Hireling

There is an occasion during Jesus’ ministry where Jesus heals a blind man, which causes an uproar among the Pharisees.  The Pharisees were the ones who taught the common folk the Scriptures, but despite being teachers of God’s word, they were hypocrites.  Outwardly they seemed to “follow all the rules,” but inwardly their heart was full of junk:  pride, lust, selfishness, ambition, greed, ego, gossip, sanctimony.  They loved the recognition and approval of other people, they sought greatness, they wanted followers, they wanted to be seen as important and well-learned.  They wanted large ministries and notoriety, and they did it all in God’s name, deceiving themselves that they were doing God’s work.

On this particular occasion when Jesus healed the blind man, the Pharisees condemned Jesus for doing it on the Sabbath, and therefore refused to acknowledge that the miracle that took place was a work of God (John 9:16).  So Jesus tells them that one of the reasons He came into the world was to judge them, “so that those who do not see may see, and those who think they see will become blind” (John 9:41).  It is this episode that sets up the context of what Jesus says next in the Parable of the Good Shepherd at John Chapter 10, which is also the point of what I’m about to share with you.

When Jesus gives the Parable of the Good Shepherd, He is not only explaining His own faithfulness and trustworthiness to care for His flock, but He is also condemning those He refers to as “hirelings” or “hired hands” (John 10:12).  Hirelings are those who may tend sheep, but they do it for the wrong reasons and they are more interested in their wages than any self-sacrifice for the sheep.  Jesus says that when hirelings see the wolf coming, they flee and leave the sheep, and “the wolf snatches them and scatters them” (John 10:12).  When things begin to look their bleakest, when the wages run out, when the paycheck stops and the bricks of their own efforts begin to crumble down all around them, the hirelings abandon the sheep.  Jesus lays His life down for the sheep, but hirelings flee, “because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep” (John 10:13).  Most of the Pharisees were hirelings, because their motives for serving the people were self-centered and more due to their own ambition, rather than any genuine calling of God.

At Ezekiel Chapter 34, God tells the prophet to “prophesy against the shepherds of Israel” (34:2).  God condemns Israel’s shepherds for being more concerned about themselves than their flock.  He says that they have not strengthened the weak, or healed the diseased, or bound up the broken, or brought back the scattered or sought for the lost; but instead, they were more like those who drive cattle, than those who tend sheep, and because of that, God’s flock had become prey to the wolves (34:4).  God said they were more concerned about feeding themselves than feeding the flock, so He said, “I am against the shepherds and I will demand my sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep, so that the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver my flock from their mouth so that they will not be food for them” (34:10).  Compensation had turned into career, and the sheep had become food for the shepherds.

As I watch all this hysteria play itself out over the Corona Virus, and I contemplate the impact it may make on our economy, I can’t help but wonder what will happen to many churches when the wages run out and the paycheck stops.  At Matthew Chapter 24, when Jesus is talking about the time of His return, He talks about two kinds of shepherds:  one who is faithful, who doesn’t abandon the sheep and gives them the proper teaching at the proper time, and one who is evil because of a lack of humility and who lives a hypocritical life (24:48,49).  Something that I don’t think a lot of people understand is that when God brings judgment, He starts with His church.  He begins with His own-- those who are supposed to be examples of Jesus’ teachings, those who are supposed to be examples of faith, examples of humility, examples of meekness, selflessness, and purity of heart.  The Pharisees were blind because they thought they were in no need of repentance.  They thought that their outward appearance of “following all the rules” and their teaching of God’s word, somehow exempted them from allowing God to examine their own heart.  Right after Jesus speaks of the faithful and evil servants at Matthew 24, he tells the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.  The wise virgins recognize God’s call to allow their hearts to be examined, but the foolish virgins ignore it.  All of them hear the “shout heard round the world” and wake up (25:6), but only half of them are ready when the bridegroom comes.

Too Many Words

Sometimes there are too many words.  Right now, everyone is seeking words of comfort, words of information, words of humor, words of distraction.  We are looking for words under every stone—in every video clip and news article.  We are looking to the government, church leaders, and each other.  We are frantically looking for words and compulsively communicating words.  But sometimes, there are just too many.  Sometimes we just need to be quiet and sit still and let God speak.  None of us need to hear from each other right now, we need to hear from God.  And the only way to do that is to be quiet and seek His presence.

At 1 Kings 19:9-18, we have an account of the prophet Elijah.  After Elijah called down fire from heaven on Mt. Carmel and defeated the priests of Baal, Queen Jezebel put a bounty on his head to be executed.  We are told that Elijah “ran for his life” and went “into the wilderness” and asked God to just let him die (19:3,4).  Elijah was tired of fighting, he was tired of running, he had served God faithfully and all he had to show for it was a bounty on his head, so he asked God to just finish the job Himself and give his soul rest.  God sent an angel to Elijah to give him food because the journey that lay ahead of Elijah was too great to travel in his own strength.  Elijah would never make it without God’s help, “so he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.” (19:8).

Once Elijah got to Mt. Horeb, he was completely alone, cut off from the world and everyone, and God basically said, “Okay, now what is it?  What’s the problem, Elijah?  Here I am, tell me what you want.”  So Elijah pours out his heart to God, he just lays it all out from his perspective:  I’ve served You faithfully, people aren’t listening to me, they are increasing in sin, they’ve killed all your prophets, I’m the only one left that is faithful to You, and now they want to kill me too, AND EVERYTHING IS FALLING APART AND I AM FALLING APART AND GOD I JUST DON’T EVEN KNOW……”  Elijah had just hit a wall and couldn’t see any way around it.  So, God told him to get out of his cave and go stand on the mountain alone, completely exposed.  No words of comfort, no words of assurance, Elijah was already fearful and God told him to leave his sheltered place and stand completely vulnerable before Him.  That wasn’t really the answer Elijah was expecting, so he just stayed in his cave.

 

As Elijah cowered in the cave, God passed by and it caused “a great and strong wind” that crumbled the mountain rocks into pieces; then an earthquake; then a fire; and we are told that God’s presence was not in the wind, earthquake or fire.  Those were just the effects of His presence, but “the Lord was not in the wind…the Lord was not in the earthquake…the Lord was not in the fire” (19:11,12).  But after the fire, there was “a sound of a gentle blowing” and when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face and went and stood at the entrance of the cave and peeked out, and that is when God spoke to Him again, “What are you doing here Elijah?” (19:12,13).  Again, God did not give him words of comfort or assurance.  He asked Elijah to search his heart and explain what he wanted from God and why.  What are you looking for Elijah?  What are you really seeking?  What do you really want from Me?

And when we see Elijah’s response, we see again, that Elijah didn’t really ask God for anything, he just repeated his same complaint:  “Everything is falling apart and I’m gonna die.”  I think it is noteworthy that God’s way of comforting Elijah was not to respond with words of comfort, but words of assurance that He is sovereign and in control.  God never pacified Elijah, He simply asked him to examine his own motives, then gave him instructions for further service.  God told Elijah that He was going to judge Israel for their sin, that there would be another prophet to help Elijah, that many people were going to die, but there would be a faithful remnant left.  That was God’s answer. 

Sometimes we will get to a place in our lives where the journey that lays ahead of us is too great to travel in our own strength, and the only way we will be able to do it is by the bread of heaven.  Even then, we may find that our journey leads us to a place where God asks us to look at our own heart, to examine our own motives.  We want God, but then God brings us to a place where He asks us, “Why do you want me?”  We find that instead of giving us comfort, He brings us to a place of examination.  “What are you looking for?  What are you really seeking?”  And sometimes we find out that God’s way of comforting us is to simply remind us that He is sovereign and in control, even when the world seems to be falling apart, even though we may go through the wind, earthquake and fire.  He doesn’t save us from the wind, earthquake and fire, but He will walk through it with us and speak to us in a still small voice if we get quiet and sit still and let Him speak. 

Promised Land

When God led Abraham to the Promised Land, He told him to leave his country and his relatives and to go forth “to the land I will show you” (Gen 12:1).  God didn’t tell Abraham where he was going, He just told Abraham to “go,” and Abraham went.  The writer of Hebrews says, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”  Listen to me brothers and sisters, Abraham did not put his faith in where he was being led, or how he imagined it would turn out, or in his circumstances at hand, Abraham put his faith in a Person.  Abraham put his faith in God, regardless of his circumstances and regardless of his anxious anticipations.

Hundreds of years passed, and many things happened from the time that Abraham took his first faithful step toward the Promised Land, to the day that Joshua led the nation of Israel across the Jordan River to finally settle there.  But Abraham’s act of faith in God eventually led to the day that Joshua stood before the nation of Israel by the East bank of the Jordan River and told them, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God with the …priests carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before…” (Josh 3:3,4).  The ark was God’s visible presence among the Israelites, and just like Abraham, the nation of Israel had to follow God along a path that they had never traveled before.

They didn’t put their faith in where they were going or how they thought things were going to turn out, they put their faith in a Person. They put their faith in the presence of God among them, and followed Him along a way that they had never been before.  Joshua told the Israelites that they would know which way to go by keeping their eyes on the ark.  As they crossed over the Jordan into a land that was unknown to them, they pointed their eyes toward the presence of God, not their circumstances or destination.

After many years in the Promised Land, Israel turned away from God and God sent them prophets to speak truth to them, and turn them back to Him.  The land of Israel was filled with sin, and God called Israel a “rebellious people, false children, children unwilling to listen to the instruction of the Lord.” Therefore the prophet Isaiah spoke God’s word to them, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” Israel trusted more in their leaders, political treaties, and economy than they did in God and they were manic in their fear, “a thousand will flee at the threat of one, at the threat of five you will all flee until your are left alone.” Isaiah told them to stop freaking out and trust God because “He longs to be gracious to you, therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.” (Isaiah 30:9-18)

Today, we now find ourselves in days similar to what Israel experienced.  We find ourselves in a situation in which we are going along a way that we have never traveled before.  We are in a situation in which we are coming face to face with the truth of what we have truly put our trust in.  God promised Israel that when they cried out to Him, He would be “gracious at the sound of your cry; when He hears, He will answer you.” God didn’t say He would deliver them from their trial, but He did promise that He would answer them.  He promised that He would meet them at their mustard seed, because it is our trials and adversities that expose the genuineness of our faith (1 Peter 1:6-9).  Isaiah told the Israelites that, “The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him. And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you:  ‘This is the way. Walk in it.’” (Isaiah 30:19-21)

Our faith is not to be put in anything else but our Teacher, Jesus Christ.  We don't need to know where we are going in the days ahead, because our Teacher is also our destination.  When Jesus no longer hides Himself and we see Him with our own eyes, we will be gathered to Him, because He is our Promised Land.