Doubting Jesus' Mission

In just a moment we are going to hear from a character in Luke that we haven’t heard from in awhile. John the Baptist. Last we heard he was locked up in prison by Herod. And this was the last thing we heard from him:

English Standard Version Chapter 3

I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

John is saying here that he believes Jesus will be the one who comes to bring God’s kingdom. But do you notice the general tenor of his message. What is he expecting? He’s expecting judgment to come. He’s expecting Messiah to come and kick some tail and establish God’s kingdom on earth.

But here in Luke 7 John has some questions. Matthew reminds us of what Luke said in 3:20. John has been locked up by Herod. Now let’s put ourselves in John’s spot for just a moment. You’ve told people that Jesus is the guy bringing God’s kingdom. Everyone believes that “bringing God’s kingdom” means that you’re going to boot Rome out of power and establish God’s reign on earth, you’re going to get back the land…things are going to be great and all the bad people are going to get justice.

But John is in prison. What kind of kingdom is this? What kind of rescue is this? What kind of ruling is this?

You ever been there? When your expectations don’t match reality. You just knew that God was doing this one thing…but then when you are actually living in it you’re just baffled and confused and wondering, “Did I hear wrong? Did God lie to me?

Let’s listen in here and see if we can hear John’s heart and also see how Jesus responds.

Read Luke 7:18-35

Sermon Introduction:

There is some debate on this text as to whether or not John is doubting Jesus. Personally, I cannot see much way around that. In fact, I believe as some other do that there is also some challenge here from John the Baptist—it seems like he is trying to move Jesus into another level of his mission. This isn’t just doubting but there’s a hint of that darker edge to doubting too…that kind when you are so confused, hurt, or whatever that you’re kind of giving some veiled threats just to give the whole thing up.

I think we’re trying to dehumanize John a little when we have him not doubting or not challenging. There are, of course, different kinds of doubting. There is an unbelieving type of doubt—we will see that later in the text. But you’ve also got the type here of John. He believes—he wants to believe—but some things aren’t squaring up and he’s discouraged…deeply discouraged.

It’s in response to what Jesus has been saying and doing.

And I’ve never put this together before…but it hit me as I was studying for the sermon. Who is John’s dad? Zechariah. Do you remember his story. Do you remember what happened in Luke 1? Dude had been praying for God’s deliverance, been praying through Isaiah—God bring your kingdom…an angel comes…and Zechariah (John’s dad) doesn’t really believe him...”Show me a sign and then I’ll believe you.” He ends up not able to talk for the whole pregnancy as a severe mercy. It seems that this kind of doubting might run in John’s bloodline.

And it runs in our bloodline too. We expect something from God and it doesn’t happen how we expect and we find ourselves like Zechariah or John. What do we do with our doubts? Can we learn anything in this passage? How does Jesus handle this?

First, it’s good that John goes to Jesus with this and that he leans into this doubt and doesn’t run away from it. I’ve quoted this to you before but I think this from Os Guinness is really helpful:

Find out how seriously a believer takes his doubts and you have the index of how seriously he takes his faith. For the Christian, doubt is not the same as unbelief, but neither is it divorced from it. Continued bout loosens the believer’s hold on the resources and privileges of faith and can be the prelude to the disasters of unbelief. So doubt is never treated as trivial.

John is taking his doubt serious and he goes to the source. Friends, we need to remember here what we talked about a few weeks ago with lament. We have to be honest with these things. We have to take them to the Lord.

When these doubts creep in we can go the path of denial and just pretend like we don’t have those thoughts. Honestly, this is usually where you get that “warrior Christianity”. The militant stuff. Often the things that you are most passionate about defending (maybe passionate isn’t the right word—the things you are tempted to defend with anger) are the things that you’re doubting the most. The things that cause your nostrils to flare, your voice to raise, the thing you get really worked up over. It’s because you don’t think that the thing in itself is strong enough to withstand…so you’ve got to give it that added boost of your anger. John doesn’t go that route with his doubts…and we shouldn’t either. He admits them. And he takes them to Jesus.

Dave Rohrer is correct:

What we try to push away or deny always seeps out somewhere else, and any futile attempt to try to plug up these cracks in our armor diverts our attention from doing the very work we are trying to protect.

Of course another path would be to just run away entirely. You get doubts. It’s hard to unravel everything. So you just abandon the whole thing. Just remove the source of conflict. John is in prison. Things aren’t squaring up. He could have went the path of just saying, “you know I give up. I gave my life to a lie. I’m not going to ask hard questions…I’m not going to deal with this internal conflict, I’m just going to run away from the call. Thankfully, John doesn’t do that. And we shouldn’t either.

When we are confronted with doubts we shouldn’t deny them, we shouldn’t run away from the Lord, but we should take them to the Lord. And that’s exactly what John does.

When you are doubting Jesus. Go to Jesus. That’s so often what I like to tell people who are struggling. Do business with Jesus. You can have a million questions…creation, what’s it all about, why did this happen, etc. etc. but really what needs to happen is this…did Jesus Christ rise from the dead. If he did then he is who he said he was. And if he is who he said he was this is profoundly good news. If he didn’t…then your questions don’t amount to much either. The whole thing is a sham. Pack it up. And John knows this and so that’s why he asks what he did.

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

Says it twice. That’s for emphasis. That’s the key question. And what isn’t squaring up for John and even others is that they had anticipated that Messiah was going to come and bring judgment and wrath…especially upon the Gentiles. But we saw from the beginning that Jesus is doing something different. This is what he said in Nazareth.

But again...”set the prisoners free” and John is looking at bars. Some have seen this even as a challenge to Jesus. John is disappointed that Jesus’ ministry isn’t playing out how he thinks it should. We do this too don’t we…upset that God isn’t doing what we THINK a good God ought to be doing.

But look at what Jesus tells John’s disciples. Just take a look. Watch. Look and see. All this comes from Isaiah 61. He doesn’t answer John’s question directly…but he’s calling him (John’s disciples even) into a further relationship. He’s calling them into deeper trust. I’m not going to answer your question simply. I’m going to say, “Do you see these works? Do you see what’s happening. Take a look. You’ll see. You’ll see that I am the one who is to come. But I”m not going to use those words. I’m calling you into relationship. I’m calling you into further discipleship.

Sometimes we think we’d rather God just tell us...”here do this…believe this.” But he seldom if ever does that. Why? It’s not based on relationship. It’s not drawing into knowledge of Him…it’s too far removed. We don’t want that.

I think there is a lesson in here for us in regards to discipleship. I pray that I can share this in a way that is really clear. Have you ever heard of a “hothouse flower”? It’s a flower that cannot stand up on its own—it cannot grow under normal conditions but has to be pampered inside a greenhouse.

Imagine with me that you’ve got someone like John coming to you. And he’s doubting. He’s really wrestling with who Jesus is and whether or not his mission has been effective. How do you respond?

I think one way we respond is by trying to become his handler. We put him in that hothouse. Here is how Bonhoeffer speaks of it:

Therefore, spiritual love proves itself in that everything it says and does commends Christ. It will not seek to move others by all too personal, direct influence, by impure interference in the life of another.

What Bonhoeffer is saying here is that what we do in our discipleship relationships is ultimately entrust others to Christ. This is how he says we do this:

It will rather meet the other person with the clear Word of God and be ready to leave him alone with this Word for a long time, willing to release him again in order that Christ may deal with him. (26)

This is why I love how Jesus responds to John. He doesn’t answer his questions in the way that John wanted but he draws him into a relationship with Himself. He doesn’t force Himself. He doesn’t flex muscle. He doesn’t even really directly rebuke John. But he says, “look, John. Look and see.”

And blessed is the one who is not offended by me. That means stumbles over me. Who doesn’t reject because Jesus doesn’t always make sense. This is him calling John to faith. Trust me, John.

John, things don’t always work the way you think things are going to work. And John, they don’t always work in the timing in which you think they should work. But trust me. Look. Look. Remember the history. Remember the mission. Look at what you’re seeing. Isaiah 61 is happening. Don’t trip John.

Then Jesus turns to his disciples and speaks of John. Nobody is better of the old era. He ushers in Messiah.

What did you come out to see? What are you looking for? When you came to John for his baptism what were you hoping would happen. Were you looking for a big softy? No. You weren’t looking for some do-nothing king. You were looking for a prophet. You were looking for the kingdom of God.

Look at verse 29-30. What is going on here. If they accepted John’s message they were likely going to respond to the good news of Jesus. But if they weren’t in a position of repentance then this wasn’t going to happen.

We’re going to see this lived out next week with the story of Simon and the sinful woman. It’s the same thing right here. He who has been forgiven little loves little. Worship of Jesus connected to what you believe about sin and your own rescue.

And then he gives them a parable. It’s really the parable of the bratty children. What he’s highlighting here is the different ministry of Jesus and John. And he’s looking at “this generation” and the bullseye here is on the Pharisees—those who didn’t receive John’s baptism.

They aren’t going to be satisfied with anything. And there’s where we see there is a different kind of doubt than what we’ve been looking at.

Yes, there’s a type of searching that’s really unbelief. Barnabas Piper speaks well of this:

When unbelieving doubt poses a question, it is not interested in the answer for any reason other than to disprove it.  Unbelieving doubt is on the attack.  It is much more interested in the devastating effect of the question itself to erode the asker’s belief and hope in what is being questioned.  The asker is not asking to learn; [he] is asking in order to devastate.  [He] does not want to progress to an answer.  [He] wants to show that there is no answer.  Unbelieving doubt is not working toward anything, but merely against belief.  These doubts are the wild monsters that wreck faith and destroy the simplistically peaceful Christian lives so many people try to lead.

There is nothing that John could have done to satisfy them. And there is nothing that Jesus could have done to satisfy them. Do you know people like that? Don’t play the game.

“Yet wisdom is justified by all her children” what does that mean? It means you’ll know by fruits. You’ll know by the type of disciples. You’ll know by what it produces. And we’ll see this next week when we see a sinful woman and a Pharisee contrasted.

But for our time this morning what do we make of this?

Am I that type of doubter that would never be satisfied? If a guy comes and preaches God’s message of judgment and repentance—I’m saying why doesn’t he preach happier stuff. This guy is just miserable.

Then Jesus comes and preaches hope and salvation and celebration. This guy is just a partier…he isn’t preaching on holiness and our need for repentance. He needs to preach on judgment and repentance.

What are you looking for from Jesus? What do you want him to answer for you? And if he did…would you be satisfied or would you just come up with another question? There is a legit way of asking questions. There is a type of doubt that actually draws us into faith.

Christian do you have those doubts at times. What do you do with them. Do you run away. Do you deny them. Have you just kind of given up real true hope and confidence and stuff but you aren’t able to really give up all the social aspects to it? You don’t actually believe anymore…but you’re not brave enough to admit it. Be honest. And take those doubts to Jesus. Take those questions to the Lord Jesus.

That’s what we’re called to do here this morning.