For those who want a change from the Gospel

Trinity 14 – Ezekiel 33:7-11 (Related)

For a large proportion of my ministerial career I have found myself teaching on evangelism, whether during parish ministry, lecturing at theological colleges, or producing materials for diocesan use. I once produced a video course called Safe Evangelism – sharing your faith so it doesn’t hurt for the Church in Wales, and I am still quite proud of it. All this is a bit strange, because evangelism comes way down the list of any gifts I might have. But then I realised a few years ago in a flash of inspiration that actually the best people to teach on evangelism are those who actually would feel a bit embarrassed about turning to the person next to them on the bus and asking if they knew Jesus. The problem with most materials and courses are that they are written by evangelists who simply can’t see what the problem is for the rest of us normal people.

It has been said that evangelists are people who know no shame. In my experience there is no subject more likely to inspire guilt and shame in ordinary Christians than that of sharing your faith. Today’s OT passage is one which is often used to beat ourselves up with. If we fail to talk to someone about Jesus and they go to hell, so the rhetoric goes, their blood is on our heads. Maybe you’ve heard sermons like this in the past. Well today I want to bring you good tidings of great joy which come from a reading of this text. Let’s try to get all this in proportion.

The first phrase which struck me when I first read this through was the final bit of v.9: ‘…though you yourself will be saved.’ These words helped me to read the text in a new and less condemning way. Firstly, to whom is it written? Obviously this is part of a word which God spoke to Ezekiel. But does this simply transfer to you and me in the 21^st century Church? Ezekiel, the more astute among you will have noticed, was a prophet. But the NT epistles talk about many different gifts, and Paul in particular keeps saying whatever your gift is, do it to the best of your Spirit-empowered ability. So while it is not surprising that God is telling Ezekiel the prophet that he’d better get speaking out, the take-home for us is far more likely to be about using whatever gifts we have, not one we haven’t.

The second point is that God was speaking to Ezekiel as an individual, but I have become convinced that evangelism is the job of the Church, not some individuals within it. It’s far too important a matter to be left to evangelists. I have developed some material on evangelism as a process which involves everyone in the church being involved by using their own particular gifts. Comparing the task to the list in Romans 12, for example, which was the Epistle a couple of weeks ago, different people might do their evangelism in very different ways. Someone with a prophetic gifting might well be a powerful Billy Graham-type preacher, but a teacher is more likely to be at home engaging in apologetics on an Alpha Course, whilst a pastor will do their evangelism one hurting person at a time, probably with an arm around their shoulders. And as for those servant-hearted people who put out chairs and cook pasta, they also serve in the Church’s evangelistic process. I often compare it to a game of rugby (the rules of which I have no idea about, so afficionados please forgive this illustration): lots of people are involved in passing the ball in the right direction (although I believe it’s actually the wrong direction) but someone has to make the final touchdown. While those gifted as evangelists are great at slamming converts home, many other people have different roles in getting them nearer and nearer. So the upshot of all this sporting ignorance is that we can’t all hear God’s words to Ezekiel as direct words to us. Our job is to do what it is that God has given us to do, and to be ready to give an account of the hope which is in us, with gentleness and respect, when asked.

So that little clause ‘…though you yourself will be saved’ opens up a way to read this passage which takes away all the threat, guilt and shame. There is one unforgivable sin, according to Jesus, and it isn’t not being an evangelist.