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@ LibertyGal
2025-03-02 22:12:14Last night I was reading this passage in Ezekiel, who was called to be a watchman to Israel.
“Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself. Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself.” (Ezekiel 3:17-21) {emphasis mine}
Although I do not believe we can directly apply this command to our lives because it was given directly to Ezekiel and because our salvation comes from Jesus and not works, I do think we can learn from this passage. Just as Ezekiel was called to share God’s blessings, His curses, and His fixed plan, in the same way we are to share the Gospel (the good and the bad) and God’s eternal plan as laid out in the Bible. Unlike Ezekiel, we will receive blessings for being God’s witness and watchman, but will not be punished for failure due to being covered in the blood of Jesus and His righteousness.
We are called to share the Gospel and make disciples:
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) {emphasis mine}
We should never stop until the end. We are not supposed to hide the fact we are Christians or act like everyone else in the culture, but to be a light for Jesus.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16) {emphasis mine}
Our love for Jesus should shine so brightly that everyone knows we belong to Christ.
Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)
We should study the Bible so we are ready to share God’s word with all who will listen. Being a light for Jesus isn’t always easy. It can sometimes even lead to persecution and hardship, but we are called to give an account.
But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:14-16) {emphasis mine}
Being ready requires diligent prayer and Bible study. We need to know God and His word well to be most effective. Of course we need to be more than just impersonal scholars. We need to have a relationship with Jesus and our Father God and share that relationship with others. We need to share Jesus with even more excitement than we would share our spouse or our kids. We need to be more excited to introduce people to Jesus than we would be to introduce people to a celebrity or other important person. Jesus should be a focus and our joy and such a part of our life that talking about Him becomes second nature. (For most people this takes a long time to reach this point, so don’t lose hope if you aren’t there yet.)
There are lies that we tell and there are also lies by omission. When we leave out some truth, we can imply a lie. So often Christians are so worried about seeming loving that we don’t love people enough to speak the whole truth to them. Yes, God is loving, but He is also holy and gives righteous judgment. Yes Jesus died on our cross to take away our sins, but some will reject Him and spend eternity in eternal torment in Hell. If we only tell the “good” parts, but leave out the “bad” parts, we are speaking a lie.
Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth, They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing iniquity. (Jeremiah 9:5)
In court we are asked to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Are you speaking the whole truth when you speak of God? Do you sometimes hold back? I recently was communicating with someone online about the Bible and I caught myself watering down a truth. Not speaking the whole, complete truth trapped me in a corner and my witness was harmed. I like to think of myself as fearlessly sharing God and His truth with people, but I seriously messed up on this one.
Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. (Ephesians 4:25) {emphasis mine}
Sometimes we hold back because the truth (things like God’s judgment, only one way to God, election, or God’s sovereignty) seems too hard or unpleasant. Sometimes we hold back because we are ashamed. Don’t be ashamed, for Jesus said:
For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. (Luke 9:26) {emphasis mine}
The closer our relationship is to God and the better we know our Bible, the more confident we can be sharing the Good News to those around us, but no matter how much we prepare within ourselves, we must always lean on Jesus and do things in His power, not our own.
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity (2 Timothy 1:7-9) {emphasis mine}
May God mold us and guide us to be a good witness and a good watchman, so we can shine the light of Jesus onto all the world and become the faithful servants we were designed to be for His glory.
Trust Jesus