The Necessity of Shepherds (Matthew 9:35-38)
The Necessity of Shepherds
Matthew 9:35-38
May 22, 2011
(Enlighten church as to our study of Elder led)
This morning we study a great passage in that regard
You are aware of the context of Matthew’s gospel.
Matthew’s gospel is very pointed.
That point is to unequivocally prove to you
That Jesus is the Messiah of God.
• Humanly Lineage (ch 1)
• Divine Lineage (ch 1)
• Kingly birth announcement (ch 2)
• His herald (ch 3)
• His coronation (ch 3)
• His testing (ch 4)
• His doctrine (ch 5-7)
Then in chapters 8 and 9 Matthew gives us yet another proof.
He is displaying the power of the king.
So our text this morning is found at the end of the section
In which Matthew reveals the enormous power of Jesus.
• He has restored a leper
• He has healed two paralytics
• He has removed a fever
• He has calmed a storm
• He has cast an army of demons out of a man
• He has healed a hemorrhaging woman
• He has raised a girl from the dead
• He has restored sight to the blind
• He has even given speech back to a mute man
And then Matthew sums up these two chapters by saying in verse 35, “Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.”
As if the specific accounts were not enough,
Matthew reveals that those specific accounts
Were really just the tip of the iceberg.
Jesus is wreaking havoc on the effects of sin.
And really that has been the theme of the two chapters.
Jesus vs Sin
But then to close the chapter Matthew reveals something
That should really catch all of our attention.
You see throughout these two chapters we also learn
Jesus was literally being bombarded by people.
After He healed Peter’s mother-in-law
Matthew 8:16 “When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill.”
And this crowd really got out of control
Matthew 8:18 “Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea.”
And of course who can forget the scene that emerged as Jesus healed the paralytic in chapter 9?
Matthew doesn’t mention it, but we know from Luke’s gospel we learn that this house was so crowded that in order to even get their friend to Jesus these men had to go on the roof, tear a hole in the roof and lower him down.
And really this is nothing new.
JESUS COULDN’T ESCAPE.
Everywhere He went He was instantly caught by someone else
Desiring help or deliverance.
Even to the point that while on the way to heal Jairus’ daughter
A woman in the crowd touched him to be healed of her bleeding.
And every second of every day was like this.
• Someone was always approaching Him
• Crowds were always forming.
• People were always yelling for Him to help.
And so as quickly as you recognize the power of the Messiah,
You also quickly recognize the desperation of the people.
And that is how Matthew closes this chapter.
(36-38) “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
And just to keep it simple from the outset, can we easily spot what happens here?
Jesus reveals that the needs of the people
Are bigger than one man can meet.
Now certainly that is not to minimize the power of Jesus,
These two chapters have done nothing but solidify
That Jesus can handle anything thrown His way.
Yet it doesn’t change the fact that as Jesus witnessed the mass of humanity flocking to Him for help, even He said “We need more workers”.
And I also hope you recognize that
It was a specific type of worker that was needed.
“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd”
Then Jesus asks for workers.
WHAT TYPE OF WORKERS WERE NEEDED?
Shepherds.
And at this point let me just pause from our text a moment
And reveal why it is shepherds that Jesus wanted.
Shepherd is the terminology used
Because of all the animals that God could compare humanity to,
None fits the illustration better than a sheep.
And this is not a flattering comparison.
• Sheep are mindless.
• They are stupid for lack of a better term.
• They follow blindly
• They wander aimlessly
• They are lost easily
• And they are absolutely defenseless
There is no more defenseless, helpless,
And needy animal alive than the sheep.
They required constant protection and guidance from a shepherd.
AND WE ARE ALL SHEEP
It was God’s observation that all of us are in need of constant
Guidance, correction, provision, protection, and care.
IN SHORT, WE ALL NEED A SHEPHERD.
The beauty of this whole thing is that God is a great shepherd.
One of the first Scriptures you probably ever memorized was
Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…”
God has always revealed Himself as a shepherd.
One of His 8 covenantal names is Jehovah Rohi (The Lord Shepherds).
Isaiah 40:11 “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”
This is God, always concerned for the flock.
Also obvious throughout Scripture is that
God has always appointed earthly shepherds to care for His flock.
The Old Testament is full of them,
Perhaps some of the most famous would be men like Moses or David,
Who by the way each spent time as actual shepherds as well.
These men had charge over the flock of God,
And certainly they were not alone.
We are all familiar with the fact that Moses delegated out his authority
To elders in Israel to help him guide the flock of God.
And so God, the perfect Shepherd entrusted His flock
To undershepherds who would care for His flock.
The problem is that as time went on, those shepherds failed miserably.
TURN TO: EZEKIEL 34
(READ VS. 1-6)
• They did not feed the flock the word of God,
• They did not encourage the flock with the truth of God,
• They did not admonish those struggling in sin,
• They did not call the straying sheep to repentance,
• Nor were they concerned when one of God’s sheep disappeared.
• They were only concerned for their own well-being.
And this is not the only passage to this regard.
Jeremiah 10:21 “For the shepherds have become stupid And have not sought the LORD; Therefore they have not prospered, And all their flock is scattered.”
Jeremiah 23:1-2 “ Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” declares the LORD.”
The shepherds of Israel were failing God’s flock.
This of course prompted God to go after His sheep Himself
(READ VS. 11-16)
And then God promised to give His sheep a new shepherd; a good one.
(READ VS. 23-24)
And of course this new good shepherd is Jesus
John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,”
And certainly this was a job that Jesus embraced for Himself.
It cannot be overstated that Jesus loved the flock of God.
He laid down His life in order to rescue the flock
And as Jesus walked this earth, He perfectly shepherded God’s flock.
He cared for them flawlessly.
John 17:11-12 “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.”
Because Jesus recognized the owner of the flock,
And because Jesus recognized the need of the sheep,
Jesus willingly gave of Himself to shepherd the flock of God.
He fixed the problem that was created by the selfish shepherds of Israel.
And then, as Jesus left He again entrusted God’s flock
To faithful undershepherds who would care for it.
Who can forget the admonition that Jesus gave to Peter in John 21?
“Tend My lambs.” “Shepherd My sheep.” “Tend My sheep.”
It mattered to Jesus that God’s flock was cared for.
Of course as the church grew and as the apostles died,
These shepherds passed the staff on to other men who would also
Walk in the footsteps of the Lord and care for God’s flock.
Acts 14:23 “When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”
The apostle Paul was especially burdened in this area.
He told Timothy,
2 Timothy 2:2 “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
He told Titus
Titus 1:5 “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,”
And when he met with the Ephesian elders he heavily charged them,
Acts 20:28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
AND SO THE SUCCESSION IS OBVIOUS.
Even Peter wrote:
1 Peter 5:1-4 “Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”
The point thus far is this.
God still has a flock, and that flock still needs shepherds.
When you read that passage in Ezekiel 34 you are reminded that
• Sheep get sick and need to be strengthened.
• Sheep get diseased and need to be healed.
• Sheep get broken and need to be bound up.
• Sheep get scattered and need to be brought back.
• Sheep even get lost and need to be found.
In a spiritual sense we know that
• The people of God get sick (a term that means weak) and need to be encouraged.
• The people of God get diseased (or fall into sin) and need to be healed or admonished
• The people of God get broken (feel the effects and consequences of sinful choices) and need to be picked up.
• The people of God get scattered (discouraged and out of fellowship) and need to be admonished back into the fold
• The people of God even get lost (seemingly separated from God and His church) and they need to be found.
Who else but a shepherd?
God’s flock needs shepherds!
It is the way He designed it, it is the way He intended it,
And here in our text that is exactly what Jesus is saying again.
“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
And this morning,
I just want to point out three rather obvious things about what Jesus said.
Now the focus of this sermon is pointed.
• I certainly it preach it for myself.
• But I also preach it for any who aspire to shepherd God’s flock (as elders or deacons)
3 Things
#1 SHEPHERDS ARE NEEDED
Matthew 9:36
“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.”
The obvious truth of this verse is that
There was a problem of shepherdless sheep.
It was clear that these people were not living with imaginary needs.
These people really were victimized.
These people really were in a bad way.
In fact Jesus gets pretty graphic in His description.
“they were distressed and dispirited”
“distressed” translates SKULLO
It literally means “to skin” or “to flay” or “to mangle”
And it became synonymous with being troubled.
“dispirited” translates RHIPTO
It literally means “to throw”
And when you put those together it is quite obvious what Jesus saw.
He didn’t see healthy, well-nourished, protected and contented sheep.
He saw a flock that had been skinned and cast aside.
(sheered and abandoned)
They were a neglected flock.
(Which is exactly what God described through Ezekiel)
This flock had gone without food.
This flock had gone without guidance.
This flock had gone without protection.
Not only were they victims of the predators,
But also victims of one another.
Ezekiel 34:17-22 “As for you, My flock, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. ‘Is it too slight a thing for you that you should feed in the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures? Or that you should drink of the clear waters, that you must foul the rest with your feet? ‘As for My flock, they must eat what you tread down with your feet and drink what you foul with your feet!'” Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them, “Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. “Because you push with side and with shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns until you have scattered them abroad, therefore, I will deliver My flock, and they will no longer be a prey; and I will judge between one sheep and another.”
And so not only is the flock in danger from predators outside,
But the flock is also in danger from bullies within.
And no one had protected this flock from either.
They were “distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd”
And let me just first point out to you that Jesus SAW that.
“Seeing the people”
It is extremely easy to get lost in numerical growth,
And to get sucked into the mega-church game.
And before long many shepherds no longer see the sheep any more.
They are busy writing books and preaching conferences
And building budgets and growing a legacy.
And the sheep can literally just become a pawn in their game.
Sheep are sick and slaughtered right under their noses
And they never even see it.
The sheep need a shepherd that will see them.
That is precisely what Jesus did.
But that is not all.
“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them”
It broke His heart to see all these broken, straying, malnourished,
Even lost sheep, and He wanted to do something about it.
THE SHEEP NEEDED A SHEPHERD
• They need someone who will feed them the truth of God’s word.
• They need someone who will confront their sin.
• They need someone who will admonish them.
• They need someone who will search for them when they are missing.
• They need someone who lay his own life down for their well-being.
John 10:11-14 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. “He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,”
Shepherds are Needed
#2 SHEPHERDS ARE FEW
Matthew 9:37
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”
Most of the time people do injustice to this verse.
They see the word “harvest” and immediately jump to evangelism,
And completely forget that Jesus is still talking about distressed sheep.
Are some of the sheep lost?
Absolutely, and they must be sought after.
But the issue here is still shepherding.
And the point that Jesus is making is that
There aren’t many willing to be shepherds.
“the workers are few”
And make no mistake about it, shepherding is work.
1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 “But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.”
1 Timothy 5:17 “The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.”
Shepherding is hard work, and the implication of Jesus
Is that there aren’t many willing to do it.
Oh, there are plenty who want the title of shepherd,
There just aren’t many who want to do the work of a shepherd.
A shepherd’s job is hard.
• Sheep were always hungry…
• Sheep were always straying…
• Sheep were always in danger of attack…
• A SHEPHERD NEVER RESTED
(One shepherd was asked about the most important tool – “A FENCE”)
HOW THIS IS TRUE OF GOD’S FLOCK!
• Always needing to be fed…
• Often straying…
The hymn writer said it best, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love, here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.”
• And always in danger of attack…
1 Peter 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
And if that were not enough, sheep get sick, sheep are weak,
And need nurturing.
James 5:13-15 “Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.”
Shepherding is hard work, and because of that, true shepherds are few.
Shepherds are Needed Shepherds are Few
#3 SHEPHERDS ARE SENT
Matthew 9:38
In other words, this is not just something that any and everyone does.
If it were a matter of merely convincing men
Then Jesus would have told the disciples to go out and recruit workers.
But Jesus said, “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
Shepherds are sent by God.
Now I know what 1 Timothy says.
1 Timothy 3:1 “It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.”
And we learn that the first requirement to be a shepherd
Is that you must want to do it.
But really that is just it.
The call to be a shepherd is such a difficult job
That the only way a person would desire to do it correctly
Is if God put that desire in them.
No one signs up for 24-7 care of a bunch of mindless sheep
Who are prone to wonder and easy prey,
Unless God puts it in his heart to do so.
SHEPHERDS ARE CALLED, BUT THEY ARE ALSO ACCOUNTABLE!
But that also means that you are divinely accountable to God.
1 Peter 5:1-2 “Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness;”
I love the phrase “shepherd the flock of God”
This is God’s flock.
And God entrusts men with this flock.
Jesus ascended to heaven, and as long as He is gone
He is asking men to feed them, protect them, guide them, bind them up,
And to search for them.
I certainly don’t want to be the shepherd that has to report to the Good Shepherd that I lost most of His sheep.
An actual shepherd was so afraid of this,
That he stole sheep remains from predators.
Amos 3:12 “Just as the shepherd snatches from the lion’s mouth a couple of legs or a piece of an ear, So will the sons of Israel dwelling in Samaria be snatched away — With the corner of a bed and the cover of a couch!”
Exodus 22:10-13 “If a man gives his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep for him, and it dies or is hurt or is driven away while no one is looking, an oath before the LORD shall be made by the two of them that he has not laid hands on his neighbor’s property; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution. “But if it is actually stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner. “If it is all torn to pieces, let him bring it as evidence; he shall not make restitution for what has been torn to pieces.”
Because shepherds are sent, God also holds them accountable.
Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”
We give an account to God for how we shepherd His flock.
But the beauty of it all is this.
1 Peter 5:4 “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”
I want to challenge those in our midst
Who see the need for shepherds among God’s flock.
As a pastor
As a deacon
As a father
Don’t just pass off the burden by saying, “Oh, well there you have it, I don’t desire it, so I don’t have to worry about it.”
How can you live with yourself with such an attitude?
Jesus sent a challenge that shepherds are needed.
It is alarming to me how few are willing to answer His call.
Men I want to challenge you as God challenges me.
Shepherd the flock of God.
