(1) Reading, studying, and applying the Bible is considered to be one of the most important ‘habits’ that Christians are encouraged to developed. It ranks right up there (and perhaps equally) with prayer, church attendance, and personal ministry as the core set of habits necessary for a growing faith.
Reading and applying the Bible is, at times, hard work. The Bible is a book but it is also the inspired and inerrant Word of God. It was written in another time and place in two ancient languages. But God has given it to us to discern correctly His will and purpose for humankind.
The Bible is a book that reveals supernatural power. Men wrote it but God inspired it for God’s purposes.
The Bible contains history, poetry, and wisdom that can draw us in and make us think and struggle with our conscience and our souls. While it describes portions of verifiable human history, it transcends that history and enfolds it into divine history and the divine story.
The full range of human emotions is a part of scripture. There is love, hate, joy, sorrow, anger, peace, and a host of other emotions with which we can identify.
Yet there are times when we forget about this great and wonderful plan of God when we read certain portions of the Old Testament. I am referring to sections such as the ‘begat’ sections where we read about who ‘begat’ who followed by more ‘begetting.’ I do sometimes wonder why the Lord did not do more divine editing to shorten those sections, but one day we all might know why.
Then there is the latter half of Exodus, specifically chapters 25 though 39, in which the construction of the Tabernacle is given and carried out in detail. Again, after reading several chapters that give the measurements and type of materials used in the construction of it, my eyes have tended to glaze over and I revert to a childhood desire – show me a picture! (2) (I could not find a legally usable drawing of the tabernacle but here is a drawing of what the Ark of the Covenant that went in the Tabernacle may have looked like.)
However, there are moments when as you read the Spirit is at work and a verse or two, or even an entire chapter, grabs a hold of you and you sit up and take notice! You begin to ask, ‘What are you saying God? What were you saying then? What are you saying now? What are you saying to me now?’ That’s what happened to me when I read our main text for this morning last November 8 when this text was part of my yearly Bible reading.
As I read it I thought, (3) ‘Why haven’t I noticed this before?’ ‘What is God saying to the Israelites?’ ‘Why is God saying it to the Israelites now?’ ‘What does it truly mean for us today?’
The first question is beyond the scope of this sermon but a short answer to it is, “It was the Holy Spirit showing me something important!” As for the remaining questions, they are worth pursuing.
(4) ‘What is God saying to the Israelites?’
God is saying something very important: Each person is responsible for his or her own actions and life.
Ezekiel is using a contrast and comparison method as we read in verses 1 through 4: Then another message came to me from the Lord: “Why do you quote this proverb in the land of Israel: ‘the parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste’? As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you will not say this proverb anymore in Israel. For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins will be the one who dies.
The contrast and comparison in this passage is concerned with a commonly used phrase that appears in verse 2, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.’ In verse 1, we realize that this is a widely held belief and a view by the Israelites regarding the effects of parental choices on children.
In reading verses 3 and 4, however, we get the contrasting view of God. ‘As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you will not say this proverb anymore in Israel. For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins will be the one who dies.’
So, compared to the commonly held belief that the actions of the parents will have an impact on the children, God says, ‘Not any more.’ When you read commentary on this passage you are reminded that this very deeply held belief was rooted in The Ten Commandments where we read in Exodus 20:5 ‘I do not leave unpunished the sins of those who hate me, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations.’
Now I want to read slowly this passage again and as I do so, I want us to think about the implications of this passage. ‘I do not leave unpunished the sins of those who hate me, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations.’
What are the implications of this view? What are the implications of this so-called proverb? One word comes to mind: (5) fatalism. Fatalism is best expressed as an attitude that, ‘nothing that I do is going to change my life’s situation… everything is already pre-determined… nothing good can happen…change is impossible.’
Fatalism leads to something else – irresponsibility. If we logically extend the argument of fatalism then we begin to think, ‘If nothing I do matters, then I can do anything I want to and it will not come back to haunt me.’
We see the truth of the Exodus 20:5 passage demonstrated in the banishment of certain generations of the Israelites from going into the Promised Land when they refuse to trust God to help them take the Promised Land. But, what happens after all of that is the Israelites misinterpret this passage in the way it was not meant to be interpreted. We see this in verses 5 through 13 with regard to what happens to the children of a righteous and just father and his offspring and his offspring’s offspring.
“Suppose a certain man is just and does what is lawful and right, and he has not feasted in the mountains before Israel’s idols or worshiped them. And suppose he does not commit adultery or have intercourse with a woman during her menstrual period. Suppose he is a merciful creditor, not keeping the items given in pledge by poor debtors, and does not rob the poor but instead gives food to the hungry and provides clothes for people in need.
And suppose he grants loans without interest, stays away from injustice, is honest and fair when judging others, and faithfully obeys my laws and regulations. Anyone who does these things is just and will surely live, says the Sovereign Lord. “
But suppose that man has a son who grows up to be a robber or murderer and refuses to do what is right. And suppose that son does all the evil things his father would never do—worships idols on the mountains, commits adultery, oppresses the poor and helpless, steals from debtors by refusing to let them redeem what they have given in pledge, worships idols and takes part in loathsome practices, and lends money at interest. Should such a sinful person live? No! He must die and must take full blame.
“But suppose that sinful son, in turn, has a son who sees his father’s wickedness but decides against that kind of life. Suppose this son refuses to worship idols on the mountains, does not commit adultery, and does not exploit the poor, but instead is fair to debtors and does not rob them. And suppose this son feeds the hungry, provides clothes for the needy, helps the poor, does not lend money at interest, and obeys all my regulations and laws. Such a person will not die because of his father’s sins; he will surely live. But the father will die for the many sins he committed—for being cruel and robbing close relatives, doing what was clearly wrong among his people.”
Then, Ezekiel seems to anticipate the surprise in his audience with this line of thought as we continue into verse 19 and conclude with verse 22, “‘What?’ you ask. ‘Doesn’t the child pay for the parent’s sins?’ No! For if the child does what is right and keeps my laws, that child will surely live. The one who sins is the one who dies. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own goodness, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness. But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my laws and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die. All their past sins will be forgotten, and they will live because of the righteous things they have done.”
Now we address our third question, (6) ‘Why is God saying this to the Israelites now?’
That’s a good question! Let’s quickly review the context of our text before an answer is given.
A couple of important points need to made as to the time and place of this passage. First, Ezekiel was a contemporary of another Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah.
In fact, there is a parallel verse in Jeremiah to Ezekiel 18:2 and 3 that is found in Jeremiah 31:29 and 30. “The people will no longer quote this proverb: ‘the parents eat sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.’ All people will die for their own sins—those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker.”
Second, Ezekiel wrote from Babylonia while Jeremiah wrote from Jerusalem. Babylonia was the newest and most powerful empire in the world of that day and it was to Babylonia that many Israelites had been exiled because God had done so due to their disobedience. Jerusalem was in ruins, a shadow of her former self.
But, why is God saying this now? Why did He not say this to them earlier? What is so important about the ‘reversing’ of this proverb? Why does God say ‘you won’t say it anymore?’ What does this change of direction mean?
(Good Bible study includes a questioning of the text. Not questions designed to question the truth of what the Lord is saying but to comprehend the truth of what the Lord is saying.)
(7A) Why? God tells them ‘to correct their assumptions of their fatalistic views and subsequent irresponsibility and to teach them that each person is responsible for their own actions and sins.’
What their proverb was actually saying is that one’s spiritual condition is the result of parental and environmental choices. God is correcting that attitude and mindset. What He is saying is summed up best in verse 4 ‘The person who sins is the person who dies.’ The person who does wrong is responsible for their choice to do wrong. You can’t blame mom or dad. You can’t blame your past.
Now some here this morning may say don’t we have the ability to influence people? We most certainly do have that ability.
But there is a difference between influence and choice. Over the years, there have been people, circumstances, and environments that have, or have attempted to, influence me. But the influence only goes as far as I allow it to go.
And the choices of others have influenced us as well. Some of the choices have been bad choices, terrible choices. Choices that we did not deserve have placed upon us.
In his commentary on this passage, John B Taylor points out, ‘Ezekiel is at pains to say that every man is treated as an individual by God. What happens to him is not dependent purely on heredity (his father’s sins), nor yet on environment (the nation’s sins), but is conditioned by personal choice.’
Another reason God is telling them now is that as part of the restoration that will take place (and we need to read further in Ezekiel to understand this point) requires the people to begin (7B) to stop thinking that others and their environment are to blame for their situation. In verse 20 we read, ‘The one who sins is the one who dies.’
This is a verse about personal responsibility. The choices we make have implications, some (or many) of which, cannot be avoided. We are responsible for our own actions and the consequences of our own actions.
This brings us to the final question and the reason for the title of this sermon. (8) ‘What does it mean for us today?’
In my library is a book that I read several years ago. Its title is ‘The Wounded Parent.’ Written by Guy Greenfield, it tells the story of parents of faith, who have struggled with the choices made by their children that have left them asking the question, ‘Where did we go wrong?’
As I was praying and thinking about my post-Easter sermons, I thought about this time of the year when the family events of Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and graduations bring a bag of mixed emotions to us.
For some they are great days of celebrations and joy. For others they are days of dread, heartache, even anger. The memories are not pleasant. They are painful.
I really felt led to preach this sermon during this time of year because I have had parents over the years I have been a pastor and a youth pastor sit in my office, or tell me over the phone, of the pain and heartache the choices of their children have created in their hearts. One of the questions they have asked themselves is ‘Where did we go wrong?’
I say to those parents this morning that based on the truth of this scripture passage in which God clearly says that we are responsible for our own choices and decisions, (8A) ‘Stop beating yourself up!’
Each of us are responsible for our own decisions and consequences of those actions. While we make some of them under conditions of extreme stress, we also make some of them in moments of anger, jealousy, and frustration in reaction to an event or a conversation. But we make the choice and we cannot blame somebody else for the choices that we make.
I would also remind us today of one true characterization that none of us can deny: (8B) all of us are children of somebody. And we need to prayerfully and carefully consider, if necessary, letting our parents of the hook, for choices that we have made in a moment of anger or rebellion and stop blaming them for our choices.
A third thing that all of us must do is something that I know all of us do whether or not we want to admit it… (8C) we need to stop spending so much time judging the parents whose children make bad choices and start spending more time praying for them.
Come on! Let’s admit that we do this! We get in our groups and we say, ‘Well, it just goes to show you what bad parenting does!’
Enough of the blame game. We need to become people (and we are) of the solution! The solution is simple: Take responsibility for our actions and repent of those that have been made clear to us through the Bible and the Holy Spirit that they are wrong!
Life is too short to go around passing the buck. I have more respect for those who say, ‘I know what I am doing goes against the Bible but I am going to do it anyway,’ than for those who hide and refuse to take responsibility and live in denial about their choices.
We all need grace. We all need forgiveness. We all need God. There is no other way. There is no other hope. There are no other excuses.
To all parents this morning, I simply say, keep loving your kids no matter where they are at with the Lord. Keep praying for them. Keep talking with them. Keep interested in them.
God has not given up your children because God’s love for them is greater than your love for them. They deeply matter to God! He died for them just as He died for you.
Maybe there are issues that need to be addressed between you and your kids, address them! Ask the Lord to help you and your kids to get ready for a much-needed conversation. (Don’t forget to tell them that you love them.) But don’t give up on you kids and stop beating yourself up! This is a good word from the Lord today! Amen.
Sources:
Wilkinson and Boa, Walk Through the Bible. Thomas Nelson Press, 1983 page 212.
Taylor, Ezekiel: An Introduction and Commentary. IVP, 1969, page 45.
Power Points for this sermon are available by e-mailing me at pastorjim46755@yahoo.com and asking for ‘052106svgs’ Please note that all slides for a particular presentation may not be available.
