EXPECTATIONS!
Every single one of us have expectations scattered all throughout our life. We have expectations for our spouse. We have expectations for our children. We even have expectations for our job, friends, pastor, and church!
Here in Exodus 22-24, I saw 3 real expectations that I believe God had for His people then, and still has for His people now!
1. Be compassionate. Exodus 22:21-27 outlines how we should act toward strangers, orphans and widows, and the poor. I can truly sum up all those verses—have compassion. My friend Ronnie Webster preached a message once entitled “Compassion is more than a bleeding heart”. How true that is. Compassion means you take a concerted effort to love on and help others. Just because you’re alive and breathing doesn't mean you have compassion. If for no other reason, look at Jesus and see that He had compassion on and for you, so we should do the same for others. Can I encourage you to look for one person today, that you can have compassion on!
2. Be different. Now, I do not mean, and God didn’t mean we are supposed to be weird or completely out there in terms of sanity! Exodus 23:24 says “Do not bow in worship to their gods, and do not serve them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them and smash their sacred pillars to pieces.”
These people were being promised an incredible land and dwelling place, but that meant the current residents would have to be driven out. God was very specific that they should not adopt their customs, or worship their gods. God was telling them they shouldn't blend in with their surroundings. They needed to be different. We live in a world that pushes its agenda on us all the time. The Bible is very clear on the issues that people try to blur the lines with. If you take a stand and believe the Bible, I promise you that you will be different. You will stand out. I heard all the time growing up to be like a salmon. But it is true. Salmon are the only fish that swim upstream. They go against the current and the norm! Maybe, we should take a lesson from a fish and go against the norm and be different.
3. Be spiritual. In Chapter 24(Don’t take my word for it. I encourage you to read it yourself.), Moses reads the commands outloud to the people, the people receive it and make a decision to obey, they sacrificed on the altar(worshipped), and received the blood sacrifice. The same pattern should be followed by us as Jesus followers.
We ought to get a consistent dose of God’s Word. Preaching on Sunday and Wednesdays aren’t enough, although they are important. You need to have a personal relationship with God.
We must make decisions and stick to them. Multiple times in Exodus the people said “We will do and obey all that the Lord has commanded.” We should say the same. When we hear a message or read a passage and God speaks to us, we should do and obey all that God has told us.
The third step to being spiritual is to worship. The people here in Exodus and all the way through the Old Testament, sacrificed as a way to worship God. Worship can take on many forms. In today’s culture, when someone says the worship was great, they are typically referring to the music portion of the service. But, it is much more than that. Worship means to ascribe and give worth to; to hold in high regard. We can worship God through music, giving of tithes and offerings, listening to preaching, reading His Word, praying, and so many other things. Just make sure you take the time to worship God
The last thing they did was receive the blood sacrifice. They made Jesus their Lord. Simply put for us today, regard the Lord as Holy!
MAKE MUCH OF JESUS.
I believe that the call for all of us today is to be compassionate, different, and spiritual!
We talked about expectations! The thing with expectations is that we mix them with being human. By that I mean, we want people to meet our expectations and fully EXPECT them to, but we get mad and/or frustrated when they don’t. But, we are human. We are flawed. We are sinners. WE MESS UP. And, can we be honest with ourselves this morning, we don’t meet expectations all the time either. We can’t point the finger at others and hold them accountable, without holding ourselves accountable as well. God has these expectations of us, and we need to meet them, because He has every right to expect them from us. He is perfect! He is holy! He is righteous!
So, let’s do our best, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to be compassionate, different, and spiritual. Let’s meet expectations today!