SERMON: WHEN GOD LETS YOU DOWN

10 February 2013

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Matthew 11:1-6

 

Matthew 11:1-6 (NIV)
¹ After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.
² When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples
³ to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"
⁴ Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see:
⁵ The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
⁶ Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

            -- there are a few things that are common throughout humanity -- it doesn't matter what country you live in -- what race or sex you are -- what economic class -- there are a few things that we all share in common

            -- love is one -- everyone in this world wants to love and be loved -- we are reminded of that this week as we see all the people getting ready to celebrate St. Valentine's Day

            -- faith, I would say, is another -- everyone in the world has some kind of faith -- even if their faith is not in the person of Jesus Christ -- even those who say they don't believe in God -- they still believe in something -- they still have within them this desire to believe

            -- a desire to belong is something else I think we all share -- we were made for community -- we were made for relationship -- and even people who are introverts like myself -- people who need time alone -- still need to belong -- to be in community -- with other like-minded people

            -- and, as we were going through our daily Bible readings this week, it occurred to me that there is another trait that all of us share -- discouragement -- doubt -- that feeling of being let down by someone or something

-- we've all been there -- everyone in here has been disappointed and let down by something -- some minor --some major

 

-- sometimes we get let down by other people or other things

-- I remember back in 2008 when the Georgia Bulldogs were ranked #1 in the nation for the first time since they won the National Championship in 1980 -- and everyone thought they were going to run the tables and win a National Championship for the first time in almost 30 years -- and what happened? -- they let us down

-- we get let down when people at work or people in our clubs don't do what we ask them to do -- just ask Kim and Dana whether they got let down about the agility trial they're having this weekend

-- we get let down when people just don't act the way we expect them to act -- there's nothing that bothers me more than being behind a car in a lane in a parking lot when they just stop and sit there with their blinker on -- they don't care about the effect they're having on anyone else -- their selfish behavior disappoints us

 

            -- sometimes we get let down by family and friends -- by people we have relationships with

            -- maybe people we were dating -- spouses who haven't fulfilled their part of the marriage covenant

            -- we can be let down by children who head off on a wrong path and leave home and who haven't come back -- husbands who refuse to lead their families and go with them to church -- wives who are emotionally distant

            -- the thing is -- all of us -- at some point in our lives -- have been let down by others or by things that we trusted in and depended on -- it's part of life -- it's what we've come to expect

 

            -- but, let me ask you this -- have you ever been let down by God?

            -- sure you have -- not because God has failed you but because God has failed to act as we expected

            -- what about when you pray, but don't get results? -- do you feel let down by God? -- like He doesn't care about you?

            -- what about when you pray for healing but the person dies?

 

            -- when I worked at Fort Benning, I had a friend whose father was very sick -- and everyday after work, a group of guys would gather together with him to pray for his father -- and he was very specific in what he asked -- he wouldn't let them pray for God's will to be done -- he told them to pray for God to heal his father -- and, so that's what they prayed for every single day

            -- well, his father died -- and this man's faith suffered greatly -- God had let him down -- and he didn't feel like he could trust God any longer

 

            -- do you feel let down by God when you pray for someone to come to Christ -- to change their ways and start living better and they don't -- they just persist in unbelief and immoral living?

 

            -- do you feel let down by God when you pray for blessings that never come -- for help that never materializes?

 

            -- of course you do -- we all do -- when people or things or even God doesn't act the way we expect them to act -- when they don't do the things the way we expect them to do -- we feel let down

             -- I'm sure I've probably told you this before, but bear with me because it's relevant to the point I'm trying to make here -- when Kim and I were living in Tennessee, we were heavily involved in an international Bible study group called BSF -- "Bible Study Fellowship"

            -- and when the job opened up at Moody AFB -- it just looked like God was paving the way for us to come back to Georgia and for me to come back to be near my parents -- but we didn't want to leave that Bible study group we were in

            -- we checked around and found out there wasn't one of those groups in the Valdosta area -- the closest one was in Jacksonville -- and someone suggested, "Why don't you start a BSF group in Valdosta?"

            -- we prayed about it and it seemed like that was just what God wanted us to do -- so I took the job at Moody with the intention of moving back here and starting a BSF group -- but it didn't work out -- BSF didn't support it -- when I called their international headquarters in Texas, they didn't like the idea -- they wanted to focus on overseas Bible studies

            -- so I tried to get a group of people to start meeting here in Valdosta -- to get some interest growing so BSF might change their mind -- it was a failure -- we just couldn't get anything going and I didn't understand -- I felt like this was what God had called me to Valdosta to do -- and now He wasn't helping -- I felt like God let me down

            -- but, as we see in this passage, feeling like that is not uncommon -- let's look at this passage here in Matthew 11 again and see what we can learn about those times when it seems like God has let us down

 

II.  Scripture Lesson (Matthew 11:1-6)

 

            -- look back at verse 1-3

 

Matthew 11:1-3 (NIV)

1 After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.

2 When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples

3 to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"

 

            -- as this chapter opens, we find John the Baptist sitting in prison -- he had been put in prison by Herod Antipas for preaching against Herod's marriage to his brother's wife -- in essence, John had been put in prison for doing God's work

            -- John had been doing great things for God -- he had been doing all that God asked -- he had preached against the idolatry and immorality and religiousity of the Jewish people -- he had called the nation to return -- to repent of their sins and to be baptized in the Jordan River

            -- it was through John's ministry that the hearts of the Jewish people were prepared for the coming of the Messiah -- God's anointed One -- and John, more than any other, believed that Jesus was that long-awaited Messiah

             -- but here he sits in prison while Jesus does nothing more than preach and teach -- He's not doing what the Messiah should do -- He's not getting rid of the Romans and the Gentile oppressors -- He's not restoring the true worship in the temple and getting rid of the hypocritical priests -- He's not claiming David's throne and establishing a kingdom of righteousness -- and John starts to doubt -- he feels let down by Jesus

             -- think about what must have been going on in John's mind as he sat there in that prison cell -- as Beth Moore wrote, "four walls closing surely must limit your vision" -- and that's exactly what was going on with John

            -- John had believed that Jesus was the Messiah -- he knew the prophecies better than most -- he knew he was the one who was called to prepare the way for the Lord

 

            -- so why was he sitting in prison if Jesus was the Messiah? -- shouldn't he be out there ministering for Jesus -- continuing to call people to repent? -- John's ministry had only lasted for one year -- he could not have imagined that his purposes were so quickly fulfilled

            -- and if Jesus was the Messiah, why hadn't He claimed the throne of David? -- Why hadn't He freed John? -- wasn't that why He had come -- to proclaim freedom to the prisoners?

            -- why would Jesus let John, of all people, sit in prison with the threat of execution hanging over his head when all he had done was proclaim the coming of the Messiah and call the people back to God?

             -- and so John sat in that prison cell feeling rejected -- abandoned -- and let down by the One he believed was the Messiah

-- Samuel Taylor Coleridge once said, "Hope without an object cannot live" -- and John's hope was rapidly dwindling

-- so he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask Him -- "Are you the One who was to come or should we look for someone else?" -- or, to put it another way -- "Why aren't you doing what we expected you to do? -- Why are you letting us down?"

             -- there's some lessons here for us in John's question to Jesus:

             -- the first is that even mature Christians can doubt -- doubting doesn't mean you aren't a Christian -- it just means you are questioning your understanding of what God is doing

            -- we doubt when things aren't going like we expected -- we doubt when we let our hearts overrule our minds -- we doubt when we experience heartbreak and failure
            -- but doubting can ultimately be healthy because these crises of belief can lead us to greater faith in the end -- doubting makes us question -- and questioning leads us to seek answers -- it is in the process of seeking answers we find God again and begin to understand His reasons and His ways

            -- the second thing we should see from the example of John is that doubt comes about when we substitute self for sovereignty

            -- when you have felt let down by God, what was the reason? -- it was because God did not do what you expected or wanted Him to do
            -- we feel let down by God when we put our self and our desires above God and His plans -- and anytime we do that, we run the risk of doubt -- we run the risk of feeling like God has let us down -- but, has He really let us down?

             -- verse 4-5

4 Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see:

5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.

            -- in answer to John's question, Jesus pointed to His own ministry -- He told John's disciples, "Go back and tell John what you have heard and seen with your own eyes -- go back and give John the proof he is looking for"

            -- Jesus pointed John back to the prophecies of Isaiah and said, "Look at what I am doing -- I am doing what Isaiah said the Messiah would do -- not necessarily what you think the Messiah should do
            "I am fulfilling the ministry of Messiah -- through Me, the blind receive sight -- through Me, the lame walk -- through Me, the lepers are healed-- through Me, the deaf hear -- through Me, the dead are raised -- and, through Me, the good news is being preached to the poor"
            -- when John came asking if Jesus was the One, He didn't give promises -- He didn't say, "Just wait, John -- I'll do what you want me to -- I'll fulfill all your hopes and dreams and plans."
            -- no, Jesus said, "Look at what I'm doing now and tell me if anyone but the Messiah could do it -- believe in Me, John, not in your false image of Messiah"   
      
            -- verse 6

6 Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

            -- it all comes down to this -- head knowledge vs. heart knowledge -- can't rely on feelings -- heart-doubts can be very dangerous if we remain in them -- John felt let down by God

            -- his heart was hurt -- his feelings were hurt -- he didn't understand why Jesus would let him go to prison or why Jesus wouldn't free him -- he didn't understand why Jesus wasn't doing what he expected him to do -- it was all about him and his condition
            -- John wasn't looking at Jesus through eyes of faith -- he wasn't looking at Jesus based on reason and experience -- he was only looking at Jesus through eyes of self -- and his feelings of doubt came about because he felt like Jesus had personally let him down

            -- Doubt comes about because we put self above the sovereignty of God -- doubt comes about because we put ourselves on the throne instead of God -- we doubt God and we feel like He has let us down simply because He hasn't acted in the way we expected or would like Him to act

            -- we have to remember that there is a God and we are not Him -- we can't always understand what God is doing -- we can't always know why God is acting or not acting in a certain way
            -- as it says in Isaiah 55:8, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways"
            -- God has a plan and sometimes He has to work in ways we don't understand in order for His plan to be accomplished
            -- this may mean prayers are not answered like we want -- this may mean we go through trials and tribulations -- this may mean we end up in prison like John -- but we must be willing to accept God's plan even if we don't understand it
            -- look at the example of Job from the Old Testament -- without a doubt, Job was afflicted with more trials and tribulations than any person who has ever lived -- but Job refused to curse God just because he didn't understand why he was going through all of this -- he still believed even though he didn't understand

            -- the answer to doubt is to die to self and to work through our doubts -- to not let them imprison us as they threatened to imprison John the Baptist

            -- in John 3:30 we read these words, "He must become greater; I must become less" -- those were the words of John the Baptist that he spoke after Jesus began His public ministry -- words that John had forgotten -- and as John was sitting there in Herod's prison, he had actually put himself above Jesus, and that led to his doubts
             -- the greatest enemy of a Christian is self -- as the cartoon character Pogo put it: "We have met the enemy and he is us"
            -- emphasis on self leads to pride and arrogance and a lessening of importance of God in our lives -- emphasis on self leads us to think we know how God should act and we know what God should do -- an emphasis on self leads us to doubt and despair and feeling like God has let us down
            -- John's prison wasn't the four walls in the dungeons of Herod's palace but the walls of self -- and sitting there reflecting on his condition and his expectations and his plan and his self led to John doubting that Jesus was the Messiah
            -- when self takes over, we begin to doubt that God is who He says He is -- it was only when Jesus pointed John back to the truth of God's word -- to the truth of who He was -- that John was able to erase his doubts and come back to true faith in Christ

III.  Closing

            -- Years ago a military officer and his wife were aboard a ship that was caught in a raging ocean storm -- and as the ship was tossed to and fro, the officer's wife began to panic -- she was worried that they would capsize and would lose their lives
            -- Seeing the frantic look in her eyes, the officer tried unsuccessfully to alleviate her fears -- Suddenly she grasped his sleeve and cried, "How can you be so calm?"
            -- He stepped back a few feet and drew his sword -- pointing it at her heart, he said, "Are you afraid of this sword?" -- Without hesitation she answered, "Of course not!"
            -- "Why not?" he inquired. -- "Because it’s in your hand, and you love me too much to hurt me."
            -- To this he replied, "and that is why I am not worried in the midst of this storm -- that is why I do not doubt -- because I know the One who holds the winds and the waters in the hollow of His hand, and He will surely care for us!"
 
            -- trust had displaced doubt -- faith had triumphed over fear -- that is the lesson we must learn from this story of John the Baptist
            -- when doubts come, we should recognize they are coming because we have put ourselves above Christ -- we feel like Christ is not concerned with us and He is not doing what He should be doing in our lives
            -- we doubt because we let fear rule our lives

             -- the answer to doubt is two-fold:

            -- first, we must decrease so He can increase -- we must take ourselves and our plans and our ideas of God off the throne and put the true God back where He belongs -- we must focus less on ourselves and our wants and desires and more on Christ and what He is doing in this world
            -- and, secondly, we must turn to God's word and God's promise -- we need to lift up the real Jesus -- the real Messiah -- and trust in the God who loved us enough to sacrifice His own Son for us
            -- we must be ruled by the Word of God in our lives and not our own selfish wants and desires -- we must trust in the Word of the One who can save us and look past our circumstances to the promises we have in Him
            -- faith dispels fear -- and trust dispels doubt
            -- so when doubts come, don't turn away from Christ -- but seek His face -- seek His word -- and trust in His grace -- even if you don't understand what He is doing

            -- let us pray