{"id":33484,"date":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/for-those-who-are-disappointed\/"},"modified":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-08-26T00:00:00","slug":"for-those-who-are-disappointed","status":"publish","type":"sermons","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/for-those-who-are-disappointed\/","title":{"rendered":"For Those Who Are Disappointed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2005\/08\/18838.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n<p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Will\nyou agree with me that the Christmas season is the most , \ntime of the year? Would you also agree with me that the Christmas season can be\nthe saddest and most disappointing time of the year? Every year it catches me\nby surprise. There I am either listening to or singing one of the beautiful\nChristmas carols when from deep within me there comes this wave of sadness so\nintense that I feel like crying. Why? Why this mixture of joy and sadness, hope\nand disappointment in the Christmas season?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Well\npart of the answer lies in the insane schedule we try to keep during this time\nof the year. Sometimes I can hardly wait until the season ends so that I can\nexperience the joy of which I have been so hurriedly singing. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Part\nof the reason for this mixture of feelings is due to missing loved ones. I\nstill miss baking cookies with my mother and brother. And even though we do not\nneed a fireplace in the Philippines, I still miss going out into the woods to\nchop wood with my dad. Certain carols trigger fond memories that touch\nsensitive nerves during Christmas.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">But\nthis morning I want to suggest a deeper reason for this mixture of joy and\nsadness, hope and disappointment at this time of the year. The reason is\nillustrated in the text we just read. There is joy because the carols and the\nanthems we sing awaken in us tremendous expectations. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Listen\nfor instance to the words of the hymn written by Johann Schop, harmonized by J.S.\nBach. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Break forth O beauteous heavenly light\nand usher in the morning. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">These shepherds shrink not with a fright,\nbut hear the angels&#8217; warning. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">This child now weak in infancy, our\nconfidence and joy shall be, the power of Satan breaking, our peace eternal\nmaking. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Break forth O beauteous heavenly light,\nto herald our salvation. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">He stoops to earth, the God of might, our\nhope and expectation. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">He comes in human flesh to dwell our God\nwith us, Emmanuel. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The night of darkness ending, our fallen\nrace befriending.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">There\nis great joy because of those tremendous expectations. Then why the sadness?\nBecause whether consciously or unconsciously we realize that the very\nexpectations which give rise to the joy have not been fully realized. Yes they\nhave been realized to some extent, but not yet fully realized. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">We\nsing, as we did at the beginning of worship today, &#8220;Joy to the world, the Lord\nis come.&#8221; But what is the next line? &#8220;Let earth receive her king and every\nheart prepare him room.&#8221; The sad fact is, every heart has not yet prepared him\nroom. The sad fact is, the whole earth has not yet received her king. One of\nthe saddest verses in the Bible is found in John&#8217;s prologue to his Gospel. &#8220;He,\nthe incarnate God, came unto his own and his own received him not.&#8221; I believe\nthat much of the sadness and disappointment we feel at Christmas is the sadness\nand disappointment Jesus himself is feeling. The grief which wells up inside\nand takes us by surprise, while singing &#8220;Silent Night&#8221; for instance, just may\nbe Jesus&#8217; own grief because of the world&#8217;s rejection of him. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\nhymn continues. &#8220;No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the\nground. He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found.&#8221;\nTremendous words, and therefore joy. But where I live, sins and sorrows still\ngrow. And the curse, it still seems to abound. Just read the paper.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Christmas\nawakens both joy and sadness because we know our expectations have not yet been\nfully realized<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">I&#8217;m\nsuggesting then that Christmas awakens both joy and sadness because we know\nthat the expectations that awaken the joy have not yet been fully realized.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">A\nman who experienced this mixture of joy and sadness, hope and disappointment\nmore intensely than anyone else has is John the Baptist. In many ways John was\na strange man. He wore that weird wardrobe of camel&#8217;s hair and ate that crazy\ndiet of wild honey and locust wings. But in spite of his strange ways, John has\nbeen admired for his impeccable integrity and his faithful obedience. He loved\nGod with a passion, which gave birth to a fearless disregard for comfort or\nfame. Jesus paid John the highest of all compliments, &#8220;I say to you, among\nthose born of women, there is no greater than John.&#8221; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">John\nenjoyed two unique privileges. First, he was one of Jesus&#8217; cousins. They likely\nspent a lot of time together as they grew up. Clearly their families would have\ncelebrated holidays together until John went to live in the desert.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">But\nsecondly John the Baptist enjoyed the unique privilege of preparing the way for\nand announcing the arrival of the Coming One, the Messiah, the Savior and the\nLord of the world. John lived his entire adult life pointing people to this\nComing One. &#8220;He who is mightier than I is coming,&#8221; he proclaimed, &#8220;and I am not\nfit to untie the thong of his sandals.&#8221; When the Coming One finally arrived,\nJohn boldly and enthusiastically pointed people to Jesus, &#8220;Behold, the Lamb of\nGod, who takes away the sins of the world.&#8221; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Before\nJesus arrived on the scene, John was very popular with the common folk. Crowds\nwould throng to hear him preach at his meetings down by the Jordan River banks.\nBut when the Coming One finally arrived, the crowds left John and started to go\nto the meetings that Jesus was holing. John&#8217;s disciples felt badly for him. And\nthey came to him and shared this concern with him. But he caught them by\nsurprise by saying, &#8220;Now this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase\nand I must decrease.&#8221; John gave his whole life to prepare people for the\narrival of the Messiah, the Coming One. And when Messiah came and people\nfollowed after him, John&#8217;s heart overflowed with joy.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Then\njust a little under a year from that time, the joy was gone. The circumstances\nof John&#8217;s life had changed radically. In his zeal for God&#8217;s holiness, John had\nchallenged the personal morality of one of history&#8217;s most powerful leaders,\nHerod Antipas. Herod had taken to himself his brother&#8217;s wife Herodias. And the\nBaptist had dared to confront this mighty politician with his personal sin of\nadultery. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Now\nwhen confronted with our sin, we have two options. We can either own up to it\nand repent. Or we will want to get rid of that which pricked the conscience.\nHerod chose the latter. He threw John into prison. And from that prison John\nsent a message to Jesus. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">It\nis a very surprising message, in light of all that John had preached and in\nlight of all that God had given him by way of testimony about Jesus. John&#8217;s\nmessage was short, painfully short. &#8220;Are you the One who is coming, or should\nwe look for someone else?&#8221; Something had gone wrong, and that great preacher,\nthat great man of God asked his cousin, &#8220;Are you the One who is to come, or\nshould we look for someone else?&#8221; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Feel\nJohn&#8217;s pain and disappointment at that point. He&#8217;d given his entire life for\nthis Jesus and now he wondered if he were wrong. And he must have felt for the\nthousands of people he led astray if he were wrong. Why this surprising\nquestion?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Well\nLuke tells us in verse 18 of chapter seven, &#8220;The disciples of John reported to\nhim about all these things.&#8221; What &#8220;all these things&#8221;? All that Jesus was doing\nthroughout Galilee and Judea. What John heard about Jesus&#8217; deeds generated\ndoubt and subsequently this surprising question. What John heard about Jesus\ndisappointed him. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Not\nthat the report contained bad news. Quite the contrary. It contained very, very\ngood news. Healing the sick, raising the dead, freeing the captives. Then what\nabout the report bothered John? <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Not\nwhat Jesus was doing, though some of the things Jesus did did bother him and\nI&#8217;ll point that out later. What bothered John was what Jesus was not doing.\nJesus was not fulfilling John&#8217;s expectations of what the Messiah was to do. And\nso overflowing joy gave way to profound disappointment.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Now\nwhat specifically disappointed John? And the answer is found on two levels: the\ntheological and the personal. Let&#8217;s look at both of these levels, one at a\ntime, and then see how Jesus responds to them. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Disappointment\ncomes when Jesus doesn&#8217;t fill our theological expectations<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Consider\nfirst then the theological level of John&#8217;s disappointment. John&#8217;s preaching\nrevealed his expectations. And his expectations are summarized in Luke 3:16.\n&#8220;As for me, I baptize you with water. But he who is mightier than I is coming.\nHe will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.&#8221; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Notice\nthat John has two great expectations for his cousin. The Coming One, the\nMessiah, will baptize with the Holy Spirit and he will baptize with fire. The\nHoly Spirit and fire. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">According\nto the Old Testament prophets, the Holy Spirit is the greatest gift of the age\nto come. The prophet Joel records God&#8217;s promise for the messianic age. &#8220;It will\ncome about after this that I will pour out my Spirit on all humankind.&#8221; Isaiah\nrecords the same promised blessing. &#8220;For I will pour out water on the thirsty\nland and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my Spirit on your\noffspring.&#8221; And God promised that along with the outpouring of the Spirit would\ncome all of the other gifts and blessings of the Spirit: joy, healing,\nforgiveness, wholeness, renewal, the new birth. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Fire\nwas also the mark of the Messiah&#8217;s coming, according to the Old Testament\nprophets. Before Joel records the promise of the outpouring of the Spirit, he\nrecords the promise of coming fire. &#8220;Blow a trumpet in Zion. Sound an alarm on\nmy holy mountain, for the day of the Lord is coming. Surely it is near, a day\nof darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. A fire consumes\nbefore them and behind them a flame burns.&#8221; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">In\nthe minds of the Old Testament prophets, fire symbolized judgement and\npurifying. The Messiah would come to judge the world. The Messiah would come to\ndestroy all evil and wickedness, to purge the world of sin and unrighteousness.\nSo John expected these two works: that the Messiah would come and baptize the\nrighteous with the Holy Spirit and baptize the wicked with fire. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Now\nhere&#8217;s the point to grasp in order to understand John the Baptist&#8217;s\nexpectations. These two aspects of Messiah&#8217;s work  baptism with the Spirit and\nbaptism with fire  were in John&#8217;s mind to occur at the same time and all at\nonce. At the same time and all at once. That is why John warned people to be\nready. With great compassion and a sense of urgency, he called people to\nrepent, to turn around and be ready for the Lord&#8217;s coming. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">A\nseparation would take place. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees\nhe proclaimed. The winnowing fork is in his hand, to clean out the threshing\nfloor and gather the wheat into his barn. But he will burn up the chaff with\nunquenchable fire. You could summarize John the Baptist&#8217;s preaching as &#8220;turn or\nburn.&#8221; John was convinced that when the Messiah came he would immediately\naffect a radical purging of the world. What an expectation! <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">&#8220;No\nmore let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground.&#8221; The King would\ncome and destroy all oppressors and evil and sin. And once the judgement and\nthe purging took place, then, then the Messiah would pour out the gift of the\nHoly Spirit. Now we can appreciate why John was disappointed by the reports of Jesus&#8217;\ndeeds. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\ngift of the Holy Spirit was being poured out before the fire. And  and this is\nwhat bothered John the most  he heard nothing about fire. As William Barclay\nput it, John expected to hear the wrath of God is on the march. And what does he\nhear? The mercy of God has come. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">What\nmade things worse was that John heard that the very people who he expected to\nget the axe were the people with whom Jesus was eating and drinking. Jesus was\nkeeping company with the chaff. He was pouring out his Spirit upon the\nunrighteous. Thank God. So John simply had to send messengers to Jesus asking,\n&#8220;Are you the Coming One, or should we look for someone else?&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Disappointment\ncomes when Jesus doesn&#8217;t fill our personal expectations<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">But\nJohn&#8217;s question was not merely theological. It arises out of his own personal\ncrisis, which is the second level of his disappointment. John was lying in a\ncold dungeon cell, captive to an evil, adulterous man. There he was, the herald\nof the arrival of God&#8217;s King, imprisoned by an unrighteous king the Messiah was\nsupposed to destroy. He could hear the singing and the dancing in the castle\nabove him as Herod and his unrighteous friends got drunker and drunker. And the\nnews he heard about Jesus added insult to injury. Jesus was holding feasts with\ndrunkards and prostitutes and tax collectors and sinners. Jesus was reaching\nout to the very chaff on whom John had called down the fire of God. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">And\nJohn saw no indication that Jesus was moving to free him from jail. Jesus did\nnot even seem to try to cleanse the threshing floor of refuse like Antipas and\nHerodias. So John&#8217;s question, &#8220;Are you the Coming One?&#8221; was very existential,\nintensely personal. If you are the king I have given my life to announce then\nwhat am I doing in prison?<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Anyone\nidentify with John? John is profoundly disappointed: theologically because\nJesus did not fit into his presuppositions and personally because Jesus was\nliberating others, but not him. You know such disappointments  theological and\npersonal  usually go together. Behind nearly allnot allbut behind nearly all\ntheological struggle and controversy is personal hurt. Beneath many of the\nintense theological controversies of our day lay deep emotional wounds, which\nhave been pricked by the theological controversy. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">We\nwrestle with the affirmation &#8220;our God reigns,&#8221; not because there is no evidence\nof it, but because our personal histories are not going the way we think they\nshould go if God is reigning. We argue about whether or not God still heals in\nmiraculous ways, not because there is no evidence of such miraculous healing,\nbut because we, or our loved ones, have not been healed in such a way.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">We\nget uptight with enthusiastic Christians who say, &#8220;Jesus can give you abundant\njoy,&#8221; not because there is no evidence of abundant joy but because we don&#8217;t\nhave that abundant joy. John the Baptist&#8217;s Christmas expectations were\nprofoundly disappointed both theologically and personally. And so he asks, &#8220;Are\nyou the Coming One, or shall we look for another?&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Ever\nfelt like asking that question? A loved one dies. You get cancer. You lose your\njob. Depression lingers for weeks and months. Natural catastrophes occur. I\nadmire John&#8217;s honesty. &#8220;Are you the Promised One, or should we look for\nanother?&#8221;<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">We\nmust set aside our preconceptions of how God is supposed to work<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Now\nlet&#8217;s consider Jesus&#8217; response to this surprising question. Jesus respected the\nquestion and then answers it on both levels, theological and personal. He\ntouches the theological first. Notice that Jesus began by doing more of the\nsame things John had heard about him doing. Luke tells us in verse 21 that in\nthe presence of John&#8217;s two messengers, at that very time, Jesus cured many\npeople of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and granted sight to many who\nwere blind. Then Jesus gave a short, succinct summary of his work. &#8220;Go and\nreport to John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive sight, the lame\nwalk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor\nhave the Gospel preached to them.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Now\nnotice, in his summary of what he was doing, Jesus wasn&#8217;t telling John anything\nhe hadn&#8217;t already heard. But Jesus was putting it in language that would\ncommunicate a clear message to John. Jesus tied together words and phrases from\nthe prophet Isaiah, the very prophet that prophesied the coming of John. Listen\nfor instance to these following lines from Isaiah. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Isaiah\n35:46, &#8220;Say to those with anxious heart, &#8216;Take courage, fear not! Behold your\nGod will come with vengeance. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, the\nears of the deaf will be unstopped. The lame will leap like a deer, and the\ntongue of the dumb will shout for joy.'&#8221; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Isaiah\n61:1, &#8220;The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he has anointed me to\nbring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the , to\nproclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners.&#8221; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Jesus\ndeliberately summarized his work in the words of Isaiah so that John would get\nthe point. Yes, John, I am the Coming One foretold by Isaiah. I am fulfilling\nthe role of the Messiah. People are being made whole and being renewed. But\nJohn I&#8217;m not going to play the script the way you wrote it. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\nquestion then is where did John go wrong? Where were his expectations in error?\nAnd I think this is where it starts to get with most of us. I&#8217;ll summarize it\nthis way. Jesus coming in the days of John the Baptist was not the end. It was\nthe beginning of the end. John thought it would be the end. Jesus comes at the\nbeginning of the end. What do I mean? <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Well\nthe Last Day, the Judgement Day, the great and terrible Day of the Lord, is\nstill in the future. Thus no fire, no axes, no winnowing forks yet. Although\njudgement is conspicuously absent in Jesus&#8217; work, the giving of the Spirit and the\nblessings of the age to come are very prominent. What Jesus has done then,\nwhich confused John and which confuses a lot of people, is that Jesus has\nstretched out the end times. It is not one point, but a long period. And he has\nseparated out the works of the Messiah. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">First\nhe comes ahead of the Day of the Lord, baptizing with the Holy Spirit, giving\nthe gifts of peace and joy and deliverance and forgiveness and reconciliation.\nThen one day, on that Day of the Lord, he comes baptizing with fire, destroying\nall evil, purging human existence of all sin. John expected both baptisms to\noccur at the same time, and very quickly, all at once. Jesus does them one at a\ntime and a whole lot slower than John ever expected.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Now\nan analogy, I think, can help us at this point understand why John went wrong\nin his expectations. Imagine that you were going to now climb a mountain. You\nstand at the base of this mountain, looking up at this peak that you are going\nto climb. From down in the canyon, down in the valley there, it appears that\nyou have only one peak to climb and that reaching the top of the peak is simply\na matter of a steady uphill climb. What you can not see is what you will soon\ndiscover. That in order to reach that peak you are going to have to go up and\ndown, up and down a whole series of intermediate peaks. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Jesus\nis the Messiah, the Promised One; it&#8217;s just that he accomplishes his work in\nstages, which John could not see from the floor. First he comes and baptizes\nwith the Holy Spirit and then one day baptizes with fire. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">First\nwe have DDay, when God&#8217;s grace and mercy invade the world. God puts his claim\nupon the world. God comes and dies for the world on a cross. DDay, and then\nVDay, when God invades with his justice and destroys all evil.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Now\nif John had set aside his own preconceived ideas of how God was supposed to\nwork, he would have heard in Jesus&#8217; words a very clear response to his\ntheological disappointment. Jesus was saying through the language of Isaiah,\n&#8220;John I am the Messiah. It&#8217;s just that I&#8217;m not going to play it the way you\nanticipated.&#8221; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <strong>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">We\nmust lay aside our expectations and trust God<\/span>\n      <\/strong>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Then\nJesus responds to the personal disappointment. Verse 23 of chapter seven, &#8220;And\nblessed is he who keeps from stumbling over me.&#8221; Let me paraphrase Jesus&#8217; words\nthis way: John I&#8217;m aware that you are disappointed in me but I&#8217;m asking you to\ntrust me. Yes, my methods and my timing are not as you hoped. I know what\nyou&#8217;ve been preaching. I agree. I too desire to see all of life rid of sin and\npain and death and evil. Hang in there, my cousin. Trust me. I know what I am\ndoing. Let me be me. Let me be the Messiah my way. Trust me John.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">It\nis not a fully satisfactory answer, is it? But at times it is the only response\nJesus Christ gives us. Jesus often responds to our cries in unexpected ways.\nBut that does not mean he is not the Savior and Lord and King. He often asks us\nto lay aside our expectations and trust him to be the Messiah in his way and in\nhis time. That is very hard to do, I know. But that is why Jesus pronounces his\nblessing on those who will let him do it his way.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">As\nunsatisfactory as this response is, it is in fact the only response that\nfinally fulfils us. For you see what it does: it draws John back to Jesus. It\ndraws us to Jesus. Even if Jesus the Messiah did immediately purge the world of\nsin and evil, that does not mean then that we would be whole. For we are only\nwhole when we come into relationship with Jesus Christ. Even if Jesus had freed\nJohn the Baptist from Herod&#8217;s prison, that would not guarantee that John would\nbe free. We are free only in relationship with Jesus Christ. Even if Jesus the\nMessiah did remove all pain and sorrow and sickness, even if he did give us\neverything we asked, we would not be fully alive until we belonged to him,\nhook, line and sinker. Jesus&#8217; answer, &#8220;Blessed is he who keeps from stumbling\nover me&#8221; draws us to him. And it is in belonging to him that those\ndisappointments can give way to new hope and joy. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">&#8220;Are\nyou the Coming One, or shall we look for someone else?&#8221; John asked the question\nbecause he saw no fire and because Jesus was moving too slowly. Where is Jesus\nChrist not working according to your expectations? What is the parallel in your\nlife to this &#8220;no fire&#8221;? What is the parallel in your life to this &#8220;Jesus is\nmoving too slowly&#8221;? The temptation during those times is to walk away from\nJesus Christ and to follow after false Messiahs. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Jesus\nstill calls out to us. Trust me. I understand your confusion and\ndisappointment. Trust me. I am the Promised One. Let me be who I am, in my way,\nin my time, and blessed is the one who does not stumble over me.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">The\ntheologians have a little phrase, which I think can give us the proper\nperspective of celebrating Christmas. It is the phrase &#8220;already, not yet.&#8221; The\npromised Messiah has come already. And he has already accomplished much of his\nwork. But his work is not yet complete. He came the first time as the suffering\nservant. He comes the next time as the conquering King. Already, not yet.\nAlready he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Go tell John what you have\nseen and heard. Not yet he will baptize with fire. The final defeat of evil,\nnot yet. The final eradication of disease and death and oppression is not yet.\nBut because of the already, the not yet is certain. The final victory is secure\nbecause of the baby born in Bethlehem. There God entered into our existence and\ntook up our humanity forever. His destiny is our destiny.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">So\nas we now move from the Advent Christmas season, let us keep before us the\ntremendous promises God has made concerning the birth of his Son. But let us\nremember what John the Baptist could not see. That Christmas is incomplete\nwithout Good Friday and Easter and Pentecost and the Apocalypse, the final\nadvent. Let us remember that Christmas is but the first chapter of the story.\nThere is no chapter to compare with the Christmas chapter. &#8220;The Word became\nflesh and dwelt among us.&#8221; God became a human being. Nothing to compare with\nthat. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">But\nas  as the Christmas chapter is, it is incomplete without the\nother chapters. The purpose of Jesus&#8217; birth is incomplete without his death.\nThe purpose of his death is incomplete without his resurrection. The purpose of\nhis resurrection is incomplete without his pouring out of his Holy Spirit upon\nhis people. And the purpose of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon his\npeople is incomplete without his coming again in glory to baptize the world\nwith fire. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">So\nafter Christmas we pray, &#8220;Come Lord Jesus. I welcome you into my life. Come\nbaptize me, immerse me, in your Holy Spirit. I give you full access to my heart\nand mind. Fill me and use me to further your redemptive purposes.&#8221; But we also\npray, &#8220;Come Lord Jesus come. Come again and finish what you began. Come bring\nyour work to its final realization.&#8221; <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">We\ncan pray these two ways confidently and expectantly, for he has come and he is\nhere, albeit in veiled and hidden form. The light has come to pierce the\ndarkness. The darkness can not overcome it. The end has begun. It is the last\nhour and has been since that holy night. Jesus calls himself the bright morning\nstar, my favorite title in the New Testament for him. The bright morning star\nis the star that appears in the night when the darkness has reached its darkest\npoint, signalling the beginning of the dawn. We are, and we have been since the\nfirst Christmas, living in the twilight, shortly before the sunrise. <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Even\nso, Lord Jesus, quickly come. Amen.<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <em>\n        <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Darrell\nJohnson is associate professor of pastoral theology at Regent College in\nVancouver, British Columbia, Canada. His most recent book is <\/span>\n      <\/em>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">Experiencing the Trinity<em>\n(Regent, 2002).<\/em><\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">(c) Darrell Johnson<\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"subhead\">Preaching Today Tape\n#51<\/span>\n    <\/h2>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/www.preachingtodaysermons.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">www.PreachingTodaySermons.com<\/a>\n      <\/span>\n    <\/p>\n    <p>\n      <span style=\"\" class=\"\">A resource of Christianity\nToday International<\/span>\n    <\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[307],"tax_ctp_authors":[1253],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[170],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[412],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_sermon_series":[],"tax_ctp_tags":[3387,3497,3600,3621,3786,3887,3918,3935,4153,4167,4303,4873,4877,5195,5198],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-33484","sermons","type-sermons","status-publish","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-darrell-johnson","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-advent","tax_ctp_tags-birth-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-christmas","tax_ctp_tags-circumstances","tax_ctp_tags-disappointment","tax_ctp_tags-eternal-perspective","tax_ctp_tags-expectation","tax_ctp_tags-faith-feelings","tax_ctp_tags-holidays","tax_ctp_tags-hope","tax_ctp_tags-joy","tax_ctp_tags-sadness","tax_ctp_tags-salvation","tax_ctp_tags-trust","tax_ctp_tags-trustworthiness-of-god"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>For Those Who Are Disappointed - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermons\/for-those-who-are-disappointed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For Those Who Are Disappointed - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Will you agree with me that the Christmas season is the most , time of the year? 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