This sermon was preached at First United Lutheran Church in Hammond, Indiana on Sunday, May 20, 2018.
Good morning. My name is
Wesley, and I was invited here by Pastor Chris to lead the family
mission conference over the weekend. During the conference, we spent
Friday evening and yesterday here at the church talking about the
gospel and how to share it more comfortably in our relationships with
others. It was a conference about being evangelists in the world.
The word “evangelism”
has a lot of weight to it. For some of us, it brings a lot of
pressure. We feel like God is keeping tabs on how many times we
mention Jesus to people around us. We feel like it's an extra weight
of obligation to meet a quota so we can keep our “Christian”
membership card. Other times, we might feel a stigma toward the word
“evangelism.” We can have the image of someone shouting at
another person about their sin and be turned off by it. It makes us
want to say, “I'm not that
kind of Christian,” and so we become extra accommodating and
apologetic about our faith. Even though we just spent a whole weekend
essentially talking about becoming “better” evangelists,
evangelism isn't about doing.
Being an evangelist means living into the Gospel of Christ. It means
knowing the Good News of who Jesus is and what he's done. It means
allowing the knowledge of that truth to influence who you are.
We
are in the midst of graduation season. Students from all levels of
schooling will be finishing up degrees over this coming month. They
will celebrate with one another, with their friends and families, at
the prospects ahead of them. Some are going on to more learning.
Others are entering the workforce. Still others, maybe don't know
what the future holds, and are waiting in eager anticipation to find
out what comes next. They invested years of their lives into this one
transformative experience. I have many friends who are graduating
from different levels of education. Some from seminary just received
their master's degrees. High School students I know have their
diplomas. My cousin just graduated from college with her bachelor's.
Whatever level they are graduating from, there's one thing that is in
common: rejoicing.
When
I graduated from seminary, I sent invitations for friends and family
to join me in celebrating the end of a lot of work I had to put in to
my studies; all of the years of long nights, early mornings, and
high-stress moments. I wanted to celebrate that my work was finished.
Even so, with everything I put toward my degree, I only got a piece
of paper. It didn't promise me anything for the future. It didn't
change who I am. I definitely grew a lot in understanding of myself,
those around me, and God. But, graduating isn't want provided that
growth, and it certainly didn't signify the end of my growth. After
my graduation, for all the celebration and rejoicing at a job, well,
done, it only led me into continued work. I wasn't finished. I'm
still not finished. The good news of graduation isn't the end. It's
the beginning of more work to be done. There is always more work to
be done.
In a
way, Jesus submitted his final exam on the Cross. He completed the
work that was set out for him to do. His task was extraordinary. He
was given the assignment of saving the world. To do this, he never
sinned, he suffered loss and betrayal, and ultimately, he was
dishonored and tortured to death. Now, if that was my assignment
going into seminary, I'd have probably decided to explore other
vocations. The good news, though, is that the love of God was strong
enough that Jesus willingly went through all of that for our sake.
When
we talk about evangelism, we need to remember that it's literal
meaning in the Greek is “good news.” We need to understand that
this is the spreading of a good message to the world. It's good news
because we now have access to the reward of salvation without having
to put in the work that Jesus did to receive it. What Jesus did--
what we will never be able to do on our own-- is give life to the
dead.
In
our Old Testament reading, the prophet Ezekiel found himself caught
up in the Spirit and brought to a valley. Looking around, he saw the
bones of people long-dead scattered across the valley floor. God
asked Ezekiel, “Mortal, can these bones live?”
With
the advantage of hindsight, the answer to this question is obvious.
First, we're reading the Bible, so this account wouldn't even be
written if something incredible didn't happen. Secondly, not being in
that place and at that time with Ezekiel, it's easier for us to
suspend disbelief. But what I want us to do right now is stop here
and think about this question. First, let's think about the context
of what this valley might be. God describes these bones as those
where were “slain” in verse nine. Likely, this means that the
valley was the scene of a battle, and these bones belong to warriors
who were killed while fighting. Also, the bones are dry, meaning
they've been in this valley a very long time, so that there's no more
flesh on them. In other words, to quote the Coroner in Wizard of Oz,
these bones aren't only “merely dead,” they are “most sincerely
dead.”
Next,
I want to consider the question itself. Throughout the book of
Ezekiel, in the Hebrew God addresses the prophet as “Son of Man.”
The translation we have uses the term “mortal” for this title.
This is important because the address itself is a reminder of where
we stand before God. The title shows the stark contrast between
Ezekiel, a human being, and God, the divine and immortal Lord. God
asking Ezekiel if the bones can live by using the title, “Son of
Man,” is an answer to itself. Ezekiel himself will die. He has no
power to stop that from happening. He now stands in a valley
surrounded by the evidence of this fact. None of the bones around him
are marked with a name. No memory is attached to them. The Son of Man
stand in the midst of death, powerless to stop it. Ezekiel knows
this. He knows that the bones have no power to will themselves to
life. He knows he also, being merely human, can do nothing to change
the death surrounding them.
Now,
we come to the answer. “O Lord GOD, you know.” Ezekiel doesn't
presume that God would do the unthinkable. He only knows what he sees
before him. Hearing God ask if these bones can live, Ezekiel may have
assumed God is teaching him a lesson on the finality of life. He sees
the bones around him and thinks they have reached their end. Maybe
God is trying to remind Ezekiel that only he can live forever, and
all of us lowly creatures are on a path toward death. Maybe God wants
to remind Ezekiel of his place, or warn him about the impending
judgment that God will bring on his people. What this question, and
Ezekiel's answer, reveals is the harsh reality of human life. No
matter how long and hard we work, we are still on a path toward
death. These bones were once alive, with names and faces, but now are
indistinct from one another.
We
put in a lot of work in our lives. Some of us work multiple jobs at
once, others work hard on artistic passions. We strive to move up the
ladder in our vocations or to be able to provide the best for our
families. Life is work. Life is constant striving. After Adam and Eve
sinned in the Garden, God said to Adam, “by the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread, til you return to the ground, for out of it you
were taken, for you are dust and to dust you shall return.” It
shouldn't be a surprise that our life is made up of work. The
necessity of work is part of our burden in a sinful world. I do think
that the drive to work hard is itself a gift from God. In its purest
form, it's a reflection of the work he has done in the creation of
the world, and caring for creation is part of his intended design for
our lives. But the curse of sin is that our work has no end, and will
not satisfy us or give life. The curse is that while we must work to
survive, no matter how hard we work, it can't save us.
Ezekiel
saw the end to which all the work of life leads. He stood in the
midst of scattered dry bones in a nameless valley. But God gives
hope, even in the face of such a bleak inevitability. “O Lord GOD,
you know,” he says. God knows that these bones are dead. God knows
that these bones have no names and no faces. God knows that all the
work put into life by these bones has led them all to the same place.
But God also knows something we often forget. Life itself is a gift
given freely by him, when he breathed into the dust.
God
said to Ezekiel, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry
bones, hear the word of the LORD, thus says the Lord GOD to these
bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will
lay sinews on you and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover
you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you
shall know that I am the LORD.”
Ezekiel
prophesies and the bones are covered once again with flesh. Their
faces return, but they still don't live. There was no breath in them.
And God told Ezekiel to prophesy for breath to enter them, and it
did, and these bodies, these lost faces and empty memories came back
to life. They stood and lived once more.
The
source of all life, from the very beginning has been God. The Good
News of Jesus is that he offers life beyond the one we know now.
During this graduation season, it is a good time to reflect on our
work, and how we work from one degree to another, but Paul writes
that “the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory
of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one
degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the
Spirit.”
The
Spirit brings freedom because we don't need to rely on the work we've
done in our lives to truly live. In him, our memory will not be lost.
Our faces will be known to him as we look upon his glory
face-to-face. The closer we get to this knowledge of God, the more we
are formed into his image.
This
is where the Good News of Jesus is different from any other good news
we've heard. When Jesus says, “it is finished,” he means it. And
he promises when it is finished that there will be an end to all sin
and all death. And he didn't finish the work only for himself. He did
it for you, and for me, and for all the world. His work actually has
an end. His work actually gives life. His Spirit is the way that we
are able to share in that. The Spirit of God is the Breath of Life.
Without the Spirit of God, no matter how hard we work, our end is the
same. We are dry bones scattered across the nameless valley. But with
the Spirit of God, we have the freedom to work toward his glory,
knowing that our work is not in vain.
When
we talk about evangelism, we are talking about Good News. We are
talking about being invited into a graduation from the work of death
to the gift of life. We can rejoice together in this life given to us
and invite others to join as well. Evangelism is telling the world
that they can take part in the reward of life that comes from the
work of Christ. It's sharing the freedom that comes from the Spirit
of God, to release us from our slavery to sin. It doesn't mean we
don't have to work in this life anymore. But it does mean that this
life isn't all there is. It means that there is a greater life ahead
of us, where the work has already been completed.
Evangelism
isn't about doing. Evangelism is about knowing that it's already been
done. If the idea of evangelism feels like a burden, then we need to
step back and understand these two word: Good News. This is Good
News. The more we reflect on this Good News, and the more we consider
why it's good news for our own lives, the more we will find that news
worth sharing with others, and the more natural that sharing will
become.
God's
promise to Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones is that he will be the
source of life to the people of Israel. His breath, which is his very
Spirit, is what will bring his people to new life, standing before
him on the last day. His Spirit is the source of life. If we are
breathing in his Spirit, we have breath for all eternity. We can
breathe easy knowing that he has already completed everything needed
for us to have that gift of life. Sharing in his Spirit is an open
invitation. And I think that's Good News.
x
