Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

The prophet Ezekiel was appointed by God to be a watchman over the house of Israel, the nation descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (whom God renamed Israel). A watchman watches and sounds the alarm when danger is approaching. If the watchman sees the danger approaching and sounds the alarm and warns the people, when anyone who hears the sound of the alarm does not take warning and the danger overcomes him, it is his own fault. He heard the sound of the alarm and did not take warning. He is responsible for his own death. If he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. But if the watchman sees the danger coming and does not sound the alarm so that the people are not warned and the danger overcomes any one of them, the watchman will be held accountable for every death (Ezekiel 33:1-6).

 

One month ago, on the first Sunday in August, we had just cleaned up after coffee and cucumbers and cheesecake. There were only a half dozen of us left here in the building when the warning sounded. All of our cell phones blared in unison the alert that there was imminent danger of a tornado in the area. All were advised to take shelter immediately. The wise person among us said that we should perhaps go down into the basement. But the rest of us decided it was time to hastily exit the shelter of the building, run to our cars and try to get home. None of us were harmed. A tornado did not develop. But the torrential rain that caused extensive flooding to many homes in the city descended upon us with the mighty winds that had me sitting in my car in the driveway for a good while before I could even attempt to dash the few feet to the porch overhang of the parsonage. The danger was there. The warning was sounded. If any of us had been hurt or killed, we would only have ourselves to blame.

 

Because no one wants the blame, there are warnings sounded everywhere. But the watchmen have given way to cell phone alerts and radar installations and early warning systems. There is a need to have warning signs posted just about anywhere anyone could conceivably get hurt and if it is an exceptionally busy area, there may just be an actual person hired to warn people about a chemical spill or the movement of construction vehicles or dangers like that.

 

The prophet Ezekiel was appointed by God to be a watchman for the house of Israel. What was the approaching danger? What was the threat? What would kill the people if Ezekiel did not warn them?... It was the LORD God Himself. He was the danger and the threat that would kill the people of Israel. And Ezekiel is not the only watchman the LORD God has sent. He sent other prophets and apostles whose warnings are given to us in the Bible. He has sent to us pastors and parents and Christian friends to also be watchmen for us. What do they warn us about? About Him. About the LORD God who threatens to kill us and damn us to hell.

 

Many people will join in warning you about the LORD God, people whom He did not send to warn you. They will warn you that this God is out to get you. That is a partial truth. They will warn you that you are better off having nothing more to do with this God. That is not the truth. They will warn you to stay away from Him and that is the worst advice of all. You see when God sends someone to warn you about His wrath, they will not tell you to run away from Him or have nothing more to do with Him. They will tell you to run to Him and place yourself into His hands and cling to Him with all your might.

 

When the LORD God called Ezekiel to be a watchman for the house of Israel, to warn them against Himself, just two verses beyond our Old Testament Reading for today the LORD explains, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11). The LORD God sends warning that He will punish the wicked among His people. He will not tolerate their sins. He will not tolerate them because they are an offense to His holiness and an offense to the love that He has shown toward us. He will not tolerate their sins because they hurt the people who are sinned against and because they bring harm also to the people who commit them.

 

Many times in regard to wickedness I have heard people say, “They aren’t hurting anybody. If you don’t like it, just leave them alone.” Not only is that not true [they are hurting each other, themselves, their family, and society], but it is also just one of many reasons that wickedness needs a warning. It is also an offense to God’s holiness and His love for them. And as such it brings His wrath and condemnation, when He would rather they turn to His love and live forever.

 

Ezekiel was sent as a watchman for the house of Israel, to warn them of God’s oncoming wrath against their sins of rebellion and idolatry, adopting the pagan practices of other religions, and their immoral lifestyles against God’s Word. As those warnings are recorded in the Bible, so they serve to warn us also.

 

St. Paul was sent out [that is what the word ‘apostle’ means], and he warned many of God’s people in many cities throughout Europe and Asia in his epistles. Today, we heard a warning from his epistle to the Christians in Rome: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment” (Romans 13:1-2). These words too are a warning given to us.

 

The LORD has appointed watchmen: prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers, parents, and even civil government. They are called to give warnings, each within the bounds of their own vocation, to warn those entrusted to them that there are consequences to transgressing God’s holy Law. We will always need watchmen. And so our God through the Church continues to call watchmen into service for us. Men are formed into pastors through our seminaries. Deacons and other church workers are trained to operate within the bounds of the responsibilities entrusted to them. Congregations appoint Sunday School teachers and elders to assist pastors and parents with the task sounding warnings about God’s coming judgment.

 

These Christian watchmen, like the apostles and prophets, are not only to warn us but also to direct us to the place of safety. For the fallen inclination of sinful man is to flee from God when He threatens judgment against sin. But the gracious warning comes also with a welcome. The LORD invites us to find refuge and safety in Him. He is the one who does not desire the death of the wicked, but rather that they live. Jesus calls you to warn others so that they may hear the good news of forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

 

In today’s Gospel Reading Jesus Himself sounds the warning of God’s judgment to those who would cause others to sin, who would tempt vulnerable people into the way of wickedness. “it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). “It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire... It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire” (vv. 8, 9).

 

But Jesus also gives the sounding of salvation. “it is not the will of My Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (v. 14). And so “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother” (v. 15). And if he doesn’t listen to you, do not give up on him. But enlist help to again sound the warning to him of the coming judgment and point the way to salvation. Each time the warning of judgment against sin is sounded, there is an opportunity also to proclaim the rescue that is there for us in the hands of the oncoming Judge.

 

He does not desire the death of the wicked. It is not the Father’s will that even one should perish. His coming to enforce that the wicked shall die in their sins is not the primary reason He comes to us. His primary reason is to save from condemnation those who turn from their sins and iniquities, so that He may shower them with His forgiving grace and mercy. That is His desire and His will.

 

When we pray “Thy will be done,” we are praying for our salvation from sin and death and hell. For that is God’s will for you. He does not want you to die in your sins. He wants you to have the forgiveness, righteousness, and holiness that He has secured for you through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the very reason why He sends watchmen and sounds the warning, so that you will turn from your wicked ways and have the salvation that He alone can give.

 

God did not come in the flesh merely to sound another warning about His coming judgment. God came so that He could suffer the judgment against all sin Himself and save all of the wicked from their trespasses and guilt. He came to save you through His suffering, death, and resurrection in your place. And He freely bestows that saving grace upon you in the forgiveness of your sins. For those whom He has sent to be watchmen, He has also sent to proclaim His salvation. “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18).

 

“When the called ministers [or watchmen] of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation [binding them to their sins] and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better [loosing them from their sins], this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself” (Small Catechism. V).

 

Those who are called to be watchmen according to the bounds of their Christian vocations, ought to look upon their duty as Christ Jesus does Himself. It is not merely to sound the note of coming destruction. It is not even primarily that. It is also to point the way to salvation, to point to Jesus. Every call to sound the warning of God’s judgment against the wicked, is most certainly an opportunity to bestow His forgiveness upon those who turn from their wickedness. He does not desire the death of the wicked or that any one should perish.