Sunday, November 27, 2005
Get fired up and bring in the sheep
Ezekiel 34 says:
1The 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? 3You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4The 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. 5So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. 6My 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: 8As 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, 9therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 10Thus 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.
11"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13And I 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 ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares 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, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
17"As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. 18Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? 19And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?
20"Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, 22I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken.
25"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. 26And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. 27And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. 29And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. 30And they shall know that I am the LORD their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord GOD. 31And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord GOD."
Don't you see, we are the Lord's shepherds, but it looks like we have been filling ourselves with knowledge. We take in so much of God's word, but we yet have gone out and try to gather the lost sheep. Are we really boasting in Christ Jesus? Or are we boasting in the knowledge that we gain each time we go to a meeting or open the Word of God? The bible was not meant to be abused this way. It is meant for us to get fed and then to share the bread with the sheep--the lost sheep--the sheep that are scattered about.
Later on in the passage, you see that God is tired of His shepherds not doing as they are called. He chose those shepherds just like He chose us. As you read in Ezekiel, God had to take over. He didn't work through His shepherds, He did the work Himself. Do we wnat to be like those shepherds? Do we want to get puffed up with knowledge just for our own sake? What is the purpose? Our purpose is to be a good shepherd--a shepherd who obeys the Lord's commands. We know the Lord is mighty to save, but for some reason He takes delight when we go out and share the gospel. He chose us and our response should be the choice of going out and rescuing the lost sheep. This is what glorifying God is--that's why He takes delight when we go out and share the gospel. Let's go out and bring in the sheep. Let's follow Christ's example and bring them in one by one.
Just a side note: As I was writing this, the words, "get fired up" came to my mind. I think these words hold a purpose. I believe we have let our flame die down a bit. We had this passion for Auburn, but somehow have mis-placed it. We want it back, but we don't know how to get it back. Hmm, this is good. The words, "get fired up" comes from and old cheer from back home. The cheer would go something like this, "Get fired up Aggies, get fired up!" To me this is very profound. Getting fired up starts with just us ourselves--it is a change of mind and saying, "Okay, I am tired of being so complacent, I am going to be fired up for Jesus." That is all it takes to bring the passion for Auburn back. It is kind of like cheering ourselves on as we cheer on Jesus in our lives. The reason why I think all of this is very profound is because instead of picturing my hometown's football field earlier, I pictured the Jordan-Hare stadium filled with a magnitude of people giving Jesus a pep-rallie. They were all cheering on our Savior! Praise Jesus! Right now there would not be a lot of people in that stadium cheering on Jesus, but I bet if we went out to bring in the lost sheep that are scattered about, I bet the stadium would be packed all the way to covering the football field itself. So, I say, "Lets get fired up and bring in the sheep!"
1The 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? 3You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4The 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. 5So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. 6My 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: 8As 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, 9therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 10Thus 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.
11"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13And I 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 ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares 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, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
17"As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. 18Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? 19And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?
20"Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, 22I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken.
25"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. 26And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. 27And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. 29And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. 30And they shall know that I am the LORD their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord GOD. 31And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord GOD."
Don't you see, we are the Lord's shepherds, but it looks like we have been filling ourselves with knowledge. We take in so much of God's word, but we yet have gone out and try to gather the lost sheep. Are we really boasting in Christ Jesus? Or are we boasting in the knowledge that we gain each time we go to a meeting or open the Word of God? The bible was not meant to be abused this way. It is meant for us to get fed and then to share the bread with the sheep--the lost sheep--the sheep that are scattered about.
Later on in the passage, you see that God is tired of His shepherds not doing as they are called. He chose those shepherds just like He chose us. As you read in Ezekiel, God had to take over. He didn't work through His shepherds, He did the work Himself. Do we wnat to be like those shepherds? Do we want to get puffed up with knowledge just for our own sake? What is the purpose? Our purpose is to be a good shepherd--a shepherd who obeys the Lord's commands. We know the Lord is mighty to save, but for some reason He takes delight when we go out and share the gospel. He chose us and our response should be the choice of going out and rescuing the lost sheep. This is what glorifying God is--that's why He takes delight when we go out and share the gospel. Let's go out and bring in the sheep. Let's follow Christ's example and bring them in one by one.
Just a side note: As I was writing this, the words, "get fired up" came to my mind. I think these words hold a purpose. I believe we have let our flame die down a bit. We had this passion for Auburn, but somehow have mis-placed it. We want it back, but we don't know how to get it back. Hmm, this is good. The words, "get fired up" comes from and old cheer from back home. The cheer would go something like this, "Get fired up Aggies, get fired up!" To me this is very profound. Getting fired up starts with just us ourselves--it is a change of mind and saying, "Okay, I am tired of being so complacent, I am going to be fired up for Jesus." That is all it takes to bring the passion for Auburn back. It is kind of like cheering ourselves on as we cheer on Jesus in our lives. The reason why I think all of this is very profound is because instead of picturing my hometown's football field earlier, I pictured the Jordan-Hare stadium filled with a magnitude of people giving Jesus a pep-rallie. They were all cheering on our Savior! Praise Jesus! Right now there would not be a lot of people in that stadium cheering on Jesus, but I bet if we went out to bring in the lost sheep that are scattered about, I bet the stadium would be packed all the way to covering the football field itself. So, I say, "Lets get fired up and bring in the sheep!"
