Pastor Sherry’s message for November 26, 2023

Scriptures: Eze 34:11-16, 20-24; Ps 95:1-7a; Eph 1:15-23; Matt 25:31-46

I love funny signs. Here are a few I’ve shared with you in years past and some new ones seen recently. Given it’s deer hunting season, we can appreciate these signs hung on property fences:

1. No hunting; No fishing; No nothing! Go home!

2. No trespassing! Violator will be shot; survivors will be shot again!

3. No trespassing! We’re tired of hiding the bodies.

How about these warning signs?

1. High voltage. Do not touch. Not only will this kill you, it will hurt the whole time you are dying.

2. Unattended children will be given an energy drink and a free puppy.

3. (I need this sign for my yard, since I feed 7 strays on my front porch.) No dumping cats! $750 fine and/or 90 days in jail. But, Hey! I’ll pray for you!

4. My personal favorite: Warning! If you think you can run across this pasture in 10 seconds, Don’t! The bull can do it in 9.

Finally, just for fun:

1. “Thank you for noticing this new notice. Your noticing has been noted and will be reported to the authorities.”

2. “Please do not throw your cigarette butts on the ground. The chickens come out at night and smoke them and we are trying to get them to quit.”

3. A sign outside a coffee shop: “Small coffee,” $5.00; “Small coffee, Please,” $3.00; “Hello, one small coffee, please” with a smile, $1.50.

4. On an infant’s onesie: “I just did 9 months on the inside; my parents are now in for life.”

Today we celebrate Christ the King Sunday. Our readings seem to progress, in a crescendo-like movement, like signs directing us to recognize and celebrate Christ as our Shepherd King.

A. In Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24—God tells us through the prophet that Jesus is our True Shepherd. The false prophets, idolatrous kings, and weak, compromised religious leaders of Israel and Judah have done a miserable job of shepherding God’s people. They have not fed the people on the Word of God; helped the sick; brought back the strays; or loved God’s people. God the Father is fed up with their ineptitude, their selfishness, their failures to protect His people, and their outright abuse of them. He says He will restore the flock and remove the selfish and self-focused shepherds. He will replace them with someone much superior.

So, this chapter contains a prophesy of Jesus. God will appoint Him as their True Shepherd (vv.23-24) I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David [it won’t be David himself, but Jesus from the lineage of David], and He will tend them; He will tend them and be their shepherd. I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David [Jesus] will be prince among them. I the lord have spoken. In other words, about 550 years before Jesus’ birth, and about 450 years after King David’s death, God is telling His people that an earthly king is coming who will rule wisely and justly. They needed Him and we need Him because most of our human leaders—whether religious or political–have been dismal failures. As Scripture says, He will be the One Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, and the True Shepherd. Like His forefather, King David, Jesus will be a shepherd-king.

B. Psalm 95 is a song of joy and praise! (v.2)—Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and EXTOL [praise, worship] Him with music and song. Why? Because He is our Creator, our Maker, and the Rock of our Salvation. And in verse 7—For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the flock under His care [the sheep of His hand]. Again, we need God—and to be grateful to Him—because He watches over us/guards us like a Good Shepherd. Thus, we can worry less, risk more, and sleep better.

C. In Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul’s prayer is for the church at Ephesus, a church noted for its faith and love. He is not praying for material blessings for them. Instead, he wants them to have spiritual blessings: (1) to depend on the Holy Spirit for wisdom and revelation, so they will better understand God’s Word; (2) and for their spiritual eyes to be opened so that they will have hope; they will become aware of their spiritual inheritance because of Christ Jesus (adopted children of God and inheritors of heaven due to Jesus’ work on the Cross); and they will appreciate the exceeding and abundant power of the Holy Spirit—and call upon the Spirit to use this marvelous power in their behalf.

Then he declares that God the Father has made Jesus the Head (or shepherd) over everything! We, the Church, are the Body of Christ. God the Father planned for us; God the Son paid for us with His blood; and God the Holy Spirit empowers and protects us. Again, Jesus is our Good Shepherd.

D. Matthew 25:31-46—Reiterates that, at the end of time, King Jesus will assume the throne of this world. He will then judge the nations of this world (individuals too). God calls us all His sheep. There are two types of sheep: (1) the Saved—those who believe in Jesus and try to live according to His will; and (2) the Lost—those who reject Jesus and live life according to their own will. We only have to look around our world today to see examples of dictators who reject Christ and act as they are laws unto themselves. Folks like Putin of Russia and Ji Jinping of China appear to be among the Lost, especially as Ji has apparently taken it upon himself to rewrite the Bible. What hubris!

Then there are goats—whole nations (ethnos in the Greek) who have rejected Jesus. We recognize Christians by their love. In the Roman colony of Carthage in North Africa, in the second century, there was an extensive plague. Political and religious leaders took off and left the sick behind to tend themselves or to die. Furthermore, unwanted girl babies were abandoned left exposed on the garbage heaps outside the city. But the Christians of Carthage stayed behind to nurse the sick and to rescue the babies. They risked their own health. They did what no usual Roman citizen would. Carthaginian citizens were so astonished by the compassion and love of their Christian neighbors that many came to believe in Jesus as well.

Similarly, non-Christians are and will be defined by their lack of love, their lack of compassion. What kind of government builds weapons and arms but allows their people to suffer hunger? What kind of government uses noncombatant women, the elderly, and children as shields in military fights? What kind of government shoots to kill citizens trying to escape their cruelty? We can identify goats by their behavior. It is not our place to judge, but unless they undergo a heartfelt and radical change to the good, they are lost. I read recently that some of the religious authorities of Hamas told the terrorists, prior to their October 7th raid into Israel, that Allah would overlook their cruelty and barbaric treatment of Israeli women and children. What kind of god would authorize such inhumane behavior? Such people seem to resemble the kinds of folks to whom Jesus said (v.45)—I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

The signs are all there. Thank God, Jesus is our Shepherd King. The ancient Israelites needed Him. We need Him now. And we will need Him om the future. Christ our King is a mighty and a competent shepherd. We can trust in Him to care for us. We are safe in His arms.

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Alleluia, alleluia!

©️2023 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams