whaletales

Have you ever read the book of Acts? It’s astonishing on its own, but when coupled with one of the gospels (Luke in particular) it is clear to see why The Bible Project argues that Acts would most accurately be titled “The Acts of Jesus and the Spirit”. Empowered by the resurrection of their Savior and the presence and power of the Spirit, the once weak, confused, and childish apostles are now mighty, courageous, and powerful. They are preaching with conviction, they are performing incredible works and wonders, and they are Spirit-filled and Spirit-led. The last two descriptors being the ones that keep coming back and enthralling me in this season as the goal that I find myself striving for obsessively; that my life might be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led.

Anyway, something incredible happens almost halfway through the book. Peter has just been used by God to bring Tabitha back from the dead. Elsewhere, Saul has seen a vision that has blinded him for 3 days and that eventually leads to him being baptized to be a “chosen instrument” of God. Now, a centurion named Cornelius, who feared God, has a vision to go and summon Peter. Peter, too, has a vision that he doesn’t fully understand, but God is revealing that His Gospel is for Jews and Gentiles and the whole world. So Peter eventually arrives at Cornelius’ place and Cornelius falls at his feet to worship him. Pause. What would you do?

Let’s build up to this moment all the way back from Luke. You are a fisherman. You are called to follow Jesus. You don’t know what you’re doing and half of the time you don’t understand what you are being taught and can hardly make sense of the things you are seeing. You make blunder upon blunder. You walk on water, briefly. You make a powerful declaration. You deny–three times. You see your Savior and best friend murdered. For three days you are lost. You cannot believe it, but you see him again. He is with you again. You rejoice and you understand a little more. Again, He leaves, but you receive the Spirit. You are empowered. You realize He is still with you and you are still following. So, you follow. You preach. You witness. You go where He leads you. You become His instrument and He does astounding things through you. However, there is still the world, and there is still the flesh, and there is still the enemy. You follow to this centurion’s home and the enemy appears. “You are powerful.”, he says, “You are doing these things. Look how great you are. You were born to be great. You are a leader. You are the savior these people need. You are worthy to be honored, praised, and glorified. You should be famous. You can do so much good with your fame. You should have all of the attention. You don’t need God. You are able on your own. Don’t you believe in yourself? Don’t you have confidence and self-esteem?” And so on and so on. The enemy is never far and he takes this opportunity to challenge Peter, just like he challenged Jesus, at the place where he knows we are most vulnerable and are the biggest threat to him, at our identity. He wants Peter to forget, with this act of idolatry, to accept it and to forget who he is and whose he is. Peter squashes it immediately, “Stand up; I too am a man.” It’s about Jesus for Peter. It’s all and always about Jesus. I am not necessary. I am merely an instrument. I am simply poured out, a sacrifice and offering for His glory, for His honor, for His praise. It’s all for Him. Peter gives His life, for Him.

“While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God.”

Peter knew it was not, “The Acts of the Apostles” but the “Acts of Jesus and the Spirit.”

Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost for His Highest”//Oct. 12:

“Enoch walked with God…” Genesis 5:24

The true test of a person’s spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening. A person’s worth is revealed in his attitude toward the ordinary things of life when he is not under the spotlight. It is painful to work to get in step with God and to keep pace with Him–it means getting your second wind spiritually. In learning to walk with God, there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride, but once we have done so, the only characteristic that exhibits itself is the very life of God Himself. The individual person is merged into a personal oneness with God, and God’s stride and His power alone are exhibited.

It is difficult to get into stride with God, because as soon as we start walking with Him we find that His pace has surpassed us before we have even taken three steps. He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined in His ways. It was said of Jesus–”He will not fail nor be discouraged…” (Isaiah 42:4) because he never worked from His own individual standpoint, but always worked from the standpoint of His Father. And we must learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned through the atmosphere that surrounds us, not through intellectual reasoning. It is God’s Spirit that changes the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and then things begin to be possible which before were impossible. Getting into God’s stride means nothing less than oneness with Him. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give up because the pain is intense right now–get on with it, and before long you will find that you have a new vision and a new purpose.

The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, 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?  Luke 7:18-19 ESV

You can expect to die. Quite frankly, that is all. In fact, to not have that expectation is ignorant and unrealistic. Can I expect my next breath? Sure, but if it doesn’t come (which is completely possible) I will most certainly be disappointed as my reality fails to meet my expectations. There is nothing that is guaranteed to us except for the fact that we will eventually die. Therefore, while some may argue that the determination on whether expectations are good or bad hinges on variables and perspective, it is my perspective that to expect something that is not guaranteed is haphazard and foolish, leading to disappointment and unhappiness. A Godly life, therefore, is not one that expects anything but instead, one that simply follows and obeys.

Expectation: a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future; a belief that someone will or should achieve something.

Based on this definition, the concept of expectation seems innocent enough. It even sounds positive and optimistic. We certainly don’t want to hope or expect for bad things to happen to us so our desire to see good things happen comes from a place that envisions the best for ourselves. However, there are many inherent problems with this approach. I will just focus on two:

1. We cannot know the future, so how can we know what to expect?
2. Despite our good intentions we are flawed, even evil and sinful by nature, and this will always thwart even the best of our intentions.

The Lord gives us a very significant illustration of this in Luke 7:18-23.

John the Baptist and Jesus were linked to each other before they were born, even while they were still in the womb,

“It all begins with a Jewish priest, Zechariah…” Luke 1:5.

Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, was barren and therefore the couple had no children. The bible tells us that they were “righteous in God’s eyes” and “careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations.” God chose to bless them with a child even though they were both well along in years by now. Not only that, He also gave them this promise, “He will precede the coming of the Lord, preparing the people for his arrival” and told them that the child would be named John.

Shortly after this Elizabeth’s relative, Mary, was also visited by an angel and told that she, too, would bear a son; the very “Son of the Most High”. Sometime after that, Mary went to visit Elizabeth and “At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her…”

Eventually that baby, John, would grow up to become John the Baptist. John was, different. Luke 1:80 says that “John grew up and became strong in Spirit. Then he lived out in the wilderness until he began his public ministry.”The gospel of Mark goes on to describe that, “His clothes were woven from camel hair, and he wore a leather belt; his food was locusts and wild honey.” Mark 1:6. Yet, he followed the calling on his life and obeyed, proclaiming, “Someone is coming soon who is far greater than I am—so much greater that I am not even worthy to be His slave. I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus and John were cousins and being so had probably met before and spent some time around each other but it’s improbable that John had any idea about Jesus’ divine nature until it was revealed to Him. Eventually, the time came for Jesus to be baptized, so He went to see John the Baptist. This is how the moment is described in John 1:29:

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 He is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Soon a man is coming who is far greater than I am, for He existed long before I did.’ 31 I didn’t know He was the one, but I have been baptizing with water in order to point him out to Israel.” 32 Then John said. ‘I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon Him. 33 I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, ‘When you see the Holy Spirit descending and resting upon someone, he is the one you are looking for. He is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. 34 I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that He is the son of God.

Furthermore, we see that John was hesitant to baptize Jesus. In Matthew 3:14, “But John didn’t want to baptize him. ‘I am the one who needs to be baptized by You…” Unfortunately for John, these are pretty incriminating words that reveal a very human weakness that he would later succumb to when he questions the very identity He had previously confirmed.

(Noteworthy: It’s likely that John’s attempt at a refusal to baptize Jesus was because He knew of his righteousness, not because He was aware at this point that Jesus was the Messiah. In John 1:32-34, it seems that after baptizing Jesus, it was confirmed to John that Jesus was the One he had been waiting for.)

Certainly when you read Luke 7:18-19, you have to almost do a figurative double take. It’s not meant to be funny but it is almost shocking. Is this the same person? In fact, it would be shocking, embarrassing, and ridiculous, perhaps, if we didn’t see so much of ourselves in John’s very public moment of vulnerability. It wasn’t that he didn’t know Jesus as a person and it wasn’t that he didn’t know that this was the very Son of God. It was that for whatever reason, in this moment of weakness, his expectations didn’t align with reality. Unfortunately for John, this lapse in judgment caused him to doubt and question the very nature of the Messiah, basically, right to His face.

Who knows why? Maybe John’s own heart deceived him. Maybe he started to listen more to the voices around him than to the Lord’s voice. Certainly, the Jewish people had expectations about what this Messiah would be. The scriptures told of a King who would come:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation…” Zechariah 9:9

“Behold the days are coming” says the Lord, That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth…” Jeremiah 23:5

A King was coming. Not only the imagery that that evokes but also the association with past greats like King David and King Solomon:

For when you die, I will raise up one of your descendants, and I will make his kingdom strong. He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for my name. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 2 Samuel 7:12-15

The expectation was grand. It’s perfectly sensible. A desolate, oppressed people without a ruler longs for and hopes for a hero—a mighty, conquering, warrior king—who will exact its vengeance and establish its inherent glory forever. It sounds nice, except it wasn’t the way God had written the story. He came in triumphantly, alright—on a donkey. He was a carpenter. He hung around with poor fishermen, lepers, thieves, and less-than-reputable women. He was from the people, for the people, not over the people. This reality was so far from the expectation that despite all of the established signs John still had to ask. It’s as if he just couldn’t believe it. He just wasn’t sure.

So it is with us. Certainly, we have expectations of Jesus. He is to heal us when we are sick. He is to enrich us if we are poor. He is to protect us and keep us safe. We don’t stop there. We place expectations on ourselves, on our spouses, on our friends, on our jobs, on our society, on our environment.  We don’t appreciate the forest for the trees. We only care about the trees because we expect them to give us fruit.

We expect things without any evidence whatsoever that they should be. When it comes to expectations probability does not result in an absolute. The truth is we live on borrowed time. Being healthy does not prevent getting hit by a drunk driver. Working hard or being bright does not guarantee wealth. Winning the lottery does not mean you will be happy.

Furthermore, we would be well-served to scrutinize and interrogate our expectations. Were we to dig into our subconscious and unearth the motivation for our expectations, would we be satisfied with what we find? Do we expect anything because we are noble, good-hearted, and pure, or because we fear the alternative? If I expect to get married, is that because I want to find a person that I can love more than I love myself or is it because I fear being alone? If I expect to go to medical school and become a doctor, is that because I know my life’s calling is to serve others or is it because my success will prove to the world that I’m not a failure? Ecclesiastes 4:4 says, Then I observed that most people are motivated to success by their envy of their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless, like chasing the wind. Jeremiah 17:9, “The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” Even our most optimistic and noble expectations are likely rooted in our deep, sinful desires. Why? Because, life is not meant to be lived in the capsule of expectations.

We were not created to expect anything. God created us out of love. He wanted a relationship with us. We would never need or need to expect for anything because with God we would simply have it all. God wanted to be with us. He wanted to walk with us.

I will live among you, and I will not despise you. I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people. Jeremiah 26:12

What would we need to expect with God himself providing for us and enriching our lives in unimaginable ways simply because He loves us and we get to love Him? This all changed with sin. We became aware of our selves. We developed needs and in our pursuit to fulfill those needs we gave birth to expectations.

The thing is, God’s original plan for us is still possible and very much alive today. We see it in Jesus’ response to John:

“Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” Luke 7:22-23

Jesus didn’t ridicule John. He didn’t use him as an example, rebuke him, or belittle him. He loved him. His response is very similar to the scripture found in Isaiah 35: 5, “And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf. The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will shout and sing! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the dessert.” It’s as if He’s also saying, you’re not wrong for looking in the scriptures for signs, but your expectations have blinded you. Jesus understands. He is a father. He corrects but He instructs.

When we expect, we miss more than we gain.

Here is an excerpt from an interview with Quentin Tarantino about his writing process:

Interviewer: But that’s an interesting way to put it, you said you wanted to know more almost as though as you’re writing you’re discovering as it’s coming out.

QT: Well, I think that really is the way that you really need to do it. Now, once I got done with that scene (talking about writing the opening scene for “Django Unchained”), it’s one of the benefits of starting with a classical, on its own scene, like the opening scene of “Inglorious Basterds” or the opening scene of Django, that can, literally, be a scene onto itself. Now, where do I want to go from here, becomes the question. What I’ve learned as time has gone on is for a long time I tried to think out everything in the story, even though I know things would completely change as I go on. However, now I’ve realized that it’s not really, it doesn’t do me much good to think too much past the middle. I mean, I might know where I want to go. I mean, I write genre pieces so you have an idea what the third act is going to be. In “Kill Bill” I guess she’ll probably kill bill at the end…but, you know, a genre movie, you think you know where you’re going and you’re probably right and you have an idea of how you might want the ending to end both for the movie and for the audience. But for the most part, you can kind of work out more or less what’s going to get you to the middle but to think beyond that is kind of silly because by the time you get to the middle when you’ve actually been writing it, well, it’s a different story, it’s a different thing now. Now you are the characters, you know the characters, things that you could never have known before you started writing, they’re in your blood now. There’s a mythology to my movies to some degree or another and that mythology is delivered as I write. And I might have a checklist of things that I might want to do during the course of the time but some of them become irrelevant as you go on and other ones take their place and some things you thought could have been a big deal, well, they are a big deal, and maybe half of the reason you wanted to write it, by the time you get to where that would happen, ah, it’s for something else, it’s not for this. But by the time you get to the middle, that’s where you want to be. You want to be this expert, you want to be in the middle of the story, you want to know who these people are. And now with all this knowledge, now you figure out where you want to go for the second half.

Interviewer: But that’s an interesting approach to writing being like, you have to be a good listener and you have to listen to your own characters once their mostly formed.

QT: …You just write…

-The Nerdist, Podcast, 12/18/2015

I love this interview. For starters, I bet Quentin Tarantino, as smart as he is, never imagined himself being quoted in a biblical sermon. But mostly, I love this beautiful parallel between screen writing, life, and faith. Quentin doesn’t have it all figured out before he progresses and he doesn’t expect things to go a certain way. Like the interviewer says, he listens, and then he just writes. This is the way that God wants us to live.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope…” Jeremiah 29:11

God’s desire is for us to follow and obey. His plan is perfect. He will provide everything we need. Expectations are simply baggage that we choose to carry that we don’t need.

Before John’s messengers left Jesus with the response that He had given them, He gave them one more message. It was a warning, “And tell him, ‘God blesses those who are not offended by me’” Luke 7:23. In other words, Jesus is saying, do not be offended that I do not meet your expectations. Instead, learn to see me as I am, and you will surely be blessed.

I have no doubt that after receiving this response all of John’s doubts were quieted. He most likely realized that it was his own blindness which didn’t allow him to see.

Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light. Matthew 11:28-30

Jesus frees us from the burden of expectations. Those expectations which drown us, manipulate us, and enslave us, He drives them away. Instead, He gives us His promises. By focusing on God’s promises rather than our expectations we can rest assuredly in the truth, in the Creator of the universe, in the Son of Man who became the salvation of a fallen world. He makes me free.