Fifty Cents

Ezekiel 47 verse one. Now this vision is called the river from the temple. But it comes in a specific environment. It comes at a time of hardship. And there's the prophet of God saying these words to people in despair.

People who don't want to hear about God anymore. People who are fed up. People who are tired. People who have had enough. And there's the prophet standing up.

Because God spoke to him. The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the temple faced east. The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east. And the water was flowing from the south side.

As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through the water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in. A river that no one could cross.

He asked me, son of man, do you see this? Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, this water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah where it enters the sea. When it empties into the sea, the water there becomes fresh.

Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish. Because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh. So where the river flows, everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore from Engedi to En Echlahim.

There will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds, like the fish of the great sea, but the swamps and marshes will not become fresh. They will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail.

Every month they will bear because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing. So far, the reading from God's word. Our text this morning we find in the ninth verse, swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh.

So where the river flows, everything will live. Just these words, where the river flows, everything will live. Now brothers and sisters, you might be interested in thinking, how can a pastor come up with a theme for his service? For his service saying 50¢ after reading a passage like this. The good thing is, at least I know that you couldn't predecide on what I will be preaching on and now be relaxing and thinking, I've already got the message.

Because it's more or less impossible, isn't it? To think about 50¢ when you read about this vision of the river flowing from the temple. But something interesting happened. A primary school child challenged me with 50¢. She approached me and she said, pastor, my mom tells me and I give 50¢ every week of my allowance.

50¢ of my pocket money. I receive $5 each week of pocket money, but my mom has taught me to put in 50¢ in the collection bag every Sunday. I want to know why where my 50¢ goes. I want to know from you, why should I bring 50¢? Is it worth anything?

Will it help if I put my 50¢ into the collection bag? 50¢. What would your answer be? I tried to give a Sunday school answer so that the kid would be satisfied. It doesn't work that way.

Because kids aren't satisfied that easily. She then came with another question saying, so does this 50¢ pay for your salary? Does this go towards your salary? My tithing.

And who's your boss? For who do you work? She asked me. And I said, no, I'm on session and we sit there and session makes sure that I'm doing my job. Because I'm getting a little bit irritated now.

Why does this girl want to know whether or not I'm doing my work? And then I realised this conversation is going somewhere. It's not going to be easy because she's cornered me now. And she's really thought through all of these things. And the conversation changed when I said, you are actually my boss.

I actually work for you. Because think about it. You can ask me something, and just a week before, some other kid asked me to do an assignment for her. And I sat her down and we worked through the whole thing and at the end of it, I thought, this was a clever kid. She got me to do an assignment for her.

The job of a pastor for 50¢. That's a bargain, isn't it? I think so. And then I said, no. That 50¢ goes a long way.

Your 50¢ goes a long way. Because I had to explain to her that 10% of that will be going into missions. So 5¢ of that actually contributed towards all of the stuff that we bought in Burma. Every week, she contributed 5¢ to buying some white appliances to create a better life for those kids in Myanmar. And then she got ahead and realised that we are actually serving one another.

And that we are actually serving God with our 50¢ here and there. And then she got it that we are actually serving God with our lives. And this is what it is all about. It is not about who's your boss or who's got the most money or what do we decide. But it's about a lifestyle.

And then she got it why her mom told her to put in her 50¢ into the collection bag. Because it says something about the way that you live your life. It says something about being aware of God's work and how can I contribute into the kingdom of God? Now this vision that we've read about here this morning is all about a lifestyle. It is all about finding life in God.

Now I see some children here. I'm wondering if I had a plant here or if there was a tree standing outside this building, and I'm asking you, what do I and that tree or that plant have in common? What would you guys say? Think very practically. What do we both drink? Water.

We need water. The most important thing in any person's life is water because water is life. And in all of God's creation, God gave us water so that we can live. Without water, there's no life. And if we don't understand this river and if we want to understand this vision, we need to understand the power of water.

Because water equals life. And life is the right opposite of death. So if I don't have water, I will die. But with water, I can live. Brothers and sisters, are you surviving or are you living?

It is Mother's Day. I want to ask you as a mom of someone or a wife or a woman in society: are you just making a living? Or are you living to the full? Do we still get it why I am someone's mom?

Do we still get it? What is the reason for me being here? And what is life really all about? When we think about our congregation, it is all about the life that God has given this congregation. And certainly, God doesn't want to see us dying.

God wants to revive us. God wants to give us a promise and a vision in Ezekiel 47 of what He sees for this congregation. The prophet's vision comes to us with this symbol of life, water. And it starts with a little stream. Isn't that great?

Think about our congregation. It starts with a little stream at the temple. A small and seemingly insignificant stream. Think about it. This is us.

Are we a small church? Please don't make the mistake of thinking it's insignificant. Please don't make the mistake in coming before God and thinking, let's just count the heads here and see where we stand today. Because it's seemingly insignificant, but there's water in the stream, and water equals life. We are not insignificant in the kingdom of God here in the rain.

We have influence. God has given us life. The source of this water is the temple. It is where God is. God is amongst us, and in Jesus Christ, we have found life.

And we need to bring the life more and more and more. If we want to understand the ninth verse in our text, we need to realise that this water grew from an insignificant stream, ankle deep to knee deep, to waist deep, and then a river that you had to swim in. Isn't that great? As a boy, we grew up on the Vaal River. And one of the best things for us was in December when all that water was let out of the dam for me and my cousins was to jump into that river and to swim.

That's one of the best feelings in the world. You swim in that river and the joy that we got from that, from God giving us that water. And we need to understand this river in the same way. God has given us life in abundance to enjoy, to have fun, but also to live from that water. In the Old Testament, the temple is the place where the Lord is present.

And Ezekiel's vision is all about that. But it comes in a time when both Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. And this is the problem that we have as people. Is when the prophet stands up and says, this is the vision of God for you, people will react and say, but please, there is no Jerusalem.

There is no temple. Don't give us a vision. The temple was rebuilt. And Jerusalem. The Lord has not forgotten them.

And He was present through the troublesome times as well as the good times. God is a God of the covenant. God is a giver of life. And whatever God promises will be the truth. The question is, what is it that helps us to understand and lead a full life?

What helps us to see a 50¢ piece in a different light? What is it that makes us understand that I need to flip the coin? I need to see the other side. To be satisfied like that child saying, ah, at last, it makes sense to me. To me, it's the covenant.

To me, it's understanding that God is in a loving relationship with me, and He gives me His promises which reach fulfilment when I believe that God is God and that God in the truth will give us this vision, and this vision will become His truth. You see, outside of the covenant, there is no real meaning. Outside of the covenant, there is no real meaning to this vision that the prophet saw. But in the covenant, for God's people, it is absolute. It is a promise of God's faith and faithfulness.

It is a promise of us being loyal to God. We are in a covenant with God. We have His love. He has given it to us. And although we have a sinful nature just like Kobe prayed before we got into this church building this morning, God forgets and forgives us.

God wipes out all of our sins so that we can live. And He gives us a stream of water here in Narrang so that we can live from the living water so that we can be in the love of God. That song just makes so much sense now to me. River of life. River of love.

Because you see that current just takes you away. If you jump into that river, the force of that river, the powerful working of that river is so great. And God wants us to start walking ankle deep in the water here. And God promises us we will be walking knee deep and waist deep, and we will be swimming in the river of love. You see, this is new.

And maybe you've heard that some people say that when you read Ezekiel, you must be careful. Because in Ezekiel, you find the same language as in the book of Revelation. That's the truth. It's exactly the same genre. And it's even as hard as the book of Revelation to understand.

Because it's a vision of God. It's a God given print to us. And for us as humans to actually get our heads around this, we need to understand this. Why was this necessary?

You see, the fall of man in Genesis three actually put man and mankind outside of that covenant, outside of that loving relationship of God, outside of the Garden of Eden. And that's where people found themselves. And then God made the covenant with Abraham. And He stayed true to the covenant of Abraham to each and every one of us. He will be true right to the very end.

And this vision that Ezekiel has is coming from the fall of man in saying that God hasn't given up on you just because of your sin. God will never give up on you. This is the beauty of this vision. God wants us to understand that this vision that we read in Ezekiel is exactly the same as in Revelation 21. Think about it and read Revelation 21 once again and read about the new life that God promises.

Think about what we've read around the Lord's table this morning. About us wanting Jesus Christ to renew this earth, to come to this earth, and to renew us in a new way. Ezekiel 47 is exactly that. For broken people, a promise of new life. It's the same promise we find in Revelation 21.

A promise of fulfilment in Christ Jesus in Revelation 21. A promise in Ezekiel 47 to us of new life. God is the giver of life. So the question becomes, do we take God seriously in our lives? Do we take God's promises seriously in our lives?

Do we live in the presence of the holy God when I'm a mom at home? Or maybe when I have a mom far away from me, it becomes real. And you know this word, I don't know whether you guys met Israel when he was here last year from the orphanage coming to Australia and talking to people, inviting them to come over to that orphanage. There's one word that that guy used a lot of times every single day of his life, and it's this word. He grabs you and he says, it's real.

It's as if he wants you to understand that God is real. God is providing. God is providing for that orphanage in the mud. He's given them so much. And then he just jumps up and down and says, it's real.

This is us. God's people, real people. God is real. And He's giving us the river of life. God has given us everything we need.

We have it. We have life-giving water in Jesus Christ. And the presence of our Lord Jesus around this table this morning confirms our faith in Him. But the question is, will you drink from the fountain? Will you use the river that God has given you to flourish?

Will you plant? Because what we need, we have. God has given us life, and He wants us to share that life with others. He's given us a river of life. He's given us the river of love, and He's helped us to become like a child.

Just give her 50¢ without holding back. Just please give it. Give your life. Just give something. Just serve one other person.

Make a difference. One person can make a difference. This is the message of Jesus Christ. He was one person on earth. He changed the history of all times.

The son of man, also the son of God. It makes sense, doesn't it?