The Call of God (Part 2)

The Call of God (Part 2)
Ezekiel 3

We have seen over the last two weeks the prophet Ezekiel be drafted into God's ministry.

It began with visions of God in chapter one in which we recognized God to be a God of Judgment, Whose competence and expedience is unparalleled, Whose providential plan is complex beyond comprehension and is also universally inclusive, Whose throne is in Heaven, a place of unreachable holiness an purity, finally we saw Jesus, whose faithfulness and mercy was emphasized by the rainbow around His throne.

Then Last week we saw Ezekiel called to a higher purpose in life, called of God to carry out God's plan.
Several aspects of the call of God stand out to us in chapter 2:

I.) The Posture of the Called (Verse 1)
God brought Ezekiel from his face to his feet.
II.) The Empowerment of the Called (Verse 2)
It is only in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit that we can accomplish the work of God.
III.) The Responsibility of the Called (Verse 3-7)
We are responsible to deliver the message in love - we are not responsible for the response of others to the truth.
IV.) The Purity of the Called (Verse 8)
If we are called of God to do His work we are called to purity. We must be different than the world.
V.) The Preparation of the Called (Verse 9-10)
God especially prepared Ezekiel for his ministry by giving him the Word of God to speak to Israel.

This brings us to part two of The Call of God as we get into chapter 3

READ TEXT (Ezekiel 2:9,10 - 3:1-4)
PRAY

The clear mandate for this chapter is:
Every Christian must answer the call of God on their life.

We saw different aspects of the call in chapter two, but now we are faced with a repeated command and a clear challenge, an imperative from God.
We must answer the call.

To aid in our obedience God has laid out the exact response that He expected from Ezekiel.
This should be our response to the call of God on our life as well.

How can we answer God's call on our life?


I.) By preparing for the mission (Verse 1-4)

Ezekiel is shown here doing something strange and extreme, and it certainly won't be the last time we see that.
He eats the scroll that God places before him.

Obviously, this is a picture of how we are to prepare for ministry.
By consuming it in its entirety, Ezekiel shows us that we must ingest the word of God in such a way that it becomes a part of us.
This takes special discipline and many long hard hours of study, but if it means one person comes to Christ as a result of your life-long ministry, it is worth it all.

Have you prepared for the ministry to which God has called you?
If not, perhaps this is why He has not given you further direction.

If you have any inkling that God may be calling you to full time ministry, it only makes sense that you might enroll in a regimented training program like Bible college.
The Biblical precedent for this is clear in both Old and New Testaments.

If you feel that God has called you to minister right here within your church, you should seek to study faithfully that word with which you will minister.
Start a Bible study with another church member.
Ingest the word so that you might be prepared to minister.

The first step to answering the call of God is to prepare for the mission.


II.) By Standing firm in the face of discouragement. (Verse 5-9)

If you begin to prepare for ministry, you will paint a target on yourself that the devil can see for miles.
He will come after you with every form of discouragement allowed him.
Ezekiel is told here by God that he would be rejected by his own people in his ministry.
God even told him that in other fields he would have more converts, but he was to stay with the people of Israel.

Ezekiel had to decide ahead of time that he would stand firm in the face of discouragement.
These decisions must be made now, because discouragement will come.

The great encouragement that Ezekiel had and we can share, is that God would give him the special ability to stand firm in the face of discouragement.
Know this: If you are answering God's call you will face discouragement, but God has prepared you for this, and you do not have to succumb to it.


III.) By Going to where God calls you (Verse 10-15)

Now we get to the hard part: GO!

Ezekiel was told to leave his place of preparation and go to his field.
It is with mixed feelings that I encourage you to entertain the idea of leaving.
It seems I spend much of my time praying and preaching to the end that you might stay.

However, it is not by staying in Jerusalem that the church turned the world upside down.
It is by going.

This is the command that Jesus left His church and the command that God has always given His servants.
God wants every Christian to be willing to go where ever He might lead.

Have you opened yourself up to this possibility?

On the other hand, many have surrendered to missions and have never gone to their neighbor!
Know this: Answering God's call means going. It may mean going around the world. It may mean walking across the room or across town, but it always means going.


IV.) By warning the lost (Verse 16-27)

Lastly we get to the nitty gritty of the call.
It is about warning the lost.

The clear message that God sends through His conversation with Ezekiel is this:
If you do not warn the wicked of judgment, you share in the responsibility of their sin.

Our part in God's plan to saved the world is absolutely clear:
If we don't warn them, they won't be saved.

Ro 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

God enlarges on Ezekiel's responsibility to warn people in verse 20.
We must also warn the righteous when they fall.
We have a responsibility to warn each other and to maintain purity with in the body.

That is not merely the Pastor's responsibility but yours as well.
It is part of answering the call of God on your life.

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What have you done in response to God's call on your life?
Won't you answer His call today?