Jesus. Not what you were expecting...
Notes
Transcript
INTRO
INTRO
$2 Shopping Trolley Carts at
I was frustrated. Why?
I wasn’t expecting it...
FELT NEED
FELT NEED
Our expectations are the standards by which we judge our interactions.
Expectations as a Customer
Expectations in relations
What we expect from each other shapes whether we think it is a good relationship or a bad one.
Husband and wife, parent and child, friend to friend.
Expectations with God
Jesus and his ministry, is not living up to expectations
Jesus… Not what John was expecting. (v2-3)
Jesus… Not what John was expecting. (v2-3)
When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
This is the same John… Jesus’cousin who lept for joy while in still in the womb when Jesus (while in the womb also) enters the room.
This is John who baptized Jesus, who saw the heavens open and heard the voice of God declare, “This is my beloved Son.”
Who had no qualms going toe-to-toe with the powerful religious leaders as he proclaimed His message about Jesus.
Yet now, from the confines of a prison cell, John sends his disciples to ask, “Are you the One?” - Jesus iare you truly the Messiah.
Why the doubt?
I don’t think you can say that John was faithfless. Remember his lifestyle
John had expectations..
You can tell from John’s message that John thought the Messiah would bring Judgment. “who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
He will burn the chaff with an unquenchable fire?
And whats Jesus doing that John has heard about?
Well he is going to parties.… He is turning water into wine.
It seems like John is wondering where the imminent signs of Judgment are?
Jesus... Exactly who the Scriptures were expecting. (v4-6)
Jesus... Exactly who the Scriptures were expecting. (v4-6)
Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.
John is not met with rebuke.
Jesus is Exactly who the Scripture were expecting, but things might not be happening as quick as John was expecting
Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
Jesus encourages John and anyone else that might have similar doubts, to remain faithful to him
This is a beatitude—a blessing. Jesus acknowledges that His way may be unexpected, even scandalous to some. But those who can accept Him as He is, who do not fall away because He doesn’t fit their mold, are blessed
Application:
This doesn’t leave room for the belief that there is no room for doubt, Faith is not a staunch and stiffnecked assent to.
Faith vs certainty/confidence...
Faith is life with Jesus, sure it entails beliefs about
John saw the heavens opened and still doubted
My late grandmother praying before driving
Jesus is exactly the Messiah the Scriptures were intending...
John… Exactly who the Scriptures were expecting (v7-15)
John… Exactly who the Scriptures were expecting (v7-15)
If John has mismatched expectations about Jesus, then perhaps John is not who we all expected
“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces.
Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: “ ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’
You went to see the forerunner to the Messiah’s ministry. That one who was foretold about in Malachi
Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist;
Jesus affirms John’s role as the forerunner, the one who prepared the way. He honors John’s faithfulness, even in the midst of doubt. But then He says something surprising:
...yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Jesus is revealing the new order of His Kingdom.
John was the culmination of a long line of God revealing Himself to people before Jesus. He was the end of long line of old covenant prophets, and the greatest
But so great is this new thing that Jesus is doing that partakingin in His Kingdom, and being the least within it will still surpass the greatest of that old era.
Not because you will be greater based status, lineage, or even prophetic power. But you’ll be a member of the Kingdom of immense blessing
From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it.
I don’t know...
Jesus seems to be putting something in parenthesese as if to say
Context of opposition
John is in prison. Jesus will be crucified. The message of God’s inbreaking Kingdom is not always met with excitement or acceptance. It is resisted and sometimes violently, maybe that is why John is in prison.....
But, John is who the Scriptures foretold
For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.
Jesus reounds out his section to the
Jesus AND John. Not what many expected
Jesus AND John. Not what many expected
“To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: “ ‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
Dirge = mourning song
flute is calling to play and dance.
Jesus points out the hypocrisy claiming to follow the God of the Universe, the God who can do anything, but because He doesn’t do what you expect, well he mustn’t be God
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
John, an ascetic recluse, who ate and drank virtually nothing and preached repentence and warning of the coming judgment… Proclaims the work of God in this world and you say he has a demon...
Jesus, a public teaher and miracle worker, who wowed crowds with healings and his wisdom, who frequented parties and hung out with the social outcasts, and you say he is a gluten and a drunkard...
One’s too stuffy and cranky, the other is too loose and frivilous...
No matter what was offered, they refused to engage.
Why?
They were not behaving like many expected them to....
The religious leaders expected the Messiah to be a political military leader.… So fixed on overthrowing the roman oppressors at
They had not category for a Messiah outside this box.
The crowds expected to be fed, healed and wowed, they expected that God would want to make them more comfortable in his terrarium
They had no category for a God that might call them to sacrifice and suffering
So fixed are the expectations of what God would do, they ignored the signs of what He was actually doing
But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”
In other words, truth is revealed through fruit.
J.K. Rowling and the 12 Publishers Who Said “No”
Expectations can be wrong...
So much of Jesus’ ministry is defying expectation
Many didn’t expect that Jesus would die on the cross… (the gospel)
Many didn’t expect Jesus to rise from the dead....
God is in the business of doing the unexpected… Of leading people in and through the unexpected for His glory
And is doesn’t always make sense to us....
For many of you, you would be going through something that you didn’t expect
Maybe based on your background that fact you are here is unexpected by you.
Following Jesus means surrendering our expectations.
Following Jesus means surrendering our expectations.
To see Jesus a fresh, and not overlay your own baggage onto him
Whats interesting is that Jesus continually points to the OT to say look, you should have expected ME.…
But cultural expectations develop, and the urgency and need of daily life block out our ability to see....
When you surrender your expectations.… Its scary! Its not having Know expectations, but enquirying of Jesus in the Scriptures
you see what Jesus is actually like....
When sin invokes guilt and you might expect judgment, Jesus offers mercy.
When suffering makes you feel off kilter, and you expect that God might have signed off duty on guiding your life. Jesus offers comfort has one who knows it and promises a hope for future where it is no more of it.
Time and Time again in the Scriptures we find that Jesus is not always trying to change our circumstances, but He is always expecting us to grow and mature in our faith in the circumstances… And he gives the wisdom and grace to do it and peace and joy from it...
I have seen so many people throw faith away because they expect something God never promised or said he would do… Some times it is trivial, (like Ferarri)..… but often its big. Big loss!
They throw comfort Jesus offers. They throw away His promise that He will make all things right and do away with sin and suffering once and for all…
Humanity seems to have this opaque yet powerful inbuilt longing for Eden.… Thats how
...
John didn’t expect to end up where he was and expected Jesus to act a certain way and thank God Jesus was so much more than John expected and brought grace, forgiveness and mercy through the cross
Jesus did not say he will change our circumstances so we cannot expect that of him....
But He is always expecting us to grow and mature in our faith in the circumstances…
....
When you surrender your expectations, you just might find that there is more than meets your eyes with Jesus. That he is more and trying to do more than you expected
