Ezekiel: Repentance and Hope – Lent 2017, Part 2 Horrible Judgment, Beautiful Hope Ezekiel 8-11 March 12th, 2017
I. A LONG text in short SECTIONS…(Chap. 8-11)
A. Chapter 8 – Four PICTURES of IDOLATRY. (8:1-18)
B. Chapter 9 – JUDGMENT and PURIFICATION. (9:1-11)
C. Chapter 10 – The GLORY is DEPARTING…(10:1-22)
So much has happened in the year and 2 months since Ezekiel’s original vision and call by the Kebar Canal. Today we pick up with a second vision, expanding on the first. It’s spreads over 4 chapters, but breaks into very specific sections. It’s important we survey they whole vision in order to best understand what it says to us today.
1. What are, in your opinion, some of the biggest societal idols today? What are the biggest idols that challenge Christians?
2. Does chapter 9 unsettle you? If so, in what ways? How does it shape the way you view or understand God?
3. How would a Jew have reacted to the events described in chapter 10?
II. A DIFFERENT kind of CHAPTER 11 – (11:1-25)
A. MISDIRECTED worship skews PERCEPTION. (11:1-12; Rom 1:21-25)
B. Hope is RELATIONAL, not LOCATIONAL. (11:13-25)
God is declaring Israel as spiritually bankrupt…but not hopeless. The leaders have chosen to turn from God to anything else they can find. And the ripple effect throughout the city and Jewish society has had terrible consequences. But they will begin to learn one of the deepest truths of our Relational God. It’s not where…it’s who.
4. When have you felt that all was going smoothly only to be surprised when things suddenly “fell apart”? What was that experience like for you?
5. What does Jeff mean when he says, “Hope is relational, not locational”? How does that apply to our lives? Does it have meaning for our “spiritual location” as well?
III. LETTING Ezekiel in our LENT.
A. Idolatry – We BECOME like what we WORSHIP. (Rom 1:25; Ps 135:15-18)
B. Purification – It HURTS as it HEALS. (9:9-10; 11:18-21; Job 5:17-18)
C. Hope – There is no FAR AWAY for believers. (11:16; Eph. 2:12-13)
Once again we need to reflect on what this text from 2500 years ago says to us. Surely we are far beyond this type of idolatry. We have advanced as a society in so many ways. But we still carry within us the brokenness that is the DNA of our humanity. We need help. And the good news is that despite where we are, God refuses to leave us alone.
6. In what ways have you seen people become like what they worship? Have you seen the same at times in your own life?
7. Read Job 5:17-18. Have you ever felt that God injured you, or at least allowed you to be injured. What were your thoughts about that at the time? What are they now?
8. Who does the current church see as “far away”? Might they be closer than we think and if so, what does that mean for us and the way we live our lives