Friday, December 4, 2009

Poll Question Results - Moral Responsibility?

Here are the results of this weeks poll: Is evangelism a moral responsibility?

9- people voted YES
1- voted NO

Myself I voted YES and here is why:

"Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked [man] shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. "Again, when a righteous [man] turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.Nevertheless if you warn the righteous [man] that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul." Ezekiel 3:17-21

God set Ezekiel as a "Watchman" to warn Israel about God's judgment to come. Now I know this is OT but I believe the application of this text can be applied TODAY to all believers. We are ALL called as believers to warn people of the coming judgment and we have the good news to deliver their souls by the power of the Holy Spirit! Now if God would hold Ezekiel responsible for not warning someone of physical death, how much more responsible are we for for warning someone of eternal death?

"But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand." Ezek 33:6

That last part is where I see our moral responsibility to share the gospel. God would hold Ezekiel responsible for the blood of those whom he did not warm.

Listen to Paul's response in the book of Acts to those whom he shared the gospel with and they rejected it: "But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, "Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." Acts 18:6

Very interesting... I believe Paul had Ezekiel in mind when he said this very thing. Now, is salvation of the Lord? Yes. I cannot change a mans heart. But remember the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and that is the commission (command) we have been given. So the responsibility is not in the converting (which we can't do) but in the sharing of the message (which we can do or at least try and if they shut you down, you still tried!)

What a privilege to share the very words of LIFE to a world dead in sin. It should be a pleasure, joy, duty and responsibility of every Christian to obey this command of Christ.

I would love to hear what verses lead you to your vote?

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