Dealing with Discouragement: It s About Jesus

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Jordan Houston
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Dartmouth Bible Notes Notes from the Pulpit Ministry of Dartmouth Bible Church Series: Dealing With Discouragement Lesson 1 Scripture: Luke 7:18-28 Speaker: Rev. Neil C. Damgaard, Th.M., D.Min. Date: July 5 th, 2015 Dealing with Discouragement: It s About Jesus Luke 7:18 28 (ESV) The disciples of John reported all these things to him.

1 Dartmouth Bible Notes Notes from the Pulpit Ministry of Dartmouth Bible Church Series: Dealing With Discouragement Lesson 1 Scripture: Luke 7:18-28 Speaker: Rev. Neil C. Damgaard, Th.M., D.Min. Date: July 5 th, 2015 Dealing with Discouragement: It s About Jesus Luke 7:18 28 (ESV) The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, 19 calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? 20 And when the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? 21 In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered them, Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me. 24 When John s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings courts. 26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. 28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. Introduction I shared with you a dream I had last week in which a favorite professor of mine appeared to me in the dream and told me to talk in a series on discouragement. I don t actually think that was anything more than my subconscious talking to me with the Lord nodding OK but even if it really were a true spiritual dream, it would be a good thing to look at. We are very susceptible to discouragement especially with all that national happenings of late. I thought through as many sources of discouragement that I could imagine and I imagined thirty: disloyalty, doubt, lack of encouragement, not having enough, being connected to someone, who is controlling, abandonment, abuse, triumph of evil, false teaching, confusion, depression, feeling judged, not being understood, guilt, defeat, wishy-washiness, disrespect, bullying, isolation, gossip, being ignored, criticism, fighting fundamentalism, and succumbing to temptation.

2 Discouragement is defined as a loss of confidence or enthusiasm; dispiritedness; An attempt to prevent something by showing disapproval or creating difficulties; deterrent. Discouragement is one of the greatest hindrances to the joy of the Lord and to walking victoriously and effectively with God. He Himself never discourages us. The devil works hard to do so, our old natures are still very radioactive for discouraging us, the world-system around us offers little help and even we, ourselves, often discourage each other. Discouragement is a formidable foe, a worthy opponent, a dangerous toxin and a slow-tosurrender force for keeping us from growing. We are going to look specifically AT discouragement over the coming weeks and consider things to do, ways to pray and resources that are available to ward it off, and better yet to build IN encouragement. When I get discouraged sooner or later my mind makes its way back to Jesus. HE IS ALWAYS THE SOLUTION TO DISCOURAGEMENT. And I thought this week of John the Baptist, an individual of whom I have preached or taught about very little in my ministry. He is an interesting figure in New Testament history and he really is only on the scene very briefly. John s story is a story of rise and decline. He impresses many people with his simplicity of lifestyle, his sincerity and his message about the soon-coming Messiah. But no sooner does He see Jesus, baptize him and inaugurate Him but that his own program and notoriety starts to quickly fade, and John knows well that this was his role: The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness: I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God (John 1:29-34). Almost on the sideline from this high moment for John, a plot has hatched to ruin him. You don t criticize a ruler generally and get away with it. People in positions of power usually have egos to match their power. They do not take kindly to political criticism. Herod Antipas had been cavorting with his brother s wife. This was known and John had preached against it. It would cost him his life. And it landed him in Fortress Machaerus, in the dungeon. 2

3 John s reasons for being discouraged are significant: 1. He was alone. We get detached, cut off from our friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, discouragement is an automatic thing. We NEED our friends and our circle of encouragement. If you are not in a small group, get one! 2. He was undoubtedly in severe discomfort. We cannot even estimate the misery of the dungeon at Fortress Machaerus, west of the Dead Sea and one of Herod s centers. This is where John the Baptist was imprisoned, according to the Jewish historian at the time, Josephus. Hot, dank, bugs, no medical support, probably chains and shackles. John was no ordinary criminal he was a political figurehead. His preaching had taunted the highest people in the land! 3. He was doubting although he knew better, which made the doubts all the more agonizing. For John to ask Are you the one who is to come? Is a surprising question to come from John the Baptist. It is unclear exactly when John first consciously knew that Jesus was the Son of God, whose way he [John] had come to prepare. His mother, Elizabeth, had known. Was she not allowed to tell John 1 who somehow knew even before he was born because John had announced it to her somehow in utero by leaping when he heard Mary s voice! And with awe and trembling hands he had baptized his Lord too and I am sure heard the voice proclaim This is My beloved Son and saw the Spirit descend as a dove. John had actually experienced the Trinity! And still here, in the Machaerus prison, he doubted and was as discouraged as one can get. 4. Somehow Jesus ministry wasn t quite what John expected, making his own expectations a source of great discouragement which meant he was tortured by the question, Why am I so disappointed? I believe our expectations are one of the greatest battlegrounds in the Christian life. Somehow we feel entitled to see things work out as WE want them to. And that is rarely the case. It doesn t mean that God turns His back on us; it doesn t mean that He goes back on His promises and so quickly we forget those elements that perhaps WE twisted and fudged in walking with Him and yet expected Him to overlook them and just give us blessings. Even John, as godly a man as could be, wrestled with disappointment and disillusionment. 5. He knew death would come soon. It was not in years, that John waited. He had no appeal process, no hope for mistrial or expensive lawyers to draw out the process he would be executed, and soon, and he knew it. Death s dread was all over him. 1 Jon Bloom, Desiring God blog, John the Baptist s Doubt, November 9,

4 But there were reasons for encouragement too: 1. He really wasn t completely alone he had at least two of his own disciples to send to Jesus; Jesus sent them back to John with an answer! 2. Jesus quoted from Isaiah s prophecy to encourage John Luke recorded and Jesus listed several messianic works that He had done (cf. Isa. 29:18 19; 35:5 6; 42:7; 61:1). Isaiah did not predict that Messiah would cleanse lepers. Perhaps Jesus mentioned that because His ministry fulfilled Elisha s ministry, and he cleansed a leper (cf. 2 Kings 5). Acts of judgment are conspicuously absent from this list since that was not the time for judgment. Apparently in Jesus day the Jews believed that Messiah would not claim to be the Messiah before He performed many messianic works. 223 Jesus pronounced blessed those who accepted the evidence that He presented and concluded that He was the Messiah rather than stumbling over it. John was in danger of stumbling, namely drawing the wrong conclusion and thereby falling into a trap (Gr. skandalisthe, cf. Isa. 8:13 14). Stumbling is the opposite of believing here Jesus did not include Isaiah s phrase (42:7) proclaim liberty to the captives so as not to taunt John s situation. Sometimes NOT saying everything we think or know is appropriate. And is a silent encouragement. I can only imagine John knew the Book of Isaiah well. He might have braced for that quote and then it didn t come, from the lips of the couriers of Jesus message to him. 4. Jesus evaluates John this way: No one born of women has ever been greater. You and I can endure quite a bit if we have some confidence that it has not all been in vain. If we can think that our lives have made some difference, and have had some significance, we can go through a lot. God wants to use EACH of us and I believe the more willing and hungry we are for Him to use us, the more we will see opportunities. You and I cannot really see all the ways He is probably using us today. He has not obligated Himself to give an account to us, today, how He is using us. The Lord used John the Baptist a great deal he played the role he was supposed to play. It ended in a humiliating and despicable death with negative-dignity, and with his head on a platter! But his life meant so much that Jesus commended him above everyone else who had lived up to that point. Abraham, Moses, David, Ruth, Esther, Elijah all line up along side John the Baptist. He is the last Old Testament hero! I think if anyone is going to be called the poster-boy for discouragement it would need to be John the Baptist. Many others suffered from discouragement 223 R. Longenecker, The Christology of Early Jewish Christianity, pp Thomas Constable, Thomas Constable s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), Lk 7:21. 4

5 and in fact we might even say that ALL genuine Christians are going to have to deal with discouragement at one time or another, and some seem pegged to suffer it a lot! But the solution is Jesus, Himself. You go back to Jesus. You grumble and you moan and you feel bad for your situation. All of that is OK and expected. But eventually it dawns on you, Are you the Messiah, Jesus? Are you for real? And you go back to Him, personally just you and Him. That is the way out of discouragement! Get with Jesus. Now if that seems too simple for you, I ask you, why do we so quickly collect ourselves in political groups? If refocusing on Jesus seems to pat an answer and all very quickly flee to Him, why do we gossip and undermine each other? Why do we resort even to violence sometimes? Why do we pull the divorce lever so quickly? Why are we so impatient? Why do we imagine that we can undo our discouragement ourselves? Billy Graham has said, The Christian is not on a consistent high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, Oh God, forgive me or Help me. In this age, even the greatest, strongest saints experience deep darkness. None of us are spared sorrow or satanic oppression. Most of us suffer agonizing affliction at some point. Most of us will experience seasons where we feel like we have been abandoned. Most of us will die hard deaths. [But] the Savior does not break the bruised reed. He hears our pleas for help and is patient with our doubts. He does not condemn us. He has paid completely for any sin that is exposed in our pain. He does not always answer with the speed we desire, nor is His answer always the deliverance we hope for. But He will always send the help that is needed. His grace will always be sufficient for those who trust Him. The hope we taste in the promises we trust will often be the sweetest thing we experience in this age. And His reward will be beyond our imagination. In John s darkness and pain Jesus sent a promise to sustain John s faith. He will do the same for you. 3 3 Ibid, Bloom. 5

6 My country, 'tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrims' pride, From every mountain side Let Freedom ring. Our fathers' God to Thee, Author of Liberty, To thee we sing, Long may our land be bright With Freedom's holy light, Protect us by thy might Great God, our King. From My Country Tis of Thee Commonly referred to as America by Rev. Samuel F. Smith

Christians sometimes ask other Christians: Do you have any doubts about

Christians sometimes ask other Christians: Do you have any doubts about 1 SERMON FOR DECEMBER 15, 2018 TEXT: LUKE 7: 18-25 THEME: WHO ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? 18 The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, 19 calling two of his disciples to him, sent them