Have you ever been disappointed? There are probably some who came to worship today struggling with disappointment. Disappointment takes many forms.
• Sometimes we get disappointed by people (marriage partner, work associate, friend).
• Sometimes we get disappointed when our plans do not materialize (marriage, school, promotion).
• Sometimes we get disappointed with the twists of life (death, sickness, broken dreams).
Joke: Disappointment is one of those emotions we would rather avoid. A small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witness to the stand in a trial -- a grand-motherly, elderly woman.
He approached her and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know me?"
She responded, "Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I’ve known you since you were a young boy. And frankly, you’ve been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you’re a rising big shot when you haven’t the brains to realize you will never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you."
The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?"
She replied, "Why, yes I do. I’ve known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. I used to baby-sit him for his parents. And he, too, has been a real disappointment to me. He’s lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. The man can’t build a normal
relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of the shoddiest in the entire state. Yes, I know him."
At this point, the judge rapped the courtroom to silence and called both counselors to the bench.
In a very quiet voice, he whispered, "If either of you asks her if she knows me, you’ll be jailed for contempt!" (Contributed to Sermon Central by Dru Ashwell)
Disappointment is one of those emotions we had rather avoid. As we face disappointments we need to be reminded that even God does not shield his children from disappointment.
• Joseph had a God given dream but had to wade through disappointment in order to realize it. He was rejected by his brothers. He was the object of lies at the hands of his boss’s wife.
• Job experienced the loss of everything he owned. He lost his family and his friends.
• Jeremiah was called of God to be a prophet to Israel. However, he was rejected and his message was rejected by the people of God.
• Paul was called to be an apostle of God but he was persecuted by the very people who needed to hear his message.
I want to use a text from Luke 24 to consider this subject. This is the context. Two of Jesus followers were on their way to a place named Emmaus. Apparently Emmaus was their home town. They had been to Jerusalem and were aware of the news of Jesus death. As they walked along they were discussing the events that had happened in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus death. As they talked Jesus appears and begins to question them. As they speak Jesus picks up on their disappointment. In verse 21 we find the words reflecting their disappointment. The two followers tell Jesus “And we had our hopes up that he was the One” (the Message).
Have we not heard that phrase before?
• I had hopes our marriage would work!
• I had hopes my loved one would get better!
• I had hopes my job would work out!
• I had hopes we would win the ballgame!
Disappointment can make or break us, depending on how we cope with it. History has abundant illustrations of people who have struggled with disappointment and yet came out on top.
Illustration: Some years ago someone sent me an e-mail entitled “Shake it off and step up.” It perfectly illustrates the concept of dealing with disappointment. A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule ‘braying’. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened…and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.
Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back…a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back…HE SHOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP This he did, blow after blow.
‘Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!’ he repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed the old mule fought ‘panic’ and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP!
It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of the well. What seemed like would bury him, actually blessed him…all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity. Disappointment can make or break us, depending on how we cope with it.
I want to do a simple two point sermon. First, I want to consider the outcome of disappointment. Second, I want to consider how the presence of Jesus can transform defeat into victory.
First, what is the outcome of disappointment.
Disappointment will blind you. Notice verse 16. The Bible tells us Jesus’ followers were hindered from seeing Him. The reading of the text makes it sound as if God hindered them from recognizing Jesus. Regardless of the meaning of the phrase the point remains the same. Disappointment will blind you. Disappointment can blind you to the other wonderful things God is doing in your life. In our text disappointment blinded these two disciples to the resurrected Christ. They could not see the good news for the bad news.
Illustration: Leith Anderson, a pastor, shares an experience of disappointment. As a boy, he grew up outside of New York City and was an avid fan of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. One day his father took him to a World Series game between the Dodgers and the Yankees. He was so excited, and he just knew the Dodgers would trounce the Yankees. Unfortunately, the Dodgers never got on base, and his excitement was shattered.
Years later he was engrossed in a conversation with a man who was a walking sports almanac. Leith told him about the first major league game he attended and added, "It was such a disappointment. I was a Dodger fan’ and the Dodgers never got on base."
The man said, "You were there? You were at the game when Don Larsen pitched the first perfect game in all of World Series history?" Leith replied, "Yeah, but uh, we lost."
He then realized that he had been so caught up in his team’s defeat that he missed out on the fact that he was a witness to a far greater page of history.
(SOURCE: As told by Dean Register in Minister’s Manuel, 1995, 339. Contributed by SermonCentral)
Disappointment will disillusion you. It causes us to lose perspective. It causes us to lose direction. It turns life grey.
Illustration: This past week I learned that a prominent Alabama pastor had had a moral failure. Obviously, that was a huge disappointment. Such tragedies can disillusion those who look to the leader for guidance.However, we cannot let disappointment disillusion us.
Disappointment will cause you to lose hope. That is the fundamental meaning behind our text. The disciples had lost hope and were going home with head’s hung low.
Illustration: Years ago Father John Powell told the story about a young girl named Norma Jean Mortenson. She was a young girl who spent much of her childhood in foster homes. In one of those foster homes, when she was 8 years old, she was abused physically and given a nickel and told to tell no one.
-When Norma Jean tried to tell her foster mother she was spanked and told not to say anything about it again because the man she accused of abusing her was a man who faithfully paid his rent.
-As time went on Norma Jean turned into a very pretty girl and people began to take notice. Boys would whistle at her and she liked it but she wished they’d also know she was a person too, not just a body.
-After a period of time Norma Jean went to Hollywood where she changed her name to Marilyn Monroe. Publicity people told her they were going to turn her into an American sex symbol. It worked. She became an overnight success. But she still longed to be recognized as a person. She longed to be loved.
-She went thru 3 marriages pleading for someone to notice her as a person and not just an object. At the age of 35, on a Saturday night, Marilyn Monroe killed herself. Her maid found her the next morning on her bed with the telephone dangling off the receiver.
-Clare Buce wrote she thought the dangling telephone was a symbol of Monroe’s life. She died because she never got thru to anyone who understood.
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Erik Estep)
Disappointment causes frustration. Jesus called the disciples “foolish ones.” This frustration can drive us to do things we would never do otherwise.
Illustration: I am one of those wierd people who still changes my oil in my vehicles. On Saturday I set out to change the oil in my pick up. The pick up is new so it had a factory installed oil filter. Translation, the filter was too tight to loosen by hand. I tried to loosen the filter with a strap wrench and a set of oversized channel lock pliers. Neither of those did the job. I even went to a parts store and purchased a special filter wrench. It did not work! Finally, a friend came to my rescue with a special heavy duty filter tool. I was plenty frustrated after that disappointing waste of time.
These are a few of the outcomes we experience when facing disappointment. All of us have felt the consequences of this deadly emotion. All of us struggle with managing it properly. We need to be reminded that it is not the disappointment but the handling of the disappointment that matters. The most important thing is to handle our disappointment with God’s help.
II. In our text Jesus transformed defeat into victory. He changed disappointment into good news. He helped them overcome this deadly emotion. He wants to help you overcome this and other struggles you may be facing today.
How can the presence of Jesus transform.
A. The power of Jesus presence can transform.
"The Christian hope is the hope which has seen everything and endured everything, and has still not despaired, because it believes in God. The Christian hope is not hope in the human spirit, in human goodness, in human endurance, in human achievement; the Christian hope is hope in the power of God." –(William Barclay, The Letter to the Romans…Contributed to Sermon Central by Brian Mavis)
• The presence of Jesus can transform defeat into victory.
• The presence of Jesus can transform sadness into singing.
• The presence of Jesus can transform darkness into light.
• The presence of Jesus can transform bitterness into sweetness.
You may be struggling with an impossible feeling that cannot be overcome. Your words may be “I cannot do this.” That is exactly the point. You cannot but Jesus can. This is true for any trial you face in life. Jesus presence can transform the trial into a victory. “When Jesus shows up, disappointments blow up.”
Illustration: Several years ago I had a knot pop up under the skin on my right ring finger. When we find knots, such as this, our first impulse is to think the “C”. word. I went to the doctor to have the knot examined. It turned out to be a simple cyst. The doctor gave me a shot in the area surrounding the cyst. It was as if the cyst exploded. It disappeared. Likewise, Jesus has the power to dissolve disappointment. He transforms.
B. The presence of Jesus reveals God’s plan. God’s plans cannot be frustrated. God’s plans cannot be defeated.
Illustration: When I watch movies I like action heroes. Shows such as Superman, Walker and Batman are my favorites. The reason I like such shows is because the plan always comes together. The plans of the action heroes are never disappointed. They always come out on top. We know that such shows are make believe. They are fictitious. However, the truth of the gospel is that God’s plans cannot be frustrated. God’s plan always comes together. We need truth that is bigger than life.
C. The presence of Jesus gives new hope and meaning. Sometimes we go through life trying to make sense out of the confusion which surrounds us. How does it make sense? How do we find hope?
Hope motivates us to keep going and not give up. Without hope we don’t want to do anything.
A cartoon from the comics illustrates this point.
Peanut’s cartoon: Lucy and Linus were sitting in front of the television set when Lucy said to Linus, "Go get me a glass of water." Linus looked surprised, "Why should I do anything for you? You never do anything for me." "On your 75th birthday," Lucy promised, "I’’ll bake you a cake." Linus got up, headed to the kitchen and said, "Life is more pleasant when you have something to look forward to."
Do you have a steadfast unshakeable hope in God? Hope not only opens the door to receive a touch from God, hope also moves you through the door. Like Linus, when you have hope you’re willing to get up and do something.
(Contributed to Sermon Central by D. Greg Ebie)
The disciples on the road to Emmaus got up and were motivated to serve. Jesus helped them overcome their gloom.
