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Ezekiel 2: 4, 5 “The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ And whether they listen or fail to listen – for they are a rebellious house – they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (NIV)
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Persistence in ministry has brought success, as long as I am properly defining success.* |
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When you are confident that you have correctly understood and obeyed God’s calling for your life, you expect your mission to be successful. How discouraging it must have been for Ezekiel to get this news from God: I am sending you to preach to people who probably won’t listen.
We measure success by the results we can see – souls saved, lives changed. It turns out that God has a different set of criteria for measuring success. The response of the listeners doesn’t seem to have been his top priority. He didn’t instruct Ezekiel in how to capture the attention of the crowd. He didn’t have him research the demographics in order to implement the most effective evangelistic approach. It seems that God had two main objectives:
1. Ezekiel’s obedience. The prophet was to deliver the message from the Sovereign Lord to an obstinate and stubborn audience. Their response (or lack thereof) was not Ezekiel’s concern.
2. That the rebellious house would know that they had heard from a prophet – whether they listened or not.
While changed lives and saved souls are how we measure evangelistic success, those activities are the work of the Holy Spirit. Our job is to obediently proclaim the message so as to leave no doubt that the Word of God has been shared. That is God’s definition of a successful ministry – the Sovereign Lord says so!
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It is not our ministry to have the last word. The best we can do is point to Christ and say, “Hear ye Him.”* |
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