Ezekiel: Watchman Mentality

Ezekiel 3:16-27

Intro: Last week we introduced the book of Ezekiel and saw how amazing our God is and how powerful He is and how He is always present with us. This week we are going to be in Ezekiel chapter three. In the verses we are going to read we are going to see God use Ezekiel as a watchman. To explain what a watch man is we are going to demonstrate with a course. (do one person blind folded and one guiding the blindfolded one). So we see that (whoever was blindfolded) was being guide where to go so they wouldn’t step on anything. Another example of being a watchman (Tell story of Clay warning about hitting the mailbox).

Now lets look at our passage and see how Ezekiel was a watchman for the people of Israel.

1. What is a Watchman?

Just like how my brother was trying to warn my teacher about them mailbox Ezekiel was called to warn the people of Israel of impending judgement. Going back to the course we saw (whoever wasn’t blindfolded) guide the person through so they wouldn’t hit anything. In life we are to warn people even if they don’t listen. Being a watchman is a call to be faithful.

We see that Ezekiel obeys God and God uses him to be a watchman. Ezekiel was willing to be courageous to speak God’s truth to those around him. Ezekiel was also faithful. We can have this watchman mentality also. We can be like Ezekiel and boldly stand for truth and warn others about their sin or warn them about the path they are on. We must be faithful when it come to being a watchman.

We see this call to action in the New Testament when Christ command us to go and preach the gospel message to show love to others and be lights in our community.

We see in verses 22-27 of how Ezekiel stopped listened and obeyed God. He also was ready to speak only when God commanded him to. We are to do this too. Like how talked about this morning Sunday School when it comes to pointing out sin to others we need to pray and ask for wisdom from God before we go and confront another believer about a sin or a path that they are about to go down.

2. The life of a watchman

Read: 1 Peter 2:9 and Romans 15:16

First in the 1 Peter verse we are called a royal priesthood. We are a people that belong to God. Being chosen as a royal priesthood is a call to stand apart and illuminate God’s truth. As believers our identity is found in Christ. We belong to Christ and we are to grow in our life and become more like Him. The life of a watchman has this light we are to live out our faith daily. We need to be showing love to others and be encouraging each other. We are command to do all these things.

In Romans we see that Paul because of God’s grace in his life he is a minister and a servant of the gospel. We are also to be ministers and servants of the gospel. We are to bring others closer to God through our actions and our words. If we are going to be a watchman we must be leading by example. We must be sharing the hope and joy Christ provides for us.

As we go through Ezekiel it will show us that this call to proclaim the gospel is more than just preaching it involves our whole life our identity must be found in Christ.

We have to remember to be a watchman our own relationship with Christ is first. If our relationship with Christ is not close then we have no right to call out other believers. and when our relationship with God is our first priority then our lives will be a living example.

Con: Ezekiel was commanded by God to be a watchman for His people. God tells us that we are a royal priesthood and we are to show God’s character. We are also called to be ministries and servants of the gospel. To be a watchman today we are called to faithfully confront, encourage and lead others toward Christ, utilizing our unique gifts within our community.