When What We Expect Is Not What We Get

Expectation and reality. They don't always turn out to be the same, do they? No one knew that more than Jesus' disciples. 

Scripture makes it clear the disciples expected an earthly kingdom and that Jesus would sit on the throne of David. The kingdom would be reunited. Wealth and power would abound.

The crucifixion wasn't what they expected.

The resurrection wasn't what they expected, either.

Forty days after Jesus rose from the grave, their expectations still weren't in line with reality. (Leanna Paraphrase coming up.)

The disciples were all gathered together, and Jesus was giving them some last minute instructions. 

"Don't leave Jerusalem until you get what My Dad has promised you. I've already told you about this, so wait for it. You're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit." (from Acts 1:4-5)

"Oh, good. Is this when you finally overthrow the Romans and restore the kingdom to Israel?" the disciples asked.

I imagine Jesus shook His head in amazement at that question. "Don't worry about that. I'm telling you what's going to happen. You'll receive power and be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and Judea, Samaria, and all around the world."

Without so much as a see you later, Jesus ascended into heaven. The disciples stood there in open-mouthed amazement. They were probably wondering how they'd get their palaces now.

What came next is very wonderful, but it still makes me laugh a little. The disciples heard the words "power" and "around the world" and you can well imagine what they thought. Power = kingdom and military might. Around the world = ambassadors of the new king.

Instead, they were in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost, waiting for power and ambassadorships, when a loud noise sounded. Tongues of fire suddenly danced over everyone's head. 

Pause to visualize that in your mind's eye for a moment. They must have been dumbfounded.

They all started speaking in different languages and spilled out the building into the street. 

Preaching broke out. Salvations. Baptisms. Thousands of people believed in Jesus that day.  

The Pharisees just thought they had trouble with Jesus. When the Holy Spirit descended, the real trouble began. None of it was what the disciples had expected.  The reality was so much better.

People were healed with a word. Blind men saw. Lame men walked. Demon possessed girls were set free. There was more power in their handkerchief than they'd ever known before.

The Holy Spirit had come, just like Jesus promised. They'd been given power, just as He'd said. 

Pretty soon, persecution began and the disciples had to flee Jerusalem to save their lives. They told everyone they met on their travels about Jesus. They became ambassadors (witnesses) around the world, exactly as Jesus told them they would.

It's a good thing their expectations weren't met. They were exceeded in ways they could never have imagined.

We, too, have expectations of what life will bring and what following Jesus will mean, but what we expect is seldom our reality. Today, let's surrender our dreams. Invite our Lord to replace our desires with His. Ask Him to do His will in us. 

That's when the real fun begins. 

What God has planned is not likely to be what we expect, but it will be worth it.

"I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 nasb

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Much Given, Much Required

"...From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more." Luke 12:48 NASB

This is the last half of the verse about the servant who did not know the Master's will and did not do it. At first glance, the words didn't seem to flow quite as well as I usually expect, mainly because I assumed these words referred to material things. The principle holds true for material things, but, in this instance, Jesus was speaking of knowing God's will. When I turned to the original language, it was eye-opening.

The word translated as "entrusted" is paratithēmi and conveys the idea of "to set before". When God provides teaching concerning His will, when He "sets it before me", He is entrusting it to me and I am accountable to Him for how I use that knowledge. Whether I choose to ignore it or incorporate truth into my life, I am accountable for that decision. 

You, like me, have probably heard one of those sermons that lacks "zip", that's dry and difficult to ingest. Does it "set God's word before me"? If so, I'm accountable for the teaching, whether I choose to listen or not. 

A while back, I was having a terrible time listening to the preacher. I understand why preachers begin with jokes, but I've never liked jokes in a sermon. I had developed a tendency to let my mind wander until the minister "got through wasting time" and got down to business. The problem was that my wandering mind wandered so much that I didn't always realize when the actual sermon had begun. When I tuned back in, it was obvious I had missed important points. My solution was to carry a small spiral-bound notebook to church and take notes during the sermon, regardless of what was being said, to prevent "missing something good."

I flipped through one of those notebooks last night and found something very interesting. On a page where I'd doodled during the jokes, I had written these words:

"When my greatest joy is in knowing God, 

my wants will take second place to what God wants in me."

Those words were a portion of the harvest from that sermon (the one with all the jokes at the beginning). Had I tuned out because of the jokes, I'd have missed important truth for which I was responsible to receive. 

We have tremendous religious freedom in this country in comparison to most of the world, and, because of it, a feast of preaching and teaching is set before us on a regular basis. 

I can know God's will, if I want to know God's will.

Our focus verse points out a very important truth. My desire for God's will is not the deciding factor in accountability. If teaching of truth is available to me, I'm accountable for how I use it, whether I "want" it or not, whether I choose to receive it or not. 

There's a simple solution to this problem of being accountable for God's will. Pursue His will with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.

When we do, we can expect to hear those six beautiful words as we step into eternity. "Well done, good and faithful servant."

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Our Father, forgive us for our laxity in pursuing Your ways. Create in us a desire for truth and a willingness to obey. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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If you want to read more, about this topic, check out the previous posts in this series. We began our study of this portion of Scripture with the unfaithful servant , then being salt and light, Christ and the Constitution, and the importance of praying for our leaders, and yesterday, the importance of knowledge.  If you missed one of them, I hope you'll follow the link (it opens in a new tab) and get caught up.

#disciple #obedience # obediencematters #JesusChrist #faithful servant

Thy Will Be Done (Luke 4:43)

But He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose." (Luke 4:43 NASB)

Remember the crowds? 

They wanted to keep The Miracle Worker all to themselves, but Jesus said "No". He explained that He had other work to do. This has been clearly stated in the synagogue in Nazareth. He was not sent to heal exclusively, He was sent to preach the Kingdom of God to as many people as possible. Their plan would prevent His plan from being carried out. When the choice was between God's plan and man's desires, only one would be accomplished, and it was God's. 

Dear ones, that is a good rule to remember in intercession. When our prayers are consistent with God's plan (clearly outlined in Scripture), we can be assured of His response to our requests. It's why the prayer that never fails is "Thy will be done."  When we want what God wants, He has given, and will give, us the desires of our heart. It is also why, in intercession, the first heart that needs to change is often our own. 

Today, pray that our heart's greatest desire would be the will of God in the lives of our loved ones, as well as in our own. Invite Him to direct their paths (and ours) in whatever direction He desires. What fun it will be the see His plan unfold!