Text: Luke 7:18—23

Topic: How to deal with disappointed expectations of Christmas

Introduction:

Why is the Christmas season such a mixture of joy and sadness?

Illustration: Johnson gives several personal reasons for those feelings.

Illustration: The hymns "Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light" and "Joy to the World" express the joy and sadness of unrealized expectations.

Christmas awakens both joy and sadness because we know our expectations have not yet been fully realized.

John the Baptist felt the mixture of joy and sadness most intensely.

John spent his adult life pointing people to the Coming One.

After Jesus arrived, John experienced disappointment and doubt.

Luke 7:18

The disappointment was both theological and personal.

Disappointment comes when Jesus doesn't fill our theological expectations.

Luke 3:16

John expected the baptism of Spirit and baptism of fire to occur together.

Jesus was hanging out with the people John expected him to judge.

Disappointment comes when Jesus doesn't fill our personal expectations.

John was imprisoned by a king the Messiah was supposed to destroy.

Our circumstances militate against what we believe is true.

We must set aside our preconceptions of how God is supposed to work.

Isaiah 35:4—6

Isaiah 61:1

Illustration: In climbing a mountain, you must climb a series of peaks.

We must lay aside our expectations and trust God.

Luke 7:23

It is in belonging to Jesus that disappointment gives way to joy.

The perspective we need for Christ is "already, not yet."

Conclusion:

Christmas is incomplete without Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost and the final Advent.

Since the Morning Star has come, we live in the twilight, shortly before the sunrise.