We Are Watchmen

We Are Watchmen

Scripture: Ezekiel 33:1-16; Luke 10:25-29; First Timothy 2:1-4

“(1) Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, (2) ‘Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: 'When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, (3) when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, (4) then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. (6) But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand. (7) So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me.” (Ezekiel 33:1-7)

The title of my message this morning is “We Are Watchmen.” If you take the time and look up the definition of watchman, you’d likely find this meaning: “a person who keeps guard over a building at night, to protect it from fire, vandals, or thieves. A person who guards or patrols the streets at night.” While we are not traditional watchmen by this definition, as a pastor, my responsibility before God is to sound the alarm whenever I believe you are in danger from the temptations of the world, and from what some Christians say about how we are to live as Christians. I will explain this in more detail later, but for right now what I want you to know is that the responsibility of a watchman is not limited to the pastor or others in person leadership positions. As a child of God, all of us are all called to be watchmen, looking out and raising the alarm when someone is living in such as a way that it endangers their eternal destination. So why do I say that we are all called to be watchmen?

We have had discussions in the past about being our brother’s keeper. Some take the stance that everyone has the right to live as they choose and this is absolutely true. But, even with this being true, a child of God has the responsibility to love others as Jesus does and through that love do their utmost to sustain, protect and encourage the lives around them. Do you remember the story of the Good Samaritan? In Luke chapter ten, the following is recorded starting with verse twenty-five: “(25) And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ (26) He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?’ (27) So he answered and said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND,’ and ‘YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ (28) And He said to him, ‘You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.’ (29) But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” (Luke 10:25-29)

When the lawyer answered Jesus correctly, he knew that he had not done everything that he had just quoted in his answer, especially about loving your neighbor. So to “justify himself” the lawyer asked Jesus to clarify who his neighbor was. This is when Jesus told him the story of the Good Samaritan. We won’t read the whole story, but you remember that a man was traveling and was attacked by thieves. The man who was attacked was a Jew and he had been left on the side of the road badly injured. A priest walked by and saw him and kept on walking. Next a Levite saw him and kept on walking. These two should have immediately stopped and helped one of their own. But the third person, a Samaritan, stopped and helped a man who, under normal circumstances, would not have had anything to do with him. At the close of the story the following is recorded: “(36) So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves? (37) And he said, ‘He who showed mercy on him.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’” (Luke 10:36-37) The point Jesus made to the lawyer, and to each of us, is that we are our neighbor’s keeper. We are watchmen! And because we are we have a responsibility to those who are not like us and who live lives that we strongly disagree with because it goes against the Word of God. The Samaritan in this story was the watchman because he showed compassion to the person that under normal circumstances would not have given him the time of day.