Luke 2:39–52
This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.
Between us, we've all managed to do those things. That's better, isn't it? Apologies if you didn't hear any of that. I don't think you missed a lot. But the difficulty with doing this kind of reflection, or at least I find, is that for all the accomplishments that we might have had in 2023, there'll be for sure things that we didn't manage to accomplish. I look back on the year that I've had and I'm reminded often that I didn't follow that exercise regime that I'd planned at the beginning of the year.
I wasn't able to get back in touch with that particular person that I really wanted to get back in touch with. And so the trouble with these lists of things is that they can induce feelings of guilt, can't they? If we don't get done what we wanted to do this year, then we get to the end of the year and we're thinking, wow, that's difficult. I didn't do what I wanted to do. And you could say, well, on the one hand, that helps us because it helps us build goals for the new year, and that's all very good. But what if we don't get those things done in 2024 either?
We'll be then having the same conversation with ourselves at the end of next year. Well, I want to suggest to you this morning that a better analysis to conduct of any given year or indeed any given time span is a slightly different question. Rather than listing a number of things that we've accomplished, why don't we ask ourselves this question? Have I been faithful? Have I been faithful? Have I been faithful to God? Have I been faithful in all the other roles that I have in my life?
I think that's a better question to ask. And I think it's also an easier question to answer. And what I want us to see from our passage this morning is the importance of just ordinary faithfulness. Nothing out of this world, but just ordinary, day in, day out, faithfulness to God. So turn with me, if you have a Bible, turn with me to page 858. We're going to be reading this morning from Luke chapter 2, starting at verse 39 and reading until verse 52.
That's Luke chapter 2 on page 858 of the Red Church Bibles. Luke 2, starting reading at verse 39. And when they, Mary and Joseph, had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child Jesus grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him.
Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances.
And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem searching for him. After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.
And he said to them, Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Well, what I want to convince you of this morning is this. that our response to the extraordinary person and work of Jesus Christ should be ordinary faithfulness. That our response to the extraordinary person and work of Jesus Christ should be ordinary faithfulness. We're going to look at this passage in two sections, in two points. Point number one, the ordinary faithfulness of Mary and Joseph. And then point number two, the extraordinary person and work of Jesus Christ. So point number one, the ordinary faithfulness of Mary and Joseph. And this is verses 39 through 42. But before we begin, I want us to take a few minutes to take stock and think about where we are in Luke's gospel.
You remember from Luke chapter 1 that Luke is writing an orderly account for his friend Theophilus. And Luke's aim in writing to Theophilus is to bring certainty concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ. And up to now in Luke's gospel, Luke has recounted the events leading up to the birth of Jesus. And earlier in chapter 2, we looked at this before Christmas, Jesus is born, he's then circumcised, and then he's presented at the temple. And those events took place in Bethlehem initially, that's where Jesus was born, and then moving on from there to Jerusalem, which is where he was presented at the temple. We also know, just as an aside from Matthew's gospel, that Jesus and his family escape to Egypt. But then our passage at verse 39 begins where Jesus and his family are making the
long trek up north back to Nazareth. They've completed everything that was required in the law according to those verses and then verses 41 and 42 tell us that the family make the trip south back again from Nazareth down to down back to Jerusalem the trip south every year for the Passover and the particular journey recorded in verse 42 onwards that happens when Jesus was the age of 12. Now it's worth just looking here at the fact that the four gospels, so that's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they're full of things that Jesus did and said during his public ministry, but his public ministry did not begin until he was aged 30. And what we have here in Luke chapter 2 is the only time, the only time that a gospel writer recounts something that
happened during Jesus' childhood. And perhaps due to the lack of biblical material, the early years of Jesus have been a subject of immense fascination throughout the history of the church. And so much so that some writers dating as far back as the first century have written their own accounts, their own false accounts of the early days of Jesus.
And they've done that to try and capture the imagination of their readers. People are interested in what Jesus was like as a boy. And so some writers have made up stories about what he got up to. And in some cases, they even named those Gospels. And there are the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Peter, two examples which contain stories about what Jesus allegedly did when he was a young boy.
To give you an example, one of the writers claims that Jesus fashioned some doves out of clay. And then he said some magic words, and the birds came to life. And then another story has Jesus as a boy being tormented by some other children, and so allegedly, according to these false stories, Jesus decides just to zap them with his divine powers. And so what are we to make of these accounts? Well, whenever we come across accounts like this, we need to apply two tests.
And the two tests are this. First, was the author an eyewitness? And then second, are the events described consistent with what we know about Jesus from the rest of Scripture? And both of those tests fail for those events that are claimed to have occurred during the early year of Jesus. Both of those tests failed. Neither of those men were eyewitnesses, and those stories are just simply not consistent with what we know about Jesus.
And although Luke himself, who's writing this gospel, he was not actually an eyewitness to these specific events, have a look down at verse 51, just later in our passage. At the end of verse 51, it says that Jesus' mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And we know that Luke was close with Mary, and so it's most likely that Mary told Luke about these events. And so we can trust that what is written here is true and that what we read in other places concerning the early life of Jesus is false, however much we might be interested in what he did.
So friends, do not be fooled by accounts that claim things about Jesus that simply aren't true. It isn't wrong for us to read those accounts, but do not let them undermine your convictions about Scripture, about the book you have in front of you. Because God has given us everything we need in his words. There isn't a detailed record of the early life of Jesus because God has decided in his infinite wisdom that we simply don't need it.
We don't need to know everything Jesus did between the ages of zero and 30. And all that we need to know about our Savior, friends, is contained in these pages right here in front of you. So do not let other false accounts of the life of Jesus lead you astray. So let's get back to our text. Notice how in verse 39, the beginning of our passage, Mary and Joseph had performed everything according to the law of the Lord.
Now, amongst other things, that included the purification and the sacrifice that's mentioned earlier in Luke chapter 2. And then in verse 41, Luke tells us that every year they traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. Now, what was the Passover festival? Well, the Passover festival was a celebration. It was a celebration of how God had dramatically rescued his people from slavery in Egypt hundreds of years before.
And what happens, you can read about it in the book of Exodus, but that rescue involved each family, each family in God's peak community sacrificing a lamb. Sacrificing a lamb who died in the place of the firstborn son. And so as well as providing freedom for God's people from their bondage in Egypt, that celebration of the Passover looked forward to a time when God would rescue his people from a far greater adversary.
The slavery in Egypt was bad, but a far greater adversary of slavery and bondage to sin would pollute God's people for all time. And so therefore, the celebration of the Passover looks forward to when God would provide another sacrifice. And it is, of course, fascinating. Isn't it fascinating that the real Passover lamb, Jesus himself, was present at these celebrations of the Passover that his family took him to every year.
So Mary and Joseph performing everything according to the law of the Lord in these opening verses. And my friends, we can draw lessons, I think, from the example of Mary and Joseph here. And what I want us to see this morning is their faithfulness. Their faithfulness. They simply did what was required of them. God's law stated that certain things needed to be done. And Mary and Joseph did them.
They were simple acts of faithfulness. And it's obvious from reading this account that they were costly acts of faithfulness. The journeys from Nazareth to Jerusalem were very long. It took several days, and they'd be traveling in caravans. They were long, and they were dangerous. But what was important, what was important for this small family was not how dangerous the journeys were, but following God's commands.
And therefore, they were acting in obedience. Now, I think this is interesting, because we often assume, don't we, as we read through the Bible, and particularly as you get to the end of the Old Testament and read the beginning of the New Testament, we often assume that obedience to God had declined. We assume that the period between the last Old Testament prophet speaking and the coming of Jesus, and that period was a few hundred years, we often assume that obedience to God and faithfulness to God had declined.
And I'm sure it had, and that was reflected, I think, in the religious leaders and the teachers. But yet here we have an ordinary couple devoting themselves to God and his words. We have an ordinary couple obeying his commandments and following what was required of them. And this isn't the first time we've seen that in Luke's gospel. We see it just earlier in chapter 2 with Simeon and with Anna.
And also, in chapter 1, Luke makes the similar comments regarding Zechariah and Elizabeth. And so, friends, these were ordinary. They were genuine. They were pious believers. And in many ways, they are no different to us. And we need to be clear, their faithfulness was in no way, in no way, an attempt to earn God's favor. We only have to go back to chapter 1 and listen to what the angel said to Mary to know that she was already favored by God.
She'd been told that by the angel in Luke chapter 1 verse 30. So what is their faithfulness? Well, it's not a way to earn God's favor, but it's a response. It's a response to God's kindness. It's a response to God's mercy. It's a response to his salvation. Mary sings that song in chapter 1, doesn't she? And she's just amazed at how God would choose her to be the mother of Jesus. And friends, the same is true for us.
Our faithfulness is not a way we earn God's favor, but it is our response to God's kindness to us. And so friends, I want us to think as we enter 2024, I want us to pause and to think exactly what is it going to mean for us to be faithful to God this year. What is it that God requires of us? Now probably what's on our list of things that we want to accomplish in the next year, maybe that's not what God is looking for in our lives.
Good though those things may be, maybe God is looking for some other things. And I want to suggest that what he wants from every one of us in this room in the year 2024 is simply faithfulness. He wants us to be faithful. And so how might that work out for us in 2024? Perhaps for some of us, it will be a commitment, a commitment to be here every Sunday morning to gather with God's people, to hear from his word, to pray together.
Perhaps it will be a commitment to spend more time reading the word ourselves, spending more time laboring in prayer for ourselves and for others. Maybe it will be faithful giving for all of us, To give sacrificially of our money in this new year. To give sacrificially of our time. Remember that Mary and Joseph's faithfulness was costly. And so should ours be. For some of us, faithfulness in 2024 will mean putting specific sins to death.
Things that we know we're carrying around with us, which we know that God doesn't like. And so why not bring others? Why not bring others in the church around you as you strive for faithfulness this year? Maybe find someone in your home group. Find an older member in the church. Find a trusted friend who can walk that journey of faithfulness with you in this new year to help you overcome the hurdles and hold you accountable for being faithful to God.
I think faithfulness to God for us will also mean loyalty to him. Perhaps you're facing opposition for being a Christian. Perhaps you face the mockery of school friends, of co-workers, or even family members. Maybe you've just got back from being with your family at Christmas and it was just a constant. You can't believe in that, can you? Well, friend, will you remain faithful? Will you endure being mocked for your beliefs? Will you hold fast to what you know to be true, even when others criticize and when others oppose your beliefs, and maybe even when society as a whole tells us that we're wrong and that we're intolerant?
Will we be faithful to stand up and show our loyalty to Jesus Christ? I think for some of us, in the providence of God, we will have to be faithful in suffering in 2024. And maybe a medical diagnosis will bring bad news. And maybe we'll face illness or bereavement. For each of us, there will no doubt be things this year which will upset our carefully planned goals.
And it's easy to despair, isn't it, when we're facing those times. And perhaps you're facing those times right now. And you're worried about what the new year will bring. I don't want to diminish the suffering that you're going through. But friends, we have a sovereign God. And so it's okay. Trust him. He's going to give us all we need to faithfully endure whatever is in front of us this year. He's given us his word.
He's given us a way in which we can talk with him and commune with him in prayer. And most crucially, I think he's given us each other. And so church, let's help each other walk with faithfulness this year, both in the good times and in the bad times. And so I hope we're not going to be burdened in 2024, Thinking that we have to achieve this goal, and this goal, and this goal, and this goal. And I think our passage this morning is just encouraging us to be faithful.
To be faithful to God. I have a member of my home group, who I just love listening to him give prayer requests. At the end of the home group, we go around and we update each other on our lives and the things that we're facing. And almost every single group, he just encourages us to pray that he would be faithful. And he lists the different roles that he has. He says, I want to be faithful as a Christian.
I want to be faithful as a husband. I want to be faithful as a father. I want to be faithful as a church member. And so every time we meet, we're praying for his faithfulness. And friends, I love that. And I hope that will characterize our lives this year, to prioritize faithfulness to God. So that's point number one, the ordinary faithfulness of Mary and Joseph. And now point two, the extraordinary person and work of Jesus Christ.
So this is verse 43 down to verse 52. Now let's start by noticing what Luke, the author of this text, wants us to notice about Jesus. Look at the top and the bottom of this passage, verse 39 and then down in verse 52. So what does Luke say? He repeats, doesn't he, in verse 40, that Jesus grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, And then down in verse 52, Luke says that Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Now, at first glance, there's nothing particularly interesting about these statements. They're pretty ordinary statements. But we'll return to them. We'll return to them once we uncover what Luke is telling us in this passage about the identity of this child. So let's look at the episode that follows in more detail. This is the boy Jesus in the temple. Now, not knowing where your young child is must be one of the most distressing experiences that a parent can have.
I'm sure some of you have had that experience. Maybe you're in a big venue, a place where there are crowds and crowds of people, and you think you've got eyes on your children, but no, suddenly one of them is not with you, and you agonizingly search until hopefully you find your child. Maybe some of you have been through that experience, but I do hope you haven't been through it in quite the same way as Mary and Joseph had. It took them a whole day's journey before they realized that their child was gone.
And I'm sure that if you're a parent here, you would have noticed the absence of your child much more quickly than they did. But before we point the finger at Mary and Joseph, I think it's just worth considering some of the context of their journey from Jerusalem back up to Nazareth. And if you look at verse 44, it gives some pretty crucial information that might help us understand how this could have happened. Verse 44, supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey. So actually, Mary and Joseph and Jesus were traveling in a large group of people back up to Nazareth. And who was in this group? Well, their relatives and their acquaintances, we're told. So this would have been a very large group of people, and it's possible it was custom in those days that the people would be segregated in some way. So it's possible the women and the children were at the front of the group, and that the men and the older children
are at the back. And so in that situation, it's very easy to see how one parent might have thought that their child was with the other. Perhaps even Jesus being 12, he wasn't kind of young enough to be with the younger children at the front with the women, but nor was he kind of old enough to be with the older children at the back, so maybe he was even somewhere in the middle. But whatever happens, they traveled a day's journey, and then they realized that Jesus was not with them. And meanwhile, all this time in Jerusalem, the boy Jesus had stayed behind. Verse 46 tells us that Jesus was in the temple. He was listening to the teachers and asking them questions. Now, the temple was one of the places you would go to back in those days to talk theology, maybe much like Scholar's Coffee at Southern's campus. If
you wanted to have a theological discussion, then you would go to the temple. But obviously, the temple was much more than that. The temple in the Bible was the place where God met with his people. It symbolized God's commitment to his people. It symbolized his willingness to be among his people. And it was where sacrifices were offered to deal with the people's sin. It was where God's law was taught, and it was where worship was offered to God.
It's so interesting, isn't it, that Jesus was found there in the temple, the place where God met with his people and who was Jesus well he was God with us Emmanuel and he was in the temple it's a fascinating place where he chose to be and so his parents find him in verse 48 they find him after a long search and what do they say to Jesus Mary says this she says son why have you treated us so behold your father and I have been searching for you in great distress and it's so interesting in this account that this forms part of a chain of astonishment and confusion and actually the chain starts one verse up in verse 47 when the teachers who are listening to Jesus were amazed at his understanding and his answers they're astonished that's the first link in that chain the astonishment of the teachers and the leaders in the temple but then in verse 48
who else is now astonished and confused well jesus parents that when they saw him they were astonished now his parents obviously aren't astonished at his understanding and his his answers that were the teachers in the temple who were astonished at that why are his parents astonished well it's because he was in the temple and he wasn't with them they were astonished that he would have stayed behind and not gone with them and i'm sure we can all sympathize with mary and joseph we consider that the the pain and the anguish they must have felt not knowing where their their son was and mary says that doesn't she in verse 48 she she says that they've been searching for jesus in great distress it must have been wrenching for them to have to search for him but then obviously so relieving when they found him
how happy they must have been but let's consider the reply the reply that Jesus gives to his parents in verse 49 because I think this reply is extraordinary verse 49 and Jesus said to them why were you looking for me did you not know that i must be in my father's house or in some translations about my father's business it's an extraordinary reply isn't it maybe we might have thought jesus reply would have gone something like this oh yeah i'm i'm sorry i'm sorry for treating you like this but i decided to stay here and i really should have told you and i think in that case his parents would have been right to to chastise him to punish him but that's not at all what jesus says is it and they don't punish him because jesus is astonished himself isn't he this is the third link in the chain of
astonishment and confusion Jesus is astonished why is he astonished where he couldn't understand why Mary and Joseph had searched in other places in Jerusalem for him he was astonished that they wouldn't know that he would be in the temple and this extraordinary question that he asks of his parents did you not know that I must be It's an incredible question, isn't it?
And I think it's incredible in several different ways. You see, first and most obviously, what is Jesus doing here at the age of 12? 12. Just think about how young a 12-year-old is. He's claiming at the age of 12 that God is his Father. He's claiming that he is the son of God. And this would have been shocking to those who heard that reply.
We don't know if it was public, maybe just his parents heard it. But no other human being before or after Jesus has ever made that claim. He is saying that he enjoys a different relationship to God than even the most pious of believers. he's saying that God is his Father. And it's incredible to think that Jesus had that realization even by the age of 12.
Obviously, he knew he was human. But by the age of 12, he knew that he was also God. It's amazing. I think another reason why this question he asks, Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? Another reason why that's an incredible thing for him to say is I think it's a slight correction, a slight correction to what his mother has just said. Look back at verse 48.
Mary says, Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress. You notice Mary refers to Joseph as his father. Well, of course, in some senses, Joseph was Jesus' father, not biologically, of course, but he was his legal guardian, his adoptive father. And I think so what Jesus is doing here, he's just very subtly and carefully reminding Mary that Joseph is not his real father.
The temple, after all, is not Joseph's house. Joseph's house was all the way back up in Nazareth with the carpenter workshop. No, the temple is not Joseph's house, but the temple is God's house. It's a shocking and startling claim that Jesus is making here, and it's one that he repeats later in the Gospels, later in his life. And on those occasions later in his life when he claims God as his father, he was accused of blasphemy. That a human being, someone who was the son of a carpenter, would claim that his father is God.
It's astounding, isn't it? Absolutely astounding. But then another way I think is Jesus' question, did you not know that I must be in my father's house? Another reason why that is such an outstanding question is that it implies that Mary and Joseph should have actually known who he was and, more importantly, where he was. And even though I think we're tempted to sympathize with Mary and Joseph in this story, we do need to remember what they have both been told.
You see, you go back to Luke chapter 1, verse 32, and Mary is told by the angel that her child would be the son of the Most High. She's been told, she was told that he was God's son. And Matthew's gospel records a similar thing being said to Joseph, the angel visited Joseph before the child was born. And so it seems that Jesus did expect his parents to know.
He expected them to know who he was and where he would be. And yet it's clear from this account that they are still grappling. They're still wrestling with his identity. And that's confirmed to us, isn't it, down in verse 50. And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And that may be where some of you are this morning, that maybe some of you here are also wrestling, trying to grapple with the identity of Jesus Christ. You've probably been told many times who Jesus is. You've read parts of the Bible. You've listened maybe to sermons just like this one, where you've been told clearly who Jesus is. And yet you still haven't really grasped his identity. You're wrestling, you're grappling with it, just like Mary and Joseph were. Who
is this person? Who is this child, they were saying. But for us, who is Jesus? And just like Jesus had to remind Mary that his real father was in heaven, sometimes for us, discovering the identity of Jesus will displace things from their normal place in our lives. Jesus' normal place was as a son in a family and yet his claim to be God and his claim to have a father in heaven was kind of displacing all of that.
And so maybe you're here this morning and you're asking these same questions as Mary and Joseph. Can this child really be the son of God? And so we've got to think, haven't we, what's going to help? What's going to help Mary and Joseph wrestle and grapple with Jesus' identity? And surely it's going to be two things. Listening to what he says and looking at what he does. Those will help them grasp his identity.
And Mary had plenty of opportunities to do this, didn't she? It's thought that Joseph died when Jesus was quite young. But Mary, his mother, was there all the way through his ministry. She witnessed his miracles. She listened to his teaching. She was there, wasn't she, at the cross when Jesus said to John, Behold your mother and to Mary, to John, behold your son. She watched her son die at the hands of the Romans. And then Mary was there too after his ascension.
She saw and heard so much. And you might be here this morning and thinking, well, if I'd have seen and heard all of that, then I would believe too. But what do we have in front of us right now? We have four eyewitness testimonies about Jesus. We are told right here what he did, what he said. So friend, if you're struggling to understand who Jesus is, will you read the book that's in front of you?
Will you hear it preached? Will you discover in 2024 who Jesus is? And will you believe in him? I'm sure any member of this church will happily walk you through one of the gospel accounts and help you do this. And so maybe that should be top of your priority list for 2024. And for all of us, what might need to be displaced in our lives this year?
What might need to be displaced in our lives so that we might accept the true identity of Jesus and continue following him? For Mary, she had to displace this whole idea of her nuclear family. The claim Jesus was making to be God didn't fit with that. And our situation will not be the same as Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. But friends, there will be some things stopping us from following Jesus wholeheartedly and living our lives this year as if we really believe that he is the Son of God.
For Mary, she had to accept that her family wasn't all this it seemed and that Jesus had a true Father in heaven. And perhaps for us, we will have to make adjustments. We'll have to make adjustments in our lives this year that will allow us to continue being faithful. I don't know what those adjustments might be for you. But what I do know is that God will help you.
Faithfulness to him will always be rewarded. And so you can be faithful to him in the sure knowledge that you're doing the right thing. so as we come to a conclusion let's look back at how this passage is bookended so look back at verse 40 it says that the child grew and became strong filled with wisdom and the favor of god's was upon him and then look down at verses 51 and 52 Luke says that Jesus was submissive to his parents and that he increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
So in some ways these verses paint a picture of a normal human child growing in strength and wisdom and obedience, hopefully. But there's one major exception, isn't there? And what is the exception? Why is Jesus not a human child in terms of his development? Well, it's because he was sinless. It's because never once did he do anything wrong. So my friends, it's clear to me that Jesus did not sin by staying in the temple.
He did not sin at all. And as one writer puts it, he grew up without the handicap of the power of original sin. We will never know what that's like. But it is his sinlessness, it's Jesus' absence of sin that qualifies him and qualifies him perfectly for the work that he would later do on the cross. Because on the cross he would bear the sin of others.
He would endure the punishment of God for the sins of God's people. And he could not have done that. He could not have done that if he had sinned himself. It's an incredible thought to reflect upon, isn't it? Just thinking about Jesus as a child. It would just have taken one sin, one wrong, one misdemeanor, one time when he didn't obey his parents, It would have just taken one thing, and then there would be no salvation.
We would not be here. There can be no sacrifice for sins performed by someone who had committed sins himself. And friends, as we reflect on Jesus Christ, we remember that only the perfect Son of God, only the perfect sinless Son of God could stand in our place, could absorb all the anger at God's anger at our sin. Only a sinless man could stare death in the face and say, no, I'm coming back to life.
Sin has no claim on me and therefore I live forever. So friends, we've considered this morning the ordinary faithfulness of Mary and Joseph and the extraordinary person and work of Jesus Christ. We've thought how faithful his parents were, even when they were yet to fully grasp his true identity. So brothers and sisters, how much more, how much more must we, knowing better than Mary and Joseph did, who Jesus is, how much more should we pursue ordinary faithfulness?
we know that he's fully man and fully God we know everything we know about Jesus because we've been taught it from the bible and therefore our response should be ordinary faithfulness it's the only response to the person and work of Christ it's the only way we can respond to the one who lived a perfect life and who died in our place to save us from our sins it's the only response to the one who rose again and who now sits enthroned in heaven so friends let's be found faithful to him both in 2024 and forever until he returns let's pray our father we thank you so much for the person and work of jesus christ we thank you for his death on the cross and his resurrection and the way that he is our savior and deliverer from our
sins lord we pray that we may be faithful to him this year pray that you would help us develop patterns of faithfulness patterns of growth and of development and of involving others in our lives We pray all this, knowing that you will be there to help us. In Jesus' name, amen.