From Amazon to God Offering

It’s a problem, right? Because all of the stuff that you and I probably would’ve just gone without (and certainly could have/should have gone without) becomes just 1-Click away.

But that’s not where my problem ends. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

See:

What I can also do (and what I kinda love doing) is figure out what everyone else in the world thinks about this particular charger... and compare it with 6 other chargers in the same price range.

Because I want my back-up charger to not be a giant disappointment to me when it arrives. I mean, that $8.39 better get me exactly what I paid for.

And so my 1-Click problem gets bigger than just spending money on crap that I don’t need. It gets bigger than just being materialistic.

It’s also encouraging me to be a very picky consumer. I don’t just want it; I want it exactly how I want it.

Now:

When it comes to shopping in consumer-driven economy… all of that’s actually pretty cool. It’s great for that.

But as it relates to who I’m becoming… as in, the impact that instant, easy, tailor-made ways to get what I want has on what kind of person I’m turning into…

Not so great.

Why?

Because I start expecting everything everywhere to be a little more “1-Click.”

Everywhere I go. Whatever I’m doing. I expect it to be more “1-Click.”

And if we took a step back and looked at ourselves for a second, here’s what we’d see going on:

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Our expectations shape our reality—because our expectations determine our decisions.

But herein lies the danger:

Our expectations can be shaped—often in ways we remain unaware.

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There’s a reason that Big Tech spends billions and probably trillions on getting access to our personal data. Geolocation. Credit card transactions. Demographics. There’s a reason. Here’s their reason. They know… that:

If we can shape your expectations, we can shape your decisions.

And if we can shape your decisions, we can shape your reality.

And if we can shape your reality, we can promote and protect our own.

And they have become very good at it—so good, that most of us don’t even know they’re doing it. We don’t know to what extent they’re really shaping our expectations and decisions.

Transition

Now, I know that setup sounds very ominous, and that you might be wondering what kind of conspiracy-driven rabbit hole we’re going down this weekend.

No conspiracies. But, two questions in light of this reality that are relevant for us who live in this 1-Click world Monday-Friday and then do church on the weekend:

Two questions:

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When it comes to my church:

What are my expectations?

What is shaping my expectations?

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Remember:

Our expectations shape our reality, because our expectations determine our decisions.

So: What do I expect of my church? And what is shaping those expectations?

Here’s what we’re gonna do first this weekend. We’re gonna look at 3 interactions Jesus has with 3 different people. Each of these people bring a different set of expectations to Jesus.

And the crazy thing about each of them is this:

They don’t seem to be aware of any of them—of their expectations, or of what has shaped them—before they kind of word-vomit those expectations on to Jesus.

Let’s dive in.

Exegesis: Great Expectations

First one is found in Luke 12:13.

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Luke 12:13

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(Explain where to find Luke.) As you find that, here’s the setting: Jesus is teaching his disciples, but as word gets out about his location, a crowd starts gathering—so large and frenzied, in fact, that people begin to trample on one another, jockeying to get close. Kinda like at a front row of a concert or a Black Friday “Doorbuster.” Unruly crowd. Don’t really care about each other. Just trying to get at Jesus.

And here’s the verse:

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Luke 12:13 (NIV)

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

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Boom. There it is. Some dude in the crowd who’s last parent just passed away, probably dragging his brother with him, probably about to fist fight him, yells this at Jesus.

So:

What was it that he expected of Jesus? He came down to see him. One of the faces in the crowd. What expectations did he bring with him that day?

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Our “Great Expectations:”

Solve my problem (exactly as I see it)!

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Solve my problem, Jesus (at least, my problem as I see it)!

The problem as this guy saw it was that: his jerk of a brother isn’t giving him his fair share. And you said that we should treat people fairly. So: do your judge thing and make him do the right thing!

Now:

I’ve done a decent amount of funerals at this point in my ministry career. And not all of them are like this—but there are some where there’s just big time tension within the surviving family over the inheritance. Could be big time dollars or mom’s Christmas mugs. Whatever it is, if it’s a sore spot, here’s what I’ve found:

Most often, the person crying “Not fair!” the loudest is usually the reason why it’s a problem in the first place.

But that’s what this guy in the crowd expected. Jesus, I came down to this gathering of yours and moshed my way to the front. It’s why my nose is bleeding. But doggone it, solve my problem (exactly as I see it). Expectation #1.

Let’s go to another one. Just a few chapters later in Luke—Luke 18:18-23.

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Luke 18:18-23

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This is another one of those where Jesus is in a crowd, again doing some teaching. And parents in the crowd were actually bringing their babies to him for Jesus to bless—kinda like a child dedication.

It’s this really sweet moment—and a moment Jesus uses as a real live illustration of what God expects of his people: to become like little children. Jesus says we approach God with the peace and the confidence and the humility of a little kid asking mom or dad for something to eat or drink.

And in this sweet, beautiful, meaningful moment,...

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Luke 18:18 (NIV)

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

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That’s kind of a 180 from the vibe we got going on here… but ok...

Hard to know what he expects from just this question alone. Could be a genuine quest for knowledge; maybe he’s expecting that Jesus will have some answers. But the fact that he’s interrupting the children’s sermon to ask Jesus this makes me think, “Eh… probably not.”

And in fact, Jesus responds by asking him this:

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Luke 18:18–19 (NIV)

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.

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Might seem like a puzzling response from Jesus at first… but, I think Jesus’ question here is genuine. I think he’s actually seeking an answer from the ruler.

“Why do you call me good when only God alone is truly good?” Jesus asks.

(Pause.)

The right answer to Jesus’ question, of course, is a confession:

“I’m calling you good, Jesus, because you are God.”

But, seeing that the ruler wasn’t going to make that confession, Jesus goes on to say:

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Luke 18:20–21 (NIV)

You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”

“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

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And this is where I think we get a better sense of what the ruler expected of Jesus:

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Our “Great Expectations:”

Solve my problem (exactly as I see it)!

Affirm and validate me (for who I am)!

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That’s what this ruler expected. He wasn’t coming to the Son of God for a real examination of his life and a true explanation of eternal life. Although he framed his question as a “need”—what do I need to do, Jesus?—he wasn’t interested in Jesus revealing what he needed. No; he was coming to a teacher seeking acceptance of who he was on the basis of how he had lived.

It’s like a star pupil asking the teacher in front of the entire class: “Teacher, how do I get a good grade?” He came to Jesus thinking he already knew the answer to his question, pretty sure that he already had the right answer himself—and that he just needed a little bit of affirmation.

That’s Expectation #2. Here’s the final one. John 6.

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John 6:24-26

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As you find that, here’s what’s just happened in the story that we’ll be jumping into:

Jesus has now just fed a crowd of people miraculously. He had 5 loaves, 2 fish, 5,000 people… fed.

After that, Jesus’ disciples get into a boat and set off to sail across this giant lake. Jesus tells them he’s going to meet up with them later. But when they get out into the middle of the lake, a storm blows in… and in the middle of the storm, Jesus walks out on the water and hops in the boat!

And then we get to verse 24:

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John 6:24–25 (NIV)

Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

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I love that question—because it’s such a stalker question. They literally hop into boats and sail around until they figure out where Jesus landed and when they “ran into him” they were like, “We meet again… fancy meeting you here! How random and completely coincidental!”

So what did they expect? Well, this time we don’t have to even guess. Jesus actually tells them, straight out:

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John 6:26 (NIV)

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.

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Here’s what they expected:

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Our “Great Expectations:”

Solve my problem (exactly as I see it)!

Affirm and validate me (for who I am)!

Give me (what I want)!

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Jesus wasn’t the Son of God who had the answers to life’s deepest problems and questions. No; he was the guy who gave out free lunches. That’s what motivated them to do all that sailing that day. They wanted to get their hands on another free meal.

And this expectation is certainly not limited to these freeloaders back then. I got to be subjected to this one firsthand.

My son, Jude, and I had the absolute privilege of getting watch the inaugural Field of Dreams baseball game in Dyersville between the Yankees and the White Sox. And I could go on and on about how cool of an experience it was.

Here’s a picture:

SHOW FIELD OF DREAMS PICTURE

We actually sat on the 1st base side, just 16 rows up from the Yankees dugout—prime “catch a ball” seats, especially from players coming into the dugout after the final out of the inning who would casually toss the ball into the crowd.

And we’re sitting with a bunch of mostly nice people, but all of them are adults. Like, my 11-year old is the only kid within like 7 or 8 rows.

And over the course of the game, 3 balls came within just feet of us.

The first one was super close, and he got so excited. But it was too far away for either of us to get. It was like 2 rows up.

So, of course, we got a plan. He was gonna hop up on his seat the next time one came in so that maybe he and I could both reach for it.

Then the second one gets tossed in—and this time, it came to the guy who was sitting just (2) seats down from Jude. A guy my age.

A third one came later in the game, this time (2) rows down.

Now… I didn’t expect it, but I gotta be honest:

11 years old. Field of dreams game. With his dad. Wearing his Yankees gear with his name on the back.

Don’t you think at least (1) of those people might think:

“How bout we give the kid a ball?”

Nope. Was not gonna happen.

(I got him one, by the way. Just had to pay for it at the merch stand after the game.)

But those are the people in the crowds, man. Give me what I want. They wanted a ball. They got it. And they weren’t interested in giving it away.

Three different interactions from three different people with Jesus… each bringing their own set of expectations to the gathering with him:

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Our “Great Expectations:”

Solve my problem (exactly as I see it)!

Affirm and validate me (for who I am)!

Give me (what I want)!

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Transition

I mean, looking at that list, it kinda looks like how a spoiled kid would approach their parents.

And honestly, I think that’s probably what it felt like to Jesus. Here’s these spoiled little brats clawing their way to the front demanding that I do all of these things for them.

But here’s the thing:

Jesus doesn’t treat them like spoiled brats.

He doesn’t put them in their place with some witty comment, or ignore them, or even get angry and dismiss them entirely.

Instead, with each of them, he graciously redirects them—and gives each of them an opportunity to do a little course correcting.

Let me show you what I mean.

Remember the first guy we looked at—the “not fair/inheritance” guy?

Here’s how Jesus redirects:

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Luke 12:14–15 (NIV)

Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

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Which might seem like a little forceful or jarring response at first, and maybe it was—but Jesus doesn’t leave it at that. He actually takes the time to tell a story—a story that the greedy man might listen to and relate to.

I mean, if this man is demanding his fair share of the inheritance, it’s likely because his parents had both died.

So Jesus tells this story of a guy who died too early.

It’s a story of a farmer who grows his operation bigger and bigger and bigger so that he could one day, in his own words, “Take life easy. Eat, drink, and be merry.” In 2021, we call that “retirement.”

But here’s how Jesus ends his story of this farmer:

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Luke 12:20–21 (NIV)

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

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The farmer dies before retirement age. Tragic.

But what makes it tragic isn’t that he didn’t get to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

What makes it tragic is that he worked his entire life for himself!

His problem wasn’t that he was dreaming of a bigger operation. His problem was that his dream only benefited him!

So here’s the lesson Jesus gave this guy a chance to learn—and us today as well—in this redirect:

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Jesus Redirects Our Expectations

Solve my problem (as Jesus sees it): me-focused.

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It’s fine to come to church wanting some help with the problems of life. And we talk a lot about those around here. We pride ourselves on being practical. That’s not a bad thing to expect.

It’s just a bad place to stay. Because Jesus doesn’t want to just solve your problems that you’re facing. He wants to solve the problems that are inside of you. Problems like greed, or selfishness, or this “me-focus” that all of us fall into so easily in the “1-Click” world that we live in.

It’s good to expect your church to help you solve some of the problems that you’re facing. But it’s much better to let Jesus solve some of the problems that are facing you—the ones inside of you… especially that one that puts you first, or you in the center.

#1. Here’s #2.

#2 was the story of the ruler who shouted down the child dedication and just wanted Jesus to affirm him for the good life that he was living. “I’ve kept all of those commandments, Jesus, my whole life.”

Here’s what Jesus says:

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Luke 18:22–27 (NIV)

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.

Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

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Here’s what I love about this part of the story that we just read:

The people who witnessed this reacted just like you and I reacted today.

“Jesus… who can do that?”

Who’s getting in | if the way in | is selling all of your stuff at the drop of a hat?

What you and I feel when we read this story today is what they felt when they lived it back then.

But Jesus is quick to clarify:

What’s impossible for us isn’t impossible for God.

Sure; you saw a rich guy not be able to part with his stuff—even if what he got in return for that was a front row seat to following in my footsteps!

You saw a man who’s wealth had so gripped his heart that he was willing to hold on to it at the expense of literally the invitation of a lifetime!

You saw a person not be able to free themselves from what had a hold on them.

And by the way: that’s impossible not only for him to do, but for all of you as well. You can’t free yourselves.

But the good news is this:

God can!

It’s almost as though Jesus is saying this moment:

This isn’t where his story ends! Sure, he wandered off today sad. But God’s still after him.

Here’s the redirect:

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Jesus Redirects Our Expectations

Solve my problem (as Jesus sees it): me-focused.

Affirm and validate me (for what only Jesus can do): change me.

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That’s what Jesus wanted this man to see:

Not that the way to heaven was selling his stuff.

But that his stuff was in the way.

That his stuff had a grip on him.

That his stuff dictated his values and his decisions.

That his stuff was more valuable to him than even Jesus himself.

AND—AND...

That he couldn’t fix that about himself!

How different that day would’ve been for this ruler if, instead of wandering away sad, had simply made this confession to Jesus:

“I’m sorry, Jesus! I don’t want to; I don’t even think that I can! It’s not right; I know that… but it’s got such a hold on me. Help!”

So many of us come to church feeling like we just need a little validation for doing our best—when what we really need is to admit that our best falls well short of being able to change us in the ways that we truly need to be changed… and that only Jesus can.

What would happen if we, instead of wandering away sad when we didn’t get the affirmation we sought, instead came expecting Jesus to show us how we need to be changed… and then asked him to do it?

My stuff has a grip on me, Jesus. I feel like I’m entitled to it. It provides me all kinds of validation and security. And I know that’s a problem. And I can’t fix it. Help!

That’s #2. Let’s get to our third and final… the hungry, hungry hippos who sailed across the sea for a free lunch.

Here’s what Jesus says:

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John 6:27–29 (NIV)

Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”