Ez34 The Shepherds (2/5)

# The Shepherds
## Ezekiel 34 (2/5)
[Highclere Castle, UK](https://unsplash.com/photos/c8ET5XvBwnU "caption")

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# **Who** will help me change?

[###](#/outline "secret")

>>>
+ **disappointed** by those who are supposed to **help**?
  + parents, teachers, authority
  + lawyers, doctors
  + mentors, pastors

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| 1. What must I change? | [ch16:](# "ref") *Princess* [(identity)](# "ref") |
| --- | --- |
| 2. **Who will help me?** | [ch34:](# "ref") *Shepherds* [(leadership)](# "ref") |
| 3. How do I change? | [ch36:](# "ref") *Wanderers* [(God's work)](# "ref") |
| 4. Am I beyond hope? | [ch37:](# "ref") *Dry Bones* [(new life)](# "ref") |
| 5. If others won't change? | [ch33:](# "ref") *Watchman* [(missions)](# "ref") |

[Bad Pyrmont, Germany.  Sebastian Unrau](https://unsplash.com/photos/sp-p7uuT0tw "caption")

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+ **leadership**
+ when we are **disappointed** with our leaders
+ when we **ourselves** are in leadership

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## The Shepherds [(Ez34)](# "ref")
1. Shepherds Who **Eat** the Flock [v1-8](# "ref")
1. The Shepherd Who **Seeks** the Lost [v9-15](# "ref")
1. Sheep Who **Push** Aside the Weak [v16-22](# "ref")
1. Sheep Who **Know** the Shepherd [v23-31](# "ref")

>>>
+ two hats we wear: as **sheep** and as **shepherds**
+ as **sheep**:
  + **disappointed** by bad shepherds
  + trust in the one **Good** Shepherd
  + show **grace** to fellow sheep
+ as **shepherds**:
  + authority **comes** from God
    + He can **take** it away
  + sheep don't **belong** to us
    + our higher **master**

---

Ah, **shepherds** of Israel 
who have been feeding **yourselves**! 
Should not shepherds feed the **sheep**?

[3](# "ref")
You eat the **fat**, 
you clothe yourselves with the **wool**, 
you **slaughter** the fat ones, 
but you do not **feed** the sheep.

[Ezekiel 34:2-3 (ESV)](# "ref")
[Moel Famau, UK.  Rick Barrett](https://unsplash.com/photos/x5hFSPUT8uU "caption")

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+ luxury / **comfort**
+ neglect **duty**
+ e.g., **bad**/lazy K12 teachers:
+ enjoy **respect**
  + e.g., TW 18% interest savings
  + e.g., BCTF: teaching **honourable**
+ but bad teachers don't **care** for kids
  + some even **abuse** kids

---

The **weak** you have not strengthened, 
the **sick** you have not healed, 
the **injured** you have not bound up,

the **strayed** you have not brought back, 
the **lost** you have not sought, 
and with **force** and harshness 
you have **ruled** them.

[Ezekiel 34:4 (ESV)](# "ref")
[Joshua Clay](https://unsplash.com/photos/VNjNtdu0yCw "caption")

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+ as **sheep**: if I've been **weak** / sick / lost
  + felt **helpless** and alone
  + **abused** by selfish helpers
  + ⇒ God **sees**: my real **Shepherd**
+ as **shepherds**: teacher, manager, parent, expert
  + ⇒ remember my **mandate**:
  + **weak** / sick / injured: **capability**
    + suffered **loss** / hurt
  + **stray** / lost: **culpability**
    + made bad **decisions**
  + do not be **harsh**:
  + I'm not their **ruler**, God is

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# Who are the **weak**, sick, injured, **strays**, or lost I have neglected?

>>>
+ and as **sheep**: take comfort in the Good Shepherd

---

## The Shepherds [(Ez34)](# "ref")
1. Shepherds Who Eat the Flock [v1-8](# "ref")
1. **The Shepherd Who Seeks the Lost** [v9-15](# "ref")
1. Sheep Who Push Aside the Weak [v16-22](# "ref")
1. Sheep Who Know the Shepherd [v23-31](# "ref")

>>>
God takes action

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Behold, I am **against** the shepherds, 
and I will **require** my sheep at their hand 
and put a **stop** to their feeding the sheep.

[Ezekiel 34:10 (ESV)](# "ref")
[Ukraine. Paul Itkin](https://unsplash.com/photos/xCdFXXoZkJc "caption")

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+ as **sheep**: take **comfort**
+ as **shepherds**: take **warning**
+ opposition
+ remove role/right
+ e.g., parable of **vineyard** (Mk12):

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What will the **owner** of the vineyard do?

He will come and **destroy** the tenants 
and give the vineyard to **others**.

[Mark 12:9 (ESV)](# "ref")
[Mike Kotsch](https://unsplash.com/photos/HNx4QLRgy2k "caption")

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+ kick out **wicked caretakers**
  + **proud**
  + believed had **power** over owner

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Behold, I, **I myself** will search for my sheep 
and will **seek** them out....

I will **rescue** them from all places 
where they have been **scattered** 
on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

[Ezekiel 34:11,12 (ESV)](# "ref")
[Shontz Photography](https://unsplash.com/photos/y4v96Sy2ne4 "caption")

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+ God often feels **far away**, absent
+ promise: personally takes **action**

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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**

[Ezekiel 34:16a (ESV)](# "ref")

>>>
+ what the shepherds **ought** to have done

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# What is God's **promise** to me when I am **lost** and weak?

>>>
+ I **myself** will search for my sheep
  + **rescue**, bring **home**

---

## The Shepherds [(Ez34)](# "ref")
1. Shepherds Who Eat the Flock [v1-8](# "ref")
1. The Shepherd Who Seeks the Lost [v9-15](# "ref")
1. **Sheep Who Push Aside the Weak** [v16-22](# "ref")
1. Sheep Who Know the Shepherd [v23-31](# "ref")

>>>
+ God not only judges **shepherds** (leaders)
+ also between **sheep**

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... I will strengthen the **weak**, 
and the **fat** and the strong I will destroy.

I will **feed** them in **justice**.

[17](# "ref")
... Behold, I **judge** between **sheep** and sheep, 
between rams and male goats.

[Ezekiel 34:16b,17 (ESV)](# "ref")
[Hay, Australia. Christopher Burns](https://unsplash.com/photos/215Fiqh6hRc "caption")

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+ not all of us sheep are the **victims**
  + sometimes we are the **abusers**
+ when God **feeds** us,
  + not only with His **blessings**
  + also His **judgment**
+ this is what we **need**:

---

Behold my **servant**, whom I uphold, ...

He will not grow **faint** or be discouraged 
till he has established **justice** in the earth; 
and the coastlands **wait** for his law.

[Isaiah 42:1,4 (ESV)](# "ref")
[Dylan Roberts, Strumble Head Lighthouse, UK](https://unsplash.com/photos/ndsRLeQBlsA "caption")

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+ **servant**: Christ, the **Anointed** One
+ when we **cry out** for God's justice
+ we ourselves are not **exempt** from it!
+ hear God describe our **selfishness**:

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Is it not enough for you 
to feed on the **good** pasture,

that you must **tread** down with your feet 
the rest of your pasture?

and to drink of **clear** water, 
that you must **muddy** the rest of the water 
with your feet?

[Ezekiel 34:18 (ESV)](# "ref")
[Ariana Prestes](https://unsplash.com/photos/24bzOuENxHc "caption")

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+ we **enjoy** God's blessings, rescue, rest
  + but **prevent** others from enjoying grace
+ "**heaven** would be nice, except for other **people**"
+ erect artificial **barriers**: must
  + attend sm gp 3mo
  + stop smoking
  + adopt capitalism
  + look like **me**
+ implicitly, we believe we are more **deserving**:

---

You push with side and **shoulder**, 
and thrust at all the weak with your **horns**, 
till you have **scattered** them abroad

[Ezekiel 34:21 (ESV)](# "ref")

>>>
+ we who are **stronger**: bc God's blessings
  + stable **home**, no **finance** stress
  + church **community**, friends
+ should not wield our strength (horn)
  + against the **weak**:
  + **mentally** ill
  + **financially** struggling
  + outcast / **friendless**
  + **hurting** / rltn sorrow

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But **woe** to you, 
scribes and Pharisees, **hypocrites**!

For you **shut** the kingdom of heaven 
in people's **faces**.

For you neither enter **yourselves** 
nor allow those who **would** enter to go in.

[Matthew 23:13 (ESV)](# "ref")
[Chefchaouen, Mexico. Randy Tarampi](https://unsplash.com/photos/Y05TMi8ZFHA "caption")

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+ scribes / Phar in **authority**
  + **stronger** sheep
+ heavy **burden** of letter of law
+ those who **want** to enter: open, eager
  + big **stop** sign:
  + first **change** yourself

---

# Have I **thrust** aside weaker brethren?

>>>
+ do I **notice** them?
+ focused on **own** problems

---

## The Shepherds [(Ez34)](# "ref")
1. Shepherds Who Eat the Flock [v1-8](# "ref")
1. The Shepherd Who Seeks the Lost [v9-15](# "ref")
1. Sheep Who Push Aside the Weak [v16-22](# "ref")
1. **Sheep Who Know the Shepherd** [v23-31](# "ref")

>>>
+ God **himself** takes action:
  + **heal** our wounds (v9-15)
+ **establish** rltn between
  + **sheep** + shepherd
  + **man** + God

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I will set up over them **one shepherd**, 
my servant **David**, and he shall feed them: 
he shall **feed** them and be their **shepherd**.

[Ezekiel 34:23 (ESV)](# "ref")
[Lac d'Anterne, France.  Hugues de Buyer-Mimeure](https://unsplash.com/photos/-wT0iS-TSZM "caption")

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+ King David long **dead**
+ God had **promised** heir to his **throne**
+ **Christ**, Son of David
  + (blind Bar-Timaeus addresses him)

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I am the **good shepherd**.

I **know** my **own** and my own know me, 
[15](# "ref") 
just as the **Father** knows me 
and I know the Father;

and I **lay down my life** for the sheep.

[John 10:14-15 (ESV)](# "ref")
[Aaron Burden](https://unsplash.com/photos/09AhDCedXF8 "caption")

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+ contrast w/**hired** hand
  + just a **job**, no **concern**
+ **knows** us: as **close** as Trinity!
+ and **died** for our sins
  + not bc **weak**, overcome by evil
+ **authority** to lay down
  + authority to **take up**
+ ⇒ **power** of resurrection!
+ **why** lay down life for us?

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And they shall **know** 
that I am the **LORD their God** with them

[Ezekiel 34:30 (ESV)](# "ref")
[Samuel Ferrara](https://unsplash.com/photos/IEHPDNk2-8w "caption")

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+ recurring theme in Ez
+ that we would **know** who God is
+ not a **religion** we constructed
+ **Creator** (made us)
  + Rescuer (sought us out)
  + Redeemer (laid down life)
+ we **know** Him, He **calls** to us:

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The sheep **hear** his voice, 
and he **calls** his own sheep **by name** 
and leads them out.

[4](# "ref") 
When he has brought out all his own, 
he goes **before** them, 
and the sheep **follow** him, 
for they **know** his voice.

[John 10:3-4 (ESV)](# "ref")

>>>

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"As for you, **My sheep**, 
the sheep of My pasture,

you are **men**, 
and I am your **God**,”

declares the Lord GOD.

[Ezekiel 34:31 (NASB)](# "ref")
[Great Smoky Mountains, USA. Jordan Whitt](https://unsplash.com/photos/b8rkmfxZjdU "caption")

>>>
+ identity
+ relationship

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# Am I a **sheep** of God's pasture?

>>>
+ hear Jesus **calling** to you
+ you **know** His voice

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