Once

The Faithful Watchman Repeats His Warning

9.6.26 [Ezekiel 33:7-11] River of Life (16th Sunday after Pentecost)

Grace and mercy to you from the God who speaks and acts for the eternal good of his creation. Amen. 

If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all. 

This advice has been passed down from generation to generation. Maybe you got it from your mom, or her mom, or a teacher, or Thumper, the little rabbit from Bambi. 

Of course, like all advice, there are times and places when it leads us down the right path. When we are tempted towards cruelty or impatience or harshness, it is wise for us to bite our tongues and choose silence over severity. When someone is excited about something that doesn’t interest us at all or upset by something we consider trivial it’s prudent for us to rejoice with them or mourn with them rather than giving them our detailed assessment. When someone unintentionally harms us or hurts our feelings, silence can be an opportunity for them to acknowledge their actions and take responsibility and a chance for us to address the matter calmly. 

Silence can be an expression of love. Silence can be a practice in patience or kindness. Silence can be an expression of humilty or self-control, composure or not being easily angered. Silence can be good. 

But not all silence is good. Silence when someone is asking for help is not patience. Silence when someone is being slandered is not kind. Silence when someone is doing something wrong, something bad, something destructive is not love. Sometimes, you have to break Thumper’s rule. Sometimes, you have to say something, even when it’s not going to sound, feel, or be nice. Especially as a watchman. 

That’s the illustration the Lord uses for Ezekiel. He says to him: Ezk. 33:7 Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel. So hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 

Being a watchman wouldn’t be a thrilling job. Most of your time is spent in solitude. Late nights when everyone else has gone to bed. Just watching and waiting and hoping nothing happens, but being ready if it does. It’s also probably not the most respected job, either. 

About the closest equivalent we have in our modern day would be a fire lookout. They’re the men and women who climb into the fire towers and watch the horizon for smoke that could signal a dangerous forest fire. 

We don’t look down on people who do that kind of thing. It’s important. But I don’t know anyone who would treat a fire lookout with as much respect as a fire chief. At best, they’re unsung heroes. 

Now imagine it was your job to not just announce the danger that was coming on the horizon, but also to tell people the danger was coming because of something they did. Well, that was Ezekiel’s job. 

God said to him: Ezk. 33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 

Ezekiel’s job was a little like being the smoke detector closest to the kitchen. If you cook in your house, you know which one I am talking about. The smoke detector that you think is a little too sensitive. The one that goes off when the bacon grease gets a little too hot. The one that wails when something on the bottom of the oven gets burnt to a crisp. When that smoke detector goes off, you’re not grateful. You’re irritated. You just want it to be quiet because, in your mind, it’s overreacting to something that’s nothing to worry about. 

Maybe you’re right when it comes to dinner. But that same attitude towards sin is deadly. And that’s what Ezekiel was dealing with. 

Call it spiritual complacency or numbness to wickedness, but Ezekiel was fighting an uphill battle against seared consciences. The people of Israel had heard it all before. They felt like Ezekiel was making mountains out of molehills. They acted as if Ezekiel was just too sensitive. 

Ezekiel would expose Israel’s idolatry and they would tell him that they worship the Lord as much as anyone. He would point out how they treated their parents with contempt, and they would offer excuses for why that was acceptable. Ezekiel would pinpoint their greediness, abuse, and injustice toward the most vulnerable, but they would tell him they were good people just doing their best in a bad situation. Israel lived in promiscous and perverted ways and said that was just how things were in exile. 

You can imagine how exhausted Ezekiel grew of warning people who would not listen. And even when they did hear him, they didn’t change their ways. They didn’t turn to the Lord in repentance. 

Maybe you don’t have to imagine Ezekiel’s exhaustion. Maybe you’re living it. You know firsthand, how exhausting it is to warn someone who is speaking sinfully and living selfishly. 

Maybe it’s a coworker or a neighbor you’ve tried to gently correct. Perhaps it’s a close friend who has wandered far from the Lord and gotten sucked into any number of worldly ways of thinking, speaking, and living. You’ve said something. It was a soft rebuke, because you didn’t want to make things awkward between you and them. And they blew you off. Or they reacted really poorly. And you told yourself, you tried and that’s it. I did all I could, you say.

But what does God say? If you do not continue to speak out to dissuade them from their ways, they’ll die for their sin and God will hold you accountable for their blood.

Those scenarios are tough. But it’s agonizing when the wicked one is someone closer to you. Your child. Your spouse. Even yourself. You’ve done more than had one conversation. You’ve been upfront and direct. You’ve identified the sin and called them to repentance. And they got mad at you. They accused you of thinking you’re better than them. They’ve tried to justify their sin and excuse their guilt and even weaponized their wickedness. They’ve laughed you off, turned their back on you, or cut you off for a while. And it hurt. It hurt because you knew you were doing the right thing and you love them and they still treated you like garbage. To them, you were the annoying kitchen smoke detector always going off about something. And who wants to be that? 

So you piped down. And convinced yourself it wasn’t your place. You soothed your screaming conscience by saying: eventually they will come around. Someday, they’ll see things differently. 

And you’ve got it half-right. God is patient and so, too, should his people be. But God is not silent in regards to sin. He continues to cry out to sinners. Ezk. 33:11 As surely as I live, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?

Even in the chaos of wickedness, God’s character does not change. Even after he has sent prophet after prophet and they’ve been ignored, God remains faithful. Even after he has held out his hands for generations to stiff-necked people, God still demonstrates love. God takes no pleasure in bad people getting what they deserve. He wants all people to turn to him and live. 

That is why he sent his Son. We see that same spirit in the life and ministry of the Son of God. The watchman that God called Ezekiel to be was perfectly fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ. There is a good reason why Jesus often referred to himsefl as the Son of Man. He was the watchman for the people of Israel. He recognized their wicked ways. He did everything a person could do to dissuade them from their idolatry and pride, their greediness and their lack of compassion for the lost. He warned them of the coming judgment from the get go and they refused to listen to him.

His first words in Mark’s Gospel are Mk. 1:15 The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news. Then, whether he was in the big city of Jerusalem or the small towns of Galilee, Jesus continued to call sinners to turn from their wicked ways. It didn’t matter who you were: a Pharisee, a tax collector, a Samaritan woman, a man who had been crippled for almost 40 years, his own disciples, or even a woman weeping as she watched you carry your cross to Calvary. Jesus called them all to personal repentance. He was patient and persistent and he loved them to the end. He continued to invite them to turn and live. 

He warned the people that comparing their righteousness to the rest of the world wouldn’t get them into heaven. Mt. 5:48 Be perfect, he implored, as your heavenly Father is perfect. He taught them in parables about how God deals with wickedness. And most did not listen. But that doesn’t mean he stopped warning them. 

He did all this for them in his life. He does all this for us in his Word. God warns because sin is a matter of life and death. God speaks because he is love and full of forgiveness. And he doesn’t just speak once. That’s the really beautiful thing about this text. 

God gives Ezekiel a similiar charge in the third chapter of his book. In fact, it so eerily similar that bad Bible commentators wonder if it is even a second visit from the Lord. But they don’t get who God is. God does not speak once and say I did my part. God speaks and reminds and recalls and implores. He loves us. That’s why he lived for us and died for our sins. God loves the world, despite all of its wickedness. That’s why he sent his Son. God repeats himself again and again, because he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. So let us reflect that patience, that perseverance, that willingness to be ignored, rejected, and even despised for his Word. Let us go back to those who have brushed us off. Let us initiate tough conversations with those who have wandered far from the Lord. Let us speak the truth in love and see how God uses his Word to turn sinners from death to life. Amen.