THE SHEPHERD OF THE SHEEP EZEKIEL 34: 11-16 AUGUST 18, 2013 This is one of the signal passages of the Bible. Not only do these words recall to us the truth that God is Creator, but powerfully emphasizes that God is the Great Shepherd. Since God is Creator and the Great Shepherd, it follows that God has created us for a Profound and holy purpose which is only found by following Him and living with Him. Many of the people of Ezekiel’s time, and especially the leaders, had turned away from God. They were, if you would, following other shepherds. Our world today is much like t world of Ezekiel. The people of Israel had fallen under selfish, unjust, unethical, immoral leadership. Corruption and graft were rampant. Decisions and policy were made for expediency and profit. The leaders saw the people as stepping stones to their own purposes rather than as representing and serving a sacred trust and duty. Ezekiel is proclaiming, and warning, that each individual, each person is of the greatest value in the sight of God and that those who are most dear to Him are those who are most oppressed or least powerful Our national and world leaders would do well to heed this powerful message of Ezekiel. Placing oneself above others is one of the insidious idolatries, because that person is refuting the truths of God. Genesis 1: 26 – “Let us make man in our own image.” Psalm 8:5 – “Yet thou hast made him a little less than God…” Psalm 9:9 – “The Lord is the stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” PAGE TWO Psalm 9:18 – “For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.” Romans 8: 19 – “Let us then pursue what makes for peace and mutual uplifting.” Philippians 2:3 – “Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves.” These are words to live by. These are words which guide us in the way of life. These are words which, when we ask, “What is God’s will in our lives?’ provide a strong and sure confident answer. God has proclaimed Himself not only our Creator, but our Shepherd, We read again from Ezekiel 34: 15-16 - “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the Strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice.” In Ezekiel 34: 23-24, we find a prophecy of Christ: “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. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.” In Ezekiel 34: 25-26, we find a Covenant of Peace: “I will make with them a covenant of Peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing.” PAGE THREE The great 23rd Psalm presents a way to understand God as the Great Shepherd and our lives with the Shepherd. Turn in your Bibles and let’s read this great psalm together. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” The question for us today is “What is our response to the Good Shepherd?” To ask it another way, in Psalm 12:12, we read, “Restore to me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with a willing heart.” Are you saying yes to God? Are you living with the joy of thy salvation? Do you believe that God is upholding you with a willing heart? In 2nd Chronicles 29:27 we read, “And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with trumpets.” Is the song of the Lord alive in your heart and in your soul and in your mind? This, then, is where our response to God begins, with an offering of ourselves. PAGE FOUR Something in us, something in our hearts, something in our souls, something in our minds has to be the burnt offering on the altar. In Romans 12: 1 we read, “Your bodies are a living sacrifice.” We understand the depth of sacrifice in the parable of the Good Samaritan, in Luke 10 25- 37. We further understand sacrifice when we look at the life of Christ and realize that He sacrificed His life for us on the Cross that we might have the song of the Lord in our hearts forever and eternally. The Good Shepherd leads us to the foot of the cross, and there, takes our heart and our hand, and walks with us to the Promised Land. In John 10: 10-15, Jesus is telling the disciples about Himself as the Good Shepherd. How great the church would be if its people realized the wealth of God’s resources and the depths of His love. Before the creative God can come into our lives, before the reality of the wealth of God’s resources and the depth of His love can lay hold of us, before our spirits can know the baptism of power and of eternity, before we can have the stirring song of the Lord in our hearts, one thing is needed: self-surrender. As the great hymn says, “I surrender all, I surrender all. All to Jesus I surrender, I surrender all.”
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 02:06:38 +0000
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