A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on May 23, 2021 at Christ Our King Lutheran Church in Saline, MI, on Ezekiel 34:11-16, on the occasion of the installation of Rev. Joseph Polzin. 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 day 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.
Thus far the text.
Dear Saints of Christ Our King, Joseph, guests, family, friends, and my dear friends in Christ,
It is a sincere honor to be invited to preach the Word to you this day, and I’m so glad to do it, especially on the occasion of this installation. It’s a joy to have my very brother as a brother pastor. I helped ordain and install him in his last call, and it’s wonderful to see him take this call, following where the Lord would have him. And, while Joseph lacks the magnificent beard of his brother, he makes up for it in many ways, like his very fine head of hair. You will love him very much, and he will love you.
To the text, God does not mince words through the prophet Ezekiel: the flock of Israel is messed up. The shepherds of Israel had led the sheep astray. These men that God had placed over them, the priests and the so-called prophets, had taken God’s people and scattered them, driving them to despair, to seek after false gods, to just walk away. They were starved by these men, not by lack of physical food, but of doctrine, of the substance of life. Well, not everyone was starved; there were some who became so puffed up with pride and knowledge that they abused the other sheep, doing to them only what they saw their shepherds doing.
What a deplorable, miserable condition this is. This is not the way it is to be. This is not how God wants His sheep treated. But, when a shepherd begins to think of himself too highly, when he begins to think that he is the source of the answers to life, the universe, and everything, he will abuse the sheep by taking them away from God’s care, and when sheep are out from under God’s care, only misery can await.
Now, this is something that people don’t like to hear, but it is something that is absolutely true: the shepherds take care of the sheep by feeding them right doctrine and surrounding them with right practices. If God demands perfection from how we live, perfection according to His Law, and we know we don’t measure up, why would we think He would demand less than absolute truth and purity when it comes to His Word and how He desires we study it, learn from it, believe, teach, and confess it? God doesn’t feed us with pizza and ice cream. He doesn’t feed us with experience and happiness. He feeds His sheep with what He’s promised will fill them into all eternity: forgiveness, life, and salvation, which come through Word and Sacrament. These are where He’s placed His promises. But, some so-called shepherds don’t care, or they lose the plot. They are the ones that God will destroy and reduce to ruin. They are of no use to the sheep except to lead them astray. God permits them for a time, that His sheep may turn back to Him, that He may go and find them, but the day is coming when God will destroy these weak men and His sheep will only ever follow Him.
Most of the time, shepherds are hired hands, especially back when Ezekiel wrote down God’s Word. There was the owner of the flock, and you could certainly call him the shepherd, and then there were those who were hired to take care of the sheep, who could become shepherds, undershepherds. It seems that there are times when these hired hands become more than just employees. They become family, trained by the owner of the sheep to be shepherds themselves.
Throughout all of Scripture, this shepherd-sheep motif plays out and is used to point us to understand our relationship to Christ, the Good Shepherd. He watches us and oversees us in all things. Christ reveals, too, that He has hired undershepherds to work with Him. Of course we know that these undershepherds, well, they are our pastors today, aren’t they? These men are your pastors. They are not simply hired hands who will run at the first sign of trouble but men who fall at the feet of Jesus to learn from Him, to do things as He does them. Your new pastor, Joseph, is one such man.
Joseph has been trained, instructed, examined, and now you have called him to be your pastor. His job is the lowest position in the Church, serving all whenever you have need; He is your servant. And his job is the highest calling in the Church, not that he is more special than anyone, but that he is held to a stricter judgment than anyone else here; He is your guide and deserves your respect. He is the man whom Jesus has called, through you, the congregation, to serve the sheep in this place. And you need Joseph. Joseph will be used in this place to fulfill the prophesy of Ezekiel. God is using him to seek out the flock. God is using him to rescue the sheep. God is using him to feed his beloved people. And that’s you.
Lutheran theology is amazing. Over and above most other churches we see, we understand that the pastor is a means that God uses. So, Christ really is doing the seeking as the Good Shepherd, and Joseph is merely a tool in the hand of God to do it. And, more than this, Jesus provides what you need, and what you need is Christ. So, He places Himself in the Word, in the Sacrament; as we are often fond of saying, though you see Joseph, it Christ who is both the host and the meal, it is Christ who baptizes you. And so, Joseph has been called to serve the people here at Christ Our King, to seek you when you go astray, to rescue you from the darkness, to feed you with God’s Word and Sacraments, to keep you safe, to give you rest, to comfort you, to strengthen you, and to keep those who would abuse you at bay.
And Joseph, you better do this. You have a holy and earnest call from God through this congregation. This is no simple thing. As pastors, we are under strict judgment to follow our Lord’s commands especially when it comes to His sheep. It does not go well for those who would abuse the sheep or lead them astray. You must be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of Lord. And this is hard to do, to balance this with the life God has called you to outside your work as a pastor–to your family, your wife, Jennie, your children, Miles, Freddie, Jane, and Kate, to your friends and family. But you must. And you can’t. Joseph, you will not be perfect as a pastor, as a husband, as one who is loved. Believe me. We grew up in the same house, I know this. You are a sinner, Joseph, but do not fear, for Christ came to redeem sinners.
When you fail, be quick to confess your sin. When you falter, be quick to ask for help. But, most of all, be steadfast and immovable. Don’t fudge on your doctrine. Don’t compromise on your confession. Be faithful to the Lord Jesus because He tells us that, when we are steadfast and immovable, we can have confidence that our labor is not in vain. We are doing the Lord’s work when we hold fast to Him, and He is always, always quick to forgive when we ever think of letting go. This is your work, the work of the shepherd, and it sets the example for God’s sheep. And when this doesn’t work the way we know it should, when you sin, confess it and be forgiven in Christ.
And to the saints of Christ Our King, you are God’s sheep. You are those whom Christ has called, those for whom Christ has come to live, die, resurrect, and ascend. You are beloved of God, so much so that He has sent to you a pastor, a shepherd, to guide you in the Word and to deliver the Sacraments. You are the sheep of God, the Church in this very place. When you gather, the saints and angels of heaven rejoice and sing and pray with you. You are bound up to them right here. You are the visible manifestation of the whole Church in heaven and on earth, right here, and you are called to righteousness, to proclaim God’s glory. But you can’t. You need your guide, your undershepherd to bring you back to the paths of righteousness. You need your pastor to forgive your sins and bring to you all the promises of Christ. And your pastor will do this; forgiveness will spew from his mouth because that’s his job.
But, you have another task. You are to live according to God’s Word, but you are also to hold your pastor to account. He is to preach the Word rightly and deliver the Sacraments properly. Hold him to that because that’s how God feeds you. When you don’t hold a pastor to the fire, we have a tendency to get lazy, to start fudging on doctrine and practice, to abuse the sheep. So how do you do this? You listen to him. You pay attention, especially when he’s preaching. No sleeping in church unless you’re a baby or very, very old. Always compare what he says to the Word of God, which means that you need to know it and be studying it as he does. But it also means that you need to make use of him. If you’re in the hospital or have a surgery scheduled, let him know. If you’re struggling, schedule an appointment. If you have a question, pull him aside. If you have an announcement, never ever tell your pastor anything you want him to remember before or after a service–he will forget and there is nothing you will be able to do about it–but write it down and put it in his church mailbox. Most of all, love him and his family. Support them as Joseph serves you. By this, you will help Joseph build that relationship with you that you may hold him to God’s Word just as he will you.
And you will fail in this, believe me: you will get lazy, you will get angry at him for something he does or says, you’ll get offended when he doesn’t do something the way you think it should be done. When you fail, be quick to repent. Go to him and tell him you’re sorry. Let him absolve you; that’s his job. Let him preach Jesus and Him crucified for you to you. Repent, be forgiven, hug it out, and start afresh. Hold him accountable again, and let him hold you accountable to Christ, too.
The shepherds of Israel would not do this with God’s people. They held His Word for themselves. They beat the sheep and abused them. They took glory in the power and prestige they were given. And thus they were destroyed. And some of the sheep were lost. But, you have among you your servant, Joseph. He will serve you and guide you. He will feed you and protect you. He will comfort you and love you. He is responsible directly to Christ, and he knows this.
Joseph, be this to them. Be the good undershepherd Christ has called you to be. Protect these people, love them. This congregation will be to you as the most precious jewel, never to be forsaken. And when you love them in this way, feeding Christ Our King with Word and Sacrament, your people will love you, too.
All of you remember that it never goes well when the sheep are rabid and attack the shepherd, and it never goes well when the shepherd starts beating the sheep. This is how people fall away from the faith. This is how we chase after false gods, whether it’s other religions’ gods, whether we worship our own opinions or sense of self as gods, whether it’s that we think we know best and that is our god. But Christ will call you back. You belong to Him. You are a member of His flock. You are His people. And He will call you back to Himself. He will seek you out among the rocks. He will bash in the heads of wolves trying to get you. He will climb the mountains and descend the valleys, all to get where you are. This is why He came, that through His work, through His death, He would be found to be wherever it is that you are for He knows you and what you are tempted by and what you deal with. He knows you and He knows your sin, and He took it all to Himself as He was crucified on the cross for your salvation. He took your sin, and He did that by finding you out.
Christ has sought you and found you, and washed you clean from all your sin. He took that sin to the cross, that He might be the one who is sacrificed and not you. He went there that He might fall to His death, and, by doing so, protect you from the pit. He took the punishment that is yours, Joseph, that is yours, leaders of Christ Our King, that is yours, members of Christ Our King, that is yours, friends and visitors. He took the blame for falling away, for forsaking God, for abusing His Word, for chasing after false doctrine, He took it all, and He died. God forsook Him for your sin, so that you might live and have peace. And then God raised Jesus on the third day that He might be the Shepherd over you forever, never to die again, but to guard you in all your comings-in and goings-out, to be with you forever, even to the end of the age. Christ has brought to you forgiveness and righteousness in His death, and life and comfort in His resurrection. And they are yours, and they’re given to you, friends, through your pastor as he brings Christ’s Word and Sacraments to you.
Your pastor is Christ’s man. And you are Christ’s sheep. You need each other, and today, you are joined together in a call from God, a divine call. It is a call of love, a call of forgiveness, a call to life together. It is a call to shepherd the sheep, and to be shepherded by a good man. Today, you, Joseph, and you, Christ Our King, begin your journey together, seeking the face of God, listening to His voice, and receiving all that He has promised to give you. Jesus shall save you, He has saved you. May it be so today. In Jesus’ 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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