Today we're wrapping up our series, the three-part series, under the circumstances holding on to God when it appears God is no longer holding on to you.
And in this series, we are exploring the question, not answering it, we're exploring the question, what do our circumstances say about the love of God, and what do your circumstances say about the presence of God, what do your circumstances say, if anything about the existence of God. Because we're all tempted, all of us, me included, we are all tempted to jump to conclusions about God based on our circumstances, both positive circumstances and negative, our circumstances and the circumstances of other people, and when things are up into the right God's blessing when things are up into the right, I got God all figured out when things are up into the right, God is good, God is good all the time, right? When things are down into the right, where's God? Is there God? What am I doing wrong? Or, what did I do wrong to somehow deserve this. Now, if you have to leave early or tune out early.
I hope you don't... I just want to go ahead and give you the bottom line. This is so important. Circumstances regardless of how negative they are, circumstances regardless of how extreme they are, circumstances do not have to be an off-ramp to faith, Jesus went out of his way to create a scenario to make that very point, if you missed part one of this series, you need to go back and watch it, Jesus went out of his way to create a scenario to prove to us and to give us an example that the most negative circumstances imaginable do not have to be an off-ramp to your faith. And today we're gonna discover that doubt and doubts don't have to be an off-ramp to our faith either exhibit A, John the Baptist, infact John the baptist's story is a reminder that actually that doubt and doubts baked into the story of Christianity, that if you have doubts, there's nothing wrong with you, you are probably right where you need to be, and you're gonna discover yourself in today's story.
Now, as you probably know, if you've been around church, John the Baptist took on the role of a prophet. What meant? There was no nuance. Everything was good or it was bad. There's no in-between. There's no gray.
There's no compromise. He called it as he saw it, he was not shy. He was not capable of compromise, so when King Herod Antipas decided to marry his brother's wife, John decided, Okay, I gotta talk about that and I gotta talk about it publicly, because that was against the law, you couldn't marry your brother's wife even if they were divorced, and not only that, he's the king and as the king goes, so goes society, So John the Baptist would talk about this in public. I mean, maybe their cart and Herodias or Herod Antipas through the streets on one of those things, they would carry on slave shoulders, of slaves.
That's how they travelled 'cause they were above the ground and the dirt, it was muddy and didn't get your feet muddy. That's what they did and they had little shades pulled, and you know they're going through this town and they hear John the Baptist adulterers, adulterers, adulterers... He just called him out and in his mind, he's doing the right thing, I mean, he's speaking truth to power. Right.
This is what he would say, literally, we were told in the text, this is amazing, Mark tells us, and Mark got all of this information from Peter who was there for all this.
It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. It's not just you're committing adultery. It's not lawful for you. You are breaking Torah, you are violating God's standards. You are ceremonially unclean. It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. So, as you might imagine, Herodias the new wife nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. Of course he did. But there was a problem. But she was not able to do so because Herod feared John and he protected him specifically from Herodias, right.
Knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, Herod Antipas knows, Okay, what I did was not cool at all. It did violate God's law. I know what I would think about somebody else doing this. So he knew he was guilty. So, when Herod heard John, this is amazing, When Herod heard John, 'cause he loved to hear him speak, he was greatly puzzled, and yet he liked to listen to him. Well, eventually Herodias has her way and she at least convinces her husband to have John the Baptist arrested. So John the Baptist gets arrested by Herod's men and Herod and wisely does not imprison him in Jerusalem where Herodias could get to him. He imprisons John the Baptist in a desert dungeon...
Down in the Jordan River Valley, far away from the city of Jerusalem, but it is a miserable, miserable, miserable place to be and perhaps, I think He put him there to protect him from his new wife. And this is when the story goes completely off the rails, this is when the story gets extraordinarily confusing or perhaps extraordinarily encouraging. You ready for this? Now, when Jesus heard that John cousin John. Now, when Jesus heard that John, the most popular man in Judea. A righteous man. Everybody knows he's a good guy. When Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, what do you think Jesus did?
I mean, spring Him, bust him out, send an angel to bust him out send some friends bake some brownies and visit him at least loaves and fish or turn Herodias into a loaf and feed her to the fish. I mean, there's all kinds of things Jesus could have done. This is so strange. And Matthew, who's there for all this, Matthew was a tax collector who had people who worked for him, scribes who scribed everything down, that's why Matthew's gospel account is so full of detail.
Listen to how Matthew explains what happened. Now, when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, he withdrew, if we had a map, it would illustrate just how much he withdrew, he withdrew to Galilee, Leaving Nazareth, He went and lived... Not visited not vacation. He went and lived in Capernaum, if you had a map of the holy land Judea. And Jerusalem is in the south. Jesus left the south, left Judea, went all the way to Galilee and went as far north into Galilee as he possibly could, he gets to the Sea of Galilee, and he goes all the way up to the very tip top of the lake, he's by walking distance, he's close to 200 miles away or more from John the Baptist, and he wasn't already there when he heard... This is what's amazing when he heard of what happened to John, Matthew sandwiches, these two ideas together almost in a single sentence, Jesus who automatically and immediately withdrew to Galilee and get this, he settles, he settles in Capernaum, which is a beautiful, beautiful fishing village on the north end of the Sea of Galilee. John the Baptist is arrested, put in a dungeon, Jesus went to the lake and he didn't just go for the weekend, he went and he lived there...
With his guys the opposite direction, while John is sweating it out in a desert dungeon.
It's horrible. It was intentional. Here's what I mean by that. Do you ever feel like God is a million miles away? That in your moment of greatest need, you've never felt more distance from God, I know you had felt that when things are up into the right, you just feel like a presence of God, you sing these songs with so much enthusiasm, and then circumstances turned and it's like... Where is God? Do you ever feel like God's a million miles away kick back at the lake while you're sweating it out, you are not the first.
You won't be the last. Matthew's like, I wanna make sure you see the connection between these two big ideas. Isn't that amazing?
So John was in prison for a year. Let me tell you about prisons back then, they did not have a cafeteria, they didn’t have a lunch line, you didn't get some time out to stretch your legs. Okay, nothing like that. You're in a hole in the ground or you're in a basically a brick building that you let out from time to time, there's no food, the only way you're gonna eat is if you have friends and family, if you don't have friends and family in the visit you bring you food, you may start to death, you may just die of malnutrition or a thirst, because it's not a food program, so John the Baptist is people coming and going and taking care of him. So a year goes by, never hear from Jesus, six months goes by never hears from Jesus, and the greatest man born of women according to Jesus begins to doubt, because what was true of us is true of John, a change the scenery, rocked his serenity. Things are up into the right God is good. Things take a turn for the worse. You get that call, you get that call from one of your kids, it's like, Oh no, where's God? And John the Baptist begins to wonder if maybe he had Jesus all wrong, and there we are once again right in the middle of the story, but there's more insult to injury, John receives...
John receives regular updates on all the amazing things Jesus is doing for other people, his disciplesactually are coming and going, John's disciples are coming and going, and they're keeping John updates like, John, you're not gonna believe what your cousin did this time. Okay, you're ready for this. He's on his way, he preach this amazing sermon, we don't understand what most of it, but anyway, right afterwards, he comes down into the town and a centurion, a centurion comes up to your cousin and says, Hey, My servant is at home sick and your cousin, the rabbi Jesus said to a centurion, he'd never met before, I'll go to your house and heal your servant that I've never met before, and then on their way, he stops and He heals the servant from four blocks away, your cousin works remotely, it's amazing. He can say words and people are healed, and John is thinking exactly what we would be thinking, Well then, why not me? Why not me? Why does it need to say the word, whatever happened to the part about, I've come to set the captives free. I'm an actual captive and you know my name.
What about me? And once again, there we are in the story, I wanna be happy for all the happy people, I wanna be happy for all the healthy people, you wanna be happy for all the people who had children and grandchildren are gonna be happy for the people whose marriage made it and the counseling worked, and they overcame the thing they overcame and their husband overcame it. You wanna be happy for them.
And I wanna be happy for you, John the Baptist, the greatest man who ever lived according to Jesus. Right. Isn't God good to you? Why is it that God comes through for everybody, but you? Why is it that God seems to be coming through for everybody right now, but that's John the Baptist, one of Jesus favorite people well finally John... He's had enough because he's human like us. And so the text says, when John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him. So it's like, Okay, I keep hearing all this stuff, but I've got some questions, this isn't making any sense, you're doing all this amazing stuff, meanwhile you're letting me rot in a prison and I didn't do anything wrong. In fact, I did something right, I did the bold thing, the powerful thing, the courageous thing, and now I'm suffering for doing the right thing.
So how about delivering me from our sick King? So and John, who was in prison heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him. Here's the question He sent to Jesus. Here we are again in the story. Are you the one?
Was I mistaken? Have I been believing a fairy tale if I've been believing a liar. Are you the one who is to come? I mean, this is John the Baptist who announced Jesus is the one who was to come, but all the lamb of God who comes to take this in the world, but I don't know anymore. Because this doesn't make any sense to me. You're not doing what I think the Lamb of God should do for his friends. Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else? Is this even real? Is there anything to this. Am I just a victim of wishful thinking if I just believe him because my parents taught me to believe this stuff is magic. Is it a fairytale as the sky father, right? Is this something that we teach just to keep the kids in line. John a Baptist.
You see, I'm convinced and I could be wrong, I'm convinced that Jesus Let Lazarus die for our benefit, and I think Jesus let John stew in a prison cell for our benefit as well. Did Jesus love these men? Yes. Does Jesus love you? Yes. Does this make sense? In a way, yes, in a way, no. But did Jesus love these men? Yes. Does Jesus love you? Yes, so they come to Jesus and they say, Hey, they finally find Jesus, he's with a crowd again, and they're like, Hey, Rabbi, cousin John has some questions for you. He wants to know... And this is a little bit embarrassing. Please don't judge him too harshly. But it's been a year and a half. Cousin John wants to know, Are you who he told everyone you are, because he has his doubts. And to be honest, we're wondering ourself, and here's what Jesus said, Matthew again, who recorded all this,Jesus said to John's disciples, go back and report to John what you hear and see, to which they thought, Okay, that's not like really encouraging.
We wanna let you know we've been doing that all along. He's not encouraged by all the things you're doing for everybody else that you'd never met until they asked, and John, Jesus is like, No, no, I want you to go back and tell him what you hear, then see, and I want you to tell him this specifically, tell cousin John, tell the prophet, tell him that The blind receive their sight. This is unheard of, this is remarkable. And tell him that Men and women who've never walked before are walking, and those who had leprosy are cleaned, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised. And they say, Okay, well, we'll tell them, they write it down and remember it. And they leave. And then this is the best part. Then Jesus says something for us, he addresses the crowd, but He didn't say this for the crowd, he says this for me, and He says this for us, for those of us who wonder if God knows and wonder if God really cares.
And Jesus looks at that audience but he says this for you, and he says that for this for me, He says this for us, and this is amazing, I'm gonna read too, but I guess a more time...
Nobody would make this up. Nobody in the First Century could make this up. Jesus looks at them and speaks to us and he says this... It's amazing. Happy or Blessed is anyone of any generation? Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me. Jesus anticipated your confusion and mind, Jesus anticipated our doubts. Jesus anticipated, as we sit back and try to make this a formula, and I thought, If I did, God must and if I promised and God will... I thought there was some kind of formula. Some kind of code, and God's not asking like I think God should act. And Jesus is notresponding like, I think Jesus should respond, and Jesus is saying, Blessed is the person. Blessed is the person that does not get tripped up when I don't act like they think I ought to bless the followers who don't quit following. When their Heavenly Father doesn't do what they think their Heavenly Father ought to do, he anticipated our confusion, his response or non-response may trip us up, his response or non-response may cause us to doubt, it might tempt us to walk away, and that's unnecessary, and I wanna say this to some of you today, 'cause you're right on the edge of that, you're reaching for the doorknob to go, Okay, the reason she just said This is this, he knows.
And some of you've experienced this, that when you lose faith, you opt for something to substitute for your faith, when you decide God's not it, Jesus is not it, Christianity is not it, you will opt for something else, you will choose something else, and that something else usually makes things worse, not better.
I love what Philip Yancey says. I don't even remember which book this was from, but I just hang on to this. He says, The only thing worse. The only thing worse than disappointment with God is trying to navigate disappointment without God. The only thing worse than disappointment with God, God's not acting the way I think God should act, is facing disappointment once you put God in the rear view mirror, because in that moment, you have no hope of ever making sense of things and you have no hope that things will ever make sense?
And Jesus says, this is amazing, he says, I understand. I understand how my behavior, I understand how the inactivity of the heavenly Father, I understand how unanswered prayer may trip you up, blessed is the one who doesn't allow themselves to be tripped out. Happy, happy is the one who does not confuse my silence for my absence. Happy as the happy is the follower who follows anyway, happy as the believer who continues to believe. Anyway, and then John's disciples leave to go, tell John the good news. Jesus makes the comment I just read. And this is when he said to the audience...
Because they're confused. Like, why don't you go with him? Why don't you do something? We love John the Baptist, and John the Baptist is a legend. Why don't you do something? And Jesus assures them, he says, no, I get it. I understand how my behavior is so confusing to you, so let me just assure you, this is when he said it. I say to you, among those born of women, there is no one greater than John the Baptist, he's the best. He's one of my favorites. But I'm not gonna rescue him. And he didn't, and he may not rescue you either, but you don't have to stumble away from Jesus, your savior, God may answer your prayer, he may answer in a way you don't expect he may answer your prayer, in the timing that's not your timing. I get all that, but there may be no. There may be no rescue. Does that mean God doesn't care, doesn't that mean God is silent, does that mean God isn't up to something? Absolutely not. Jesus arranged these scenarios, these narratives, these actual historical incidents for our benefit, happy are those who face adversity, trust anyway, follow any way and don't stumble away from God, their Father.
Now, I know some of you are thinking, I would be thinking, Yeah, it's easy for you to say, Andy. Easy for you to say you don't know my story and I don't know your story, I'm telling you, if I was not confident of this, I would not stand up here and say it, and if I was that other kind of preacher, I would get up here and say, no, if you trust in God, it's all gonna work out. You're gonna get a bow, and then over time, we just chase off all the people who don't have a bow, we just have a big church full of people with bows and everybody, they look around, everything's working out, we must have more faith, and everybody else that is not Christianity, that is not the Gospel, you do not find that in the teaching of Jesus, what you find is two of his favorite men, he let suffer, and yet he was as active as he has ever been, and here we are talking about him 2000 years later.
But I wouldn't get up in... Say, if I wasn't confident. So on Sundays, I get here early, as you might imagine, and one of my things I like to do is just walk around auditorium and meet people.
So in one of my journeys about a year ago, I met a woman named Mary Ann Jones, Mary Ann is 86 years old, and so every Sunday she stands up because she has something she wants me to do and we're arguing about it, we've been arguing for a year I'm not gonna tell you what that is, but anyway.
So when she sees me come and she stands up and she's waiting for me, you know, so every Sunday, Mary Ann and I have a friendly conversation. So at some point I wanted to ask her a question, I got her cell phone number and said, this here my cell phone number, and then every Sunday, every Sunday, she sends me a text and rates the sermon.
Every Sunday. I'm not making this up. She's gonna rate today's, I guarantee you, I'll get a text and I usually get an eight, nine or sometimes a 10, a few weeks ago, I got a 100. I'm like, Wow, did you change the scale or wasn't really that good, you know. So on Sunday, I said, Mary Ann, I wanna know your whole story, you're 86 old, and she said, Okay, so I invited her to my office, she came. We spend two hours together. That's start from the very beginning. She told me her story, very, very difficult childhood. Just needed to escape the home. Met her husband, got married. Fast forward and had three beautiful daughters, and then their youngest daughter, Karen, when she was 21, was hit by a drunk driver, a 19-year-old drunk driver, he killed instantly along with a friend, Mary Ann was a Christian, and she and Tom, their faith in their personal faith and walk with God, but this was, of course devastating, just completely to understand, just wreck them in every single kind of way, and where is God? And why God?
And we did all the right things, all the things we would say and all the questions that we would ask. Does she kinda collated her way back to developing a faith and was able to pray again and trust God again about. Now six months after that, their church had a special guest speaker who came in during the week on a week night to do a lecture on the topic of why bad things happen to good people. And Mary Ann’s husband didn't wanna go, but Mary and said, I wanna go. So she went, and so this lecturer, this pastor got up and there's about 150 people there, and he talked for about 30-45 minutes about why bad things happen to good people. That he said, are there any questions? And Mary Ann said I raised my hand and he said, Yes, and I stood up and I said, So, pastor, why do bad things happen to good people? After he just met 40 minutes answering the question, and so she said she sat down and she said he kind of reviewed the whole message again and asked, Are there any more questions? She said, I stood back up and said, Pastor?
So why do bad things happen to good people? She asked the question three times. And he explained slower the third time, but he just kept saying the same thing, and after she asked him for the third time in front of all these people, he kinda lost it and he said, I don't know why.
She said, I smiled and I said, that's right. We don't know why. And then she sat down. In 2009, her oldest daughter was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer, six months later, 2010, she passed away that same year later that same in 2010, She and Tom were with some friends in the neighborhood, and the friends invited them to visit what they called the rock and roll church. And so, Mary Ann and Tom came to North Point for the first time. And they've been coming ever since. In March of 2020, Tom passed away in the middle of covid, they celebrated his life in their garage, Mary Ann volunteers as a restore mentor at North Point Community Church. And what she does as a restore mentor as she meets people who are under the circumstances, and she helps them restore their faith, and she reminds them from her own life and her own story, she reminds them...
You don't have to explain the unexplainable to follow Jesus , and you don't have to find a reason. You don't have to find a reason for all the randomness in life in order to follow Jesus, she reminds them that doubt and questions are just part of the journey, and that you bring your doubts with you and you bring your questions with you, and some of your questions will get answers, and some of your questions won't ever get answered, and that's okay, you can continue to trust and to follow and to believe. Doubt—this is what's amazing about the story of Lazarus, this is what's amazing about the story of John the Baptist, and there are other stores scattered through the gospels. Doubt is baked into the story of our faith.
You're in the story. It is common. It's normal, it's acceptable. It is not offensive to your Heavenly Father,because even Jesus acknowledged, you may stumble over me, He said. And if Jesus favorites weren't immune. I'm not immune either. And neither are you. He loved them and He loves you, and He invites you. In fact, he said, All the weary and heavy-laden, and I want you to come to me. And some of you weary and heavy-laden, I'm gonna lift the burden, for others of you, you're gonna endure the burden, and I'm gonna give you the strength to endure the burden, and even if you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I am with you, my rod and my staff will comfort you, and you do not need to be afraid because I am with you and I'm offering you hope that touches down in this life, because I'm offering hope that extends into the life to come, because Jesus promised and illustrated eternal life, the book ends, aren't here, the bookends are eternity. And so you can trust and you can obey, and you can follow, and you can bring your doubts and your questions with you, you don't have to stumble away because God doesn't act the way you think God should act.
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