Waking Up in Babylon - Ezekiel 2:1-3:3

Introduction

This afternoon, our church campus will be crawling with children who are dressed up. And, you remember what that was like, don’t you? It’s so much fun to dress up as your favorite super hero or princess or athlete. And, for many of your children, their costumes resemble the dreams they have at this time in their lives. They reveal something of their aspirations. They dress up like Patrick Mahomes because they hope to be the one to break his records. They dress up like Batman because they want to be the one jumping off buildings in Gotham.

I’ve learned adults wear costumes, too. Adults like to pretend their someone else, too. And, the reason is that we still aspire and dream of being someone other than we actually are. Children dress up because they have dreams. Adults dress up because their dreams have been crushed. So, we smile when we aren’t happy, buy things that we can’t afford, and project strength when we feel weak. And, it’s often because we’re disappointed with how our lives have turned out. We’re not who we thought we’d be or where we thought we’d be or doing what we thought that we would be doing.

God’s Word

This morning, we begin the study of a prophet who can relate to us. Ezekiel was born to be a priest and had spent his entire life preparing for the priesthood. But, at 26 years old, before he could serve as a priest for even one day, he was deported to Babylon. In a single instance, every dream and expectation he had for his life was gone. He would never do what he thought he was born to do. He’d never live again where he believed he was meant to live. Instead of waking up in the shadows of the Temple, he’d spend his whole life waking up in Babylon. And, Ezekiel shows us an alternative to dressing up and pretending that life is okay. He shows us How to Live Faithfully in Babylon: (Headline)

“Embrace” your difficult “calling.”

None of us gets our dream in exactly the way we’ve dreamt it. That’s a commonality of human existence. Everyone expects their marriage to be joyful, or to at least be married. Everyone expects that they’ll have kids with whom they’re close, or maybe children at all. We expect that our work will be meaningful and well-paying. We expect that our good health will continue on and that our parents will live to old age. But, disappointment — even devastation — is a universal human experience. And, the contentment that you have with your life will be largely contingent upon how well you cope with these disappointments.

Disappointing Year, Defining Moment

One of the purposes of the Bible is to explain to us why those things happen and what we’re to do with them. The story of Ezekiel picks up with him when he’s 30 years old. This would’ve been a significant year for Ezekiel because 30 years old was the year of ordination for those born into the priesthood. It was the year that was to be the culmination of life’s work. Except he keeps waking up in Babylon, and he’d never see the Temple again. Jerusalem would be sacked and the Temple destroyed within seven years, and Ezekiel was never leaving Babylon.

It would’ve been the most disappointing year of Ezekiel’s life. But, God stepped into that disappointment so that it became a defining moment, a moment from which his true calling would emerge.

Ezekiel 2:3–5 “And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Ezekiel had been training his whole life as a priest to comfort the afflicted. But now, he was being called by God to be a prophet who would instead afflict the comfortable. This was a hard calling given to a man living a hard life. His audience is described three times as “rebellious.” “Impudent” is literally in the Hebrew “stiff of face,” and “stubborn” is literally “hard of heart.” “Their faces are as frozen as their hearts.” So, the calling on Ezekiel’s life is to preach to people who will hate everything he has to say. His calling is to live in a place he hates and to preach to people he loves a message they will hate. He’ll never be able to do what he wanted to do. It’s a hard life.

A Hard Life can be God Sent

I want you to see that a hard life can be God sent. Ezekiel’s hard life wasn’t his fault, but God did make it his responsibility. But, even more, I want you to see that a hard life can be God blessed and God used. In fact, God used the disappointment in his life to position and prepare him for the calling that was upon his life. You see, in Ezekiel’s mind he was in the exact wrong place doing the exact wrong thing, but he was in exactly the right place at exactly the right time to do what God had set before him to accomplish.

A Blessed Nightmare

I have a friend whose life was turned upside down by the birth of a child with significant special needs. As it would be for any parent, it’s the realization of some of your worst fears. It means that your life is not going to be what you imagined it would be. I’ve watched as this brother has sought to honorably serve and lead his family. I’ve watched their family sacrifice. I’ve watched them struggle with grace. But, do you know what’s happened over time? A passion has emerged in his heart to care for the families of special needs children. He didn’t even see them before, but, today, it gets him out of bed in the morning. I’ve watched personally as he has breathed life into families. You see, God’s will is so meticulous and so mysterious that your worst nightmare can become your life’s purpose. Don’t resent your life. Don’t resent your hard calling. Lean into it. Embrace the hard path placed before you because a hard life can be a blessed one.

And, if you’re going to wake up Babylon and embrace your difficult calling, if you’re going to wake up to a life that is otherwise disappointing and see it as blessed, you’ll have to...

“Live” with peculiar “courage.”

Courageous people are the most polarizing ones. If you think of the people you most admire, it’s likely you think of people of great courage. But, the same may be said of those with whom you most strongly disagree. Courage requires a decisive belief which leads to decisive action. That’s why we love them. That’s why we dislike them. So, you see, there’s a reason that most of us are content to live uneventful lives that require no courage. We just want to be liked. We don’t want to suffer.

Ezekiel 2:6–7 “And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.”

Courage is a paradox. Courage makes all the difference, but courage invites all the criticism. Courage leads to great admiration, and courage leads to great hatred. That’s why the most common command of the Bible is to “Be not afraid. Be courageous.” We’re called to be people who stand decisively with God, but we’re tempted to settle for just being liked. That’s why Ezekiel is receiving this command.

A Prophet among Scorpions

Ezekiel was not the only “prophet” that had a message. There were other “prophets” preaching during the same time, but their message was completely different. They were saying that the suffering was almost over, soon they would return to their Promised Land. They were saying that this was punishment because of their fathers. Ezekiel’s message was that the suffering was just beginning. They were never going home. They would die in Babylon. And, it was their own fault because their hearts were to hard to repent of their own sins. In fact, within seven years Jerusalem would be sacked by Babylon.

So, God tells Ezekiel that his ministry is going to look like a total failure. He will be hated for his message, not loved. He’ll suffer rather than be celebrated. Jesus sent his disciples as “sheep among wolves” in Matthew 10, and here God is sending Ezekiel as a “prophet among scorpions.” He’ll be cut and scratched and stung. But, the call on Ezekiel’s life was to be courageous, not liked.

Suffering is the Context of Courage

God tells Ezekiel to “be not afraid” for the same reason He tells us. The world wants us to blend in, but God wants us to stand up and speak out. “Speak my words” he tells Ezekiel. God tells us time and again to “be not afraid” because He is calling us to life that is above the fray. He’s calling us to a decisive belief and decisive action. And, whenever you stand up, you should expect to be shot at. Whenever you speak out, you should expect others to try to intimidate and insult you into silence.

Suffering is the context of courage. If there’s no potential for suffering, then there’s no need for courage. Everyone wants to be courageous. No one wants to face the circumstances that require courage. Everyone wants to make a difference. Very few are willing to pay the price.

Cancelled Because of Jesus

Are you willing to be cancelled because of Jesus? We think cancel culture is new, but it’s cancel culture that led to the cross. No one stood with more grace and spoke with more love than Jesus. But, He stood decisively to say that He was the only way to salvation. He spoke the truth lovingly to say that no person is good enough for his Kingdom apart from his grace. And, they nailed him to a tree. Cancel culture is training the church sit down and be quiet…or else. Or else we’ll be on the wrong side of history, or else we’ll be considered bigots, or else we’ll be seen as ignorant, or else we’ll be canceled. But, if we want to wake up in Babylon and make it difference, we have to stand up and speak up any way. What we offer is life, not death --- love, not hatred. Oh, the cross calls us to a peculiar courage because even though the tried to cancel our Savior, He was raised again. We will be, too.

But, I want you to see that there’s a key to Ezekiel’s courage and to ours. We can be sustained in a way that is peculiar to our culture because we...

“Savor” God’s sweet “communion.”

A little more than 500 years ago this week, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenburg Church. With the swing of that hammer, Luther was standing against his church, his Pope, his government, and the only way of life anyone around him had ever known. On the line was his livelihood, his standing in the church, his freedom, even his own life. But, bound by his conscience that salvation was by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, he swung that hammer anyway. My favorite Martin Luther quote is: “Of whom shall I be afraid? One man God is a majority.”

Commuion with God is our Footing

That is, I want you to see what Luther saw and what Ezekiel was learning. Our courage finds its footing in our communion with God. We can live with great courage even in the face of great disapproval and opposition so long as we have intimate, close fellowship with God. I think that’s what we’re seeing when we see God’s word come to Ezekiel. This is the climax of his call, and it’ll be the sustaining reality the keeps him going.

Ezekiel 2:9–3:3 “And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe. And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.”

In the OT, like we saw with Hosea, God often had his prophets live out the very parables they were meant to teach. We’re seeing that here with Ezekiel. There’s a two-sided scroll with God’s prophetic word laid out in front of him, and God tells him to eat it from end to end. I want you to notice the content of the scroll: “words of lamentation and mourning and woe.” It’s not primarily good news.

But, when Ezekiel eats it, it tastes sweet to him. How can bitter words and a bitter mission taste so sweet to God’s Prophet? Notice that God addresses Ezekiel as the “son of man.” Ezekiel is referred to as the “son of man” 90 times in this prophecy. It’s a term meant to refer to just how weak and fragile Ezekiel is. He’s just the son of a man. He has this enormous task in front of him, and when you look at him, it looks impossible. But, then He eats God’s word. He digests it. God’s word makes it all the way through him. And, God is telling him, “I’m with you. I’m equipping you. I’m sending you.” That is, Ezekiel’s hard ministry wasn’t going to be lived based upon his own resources. It’s going to be dependent upon the Lord’s.

The Bleaker, the Sweeter

You see, there’s no calling too hard or times too tough for you to flourish if God is with you. In fact, what Ezekiel will learn is something to which many of you can attest: The bleaker the times, the sweeter the communion. The harder life is, the sweeter God’s word tastes. The more suffering that’s involved, the more thankful you are to have a shepherd who will walk through the valley of the shadow of death with you.

Say “Yes”

In fact, that’s what we remember as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. We remember that God did not leave us alone, and God does not leave us alone. Jesus came to us and suffered for us. He was raised, and we received the Spirit in a way even greater than Ezekiel. So, here’s what I want you to think about as we come to the Lord’s Table. What is God calling you to do that you’ve been unwilling to do because it’s hard? What is God calling you to do that you’ve been to scared to do? Before you take the bread and juice this morning, I want you to say “yes” to God. I want you to come to this table remembering that you can do what you’re afraid to do because Jesus is with you.