Introduction

If you pay close attention to the Advent wreath, you'll notice that it contains three purple candles. We talked last week about how the purple candles represent royalty and Jesus as a king coming into our world. But then there is this candle right here. It's pink. It stands out from all the others. Some say the reason it's pink is because it represents joy, and that may be the case. But did you know that in many parts of the world, today is Mother's Day? And the reason why today is Mother's Day is because of two women who had an instrumental role in the first time Jesus came into this world.

Those two women are Mary, Jesus' mom, and Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. The Scriptures tell us that Elizabeth had been pregnant for about six months when the two women met, although she wasn't supposed to be pregnant. She was well along in years and had given up on that dream. But she was carrying John the Baptist in her womb.

And then there's Mary. She wasn't supposed to be pregnant, either. She was engaged to be married, but she had never had relations with a man. All of a sudden, the Holy Spirit came and said: You're going to be one of a kind. You're going to be known as the Virgin Mary from now on, because you're going to give birth to the Son of God.

And these two women met each other. Luke 1 says that Mary walked into Elizabeth's home with Jesus in her womb, and Elizabeth stood there with John in her womb. And John leaped when Christ came in. Literally, it's the Greek word that means "to skip." If there were an ultrasound on John at that moment, you would've seen him leaping up and down in utero. He skipped in the womb of his mother because the Christ had come into the room.

And that becomes the hallmark of John the Baptist's life. Even from the womb, he knew who Jesus was. From the womb, he knew what his job was—to alert anybody around him to the presence of the Christ, and to prepare them so that the king might come and live in their hearts. And it started with his mom, but it continued on throughout his life. He lived because he knew who Jesus was and wanted to tell others.

That makes me think of another time in John's life, after he had grown up, when he was being questioned by the Pharisees and a number of people. They asked him, "Are you the Christ?" because the way he was teaching and the way he was living made people think that, maybe, this was the one they had been waiting for. But John said: No, no, no, no, no, I'm not the Christ. The Christ is still to come. I'm just here trying to get you ready. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with fire and the Holy Spirit.

John knew who Jesus was and always let people know that they needed to be ready. I think of another time when John was standing on the shore of the Jordan River. He looked up and saw Jesus walking toward him, and he said to his disciples, "Behold, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world."

That's what John did. The number one characteristic of his life was that he knew who Jesus was and was willing to tell anybody about him, even the most powerful.

He was willing to tell anybody that they needed to make their heart ready for Christ, even if it was the most powerful person in the world at the time. Look at Luke 3:19-20: "But when John rebuked Herod the Tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all. He locked John up in prison."

Chuck Colson was legal counsel to President Richard Nixon. He says that, oftentimes, he was the one who would sit or stand with people in the waiting room outside the Oval Office. Colson says it was so funny because people would come there and get their game plan together: "Okay, you say this. And then you say this, and then I'll say this. And I'll give him a piece of my mind." People often had this whole game plan about how they were going to confront the most powerful man in the world.

But Chuck Colson says the lions of the waiting room would turn into the lambs of the Oval Office. He says something would happen when the doors would open and they would step onto the plush carpet and see the seal of the President. And then they'd see the President himself. They would cower in the presence of power.

But not John the Baptist. John the Baptist didn't care who you were. He knew who Jesus was, he knew what it meant for a human heart to be made ready for Jesus, and it didn't matter if you were the most powerful man in the world. In this case, it was Herod. We don't know if John went into Herod's palace or if John just saw him riding by on his chariot, but John called Herod into question. Herod heard it and had John thrown into prison. Literally, it was a dungeon, most likely located right below Herod's palace.

John experienced questions and doubts about God.

And something happened to John there in that dungeon. We're not exactly sure what it was, but this man who for 30 years had known who Jesus was—who from the womb had been pointing out Jesus as the Christ—went through a crisis of faith and began to ask questions and began to doubt.

Look at Luke 7:18-20: "John's disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?' When the two men came to Jesus, they said, 'John the Baptist sent us to ask you, 'Are you the one who was to come or should we expect someone else?'"

What happened? Something happened in prison that threw this man off balance in his relationship with God. Maybe it was just the prison experience. Maybe it was being tied up and confined when he was used to being in the desert, roaming where the deer and the antelope play. We don't know what it was, but in that place where he was confined, his faith began to waver. Doubts began to appear. Questions began to form in his mind. And he sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask, "Are you the one, or should we expect someone else?"

Have you ever had a moment like that? Where you knew who God was and you knew who Jesus was and you were firm in your faith, but then something hit you that knocked you off balance? Something happened that caused you to question what you thought you really believed, and you weren't sure what to do anymore? What do you do when doubts and questions arise?

Because here we have John, who was even present at Jesus' baptism. He himself took Jesus into the water and brought him out of the water, and it was at that moment that he saw the Spirit descend in the form of a dove and heard the voice of the Father say, "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased." John knew who Jesus was, but he still said: Help me. Are you the one, or should we expect somebody else?

You need to know that the direction I'm taking with this passage of Scripture is different from many of the greatest minds in the history of our faith. From Augustine to John Calvin, they have all looked at this passage and said: John's not doubting. John's not asking questions. He's firm in his faith. Rather, as John sits in prison—knowing that everything's going to be okay—his disciples are coming to him and bringing him food. And they're the ones struggling in their faith. And so he wants to help them out. Therefore, he pretends like he's doubting so that they can go to Jesus and get an answer. This whole thing is really for them, not John.

So I may be wrong. John may not be doubting. But I wonder if one of the reasons why we try to explain this away is because we're just uncomfortable with having doubters around us. We don't know what to do with people who have questions, especially when they have questions about God and questions about our faith. And so when somebody comes nearby with questions and doubts, we somehow have to shut them down, don't we? We have to give them pat, little Christian answers: "Just buck it up and believe. Just have faith. Everything will be okay."

Are we afraid that somehow their questions will stir up those questions inside of us that we tried to suppress long ago? And that if they keep asking those questions, we may have to confront the ones we have? Are we afraid to have questions about God and doubts about Jesus?

Jesus did give John an answer. Look at verses 21-23:

At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses, and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.

What do you think about that answer? They asked, "Are you the one?" and Jesus gave them this real ambiguous response. I would have expected a yes or a no, but that's not what Jesus did. Apparently, he was surrounded at the time with people who had any number of ailments. And so when John's disciples came with their questions, he said: Watch this.

He touched a man who had leprosy, and by that touch he restored his skin, but also restored him back to his community. There was somebody who wasn't able to see. Jesus touched that man, and that man could see. There was a woman whose ears were not working, and he restored sound to her ears. And after he had done all of that, he turned to John's disciples and said: See that? Now go tell John what you saw.

Astute Bible students know that Jesus was fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah. He knew that everybody had been waiting for the One, the Christ, to come. And the prophecies of Isaiah said that, when the Christ came, he would heal the lame, the lepers, the blind, and the deaf. That's how the people would know when the Christ had come. And so Jesus took the prophecies of Isaiah and fulfilled them right there in front of John's disciples. The he said: Now go tell John that I'm doing what the prophecies said.

But I wonder if John still wasn't convinced, because John knew the prophecies as well. And the prophecies didn't just say that there would be people healed and good news preached to the poor. The prophecies also said that, when Messiah came, he would bring judgment. That the Messiah would sift out the wheat from the chaff and separate the righteous from the unrighteous.

But Jesus showed up, the Messiah, and he didn't judge. He showed up and started talking about love. He showed up and started talking about mercy. He showed up and started forgiving sins. He shows up and started healing people. John's disciples were really asking: But Jesus, what about the Romans oppressing us? Aren't you going to do anything about that?

And Jesus simply said: Go and tell John what you've seen.

John could have had no idea that Jesus was going to come and fulfill part of the prophecy, but delay the last part—not for one year, not for a hundred years, but for almost two thousand years now. And John had no idea that the judgment would be delayed, because Jesus was into forgiveness and into love and into mercy.

So I wonder if he still had questions and still had doubts when his disciples came back to him. I wonder what he said. Because here is essentially what Jesus said to him: I have made lots of promises, and God always keeps his promises, but God does not promise to meet your expectations.

God always follows through on the things he promises us, but the expectations we try to place on him—he is really good at ignoring those. John expected Jesus to do something in a certain way, but Jesus said: I am doing what I promised, but I am not doing it in the way you expected.

We must not allow our questions and doubts to trap us.

And then Jesus sums it up in verse 23: "Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." In my opinion, yes or no would have been better. "Yes, I am the Messiah" or "No, I'm not."

Philip Yancey says that Jesus answers questions in this way because he never wants to give us so much evidence that we're forced to bow our knee. He just gives us enough, and if our heart desires God, there's enough to have faith in God. But if our heart doesn't desire God, he will never give us so much that we are forced into a relationship with him. As Yancey says, "God is a self-revealer and a self-concealer at the same time." Jesus gave enough information if John wanted to believe, but not too much. Not so much that John would have to believe. He simply said, "Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

Where do doubts come from? Where do questions come from in our relationship with God? Jesus admitted that he might be the source of some of them. He said: Don't fall away because of me. Don't fall away because of the way I operate in your life. I'm going to do some things that are unorthodox. I'm going to do some things that don't fit what you thought was going to happen. But don't fall away, stumble, or get caught.

That's what it means to fall away. The Greek word is skándalon. The picture is of a mouse going up to a mousetrap and triggering that little lever and getting trapped. The little lever was called a skándalon, that thing that would trigger a trap. Jesus said: Here's all I'm saying to you: don't get trapped by your questions. Don't let them pen you in.

See, there's a difference between asking questions of God and questioning God. There's a big difference. Jesus didn't say, "Stop asking questions!" He didn't say, "Get rid of the doubts." He said: Just don't fall away when you have questions. Don't let them trap you.

And the biggest, easiest way to let questions trap you is to start questioning God.

Just ask Job. For most of the book of Job, Job says: God, there are some things I don't understand, and I have a whole lot of questions.

It isn't until the end of the book that Job raises his finger like a lawyer in court and puts God on the witness stand and says: I have some questions for you.

At that point, he's moved from questions to questioning. And God shows up. God says: Now, let's get this straight. Who's the Creator and who's the creation?

But up until that point, God was fine with the questions. So shouldn't we be? Shouldn't we be okay with our questions and doubts? Shouldn't we know how to live in community with those around us who have questions and doubts? Because, as I read through the Scriptures, there are a whole lot of people who have strong relationships with God yet have questions and doubts. There's John the Baptist. There's Elijah. There's that whole group of people as they gathered around Jesus.

Do you remember that? Right before Jesus ascended into heaven, right before he raised his hand and gave the Great Commission, there was a group of people surrounding him. It's in Matthew 28:17: "When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted." What did that say?

Jesus was right there in front of them. They could see his face. They could hug him if they wanted to. And they worshiped. And yet, in the midst of seeing Jesus and worshiping, there were still some among them who had doubts. And Jesus seemed to be okay with that. He seemed to be fine.

That may be the best place to take your doubts: to worship. Maybe that's what Jesus wants us to do when we have questions and doubts because of him, because of the way he operates in our life: not to run away, but to run to him with those doubts, and to somehow still find a reason to worship in spite of and because of those doubts. Maybe that's what God is looking for: people who take their doubts to worship.

Here's another thing to think about: isn't it true that sometimes the source of our greatest questions come when we need God to show up in our lives, and he chooses not to, but then we observe him showing up in the lives of the people around us? Aren't those some of the hardest times?

I mean, what would it be like to be John the Baptist? You're in a cell and you send word to Jesus. And your disciples go and see what Jesus does, and they come back and say: John, you're not going to believe it! Jesus has so much power. He touched the leper, and the leper was okay. He healed the blind, he healed the deaf, he preached good news to the poor, and he's doing great things, John. That's what we saw.

John must have been sitting there thinking, Jesus did all that wonderful stuff for them, but what about me? All he was left with was Jesus saying: Don't let the way I operate in your life cause you to stumble. You can have the doubts and questions; just don't let them trap you.

Or what was it like for John to be in that prison cell when one of his disciples came and said: You're not going to believe it. Jesus just preached a sermon today. He went right to his hometown of Nazareth, stood up in front of his neighbors, opened the scroll to the prophet Isaiah, and began reading in their hearing, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, to preach good news to the poor and to set the prisoner free." That's what he said, John. But for some reason, he's not going to come and unlock your jail cell. He's operating differently in your life.

And John was left there with one, simple word: Don't let this make you stumble. Don't let this cause you to fall away.

Or what was it like for John when he heard the music start to play in the palace above him? Herod threw himself a party. It was his birthday. But there was Herodias, his wife, and she had a plan. Do you remember? She was still upset at John, the one who dared to call her into question for the life she was living. She still wanted to get back at him.

And so what did John think? How did he relate to God when the executioner started coming down the steps with his knives sharpened? All he was left with was questions and doubts. How come Jesus isn't coming to me? But I will not fall away. I will not stumble because of my questions and doubts.

We must not expect God to meet our expectations.

What do you do when you have doubts, when you have questions? What do you do when you get knocked off balance in your relationship with the Lord? I wish I had the definitive answer. I'm really good at defining the problem, only because I live it as well. I've been knocked off balance many times in my life. I've had that time where I've thought: You know what, God? I've lived with you for a long time. I've been following you since 1979, but right now could you remind me again as to who you are? I've had those times. So I don't have the definitive answer, but I do see two things here that may help us today.

First of all, we would do well to draw a distinction between the things that God has promised us and the things that we're trying to make him promise us. There's a big difference between the two. He is going to follow through on everything he has promised to do for us, and he has promised a lot. All we need to do is come and read it. He has promised so much for this life and the life to come.

But in addition to his promises, many of us—myself included—have come up with a list of things we expect from God, and he says: I'm not bound by those.

We've got to separate those out because so many of us are so close to stumbling because of them.

I like how Erwin McManus puts it. He says that one of his life's missions is to smash the cliché that says, "The safest place on Earth is the center of God's will." McManus asks, "Where did we ever get that idea?" The safest place on Earth is in the center of God's will? So many times we go to people and say, "If you just give your life to Christ, if you just get close to Jesus, then everything will be okay." And McManus says: No it won't. We've got to get over that. Because if you read your Bible, you realize that the people close to Jesus are oftentimes in the un-safest place.

Just ask John the Baptist. Just ask Stephen as the crowd stones him to death because he talked about Jesus being the Christ. Just ask Jesus himself as he hangs there with nails in his hands and feet. Is the safest place on Earth the center of God's will? No. It's the best place on Earth, but it's not the safest.

I like how C. S. Lewis puts it in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. After Aslan comes back to life—he represents Jesus in the allegory—Susan and little Lucy are wrestling with him. And as they wrestle with the lion, the book basically says they couldn't decide if it felt like they were wrestling with a thunderstorm or a kitten.

That's how it is with God. Sometimes it's hard to tell. He is compassionate and gracious and loving and kind and merciful, and yet he is so untamed and mysterious and utterly unlike anyone we've ever had a relationship with that sometimes he scares us.

And that's what John the Baptist encountered: that God will be good and keep his promises, but the only thing we can expect is that he will be God. He will not be what we want to make him be. Jesus says: But don't let that cause you to stumble. Just know that about me.

There's a second thing that I think will really help us this morning. What do you do when you have doubts and questions, and you're knocked off balance in your relationship with the Lord? I think we should do what John did. He took his doubts and he took his questions, and he handed them to two of his friends. And he said: Will you go to Jesus for me?

I think we should do that today.