Navigating Disillusionment – March 17th, 2019

1. It’s easy to get disillusioned with our circumstances.

2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” 4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see:
Matthew 11:2-4

Things don’t go the way we expect.

2. It’s easy to get disillusioned with people.

1 There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people.
2 Corinthians 9:1 (see all of chapter 9)

1 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. 5 And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.
2 Corinthians 8:1-5

People don’t act the way we hope.

3. It’s easy to get disillusioned with ourselves.

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
Romans 8:15-19

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Romans 7:24-25

We don’t do what we want to do.

4. It’s easy to get disillusioned with God.

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. 3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. 4 In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
Psalm 22:1-5

34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
Mark 15:34

God doesn’t always act the way we wish.

Truths to consider:

1. You are not God and it’s not about you.

5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me,
Isaiah 45:5

4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
Psalms 10:4

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9

2. You must be careful of pride and it’s effects.

18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18

3. Together is still better.

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: Ecclesiastes 4:9

12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:12

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28

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