Matthew 11:1-19 | Expectations | Matthew Dodd

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1. Expectations. One dictionary defined the term “expectation” as a “feeling or belief about how successful or good someone or something will be.”
2. Spoken or unspoken, we all have expectations.
3. It’s also true that we have certain “expectations” of God, that He will “be” a certain way or “act” a certain way.
4. But problems arise when our expectations of God don’t match up with our experiences. For some, their faith is severely damaged, even shipwrecked.
5. Is there an answer, a remedy, a solution so that our expectations of God line up with who God is regardless of our experiences?
6. Tonight, we will discover the answer by looking a man who was the greatest prophet under the Old Covenant, John the Baptist, and how Jesus ministered to him when John’s expectations of Jesus did not line up with his experience.
Matthew 11:1-19
Context
1. In Matthew 10, Jesus selected twelve of His disciples to be His apostles.
2. We noted two weeks ago that before the twelve could be His apostles, “those who are sent”, they first needed to be His disciples, “those who are taught.”
3. Being a disciple is more than just being a student because it involves a wholehearted commitment to applying the teachings of Jesus to one’s life.
4. Jesus also departed from that region of the Sea of Galilee to teach and preach in their cities. (11:1)
5. It’s at this point that two of the disciples of John the Baptist approached Jesus with a question from John, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” (11:3)
6. Many who read this for the first time, shake their heads in disbelief. How could John the Baptist, the one who declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” question who Jesus is?
I. Our Lord is a Compassionate God (1-6)
• Context is helpful. John was imprisoned by Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great.
• According to Matthew 14:3-4, Herod Antipas put John in prison because John rebuked him for taking his brother’s wife, Herodias, to be his wife.
• John had been in prison for more than a year. He was discouraged, disappointed, and questioned if he had made a mistake. If he was the messenger who went before the Messiah and Jesus was the Messiah, then why was he still in prison?
• If Jesus was the Messiah, the One who would separate the “wheat from the chaff” and purge Israel of her sin, then why did Jesus minister to tax collectors and cast demons out of prostitutes?
• Should they “look for someone else?”
• We might expect Jesus to be disappointed in John or that He would reply with a sharp word of correction.
• But here we see the heart of our Savior. He responded with compassion. In fact, throughout the Scripture we see that God comforts the discouraged.
A. God comforts the discouraged
1. We all know what discouragement looks like when our expectations aren’t met.
2. John’s expectation of what the Messiah would do was different than what he was witnessing and experiencing.
APPL - It’s easy for us to have unfulfilled expectations as well. Many people come to God thinking that God should do things this way or that way.
• Jesus shocked the Jewish leaders when He touched lepers and ate with tax collectors and sinners.
• Many people at one time or another have thought, “If I was the Messiah, I would do things this way…”
• Verses 16-19 clearly paints that picture. Some complained that John was too strict and removed so they said he had a demon. Others complained that Jesus hung out with tax collectors and sinners, so they called him a glutton and a drunkard.
• People expect God to respond to their expectations when they should trust in what God is doing instead. God won’t dance to our tune. We must let His song resonate in our hearts.
3. There are many examples of great men who became discouraged at one time or another.
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