We Are Touching Lives Through Christ By Reaching Out, Bringing In, Lifting Up, Sending Forth.

Before you read this sermon, understand that parts of it are specific to my home congregation.  However the message goes beyond that group.  It speaks to all who call themselves Christians.

Bible quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, copyright by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States

For your convenience, Bible readings are shown below the message.

Hebrew Bible:  Ezekiel 34:1-17 & Gospel Reading:  Matthew 25:31-46

  

Message:  by Thomas E. Williams

When studying the scriptures we need to ask questions as we read.  We need to ask; who, what, when, where, why, and how.  We also need to insert ourselves into the narrative.  It is often helpful to ‘try on’ the roles of the different characters in the story.  We can gain new insights by ‘seeing through another’s eyes’.  And finally, we need to ask, what does this mean to ME?

We are going to first examine our reading from Ezekiel.  Let’s take a look at what is going on here.  First of all who are the players in this story? 

• Well, God is God
• Ezekiel is the man God has called on to be his messenger.  That’s pretty straight forward. 
• The sheep are lost.  It seems clear that these are people that are lost, they are without God.
• But we’ve got shepherds, who are they?  The shepherds are the leaders.  Remember that in that day and age the religious and political leaders were the same people.  There was no division of church and state.  So these leaders were supposedly men of God, his spokespersons to the people but they are falling down on the job.

Now we have the WHO let us examine the what.  The WHAT is the scattering, neglect and destruction of the sheep, the lost people.

WHEN is the next question that we ask.  Ezekiel may have had a specific time in mind for this prophesy, but when we examine it we’ll see that the story is timeless.  It could and has taken place over and over.

Where did these events take place?  Again, as in the question of when, the WHERE is not important to the events of the story because it is a story about universal events.

Moving on to the next question, WHY, we find that there are many WHYS here: greed, laziness, self centeredness, self willed and on and on.

The HOW of the story seems to indicate a general neglect of the sheep by the shepherds.  When it is not neglect it is abuse.

Okay, so God says, Hey Zek! Take this message to the leaders of your nation.  Tell them that I am really NOT happy.  And when I’m not happy, ‘aint nobody happy.  Do you blockheadds really think that I can’t see what is going on? 

You are down there getting fat off of My people.  You take the blessings that I have given them to pad your own nest eggs.  You are all dressed up in your fancy clothes , living in your mansions, driving expensive cars – er, camels, and taking the best of everything for yourselves.

Man, it sure points out how little things have changed doesn’t it?

If you watch the TV or read the paper you can tell that these guys would feel right at home in our world today.

They were supposed to be leaders.  Now, you can’t be a leader if you aren’t moving and nobody is following!  And according to this parable, the sheep – that is the people – were lost.  They were scattered over the face of the earth and nobody was searching for them.  

            Not one of these, supposedly good, Godly people was getting out of their comfort zone and ….

            Oh oh!  I just got one of those spiritual slaps up side the head!

I was feeling fairly comfortable with my place in this parable.  I was seeing myself as a sheep – were you? 

But look here, we are not the ‘lost’.  We have been redeemed.  We are sitting here in church because we have found THE WAY.  Oh, we’re not perfect and we may temporarily get turned around but I really can’t see casting us in the role of the sheep.

            But wait a minute, Tom, if they are the lost sheep, who are we 

            Well, we sure aren’t God.

            And unless God has your cellphone number, I don’t think we are Ezekiel either.

Man, I hate to admit this, but I think that we may be the shepherds that ol’ Zeke here is talkin’ to.  I was feeling so smug and comfortable a minute ago. Now, not so much.

The shepherds were the religious leaders and yet they were not doing what shepherds do.  Shepherds do not sit at home while the sheep are in the field.  Shepherds feed the sheep. They lead them to where the water is good.  They protected them from the wild beasts.  They bring them safely home.  That is what shepherds are SUPPOSED to do.

Ol’ Ezekiel’s shepherds did not protect, did not heal the injured, did not lead, they did not even do the most basic of care by feeding the sheep.  And as a result, the Almighty Lord says: I am against the shepherds. I will demand that they hand over my sheep. I won’t let them take care of my sheep anymore, and they will no longer take care of only themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, and my sheep will no longer be their food.

            In our Gospel reading, Jesus lays out the job description for being the right kind of shepherd. 

³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' 
            Now, this congregation does many good things to take care of the sheep.  We do protect through various programs such as the blanket bucks,

We feed through programs like the food pantry, the monthly meals at Trinity, the Heifer Project and even the suppers provided through UP kids.

We clothe the naked through our contributions to the Ingathering and yes through the rummage sales.

We visit, pray for and send cards and flowers to the sick

We welcome the stranger that enters our doors.

However, I’m wondering if we doing all that we can to go find the lost sheep that are scattered across the face of the earth.  Our church’s mission statement is.

We Are Touching Lives Through Christ By

Reaching Out, Bringing In, Lifting Up, Sending Forth.

Answer this for yourselves, are we really reaching out?  Are we seeking the lost?  I know that if the lost find their way into our fold, we will welcome them, we will protect them, we will feed them, and many other things that a good shepherd would do.  But let’s face this, a good shepherd does not just open the gate to the shephold and hope the sheep find their way to.  He actively seeks the sheep and herds them into safety.

I have to ask this, and understand that I’m not just asking YOU, I’m asking US, are we actively inviting people in?  And if we are, are they the lost sheep?  Or we inviting the saved to come and join us?

I ask that because … well, here is a personal admission:  We just recently got some new neighbors who will be spending the winter in an RV near ours.  Ella asked them if they had found a church home yet and we invited them to come to church with us. 

Were we being shepherds?  Not really, these people are already Believers.  We were not inviting sheep.  We were inviting more shepherds.

If we are to live up to our mission statement, we need to go find the sheep and bring them in.  We need to be seeking the lost.  Just as Jesus did.  “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10.  Jesus was fulfilling what Ezekiel had prophesied, “¹¹For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.  ¹²As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.”  We, as Christ’s hands and feet on earth are under an obligation to continue this work. 

Remember the words of the Great Commandment in Matthew 28, “¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit,²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have command you.”

This was not a suggestion to sit in our comfortable sanctuary and wait for the lost to wander in.  This is a command to go and find them.

We each have to ask ourselves how we have obeyed this command.  When we stand before God will He say,  'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world'


Hebrew Bible:    Ezekiel 34:1-17 ¹Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, ²Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them- to the shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not the shepherds feed the sheep?  ³You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings but you do not feed the sheep.  ⁴You have not strengthened the weak, the you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost. but with force and hardship you have ruled them.5 So they were scattered, for there was no shepherd, and scattered they became food for all the wild animals. 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 no one to search or seek for them.

7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:8 "As I live," says the Lord GOD, because My sheep have become a prey, and My sheep have become food for all the wild animals since there was no shepherd, and because My shepherds have not searched for My sheep, but  the shepherds fed themselves and have not feed My sheep;9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:10 'Thus says the Lord GOD, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves.  I will rescue My sheep from their mouths, so that they may not be food for them.

¹¹For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.  ¹²As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.  ¹³I 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 watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land.  ¹⁴I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.  ¹⁵I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD.  ¹⁶I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

¹⁷As for you, My flock, thus says the Lord GOD, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats

Gospel Reading:          Matthew 25:31-46

³¹"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.  ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.  ³⁴Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.'  ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?  ³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?  ³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?'  ⁴⁰And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'  ⁴¹Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴²for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'  ⁴⁴Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?'  ⁴⁵Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'  ⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life the foundation of the world”?