Friday, June 3, 2016

SAY, "THIS IS WHAT THE LORD SAYS"



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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak My words to them. You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel—not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to Me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate. But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.”

And He said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.”

The hand of the Lord was on me there, and he said to me, “Get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you.” So I got up and went out to the plain. And the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.
 
Then the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet. He spoke to me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house. And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes; you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people. I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious people. But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them refuse; for they are a rebellious people.

Ezekiel 3:4-11, 22-27

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There is no doubt in this statement:

Anyone who chooses to follow Jesus and accept Him as Savior (in other words, a Christian) is expected to tell others about the word of the Lord and what it says.

I can say this with absolute confidence because Jesus Himself gave all His disciples the following tasking:

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20a

Part of making followers of Jesus is to share the word of God with them, the very word that tells us about the life of the Christ they are to model their own lives after. We’re also to make sure that people hear the expectations of God. For to live like Jesus is to live in obedience to the Father, just as He did

Now, all this sounds good coming out but there’s one issue we all could encounter as we seek to carry out the call to share the word of the Lord with others:

People might not choose to listen.

Indeed, we can exert every ounce of our energy toward sharing the words of God with other but there is absolutely no guarantee that they will open their ears, their hearts, their minds, or their souls to a single word you say. And as we look at our passage for today, we find the scriptures showing us that this issue was exactly the one Ezekiel faced as he set out to share God’s message with the Israelites. Look again at these words here:

He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak My words to them. You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel—not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to Me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate. But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.”

And He said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.” Ezekiel 3:4-11

Note here that God is warning Ezekiel about what might happen when he goes to carry out His will. He let His prophet know right up front that the Israelites were “unwilling to listen” because they were “hardened and obstinate”, a “rebellious people.” God knew well enough first-hand because they had already closed their ears when He spoke to them so He knew they would easily block out Ezekiel, one of their peers.

Yet despite this, I want to you to see that God did not use this as an excuse to allow Ezekiel off the hook. He didn’t tell His messenger to forget giving His message to His people because they wouldn’t listen anyways. Rather, He told Ezekiel to go and speak His words to the people of Israel without fear or terror of what might happen. God promised to make Ezekiel as “unyielding and hardened” as the Israelites so he would be able to go to His people in exile and simply proclaim, “This is what the Lord says”, whether they listen or not.

In other words, God’s word would be proclaimed one way or another. If people failed to listen to it, they couldn’t say they never had the chance to do so.

As we set out to be God’s hands and feet in this the twenty-first century, we too are called to share the words of the Lord God Almighty. And just as Ezekiel discovered, not everyone is going to be wild about hearing what the Lord has to say. Nonetheless, we tell them anyways because it’s our obligation to God but even more our obligation to the people we are trying to help find salvation.

We, like the prophets of old, are to say to others, “This is what the Lord says” and then proclaim His words with bold confidence.

If those we speak to choose not to listen, that’s their problem, one they will have to answer to God for.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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