Jump Start # 1995

Ezekiel 34:4 “Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have your sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them.”

Our verse today is not a happy verse. You won’t find this cross stitched and framed on grandma’s wall. God was denouncing the poor treatment of the shepherds of Israel. Instead of helping God’s people, they were cruel. They were destroying them. In particular, as this verse ends with the methods and means of force, severity and dominance, they were controlling Israel. In schools, this is the methods of bullies. In marriage, it’s emotional abuse and control. This behavior is one of the underlining causes of the sexual abuse cases that are making the news nearly every day.

Politicians, sports figures, Hollywood stars, media giants, are being fired nearly every day because of scandals of abuse, often decades old. One of the things that some find hard to understand is why are so many waiting so long to come forward? Why have they remained silent for so long?

The words that end our verse today explains it. Force, severity and dominance has put people in fear. Why does a child put up with bullies in school? Fear. Why does a wife put up with an abusive and controlling husband? Fear. Why does an intern remain silent even when abused sexually? Fear. For the child at school, it’s fear of being hit. For the abused wife, it’s fear of being hurt, and being tossed out with nothing. For the intern, it’s fear of being blackballed in an industry that they have their heart set upon.

Within the context of Ezekiel, this force, severity and dominance was found among God’s people. Those who ought to be leading by example, were placing people in fear. That spirit is still alive and it’s still found among God’s people. Some elderships follow this game plan of producing fear and intimidation. Many do not see it nor would they call it that, but it’s there. Emotional abuse and fear, even in the church. Some attend, not out of love for the Lord, but they fear what would happen if they were caught not coming. The stern talks. The threats. The intimidation. It causes some to never miss a service. So serious is this, that I’ve seen folks show up on a Sunday morning, sick as a dog, who ought to be in bed, but there they are. They feel terrible. They look terrible. They spread their germs to everyone else. Why not stay home? You’re sick. Never. They don’t want to have their faith questioned. They don’t want to be branded as weak. They don’t want to deal with all the trouble that comes from skipping, even if sick. Fear. The fear of others, especially those in charge, will generate results, but it also festers until a mutiny takes place. Within the context of a church, a mutiny is generally defined as a split or a division. Some get so fed up that they can’t take it anymore.

In Ezekiel’s days, as in our days today, some misuse their position to grab power that doesn’t belong to them in order to dominate and force the results that they want. The fear of being ruined in a career allowed some to be taken advantage of, even sexually. The fear of divorce, allows a wife to put up with a controlling husband who demands to know where she is every minute and who she talks to. And fear among brethren, turns a fellowship into a cultic, mind control in which the followers line up just as the leaders want.

Looking back I now realize that I was bullied for years by an abusive eldership that controlled me like a puppet. I was the good boy who always did what they said, even though I was going along with things that I did not agree with. That would never happen today. I’ve seen too much and I’ve gown up to the point where there would have been some heels digging in on my part and some serious Biblical discussions. Why did I let this go on? Why did I allow this to beat me down? Fear. As an unknown, young preacher, where would I go? Blackballed was never mentioned, but it was in the air. I wanted to preach, but I knew they could ruin me. So I remained silent until finally I had enough.

For those who have never been in such fear, like a child at school, or, a wife in a marriage, or, a young employee starting their career, or, a church member, or, in my case, a green preacher, it’s hard to explain. The easy solution seems to be, just walk away. Just tell someone. Just stand up and say, “No.” That seems so obvious, but it’s not. When one is in the corner, on the receiving end of abuse, there seems to be no escape. One of the worst aspects of abuse is what it does to your self esteem. A person begins to believe the emotional garbage that is thrown at them. They begin to believe that they are nothing, worthless and without the controlling person, they would fail. I believed that as a preacher. It’s a terrible feeling to have someone’s thumb upon your life, controlling, intimidating and forcing you to do what you do not want to. The abused feels compelled to please the abuser, even if it’s wrong. Abuse destroys the will of the other person.

How bad was it? Imagine being pulled by your tie into the nursery. They did that to me. Imagine fingers pushing your chest and being told, ‘this is what you will do.’ Imagine having an amazing class on the life of Jesus being cancelled because more people were coming to that class than the class taught by the abusive elder. How can you cancel a class on Jesus? They did. Imagine being chewed out right inside the front door. As people came in, they had to walk around the preacher getting blasted by one of the elders. Imagine feeling like you owe them everything, even though they barely paid you enough to survive. Imagine every week being asked about finances, what you did on your free time and even who you were talking to on the phone. This stuff lasted for years. YEARS.

So, what can be done? Here’s what I found.

First, look to the Lord. The Lord never speaks to you like the abuser does. The Lord loves you. He believes in you. The abuser has crushed your spirit. God hasn’t. Look beyond the abuser to the Lord. Faith is what helped me. I realized that I was doing good. I realized that the Lord would take care of me.

Second, as hard as it is, tell others. There will never be any help as long as you keep quiet. As a young preacher, I’d sit down with older preachers and pour my heart out. I’d ask them if I was doing something wrong. I ask for advice, help. I asked them to preach on these things. Listening to them, helped. It helped a lot. They helped me to realize that I was under a dysfunctional leadership that was both wrong and unscriptural. I saw some light and breathed some fresh air for the first time. It wasn’t me, after all.

Third, it’s risky and takes tons of courage, but you have to start moving towards doing what is right. Your faith and your courage must be greater than your fear. For me, that meant to begin dealing with this massive dysfunctional system that was destroying the church. I preached about it. I talked about it. I challenged the leaders. I took it to them personally and directly. I no longer cared if they fired me. I saw that what they were doing was not just about me, but they were destroying the church.

Fourth, for me, I moved. I moved states away. I moved away from our family. I moved away from every friend I had. It was hard but it had to be done. I found another congregation that loved me and allowed me to heal. It took some time to air out. For a long time, this was all I could talk about. Even moving away I found that they still had a control on me. It bothered me for a long time that I couldn’t get this out of my system. But years pass. God is good. Turn your passions and energy to doing good. Move on in your mind. Forgive. Let it go. I can talk about it easily today. I’m not under that thumb anymore nor will I ever be again. There are things that happen that are best just left in the past. It does no good to revisit those graves.

Fifth, I now recognize abusive elderships and have done what I could to try to change things to the healthy way God wants them to be. I try to help others. Force, severity and domination is not the way to lead God’s people. It’s should be by kindness, by example, with love, patience and above all, with the Lord. The atmosphere of a congregation changes when force, severity and domination are viewed as wrong and unacceptable. Love is triumphant. Hope, energy and excellence fills the air as people care for one another.

Bullies exist. They are in the schools, in marriages, in the work place and in the church. I have found that I can only be controlled if I allow myself to be controlled. I do not have to answer every nosey question that someone asks. I do not have to live in fear. I do not have to jump, just because someone tells me to. I do not have to have someone else tell me what value I am. I am a disciple of Jesus. I belong to God. He alone, is who I want to please. If I lose my job, God will take care of me. If I must move, I will move.

Living in fear is a terrible way to live. The three Jewish men in Daniel 3 were not afraid of a king, his edict nor even a fiery furnace. Their faith was with the Lord. When we can have such faith and such courage, then no one will dominate us ever again. Fear is conquered by faith!

I hope these thoughts help you.

Roger

Jump Start # 1354

Ezekiel 34:4 “Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them.”

  In our verse today, God through Ezekiel is rebuking the leaders, called shepherds in this context, of Israel. They haven’t been doing their job. The people were a mess and the finger pointing was directed toward the leaders. They took care of themselves but ignored the flock of God. Using the analogy of sheep, God describes their condition: sickly, diseased, broken, scattered, and lost. Sheep in this condition would not bring any money on the market. This is about as bad as a flock can get. Scattered, lost, sick, diseased are the worst words to hear concerning sheep. God is not talking about real sheep. He’s talking about his people. The leaders of Israel had not led. They have left the people to themselves and they have fallen apart spiritually.

There are three lessons here:

First, many of the problems here could have been prevented had the shepherds been watching and involved with the sheep. Often we wait until there is a problem and we spend a lot of effort cleaning up messes that could have been prevented. This is true in parenting and this is true in congregations. Preventative care– we do that with our teeth by going to the dentist, and we do that with our cars by getting the oil changed. If we wait until there are problems, then there are real problems. Often it’s painful, expensive and very involved in turning things around. Spending time with the sheep the shepherds would have noticed things. They would have counted the sheep and noticed a few missing. They would have noticed that some were off their food. They would have seen that some were developing sores, which indicated a greater problem. The proper steps could have been put in place to keep the sheep well.

Today, some of God’s leaders sit back and watch a marriage start to unravel. They see that things are not good. Yet, nothing is done. Then the word reaches them that a divorce is the works. They get excited and want to get involved and at that point it’s nearly too late. Why wasn’t something done months earlier? Many problems can be fixed before they actually become problems if the leaders were engaged and involved.

Second, the language tells us that these sheep could still be saved. The problems were not fatal. Things could be turned around. The sick could be strengthened. The diseased could be healed. The broken could be bound up. The scattered could be brought back. The lost could be found. It wasn’t too late. Things could be done. It would take work, effort and attention by these shepherds, but it could be done. Some would just want to hand the keys over and walk away. Too much work for some. Others are not as optimistic as God is. They already give up. They see it as a lost cause. Sometimes it gets to that point but not without some saving effort. I wonder if we give up too easily. I wonder if we don’t like doing what is necessary to turn these people around.

Third, we must look to ourselves and see what we are doing. How about our families? How about the congregation? Having that talk with your son may not be something you really look forward to. You anticipate a verbal battle. He’s not really doing anything wrong, but the kids he’s hanging out with, and some of his attitudes, you know where this will lead. You can head it off and prevent greater problems, or you can just close your eyes, believe that your son would never do anything wrong and then wait. Wait until the school calls. Wait until the police show up. Wait until there is a serious problem and then you have more things to deal with. The same with the leaders in God’s kingdom today. We can see the church drifting. We can see things getting stale. We can see attendance dropping off. We can do nothing until there is a really serious problem, like a third leaving and starting their own congregation, or we can take steps to heal things.

Some never see the signs that are right before them. They may be too busy with their own lives to notice those that they ought to be leading. This was the problem with the shepherds in the Ezekiel passage. The leaders were fed, clothed and doing well. They had taken care of themselves. It’s the flock that was being ignored.

Those in the position of leading, whether it is the home or the congregation, must do their jobs well. Others are counting on them. Others need them. Others can’t do it without them.  Leading is important work. It is not found in shouting and screaming at people like a drill sergeant. It is teaching, showing and doing things with them. It’s being in front, not behind. It’s illustrating by doing. It’s taking time with others. It’s being kind and patient with others. Parenting works the best this way. Shepherding works the best this way.

Troubled homes and dysfunctional congregations seem to be the norm today. It shouldn’t. Maybe it’s time for leaders to get back to leading again. Maybe this time, it’s time to lead God’s way.

Roger

Jump Start # 971

Ezekiel 34:4 “Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them.”

Our look at leadership among God’s people continues. Before we leave this verse, we must comment on the last phrase. It is shocking, sad but so true—back then and today. It says, “but with force and with severity you have dominated them.” Force, severity, dominated. Those are not good words. About the only context we would use those in a positive manner would be in a football game or in a military battle. Those words do not belong in the workplace, the home, and especially in the church.

Ezekiel’s picture is of sheep who are in trouble. They are sick, lame, and scattered. They are a mess. The leaders of Israel were not tender with them. They had little or no compassion. It seems that they were bothered to have to tend to the sheep. It was their job, but they didn’t like it nor do it very well. Sheep are not wired like cattle. Those old cowboy movies would show the cowboy yelping and slapping his rope on the side of the horse to drive the cows. What they were doing was called a cattle drive. They drove the cattle to the stockyards. Those were the COW-BOYS. God’s leaders are shepherds—not SHEEP-BOYS. Cattle and sheep are different. They look different. They act different. They need to be treated differently. What works on cows doesn’t work on sheep. Shouting and yelping and driving only scare sheep. They will run every direction. Fear will affect their diet. They will suffer. Sheep can’t be forced. They follow. They must be led.

Ezekiel says that these leaders were “Dominating” the sheep. That’s not hard to do. Sheep are timid by nature. You don’t have a rodeo with sheep. You don’t rope sheep, flip it on it’s side and put a brand on it. That happens to cows, not sheep.

God felt for those sheep. They were being oppressed and abused. Severity is not necessary. Force is not necessary. Dominance is not necessary. Why would shepherds do that? Seems like they were angry for the sheep being sick and broken and wandering off. It seems that they thought severe pressure would keep them in line. They sure missed it. The failure to be leaders is partly the reason the sheep wandered away and were now sick and broken. Had they been on the ball, much of this would not have happened. This is textbook example on how not to lead. Certainly, the sheep fell in line. They were afraid. The shepherds could rest at night knowing that no one would dare take a step. If they did, it would be bad. The shepherds would beat that sheep.

Unbelievable as it may seem, some church leaders operate under the same concept. The members attend, out of fear, not reverence for God. When someone says or does something unusual or out of the ordinary, threats are uttered. No one thinks. No one expresses ideas. The leaders dominate. The church feels more like a prison than a family of God. When one brave soul finally gets fed up, he breaks out. He leaves. He is treated harshly and under most circumstances never returns the rest of his life. The shepherds aren’t bothered by that. He was weak, they tell themselves. He didn’t fit in, they are convinced. These shepherds operate more like wardens of a prison. They walk the halls and are ready to bust the knuckles of anyone who dares to challenge them.

There is a time for discipline. Without discipline there is no accountability. Discipline at home and discipline within God’s family, is part of God’s way. This discipline however is to be helpful, not harmful. It is to instruct and not destroy. It is make better, not drive away. It is not used not as a threat but as a consequence. Severity, dominance and force is not the spirit that God wants. It is not the form of discipline that God wants.

The sheep in Ezekiel’s passage were in need of help. They didn’t receive it. They were made worse. There is nothing good about the way those shepherds did things. There is something wrong when a person goes to God’s leaders for help and they are made to feel worse. Some people do not want to change. Some people want a sign of approval for wrong actions. Some people want a handout when they ought to get a job. Shepherds have to say, “No,” just as a parent does. But with force? With severity? With dominance? I don’t think so. Use the occasion to teach. Use the time to show them how they can get better. Some people are quick to make a mess and then want someone else to clean it up. The expression, “You made the bed and now you must sleep in it,” is meant to illustrate that the problems we have created must be lived by us.

Consider the opposite of Ezekiel’s three words:

Force: lead them, walk with them, be there, be helpful

Severity: kindness, gentleness, compassion, love, tenderness

Dominated: work with, help them see, get them to contribute to the solution, teach them

Those that dish out force and severity generally do not like others to treat them that way. Most people do not like someone screaming in their face, making demands and being forceful. That’s not the way to get people to change. It doesn’t accomplish what the person thinks it will. It illustrates poor communication skills and a lack of leadership ability.

Jesus said, “come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls.” If anyone had a right to dominate, use force and be severe, it was Jesus. But He didn’t. Jesus said, “I am gentle.” Have we forgotten that? Leaders need to learn from Jesus.

Roger

Jump Start # 970

Ezekiel 34:4 “Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them.”

We continue our look at leadership, especially now focusing upon leadership in the church. The New Testament gives us a series of words that are descriptive of the nature of the work of God’s leaders among His people. These words include: elder, which signifies experience, especially spiritually; bishop or overseer, which carries the idea of watching and protecting; shepherd or pastor, which implies a feeder, caretaker or nourishment to the flock. It may be surprising to some of our readers to know this, but the word “pastor” is used only ONE time in the N.T. and it is used for the eldership and not the preacher. The preacher is not the pastor. If a person wants to be accurate with the way the Bible speaks, then he will recognize that.

Our verse today, from Ezekiel, reminds us that shepherding God’s people involves messy work and it requires patience. Notice the condition of the sheep found in this passage. They are diseased, broken, scattered and lost. Not good. They are a mess. They have issues and problems. Everything isn’t neat and tidy. Everyone is not in their place. These sheep need attention. They need a real shepherd. Unless the current situations changed, many of these sheep would not make it.

I’m not sure what exactly came to Ezekiel’s mind when he spoke those words, but they are all connected to sin. The consequences of sin will leave one sick, broken, scattered and lost. Sin cripples us. There are addictions. There are broken homes. There are those who quit and must be chased after. People problems are the worst problems of all. Sin problems make people problems very complicated. A pill won’t fix these problem, nor will simply giving a Bible verse. Lessons have to be taught. People have to learn the wrongness of their choices and the forgiving nature of God. They need to be strengthened so Satan won’t dominate them again. In our world, this requires phone calls and giving up a Saturday morning and meeting families at the church building on a Tuesday evening. The journey to recovery and fellowship with God takes time. It takes just a few moments to make a mess. A day of heavy rain can flood a basement and what a mess there is. It will take longer than a day to clean it up. A person can fall and just like that break a hip. The process to heal can take a long, long time. The leaders of God’s people must be patient. There is no quick and easy way to fix some problems. Those who are annoyed because they have to meet with someone and miss the ballgame on TV will not have the listening ear nor the compassionate heart that is necessary to begin the road to recovery.

Sheep, and that’s us, can really get in messes sometimes. It seems that we get sick, broken and lost fairly often. The shepherd’s work is two fold. First, help mend and heal those that are in a mess, and then try to prevent this from happening again. There are others who might be just a step away from being sick or broken. Preventative measures can ward off a bunch of problems. Instead of following messes with a broom to clean up, shepherds’ do well to anticipate coming problems and lead the flock away from those areas.

What we are seeing is that the work of God’s shepherds involves leading us and helping us stay healthy and on the journey to Heaven. That’s the attention that elders need to be focusing upon. Budgets and buying supplies and seeing after the care of the church building can take all the time and energy of elders but at the end of the day, the yard is cut, the lights turn on, the heat works, the roof keeps the water out and all the pencils are sharpened yet the sheep remain sick, broken and lost. A clean church building doesn’t produce clean sheep. God’s shepherds need to be about healing the sick and broken sheep. This is their work. This is the greatest thing that they can do. This changes lives and can change family destinies. Through their efforts a divorce can be headed off and a marriage turned around. Through their work a heart that is discouraged and ready to quit can be revived. Their influence can stop an addiction. There is so many wonderful and powerful things that they are capable of doing.

Shepherds must believe in the sheep. They must see the good that the sheep have a potential of becoming. Too often all we see is the mess. Dirty sheep. Sheep with tumors. Sheep that limp. Blind sheep. Deaf sheep. Old sheep. Slow sheep. Sheep with attitudes. With patience, teaching and examples, the shepherds can turn these sheep around into what pleases God.

To be a shepherd is to know sheep. To be a shepherd is to understand what affects sheep and what sheep need. To be a shepherd is to know what God wants from His sheep.

The work of shepherding is incredible. To see a healthy sheep that was once sickly and broken is amazing. The shepherd did not give up on the sheep. The shepherd did not shoot the wounded. There is such great satisfaction in seeing sheep turn around.

This is God’s work for the shepherd. God bless those who understand this and are trying.

Roger