THE PROBLEM: God’s name is being profaned among the nations because of God’s people.
- Ezekiel 36:22 (“My holy name, which you have profaned among nations”), 23 (“My great name, which has been profaned among the nations”).
- The Hebrew word for “profane” here can also mean “defile, pollute, desecrate.” God’s name was getting trashed among the nations because of God’s people.
- What did that look like? Something like this. God’s people were not acting faithfully to the covenant they made with God. They were living for themselves. They looked and acted like the world. Yet they were simultaneously claiming to be God’s special people. The world looked at that and basically responded, “Well, if you’re God’s people then He must not be much of a God!”
- Is this relatable to today? Absolutely. We see many refusing to believe in Jesus because of the weak witness of the church.
- This is something we need to be cognizant of - that our lives are a representation to the world of the God we claim. When we live lives that look just like everyone else, the world thinks, “He must not be much of a God!” When we live lives that are unchanged from who we were before, the world thinks, “He must not be much of a God!” We have an enormous capacity to damage the name of God by our behavior.
GOD'S MOTIVE: He will act not for the sake of Israel but for the sake of His name.
- Ezekiel 36:22 (“It is not for your sake . . . but for the sake of My holy name”).
- Not for the sake of Israel.
- Let’s start first with the fact that He is not doing it for Israel’s sake.
- What does that mean?
- It doesn’t mean that doesn’t love them or that He isn’t concerned about them. Rather, we can see that God’s people here are not crying out to have their lives changed. They are content in their hypocrisy. So He is not doing this because they are crying out to Him, asking for this change. Not at all.
- This is not true of every situation. There may be times when God does something for us for our sake. This is specific to this situation.
- But for the sake of His name.
- God is doing this for the sake of His name. What does that mean?
- God has put His name on the line in attaching it in covenant to Israel. So the actions and inaction of Israel impacts the reputation of God. Israel, as our passage clearly indicates, is in this situation damaging the reputation of God.
- Israel’s reputation is on the line but God’s reputation is on the line too. Israel isn’t doing anything to indicate they are the least bit concerned about the damage their hypocrisy is doing to their reputation. God is concerned, though, about the damage it’s doing to His reputation. And He intends to act.
- We see this concern about His name in the story of Moses as well.
- Look with me at Exodus 32:9-14.
- The Golden Calf incident is active at this point. God is ready to give up on Israel because of their disobedience. He’s ready to restart with Moses (v. 9). But Moses speaks to why God can’t do that: His reputation is on the line (vv. 10-14). He has aligned Himself with Israel and He can’t let Israel fail without it damaging His own name.
- (There are numerous interesting questions here about whether God really meant to do that or if he was just testing Moses but those are ones that we don’t need to address here. The point for this sermon is simply that here too we have the concern about God’s name as an issue.
- It may be helpful at this point to bring up some corollary passages in the gospels that focus on the glory of God.
- Let’s look at John 17:4, 5, 10, 22, 24.
- These all have references to the glory of God. Jesus is clear that He is working to bring glory to His Father. This is a worthy and important focus.
- Why pursue that?
- First, because God deserves to be glorified. He is worthy of praise and credit.
- Second, because we should live for that which is ultimately worthwhile, which is God.
- Third, we should want to bring honor and praise to the One who has done so much for us.
HOW WILL GOD REDEEM THE REPUTATION OF HIS NAME? By changing God’s people.
- Ezekiel 36:23 (“when I show Myself holy through you before their eyes”).
- So what is God going to do to redeem His reputation? Verse 23 tells us: He will prove His holiness through the Israelites.
- Their changed lives speak to the reality and power of God.
- We need to understand that we are God’s living billboards.
- When we shine with grace, mercy, and transformed character, we are beautiful and compelling billboards, attracting people to God.
- When we are smudged with hatred, sin, and no signs of transformation, we are repulsive and revolting billboards, pushing people away from God.
- One of the problems today that we deal with in the American church is the lack of growth. We are concerned that our churches are in decline. We hate to see empty pews.
- Because of that, we talk a lot about evangelistic techniques. What works? Outreach events? Direct marketing? Contemporary worship? Light sermons? Heavy sermons? What techniques can we use to grow the church?
- What that loses sight of is really important. It’s this: it was always supposed to be our transformed lives that were the billboards for the Kingdom. That's what interests people, attracts people, engages people, leads people to church.
- Today much of our evangelistic effort is an attempt to make up for the lack of transformed lives. Ouch? We have a bunch of people who look mostly like the rest of culture. We have unchanged lives. We don’t have the natural attractiveness that comes with lives radically transformed into Christlikeness.
- We are trying to substitute marketing for transformation.
- Perhaps we need to see the decline of the American church for what it is: an indictment for the lives that too many American Christians are living.
WHY IS THIS ENCOURAGING? This is a big reason to believe that God will help us.
- I should probably begin this point by noting that this truth might be discouraging for some people.
- If you’re a Christian who has wandered off into sin and you just want God to leave you alone, this is a discouraging truth.
- If you claim to be a Christian but just want God to leave you alone now and take you to heaven someday, this is a discouraging truth.
- For most of us here this evening, though, this is an encouraging truth. Why? Because it’s another reason to have confidence that God is eager to work greatly in your life.
- What do I mean? Let’s say that you’re a Christian who wants to be transformed into greater Christlikeness. You want God to work in you. You want to be fruitful. You want your light to shine bright to give glory to God.
- There are other reasons to think that God is willing to do that: there are Biblical promises, there is the reality that Christ came to earth to pursue this mission, there is the delight that God takes in a heart that is fully His. All those - and others - are true.
- But this passage gives us an additional reason to have confidence in God’s desire to move in our lives: His name is on the line and He is zealous for His name.
- You bear the title “Christian,” which means “little Christ.” People are looking to you for a picture of what God can do in their life. God wants you to be a transformed being in part because that will bring glory to His name.
- Maybe the way to think about it is that God has put His name on you and He wants His name to be lifted up, therefore He wants you to be changed.
- This should give us greater confidence in God’s willingness to work in our lives.
