Shepherd and the Shepherds 1987

I'd like to begin by reading from Ezekiel 34, starting at verse 1. The word of the Lord came to me, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God. Ho, shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding yourselves, should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep.

The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the crippled 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. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered.

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 for them. There were shepherds in Israel who had been given the ability, the power, to feed the people of God with the living word, to bring back the strayed ones, to strengthen and heal the ones who were sick, to hold these people together under the Spirit of God.

But instead of feeding the sheep, the shepherds exploited the sheep, fleeced the sheep, and devoured them. And so these shepherds of Israel fell under the judgment of God. As we read on here, Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord as I live, says the Lord God, because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts.

Since there is no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves and have not fed my sheep, therefore you shepherds hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding of the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves.

I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them. When we are given a ministry under God, a ministry which is really service to God, it always involves service to people, and we take that thing and we turn it into service to ourselves, to feather our own nest or fatten our own egos, God lets us go for quite a while, but in time, he calls us to account. For thus says the Lord God, Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.

As a shepherd seeks out his flock, when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so I will seek my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and bring them into their own land.

And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the fountains, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on fat pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.

I myself, says the Lord, will shepherd my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the stray, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat, and the sleek, and the strong I will destroy. I will seek the lost, I will bring back the stray, I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak.

Now God did this through prophets like Ezekiel, and Haggai, and Zechariah, during those years. God will always somehow shepherd his sheep. He will raise up shepherds to do this, if he has to raise up shepherds out of the stone.

It will be done. But the supreme fulfillment of Ezekiel 34 came some centuries later, after Ezekiel's death. If there's any word that Jesus uses to describe himself, and what he came to do, it's the word shepherd.

When he saw the multitudes, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. They were the sheep, he was the shepherd. He had come to seek the lost, to bring back the stray, to bind up the crippled, to strengthen the weak.

And if we look at our own lives, and at what has happened to us since we first heard the call of Jesus. And should there be anybody here who has not yet heard that call, listen carefully. Today may well be the day.

There is no word that better describes what he is to us than shepherd. We were lost. We were strayed.

We were crippled. And we were weak, and he came to us. And so we read in the shepherd chapter of John, John chapter 10, verse 11.

Jesus is speaking. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

He who is a hired man, not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees. The wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired man who cares nothing for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. What it cost Jesus to bring us back and to restore us is absolutely beyond the comprehension of our minds.

He had to cross over into the territory of sin in order to get hold of us. He had to come into this kingdom of evil. He had to even descend into the region of the dead in order to cut the chains that bound us and set us free.

So he laid down his life, rose from the dead, came to us, called us, and now, right now, floods us with light from heaven. My sheep heed my voice, listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give to them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. Now we here are an assembly, like thousands of other assemblies of believers all over the earth, of sheep gathered around the shepherd.

And each one of us was brought singly, really, from some wilderness out there. He grabbed us, he picked us up, he put us on his shoulders, he brought us home, and then he fit us together in the body. Now he feeds us with living bread, this feast of victory for our God, this foretaste of the coming glory.

He does all that. But what we need to see now and see it clearly is that the instant we become part of his flock, part of his body, immediately we become the means through which his purpose moves out to others. His purpose moves out through us and so that now we're not only sheep, we are also under shepherds.

So that the ones who have yet to hear his voice and feel his grace are to be reached through us. They're going to be sought, they're going to be brought, they're going to be healed, they're going to be strengthened through us. And so he says in verse 16 of that chapter, And I have other sheep, they are not of this fold, I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice, so there should be one flock, one shepherd.

They will heed my voice, I'm going to bring them, there's going to be one flock. See, and the process of going out after those sheep, the word going forth, the healing grace reaching out to them, the encouragement that goes to them flows not through angels, but through us. So, Jesus says to Peter after the resurrection, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these fish? Peter says, you know that I love you.

And Jesus says, feed my sheep. And that's exactly what he said to each of us. We need to see this.

Because many of us are still afraid to believe, to think of ourselves as shepherds. We get uncomfortable with that, somebody else has to be the shepherd, I am no shepherd. But we are under shepherds.

If we're sheep of his, if we're part of his flock, we are his under shepherds. We have to get this vision clear. This is why we're here.

This is why we gather at this location. This is why we have the jobs we have. This is why we live where we live.

This is why we are related to those relatives, those in-laws, those friends. Because out there among the people we already know, and the people we're going to soon know, are particular sheep, specific ones, who are going to be brought back to him through us. They will heed my voice, and I'm going to bring them, and there's going to be one flock.

Now Jesus is the shepherd. He's the one who causes his voice to be heard. We fit in with him.

We abide in him. As we fit in with what the shepherd is doing among us, they hear his voice out there, and they are drawn. And the body of Christ fulfills its purpose.

The shepherd is doing four things among us. I will seek the lost. I will bring back the strayed.

I will bind up the crippled. I will strengthen the weak. I will seek the lost.

Luke chapter 15, verse 4. Jesus is speaking. What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not buy the lamb and keep the hundred sheep until she finds it? So she leaves the ninety-nine sheep out there in the wilderness and goes after this one lost sheep. She leaves these nine silver coins on the kitchen counter.

Turns the house upside down until she finds it. She has one coin. Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

If there is any strategy in the kingdom of God, that's it. Go to the lost sheep. The rejected ones, the forgotten ones, the obnoxious ones, the unpleasant ones, the ugly ones, the sick ones, the crazy ones.

Go to them. Those who are weak don't need a physician, but those who are sick do. The maimed, the lame.

Don't tell me that the church in Detroit, Asia, Latin America, if it ignores the lost sheep right under its nose, stumbles by, doesn't even see them. They're covering my path. Why, those people aren't my type.

They don't belong with me. What are you looking for, a club? If you're concerned about the body of Christ, if you want to be obedient to Him, you have no choice. Your call is to be a shepherd and your call is to go after the lost sheep.

And don't tell me you can't think of one person among your relatives, friends, fellow workers, neighbors, who fits the category of lost sheep. The Lord is saying to this congregation today, I will seek the lost. I will seek the lost with you or without you, but I will seek them.

I'm inviting you to seek them with me. I will put them on your mind. I will restore them to your memory.

I will go with you as you go to them. I will empower you as you pick up the phone and call them or sit down and write them a note. I will anoint you as you pray for them, but I will seek the lost with you or without you.

And I will bring back the stray. Luke 15, 5. When he has found that lost sheep, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying, Rejoice with me for I found my sheep, which was lost.

And when she is founded, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, Rejoice with me. I found the coin, which was lost. Or skipping over to verse 20.

And the prodigal arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion on him and ran to him and embraced him and kissed him. There may be people who have absolutely rejected the kingdom of God, want no part of the kingdom of God.

There are perhaps people who have said no to God's mercy and want no part of Jesus' forgiveness. And they have done it with their eyes open. They know what they're doing.

And we're not going to ram the gospel down their throats. But they are not to be confused with the strayed ones. Who are his sheep have to be brought back.

See, now the older brother or the prodigal considered his younger brother to be one of those sons of perdition. He said, he made his bed, let him lie in it. He's done.

It's all come to me. What a dangerous attitude for that older brother to take. What a dangerous attitude for his modern Christian counterparts to take.

Because the prodigal was still his brother and still his father's son. The father went out every day and looked down the road knowing that one day he's going to see way off in the distance. There he is.

And he runs down there and embraces him and kisses him and brings him back. I will bring back the strayed. There are specific people that we know now who are waiting to be brought back.

Not just the church. We're talking about bringing them back to God. Back to the kingdom.

Back to mercy. Back to God's peace. I will bring back the strayed.

And I'm going to do it, says the Lord, with you or without you. I invite you to do it with me. And if you do, I will anoint you.

I'll put words in your mouth. I'll give you a weapon for them. I'll cut them across your path.

And I will bless you. But I'm going to do it whether you do or not. And I will bind up the crippled.

From Matthew chapter 12, verse 9. Jesus went on from there and entered their synagogue. Behold, there was a man with a withered hand. They asked him, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him? He said to them, what man of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep? So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

Then he said to the man, stretch out your hand. The man stretched it out, and it was restored whole like the other. But the Pharisees went and took counsel against him how to destroy him.

The Pharisees were upset, not because he broke the Sabbath, but because he put them to shame. He was doing what they knew they should be doing. He was strengthening, giving some kind of stamina to these broken reeds, these bruised reeds, the ones who were crippled.

He was binding up the crippled so they could grow. Reading on in this passage, a quote from Isaiah 42. Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.

I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. He's not going to walk around demonstrating all the time.

He will not break a bruised reed or quench the smoldering wick till he brings justice to victory. In his name shall the Gentiles hold. He isn't going to take that bruised reed that's almost done and break it.

He's going to bind it up so that it can grow. He's not going to take that smoldering wick that's almost out and quench it. He's going to help it to burst into flame so that it can shine.

This is called encouragement. And the basic thing we need to do as shepherds is encourage. Even when the sheep need a rebuke, even when they need correction, it has to be done with encouragement for them.

And there are people, specific people, that you and I need badly to encourage. They are demoralized. Sometimes we demoralize them.

I can think of a situation during the last week where I know on Tuesday I really discouraged somebody really badly. You were too hard on her the other day. We all need to do that.

Sometimes it's somebody we have discouraged, and sometimes somebody else did the dirty work. But they need to be encouraged. That's what it means.

That's a major job of the shepherd, to give them some encouragement, some hope. I'm going to bind up the bruised reed. He said, I'm going to encourage.

I'm going to bind it up so that it can keep going, a crippled limb. And I'm going to do that with you or without you. I invite you to do it with me, and if you will, I will anoint you with healing grace so that you can help them to walk the walk.

Finally, I will strengthen the weak. I'm going to strengthen them with awesome power. I'm going to put my strength, he says, into their weakness.

And so we read in 2 Corinthians 12.7, Paul is speaking. And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness. I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon them.

See now, American Christendom operates on the opposite principle. It says, keep your eye open for the sheep who have the shining abilities and the fat wallets and the organizational skills and the well-known names. Cater to them, butter them up.

Use them to make your flock a big success. But the good shepherd says, give me some sheep who are weak and who know their weak and who are willing to turn over even their weakness to me. And I will fill their weakness with my power.

And whatever power we have as his under-shepherd to strengthen those sheep who come our way is his power made perfect in our weakness. And so he draws to us and we touch them. We bring to them the power of the Holy Spirit.

I will strengthen the weak. With you or without you, I'm going to do it. I invite you to strengthen them with me.

Shepherd them with me. If you will do it, I will make your hand to the Lord at the right hand. For thus says the Lord God, behold, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.

I will seek the lost. I will bind up the crippled to you that you may work his work. And one sheep, all heaven will burst forth into song.