Lon Solomon Ministries
People Jesus Met Part 9
Hey, you know, have you ever expected things to go a certain way and then they just didn't? Well, 17 years ago, God blessed Brenda and me with a beautiful little girl named Jill, and we had so many wonderful expectations for her, you know, piano lessons and dance classes and shopping at the mall and sleepovers and proms and college. But then at three months of age, she developed a severe seizure disorder that resulted in permanent brain injury and mental retardation and a host of other disabilities too long to list here. And the bottom line is that none of those expectations that we had had for our little girl ever came true. Now, I know some of us here know exactly how this feels. Many of us here expected to be married by now but were single or to get that new job or that new promotion but we didn't get it or to be at our place of employment until we retired but then they downsized or to be financially secure by this point in our life and then 2008 happened. Some of us expected to go to a certain college but we didn't get in or to have children running around the house by now but we don't. And some of us expected to make a certain ball team or to make a cheerleading squad but we got cut. Listen, it's no secret that sometimes God doesn't run our lives the way that we plan, the way that we expect. But the real question we want to talk about today is how do we as followers of Jesus Christ? How should we react biblically when God chooses to do this? When God chooses to run our lives in a way different than we expected or that we outline for ourselves? Well, that's what we're going to talk about today because in our series entitled "People Jesus Met" we're going to watch today as Jesus meets some disciples of John the Baptist and as they talk about the issue of God's ways versus our ways of running our lives. So here we go, we're going to look in Luke chapter 7 verse 18. The Bible says, "Now the disciples of John the Baptist reported to him all the things that Jesus was doing, all the miracles and summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to Jesus to ask him, are you the one who is coming, that is the Messiah or should we expect someone else?" Now of all people friends, how could John the Baptist be asking a question like this? I mean, John was the one who introduced Jesus to the world. You remember, he said in John chapter 1 verse 29, he pointed to Jesus and he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," in verse 34 of that chapter. He pointed at Jesus and said, "I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God." So how could John be sending to Jesus messengers and asking him, are you really the Messiah or somebody else coming? Well, the answer to that question is found in what verse 19 told us, that John sent two of his disciples to the Lord Jesus to ask the Lord this question. Did you ever wonder why John himself didn't just go to Jesus and ask this question? The answer, my friends, is that John was in jail. John was incarcerated, Mark chapter 6 verse 17. The Bible says Herod had arrested John because of Herodias, his brother's wife, whom he had married. For John kept saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." In fact, John has been in jail for months now. You say, "Well, John, I still don't get why John would ask Jesus this question, is he really the Messiah?" Well, let me answer that for you. The answer is found in the fact that when Jesus first appeared, John had certain expectations of what he now as the Messiah was going to do. Luke chapter 3 verse 17. John said, "His winnowing fork, referring to Jesus, is in his hand, and he will gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." You see, John, his expectation was that as the Messiah, Jesus was going to really clean house here on earth. He was going to drive the Romans out of Israel. He was going to burn up evil doers like Herod with unquenchable fire. And he was going to set up the kingdom of God and righteousness here on this earth. You know, actually, these expectations of John were very strongly rooted in some solid Old Testament teaching about the Messiah. For example, Isaiah 35 says about the Messiah's coming. Say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong and do not fear, your God will come. And he will come with vengeance, and with divine retribution, he will come to save you." However, let's remember what's really happening. John is in jail. The Romans are still occupying Israel. The Jewish people are in the process of rejecting their Messiah. Herod is still free to run around and be his old wicked self, and there is no vengeance and no divine retribution anywhere on the horizon. In short, my friends, nothing was going the way that John the Baptist had expected. Now, do we all see that? Yes? Yes. Do we all understand that? Yes. Okay, because that's the secret to understanding this passage. And so because of this, John begins to wonder if maybe he got something wrong. John begins to think, "Well, maybe Jesus isn't the Messiah. Maybe there's somebody else coming after him." And so he sends two of his disciples to go and ask Jesus this very question. Now, what does Jesus do? Well, he responds and sends back to John two messages. The first message, message number one, was this, "John, don't worry, I am the Messiah." Luke chapter 7, verse 21. At that very time, the Bible says, that is in front of John's disciples, Jesus cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and he gave sight to many that were blind. You say, "Why did he do that?" Well, friends, because in the Old Testament, God gave us a list of signs of miracles that would accompany the coming of the true Messiah. For example, Isaiah 35 says that when the Messiah comes, the eyes of the blind will be open, and the ears of the deaf unsolved, the lame will leap like deer, and the mute will shout for joy. In Isaiah 61, the Messiah says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted and to preach good news to the poor." And so in light of these signs that the Old Testament speaks of the Messiah doing, verse 22, Luke 7, then Jesus said to John's disciples, "You go back and report to John what you've seen and heard, that the blind receives sight, that the lame walk, that those who have leprosy are cured, that the deaf hear, that the dead are raised, and that the poor have the good news, preach to them. In other words, every sign that the Messiah was supposed to do, I am doing therefore message number one to you, John, is I am the Messiah. All the signs are there, so don't worry. You didn't get it wrong. But you know there was a second message that the Lord Jesus sent back to John, and that's found in verse 23. And Jesus said to John's disciples, he said, "And tell John something else, say to him, John, blessed is the man, or the woman, who keeps from stumbling over me." You say, "Well, I don't get that. What does Jesus mean by that?" Well, Jesus says, "John, you know what is shaking you up, what is causing you to doubt, what is making you stumble, is that I'm not doing things exactly the way that you expected me to do them." But John, Jesus says, don't forget something. Isaiah 55-8, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways, your ways, John, for as the heavens are high above the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, John, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." John, Jesus says, "I run the universe the way I know is best to run the universe." And John, I run people's lives the way I know is best to run people's lives. And John, I'm running your life, even though you may be in jail, exactly the way that I know is best to run your life. Message number two, Jesus sends back to John, is John, "Blessed is the person who lets me run my business," Jesus said, "my way. Blessed is the person who doesn't stumble over how I choose to run the universe and how I choose to run people's lives." Now, the great old southern preacher, Vance Habner, who's with the Lord now, once called this, the forgotten beatitude. And he called it that because it separated from the other beatitudes in Matthew chapter five. You remember, "Blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the merciful." You remember them. This one separated, it's not in that list, but you know this beatitude is just as powerful and it is just as life-changing as all the others are because this beatitude calls us to a full and complete surrender of our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. It calls us to a full and complete surrender of how God is running our life. And so Jesus says, "John, let me just tell you something. Blessed will you be if you'll just let me run things the way I know is best. You don't doubt me. You don't question me. And you don't let it shake you up. My ways are higher than your ways. I know what I'm doing, John." Now, that's as far as we want to go in our passage because we want to ask our most important question now and I want all you folks at Loudon and all of our friends on the Internet and everybody down in the edge. I want you guys to join right in. So are we ready? No, are you sure? All right. Here we go. Nice and loud. Deep breath. One, two, three. Yeah, you say, "Lawn, so what?" You say, "I understand what you're saying here, but I don't know. What difference does this make for my life Monday to Saturday, huh?" Well, let's talk about that. You know, if we're honest, every one of us has to admit that we all have certain expectations about how God ought to run our lives. I mean, those expectations usually go something like this. Number one, God should keep me healthy all the time. Expectation number two, God should make my career prosperous. Number three, God should never let anything bad happen to my children or my grandchildren. Number four, God should make my car go 200,000 miles and never need a repair. Number five, my appliances should never break. Number six, God should rescue me from every stupid thing that I ever do and never force any consequences on me for some of my dumb behavior. Now, did you notice something about all these expectations? Did you notice that none of them include anything bad ever happening to us? Did you notice that? But we all know God doesn't run our lives like this. We all know that often God chooses to do things differently than we expected and differently than we planned. We all understand that. And you know, this explains why the Bible says, Proverbs 16, 9, the mind of man plans his way. There's our expectation. This is our way of doing things. Watch. But the Lord directs his steps. Now, this is God's way of stepping in and taking our plans, our expectations and doing it higher according to his ways and his inscrutable understanding of how things ought to go. And the Bible is full of examples of this great truth where a person planned their way and God stepped in and did it even better. For example, what about Joseph? You remember, God told Joseph in dreams that he was going to be preeminent among his 11 brothers. But I'm sure, even though God did it, I'm sure Joseph never expected God to do it the way God did it. You know, selling him into slavery, spending 13 years in jail in Egypt, finally coming out to be prime minister of the entire nation of Egypt. I mean, how could you have expected something like that? And yet, you know what? God's way of doing it was better than anyway Joseph could have ever planned. And then there was Moses. You know, Moses, the Bible says new that he was called by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. And he had even planned it all out. You remember, 40 years old, he went and killed the Egyptian. He was going to lead the Exodus. Well, God ended up using Moses to do exactly what Moses knew God had called him to, but it sure wasn't the way that all Moses expected. It was 40 years delayed. And who expects to see God and talk to him in the burning bush? Who expects to have the Red Sea crack wide open and walk through it, huh? But hey, wasn't God's way of doing it better than anything Moses ever planned? And then I think, of course, of King David, King David knew that he was supposed to be the next king of Israel. The prophet Samuel had announced it to him, but I'm sure David never expected that before God put him on the throne, he was going to spend seven years in caves hiding from King Saul living like an outlaw. And finally, of course, there's the Apostle Paul. If you remember, wrote to the church in Rome, Romans 15, verse 28, he said, "When I have finished my task in Jerusalem, I plan to go to Spain and to visit you in Rome on the way there." Well, you know the Apostle Paul finally did get to Rome, but folks, he got there very differently than he expected. He got there three years later than he planned in chains, which I'm sure he never planned to stand trial before Emperor Nero and Spain wasn't even in the equation, and yet, listen to what Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians from jail in Rome, Philippians 1-12, he said, "Now I want you to know that what has happened to me, even though it wasn't my plan, has actually turned out for the greater progress of the gospel." Paul said, "Hey, I ended up getting to Rome God's way, not my way, but now that I look back, I see that God's way was far better than my way." You see, my friends, everybody who lets God run their life his way learns this. Everybody who lets God run our lives his way, we end up benefiting from what Jesus said, "Blessed, blessed is the person who lets me run my business, which includes your life, my way." You know, I was reading a decision magazine a few years ago, and there was an article in Decision Magazine about a missionary in Africa named Calvin Catter. Mr. Catter tells the story in the magazine how he was flying one time across Africa east to west on his way to a missions conference where he was going to be speaking. And he was on this airplane and the airplane was completely full, not an empty seat, and as they were flying across Africa, the plane suddenly landed somewhere out in the middle of Africa on this dirt runway, and the door opened, the pilot went off the plane, and there was a commotion outside and the pilot came back on the plane and said to Mr. Catter, he said, "Mr. Catter," he said, "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to ask you to get off the airplane." And he went, "I don't understand." He said, "Well, we have this lady out here who made a reservation yesterday and so we're going to have to ask you to give up your seat for her." And he said, "Well, I made a reservation over a week ago." And the pilot said, "Well, I'm sorry, we don't have any record of that." And so they brought the lady on the plane. They took Calvin Catter off the plane. He said, "Well, when's there and when's another plane coming by?" And the guy said, "Well, a couple days, whatever." They went down to the end of this little runway, revved up, took off, dust everywhere. And Calvin Catter said, "There I was." Standing in the middle of Africa, no coffee shop, no hotel, no Starbucks. What are you kidding? Nothing. And he said, "I stood there quoting now." He said, "I was in an irritable and disgusted frame of mind." End of quote. Well, as the story goes on, Mr. Catter said, "I was standing there in my irritable and disgusted frame of mind. When this lady came up to me and she said, "You're Calvin Catter, aren't you?" She said, "I heard you speak at a missions conference years ago." And she said, "I don't really know what you're doing here, but if you don't really have any plans for this evening, my husband and I would love to have you over for dinner." He said, "Actually, my calendar's kind of free tonight." And so he went over their house. And as dinner went on, he learned about this couple that they were both followers of Jesus. They were working for an American firm in Africa, and they had a passion for open-air tent evangelism in Africa. They already had a huge tent that someone had given them, but they had no way to transport it, and they had been praying that God would give them a big truck. Well, it just so happened that someone had given Calvin Catter a big old truck. In fact, it was parked in the city where he was going to hold this missions conference. He had no use for it, so he was going to sell it when he got there, but sitting there and hearing their story, he decided that truck had been given to him so that he could give it to them. And at the end of the article, he mentions that as he was writing the article as far as he knew, these people were still in Africa using the tent they already had, and the truck that he gave them to reach people for the Lord Jesus in the heart of Africa. Here's how he closed his article, and I quote, "He said I was kicked off a plane in the middle of nowhere only to find out that it was exactly where God wanted me to be." End of quote. What are we saying here? We're saying blessed is the person who lets God run his business his way. We're saying that God has our lives aligned so far out ahead of us that you can't even comprehend God's amazing synchronized plan for our lives, a plan that you and I would never dream up, a plan that you and I never could put into motion, but God's got it all under control and God says what I want you to do is I want you to believe that because it's true. And I want you to trust me to let me run your life my way even if it's not your way. You say well on on we're just talking here about fatalism. I mean you know, case, sarah, sarah, whatever will be, will be, no. That's not what we're talking about at all. See, fatalism says nobody's running the world and it's all random. This is not what the Bible says. The Bible says Jesus is running the world and it's all perfectly aligned. Friends, listen, the issue here is not fatalism. The issue here is the lordship of Jesus Christ over every speck in this universe and over every detail in your life and in my life. Now let's conclude and let me say that I know many of us here as followers of Christ have a jill or two in our lives. I mean a circumstance where things are just not going the way we expected and the way we planned, a circumstance where honestly we just don't understand why God is doing what he's doing and frankly a circumstance where we don't even like what God's doing. Well what have we learned today from the word of God friends? We've learned number one, two things we've learned, number one, that Isaiah 55, 8, God's ways are above our ways and God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts. We've learned that God has better ways of getting us where we need to get to, when we need to get there than we could ever dream up or plan for ourselves. And number two, we've learned that our job is to walk by faith. Our job is to continue to trust God and to continue to obey God whether we understand what he's doing or whether we don't. You know when I think of this walking by faith, when I think of continuing to trust God and obey God even when we don't understand I think of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. You know those guys? Remember that Daniel's three friends, remember them? And in Daniel chapter three, if you remember the story, King Nebuchadnezzar builds this huge gold statue and he requires everybody to bow down and worship it and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego they say "Uh-uh, not going to do it." And so he says, well if you don't do it I'm going to throw you in this big old fiery furnace, remember the story? And I love what they say. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Daniel 3 verse 17. They say, "Our God whom we servo King is able to deliver us from this fiery furnace and he will save us from your hand." You understand what they're saying? They're saying we only expect that God's going to step in and God's going to intervene on our behalf and God's going to deliver us that is our expectation and our plan. Oh, but I love the next verse. The next verse they say, "But even if he doesn't." Boy, do you love that? Even if God doesn't do it the way we planned, O King, even if God doesn't do it the way we expect, watch, we want you to know that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the image of gold that you set up. Whether God does it the way we expect or not, you know what? We're going to continue to trust God and obey God anyway. What are they really saying? They're saying, "Hey King, we've given God permission to run our lives any way he chooses and however he chooses to run it, we are not going to doubt him and we are not going to question him. We're going to trust him because we believe the promises of God that God knows what he's doing and we believe the character of God that God knows what he's doing. Now, this is what it means to walk by faith and this is what Jesus was calling John the Baptist to do and this is what Jesus calls you and me to do, you say, but Lon. This is really hard to do. I mean when things are happening to me that are painful and things are happening to me that are discouraging and things are happening to me that I don't like and I don't want, I mean this is hard to do. Hey friend, tell me about it. You know, I'll tell you there was many, many, many a day on my knees in the darkest days of my daughter's illness where I would say Lord Jesus, I just don't get this. I don't understand this and I got to be honest with you and tell you, I don't like what's happening here God, but you know it occurred to me that I really only have two options. That's it. I can trust God. I can believe God. That's option number one or I can doubt God and question God and impune God and accuse God. That's it. There's nothing in between and I remember all my knees saying Lord I can't do the latter. I cannot doubt you because I know your character because I've learned it from the Word of God. Lord I can't question you and I can't impune you because I understand your nature and I understand your attributes and I know that that is completely insulting to you and inappropriate. I can't do that so Lord I don't really have but one choice here that makes any sense. I got to trust you. I got to believe you even through the hurt, even through the pain, even through the disappointment, even through the tears. Lord I just got to trust you and Lord I don't think I can do it by myself. If the Holy Spirit doesn't give me the power to do this super naturally I don't think I can do this but Lord if you'll give me the power to do it this is what I want to do. I want to trust you through this. Well all I can tell you my friends is if you want to trust God and you want to believe God you'll get the power you need to do it. I'll tell you that from personal experience. I'm reminded of what Job said. You remember Job where you know his house fell down and all his animals got killed and all his children got killed you know really bad day. You understand what I'm saying. And then Job said this. Job said you know he said the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Sometimes God does things the way I want him to and sometimes God doesn't. Sometimes God does things the way I expect and sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes God does things I like and sometimes he doesn't. But either way he said blessed be the name of the Lord that's walking by faith. Now look what the next sentence says. It says in all of this Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. Wow. Folks that is the template for your life in my life. That is the biblical model that God lays out for John the Baptist to follow and that he lays out for you and me to follow. And I know it's hard. I know it's hard. But listen friends it's possible by the power of God's Spirit to walk through any circumstance in life and trust God. Because I've experienced that. You know what happens when we do? God lifts the burden once we give these things to him. And you know what? He always brings us around to where the Apostle Paul was. Philippians 1 when Paul said I have discovered that my circumstances have turned out for the advancement of the gospel. And for my blessing God always does that friends if we'll just let him do it his way. You say if you see that with Jill oh in spades, in spades the things that God has done through that little girl's life in my life in this church and beyond in people's lives around the world who could have ever dreamed that God would have ever done that? And you say yeah but what about Jill? I mean you know she's living life as a disabled person. How does this work for her? Friends look here. You know what? God does not settle everything here on earth friends. No, no. There's a heaven and God settles some things in heaven. And I believe when Jill gets to heaven God's going to settle up with Jill and a lot of us who served who are going to be glad we knew Jill down here on earth. God doesn't settle everything here. But even the little bit I've been able to see him do through this terrible tragedy that looks so horrible. God has turned it around and blessed our lives and blessed thousands of people through her life. Listen, God will do what he promised for you, for me, for everyone. And what did he promise? Blessed will be the person who lets me run their life my way. Let's pray together. With our heads bowed and our eyes closed I want to give you a moment to talk to God about things in your life. Jills in your life. Situations that aren't going the way you want, that hurt, that are painful, that you don't like. And what I want to encourage you to do today is to turn them loose and give them to Jesus once and for all. Take them to the cross and nail them there. And then throw away the hammer and leave them there. And grant God permission, just like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did. Grant him permission to run your life his way and tell him that you're prepared to trust him even through this tough circumstance that you're dealing with. This is your moment to turn it loose. And surrender it to the Lord Jesus once and for all. And ask for his personal help in trusting him and not doubting him. If you need to talk to God you take these quiet moments and do that right now. Lord Jesus you know we're just human. And as human beings we all want things to go the way we want things to go. And honestly when they don't go that way we're not happy about it. And we have a tendency to shake our fist at you and question you and impune you and accuse you of wrongdoing. Lord Jesus forgive us for that because your character demands better than that. And so Lord today I want to pray for every one of us here. I think we may all have a Jill in our life. Something that's really hard for us Lord because it's just not going the way we want, the way we expected. Help us turn loose of those things today and surrender them once and for all to the sovereign hand of God in running our life. Help us nail them to the cross and leave them there. Grant you permission to run our life any way you want and we will trust you and we will obey you. Like Joe help us say the Lord gives and sometimes the Lord takes away. Either way blessed be the name of the Lord. Father change our life because we were here today. We are put under the teaching of the eternal Word of God and release us from the burden that we've been carrying in these situations Lord as we release them to you. We pray these things in Jesus name and God's people said have a great week bless you. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO]