Jesus meets us where we are

Have you ever asked God to give you a sign? Well, we know from Scripture that Gideon did! Now, we know that Gideon makes it into the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 because he did have some shining examples of faith throughout his life and was used by God to lead his people. He tore down altars to Baal and defeated Midian when they were oppressing Israel, for example.

But, it’s far easier to find bad examples in the life of Gideon than good ones. In Judges 6, we see the story of Gideon’s fleece. God comes to Gideon while he’s threshing wheat. Now, normally you’d do that on the threshing floor, but Gideon is hiding in the winepress to thresh out his wheat because he’s afraid of the Midianites coming and raiding him and stealing his wheat. So you can already tell, this is a man of valor and courage! (Eh…not so much…)

So, the Angel of the Lord comes to Gideon and tells him that he’s going to use Gideon to defeat Midian. Gideon asks for proof that this is really God. The Angel of the Lord touches some food with the tip of his staff and the food bursts into flames and the Angel of the Lord vanishes. So Gideon gets his proof—this really is God speaking to him. But then later, Gideon asks for more signs. First, he says:

Judges 6:36–37 ESV

36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.”

Well, God obliges. But Gideon still isn’t convinced.

Judges 6:39–40 ESV

39 Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” 40 And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

Now, we kind of chuckle at Gideon a little. “How many signs do you need?!?!” But, in reality, we all have a little bit of Gideon in us.

FCF: Despite the many occasions in which God has proved himself faithful to us, we all tend to struggle with disbelief and doubts. We struggle to put our faith in what we can’t see and often refuse to believe until we see.

Main Idea: In John chapter four, we see that Jesus meets us where we are, but he doesn’t leave us there.

John 4:43–54 ESV

43 After the two days he departed for Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast. 46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

Prayer for illumination

Jesus meets us where we are...

Despite the fact that he is under no obligation to do so.

Jesus was under no obligation to this Gentile ruler to grant his request.

God was not obligated to grant Gideon’s request for signs.

God is not obligated to grant your requests for signs.

God does not have to prove himself to anyone, even if doing so would cause them to believe

Romans 9:10–18 ESV

10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” 14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Jesus could have denied the Centurion’s request, turned around and walked away, and he would have done that man no wrong.

God parted a sea for some people to walk through on dry ground, but he hasn’t done that for me.

God raised some people’s loved ones from the dead, but he hasn’t done that for me.

God gave riches untold to some people, but he hasn’t done that for me.

And he is under no obligation to do any of that for me.

He is the first cause, the fundamental premise

Though everything else may be subject to doubt and questioning, he is not.

Was God obligated...

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden to offer up a plan of redemption?

When humanity rebelled and was destroyed in the flood to save Noah and his family and rebuild the human race?

When humans sinned against him to send his own son down to live amongst us?

When his chosen people nailed him to a cross, to forgive them?

When you live your life for yourself, to forgive you?

Our culture says “Everyone deserves a second chance!” but Scripture says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God...” and “the wages of sin is death.”

“If I got what I deserved, I’d be in hell tonight.” —Lecrae

Ephesians 2:1–9 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Transition: God is under no obligation to meet us where we are...

Yet, he still does meet us where we are! What mercy and love!

Jesus heals the Centurion’s son because he knows that his family won’t believe unless he does so. Jesus healed them to secure the salvation of their souls.

John calls Jesus’ miracles signs (Jn. 2:11, , because they are miracles with a purpose.

Jesus’ miracles were not parlor tricks designed to wow an audience

They weren’t even merely for the sake of healing physical ailments, as worthy a cause as that is

Jesus’ miracles were always purposeful

Some were calculated to demonstrate his power over various forces (i.e., nature, demonic forces, human rulers, etc.)

He calms the sea

Casts out demons

Passes through the midst of angry mobs

Some were primarily teaching moments

feeding the 4,000 to teach the disciples

the two-step healing process that he used to restore sight

Some are prophetic or foreshadowing

Cursing the fig tree to prophesy judgment on Jersualem (Mt. 21)

When God does a miracle in your life, it is a sign of a greater truth!

God doesn’t work miracles in your life or provide you with blessings just to make you happy, healthy, or wealthy.

He works miracles and gives blessings so that you might learn more about him and his character and that you might have FAITH!

Jesus meets us where we are, but he doesn’t leave us there.

Even though God does sometimes give us signs, he doesn’t intend for us to become dependent upon them.

A prominent theme throughout the book of John is humanity’s faithlessness in the face of the miraculous.

We’ll see this in John chapter 6 especially, when Jesus feeds the multitude and yet they still ask him for signs.

It’s normal for baby Christians to ask for signs, and God sometimes grants them.

But it’s not normal nor healthy for mature believers to insist on signs as a prerequisite for fai

Hebrews 5:12–14 ESV

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

We are supposed to persist in our walk with Christ, learning from his word until we become “skilled in the word of righteousness” so that “by constant practice” we will have our “powers of discernment trained…to distinguish good from evil.”

The model of a mature believer in Scripture is not someone constantly asking God for a sign and God stepping in with some amazing Red-Sea-parting miracle- “God are you still there? Show me a sign!” “God is that you? Show me a sign!” “God are you going to provide for me? Show me a sign!”

Rather, the examples of mature believers are those who “have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” by becoming “skilled in the word of righteousness”

The example of maturity is not someone who needs a sign but someone who, as it says in Romans 12, “presents their body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God…and is not conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewal of his mind, so that by testing he can discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Jesus may provide you with a sign on occasion, he may meet you where you are, but he doesn’t intend for you to stay there! He intends for you to press on to maturity.

Are we not the same? Are we not faithless in the face of God’s miracles?

How many times has God shown himself strong to provide your needs?

How many times has God given you guidance when you’re faced with a difficult decision?

How many times has God comforted you when you were brokenhearted?

And will you still not believe?

We need to meet people where they are, but refuse to leave them there.

What God has done for us, we ought to do for others

While God is not obligated to meet us where we are, we are obligated, constrained by the love of Christ, to meet others where they are.

Romans 1:14 ESV

14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.