Ezekial Was Appointed a Watchman

What is the job description for a watchman? What's the purpose of a watchman? God set the description and the purpose statement for Ezekial in chapter 3 and verse 16-21. Basically it was Exekial's job to warn the people of God's word and God's judgment. ""Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel, Whenever you receive a message from me, warn people immediately." (NLT) Failure to heed the message was costly for those who would not listen. Failure to deliver the message was just as costly. This was serious stuff!

Verse 20 sets the tone, "If righteous people turn away from their righteous behavoir and ignore the obstacles I put in their way, they will die. And if you do not warn them, they will die in thier sins. None of their righteous acts will be remembered, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths." (NLT) How would you like that job? Talk about accountability and responsiblity!!!!

I have just a couple of thoughts, 1) There is a righteous standard to live by and 2) Failure to adhere to that righteous standard is costly.

Here's the problem in our world today 'who determines the standard of righteousness?'
The short answer is God. The longer response is that God already has set the standard before us and it is recorded in His Word. He uses his prophets and preachers to proclaim that message. It's not to be taken lightly by the messengers due to the high level of responsiblity if we don't do it. People die without hearing the word. Flipant response on trivial issues within a system of a denomination can get in the way of delivering the message. So much so that we can be off message. It's not my job to judge any preahcer or prophet. My job is to be faithful to the great commission of Jesus Christ. We need to stay on message. Each local church has a huge responsiblity to stay on message, "make new disciples".

Pray that God will loose our tongues with words of righteousness. We must speak the truth in love and compassion, but none the less we must speak the truth. Our sin is a failure to proclaim the truth of God as he has revealed himself through Jesus Christ and through his Holy Spirit. We must stand boldly before the world and proclaim the message of Christ.