EXPECTATIONS – GENERAL AND SPECIFIC – GREAT AND SMALL
I wonder how many are familiar with the novel “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens. Pip the orphan boy relates his story that is based around what expectations wait for him, surprises, incorrect assumptions, tragedy and a lot more. Well as an orphaned boy in Victorian England he had no future but did have expectations that arose from third parties.
I loved playing cricket, and as an opening batsman, every time I went out to the cricket pitch and stood at the crease and waited for the opening bowler, at the back of my mind there were expectations of what score might be made. There were always cricketers one would admire, and etched in my memory are Jeff Thompson (bowler), Allan Border (batsman) and the greatest batsman since the great Don Bradman – Sachin Tenduldar of India, the “Little Master”. I loved watching Tendulkar and always had great EXPECTATIONS of a prolific run rate. (For those who don’t know cricket, you won’t know what I am saying.)
[A]. Peter was in prison and there was a prayer meeting for him. It is recorded in Acts 12 v 8-16, but just a few verses - Acts 12:4 When he had seized him he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people, Acts 12:5 so Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.”
What were the expectations of those in that prayer meeting, and what were they praying for? God’s intervention saw Peter released and he went to the house of the prayer meeting - Acts 12:13-16 {{“When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer, and when she recognised Peter’s voice, she did not open the gate because of her joy, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” but she kept insisting that it was so and they kept saying, “It is his angel.” Peter continued knocking, and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed.”}} That would have to be the most NON-EXPECTATION prayer meeting there was. There was no expectation there for Peter’s release. You wonder what they were praying for.
[B]. We find some examples of expectation in Scripture and will look at a few of them:
[1]. CLOSED EXPECTATION
Joseph was sold into slavery into Egypt but God’s hand was upon him and He promoted Joseph to the high position of service. In time Jacob was brought to Egypt and met Joseph – {{Genesis 48:11 “And Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well.”}} The facts of Joseph’s disappearance counted against all expectation. This was like Sarah who was 90 and had no expectation of a child in her old age. Over time Jacob has lost any expectation of ever seeing Joseph again. All his hopes and memories were assigned to the past. This is an example of a closed expectation.
[2]. MISPLACED EXPECTATION
Expectation can grow large in some people because of pride or arrogance or personal ambition. The signs can be misread and misapplied. God’s ways are not our ways often, and what we concoct in our thinking, our minds come to expect it to be God’s way. That leads to so much disappointment, and in the case in this story from 1Kings, it led to tragedy. Leaving God out of the picture and planning our own destiny with all its expectation of the flesh and personal ambition will leave us stranded like fish beyond the high water mark. Let us read that Kings passage.
{{1Kings 2:15-16 “So he (Adonijah) said, “You know that the kingdom was mine and that all Israel expected me to be king. However, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother’s (Solomon), for it was his from the LORD. And now I am making one request of you - do not refuse me,” and she said to him, “Speak.”}} This is so common and will mostly come down to motives, for our motives can be quite deceitful or ill-conceived. Our hearts must be true to God and so often we are creatures of the old nature and our perceptions and expectations are in line with that old nature. Throughout life we can develop false expectations that influence behaviour and attitudes. Reality might hit the wall as it did in Adonijah’s case and can lead to such disappointment and loss, but be very careful because it can lead to resentment and jealousy also.
[3]. SHATTERED EXPECTATION
What a terrible thing it is when we go about our lives and wait on God and live in hope, in expectancy, and then a tragedy hits. A couple may be engaged and one member is killed before the wedding. A mother carrying a child with great expectant hopes is told the child is stillborn. A person on the mission field is expecting great things to be done by God, and is suddenly taken out of service or killed. A church fellowship that is expecting great things from God gets torn apart through personalities and pride and vaulting ambition. How can all that be handled? It is often asked, “Why has God allowed that to happen?” It can be an emotional drain.
The great man, Job, had an experience he wrote of – {{Job 30:26-29 “When I expected good, then evil came. When I waited for light, then darkness came. I am seething within, and cannot relax. Days of affliction confront me. I go about mourning without comfort. I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help. I have become a brother to jackals, and a companion of ostriches.”}} It was like his whole world had come crashing down. I am sure you could relate to something like that somewhere through life. That can be a turning point for some people and can even cause them to abandon their walk with the Lord. Why has God allowed all that to happen? A tragedy even greater than the initial tragedy is when one turns around, blames God, then turns around, and keep walking away from God who never did them harm. There is a solution and we will speak on it shortly.
[4]. FRUITLESS EXPECTATION
I sometimes walk through shopping centres and look at all the small shops there trying to make a living, many of then franchises. Over a number of years so many of those shops change tenants and someone new comes along with another product or service. They come and they go. Each person comes with an expectation of making a profit, making a living. Some have very high hopes, but alas the business struggles and the leasees can’t pay the “usually too high” rent and go broke. I feel so sorry for those people. They try to make good and work hard, and in the end just end up making losses. Our greedy capitalism and love of ruthless money dishonours God.
Do you think God lost out on any expectation? Let’s look at this – {{Isaiah “5:2-4 “And He dug it all around, removed its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in the middle of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it. Then He expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones. Now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between Me and My vineyard. What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes it produced worthless ones.”}}
God is speaking about His vineyard which is Israel. This is a parable about God’s care for Israel, and all He did for the nation, but all they ever produced was worthlessness. In place of care and comfort from God they produced sin and idolatry. He did everything for them, redeemed them originally from Egypt and led them on a 40 year journey. He appointed David, a man after His own heart as king and sent prophet after prophet to the nation and expected so much from Israel but, alas, the nation became worthless. In the end the vineyard was overturned and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. Israel was reprobate.
5. REDEMPTION’S EXPECTATION
For centuries Israel had been expecting a Deliverer to come, One who would break the Roman bond and set up His glorious kingdom that would fill the earth. When John the Baptist encountered Jesus and hailed His as the Lamb of God, he expected Him to have set up His kingdom, but when John was in prison and nothing had happened, he sent some followers to the Lord. This is that incident – {{Matthew 11:2-3 “Now when John in prison heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples, and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”}}
John’s expectation was a bit misplaced but only in the substance, not in the Person. John did not realise properly that between the Lord’s baptism in Jordan and the setting up of the kingdom, lay Calvary for the purpose of redemption. The Lord is the Expected One and remains for us the expected One. He is coming again.
[6]. FEARFUL EXPECTATION
{{Luke 21:25-28 “There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the EXPECTATION of the things which are coming upon the world for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near.”}}
The passage we have selected is set in the Millennium that comes after the Rapture of the Church. In fact the time is 7 years after the Rapture and describes the Second Coming of Christ to the earth. For that coming there are many signs given. They are found in Matthew 24 and many of the Old Testament prophets such as Joel 3:9-17 that speaks of the Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming. There will be many atmospheric and cosmic signs for that Coming.
At that time in earth’s history people are fearful with a dread expectation of terrible things that are coming. It will be a horrible time, but God in mercy, even in judgement and wrath, has made provision for escape from hell but the people won’t repent (Revelation 9:20-21. As they did not repent in Noah’s time, they will not repent here. In our passage above, the Tribulation saints are told to “straighten up and lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near.” That is a double expectation. One is for the ungodly in fear, and the other is for the saints in hope.
[C]. WHAT ARE THE CHRISTIAN EXPECTATIONS?
What expectations are we going to have in life? What will determine them? For everything in our lives, God would have us to be biblically based. We have a solid basis to base some expectations on, for we can be certain about the outplay of prophecy and the promises in God’s word. For example the Lord said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” so we have that promise to expect the continual presence of the Lord in our lives.
All this comes down to authority. Do we accept the authority of the Bible or just give a nod to it? If one is not prepared to accept God’s authority which is clearly spelt out in the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ, then to whom would you turn to for meaning to life and what expectations would you build? Only in God can you base correct expectation.
Now what are our expectations as Christians?
(1). We have a loving God who saved us through repentance and forgiveness. Therefore, being the sheep in the Good Shepherd’s fold, we expect Psalm 23 to apply to us. (Do some of the points from this Psalm). You know some times the sheep poke around under fences and get themselves a bit lost. If our expectations are appearing to be wrong and not working out, lay it all at the feet of the Good Shepherd and remain under His leading.
(2). The Lord has promised to return for His Bride and all His loved ones will be with Him forever, all joyful members of His Body, His Church and Bride. This great expectation is called “the blessed hope”. We hold on to that, paramount among expectations. (Then briefly explain what hope is).
(3). We have the expectation of God’s promise of His abiding presence. We seek no other sunshine that the sunshine of His face. We have the expectation that just one glimpse of the Lord in glory will repay all the toils of life. We know He will bear us over death’s river and unite us with those who have gone before. We are content to let the world go by because like Abraham, we have a city whose maker is God and that is where we are going. We love to tell the story because it is true and all our expectation is bound up in it for it satisfies us eternally.
(4). Currently the greatest expectation for the Christian is the very soon coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His Church in the Rapture. Paul calls this “the blessed hope” and we wait with expectation for His call, “Come up here!” With the Rapture being so close, Christians have no time to play around with worthless things but need to reassure the Rapture in their hearts as it means we see Jesus as He is. Words can not describe that.
(5). His presence is with us in sunshine and storm. How did David feel when fleeing from his rebellious son, Absalom? The matter of poverty – how do Christians handle it. What are the expectations through that? Should Christians have the expectation of blessing in all material things? No, no way. That is greed and the lust of materialism and forms the basis of the prosperity doctrine.
Our times are in God’s hands. A poem of mine is based on a passage from Habakkuk -
I WILL STILL PRAISE GOD MY SAVIOUR
Though the fig tree does not blossom,
And no fruit is on the vine;
When the olive’s yield shall fail us,
And no produce can be mine,
I will still praise God my Saviour.
I will still exalt His Name.
Though the fields produce no goodness,
And the flocks all be removed;
Thought the cattle stalls be empty,
And my table lacks its food,
I will still praise God my Saviour.
I will still exalt His Name.
He has made my feet like hind’s feet
So that I can leap and run.
He has made me walk up higher,
By His grace has this been done.
I will now praise God my Saviour.
I will now exalt His Name.
And my strength in God rests fully;
It’s the Lord who comforts me.
Not in riches nor abundance,
But in Jesus rests my plea.
He’s the One who is exalted.
He remains always the same.
So through life I’ll trust my Jesus;
I have known His loving care,
For He’s graciously upheld me,
And by faith I know He’s there.
He’s the One who’s loved me truly.
He remains always the same.
[[Ron Ferguson – Copyright, but may be used in Christian ministry with acknowledgement.]]
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
