Ezekiel 34:2-10

The words spoken through Ezekiel are very harsh; they make for uncomfortable reading for those who consider themselves to be shepherds. And of course this means you and me. God condemns the shepherds of Israel for the things they had not done and finished up by telling them that he had rejected them. We must remember that the things that apply to shepherds apply to all of us in our responsibility to the sheep in our care, whether this is in ‘pastoral’ ministry, the workplace or as mothers and fathers.

The shepherds are first of all condemned for feeding themselves while not looking after the flock, they had not only provided for their own basic needs but in fact had lived luxuriously while failing to care for those in their charge. For those in business this is a serious message, how dare we live in luxury while denying reasonable income to those who work for us? How can we enjoy the pleasures of life while those from whom our profits are derived struggle to make ends meet? The judgment goes further, these shepherds had failed to look after the sick, bind up the broken, bring back those that had gone astray or seek for those that were lost. In fact their severity had caused some of the sheep to go astray and become prey to those that would feed on them.

From this list of offences it becomes clear what sort of things that God expects of his shepherds. They are to look after the sick, help to alleviate emotional and practical needs, assist some to find their way and provide help to those in need. They are to do this in the context of justice and mercy. The shepherd was to care for his sheep before he looked to his own needs. A good shepherd would not go to sleep at night until he was certain that all of his sheep were safe and in the fold. And if there was danger, he may not go to sleep at all.

God looks out at our communities and marketplaces and he expects to see shepherds caring for the sheep. I suspect that too often he will see pastors who are more concerned about their personal needs, salary levels and creature comforts than the lives of the people they are responsible for. And while I do not refer only to paid ‘pastors’ I do not exclude them either. Too often pastors in congregations are more concerned about their budget, buildings and the numbers who turn up on Sunday than they are the personal and spiritual needs of the people in their charge. They work ‘business’ hours and surround themselves with the trappings of office that often make it difficult for hurting people to even get an audience. Pastors in the marketplace do likewise. They are so consumed about the bottom line that they fail to see the hurt in their employee’s faces. The size and furnishing of their offices reflects their image and position while the workers struggle for reasonable facilities to eat in. The manager’s office is air-conditioned but the factory staff swelter in unrelieved heat, dust and dirt.

God demands better from his shepherds. He has appointed them to lead his sheep into good pasture and to keep them safe. Whether those sheep are in the congregation, the community or the marketplace it makes no difference, the shepherd’s responsibility is the same. Who are the sheep that God has entrusted to you? Start with your family, then your neighbourhood, the part of the marketplace you are engaged in, either at work or as you carry out your day-to-day activities and if you pastor a local congregation, then those as well. But remember not all of the flock are in the fold, some are outside and need to be brought in, others have gone astray and need to be brought back. Wherever you are you have sheep to care for, their needs are greater than yours, God has given them to you because he trusts you to look after them – but if you don’t he will take them from you and give them to somebody else!

Numbers 27:16-20

As the people of Israel came to the end of their wandering through the wilderness God spoke to Moses and reminded him that he would not be the one to lead them into the Promised Land. Even though Moses tried he could not change God’s mind so his concern immediately transferred to the people that he had been leading. These people had given Moses a lot of grief, they had been stubborn, disobedient, had argued and complained, had threatened to kill him and more than once rebelled against his leadership, but even now as he was facing his own death his prayer was for them.

Moses asked that God would appoint a leader for these people, someone to teach them what to do and where to go, otherwise they would be like sheep without a shepherd. This same thought was reflected in Jesus’ words in Matthew 9. Whether Jesus voiced his cares aloud or in private conversation to Matthew is not stated but we do know that he had compassion on the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd, distressed and dispirited. He was presumably thinking back to the request of Moses many years before. The people that Jesus saw were poised to enter the Promised Land but they didn’t know what to do or how to get there. The Promise for these people was not a geographic locality but eternal life in the Kingdom of God, and the entrance was through faith in Jesus Christ, but they needed a shepherd to show them the way.

Jesus said that the people were distressed and dispirited because they had no shepherd. He saw the people and he had compassion on them, they didn’t know where to go or how to get there, how would they without anyone to lead them? As you look out at your marketplace what do you see? Do you see people who are lost and lonely and do you have compassion on them? The people in your world need shepherds; they need men and women who are called by God to lead the sheep into good pasture and to protect them against wolves. As Jesus looks at these same people what does he see? Does he see sheep without shepherds or does he see faithful men and women caring for the sheep that have been entrusted to them?

Ed Silvoso writes that the conditions are right for revival in a community when every sheep has a shepherd. In other words when every man, woman and child has someone looking out for and caring for him or her. Revival actually comes when these people know who their shepherds are. Wherever you have been placed in the marketplace you have been given sheep to care for. Not all of these sheep are in the fold yet, some are still wandering the hillside waiting for someone to find them and lead them into safety. The first step is for you and I to take seriously our responsibility for the spiritual well being of the sheep in our care. We do this by praying for them and meeting their needs when we can. You don’t need to go and announce to your workmates and associates that you are their shepherd, just start bringing them and their needs to God. After a while your compassion will be obvious and so will the answers to your prayers and at the right time God will let you lead the sheep into the fold.

Sometimes your ‘sheep’ will give you grief, in the workplace you will probably have to exercise discipline and that may even result in an employees dismissal, but it is essential that just like Moses, you continue to pray for them and seek their welfare. You are their shepherd and it is your responsibility to ‘lead them out and bring them in’, pray that God will give to you, just as he gave to Joshua, the empowering of his Holy Spirit so that you can accomplish the task.

Matthew 9: 35-36

Some years ago I was in Argentina attending a conference on evangelism with delegates from around the world. As part of the conference we traveled by bus or air to various towns and cities to assist the local church in ministering to their community. It was a great time of blessing, miracles were experienced, people saved and lives changed. One morning however God lead me to read Matthew 9:38 and it wasn’t until later in the day that I realized the import of what he was saying. As a group of us traveled by bus to the city of Rosario we enjoyed fellowship and encouragement together anticipating what God was going to do, but as we approached the city the bus rounded a bend and came upon what can only be described as a slum. The contrast between the green fields, comparatively affluent travelers, the luxury coach and the slum and its inhabitants was stark.

God reminded me of the passage I had read that morning. These verses relate the activities of Jesus as he traveled through towns and villages preaching the gospel, healing the sick and teaching in the synagogues, all of the things we were doing on our conference. But the significant thing that God lead me to in this passage was that Jesus stopped what he was doing and saw the people. Depending on the version of the Bible you use, this verse may be translated slightly differently, but in any event – he saw the people. What God was saying to me at that time was ‘don’t get so caught up in your agenda, the things you are doing and even the miracles and the blessings that you fail to see the people’. At that time I was a ‘full-time pulpit minister’, by that I mean I was employed to be a pastor in a local congregation, and I confess that there were many times that I got so caught up in the next part of the church program, the next activity, conference, spiritual retreat or evangelistic endeavour that I failed to see the people. In fact sometimes the whole thing would have gone a lot better if there weren’t any people, especially those with needs. God was very clear, I had to stop and see the people; this is what it is all about.

A little while ago I was getting ready to attend a breakfast with a visiting Christian politician from Asia and once again God drew me to this passage. In the past I had been ‘full-time’ in the pulpit and worked in the secular world in order to pay the bills and fund the ministry, but now I was ‘full-time’ in the business world and pastored a church ‘part-time’ – these descriptions are all wrong – but you know what I mean! Now I saw my primary place of ministry as the marketplace I was engaged in, but God brought me back to this passage of scripture. What he told me was ‘the message I gave you in Argentina when you were a pastor, is the same for you in the marketplace – in other words stop what you are doing and see the people’. God was telling me that my primary role in ministry whether it was in the pulpit or in the marketplace is to see the people.

In business it is very easy to get caught up in making profits, increasing sales and reducing costs so that the people become a commodity or a resource. In fact the language we use reflects that – we don’t refer to our employees as people but human resources. As a minister in the marketplace our primary responsibility is to care for the people that God has given us responsibility for, of course we need to make a profit, otherwise we won’t be in business very long – but we must not get so caught up in our agenda that we fail to see the people and their needs. We can start by learning their names and finding out a little about them. We may discover their needs and probably also their strengths. Once we know them and the things that are important to them we are better able to pray for them and on their behalf and start to fulfill our pastoral responsibility in the marketplace to which we have been called. This week as you go about your day-to-day business in the marketplace remember to stop and see the people, and have compassion on them.

Shepherds in the Marketplace

See the People
1.    In what way are we to ‘see the people’ in our part of the marketplace?

2.    What happens when we see the people as Jesus saw them?

3.    Why do the people need a shepherd?
Sheep Without A shepherd
1.    Who are the people in your world that need shepherds?

2.    Who are those in your flock?

3.    What can you do to shepherd the sheep you have been given?
A Shepherd’s Code of Practice
1.    What are the elements of a shepherd’s code of practice?

2.    What sort of things can distract the shepherd from the things he or she should be doing?

3.    What happens if we don’t do the things God requires of shepherds?
The Great Example
1.    What was the example Jesus gave us?

2.    Why is it important that the shepherd be drawn from the sheep?

3.    What is Jesus depending on you to do?
Sheep Know Their Shepherds
1.    How can the sheep know their shepherd’s voice?

2.    Who of us would leave 99 sheep to look for one that is missing? Why?

3.    What do you think of the statement ‘the shepherd leads the sheep, but the butcher drives them?’
The Sheep and the Fold
1.    What is the difference between the sheep and the fold?

2.    What are things that all of God’s folds have in common?

3.    How do you bring sheep into the fold?
Fleecing the Sheep
1.    How do shepherds fleece the sheep?

2.    How important are numbers?

3.    What are the new generation of shepherds that God is going to raise?

Acts 17:17

In recent times much has been said and written about the need to take our faith and the gospel into the marketplace. Sometimes however we seem to confuse the marketplace with the workplace. In New Testament times the marketplace was a place of public gathering, an arena where the city elders would sit and talk, where conversation took place and entertainment was provided. It was also the venue for traders to bring their produce for sale and for gossip to be exchanged. In short it was the heart of every community.

In the days before television, Internet, radio and even newspapers exchange of news and information was conducted in an entirely different way than it is today. The marketplace was the forum where everything happened. Travelers from other regions would share the latest from the places they had been, the latest philosophies were discussed on street corners and on the plaza and beggars came to receive a few coins to relieve their suffering. Any new religion or belief would be a topic for discussion. The Bible tells us that some religious leaders loved the recognition and applause that came from the marketplace and we read of children sitting there, idle people just lounging around and the sick being brought in case there was someone who could give them healing.

If the good news was going to be preached, this is where it needed to happen. Where else would people from all walks of life, all sectors of society hear the message? When I was pastor of suburban church in a reasonably affluent suburb I would spend hours each day in my office alone. Most people in the community worked and the streets were almost deserted during the day. I found I needed to go and sit in a nearby shopping center just to connect with ordinary people and hope for an opportunity to connect with somebody. The church and its message were not at the intersection of life; they were hidden away in a back street that seldom attracted passing interest.

The marketplace as it was understood in the New Testament is largely absent from today’s society. It has been replaced with mass media and suburban life. However there are still some remnants, there are communities where a market day is a significant part of life, others where the coffee shop strip is a feature and yet others where a significant cultural event provides opportunity for interaction and discussion. The modern shopping mall or retail center has become for many the new marketplace. Young people often go there just to ‘hang out’, sometimes they will go to a movie or have something to eat, but often they will just lounge around talking, enjoying each other’s company and sometimes getting themselves into trouble. Another place where news is discussed and relationships formed is the hotel. The public bar becomes a safe environment in which to share the latest gossip and even personal needs under the liberating influence of alcohol.

Where are the marketplaces of modern life? Where do you go to connect with the people in your community? Are there safe havens you can go to, places where you can be yourself without the need for a mask to hide behind? The disciples knew what they needed to do to get the news of the gospel out: they went to the marketplace. This was where they would find people to speak to. If these men had stayed in the synagogue or even the upper room and discussed among themselves the church would not have been born and it would not have grown. It was good news, people needed to hear it and best way for this to happen was if they went where the people were and told them.