Rev. David Holwick E Easter 2022
Boothbay Baptist Church (adapted from April 11, 1993, sermon)
Boothbay, Maine
April 17, 2022
Luke 24:13-35
BEYOND OUR EXPECTATIONS
I. Expectations and reality do not always mesh.
A. Tragedy at the supermarket.
Linda Burnett, 23, had gone to a nearby supermarket to
pick up some groceries and put them in her backseat.
Several people noticed her sitting in her car with the
windows rolled up and with her eyes closed, and both
hands behind the back of her head.
One customer who had been at the store for a while became
concerned and walked over to the car.
He noticed that Linda's eyes were now open, and she looked
very strange.
He asked her if she was okay, and Linda replied that she'd
been shot in the back of the head, and had been holding
her brains in for over an hour.
The man called the paramedics, who had to break into the car
because the doors were locked and Linda refused to remove
her hands from her head.
When they finally got in, they found that Linda had a wad of
bread dough stuck on the back of her head.
A Pillsbury biscuit cylinder had exploded from the heat,
making a loud noise that sounded like a gun shot, and the
wad of dough hit her in the back of her head.
When she reached back to find out what it was, she felt the
dough and thought it was her brains.
She initially passed out, but quickly recovered and tried to
hold her brains in for over an hour until someone noticed
and came to her aid.
This story appeared in mainstream media a number of years ago.
Alas, further research shows that this is an urban legend,
invented by a comedian.
But the point still stands -- our PERCEPTION of reality will
always affect our RESPONSE to reality.
#16778
B. How do you perceive your life right now?
1) Career - expect to be where you are now?
2) Spouse, kids - turn out the way you wanted?
3) Many people have that yearning feeling, "If only...."
C. Expectations have an awesome influence on us.
1) We can set them low, or set them high.
2) You only have one life - are your expectations worthy?
II. The first Easter was a clash of expectations.
A. The two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus were defeated.
1) They were headed in the wrong direction, away from
Jerusalem instead of toward it.
2) Their faces were downcast. 24:17
3) "We HAD hoped he would redeem Israel." 24:21
4) It was evident to them that their high hopes were
now proved false.
B. There is a hint of other possibilities.
1) They mention it is the "third day" since the events happened.
a) They must be thinking of the prediction made by Jesus.
b) It is normal to view it as two days. (Friday to Sunday)
1> Literally, it was one whole day, part of two.
2> In Jewish reckoning, that counts as three.
2) Some women had reported a bizarre experience. 24:22
a) They had come to an empty tomb.
b) Angels were said to have given them a message.
C. Unfortunately, the two men had expectations that were too low.
1) In verse 19, Cleopas describes Jesus as a powerful prophet
but nothing more.
a) Other Jews of the period described Jesus the same way.
b) It completely misses the spiritual dimension.
2) These men longed for redemption (verse 21) but missed the
Redeemer.
a) They didn't even realize he was walking with them
at that moment!
D. The reality was more than they could expect.
1) God's power had raised Jesus from the dead.
2) Death was conquered.
3) The lives of these men, and millions of others, were
changed forever.
III. What can we expect of God?
A. You can expect nothing.
1) Tens of millions of people today have no spiritual belief.
a) Researchers call them "nones" because they identify
with no belief system.
b) They live as if what they can see and touch is all
that will ever exist.
Todd Gray was recently doing house-to-house evangelism
in Kentucky with a local Baptist pastor.
One young man answered their knock and they asked him
if he had any kind of spiritual belief.
He told the men he was an atheist.
The two Christians gently challenged his atheism and
talked about the basics of the gospel message.
They briefly shared with him that our greatest problem
is sin and separation from God.
God's solution is reconciliation with him through the
cross and resurrection of Jesus.
Todd asked the young man if he had ever heard this message.
He said that he had not.
A 20-year-old southern American had never heard the
story of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
A Baptist church was within walking distance of this
young man's doorstep!
This is the situation Christians are facing today,
multiplied a million times over.
#66549
2) If you have no expectations then there is no letdown.
Poet Alexander Pope wrote in a 1727 letter:
"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never
be disappointed." #1481
3) No disappointment, but no thrills, either.
B. You can expect great things.
1) Christianity is all about the awesome power of God.
a) Jesus wants us to have an abundant life, not a
narrow, confined one. John 10:10b
b) He says the more we expect, the more God will do.
2) Expect even more than you think you can expect. Eph 3:20
a) Paul says God has greater things for us than our minds
can conceive:
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than
all we ask or imagine, according to his power
that is at work within us..." (Ephesians 3:20)
b) A missionary who believed this from his heart:
Perhaps you have heard the saying, "Expect great things
from God; attempt great things for God."
It came from a sermon preached by William Carey more
than two centuries ago.
He was British and he was Baptist and he began something
that even our church values very much.
Carey lived in an era in which no one had attempted to
reach the whole world for Christ since the first
century.
His supernatural dream was to see the church send
missionaries in every direction around the globe.
After 17 centuries of spiritual inertia, could one man,
whose formal education ended at age 12, make a
difference?
He could if he "expected great things from God", and
"attempted great things for Him."
As Carey began to meet with various pastors urging them
to consider sending missionaries, his words seemed
to fall on deaf ears.
One elderly pastor impatiently told Carey that when
God wanted to reach the nations, He would do it
without consulting Carey or the pastor!
Carey sought out like-minded believers.
In no time he raised enough support to be able to sail
to India.
Sometimes he had to fight the Indian caste system;
sometimes the British government.
In 1812, his printing plant burned to the ground, along
with years of translation work.
Carey's wife and two of his children tragically died on
the mission field.
But despite the great personal costs, he never gave up.
His organization translated the Bible into 34 Asian
languages.
It founded a college, began countless churches and
mission stations, started 100 schools, many newspapers,
and succeeded in tremendous social reform.
More importantly, Carey single-handedly launched a
movement of world evangelism which continues today.
#64813
100 years ago, 66 percent of the world's Christians were
Europeans.
Today, 74% of the world's Christians are outside of
Europe.
During that century, the Christian population of southern
Africa went from 1% to 24%.
Asia's percentage of Christians tripled.
How much of this is because William Carey, a lowly Baptist,
refused to limit his expectations of God?
[1]
He served the God who says in Jeremiah 32:27,
"I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world.
Is anything too hard for Me?"
3) Even undeserving people can receive great things from God.
Westley Allan Dodd was executed by hanging at the
Washington State Penitentiary thirty years ago.
If anyone deserved it, he did - he was a serial murderer
of children.
Westley Dodd has been called "one of the most evil killers
in history."
Moments before the death sentence was carried out, he was
given the customary opportunity for last words.
Here was a man who had viciously abused and mutilated
three young boys.
As he stood on the gallows his final words came as a shock:
"I was wrong when I said there was no hope, no peace.
There is hope. There is peace.
I have found both in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look to the Lord, and you will find peace."
According to an eyewitness, the father of two of the boys
murdered by Westley "hissed quietly" when Dodd invoked
the name of Jesus.
No one can fault this father for his contempt and
skepticism.
Until then, Westley Dodd had shown no remorse.
He would mutilate and murder again, he said, if not put
to death.
Hearing that a notorious criminal has professed to find
forgiveness, hope, and peace in Jesus Christ should not
surprise us.
Instead, it should cause us to rejoice, as we reconsider
the miracle of God's mercy and grace - wide and deep
enough to cover everyone's sin, mine especially.
#2485
IV. What does God expect of you?
A. The first sermon recorded in the book of Acts tells us.
1) In Acts 2, Peter speaks to a crowd in Jerusalem.
a) He reminds them of the miracles Jesus performed. 2:22
b) He tells them they had killed Jesus, but it was
part of God's plan. 2:23
c) Then he points to the resurrection and Jesus's
liberation from death.
1> Even this was foretold in the Old Testament.
2> Peter's conclusion: you killed him but God
has made him alive and made him Lord. 2:36
2) What are you going to do about it?
a) Peter's appeal is found in Acts 2:38.
1> He calls on everyone to repent and be baptized.
A> We must change direction & identify with Jesus.
B> Conversion is more than just believing some
facts - we must act upon them.
2> God will give us forgiveness and his Holy Spirit.
A> We must be cleaned up and filled up.
3) A promise, and a warning. 2:39
a) The promise of salvation extends to all generations.
b) The warning is that we must save ourselves from a
"corrupt generation."
B. You must decide what you will do about it.
1) These are more than just ancient Bible stories.
2) They speak to us, because we have the same spiritual
condition they had.
3) Each of us must decide what we will do with Jesus.
Is he a failed disappointment, or the Ruler of the world?
V. What do you expect from God?
A. Your presence here today indicates something.
1) Perhaps you were dragged here.
2) Perhaps it is your family's custom and you fear the
proverbial lightning bolt if you don't show up.
3) Maybe you really love God and believe this is a truly
important day to celebrate.
Someone sent me a cartoon this week.
It shows the Easter Bunny sitting in a church service with
a concerned look on his face.
The caption says, "The moment was bittersweet when the
bunny realized Easter was not about him."
B. We need to determine what we REALLY want in life.
1) We mistakenly think we need:
a) A new relationship that will fill our emptiness.
b) A new job that will satisfy our restlessness.
c) A new experience that will transport us to new heights.
d) A bigger financial nest egg so we can protect ourselves
from the uncertainty of the future.
2) But nothing ever fills the void.
a) C.S. Lewis once said:
"We err not by desiring, but by desiring too little."
b) What we really seek, if only we knew it, is God.
C. We must experience Jesus directly.
1) The two guys on the road to Emmaus did not have real
insight until Jesus revealed himself to them.
2) Has Jesus revealed himself to you?
a) Seek him until he does.
b) Dig into his Word to find him.
1> Notice that the disciples' eyes were opened after
Jesus explained the Bible to them.
2> That is what this church is all about.
D. We must experience Jesus fully.
1) We don't just follow him because he promises us nice stuff.
2) We follow him through thick and thin.
Christian leader Jerry Bridges once wrote this prayer:
Lord, I am willing
To receive what You give;
To lack what You withhold;
To relinquish what You take;
To suffer what You inflict;
To be what You require.
#66550
VI. Trust God for something bigger in your life.
A. Believing is just the beginning. Do something!
Years ago, before the iPad and iPhone, Apple Computer was
having a tough time.
They realized they needed a seasoned business veteran to
get them back on track.
Apple's young chairman, Steven Jobs, traveled from Silicon
Valley to New York City.
His purpose was to recruit the Pepsi Company's president
John Sculley to move west and run the struggling company.
As the two men overlooked the Manhattan skyline from Sculley's
top-floor office, the Scully started to decline Jobs' offer.
"Financially," Sculley said, "you'd have to give me:
a million-dollar salary,
a million-dollar bonus,
and a million dollar severance package."
Jobs was blown away by these demands, but he agreed to the
terms - if Sculley would move to California.
But Sculley would commit only to being a consultant from
New York.
At that, Jobs issued a challenge to Sculley:
"Do you want to spend your life selling sugared water, or
do you want to change the world?"
Most people don't recognize a chance to change the world.
In Jesus Christ, that is exactly the opportunity we have.
#2020
B. Churches need to have expectations, too.
1) Probably within a few months, we will have a new pastor.
2) Do we expect him to hold things steady, or maybe even bring
back the old days of glory?
3) Why not expect more than that? Because we are not led by
a man, but by the Lord Jesus Christ!
C. You can expect great things from God!
1) Don't settle for just a past decision for salvation.
a) Do something with that spiritual power.
b) Our oldest son loves the Lord and he likes people, too.
Last year Daniel began teaching science to a group of
students through Zoom - students in Kenya.
The local pastor who ran that school told him how tough
conditions were there.
Their village had to walk miles for water.
So Dan and his wife Kara raised money to drill them a
water well.
Then they purchased more land for the school.
Last month they flew to Kenya to visit it.
This October, most of our family is flying to Africa to
see this school that our son is hitting us up for!
2) Expect God to use you to lead your family to a deeper
spiritual commitment, to Christ and to each other.
3) Don't become discouraged by what your eyes see.
Open your eyes to see the glories that Jesus sees.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] “Christianity Declines In Europe, Increases in Africa and Asia, Says
Survey,” Setrige Crawford, Christian Post Reporter, December 23,
2011, <http://www.christianpost.com/news/christianity-declines-in-europe-increases-in-africa-and-asia-says-survey-65619/>
# 1481 “The Advantage of Expecting Nothing,” David G. Myers & Malcolm A.
Jeeves, Christianity Today magazine, April 22, 1988, page 27.
# 2020 “Sell Sugared Water, Or Change the World?” Greg Asimakoupoulos,
Concord, California, Leadership magazine, April 1991, page 44.
# 2485 “Notorious Conversions,” Luis Palau, Christianity Today magazine,
March 8, 1993, page 20.
#16778 “Almost Killed By An Exploding Biscuit Tube,” Rev. Chris Vogel,
Internet Sermon - “Seeing Success In Sinners,” July 25, 1999.
#64813 “Expect Great Things From God,” Bill Bright, February 9, 2009,
<http://dev.discovergod.com/edevo/2009-site.html?id=887>,
derived from Bright’s book “Supernatural Thinking.”
#66549 “In Our Own Backyard,” by Todd Gray, adapted by Rev. David Holwick,
Baptist Press, http://www.baptistpress.org, April 12, 2022.
#66550 “Lord, I Am Willing,” by Jerry Bridges, <https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/624987-lord-i-am-willing-to-receive-what-you-give-to>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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