UNFAITHFUL SHEPHERDS”
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 11)
July 19, 2015
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My
pasture!” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 23:1 (ESV)
If you were a pastor like me, the Old Testament Reading for this
morning certainly could make you feel a bit nervous. It could make
you feel pretty awkward, too, if you were going to try to preach on
it, because these words from the book of Jeremiah certainly seem to be
aimed primarily at pastors. For this reason you might think that this
may be a more suitable text to use for addressing a group of pastors,
perhaps at a conference. But I have always taken some pride in the
fact that I’m not in the habit of avoiding certain sections of the
Scriptures just because they happen to make me feel uncomfortable. So
no matter how this passage of Scripture might make me feel, it seemed
to me that I should not avoid this verse from Jeremiah but should
rather hear it, study it, take it to heart, and proclaim it boldly.
It’s not really that bad of a choice when you stop to think about it.
Strange as it may sound, the prophet’s words speak to you as clearly
as they speak to me. You may not be a group of pastors, but you
certainly are called and commissioned by God to share the Good News of
Jesus Christ. You may not be a group of pastors, but you are a
Christian congregation in ministry. Many of you are serving, have
served, or someday will serve in various leadership positions in the
Church. Most of you have been, are, or will be parents, responsible
for the care of your children. And even if none of that is the case
with you specifically, no doubt each one of you (if you take your
calling in Christ seriously) will find yourself from time to time in
the position of ministering to another person. With Jeremiah guiding
us, let’s take a look this morning at some of the things that I as
your pastor and all of us as servants of Jesus Christ need to be aware
of as we go about our tasks in the Savior’s name.
Unfaithful shepherds, as Jeremiah relates the Lord’s Word to us, are
guilty first of all of destroying the sheep of the Lord’s flock. The
prophet is not speaking here about physical violence, but rather
spiritual indifference. He is not talking about the Savior’s
shepherds literally killing those entrusted to their care; he is
lamenting the fact that faith has been killed and souls have been
destroyed through the negligence of unfaithful shepherds. One way in
which this can happen is when the people representing Jesus Christ
fail to faithfully preach the Law, giving the impression that God gave
His Law “tongue-in-cheek,” so to speak, or that He doesn’t really take
sin all that seriously, or that the sins that we commit are something
less than a willful rebellion against our Creator. How many people
have gone to their graves without repenting of their sins for no other
reason than that no one ever pointed out to them that they were
sinners? Especially in our day and age, when sin abounds and is taken
so lightly, it is our responsibility as Christians to proclaim to all
the world, without apology, that sin is still sin, that it still
offends God, and that it still damns.
But the preaching of the Law, of course, is only half of the message.
We who must condemn sin in no uncertain terms and warn sinners of the
grave danger that they are in are also responsible for proclaiming to
them the comforting message of the Gospel: that “in Christ God was
reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19) and that “there
is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”
(Romans 8:1). The Law without the Gospel is a recipe for disaster
because it consigns the hearer to hell without any hope of salvation.
It is only the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ that makes the Law of
God useful for spiritual growth. Here, too, the Lord’s word of
judgment comes down on those shepherds who have failed to point out to
the hopeless the hope that is given to them and to all sinners in the
blood-stained cross and empty tomb of Jesus. The haunting question
lies before us yet again: How many people, like Judas Iscariot, have
died without the hope of everlasting life because when they were
overcome with guilt and desperately needed the gracious Word of the
Gospel, all they got from the Lord’s representatives was more Law?
The text before us also warns the Lord’s shepherds about scattering
the sheep of the His flock. Those who would care for the people whom
the Savior has redeemed with His own blood are responsible not only
for communicating the truth to sinners, but also for communicating it
in a loving and winsome way. One thing that is sure to scatter those
who might be gathered is to contradict the message that we preach with
the lives that we live. For example, if we talk until we’re blue in
the face about the forgiveness of sins that is ours in Christ but at
the same time we continue to nurse old grudges and keep them alive,
the words that we speak are sure to fall on deaf ears. And if we
insist with our every word that the One who suffered and died on the
cross for us to redeem us from sin and death is the Lord of our lives,
but we consider it a bother to worship Him or to serve others in His
name, then we may as well not say anything at all. Don’t kid
yourself: The world (and especially the unbelieving world) is
watching every move made by those of us who claim to be followers of
Jesus Christ. And if we’re going to be faithful witnesses of Christ,
what the world sees in us had better be consistent with what it hears
from us.
There are other ways in which we can hinder the Gospel that we share.
Many a pastor has ruined a congregation simply by being abrasive--by
having an adversarial relationship with the people that he has been
called to minister to. We must always remember that that same thing
can happen with any of us who are called to shepherd straying sheep
into the Lord’s fold. The people outside the Church are not the
enemy. They are sinners, like us, for whom the Son of God shed His
blood and died. They are people who are under God’s judgment because
of sin just like you and me--people who can also be under God’s grace
in Christ just like you and me. If we really believe that we are all
alike saved by grace alone, then our attitude toward those outside the
faith ought to be one of burning love that longs to have them be a
part of our fellowship, enjoying the same blessings of salvation that
we have received in Christ.
The point of this passage for you and for me is that no one owns the
pastoral office or any shepherding role as a personal possession.
These privileges have been given to us as a stewardship--something
that we have been entrusted with for a time for the purpose of caring
for the flock of our Savior, the ones for whom He laid down His life.
Being a shepherd to people in need and leading them to the Good
Shepherd who supplies all of our needs is a sacred and an awesome
responsibility. It should be approached with willingness and even
eagerness, but also with great awe and respect. The Lord, through the
power of His Holy Spirit, makes it possible for all of us to speak and
act in ways that build up and gather, rather than “destroy and
scatter,” all the sheep of His fold, forgiving us when we fall short
and continuing to use us, with all of our faults and failings, to be
His ambassadors in the world.
Amen.
May the Lord bless your hearing of His Word, using it to accomplish in
you those things for which He gave it. May you be enriched and
strengthened in faith that you may leave here today to go out into our
world armed with the whole armor of God, prepared to be able
ambassadors of your Savior Jesus Christ. He who calls you is
faithful, and He will do it. Amen.