Rev. David Holwick ZK Questions People Ask series
First Baptist Church (Victor Keen)
Ledgewood, New Jersey
December 8, 2002
Ezekiel 33:1-13
I AM WATCHING YOU
I. Post-911 developments.
A. Army guard at Penn station in camouflaged uniform.
1) (no gun, just watching)
B. National database and email surveillance.
1) John Ashcroft is watching you!
C. Christians are called to be watchers.
1) We are responsible for the actions of others.
2) Their safety and even salvation may depend on us.
3) How well are you doing your job?
II. Scolds are not very popular.
A. Evangelicals are just above prostitutes in public esteem.
The Barna Research Group has just released a study that asked
people their impressions of 11 categories of people.
Only people who considered themselves non-Christians were
included in the study.
The results?
Non-Christians in the United States view evangelical
Christians somewhat more kindly than prostitutes but
with less affection than lesbians and lawyers.
Out of 11 categories, evangelicals ranked 10th.
They received favorable marks from only 22 percent of the
non-Christians interviewed.
This was higher than the 5 percent approval rating given
prostitutes but lower than the 23 percent rating given
lesbians and Republicans.
On the other hand, ministers as a group came in second, with
a 44 percent favorable rating.
You guys are making me look bad!
Ironically, these same people had a more favorable view of
born-again Christians.
What's the difference between an evangelical and a born-again
Christian?
They couldn't tell you.
Barna says his studies show that many of the people who have
negative impressions of evangelicals do not know what or
who an evangelical is.
It is most likely a result of the thrashing evangelicals
receive in the media.
#7411
This trashing probably reflects a negative view of our
social stances.
Note the disparagement of Jerry Falwell's "Moral Majority"
back in the 1980's.
B. Christians are "agin" stuff, and we let people know it.
1) Immoral sex.
2) Booze and drugs.
3) Fun stuff, in general.
III. Most of us don't want this responsibility.
A. We don't want to be charged with hypocrisy.
1) Similar to Ozzie Osbourne advising his kids not to use
drugs.
2) How can we warn people if we are trapped in same sins?
B. Christian tendency to escapism.
1) "Left Behind" mentality - world is going to heck, I have
a ticket out.
2) Christian negativism in relation to society.
3) We wash our hands of any responsibility.
C. Yet we live in a society that "preaches" all the time.
1) Animal rights demonstrations during fashion shows.
2) Anti-smoking campaign.
3) Asbestos lawsuits and environmentalism.
4) Homosexual rights.
D. We should call people to God's principles.
IV. God assigns us to be watchers.
A. We have a duty to others.
1) We are our brother's keeper whether we like it or not. Gen 4
2) Give them insight they may miss.
a) "My life is a mess - why?"
b) Insight from Bible on lifestyle choices.
B. We have a spiritual responsibility to warn people.
1) Our families, community, nation, world.
2) Warn them of God's judgment on sin.
3) Warn them of Second Coming of Christ.
a) Greg D., high school classmate I had not communicated
with in 28 years, emailed me this week after I
sent him some photos of our recent mini-reunion.
He wrote:
December 6, 2002
I remember one time in some class that we had to give
a report on something, and you gave one on I think
"The Late Great Planet Earth." Peoples' eyes began
popping out at the prospect of some apocalypse or
something that you described from that book. I recall
you being impressed at the results of that one "book
report!"
b) I wasn't so much impressed as astounded by the results.
People have an interest in future issues and prophecy.
We need to show them the moral implications as well.
C. Our moral choices matter.
1) Drug use destroys drive and desire, if not health.
2) Immorality breaks up families and leads to loneliness.
3) Violence and rage cause people to withdraw into shells.
V. What they do with the warning is their business.
A. Their responsibility is to repent.
1) God calls us to turn and live.
2) He doesn't want anyone to be ruined or destroyed.
B. Our task is to do what God tells us to do.
In the November 1987 Reader's Digest, Betty Wein retells an
old tale she heard from Elie Wiesel:
"A just man comes to Sodom hoping to save the city.
He pickets. What else can he do?
He goes from street to street, from marketplace to marketplace,
shouting, 'Men and Women, repent!'
'What you are doing is wrong. It will kill you; it will
destroy you.'
They laugh, but he goes on shouting, until one day a child
stops him.
'Poor stranger, don't you see it's useless?'
'Yes,' the just man replies.
'Then why do you go on?' the child asks.
'In the beginning,' he says, 'I was convinced that I would
change them.
Now I go on shouting because I don't want them to change me.'"
#1894
1) There are no guarantees we will change people or society.
2) But we have to try.
VI. Blow the trumpet!
A. Reformers of generations past.
1) England's Wilberforce, fighting long battle against slavery.
2) Prohibition, anti-gambling, etc.
B. Reforms needed today.
1) Abstinence movement.
a) Even mainstream press is highlighting virginity.
2) Right to Life.
3) Third world poverty.
VII. It matters a great deal.
A. Is there blood on your hands?
1) The tragedy of NOT intervening before it is too late.
2) Application to evangelism?
B. Our goal is positive.
1) God doesn't want people to die.
2) Neither should we.
Brent was a Marine guard at Camp David, the retreat of the
President of the United States.
And he was working there on September 11, 2001 - at a time when
it was believed that Camp David could be a target that would
be hit by hijacked airliners, as the World Trade Center and
Pentagon had been.
Brent said there were alarms going off all day as the security at
Camp David was on high alert.
Several low-flying aircraft had gone over before all the flights
were grounded.
At one point, Brent was assigned to a rooftop where he was to
watch for threatening aircraft.
He was armed only with his M-16 rifle.
Ron Hutchcraft asked him, "Brent, what good would an M-16 do
against a big airplane?"
His answer really set Ron back - "Oh, it probably wouldn't do any
good at all.
But at that moment, I knew what my last mission would be - to give
the warning."
This is our mission, too, if you belong to Jesus Christ ... to
give the warning.
You and I are the watchmen on the wall for the people around us
who do not yet understand the eternal consequences of running
their own lives.
The Bible leaves no doubt that the people we know who have never
grabbed Jesus as their personal sin-Rescuer have no hope of
heaven.
They are, in God's words,
"being led away to death," (Prov 24:11)
"without hope and without God," (Eph 2:12)
and will be "shut out from the presence of the Lord" (2 Th 1:9)
if they die without Christ.
And you have the information that can save their life forever.
Have you told them?
It's very sobering to put the name of a lost person you care
about in that statement from Ezekiel -
"When you do not speak out to dissuade ___________ (put their name
in there) from his ways, then ____________ (there's that name
again) will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable
for his blood."
You are the watchman that God is counting on.
There's a reason you are where you are.
Jesus has assigned you where you are to be the one who will give
the warning ... to deliver the news that can literally forever
save the life of someone you know and someone you care about.
So, your mission is nothing less than life-or-death.
#18002
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 7411 "Unfavorable Image Of Evangelicals Shows Power Of Labels," by
Mark Wingfield, Associated Baptist Press; December 5, 2002.
# 1894 "To Illustrate: Influence," by S.S. M. Henriques, Jr.,
Clarksdale, Mississippi; Leadership magazine; Winter 1990,
page 50.
#18002 "Posted To Warn Them," by Ron Hutchcraft, A Word With You #4086;
September 9, 2002.
These and 20,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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