The Example of Jesus as a Young Boy — Zac Poonen

Jesus Sent to Represent the Father

I'd like to turn to John's Gospel in chapter 1. You know, Jesus once told his disciples that as the Father sent me, so send I you. And if you are a born-again child of God, which means if you have repented of your sins and asked Jesus Christ to come into your heart and be your Savior, He's accepted you.

Then you have a calling not to be a full-time worker. Very, very few are called to be full-time Christian workers. Maybe I think 1 in 10 ,000 believers is called to full-time Christian work. But all the remaining 9 ,999 believers are still called to represent Christ and to be his witnesses.

So, those of you sitting here, you may not be called to full-time Christian work like I was called, but you are to represent Christ. And as the Father sent him, he sends you into the world. And I want to encourage all of you to take that seriously.

His words, as the Father sent me, so send I you. So, when we think of how the Father sent Jesus, there's one part of Jesus' ministry we can never do, that is to die for the sins of the world. That was a special task only he could do.

But there was another very important ministry that he fulfilled. And I want to read that to you in John chapter 1. It says in verse 18, No one has seen the God at any time. We know that. No one has seen God at any time.

But the only begotten God who's in the bosom of the Father, that's Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He has explained him. That's a very important word. Jesus came and explained to the world what the Father was like.

Not just in words, by the way he lived. The way he treated people and the way he lived his whole life. He showed the world what the Father was like. And he has sent us with the same calling as the Father sent the Son, so he sends us.

To explain to the world what God is like, what Jesus is like. That is our primary calling. So you don't have to be a preacher in order to do that. Because we do that first of all by our life. To show the world what Jesus is like.

Because remember, in Jesus' life, he lived 33 and a half years on earth. And out of that he preached only for three and a half years. Never forget that the Gospels are a description of those last three and a half years.

Jesus’ Hidden Years as an Example for Believers

What did he do in the other 30 years of his life? He explained to the world throughout his life what God was like. No one had seen God. It says there, verse 18, no one has seen God at any time. And Jesus was the first person who came and showed the world what God was like.

In the Old Testament, it was only the prophets who came and preached messages to the people. And I'm sorry to say that today in many churches, it's messages that are being preached. That's Old Testament pattern.

The New Testament pattern is to explain to the world what God is like. And 30 out of 33 years in Jesus' life, he didn't preach. It was by his life. So 90 of Jesus' life, he never preached. He just lived the life and showed the world what God was like.

You think he showed the world what God was like only in the last three and a half years he was alive? No. I believe when he was at a home as a young teenager, he showed what God was like. When he was a carpenter, 20 years old, 25 years old, working as Joseph had died and he had to take care of his family.

He showed the world what the father was like. You know, in difficult circumstances, he grew up in a poor home, worked as a carpenter or we don't know exactly what exactly work he was doing. Some type of work as a carpenter, he showed the world what God was like in his business, in the way he treated people.

And that is our calling. Beginning as in our own home, in the way Jesus treated his mother and responded, the Bible says that children must obey their parents, honor their parents. And I believe Jesus obeyed that.

He honored Mary and as long as Joseph was alive. And throughout his life at home, I can imagine the number of ways in which, you know, it says in Mark chapter 6 that Jesus, I don't know whether you know that, that Jesus had four younger brothers and two sisters.

Turn with me to Mark chapter 6. This is just some of you may know it already, but for the benefit of those who don't know it in verse 3, the people in the synagogue said, is not this the carpenter? Jesus was known as the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon and his sisters are here.

That means, I don't know how many sisters, but it means at least two. And it says plural sisters. So Jesus was the eldest of seven children. I don't know whether all of you know that. Jesus was in Mary had at least seven.

There were more daughters than more than that, but a minimum. Mary had seven children. And Jesus was the eldest. And you know how it is. I don't know whether you've seen or been in a home with seven children.

If it's a poor home, it's good for us to see the type of home Jesus grew up in, to understand what it means to be a Christian. It begins at home. It doesn't begin with preaching. It doesn't begin out in the world.

It begins in the home and then in your place of work. For the first 30 years of Jesus' life, 90 of his life, he was not preaching. And 90 of Christians are not preachers. See, all of you are not called to be preachers, but Jesus is an example for you in the way he lived at home and in his place of work.

That's all he was in 30 years. He was at home and in your place of work. Where do you spend your time? At home and your place of work. Well, that's where Jesus spent 90 of his time. And if you want to know how to live there in your place of work and in your home, you've got to say, Lord, show me how you lived at home.

How you lived in your place. And everywhere he was explaining to the world what God was like. He behaved in a way that people could understand what the true God was like. In the Old Testament, nobody could do that.

The Law Reveals Sin and the Need for Salvation

The Old Testament, they only proclaim messages saying, this is how God wants you to live. And the standard was so high that the honest people would say, we can't live up to that standard. For example, to love God with all your heart, who can do that?

And to love your neighbor, which means everybody in the world, just like you love yourself, who can do that? Nobody can do it. It's impossible. The standards are so high. So, the Old Testament was proclaiming a standard which nobody could reach.

But the purpose of what's called the law, the law was given not to make people holy. It was to show people you can never reach up to God's standard. Remember this. God did not expect anybody to be able to keep the law because he knew that human nature is so corrupt, it can never keep the law.

Then why did he give it? To help people to see, don't think you're so spiritual. Look at the standard. You have not come up to it. So, the law was given to help people to see that they are sinners. That's why in the Bible it says the law is like a mirror.

When you look into a mirror, you can't wipe your dirty face with your mirror. But a mirror is very important. I think all of us look at a mirror at least once a day or many times a day. What do you see?

You see your face, your reflection. If there's dirt on your face, your hair is not combed, you see it in a mirror. And the law was exactly like that. The Old Testament, I'm trying to explain simple things to you, but you perhaps never knew that till now.

The Old Testament was not given to help people to live up to that standard, but to show them you cannot reach God's standard. And those who acknowledge that would say, Lord, we can't reach it. But this is your standard.

What are we supposed to do? Those are the people who found salvation. But the Pharisees, they pretended we are keeping the law. They were hypocrites. They fooled all the simple people saying they are keeping the law and everybody respected them.

Oh, these are the people who keep the law. We are simple people. We can't keep it. And Jesus came and exposed them. He said, you are a bunch of hypocrites. The word hypocrite, by the way, is again not an English word.

There are words like that you find in the Bible which are not English. You need to understand. For example, amen. We all say amen at the end of prayer. Do you know what that means? It's not an English word.

When you say amen, what do you mean? For many years you have said amen. You heard somebody pray and you said amen. Okay, today I'll tell you what it means. It's a Hebrew word which means it will be so.

Did you mean that when you heard his prayer? For most people, amen means you can open your eyes now. Prayer is over. But that's not the meaning of amen. Amen is what that fellow said in prayer to God.

It will be so. Lord, I believe it's going to happen. When you say amen at the end of your prayer, you know what you're saying? Lord, I prayed for something just now to the best of my ability and faith.

According to the level of my faith, I believe it will be so. If it doesn't happen, two possibilities. One, you did not pray according to God's will. Then, of course, it won't happen. Second, it was according to God's will, but you don't have faith enough for it.

Faith, Authority, and Prayer

You remember once the disciples could not cast out a demon. Matthew chapter 17 and verse 14. A man came up to Jesus and said, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he's a lunatic. He's mad, very ill, and he often jumps into the fire and jumps into the water.

Listen to this. I brought him to your disciples and they could not cure him. Before we go further, I want you to turn back to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10. This is where it begins. Matthew chapter 10 verse 1.

Jesus called his disciples and what did he do? He gave them authority over all unclean spirits to cast out every type of demon. He gave them, I give you authority to cast out every demon, to heal every disease, to every kind of sickness.

Now, he hasn't given that power to everybody. So, that's not for you and me, but he did give it to those twelve. What did they have authority to do? They had authority to cast out every type of demon.

Now, we turn to John 17, verse 16. Lord, I brought him to your disciples and you could not cure him. And Jesus says, you unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?

Does Jesus speak like that to his disciples? Who was he speaking to? He wasn't speaking to that man. And the man said, I brought him to your disciples and they could not cure him. And Jesus said, you unbelieving people, how long have I got to be with you to do all this?

I gave you authority to cast out the demon and you could not do it. Then the man brought the child and Jesus rebuked the demon and the demon came out of him. The boy was cured at once. Now, you got to read all this carefully.

Then the disciples came to Jesus and why couldn't we drive him out? Well, I could expand Jesus' reply by saying, you remember I gave you a few days ago authority over every demon? You read that in Matthew 10 verse 1.

But you didn't have faith. You know, Jesus can tell you I've given you this and it doesn't work in your life because you don't believe. Here is the classic example of that. He specifically told them, I give you authority over every demon.

But you don't have faith. And he said, if you had faith, the size of a mustard seed in what I told you, that is in Matthew 10 verse 1, I give you authority over all demons. If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could even say to this mountain, move away from here, it'll go.

Nothing will be impossible for you. But in this particular case, it will not go out unless you pray and fast. Now, why do you need to pray and fast to cast out a demon when Jesus has given you authority already?

The praying and fasting is not to get the authority. The praying and fasting is, Lord, help me to have faith to believe in the authority you've given me. So the Lord told those disciples that though I give you authority, if you don't have faith, it will not work for you.

That's the lesson we need to learn. There are many things promised in scripture. But if we don't believe it, it will not work in our case. Jesus came and manifested to the world what God was like. Now he tells us, as the Father sent me, so send I you.

And I'm supposed to manifest to the world what Jesus is like. Jesus once said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. You don't need to. God hasn't come down. You've seen me, you've seen the Father.

And let me tell you our calling, brothers, your calling and my calling, if we claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ, we are supposed to say to people, if you've seen me, you've seen a little bit of what Jesus is like.

Now, it's not true, but it should be our calling. And that's what we should aim for. I'm trying to show you the goal towards which we must live. Don't be satisfied with just going to church or just reading the Bible or just praying.

You must never be satisfied until you're able to reflect Christ in your life. It's a tremendous calling. When Jesus said, you shall be witnesses unto me, Jesus was a witness to the Father. So let me show you that verse in John chapter 14.

The reason I quote so much scripture, unlike many other preachers, is because I want your faith to be founded on God's word and not mine. And Jesus says here in verse 9 of John 14, the middle of verse 9, he who has seen me has seen the Father.

Yeah. And Jesus said, as the Father sent me, so send I you. That verse, by the way, is in John chapter 20. Put these two verses together. John chapter 20, you read here in verse 21. Peace be with you.

This is after the resurrection. Many of you know that there's a thing called a Great Commission. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's found in Mark's gospel chapter 16.

Many people have heard of it. They call it the Great Commission. Go everywhere and preach the gospel to every creature. There's another part of the Great Commission in Matthew 28. Go and make disciples of all nations and teach them to obey everything I've commanded you.

But that is all towards the end of his 40 days on earth before he ascended. But do you know what is the first part of the Great Commission? The three Great Commissions. What I just mentioned is number 2 and number 3.

Number 2 is, go preach the gospel everywhere. And number 3 is, make disciples of all nations. But what is number 1? That is in John chapter 20, verse 21. As the Father sent me, so send I you. That's number 1.

Number 2 is, go and preach the gospel to all nations. Number 3 is, go and make them disciples. Now, the thing is, a lot of people have concentrated on number 2. Hardly anybody concentrates on number 3.

Make disciples. They say preach the gospel and get them to accept Jesus and then leave them and move on. But Paul never did it like that. Paul knew that those he converted, he had to make into disciples.

But I'm now trying to show you about number 1. As the Father sent me, so send I you. So then I go back to scripture and say, what did the Father send Jesus to do? Well, it was not just to die for the sins of the world.

Because he died for the sins of the world just a few hours on the cross. The last 3 hours on the cross. That's when he took the sins of the world. When the Father forsook him. But what was he doing for 33 years?

How can you sum up all those 33 and a half years of his life in one sentence? He explained what the Father was like. He who has seen me has seen the Father. You look at Jesus' life. His compassion for the weak.

That's what God is like. He washed the disciples' feet. And it's immediately after that. That was John 13. And John 14 he says, you saw what I did now? Now see what God is like. God, when the day comes, when we see God face to face, we will see that God is a very, very humble person.

All the arrogance and pride you see in Christians is of the devil. God is the exact opposite of that. That's why the devil found no place in heaven. The devil could not find place in heaven because of one reason.

The nature of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is humility, humility, humility. And there is no place in heaven for anyone who's got any spirit other than that. And when the devil manifested pride there, I want to be the highest.

He was immediately cast out. And I want to tell you in Jesus' name, anyone who's got that spirit will be rejected from God's presence. Jesus revealed the Father by washing people's feet. In those days, that was a job of a slave.

In Israel, they had slaves, usually not the Jews, but people of other nations. And rich people had a slave. And when people came to their house with dusty feet because they wore sandals, they had a slave in that house with a bucket of water to wash their feet before they came in for dinner.

So when at the Last Supper, Jesus had asked a rich man to give him the upper room of his house, but he said, I don't want a slave. Keep the bucket of water there for people to wash their feet, but no slave, because this is a private meeting with my disciples.

So when the disciples went in there, their feet were all dirty. The bucket of water was there, but no slave. They knew the procedure is somebody's got to wash the feet before they sit down for dinner.

Nobody was going to do it. Everybody was important, self-important. So Jesus said, I'm the slave here. And when he washed the feet, he was revealing what God is like. Dear brothers and sisters, remember your calling is not just to preach and spread the gospel in various ways.

Primarily, our calling is to reveal to the world what Jesus Christ is like. As the Father sent me, so send I you. As Jesus manifested the Father by his life, by everything he did, his compassion for the poor and the weak and sick, by his humility in doing the lowliest jobs, by his caring for little children, children who are attracted to Jesus.

I've often said this. If you're not attracted to little children, if you don't love little children, something's wrong with you. You're not a Christian. You can have any other definition of Christian you like, but a true Christian loves little children.

He cares for them. He will encourage them. When he goes to a home, he won't just talk to the adults. You ask yourself when you go and visit a home, do you ever speak to the children in that home? Or do you only speak to the grown-ups?

Then you're not like Jesus. Let me tell you that straight to your face. You are not like Jesus Christ. You can talk profound things to the older people in that house, but if you don't speak to the children, if you don't care for them, you are not like Jesus Christ.

I believe Jesus, when he went into a home, he cared for the children. He probably spoke to the children first because he loved them. He said, these are the ones who are most like, most heavenly people in this house are these children.

He explained the Father. It's a tremendous calling we have. Some of you may say, I can't go and preach the gospel all over the world. Never mind, brother. That's the second part of the Great Commission.

You can't do that. You say, I can't go and make disciples everywhere. I'm not that calling. Fine. What about the first Great Commission? As the Father sent me to explain what he was like, I'm sending you to show the world what I'm like.

Who is there who can say, you can say, I can't do that. You can do that if you're willing. And that's why we need the Holy Spirit. I'll tell you the primary reason why we need the Holy Spirit's power is not to be able to preach like somebody.

That is pride. It's covetousness. I want to be able to preach. I want to get a name as a preacher, so I'll seek for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. You're an arrogant, proud man if you're seeking for that.

The Holy Spirit Empowers a Life of Witness

God gives us the Holy Spirit. What did Jesus say? Turn with me to Acts of the Apostles, chapter 1, verse 8. Let's read it carefully. Why did Jesus say you must have the Holy Spirit's power? Acts 1, 8.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And what? You shall preach the gospel everywhere? You shall make disciples everywhere? That's not what he said here. You will be my witnesses.

What does it mean to be a witness of Jesus? I'll tell you what it means. To move around and show people what Jesus is like. I have to be a witness by my life, first of all, before my words. Like somebody said to a preacher, listen carefully, your life is speaking so lovely that I can't listen to what you're saying.

Your life is speaking so loud, I can't listen to what you're saying because your life contradicts everything that you say. Your life is preaching another message, your tongue is preaching another message.

That is the tragedy with so many Christians, so many preachers. Their life is preaching one thing and their mouth is preaching something else. That's called hypocrisy. It's called acting. The word hypocrite is a Greek word which means actor.

In the first century, if you went to Greece and asked where are the hypocrites, they'd say in the theater. That's where all the hypocrites are. That means the actors. Today you ask where are the hypocrites, they say in the church.

That's where they are. Actors who are pretending to be holy when they are not. Speaking so many profound words which is not true in their life. So the primary repentance required today is not among unbelievers.

It's among believers. Do you know that the last message that Jesus gave to his disciples found in the Bible, there are many messages Jesus gave to disciples found in the Bible. The last message Jesus gave to his disciples is not found in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.

It's not even found in Acts of the Apostles chapter 1. It is found in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3 where Jesus says to the churches, you know what his message is? Repent. Repent. Repent. Repent five times.

So I say that is the last message of Jesus to backslidden church. Repent. Turn around from the way you are going. And I believe that is the condition of many many believers and that I certainly see that is the ministry the Lord has given me for the last 48 years to tell Christians to repent.

There are, I thank God for all those people who go out and preach the gospel to unbelievers. I value them. I respect them. They are also part of the body of Christ. I'm not the whole body of Christ. They're also part of the body of Christ.

They're doing a great job. But my calling is to call the Christians to repent based on Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3. And it's a very important ministry because what a lot of people in the world are saying is I see how these Christians live.

So I can't listen to their words because their life is speaking louder than their words. They run after money and tell me not to love money. They display a lot of anger and sin in their home when they tell me to be saved from my sin.

So I want to encourage you, my brothers and sisters to see our primary calling is to show the world what Jesus is like. And I hope that we will all be gripped by that. I did not, I was not gripped by that for more than 16 years after I was born again.

And I'll tell you why. Because nobody preached this message I'm preaching now to me. I was converted when I was 19 and a half. If somebody had told me that day and kept on emphasizing to me Zach, you are not called primarily to preach.

You're called to reflect Jesus Christ in your life. From that life, preach Christ. Nobody told me that. So I began to share Christ, share Christ. My life was not at all corresponding to what Christ. I didn't even have a desire to become more and more like Jesus.

I thought I'm going to keep on sinning. I will never stop sinning. And so it was like that. 16 years after I was born again, I was defeated by the same sins I was defeated when I was first born again.

You tell me honestly. Aren't you defeated today by some sins that defeated you when you were born again many years ago? Why is that? Why does anger remain in us for so long? Why do we keep offense? Why do you get offended with somebody?

And never overcome it? Because we've never heard that my primary calling is to reflect Christ. Do you know the only time Jesus got angry? I see two instances. One was when he saw people making money in the name of religion.

Jesus’ Humility and Zeal for Holiness

The Pharisees in the temple. And he got so angry that he made a whip. You know, it says he made a whip. John chapter 2. And he chased the people out of the temple. The only time Jesus physically hit turned tables upside down and drove all the sheep and opened the cages and let the birds go was when he saw people making money inside the church.

That was the time he was really furious. Do you get furious when you see people making money in the name of Christ? When you see a YouTube video where the preacher asks you to give money or you see a church keeping on asking you to give money do you get angry?

What for? For them, for the pastor, for the preacher. When you find a prayer letter sent out by somebody please give me money for this work. Did Jesus ever do that? I'm surprised that Christians are not disturbed by it.

I saw this is so completely contrary to Christ. And so Christians are not reflecting Christ. These things don't disturb them. We have become so dead that we are not even disturbed by these things. I'm disturbed all the time.

That's why I speak so much against it. So much against preachers who keep on asking for money. That's why we decided that in our churches we will never ask for money. We started the first CFC church 48 years ago and we were very, very poor.

In a poor country like India, we were poor. Way back in 1975 India was much poorer than it is today. Today it's a little better off. But we never asked anybody for money. We say, well, whatever we have we will give.

And all the money we get we give to the poor because I see in the Bible that Jesus and the apostles whenever they told about giving money it was never for Christian work. Never, never, never. It was always give money to the poor.

So if you give money to a rich preacher who's got private jets in which he's flying around you're disobeying God. I'll tell you that. And all the advertisement to ask money that you find in Christian work today is for rich preachers who drive around in expensive cars and have private jets and people go and finance them.

They are disobeying God. And if you have done that in the past I want to tell you today you have disobeyed God and one day you have to answer to God for it. Maybe you are ignorant till today but today onwards you are not ignorant.

Those are not the people who need money. It's the poor who need it. I don't need it. I tell you I'm very happy to live very, very simply at the level God has allowed me to live and I don't want to increase my standard of living by getting money from other people.

No. I've not done that in the last 57 years of full-time Christian work. I lived at a high standard when I was in the Navy because I earned so much as a naval officer. But when I quit I said, okay, my level dropped 80 and that's where I've lived since then and I'm happy to live there.

I realized that's not everything to have grand clothes and everything else is not the main thing in life. So, I feel the great need, my brothers and sisters wherever you have come from many of you have come from different churches ask yourself, is your church and is your preacher reflecting Christ?

Are they preaching the standards found in the gospel? As the Father sent me, so I'll send you. That is the first great commission and I show you, I showed you in John 1 when the Jesus came, he explained the Father.

He said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. So, put these two verses together what we read in John 14. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father and then the next John 20 as the Father sent me, so send I you.

So, that means I have to say, this is my calling if you've seen me, you've seen a little bit of what Jesus Christ is like. I can't say that yet but I say, I'm working towards it. My question is not whether you like that my question is, are you working towards it?

Is it a little better now than it was say 5 years ago? Or is your love at the same level? That's why I encourage you to read the gospels and study the life of Jesus from the time he was a child. As the Father sent me, so send I you.

Jesus at Twelve: Studying Scripture Diligently

Let me study the life of Jesus. Let me begin at Luke chapter 2. Jesus began as a baby and what he did as a child is written in Luke chapter 2 at the age of 12 verse 42. Luke 2 42 you see a little bit of what Jesus was like when he was a little child, 12 years old.

Now keep in mind the reason we are studying the life of Jesus now is so that we can be like him. And the Holy Spirit has come to make us witnesses. What did we read in Acts 1 .8? You shall be my witnesses.

Not bear witness. Bearing witness is different. Bearing witness is preaching. But Jesus said when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you shall be be my witness which refers to my life. If Jesus has said you shall bear witness to me, then it's referring to what I speak.

It's like a witness in a court. He's bearing witness with his mouth. I don't know how he lives, that man who's witnessing in court. I don't know how he lives, but he's witnessing what he saw with his eyes or something like that.

But I'm not called to bear witness. Acts 1 .8 The Holy Spirit will come upon you and you shall be my witness. That means I have to be a witness by my whole life. That's why I need the power of the Holy Spirit.

All the time to reflect the way I live at home. That my wife must see more and more what Jesus is like. My children must see as they grow up what Jesus is like. The place I work, people in my office, my co-workers must know what Jesus is like.

That is our primary calling. So, here's how he started as a child. At the age of 12, he was taken to the temple. And Joseph and Mary took him to the temple. And it says when they returned, they didn't for a whole day, they did in verse 44, they began looking for him after 24 hours and discovered he was not there because they thought he was with our relatives and with the other children of the same age.

And they did not find him. And they walked back to Jerusalem and three days later, they found him in the temple. Sitting in the midst of all the Bible teachers of that time. Listening to them and asking them questions.