“And You Shall Say To Them.”

 

“I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh.’” (Ezekiel 2:4).

 

James writes, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many ways…” (James 3:1-2a). Why did James write this? Was it because there were many people in his audience who wanted the spotlight? Who wanted to be heard above everyone else? Was it because people were not rightly understanding and expounding the Word of God? Perhaps it was because folks were teaching the Word one moment, and then living in jealousy and selfish ambition (James 3:16) the next? Maybe it was a combination of these things?

 

Contrast what James wrote with these words of Paul, “It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.” (1 Timothy 3:1).  There is a time to caution others about leadership and teaching, and a time to encourage others to aspire to leadership and teaching. Of course, Paul follows 1 Timothy 3:1 with qualifications and disqualifications, which is to say that Paul has his own warnings to both the church and to those who desire to be servant-leaders.

 

Then we have Peter teaching us, “Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God…” (1 Peter 4:11a). This reminds me that if I am not speaking the living Word of God that I ought to shut up and be quiet. If I am preaching or teaching, or telling others about Jesus Christ in any fashion, if I am representing the Bible to others, I do not have a basis for doing anything other than “speaking the utterances of God,” of being an “ambassador” for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). In fact, Paul said that because he and his coworkers were ambassadors, that it was “as though God were making an appeal through us.”

 

And so God tells Ezekiel, “…and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh.’”

 

Now here is an enigma, there are those who make a display of, “Thus says the Lord,” and who yet communicate little of what the Lord is actually saying, little of the Bible’s message. Then there are those who have probably never uttered the words, “Thus says the Lord,”  and yet consistently speak the oracles of God – both by words and deeds. Appearances can deceive us, religious notions can lead us astray.

 

Often those who make the most elaborate displays of, “Thus says the Lord,” but who have the shallowest content are those who draw the largest crowds and sell the most books and videos. Glitz and glitter and noise will usually triumph over substance…in the short term. (Consider 2 Corinthians chapters 10 – 12, will we ever learn?)

 

I don’t know when it started to happen, but at some point in my life the statement, “I don’t know,” became precious to me. Precious because if I am to represent Christ Jesus to others, that saying “I don’t know” must be an element of who I am and of my testimony and message – because I am not God and I do not fully understand the mysteries of God in Christ. I am called to faithfully represent and transmit what is revealed in the Scriptures, I must not go beyond what God has revealed of Himself. And if occasion requires that I do express my “sense” of a matter, of what I think, then I should be clear that I am doing so, I should not be so presumptuous as to act as if “my” word were the Word of God.

 

Paul writes, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” (2 Tim. 4:3 – 4).

 

Now here is a danger in reading a passage like the foregoing, it is that we look outside ourselves and our “tribe” to identify its possible expressions, rather than inside. It is always “the other guy” who needs the passage, never me or my group.

 

There are some Sunday morning sermons I would like to have back, there are some turns of phrase, some seasons of thinking, some perspectives, some actions that I would like to retract. What I’m saying is that we must live lives of submission to the Word of God, and that entails the Word, through the Holy Spirit, searching us, convicting us, fine-tuning us, and transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ (Heb. 4:12 – 13; 2 Cor. 3:17 – 18; Rom. 8:29).

 

Jesus Christ is to be our source of Life, our center of gravity, our North Star; and our danger typically lies not in things that are obviously evil, but in things that appear to be good and helpful. Yes, yes, yes; blatant evil does invade the church, but usually it begins hidden from view. Covert evil, on the other hand, typically begins in public, as the latest and greatest teaching, revelation, better understanding, newest church growth plan, revolutionary leadership approach, evangelism program that requires no sacrifice on our part or message of the Cross…the list goes on.

 

Our calling is to proclaim, “Thus says the Lord…” That is, we are to speak God’s Word and not our own words; the paradigms that God has given us, not our own – and Jesus Christ, as revealed in the Bible, is to be the Message, today, tomorrow, and forever. And let us make no mistake, this will cost us our lives and the lives of those who hear His Message and follow Him  - Mark 8:34 – 38. When I say that this will cost us our lives, I mean that we will no longer live for ourselves, but for Jesus Christ and others – for we will no longer belong to ourselves…but to Jesus. Do we…do our congregations…belong to Jesus Christ?

 

I’m reminded of Paul’s words, “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” (Gal. 1:10).

 

“When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.” (Matthew 7:28 – 29; see also Matthew 28:18 – 20).

 

Our Lord Jesus has not called us to apologize for the Gospel, but to teach it as He taught it on this earth, to express it as He expressed it. This is not dependent on our personalities, on our rhetorical skills, on anything intrinsically within “us,” on the “ways of man.” After all, Paul writes:

 

“And when I came to you, brethren I did not come with superiority of speech, or of [man’s] wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of [man’s] wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” (1 Cor. 2:1 – 5).

 

Well, enough for now…let us keep looking unto Jesus (Heb. 12:2). There is really no other life worth living.