VALLEY OF THE DRY BONES
Ezekiel 37:1-14
I want to begin today by quoting the old Gospel Evangelist, Sam Jones. He used to get in the pulpit and tell his congregation that he was running a Gospel Shoe Establishment. That is, he just laid the shoes out there and told the people, “If the shoe fits, wear it.”
So today, I’m gonna just lay the shoes out there, and if the shoe fits, wear it.
Ezekiel 37:1-14 is one of the more well-known passages of the Old Testament. I have had to read it many times before I stopped thinking of it as “creepy.”
Whenever you see a bone something is usually wrong. Most of the time when we see a bone we quickly associate it with death. Even when eating most of us have sense enough to know that when we see the bone it’s time to get another piece of meat. A bone becomes “a dry bone” when it has no attachment to life. A bone becomes dry when it has nothing that will provide nourishment. A dry bone has no substance.
A dry bone is anyone who has no spiritual attachment to God, anyone who has a broken fellowship with others, or anyone who has a lukewarm fellowship with the Lord. A whole lot of our churches are comatose. They are not dead but not all together alive.
There are entirely too many Christians who come to church to get something, but when it comes to serving the Father, there is nothing being done. Has it ever occurred to you that you are here every Sunday morning to worship God? Worship is a verb, it requires YOU doing something!
There are entirely too many people who come to church (that’s good), but all they do is sit and soak. (Soak in the goodness of God’s Word and the goodness of fellowship). And they are disappointed if they are not entertained or given something to soak in, because they have forgotten that they are here to give something, to WORSHIP GOD!!!
Well, this was the kind of problem the Children of Israel were experiencing in our text for today. Everyone took care of themselves but when it came to KINGDOM BUILDING, their attitude was that of neglect and disregard.
Please read this passage, Ezekiel 37:1-14:
Neglect and disregard. Those are the conditions that brought about the dry bones. Are we becoming dry bones to the Lord? There are hundreds of people all around us who are hurting, weak, sick, lost, abandoned, discouraged, and are we neglecting them? Do we just come to church, nearly every Sunday, sing our songs and dutifully put our few dollars in the offering trays, then leave here to go about our business neglecting the Father’s business?
Do we say, “I’m already sooo busy,” or “the week just flies by and before I know it, it’s Sunday again”? Disregard. Not caring about the world, just about our own little worlds. If the shoe fits…
Matthew 9:37 tells us “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”
When it comes to doing the Lord’s commands, some of us are like the little girl who was playing in the kitchen one day, when her mother told her to come and help do the dishes. The little girl continued to play. The mother again told the young girl to come help with the dishes. Again the girl ignored her. Finally, the mother said, “Didn’t you hear me? I said, ‘Come help with the dishes.’ To which the little girl replied, “Oh, I heard you. I’m just not doing what you said.”
How many times do we disobey Christ in the very same way? We hear His Great Commission to go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:18) We hear LOUD AND CLEAR, but why are we not doing it? We even have people attending our church every Sunday who have put off being baptized themselves! There are some of you who sit at the Father’s table and feast and then refuse to go out and share the gospel for a whole long list of excuses. Disregard for anyone else’s salvation.
And when we become neglectful and blatantly ignore God’s commands, He removes the very life from our churches and we become just a pile of dry bones. Will the Father come to a church that is filled with neglectful Christians and take away His gifts, His spirit, and His power and put them where they can be used? I believe he will.
Will the Father come to a church that is filled with dry bones, people who are not sharing with others what he has shared with them and take away his gifts and his power and put them where they can be used? I believe he will.
In John’s Revelation of the End Times, when Jesus comes back to claim and rule this world, John saw Christ speaking to each of the churches. Listen to what He had to say to the “lifeless church,” Revelation 3:1b-3: “I know your works; you have a name of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen what remains and on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. Remember then what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.”
The shoe may fit this morning. What I want you to understand is that the Lord doesn’t want you to wear shoes that are uncomfortable. He simply wants you to perform your COMMISSIONED RESPONSIBILITY and you know what? He will provide the shoes that are necessary to perform the task.
I know without a doubt that God is at work here. The issue is always whether you and I will see Him at work, or will we see only the dry bones of the past. The issue is always whether we see possibilities, or whether we find ourselves mired down in quicksand, sinking fast. But if you see what God sees, you’ll see more.
If you only look on the surface of this church, maybe all you see is dry bones. You may see aging leaders, a deteriorating building, some committees that don’t commit much. But I don’t think that’s all the Lord sees. The Lord sees new people coming to Christ and asking for help in gaining new life. The Lord sees more children showing up for Sunday School and perhaps a Wednesday night Club and a future Children’s Choir. The Lord sees six or eight people who are willing to answer His call on their life to rebuild this church. The Lord sees lush green yards surrounding our buildings that could be used for Kingdom work. The Lord sees a chance to put His Spirit within us so that we shall live. The Lord sees a church jam packed with potential. And all it takes is the vision to understand what God wants to do. The church is not just nice clean ceremony. The church is not just what we’ve always done. The church is the steward of new life for hurting people.
God has given me, as your shepherd and your pastor, a vision of what we can be. And I am committed to not only being your prophet, but also to work side by side with you. We are on the edge of a new day in our church’s life. New ideas, new energies, new vision. God-given vision. God-breathed life. I urge you to give yourself to this emerging vision. I find no better place than this church to invest ten percent of my income. I find no better place than this church for my personal gifts to be invested. I find no better place than this church for the dry bones of my own heart to be blown into new life.
Is it truly possible for a small community of believers like us, to give new life and usefulness to a decaying church? What does it take? It takes one person with a vision; one person who listens for the voice of God and acts, even when it seems crazy at the outset. It takes just a few people with faith, with trust, in God.
What is it going to take for the Union church to come alive again? Some say we need more young people. Some say we need different music, with a band. Some say we need to change our worship service so it is more contemporary. GOD says, “I will cause my breath to enter you and you shall live…and you shall know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:5-6) It takes the breath of God's Spirit, to bring life.
God asked Ezekiel, "Mortal, can these bones live?" Does he reply, "Yes! You can make it so!"? He does not. Does he reply, "No! They are bones, never to walk about again"? He does not. Ezekiel says, "Only you know, God. It is entirely up to you." Only God's will can make it so. God can achieve the impossible. God can act and intervene in the lives of churches and in our own personal lives, renewing our Spirit, giving us hope, giving us new life. God gives us the vision, the words, the tools and the Spirit to make it so. Nothing is impossible with God.
