OPTIONAL? Many Christians do not see evangelism as a responsibility.
- Ezekiel 33:1-11; Matthew 28:16-20.
- [Unpack the responsibility to share but not the “blood on our hands” part.]
- Unpack the passage and the responsibility that is put on the watchman. Explain the watchman analogy in that context and how it applies to the spiritual work of the prophets.
- Now, it’s important that we read this in context. This is originally given to Ezekiel and the prophets of his day in commanding them to share what God is giving them to share. That was a specific call to them in that day.
The passage, though, is applicable to more than just the prophets of that day. I think, in particular, that it has application to Christians today and the responsibility that we have to share the gospel with those around us.
- I want to get into various aspects of this idea but I want to start with the most fundamental: evangelism is not merely an opportunity for us as Christians, it is a responsibility.
- The most obvious passage is Matthew 28:16-20, which is the Great Commission. Look it up and unpack it.
- We are all called to share the Good News with the world.
- Often we try to delegate that to the preacher or to evangelists, but it is a call that is on all of us.
- Now, that doesn’t mean that all of us are called to be confrontational evangelists but we are all called to be watchmen in one way or another, warning others of the danger to come.
- Which leads us to our next question.
THE ROAD TO HELL: Do we actually believe there is danger ahead for the lost?
- Ezekiel 33:1-11.
- Let’s start with a simple question: do we believe in hell? Yes, we do.
- Now, the specifics of what hell is and isn’t is a fascinating Biblical study, but let’s just focus on some of the biggest, most obvious truths: it is separation from God, it is separation from love, it is separation from loved ones.
It is, undeniably, a horrible reality.
- Do we believe in hell? Yes, we do. We know that's the right theological answer. But at a more practical level, when you look at the way we actually live our lives, I’m not sure we do. There is a lot of evidence that we don’t really believe in it. The greatest evidence is our lack of evangelism.
- You can often tell more about what someone actually believes in their actions than in their words.
- If a husband says he loves his wife but spends everything evening away from home, you’ve got to question what he’s saying. His actions speak to a different reality.
- If a woman says she loves running but she hasn’t done a 5K in years, you’ve got to question what she’s saying. Her actions speak to a different reality.
- We say souls have an eternal value but our actions speak to a different reality.
- We say there is such a place as hell but our actions speak to a different reality.
- We say we want people to know Jesus but our actions speak to a different reality.
- We say that God’s judgment is forever but our actions speak to a different reality.
- We need to ponder what our actions say about our actual beliefs about hell.
- There is danger ahead. We should live in that reality.
- Interestingly, though, this passage doesn’t simply point us to the danger of what’s ahead for the non-Christian but also the danger of what’s ahead for the Christian. This is the biggest point of this passage and one that we need to consider.
WORTH PONDERING: What does God mean when He says that the watchman’s “blood will be on his own head”?
- Ezekiel 33:1-11.
- Let’s start with the most basic level of interpretation here. It obviously means that the watchman will be guilty and the guilt will be his own fault.
- He was assigned a job. It was an important responsibility and he was expected to fulfill his call. If he doesn’t do that, the guilt that comes with that failure squarely belongs to him and not someone else.
- What is less clear for the original Israeli watchman is what the punishment would have been. I don’t think it means that he would be killed for his failure but presumably there would be some punishment. Demotion? Flogging? Dishonorable discharge? Expulsion? I don’t know but there would be something there.
- This leads us then to the modern application to evangelism. What do we do with this idea there?
- The first thing that I think we can take off the table is loss of salvation. That clearly is not justified for a host of theological reasons, not the least of which is that our salvation is not earned or kept by our works.
- There are two possible applications that I think are worth pondering, even as I acknowledge that we can’t be certain about them.
- Loss of rewards.
- We will not be judged for salvation at the Great White Throne judgment because of what Jesus did for us that we received into our lives. But we will be judged as Christians for rewards at the Bema Judgment.
- This is not something that should be dismissed as a bonus. This is the evaluation of our lives by our Savior. We do not want to come up short in the eyes of Jesus.
- Our evangelism is an area that most of us don’t foresee ourselves being judged in. This Ezekiel passage is a good reminder to us of the call of the watchman. We are called to warn. We can’t force a response from someone, but we are to share the important news.
- Many Christians might think of the faithfulness along the lines of “Hey, I show up for church each week and I give a little in the offering.” The idea of sharing the Good News doesn’t seem to be our responsibility and so we don’t expect to be judged for that.
- But this passage makes us a little uncomfortable on that point. Let’s just tease this out for a moment. What if God does expect us to be witnesses? What if it’s a crucial part of the mission to expand the Kingdom? What if we’re failing at that, to the point where we aren’t even bothered by our negligence?
Imagine a watchman on the wall in Israel who not only doesn’t alert the town but who isn’t even bothered by his failure. That's a pretty dire picture.
- In that light, it’s easy to see where Jesus might take rewards away from us. We might be in far worse shape in receiving rewards than we thought.
- If a good evaluation of our lives is important to us, we need to consider that possibility.
- God’s fury at Final Judgment.
- I am speaking here of God’s fury at us. Let’s be more direct and say Jesus’ fury at us.
- This is a picture that we can barely imagine. We think of Him as meek and mild but there is the Lion side of Jesus too.
- Some of you are already iffy because I used the word “fury.” Can God be angry with us who are God’s people? Well, look at some of the rants that He shared at Israel in the Old Testament when they wandered off to do what they wanted to do.
- Imagine that you’re going on vacation. You check on your elderly mother every day but you won’t be around to do that. You ask your 25 year old son to check on her every day to make sure she’s ok, has what she needs, and hasn’t fallen or gotten hurt. He says he will every day. You emphasize how important it is and that you’re counting on him. A few days later you get a call from the hospital - your mother has a broken hip and is in the hospital. Worse, it turns out she laid there for two days before a neighbor heard her cries for help. You rush back. When your son comes to the hospital you ask him angrily why he didn’t stop by every day as you asked him to. He says, “I thought about it but had other things to do.” You would be fully justified in angrily rebuking him for his negligence. You were counting on him and he failed in his responsibility. It’s not a situation where you just pat him on the shoulder and say, “Listen, it’s no big deal. Don’t worry about it.” He deserves your righteous anger.
If God assigned us the job of sharing the Good News with the world and we just don’t do it, how is He going to feel about that? It’s not like we didn’t understand Him. It’s not like we don’t grasp the eternal consequences of the issue. We are just being negligent.
- Some might say, “But there are no tears in heaven.”
- That's not Biblically true. Revelation 21:4 tells us that God will wipe away our tears as we enter the New Jerusalem, which actually means that there are tears before that.
- It makes sense to me that there are tears at the judgment. In particular, there are two types of tears that I think are relevant here.
- The first are tears of sorrow.
- When we see those we love who never received Christ facing judgment, there will I believe be tears of sorrow. They didn’t receive the lifeline that Christ offered. Now they are eternally lost. Even if we did our absolute best to share the Good News and point them to Jesus, that will still be a moment of tears.
- The second is tears of shame.
- We already discussed the loss of rewards. There could be tears of shame there too but I want to focus here on tears of shame at the judgment of others.
- Imagine someone that was a lifelong friend is being judged. They are lost. You never witnessed to them. You never invited them to church. You never did anything for their spiritual benefit. In this life you had so many reasons. It’s an awkward subject. I’m not the right person to share. He’s a good person. Now, they stand before God at Final Judgment, lost. They look over at you and say, “Why didn’t you tell me?” Hot tears of shame flow down your cheek as you realize how negligent you were in your duty to your friend.
- This is an important mission that we’ve been given. It’s one that God expects us to complete. If we willfully neglect our watchman duties, we may face the fury of the Lord.
FIRST STEPS TOWARD TAKING UP OUR RESPONSIBILITY:
- This is a tough sermon. The truths are heavy and there are many of us who aren’t living up to what God expects of us.
- Maybe we feel that these truths are directly true of us. Maybe we feel that these truths reveal that I am not fully living up what God expects of us.
- I don't want to just leave us there. I want to talk about a few steps in the right direction. This isn’t a full picture and we should not be content to just make a start but these can point us in the right direction.
1. Burdened prayer.
- Luke 18:1-8.
- One starting point is burdened prayer.
- What do I mean by this? Two things.
- First, we have a responsibility to pray for the salvation of those around us. We believe that prayer is powerful and that praying unleashes God’s power on our behalf.
- We should be praying for those that we love who are unsaved. We need to ask for God to be drawing them closer to Him. We need to ask for God to open doors of opportunity for us to witness. We need to ask for them to be saved.
- I don’t mean by this that we need to pray once for them and then consider our task done. No, we need to continue to lift them up on a regular basis before the Lord.
- Luke 18:1-8 is a good reminder to us of the power of persistent prayer.
- Second, it needs to be prayer with a burden.
- We are not merely speaking their name as though it’s a system where if you say their name 1,000 times then God will move. It’s not supposed to be empty words. No, there needs to a burden behind it. We need to actually care about their salvation.
- Why is this a starting point?
- For those who are scared of evangelism, this is something we can do without being face to face with the person. Now, please understand that we are called to more than that, but this is a good place to start.
2. Sharing faith stories from my life.
- John 9:1-41.
- We should be able to lead someone to Christ. That's something every Christian should be able to do.
- Often as a pastor I get called into situations where someone is interested in being saved and the Christian in that conversation doesn’t feel adequate to “close the deal.” Now, I obviously love leading people to the Lord but you don’t have to have the pastor there for it to happen. You should be able to do that on your own.
- If we are reluctant to share the gospel as a whole (say, for instance, walking someone through Romans 1-8), there are still words we can say that are words of witness.
- One of the easiest is stories of faith from our lives.
- It might be a story of an answered prayer. It might be a story of a way that God helped us in a difficult situation. It might be a story of what I learned from Sunday’s sermon.
- It can be one of the biggest faith stories of our whole lives. It can be a small thing that just happened to us this morning. Whatever it is, it’s a story of God working in our lives.
- For most people this isn’t as difficult as sharing the gospel because there is generally not the “ask” at the end if the person wants Jesus in their life. It’s just trying to make that person a little more open to faith by showing how it’s worked in our lives.
- It’s also easier because it’s not something that's going to end up in an argument. It’s just a story of something that happened to me. The other person can’t dispute that it happened. They might not take it to heart and want God more but it’s exceedingly unlikely that they are going to start a fight to question whether it happened.
- This is a relatively easy way to witness.
- John 9 is a great gospel example of someone just telling their story.
- The one point that I think needs to be made before we leave this subject is that you can’t do this if you don’t have anything going on spiritually in your life.
- There has to be something to share if you’re going to share faith stories from your life.
- If you don’t have anything to share because there is nothing of consequence happening in your walk with Christ, that may raise a larger question of whether your relationship with Christ is where it needs to be.
3. Offering to pray for their problem.
- One final starting point that I’ll share arises when someone who is lost is sharing a problem with us. Maybe they are scared they are going to lose their job. Maybe they got a questionable test back. Maybe they are worried about the behavior of their teen. They have shared their problem with us because of our friendship with them.
- We can respond to that with good advice and sympathy, but we can also respond with an offer to pray for them.
I know that one of the fears that come with evangelism is the fear of rejection. What if we share the gospel with them and they say they’re not interested? It’s embarrassing and painful.
- One nice thing about offering to pray for someone is that (and I can tell you this from long experience) 99% of the time they will enthusiastically say yes. People - even non-Christians - welcome prayer, especially when they are in the midst of a crisis.
- So this is a way to point people toward God without it being particularly confrontational.
- Two things I need to say on this, though, if you want to pursue it.
- The first is that if you say you’re going to pray, you need to actually pray. And not once. You need to pray with persistence.
- Why? Because the biggest witness that can happen in this situation is to have God move powerfully in their lives! So we need to pray with faith and expectation.
- The second is that you need to go back to them later (maybe a few days, maybe longer, depending on the situation), tell them you’ve continued to pray for them, and ask for an update on the situation. This lets them know it wasn’t an empty promise that you made to pray for them, but you followed through with it. This is a powerful witness of the love of God.
- And it goes without saying that if they’ve seen an answer to your prayers you need to give God the glory in their presence.
