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.