And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
—LUKE 2:49 ESV
The most amazing thing about this story in Luke is the simple fact that Jesus is only twelve years old. At that age, I was dreaming of being a Jedi, Spiderman, or whatever else happened to spark my imagination. I imagine most of us were only concerned with playing and having fun at that tender age. We were unburdened by the idea of our eternal purpose or the divine calling on our lives. But Jesus understood His purpose. He understood where He was supposed to be and what He was supposed to be doing.
In John 5, Jesus makes two statements which further expose His mindset. He says, “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (v. 17). Then He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (v. 19).
It appears that Jesus’s mind was laser focused on doing only those things which the Father was doing. When the Father wanted to work, Jesus worked. If the Father wanted to heal a man’s withered hand, Jesus healed the man’s withered hand, even on the Sabbath. Have you ever been around a child that was all up in your business? When you are cooking, they want to help. When you are fixing something, their head is right beside yours, watching. Whatever you are involved in, they are right there with you. Jesus was all up in the Father’s business in the best possible way. And like Him, we must be involved in the things God is doing, too.
So, we are left with the obvious question: What is the Father’s business? What exactly must we be doing in the world today? We could simply summarize by saying the Father’s business is to spread the good news, and most would agree. We need to passionately pursue the preaching of the gospel. However, preaching the gospel is far from the only responsibility we have as followers of Christ. Peter said we must add to our faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. He also said to be ready to give a defense for our faith. Paul said we must pray without ceasing, pursue spiritual gifts, and put on the armor of God. And in the Great Commission, Jesus says we are to make disciples. We are supposed to study the Word, train up our children, watch out for our fellow Christians, resist the devil, tear down strongholds, and take every thought captive. In fact, if we are the body of Christ, then we should be doing what He was doing. Maybe the best way to encompass everything entailed by these statements is under the umbrella term of spiritual warfare. We might say it this way: It is our Father’s business to relentlessly assault the kingdom of darkness.
The typical understanding of spiritual warfare is troublesome. We sing songs about fighting on our knees, and we certainly believe that God is the one who fights on our behalf. But David did more than pray when he faced Goliath. Phinehas did more than ask God to get sinfulness out of the camp of Israel. Esther had to do more than just believe that God would deliver her people. All of Scripture is filled with examples of men and women who had to physically engage the problems of their day. Go ask Nehemiah if prayer alone built the walls of Jerusalem. Spiritual warfare includes everything that promotes the increase of God’s kingdom over the enemy’s, and we participate in it not only by prayer and fasting but also through a thousand tiny decisions made every day.
When it comes to warfare, a noteworthy Old Testament character who prefigures the work of Jesus comes to mind—Joshua. Interestingly, Joshua and Jesus share the same name etymologically (Yehoshua/Yeshua), but there is more. Joshua inherited authority over the people of God, he called them to purify themselves, and then he led them on a campaign to drive out and destroy the wicked, securing a land where those faithful to Yahweh could have rest. Joshua literally led Israel in a war against the enemy. Similarly, but to a far greater extent, Jesus inherited all authority in heaven and on earth, He commanded His followers to repent and forsake the works of the evil one, and through His body, the church, He wages war on the kingdom of darkness. And while we fight, we look forward to the day when Christ shall descend, sounding the final rallying cry. He will appear in the clouds on a white horse, eyes gleaming like flames of fire, clothed in a white robe drenched in blood, ready to destroy the final remnants of the devil’s tyranny and bring the glorious plan of redemption to its eschatological conclusion. But while we wait for that glorious day, we must ask ourselves, “What will we be found doing when He comes?”
In some parts of the world, the church seems to be a sleeping giant or a receding tide. “Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain, so is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked” (Proverbs 25:26 ESV). According to this proverb, there is no room for compromise in the face of evil. The language is severe. Muddy springs and polluted fountains are useless. If we, the church, do not stand against the persistent infection of immorality, then we will quickly realize the truth in the old saying, “All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Quietly retreating to the comfort of our routine lives is tempting, but history may not remember us kindly if we concede to the dangerous sin of complacency.
It may be an uncomfortable truth, but many Christians in the United States have been guilty of complacency and cowardice in the cultural market. The clarion call of generations past was a well-intentioned call for extreme separation from anything “worldly.” It sounded like wisdom, piety, and holiness. We thought separation from the world was the key to living like Christ. But when we withdrew from the world, we left a spiritual vacuum that the kingdom of darkness was all too happy to fill. All around us today, we see the inevitable results of godlessness. We now live in a culture where evil is not just tolerated, it is celebrated; and truth is not just rejected, it is redefined. In this hour of confusion, compromise, and cowardice, the church has too often retreated instead of engaging. We have handed over the arts to pagans, the schools to secularists, the sciences to humanists, and the media to Marxists—all while believing that verse-of-the-day Bible reading and personal piety are the zenith of Christian living.
Jesus did not redeem the world by separating Himself from it. He threw Himself into it. This is what the advent season is all about: the holiest being, God Himself, wrapping Himself in human flesh. He who was untouchable touched the diseased. The unblemished Lord shared meals with tax collectors and prostitutes, helped a Samaritan woman, and healed the servant of a Roman centurion. By our own standards, we would have been far more likely to rebuke Jesus than to join Him.
Too many of us have gotten comfortable in a paradoxical lifestyle of confessing with our mouth “for me, to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21), but then we limit that life to Sunday mornings for a seat in the sanctuary and a Bible verse on our bumpers. Our affections are divided—we want Christ plus family, work, leisure, and much more. But for Paul, this was not just poetic prose; this was his life! Christ was Paul’s singular passion.
God is not looking for part-time, half-hearted bodies to warm church pews; He is calling for zealous people who will take up the role of ambassadors. An ambassador does not represent himself. He represents his King—in every conversation, every boardroom, every ballot, and every livestream. You are not your own. You’ve been bought with a price. Christ owns you.
Christ’s mission was public. His sacrifice was public. His return will be public. So why has our witness become so private? The world is on fire, and many Christians are asleep in the pews. It is time to wake up, stand up, and speak up—not with arrogance, but with love and holy boldness. Christ did not call us to be safe. He called us to be faithful. Samuel tells us that obedience is better than sacrifice. Or to put it another way, obedience is the highest form of worship.
Therefore, the call to be about the Father’s business is a call to fight, not with violence, but with unwavering tenacity as we make the love of Jesus Christ the singular consuming passion of our hearts. We must go into every community, every social media platform, every nook and cranny with our lives submitted to the calling of God. We must not back down from the enemy. Our boldness for the kingdom of God should be such an overwhelming force for the simple reason that Christ came, and He chose to rescue us!
It appears many Christians are terrified of the prospect of evangelism, maybe because they have not fully grasped the wonder of the gospel. Do we know how horrifying our condition was while we were wallowing in our sin, while the demonic forces of this world sank their claws into our flesh and toyed with us like marionettes? And do we grasp how deep and beautiful the love is that rescued us? Stuart Townend wrote the lyrics,
How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure!
That He should give His only Son,
To make a wretch His treasure!
We are not bloodthirsty warmongers. We do not celebrate the death of the wicked. We love the One who saved us, and we yearn to see others rescued as well. The war that we wage is not born of hatred, but out of love. Christ Himself said the whole law of God essentially boils down to loving God and loving people. Because we love our God, we seek to honor Him through obedience. We love those who bear His image, so we fight to rescue them from the power of sin and hell.
Thus, for the sake of the lost, we must radically oppose the schemes of the enemy. With our objective unwavering (the absolute destruction of evil) and our motives rightly attuned (love for God and man), we begin to see clearly the warpath that we must tread. This is a war of attrition. We will not overwhelm our enemy until the day of the Lord. Until then, our objective is to raid the enemy’s camp, pillaging and recruiting forces from their kingdom in order to reclaim, inch by inch, a land where the glory of the True King is manifested, even in this present darkness.
What exactly are we taking from the enemy? It is not earthly treasure. We are seeking to recover the greatest treasure held in the enemy’s grasp—the souls of our fellow man. Human beings are the greatest treasure of this earth because God’s Word says that mankind was created in God’s image. God exalted humans over all the rest of creation, giving them authority over the birds, the fish, and the beasts. We are made in the image of the glorious, matchless, eternal Creator. And yet so many of God’s image bearers are deceived, enslaved by the power of sin, and marching with all vigor into the insatiable jaws of hell.
The lost do not apologize for their condition. They cannot shake loose the shackles of their bondage of their own accord. They will turn like ravenous dogs and bite the hand that attempts to set them free. There is only one power that can transform this helpless horde—the very same power that rescued us and transferred us to the kingdom of light—the power of the Holy Spirit working in tandem with the gospel. Though the lost are children of wrath, they bear the image of God. The value of their soul is so great that all the angels rejoice over a single sinner that bends the knee in repentance.
What comes next? If we are the children of God then we must be involved in our Father’s business, just as Jesus was. He knew His purpose. He understood His mission. But do we understand ours?
If you are in Christ, you have been drafted for spiritual warfare. In Ephesians 6, Paul reminds us that we are not putting confidence in ourselves. The picture of putting on the armor of God is like a reversal of what happened to David when he fought Goliath. Instead of spineless King Saul, hiding from the enemy, we see the glorious King Jesus, standing victorious because He has already faced and conquered the enemy. He offers us His armor, which has been proven through His death and resurrection. Jesus now commissions us: “Go, slay the enemy, and do not fear. You will have My strength and My armor. I have already conquered death itself.”
That is the charge. God calls both young and old to rise up and lead—in the family and in the financial market, from the produce aisle to the presidency. Find your place in the kingdom of God and serve your King wholeheartedly.
Our victory has been promised by the Sovereign King of Heaven and Earth. The kingdom of God is supposed to bring the fight to the enemy. So, rise up, raise your voice, proclaim your faith, and glorify your God and King. Whether you stand behind a pulpit or a cash register, you are part of this war. The days of living quietly in this world are quickly fading. We are not fighting against flesh and blood; we are fighting against spiritual evils so dark and terrifying that they possess and twist the hearts and minds of our fellow humans. But John tells us that the Light—Jesus the Messiah—has come. In John 1:5 (ESV), he says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” As disciples of Christ, we are now the light of the world (Mattew 5:14–16; Philippians 2:15), and it is our mission to shine and expel the darkness.
This is the Father’s business. Share the good news. Storm the gates of hell. Be strong and courageous. Jesus came—the Baby in the manger—to rescue, redeem, and restore. The victory has been won, but the war is not over yet. He is coming again!
