Christmas Colors - Purple

Devotional for December 10-16, 2007

 

Day One                      Unmet Expectations

For the first couple of weeks when I entered seminary I visited a church located on the eastern edge of Fort Worth.  My first Sunday to the church I was very impressed with the spirit of the people and the worship experience.  Mid way through the service I discovered that the church was without a senior pastor.  I continued to visit the church and within a couple of weeks I learned that they were about to bring in a minister to possibly serve as their senior pastor.  The week the pastoral candidate came he was introduced and very obviously impressed everyone in attendance.  You could tell that this man was exactly what and who they had decided they needed.  That night, they overwhelmingly approved the hiring of this man to be their new pastor.  Over the next couple of weeks I heard them speak of this man and the great vision they, and he, had for the future of the church.  Then came his first Sunday.  Even though I was still a visitor to the church, I could sense the excitement as I entered the auditorium.  Most everyone was wearing a pin that contained a welcome to the new pastor and his family.  You could almost touch the spirit of excitement that was present in the building.  The music was inspiring, the official welcome by the chairman of the deacons added to the excitement, and then the new pastor came to the pulpit and began to speak.  As he spoke, it was almost like the air was being slowly let out of a balloon.  The spirit of excitement that had been so obvious at the beginning of the worship time slowly began to give way to a new spirit of despair.  By the end of the worship time you could almost cut the tension with a knife.  Even though I had only visited the church for a couple of weeks, it was obvious that this man was not the leader that the church had been expecting and hoping for.  It was equally obvious that even the church had realized this in the short time span of a morning worship service.  I returned to the church only one time and found that it had sunk even further in a negative direction.  Here a church that had seemed so on spiritual fire was devastated by one man.

 

The truth is that the problem probably was not in the man, but in what the people were expecting.  They had decided that a man, in particular, this man, was going to be the answer to all their problems and questions.  They had put all their expectations on a person, on a leader.

 

This is human nature, we want someone to lead us, to fight for us, and to take the blame for us.

 

In I Samuel we see Israel proclaiming that they want a King (I Samuel 1:1-18).  What led them to such a desire?

 

What did God tell Samuel to tell the people about a King?

                       

As we read on, in I Samuel I:19-20, what do the people reveal as their expectations of a King?

 

Why do you think the people called for a King even after Samuel revealed to them what a King would truly be like?

 

How do we have the same expectations of our leaders?

 

How do those leaders fail us?

 

Why do those leaders fail us?

 

As the people were looking forward to the coming Messiah, what do you think their expectations were of His leadership?

 

Day Two         Misfiltered Information

If you have been around Grace Fellowship at all, or even a little, over the past two years you are acquainted with our water woes.  I will not take you through all the details but suffice it to say that I have become well acquainted with the biologist with Cleveland County as well as three individuals from the Oklahoma State Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).  Over the past year I have submitted quarterly samples of our water for testing as well as an extensive test yearly.  I thought that I had it all figured out….until I received yet another letter from the DEQ today.  This letter contained some instructions that I did not understand so I called the individual that had written the letter to receive some clarification.  As we spoke, it was not long until I realized that somewhere along the way someone had either miscommunicated or, someone had misinterpreted.  As this DEQ official would ask questions I would refer to the previous two DEQ officials and the information they had given to me.  It was not long until he realized that he only knew one of these individuals.  He also realized that he had very different information than what we had been given or submitted.   As we spoke, he would refer me to previous information I had been given.  When I would pull this information out of my files I would find it to be contradictory to what he was saying.  Finally, he asked me to fax him certain letters that I had received in order for him to attempt to understand what was going on with our account.

 

As I hung up the phone it was clear that he had interpreted his information in a very different fashion than all those before him.  He looked at the information with a certain filter that caused him to have a certain interpretation of the information.  I, also, had a certain filter that had caused me to see the information from a different perspective. I hope that in the end we have the same filter and that is does not require me additional water work.

 

Our filters can greatly impact the way we receive and interpret information given to us.

 

The people that were looking forward to the coming Messiah before Jesus also had filters.  As we saw yesterday, they wanted a King.  They wanted a King who would lead them, go before them, and would fight for them.  They wanted a King who would make their earthly life better.  A King who would make everything alright and perfect….for them.  This was their filter.  Knowing this filter, how do you think that they interpreted prophesies such as Isaiah 9:6-7 when they heard them from the prophets?

 

Knowing the truth of the birth of Christ, how do you now interpret that passage?

 

What is the promise of the Messiah?

 

Day Three       Expectations versus Reality

A couple of years ago Andrea and I had to go to Los Angeles for a wedding I was to perform.  While we were there we had a few opportunities to go sight seeing.  One of the sights was to go to Hollywood and see Grauman's Chinese Theatre and all the other attractions.  It was not long before we both admitted our disappointment.  While we had expected glamour and excitement what we found was misery and suffering.  The reality did not live up to our expectations.  Reality seldom does.

 

Sometimes reality is worse but it sometimes is much better.  We have seen that the people were expecting the coming Messiah to be a conquering King.  The reality was much different.  Read the reality of the Messiah as detailed in John 1:1-14.   What was this reality?

 

What does this reality mean to you in regard to your Savior?

 

Day Four         The Real Thing

My kids will frequently ask for my help with school papers or reports.  I will commonly help them with the report often offering changes or certain rewording options.  Quite frequently, when I make such suggestions, they will disgustedly reply, “Dad, no one my age talks like that!”  This is a clear indication that my suggestion has been utterly rejected.  Usually, their mother then gives them a much more age appropriate suggestion.  Her suggestions are usually accepted.

 

Descriptions and wordings that are effective and impacting are those that state the correct facts and do so in a manner that is appropriate for the audience.  John used this exact principle when he introduced the promised Christ to those in his audience.  Read how he introduced Christ in John 1:29-34.

 

What descriptive terms did he use in his introduction of Christ?

 

What would you state is the most defining element of his introduction (what defines the mission and purpose of Christ)?

 

John says that Christ is to “take away the sins of the world”, how do you think this was interpreted by the people that were present that day?

 

What does it mean?

What does it mean to you?

 

Day Five          Dealing with the Truth

Many years ago, hopefully long enough that my children have forgotten, I was convinced, along with two other dads, to dress up as female cheerleaders and make a motivational appearance at an assembly at our kids’ grade school.  That morning we stood on the stage, behind the curtain waiting for our cue, questioning why we had agreed to such a stunt.  There we stood, wearing long black wigs, silly cheerleader sweaters and long skirts, knowing that this could well be the most humiliating moment of our lives.  We were wrong, it was not the most humiliating moment, that moment came the following week when we were coerced into a return appearance.  From that time on the other two dads, and myself, were known as “the cheerleaders.”  While this may be a compliment to some, and may even be an aspiration of those appearing on a certain CMT television show, it was not, and has never been my dream.  Sometimes we are seen and become known in a manner which is not true of who we really are .  Sometimes that false reputation causes other people to be incapable of knowing who we really are.

 

This was the case with Christ, people had a certain vision of Him and were, therefore, unable to see who He truly was.  Look back over the passages we have looked at this week and assemble the vision people had of the coming Christ that caused them to be unable to see Him.

 

How did their expectation of the Messiah coming as a King create a problem in their recognition of the Christ?

 

How do we still look for Christ to be an earthly King even on this side of the physical life of Christ?

 

How do you look for Christ?