KNOWING GOD IN HIS GLORY
Sheep Without A
Shepherd
Jerry A Collins
SCC
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What does God expect from those who lead His people?
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How does God handle bad leaders?
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How will God restore good leadership for His people?
It was Lord Acton who made the famous statement, Power corrupts and
absolute power corrupts absolutely. Unfortunately, we have many examples in
history of people who have had power and exercised it over people instead of
using it to serve people. However, the common biblical figure used for
leadership is a Shepherd. The rulers of God’s people were often called
shepherds (Ps 78:70-72; Isa 44:28; 63:11; Jer 23:1-4; Zech 7 and John
1. LEADERS BECOME BAD WHEN THEY USE THEIR INFLUENCE TO SERVE THEMSELVES 1-10
One of the most interesting lessons from church history is that
Christianity grows spiritually inversely proportional to the power of the
clergy. A strong cleric may have been an asset at first but the danger is that
the Christians either become complacent or the power of the
clergy corrupt them making it impossible for them to serve people and
rule over them at the same time. Whenever the power of church leadership
increased the quality of Christianity decreased and things like the crusades in
the eleventh century, the inquisitions in the 13th and 14th centuries,
indulgences in the 16th century or liberalism in the 19th and 20th centuries
were possible. Probably the most significant church history event that
increased the quality of the church was the reformation in the 1500’s. It began
with a man of God questioning the established religious authorities then in
place, Martin Luther. John Wyclif had set the stage
for the reformation 200 yrs earlier when he taught against conventional
teaching and stated that the church is made up of individual believers and
needs no such clergy. 1300 yrs before that, Ezekiel highlights A. the sins of
(1) They put their own interests above those of the people they were
shepherding. They viewed their flock as a
source of wealth to be exploited rather than a trust to be protected.
(2) They treated the people harshly. Instead of leading the
flock to food, protecting from attack, nursing injured to health, searching for
any strayed or lost, they ruled them harshly and dominated over them.
(3) They flagrantly disregarded the people and their needs. Their people were
vulnerable, scattered, wandering and lost (possibly referring to the exiles).
Today they are scattered theologically, wandering morally and all over the face
of the earth philosophically so they possess a pagan world view of life. It is interesting that Jesus said the people in his
day were like sheep without a shepherd and there was a need for laborers for
the harvest in a church filled with priests, Pharisees, saduccees,
scribes, elders, sanhedrin, a religiously oriented
society with religious leaders everywhere and yet there was no shepherd for
them and w/o laborers for the harvest!
B. The judgment of
(1) They will be removed from their positions of power and influence.
(2) They will lose opportunities to profit at peoples
expense.
(3) They will not be able to take advantage of the people again.
(4) God will replace them with His own leadership of the people. The essence of
leadership is being an influence for change. They very essence of their
leadership will be removed from them. Stripped of their power and ability to
rule they will become as vulnerable as they people the exploited once God’s
judgment takes hold in the land by means of the Babylonians. False shepherds
today are guilty of the same things. 2 Timothy says their influence will spread
like gangrene and lead people astray from the truth. They will captivate,
oppose, deceive, and be deceived, turn people to speculations, myths to captivate an audience.
In every generation we will find
false teachers using their influence for personal gain. So God Himself will
interceded and rescue His people with a true shepherd
11-31.
2. IN THE FUTURE GOD WILL BE THE TRUE SHEPHERD OF HIS PEOPLE 11-31
The first section how and when he will do this
11-22.
The second section describes who and what this leadership includes.
A. 3 Things God is going to do:
(1) At the 2nd coming I am going to gather my people vs 13. The cloudy and gloomy day refers to the
tribulation period (Dan 9; Rev 6-18) just before Jesus returns to the earth. It
is out of that period that Jesus ill settle here and gather
his people back to
B. I am going to feed them vs 13-15. He will feed them as a
true shepherd. The false ones refused to let the people know they were
offending God, they were not fed properly only comforted while they wandered
and were scattered.
C. I am going to judge them 16-22. Which is what real
spiritual leadership does. Organizational leadership ignores the spiritual
need so instead we have tolerated sin. At the second coming Jesus will judge
between the fat and lean sheep and deliver the true remnant of His people.
Before the
(1) He will appoint a new shepherd, King David as
prince over the nation
(2) Peace will be restored 25.
(3) Eliminate uncertainties of desolate places,
wild animals, other nations. The lion lays down with the lamb (Isa 11).
(4)
(5) No unpredictable weather.
(6) Trees will bear a full fruit.
(7) Land will yield full crop.
(8) Secure and safe in the land.
(9) No longer appealing to enemy nations.
(10) No reason for fear any longer.
(11) No more famine.
(12) No more insults from neighboring nations.
There is no way this is ever figuratively or
metaphorically or allegorically or progressively fulfilled in nthe church. All of this is still in the future and God
will restore