Sermon on Ezekiel 34:11-16 April 26, 2015 + 4th Sunday after Easter Trinity Ev. Lutheran, Waukesha, WI Pastor A. Christie The Sovereign Lord Is a Good Shepherd 1. He gathers LOST sheep 2. He feeds HUNGRY sheep 3. He strengthens WEAK sheep JESUS!

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord’s Flock, If there is one word in the English language that can mean just about anything, it has to be the word ‘good.’ We see a movie and say that it was ‘good,’ but wait until it comes out on video… When we moved up here to Waukesha, I remember asking several people where a man could find a ‘good’ fish fry. We went to the mall when we were young and Santa us the question: “Were you a good boy this year?” Good times. Good friends. Good job! The list can go on and on. Does it strike you as a little bit odd, that we often call our God good? You remember the old table prayer: “God is great, God is good, now we thank him for our food. Amen.” God is good? Isn’t calling God good like saying that Albert Einstein knew his multiplication tables pretty well or that Beethoven could play a mean rendition of chopsticks on the piano? But God is Good. Look at the Father’s work in creation this beautiful spring morning and know that God is good. Recall the Son’s work for you on the cross - and know that God is good. Look at the work that the Holy Spirit does in his people and know that God is good. And by all means, this morning (your confirmation Sunday), know for certain that your Sovereign Lord is a Good Shepherd. Every year, our Lutheran Churches set aside the 4th Sunday after Easter as “Good Shepherd” Sunday. Can there be a more beautiful way of picturing the relationship between the LORD and his people? We love the words of the 23rd Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want... Out of all of Jesus’ Word, are there any more precious than hearing him say: I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Time spent with Psalm 23 and _____________________________________________________________________________ Page 1 Sermon on Ezekiel 34:11-16

John 10 is definitely time well-spent. But this morning, we will turn to a section of Scripture that we’re not so familiar with. The prophet Ezekiel wants to preach to us too! He tells us The Sovereign Lord Is a GOOD Shepherd, because He 1) gathers together the lost sheep 2) He feeds the hungry sheep and 3) He strengthens the weak sheep. HE GATHERS LOST SHEEP The Prophet Ezekiel lived roughly 600 years before the time of Christ. Ezekiel’s ministry was a difficult one. He was the Lord’s prophet that ministered to the people while they were in exile in Babylon. Which raises a good question: What were the Lord’s chosen people doing in a capital ‘P’ pagan kingdom while the Lord’s temple was a smoldering heap of rubble? They were driven from their homes into exile for two major reasons: 1) As a people, they had charted a course away from God, away from his Word, and away from his worship. 2) The political and especially spiritual leaders weren’t leading; instead they were lounging around and lining their pockets. And the LORD lets them have it! “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! 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.” (Ez. 34:2-4) The flock of Israel was floundering. The leaders of Israel were failing. And right in the midst of it all the sinful failure and floundering, come God with a promise that the people weren’t expecting or deserving! “For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search from my sheep and look after them 12) 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. 13) I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. The sheep of Israel were scattered here, there, and everywhere due to their sin. By themselves, they could only become more lost, more scattered, more hopeless. The Lord shows himself to be the Good Shepherd, because he is willing and eager to gather LOST sheep. We don’t like being lost. Think of the terrible two year old who gets lost in Target because his eyes are on the toys instead of mom. He’s happy to be by himself, until he realizes that he truly is by himself! Think of the hunter who gets twisted up in the Northern Woods of Wisconsin. It’s cold. It’s dark. And the cell phone lost reception back in Wausau. Or then there was the time I was making a hospital call on the South _____________________________________________________________________________ Page 2 Sermon on Ezekiel 34:11-16

Side of Chicago. I decided to take a short cut back home in an effort to avoid rush hour on the highway. My short cut because a long detour through the old Cabrini-Green public housing development. I was a little nervous. Google it later. You’ll see why. We don’t like being lost - the uncertainty of knowing where we are, the confusion of unknown surroundings, the possibility of being in some danger. How much worse is the reality of being lost in sin! Separated, not from an earthly mother, but from the heavenly Father. Watched by animals, not of the north woods, but by the roaring lion Satan, licking his chops. In danger, not from the highest crime district in Chicago, but from the fire of hell! And gently, tenderly, lovingly the Sovereign Lord shows himself to be a Good Shepherd by finding the lost and gathering the straying! - Already before creating a single atom, God was making saving plans to search you and find you! • In Bethlehem, Jesus came as far as from heaven to earth to begin his saving search. • On Mt. Calvary, Jesus went as far as death and hell to accomplish his saving search. • At Easter, Jesus defanged the roaring Lion and sly wolf Satan who wanted to devour his flock. • At your baptism, the Sovereign Lord found you and brought you into his flock in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit God. All of Jesus’ work became yours! The lost was found; the sinner became saint; the slave became a son or daughter of the heavenly Father! •

Through his Word, the Sovereign Lord’s voice still calls out for you and keeps you in his flock.

Let me say it again: The Lord is a Good Shepherd, because he searches for the lost sheep. And what God searches for, God finds! Just ask John Newton: “I once was lost, but now am found - was blind, but now I see.” HE FEEDS HUNGRY SHEEP Our Sovereign Shepherd does a whole lot more than search for lost sheep. It wouldn’t make any sense for the Shepherd to find the sheep and then let them fend for themselves! What good, after all, is a found flock that’s starving to death? The Sovereign Lord has us covered: 14) 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. _____________________________________________________________________________ Page 3 Sermon on Ezekiel 34:11-16

Hunger is horrible. Fortunately, we don’t know much about hunger. Here in Waukesha, we pray “Give us this day our DAILY bread,” but I usually worry that my bread is going to get smashed in the cartload of food that I buy when I go grocery shopping. When is the last time that the only thing that stood between us and starvation was a loaf of bread? In order to learn something about hunger, a friend of mine in college decided to not eat for 24 hours. Needless to say, he made up for lost time in the cafeteria when the 24 hours were up! My friend’s story is funny. The reality of hunger obstinately refuses to be funny. Do you know that roughly 1 in 5 people on this planet woke up this morning and were uncertain of what they were going to eat? The most shocking picture I think I have ever seen was of a starving African girl in Sudan being eyed up by the buzzard in the background. The Swedish man who took the picture eventually committed suicide - unable to deal with the things he had witnessed there. But even worse than physical hunger is spiritual hunger. Do you know people whose doubts are gnawing at their guts? People whose consciences are looking high and low for help? People who fill their bodies with addictive substance in an effort to fill the hole in their soul? People who chose to live life going 100 miles an hour in an effort to keep their inner emptiness out of sight and mind? Are those people ever you and me? And here, my confirmand brothers and sisters, I have a word of warning for you! You have eaten well in life. Many of you can’t remember a time in life when you weren’t stuffed with God’s Word! Don’t think that because you’ve eaten until the age of 14, that you don’t need to eat often or ever again. Statistics show that 100% of you will be someplace this September, but that about 3 of 10 won’t be attending church by September. My point? Don’t commit spiritual anorexia! And parents don’t enable spiritual anorexia by driving your son and daughter to every activity imaginable, except for the one activity that truly makes an eternity of difference. Confirmation isn’t a 40 yard dash. It’s meant to be the beginning to a life-long infatuation with God’s Word and Worship. Get that! And then hear this! “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost... Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. (Is. 55:1-3) The Sovereign LORD doesn’t throw his Sheep a handful of hay. The Good Shepherd gives us his Words to eat, dishes up the Bread of Life to eat, doles out his very body and blood to eat! Eat up! And not just a little bit! The Sovereign Lord is a good shepherd who finds lost sheep, and feeds hungry sheep, and finally HE STRENGTHENS WEAK SHEEP

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Strengthens weak sheep: “15) I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16) ....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.” I once heard on the radio that roughly 10% of Americans take a trip to the emergency room in any given year. One of the most common reasons for an emergency room visit is the classic slip and fall - along with all of life’s other accidents. One thing is certain: You don’t go to the emergency room because you want to have some fun on a Friday night. You go to the emergency room when you need help - and you need it now. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, teaches us that it is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. Jesus heals our sin-sick souls. He came to forgive the sinful, heal the hurting, comfort despairing, strengthen the recovering, and bless the dying. The Lord says the same thing in Ezekiel! Who receives the Sovereign Shepherd’s special care? The injured and the weak sheep. Who gets a whack with the Lord’s staff? The sleek and the strong. The sheep who knows his weaknesses, who has been on the receiving end of life’s injuries, who knows first-hand the pains and problems of life - that sheep receives the Good Shepherd’s special loving care. He lives to strengthen weak sheep! To take evil and make it turn out for good, to turn weakness into strength, to enable his children to do all things through him who gives us strength! Friends, Listen to your Good Shepherd’s voice! He speaks the truth. Follow your Shepherd’s lead. He’s leading you on the pathway to heaven. Eat your Shepherd’s food. He fills your deepest hunger! Seek your Lord’s assistance. Only he can bring real healing to wounded hearts! May Jesus bless you this Good Shepherd Sunday, that you may continue to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. May Jesus bless you and keep you until that day when we will dwell in the house of the Lord forevermore! Amen!

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