I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Notes
Transcript
Ezekiel 34
Ezekiel 34
The theme of shepherd/shepherding is found throughout scripture
Abraham, Moses, and David were all shepherds. The people were known as a shepherding people. Even the messiah is prophesied to be some shepherd-king.
Sheep are the most referenced animal in scripture. It’s a shepherd’s job to protect, lead, feed, and secure a resting place for the sheep.
But we live in world of Bad Shepherds
We are sheep. We find guidance from people or philosophies that can add direction and clarity to our lives. We hope that these “shepherds” can secure rest for us.
But we live in an age of bad shepherds. These evil shepherds are people but can also be ideas/philosophies that promise to secure you rest, if you follow their “staff” of rules.
Individualism
New Age Spirituality
Western Materialism
Relativism
We have so many of these voices. So many bad shepherds. But it is in the midst of this that the good shepherd says “My sheep hear my voice” and that a “strangers voice that will not heed”. a lot of bad shepherds, who are not alligned with God’s purposes, leave us wanting. But worst of all, they take us away from the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd who promises life and life in abundance. What is worse is when we become under-shepherds ourselves for bad shepherds.
We are sheep in need of shepherd. In a world of bad shepherds
The Old Testament testifies of a coming Shepherd and God who shepherds his people in Ezekiel 34.
Ezekiel 34:1–6 (NASB 2020)
Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should the shepherds not feed the flock?
You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock.
Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you searched for the lost; but with force and with violence you have dominated them.
They scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every animal of the field and scattered.
My flock strayed through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them.” ’ ”
In this context, The Shepherds are the rulers/Kings of Israel. They have failed to give proper leadership to Israel. And in doing so, Israel has fallen away, they are in captivity, But most of all these Kings are selfish.
Kings are suppose to be better. God demands that they be better. But all the sheep are to these kings are just a means to power. They don’t actually care about the sheep at all.
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should the shepherds not feed the flock?
They are feeding themselves. The sheep just food and clothing to them.
We can be like this in Ministry to.…
How has ministry been a stage for your ego? I know for me it can be hard. We want the glamorous titles, and the affirmation of people. We don’t ACTUALLY care about God’s flock.
Preacher praise example.
Honestly, we are just using God’s flock as a means to puff ourselves up. To look good. They reflect good on us, that’s why we invest. We are feeding ourselves.
But lets recognize that we live in a world of presentation. Social media allows us to curate the exact image that we want people to see. We literally have a numerical metric that tells us how influential and popular we are. We are a generation that is obsessed with image and influence. Even if we are not on social media, that influences goes deep. How can we make sure ministry is not a means by which we curate our own image.
But one thing that is incredibly clear from these verses is that even if men are horrible shepherds. God very much cares for His Flock. He wants to strengthen them, heal them, restore them, and find them. And HE KNOWS them. He’s not detached.
Ezekiel 34:9–10 (NASB 2020)
therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:
“This is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My sheep from them and make them stop tending sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will save My sheep from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.”
He rejects these shepherds. Let us pray that we are never like this. Let us pray for God’s to soften our hearts for his people . But God is now going to come in and be everything these bad shepherds were not.
That is what He does for us. He speaks judgement over the philosophies that shepherded us. And He is more capable of doing what we wanted these other Bad shepherds to do. He is the one who will lead us to rest. He is the Good Shepherd.
For the Lord God says this: “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and look after them.
As a shepherd cares for his flock on a day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.
I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land.
I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing place will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down in a good grazing place and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
I Myself will feed My flock and I Myself will lead them to rest,” declares the Lord God.
“I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will eliminate. I will feed them with judgment.
The Passage is alluding to God, The Good Shepherd. But interestingly, Jesus picks up this title as well.
“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
Who is this good Shepherd from Ezekiel?
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
He has come to save you.
And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to complain, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
And so He told them this parable, saying,
“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the other ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?
And when he has found it, he puts it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost!’
He rejoices over you.
He does not reject us, or toss us away because of our weakness. But He Finds us. And He covers our weakness.
“Then I will appoint over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd.
And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I the Lord have spoken.
This is the messianic Shepherd-King. Who will feed His people. Why is Jesus designated as prince here and not King? An allusion to Jesus being the SON of GOD.
Jesus leads us to Shalom and rest.
What does that ultimate rest look like? Fellowship and Union with God. Relationship restored. Union with the Holy Spirit and the ability to experience joy and peace and love. This was bought with a price.
To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep listen to his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me,
He knows us.
10:3 and 10:14 He is a personal God. And He is calling us by name to head his voice and follow Him. He knows where we been and all the places the bad shepherd have led us. He is going to judge those philosophies, but right now he is inviting you. To head his voice and follow Him.
Jesus healed people even if it meant that rejection of pharisees. He stooped down low to wash the disciples feet. He is the shepherd that is willing to die for the sheep. He is the highest ethic, the best shepherd there ever will be. And He is inviting us to heed his voice and follow Him.
When he puts all his own sheep outside, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
However, a stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
Jesus told them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what the things which He was saying to them meant.
So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
All those who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.
“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters the flock.
He flees because he is a hired hand and does not care about the sheep.
I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me,
just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
He is willing to guide us and lead us. Let us not simply relegate Him to a person we study and learn about. No He is the Shepherd. Meaning He is inviting us to head his voice and have life and have it in abundance.
But following his voice also costs something for us.
Therefore, this is what the Lord God says to them: “Behold, I, I Myself will also judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
We are not off the hook just because we follow Him. Following Him, means something. We have to give up. We have to lay down. We have to puruse Holiness. We must act with Justice. And We have to follow His voice through any storm. That is why we come to Church, so that He can be revealed to us through His Word and through His Body.
Let us commit to being sheep that do not hear the voice of strangers, but the voice of the Good Shepherd.
What are some “bad shepherds” that you have had in your life? Lets focus on “ideas” as opposed to people to avoid gossip?
What are some “bad shepherds” that you have had in your life? Lets focus on “ideas” as opposed to people to avoid gossip?