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I’VE GOT A QUESTION FOR YA….What
were you like at 12 years old?
Who’d you hang out with?
Where were your favorite places to play?
What were your favorite toys or games?
I don’t know about you, but when
I was 12:
The whole neighborhood was our playground, and when we played hide and seek we hid all over the neighborhood. We hid so well it sometimes took an HOUR just to find one person!
When I was 12…
I had my first boyhood crush.
When I was 12:
I learned how to play golf
I loved building forts with my friends. Once we even draped a HUGE parachute across two very tall trees and had an ENORMOUS fortress!
And my sister and I didn’t get along very well.
Sounds pretty ordinary for a 12 year old kid, don’tcha think? Sounds like the usual kinds of stuff a 12 year old kid gets into—forts, friends, and fighting?
I wonder what kinds of things
JESUS did as a boy?
I wonder if Jesus ever built a fort or had a boyhood crush?
Did Jesus ever play marbles? Or hide-and-seek?
Jesus was indeed precocious, but not in the way you and I were precocious.
You and I did things like learn to play golf or the piano.
JESUS stayed behind in Jerusalem after his parents left for home!
You and I tried our best not to faint while we dissected frogs in science class.
JESUS went into the Temple and sat among the teachers,
listening to them and asking questions.
You and I were busy trying to impress our childhood crushes.
JESUS was busy learning about things much more important than
How to play marbles or finding the best place to hide for hide-n-seek.
JESUS WAS BUSY BEING AN EXTRAORDINARY 12 YEAR OLD BOY.
JESUS WAS BUSY FINDING OUT WHAT IT MEANT TO FOLLOW GOD.
JESUS WAS BUSY FINDING OUT WHO HE WAS.
…Begins the moment we’re born.
We’re wrapped up in a baby blue or pink blanket based on
Whether we’re a boy or a girl.
And then after we get home we’re dressed in the appropriate colors.
As we grew and became small children, we heard things like:
“Snakes and snails and puppy dog tails.
That’s what little boys are made of.” OR
“Sugar and spice and everything nice.
That’s what little girls are made of.”
And while we were children, toy makers told us to play with the “right” kinds of toys—
Action figures, dump trucks, and machine guns for boys, and
Suzie Homemaker kitchens, EZ-Bake ovens, and dolls for girls.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I had a BLAST with my sister’s EZ bake oven!
SURE I DID! I used it to make edible bugs out
of this gooey stuff that came in a kit I got one Christmas! I filled the molds with the sugary, gooey stuff, threw it into my sister’s EZ-bake oven,
AND THEY CAME OUT PERFECT!
MARTHA STEWART WOULDA BEEN SO PROUD!
IT’S ALMOST AS IF OUR PURPOSE AS CHILDREN WAS
TO BE CONSUMERS, NOT CHILDREN.
AND DEFINITELY NOT CHRISTIANS.
NOW THAT WE’RE ADULTS, though, have things really changed?
Instead
of baby blue and pink blankets,
we’re told that the only way to “be” somebody is
to wear Tommy Hilfiger or Calvin Klein.
And instead of dump trucks and dolls,
the only way to find out who we are is to
have the latest hand-held computer and
use a mobile phone with all the bells and whistles!
WE’RE STILL BEING TOLD that
our purpose is to be
consumers instead of Christians.
Jesus wasn’t Jesus because of clothes from the Gap or
toys from FAO Schwartz.
JESUS WAS
JESUS BECAUSE HE WAS BORN OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Jesus wasn’t Jesus because he had the latest model Palm Pilot.
JESUS
WAS JESUS BECAUSE AT THE TENDER AGE OF 12
HE
KNEW HIS PURPOSE CAME FROM GOD.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOU AND I TO FOLLOW
THIS EXTRAORDINARY BOY
WHO, AT AGE 12,
tOLD EVERYONE WHO HE WAS
WHEN HE SAID,
“DIDN’T YOU KNOW I MUST BE IN GOD’S HOUSE?”
Declaring himself and his purpose—
the son of God, meant to be in God’s house and about God’s work.
HOW EXTRAORDINARY it is to know your purpose in life at only 12 years of age!
Some adults don’t even know their
purpose when they’re 35, 40, or even older!
And here Jesus is, fully aware of who he is and what he’s about, and he’s
only 12 YEARS OLD!
You know who it is that knows their purpose? The IRS…
I know, I know….we love to hate the IRS. But they know EXACTLY what they’re about…
The 1976 IRS Handbook states it VERY clearly…
“The essential functions of the IRS will be as follows: assessing, collecting, and recording taxes.”
So, on April 15 we’ll all be freakin’ out, yet the IRS will be going about their purpose---to assess, collect and record our taxes.
If it’s not toys from FAO Schwartz or Gateway or Palm Pilot, then what is it?
AND BY FOLLOWING CHRIST, WE BECOME CHRISTIANS.
WE MUST IDENTIFY OURSELVES WITH JESUS CHRIST.
NOT BY CLOTHES OR
TOYS, BUT THROUGH RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST.
The composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote this prayerful line in his Requiem:”
Remember, merciful Jesus, that I am the cause of your journey.” What Mozart means is that we are part and parcel of Jesus’ purpose. We are bound in relationship to Jesus by the very fact that he existed—for us.
We, like Jesus, must proclaim who
we are—a people called to live lives of faith and obedience to God..
To do this, we must understand that God’s priorities are higher and more important than finding the best place to hide, wearing the “right” clothes, or, or always having the latest model hand-held organizer.
Tom Landry, former coach of the Dallas cowboys said, "The thrill of knowing Jesus is the greatest thing that ever happened to me ... I think God has put me in a very special place, and He expects me to use it to His glory in everything I do ... whether coaching football or talking to the press, I'm always a Christian ... Christ is first, family second and football third."
We must also understand that Jesus’ discovery didn’t make him proud, arrogant or flamboyant.
JESUS’ DISCOVERY ABOUT HIMSELF made him OBEDIENT.
Discovery of who we are as Christians should not make us proud, arrogant, or flamboyant. Discovering who we are and whose we are should make us OBEDIENT.
LAST SUMMER, JUST BEFORE OUR ENTOURAGE STEPPED OUT
Into the throng at the Pride parade, Rev. Teena stood on the flatbed of a truck and challenged us to “remember who we are and WHOSE we are!”
Campbell Morgan knew this, too. His ministry was so effective that he was given all kinds of offers from many different places and people. John Wannamaker, the great merchant of Philadelphia, offered to build Morgan a million dollar church if he would become its pastor. Morgan turned him down, something the wealthy Wanamaker was not accustomed to in his dealings with people.Morgan said, "I am God's man. If I did that I would become John Wanamaker's man."
IN ADDITION TO BEING IN RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST AND BEING OBEDIENT TO GOD AND CHRIST,
TO CALL OURSELVES CHRISTIANS
MEANS THAT…
We, like Jesus, must be about God’s extraordinary work.
God’s work is extraordinary because it changes things.
God’s work is
extraordinary because it transforms people
and transforms attitudes.
TRANSFORMATION
IS NECESSARY IN GOD’S WORK.
At the tender age of 12, Jesus knew it was necessary
for him to be in the Temple.
At the tender age of 12, it was necessary for Jesus to let everyone know who he was and what he was about.
At the age of 27, MCCGSL has been about the business of transformation for some time now.
Our very presence for the last 27 years has changed the community’s attitudes about who we are and what we’re about.
Our new ministry for transgendered persons is beginning to transform people’s souls and change the community’s attitudes.
AND, the work of theologians like Rev. Dr. Bob Goss has been challenging and transforming the way people think about who God is and what God is all about.
Y’KNOW, as children, you and I were more concerned about
our favorite toys than we were about our purpose in life.
AND as children, you and I were more concerned about
who our best friend would be than we were about our purpose in life.
AS ADULT CHRISTIANS, THOUGH, it is necessary to think about
GREATER, MORE IMPORTANT THINGS…
WE ARE CALLED to an extraordinary identity and
relationship with an extraordinary person—Jesus.
WE ARE CALLED to
an extraordinary purpose—
lives of faith in and obedience to God.
And BECAUSE of our relationship with Jesus
Our lives can be lives of extraordinary faith and
obedience
that transforms our very world.
AMEN.
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