And He Added

If you have your Bibles today, will you go to Matthew chapter 11?

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

And we're going to start at verse 2.

Matthew chapter 11, starting at verse 2, I'm going to read out of the New Living Translation.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

But to give you a little context here, this is a story about John the Baptist.

And we know that John the Baptist is a preacher and a prophet, but when we pick up this story, John is in prison.

And he's in prison not because he did something wrong, but because he did something bold.

He called out King Herod Antipas on his sins, is what the scripture tells us, and Herod threw him in prison.

And so many theologians believe that by the time we pick up this story, John has probably been in prison for over a year.

Okay, so let's read.

This is Matthew chapter 11, starting at verse 2.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

It says, John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing.

Now Messiah means anointed one.

So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?

Jesus told them, go back to John, tell him what you have heard and seen.

The blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the good news is being preached to the poor.

Somebody say, Amen to that.

And then verse 6 says this.

And he added.

I'm not done, John.

I have more.

And he added, God blesses those who do not fall away because of me.

Some of your translations will say, God blesses those who are not offended by me.

The title of the message today is And he added.

The subtitle would be Discovering God's Goodness in the Grip of Disappointment.

Almost a week and a half ago now, on Thursday, May 20th at 5.05 p.m., my wife gave birth to our fourth child.

Yeah.

It was a little boy named Justice Dane Lewis.

And we have a seven-year-old daughter named Judah who is full of personality.

We have a five-year-old son named Jaden whose voice is raspy and deeper than mine already.

He walks around the house going, hey daddy.

And then we have a 19-month-old little girl named Jordan Brielle Lewis that I call Queen Bee.

And to be honest with you, and we're listening we are, we recognize that children are a gift from the Lord.

We're so thankful for all of our kids, but to be honest with you, we thought we were done after number three.

So you can imagine that when we found out we were pregnant with number four, we were a bit surprised.

Surprise is an understatement.

We were shocked.

The only thing more shocking than finding out we were pregnant with number four was the way in which my wife decided to inform me that we were pregnant.

So it was 3 o'clock a.m.

in the morning.

I got up, went to use the restroom, come back, crawl in the bed, and my wife says to me, and I quote, babe, I need to tell you something.

But I don't know if you'll be able to go back to sleep.

What?

Like, like you can't say that to somebody.

Like, I mean, literally a million thoughts ran through my mind at this moment.

I'm going, babe, you have to tell me now.

And so she says, Well, I'm pregnant.

Now, of all the millions of thoughts that went through my mind, that was not one of them.

And so I remember laying there in the bed in complete shock, speechless.

So I was speechless for so long that my wife finally said, Um, Jelani, aren't you going to say something?

And I said, Well, I don't know what to say.

And then I asked the dumbest question ever.

I said, How did this happen?

And so after I asked questions of my wife, then my questions turned to the Lord.

And I said, God, listen, I'm grateful, I'm thankful for this new baby, but but we had plans.

Like we thought we were stepping into a new season.

God, what are you doing in my life?

Have you ever felt that way before?

Have you ever had that question?

God, what are you doing in my life?

Have you ever thought that God was going to do this and instead He did that, and then you wrestled with why?

If we go a little deeper and we're a little more transparent, have you ever been disappointed in a decision God made?

Listen, I know God can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think.

And I also know that every now and again we find ourselves worshiping a God whose will seems to be different than what we want.

What do you do when you're disappointed in God?

When we look at this story about John the Baptist, I believe John's story gives us some insight on how to respond when we're disappointed in God.

And it helps us to see the goodness of God even in disappointment.

And so if you're taking notes today, I want you to jot this down.

Point number one is John is disappointed.

John is disappointed.

The dictionary defines disappointment as to fail to satisfy the hope, desire, or expectation of.

To fail to satisfy the hope, desire, or expectation of.

I like to say it like this: disappointment is the downward gap between what you expect and what you experience.

It's the space between what you hoped for and what actually happened.

Now I say it's a downward gap because if something supersedes your expectations, we call that dynamic.

But but when something doesn't meet your expectations, then we find ourselves navigating in the space of disappointment.

For example, I am five foot five and three-fourths of an inch tall.

And that that's not the disappointing part.

Hold on, just calm down.

But for some reason, I'm married into a family of giants.

Biblically, I like to call them Nephilim.

And so my father-in-law is like 6'4, 6'5, my brother-in-law is like 6'3, 6'4, my two sisters-in-law are both 5'10, and my wife is even taller than me.

It's a hard-knocked life for me right now.

And so I remember the first time that I met my sister-in-law.

Now she'll she'll tell the story like this.

She says that I came up, I knocked on the door, she went and she opened the door, and then she looked out and she saw nothing.

And then she said, I looked down and there he was.

There was this gap between what she expected and what she experienced.

She was disappointed.

Listen, John is disappointed in this text.

Now, now why do you say he's disappointed?

Well, I say that John's disappointed because of the question that John asks.

You see, John asks a question that if anybody is supposed to know the answer to, it's John.

See, he asks in verse 3, are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for another?

Now, I don't know about you, but this is perplexing because I'm thinking about the text where John overtly communicates that Jesus is the Messiah.

That he points his disciples to Jesus and says, This is the Lamb of God.

In fact, let me read one for you.

This is John chapter 1, verse 33.

John 1:33

This is after the Jewish leaders have come to John and said, Who are you?

And he says very clearly, I am not the Messiah.

And then he says this the very next day, talking about Jesus.

He says, I didn't know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

I saw this happen to Jesus.

So I testify that he is the chosen one of God.

This is John here, okay?

So if anyone should have known that Jesus was the Messiah, it was John.

So the question becomes: what causes a man who was so confident and so convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, all of a sudden, seemed to be confused.

Well, I think we have to go back to what happened just before he sent his disciples.

The Bible says that John was in prison.

And then it also says that he heard what the Messiah was doing.

Now there were different perspectives on what the Messiah would actually do in that day, and so we don't know exactly what John thought.

Here's what we do know: whatever John heard didn't fully satisfy him.

Whatever he heard about the Messiah did not meet his expectations, and so now he has a question.

He's disappointed in Jesus.

John's not the only one in scripture that was disappointed in Jesus or disappointed in God.

Jonah was disappointed.

Mary and Martha, they were disappointed in the situation when their brother Lazarus died.

Naomi was so disappointed she wanted to change her name.

This is what the scripture says about Naomi in Ruth chapter 1, verse 20.

Ruth 1:20

Remember, Naomi loses her husband and loses her two sons, right?

And so she's on her way back to Bethlehem.

People are excited to see her, and she's not excited.

And so here's what she says to them She says, Don't call me Naomi, which means pleasant.

She responded, instead, call me Mara, which means bitter.

For the Almighty has made life bitter for me.

I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty.

Wow.

She's disappointed in God.

Now I know some of you are thinking right now, Jelani, I'm disappointed in this message.

I was hoping to come to Gateway this weekend and be encouraged, and I don't feel very encouraged right now.

Listen, hang with me.

We're gonna get there.

But here's the reality: there are some of us in this room in our very honest moments, we're disappointed with God.

I remember talking to a young adult once who had grown up in a Christian home, at some point, had surrendered their life to the Lord.

But in this particular season, they were wrestling with their faith.

They were wrestling with whether God was real or not, whether the Bible was true.

And as we begin to unpack that, here's what they said.

They said, I'm just struggling because when I read what God did in the scripture, or what I would read what God didn't do in the scripture, I just don't understand why.

Why would a good God allow this?

Or when they started to think about what's happening in the world, they're going, I just don't understand why a good God would allow this.

And I realized after the conversation that their wrestle with disbelief in God was actually the result of disillusionment with God.

That they had come face to face with a Messiah that hadn't met their expectations.

What do you do when you're disappointed in God?

Well, you do what John did.

This moves us to point number two.

The Bible says that John sent his disciples to ask Jesus this question.

In other words, point number two is John takes his disappointment to Jesus.

And we don't know how long this took, but I imagine at some point John just said, I've heard enough, I've got to ask Jesus.

It reminds me of an experience I had, I guess, about a month ago now.

I would consider myself a very supportive husband, okay?

And so when my wife found out, we found out we were pregnant, I said, babe, you're not gonna do this alone.

I'm going to gain weight with you, okay?

I'm going to eat as much as you, if not more than you, okay?

We will grow together.

I'm supportive, right?

And so I'm eating with her, we're gaining weight together.

It's great.

But my wife starts to teach our youngest daughter where her baby brother is.

And so she says, she says, Hey, hey, Geordie, where's baby brother?

And so Geordie runs up to mommy and she takes her hand and she places it on mommy's belly and she says, Baby?

Well, one day I'm sitting on the couch watching television, being the supportive husband I am.

And my 19-month-old daughter runs up to me, places her hand on my belly, and says, Baby?

And it was at that point I broke.

I said, I'm going to start working out now.

I cannot be disrespected by a toddler in my own home.

And so I feel like John kind of hits that point where he goes, Listen, enough is enough.

I've got to ask.

I am going to send my disciples to ask Jesus this question.

I have to take my disappointment to God.

Now I commend John for this because when we're disappointed in someone, we're tempted to disconnect from them.

And the problem with disconnecting from God is that we disconnect from our source of healing.

When we're disappointed with someone, we're tempted to disconnect from them.

But if we disconnect from God, we disconnect from our source of healing.

You see, what Satan wants you to do when you're disappointed is he wants you to pull away.

But God says, I want you to press in.

Bring me the questions, bring me the concerns, bring me the cares that you have, bring me the confusion, bring it to me.

Because if you will take your disappointment to the Lord, it can lead to a divine appointment with the Lord.

Amen.

So I think about this, I think about the psalmist.

In Psalm 62, verse 8, I love how the psalmist says this.

Psalms 62:8

He says, Oh my people, trust in him at all times.

Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.

He says, Pour out your hearts to God.

You know what pouring out your heart to God means?

It means everything that is in your heart, you take it and you bring it out before the Lord.

So the things that you're happy about or the things that you're hurt over, the things that are joyful and the things that are sorrowful, the things that you're dancing and celebrating about, and the things that you're disappointed in.

He says, Bring me everything.

Bring me everything, and if we'll bring him everything, taking that disappointment to God can lead to an appointment with God.

I see this even in Paul's life.

Paul, whether we realize it or not, was actually disappointed in God about something.

Remember we talk about the thorn in his flesh?

Paul talks about that.

And the Bible says this when he prayed.

Look at this.

This is uh 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 8 and 9.

2 Corinthians 12:8

Paul says, three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.

Some versions say, pleaded.

I beg the Lord to take it away each time.

Not just once.

Every time Paul went back, each time he said, My grace is all you need, my power works best in weakness.

Here's what happened.

Paul brought his disappointment to the Lord.

And then God spoke to him, and Paul didn't like the answer, so he brought it back again.

And then Paul didn't like the answer again, and he brought it back another time.

And so finally he goes, Okay, I'm getting this, Jesus, but listen, listen, this is so important.

Paul's pleading led to a meeting.

That in pleading with the Lord, he met the Lord in a powerful and profound way.

He took his disappointment to God and it led to an appointment with God.

I remember last year I found myself in a perfect storm.

There were things going on professionally, uh relationally, spiritually, all kind of crescendoing at one point, and I I just had had it.

I I couldn't take it anymore, and so I decided to go outside and walk around the park and pray.

That's me.

I just like to walk and pray.

And so I'm walking around the park and I'm praying, and I am pouring out my heart to God because there's some circumstances that are going on that I'm hurting over.

And I remember this moment where I actually burst into tears and I said this to the Lord.

I'm not saying this is right, I'm just saying this is what I said.

I burst into tears and I said this to the Lord.

I said, you could change this, but you don't.

You could fix this, God, but you don't.

Why won't you change it?

And there I am weeping, pouring out my heart to the Lord.

And listen, I wish I could tell you that in that moment, God miraculously changed my circumstances.

That's not what happened.

Here's what I can tell you happened.

In that moment, God met me.

In that moment, God ministered to me.

In that moment, God made it very clear, Jelani, I am with you.

Now we move to point number three, which is Jesus gives John what he needs.

Jesus gives John what he needs.

John's disappointed, John takes that disappointment to the Lord, and when he gets to Jesus, Jesus says, I'm going to give you what you need.

Notice I didn't say what he wanted, he gave him what he needed.

When I look at this, I see Jesus' response, and I don't know if you ever feel this way, but I feel like sometimes the way in which Jesus responds is somewhat ambiguous.

Like, why can't you just say yes or no, Jesus?

You ever felt that way?

Like, I feel like reading Jesus sometimes is like having a conversation with my wife.

Because this happened just a couple of weeks ago.

We were riding in the car together, and I said, I said, babe, where do you want to go eat tonight?

And and this is what she said to me.

She said, Jelani, I don't care, you choose.

Now, in my naivete, I I thought she meant that.

And so, and so I said, okay, I said, I recommended a restaurant, and then she said, I don't want to go there.

And I said, Well, I thought you just said, I don't care where we go, and you want me to choose.

She said, I don't care where we go, but I don't want to go there.

And so, guys, I'm still learning in marriage, you know, trying to figure this thing out.

And so I recommended another restaurant.

I said, Why don't we go there then?

And she said, That's too far.

I said, I thought you just said, I don't care where we go.

She said, I don't care where we go, I just want you to choose.

I said, Why don't you just choose?

It's one of those things where I'm like, babe, just tell me what you want to do.

I feel like that way with Jesus.

He he answers this question, but but it's almost like he doesn't just say yes or no.

Here's what Jesus says when John asks the question.

He says, Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen.

The blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the good news is being preached to the poor.

So good.

Part of what he's saying to John is, Listen, I'm a miracle worker.

I'll tell you a great story.

This was, I just found this out last year.

My my mother, uh, when she was in her 20s, she walked away from the Lord.

She got involved in drugs and uh a very godless lifestyle.

And one day she was over at a guy's house and he pulls out a 357 magnum, throws my mom to the ground, takes the gun out, puts the gun right there on her head, and pulls the trigger.

When the gun goes pop, my mom thinks she's dead.

She thinks it's over.

And so she just lays her head over to the side, and the next thing that happens, there's a knock on the door.

And so the guy gets up and he goes to the door, and my mother realizes that she is not dead.

So she jumps up, runs through the first window that she sees, goes to the neighbor's house, starts knocking on the door, they call the police, and they come and pick her up and take her to the hospital.

She's in the hospital, and it's on a Wednesday evening.

For some reason, she said, I just looked up at the clock and I saw that it said 7 40.

Well, about a week later.

My mom gets a call from my grandmother, her mother.

My mom's name is Linda, my grandmother's name is Millie.

And so Millie calls Linda and says, Linda, what were you doing last Wednesday?

And my mom lied to her.

She said, I wasn't doing anything.

And she said, Well, the reason why I'm asking is because we were at a testimony service Wednesday evening.

And as we were sharing testimonies about the goodness of God, the bishop stopped the service and said, Millie, you need to come up here and we need to surround you and we need to start praying.

And he said, Listen, I don't know why, but we need to start praying for you.

And so the church circled around my grandmother and they started praying on a Wednesday evening.

Now let me tell you what happened to the bullet.

They found out basically that the bullet bounced off my mother's head, went down the side, and then went into a wall.

Think about this.

At the same time that a man is pulling a 357 magnum out on my mother, God is speaking to a pastor to call this congregation to come together and to pray.

I don't know how you work all this out.

I just know that our Jesus is a miracle-working God, that some kind of way he saved my mother and he still raises the dead, he still opens blinded eyes, he still causes the lame to walk.

Our Jesus is a miracle-working God.

He says, John, I'm a miracle worker.

This is what I do.

And he says, and the good news is being preached.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that the good news is that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and then raised again on the third day, and showed himself to the disciples.

It's good news that Jesus paid for our sins.

Amen.

And what Jesus is actually doing here is he's quoting a combination of messianic scriptures.

See, what he shares with John is actually out of Isaiah chapter 35, verses 5 and 6, and Isaiah chapter 61, verses 1 and 2.

Isaiah 35:5 Isaiah 61:1

Jesus kind of combines those and he tells those to John, and since they're messianic texts, John knows that Jesus is saying, I am the Messiah.

But some theologians will point out something interesting.

That when Jesus quotes these texts, and specifically Isaiah 61, verse 1, he leaves out a part of the verse.

Isaiah 61:1

Let me show you what he leaves out.

He leaves out to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.

As if to say to John, and pardon my English here, John, I'm the Messiah, but you ain't making it out of here.

John needed an answer, so Jesus gives him what he needs, but in this moment where John's thinking, I hope I get out of prison, he's going, You're not gonna get out of this one.

It's not what he wanted.

Now, here though, to me is such a display of the goodness of God.

Because the text could have ended right there, but the scripture says, and he added.

And he added.

Jesus is like a good chef, okay?

I'm from Louisiana, I like to eat, all right?

And so, like a good chef, they will cook whatever, if they're cooking a stew or something, they will taste a little bit of it, right?

And they'll go, well, well, it needs a little garlic, or it needs a little salt, or if you're in Louisiana, it needs crawfish.

You can put crawfish in anything, it makes it better.

He says, it needs this.

And what the what the chef does is he adds just what's needed to make it right.

So Jesus looks at John and he goes, I know what John needs right now.

And so let me add this to make it right for John.

So I just want to encourage you today.

I don't know where you are, but Jesus knows what you need today.

He knows what you need today.

And the scripture says, and he added.

And he added, blessed are those that are not offended by me, or blessed are you if you do not fall away because of me.

Blessed.

Blessed are you.

Now, when I hear the word blessed, and then I remember what happened to John, I struggle.

There's a tension here because John's story ends with John being beheaded.

And I don't know about you, but I don't walk around saying, well, he was blessed.

So how is it then that Jesus could say, and blessed are you if you are not offended by me or if you do not fall away because of me?

Well, some may say, well, that's because we know that John John ended in heaven, and so he's there with God in heaven.

And maybe that's true, but I think there's more to it.

See, I think that the key is in this little Greek word that's translated, does not fall away or offended.

The Greek word is scandalizzo.

Scandalizzo, where we get our English word scandal.

And scandalizzo means to fall into a trap or to trip up or to cause to stumble.

It's a stumbling block.

And as a reminder, what a stumbling block does is it impedes your progress.

Some versions say offended.

I love how Pastor Mike Todd, he talked about this at the Gateway Conference.

He said essentially that when you carry an offense, you cultivate a fence.

There's a fence between you and the person that you're offended with, okay?

It's impacting the relationship.

Now think about this in the context of talking about God and our relationship with him.

I want to remind you that God sent Jesus to die for your sins so that you could have a relationship with him.

In fact, John chapter 17, verse 3, this is Jesus talking here.

John 17:3

He says, and this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

He doesn't say eternal life is just in heaven.

He says that they may know you, like now.

It's a relationship with God.

The Greek word there that's translated know speaks to this idea of knowing by personal experience.

Or it's also the word that's used when Mary says, I've never known a man, so now we're talking about intimacy.

So there's this sense that Jesus is saying, look, a relationship with God is supposed to be personal and experiential and intimate.

Now let's bring this back into the context of what Jesus just said to John.

So blessed are you, John, if you're not offended by me or if you don't fall away because of me.

What if what Jesus was saying to John is, John, the biggest blessing for you is not that you get out of prison.

The biggest blessing for you is that nothing blocks your relationship with me.

John, the blessing for you is that when I don't meet your expectations, instead of tripping, you choose to trust and continue to walk in intimacy with me.

See, that's the question today.

Are you willing to trust a God that you don't fully understand?

So I'll finish with this last story.

I told you all that we have four children, but that's four children here on earth.

We actually have one in heaven.

Uh, my wife and I miscarried our first child.

And I'll never forget we were so excited about this first baby.

We went to uh the doctor's appointment and he ran all the tests and did the sonogram, and then he called us into his office and he said, Um, I need to tell you guys something.

And and and honestly, we just weren't prepared for it.

He he said, either you're not as far along as you thought, or you've miscarried.

And we were absolutely crushed in that moment.

We didn't know what to do, and and so we drove home, and I remember us saying, Nothing in the car.

And once we made it back to our apartment at the time, we had to go separate ways, and we just embraced each other for a moment, and I'll never forget my wife saying, What is happening?

In tears.

Well, a couple days later I couldn't sleep, and so I decided to get online and to just research the symptoms of a miscarriage.

And as I read through those symptoms, my wife had almost every single one of them.

And I remember thinking the only way this baby's gonna make it is if, God, you do a miracle.

And so I got up the next day and and I went to the park to walk and pray.

And so I start walking around the park and I'm praying.

And all of a sudden, I start singing this song my mom used to play in the car when I was like five years old.

It's an old gospel song that goes like this: it goes, come on in the room.

Come on in the room where Jesus is my doctor, he writes out all my prescriptions, he gives me all my medicine in the room, and I'm walking around and I've got a terrible voice, they won't let me on the worship team, but I'm just I'm singing outside and I'm going, come on in the room, and just calling out, God, I need you to move in this situation.

And all of a sudden, as I'm singing this song, a scripture that comes to my mind, it's another scripture I learned when I was just a kid, Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5.

Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

And that scripture comes to my mind, I felt like God said, Jelani, do you trust me?

And I said, Yes, Lord, I trust you.

No matter what happens, I trust you.

And a couple days later, we miscarried.

I remember right after we miscarried, I grabbed my wife's hand, and we just started singing a song to God.

How great is our God! How great is our God.

Because sometimes when you're so heartbroken and you don't understand, all you can do is worship.

And so we started to worship, and we started to pray, and then eventually God led us to go to counseling, and as we took our disappointment to the Lord, it became a divine appointment with the Lord, and we begin to see the goodness of God in the grip of disappointment.

Oh, listen, I want to be very clear about this.

I am not saying that God caused the miscarriage.

I also recognize that God has blessed us with four more children, beautiful kids.

And I also understand that Isaiah 55 says, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and his ways are higher than our ways.

And uh Psalms 119 says, the Lord is good and he does good.

I understand that.

I understand that his goodness is not predicated on my circumstances.

God is good.

I understand that.

And I also understand this that every now and again we find ourselves disappointed in God.

And if we would choose not to trip and pull away from God, but to trust and press into God, we would see the goodness of God and the grip of disappointment.

I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes.

I just want to ask you the question that Pastor Robert asks us often, and that is, what is the Holy Spirit saying to me in this message?

For some of you, I believe God's speaking to you about disappointment.

You thought you would be in a different place in your life at this point.

You thought this would be a different season.

You just thought things would be different, and you're wrestling with disappointment.

I believe that God today wants to touch you and wants to heal you.

For some of you, God is calling you to a new place of trust.

That you're in the middle of a situation and He's saying, Do you trust me?

And then there's some of you today that maybe you're like my mom, you've walked away from the Lord, but you know God's calling you back.

Or maybe you've never had that intimate relationship with God that I talked about.

Today's your day.

I'm going to say a prayer here in just a moment.

And then the pastors at every campus are going to come up and they're going to give you an opportunity to respond to this message.

But I want you just to make your mind up right now.

Whatever God's speaking to you, just say yes, Lord.

Yes, Lord, I'll respond.

Father, thank you for your word today.

I pray for those that are disappointed in you, that today they would bring that disappointment to you and you would heal them.

For every person that you're calling to a new place of trust, I pray, Father, that they would say, Yes, I trust you with all my heart.

Father, for those that today need to come back home to you or need to say yes to you for the very first time, I pray that today would be the day of salvation.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.