Disappointments: God’s Blessings in Disguise
Chuck Sligh
TEXT: Just after Jesus ascended into heaven in Acts 1:9-11, we read, beginning in verses 14-26 – “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. 15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) 16 Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. 17 For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. 18 Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. 20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take. 21 Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. 23 And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, 25 That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. 26 And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.”
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – The story of Joseph in the Old Testament is one of the most remarkable stories in the Bible.
It’s also a story of a man of God who, despite His faithfulness to God, experienced great betrayal and disappointment.
• His own brothers’ betrayed him and sold him into slavery (and you thought your siblings were bad!)
• He was falsely accused by his master’s wife of rape because he rebuffed her sexual advances to him, and his master, believing his wife, had him thrown into prison.
• There, a fellow prisoner who made a solemn promise to mention him to Pharaoh to secure his release totally forgot him when he got out.
• So Joseph floundered away in prison until finally, if you know the story, he’s called upon by Pharaoh to interpret his troubling dreams, when his old friend finally mentions Joseph to Pharaoh.
• Only after years of betrayal, disappointment, servitude and waiting did Joseph rise to the second highest office in the land to lead Egypt through a 7-year famine.
Joseph’s story illustrates the key thought of our sermon today: that God superintends our lives so that even the bad things that happen to us work out for good in our lives. Let’s look at this truths in our text this morning.
I. FIRST WE SEE IN THIS TEXT A “SELECTION.”
You might say that this was the Jerusalem church’s first business meeting. Jesus had told the disciples to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. So they did—120 of them. They tarried (that is, they waited,) and prayed and sought God’s face.
But apparently Peter got a little antsy with all this waiting and praying stuff. He was a man of ACTION! Suddenly, he sees a need and instantly launches into action. He gets up and says, “Folks, we need to find a replacement for Judas.” Judas had committed suicide after betraying Jesus, which left them with 11 apostles. Feeling there needed to be 12, he tells the disciples they need to choose a stand-in.
Now Bible scholars differ as to whether Peter did the right thing.
• Some believe PAUL was really the 12th apostle, so Peter jumped the gun on God here.
• Others believe God was forming a new spiritual “people of God” called the church, and in order for Jews to accept a new entity not based on Jewish ethnicity, it needed to be patterned along the lines of God’s earthy people, the Jews, who had 12 tribal leaders.
I won’t argue over whether Peter was right or wrong; I just want us to observe what happened.
So the disciples found two men who met the qualifications of an apostle, namely, verses 21-22 say, that he had to have been with Jesus throughout all his earthly ministry, beginning with His baptism by John; and he had to have been a witness of Christ’s resurrection. The two men who met these qualifications were Joseph Justus and Matthias. After prayer, the disciples cast lots to see which one of the two should be chosen.
This too is a debatable thing among Bible teachers and scholars.
• Some say they were leaving things up to chance rather than exercising God-given wisdom and discernment as to who was best fitted for the job.
• But others point out this wasn’t like throwing dice or playing a game of chance…. From their point of view, they were allowing THE LORD to make the choice, based on Proverbs 16:33, which says, “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing [literally every decision] thereof is of the LORD.”
So is this a valid method for choosing deacons or filling positions today? No.—We don’t see this practice again in the New Testament because after this the Holy Spirit came, and one of His ministries in our lives is to GUIDE us.
Now with that background, put yourself in Joseph’s and Matthias’s shoes for a minute. You’ve just been notified that you’re up for apostleship! It’s kind of like getting a letter from Publisher’s Clearing House that says, “You may have already won an apostleship!”
So here you are: you didn’t sign up for any of this; you didn’t campaign for it; nobody checked with you about it.
You’re just notified, “Hey guys, you two are the only ones who meet the qualifications, so you’re the two guys we’re casting lots for.”
Naturally, you get your hopes up; it’s only natural after all, and you start to thinking about all you could do for God’s glory with the title of “Apostle.”
Now here’s what I want you to see: One of you two is chosen and one of you isn’t.
Illus. – Have you ever watched when a winner is chosen for a beauty pageant or a talent show, like American Idol or The Voice or something like that? It’s down to the wire to just two contestants and the announcer is just about to announce the winner. One of them will be the final winner and one will be the loser. When the winner is announced, the loser is expected to go over and give the winner a congratulatory hug like they’re really happy for them, when you know deep down that they’re bitterly disappointed and their heart is broken. And then the loser steps away from the winner…and all the glory, all the congratulations, and the title or the crown or the prize goes to the winner…and the loser goes home empty-handed, usually never to be heard of again.
I know that’s how Joseph must have felt when the results came in.
We don’t have to be in a contest or on a show to understand ABC Sport’s famous line about “the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat.”
• Many of you have worked to be accepted in Special Forces, or put in an officer’s packet, or applied for a coveted position in your company or battalion…but you were turned down, and another colleague got instead what you sought after.
• Or maybe you tried to reach for some personal goal like a friend of yours did, and he or she reached it but your efforts failed.
• Or maybe you’ve done all the right things, but life just hasn’t seemed to have gone your way, while your sorry, black-sheep of the family sibling made all the wrong choices in life, and everything seems to work out great for him or her.
It’s in THOSE times that the Lord is testing you to see if you will allow yourself to be eaten up with envy and covetousness, or if you’ll see that God has some other plan. That leads me to my second point: Not only do we see a SELECTION in this text…
II. WE ALSO SEE GOD’S “SOVEREIGNTY.”
I’ve studied several commentaries on Peter’s actions here, and I’m still not sure if he jumped the gun or if this really was God’s original plan. But knowing Peter and his history in the Gospels, I kind of lean towards believing he acted rashly, though sincerely.
If so, here we see Peter watching and praying and seeking God’s face, and suddenly, while reading the Old Testament, he reads the verse he quotes from the Psalms in verse 21 and he says, “Hey, this must be talking about Judas. And look, it says, ‘his bishopric’ (which means his office), let another take.’ Dudes, get up off your knees and let’s get this DONE!”
You’ve gotta’ love Peter! Whether he got ahead of the Lord or not, I don’t think Jesus cared because He knew Peter’s heart. I can just see Gabriel up in heaven rolling his eyes as he watches this up in heaven, while Jesus just smiles and says, “Man! I love that guy.”
And in the end, God seems to have put His stamp of approval on what happened, even if the REAL twelfth apostle—Paul—doesn’t show up until years later.
But let’s shift gears for a minute, and go back to poor Joseph Justus… Peter tries to solve this perceived problem, and Joseph finds out he’s a candidate! But then the results come in, and the winner is…drum roll…not him.
At that point Joseph had a decision: He could choose to consider it an honor to be considered and figure it just wasn’t God’s plan, or he could get angry, or bitter or envious or cynical.
The Bible doesn’t tell us what his reaction was. I presume he took it well since the Bible doesn’t record otherwise. I’d like to think that when the lots were cast, Joseph said a little prayer and said as Jesus had in the garden: “’Lord, not my will, but thine be done.’ Whatever the results, I’ll acknowledge that your hand is in it and I accept your will for me.”
I wonder if you’ve faced a deep disappointment like this.
• Did you fume about the unfairness of it, or did you turn your heart toward God and say, “Lord, not my will, but thine be done.”?
• Were you envious that someone got what you thought you deserved; or did you say, “Lord, thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”?
• Did you complain to God that nothing works out for you, or did you say, “Lord I believe your promise that “All things work together for good to them who love God; to them who are called according to His purpose.”?
In the midst of disappointment and rejection, or even betrayal, can you see God’s sovereign hand behind the scenes working it all out for good in your life? I believe that’s what God wanted to do in Joseph’s life, and in our lives through all our trails and disappointments and setbacks and barriers we encounter in our lives.
CONCLUSION
So [PAUSE] that was the early church’s first business meeting that might ought not to have been called in the first place, but which God put His apparent stamp of approval on anyway. What should we take away from today’s sermon?
Really, just one simple point: I want you to know that somewhere, sometime you’re eventually going to be passed over, overlooked, unappreciated, or rejected in favor of someone else. Or somewhere along the way, some major desire of yours will be unrealized and simply will not happen.
And let me tell you, it’s natural to be disappointed and frustrated; that’s not a sin. But where do you go from there? Will you get bitter…or better?
May God give you the grace to look to Him and say, “God, You know what’s best for me. I will trust You in this.” Remember this truth: “You may not always be able to trace the hand of God, but you can always trust the heart of God.”
We began today’s sermon with the story of Joseph who, if ever there was a man who had a right to be bitter and angry at his brothers who had caused all his calamity, it was him. But when he revealed himself to his brothers, and they feared retaliation, he said, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” (Genesis 50:20)
I assure you that if you experience the “agony of defeat,” God has a reason for it that will be for GOOD in your life and in others’ lives. Trust that He knows what He’s doing!
When Laura Story’s song, Indescribable, recorded by Chris Tomlin, became a Christian radio No. 1 hit, she experienced a number of other fabulous successes she recognized as blessings. But when her husband, Martin, had brain cancer and experienced serious post-operative brain damage and memory-loss, she found her life spiraling from one trial and disappointment and struggle to another that will continue the rest of Martin’s life.
For years she had seen “blessings” almost from a kind of health and wealth perspective. But her trials caused her to reach out to God in ways she had never done before. And in the end, she realized that the trials she and Martin were experiencing were really blessings in disguise, which eventually was the thought she put into a song she recorded herself, which also became a massive No. 1 Christian radio hit. Listen to the lyrics:
We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
And all the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things
Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?
We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel you near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if each promise from Your Word is not enough
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe
What if my greatest disappointments,
Or the aching of this life,
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy.
What if trials of this life,
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise?
Let us pray.
