Responsible Sharing

Ezekiel 33:1-11; Hebrews 13:11-21

Rev. Chris Harbin, Rocks Baptist Church—Pamplin, VA

27 November 2005

We pause this week to offer thanks to God for the many blessings we enjoy. We are also called to share our bounty with those who live with less. A local grocery chains is promoting the opportunity to express thankfulness by contributing $1, $5, or $8 to local food banks. They try to make it easy to give—encouraging generosity without sacrifice. Is this kind of sharing responsible? Is material wealth the most important thing we have to share?

Ezekiel’s words to the people recall the watchman on the wall. It is the watchman’s duty to alert the city of an enemy’s approach. The watchman must remain on guard to sound the cry of alarm, awakening the city to action. It is not the watchman’s duty to fight the battle. It is not his job to fend off the enemy. He is responsible to sound the alarm. He cannot control the people’s response, but it is his duty to sound the alarm. The people must answer for their own lives.

Ezekiel likens the prophet’s voice to that of the watchmen on the walls. They had sounded the alarm of impending doom. The prophets were not responsible for the people’s response. If, however, the prophets had remained silent when charged to speak, they would answer for the people’s plight. It was the prophets’ responsibility to raise the cry of alarm that the nation might be aware of God’s will. They needed the chance to change the course of their actions.

Jeremiah had felt the weight of that responsibility. He had spoken time and again to a people who would not listen. He wanted to give up, but Yahweh would not release him from the charge to warn the nation of their impending doom. Ezekiel found his own role to be similar to that of Jeremiah. His, however, focused on the people’s recovery from exile at the end of their judgment. He reminded them that the warning had been issued, though it had been ignored. They now had the chance to rectify their lives for restoration. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel himself had been faithful stewards of Yahweh’s message. They were responsible to speak the words of God, and the people were to act accordingly. The warning had the grave importance as that of a watchman on the wall, calling a city to defense.

Faithfulness demanded the prophets speak Yahweh’s words, regardless of the people’s reaction. They were compelled to raise the cry of alarm and the call to repentance. The people’s very lives depended on their faithfulness. Their message needed to be shared. It was their responsibility.

The writer of Hebrews speaks of Jesus’ sacrifice in a rather strange manner. Here in chapter 13, Jesus’ crucifixion is likened to the burning of sacrificed animals outside the camp. He speaks of Jesus’ suffering as an outcast on behalf of the unholy. The emphasis on Jesus’ death outside Jerusalem’s walls calls to mind his being rejected by the Jewish religious leaders. He was killed as one guilty of blaspheming God—discarded as unacceptable and unworthy. It is from this condition of being rejected and placed in a position of shame that Jesus effected salvation for those cut off from God. If Jesus’ sacrifice was for those on the outside, the efforts of our lives should reflect the same emphasis. Hebrews says that we are to follow Jesus’ example in leaving the comfort of the walls.

Much could be said of the implications of this comment. It refers to a repudiation of those who abused the Jewish religious structure to put Jesus to death and reject God’s will. It recalls attention to those overlooked as unworthy of God’s benefits and grace. It refers to society outside the walls of faith, living in desperate need of this message of grace and hope in Christ Jesus. It reinforces the acceptability of us Gentiles before God. Mainly, however, it simply stresses the fact that the blessings and message of the gospel do not belong to any one special group. We are but stewards of the message of salvation by grace through faith.

Jesus’ ministry exemplified this motif of those outside the walls of acceptability. The very choice of disciples was one hallmarks of Jesus’ breaking such taboos. Philip and Andrew were not Palestinian Jews, but Helenistic Jews. Their very names were Greek, rather than Hebrew. Fishermen and tax collectors were not the standard people deemed acceptable as disciples to a rabbi. Being a rabbi’s disciple was generally a more restricted matter for those with status, wealth, and respectability. Jesus’ ministry gave equal opportunity to all who would come. He even invited women to sit and learn at His feet. His focus seems to have been on those who were otherwise shut off by Jewish religious norms.

Jesus had taught the disciples that it was legitimate to walk through Samaria, speak faith to women of uncertain character, and receive the hospitality of those normally discounted as enemies. Jesus taught the disciples to touch the sick, blind, lame, lepers, and otherwise despised. He took time to call children unto himself as being loved by God. Sure, Jesus taught in the synagogues and in the temple. He also entered the homes of tax collectors, and those categorized as sinners by society. They were sinners—every last one of them. Jesus associated with them such that He was known as a friend of sinners and drunkards. Now in his death, Jesus further identified with those discarded by society as unworthy. He bore the shame of repudiation as He was led out of the city for crucifixion.

Hebrews would remind us that it was for those suffering rejection and distance from God that Jesus died. He bore our shame—the disgrace of our sin—that we might have full access to God’s grace and fellowship. The message in His death culminates a cry to those outside the walls of acceptability. If we are honest, none of us is acceptable. We are all unworthy of grace, love, and God’s sacrifice on our behalf. We must not forget the rightful shame of our own condition. It reminds us that we have a very important message to share with others in our same condition. We are all unworthy. We are all in need of grace. We are all rightfully outcasts, even in the light of our own standards.

Ezekiel spoke of the watchman’s responsibility. He used the metaphor of an approaching danger to heighten the sense of urgency in the watchman’s responsibility. We also have a duty of great responsibility. There is a sense of danger and a cry of warning. The focus of our message, however, should be that God is ready to receive those cut off from the message of truth and grace. The watchman must issue a cry for the entire city—the poor, the sick, the lepers, the wealthy, and upstanding alike. If we are unwilling to extend God’s message of grace and hope to all, we ignore our responsibility to share the message of grace. We misjudge what grace is all about. No one is worthy of the message, and yet we are still responsible.

We have material blessings to share, like the 40-plus shoebox gifts we have just collected. We have financial resources to share through gifts to missions and ministry causes. Still, we have the message of grace to share with those who are just as unacceptable as are we. If we do not heed our responsibility, we will be held accountable. Will we assume our duty to share the message of salvation beyond our comfort zones? We are the watchmen of the gospel. Will our cry be heard?

—©Copyright 2005 Christopher B. Harbin

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