skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Julie pointed out something about me the other day. She said I like to make conversation with ordinary people like wait staff at a restaurant or workers that come to our house or bus drivers or cruise ship staff. I guess she’s right… who am I to argue with her, she knows me better than anyone else. Invariably though I will ask those kinds of folks this question… “Where do you go to church?” What I’m looking for are those who are not going anywhere or those who are not happy where they are going. Whereupon I have Julie give them a Parkway Church of Christ business card.
I’ve had some success with that. I had a waitress tell me that she had been struggling and thought I was sent from God. A guy came out the other day to do electrical work at our home and he said he and his young family would be attending. But who really knows how much success there has been? Sometimes you just can’t tell.
I am friends on Facebook with a concierge who worked at a hotel we stayed at in Italy. I’m also friends on FB with a young Filipino guy who worked on a cruise ship we were on. Also a Russian tour guide. Of course on Facebook I’m not ashamed of my faith and they see the religious articles I occasionally share.
Work at being friendly with everyone and don’t be afraid to ask the simple question… “where do you go to church?” Maybe just maybe you were sent from God to help someone discover their faith.
I was thinking about the unspeakable gift that God gave us when he allowed his son to be brutally sacrificed. And by the way that word “unspeakable” is awfully easy to say… unspeakable, unspeakable, unspeakable.
I’m not sure though that we really understand that word. Would I, for instance, ask my son to allow himself to be killed for a murderer or a rapist or an abuser of children… probably not.
Every once in a while I hear about someone needing a kidney to save their life. Even though I have two kidneys I have never been to be tested to see if I was a good donor. I might think… I really need both my kidneys or I don’t like to stay in a hospital or be cut on. What if I catch some kind of infection in the hospital like COVID?
I might donate a kidney for my wife or my children or my grandchildren if you’re in that circle or even close to that circle, but for a stranger… probably not and for a derelict of society… definitely not.
I know some people who won’t even put the transplant option on their driver’s licenses in case the doctor has a friend who needs a kidney and says something like… “he’s too far gone, we can’t save him… harvest his organs”
God didn’t ask Jesus to give up a kidney for one of his righteous disciples for instance. He asked Jesus to give up his precious, precious life for the worst of humanity… that’s an unspeakable gift and one I’m ashamed to say… I’m not ready to give.
Fortunately God doesn’t ask us to do that. What he does ask is for us to give up our old lives and transform our lives into the pattern of Jesus Christ’s life.
That “speakable” gift is not too much to trade for an “unspeakable” gift is it? Of course it isn’t.
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.
“‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.
“‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. Ezekiel 34.
The context of these verses is the failure of the priests and prophets to take care of the nation of Israel. Because they did not teach, encourage and admonish properly God punished the nation of Israel. He lays the blame squarely upon the priests/prophets.
Israel’s shepherds failed to nourish/instruct them properly. Elders in a congregation are responsible for spiritual nourishment… not the preacher, not the deacons and not the Bible class teachers. Certainly they serve under the umbrella of the elder-hood but Elders must make sure the right things are being taught by the teachers with the most ability.
Israel’s shepherds failed to look after those who were straying. Elders as well are responsible to search for those who stray. It’s not too hard in a congregation to see who are straying. Attendance may not be the best criteria but it is an important one. Members who don’t attend or who don’t attend well (and have the ability to) l need to be taught and strengthened. They are not participating in the classes. They certainly have not prepared themselves to be teachers. They generally are lacking in hospitality in the congregation and they are not participating in the three hallmarks of one another responsibilities… encouragement, edification and admonishment.
Israel’s shepherds failed to treat the injured and strengthen the weak. Elders have the same responsibility. Sometimes members are weak because their faith is weak and they don’t know God’s word. Too often Elders take a one size shoe fits all… well it doesn’t. The weak are on the “milk of the word” and are “babes in Christ”. Plugging them into the auditorium class that is studying Revelation is tantamount to child abuse. The weak and injured need to be individually assessed and helped accordingly.
The Prophet Jeremiah laments the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish people by the Babylonians. He puts the blame on the Jews and among these charges we find this…
“The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading” Lamentations 2:14
One of the purposes of prophets specifically and God’s other messengers generally is the identification of sin and its consequences.
God expects a level of conduct among his faithful ones. Unfortunately we are occasionally deceived by Satan and led astray. Being led astray could have eternal consequences for us.
So God’s messengers, preachers, teachers and spiritually mature need to be constantly on guard to watch for those untoward behaviors so that those behaviors can be addressed and God’s people will not be led astray.
In addition, because sin is often of a secretive nature general teaching on the most common sins needs to be common.
The most common sins (public and private) include sexual immorality of all shapes and forms, drunkenness, anger issues and trivializing and missing church assemblies for the smallest of reasons.
Woe and lamentations to the teachers of our age on the Day of Judgement if they have failed in the most basic of their responsibilities to guide God’s people to living righteous lives.
