Episode 1596: Woe to the Shepherds

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Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining me on episode 1,596 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

Salvatore Forina: I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and to utilize your focus and determination to leave out your calling. Having that ability is one that I inspire myself to follow.

Another can perhaps gain the inspiration by listening to the Inspire Stewardship Podcast with my friend Scott Maderer,

Scott Maderer: how I live, not just how I wait, because the truth is waiting is living and living is waiting. And so the true question has to be, how shall we live each and every day to make that kingdom of heaven [00:01:00] a little bit more real today than it was yesterday? Here on Earth. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself. Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

In today's spiritual foundation episode, I talk about Jeremiah chapter 23 verses one through six. I talk about how often it's easy to turn the message of love and twist it into the message of hate. I also share how at the end of the day, the question of what we are waiting for and who we are following [00:02:00] becomes how are we living?

Jeremiah chapter 23, verses one through six says, woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people. It is you who have scattered my flock and have driven them away and you have not attended to them.

So I will attend to you for your evil doing says the Lord, that I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I've driven them, and I'll bring them back to their fold and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them. Who will shepherd them and they shall no longer fear or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judea will be [00:03:00] saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called the Lord is our righteousness.

I dunno about you, but I've seen times now where it seems like someone steps forward, whether it's in a church setting, a, a sermon a message, or a post on Facebook or somebody talking on YouTube or even on the news, and people talk about issues that are going on. And in doing that they, they talk about how something that's going on is.

Leading to injustice or leading to harm or fear or hatred. And in doing that, what ends up happening is people begin to hear in that, not that we're pointing out places where we've fallen short from reaching the kingdom of God, and that the route through [00:04:00] to that is love. But instead a message that says One side is right and another side is wrong, somebody is finger pointing or casting blame, and it becomes an invitation to show hate instead of show love.

And inevitably, some will applaud the message and some will want to tar and feather the messenger. Isaiah this advent season when we're talking about what are we waiting for? And Isaiah talks about a message of a kingdom of hope and joy where diversity is accepted and people are included. We're the weak are lifted up and the strong or cast down.

And we look into the world today and we see places where that is not true, and that. That cry of we need to work to love one another and [00:05:00] make this more true becomes a message of saying that somebody else is right and somebody else is wrong. It becomes a divisive message when it's not meant to be. And here we are in Jeremiah, and the very first words from Jeremiah, woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pastor says the Lord.

Now the truth is Jeremiah as a prophet was speaking to the kings, not priests. He was pointing out to the leaders of the people that they were charged with not being divisive, not breaking people up, not speaking, hate into the population, not giving people things to fear and people to hate so that they could be put into power, but rather they were called to build up.

The nation is a people of God. And remember, at this day and time where Jeremiah is being written, there's no separation [00:06:00] between faith and state. They were one and the same. The king was not only a political leader, but was a spiritual leader. And oftentimes, even in modern times, people holding up various political leaders as.

The savior, the Messiah, somehow someone who is there to save Christianity or Christ or save God. And the truth is, that's been wrong forever because yes the king or the priest or the person is called to bring about the kingdom of God, but that's not to save God. God doesn't need saving. There's a more Jewish translation of this that says that the shepherds let them scatter and go astray.

Pointing out that it really wasn't that they caused it, but rather the sin of the people caused it. And the shepherds, however, did nothing to help them overcome it. [00:07:00] Because if you think about it, we have a natural tendency as people to separate. We have a natural tendency to look at what someone else is doing and say, see, they're worse than me.

We have a natural tendency to see someone who looks different or acts different or believes different and say, they must be wrong 'cause I must be right. That's a natural tendency of people and leaders should step forward and let us overcome. That and be a better people in a better community, and instead, in this case, the leaders were letting that divisiveness work so that they could gain power.

At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter what the ultimate fault was, the result. The effect is what really matters. It really doesn't matter that the shepherds that Jeremiah was calling out are kings. And nowadays we think of the word shepherd as being about a religious leader, not a political leader.

It really [00:08:00] doesn't matter that at that time they were one and the same, and now often they're separate or they should be. Instead, it doesn't matter when we give those messages that we're trying to galvanize people into standing against evil. That is arising in our nation and recognize that the way to rise against that is not through hatred and violence, but through love and inclusion.

That makes us reflect that at the end of the day, that only way we can gather together is not through us, not through any political leader or religious leader. It's only in Christ that we find our unity. Last Sunday is often called Christ the King Sunday or. Christ Rules Sunday, you'll hear it called different things, and that idea [00:09:00] behind that holy day is that regardless of your denomination, regardless of where you live, regardless of what you look like, regardless of what your preacher looks like or says, regardless of your political affiliation or your family relationships, or the color of your skin, or the various things that you do or say, we can find unity.

In Christ. Jeremiah also says The days are coming when the Lord is. Our righteousness will reign over us well, when judgments will be executed from on high and faithfulness to relationships, we'll overcome opinions and preferences and hatred and separation, and we will all be dealt with fairly by the anointed one.

That is the answer to the questions. Who are you following? Who are you believing in? Who is the bearer of your hope? Who speaks into your hunger and your [00:10:00] fears, and defines what life is and what living life means, and what fullness and faithfulness means? Who do you wait for with joy and anticipation? Who brings you to love and not hate?

That's the king that I want to have allegiance to. That's the king that tells me how I live, not just how I wait, because the truth is waiting is living, and living is waiting. And so the true question has to be how shall we live each and every day to make that kingdom of heaven a little bit more real today?

Than it was yesterday here on Earth. Thanks for listening.

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Until next time, invest your time. Your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.