Old Testament Lesson; Ezekiel 34:11-24
Epistle Lesson; 1 Timothy 1:12-17
Gospel Lesson; Luke 15:1-10
Sermon Text; Ezekiel 34:11-24

On the front of our church this year is the theme that we are following for the church and school year.

Press on

toward the goal.

That simply means that we should press on toward the goal of eternal life in Heaven.

How is it the goal is attained? That goal is attained by

faith alone,

through God's grace alone,

in Christ Jesus alone.

But imagine that the goal is lost. Imagine that goal of eternal life in Heaven is lost.

That is precisely then what is taking place in our sermon text for this morning. To illustrate this I am going to turn off one bank of lights in the church. (It was the bank of lights that shine on the cross, on the front wall.) That is to illustrate the goal is lost.

As Ezekiel wrote the words of our text, he was writing them during the darkest days of the history of Israel. Ezekiel, by the time he wrote these words, was already in exile, a captive in Babylon, along with many other Israelites. It was while he was there, that the Lord came to him and asked him to prophesy to the people.

The first of his two part message that Ezekiel had for the people of his day was a message of destruction. Jerusalem is going to be destroyed. The temple in which they worshiped God is going to be burned to the ground. For seven years, Ezekiel preached that message. The people thought that they would return to see the glory of Jerusalem. They thought that they would return to see the glory of the temple. But, in fact, what Ezekiel prophesied came true. In 586 BC, the Babylonians came in, destroyed Jerusalem, and burned its temple to the ground.

Now, why did this happen? It happened because the people rebelled against God.

Very early in their history, God told them to obey His commands. Then, God gave them a very stern warning, "If you do not obey my commands, I will scatter you among the nations."

What Ezekiel prophesied came true.

I have a weakness. As I look at a section of scripture like this, I often times ask the question, "Where were the leaders? Where were the spiritual leaders of the day when this happened?"

But, I need to be reminded, (and so do all of us, dear brothers and sisters in Christ), that while we may want to accuse the nation of Israel, and as we point a finger at them, I need to remember that there are three fingers pointing right back at myself. And, I need to see, "What is it that God's Word is telling me in this section of scripture?"

What it is telling us is this. If we fail to be spiritual leaders today, (for ourselves and for the next generation), the goal that we have, ‘To press on toward the goal’, is lost. The goal that we have is lost for ourselves, for other people, and for the next generation.

That stern message of destruction is hard to hear. But it was one that Ezekiel was called to proclaim.

It reminds me of a conversation that I had just this last week, with a young lady, who is a teacher (not in this area, but some place else). She teaches grades one through four. And, she was telling me, "I can't believe the language, the filthy language that comes out of the mouths of my students. Not only is that filthy language directed amongst the students, but that filthy language is even directed toward me, the teacher."

Then she said, "It became clear why that was the case one afternoon after school was out. School had gotten done. The teachers were out with their students, outside waiting for the parents to pick up those students. And one of the parents stopped on the other side of the street, honking her horn and screaming at her child to come and get into the vehicle. The teacher went over and very calmly asked if the parent would please come to the other side of the street, so the student would not have to cross over. The parent looked at the teacher and simply said, ‘Mind your own ____ business.’"

That teacher then realized, "If parents are talking to me that way, it is no wonder that the students are speaking to one another that way. And, it is no wonder that those students are speaking that way to me."

In Ezekiel's day, the leaders had lost their focus on the goal. Today I raise the question, "Do we lose focus of the goal"?

Remember again, the goal is eternal life in Heaven.

What are the stepping stones that we can lay out for ourselves, and God's people, to insure that we all have that goal of eternal life in Heaven? As we press on toward the goal together, we use those tools that God has given to us. That is His holy and precious Word. And so, I cannot encourage enough for the youth of our congregation to go to Sunday School and hear God's Word. I cannot encourage enough the high school youth of our congregation to come to Youth Spiritual Growth and there to hear God's Word. And, I cannot encourage enough the parents and leaders of our congregation to come to Adult Spiritual Growth, and there to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear God's Word.

In our text for today the Lord, through the prophet Ezekiel, not only spoke a message of destruction but also spoke a message of comfort.

The Lord says, "I will search for my sheep…I will look after them…I will rescue them…I will bring them...I will tend them…I will bind them…I will strengthen them…I will rescue my sheep."

He also goes on to say, "I will place over them one shepherd, My Servant David"

It is interesting to note that King David has already been dead for over four hundred years. So, Ezekiel was not talking about the King David, but he was talking about a greater King that would come, that is our Savior, Jesus.

Six hundred years after Ezekiel spoke these words that he prophesied, Jesus did rescue us. On Good Friday, as Jesus hung on the cross....clouds came over the earth, darkness filled the sky, and our Savior Jesus, the Great Good Shepherd, rescued us from our sins. He found us, who were lost in our sin and rescued us on a day of clouds and darkness.

Ezekiel's message of destruction turned into one of encouragement. He told the people a shepherd would come. He will rescue you from your sin. And though we fail to always press on toward the goal, we know that our Servant David (Jesus) has rescued us from our sin and given us eternal life and salvation.

The apostle Paul, when he wrote the Epistle Lesson for today was talking to a young pastor, Timothy. His words of harsh law turn into words of sweet gospel, as he said, "Here this worthy saying that deserves full acceptance Jesus came into this world to save sinners."

In the Gospel Lesson, Jesus response to the harsh words of the Pharisees, "this man eats with sinners" was one of seeking the lost, "There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Yes, there will be times when we fail to be good spiritual leaders. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, may we continue to shine the bright light of the Gospel on the goal. (At this point I turned the spotlight back on, to focus on the cross on the front wall of the church.)

Then throughout our days, let us take advantage of church, Sunday School, Adult Spiritual Growth, Youth Spiritual Growth and press on toward the goal. On the journey we will be reminded that Jesus welcomes sinners ... we will be reminded that Jesus came into the world to save sinners and we will be reminded that the Lord will save his flock.

I want to close today with one final thought. If you were to flip to the end of the book of Ezekiel, you will simply see the phrase, "The Lord is there." It may not mean much to us today in English, but for those who knew Hebrew that phrase, "The Lord is there" is Yahweh-Shammah, a possible wordplay on Yerushalayim, the Hebrew pronunciation of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was the city in which the people lived. The people lived in the city in which God was present in the temple.

We too look forward to the day when we will live in Yahweh-Shammah. Because when we live in heaven, ‘The Lord is there.’ And that, dear fellow redeemed, is the goal.

Amen.