Dakota Community Church
November 23, 2014
Sheep Without Shepherds
The metaphorical connection between shepherds and kings was a common one in the Old Testament.
Isaiah 44:24,28
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: … who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.
Jeremiah 23:1-6
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 3 Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.
5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
Micah 5:4-5
And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. 5 And he shall be their peace.
Zechariah 11:5
Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them.
Zechariah 11:7-13
So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favour, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep. 8 In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” 10 And I took my staff Favour, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter.
The flock is doomed, destined for destruction and powerless to help themselves against their selfish shepherds.
The good shepherd, in this case Zechariah, is rejected and detested by the sheep (who prefer their abusing masters) and dismissed for thirty pieces of silver. Sound familiar?
1. Call of the shepherd/kings
The call of the shepherd is to care for and nurture the sheep.
They are to lead them to safety and provision, feeding and protecting the sheep at whatever cost.
The shepherd/king connection would have been an important reminder to hereditary monarchs most of whom would have had a much easier time considering themselves recipients of divine privilege and power than the bearers of any kind of pastoral responsibility. Put yourself in that position for a moment, how are you likely to respond?
David is an exception on this front. He recognizes God as the chief shepherd and his role as servant below Him, even though he is the earthly king.
Psalm 23:1-6
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Our RCL text for today is from Ezekiel 34
The chapter begins with a blistering rebuke of the shepherds who have been leading God’s people.
Ezekiel 34:1-10
The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “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. 6 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 or seek for them.
7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 10 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 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.
Contrast the picture here of Israel’s shepherds to the picture David paints of God as shepherd in Psalm 23.
Do these passages bring to mind any issues regaurding today’s pastoral ministers?
God’s charge against them has two main thrusts:
2. Failure to feed
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. {34:2b-3}
The very people who are called to protect and feed the sheep have instead used their positions of authority to fleece the flock, exploiting them in order to make themselves rich and comfortable.
Something tells me that there is a connection between Israel’s wicked shepherds and evangelicalism’s rock star pastors.
Quotes from The Expositors Summit:
“In many churches the pulpit is gone, and some guy is wandering around telling stories.”
John Macarthur
“True preaching has not happened until the people have understood their Bibles.”
Thabiti Anyabwile
“Don’t mistake the common interpretation of the text for what the text is actually saying.”
Albert Mohler
3. Failure to protect
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. 6 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 or seek for them. {34:4-6}
Rather than holding the flock together as one group the shepherds selfish conduct has lead to the sheep being scattered.
The weak are not strengthened.
The sick are not healed.
The injured are not ministered to.
The strays are not pursued and the lost are not sought so they scatter.
They are victimized because there is no shepherd.
Mega Church Quotes:
“Too many guys waste too much time trying to move stiff-necked, stubborn, obstinate people. (pause) I am all about blessed subtraction. There is a pile of dead bodies behind the MH bus (laughs) and by God’s grace it’ll be a mountain by the time we’re done.
You either get on the bus or you get run over by the bus. Those are the options; but the bus ain’t gonna stop. And I’m just a—I’m just a guy who is like, “Look, we love ya, but, this is what we’re doing.” There’s a few kinda people. There’s people who get in the way of the bus.
They gotta get run over. There are people who wanna take turns driving the bus. They gotta get thrown off (laughs). ‘Cuz they wanna go somewhere else.”
“We don't teach from Books of the Bible because it gets in the way of evangelism. We don't offer different kinds of Bible studies because it gets in the way of evangelism. We don't teach doctrine because it gets in the way of evangelism.
If you want to be fed God's word or have the Bible explained to you then you are a fat lazy Christian and you need to shut up and get to work or you need to leave this church because we ONLY do evangelism.”
“The jackass in the church is the one that always screams, “I wanna go deeper.” You know what I tell people that say that around here? You’re only as deep as the last person you served. You wanna talk deep, let’s go check your tithing record and see how deep you are. (audience laughter) Deep? Deep? Most Christians are, John Maxwell said it, Most Christians are educated way beyond their level of obedience anyway. What you’re really saying is, You want me to stand on the stage and confuse the heck out of you so you don’t have to apply what I teach on Sundays. I could do that.”
“We have people come to this church going, ‘I want a church where I can know the pastor. I could never go to a church where I can’t know the pastor.’ You need to leave. I don’t have the time. I love my wife, I love my kids, and I won’t sacrifice my family on the ministry altar so I can come eat food that I don’t like and I can hang out with people that make me uncomfortable. … You’ve never been told that by a pastor. That’s why he only stays at the church for two years, and then he leaves. … ‘I want to go to a church where the pastor comes to visit me in the hospital.’ No, you don’t want that. Because if I come to see you in the hospital, ya’ll know, it’s bad. The guy behind me has the bag you’re leaving the room in. ‘Well, in my last church the pastor would come.’ Well go back to your last church. … ‘I didn’t like the music last Sunday.’ Here’s the problem: you think I care. … You don’t understand how little I care.”
4. The good shepherd
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 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. {34:10}
So God will put a stop to it, an end will come to the Levitical priesthood and the Dravidic line and God will replace them with - HIMSELF!
John 10:11-18
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Israel’s shepherds certainly failed to be faithful to their callings and for certain your pastoral experiences will have been rife with the reality of disappointment that accompanies sinful human shortcomings.
Your good shepherd did not fall short in HIS calling.
The shepherd/kings of Old Testament Israel almost always failed to feed Gods flock choosing instead to make themselves rich and secure at their expense.
The New Testament church is teeming with selfish narcissists who fleece the sheep and pedal nonsense for personal gain while the flock starves as it consumes the nutritional equivalent of marshmallows.
Your good shepherd did not and does not fail to feed you as you look to HIM.
God’s children were often left scattered and unprotected by the leaders of Israel and there are wolves that not only run free in the church today but are often invited guests, welcomed by the pastors to abuse the flock.
Your good shepherd never has left you defenceless against the wiles of the devil or any of his human assistants.
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
Follow Dan on twitter: @DanCormie
