Christ Formed in You Message #4 “Christ as a Young Adult” Ed Miller, Aug. 31, 2024
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Listen to the audio above while following along in the transcript below which is also available for download at www.biblestudyministriesinc.com
WELCOME AND OPENING PRAYER
As we come to look in God’s word, I remind you of that wonderful principle that we call “the indispensable principle”, to drive home the truth that we cannot live without this principle. If you are serious about knowing the Lord, and serious about God opening His word to your heart and dawning the living Spirit on your spirit, then you must embrace that principle. We must come as a little child before the Lord and cry out to Him who waits to be wanted, and who wants to be sought.
In Proverbs 2, I want you to see how God piles up these words and they all mean the same thing— hunger, seek, desire, thirst. Proverbs 2:1
“My son, if you will receive My word and treasure my commandments within you and make your ear attentive to wisdom and incline your heart to understanding; if you cry for discernment and lift up your voice to understanding; if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will discern the fear of the Lord, and you will discover the knowledge of God.”
He waits to be wanted.
Let’s bow and commit our time to Him. Our Father, how glad we are that You have called us to desire You and to know You. How glad we are for Your revelation and Your word and how much You desire to make Yourself known unto us. And so, Lord, we want to come in simple child-like faith, not in some attempt to overcome Your reluctance, but in simple child-like faith to lay hold of Your infinite willingness to unveil the Lord Jesus to our hearts. We thank You for these simple Bible stories and we pray, as we meditate together, that you would minister to each one of us individually. We wait upon You and want to thank You in advance that You are going to meet with us, because we claim it in the all-prevailing name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
REVIEW
We’re looking at this wonderful segment of scripture, the thirty years of preparation of our Lord Jesus, the first thirty years of the life of the Lord Jesus as it’s recorded in the Bible. In this, His life on the earth, I know of no other section of scripture that gives us in a more distinct way the progressive revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. If any passage of scripture shows the development of Christ, it is this passage that covers these wonderful thirty years, because before our eyes He is growing and increasing and maturing, and He is being formed. He became a seed sent from heaven. He became a baby, an infant. He became a little child and grew in stature and wisdom and favor with God and man, and He became a young adult, a teenager, and an adolescent. He grew and developed and finally, according to Hebrews 5, He became qualified to be the perfect Savior and the perfect high priest to pour out His life in redemptive ministry.
As He came, He comes; what was true then, is true now. God has just given us a picture of it, which is exactly the same stages that are outlined for us in the gospel record and that we experience in our life when He is formed in us. He comes in as a seed; He grows in us. My prayer is from Galatians 4:19,
“My children, with whom I am again in labor pains and travail until Christ be formed in you.”
As He grew, we are surely going to grow in the Lord, too. This weekend we are looking at the development and maturing of Christ in you. If Christ is in you, He’s going to grow. These seasons that are outlined in the Bible are the same seasons He’s going to mature through you. I believe God has given us these four stages of the development of Christ: Christ as a fetus in my heart, Christ as an infant in my heart, and this evening we’ll see Him as a young adult. In most Christians, young adult is probably the longest experience. As far as the gospel record for Jesus, it was about eighteen years. I have found in my life when it seems like I’ve moved on to another stage and I go back to an earlier stage, it’s usually experiencing Jesus again as a twelve-year-old.
Let me give a quick review. The characteristics of life when Christ first comes in, we first learn that it’s not by man; it’s a virgin birth. Man has no part in it, and we discover that it’s all by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit forms life in us, and in that moment, we have a song written in our heart, and our hearts are filled with emotional joy. We begin to gravitate almost immediately toward those who have been prepared by God and who have had a similar miracle in their own lives. When we arrive with the almost imperceptible Christ to their door, they are not able to discern the difference between the one that brings the blessing and the blesser, the instrument and the treasure within. It’s at that stage also, when they are in complete ignorance and darkness to the word of God, God in His great grace, guides that fetus, Christ, into his paths, even though they don’t know it. He uses circumstances.
The next stage is Christ as an infant in our hearts. At this point there is a separation between the instrument and the treasure, Christ Himself, so much so that the instrument is able to hand the treasure to another. At that point, illustrated by Simeon, they now embrace Christ and He’s Salvation, and we’re ready to die. We then see Him as Lord and then, as the wise men, we see Him as King and bow down before Him and give Him our gifts. We taste a little worship but not much, a little surrender but not much, from knowing Him as Savior and knowing Him as Lord and having that incomplete view of a complete Savior; and then we make our way to the temple for dedication. Dedication becomes a big part of that experience when Christ is an infant in our lives.
When we knew nothing about the enemy or warfare, and we discover that there is an enemy, and we’re on our own, so to speak, illustrated by going down into Egypt, it’s at that point that God shows us that when Christ is just an infant, and we are so ignorant, and all of hell makes an attack to destroy the Christ within, we are at that time as safe as a baby in its mother’s arms. God protects the Christ within. Even though at that time our thinking and knowledge and world is Egypt, God delivered us and sent us to Egypt to illustrate that even in Egypt He is going to protect His Christ, and not only protect Him but Christ will grow and mature. Then He will call me out of Egypt to a place called Nazareth, the place of rejection. Matthew 2:23,
“And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.”
We begin to see the cross more and more. Christ is beginning to mature. That’s some of Christ as an infant.
CHRIST AS A YOUNG ADULT
The third stage of the Lord Jesus, as a young adult in my heart, is illustrated by the story when Jesus was twelve years old. Luke 2:41-52,
“His parents went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover and when He was twelve years old, they went up, after the custom of the feast; and when they fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem and His parents knew it not. Supposing Him to be in the caravan, they went a day’s journey and they sought for Him among their kinsfolk and their acquaintances. When they found Him not, they returned to Jerusalem seeking for Him. It came to pass after three days, they found Him in the temple sitting in the midst of the teachers, both hearing them and asking them questions. All that heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. When they saw Him, they were astonished. His mother said unto Him, ‘Son, why hast though thus dealt with us? Behold, your father and I sought Thee sorrowing.’ And He said unto them, ‘How is it that you sought me? Know ye not that I must be in My Father’s house?’ And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them, and He went down with them, and came to Nazareth and He was subject unto Him, and His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom, in stature and in favor with God and man.”
I would like to share four characteristics from this of Christ as a young adult illustrated by this story. Some of these are so closely related that there is some overlapping. I’m deliberately making a point of each because there is a nuance in each, and I want to make sure that we take hold of that. We’re not going to try to understand this text in its context and all that. This time we are looking at Christ as He develops. So, we’ll jump over a lot of things that you might want to dwell on, but I want to get the heart of God as we look at Christ being formed.
It becomes a habit to gather with the people of God
The first characteristic of Christ as a young adult in this record is this; it’s a time when there’s a new desire to be with the people of God and to celebrate redemption. It’s more than a desire. It’s become a habit. It’s become a custom as Christ develops this much. Luke 2:41-42,
“His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Passover. They went up according to the custom.”
Every year it had become a custom; it had become a habit. Gathering with the saints was now the thing to do when Jesus was a young adult. They had three annual festivals that they went to. In the Spring they had Passover; that was the end of March or early April. In the summer they had the Feast of Pentecost. That was in early June or the end of May. In the Fall they had the Feast of Tabernacles. Those three annual festivals actually included all of the feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the First Fruits of the Barley Harvest, and then in the summer it included the First Fruits of the Wheat Harvest, and Tabernacle included the Feast of Tabernacles and the Day of Atonement. It had become the custom, the habit, to gather with the people of God.
Now, the illustration that God gives us is Passover. We don’t really enter into how really wonderful this was. We have conferences, and we have retreats, and we have church fellowship and gatherings together. Quite honestly, those are nothing like this. Whole families would gather together, and whole villages and towns would gather and make like a pilgrimage. For Mary and her family, it was about eighty miles that they travelled, and it took them four or five days. As they travelled, they would be joined by other saints and would travel together in a big caravan. According to Josephus, the Jewish historian, he tells us that the Passover gathered over a million people to crowd into the Holy City. This was the saints getting together, a wonderful thing, and as they made their way toward the city of peace. We are told that they were singing the great Halel, Psalm 114 – 118. The closer they got, the louder they would sing. It was a glorious time.
We learn from history that more than a quarter of a million lambs were sacrificed during the Passover at that time. This was a spiritual time for them—the rejoicing, the fellowship, seeing old friends, praying together, hearing about heartaches and troubles, hearing about blessings, reading the word of God, studying the word of God, praise, worship and Bible study. It was wonderful. That became a habit. And when Christ is a young adult, it becomes the habit to come be with the people of God. When they gathered, He wanted to be there. And when they gathered to worship, He wanted to be there. When they gathered for prayer, He wanted to be there. If there is a conference or retreat or a social occasion, He wanted to be there. That’s part of the maturing of Christ. As He grows, there’s this desire to be at all the feasts and festivals in fellowship with God’s people and be there as a family. At this point in the formation of Christ, this kind of thing has become a custom. That’s what they do. See, this is a big step from Mary to Elizabeth’s house; that was the beginning that God planted in them. But now it’s become a habit. Now it has become the life of the people of God; that is the stage when Jesus is a young adult.
There’s a tendency to take your eyes off of Jesus
The second principle is this; not only at this stage do the people of God have this desire to be with God’s people, and to celebrate redemption at every occasion, and that has become a habit, but at this stage of Christ forming, it’s also a time, because everything has become routine and custom, for a tendency to take the presence of Christ for granted; there’s a tendency to take your eyes off Jesus. Because I’ve experienced Him in His fetal state and because I’ve experienced Him in His infant stage, I become accustomed to His presence. From the story, we see that at this stage that those who are related to Him have formed certain expectations of Him and expect Him to respond in a certain way, and when their expectations are disappointed, “What right does He have to change my direction? I was going in a certain direction and expected Him to be going in that certain direction I was going in.”
This is a wonderful time in the formation of Christ, because the people of God are involved with the people of God, and they are involved with the Book of God, and they are celebrating redemption together. It’s a wonderful time of fellowship and uniting, but it’s at this stage where there is this tendency to take their eyes off Christ, to get frustrated and to wonder what’s going on, and then to go back in the search, and on the third day they find Him in the temple (He’s always in the temple). Over and over again this is repeated. This is all illustrated in Luke 2:41-52. No doubt, they got so involved with the festivities and the blessings, they forgot about the Blesser; they took their eyes off the Lord. They thought for sure He would be in the caravan. They thought that He would leave when they left. He would be there. The sad record is that they left the Bible conference talking about how great it was, what great testimonies there were, what great singing there was and how wonderful it was to see everyone, and then all of a sudden, they say, “Where’s Jesus?” Wouldn’t it be a shame to leave Jesus at a gathering and to go back talking about what a wonderful time you had, and how you looked in the word of God and sang praises and worshipped, had a baptism and broke bread?
We’re not so surprised, on the level of earth, to see Mary so upset. Luke 2:48,
“When they saw Him, they were astonished. His mother said, ‘Son, why hast Thou dealt with us this way? Thy Father and I sought Thee sorrowing.”
After all, Mary was the mother and Joseph was the stepfather. They had a relationship with Him, and based on that relationship they expected certain behavior out of Him. Jesus did something that disappointed them. At this stage He’s constantly disappointing our expectations. We’ve taken Him for granted, and then He disappoints us (and this is all done on purpose). This all pictures the church because they also have a relationship with Him. We think that sometimes, based on that relationship, He ought to act a certain way. We expect things from Him. We’re His children. I expect that He will protect me, and He will provide for me, and He will heal me, and he will deliver me. If He doesn’t do that, I get anxious and start asking Him what He is doing. Because we are related, I expect Him to behave. That’s how it is when Jesus is a young adult. I expect Him to make me prosperous. If He doesn’t do that, I get confused. I expect Him to be in the caravan and going in the direction that I’m going in.
Then we panic and get anxious and go into a wide search for Him, and then we find Him, and that’s how it is when Jesus is a young adult. As He develops in us, now our life is filled with the people of God celebrating the redemption of Christ on every occasion, and it’s become a custom, a habit. But there’s a tendency, because of our relationship with Him, to take His presence for granted and get so involved in all these precious things that, somehow, we leave Jesus back there, and then we see Him again. Has that ever happened to you, that you’ve been so blessed that you look at the blessings and take your eyes off the Lord? I’ll tell you; I’ve learned. I’ll never take my eyes off the Lord again (until tomorrow! – laughter). We get our eyes off of Him, start getting anxious, ask what’s going on, and then we remember and come back to Him.
Jesus must be about His Father’s business, but He submits to us
The third principle is that when Jesus is a young adult and He begins to grow, Luke 2:49&50,
“He said unto them, ‘How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s house?’ And they understood not the saying that He spoke to them.”
He’s going to lay down a principle, and God tells us right away that they are not understanding. At this point He’s going to give us a principle that we won’t understand. We’ll hold it in our heart, but we aren’t going to understand it. We think we do and so we begin to act upon it. Here’s the principle in King James, “I must be about my Father’s business.”
At this point there’s a new step; the will of God. We didn’t see this when we were a fetus. We saw some shadows and some hints. We didn’t see it when He was an infant. Now, for the first time, Jesus states it as a principle. He tells them that there’s something new. He had to be about His Father’s business. New American Standard says, “…about My Father’s house”, and another translation says, “I must be about My Father’s interests”, and another says, “I must be about my Father’s concern”, andanother translation says, “I must be about My Father’s affairs.” How come they don’t all agree? It’s because in the Greek there’s no noun. So, the translators are trying to help you. Here’s what the Greek says, “Do you not know that I must be about my Father’s”. My Father’s what? It’s my Father’s everything: His business, His house, His purpose, His will, His pleasure, His interests, His people, His temple and His everything.
It’s at this stage in the maturity of Christ, when you talk to young people, you’ll see it all the time, the word of God becomes the great issue. God has now introduced into this forming of Christ my Father’s business, and we begin to say that we need to do my Father’s will. The will of God becomes so great, the importance of the Father’s everything. We hear Christians saying, “What does Christ want me to do? Where should I go to school? What should I study? Who should I marry? What does He have me to become? Is He calling me here or is He calling me there? All of a sudden, the will of God is introduced into this formation of Christ in your life. None of these stages are wrong. They are all right and they are all good. At first when He’s a fetus and you don’t know anything, the Guide is guiding you. Then when He becomes an infant under God’s protection, you still don’t know too much, but you are involved in all of the ceremonies and festivities, and you identify with the people of God, and it’s your custom and habit to be with them. Every now and then you forget Jesus. And now you want the will of God, and it becomes everything.
When Jesus is a young adult in my life, He lays down that great principle of passion; I just want to do His will. We’ve come through that He’s my Savior, He’s my Lord, and the dedications; that’s when we’re a baby. Now our heart is saying that we want to see His will, the Father’s business and pleasure. There’s a fourth characteristic and I think this is the chief one. Luke 2:51,
“He went down with them and came to Nazareth; and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”
When Mary and Joseph returned looking for the missing Jesus, Luke 2:46,
“After three days they found Him in the temple…”
I don’t know how to understand those three days. I know it was one day’s journey going and maybe another day back, and then perhaps they found Him on the third day. Some think they went back and searched for three days. I’m not sure how that was, but when they arrived and found Him in the temple, either way, they were in a panic. Of course, they were blaming Him, too. Quite honestly, they did reprimand Him. He had disappointed them. In their minds he had violated their relationship. He acted in a way they didn’t think He should act. Let me paraphrase the conversation. It’s as if Jesus said, “Mom and Dad, how is it that you sought Me? Why did you suppose that I would be in your company? You chose a certain direction to go in and went that way. Why did you presume that I would be going in the direction that you were going in? Because you happened to be there, did you think I had to be where you were?”
It was at this point that He laid down the great principle; “I have to be about My Father’s business.” It has to do with His will and not your way. Jesus informs them that His body is now at His Father’s disposal and not at their disposal. Are you sure your will is My Father’s will? This is the manifestation of Christ as a young adult and here’s the principle. This is the crux of it. Jesus said that He must be about His Father’s business. He didn’t face this when He was a fetus and He didn’t face this when He was an infant, but now He said, “I am ever going to be about My Father’s business. Don’t presume because you go in one direction that I’m going to be there, and where you go, I’ll be.” Then He did this (this is so amazing to me). This explains so much of what we see in our lives and in the lives of others. He lays down the principle that I’ve got to be about My Father’s business and then He submits to them.
Do you realize the burden He’s put on them? It’s an amazing thing. I’ve got to be about My Father’s business but now I’m going to submit to you, now that you know the principle. So now it’s up to you to find out what My Father’s business is. It’s all about Him forming Himself in us and this is when He’s a young adult. He said that He would submit to them, and you must decide My Father’s business, “Every time you act and every time you move, you’ll remember this little conversation we’ve had that I must be about My Father’s business.” So, at this time He is subject to Mary. You talk about condescension and the grace of God; He limits Himself to her choices.
One of the main results of when Christ is a young adult in your heart, I don’t want to be irreverent, is when He takes instructions from us and submits unto us. So, we begin to drag Jesus everywhere because He submits to us. So, we say, “Okay, Jesus, we’re going to the prison,” and off we go to the prison. And then we go off to the nursing home, and then we go off on a mission trip. Then we decide to go off to a pastorate. He just keeps submitting to us. These are times in the Christian’s life, but as far as the record goes, at this time He has not yet begun His ministry. Many, many Christians come this far in the Christian life, all involved in the festivities, and they keep taking their eyes off Christ, and then coming back again. Christ submits unto them in order to have them decide what His will is. I’ve tasted some of this, going public before He went public. Many, many Christians might be in full time ministry and might be famous and have a great ministry and be invited to big conferences, they might be known as great missionaries, but His ministry hasn’t begun yet.
We begin to submit to Jesus
Brothers and sisters in Christ, it’s good news for me to tell you that this will not go on forever. Do you know why? It’s because Christ is being formed in you. There’s another stage. We’ve been following this principle in terms of Mary. So, it’s interesting for me as I went through and kept looking for Mary, John 2:1,
“On the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus was also invited with His disciples to the marriage. And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to Him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said unto her, ‘Woman, what have I to do with you?’”
Don’t read that “la, la, la.” For eighteen years He had been subject to her, and she’s used to that, “Okay, Jesus, let’s do this and that,” and He just follows. Then He says, “Woman, what have I to do with you?” She turned to the servants, and she saw the principle in a flash, saying, “Whatever He says, do it.” “He’s not subject to me anymore and now I am subject to Him.” Then His ministry began.
That was the hour of glory, when He turned the water into wine and a life of miracles began. That day is coming. As He’s formed in us, there’s this glorious revelation that it won’t always be that He’ll be subject unto us. Mary’s idea was that where she was, there He would be also. Is that what He said? He said it the other way around. Not where Mary is, will He be, but where He is, “…there will My servant be, also.”John 12:26,
“Whoever serves Me must follow Me; and where I am, my servant also will be.”
That was right after He gave that grain of wheat illustration. That was the hour of His glory.
At this critical crossroad of the formation of Christ, strange things happen. When Christ begins to dawn on them, I’ve literally seen people walk away from their ministry and wait for His ministry. They leave churches, and people think they are backslidden. Christ is being formed in them, and they’ve learned a great secret; that He is no longer subject to them. Now they are subject to Him. You’ve heard me say many times on this topic of the will of God, just seek the Lord and do anything. He can go here and there. That’s what it’s like when you are twelve years old. He’s being formed in me and you. We’re changing. These are things that occur when Jesus is just a young adult in my heart.
Don’t be discouraged in your walk with the Lord if Christ is just a fetus. He’s being formed in you. Enjoy your joy! Live in that revelation where He is. By and by He’s going to develop, and you are going to learn what it is to embrace Him as Savior and as Lord, and worship Him and surrender and dedicate yourself to Him. That’s all part of the package. You are going to get involved with the people of God. Sometimes you are going to take your eyes off Christ; you’ll have expectations and He’ll disappoint you but He’s going to come back and show you. The will of God is going to become everything to you. Then He’ll submit to you, and you’ll be dragging Him with you, but that won’t be forever. We’ll be looking in the next message about what it is like when Christ comes to full maturity and is prepared to live His Redemptive Life.
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for Your working in our lives, for these wonderful stages as You develop and grow, and for Your great patience in us, how You work in us, and how You change and conform us to Yourself. We know Your heart, and it’s Your desire to become qualified to minister and bring redemption to the earth. Mature in us, we pray, so that you can work Your redemptive ministry through us. Thank you that You are doing it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
