Jump Start # 968

Ezekiel 34:2 “Son of man, prophecy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘thus says the Lord God, ‘Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?’”

We begin a series of Jump Starts looking at the theme of leadership. This is not a new subject nor a a concern just for modern times. Our passage today, taken from the days of Ezekiel, demonstrates that the people of God had leadership problems.

In a few settings, poor leadership is resolved by the leader being fired. A coach that can’t lead his team to victory is released. Managers that do not lead are canned. However, in too many other situations, poor leaders remain in their positions and others suffer because of this.

• We see this in politics. Candidates run on the platform of representing the people, but once they are elected they are clueless as to how most of the people live and what issues they face. Unless a politician violates the law, the people are stuck with a poor leader with the only hopes of voting them out of office, which often doesn’t happen.

• We see this in the home. Fathers are placed in the leadership role by God. They are the head of the house. Too many do not understand that concept and they simply do not feel like getting involved with the day to day things of leading a family, so they don’t. They park themselves in front of the TV and watch sports every night while the family drifts because no one is at the helm. Can’t fire dad, although that would help many homes. Eighteen years of a leaderless father turns a kid loose on society who does not respect authority, has an attitude and does not know Jesus.
• We see this in the church. Men are appointed as shepherds of a congregation. Many have never given that role much thought before. They see it as a power thing and start barking out orders to others. The church suffers because there is no leadership. The ideas change constantly, there doesn’t seem to a direct vision or path that they are following, inconsistencies, favoritism, and a hands-off approach kills the passion and enthusiasm. The church stagnates. People leave. The clueless shepherds blame the preacher and he is fired and has to move his young family to another place. Another preacher is hired with the hopes that things will turn around and they do for a few months until the lack of leadership again causes a return to the same feelings and problems. Another preacher is fired and the cycle continues. The leaders never look in the mirror. They never consider that the problem is their lack of leadership. Decades of this pattern is common for many congregations. It is sad. The members wish they could fire these incompetent elders, but they can’t. More of the same are appointed and the cycle continues. The leaders seem more interested in paying bills than building a kingdom of God. Young people grow up distant and alienated from the work of God. A generation is lost. The church suffers.

In the days of Ezekiel, God had enough. He sent the prophet to the leaders. The leaders were getting a rebuke from the Lord. What follows is a check list in how NOT to lead.

• They did not feed the flock (3)
• They did not strengthen the sickly (4)
• They did not heal the diseased (4)
• They did not bind up the broken (4)
• They did not bring back the scattered (4)
• They did not look for the lost (4)
• They dominated the flock with force and severity (4)
• The flock of God wandered away and became food for every beast of the field (5)

Understand God is not talking about real sheep. He’s talking about his people. His people were falling to pieces and the very people who were put in position to help them, were responsible for causing the problem. The leaders took care of themselves. They were selfish, unconcerned and uncommitted to the task before them.

We know what would happen if this were true of a real flock of sheep. There would be no flock. Crippled and diseased sheep have little value. Sheep that have wandered away are gone. If things did not turn around quickly, there would be no sheep left. And this is exactly what is happening in too many places today because of poor leadership. One day, the leaders look around and discover that people, profits, spirit or hope has vanished away. They discover this too late. They wonder what happened. They don’t have a clue. They blame the times. They blame the economy. They blame outside circumstances. It never dawns upon them that people were discouraged and quit. It never occurred to them that everyone jumped ship because the ship wasn’t going any where.

Leading people, whether as a politician, a shepherd among God’s people, or as a dad, isn’t a right, it is a privilege. Honorable people who recognize this great responsibility will take the task with great hope and care. They will earn the trust of those under them. They will grasp that leading begins by being an example. The heart of a servant is the key to leading God’s way.

There are many great leaders today, in business, politics, in the church and in the home. Have you taken time to thank them and lift their names up to God? You ought to. It is a blessing to be led by true leaders. The pitiful flock that Ezekiel described lives on today. We must work on being leaders the way God wants.

Roger