CMLC 2025-05-25 Sermon

One of the things looking at ideas of what we

expect is oftentimes for me when I think about

who I was trying to be when I grew up. When I

was a kid, I was thinking, what am I going to

do whenever I grow up? And in my mind, my future

job was doing math on a chalkboard and drawing.

I had no idea what job that was going to be,

but it was going to be doing math on a chalkboard

and drawing. I still haven't quite figured that

one out yet, but who knows? Maybe when I retire,

I'll get to do that. But with my dad growing

up being a machinist, the thing that he was always

asking was, if you're so good at math, why don't

you become an engineer? And so that would come

up from time to time and I was originally going

to go over to Houston Baptist now Houston Christian

and get a math major but I was told that maybe

A &M would be a better place to go and maybe

go get an architecture major and I went and it

was like this isn't quite the right fit so what

would I end up doing well I thought sure I'll

fall back on an easy degree and I got an engineering

degree so there we go but then after all of this

realizing is in my mind was this thought growing

up of, how in the world am I going to be this

engineer? And I'm so clumsy. I'm not mechanically

minded. And even more than that, as I was at

school and I did all the classes and I'm thinking,

how am I going to do this the rest of my life?

And then I ended up going to seminary. And I

guess God didn't need me to make a chemical plant

for him. But in thinking about all this was still

in the back of my mind this question of Is this

really what my dad expected of me? Is this something

that my dad would have actually been happy about?

And in thinking about that is, you know, whenever

I would then talk to him is always this thought

in the back of my mind. Are you still happy about

the direction that I went in? And this idea of

what it is that we think is going to happen,

the direction we're going to go, whenever it

doesn't happen, how often is it that that ends

up creating in us a feeling disappointment this

sense of being disoriented the idea that you

think you know where you're going and then all

of a sudden everything gets thrown all up in

the air and you feel a bit discombobulated which

I think is an awesome word but don't ask me how

to spell it you know we end up seeing at these

times that when the path we thought we were going

to go is not what turns out well we see what

it is that God may be doing beyond what we expected

that it may turn out that the times whenever

we see that the disciples are confused about

what Jesus is trying to say or Paul ends up finding

one of his first converts in the most unexpected

way or we end up seeing a vision of heaven that

may be different from what we expected we still

end up seeing that God's work while it's not

what we expect it ends up giving us more than

we could have ever asked for And so what we want

to do then is we want to be able to see how is

it that we understand better how God is doing

much more than we could have ever imagined. And

one of those is when we think about the story

of Martin Luther. Martin Luther, a German monk,

have you heard of him? Okay, thank you. When

we're trying to understand a bit about what it

is that he was doing, you've got to understand

that he also was struggling with whether or not

he was living up to what his father had wanted.

He was supposed to be a lawyer, and then because

of a crazy thunderstorm, he ended up going to

become a monk, and then later became a professor

at a seminary that was there in Wittenberg. Well,

the difficulty then is that as much as Luther

was such a good monk, the problem was is that

the Word of God just kept getting at him. And

he kept reading more and more from Galatians

and Romans and trying to understand more about

what God was truly saying about grace. And what

he began to realize is that all this fear that

he had about whether or not he had done enough

or confessed enough and seeing how terrible of

a sinner he was on the inside, which apparently,

according to his confessor, was nowhere near

as bad as the other monks, is that he continued

then to hear from God and to see that grace was

something freely given, that it was a gift from

God. And he began to speak and to teach and to

write about this. But in his mind, what he expected

was that the church, once they understood what

he was saying, they were going to agree with

him completely and help him to revise and reform

and fix everything that he saw as an abuse in

the church. But then the problem is, they didn't

see him as the one telling them what to do. You

know that thing whenever the kid is going off

to the principal's office? And walking over there

because the principal's calling them in, and

the principal already knows that what the kid

has done is wrong and needs to make sure that

they're corrected. And so the kid is not going

to sit there and try to explain to the principal,

well, this is why I did all these things. Don't

you understand why it was that I'm in the right?

All the principal expects is, I'm sorry, and

I won't do it again. That's it. That's all that

you get. And that's... what Luther was being

called to when he went to the Diet of Worms,

is that he was coming there to basically say,

I'm sorry, I won't do this again. And he's standing

there having all of his writings spread out on

a table, and he's trying to figure out, what

did I say that was so wrong? Oh my goodness.

And they said, we just want you to recant. Just

say you were wrong and never do this again. And

he said, I need to think about it. And so he

came back after a night of praying and thinking,

very little sleep. But what he kept praying to

God was that he would stand on the gospel and

that nothing could cause his faith to waver.

And the truth is that he was pretty convinced

that he was going to end up being taken off and

martyred for the gospel. by the very church he

was trying to help reform. But instead, after

he had said, here I stand, I can do no other,

or something along those lines, he was taken

off and hidden away, where he ended up translating

all of scripture into German, which quite a bit

to ask of one single person. I'm just trying

to make sure I get a sermon written every week.

But more than that, is to realize that his struggle

would continue and that he would be blamed for

so many things that would happen throughout the

church for centuries to come. What Luther thought

was going to happen was nowhere near what actually

came to be. I'm sure Martin Luther did not expect

his future wife to come along in a smoked fish

barrel. True story. Look it up. But even more

than that, he also didn't know what God was going

to do through him, not just whether or not his

life might be taken away. But the same thing

ends up happening with what Jesus speaks to his

disciples, as we look in John 16. The disciples

are wanting Jesus to speak plainly, and Jesus

keeps saying, you can go to the Father and you

can ask Him for anything. and that you don't

just have to then speak to me hoping the Father

will hear you. The Father hears you because He

loves you. And then they finally start saying,

well, okay, now we understand you, now it's plain.

And you know that moment where you're like, you

really don't understand what I'm trying to say.

And Jesus has one of those moments, but still

says, you're gonna all abandon me, and yet, there

is still grace for you. That feeling that sense

of knowing that the path that you may expect

it's not going to go the direction you thought

disciples But rather this path is going to have

to go To the cross and more than that not just

for Christ himself and what he's going to do

for our sin, but also for the disciples themselves

Because they will also have to suffer for all

that is going to happen in his name That's the

thing about what we end up seeing though is that

as much as we might think we know what God is

going to give us There is so much more that it

entails But it may very well be a path of struggle

and turmoil that we may face It's not a path

that then we think somehow we've lost track of

what God wanted How many times must Luther have

wondered as he's there in that cell awaiting

the verdict the next day? whether or not he had

made a misstep, and how often do we wonder whether

or not God has somehow had a path that we missed

out on. But you know, we've talked about that

before. More than that, though, is that the gospel

isn't just that our paths don't always go where

we expect, but also that the gospel itself doesn't

just go where we planned. See, the gospel goes

wherever the spirit will. And one of those people

that it ended up going to was named Augustine.

Augustine had lived in the fourth century. Augustine

had been trained in rhetoric and philosophy.

He was a teacher and he loved to argue. And he

loved the idea of himself being able to argue

and garner everyone's attention and the status

that he wanted with it. But more than that, Augustine

was actually a little bit of a womanizer, and

there were a lot of things that he was not willing

to let go of with all the things that he pursued,

the immorality that he wanted. In his mind, the

Bible was way too simple, and faith in Jesus

was way too restrictive. There were too many

things that he wanted. But the thing about it

is that as much as we might see him and realize

Oh my goodness, what a terrible person he may

truly be. Is that he still had a mother praying

for him. Monica, who was continuing to remember

him in prayer over and over and speaking to him

every chance that she had. But there was also

Bishop Ambrose, who was preaching. You know how

there are those times whenever someone is speaking

and you're not quite paying total attention and

and Yet something that they said kind of stood

out to you. You can't quite shake it I mean not

me everybody listens to every single word I've

ever said but other people and Oftentimes exactly

You realize is that as much as he might have

been arguing is that that word kept getting in

But more than that his feeling of emptiness Kept

growing and he couldn't shake it until one day

he heard a voice Calling him to open his Bible

and as he's reading Romans 13 and it speaks of

leaving your sin and to pursue Christ He realized

it was time and at the age of 31 came to know

Jesus and would eventually come to become the

bishop of Hippo and one of the most influential

writers in the Christian church, which of course

goes to show you for all those wondering about

kids in their 20s and if they fall away, there

is still hope for them in their 30s. But the

same thing though ends up happening with Paul.

Paul had an idea in his mind of who it was that

he was supposed to pursue, not who it was necessarily.

who God had in mind to call. See, Paul was going

to go off to Asia and to proclaim the gospel,

but time and time again, the Spirit stopped him.

We don't know how. We don't know if it was just

the dreams that he had that said, don't go, or

maybe there was an angel standing there with

a giant sword saying, don't go this way, Paul.

Or even if maybe it was just circumstances, time

and time again. Every time you think that you're

supposed to go somewhere, and you can't seem

to get there. There were times whenever I would

wonder about that in my own life, because I wanted

to live up to my father's reputation, but my

father's legacy and his expectations. And then

three times that I tried to do like him and to

enlist in the Army, and three times the military

said no. until finally realizing there are just

some times when the spirit's working and you

just have to listen. Because so many times what

we may feel as us failing oftentimes is just

God saying, I have something else in mind for

you. Because the thing is, is that as much as

Paul couldn't go to Asia, God said, go to Macedonia.

And as he went, instead of the man that he saw

in his dream. Instead, as he's walking by the

riverside, he sees a woman named Lydia, who was

ready to hear the gospel and became the first

convert in that European area. See, Lydia became

a person of peace, a person who was open to the

gospel, a person who was not only ready, but

who would then call others to her side, others

who would then come to know the gospel as well.

But oftentimes we don't expect that the gospel

is going to go wherever God decides. We don't

realize that. But more than that, we also don't

realize what it is that the gospel is doing even

as it reaches each and every person. See, one

of the things that we end up seeing in our scripture

reading as we look at Revelation is the life

of the world that is to come. See, What we see

in Revelation ends up helping us to understand

a bit more about how God is reaching to all people,

and how God's vision for his kingdom is bigger

and more beautiful than anything we had imagined.

But you see, we don't always have that in our

mind. There were so long where the vision of

Americans, or what I should say is white Americans,

was a very specific idea of what heaven would

be like. And even whenever we got to a point

of finally getting past slavery is that even

though we saw black Americans having faith, how

long it was that the white mainstream could not

imagine that their idea of heaven included those

people. And that's the thing about this is that

Christians could spend so long taking scripture

and telling themselves, all throughout slavery

and even afterward that what they were looking

at and doing was God's idea. How often is it

that we can take things that are clearly not

what Jesus would have wanted but somehow tell

ourselves it's exactly what we're supposed to

do. But you see, the black church didn't end

up just giving up, just when the mainstream church

didn't want them. Even whenever whites didn't

want the blacks sitting next to them, they end

up creating their own churches, their own bishops,

their own pastors, their own preachers, those

who could be deacons in their community. Whenever

we wonder why there are so many different denominations

that have the same root word but teach the same

thing and yet they're separated and we realize

that many of them started because of this. Because

of people just not wanting to sit next to somebody

else. But how often is it that we do that because

we think of ourselves as the ones worthy and

we wonder how God lets all those other people

in. This idea of realizing that it's not about

the Christians but rather about the Christ. Whenever

the missionaries would go to different foreign

lands and the indigenous populations would have

to realize the missionaries are not the same

as the Christ they proclaim. Even so, the image

of heaven ends up showing something deeper and

more beautiful than what we could have imagined.

Because all the different stones throughout the

wall, and to realize that they are all part of

this one pearl stone, this one unified foundation,

that heaven's gates are wide open in a place

with no temple, no sun, and open gates. Because

instead of seeing Jesus present in this one spot

is to realize when God is walking among you,

living with you, breathing with you, you don't

have to go to this one other place to find Him.

He's there, right there with you, speaking to

you, walking with you. showing you what He always

desired, what God's expectations truly are, not

just what we thought they would be. Or even further,

you don't need a sun whenever the light of the

world is already there, lighting your path showing

you where it is to go and what it is that we

do. But more than that, how is heaven so beautiful

and so perfect when the gates are wide open.

See, it speaks twice in that chapter about the

sinners and all the terrible people who have

no place in heaven and yet the gates are wide

open. Why is that? How do they make that possible?

Because it's not the good people that find their

way to get in. It's that all people need to be

cleansed and purified before they enter. Because

when Christ Jesus is the gate, He is the door,

then through Him all people have grace and hope.

It's that only through Him is anyone made right

in God's eyes. So that as we come to know Him,

all the things that we've struggled with are

transformed by His glory. Our idea of what it

is that we're looking for, it's not about what

we're trying to bring to God, but rather is coming

to God and saying, God, what is it that you have

for me? See, when we look at all these pieces,

when we look at what it is, how our expectations

limit what it is that God is doing, but we realize

that God's plan is so unlimited. When we realized

that the disciples thought that they needed to

control what they were coming to God with But

Jesus came to give them peace Or when Paul thought

that he had a strategy for where he was gonna

go and who he was gonna reach and then not only

did the Gentiles come to know Jesus But now he

was going off to the women folk Not realizing

how much they needed them to spread the gospel

And then imagining ourselves to somehow be worthy

of the reward of heaven, only to have God show

that it's only through Christ that any of us

have been made worthy. Not just the ones that

we think belong there, but for all people in

Christ. Then we realize that God is the one to

transform our expectations and what we think

we want. Not to something different. but to something

better. Because our expectations of what we look

for limits what God does. And that's why so often

God is so happy to disappoint us. Because so

often whenever we see that what we wanted does

not pan out, then we realize that that's when

God can start doing what he had in mind in the

first place. because what God has in mind goes

beyond anything that we could imagine. So the

good part is that when I finally did break down

and pause and go to my dad and say, dad, do you

actually feel proud of me? I didn't become an

engineer. I went to a different church than the

one I grew up in and I don't have the mechanical

mind that you do. He said, son, You follow Jesus,

you take Him everywhere you go, and you're fully

capable of whatever He puts in front of you.

I couldn't be more proud. Because the thing that

God is looking for is what He has in mind. So

may we continue to pursue what the Father has

in mind for us, not what we think He wanted for

us, but rather what He has truly given us in

Christ Jesus. by His salvation and by His grace.

Thanks be to God.