Rescued from irresponsible shepherds

Bulletins

Brian Nielsen
04/21/24 - General

So you say your upbringing, your leaders, or mentors have done you wrong?

You may be right. God acknowledged those speaking to shepherds of people in Ezekiel 34:3-4 -- "You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them."

You would do well reading the entire 34th chapter of Ezekiel for context, but let's just fast forward to the happy ending in verses 11 and 12 -- "For thus says the Lord god: 'Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.' "

So no matter how others might have failed us, Jesus comes to the rescue: "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep." (John 10:10-11)

Sometimes our troubles are of no fault of anyone but our own. Even so, Jesus rescues us, paying for our wrongdoings. "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:5-6)

With Jesus as the only Shepherd and Savior we need, we have no excuse when it comes to Ezekiel 34:17, which says, "And as for you, O My flock, thus says the lord god: 'Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats." Animals are used

figuratively here just as Jesus does in Matthew 25:32 -- "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats."

Eventually, when we face our Good Shepherd, nothing human leaders or mentors have done will matter.

As we see in 2 Corinthians 5:10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

(Scripture quotes are from the NKJV)