Re-setting Expectations

Good morning church family

If you are a guest, my name is Stefan Wilson and I am the pastor of preaching and teaching here at Harvest

I am glad to be with all of you and I am especially excited to be back in the gospel of Matthew

We started this series back in December of 2024 and we have taken a few breaks along the way at the natural breaks of the book itself

We finished up Matt. 8-10 in the Fall and took a break for advent and for our (Extra)ordinary sermon series

And now we are back in Matthew and we will be in Matthew through the month of May

And this next section of Matthew marks a very significant turning point in the Gospel.

Up to this point, we have been shown that Jesus is the promised savior

And his teaching and his miracles have validated the fact that he is that savior, the Son of God, who will save his people from their sins.

And the people have been marveling at his words and his works and he has been surrounded by crowds

And the content of his message has been that the kingdom of God is here and so we must repent of seeking to build our own kingdom and seeking to live our own way

We must turn from our own ways and embrace God’s way

That is what it means to live in God’s kingdom

To embrace his will and his work in our lives for his glory

But what happens in Matthew ch. 11-13 is that the people don’t want to repent…

They have their own idea of what life should look like and they have their own idea of how Jesus should make that happen

And their own kingdoms will collide with the Kingdom of God

And so this part of Matthew we are calling “Kingdoms Collide” because Matt. 11-13 shows us what it looks like when the kingdom of man collides with the Kingdom of God.

And we need these chapters in Matthew because, just like the people in Jesus day, we have an idea of what our lives should look like and we have visions of the kingdoms that we want to build

And Jesus words in these three chapters are going to confront us and his words are going to expose the false kingdoms that we so often try to build

We too often prioritize the things the world says we should want

And we too often want to build a life that we have envisioned

And we too often think that it is God’s job to make that kingdom happen.

This is a confrontational section of Matthew’s Gospel and make no mistake:

It will confront us as well and it will call us to repent

And Jesus begins this confrontational section of his ministry by “Re-setting Expectations” in Matt. 11:2-19.

So that is our title for this morning’s message and would you turn in your Bibles (or in your Matthew Scripture Journals) to Matt. 11:2-19.

If you have not had a chance to grab one of those Scripture journals, we have more, so stop by the welcome tables after the service and ask for one.

But whatever you are using for God’s word this morning, we should all have our eyes on Matthew 11:2-19 this morning.

And as you turn there, I want you to think of times when you have had to reset expectations with someone… or maybe you have needed your own expectations reset.

And things didn’t go the way you thought they would go

There was an expectation… that expectation was not met… and the result is disappointment

And that disappointment often leaves us feeling like we were wronged somehow.

[Hook/FCF] I think that if we are all honest, our Christian lives feel like that sometimes

Over the course of my life, I have found that most times when their is a crisis of faith for someone, or someone struggles to believe in Jesus, it is not intellectual… It is that their expectations were not met.

I have an expectation for how God should handle this situation

And he didn’t do that

So he must not be who I thought he was…

And when that happens, it is not God who needs to change or Scripture that needs to be reinterpreted

It is our expectations that need to be reset - God is who he says he is and we need our expectations reset to be in line with who he says he is.

And Jesus is going to do exactly that in v. 2-19

So let’s give these word sour full attention.

Matthew 11:2–19 “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?” 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.” As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, “ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, “ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ 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, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

These are God’s words for his people - May we have ears to hear them and hearts to obey them

Big Idea: The Kingdom of God arrives on Jesus’ terms, not ours. [9:00]

In our passage this morning, Jesus interacts with the disciples of John the Baptist and then he talks to the crowds about John the Baptist

So for us to rightly understand the point that Jesus is making in this passage we need to have some background on John the Baptist and why it is that he is the subject of this passage

John served as the last of the Old Testament prophets

An Old Testament prophet called the people to repent of their sin and to return to the commands of God

And John the Baptist confronted the people of his day to repent of their disobedience and to call them back to God's commands

His particular role as a prophet was to prepare the hearts of the people for the arrival of Jesus

But we read in verse two that John was in prison… Because calling people to repentance is not a very popular job

He was in prison because the ruler over the region of Judea, King Herod, had a sinful relationship with his brother's wife and took her to be his own wife

And John called him out for this, and was put in prison for it

Now, imagine…

You are preparing the people for the arrival of the kingdom of God

And it lands you in prison…

This is not the way you thought it would go…

If you had the wrong expectation of how things should go… you would begin to doubt.

And from prison, John begins to question if Jesus is who he says he is because this has not gone the way John thought it would go…

[Bridge] And Jesus is going to reset John's expectations, and he is going to reset the crowds expectations about John, and in so doing he is going to reset our expectations of what it means for Jesus to be our savior and our king

We are going to see 3 wrong expectations that Jesus will reset

And as we encounter them, we will see how the kingdom of God arrives on jesus’ terms, not ours.

Expectations Reset:

Submission, not control (2-6) [13:00]

Often our expectation is that God’s kingdom should look the way we think it should look

John knew that Jesus was the coming messiah…

The problem is that now John is in a position he did not envision

And now he is doubting…

Look at v. 2

Matthew 11:2–3 “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?’”

John sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the messiah

Which seems odd, because John has spent his whole life knowing that Jesus was the one to come…

He was born miraculously and his parents were told by an angel that he would prepare the way for the coming of the Lord

He grew up with Jesus, whose parents were told that he was the coming savior

When John baptized Jesus, he called him the Lamb of God

At Jesus’ baptism, He heard the voice from heaven that said “This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

He knows intellectually that Jesus is the one to come…

But his circumstances are now causing him to doubt

Why?

Because this isn’t the way he thought it would go

The people of Israel thought that the coming Messiah was going to set them free from Rome and from corrupt political powers

And now John is in prison because of those same corrupt political powers

And I think this is very real for us today as well

We don’t question if Jesus is our savior because we don’t understand it intellectually

We question if Jesus is who he says he is because the circumstances of our lives are not the way we think they should be if Jesus is who he says he is

Right?

It isn’t a question of “Are you the savior?

The question is “Are you the type of savior I was expecting?”

“If you really are who you say you are, I would not be in this situation”

“So if you are who you say you are, you would get me out of this”

“You would save me from this”

“You would change this”

And look at how Jesus responds:

Matthew 11:4–5 “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.’”

Now, you have to see this… Jesus here is quoting from Isaiah, chapters 35 & 61 in which God declares what he will do when he comes to his people

And listen for the similarities…

Isaiah 35:5–6 “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.”

Isaiah 61:1–2 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor…”

But there is a part of Is. 61 that Jesus leaves out…

“He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound…”

John, you know who I am… but you are in prison and so you think that means that if I am who you know I am… then you will be set free.

But that isn’t going to happen… and that does not mean that I am not who I say that I am.

There is a real danger that we must be protected from:

The danger is not rejecting Jesus because of a lack of evidence

The danger is rejecting Jesus because the evidence doesn’t meet your expectations.

The danger is in wanting to control the process and the outcomes

“It has to look the way I envision it, or he must not be Lord.”

And the warning for John is the same warning for us:

Be very careful that your disappointment does not lead you to doubt Jesus.

You never thought you would be in this situation

You never thought you would have that diagnosis

That your marriage would look this way

That your children would go that way

That you would still be struggling with that sin

I get that - Just be careful to not let that negate the truth of who Jesus is.

The reality is that our vision for our lives does not always match God’s purposes for us.

And rather than demanding control, demanding that it go our way, we submit to his way as we relinquish control of our lives.

And that is why Jesus says what he does in v. 6

Matthew 11:6 “And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Church family, when we take offense at God because he has not delivered us from what we thought he would, we have the wrong expectations.

Blessing is not found in having our expectations met, it is found in submitting to Jesus by embracing his way.

So let me ask you:

Are you doubting Jesus because of how your life looks?

Are you questioning him because he isn’t doing things according to your expectations?

Don’t look to yourself for how things should go - Look to him

Look to his word

Submit to his word

Let go of control

That is what happens when the kingdom arrives on Jesus’ terms, not ours

We submit to his way, rather than trying to control it our way

The second expectation that we need reset is:

Obedience, not success (7-15) [22:00]

Now, there is a lot to be unpacked in these verses, so we are going to camp out here for a bit.

Jesus turns from John’s disciples and addresses the crowds who were standing there when Jesus was talking to john’s disciples.

Matthew 11:7–9 “As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.”

And then jump down to v. 13-14

Matthew 11:13–14 “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.”

In Malachi 3-4, The Lord declares that he is going to send one final prophet who will call the people to repentance before the Lord shows up

That profit would be like Elijah, depending on the Lord, living in the wilderness and standing against kings

And John was that prophet - He was not just another prophet, he was the last prophet before Jesus arrived

So the people should have listened to him… But they didn’t

Why?

Because they wanted something different

Jesus uses two rhetorical questions to expose what they were thinking and he uses to analogies

A reed shaken by the wind and someone dressed in soft clothing

A reed is very top-heavy and does not have any kind of backbone and so the slightest breeze makes it sway back-and-forth

You wanted a profit who would just say your own opinions back to you

You wanted someone who would change with popular opinion

And a person in soft clothing who lives in Kings houses is someone who has influence and power and all the visible signs of success

You wanted a prophet who fit your vision of success and wealth and influence.

What these two images have in common is that you wanted a prophet who would tell you what you wanted to hear

So that you could have your vision of life.

And that isn’t what John was, so you made him into a spectacle.

Rather than listening to him, you mocked him.

Here is the reality for us church family: You can either have the world’s version of success or you can have obedience to Christ

You can’t have both.

If you embrace God’s way, you will be mocked by the world

Matthew 11:11 “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

What made John great is that through his obedience, he pointed to Jesus

He didn’t say what the people wanted and he didn’t look the way the people wanted

But here is the deal: Obedience to God’s word makes you unpopular

And often we then trade obedience for approval.

We want approval - We want success

The world will promise you that the good life is found in seeking success…

And if you have been pursuing success, thinking it will give you the good life, you need your expectations reset

Obedience to God is the good life

His ways are good for us - The world’s ways are not

His ways lead to flourishing - The world’s ways lead to death

I know that it is so tempting to want everythign the world promises

And to disregard that which doesn’t give it to you

But we need our expectations reset - It is not approval or wealth that comes with the kingdom of God

But a life that aligns with his word.

And when we try to make God’s kingdom fit into ours, we actually do violence to God’s kingdom

Look at v. 12

Matthew 11:12 “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.”

This is a notoriously difficult verse to interpret

But if we look at the context—John is imprisoned, the crowds are resistant, the religious leaders are dismissive—it is clear that the kingdom of God is not being peacefully embraced.

It is being resisted.

And people are trying to force it to fit their own expectations.

So it is being forcefully distorted

What Jesus is saying is that to try to reshape the kingdom to fit your expectations is a form of violence against the truth.

You want success so you distort the Gospel to give you permission to pursue that

You want popularity, so you reinterpret the Bible to be more acceptable

When you change the Kingdom to fit your kingdom, you do violence to the kingdom.

Church family: May we never be a church that changes the Bible or its message of the Gospel to be more acceptable to a world that hates the truth.

May we be a church that obeys the words of Christ, even when it costs us

And that is why Jesus says what he does in v. 15

Matthew 11:15 “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

In Scripture, to hear is to obey

I know you heard me when you do what I asked

If you don’t do it, you weren’t listening to me

Jesus is saying, “If you hear my words, you will live for obedience”

That is why I always say after reading the text each week “These are God’s words for us - May we have ears to hear them and hearts to obey them”

Because of this verse right here

If you hear the words of Jesus, you will live accordingly.

That is what it looks like for the kingdom to come on Jesus’ terms

And may we have ears to hear.

Obeying God’s word, rather than ignoring his word in the pursuit of worldly success.

And the final expectation that needs to be reset:

Repentance, not preference (16-19) [33:00]

Have you ever been encountered a person with whom it seems like it was their world and you just happen to be living in it?

Like, your presence in their life was either an inconvenience because you go tin their way

Or your presence in their life was a means of them getting what they wanted?

Jesus is going to confront us with the fact that that is often how we treat God.

Matthew 11:16–17 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’”

This generation, Jesus says, is like kids who want you to dance to their tune.

And when you don’t, they get mad.

Jesus is saying, “That is how you treat God when you are living for your own kingdom.”

And then he uses John and himself to prove his point

Matthew 11:18–19 “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, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.””

The people felt judged by John’s abstinence from alcohol and gluttony

The people were offended by Jesus’ interacting with the outcasts

They rejected the judgment that came from john

They rejected the mercy that came from Jesus

They want a kingdom that matches their preferences.

They want a prophet who fits their expectations.

They want a Messiah who treated the crowds they way they did.

And when God doesn’t dance to their tune, they reject Him.

And lest we think that was only true for them…

This is not an ancient problem, it is a human problem.

All people want their own way

And we create in our minds a version of Jesus that matches our preferences

So Jesus becomes compassionate, but never confrontational

Inclusive, never exclusive

Comforting, but never commanding.

We accept the parts of Jesus that affirm us and quietly edit out the parts that expose us.

And Jesus will have none of that.

He says in v. 19 “Wisdom is justified by her deeds”

On Prov. 8-9 you are introduced to two women

Lady wisdom and lady folly

And it is the work of their hands that reveals the truth about them

The works of lady wisdom bring life

The works of lady wisdom bring death

Jesus is saying, “You want me to dance to your tune… but your tune brings death.”

“My way will prove itself to be best.”

So we need our expectations reset

God doesn’t march to the beat of our drum… we march to his.

And when we have been creating a version of Jesus that matches our preferences, we need to repent.

Repentance = Turning from my old ways, changing my mind

[Your way is right and good]

You cannot have your preferences met and have the life God calls you to.

The two are opposed to one another.

So where have you been demanding God to dance to the beat of your drum?

In what ways are you saying, “God, I played the music… you didn’t dance for me!”

And whatever the answer is to that question, we each need to repent of it

This is what happens when the kingdom arrives on Jesus’ terms, not ours

We repent and let go of our preferences.

[Conclusion] 38:00

This has been a confrontational sermon because it is a confrontational text

We are constantly in danger of being just like the people in this passage

Having the wrong expectations and thereby viewing Jesus the wrong way.

Having the wrong expectation, and so we reject Jesus’ words

And so Jesus is resetting our expectations

Submission to his way, not control in seeking our own way

Obedience to his words, not success according to the world’s words

Repentance of our ways, not demanding that God meet our preferences.

And if we will hear his words and obey them, we will not be a church that is filled with people building a bunch of small kingdoms

We will be a church that God uses to build his

Because the kingdom of God comes on Jesus’ terms, not ours.

Amen?

Then may we have ears to hear his words… and hearts to obey them.

Let’s pray.