Celebrating God’s Watchman Because Of Their True Value

Sermon: Celebrating God’s Watchman Because of Their True Value

Scripture: Isaiah 21:11-12 “The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.”

Introduction: We are here again to celebrate God’s gift to the church. A pastor is like a watchman because both are spiritual guardians who are vigilant, provide warnings, and speak God's word to protect their community. Just as an ancient watchman scanned for threats from a high vantage point, a pastor is tasked with watching over the spiritual well-being of their congregation, guarding them from false teachings, moral decay, and spiritual danger. They deliver God's message, which can be a warning, an encouragement, or a call to repentance, regardless of whether the people want to hear it, because they will ultimately be held accountable for their role. We celebrate our pastors because of their vigilance as they are called to be constantly on duty and alert to dangers that could harm their flock. Their faithfulness to deliver God’s message as they announce what God’s says and what they see. They provide warnings of spiritual and moral dangers, urging people toward safety and repentance. The pastor is accountable to God for their faithfulness in delivering the message and protecting the flock. The role requires integrity, loyalty, and a steadfast commitment to their duty, resisting temptation to compromise or stray from the mission. Finally, the pastor’s role includes ceaseless prayer for the community, which is a vital part of a pastor's responsibility to intercede on behalf of their congregation.

There is a key distinction between "listening" for pleasure or entertainment and "obeying" or putting the words into practice what you hear. We are in a generation that loves entertainment. Many judge the pastor on their eloquence, their style and charisma. Others are judged by the clothes they wear, the car they drive and even the restaurants they frequent. God describes a situation to Ezekiel, His prophet, where people enjoy and are moved by eloquent words but ultimately fail to act on the message being delivered. In Ezekiel 33:31–32, God tells the prophet Ezekiel that the people "come to you as people do, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it". They enjoy Ezekiel's words, which are as pleasant as a love song, but they are not moved to change their behavior.

In Matthew 15:8, Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah when he says of the Pharisees, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me". This highlights the hypocrisy of outwardly appearing devout while inwardly being disobedient.

In James 1:22–24, the brother of Jesus in his epistle warns against being merely a "hearer of the word" and not a "doer". It compares such a person to someone who looks in a mirror and immediately forgets what they look like, suggesting the lack of action invalidates the listening.

In Romans 16:18, the apostle Paul warns against false teachers who use "smooth talk and flattery" to deceive "naive people". Their "sweet" words are effective at gaining an audience but lead people astray from the truth.

People need the truth. The value of God’s watchmen is the ability to sit high and see further and giving a truth or exhortation. People want to know what do they see in the future and why is that important to me? This question implies that the inquirer from Dumas wants to know about the future. His present condition seems bleak and future are uncertain. Our rear-view mirror often distorts what took place. Regrets and disappointments can loom big crowding out the blessings that were there as well. It takes intentionality to shift our gaze to the future with a new mindset to see the possibilities of the future. Some people are content to repeat their past shortcomings. The inquirer wants to know what God’s prophet is seeing. Will this night end and will things get better?

Hopeful believers are moved by more than what they see, they are moved by what they believed. What if you really believed what the Bible teaches? Then your best years are ahead of you. “…forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:13-14).

Your future will be fruitful. “…God chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that you fruit should remain…” (John 15:16).

Your mountains and other obstacles can be moved. “…I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it shall move; and nothing will be impossible to you” (Matthew 17:20). “What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you will become a plain or a mole hill!” (Zechariah 4:7). Because of what God promises in His word, believers can change their thinking and find themselves on a hopeful path of blessings. They can look up and see the beauty of the world in a different light. We must get our directions from the only trusted source, the word of God, to ensure that we don’t cave into the wrong narrative.