The Evangelism of Ezra
[By Cameron Piner]
“For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10, NASB).
Ezra, “a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses” (Ezra 7:6, NASB), lived during a difficult time in the history of the Israelites. They had been in captivity for many years, the temple had been destroyed, and the people had been surrounded by pagan influences for a very long time. Now, they were beginning to come out of exile, they had rebuilt the temple, and were working towards rebuilding Jerusalem. But, the people seemed to be lacking in instruction about God’s ways. So, Ezra embarked on a journey, leaving Babylon to come to Jerusalem with a mission of evangelism. There is a lot that we can learn from Ezra’s example in spreading the gospel.
“…Ezra had set his heart…”
The Bible uses phrases like this a few times to describe people who had “made up their mind” and were committed to doing something. For example: Daniel had “set his heart” to not be defiled (Daniel 1:8), and Jesus had “set His face” to go to Jerusalem and be crucified there (Luke 9:51). Ezra had made up his mind and devoted himself to evangelize. Today, it is also important for us to decide ahead of time that we are going to be committed to studying, living, and teaching God’s ways. If we commit ourselves to that task (which we’ve been commanded to participate in), then we are far more likely to take advantage of any opportunities that arise before us. But, if we are waiting for the opportunities to arise before committing ourselves to the task of spreading the gospel, then it is unlikely that we will make the most of the opportunities that God gives us, and we certainly won’t be actively trying to find those opportunities to teach others about God. Evangelism is not just something that we do, it should be who we are, it should be a major focus in our lives, and it should be something that we have “set our hearts” to do.
“…to study the Law of the LORD…”
Ezra didn’t just make up his mind that he wanted to teach people, but he was first committed to studying God’s law. We must also be devoted to studying God’s word. You can’t teach people about the gospel if you yourself don’t know anything about the gospel. Now, anyone who is a Christian should know some about the gospel and can begin to teach that to others. But, we shouldn’t stop with whatever amount of knowledge that we currently have. We must continue to invest in learning more about God’s word. Whether we are new to Christ or have been Christians for seventy years, we must constantly be devoted to studying God’s word. God’s word will “…make me wiser than my enemies… more insight than all my teachers… understand more than the aged…” (Ps. 119:98-100, NASB), and “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17, NASB). So, let us imitate Ezra and “set our hearts to study the Law of the LORD.”
“…to practice it…”
Ezra had set his heart to not only study and teach God’s Law, but to carefully put it into practice in his own life. It is not enough for us to know all about God’s word. It is not enough for us to be constantly teaching God’s word to others. We must also live it. James 1:22-25 tells us, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does” (NASB). We, like Ezra, must make up our minds to study God’s Law and then practice it. Otherwise, how could we ever go about teaching it to others, when we have a log in our own eye (Matt. 7:1-5)? When we practice God’s commandments, then the world will see our good deeds and glorify God in the day of visitation (1 Pet. 2:12).
“…and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.”
Ezra had made up his mind about not just studying and practicing God’s ways, but he was also devoted to teaching God’s word to those in Israel. If we’ve received the wonderful words of life, and we study them and practice them, then how could we choose to hoard that good news by keeping it to ourselves? We are God’s people, “so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9, NASB). We are part of the process of receiving God’s word and then teaching others who will also teach others, just as Paul told Timothy, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). So, we must make up our minds, like Ezra did, to teach God’s statutes to those around us.
“…because the hand of the LORD his God was upon Him.”
There are many other things we could learn about evangelism from Ezra’s example throughout the rest of the book of Ezra, but notice the phrase repeated around the verse that we’ve been talking about: “…because the good hand of the LORD his God was upon Him” (Ezra 7:6, 9, NASB). Ezra was not successful simply because he was devoted. He wasn’t successful because he was such a skilled scribe. He wasn’t successful because he studied so much, or lived so perfectly, or taught so convincingly (even though all of that was important for him to do, and for us to do). He was successful because of the LORD. We also should set our hearts to study, practice, and teach God’s word; but we need to always remember that it is God who gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:6).