Speaking God’s warning: "Caught between a rock and a hard place"
Ezekiel 33:6 “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.”
This is the heart of the struggle for many pastors today. There is a great temptation to speak words that are pleasing to hear instead of announcing the warning of God’s disgust with the world we live in and our complacency within in it. We would much rather here the superficial “great sermon pastor” then to have someone get up and walk out on Sunday morning. When I give in to the temptation to please the ears of those around me instead of lifting up the cross I am choosing to worship self acceptance instead of the living God. The fact is, we are dying in our own sin; we are a part of a culture that looks so much like that of Israel before God sent them into exile. We have taken the gospel and manipulated it into our own agenda that we might be comfortable at someone else’s expense. The way of Jesus is found in few of our churches and God is fed up! It is the job of those who hear God’s warning to speak up for the church and know that speaking up is not going to be easy and will bring many persecutions but to not speak up is to affirm this rejection of the gospel. It is good for me to remember today that I will be held accountable for speaking up or not speaking up because I hear the warning. If I don’t tell of what I hear then I will be held responsible.
God, will you give me the grace today to speak your words of warning to the world. Help me to see those areas of my own life that need repentance; show me how I am giving into the world; expose those ways in which I am not speaking these words to your people. God help me to shepherd in a way that brings all of us closer to you that you may be the center of our lives and that we may be your presence within the world. God I pray that the Church would begin to listen; that she would stop ignoring your call to follow Jesus. I sense a great temptation that wants me to speak words that are pleasing to the ear but yet I know giving into this temptation will not speak to peoples hearts and it will not draw them closer to you but only add to their rebellion. Protect me from this temptation; give me the grace to follow you and speak your words that I may repent and that others may follow. Thank you Lord for not giving up on me and for loving me enough to hold me accountable! Amen!
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