Who Are You Expecting?

Main idea: Even when you can’t see it, Jesus is moving

Last week we talked about unmet expectations, and how when Jesus exceeds our expectations, which is what his birth was all about, we can celebrate, and we should!

This week we’re jumping right in to Who Are You Expecting?

So let’s go!

Some context. This is Jesus reading a quote from the prophet Isaiah, who 700 years before Jesus was born, wrote this prophecy about the Messiah, God’s the anointed one. The one who would come bringing salvation and freedom to all.

Let’s jump into Luke 4:18-21 (Slide)

Luke 4:18–21 (ESV)

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

So right here Jesus is telling us exactly who He is. He doesn’t leave room for doubt, He takes the prophecy of Isaiah and the credentials provided in it and He assumes them as His own.

He says, this is who I am, I AM the hope you’ve been expecting, and I have come to do what the prophets said I would.

Let’s pray

Who here likes surprises? Okay okay, who here hates them, you like to know the plan, you want to know what’s going on.

Alright, well since a couple of you don’t, I’ll just let you know where we’re going today, sound good?

We’re talking about expectations, we’re talking about Jesus, and then i’ll talk about John the Baptist, and then for you surprises people, then you’ll get your turn.

Great

Let’s talk about expectations, I know we spent a lot of time on them last week, but there’s some more to it, ready?

It’s important to talk about them because we all have them. You have expectations for your parents, your teachers, your siblings, friends, your future, and God.

But more often than not, there’s a pretty big difference between how we expect things to go, and how they actually do.

For instance

(slide)

Our new years resolutions

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Have any of you ever seen fast food commercials? The food always looks amazing, then you go and well, it’s just disappointing.

(slide)

Or that day to do nothing you were hoping for. Let’s be real, we’ve all been here.

Anyway

Maybe you’ve also experienced some unmet expectations. Maybe you finally got the courage to talk to your crush and they totally blew you off. Maybe you had hopes that this school year was going to be different, but it’s not any better. Or maybe you prayed really hard for your parents, but they still got divorced.

And

When our reality doesn’t meet our expectations there ends up being a space.

And it’s in this space we experience frustration and disappointment, which left unchecked can turn into anger, mistrust, and even bitterness. Because we expected things to go one way, and we end up getting hurt because it didn’t turn out like we planned. Which leads me to John the Baptist

Here’s some backstory, if you were here 2 Sunday’s ago you heard me talk about his mom Elizabeth and her minister husband Zechariah.

Well, they were one of two couples visited by an angel, they were told that they’d be blessed with a baby who would lead the way for the messiah, and that John would turn the people’s hearts back towards God.

That same angel then goes and visits, Elizabeth’s cousin, Mary, a virgin who was engaged to Joseph and tells her that she would give birth to the Son of God, the Messiah, and name Him Jesus. So this makes John, not only Jesus’s cousin, but also a very important person to Jesus’s mission. This is what John devoted his whole life to, making a way for the Messiah. So much so, It was said that he lived in the desert, he wore camel hair, (which is uncomfy) and ate locusts. Before Jesus started his public ministry John paved the way with his own ministry. He spoke to the people preaching a message of repentance, baptizing, and leading many people to return back to God. When it’s time for Jesus to be baptized, it’s John who he goes to. Which baptizing Jesus, is a major flex. But he didn’t use it.

In fact, the more people see and hear about Jesus’s miracles, the less people are going to John. But instead of getting jealous, he responded with humility because he knew his role. John said, “He must become greater, and I must become less.” And he did all of it with the hope that the Messiah would come, that he would free his people from oppression, which at that time looked like the Roman empire and a corrupt priesthood. And he would get to see it! And everything is finally happening, Jesus is starting his ministry, He’s doing miracles, and

God is moving! This is exactly what John’s been waiting for. Until. Until the day John corrects the wrong person, and he’s thrown in prison. And what does Jesus do? He keeps doing what He’s been called to. And John stays in jail.

Look at this

Matthew 11:2–3 (ESV)

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples

and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

Ok, so how did John go from knowing fully that Jesus was the Messiah to now questioning Him completely. Remember, John is Jesus’ cousin, he’s known this guy for a long time, and he knew that he was the messiah.

I think it’s because this is not what he expected.

He expected the Messiah to bring freedom from oppression, not imprisonment.

Remember the prophecy Jesus read, it said that He would set the prisoner free.

The Messiah is here, but John’s not free.

There is a space between what hoped would happen and what he’s seeing. And you can feel the frustration, the hurt, the disappointment in his question.

Matthew 11:3 (ESV)

“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

This doesn’t seem like the super Christian we thought he was right? He was full of faith, studied all the scriptures, even committed to living in the desert wearing camel hair and eating locusts and honey. But now he’s looking at Jesus and he’s full of doubt, because what he expected isn’t happening.

Now my question is… Don’t we do the same thing when our expectations aren’t met?

Because what do most of us expect of Jesus? Answer my prayers when and how I want you to. Make my life easier. Not let anything bad happen to me. Forgive me when I mess up, but don’t ask me to give up too much. We tend to think, and myself included, that if these things aren’t happening Jesus isn’t showing up.

Because if those things are happening, Jesus is doing his job, but if they’re not we tend to get frustrated.

It goes from God you’re amazing! to

God where are you?

Do you even see me?

Do you listen to my prayers?

Are you even real?

Are you the one i’m looking for? or should I go somewhere else.

Let’s keep reading, 4-6

Matthew 11:4–6 (ESV)

And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see:

the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

So what does Jesus do? He sends word to John, and he basically says

“I’m who I said I am, all the things I promised? Yeah, they’re happening. Healing is happening, restoration is happen, life is being restored, freedom is happening, the world isn’t what it used to be, at least not for those who have experienced me. It might not be what you expected, but I’m doing exactly what you prepared the way for me to do.”

This was POWERFUL for John, if you remember, it said at the beginning, that John heard all that Jesus was doing, he just didn’t see it because he was in prison.

But Jesus, in his love and grace, takes the time to SHOW John that what He was doing.

Jesus reminded John of one simple fact.

Even when you can’t see it, Jesus is working.

I need a story here

Is everything going to happen exactly like what you expect, when you expect it to? No. But Jesus is moving. He hasn’t stopped. Did you pray and your parents still got divorced? Maybe. Is God done working on their hearts? Absolutely not! Did a door get closed on the future you had hoped for? Are your dreams crushed? Maybe. Does He still have an incredible plan for your life, 100%! Did you unexpectedly lose a loved one, and it feels like God didn’t do anything. I’m so sorry. Did He leave you? Not for a moment. He is with you. He is close. And He does care.

Even when you can’t see it, Jesus is working.

For John, he didn’t get what he expected, the coming of the messiah wasn’t what he was expecting at all. In fact, he never even saw the fulfillment of what Jesus came to do in the resurrection.

Shortly after this encounter, he was beheaded by the very people he expected freedom from.

This happened in Matthew 3, so he didn’t get to see the other 25 chapters of what Jesus did. He never saw Him lay down His life on the cross, he never saw the veil tear, and he never saw the ascension, he never got to see the rest of the story, only the beginning.

But I can’t imagine what it was like for him to see Jesus raised from the dead, and the Son of God, bring down the empire of darkness and bring freedom, for John to experience being freed from not for a physical prison, but the prison of shame, sin, and death, not just John, but all those who would put their hope in Jesus. Because this was the mission all along. They expected a king in the physical world, who would destroy the oppression of the Roman government, but they never expected the kingdom that he came to overthrow to be the kingdom of sin, shame, and death, the very same one that John experienced freedom from.

So what do we do when God’s not moving the way we expected Him to?

1. Bring Jesus our Expectations

Bring Him what you hope for, what you expect Him to do, and then

Be open to what he’s actually doing, let him reshape your expectations.

What I’ve found in my life is that

When Jesus isn’t meeting our expectations it’s usually not because they’re too high, but it’s because they’re too low.

When I became a Christian I became very aware of the ways that I was missing the mark and just generally wasn’t the best person. So most of my prayers focused on behavior change, I wanted to be different, I was worried about how I used my words, how I approached relationships, how I could be lazy sometimes, or how I was selfish. But what I learned from this, and I’ve shared this before, God’s priority list is often very different than mine.

I’m not saying behavior change is a bad thing, in fact, it’s a great thing! That’s where we start sinning less, and remember, the goal isn’t to be sinless, that’s impossible, it’s to sin LESS

See, God wasn’t answering my prayers because I was only concerned with WHAT I was doing, not why, God didn’t want me to change my behavior, He wanted to change my HEART. Because if your heart doesn’t change, behavior change will only be temporary.

Jesus has a plan that’s bigger than our expectations, and he sees a lot more than we do.

and 2.

2. Shift our focus from what Jesus isn’t doing to what He is doing.

Some of you might be sitting here thinking Jesus isn’t doing anything, but I want to share with you guys what he has been doing through Eagle LifeChurch, and you guys!

New students (avg 3 to avg 13)

Giving (STL offering @YC over $250 just from you guys)

2 students called to ministry

2 baptisms

over 19k for world hunger

100k to fight human trafficking

supporting missionaries around the world

Operation school bell donations

OCC, 93 shoe boxes, 32+ of them just from youth and families

Those sound like a lot of numbers, but each one has a name, a story, and is a person who matters to God.

It’s not about numbers, it’s not about dollars, but those all represent lives changed

by you guys!

Even when you can’t see it, Jesus is working

Let’s pray