Here’s What You Can Expect!

7th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/8/18
Ezekiel 2:1-5


Here’s What You Can Expect!
I. The endless support of your faithful God
II. The endless opposition to his faithful word.


We all have our expectations, whether we realize it at the moment or not. In fact, It’s hard for me to think of a single aspect of your life in which you don’t have any expectations.

For instance, you had your expectations about worship this morning. What were they and are they being met?

If you have a doctor appointment this week, what are your expectations? Are they generally positive or negative? What do you think you’re going to hear from your doctor? Expectations.

Did you eat at a restaurant recently? If so, did your dining experience meet your expectations? Was the food as tasty as you expected, or, did it leave you dissatisfied? Was the wait-staff attentive or lacking? Expectations.

Every day of your employed life you have your expectations about your work-place environment. In general, you know before you leave home with whom and for whom you’ll be working that day. You have a general idea about the way things will go. You have your expectations.

The same holds true about your Christian life. As a Christian you have a good working knowledge about what your God says about your life as one of his children and his involvement in it. You expect certain things to happen. Are your expectations being generally met, or, are you a bit disillusioned at this point in your life?

And an extension of your life as a Christian is your efforts at carrying out God’s work with other Christians. To bring that a little closer to home—it’s working together as a congregation of Christians who are committed to Jesus as their Lord and Savior. What are your expectations? How do you think things should go?

This morning we have the blessed opportunity to listen in on the Lord’s conversation with his prophet Ezekiel. It’s a very special conversation because, in it, the Lord calls Ezekiel to be one of his prophets to his Old Testament people. I’m sure Ezekiel had some expectations of what that work would entail. But perhaps his expectations weren’t entirely accurate. So the Lord helped him grasp reality. He told Ezekiel exactly what he can expect.

In doing so, he tells us what we can expect as we live our lives as Christians and as we join together in carrying out God’s kingdom work. Here’s what you can expect. Are you paying attention? God’s about to reveal something important to you.

Part I.

On Oct. 4, 2017 four US special operations fighters were killed in an ambush by Islamic extremists in the country of Niger. How could these special forces have been in such danger without knowing it? A military investigation reported that they didn’t have the proper support in so many different areas. Their military intelligence was lacking. They lacked the proper armored protection. And they lacked sufficient firepower to defend themselves. In other words, these men were sent out without the proper support.

If only you had a dime for every time you could say the same thing. The reason your efforts at school, home or work didn’t succeed as you wanted or expected is that you didn’t have the proper support.

That might happen with our secular lives, but it never happens when the Lord sends us out into his world. Take a look at how he prepared and supported Ezekiel.

Are you aware of what had just taken place in Ezekiel’s life? If not, let me help you. The year is 597 BC. Ezekiel is among the second wave of exiles to be sent from Jerusalem to Babylon. Men like Daniel had already been there for about eight years. Ezekiel was near one of the canals along the Euphrates River and suddenly he received a vision in which he saw mysterious living creatures with faces and wheels that turned in all directions. Then he heard a voice and what appeared to be the figure of a man. He saw the glory of the Lord.

And it literally floored him. It knocked him to his feet. But the Lord wasn’t trying to alarm or harm Ezekiel; he was trying to prepare him. He wanted Ezekiel to know who it was that was calling him to serve him in a special way. Ezekiel was stunned to say the least.

But notice what the Lord does. He doesn’t leave Ezekiel in Babylon’s dust, face-down. Listen again to what happened. Ezekiel writes, “He said to me, ‘Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.’ As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.” It sounds so simple. The Lord picked him up. Of course he did! That’s what Ezekiel needed the Lord to do for him at that moment. Do you get the point?

And that’s not all. He then spoke to Ezekiel. You see, the Lord doesn’t leave his people guessing what he wants them to know or to do. He doesn’t send us out as his special ops without the proper support. He gave Ezekiel just what Ezekiel needed at that moment to do the work that he was calling Ezekiel to do. He picked him up and spoke to him.

He does the same for us. Here’s what you can expect. The endless support of your faithful God.

Like I stated when we began, we have our expectations when it comes to our relationship with our God. Let’s be honest, many are the times when we expect to witness the glorious. We want God to do something completely unexpected for us and then we’ll be impressed. Then we’ll be convinced that he’s supporting us.

Wanna see something impressive from your God? Look at your baptismal certificate. Wanna see and taste and feel something impressive from your God? Take eat…take drink…the body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Wanna hear something impressive? God speaks his word to you right here. You can hold that word in your hands.

But too often, that’s not enough. We want something else, something more. We want God to pick us up like he picked up Ezekiel. He does that—through his word. That word is his daily, endless support. It announces your forgiveness through the Savior who died for you and guarantees you life in heaven with him. Your support comes through Jesus who rose from the dead for you to support you forever. That’s what you can expect!

Part II.

Sugarcoating. I’m sure you’re familiar with that term. It describes what someone tells you when they want you to believe the best and, therefore, don’t give you an accurate description.

No one can ever rightly accuse God of sugarcoating. His descriptions are perfectly accurate.

So listen again to the description he shared with Ezekiel. “He said: ‘Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn.’” Not exactly the kind of information that wins people over. In fact, it’s more likely to drive them away.

But the Lord always speaks the truth and that’s exactly what he shared with Ezekiel. He reminded him that the Children of Israel had always been rebellious and stubborn. Would you care for a few examples? Golden calf. Rebellion against Moses and Aaron. Refusal to enter and conquer the Promised Land. Nearly 900 uninterrupted years of worshipping idols. Murdering God’s prophets. Yes, they were a stubborn and rebellious people.

So why would God mention this dark, Jewish history? Because he wanted to prepare Ezekiel for his call. Ezekiel’s message to his fellow Jews was fairly simple. #1: You brought this exile on yourselves by your hard-hearted rejection of the Lord in spite of his patience with you. #2: You are not going back to Judah any time soon. In fact, most of you never will. So get used to life in Babylon. Better yet, repent of your sins and seek the Lord’s forgiveness. That was Ezekiel’s message but precious few would listen.

Our God’s job description for us is much the same. He sends us out to share his law and gospel. His law condemns sinners for their sins and announces sin’s punishment in hell. His gospel announces his grace in Jesus who saved us from the punishment of our sins and gives us eternal life with him. That’s the greatest news any sinner could ever hear.

But don’t expect sinners to beg you to share that news with them. Instead, expect to face rebellious and stubborn people. Why? Because people by nature love their sinful ways. They don’t want to change and they want nothing to do with a God who demands that they repent and change. What’s more, they have sucked up the lie that they aren’t so bad; they’re good enough. Certainly good enough for god, whoever that is.

So, when you share with them the truth of the only true God, don’t expect people to accept you and love you for it.

Instead, here’s what you can expect. The endless opposition to God’s faithful word.

Countless Christians have become disillusioned doing kingdom work. They didn’t expect rejection from others, even though they are only trying to share with those people what they need most—a Savior from sin. That’s bad enough. But when they face a lack of cooperation from their fellow Christians, it’s enough to make them throw in their Christian towel.

But what do you expect? Look at what the Lord told Ezekiel to expect. Kingdom work isn’t easy. There will always be opposition. But that’s why the Lord promises to support us. He does so through our Savior, Jesus Christ. When our attitude about kingdom works stinks, Jesus forgives us. When we succumb to laziness or indifference, Jesus washes us clean. He does so in order that we have the power to continue serving him and doing so with joy, knowing that we’re serving our Lord.

Here’s what you can expect: your risen Lord Jesus walking with you every step of the way in your life with him. Count on it! Amen.

The Fear/Faith Struggle

6th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/1/18
Mark 5:21-24a, 35-43


The Fear/Faith Struggle
I. It’s our daily experience.
II. But the outcome is eternal life.


I’m going to assume that, since you’re here in worship this morning, your Christian faith means a great deal to you. In fact, I hope and pray your faith is your most precious possession.

With that being the case, it pains us when the Christian faith gets a bad rap. We cringe at the things some Christian groups say and do. That’s because the Christian faith and sinful behavior are incompatible. For instance, there’s no room for hate or prejudice in the Christian faith. Here’s another: People who claim to be Christian and yet fall into heinous, public sins do serious damage to the name of Christ both among non-Christians and Christians alike. I pray that the Lord will always guard and protect us from such shameful sins.

But it isn’t simply public sinful behavior that is at odds with our Christian faith. So are some of our thoughts and feelings. Just the way we’re feeling at a particular moment can be contrary to our Lord’s will and his encouragement for our lives.

And one of those is that our lives are often filled with fears. Let’s be honest. Our fears in life begin the moment we’re aware of our surroundings and they last until we’ve lost awareness of the same. We’re fearful people.

Even as Christians. Do you see the irony in that reality? We’re Christians who trust in our almighty Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who rules over all things for our good and yet we live with daily fears. In our lives fear and faith live side-by-side, and the two are in constant conflict.

But that’s nothing new. We see it in today’s gospel in the life of a man named Jairus. Mark doesn’t tell us that fear consumed him on this day in his life, but how could it not? He must have felt fear, because later Jesus encouraged him, “Don’t be afraid.” And yet in the fact that he made the effort to seek Jesus out we see his faith. Fear. Faith. That was the struggle of Jairus. It’s our struggle, too. In fact, at times our fears may drive us to hopelessness. But our Lord Jesus calls us to look to him and just believe. Let’s consider that very encouragement as we view the fear/faith struggle. As we do, know that with the Lord Jesus on our side, we come out on top.

Part I.

Fears. We all have them. About all sorts of things. Especially serious things…like cancer.

And yet Larry Burkett is the author of a book entitled, Nothing to Fear: the Key to Cancer Survival. I haven’t read his book. Maybe a few of you have. But I do know that a few of you are cancer survivors. So tell me. Was it anything to fear? Contrary to the book’s title, I’m sure it was.

In this morning’s text from Mark 5 we meet a man named Jairus whose daughter was seriously ill. Was her illness due to an infection? Did she have some form of adolescent cancer? Mark doesn’t tell us. Apparently the Holy Spirit who inspired these words didn’t think it was important, no matter how much we might like to know. Suffice to say, she was deathly ill and her father and other loved ones knew it. Do you think they were afraid? Bet on it. I’d like to think Jairus would have told Larry Burkett, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

But Jairus hadn’t fully succumbed to fear. While his fear didn’t paralyze him, it’s apparent he waited. How long had his daughter been sick? A few days? A couple weeks? We don’t know. But we don’t get the impression that the minute she fell ill, he rushed to Jesus. Perhaps, like we would have done, Jairus initially felt she’d get better over time. So he waited to approach Jesus.

But eventually his fears moved him to seek Jesus out. Mark tells it like this: “Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, ‘My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.’” Jesus didn’t waste any time. Mark tells us that Jesus went with him.

But Jairus had waited too long to seek Jesus’ help. Imagine his inner turmoil as he sees some familiar men approaching. He screams silently, “Are they bringing good news or bad? Please, let it be good!” But then his hopes are crushed as he hears this death sentence, “Your daughter is dead.” And then he hears their hopeless advice, “Why bother the teacher anymore?” These men—relatives or friends—had thrown in the towel. They urged Jairus to do the same and begin his grieving process. Jairus had pinned his hopes on Jesus. Now those hopes were dashed. He had waged the fear/faith struggle and was overcome.

But then he heard these words of Jesus who is the Resurrection and the Life, “Don’t be afraid. Just believe.” Was Jairus even listening at this point? If he was, did Jesus’ words upset him? Jairus had struggled a long time with his fears. His greatest fears had been realized and what did Jesus tell him? “Don’t be afraid. Just believe.” Was Jesus kidding? Is that all he could say? Did he really mean it?

Indeed he did. And he still does. That’s because Jesus knows our fears and yet he asks us to hold to him in faith.

The fear/faith struggle. It’s our daily experience.

Do you know how Jairus felt? I’m sure you do. Jesus knew, too. He also knows how you struggle with your fears. And what does he say? “Don’t be afraid. Just believe.” But don’t those words sound hollow when we’re drowning in fear? In fact, in times of serious distress they can even sound cruel. We want to scream back at Jesus, “Don’t tell me how to feel or react. Just do something!!”

And to that demand, Jesus replies, “I already did. I did ‘something’ for you at Calvary’s cross and I guaranteed it at my empty tomb. I paid the price for you. I made you my own. Your times are in my hands and they always will be. I know exactly what’s happening and why, and I know exactly how things turn out. So, whether your fears are about your life or someone else’s, I want you to stop being afraid and just trust me.” And then he adds, “By the way…I’ve never broken a single promise. And I never will.” One of those promises is reflected in Psalm 23, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with me” (Ps. 23:4). Just as Jesus was standing next to Jairus on this day, so he is standing with each of us in our fear/faith struggle. We struggle every day and he is with us every day.

Part II.

I have a confession to make: I withheld some information regarding Larry Burkett’s book, Nothing to Fear: The Key to Cancer Survival. Mr. Burkett survived cancer but soon afterwards died from a heart condition. And yet Larry lives, because he died as a Christian. His book states, “As good as modern medicine is, it is not the ultimate answer. It will let you down. Trusting God is the answer. He will never let you down.”

Burkett didn’t die hopeless; he died hope-FULL. His hope was in the Lord Jesus.

The very one who stood by the side of Jairus. That Jesus had convinced Jairus of his almighty power. How did Jairus know that?

Prior to this event, Jesus had shown his power over the forces of nature. We heard about it in last Sunday’s Gospel. With his word, Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee and, in doing so, calmed the fears of his disciples.

Prior to that, Jesus had displayed his power over Satan as he performed a number of exorcisms. Every time Jesus was confronted with a demon, the demon realized he was no match for the Son of God.

And prior to that, Mark records that Jesus performed one healing miracle after another. While Jesus was in the town of Capernaum, Mark tells, “The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases” (1:34).

And on this day, Jesus was confronted with the enemy known as Death. But Jesus was completely unaffected. He shows it in this statement to the crowd of mourners, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” For the Lord of life, death is but a sleep. And he wakes the 12-year-old from death as easily as a mother wakes her sleeping child. “He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha koum! Little girl, I say to you, get up!” Immediately the girl stood up and walked around.”

As amazing as that miracle was, the purpose of that miracle was not to make this life a heaven on earth for Jairus or his daughter. Living in a sinful world as they did, I can only imagine that all too soon the euphoria over this miracle waned, and sin and its effects reared their ugly heads once again. Fears crept into their lives. So, what was the point of Jesus raising this little girl?

To convince her, her father, the crowd of mourners, family, friends, and relatives, that Jesus is the way to eternal life. Jesus came to this earth to win eternal life for us. He did not come to erase the fear/faith struggle. He came to strengthen us for it and, ultimately, to give us the victory.

To that end, every time we succumb to our fears, every time we doubt or even deny the word of Jesus, he remains with us to forgive us and to renew us. By raising this girl to life, Jesus demonstrated his power over death, a power he put on eternal display when he raised himself from the dead. And in his resurrection lies our eternal hope, even in what appear to be hopeless situations. Eternal life is ours no matter what happens in the here and now. In fact, on the Last Day Jesus will raise us from the dead and glorify our bodies to live with him eternally.

The fear/faith struggle continues for now. But the outcome is eternal life. There’s your hope in hopeless times. Amen.