A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on November 22, 2020 at St. Peter–Immanuel Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, on Ezekiel 34:11–16, 20–24. You may play the audio of the sermon here.
A mostly unedited transcript of the sermon follows the jump:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the Prophet Ezekiel, the 34th chapter:
“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As 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. And 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. I 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. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I 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.“Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 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 prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
I want you to imagine yourself as a sheep. I don't know if you know much about sheep. I don't know. I told you last week I like what cows but sheep, you know, are, literally, a different breed. One of the things that I had to do was to dissect a sheep brain. We were using them to figure out what the human brain is like, where all the parts were located and such. And you know, interestingly, the human brain is a lot smaller than you might think. It really is, but a sheep brain is very small, just about that big. Using a scalpel and trying to get in there delicately, well, it's very difficult, but worthwhile if you're studying the psychology of the brain. Well, you got to imagine that any animal with a brain about that size is rather stupid. There's really no easy way to say it and you, my friends, are called a sheep multiple times throughout the Scriptures and I don't think that God is hedging his bets here. I think he's calling you a sheep for a very specific purpose, in that we are rather dumb.
A sheep will go after whatever is in front of it. It's just kind of the way that it is, whether it’s food, it'll chase after that, whether it's a butterfly, it'll chase after that, and you put a sheep into a confusing circumstance and it is just like a lemming–it will run right off the cliff without even thinking twice about it. That's why shepherds actually use sheep dogs because the dog is able to keep the sheep going in the direction that the shepherd wants. The sheep can't direct itself; the sheep needs direction and so it is for you. And so it is that God here, through the prophet Ezekiel, is telling us that he will reclaim you, he will go out and find you.
But why does he need to find you? Well, you are indeed God's sheep. You often go astray. And I mean often. Yet, still, it is good that you are here to listen to God's voice, especially through the person and work of Jesus Christ as he directs you in your life and certainly directs you to the forgiveness that he won for you on the cross. But in these dark and latter days, the world will grow dim, and, just as a sheep would grow scared and confused during an eclipse, so also do we tend to be scared and confused as our Lord darkens this world until the Lord's coming. In fact, the world is going to get darker. The darker the world gets, the more we shall scatter. We will go off into the dark places, into the strange lands, and we will find nothing but death and destruction for ourselves. Still, we have confidence and hope, for our Lord promises that he will come and seek out his sheep and he will rescue us from all the places where we have been scattered on the day of clouds and thick darkness.
Think, if you will back to our Lord's crucifixion, when as he died, the sun grew dark the world grew still. You can almost imagine there was no breeze. There is only the heat of the day and stifling darkness as the sun was eclipsed by the moon and darkness was cast over the earth. And so it was that the sheep of Jesus scattered that day. All the disciples ran away, off into parts unknown, until ultimately they were called back by the good news of the Gospel. He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Hearing this good news, they came running back to their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That picture is a picture also of us, that, even as the shepherd is struck, we shall scatter but we shall be called back by our Lord from the deep places where we have been scattered. There our Lord shall find us and protect us and bring us back into the flock and he has done this and he will do this. This is not just a last days prediction, but this is a current thing that God is constantly calling you back.
After all, how often do we get lost in the darkness of our own sin, giving ourselves over to the temptations of the flesh ,that we might ultimately be lost? And still, by our Lord's call, we find our way back here to hear his absolution and to receive his forgiveness. What a wonderful thing that is, that our Lord calls us back even now and yet has the world grows darker. We do have a tendency to wander, but we have a faithful shepherd who calls us home.
But, about our wandering, think of all the things that technology has brought to us. Certainly, it’s brought us the ability to have church services at night without going through thousands of dollars worth of candles all the time. Electricity is wonderful; it certainly brought the ability to hear my voice over the speaker, although I think I could probably turn the microphone off and you'd hear okay. But imagine the church being full, it would be much harder to hear in the back with the sound being deadend by all the people and their clothing. It's given us a lot of wonderful things. It’s given us phones to talk to loved ones. My kids know their grandparents and love them because of how often they’re able to speak on the phone and see their faces. That wouldn’t be possible in ages past due to the distance. Or just think of the car. We can drive from vast distances to this place, or any place. Our Lord has brought us wonderful things through technology, but the world has gotten darker through technology, too, hasn't it? The availability of pornography on every corner of the internet, the selfishness and narcism that have grown through social media. Technology is a blessing, but it can also be a curse, and as the days grow darker, I think we will see more and more of the curse of sin being brought forth in this world and in our hearts.
But, again, our Lord will bring us back to himself. He will bring us back to where the shepherd calls. The shepherd doesn't just chase after the sheep and keep on running as we run away. He goes after them. He sends out his voice and the sheep know his voice hearing his call and they come. He sends out his sheepdogs, his pastors, to call us to repentance and the forgiveness of sins. What a wonderful thing that is to a stupid sheep. You are able to hear your shepherd's voice. And as you recognize his voice, you have learned what is right and what is wrong and you return to him.
God will bring us, the sheep, his sheep, out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them into their own land. I think that's a wonderful idea to ponder. After all, there is no better place to be than where the shepherd is, and our Shepherd is going gather us into that Jerusalem, that Israel, whether that covers the entire earth or only that geographic location, we don't know. But, regardless of where it is, our Lord will gather us from all these places, all over the Earth, and bring us into a new land, a new earth in which we will have dominion with him, just as it was intended from the beginning.
It is a wonderful thing to think that this, this place right where are, is a new land to come. It is our land, it gives us an inheritance that we continue to hold on to through this life. Looking forward to that day where, no matter what else happens to us, we know that our Lord will fulfill his promise and bring us something even better there. We will be fed by God on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. There will be no place where we are not able to be with him, and with each other.
Think now of today. Is there any place that you cannot be fed? Not with the food that you put in your mouth and and eat and digest and put out of your body, but the food which is life eternal for any time. We gather together as the church whether it is in Milwaukee, or anywhere in Wisconsin, or anywhere in America, or, indeed, the entire world. No matter what space or time we are in, we are able to be fed by God in his body and his blood when we come together as his church. You cannot find this at a Thanksgiving meal. You can’t find it at a Christmas feast. You can’t find it as Easter brunch. You can only have it when we come in thanksgiving before God, or when we observe the Christmas festival, or when we celebrate with joy the Easter resurrection. That feast is only where the Church gathers as the Church. But these are temporary feasts. As available as they are to us, the feast still ends and we go out in the darkened earth.
But so it is, in the end, that when the Eternal Feast comes, there will be no place where we can go where there is not a feast being held for us. We shall be able to eat on the mountains or in the ravines or in any place where the people are. What a joy that is! God will feed us with good pasture and the mountain heights of Israel shall be our grazing land.
We've talked before about this idea, that, any time a mountain pops up in the Scriptures, you should look for something holy going on. Whether it is the mountain on which Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac, whether it is the mountain on which Elijah calls down the fire of God and destroys the prophets of Baal, whether it is the mount of transfiguration, or the mount of ascension, wherever there is a mountain something hoy is going on. And you, the sheep of the Lord, will be placed on the mountains, welcomed into them. And just as what happens on the mountain is holy, so, too, will you be holy. You will be changed there. You will be holy, too, and there feast upon your Lord. You shall rejoice, you shall lie down in good grazing land, rich pasture. You shall feed on the mountains of Israel. God himself will be the shepherd of his sheep and he will make us lie down.
What a wonderful thing that is, that our Shepherd will make us lie down. It should bring to mind immediately Psalm 23. Green pastures. Making us lie down. Still, safe waters. He will give us rest. Though we may have been seeking it our entire life, our Lord is the one who provides that ultimate Sabbath rest, that day when we can rest fully in him.
God says then, I will seek the lost and I will bring back the strayed and I will bind up the injured and I will strengthen the weak. Then he says something strange. The fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. What does God mean in this?
Well, as a sheep is scattered, it is not able to go to a good feeding ground. And, should he find feeding ground, he will often be conquered by those who are stronger and smarter than he, being pushed out of the way, being knocked down, being crowded out so that the fat and the strong can have their fill. In people terms, it was that way in the Corinthian Church; they were pushing each other out of the way to get to the Lord's Supper and some were even becoming drunk on our Lord's blood. What a horrible thing it is, but that is a picture of what is happening in the world. Unless we repent, we are also wont to push our weaker brother or sister in Christ out of the way, having out way, having our say, making our accusations, demanding our rights, and it is not a far step then to have our way with the gifts of God. So it is with the world, that they push those who are weak out of the way, that they may have their way with the gifts of God.
Have you ever sat there and wondered why it seems that the wicked prosper in this life? It is a question that is asked many times in the Scriptures. It's not given to us to know except that the wicked take what they want and they get what they want and we are left then fully depending upon God and His provision. In this way, he has given us a respite in this church, in all churches, that we might be fed. Should we be starving of the things of this world? We may be fed until full with the body and blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It is for us an interesting thing that we are not the fat and the strong when it comes to this, but we are the weak, and we are the injured. We have been pushed down. But we are pushed down and we are not destroyed. Our Lord says he will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Make no mistake, my friends, in faith, you are the lean sheep because those fat sheep will push with side and shoulder and thrust at the weak with their horns until they have scattered all the sheep abroad. God will rescue you. You shall no longer be prey.
When we lived in northern Minnesota, we had eagles all around us. I was always nervous grilling outside. I always feared, rightly or not, that if I left the grill lid for a minute and walked away, the eagles would sense the easy pickings and swoop down and steal my dinner. Easy prey like that is, well, easier than picking off a live animal, I’d assume. For the world and us, a weak and thin sheep is nothing but easy pickings for the hawks and the eagles, and so it is that Christians who are not fed on our Lord's body and blood are weak and they are easy pickings for the demonic influences in this world.
Sadly, too many are lost to this. They have removed themselves from the safe place of the church and the safe place of the feast of God, and so they are picked off. But our Lord can still rescue them and he promises that he will. He will rescue his flock. They shall no longer be prey. We pray that our Lord will rescue us before that day comes when we are tempted to stray. Perhaps you already have. Perhaps you come here only paying lip service to God. The way Christ rescues you in through this feast. If you come today with a repentant heart, you will be rescued, for you will be strengthened in this meal. Perhaps you have wandered away, and you’ve already been rescued, and you know the relief that is here. Perhaps you have been faithful, and you cannot imagine being outside the Church. The Lord has rescued you, still.
And we ask our Lord to make us faithful until Jesus returns, and we pray and we hope that that will come true. There was news this last week of even more martyrs in Africa, killed by those who hate Christ. The martyrs’ blood cries out from the ground, just as Abel’s did when Cain slaughtered him. But the martyrs were faithful. We have that same hope that we will indeed be found faithful even should the sword come for our neck, even should the eagle's talons grasp onto our back and try to take us away from our Lord. We trust that he will bring us to where he is.
He will judge, it says, between the sheep and the sheep. We find a picture of that in Matthew 25, when Jesus describes the final judgment separating out the sheep from the goats. Really, sheep and goats are very similar, just a different kind of a look or purpose. But, the sheep and the goats are essentially the same. Still, Jesus himself knows the difference between them and the sheep he welcomes into his eternal rest and the goats he does not. He doesn’t say that he has prepared hell for them, he had wanted them to be his forever. Instead, he escorts the goats in the place prepared for the devil and his angels. It is a place that the goats themselves have chosen. Jesus says that he will judge between the sheep, and to those with faith in him, they will rest. There is no rest for the wicked.
Our Lord also promises that he will put us under one shepherd, his servant David, and who is that but Jesus himself? It is not David the king, who lived in this world and died and is dead today. But this is fulfilled only in the person of Jesus who lived in this world and died and was resurrected as the firstfruits of all the dead and there are Lord shall feed us. He shall feed us and be our shepherd and God. The Lord will be our God and David, Jesus, will be prince among us. He is the Lord and he has spoken this.
Thus we may have hope for this life that we will not be forsaken by our shepherd, not now nor in the days to come, nor even on the last day when the earth will be plunged into darkness and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Though we may be scattered by the world, we will be brought under the one shepherd, Jesus Christ, and there we will live with him forever. And so, on this Last Sunday of the Church Year, even as we look to the last day, the day of our Lord’s coming, we pray in the hope that we have. We pray, Come, Lord Jesus, and come quickly. In his name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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