The Cost of Being Christ’s – Are you Willing?

This morning as I sat down to do my morning scripture reading from Ezekiel I must admit I could use some good news. My family is facing a difficult storm and short of God doing a small miracle this situation may turn out to be a more than a short term storm. Then of course there are always the difficult day to day troubles of this life. The news is ever filled with sadness and things to fear. The stock market is self-destructing which adds more pressure to the days that were already difficult. I really needed a morning Bible pick-me up.

Staying faithful to my Bible study plan I found myself in Ezekiel chapter 24. Ezekiel is not really a happy story so far. As a prophet Ezekiel was called to bring prophecies of judgment to God’s people. These prophecies were hard and no one could say they were good news. Ezekiel was just the messenger. Not a fun job usually, but he was faithful to the job God gave him. But today’s reading takes an even darker turn for Ezekiel. Listen to what God says to Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 24:15-18
The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men." So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded.

Wow. It was bad enough that Ezekiel had to be the prophet always bringing the hard message but now he had to lose the one thing he cherished most, the woman who probably comforted him in the depressive days of being a prophet. He lost the “delight of his eyes.”  And he couldn’t even mourn.

For the unbelievers and probably some Christians this seems to make God out to be a harsh god. But the truth is that just as in Ezekiel’s day God was working out His plan for Israel, so too God is working out His plan in our lives. First of all we need to remember that though we have been made righteous in God’s eyes through the covering of our sin by the precious blood of Christ, we still have a sin nature and have a long way to go in our Christian walk. The standard is holiness. 1 Peter 1:14-16 instructs us “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." Ephesians 1:4 says “that we should be holy and blameless before him.” God is working in us and it is through the storms of life in which we grow.

But there is another effect that comes out of our trials and storms but only if we are willing to truly die to our selfish desires. We weren’t put on this earth so that we could live out fun and easy lives; we were put here to bring glory to God. Each of us who are Christians is called to the Great Commission which is to take the Gospel out to the ends of the earth. The greatest witness to the lost is to see us as Christians praising and worshipping God even in the midst of the worst possible tragedies.

We need to stop serving God for our own good and start serving Him for His glory. We have to believe that God’s Word is true. Thus we have to trust Him that Romans 8:28 is true when it says “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” When we believe these words we can then serve God in the purest of motive which is to glorify God in every situation in our lives.

This is hard stuff. But this soft message being preached today that Jesus loves you and wants you to have the best of everything in this life is just not what He said. He said this in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."  He said this in Luke 14:27-33, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

At the end of chapter 24 God explained this to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 24:27, “So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the LORD." If we say He is our Lord then we must let Him be Lord and trust Him in good and bad times.

Life is hard. Believe me I know that. But if we as the body of Christ will stand together by encouraging each other and praying, then we too, can be a sign for the world and then they can know the He is the Lord. Jesus is coming back and when He does all this will be made right. But until he does let us stand for him and let us show the world we believe His Word. Let us praise and worship Him no matter what we face in the coming days.

May God richly bless you. May God be glorified.