Theme: Lost Sheep, False Shepherds, Judgment, & the Good Shepherd

Introduction: If you want a story that finds an audience in each generation, tell a story involving false shepherds, those in leadership roles who are supposed to feed the sheep of God but who, instead of serving as godly selfless leaders, seek their own comfort, their own glory, and their own legacy. They seek neither the nurture of the sheep, nor their strengthening. Rather, they view the sheep as means to their own selfish ends. Nothing has changed.

Text:

 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? ³ You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. ⁴ The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. ⁵ So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; ⁶ they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them. (Ezekiel 34:1-6, ESV)

Connections to Our Day: One of my enduring concerns is the utter lack of discernment in the Christian church. We have both sheep and shepherds who remain shallow, undiscerning people. Why is that? It’s bromidic to say that we get the leaders we deserve. But that does not solve the problem. I think, for example, of how my spiritual cup overflows when I read the sermons of Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, and Lloyd-Jones. Where are sermons like that nowadays? Rather than doctrinal, biblical, theologically rich sermons, we are subjected to drivel, something one could rattle off with a few moments with a web browser and a beginner’s concordance. Folks, we should not settle. Why? Well, Scripture is clear:

• Hebrews 13:17 says that pastoral leaders “will give an account.”
• Ezekiel 3:17 records how God makes biblical shepherds as “watchmen” for the house of Israel.
• Ephesians 4 is so clear: “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:11-13, ESV).

But God … I admit, it is easy to grow discouraged at the shallowness from so many pulpits today. Where are the deep shepherds? Why so much fluff instead of depth? Why vanilla talks instead of oracular manna of redeeming grace?

Encouragement: The good news is that God knows, God hears, and God is the good shepherd. Will you listen to Ezekiel 34:

“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. ¹² As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. ¹³ And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴ I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. ¹⁶ I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

¹⁷ “As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. ¹⁸ Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? ¹⁹ And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

²⁰ “Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, ²² I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. ²³ And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken. (Ezekiel 34:11-24, ESV)

Takeaway: Scripture is realistic, you see. Because God knows what we are like. He knows that most will settle for drivel rather than depth. Ergo, God sends the true Shepherd, the greater David, the one whose voice the sheep will hear and follow. The good shepherd was and is Christ, who came in the fullness of time, to fulfill what all other under-shepherds and/or hirelings cannot do. Therefore, let the redeemed of the Lord say so, and gather as the called-out ones, the ones who recognize the king in all his beauty, the beauty among the ruins.