Pentecost 17 Sermon: I’ll Do It Myself

Preached on Ezekiel 34:11-24
The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost — Proper 19C
11 September AD 2016

Title: I’ll Do It Myself (MP3 Audio)

Summary: Since those He calls to lead His people continually let Him down and follow their own inclinations, the Lord promises to come and set things right. Unlike the threatening billboards from a few years ago that read “Don’t Make Me Come Down There —God,” His goal is not to spread wrath and destruction but rather to gather the lost and hurting. Only those secure in their own sense of righteousness will fall under His judgment.

The Lord strongly hinted how this would happen. He first claimed to be His people’s true Shepherd, then said, “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David.” God and David both as one true shepherd? Of course, the Lord must be speaking of His Son. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Davidic kingship. David’s Lord is the shepherd king’s final and greatest heir to the throne. He is God come down from His throne. Likewise, He is Immanuel — God with us. He is the Word made flesh, God incarnate, one of us.

God also declared that the rescue would take place “on a day of clouds and thick darkness.” And so we read that at the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, as He died hanging on the cross, “from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. (Matthew 27:45)”

This sermon was delivered to residents and staff of Riverview Heights Health and Rehabilitation Center in Lexington, Missouri.

Text: “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

“And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.

“I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

“As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

“Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep.

“And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.” Ezekiel 34:11-24

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of I’ll Do It Myself.

NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 119:169-176; 1 Timothy 1:(5-11) 12-17; Luke 15:1-10