God is Faithful and Free Pt 1

Introduction

Our shared human experiences in terms of our growth, identity, relationships, and self-acceptance consist of moving with God through periods of being securely orientated, painfully disoriented, and surprisingly reoriented[1].

When we are securely orientated, it "consists of being well-settled, knowing that life makes sense and God is well placed in heaven, presiding but not bothering. This feeling of being securely orientated is the mood of much of the middle-class church[2]."

When we are painfully disoriented, these are periods and events that can push us to the edge of our humanness. These are experiences that teach us how precarious and uncertain life can be. These experiences leave us dazed and confused, not knowing who we can turn to for help.

It is often hard to even reach out to God in these moments because we are suspicious of his involvement in the painfully disorienting event.

These experiences lie beyond our conventional means of coping with life and require us to learn and accept a new normal that we never intended we would have to deal with.

This is the situation the children of Isreal have found themselves in as we approach Ezekiel's book. The nation has gone through a dramatic turn of events that have taken them from a place of security to a place of painful disorientation.

Israel's Journey starts in Genesis and Exodus, "as a people deeply at risk, without a home, without land, without security, moving in trust to a new place[3]." This family follows the sovereign promise of God, who enters a covenant with them and then leads and guides them through various moments of covenant jeopardy.

In the face of bondage, barrenness, oppression, and marginality, they understand at least at a cognitive level that God has a promise on their life, and these situations and circumstances are not God's will for them.

As the biblical narrative goes, God kept His promise, and they reached and acquired the promised land. God showed Himself to be faithful as Israel establishes them in the beautiful land of milk and honey. God has taken Israel from living on manna to eating the produce of the land of promise.

When God blesses us, we can't then forget God because he has delivered us. But first and foremost, we must stay true to our relationship with God! We must remember to keep the main thing the main thing. We must not forget to seek first the kingdom and His righteousness!

Unfortunately, like many of us, Israel forgot about God from whom all blessings flow. The land transformed Israel and seduced them into wanting more and more land, security, and goods. They organized great cities, vast armies, and effective tax systems, which allowed them to eat well at others' expense[4].

In the end, Israel didn't stay true to its relationship with God. They forgot that their land, wealth, and power were gifts that were the outcome of God's promise. "Greed overcame gratitude; selfishness displaced compassion. Eventually, the covenant was reduced to control and exploitation[5]."

As the behavior continued against the prophets' warning, natural consequences began to take shape, and Israel found themselves invaded and then taken captive by the Babylonians.

(Let's pick up this story in Ezekiel 1:3)

Ezekiel 1:3 (NASB95)

3. the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there the hand of the Lord came upon him.)

(For the next few moments, I would like to tag this text with the thought; God is Faithful and Free.)

I. The Context:

I would have to agree with the Commentary and Introduction to Ezekiel by John Taylor when he says that "for most Bible readers Ezekiel is almost a closed book. Their knowledge of him extends little further than his mysterious vision of God's chariot-throne, with its wheels within wheels, and the vision of the valley of dry bones".[1]

Herein is why some people are intimidating Ezekiel's book and find it to be a somewhat complicated piece of Hebrew literature to engage and understand. The book is extensive in its size, and the prophetic approach that Ezekiel takes is considered to be more passive, and therefore very different than his prophetic contemporary Jeremiah. Furthermore, we can see this in how Ezekiel's name is only mentioned three times versus Jeremiah, whose name is mentioned 129 times in his prophetic contribution to our holy scriptures.

However, in its structure, if not in its thought and language, the book of Ezekiel has a basic simplicity, and its orderly framework makes it easy to analyze.

One tipoff to this simple structure is seen in how the book closes, just like it opens with an intricate vision of God. Not of the Lord's chariot throne moving over Babylon's barren wastes lands, but of the new Jerusalem with its temple court and inner sanctuary where God would dwell among his people forever[2].

(Let us move from the broader context to the immediate context.)

II. The Setting: Ezekiel among the exiles along the river of Chebar.

The book opens with a summary statement about who Ezekiel is, the word of the Lord coming to him in a vision and commissioning him with a prophetic ministry. Essentially what we have in the first three verses of this book is the cliff notes version of what will take place from 1:4 until 3:14.

Here we have the exiles that have been taken into captivity by the Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Chaldeans, only deported Judah's most prominent citizens: professionals, priests, craftsmen, and the wealthy. The "people of the land" were allowed to stay. So Jewish history, then, has two poles during the exile: the Jew in Babylon and the Jews who remain in Judah[3]."

Therefore, Ezekiel's priestly status caused him to be deported and not left behind. What we must understand first and foremost is that being an exile is more than being geographically displaced. Fundamentally it is to experience the loss of our structured, reliable world, which gives us meaning and coherence.

At this point, I am not sure if Ezekiel can be in a more painfully disorientating situation than to be in exile. Ezekiel was faithful in how he carried out his work as a Priest. For Ezekiel to be faithful meant that he stood in contrast to the royal Jerusalem ideology of chosenness. Which told them God affirmed everything the nation did, and they were not accountable for their actions.

The main questions asked by those taken into captivity was "what did we do to deserve this? They also began to question God's ability to fulfill his promises since the Hebrew people we established on the promise of God's divine protection and God using them to meet his divine purpose in the world. But here they sit, exiled to a foreign land.

But Ezekiel would have resisted that urge to fall in line with the popular, readily accepted ideology of chosenness even though, as a priest, it was a good chance that he would have been on the royal payroll because the temple where the priest served was a line item on the king's budget.

Yet Ezekiel is still dealing with the traumatizing reality of being taken into captivity even when he was faithful in executing his duties as a priest.

Furthermore, Ezekiel's calling and purpose are attached to him being a priest. The priest performed the duties of their office within the temple, but there is no temple in exile.

Therefore, Ezekiel is a priest without a temple. What good a priest with no temple? To add insult to injury, Ezekiel is taken captive, and it seems like the whole purpose of his life appears has been destroyed. Not only is he finding himself being punished, even though he was faithful to the post where God assigned him. But being faithful has appeared to cost him his calling.

I can testify that there has never been a moment in my life when I had felt more painfully disorientated than when my obedience didn't protect me.

Is there anyone that knows what it feels like when living right appears not to work out right?

You're single sanctified, and celibate, yet you still can't find a partner to share your world.

You're tithing, yet you are still broke.

You have been serving quietly and faithfully for years, yet it appears that no one notices you, and you are overlooked for opportunities.

You come into work early, and you stay late; your performance is on point. But you are still passed over for numerous promotions by people who have less skill and integrity.

These are the moments when it feels like living right isn't working out.

(Let's go a little deeper.)

III. God Shows Up: The word of the Lord came to the priest Ezekiel.

At this moment of utter hopelessness and despair, this is when the word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel. This phase, the word of the Lord coming to Ezekiel, is shorthand for the famous encounter and vision of God that Ezekiel will have beginning in the very next verse, where the text describes it in great detail.

The first thing I want to draw your attention to is that God encounters Ezekiel while in captivity! The condition that was surrounding him was not enough to keep God from visiting him. This reminds me of how the book of Revelations begins, where John the revelator talks about he was in the spirit on the Lord's day on the Island of Patmos, and that is where God started speaking to him.

The island of Patmos was essentially a prison camp, and God shows up and has a miraculous encounter with him. The same thing appears to be happening to Ezekiel in our text, which shows us that no matter what is going on in our life, we can always expect God to show up somehow and in some way!

This is because the God we serve is both faithful and free! Here is why a sermon like this is essential because I don't think people understand how determined God is to equip, call, and commission his people despite what is going on around them. God is both faithful and free!

Margaret Wheatley is a well-known business consultant and author who wrote a book titled A Simpler Way. In this book, Margaret Wheatley makes an interesting statement about the relationship between possibilities and opportunities. She states that life creates more possibilities as it engages with opportunities. There are no "windows of opportunity," narrow openings in the fabric of space-time that soon disappear forever. Possibilities beget more possibilities[1].

As I thought about this statement from a theological perspective and how it relates to what is going here with Ezekiel, I wondered if this idea of there being windows of opportunity contributes to our tendency to put God in a box. From the outside looking in, exile would have removed Ezekiel's opportunity to function in his calling and gifting as a priest.

This is often where we start believing that if God doesn't move in this way or that way, in the various situations we experience. Then God is either the cause of what we are experiencing. Or God doesn't' care and has missed the opportunity to move in our lives. But that is not the case at all, because God is faithful and free!

By saying God is faithful, I mean that God is committed to the gift and calling that he has placed on your life! However, the only way for God to do that is that the God we serve must also be free. Faithfulness speaks to God's commitment, while the freedom of God speaks to his power and ability.

The Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann often writes about the freedom of God. By this, Brueggemann means that God is not prevented either by His deity or by our humanity and sinfulness from being our God and having interaction with us as with His own.

On the contrary, God is free for us and in us[2]. If we serve a free God, then the possibilities that are available to us are infinite because they are rooted in the mystery of God's freedom. God's freedom for us is experienced in God acting externally on our behalf. It is moving during difficult and hopeless external situations and circumstances to create new possibilities and futures full of hope.

Notice how the text still refers to Ezekiel as a priest even though he had no traditional means of exercising his gift and calling. First, this tells us that the gifts and callings that God has in our lives are not what we do, but when we are faithful to them, they become who we are regardless of our context. The way the gift manifests itself will look different at different times in our lives, but the gift has not gone away.

The text teaches us this because, in exile, God takes the priest Ezekiel and makes him a prophet! Regardless of them being in exile, God is still their God. Therefore, God's desire to use us is more significant than our circumstances, for God is faithfully committed and free enough to make it happen!

With all the various attacks of satan. With all of the social, racial, political, and economic instability around us. With all of the crazy situations and challenges that we face daily. When we begin to grasp the understanding that because God is faithful and free, nothing can handcuff God's ability to move on our behalf.

The bible says that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance.

The bible says that we have this confidence, he that began a good work in you will complete it. In other words, God is faithful enough and free enough to make sure he finishes what he has started.

We serve a God who won't leave any unfinished business in our lives!

We serve a God that is moved with compassion towards us.

We serve a God that will never fail.

We serve a God who will meet us in our seasons of exile and disorientation.

We serve a God who will provide whatever is needed for Him to use us and advance His purpose!

What God has for you is for you!

What God has for you is more significant than any situation or circumstance.

As a man or woman of God, God will make sure that you are thoroughly equipped for every good work!

I don't know who is in the middle of a situation that has you questioning God's ability to use you still. Nor do I know who knows that God has given you a gift, but it seems like God has failed to provide you with an opportunity to exercise that gift. For anyone who is currently painfully disorientated. Anyone dealing with loss has you struggling to find meaning and coherence to life, and you are wrestling with the question, now what?

There are three things this text gives us that we can hold on to until God shows up.

1. We must stay faithful. Ezekiel was faithful, even as a priest with no temple. Ezekiel was faithful even when it wasn't popular for him to do so.

2. The next thing is that Ezekiel stayed out of his own way. This is also seen in his priesthood. The priest understood that they represented God to the people and represented the people before God. Therefore, in the execution of that office, there was no room for self.

3. Lastly, out of the first two points, it implies that Ezekiel waited for God to move. The bible says they that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faith. All the parts of this verse that we shout about are predicated on our waiting. Waiting is a word of hope. "Waiting is hope's refusal to accept or conform[3]."

Let's finish where we started, for it is here where our painful disorientation moves us into a place of being surprisingly reoriented. "It is experiences of being overwhelmed, nearly destroyed, and surprisingly given life that empowers us to pray and sing[4]."

[1] Brueggemann, Walter. Praying the Psalms: engaging scripture and the life of spirit. Wipf and Stock Publishers Eugene, OR pg.2.

[2] Brueggemann, Walter. Praying the Psalms: engaging scripture and the life of spirit. Wipf and Stock Publishers Eugene, OR pg.3.

[3] Brueggemann, Walter. Cadences of home: preaching among exiles. Westminster John Knox Press Louisville, KY. pg. 111.

[4] Brueggemann, Walter. Cadences of home: preaching among exiles. Westminster John Knox Press Louisville, KY. pg. 111.

[5] Brueggemann, Walter. Cadences of home: preaching among exiles. Westminster John Knox Press Louisville, KY. pg. 111.

[6] Taylor, J. B. (1969). Ezekiel: an Introduction and commentary (Vol. 22, p. 15). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[7] Taylor, J. B. (1969). Ezekiel: an Introduction and commentary (Vol. 22, p. 16). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

[8] Jewish Virtual Library: a project of AICE The Jewish Temples: The Babylonian Exile (597 - 538 BCE). Retrieved from https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-babylonian-exile on February 2, 2021.

[9] Wheatley, Margaret J. A simpler way. Berrett-Koehler Publishers San Francisco pg. 13.

[10] Brueggemann, Walter. The Practice of Prophetic Imagination (p. 106). Fortress Press. Kindle Edition.

[11] Brueggemann, Walter. Reality, grief, hope: three urgent prophetic task. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids, MI pg. 103

[12] Brueggemann, Walter. Praying the Psalms: engaging scripture and the life of spirit. Wipf and Stock Publishers Eugene, OR pg.3.