Evangelism is a massive part of being a Christian. In Student Life, the university mission group that I am a part of in UQ, there are four main parts of the Christian Life, two which form our relationship with God (prayer and Bible study) and two which form our relationship with others (Christian community and evangelism). All these are encompassed by Spirit-filled living. Thus in this view, evangelism is a quarter of our walk with God (although of course, all must coexist together – you can’t evangelise without prayer!) Chapter 2 of Ezekiel has some directions for our evangelism I believe. We must remember that to the world these days we are like prophets, because we have the revelation of God in our hands, and they cannot see the Truth.
So the overall gist of the chapter is that after seeing all those wonderful things in chapter 1 (remember the living creatures and the massive wheels in wheel with eyes all over them?), Ezekiel hears God speaking to him and is filled with the Spirit. God tells him to go to the Israelites and tell them to repent of their wickedness. In it we find some good directives for our own evangelism, our own mission to the lost to get them to repent. I’ll structure it in points.
1. ‘Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet...’ (Ezekiel 2:2a)
To be persuaded and willing to go to the lost, we must first and foremost be in the Spirit. It is no good to go to the lost because we feel that it is the right thing to do, or because our parents or our pastor told us to. We must be in the Spirit, with the Spirit convicting us of their need. I like the imagery here: the Spirit sets Ezekiel on his feet. Without the Spirit, we have no legs to stand on when we face the challenges and questions from unbelievers.
2. ‘... and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’’ (Ezekiel 2:4b)
Notice that the LORD does not tell Ezekiel to go to the Israelites and persuade them by any means possible to repent. He does not give Ezekiel 5 dot points on what he should say to them or tell him to set up a course explaining exactly what repentance is in the context of contemporary society. He tells him to say simply ‘Thus says the Lord GOD’. Indeed, we should keep in mind in our own evangelism that complex is not always (or usually) the best. Simple tell people what God says. Give them the facts. God can work in their hearts much more efficiently than we can try to manipulate their hearts with our petty words. When Jesus is working, just let Him work!
3. ‘And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions...’ (Ezekiel 2:6a)
We are to be unafraid of the consequences of evangelism. History is packed full of examples of this, and yet there are far too many examples really. Every Christian should have the courage to stand before persecution and ridicule in order to save the souls of the persecutors. As Christians, we are ‘Christ Ones’, who follow His own example. And isn’t this His own example? To suffer persecution to the point of death to save the souls of those who killed Him? Though briers and thorns are with us, and though we live amongst scorpions, what does it matter? This earth is not our home. We’re only here for a while, striving with every moment to bring glory to God, and to bring as many people with us to go home to Him as possible. There is a Chinese proverb that says ‘Life is like a bridge, we cross over it, but we don’t build a house on it.’ This is absolutely true for a Christian, and it is this disconnection from ‘satisfaction’ given by the world that allows us to serve Him through trials and persecution. So be bold with the glorious message of the Gospel!
4. ‘You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious.’ (Ezekiel 2:7)
God’s mandate to us is to speak and live the Gospel to everyone, regardless of whether they listen or not. Regardless of whether they accept it or reject it. This is for two reasons: verse 5 says that at least they will know that a prophet has been among them. That is, then they have no excuse. There is no room for debate or argument. In the future, if they have rejected Him, then they cannot say that it was because no-one ever told them (although Romans makes it clear that we all know anyway). Secondly, we can never know whether our words will take root, and though initially rejected, at some later time they may flower and they might accept the message later on, by God’s grace. Thus, neither should we judge certain people ‘unnecessary’ to preach the gospel to. All can be saved, in whatever state, and the very ones you would have judged no chance of accepting the Gospel may be the ones to accept and come to Him.
5. ‘Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you...a hand stretched out to me...a scroll of a book was in it...written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe.’ (Ezekiel 2:8b – 10)
God commands Ezekiel to eat the scroll which chronicled the bitterness that Israel’s sin had brought upon them. What does this mean? God was asking Ezekiel to internalize the message he was bringing to the people. God wants him to know it for himself extremely well. He needs to be living and breathing the very message that he preaches to the people. The nature of the message he was bringing was lament and mourning, for that was the state in which the people were in. That was what he was telling them to repent to be free of. And yet he says in chapter 3 that the scroll tasted sweet like honey. All that bitterness, sweet like honey? It was because it was God’s word. Today, we must be exactly the same way. We must read and devour God’s word, but more than that, we must live it and breathe as our very own, before we attempt to convince others that they too should follow it. Moreover, we must internalise the suffering and pain that is theirs to be effective in reaching them. That is, we must have the burning feeling inside that we know where they’re going (ie. Hell), and we know how hard life must be for them without their Creator. If we can grasp these ‘lamentations and mourning’ then we can identify with people much better.
This is what I found in this chapter regarding evangelism. Of course, there is much more in the chapter about other things. Let’s all be challenged to go further in our evangelism!
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