Questions for the Coming King

December 16, 1990 - Advent III

Matthew 11:2

Introduction

JOHN THE BAPTIST HAD NEVER HEARD OF CHRISTMAS. But if he had, he wouldn't have had much room for a Christmas tree where he was. It is hard to celebrate Christmas when you are in prison.

But prison wasn't all that was ruining John the Baptist's Christmas spirit. There was also a dreadful line-up of nagging questions that wouldn't go away.

I. CHRISTMAS DOESN'T MEAN 'NO MORE PROBLEMS'

John's disciples had come and told him that Jesus of Nazareth, whom John had baptized and pronounced the MESSIAH, was hardly behaving like any King they knew, coming OR going.
1. HE WAS PREACHING KINDNESS AND LOVE, AND NOT ORGANIZING DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST THE ROMANS OR THE HYPOCRITES IN RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP.
2. HE WAS AWARE THAT JOHN WAS IN PRISON, AND YET HE HAD NOT TAKEN STEPS SUPERNATURALLY OR ANY OTHER WAY TO GET HIM OUT.
3. HE WAS ACTUALLY EATING AND DRINKING WITH PUBLICANS AND SINNERS; HE HAD BEEN SEEN TALKING TO WOMEN AND SAMARITANS.
  It was enough to cause a sinking sensation in the pit of John the Baptist's stomach.
DOUBTS! [These frightening sorts of thoughts present themselves uninvited from time to time. If it has never happened to you perhaps you are very fortunate. Or perhaps you have never been exposed to darkness and evil.]
1. This will be a Christmas for several hundred thousand young men and women in a far desert land which even just six months ago they could not have dreamed would ever happen.
2. And every year Christmas for many, many people is nothing like the pictures we mail to each other on our Christmas cards.
3. Chances are that right here this morning there are those who love the Lord, and are serving Him the best they can- but if they were very honest- they would say they were tempted to say, "Why doesn't the Christ of Christmas spread a little of His cheer around my way?"
What happens When Christmas isn't all Merry and Bright? WHAT HAPPENS WHEN JESUS DOESN'T SEEM TO BE DOING WHAT WE EXPECT?
1. Would that everyone could have a Cameo Christmas, a Hallmark Christmas by the hearth, with all the trimmings! I am thankful that I have had my share of Olde Fashioned Christmases. We listened by the big Philco radio to Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." Nobody could play Scrooge like Lionel Barrymore! And somehow we had to hear Messiah, even though I didn't appreciate it then as I learned to later.
  But storybook Christmases don't always happen. And strange as it seems, God comes near sometimes when circumstances get tough.
  One of the Christmases I recall as "special" was in the winter of 1937 when my family was really in desperate times in the Great Depression. My father was sick in bed, and had been for months. And yet I remember it as the year I helped make ornaments for the tree of English walnut shells and string and popcorn.
  I remember also the love and closeness of aunts and uncles and cousins who made sure that we were not alone.
2. Does doubt come to good people? I mean, can a person who is really "doing it all" for God still have doubts?
  Would you say that John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim's Progress, was a good man? Would you believe John Bunyan ever wrestled with doubts? Listen to something John Bunyan wrote:
  "Of all temptations I ever met with in my life, to question the being of God and the truth of His Gospel is the worst, and the worst to be borne. When this temptation comes it takes my [girdle] from me, and removes the foundation from under me. Though God has visited my soul with never so blessed a discovery of Himself, yet afterwards I have been in my spirit so filled with darkness, that I could not so much as once conceive what God and that comfort were with which I had been refreshed."

II. CHRISTMAS FAITH WILL BE CHALLENGED ['IS JESUS REALLY EMMANUEL?']

THERE ARE DIFFERENT KINDS AND SOURCES OF NEGATIVE THOUGHTS:
1. Some SO-CALLED doubts have moral origins. Many "intellectual" questions begin with a difference of opinion with God. Sin clouds the windows of the soul until not only the heart is stained, but no one else is believed, either.]
2. Some doubts have physical causes. Weariness. Circumstances. Never make a vital decision when you are exhausted.
3. Some doubts ARE intellectual. To simply ignore questions will not suffice an honest mind. "I don't know" is not a sign of stupidity. How do we go about facing honest questions in the heart and mind?
DOUBT IS NOT SIN! Honest doubt, faced up to much as John the Baptist faced his, is an expression of integrity. John the Baptist looked for a simple, easy answer he could understand without stretching his hurting faith. He got what he needed— but it was an answer that demanded even more faith, but an answer that would satisfy and carry him through life and death.
THE EXAMPLE: HOW JOHN DEALT WITH HIS DOUBT. John had that sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach we call by different names; that challenge that tells us that all we hold sacred is at stake, along with the integrity of our faith.
What did John the Baptist do?
1. First look at WHAT HE DID NOT DO: he did not make a sermon out of his doubting; he did not take sides with it. He was not satisfied just to remain in torment. He did not seek to influence his disciples or infect them.
2. Then John sought to GO TO THE SOURCE OF TRUTH. John did expose his doubt to Jesus himself. "Are you really MESSIAH?"
  Be honest with your doubting; but take it to the Lord Himself, even if you are hurting, instead of "feeding" it.
  John asked, via his messengers:
  Are you the ONE TO COME? There is no question you are good but you are gentle, and we need hell fire! You are so poor, and we need funding! You seem too often wrapped up with individual's needs and we need to strike at the heart of evil, which is corrupt leadership, and hypocrites in the religious community, bad government officials.
  Jesus answered, by the same messengers: Tell John that the lame are bring healed, and the dumb are speaking— people are getting help— and blessed is the person who doesn't stumble over me!

III. LOOK AT THIS ANSWER: LOOK AT ME AND DON'T STUMBLE!

JESUS ANSWERED. He did not criticize John for asking: John could not help how he felt; there is no sin in doubting. And Jesus did not for a moment question John's integrity. If John had been corrupt, or afraid of facing death because he was evil, Jesus would have told him so. Jesus made it clear after the 'messengers' had left that John the Baptist was a great and good man.
JESUS ANSWERED "OBLIQUELY" ALMOST CRYPTICALLY
Jesus does not simply say what we expect Him to say. Jesus does not come as we envision He should come. He comes as He says that He will come.
When Jesus speaks there is always the demand for more than an intellectual response. To 'know' the verities of faith is not less than intellectual, but it is somehow more.
The answers Jesus gives to our doubts are not a scientific exercise. The answer we get is true because Jesus is true. To prove by science all that Jesus claims to be makes the proving greater than the proven. We "appeal" some "even higher power" to prove the Word of God.
A great Bible scholar once said:
"Knowing is not the requisition of neutral knowledge about statements, principles or systems. Nor is it the passive contemplation of God. Rather, it is a process that involves the total person: his or her observing, thinking, use of senses, intelligence, will, action and heart." K.Barth (CD, IV/3/p183)
WHAT KIND OF ANSWER IS THIS? "Blessed is the one who keeps from stumbling over Me!" Does SUCH AN ANSWER help?
What does that say to the men and women in the Saudi desert? Does He have anything to say to the person feeling all alone and isolated this Christmas?
I believe with all my heart that Jesus DOES care, and that He DOES have something to say to anyone who really will listen!
We're often too preoccupied with what we think we should hear the LORD say that we sometimes may miss His answer. His word is a challenge; the message is the same He gave to His beloved Baptist: "BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO IS NOT OFFENDED IN ME!"
1. DON'T DECIDE IN ADVANCE WHAT JESUS SHOULD BE AND DO.
2. HEAR WHAT JESUS SAYS WHEN WE LIKE IT, AND LISTEN ESPECIALLY CAREFULLY TO WHAT HE SAYS WHEN WE DON'T LIKE IT, OR DON'T UNDERSTAND IT.
3. DON'T LET ANYTHING, NO CIRCUMSTANCE, EVEN PRISON, KEEP YOU FROM STUMBLING OVER THE FACT THAT JESUS IS LORD!
  Blessed is the man or woman that says: "God IS! God is GOOD! Lord, I believe! I will OBEY You!"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Christmas Hymn speaks of hope that strikes through the gloom of doubt: "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"

And in despair I bowed my head.
"There is no peace on earth, " I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.

Prayer:

Oh God, Wherever we are this morning, give us this message of Christmas— that You are KING! You are the King who CAME, and the King Who Is Coming! And You are the King who COMES! You have said, "I AM with you!" We believe You! And we love You. Amen.

#169 Worship in Song