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"Shepherds, Wolves and Hired Hands"
It all started with one lost and straying sheep.
Shepherds eating breakfast outside the town of Gevas,
Turkey, were surprised to see a lone sheep fall to its
death from a nearby cliff. They were stunned, however,
when the rest of the nearly 1500 sheep in the herd
followed. The local newspaper reported that “450 of
the sheep perished in a billowy, white pile.”
One news agency in this country ran the story under
the headline “Sheep Die in Mass ‘Ewe-icide’”.
I can almost hear the sheep that survived running home
to explain to their families, “but, mom, everybody else
was doing it.”
I want to talk to you today about our need for a shepherd,
and not just any shepherd, but in fact the one and only
Good Shepherd.
Sheep are pretty helpless and vulnerable animals and
like it or not God uses the image of sheep to describe
us a lot in the Bible. It’s not to belittle or demean
us. He made us that way. We are the most precious of
all His creation. It is simply an observation that like
sheep, people need constant direction and protection in
a world that is hostile and dangerous. God defies the
popular notion that we can find our own way through
this life successfully.
In light of our need for a shepherd consider with me
this morning two sources of danger that Jesus identifies
in our gospel: wolves and hired hands.
Wolves are predatory animals. They hunt and they kill
to survive. Maybe you’ve watched the wildlife, nature
documentaries that study and track their movements and
behaviors. It’s pretty gruesome as most things in the
wild tend to be, awesome to watch in a way as long as
you’re not below them in the food chain.
Wolves are the image God uses to describe those things
in the world that prey on and seek to devour and destroy
His people. Wolves are only interested in satisfying their
own appetite. There is no compassion or mercy in the hunt
for their next meal.
So what do you see when you look around you? I suppose
there is a lot of obvious stuff that most of think we
are smart enough and strong enough to avoid – drugs,
alcohol, gangs – although none of them ever seem to
lack for new victims – random violence, cut-throat
business practices, pornography – these things too
are so common we’re barely shocked by them anymore –
terrorism, a growing disregard for preciousness of
life itself. The pack of wolves running through our
culture is growing.
But that’s not even the worst of it. Listen to what God
said through the prophet Ezekiel, “Her officials within
her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood
and kill people to make unjust gain” (Ezekiel 22:27).
And again through the prophet Zephaniah: “Her officials
are roaring lings, her rulers are evening wolves, who
leave nothing for the morning” (Zephaniah 3:3).
In Matthew’s gospel Jesus says, “Watch out for false prophets.
They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are
ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15).
And in our first reading Paul instructs the leaders of the
church in the city of Ephesus, “Keep watch over yourselves
and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you
overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he
bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave,
savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare
the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and
distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after
them. So be on your guard!” (Acts 20:28-31).
It almost seems like the worst danger is not from the
ferociousness of the world outside but from the subtle,
cleverly disguised, misguided evil of those who call
themselves believers and followers of God!
The church has had no shortage of those within her own
walls who use and devour people for their own purposes.
And I’m not just talking about the crazy ones who lead
their followers to drink poison kool-aid. But even more
dangerous are the ones who in the name of preserving
truth and purity or for the sake of expanding the
missions get us to attack one another, split the church,
and file lawsuits to try and gain control. And it filters
all the way down to the local church where pastors and
leaders can become more concerned about growing the
church, building more buildings, increasing the
offerings and building an empire than they are for
the people they are called to serve.
It is not hard to understand why people do not want to
be part of the “organized church” – why more and more
choose to make church attendance and participation in
the life and fellowship of a congregation an option
they choose not to take.
But here’s the thing folks - human beings are still weak
and vulnerable. They will seek, consciously or unconsciously,
direction and protection from whatever source promises the
best chance for success and happiness. And there is no
shortage of hired hands that are ready and waiting to
offer their services.
Education stands ready to promise you that if you work hard
and earn your diplomas and degrees you will achieve your full
potential and be satisfied. Health and fitness beckons you to
eat right, exercise more and discover the fullness of life.
Career and family calls out and says a living wage, a decent
home, 2.2 children and a pet will complete you. Not attracted
to the traditional family? Well perhaps a homosexual lifestyle
is what you’re looking for. And of course ever present is the
sweet, sweet song of wealth and prosperity. If you aren’t lucky
enough to inherit it, or fall into it by hard work and ingenuity,
there is always the lottery.
How much more of this can you take? The line of hired hands
who offer you direction and protection is never ending. But
do you want to see if they are true or not? Would you like
to see if whatever it is that seems so promising right now
is genuine and true?
Bring it over here to the graveside. Let’s go to the cemetery.
Death is the most ferocious wolf of all. Jesus says, “The
hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when
he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.
Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs
away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.”
Only the Good Shepherd faces death for the sheep. Jesus is God
who took on human flesh and came into this world to direct and
protect us beyond the grave to life, real life, eternal life
that begins right now and will never end. Jesus absorbed the
savagery of the wolves that wander the world – hatred, violence,
the wickedness of all the vices that drive people to insanity. He
healed the sick, and the lame, and the blind. He ate and drank
with the outcast and the helpless.
Jesus faced the biting, tearing viciousness of those within
the church who for their own lust for power and control arrested
Him, beat, mocked, spit upon, and condemned Him to death. He
laid down his life for the sheep – beaten mercilessly by the
Roman flogging, crowned with thorns and struck with a staff
over the head, nailed without pity hand and foot to the cross,
and left all alone, abandoned even by His own heavenly Father,
the Good Shepherd went down into the grave for you and for me.
Listen to Him: “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down
of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority
to take it up again.” Authority, folks, that’s what you’re
looking for in a shepherd - authority ultimately over life
and death. This is the one whose direction and protection
will never fail you.
It seems so obvious, so simple, and yet so unbelievable and
often times very feeble and useless. How do you keep it
straight? It sounds good. Jesus is my Good Shepherd. But
what does it look like after church?
To be sure it looks a little different in each one of us. We
are each uniquely created, uniquely gifted, uniquely precious
and important to the Good Shepherd. He doesn’t treat us all
the same. Listen to what he says: “I am the Good Shepherd; I
know my sheep and my sheep know me.”
Dr. Tim Laniak is an OT/Hebrew professor at Gordon Conwell
Theological seminary. He wrote a book called Shepherds after
My Own Heart. Part of his research included a sabbatical
in the Middle East where he traveled with and questioned Bedouin
shepherds about sheep and shepherding.
He asked an owner of a large flock, a couple thousand sheep, “Do
really know every one of your sheep?”
The shepherd looked at him as if he was crazy. “Of course I do.
How could I be their shepherd if I don’t know them?”
Laniak wasn’t convinced, so he pressed further. “What do you mean,
you know them? What exactly do you know about them?”
The shepherd replied, “I know the year the sheep was born, the
circumstances of its birth. I know if it’s broken any bones. I
know which diseases it’s susceptible to, which foods it doesn’t
digest well. I know which animals it doesn’t get along with. I
know its temperament – if it tends to wander or fight or follow.”
This is what Jesus claims. I know my sheep. He knows your past –
your childhood, your achievements, the mistakes you’ve made, the
abuses you’ve suffered. He knows the circumstances of your birth,
and the bones you’ve broken and the danger you have been in. He
knows who you get along with, and what temptations you’re vulnerable
to. He knows what you did last night. He knows what’s worrying you
about the week to come. He knows the condition of your heart toward
him right now – if you’re skeptical, or curious, or obedient.
Jesus said, “I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” Jesus is the
Good Shepherd who laid down his life and took it up again for you.
He invites you to get to know Him better. See for yourself whether
He can be trusted to direct and protect your life.
It begins here, right here in this worship service, with the simple
statement: “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” It continues in the Lord’s
Supper, the Bible studies, the Sunday school, the fellowship
opportunities to know and grow in faith toward Him and in love
toward one another.
It is progressive and cumulative – I mean that knowing and growing
will never stop this side of heaven. Come to worship, study your
Bible, associate with other believers and talk about Jesus and you
will come to know Him better and better. And the better you know him
the more you will want to know him.
Now here is one last little twist for you to think about. The better
you know Jesus, the more confident of your forgiveness and eternal
life you become, the more like Him you will desire to be.
Every one of us lives in relationship to others. No one is an island
unto themselves, isolated from all, affecting no one, affected by no
one. The better you know Jesus, the more confident of your forgiveness
and eternal life you become, the more like Him you will desire to be.
So are you living in your relationships to others like a shepherd or a hired hand?
Amen.
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