Latest / Enjoying the Journey / The Silent Years

Transcript

The Silent Years · Enjoying the Journey

• 0:08
  In our busy world, family time is frequently neglected.
• 0:13
  It is vital that we give attention to our families while we
• 0:16
  can, and it is especially important to give attention
• 0:20
  to what God says in his word about our homes.
• 0:24
  For the next few moments, Friends, let's join Scott Pauley as we open
• 0:27
  the Scriptures and find God's message for your
• 0:39
  People are remembered for what happens on their extraordinary
• 0:43
  days, but people are made on their ordinary
• 0:46
  days. Frankly, if you look at life, most of life
• 0:50
  is made up of a handful, maybe 2 handfuls of really extraordinary days,
• 0:53
  but most of life is made up of lots of ordinary days.
• 0:58
  We talk about all the extraordinary days in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ,
• 1:02
  but have you ever pondered the very ordinary days in the early years?
• 1:06
  How about the silent years? How about the period when he's growing up
• 1:10
  in an obscure village called Nazareth? What about the
• 1:13
  in-between times, the time between 12
• 1:17
  and 30, 18 years where we know very little
• 1:21
  And yet God was at work even in silent times. See, when God is
• 1:25
  silent, he is at work. When no one is
• 1:29
  watching, God is working. Listen to
• 1:32
  me, friends, the in-between times matter. Life is full
• 1:36
  of times when no one is watching but God.
• 1:40
  And I want to say to you, God is watching in your home today.
• 1:43
  God is working in your home today. We've been in Luke
• 1:47
  chapter number 2, so notice how the chapter ends. And he went down with them
• 1:50
  and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them. But his mother mother kept all
• 1:53
  these sayings in her heart, and Jesus increased
• 1:58
  in wisdom and stature and in favor with
• 2:02
  God and man. May I say, this is the ultimate goal.
• 2:06
  This is what we want for every one of our children, and this should be
• 2:08
  what we want for every one of our lives. All of us should be growing.
• 2:13
  Are you growing? When did you stop growing? And when we talk about growing,
• 2:16
  we're not just talking about the physical, we're talking about the spiritual
• 2:21
  growth. In fact, notice there are 4 areas of growth
• 2:24
  in Luke 2:52: wisdom, stature, favor with God, and favor with
• 2:28
  man. You might say it this way: he's growing mentally or intellectually,
• 2:33
  he's growing physically, he's growing spiritually, he's growing
• 2:36
  relationally or socially. Notice this: the greater
• 2:41
  always comes before the lesser. So there, there's a primary before the
• 2:45
  secondary. God's showing us something about his divine priorities. Wisdom comes before
• 2:49
  stature. Favor with God comes before favor with
• 2:53
  man. You see, as we grow in wisdom,
• 2:56
  uh, you can be sure God's going to take care of all the physical things.
• 2:59
  As we grow spiritually and have favor with God, God then
• 3:03
  gives favor with man. Don't get it out of order.
• 3:07
  My point to you is simple, and it is this from Luke 2:52: there's
• 3:10
  going to be lots of unknown, unrecorded days in your life and in your
• 3:14
  family, and all of them matter. Let it be said this one
• 3:18
  thing: we were increasing. Look, maybe nobody was watching,
• 3:22
  but we were growing. We were becoming everything
• 3:27
  the Heavenly Father wanted us to become. And then there's
• 3:31
  another thing that I think is very important in these silent times, in the in-between
• 3:35
  years when nobody's watching. Not only should we be
• 3:38
  growing but we should be pleasing to our Heavenly Father.
• 3:43
  The curtain falls at the end of Luke chapter number 2. I mean, literally,
• 3:46
  the lights go out. That's the only picture, the only portrait we
• 3:50
  have of the youthful years and the home life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 3:53
  18 years go by from the time he's 12 to the time he's 30.
• 3:56
  When the curtain lifts again, the next time we see the Lord Jesus Christ,
• 3:59
  he is 30 years old. He is standing in the muddy water
• 4:04
  of the Jordan River being baptized by John the Baptist. And so when
• 4:07
  the curtain lifts, it's going to be very interesting to see what's the
• 4:11
  first picture or portrait we have of Christ as a grown man after
• 4:16
  his youthful years, after his home life. Oh, let's let the Heavenly Father tell us.
• 4:20
  Look across the page to Luke chapter number 3, verse number 21.
• 4:23
  Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also
• 4:27
  being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy
• 4:31
  Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him. And a voice
• 4:34
  came from heaven which said, thou art my beloved Son,
• 4:38
  In thee I am well pleased.
• 4:42
  Here's the only thing we know about the 18 silent
• 4:46
  years. The only thing we know about 18 in-between years is this: he
• 4:51
  pleased the Heavenly Father. And why is that the only thing we know? It's the
• 4:54
  only thing God wants us to know. Maybe it's because it's the only thing that
• 4:57
  really matters. It's what God is saying to all of us about the in-between
• 5:01
  times of life, about our home life when no one's watching. God wants one thing
• 5:05
  He wants us to please him.
• 5:09
  You see how the first picture after all of this silence is a picture
• 5:13
  of obedience? Where's Jesus? He's being baptized in
• 5:17
  obedience, fulfilling all righteousness. He's praying.
• 5:21
  He is filled with the Holy Spirit. Do you see that?
• 5:24
  And the testimony from heaven is, this is my beloved
• 5:28
  Son. I'm well pleased in him. I wonder what the Heavenly Father
• 5:32
  would say about all of us today. I wonder what the Heavenly Father would say
• 5:36
  about me as a dad, would say about me as a son, as a brother.
• 5:40
  I remember years ago driving down the road, I had just
• 5:44
  become a father and it dawned on me what a sobering
• 5:47
  thing it was that I could bear the
• 5:51
  name, the relationship name that God uses with us,
• 5:54
  Father. I'm to represent the Heavenly Father to my children.
• 5:58
  Then it dawned on me in Ephesians 5, I'm supposed to represent the
• 6:02
  Savior Christ, Calvary love, to my wife.
• 6:06
  And the only way I can do either one is to be filled with the
• 6:09
  Holy Spirit of God. Oh, the great thing that is true
• 6:12
  of the Son of God should be the great aim of every child of God,
• 6:16
  and it is this: I want to be growing and I want to
• 6:20
  be pleasing. What should be your, your home goals, your goals
• 6:24
  for your family? Don't let them be material things,
• 6:27
  financial things. Temporal things. I hear
• 6:31
  about all these bucket lists. It's all right, but let the great goals be spiritual
• 6:35
  goals. We want to be growing, well-rounded and well-grounded,
• 6:40
  increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God
• 6:43
  and favor with man. And then we
• 6:47
  not only want to be growing, we want to be pleasing. We want to make
• 6:51
  that the great goal of our life. And when we come to the end of
• 6:55
  the journey. We want to hear the Father say, well done, thou good
• 6:59
  and faithful servant. We want to please the Heavenly Father.
• 7:03
  I remind you, in the context of home life and family— that's what we're discussing
• 7:06
  here— that this is the place of preparation.
• 7:10
  It's the place where God is working behind the scenes to get
• 7:14
  all of us ready for everything that God has for us.
• 7:18
  Watch this. In the early years The Heavenly Father was
• 7:21
  working through Joseph and Mary to prepare Jesus for a 3.5-year
• 7:25
  ministry. That's very interesting. Luke is the only one who tells us something
• 7:29
  of the age of the Lord Jesus when he began his
• 7:32
  ministry— 30 years of age, Luke 3:23. Joseph,
• 7:37
  30 years old before he stood before Pharaoh.
• 7:40
  Now, the Levites couldn't enter their work till they were 30. David came to the
• 7:44
  throne at 30. The scribes received their insignia at 30.
• 7:48
  There's something here about maturity, you see, and Jesus has
• 7:51
  come to full maturity by 30 years of age. But it
• 7:55
  would not have happened the way it should have happened if
• 7:59
  there had not been a Joseph and Mary obeying what the Heavenly Father gave them
• 8:04
  to do. Friend, some days are just unrecorded, not flashy,
• 8:09
  not spectacular, but they're all important.
• 8:12
  They found Christopher Columbus's journal, so excited to see
• 8:16
  what the record of the great explorer was. And on
• 8:20
  hundreds of pages, there was this same entry: we sailed
• 8:25
  on. You see, you don't find the New World every day. Every day is,
• 8:29
  is not public consumption. Many days you just sail
• 8:32
  on. So maybe you're living in some of the silent years, the in-between
• 8:36
  times, the time when nobody's watching but God. May I encourage you
• 8:40
  today Sail on. William Carey, the great pioneer
• 8:44
  missionary, was dying and he said to his family, I hope when
• 8:47
  I'm gone someone will remember that I was a plotter. Today,
• 8:51
  plot on, sail on. Just do what God
• 8:55
  has given you to do right in your home. Be growing and be
• 8:59
  pleasing, and in the end, the Lord will do with you and your family everything
• 9:04
  he chooses to do. For more resources
• 9:09
  for your marriage and family, visit us at etj.bible
• 9:13
  and click on the Take the Next Step link, where you'll
• 9:17
  find many Bible resources that will strengthen your marriage
• 9:20
  and equip you to raise your children in the ways of the Lord.
• 9:25
  We highly recommend Scott's book, New Testament Marriage.
• 9:29
  In it, you'll discover timeless biblical principles from the husband
• 9:33
  and wife team Aquila and Priscilla. And these principles are very
• 9:38
  applicable to your marriage today. From all of us at
• 9:41
  Enjoying the Journey, thanks for listening today. And until next time,
• 9:46
  we pray that you will enjoy the journey.