The Messiah Who Died Too Soon

Introduction

As Americans, we are often challenged to choose between two messiahs—an American messiah and the biblical Messiah.

Over the past few weeks, I have been studying to rediscover what it means to follow the biblical Messiah. My investigation has shown me the biblical Messiah looks drastically different from the American Messiah we are used to seeing and hearing about.

The American Messiah is religion’s best friend. He upholds the systems of tradition and He makes man’s religious quest for his [own determined] happiness the very center of everything God is doing. He propagates subjective and individual pleasure over universal and absolute solutions. In other words, he’s whatever you want him to be. However, the biblical Messiah cuts against the grain. He is fixed and certain. He does not beat to the drums of others, but He takes His directions from His heavenly Father. He’s not a bridge builder. He disrupts things. He ruins plans and shatters hopes and dreams.

The gospel writers portray a very controversial Messiah. He challenges every status quo and always acts in some other way than what is common or “normal.” If we’re honest, Jesus does the very same thing in our personal lives.

Yes, He disrupts our religious norms and traditional practices. Yet, more importantly, He disrupts our personal dreams and deepest ambitions. He targets the things that mean the most to us, and He uses them to determine our faith.

We are not walking as close as we should with God until He has disrupted something in our life. And perhaps the true test of our faith is whether or not we can worship and trust God after He has disrupted our plans. When you have had the pleasure of having God disrupt something in your life, that’s when you are stepping into the sort of relationship God desires.

I am not telling this from study alone. I am telling you this from experience. I know what it feels like to have plans and an agenda for my entire life, but God comes and blow them up. And no matter how much I try to accomplish those plans, it seems as if I am in a choke hold—unable to take even one step towards the things I have in mind. I never wanted to be a preacher, neither did I want to pastor. I had my own plans. I wanted to live the good life, do what I wanted, make as much money as I could, and buy as much as my heart desire. However, God came and He snatched my plans away from me. He chose me to teach the gospel and show others the things He clearly wrote in His Word. Immediately, I began saying to God how much I did not want to do this—how much I was not fit for this. I spoke of how I am not your typical preacher. And God made it abundantly clear to me you will not be what you have always seen. When I realized this—that scared me. Though I was always anxious about things, I never experienced an anxiety attack until I began preaching. I remember I was preaching one Sunday evening in my Father’s church. There were probably 10 people there. However, I was so nervous and overwhelmed I had to stop preaching because I was suffering a full blown anxiety attack. It happened again while I was pastoring years later until I had to stop preaching and I ran to the office—fearing I would pass out or collapse in front of everyone who just saw me end my sermon abruptly. After those pain-staking sermons, I would tell my wife, “I am not doing this any more. I can’t do this!” She would then reply, “Did God tell you to do this?” To which I would reply, “yes.” “Then you can’t quit”, she would say. Many times, I would travel and lament how I was not “fortunate” enough to live in this city, attend this university, or experience a specific culture. And every now and then, I say to myself “maybe, I can just start over.” Maybe I can just do something else. Brothers and sisters, I am here tonight in Columbia, SC striving to start this ministry among all the other things I have going on in my life, because God has disrupted my plans. This is not a show or some sort of childhood fantasy fulfilled. I am here, because God has put a burden in my heart that has prevented me from doing everything I wanted to do in exchange for what He wants me to do.

Until your Messiah has done this to you—I wonder what Messiah you are following. Many people today are in one of the most irritable times of their lives, because they are living the plans for their life, and not the plan God had for them. This is exactly what we are experiencing in our text today. It is yet another example of how Jesus, the biblical Messiah, corrects the expectations of His disciples and causes them to see their in lives the way the Father sees it.

The Last Message of Jesus

Our text serves as the introduction to the last message, if you will, of Jesus to His disciples just before He is handed over to the Roman government. Though He hinted at his departure in earlier passages, He is emphatic that He is about to leave them, which is something they never expected.

The Jews always imagined their Messiah would stay forever. He is the royal figure who was to usher in the eternal kingdom of God. Their rationale was that an eternal kingdom requires an eternal Messiah.

Therefore passages like Isaiah 9:6–7 “6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!”, 2 Samuel 7:16 “16 Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.’ ”” , and Psalm 89:36 “36 His dynasty will go on forever; his kingdom will endure as the sun.” were all central passages that influenced their thinking.So, when Jesus began prophesying His departure, they were all confused.

John 12:20-36 is one of the most direct passages that demonstrates Jesus’s purpose of dying and leaving the earth. He concluded that His very purpose was to die. In John 12:34, we see the complete shock of the disciples when they were that Jesus is leaving and their interpretation of Scripture does not agree with Jesus’s actions.

Question: What do you do when you discover the Messiah you thought would never leave you is on His way to a cross to die? What do you do when the One you always depended on to make life easy, comfortable and everything YOU wanted it to be decided He is going to be humiliated on a cross?

This is why we find Jesus’s last sermon beginning with the words Don’t let your hearts be troubled (John 14:1). Last week, we talked about disappointment, but this week we will talk about dissatisfaction. I want to talk to you about when life get’s dissatisfying—when you are seeing results, but not the results you want.

Lord, I am growing spiritually, but that’s not what I wanted. Lord, I am learning more about what it means to be a true child of God, but that’s not what I wanted. Father, I am seeing you move in my life, but that is not what I wanted.

Premise: The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to help you live a satisfied life.

Jesus’s Teaching on The Holy Spirit

Jesus’s understands the pain they are experiencing as they learn about His departure. His response is not simply to deal with it— “this is just the way things are.” Rather, He shares with them, He will send them a Helper or Comforter (John 14:6). The Greek word is παράκλητος, which comes from the Greek word καλεω, which means to call or summon. The word literally means the called helper or comforter or advocate.

παράκλητος has the following meanings:

Advocate (legal)- One who is called to someones aid, a person who acts as a spokesperson or representative of someone else’s policy, a legal advocate before a judge, a pleader, intercessor, mediator

Comforter/ Helper (companionship)- a friend of the accused to provide sympathy, and encourager

By understanding this word, we understand the very reason why Jesus had to leave. The Bible teaches us, Jesus had to leave because He, in one sense, can serve as our παράκλητος and so the Holy Spirit can be sent to serve as our παράκλητος in another sense.

John 16:7 NLT

7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.

In 1 John 2:1 (Hebrews 7:23-25, 9:24-26; Romans 8:34) we see Jesus as the παράκλητος making intercession for us before the throne of the Father.

However, in John 14-17, we find the Holy Spirit serving as our παράκλητος. And the Holy Spirit has 4 roles in the believer’s life:

He abides (John 14:16)

He teaches and reminds (John 14:26, John 14:17)

He testifies about Jesus (John 15:26)

He convicts (John 16:8)

Conclusion

The believer’s life is intended to be a Spirit-filled life. This is a life of companionship, encouragement, and comfort through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Our desire should be to live in the Spirit in such a way that we feel the very presence of Jesus, as if He was walking along side us. My prayer is that the believers experience the Holy Spirit in a way that makes them feel helped, comforted, and encouraged. I pray the Holy Spirit takes away all dissatisfaction.