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If you did not warn him

Ezekiel 3:16-21 (JDV)

Ezekiel 3:16 Now at the end of seven days the word of Yahveh happened to me:
Ezekiel 3:17 “Son of Adam, I have made you a guard over the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, give them a warning from me.
Ezekiel 3:18 If I say to the guilty person, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him – you don’t speak out to warn him about his guilty way in order to save his life – that guilty person will die for his violation. Yet I will hold you responsible for his blood.
Ezekiel 3:19 But if you warn a guilty person and he does not turn from his guilt or his guilty way, he will die for his violation, but you will have rescued your throat.
Ezekiel 3:20 Now if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and acts unjustly, and I put a stumbling block in front of him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he will die because of his failure, and the righteous acts he did will not be remembered. Yet I will hold you responsible for his blood.
Ezekiel 3:21 But if you warn the righteous person that he should not fail, and he does not fail, he will indeed live because he listened to your warning, and you will have rescued your throat.”

If you did not warn him

Today is the day we American celebrate our independence, and freedom in general. But this passage provoides a helpful word for those of us who are trying to live like Christians in America, and elsewhere.

There are many people in this world who have the freedom to live sinful lives — to be independent of God and his truth. They want us to leave them alone — to let it be. Ezekiel was facing the same attitude in his own countrymen.

But Ezekiel learned that God was not going to allow him to let those people sin. He had to warn them of God’s judgment. If he refused to warn them, they would die, and God would hold him responsible.

This same God calls us to speak into our own culture and warn people who are failing him. We cannot step aside and just let things be. It is not an option.

Lord, give us the courage to challenge those who demand freedom to sin.