Relevant?

Ezekiel 1:1-5a, 15-16a, 22, 26-28; 2:1-2

Relevant?: Ezekiel #1

I. Introduction
-Why are you here this morning? (Israel History)
-Does what happens here make a difference in your life?
-If you had to tell about one thing God did in your life, or how being a Christian made a difference, could you?
-We would like to believe we are more technologically advanced than ever before, more civil, more wealth, more secure, etc.
1. So how does this book [Bible] have any bearing on our lives?
2. Why & How can it tell us how to live?
3. Or a man [Jesus] who lived 2000 years ago.
-How can these things be relevant?
-Relevant is a buzz word in the church today.
-What is relevant to your life?

II. Scripture

III. Relevant
-Relevant means: having significant bearing on the matter at hand
-You might hear:
1. "That's not relevant to this discussion."
2. "Ask only relevant questions to the topic at hand."
3. Presidential debates: their answers aren't relevant to the questions.
-If you go into a Christian bookstore & into the ministry section you will see the word ‘relevant' in a lot of book titles.
-"Relevant" is a buzz word.
-They say: "The church has to make its ministry relevant to the world."
-In other words: "Ministry must be done in such a way that it has significant bearing on the matter at hand."

IV. Problem 1
-Ministry is geared toward ppl loving the church rather than God.
-If you participate in that kind of ministry you will begin to believe that if ppl like you, your ministry is successful.
-Ministry success is not based on whether ppl like you.
1. It's not based on whether everyone thinks you're cool.
2. It's not based on whether you are best buddies w/ someone.
3. Just b/c you are friends w/ a Christian, doesn't mean you'll make it to heaven.
4. You must be friends w/ Christ.
-Therein lies the problem: We sometimes seek for ppl to like the pastor more than the Savior.
1. The church, pastor, ppl, eclipse the Messiah.
-Then, I leave the church b/c I do not like the pastor.
1. I leave the church if I do not like a member.
2. I leave the church if my feelings get hurt.
-God calls ppl to churches just like He does pastors.
-You can make it to heaven w/out being best friend w/ everyone!
1. Some ppl just meld better than others.
2. I just get along better w/ some ppl than others.

V. Problem 2
-Ministry looks more like the world.
-Ministry is based on disguising the Gospel.
1. Repentance is tucked away.
2. "We look like you!"
-Ministry is not based on whether ppl think you are like them.
1. Point: It's really hinged on whether you are different than them.
2. What do you have to offer if you are the same.
-Some "relevance" based ministry seeks to convince you that it is alright if you stay the same as long as you like what is happening.
-Real ministry says, you cannot remain the same.
1. Truth changes your life... & the way you go about it.
2. Interacting w/ God is a change of heart, a renewing of the mind, a washing of your actions, & a cleansing of pride & motives!
-Sometimes we ask for the preacher's messages to be relevant.
1. Wouldn't we like more self-help kind of sermons.
2. They are all the craze.
-Some pastors preach on nothing but your finances, your human relationships, how to get a good job, how to have your best life now, how to...
1. That seems more relevant.
-But is that more relevant than a message on the Holiness of God?
1. Is that relevant in light of eternity?
2. Is that relevant in light of the glory of God?

VI. What is Relevant?
-You don't really decide what is relevant, you prioritize your life.
1. Truth is truth. It is never irrelevant.
2. Truth is always relevant!
-Ill. Gravity, you cannot really ignore it.
1. You can fight it...parachutes
2. But it doesn't become obsolete, or irrelevant.
-Ill. "This is a youth service, you don't have to wear a tie."
1. I didn't come to fit-in, but to proclaim the Gospel.
2. I didn't come to be cool, I came to lift up Jesus!
3. I didn't come to entertain, I came to preach Christ crucified... a stumbling block for Jews and foolishness to Gentiles!
-Query: To minister to...
1. ...teens do I have to wear frayed jeans, grow a goatee, & fix my hair like I've not combed it?
2. ...those in the nursing home do I have to get a hearing aid, use a walker, and wear glasses?
3. Is my ministry [and yours] limited by our age, our dress, our income, our racial background?
4. Do you have to be black to minister to blacks?
5. Do you have to be rich to minister to the rich?
6. Do you have to be a doctor to minister to a doctor?
7. Do you have to be from KY to minister to those from KY?
8. Do you have to be 20 something to minister to 20 something's?
-O what limitations we have placed on God!
1. What boundaries we have placed around His power.
2. What restrictions we have placed on salvation!
-Lie (Satan): you can minister only to ppl just like you.
-Definition: having significant bearing on the matter at hand
1. So what is the matter at hand?
2. Is it how much money you make?
3. Is it what job you have?
-What about in raising your children? Is the real issue...
1. ...how smart your kids are?
2. ...whether they are popular or not?
3. ...whether they are successful?
4. ...whether they are a sports star?
5. ...whether they are homecoming queen?
6. What has significance/ bearing to the issue at hand? Are they holy/godly?
-What issue trumps all others?
-The world is screaming that God is irrelevant!
1. He has no bearing on anything.
2. Can you see past that?
3. Have you been bogged down in that?
-What about eternity?
-Point: We need a new vision of His glory!
-A desire for "relevance" leads to sin.
1. Learn to be okay w/ being different.
2. "Fitting in" drives/moves toward sin.
-If kids cannot deal w/ being different when it comes to style (adults too) how can they resist the temptation to conform to this world!?
1. I don't want my kids dressing like ball stars b/c they may also conform to their sins!!
2. I want them to be different!

VII. Hard to See How Relevant.
-Even for Christians it is hard to see how relevant God is to us.
-Ill. Time magazine said $20 billion in US for porn movies
1. estimated $57 billion worldwide
2. Is God that relevant or not?
-The world is screaming that God is irrelevant.
-Do you believe that?
-What about when...
1. ...you go to work on Monday, and listen to the profane, vulgar conversations.
2. ...you hear about the immorality running rampant among your co-workers.
3. ...you go on vacation see the loose & lurid behavior of the wicked.
4. ...you walk through your neighborhood and see the hurting families destroyed by divorce, abuse, affairs, & alcohol.
5. ...your kids come home from school talking about what they learned at school, playing vulgar & sinful music, flippantly talking about sex.
6. ...you turn on the TV and watch holly wood blaspheme all that is holy, idolize the wicked & immoral behavior, and dismiss biblical conscience.
7. ...loneliness is oppressive, hopelessness ushers in despair, and the chaos pushes us to the limit...
8. Then the temptation is to think that this [church, Bible, faith, God] is irrelevant.
-And ppl ask:
1. At the point I am dealing w/ a death in the family, why would a man named Jesus dying 2000 years ago have any bearing on my situation?
2. At the point I have lost my job and am unable to pay my bills, what difference does it make that God made a covenant with Abraham?
-The Israelite in captivity w/ Ezekiel asked: What difference does God make now?

VIII. The Real Problem
-This problem is old as time.
1. We are trying to make God relevant to us (bring Him to our level).
2. Rather than trying to be relevant to God.
-Ill. On Judgement day
1. He won't ask us: "Do you know me?"
2. He will say: "Depart from me, for I do not know you."
-The problem is we've diminished His glory.
1. We've rejected it for materialism, lusts of the flesh, and rusted things of this world.
2. The church has accepted a counterfeit!
-Ill. Famous Atheist Richard Dawkins, author of ‘The God Delusion,'
1. ...about his visit to a 12,000 strong evangelical church here in America:
2. "I worry that these ‘born-agains' are being persuaded to return to childish certainties. That the only truth they need is God..."
3. That's it... the atheist got it!
-We all affirm that God is the most important thing in life, but do you live it?
1. Would your calendar be different if you lived that way?
2. ...check book... family... church... be different?
-Ill. It will take more than an hour on Sunday.
1. Commercial: 20 min/day for 3 wks for killer abs.
2. We apply that to spiritual matters
3. To be Christian will take more than 20/min a day 3 days a week!!

IX. God is Relevant
-Ezekiel got a vision of the Glory of God.
1. That vision of glory gave him something worth saying.
2. It gave him a life worth living.
3. ...a purpose worth fulfilling.
4. ...a mission worth accomplishing.
-How relevant is your life?
-To SS teachers: "Point to Jesus!"
-To song leaders: "What is relevant, is not what we sing, what notes we hit, or what style it is; but who we sing to!"
-To preachers: "What is relevant is not the latest fad or popular thing in the church, but Christ and Him crucified. Preach that!"
-To parents: "Christ is the most important thing in your child's life."
-To couples: "Christ is the most important thing in your marriage."
-To teens: "Christ is the most important thing in your life!"
-To children: "Christ is the most important thing in your life!"
-Don't say it, Live it!

X. Conclusion
-Do you see the glory of God?
-Does God eclipse everything else in your life?
-So many ppl are investing their lives in good things, but irrelevant things.
1. They are missing the glory of God!
2. They are missing the most important thing.
-Why are all these other things not relevant?
1. Why is God/ the Gospel so relevant?
2. B/c the most fundamental need of humanity is still a spiritual need.
-Ezekiel fell on his face when he saw the glory of God.
-But the Spirit picked Him up and set him on his feet... and he heard God.
-You can ignore it, or you can live with new relevance.
1. God is relevant.
2. Do you see that?

Response