OUR GREAT CALLING AND COMMISSION
We are looking at the calling and commission on Ezekiel’s life. And even though he had a little different calling on his life than we do, it is still very similar and still applicable for the calling and commission Jesus has placed on each of our lives. We will see that in the words God spoke to Ezekiel and the similarity of the words Jesus spoke to his disciples and to us.
Ezekiel 2:1 says,
“Stand up, son of man,” said the voice. “I want to speak with you.” 2 The Spirit came into me as he spoke, and he set me on my feet. I listened carefully to his words.
Son of man was Jesus favorite name to call himself. Why did God call Ezekiel this?
Some believe God referred to Ezekiel as “Son of Man” to emphasize his “humanness” among God’s people. I like that. I relate to that.
Why did Jesus call himself this?
Jesus wanted to emphasize His humanness to humanity. God through Jesus drew VERY NEAR to humanity. He became one of us. There is a relatability God is going for it seems in the use of this title for Ezekiel and in Jesus’ use of it himself to refer to himself. You and I are son of men. We are a part of humanity.
If you and I are going to live out Jesus’ Great calling and commission on our lives, like Ezekiel, we need to listen carefully to His Word and words to us.
We will see later God’s words for us in this commission He has for our lives.
Ezekiel continues,
Ezekiel 2:3 “Son of man,” he said, “I am sending you to the nation of Israel, a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me. They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very day. 4 They are a stubborn and hard-hearted people. But I am sending you to say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says!’ 5 And whether they listen or refuse to listen—for remember, they are rebels—at least they will know they have had a prophet among them.
God says to Ezekiel, “I am sending you to say to them, this is what the Sovereign Lord says, whether they listen or refuse to listen, at least they will know they have had a prophet among them.”
This is the commission God gave Ezekiel.
Now let’s look at the commission Jesus gave his disciples, you, and me.
Matthew 28:18 says,
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,[b] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
GREAT COMMISSION!
Our commission is slightly different but here is something I want you to realize, God has made ALL of us “in essence” prophets to go and share what He has told us to say just like Ezekiel.
The finished work of Christ makes all of us witnesses and prophets to what He has done for everyone.
Now, maybe you say, “I can’t do that. That makes me afraid.”
Yes, and you are not the first. God knows that. Look at what God says to Ezekiel 2:6…
6 “Son of man, do not fear them or their words. Don’t be afraid even though their threats surround you like nettles and briers and stinging scorpions. Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls, even though they are rebels.
“Do not fear them or their words.”
If you and I are going to live out our great calling and commission like Ezekiel, we must speak God’s words to others around us without fear of their response or view of us.
How do we do that?
Listen to what Jesus told his disciples, he said in essence the same thing just a little different…
Matthew 10:5 says,
Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: “Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, 6 but only to the people of Israel—God’s lost sheep. 7 Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.[d]8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!
9 “Don’t take any money in your money belts—no gold, silver, or even copper coins. 10 Don’t carry a traveler’s bag with a change of clothes and sandals or even a walking stick. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality because those who work deserve to be fed.
11 “Whenever you enter a city or village, search for a worthy person and stay in his home until you leave town. 12 When you enter the home, give it your blessing. 13 If it turns out to be a worthy home, let your blessing stand; if it is not, take back the blessing. 14 If any household or town refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake its dust from your feet as you leave. 15 I tell you the truth, the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah will be better off than such a town on the judgment day.
16 “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. 17 But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. 18 You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me.[e] 19 When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. 20 For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
21 “A brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own child, and children will rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed. 22 And all nations will hate you because you are my followers.[f] But everyone who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one town, flee to the next. I tell you the truth, the Son of Man[g] will return before you have reached all the towns of Israel.
It is a POWERFUL moment when God speaks through us. I believe it is the MOST powerful moment of a human being’s life when God takes over and speaks to others through us.
Jesus and Ezekiel shared the same mission. The same calling, to tell others about God and His salvation and His judgment if they don’t repent.
But what if they don’t repent? I shared the Gospel with one man in my life for 20 years. He was amicable, but never receive the truth of the Gospel. What does God say about this?
Ezekiel 2:7 says,
You must give them my messages whether they listen or not. But they won’t listen, for they are completely rebellious!
If you and I are going to live out Jesus great calling and commission on our lives, we must give others the message God has given us regardless of the result or outcome.
Tell them the truth regardless of whether they believe or not, this is our calling and commission. God said to Ezekiel…
Ezekiel 2:8 Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not join them in their rebellion. Open your mouth and eat what I give you.”
DON’T JOIN THEM! If you and I are going to live out our great calling and commission from Jesus we must like Ezekiel, resist the temptation to join in their rebellion.
This may surprise you but know that after you speak truth to people who refuse to believe, you will be greatly tempted to join them in their rebellion. God says, “DON’T!”
God then says to Ezekiel…
Ezekiel 2:9 Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me. It held a scroll, 10 which he unrolled. And I saw that both sides were covered with funeral songs, words of sorrow, and pronouncements of doom. 3:1 The voice said to me, “Son of man, eat what I am giving you—eat this scroll! Then go and give its message to the people of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. 3 “Fill your stomach with this,” he said. And when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.
God says, “Eat what I am giving you.” What does that mean? God is saying like we saw in the earlier verse in Matthew 10, “Don’t worry about what to say, I will tell you.” In essence, “Say what God tells you to say.”
Sometimes it will be very difficult to say to others what God has asked you to say. But if you and I are going to live out our great calling and commission from Jesus, we have to say what He tells us to say, even when it is difficult for the hearer to hear.
But how will we know it is Him saying it? One way, you probably won’t want to say it. It will COST you to say it to someone you love.
God continues to speak to Ezekiel…
Ezekiel 3:4 Then he said, “Son of man, go to the people of Israel and give them my messages. 5 I am not sending you to a foreign people whose language you cannot understand.
Like Ezekiel God rarely sends us to people we don’t know like foreign people, no, he sends us to people we know through relationships.
God wants you to GO to the people you KNOW and share Him with THEM.
LISTEN TO WHAT JESUS SAID ABOUT THIS….
Matthew 10:34 says,
“Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.35 ‘I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 Your enemies will be right in your own household!’[l]
37 “If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. 38 If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. 39 If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.
40 “Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me. 41 If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God,[m] you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs. 42 And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.”
If you and I are going to live out our great calling and commission from Jesus, we must speak of God to those we know. Who do you know that God wants you to speak to them about Him?
God continues speaking to Ezekiel…
Ezekiel 3:6 says,
No, I am not sending you to people with strange and difficult speech. If I did, they would listen! 7 But the people of Israel won’t listen to you any more than they listen to me! For the whole lot of them are hard-hearted and stubborn. 8 But look, I have made you as obstinate and hard-hearted as they are. 9 I have made your forehead as hard as the hardest rock! So don’t be afraid of them or fear their angry looks, even though they are rebels.”
Like God’s words to Ezekiel, Jesus told the disciples that he sent them out as sheep among wolves and to be as harmless as doves and wise as serpents. Jesus is using different language but saying the same thing God said to Ezekiel here. Don’t be afraid of the wolves. Be serpents in your thinking and doves in your actions. We must be shrewd, wise, and aware that we live in a hostile world. Don’t be surprised the world rejects us. But let that harden you to keeping your heart soft to the Gospel and sharing it with others.
God continues speaking to Ezekiel,
Ezekiel 3:10 Then he added, “Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart FIRST. Listen to them carefully for yourself. 11 Then go to your people in exile and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says!’ Do this whether they listen to you or not.”
Before you preach a sermon to someone else, preach to yourself FIRST. Paul addressed this same issue for himself in 1 Corinthians 9:27…
1 Corinthians 9:27 says,
“I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.”
If you and I are going to faithfully share with others this great calling and commission Jesus has given our lives, we must remember to speak God’s words first to ourselves and let them sink deep into our own hearts before we speak God’s words to others.
God continues speaking to Ezekiel about this great commission and calling on his life from Him…
Ezekiel 3:12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a loud rumbling sound behind me. (May the glory of the Lord be praised in his place!)[a] 13 It was the sound of the wings of the living beings as they brushed against each other and the rumbling of their wheels beneath them.
14 The Spirit lifted me up and took me away. I went in bitterness and turmoil, but the Lord’s hold on me was strong. 15 Then I came to the colony of Judean exiles in Tel-abib, beside the Kebar River. I was overwhelmed and sat among them for seven days.
A Watchman for Israel
16 After seven days the Lord gave me a message. He said, 17 “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from me, warn people immediately. 18 If I warn the wicked, saying, ‘You are under the penalty of death,’ but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible for their deaths. 19 If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep on sinning, they will die in their sins. But you will have saved yourself because you obeyed me.
20 “If righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and ignore the obstacles I put in their way, they will die. And if you do not warn them, they will die in their sins. None of their righteous acts will be remembered, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. 21 But if you warn righteous people not to sin and they listen to you and do not sin, they will live, and you will have saved yourself, too.”
22 Then the Lord took hold of me and said, “Get up and go out into the valley, and I will speak to you there.” 23 So I got up and went, and there I saw the glory of the Lord, just as I had seen in my first vision by the Kebar River. And I fell face down on the ground.
24 Then the Spirit came into me and set me on my feet. He spoke to me and said, “Go to your house and shut yourself in. 25 There, son of man, you will be tied with ropes so you cannot go out among the people. 26 And I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be speechless and unable to rebuke them, for they are rebels. 27 But when I give you a message, I will loosen your tongue and let you speak. Then you will say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says!’ Those who choose to listen will listen, but those who refuse will refuse, for they are rebels.
Speak what God tells you to speak, WHEN He tells you to speak it and don’t take responsibility for their response to the message. Your reward is not determined by their response but by your obedience to deliver the word of God to people. You and I must speak out of obedience regardless of the recipient’s response. This is easier said than done when we face rejection after rejection.
But remember this, if you speak, God holds them accountable.
If you don’t speak, He holds you accountable.
Go and teach what He has commanded you!
God has called ALL his followers to be witnesses to others about Him. Yes, some of us will speak very specific words and our gifts will look different than others, but the content is always to be from God to people for His glory and their good and leave the results between them and God.
Are you willing to say to God today, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening. I will take your Gospel to whomever you send me and share it with whomever you direct me.” May God give us each courage to remember and realize we are HIS WITNESSES, and we are taking what He commanded us to all and share, so they might believe in Him. Will you be an obedient “prophet” witness for Jesus and share? If you do, He will reward your obedience. Let’s live out our calling and commission together to love others into a real relationship with Jesus Christ. It is just that important!
Blessings,
Pastor Kelly
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