When Things Go Wrong
Matthew 11:2-11
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/WhenThingsGoWrong.html
It is a blessing to be a Christian, but this world is under a curse. Things go wrong. Plans fail. The outcome of our goals sometimes isn’t what we had hoped. Tragedy strikes. Death takes its toll. Pain is a part of everyday life. Even Christianity isn’t all that some claim it to be. Although we know we can have joy in trials and God works all together for good…sometimes we don’t see it. Some days faith wanes, and we wonder where God is.
John the Baptist: He was the greatest man born of woman. He was a great preacher…bold and courageous.
He challenged the morals of King Herod, pointed out his sin. Can you imagine telling the King he’s living in sin / adultery, and that he’s not right w/ God? Don’t expect to be invited to open Congress in prayer, or to be invited to the White House for counsel. And in John’s day, you can expect to land in prison…and he did.
v. 2 In Bible days, prisons were much different than today. No A/C / library / weight room / cable…it was a dingy, dark, rat-infested, hole in the ground…a dungeon.
This is the end of the road for John…he’s living his final days in what seems like failure, embarrassment, and shame. He had lived his entire life for the Lord. The Bible says he was filled w/ the spirit of God from his mother’s womb; he surrendered at a very early age to be God’s spokesman, a forerunner to the Messiah. He lived his entire life in God’s will, and now he’s spending his final days in prison as the laughingstock of the nation…and fact is, it’s not going to get better—you won’t read later that John is rescued from prison. No angel releases him like Peter in Acts. No earthquake frees him like Paul and Silas. No, he’s going to die in this prison…he’ll be beheaded at the hands of Herod.
It wouldn’t be appropriate right now for Oral Roberts to say, “something good is going to happen to you today.” He doesn’t need to see Kenneth Hagan’s book, “Godliness is Profitable”! Or Joel Osteen’s best seller, “Your Best Life Now!”
John’s life is an example for many of us who follow in his footsteps.
v. 2-3 John’s perplexity
Don’t miss the boat here, folks: John is having doubts. He sends his disciples w/ a message, “Go to that guy we thought was the Messiah, my cousin, Jesus, and ask him if He really IS the Messiah, or should we look elsewhere?
He’s having doubts…is He really who He claimed to be?
Question: was there ever a time in John’s ministry when he knew for a fact that Jesus was the Messiah? Sure! Who walked before Jesus saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world?” Who said that? Did He have any doubts then? Why now? Because he’s in prison…times are tough…he’s used to being in better circumstances…he envisioned a better end than this! He’s in a valley w/ no mountains in sight!
Prison was not a part of the plan. He’s saying: “Jesus, if you’re really the Messiah, why am I in here? Don’t tell me this is part of the script/agenda! Why is it happening this way?”
Many believers live for God for years and years…and they see him work in power in their lives and in the church. They experience some glory days…thru ups and downs they learn and grow and roll with the punches…but thru process of time things slow down for them spiritually, excitement wanes, the freshness fades, their vision for God diminishes, their attitude weakens.
They’ve seen it all before: new converts come and go…some make it, some don’t…people transfer in/out…I’ve sung this hymn a million times…I’ve heard this illustration before…the missionaries’ slides were interesting—nice scenery—he really seems to have a burden for those people…had a lot of baptisms, that’s good, if they’re real decisions—we’ll see I guess…what’s wrong w/ the sound system?…I don’t like one of the pastors…you’d think they could get the temperature right in here!
They find themselves on a downhill grade…the victories and mountaintops of yesterday didn’t lead all the way to heaven after all! The family that started out so good, didn’t end up as they had imagined. The glory days at church were short-lived, and a generation has passed and it hasn’t happened since…probably won’t. “This phase we’re in as a church is a passing fancy. People let you down…I don’t know if I’ll ever trust again!”
They grow cynical, and become doubt-minded.
That’s exactly what John did!
I don’t know about you, but this is comforting to me! To know that a man of this stature…as great as John the Baptist, in time of tough circumstances / depression, had doubts—that’s reminds me, “Jerry the Baptist,” that I’m normal! I’m not a spiritual freak for having these low times! If John the Baptist had doubts, we will go thru periods of doubt.
If you’ve been saved long at all, you can think of times you went thru doubts:
God’s love—if you love me, why do I have to go thru this?
God’s power—why don’t you fix this situation, Lord?
God’s justice—how can you let them get away with that, Lord?
God’s return—will the rapture be in my lifetime?
God’s man—how long will this one make it here?
Your salvation—almost all believers have doubts at some time.
All believers have doubts, and the doubts come when you’re in prison…in the valley.
What’s your prison? Financial? / physical sickness? / family? / disappointment? / discouragement? / depression? / marital conflict?
And you’ve thought: Lord, what gives? I’ve done all I know to do…I’ve tried to be faithful / serve you / tithe…I know I’m not perfect Lord, but at least I’m trying! What are you going to do, Lord? “Art Thou He that should come? Or look we for another?”
Let me give you the reason for John’s perplexity (in a nutshell):
John had doubts because Jesus had not lived up to the pre-conceived notion in John’s mind of what He should be and what He should do. John had formed a mold in his mind that Jesus should fit into…and when Jesus didn’t fit it, now John has doubts.
John didn’t have the big picture…John had an incomplete revelation of who God is. He didn’t understand that Jesus had to come a first time to suffer, bleed, and die for our sins, and that the NEXT time He would come to set up His kingdom. John had doubts because He didn’t have the big picture.
Now, notice how Jesus responds to John’s doubts: this next passage is comforting to me, because it shows me that when I have doubts, God understands.
Notice the tact and tenderness Jesus uses:
v. 4-5 Jesus is quoting Is. 35, written hundreds of years earlier:
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing:…
Jesus tells them to go back and tell John these things…Jesus knows John will immediately recognize these things as the very credentials the Messiah was to have! What tact Jesus uses in His answer.
Now, notice the tenderness:
v. 6 Blessed, or happy, is the person who trusts Me / is not angry w/ me / does not doubt me…even when they don’t understand.
John didn’t have the big picture, and most of the time, neither do we!
Why does cancer come and take away some of our best? / accident rob us of a loved one? / child die? / why can’t my boy talk? / man of God, being used mightily, fall, taking us w/ him? / child we raised in church do a 180 and mess up their life? / spouse abandon me? / my dad, after going to BBC in his 40’s, after pastoring 6 years, be struck w/ a debilitating illness and be forced to retire?
Those who think themselves spiritual try to find an answer to all the above—some cause, some root of sin, someone to blame…but the search for answers leads us down dark, winding, dead-end streets we shouldn’t venture down…when you don’t know the why, trust the Who!
Simple faith believes He is a good God, that He loves us unconditionally and would never hurt us. Simple faith remembers that we don’t have the big picture.
One day, soon, we will stand before our Lord in heaven, and He’s gonna unfold our life, and we’re gonna see the big picture, and say, “Oh, now I see! Now I understand why you had to use those dark colors over here! / insert those bland areas…it’s the only way it could have worked! Now I see the big picture! Wow! All things really do work together for good!
Ill.—sometimes our family will do a puzzle. They can make you go crazy! Recently we did one that had curved edges. Those people who did that should be shot! I stare at the pieces until my eyes cross, and I am tempted to ‘make some pieces fit!’ Being colorblind doesn’t help either. My daughter is very artsy and she makes me feel badly by finding more pieces than I do. One time she told me, look at the picture, dad. I was looking at the pieces, and it made no sense, but she was looking at the big picture.
From down here on earth, all we see are all the mixed up pieces. Someday, our loving Father will put it all together for us…then, and only then, will we see the big picture.
We’ve got to keep our eyes on Christ. In that prison, John could no longer see him, all he could see was his circumstances around him.
So it was for Peter, walking on the water: when he looked around at the storm and perils around him, he sank…when he looked back to Jesus, he was ok.
Having trouble? In a prison? In the valley?
When you don’t know the why, trust the Who!
Financial / family / health / emotional
Doubt minded? Tired of people letting you down? Stop asking why and put your eyes back on the Who! God is still on the throne…He is in control of our country, and all the affairs of men, and will accomplish His own good will in His time.
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/WhenThingsGoWrong.html
