A man living on the first-floor of an apartment got upset every night because the guy living above him dropped his shoes on the floor when he got ready for bed.
Every night, the same thing happened. First, the noise from one shoe, then the noise from the other. Finally, the man downstairs had enough, so the next time it happened, he pounded on the ceiling with a broomstick, and yelled at the guy to stop it.
The next night, as the guy upstairs was getting ready for bed, he took off the first shoe, and without thinking, dropped it. Then he remembered. He was not supposed to do that. So he took the second shoe off carefully and put it down quietly.
The guy downstairs was in bed when he heard the first shoe drop. He lay there waiting for the second shoe to drop, but it didn’t. Finally, he yelled, “Hey. Drop the other shoe.”
During the past week, shoes have been dropping all over the place. First, it was Hurricane Ike as it churned through the Gulf of Mexico, putting everyone on edge about where it would make landfall.
Then it was a serious train collision in L.A. caused by the engineer who was trying to text message someone on his cellphone rather than watch his job.
Then it was the housing market, the stock market, and the whole banking system as one financial institution after another showed signs of meltdown. Everyone was asking why the financial system was going down the tubes.
A columnist in the Kansas City Star wrote, “Let’s be honest: Greed has really undermined the U.S. economy the past few years. Way too many Americans got too greedy. Here is part of his list:
-- Greed by homeowners who made poor decisions to spend too much money on houses.
-- Greed by financial institutions that offered absurd mortgage packages to attract home loans.
-- Greed by consumers who maxed out credit cards to pay for big vehicles, electronic goods, clothes, appliances and other stuff they couldn’t afford.
-- And greed by all Americans who refused to save for a rainy day.
Looking ahead, he wrote, the single best way to turn the U.S. economy around is for Americans to start living within their means. (Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist)
As Janice said last Wednesday evening at Bible study, “Who knows what else will happen? The dominoes are falling.”
Two Sundays ago, I introduced the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel, a man who received a vision from God that he should speak God’s word to the people. The verse just before our scripture for today (3:15) says that after God spoke to Ezekiel, he sat there stunned for seven days.
Life was not pleasant for him or for his fellow Israelites back in the 6th century B.C. One shoe had already dropped. Many of the Jews had been deported from their own country into Babylon and were now living as refugees. They were in exile. Why? The Bible says it was because they had been disobedient to God. Ezekiel 2 says they were rebellious, impudent, stubborn and wouldn’t listen to God.
And the second shoe would drop soon if they continued to reject God’s warning. That calamity would be worse than a hurricane, a train collision or a stock market crash. It would mean the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, the religious and political center of their nation. They would be wiped off the map.
Ezekiel 5:5 says, “This is Jerusalem; she has rebelled against my ordinances and my statutes, become more wicked than the nations and the countries all around her.” V.8 “Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I, I myself, am coming against you; I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.”
God established Jerusalem to be a moral and spiritual example to the world, but the Israelites had rebelled against God. They were to be a light to the nations, but their light had gone out and God said his judgment would come upon them.
So, since one shoe had already dropped, God appointed Ezekiel to be a sentinel, to warn them that the second shoe was about to drop. And from Chapter 3 to Chapter 33 we read the words of warning God spoke through Ezekiel.
The Sentinel’s Role
A sentinel is a watchman who stands ready to warn of danger or attack. In Bible times, watchmen kept an eye on the fields during harvest. Watchmen also stood on the walls of the city to look in the distance for enemies, ready to sound their trumpets if they saw danger. They had to look beyond themselves and their surroundings.
Because a sentinel stood at a higher place, he was able to see farther than the other people in the city. He could see what was coming. The same is true for a prophet who has his antenna tuned to heaven’s frequencies. He can see beyond where his people are spiritually and can provide an early warning system for them.
It is a terribly important responsibility because, first of all, it is a God-given appointment. And you don’t take God’s call lightly. When God calls, you don’t run, you don’t hide, you don’t find something else to do. But it is important, secondly, because the lives of God’s people are at stake. I’m not just talking about brain waves, heart beats and red blood. Certainly, without those things we can’t live.
But beyond that, the life we experience as God’s people, as the community of faith, is at stake because the church will die if leaders fail to carry out their God-given responsibilities. The commission of our Renewal Team is to help the church to be renewed. Together they are doing what they can to encourage, to warn, and to strengthen the spiritual vitality of the congregation.
Years ago, a railroad bridge washed away in the rain and a train went hurtling over the edge. Eventually, the man who had signaled a warning with his lantern was put on trial. The judge asked the man to demonstrate how he used his lantern. The lantern man showed how he swung it sideways and up and down, but all to no avail. Satisfied, the judge cleared him of any charges. Afterwards, the man said, “Whew. I thought they were going to ask if the lantern was lit.”
If a prophet, pastor, teacher, or any leader in the church does not take his assignment seriously, that church will die. The task of leaders is to warn the faithful not to stray and the unfaithful to repent. If we fail in that task, we will be called to account. So a leader, in his role as sentinel, must be able to see beyond where he is standing so he can warn those who are coming behind.
The sentinel’s sponsor
Where does the prophet’s message come from? Who sponsors him? Ezekiel’s warning was not something he thought up on his own. It was not something he could take credit for. We find out right away that God was the source of Ezekiel’s warning.
In 3:16, we read, “The Word of the Lord came to me.” In 6:1 we read “The word of the Lord came to me.” In 7:10 we read “The word of the Lord came to me.” What do you suppose it says in 11:14 and 12:1? Over 50 times in Ezekiel we read the words “The Word of the Lord came to me.” When we read the Old Testament prophets, one thing is very clear. The message they gave was not their own; their message came from God. His message was not sponsored by big business. It was sponsored by God.
If there is anything God wants people to know, it is that he is Lord. He is the sovereign God. When God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and gave them the 10 commandments, God said, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt.” Through one historical event after another, God would remind them that He is the one who rules the world. And when God brought judgment on Israel and the nations around her, people would recognize He is the Lord. In Chapter 6, God says, “I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land desolate and waste. They shall know that I am the Lord.” In 12:20 he says, “The land shall become a desolation and you shall know that I am the Lord.” Over 60 times we read that phrase in Ezekiel.
Israel’s army was powerful. The King of Babylon was powerful. The nations around Jerusalem were powerful. But over all of them was God, king of the whole earth. Eventually, every single one of them would recognize that God, and He alone, is the leader of the nations. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The Sentinel’s Message
I venture to say that most people don’t think much about what God is doing in our world until some personal tragedy or big disaster strikes. The Bible helps us to see that God allows calamities to help people recognize where they have gone wrong, so they can turn to God. And this is where God’s messengers can help.
Last Thursday night, Sue attended the neighborhood association meeting where she met Jessie Lowe, organizer of the Drugs Bring Death campaign. And he had a powerful testimony to the way God is working in people’s lives in this city. Another woman who was there volunteers at the Center where they have been passing out fresh produce almost daily. This woman said there are people who come to the Center who ask her to pray for them. So she walks outside and listens to their need and prays for them. They recognize they have a problem and need the prayers of God’s people.
In the news about the world’s financial problems in recent days, we have heard words like accountability and greed. The Bible condemns greed and selfishness and calls it sin. Employers have made huge profits by mistreating employees. CEOs have arranged for huge personal bonuses at the expense of those who work for them. They have laid off workers so they could make more money and they squeezed the system to fatten the bottom line. God calls that kind of behavior sin.
But let’s be honest. It is not just the rich who work the system to their benefit. What about those who sell drugs and ride around in fancy cars? What about those who defraud the welfare system or cheat landlords out of rent money? What about those who lie on their income tax reports or change their names to avoid bills?
Dishonesty and greed don’t just belong to the rich. Sin is part of the human condition. That is why we need to repent. As Paul wrote in Romans 3, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Confession is the discipline we want to pay attention to this month.
At the end of Ezek. 18, God urges his people to repent and turn from all their transgressions. “Get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit” he tells them. “Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live.”
That doesn’t mean everyone will listen. Doctors tell patients to change their habits so they can live better, but they don’t always do it, so they suffer the consequences. Parents tell their kids to eat right, live right, and drive right, but they don’t always do it, so they suffer the consequences. When Hurricane Ike approached the Texas coast, authorities warned people to leave, but over 90,000 people ignored evacuation orders. Nobody knows how many were swept out to sea.
Many refused to listen to the prophets when they shouted their warnings. God says in Jeremiah 6, I set watchmen over you, saying, “Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!” but they said, “We will not give heed.” And they suffered the consequences. A few years later, Jerusalem was attacked, burned, and demolished.
God calls his church to broadcast his warnings loud and clear in today’s world. He wants our hearts to be broken by the careless, godless people who are paying no attention to God’s warning signs and he wants us as a congregation to take seriously our responsibility to do all we can to let them know the good news of Jesus Christ our Savior who will save us from the judgment of God. Romans 10:14 says, “How are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?”
That someone could be you.
