Rev. David Holwick ZC
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
September 2, 2012
Ezekiel 34:22-31
|
I. Maybe a little less than a hurricane.
A. Daniel has been sent to Louisiana by FEMA.
1) They flew him to Dallas, then he drove in a caravan of
ambulances to New Orleans.
Hundreds of them are parked in a huge lot down there, eating
a civilian version of MRE's.
He loves it.
2) Hurricane Isaac has pounded the area.
a) Rainfall has amounted to 20" in some areas.
b) Farmers in Midwest hope they get some of the leftovers.
B. Most of us would prefer showers of blessings.
1) We don't need a hurricane's worth, just enough to be content.
2) It's a quaint Biblical phrase, alluding to the fact that
agricultural societies saw rain as a gift from God rather
than a curse for picnics and Peach Festivals.
3) If God were to really bless you, how would he do it?
II. It's going to be good.
A. Ezekiel moves his focus from doom-and-gloom to glory.
1) The end of his book contains many prophecies of a future
of hope.
2) The picture he paints is what Christians call the millennium.
a) There will be a transformation of nature. 34:25
1> The Nature we have is rather intense.
Baptist leader Russell Moore notes that a few years
ago, the Disney Corporation produced a
documentary called "Earth."
It has spectacular visuals of polar bears, elephants,
whales.
One of the visuals is a cheetah pursuit of an antelope.
The motion slows down as the cheetah catches his prey
and places his paws around his face.
They don't SHOW you what happens next - it is rated
"G" - but you know exactly what happens.
It is a dilemma for Disney.
They have to acknowledge both the beauty and the horror
of the current natural order.
#35844
The Bible tells us that this tension is not permanent.
A time will come when even wild animals will live at
peace.
We sometimes paraphrase this as "the lion will lay
with the lamb."
Ezekiel calls it a new covenant of peace.
As he wrote, he was getting news that wild animals
were decimating the survivors in Israel following
its defeat by the Babylonians.
But in the future he saw in his vision, there would be
harmony among all of God's creatures.
b) God's people will be prosperous. 34:27
1> Part of the new harmony is that weeds wouldn't win
over crops.
2> And rain would come when it is supposed to.
c) Everyone will feel secure. 34:27-28
1> I like the ending of verse 28 - "They will live in
safety, and no one will make them afraid."
2> Think how much we spend to defend ourselves.
Last year the military spent $684 billion, or
about $2,000 per American.
Police, courts and prisons are at least another
$100 billion.
Put another way, New Jersey spends $747 per person
to keep you safe from crime.
What if all this wasn't necessary, and you could
keep the money in your pocket?
It would be a wonderful world.
B. These are things that everyone wants.
1) Imagine being in Syria right now.
a) Thousands are fleeing the fighting.
2) It can be tough even here in America.
a) We worry about our security.
b) The economy teeters on a cliff.
3) To live without worries or hardship would be a real blessing.
a) Can we have it here and now?
III. Everything hinges on leadership.
A. The chapter begins with a leadership change.
1) God is fed up with the leaders of Israel.
a) He says they only take care of themselves. 34:2
b) What they should have done: 34:4
1> Strengthen weak, heal sick, bring back strays.
2> Instead they were harsh.
A> The sheep (like Ezekiel) ended up scattered.
2) Republican convention.
a) I confess I didn't even watch our governor speak, though
I did watch a clip of Clint Eastwood's weird talk.
b) As expected, throughout the convention there was a loud
call for driving out the incumbents.
1> It goes with a long tradition in American of
"throwing the bums out."
2> In effect, that is what God is going to do.
B. God's plan.
1) He is going to cull the herd.
a) Unusual motif for the shepherd image.
b) God will choose between the sleek and the skinny. 34:20
1> It won't be good for the "1%."
2) Crummy leaders will be replaced by a good one. 34:23
a) Called King David, but really refers to his descendants.
b) We call this king the Messiah.
C. Jesus is the shepherd they needed.
1) When Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd" in John 10, he
is probably alluding to this passage.
a) He cares for us.
b) He treats our wounds.
c) He looks for the strays and brings them back.
1> He will even ignore the 99 safe sheep to do this.
2> Rescuing is a priority for him!
2) He is a descendant of David and admitted to being a king,
though not the kind of king the world was expecting.
a) Our salvation depends on knowing him.
IV. So where is our peace and security?
A. The world remains a violent place.
1) The Millennium may be a long way off.
2) Ezekiel didn't live long enough to see the end of the
Exile and the return to Israel, but it happened.
a) They got some new kings, but they weren't that hot.
b) Their security and prosperity were hit-or-miss. Mostly
miss.
3) Jews, and later Christians, understood that the final
fulfillment might be in the distant future.
a) We still need soldiers and police to protect us.
B. There is a peace and security we can have now.
1) Christians know that we already have something permanent
and secure.
2) I saw it at bedside of my friend Ron Gordon in an Ohio
intensive care unit.
His wife Susan was teary, but she knew where her
husband was going.
3) Do you know the destiny of your own loved ones?
a) What about your own destiny?
V. You can ask God to shower you with blessings.
A. Jesus said he wants us to have a full life, a happy life.
1) It's the contentment of being satisfied with the little
things, of knowing God loves you and will take care of
you.
2) You will only experience this if you choose Jesus as your
leader, your shepherd.
B. Only some people realize they have to have it.
Jim Cymbala is the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, a
big church in New York.
A couple years ago Jim had just finished a wonderful
service that ended with several people coming forward.
As those people were greeted and counseled by staff members,
Cymbala was approached by a filthy, smelly man whom
he wrongfully assumed was only after money.
As Jim reached into his pocket to hand the disheveled man
some cash, the man stopped him with words that convicted
the pastor to his core.
"I don't want your money.
I want this Jesus, the One you were talking about, because
I'm not going to make it.
I'm going to die on the street."
Cymbala recalls that for a brief moment, he forgot about
this man standing in front of him.
He was overwhelmed by how Jesus had sent this person to him,
and he'd tried to toss him aside with an offer of a
few dollars.
As Cymbala began to sob, the man cried with him.
He accepted Christ and was changed.
The church helped find him a home, hired him to do
maintenance work in the church building and arranged
for much-needed dental work.
Cymbala's family even hosted the man for Thanksgiving and
Christmas that year.
Eventually, the man was ordained -- in Cymbala's church.
He remembers that Easter Sunday and how he was so close to
saying, "Here take this [money]; I'm a busy preacher."
#63710
C. You need Jesus to lead your life. Have you received him?
=========================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#35844 “Earth Is Not G-Rated,” Russell D. Moore, Baptist Press,
http://www.baptistpress.org, May 4, 2009.
#63710 “He Only Wanted Jesus,” Lifeway Christian Resources, Baptist
Press, http://www.baptistpress.org, August 30, 2012.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=========================================================================
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Full featured Documentation generator