​Luke 2:46-47
After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. (NIV)
 
               I have always wondered if some of these teachers that Christ was listening to and learning from would later be of the same group that Jesus referred to as a ‘brood of vipers.’  I suppose it is possible.  These men did know a great deal about the law.  Later, during Jesus’ ministry, he told the people to follow their teachings which would certainly suggest that what they were teaching was correct even though they were living what they were preaching.
Matthew 23:1-3
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
(NIV)
               Jesus called them out for being whitewashed tombs, being clean on the outside but dead on the inside.  Yet, it is very possible that those he learned from he later rebuked.  Some of the religious leaders though became disciples of Christ.  Nicodemus went to Jesus under the cover of night confessing that he and others knew that Jesus had come from God.  And what happened after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Many of the religious leaders who were Pharisees also became believers.


Acts 15:5
Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”
(NIV)
               I guess we could say that it is a wonderful thing that some of this same group responsible for the death of Christ and the persecution of Christians eventually see the light.  But even as we learn that they are now believers after the resurrection of Christ, they are arguing that Gentile Christians must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.  They taught the right stuff before but they weren’t living it and they rejected Christ.  But then those who had been opposed became sincere followers.  Yet, now after they are believers, they are teaching something that is wrong.  When they hated Jesus, they taught the right stuff.  When they followed Jesus, they were teaching the wrong stuff.  What a mess!!
               There is a Scripture that I think applies here and I just love this passage.  Here it is:
Proverbs 14:4
Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty,
but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests.
(NIV)
               This passage speaks to the messiness of Christianity’s forward development and progression.  As the belief system of those who put their faith in Jesus Christ moved forward to new people, new cultures, and against all odds, it was messy.  When there are no oxen, there’s no poop in the stable.  But we need oxen to do the work of the harvest and if we are going to have oxen, we are going to have poop.  Ha!  We are mere men and women attempting to teach something that is beyond our ability, beyond our intellect, beyond our comprehension.  We attempt to use finite words and wisdom to explain the Infinite Spirit God who is not limited in any way.  This is why the Bible refers to preaching as the ‘foolishness of preaching.’  True, how can someone be saved unless they hear the Gospel and how can they hear unless someone is preaching.  This is what the Bible teaches-we need preachers and teachers.  Yet, the Bible also says that these same preachers and teachers are going to get a lot wrong at times.  We have confidence knowing the Holy Spirit will prevail, but what a mess!  As a preacher, I don’t know if I am more offended to say that I am an ox, a fool, or one that leaves poop in the stable.  Nevertheless, I acknowledge that Christianity is messy, yet it continues to forcefully advance on.
               Conceding the mess of Christianity does not mean we should simply be happy to dance in the poop.  We must listen to our teachers and adhere what our preachers preach, but we must also study what they have taught and ask the Holy Spirit to help us to know what is true and what is a little bit off.  I am not talking about false teachers, but those who may desire to please God, but their understanding is incomplete as well just like these Pharisees who were believers, but were still confused about how the law of Moses fit into the law of Spirit and life.  Clearly, even with sincere teachers and preachers like myself, as we work to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we will leave messes.  But don’t be content with the mess.  Study to stay out of it.  Study to avoid it.  Study to help others avoid it.  Don’t dance in the poop.

​Luke 2:46-47
After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. (NIV)
               We don’t truly know a great deal about these three days.  We don’t know where the boy Jesus stayed.  We don’t know who was feeding him or taking care of him, if anyone.  Perhaps, he was fasting this whole time.  Perhaps he was sleeping in the Temple or going home with some family not mentioned.  We do not know.  But we do know that it was the third day when Mary and Joseph found him.  The third day-does that sound familiar to anyone?
               Can you imagine the fear that ran through these two very young parents?  Can you imagine the guilt they must have felt?  For two day, they wondered if their boy was ok.  Had something happened?  Was He ok?  Was He dead?  He was none of these, but studying from the teachers of the law.  And on the third day, they found their boy alive and well sitting at the feet of the master teachers of the temple.  He was alive.
               Luke was an intelligent man, a doctor.  When he wrote these words, the crucifixion and resurrection had already happened.  When he brought out this detail that it was on the third day that Jesus was found, there is a reference to the cross.  Studying is strangely compared to torture, death, then resurrection of Jesus Christ.
               When we study the Scripture, it can be torturous.  We are studying something that seems, at times, straightforward and then at others, contradicting.  To find the full meaning of these words written so long ago requires cross-referencing to know things such as why Passover is a direct foreshadowing of the cross of Jesus Christ.  Research must be done to understand the culture in which the words were written.  Deep thought goes into trying to understand the characters and what they were feeling at the time it was written.  Plain and simple, it’s work.  But the rewards!
               We saw nothing supernatural at the trials of Jesus Christ.  We saw nothing supernatural at His death.  There were no angels’ song.  There was no voice from Heaven.  His wounds were not healed as they were inflicted.  Ten thousand angels did not descend upon Calvary to lift our Savior away from that wooden cross.  But the third day…oh that glorious day!  Supernatural power released.  The dead came back to life.  Wounds that had killed were mere scars to prove that Jesus was the same man that drowned in his own blood hanging by the nails in his hands and feet.  The third day was a release of glory. 
               When Luke brings out that Christ was found on the third day after studying for two days listening to the teachers and asking questions, he is subtlety revealing the supernatural power that comes when we learn to study through.  It is just work to study once here and there.  But if we can ever develop a habit of continual study, the power of God will come to our heart and quicken our spirit like nothing on Earth can. 
               We are not studying analytical geometry-Praise the Lord!  We are not studying sentence formation nor are we studying for a test.  We are taking in, digging deeper, meditating on the very breath of God. 
2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is God-breathed
(NIV)
               And we do not study in solitude even if we are at the top floor of a library abandoned late at night.  No, we have a study partner, a supernatural tutor guiding us into all truth.  We study the breath of God while the Holy Spirit guides our hearts and minds to find the Revealer of Mysteries speaks from within us through the words written down and leads us through doorways of revelation we have never seen.  These amaze us and electrical currents of Heaven race through our veins and give life.  To read the Scripture is blessing, but to study it through and consistently brings life to the dead places of our soul.  It’s right there for you.  Sitting on your desk, your coffee table, an app in your phone, waiting for you, the breath of God and supernatural power.  Study the Word.

Luke 2:46-47
After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. (NIV)
                  They found the boy Jesus after three days.  Can you imagine knowing that your child is the Messiah born to a virgin of the Holy Spirit and letting him get out of your site?  I don’t want to be critical of Mary nor Joseph at all because I can’t understand their situation.  But my first thought is that I would want to treat this boy as precious cargo.  I would want to protect Him and keep Him and know that He is ok.  On the other hand, we know that Mary was fully aware of Jesus’ ability to perform miracles because she didn’t hesitate to ask Him to create more wine out of the blue for the wedding at Cana.  So, maybe the little boy Jesus had already revealed to them His power by walking on the water of his bathtub or raising the pet dog back to life.  I don’t know.  The Bible does say they were anxious when they realized he was not with them. Now, that is something I do understand-the panic that races through your veins when your six-year-old has decided to hide in one of the rings of hanging clothing at Dillard’s (Thanks Zach for scaring me to death😊).
                  For three days, Jesus was studying, sitting with teachers, asking questions, learning.  And for three days, His family was oblivious.  When you decide to be a true student of the Word, don’t expect your current circle of friends and family to follow you.  Maybe they will, but more than likely, this is something you will have to do without many of the people that you hang around with now. 
                  Our society is not a studying society.  We are not honed to study.  Kids play thousands of hours of video games, but to read five pages in a book overwhelms them.  It is too boring.  It is too tedious.  It is too plain, too bland.  Now, to watch a movie about it, they would do that.  We are not a reading society.  We are a watching society.  The problem with being a watching society is that we don’t have to work through anything on our own.  I loved the movie “The Passion.”  It was so well done.  But I have struggled since when reading the crucifixion story of allowing those images to fill my mind.  But the movie depicts how someone else envisioned what happened.  I want the Lord to reveal to me through my own mind’s eye how things went down in a way that reveals more to me about my Lord.  I don’t want to watch a movie about Jesus’ washing the disciple’s feet.  When I use my own mind to work through the scenes as the Holy Spirit leads me, He can reveal things to me that might have remained unnoticed. 
                  When our society does read, very little reading is done to learn.  The romance novels with Fabio on the cover entertain and capture imaginations.  John Grisham can make us feel the intensity through the ink and pages.  But this is not learning.  This is entertainment.  The Bible is not always entertaining though it is quite shocking and mesmerizing at times.  If you are going to start studying the Scripture, don’t be surprised if there are pressures to steal your time.  When you want to study, your friends are all going out to have a night on the town.  When you want to study, your spouse is going to want you to sleep late.  When you want to study, the devil will remind you of a million other things you need to do or just want to do.  It may be hard to have an accountability partner.  I am not talking about going to a class once a week to learn.  I am talking about studying what you learned every day between classes.
                  Let’s be about our Father’s business.  The Lord has called us to run the business, not to simply be clients.  If I am going to run my Father’s business, I had better study the earnings reports and the profit loss sheets.  I had better understand the system of gathering orders and shipping them out.  I need to study the schedule of employees.  I need to know the tax code.  I need to understand the ins and outs of the business.  If I don’t study the Father’s business, my Christianity will look more like Chris Farley in Tommy Boy than someone who has study and showed themselves approved.  When we don’t study the Father’s business, we can do more damage than good.
                  Let’s not do Christianity like everyone else.  Let’s pursue wisdom.  Let’s study hard.  Even though few people actually study the Bible, let’s do it.  Get a study Bible that helps with the culture, the original language and wrestle with the text and the Holy Spirt until you have a deeper understanding of the Father’s business.  

Luke 2:46-47
After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. (NIV)
                  When Jesus abandoned His glory in Heaven, He came in the flesh.  He came human. By His power, He left His knowledge behind.  He was giving us an example to live by.  Jesus chose to come in the form of a baby who couldn’t walk or talk.  He became a child struggling to form words.  But as He physically, mentally, and emotionally matured, He was led by the Spirit to learn the Scriptures.  He sat with teachers asking questions and pondering their answers.  The people were amazed at how well He understood the concepts they were teaching.  Certainly, the Lord was intelligent in His human form, but He also studied.  He went to class.  He learned.
                  When the Spirit led Christ out into the desert to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4), He did not defeat His enemy with great force.  He didn’t call down angels to defend Him.  He didn’t ask Michael to come down and fight this demon.  Nope, instead He responded to every temptation with Scripture.  The Holy Spirit filled Him with courage for the battle, strength to fight, peace in the conflict.  But the weapon He used was the Sword of the Spirit, the Bible.  If you had to fight the devil today, would your knowledge of the Scripture reveal a giant, sharp, two-edged sword or a pocket-knife?  Would you wield your sword with great expertise and prowess to gain the victory or would you struggle to get that little blade to come out of the pocket-knife? 
                  Obviously, the weapon the Lord has told us that we need is the Word of God.  But if I were in a sword fight right now, I would not know how to handle it.  I would not understand the techniques and footwork to win the battle.  I might have a really nice sword, but unable to use it effectively.  This is what it is like to read your Bible, but never sit under the teaching of someone who is more expert than you. 
                  Recently, I went to the fridge (not sure why all my stories are about food), and I pulled out an American Classic-An Oscar Meyer hot dog.  Usually, I just heat them up in the microwave, throw ‘em on a bun, douse them with mustard and chomp-chomp.  But this time, for some reason, I started to read the ingredients.  Mechanically separated turkey.  Mechanically separated chicken. Cultured dextrose. Sodium phosphate.  Cultured celery juice.  Cherry powder.  MMMmmmm….good!  Ha! I don’t think so.  Reading the ingredients did not whet my appetite and I have always loved hot dogs, but I couldn’t help but wonder what mechanically separate turkey and chicken was.  Well, I found out.  After the meat has gone through the machines that strip the meat off the bones, there is some remnants of meat remaining on the bone.  These are put through a sive.  The bone along with the little bit of edible meat left on the bone are run through a sive to create a substance that can be squeezed like toothpaste out of a tube into a mold.  Even though bone is not edible, the USDA allows for companies to put as much of this substance in each hot dog as they want.  I pulled the hot dog out of the microwave and flung it straight into the trash can. 
                  You see normally I only consume hot dogs, but this time I studied them.  Consumption doesn’t give us the full picture.  So many Christians have read the Bible, consuming it.  And this is a good thing, but the Bible must be studied for its contents to really understand it. 
                  Ok, I want to be clear that I was not trying to compare The Bible with a hot dog.  The point is that we must study.  The Bible says this:
2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth
(KJV Strong's)
                  Rightly dividing the word of truth is the knowledge to dig down deep into the Word of God to understand each ingredient of the Lord and how all these work to form the Bread of Life that we might know Him better.  Studying requires teachers, but it also requires re-check of what the teacher has said to ensure that what was taught is also what was said. 
                  You see, when we get into the habit of just consuming, the next thing you know, we don’t even want to cook or prepare the meal.  We don’t want to read the Bible ourselves.  We want someone else to read it for us and then tell us what it says.  It’s Fast Food theology.  The problem is that when we don’t also study on our own or at least re-check what we’ve been taught, we don’t really know what we are consuming.  Have you ever complained about your food at a restaurant and then wonder if they are going to spit in your food now before they bring it back to you?  I have.  And I know I ain’t the only one 😊.  Well, if we only consume and never study our spiritual meals, how do we know the devil hasn’t spit on our food.
                  Westboro Baptist Church, Jim Jones, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Jehovah Witnesses are all ministries that use or used the Bible but in a way that does not honor the Lord at all.  In fact, it is deceptive leading people away from the Lord.  Each time they sit down for a good spiritual meal, they don’t realize the devil spit on their food before it was brought out.
                  Let’s follow the example of Jesus from the youngest age.  Let’s not simply be consumers of the Word, but let us study and show ourselves approved able to handle the word of truth correctly and recognize those who do not.

Luke 2:46-47
After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. (NIV)
 
                  Jesus was not simply sitting and listening.  He was asking questions.  He was engaged in learning.  This was not church.  It was Sunday School.  It was a LifeLine.  It was a small group.  The Christian world has diminished the growth process to spending an hour or two each month listening to a preacher/teacher expound upon the great truths of the Scripture.  This is good.  It’s very good.  But the Bible calls for us to seek out wisdom as if it were a hidden treasure.  This is imagery that we have missed in our Western, consumer-driven Christianity.
                  In America, if you want something, you just go and get it.  Even as I am writing this, a story has come out in the news where very rich people used their wealth and influence to bribe college officials to give their children preferential treatment.  They paid people to take SAT tests for them.  And even though they got caught and will more than likely suffer consequences, it is a great picture of our consumer-driven society.  If you want something, just go and get it.  Use the resources you have and go and get it.  Right now, if I wanted some Blue Bell ice cream, I would need to put forth very little effort to get up my from desk, get into my car, and go get some.  There are people somewhere that have worked very hard to produce, package, and ship some Blue Bell right near my house.  And other people have built a building with a giant freezer to hold this ice cream for me until I am ready to go and get it.  Just about everything in our culture is like this.  But the Bible is teaching us that wisdom is not like everything else.  It is hidden, not easily obtained.
Proverbs 2:1-4
My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding --
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure, (NIV)
                  We go to church as if we will find wisdom there.  We read a Max Lucado book, and we convince ourselves that we will have more wisdom.  But there is a difference between wisdom and knowledge.  Because of our consumer society, we think wisdom is readily available, but if that was true, would our society be so crazy.  Lately, there have been trailers of the television show called The Bachelor.  This sort-of good-looking guy is being paid millions of dollars, no doubt, to meet many very beautiful women so that he can choose the one he wants..  But in the trailer, the guy starts crying and wants to get away so badly that he jumps the fence.  This launches an intense manhunt for this poor rich, good-looking guy who had other people search the country for the most beautiful and eligible women to marry.  Don’t you just feel sorry for the guy.  His life is so tough.  This is what I mean by ‘crazy.’  If wisdom was readily available like my Blue Bell, people wouldn’t act so juvenile.  Have you seen any talk shows lately with crazy people on it? 
                  If wisdom were ice cream, everyone would be wise, make wise decisions, but people are nuts!!  We do the craziest, stupidest things. 
In our nation, the Bible has had few barriers.  There are more Bibles out there, more Christians radio stations, more preachers and teachers on tv than ever before.  If wisdom was readily available for the consumer, our world would be different.  Knowledge is readily available, wisdom not so much.
                  Knowledge is knowing what to do, but wisdom is this knowledge applied in a way that changes our morality, perfects our ethics, increases our love.  It is the Lord that gives wisdom.  It is supernatural.  Wisdom removes the blinders placed by our sinful nature.  Our eyes are opened.   Knowledge makes me aware there is a different path, but wisdom transforms me so that I desire that path. 
                  When we come to church or watch a sermon on television, there is power.  The Bible says the Word of God is the breath of God and it powerfully moves and transforms us.  Despite this though, the difference between passively listening to the Word and actively asking questions about the Word reveal two different paces in pursuit of wisdom.  Like the sloth and the cheetah move at different speeds so listening exclusively moves us slowly, but dialogue is a racing cheetah.  Want to find wisdom, it must be pursued in dialogue with other believers and teachers.  Accelerate your path to wisdom.  Find a LifeLine, Sunday School, or some small group to supplement your listening with questions.  Knowledge may be readily available, but wisdom must be sought after passionately.
Proverbs 3:13-18
Blessed are those who find wisdom,
those who gain understanding,
14 for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
those who hold her fast will be blessed. (NIV)

Luke 2:46-47
After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. (NIV)
              Jesus sat among the teachers.  With whom do you sit?  Jesus was spending entire days sitting at the feet of the teachers of the law.  And He was educated.  His soul was filled with the truths of the Word.  He was matured and transformed through this process.  He placed Himself in a circle of teachers and learners of the world and He learned and became a teacher.  Isn’t it something how the company we keep determines so much about our direction in life.
              We are talking about discipleship and becoming like Christ by doing the things that Christ did.  One thing He did we see from an early age was to surround Himself with others studying, meditating, discussing, and applying the Scriptures to their daily life.  The Bible is clear to warn us about the circles we place ourselves in.  The company we keep makes a difference.
Proverbs 13:20
Walk with the wise and become wise,
for a companion of fools suffers harm. (NIV)
              Why does the companion of fools suffer harm?  Because they act like those that they have surrounded themselves with.  Our design as human beings is to crave community.  We want to feel as if we fit, like we belong.  We look for people with whom we can connect and belong.  Godly application of this divine design within us will build strong bonds with other followers of Christ so that we support them in their time of need, and they do the same for us.  But when sin corrupts this divine design, we seek approval and belonging from people who have no desire to follow God. 
              The most difficult part of this design is that we are seeking to belong and be part of a group of friends way before we have the emotional maturity to walk away from these people if they are having a negative influence on us.  Why do young kids join gangs and stay even when they know it is a dangerous existence?  They do it because of our inherent desire to belong.  Belonging is a human need higher than morality.  All the time, we will forfeit morality to belong.
              This makes the place of parents guiding their children into the right circles of friends very important.  When children leave the home, they will not always find Jesus-following kids who accept them and want them to be part of their group.  If they get connected to the wrong crowd, the importance of that acceptance will lead them down the wrong road because acceptance and belonging is a higher priority than morality in our sinful state.  The Bible says, “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33).  Another translation says it like this: “Bad company ruins good morals” (ESV). 
              This phenomenon doesn’t change just because we get older.  We want to belong.  But as adults, we must discipline ourselves to make morals higher than belonging.  This discipline gives us the emotional strength to leave relationships when they become toxic.  But we must go even further than leaving bad circles and seek out strong circles.  What kind of people did Jesus surround Himself with from an early age?  He sat among the teachers and learners. 
              Whatever we do each day will determine what we will become, but what we do each day is determined by the company we keep.  If you want to be an overcomer of all the devil throws at you, you must place yourself among those who habitually seek a deeper understanding of God.  Some groups we cannot choose.  We cannot choose our parents.  We cannot choose our siblings.  We cannot always choose our co-workers.  We cannot always choose those around us.  But when we find ourselves surrounded by people whose lifestyles seek to know more of the world than God, we need to find another group to be our refuge from the harmful circles we can’t control.  This is why finding a small group of people, seekers of God is so vital to be able to live of life of victory.
              Here at CrossRoads, we have LifeLines for this very purpose.  Whether you join a group officially designated by the church is not essential, though it is a very positive part of the church that helps you find and remain on the right path in life.  Call it a Bible study group, a prayer circle, a gathering of Christ-friends.  The name is not important.  What’s important is to make absolutely certain you have surrounded yourself with learners and teachers of the Word of God.
Proverbs 12:26
The righteous choose their friends carefully,
but the way of the wicked leads them astray. (NIV)
​

Luke 2:46-47
After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. (NIV)
                  Jesus was the Word which was with God in the beginning.  He is the Second Person of the Trinity of God.  He and the Father are One.  The Bible says that nothing that has been made was made without Him.  He is God.  There’s no doubt that He is God.  But even though He is God, we must never lose sight that He is God who came to Earth as a man.  While on the Earth, He did not live like God.  He lived like a human being from the time He was born to the time He died.  Yes, He was born to a virgin and He rose from the dead, but He relinquished His divine power for His own purposes for the thirty-three years He walked the Earth.
                  If we forget this, it is so easy to forget or to diminish the importance of many of the things that Christ did.  He prayed to the Father.  He asked the Father for help.  Why did Jesus need help from the Father if He and the Father were united completely as One?  It was because Jesus was living as a human being experiencing this world just as we do.  He needed help just as we need help.  He called upon the Father and taught us to do the same. 
                  One of these very ‘human’ moments where we see Jesus is at the age of 12.  His parents, like good Jews, travelled to Jerusalem for the Passover each year.  Jews were dictated by Mosaic law to travel to Jerusalem three times a year for the Feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Booths.  The whole nation would return to Jerusalem and be there for extended periods of time during these religious festivals.  On one occasion, we read about in the Book of Luke, Jesus’ parents and the large group they were travelling with left Jerusalem after the Passover.  Because of the large group, it was assumed that Jesus was with them, but after the third day, they realized He was not with them and they hurried back to Jerusalem.  They found Him in the temple, sitting among the teachers listening and asking questions.  He was learning the law and history of the Jewish people.       
                  If we forget that He relinquished all of His glory as God to come as the Messiah, then it would seem strange that the omniscient God would need or want to sit among human teachers to learn about the people He created and chosen as His own.  The Bible teaches us that His experience as a man made Him our compassionate High Priest because He understands what we face in temptations.  But He also stands as an example for us of how to overcome all of these temptations and live a life devoted to the Lord.  He is a living example of how to live the life God has called us to, submitting to the will of the Father through the power and communion of the Holy Spirit.  But the first ‘human’ thing we see Him doing as an example of how we can do the same is studying and learning from the teachers at the Temple.
                  There is so much of the life of Christ that we simply do not know, but the reason this episode of His life was included in Luke’s Gospel is to help us see that studying the Word of God and being taught by our teachers is an essential part of living a life pleasing to the Lord, a life that overcomes all temptation, a life of complete obedience to the Father, a life full of the power of the Holy Spirit.
                  His parents asked Jesus why He has stayed behind like this and He responds, “Didn’t you know I had to be about my Father’s business?”  He was basically letting them know that He had to learn.  He had to educate Himself.  He knew the mission The Father had sent Him to accomplish and His ability to accomplish this task required He study and learn that He might know the Father’s business. 
                  How important is studying the Word of God to you?  How important is learning from teachers with a higher understanding than you?  We can look at all of the habits we have and that we don’t have and quickly see where studying the Word of God and learning from teachers falls within our many priorities.  If we want to live a life filled with the glory of God, the power of God, the victory of God, we must make it a priority to study the Word of God and learning from others who have reached heights in the Word we have not yet reached.