Disappointed in God
Disappointed in God
What are your expectations of how God works in this world?
“Are you an optimist or pessimist?” He responds, "Neither. Jesus has risen from the dead."
Transcript:
Welcome to the Light of Christ weekly podcast. Light of Christ Anglican Church is located in Georgetown, Texas, at MLK and University Avenue. We are a modern expression of the ancient faith. You can learn more about us at lightofchristgeorgetown.org.
Today's sermon soundbite is based on Matthew chapter 11, where John and his disciples seem to be disappointed in Jesus. Have you ever been disappointed in God? What are your expectations regarding how God works in this world?
Someone once asked Leslie Newbigin, he's a 20th century missiologist, asked him, "Are you an optimist or pessimist?", he responds, "Neither. Jesus has risen from the dead". I'm not an optimist or a pessimist. Jesus has risen from the dead. See, this touches upon that expectation part. What should the Messiah be? What should God do in this world?
If we should expect anything of God, we should expect the unexpected.
Jesus rose from the dead. God did not send a Messiah that followed the traditional career path for King of Israel, or any king. If someone wants to be president, there's a career path that you take. You get elected in local government and then maybe you become a mayor and then what do you do next, become Governor, Governor is probably a quick way, or a Senator, and then President. So there's a career path, an upward career path.
Messiah Jesus, King Jesus, didn't take this career path, and in those days it was brutal. To become King required acquisition of power, selfishness, brutality. Yet Jesus, the all powerful Son of God, what does He do, He chooses instead a cross and a crown that's a crown of thorns.
See the “highway of holiness” that Isaiah talks about in verse 8 is through the desert. It's through the desert. See true healing must come through the desert. True healing must come through the cross. And we desperately want to skip that part. We want a King who will feed our lusts, our lust for power, our lust for pleasure, our lust for stuff.
Do you remember the phrase, "It's the economy stupid"? I think that packages that quite nicely. That's what we want out of a king. But instead of the king we want, Jesus is the King we need. He does not feed our lusts, but He heals us, He restores us so we can love. And that something, sin, that lust, is deep in our heart and it's not something that policy or war or rules can ultimately address. It's a heart surgery. It takes time. And it requires the cross. It requires traveling through the arid desert.
That's why in Christianity we have these practices like fasting, almsgiving that we do, we should be doing all year, but we really intend to do during Lent and Advent. These are ways of emptying ourselves, putting ourselves in the desert place so that we can discover the fullness that God has for us.
Actually our expectations of God are too low and too American. Why do we only expect God to work in this world according to the way that makes sense to us? Why isn't God just pragmatic about everything like we are? Why doesn't He do things according to statistics, power, and human glory?
Is God limited by our understanding of how the world works? Are His ways, our ways, brothers and sisters? No, they're not. The resurrection changes everything about what we believe is possible and how we believe it's possible.
Thank you for listening to the Light of Christ weekly podcast. Let us end our time together with a prayer from the book of common prayer. Our prayer today comes from page 23, A Collect for Endurance.
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the Cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
