Easter 4, May 10/11/12, 2014  Sermon by Pastor Paul G. Eckert
Sermon text - Luke 2:41-52
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    In today’s sermon theme I refer to God’s house.  By “God’s house” I
am referring to the place where we gather to hear from God in His Word
and to bring our worship and praise to Him - in other words, our church
building.  I’ll start out with our former God’s house which we began
leaving in the 1960s and 1970s to come to our present God’s house, our
present church building.
    When we left our former location, we brought along with us some
things that I would like to refer to as treasures, treasures from our old
God’s house.  I’ll start out by going from your left to the right.  The first
items to your left are two of the bells in our bell tower outside.  Then
we’ll come inside our present God’s house and see the baptismal font.
Next let’s move to the altar and see other items we brought from the old
God’s house, like the candles , the book stand, the gold cross (which
usually is in the narthex).  Next we go to the narthex.  There on the back
wall you see the old hymn boards, and there you see the stained glass
that was above the entrance door giving our name in German.  Go up the
stairs into the balcony.  There we had put the old organ which served us
here from 1979 to 2012 when it was replaced, but we still have in our
replaced organ some treasured pipes from our old organ.  
    I am sure my list of treasures from our old God’s house is not
complete.  As a matter of fact I haven’t even mentioned the most
important one, and that is the Word of God which is proclaimed in our
church and school now as it was then, the Word of God which in our
text permits us to speak about a mother’s concern, a Son’s examination,
and a world’s redemption as great treasures.
TREASURES FROM GOD'S HOUSE
I   A  MOTHER'S  CONCERN  (41-46a,48)
    1. A notable day was observed.  (41-42)
Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.
When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to
the custom. 
        a) Mother's Day this Sunday is a notable day.
        b) The notable day in our text was the Passover observance.  We
            took note of that not too long ago with our Maundy Thursday
            church services which included the Lord's Supper.  The Passover
            celebrated an angel sparing people from death if the blood of a
            lamb was found on their door posts in Egypt. The Lord's Supper
            tells us we are forgiven and spared from eternal death because
            Jesus came to be the true Lamb of God.
    2. Then a notable situation developed.  (43-46a)
After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy
Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.  Thinking
he was in their company, they traveled on for a day.  Then they began
looking for him among their relatives and friends.  When they did not
find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.  After three days
they found him in the temple courts, ---.
        a) There had to be a lot of people around for this observance.
        b) Still, it’s hard to imagine that it took so long  before Jesus’
            absence was noted. 
    3. How did this happen?  (48)
When his parents saw him, they were astonished.  His  mother said to
him, “Son, why have you treated us like this?  Your father and I have
been anxiously searching for you.”
        a) Jesus had been left behind.  Those things happen.  When you
            have been on a trip with your children have you ever left anyone
            behind?  Especially if you have a larger family, have you asked
            the children to count off before you started the car?  Or have you
            driven off without checking and then were told by other children
            that someone is missing?  It can happen.
        b) We might fault Mary for not having checked, even as Mary here
            seemed to blame Jesus for her failure.  But instead of blaming,
            let’s see here a mother’s concern for her child.  What a treasure
            that is to have mothers who are truly concerned about their
            children, about their earthly and eternal welfare.
    4. Think now also about God’s concern for us.
        a) Children, I hope that all of you appreciate the concern
            your mothers have for you - and not only on Mother’s Day.   
        b) But then think also of God’s concern.  In Isaiah 66:13 He says,
             “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.”
        c) Have you fallen away, slipped into some sin?  Remember, God
            looks for you to bring you back to Him, just as Mary showed her
            mother’s concern for Jesus who had been left behind.    
II    A SON’S EXAMINATION  (46-47)
    1. Another notable day is being observed.
        a) In our text Jesus was 12 years old.  That’s just a little younger
            than the ages of our children in the current confirmation class.
        b) As Jesus appeared in the temple, in God’s house in Jerusalem,
            so the members of this class are appearing in our God’s house this
            Sunday between services for what we call an examination. 
            Actually it’s more an opportunity to show the congregation that
            these young people have been instructed in the truths of God’s
            Word.
    2. Why did Jesus have His examination?  (46-47)
Afters three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the
teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  Everyone who
heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
        a) From eternity He, God’s Son, knew everthing.  Yet for us He had
            humbled Himself, come to this earth and set aside His knowledge
            and power to live as our Substitute on the way to the cross.
        b) He continued to grow from 12 to 33, from a healthy youth to a
            dead body on a cross, having lived a sinless life so that He could
            pay the wages of sin for all of us sinners. He didn’t stop at age 12.
     3. Do we stop with our examination?
        a) The temptation after the examination could be to think we have
            passed, then to see the coming confirmation ceremony just as a
            custom, and not to really take seriously the words and promises
            with which we confirm our faith in Jesus as our only Savior.
        b) Class members, thank God for mothers and fathers who show
            their concern by keeping after you so that you do not fall away.
    4. And thank God for how He grades us.
        a) It is not by what we do.
        b) It is by what Jesus has done for us.
        c) Be faithful not just through 8th grade, but faithful unto death to
            receive the crown of life which Jesus won for us.
III  A WORLD’S REDEMPTION  (44b-52)
    1. Jesus had come to do His Father’s will.  (48b-49)
“Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”  “Why were
you searching for me?” he asked.  “Didn't you know I had to be in my
Father’s house?”       
        a) Jesus knew who His real Father was.  It was not Joseph, but God
            Himself, His heavenly Father who had sent Him.
        b) That’s what Jesus meant when He spoke of being in His Father’s
            house.  Actually the word “house” is not in the original Greek.  
            More accurately translated Jesus said He had to be involved in the
            things of His Father, His Father’s business, His Father’s work.
    2. Let us understand this.  (50-51a)
But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went
down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. 
        a) Mary and Joseph did not understand at this time.
        b) Please, present confirmands and all of us who have expressed
            our confirmation vows, understand why Jesus came, why He is
            important.
    3. Jesus had come to fulfill God’s salvation plan for us.  (52)
And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and  in favor with God and men.
        a) God’s plan, because He loved this world He had created, was to
            give His Son to be the innocent sacrifice that could pay for the
            wages of our sin.
        b) That is why Jesus was here, to do His Father’s work, to
            accomplish His saving mission, so that whoever  believes in Him
            would not perish  but have the gift of everlasting life in
            resurrection glory in our heavenly home.
    4. Treasure what He gives us.  (51b)
But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
        a) Mary knew why Jesus had come to this earth, born in Bethlehem.
        b) When she saw Him dead on the cross, she knew why, that He
            was there also for her sins so that heaven could be her home.
        c) We also know.  But let that not be just knowledge.  Jesus arose
            victorious from the dead.  Believe it!  Look forward to the
             heavenly home He has prepared for us!

    I mentioned in the beginning some of the things from our old house
of God that I - and I am sure many others - see as treasures.  Let’s add to
that list the Treasures From God’s House we have seen in our text,
namely A Mother’s Concern, A Son’s Examination, and A World’s
Redemption.  May all of us treasure all these things in our hearts.