Surprised By God.
Luke 7: 18 – 23.
Introduction.
Have you ever known someone so well that you could predict how they would respond in any given situation? You know their responses so well that you can even manipulate them into doing exactly what you want?
One of my favorite stories to tell from my childhood happened when my brother and I were fighting over a baseball our grandfather had given us. Our grandfather ate Kellogg’s Corn Flakes for breakfast every morning and saved the box tops to send in for whatever they were offering as the special offer. Once the special offer was for a Kellogg’s Baseball, so my grandfather saved enough box tops to send off for six baseballs—one for each grandson.
My brother and I had our very own baseball, but you know how brothers are…I lost mine and was trying to convince John that his baseball was lost…After all, what are older brothers for?
We obviously made too much noise, because my Mother caught us and asked, “What is going on in here?”
John said, “Andy is trying to take my baseball.”
I said, “No, I’m not. John is trying to take my baseball.”
Mother said, “Whose baseball is it?”
John said, “Mine!” I said, “Mine!”
Mother said, I can solve this. I will go get the hoe and cut the baseball in half. That way Andy can have half, and John can have half.”
Well, I was the older and the much wiser son, and I knew what she was doing. I recognized immediately that she was trying to follow the biblical story of Solomon and the two women arguing over the baby…And I knew how that story turned out.
John couldn’t help himself…He said, “Cool! I have always wanted to know what was inside a baseball.”
I said, “No! Don’t cut it in half! I don’t want to ruin the baseball. Just give it to John. Maybe he will let me play with it too.”
Mother said, “I think I know whose baseball it is now. Andy, you can have you ball back.”
My Mother has always been real proud of herself and the way she solved that brotherly spat…That is until just recently, when I confessed to her that I had tricked her…
Since I knew the biblical story of Solomon and the two women, I knew that I had to act quickly if I wanted to get that baseball. I knew how my Mother would respond if I acted a certain way. And I was able to control the situation by predicting her response.
How many of us are guilty of doing the same thing in our relationship with God? We think that if we act a certain way, then God will be obligated to bless us—this is the basic belief behind the book The Prayer of Jabez. If we act a certain way and pray a certain prayer, then God will have to bless us or respond in predictable ways.
But this raises an interesting set of questions for us to consider…If God is obligated to respond certain ways to our prayers and actions, then who is really in control?
As we read Scripture, we discover that God is the one who is ALWAYS in control. And no matter how hard we might try to capture God and contain him and limit his activity to certain responses or even manipulate him into doing our will, we are often Surprised By God and the way he works in the world.
One example of someone being Surprised By God comes from the story of Jesus and John the Baptist…
Read Luke 7: 18 – 23.
18 John's disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them,
19 he sent them to the Lord to ask, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"
20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?'"
21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind.
22 So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: 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.
23 Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."
(NIV)
To me, the key to this passage is the very last verse I read…Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of Jesus…
John the Baptist Was Surprised By God.
Jesus and John the Baptist have been intertwined since before either one of them was born and throughout their lives and ministries…The Gospel of John teaches us that John the Baptist’s ministry actually centered on pointing others toward following Jesus as the Promised Messiah, or the Christ…
At this point in John’s ministry, however, he was beginning to have questions…Matthew tells us that John is right now in prison, facing the death penalty for preaching against Herod’s incestuous relationship with his step-daughter…
Several of John’s disciples came to John’s jail cell and reported what Jesus had done in the past few days…Jesus had healed the son of a Roman soldier…And Jesus had raised a widow’s son to life…
These two miracles don’t seem very strange to you and me…We expect Jesus to heal the sick and raise the dead. But a good Jewish person like John the Baptist found these two miracles very confusing.
When Jesus healed the Roman soldier’s son, he had moved his ministry outside the Jewish people and was ministering to Gentiles. When Jesus healed the widow’s son, he had moved his ministry beyond a male oriented society and showed concern for the needs of women…Jesus was ministering to people who would have been overlooked by typical Jewish Rabbis of that day…
John was Surprised to see Jesus working among the outcasts and forgotten people of society, so he sent his disciples with a question for Jesus to answer…Are you the One who is to come, or should we look for another? This is the same thing as asking, Are you the Promised Messiah?
I think there are two ways we can interpret John’s question:
If you are the Messiah, then you need to start acting like it…
When John preached about the coming Messiah, he preached about Judgment:
“Repent, for the
“I baptize you with water, but the coming Messiah will baptize with FIRE.”
Many people expected the coming Messiah to judge the wicked and vindicate the righteous…Messiah would prove once and for all that the Jewish people were God’s chosen people to the exclusion of all other people…We are right and everyone else is wrong…
If you are the Messiah, then I will have to change my view of the Messiah…
John heard the reports from his disciples about the ways Jesus is reaching out to non-Jewish people and giving full rights to women and is beginning to wonder, “Are these the kinds of things the Messiah is supposed to do?”
Can someone who gives attention to dead people, the poorest people of society, the outcasts and sinners truly be the Promised Messiah?
This is an important question…Because if Jesus really is the Messiah, then what Jesus does is what God is doing…AND…This is what God expects his followers to do in the world…
I want you to look at how Jesus answered John’s question…
Read Luke 7: 20 – 22
20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?'"
21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind.
22 So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: 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.
(NIV)
Does that sound familiar? It would have sounded familiar to John and his disciples. It reminded them of the day when Jesus launched his public ministry. He attended synagogue at his home synagogue and was asked to read the Scripture reading from Isaiah 61: 1 – 2…
Read Luke 4: 14 – 21
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.
15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.
17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him,
21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
(NIV)
No matter what the Jewish people might expect out of the Messiah, THIS is what the Messiah is supposed to do…Evangelize the Poor…Proclaim freedom to the captives…Sight for the Blind…Release the Oppressed…Proclaim the Year of the Lord’s Favor…
Others Who Were Surprised By God.
As I read this story of John the Baptist and how he was Surprised By God, I remember two other men in the Bible who were Surprised By God:
Jonah was Surprised By God’s Grace…
Jonah reluctantly went to Ninevah to preach a message of doom and judgment to the Gentile sinners of that wicked city…Jonah had no idea that the people of Ninevah would repent as they did…But they did, and God chose to save them from the destruction that Jonah had prophesied…
Jonah came to the city preaching, “Forty days and Ninevah will be destroyed”…Yet, in forty days the people repented and they received the Grace of God…
Jonah was upset that God had not destroyed the city…He thought he knew better than God…He was Surprised by the Grace of God…
Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever been Surprised By God’s Grace, when you have witnessed the changed life of a sinner whom you thought did not deserve to be saved…Of course, none of us DESERVE to be saved…
Rich Young Ruler was Surprised By God’s Demands…
In Luke 18, we read a story about a Rich Young Man who ran up to Jesus and said, “Quick! I’m looking for the shortcut to Heaven.”
Jesus told the man to keep the commandments and to give up the one thing that stood between him and God—to give all his money to the poor.
Then, Luke finished the story by saying the young man walked away sad, because he was unwilling to give up money as his idol…
The Rich Young Ruler was Surprised By God’s Demands…God demands that he should be the most important priority in our lives…And that we have no other gods before him…And the Rich Young Ruler walked away sad…Looking for a shortcut to Heaven and thinking that he knew better than Jesus…
Conclusion: Jesus’ Challenge to His Followers.
Look with me one more time at the last verse of our passage…
Read Luke 7: 23
23 Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."
(NIV)
Does that sound like the Rich Young Ruler? He was Surprised By God and walked away sad, because he was not willing to let God be in control of his life…He had hoped that he could hang on to control and Lordship of his own life…
“Blessed are the ones who are Surprised and do not fall away. Blessed are the ones who are Surprised and continue to give themselves over to God’s Lordship and control.”
Today, there are many of us who have tried to place our expectations and restrictions on God…Trying to tell him how he can and cannot act in any given situation…But, again, if we have God figured out and if we can obligate God to act certain ways in certain situations…Who is really in charge?
God is Sovereign and a Mystery that we cannot control…Anything less would be idolatry!
If we are truly led by God—or controlled by the Holy Spirit—we can’t know what the outcome will be. All we can really know is the next step. We will not know where the next step will lead us. We cannot know what the final outcome will be…Because we are not in control…God is in control.
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