“Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” – John 1:46: so reasons those who rise no higher than their own prejudice. God’s ways are not our ways; neither His thoughts, our thoughts [Isaiah 55:8.] Should we have commissioned and sent the King of Glory into the world, we would not have chosen an animal stable for His birthplace, nor a despised bush-village for His obscure years of development. But God did.
Jesus learned and developed by prolonged quiet reflection through the means available to all. His character thrived in the care of godly parents, through meditation upon the wonders of the natural creation, habitual gathering with the people of God, secret communion with the Father, by pondering the depths of the Scriptures, through selfless deeds of service, and by engaging in useful labor.
This became the Pattern for Christianity through the example of our Lord during His days in Nazareth: to flourish in the commonplace, in the home in contrast to the lecture hall or public concourse.
Here quiet strengthening of the inner man is cultivated. Consistency of life, regular recourse to secret devotion, and practical usefulness becomes ingrained in such a “school.”
Out of His thirty-three years of earthly life, only three were engaged in what we consider to be ministry. The remaining 91% were passed in quiet development of character and obtaining a comprehensive grasp of eternal purposes into which the unique contribution of His life would fit.
Though at age twelve He was fully conscious that He must be about His Father’s business [Lk.2:49], that business for the next eighteen years was that of simple submission in the carpenter’s shop [Mk.6:3].
In such humble scenes one learns the discipline of the often repeated mundane tasks that fit the soul for future larger responsibilities. “He that is faithful in a very little thing, will be faithful also in much” – Luke 16:10. If a wooden bench cannot be fashioned well, how can an eternal human soul be entrusted into one’s hands? If humility in serving God honorably is not instilled there, pride will soon spoil all.
And when emerging from His carpenter shop to the banks of the Jordan, heaven gave its verdict on whether those were wasted years. “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased” –Matthew 3:17. And that commendation was voiced long before He performed even one miracle or preached one message: His first miracle is recorded in John 2; the beginning of His preaching was in Matthew 4:17.
Faithfulness and integrity are cultivated, not in dramatic public exploits, but in the daily sweeping of planer shavings. Through such menial chores one learns the discipline of self-restraint even though one’s thoughts and ambitions are grand, lofty, and godly. It fosters humility, apart from which all is loss.
In the wisdom of God, preparation precedes service. God must first make the man before He can use or send him. His servant’s soul is of greater concern than service. It is why true laborers remain few.
Character is the bedrock of usefulness in the design of heaven. And it is here that we have failed to follow the Pattern of Christ, both personally, and in our approach to training others. We have foolishly rushed into service, both while being ignorant of the whole counsel of God and also being unlike Christ.
Our programmed curriculum does not take place in Nazareth. 3 years of “training” before launching into a lifetime of “ministry” exposes our deluded state. Christ did precisely the opposite. Abraham entered Canaan at age 75. 40 years of Egyptian learning must be purged by 40 years in Midian’s wildlands ere Moses leads the flock of God. David, anointed as a youth, must dwell in Adullam’s cave, hounded and hunted, before ascending the throne. John the Baptist, filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb, needs yet to abide in deserts until the dawn of his brief ministry. We have abandoned Nazareth protocol.
A N 2,000 Prayer House Prophesy “anoints” a President and Founder. Empty hands laid on empty heads “ordains” to ministry. Unemployment is rampant so we beg money to rent a hovel, collect a few white plastic chairs, and secure a band-set: and yet another jamboree travesty “church” is born.
We are unlike Christ. Our ideas about service have been absorbed by observation and imitation of the religious status quo, but not gleaned from the Word of God itself by reflecting upon the Lord Jesus.
Rather, we adapt from our surrounding religion what we hope will further our agenda, but we have not grasped the Pattern of Christ and hence have no convictions. And the “church” is in shambles by scrounging in the dustbin of denominations without spending one day in the carpenter shop of Nazareth.