One Step at a Time
Jesus' 33-year wait to the cross was a time of growth in obedience, and similarly, God's training is tailored to our level of growth, leading us to a place of complete surrender.
K.P. Yohannan emphasizes the importance of patience and growth in our spiritual journey, drawing parallels between Christ's gradual preparation for His ministry and our own development. He reflects on how Jesus waited until the age of 30 to begin His public ministry, highlighting that this time was necessary for Him to learn obedience and prepare for His ultimate sacrifice. Just as students progress through grades, we too must grow step by step in our faith and obedience to God. Yohannan encourages believers to trust that God provides opportunities for growth at each stage of life, leading us to a place of complete surrender. Ultimately, the sermon reminds us that our spiritual maturity is a process that requires time and commitment.
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Consider this: Christ started His public ministry at the age of 30. Why did He have to wait until then? On top of that, why was there another three-and-a-half years before the cross? Couldn't He have started His ministry when He was 18? When I was a boy, my mother took me to kindergarten. There were about 30 lads like me who sat in a circle with our guru (teacher), who taught the alphabet to us in our native language. Each year I passed on to the next grade and eventually on to high school and college.
A primary-school student learns subtraction and multiplication, but the college student deals with calculus. In the lower grades, a child draws pictures or writes papers on simple subjects. But at a university, the scholar reads a 2,000-page book and writes a 10-page paper. It's a whole different world. So why did Christ have to wait 33 years before He went to the cross? For Christ the man to choose absolute surrender to the point of death on the cross, He needed time to grow in obedience.
The Bible actually says that Jesus learned obedience (see Hebrews 5:8). When His parents made mistakes and Jesus suffered, instead of sinning against them, He grew in obedience. Like this, He learned obedience through the years until He came to the place at which He was ready to lay down His life. So it is in our own lives. God does not start us out with calculus and a 10-page paper. We can trust that the opportunities He gives to us to learn obedience--whether to Him directly or to a delegated authority--are at our current level of growth. As we submit in our hearts, step by step the Lord will bring us to a place where we hold nothing back from Him.
Sermon Outline
- Why did Jesus wait until 30 to start His ministry?
- God's training is tailored to our level of growth
- Our obedience is a process of growth and surrender
- We start with simple obedience and grow to more complex
- The Lord brings us to a place of surrender
- Step by step, we submit our hearts to God
- We trust in God's plan for our lives
Key Quotes
“God does not start us out with calculus and a 10-page paper. We can trust that the opportunities He gives to us to learn obedience--whether to Him directly or to a delegated authority--are at our current level of growth.” — K.P. Yohannan
“As we submit in our hearts, step by step the Lord will bring us to a place where we hold nothing back from Him.” — K.P. Yohannan
Application Points
- We can trust that God's training is tailored to our level of growth, and He will bring us to a place of surrender and obedience.
- As we submit our hearts to God, step by step, He will bring us to a place where we hold nothing back from Him.
- Our obedience is a process of growth and surrender, and we can trust in God's goodness and sovereignty throughout the journey.