A question from John

Pastor Devon Ortiz preached from Luke 7:18-23, where John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, sends two of his disciples to ask, "Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?" He admitted this passage has always bothered him. John baptized Jesus and once declared "Behold the Lamb of God," and now he doubts. It bothers Pastor Ortiz because, like many people, he has times when he questions, or pulls back after God has moved him. The message asked one question: what changed?

Jesus answered by pointing to what was happening in front of them: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them, a call back to Isaiah's prophecy of the Messiah. The evidence was right there and the doubt still remained. Pastor Ortiz said the real issue is not whether Jesus is the Messiah. It is whether we see what God is doing, and often it is a matter of what we want. An atheist does not fail to see the miracle of life, he said, but refuses to credit it to God. And a Christian who is living, acting, and thinking just as before he was saved has a problem. He cited a survey claiming that most professing Christians do not really know what it means to be saved.

What changed?

We stopped expecting God to move. If we believe God is real, how does that affect our prayer, our worship, and how we come to church? He said many people skip Sunday night to rest for Monday, put a dollar in the offering plate, and serve only when it does not bother their schedule, like Israel in Malachi offering polluted sacrifices and wondering why God does not accept them. We pray without expecting answers, read scripture without expecting to be changed, and come to church waiting for the platform to move us. Jesus told John's disciples to report what they had seen and heard, not what they had studied. Pastor Ortiz said he had already seen God work miracles that week, and asked whether the congregation had.

We replaced intimacy with information. John knew the scriptures and preached repentance, but knowing about God is not the same as being close to Him. He told of a theology professor who laughed at him for not knowing the Bible well enough, and he answered that someone who claims to be a theologian should know the God of the scriptures. Knowing the story of Daniel in the lions' den does not mean you understand the heart behind it. The Pharisees knew the scriptures so well that they missed the Word standing in front of them, and we do the same when we know what the Bible says, see something we are doing wrong, and say "but it's my life." He cited figures on how rarely churchgoers read their Bibles, and quoted Tozer on the "romantic Christian" who seeks feelings and entertainment so that the church becomes a place of amusement instead of worship.

We chose comfort over calling. John came out of the wilderness in rough clothes, eating honey and locusts, and was satisfied with the minimum because he had so much of God. Now we have a lot of everything else but God, Pastor Ortiz said, and we protect our time, our money, and our entertainment. He said comfort has outgrown calling, and attendance does not match the church's membership because of it. He added that saying a prayer never saved anyone; we are saved by faith, and faith shows itself in how we live. He illustrated with a chair: leaning on it while holding yourself up with your own strength is not trust. Real faith rests the full weight on Christ, which is why so many Christians are tired, because they are carrying it all themselves.

We let culture define us. In verses 31 to 35 Jesus compares His generation to children who reject both John, who came fasting, and Himself, who came eating and drinking. They rejected anything that did not match their expectations. Pastor Ortiz said many young people do not want responsibility or leadership and want to live life their way, and that older believers can drift with the culture too. The first-century believers turned the world upside down because they threw their lives into God, as in Acts. He said people drift toward bigger churches where they can blend in, while smaller churches struggle because few want to take on the work.

We made Christianity about behavior instead of transformation. In verses 36 to 50 a sinful woman washes Jesus' feet with her tears and Simon the Pharisee thinks less of Him for allowing it. Simon saw behavior. Jesus saw a yielded life. Pastor Ortiz said trying really hard to behave is not the Christian life. When we yield to Christ, the fruit of the Spirit comes out of us, and we become something new. The Pharisees followed rules just well enough to get by, but God wants the heart, and the heart is where murder, adultery, and unbelief actually begin.

The invitation

Pastor Ortiz closed by saying John's heart was broken by what he was going through, and that made him doubtful, not a bad person, but doubt costs us our strength. He asked people to take stock of what had changed, invited those who realized they were far from where they should be to raise a hand, and asked anyone unsure of their salvation, who had information but not a relationship, to do the same. He prayed for revival if believers would simply go back to where they were.