) that He was that promised One!  What was it like for Him to use a hammer and nails six days a week, week after week, year after year, knowing such passages as Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53?  (We should not let that fact escape our notice.  Every day of His life, while working in Joseph’s carpentry shop, our Savior was reminded of what lay ahead for Him.  And yet, He remained faithful to the will of God His Father.)

Luke chapter 20 also adds to our understanding of Jesus’ younger life.  From this chapter we can see that, while growing up, He spent hours upon hours immersing Himself in the Scriptures.  Perhaps He went to the synagogue each day to read from the scrolls.  Perhaps he spent a lot of time with the rabbi, asking him questions, listening to him teach.  That is what we find Him doing in Jerusalem when He was twelve years old (Luke 2:46).  Jesus invested 30⁺ years of His life cultivating His mind in knowledge and wisdom.  And He used the Jewish Scriptures (what we call the Old Testament) to do so.

When His public ministry finally began, Jesus would draw from that insight and understanding considerably.  After years of saturating His mind with Truth, He was ready to explain God’s Word to those who were hungry to receive It … and to reprove those who were just as determined to reject It.  In His teaching Jesus was able to use reason, cite current events, create illustrations (parables) and quote from rabbinic commentaries.  But the vast majority of His instruction included quotes from the inspired Scriptures.

Chief priests, scribes and elders:  “We do not accept Your authority or Your teachings.  Why should we?  From Whom did You receive Your message?” (20:1-19)

• His final answer came in the form of a parable (using a vineyard), followed by a prophetic passage:  “Because I am the Son of the Father, I was sent with His authority.  And I have come to claim My Kingdom.  But you have already shown that you will not submit to My authority, just as it is written:  ‘The Stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief Cornerstone.’ ” (Psalm 118:22)

Sadducees:  “We intend to discredit the integrity of Your teaching; and we will do so using the doctrine of the resurrection.  There is no such thing (as You say there is).”  (20:27-40)

• “It is you Sadducees who are mistaken.  Did not Yahweh say to Moses, ‘I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’?  (Exodus 3:6)  He did not say ‘I WAS their God’ but ‘I STILL AM their God.’  Contrary to what you teach, there is life after death.  You do not know the Scriptures (the exchange at the burning bush), nor do you understand the power of God (to raise the dead).”

(Did you notice that the Master Teacher used the mere tense of a verb to prove the resurrection!)

Jesus then goes on the offensive.  Through the vineyard parable, He had claimed to be the Messiah.  Now He takes that assertion a major step forward:  He states that He, the Messiah, is God Himself … fully Man and fully God.  And once again, He uses the Scriptures to do so.

• First, He quotes Psalm 110:1:  “The LORD says to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.’ ”  Then Jesus does to His antagonists what they tried to do to Him … He silences them:  “How can the Messiah be both David’s Son and his Lord at the same time?”  (20:41-44)

By quoting just a few verses to answer His critics, Jesus claims to be both Israel’s Messiah and Israel’s God … the one true God … “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” … the “I AM” of the burning bush … Yahweh.

Without question, Jesus had an incredible mind!  But He had more than that. According to Luke 20 (and, indeed, throughout the four Gospels), Jesus had an extraordinary command of the Scriptures.  This suggests that, before His public ministry began, Jesus poured over the scrolls in Nazareth’s synagogue, probably from the time He first learned to read.

• So, how can our lives reflect more accurately, more fully, more consistently the Living Word of God?  By investing time in the written Word of God.

• And how can we have an eternal impact in the lives around us?  By saturating our minds with the Scriptures.

• And how can our lives become more stable … more composed … more content … more joyful … more at rest?  Through a daily reading of the Bible.

Not books about the Bible but the Bible itself.  Most surely, we need to consult the counsel of godly men and women who, themselves, have been instructed over the centuries by the Spirit of God through the Word of God.  But if we are so busy that we have time for only one read, then let us lay aside our devotionals and our small group Bible study workbooks and our commentaries and our online sermons and our blogs (including the ones on this site); and let our first and foremost read be the God-breathed, life-changing Word of God.

To do so is to make a daily investment in eternity itself.  

“As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals.”  (John the baptizer, as he prepared national Israel to receive their soon-to-arrive Messiah-King, Luke 3:16)

Over the years I have met a number of men and women of God whose lives and ministries radiated the power of God.  They came from different backgrounds and cultures.  They had different personalities and gifts and passions.  And they were called to different ministries.  But they all shared one thing in common:

not one of them had an air of self-sufficiency

I don’t think I’ve ever met an effective servant of Christ who had not first been broken.  Each one’s confidence in the Lord was strong; but his self-assurance was gone.  He is the kind of person who prays, “Why did You call me to do this?  Who am I?  I am not fit for this ministry!”

Actually, they are in good company:

• “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”  (Moses, after hearing God’s call to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage, Exodus 3:10-11)

• “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel?  Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”  (Gideon, after hearing God’s call to deliver Israel from Midian’s oppression, Judges 6:15)

• “Actually I should have been commended by you, for in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody.”  (Paul, to the church in Corinth who questioned his calling as an apostle, 2^nd Corinthians 12:11)

The Lord has a good reason for bringing His servants to this point of self-doubt:

“My power is perfected in your weakness” (2^nd Corinthians 12:9)

It is one of the paradoxes of the spiritual life.  When one thinks he is strong, he is actually quite weak.  But when he thinks he is weak, he is in a position to be quite strong … in the Lord.  Contrary to the world’s value system,

the LORD will not use us because we are mighty in ability.

There is just too much of us that will get in His way.

Nor will the LORD use us in spite of our weaknesses.

This sounds good; but that is not completely true.  The LORD does not use us in spite of our weaknesses.

The LORD will use us because of our weaknesses.

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.  But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”  (1^st Corinthians 1:26-31)

It does not feel very good; but the fact is, our all-wise and sovereign God has every right to break us.  Sometimes He uses sandpaper.  At other times He uses a jackhammer.  Either way, He has every right to do what it takes to empty us of our self-assurance

• because in doing so, we are made more dependent on Him …

• and being emptied of ourselves, we can now be filled with His power …

• and by that power, our lives are better able to represent the Savior to a world that desperately needs to know Him …

• and by that power, our ministries become more effective, more fruitful, more powerful.

Have you ever felt less-than-“fit” to serve Jesus Christ?  If so, let’s not miss the reason why.  We are not weak because God failed to make us strong.  We are made weak that we might be filled with the power of God … for the strengthening of His people … to the glory of His Name.

Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.  (2^nd Corinthians 12:10)

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Have you ever been on a committee whose task was to find a new pastor for your church?  I would like to invite you to join us on our pulpit search committee for about five minutes.  We are looking over the resumes of two candidates and watching the videos of their preaching.

According to the resume of the first man, we read that he won a medal at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.  He served in the United States Army as a Green Beret from 1973 – 1976.  He later attended seminary where he earned his doctorate in Old Testament languages in 1984.  He is married with two grown children and three grandchildren.  He has written three books on church growth.  And he would be coming to us from a church with 1,200 members where he served as senior pastor.

As we watch this first candidate’s video, his grammar and articulation are perfect.  His delivery is flawless.

According to the resume of the second man, we read that he was born with a birth defect and, as a result, has lived his life confined to a wheelchair.  He attended Bible College where he received a bachelor’s degree in Bible in 1984.  Since then, he has served as an assistant pastor in four churches, mostly smaller churches in the mid-west.  He had been married; but his wife died suddenly when they were both in their early 30s.  They had no children.

As we watch this second man’s video, we notice that he has a slight stutter.  His Biblical understanding is very good.  But there is something else in this second man’s preaching that was absent from the first man’s preaching … and that is what catches our attention.

The first man obviously believed what he was saying; we could tell from the tone of his voice.  But there was more than mere emotion behind the second man’s preaching.  Although he was not an energetic speaker, there was something that permeated his words, something that drew us in to listen with absorbing interest.

The first man had credentials … and zeal.  But the second man had something more than credentials, something more than zeal.  Saturating his words was power, a power generated by the Spirit of God.

How could a crippled man … with only a little Bible training … with limited exposure to large crowds … and who spoke with a stutter … how could this man possibly radiate more power than an Olympic medalist, a Green Beret, a Doctor of Theology, and a published author?

Perhaps the power behind his words has something to do with not having healthy legs, with not having the continued companionship of a beloved wife he greatly misses, with not having experience before large crowds, with not having clear speech.  Perhaps weakness itself has prepared the second man to be and do what we as a church are about to ask our future pastor to be and do.  Extended pain has cultivated within the heart of this broken man a deep and abiding dependence on almighty God.  Crushing sorrows have prepared him well for the responsibilities of a caring shepherd.

We, as members of the pulpit search committee, choose the second man.  Why?  Because we decided that the pastor we call is going to need a lot more than the credentials of man to be what we need for him to be, and do what we need for him to do.  We decided that

The power of God is more important than the polish of man

We are about to watch this truth unfold through the life of Moses, an extraordinary life with three very distinct phases:

the exalted life of Moses between the ages of early childhood and 40 years,

the broken life of Moses between the ages of 40 and 80,

and the fruitful life of Moses between the ages of 80 and 120.

From this life we can learn a very important truth:  that before one can bear spiritual fruit, he must first be pruned by the hand of God.

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(To the readers in the believing community:  I would greatly appreciate your prayers, that the Master-Teacher would be the Author of these writings.)