All Is Well!

Introduction

A. If you wanted to buy a brand new Ford, where would you go? If you wanted to buy a new Chevrolet, where would you go? If you wanted to buy a new Honda, where would you go? What do you expect to find at Baskin-Robbins or Ben and Jerry’s? If you go to Payless Shoes, what do you expect to find? If you have an illness, where do you go for help? If you want to buy a house or sell a piece of property, who might be able to help you with such?

B. These questions are no confusing because our expectation and what we get coincide with each other. How frustrating it would be to go to a doctor only to find shoe salesmen inside. How frustrating it would be to want to buy a new car and the showroom displays furniture. We go to certain places because the claim and the product are consistent with each other.

C. In Ezekiel 13, God deals with false prophets. Their claim as prophets of God is not consistent with their message nor their practices. As a result, God is going to use Ezekiel as a demonstration of a true prophet. It will not be pleasant for Ezekiel, but God needs someone who will be faithful with his claim. Without Ezekiel’s faithfulness then he is just another false prophet. In our application time today, we are going to see that our claim and actions must be consistent if we are going to be a demonstration of God’s true disciple. Let’s be encouraged.

Demonstration

A. In chapter 12, Ezekiel once again acts out what is going to happen to those who are still in Jerusalem as Babylon approaches the city. As Dwight pointed out last week, there is the belief among those within the city and even those already in exile, that everything is going to be okay. God must still be pleased with them because he has not destroyed Jerusalem yet. In fact, Ezekiel’s message is being ignored because his message of destruction hasn’t come true yet. Ezekiel demonstrates that another exile is coming in the first part of chapter 12. He is to leave his house in the morning carrying only what he can on his back for a long trip. Then at night he is to dig a hole in the wall as if he is trying to escape. The whole point is that Jerusalem is going to fall and the people are going into captivity again.

B. Then at the end of chapter 12, Ezekiel is told to eat his food with shaking hands. He is to speak the message that the people will eat their food in anxiety and despair because of the attack from Babylon. While the people ridicule Ezekiel in 12:22, God pledges that it will not be long until what he has promised will happen. In fact, Ezekiel is told to tell the people that his messages from now on means that destruction is near.

C. When we come to chapter 13, God uses Ezekiel to confront the false prophets in Jerusalem and already in exile in Babylon. These false prophets speak on their own. They do not speak the words of God. God hasn’t appeared to them or told them what to say. They say only what the people want to hear. Some of the false prophets use sorcery and witchcraft to convince the people to listen. Through it all, these false prophets discouraged the righteous and failed to encouraged the wicked to turn from their evil ways. Their message is one of peace when war is on the horizon.

D. Their claims and their message are not consistent. Their actions and their claims do not go together. They make everything look good when in fact everything is crumbling. It is much like going to a used car lot looking for a quality used car. The outside may be spotless and the interior may have been vacuumed by crime scene investigators but what makes a car quality is the engine. That which propels the car isn’t the outside or the inside, it is what is underneath. These false prophets spoke a message of assurance and they did magic tricks which convinced the people that they were from God, but underneath it all everything is falling apart. They were corrupt and only pretended to belong to God.

Application

A. So what are we to learn from this. Two points. While we are not prophets, we are, nonetheless, ambassadors for Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 speaks that we are representatives of God. There must be a consistency between our claims and our actions and message. To call ourselves disciples means that people should be able to see that our actions and claims are consistent. That makes a difference in how we treat people and our attitude toward others.

1.  Some disciples have come to think that their faith is a source of entitlement. That in some way they deserve preferential treatment. I've seen disciples berate a waiter or waitress because something was wrong and I've shuddered when such happens in a group setting in which the servers knows that the group is from a church.

2.  I had a umpire tell me years ago, that he hated calling church softball games because Christians were often the worst sports. He had been cursed at more by those claiming to be Christians than in the industrial leagues.

3.  Go back and read your Bibles. Being a disciple entitles us to suffering, ridicule, losing, and being wronged but it doesn't entitle us to special treatment. Our conduct outside of this building says something about our God and our faith. It was Edgar A. Guest who wrote a poem long ago that started and ended with the words "I'd rather see a sermon, than hear one any day." But part of the second stanza of that poem is simply profound. "And the lecture you deliver may be very wise and true, But I'd rather get my lessons by observing what you do; For I might misunderstand you and the high advise you give, But there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live."

B. The second point because our claims and conduct must be consistent, then we have a word to give which can be heard by those who are not disciples. When there is inconsistency in our conduct and claim then people do not listen to us. But with consistency we can touch lives in a profoundly eternal way. Verse 10 speaks of the false prophets speaking a false message. They whitewashed the truth. Instead of bringing an honest message, they tried to make everyone feel good and confident.

1.  We have relationships with people who are not disciples. Those relationships provide opportunity for us to demonstrate our faith and to speak the truth. We do not speak the truth arrogantly or haughtily. But out of our deep love for God and for those people we speak God's truth.

2.  Ezekiel spoke God's message and people rejected him and God's words, but Ezekiel did not miss out on the opportunity to speak. It is through relationships that we allow God's grace to be seen and to be experienced and that grace is more than sufficient to convince someone to become a disciple. After all, God's grace convinced us. Invitation.

Follow Jesus

If you’d like to respond to this message or learn more about following Jesus, please reach out.