Stand the watch! - Ezekiel 33:7-11
Some of you know this but others might be surprised to know in my former life I served in Coast Guard Auxiliary which is the volunteer branch of the United States Coast Guard. The Auxiliary is the silver side of the Coast Guard. The gold side of the Coast Guard is staffed with young men and women who have enlisted for active duty. They do things like fly into the eye of a hurricane to rescue vessels in distress. On the silver side we did things like inspect navigational buoys. The silver side is nowhere near as cool as the gold side. But there were still some serious perks. For one we got to eat in the galley on base. For a $1.50 my sons ate unlimited grilled cheese and ice cream. I also had access to the exchange where I could buy Costa sunglasses at half the price. I got to fly in the $25 million Jayhawk simulator. And by fly, I mean repeatedly crash the Jayhawk into the ocean. But the coolest thing I got to do while in the Coast Guard Auxiliary was participate in change of command and retirement ceremonies. As a preacher, I served as a civilian chaplain. I got to give the invocation and the benediction at the ceremonies. Which meant I sat on the stage with commanders and captains and had a front row seat to all the pomp and circumstance the United States Coast Guard has to offer. Nobody does pomp and circumstance like the United States Military.
No doubt you are familiar with things like the 21-gun salute or missing-man formation flyover, or the playing of taps. My favorite thing was the reading of a poem called The Watch. The Watch is read or recited at the retirement ceremony to honor the Coast Guardsman for their years of faithful service. In an aircraft hangar full of rescue helicopters and uniformed Coast Guardsmen a solitary voice reads, “For twenty years this Coast Guardsman has stood the watch. While some of us were in our bunks at night, this Coast Guardsman stood the watch. While some of us were in school learning our trade, this Coast Guardsman stood the watch. Yes, even before some of us were born into this world, this Coast Guardsman stood the watch. In those years when the storm clouds of war were seen brewing on the horizon of history, this Coast Guardsman stood the watch. Many times, he would cast an eye ashore and see his family standing there, needing his guidance and help, needing that hand to hold during those hard times, but he still stood the watch. He stood the watch so that we, our families and our fellow countrymen, could sleep soundly in safety, each and every night knowing that a Coast Guardsman stood the watch. Today we are here to say, ‘Coast Guardsman... the watch stands relieved. Relieved by those You have trained, guided, and led. Coast Guardsman, you stand relieved... we have the watch..."
Isn’t that cool! This poem celebrates the character and commitment of a Coast Guardsman; it acknowledges the sacrifices that were made and the difficulties that were overcome, and it reveals the reason behind all his years of service was so that others might be safe and secure. As I studied our lesson from Ezekiel 33:7-11 I couldn’t help but think of this poem because you and I are currently standing the watch.
In Ezekiel 33:7 we read, “7 Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.” Today we rely on satellite imaging, night-vision cameras, infrared sensors, radar, and all sorts of sophisticated technology to protect our perimeter. But in Ezekiel’s day, there was no substitute for a man standing on the wall with his eyes fixed on the horizon. If danger was coming, the watchman would see it. And once he saw it, he sounded the warning with a blast of his trumpet. As soon as the trumpet blast was heard citizens, who were working outside the wall would quickly fall back behind the protection of the wall so that they would not become victims of the enemy.
The LORD God called the prophet Ezekiel, here referred to as “son of man”, to be a watchman for the house of Israel. But instead of standing on a wall and scanning the horizon for threats, the prophet was to stand on the word of God and proclaims not what he perceives, but what the LORD God declares. In this way the prophet was to serve as a watchman for the house of Israel. These were his people. He was raised by them, grew up with them, married one of them. They were his family.
Sons and daughters of man, the LORD God has made you watchmen for your own house; for your own family. He does not call you to proclaim that which you perceive to be acceptable or that which you perceive to be a threat. The LORD calls you to stand on the word of God. The LORD God calls you to be in worship, He calls you to send your kids to Sunday School and attend bible study, He calls you to open your Bibles and hear what He has to say. The LORD God calls you to hear what He has to say about sex outside of marriage, and coveting a neighbor’s house and home, and honesty and integrity in your business dealings with others, and setting priorities so that no one and nothing becomes a higher priority than the LORD your God. The LORD your God calls you to stand on His word so that you can proclaim what the LORD God declares. In this way you are to serve as a watchman for your own house; for your own family.
Sons and daughters of man, the LORD God has called you to be a watchman for your brothers and sisters, both biological and spiritual. The LORD God has called you to be a watchman for your fathers and mothers, both those whose DNA formed and fashioned you and those whose influence has shaped and molded you. The LORD God has called some of you to be a watchman for a spouse, both the husband for the wife and the wife for the husband. The LORD God has called you to be a watchman for children, both those who came from you and those who have been brought to you.
Sons and daughters of man, the LORD God has made you a watchman for your house, and the LORD your God expects you to stand the watch. The LORD God instructed Ezekiel to speak out and dissuade the people in his family from wickedness, to “9… warn the wicked man to turn from his ways” which leads to death; to warn them that, as another watchman put it, “the wages of sin is death!”[1] As watchmen you are expected to tell your family when they are sinning; you are expected to tell them the wages of their sin is not just a disappointment that will cause them difficulty, but that the wage of their sin is death.
But being a watchman is hard. Turns out no one likes to be corrected or rebuked, no one likes to be told they have fallen short or missed the mark, no one likes to be told they have failed to do what is good and done what is evil. They don’t like it and they will tell you, sometimes with a raised voice, sometimes with harsh tone, they will tell you exactly what they think of your work as a watchman. Usually, it sounds something like this. “who are you to tell me how to live my life?” or “you are so closed minded!” Other times they tell you what they think by not saying anything at all. They just ignore you and shut you out of their life. When it is people in your own house, your family, your friends who are treating you this way it hurts. It hurts a lot.
Being a watchman is hard! Which is why it is so tempting to be a spectator instead. It is tempting to not get involved and risk upsetting someone. It is tempting to keep our mouths shut so as to not ruffle any feathers. It is tempting to leave it alone, look the other way, hope it somehow works itself out. It is so very tempting to be a spectator of sin in your house, but before you give in to that temptation listen to what the LORD God says to you and to me. “8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.” The LORD God holds His watchmen accountable. If there is someone in your house who has stopped struggling against a sin, who has allowed themselves to be enslaved by a sin; who has embraced a sin, and you say nothing, you do nothing to dissuade them from that sin, the LORD God holds you accountable. That unrepentant sinner’s blood is on your hands so says the LORD God.
It is easy for me to preach this law with conviction to you watchmen because I myself am convicted. The amount of blood on this watchman’s hands is horrific. O LORD God, forgive me. Forgive us for all the times we have allowed ourselves to be spectators of the sin in our own house. Forgive us for failing to be the watchmen you have called us to be. LORD God, forgive us for “10 Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them.”
The LORD your God forgives all who cry out to Him in repentance, including His watchmen. The LORD your God forgives you. He has instructed me to say to you, “11 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?” The reason the LORD God calls us to be watchmen for our families and for each other is because the LORD your God loves you. The LORD your God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked; He doesn’t want anyone to go to hell. The LORD your God calls you to rebuke and be rebuked so that we may all turn from our evil ways and live; so that we may all go to heaven. Which is why He sent Jesus to be the perfect Son of man in our place. When Jesus saw His mother and brothers, disciples and followers giving in to sin, allowing themselves to be enslaved by sin, starting to embrace sin, He warned them to turn from their evil ways. Jesus was a perfect watchman for His house. Then Jesus allowed Himself to be declared guilty for all the blood that is on our hands. And with His dying breath Jesus declared that the wages of the spectators’ sins have been paid in full. Because of Jesus there is no longer blood on your hands.
Therefore, my fellow watchmen, stand the watch. Be a watchman in your house whether the people in your house want you to be or not. The LORD God says to His watchmen, “9 if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.” The watchman is not held accountable for the sinner who refuses to repent any more than the watchman standing on the wall was held accountable for the citizens who ignored the alarm and were swept away when the enemy arrived. These words were no doubt comforting to Ezekiel. For years Ezekiel had warned the house of Israel to turn from their evil ways. Yet most of them were still outside the wall when the enemy arrived. I am sure Ezekiel mourned them as you might mourn a sinner who is ignoring your warning. But dear watchmen, the LORD God is not holding you accountable for their wickedness. Their blood is not on your hands. It is not the job of the watchmen to drag people kicking and screaming behind the wall. Rather it is the job of the watchman to warn people of the danger that surrounds them. Therefore, dear watchmen, warn the people in your house about the deadly consequences of sin so that they might do what you have just done; so that they might “turn from their ways and live”; so that they might repent of their sin, receive forgiveness from their savior Jesus and spend eternity in heaven. The LORD God wants all the people in your house to go to heaven. Therefore, dear watchmen, stand the watch.
Wouldn’t it be cool if at your funeral a Christian version of The Watch was read over your casket? Wouldn’t it be cool if your character and commitment as a watchman were celebrated, the difficulties and the challenges you endured were acknowledged, and your family understood you stood the watch because you loved them and wanted them to be safe and secure? And wouldn’t it be cool if those you left behind stood up and said, “Christian, you stand relived… we have the watch?” I don’t know if your retirement from this earth will have such pomp and circumstance, but I know, because of Jesus, your entrance into heaven will. It will start with Jesus saying to you, well done good and faithful servant. You stood the watch. Someday you will be relieved from duty. But that day is not today. Therefore, stand the watch. Amen
[1] Romans 6:23