There is a real shepherd who can tend to our very soul. It is imperative in the Christmas season that we understand the character of God as Shepherd/King and cry out to that part of who he is, and pray THAT name of God.
I'd love to think that life is is like a Scottish countryside.
If you've ever seen pictures of Scotland, if you've ever been to Scotland, it's breathtaking. It's beautiful. There are are rolling hills.
Everything is just lush and green. There's rain, different than this rain.
Uh we're not used to the rain. So, it's flooding in spots here, but they're used to it. It's lush. It's green. It's
beautiful. There are sheep everywhere. It's just such an idyllic, beautiful
scenery. And I remember on our trip there this this last year, we were uh
staying in someone's house and I looked out the window of the house and there was sheep literally in their backyard.
Just, you know, 20 or 30 sheep just grazing. And I asked the lady at breakfast, I said, "Are those yours?"
and she said, "No, no, they're they're a friend of ours, another farmer in the area, and he knows and is connected to
enough people that we kind of just let their sheep graze wherever." And I was like, "Wow,
I can't even imag Can you imagine if a cow wandered into your backyard here in Idaho and you're like, "It's fine." You
know, it's the neighbors down the street and it's no big deal. But it's so green there that there's no fear. There's no
fear of the sheep being without. There's no fear of the sheep getting lost,
getting attacked. It's a picture of sheep that's operating
out of safety and abundance,
living very differently than the sheep of the ancient neareastern world. If you've
been with us at Crossroads long, we've talked about shepherds and sheep quite a bit. There's something so fascinating
about looking at the ancient Neareastern world and seeing how they lived life and
how they interacted with the world around them. And if you lived in the ancient Neareastern world, there is no
way that you didn't know personally a shepherd.
It'd be similar to us today not personally knowing a teacher or a nurse
or a mechanic. I mean, common jobs that are familiar to our community was very,
very common. And so, it's it's fascinating to look at the way they lived.
And it's interesting to think about a shepherd from the ancient near east going and visiting the Scottish
Highlands. And I'm wondering if they would just be utterly confused.
What's happening? These sheep are just wandering. Where's the shepherd? See, in the ancient neareastern world, the
threat upon the lives of sheep was constant. In fact, the only dependence they had
was on the shepherd himself or herself.
They had to operate differently. They had to live differently with a crook in
one hand, a crook, a big giant stick with a hook on the end that they could use to help guide and navigate the sheep
off the deep ravines and crevices. To a staff in the other hand, what was used to walk, what was used to defend against
the wild beasts. This shepherd was charged with taking care of that which
had been entrusted into its care. Hm. And this shepherd had to navigate a
hard and cruel world. I like this picture. Of all the pictures that I
found, this one was probably my favorite because it not only gives I mean, it's a modern-day picture, but it not only
gives a a kind of accurate impression of what the shepherd would have looked like, but you can also see the harsh
terrain behind the shepherd. That's not pleasant.
That grass that's right there, it's not long. It's not much. It's sparse. And
these shepherds were charged with all sorts of different things. It was a big
job. They were charged with leading and moving. So if you look at that picture and you see the sparsity of the grass
that is present, shepherds had to have enough of an awareness to know that if
they left their sheep in a spot too long that it would actually kill the earth
underneath it for several years to come because it was such a harsh environment.
And so the shepherd had to know when they could get their sheep what they needed, but then also move them on
before it was all gone. So it didn't destroy the land. The
shepherd had to provide. If you were here with us when we talked about Psalm 23, that's also another one of those
psalms that when I first read it, it felt like it was written on a Scottish countryside. But I lay me down to or
that's something different. I could say that one if you want. Um but he leads me behind beside still waters.
That sounds so pretty. But when you look at the ancient neareastern world, what's actually being
said? Sheep would not drink running water despite how thirsty they would be.
And so they would come across water and a shepherd would literally have to lead the sheep to this sort of side
area where the water had pulled but was still. or the shepherd literally had to
dig a trench with their foot so that the water could then come off to the side
because the sheep wouldn't drink it if it was running. It's not this pretty quiet psalm. It's
how a shepherd leads in the mid midst of a harsh environment.
So, a shepherd not only had to lead and move and provide, a shepherd had to keep
the flock together. What is more, a good shepherd? Oh, whoops. Sorry, that's this. A flock had
to be together because if they spread out, the
predators, the thieves would pick up the stragglers.
A shepherd had to reclaim the lost. If one did go lost, they had to go find them. A shepherd with rough hands had to
heal and treat injury on the move while they're moving. And above all, here's
the quote. What is more, the good shepherd had to never let this difficult work cause him or her to become jaded
towards the sheep. That one is tough to think about. A
harsh lifestyle where the sheep are constantly constantly constantly
needing. And I can't even I mean
I love my kids dearly, but they're kids and they need a lot
from their parents. I can't imagine having 87 kids
who needed your constant care, your constant love to be with. I look at a
list like this and I marvel. I marvel at how little I truly don't understand
leadership as a shepherd. See, we we associate shepherd with the
the calming pictures, the loving, the caring, the nurturing
of a person. And it's such a beautiful gift. If if you have been at Crossroads long, we talk a lot about Ephesians
chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 that God has equipped and called the church, not
just a person, but the church with gifts for the maturity and the edification and
the growing up of the church. And he's gifted the church with apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and
teachers. And that those gifts are each very, very unique. And if you've heard
that shepherd language with there, which there are multiple in this room who have
that gift in their tool belt, that's what we're talking about. It's the nurturing care. The ability to look
around you and see, oh my goodness, that person needs a hug. Oh my goodness, that
person needs a sandwich. Oh, that person needs someone to listen to them. It's a
beautiful, beautiful gift. And when we talk about shepherd as a biblical
concept, that is definitely one of the definitions, but
it's much greater because in Hebrew, we have to remember that in ancient Hebrew,
words were few. And so words themselves had multiple meanings
and they had to use the words very carefully. And so when you came to a word like shepherd, yes, it meant
nurturer, but it also meant the one who had the ability to do all of those
things to lead, to move, to heal, to guide, to provide, to fend off the
enemy. It's an incredibly big definition. And in fact, as you look at
scripture, what we can see is that those are also the same qualities that we
notice in the kings, in the leaders. In the biblical narrative, kings were often titled the
shepherd of the people. Those two concepts go hand in hand. You cannot
have one without the other. To rule, to shepherd, to lead. In fact, to shepherd
the people, it's a commission that God gave to David, who is the first real
king of Israel. He says to him in 2 Samuel 5:2, "In the past, while Saul was
king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord said to you, David, you shall
shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their r their ruler." right there
from the very beginning in the line of David from David himself God says to him
you will be a shepherd and you will be a ruler those qualities of the shepherd that are kingly that's you are going to
lead my people huh and the same is true for him who would
come from the line of David would be a shepherd
this type of shepherd He would be a ruler. He would be a king.
Micah chapter 5 speaks of the one who is to come in the line of David. If you
have a Bible, I would love for you to turn with me there. One of the things that I do personally when I preach is I
don't often put longer scripture passages on the screen because I want to encourage folks to practice getting in
the word together. So, if you have a Bible, if you have your phone, if you don't own a Bible, there are free Bibles
in the seats around you on the end of the rows, both in English and in Spanish, grab a Bible, make it yours.
But we're going to be in two passages this morning. We're going to be in Micah chapter 5 and we're going to be in
Matthew chapter 2. We're going to be in Micah 5 first. So maybe find Matthew and
stick your finger there, but go back to Micah because Micah is a prophet who speaks of
the one of the line of David who is to come. And he's speaking a very
intentional message. Starting in chapter 5 verse 1, he says,
"Marshall your troops, oh city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel's ruler on the
cheek with a rod. But you, Bethlehem Epra, though you are small among the
clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. Therefore, Israel will be
abandoned until the time when she, who is in labor, gives birth, and the rest of his brothers return to join the
Israelites. He will stand and shepherd his flock. There it is. rule shepherd in
the strength of the Lord in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God and they
will live securely for them. His greatness will reach to the ends of the earth and he will be
their peace or in the original language their security.
He will be their stability. He will shepherd.
He will rule. And this is the very same passage that
the wise men quote to Herod in Matthew chapter 2. In Matthew chapter 2 verse
one, it says, "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the time of
King Herod, magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We
saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." Then King Herod heard
when King Herod had heard this he was disturbed and all of Jerusalem with him and he called together all the people's
chief priests and teachers of the law. So catch that. Herod himself is not
Jewish. So when he sees these wise men come,
when he hears of what's happening, he gathers the Jewish
scribes, the the uh priests and the scribes, the teachers, and he pulls them
in and and has the wise men share with them what they have heard.
And so he asks them where the Christ was to be born. And in Bethlehem, in Judea, they replied, for this is what the
prophet has written. But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means
least among the rulers of Judah. For out of you will come a ruler who will be the
shepherd of my people, Israel." There it is again.
This is the passage that they quote to Herod directly out of Micah. A direct
link to the Messiah who is to come and one who is tied back to the King David
himself of that lineage of that line. It's fascinating. What are these wise
men claiming? What name, what attribute, what character trait, what definition of
Christ is being given here? Why? Why is that
the choose to use? What does it communicate? And as a result, how do we
then claim that same thing in our own lives? If you're joining us this morning
for the first time, we're going through a series where we're talking about the names of God. And we're talking about
the importance of understanding that it's more than a name. When we use that phrase in our western culture, people
have names, but we don't link their name to their identity. I don't look at my
sister here in the front row and I say she's a Stephanie. Like that's that's not that's her name, but her character
traits are different. When we talk about it, the ancient neareastern world, when we talk about God, we're saying the
names we use are him. They are him. And so week one, when we talked about
Yahweh, El Shadai, past, present, future, simultaneously, God almighty.
When we talk about Elohim, God, grammatically plural yet singular in
meaning. When we talk about everlasting father, prince of peace, these are all
qualities of God that we have to understand and grasp and we can actually
pray them. Not because we have some magical hold on God,
but because we are claiming the reality of his presence at work in our lives when we call out to God our shepherd,
God our ruler, God our king. And so it's important to stop and say, what are the
names of God that we encounter in scripture? What does it mean that Micah
says when referring to the Messiah? He is going to be a ruler who will shepherd
my people, Israel, while he's talking to a nation that is in loss.
It's the split of the Israelite nation, the northern kingdom, the southern kingdom. He's speaking into the loss
and what's to come. And he's saying
that the enemies will prevail until the birth of the Lord's ruler, but he shall
stand and he will shepherd. The Messiah's rule and protection of
Yahweh's flock are accomplished by Yahweh's authority and power. True peace
among people is achieved by the Messiah who can overcome conflict.
The only peace we know is from understanding and knowing a present God
at work in our lives. God who is shepherd, who can move and stir and
heal. How many of you in this room feel so broken right now? I know I do. It's
been a tough season to know that God, our shepherd, can heal
and restore. And it is his power, not fake power, real power.
I'm putting my sister on the spot a little bit this morning. She didn't know I was doing this, but I used to pretend
as the older sister that I had a lot of power. And I would make Steph go get
things for me around the house. I would call her from downstairs all the way upstairs as a kid and I'd say, "Can you
hand me that popcorn?" That was like three feet from my hand. I was a jerk.
I was a teenager. That's not real power. That's manipulation.
That's fear manifesting as threat. Imagine a Roman ruler. Imagine someone
who is hotty, who is arrogant, who is powerhungry, who's easily
threatened, who was ruthless and cruel. Herod I Herod the Great as he is known
was was that in fact he was so power- hungry and so
cruel he murdered his own wife. He murdered several of his sons and
relatives all because they were a perceived threat to his power. This is
the man the wise men are talking to. This is the one that they're standing in
front of saying, "Hey, we're here because there's a true ruler and a true shepherd who was foretold about in Micah
and we're here to worship him." Huh.
I'm not sure I would have wanted to be in that room when that happened.
It would have taken those wise men some guts and courage when Herod questions
them to say, "Yeah, we're here. This is why." Because your prophets foretold of one
who would be a true king, who would be a true ruler,
not one who would lead through fear masked as threat, but one who would
actually understand and know his people. When you look at the definition of these
words, what's so fascinating is that they're essentially the same.
You can see to influence others, to cause them to follow, to guide, to direct, to lead, to shepherd means to
lead, to provide for, to guide, to help, to take care of. These are two sides of
the same coin. If someone is going to rule, they have to be able to shepherd.
And if someone is going to shepherd, they have to be able to rule, not out of threat, not out of coercion, because
that is who they are. You can't shepherd in this meaning of the word without
ruling in such a way that others feel prompted and led to follow you.
And you can't truly lead without providing for and caring for those who
are entrusted into your care. leading Herod's way as a Roman official
in the ancient neareastern world overseeing this area of Jerusalem and and Israel. It's not really leading.
It's manipulation, asserting power without authority.
And these wise men, these wise men are fascinating. Now, depending on who you study, there's lots of debate about
where who these wise men were. And really great scholars that I study fall
on two sides of the camp. There are some like Jack Beck who I quoted earlier in
the message who believe that they had to be remnants of all the way back in the
time of Daniel when the Babylonians came and carried off a bunch of the Jewish
people into Babylonia which you know I looked earlier. I'm gonna stop doing
this because this room isn't set up well to look at maps. So, there you go.
There's a map. Um, good luck. If you want to come see it later, you can. But if you happen to read the word Babylonia
up there, Daniel and his relatives were taken to Babylonia
and there was a remnant that stayed. And Jack falls in the camp that it had
to have been some of those folks because there's no way that Mary and Joseph, who were devout, god-fearing Jews, would
have let pagan mystic kind of astrologers into their home, which is
fascinating to think about. And then there are those like Los Toberg and
other scholars who believe that these men actually came all the way from
Sheba, which is even harder to see on the map, but it is further down in the Arabian Peninsula, tracing all the way
back to when the Queen of Sheba went and visited Solomon. And what did she bring?
Gold, frankincense, spices. and she had this encounter with King Solomon that
radically changed her. And so she carried that home. And there are some who believe that those wise men were
remnants of those who were impacted and changed by that interaction. Either way,
the wise men from the east are going to be people who are familiar
with the nation of Israel. There are going to be people who are familiar with the history of Israel and there are
going to be people who knew what they were saying when they got up in front of Herod and made that claim.
It was more than just words.
When questioned by Herod, the wise men recalled the words of the
prophet Micah of a king who would come as a true ruler, a shepherd, a genuine
leader. And Herod was threatened. For this king would rule differently
without force, without coercion, but as one who cares deeply for his
people and puts their needs above his own.
And that hasn't changed. To shepherd
means to see the wounded, to meet them,
to heal them, to lead them,
to protect them, to keep them together.
The names of Jesus used in this circumstance
address the cultural setting and the toxic leadership environment into which the Messiah came into a culture that was
full of oppression, debt, fear.
These words were intentional and a call back to the original context
in which they were claimed. We tend to read stuff in scripture and just kind of
read it with broad strokes and miss sometimes the deep meaning of what is
being communicated. This isn't just anybody. This guy is different.
He has the ability to do what nobody else can.
And these words that were written by Micah, here's another beautiful map. Last one if you can read it up there. He
came from a tiny town in Judah ca called Morethth around the time of the prophet Isaiah.
The northern and the southern kingdom as I already said were split. There were warnings that the Assyrians were coming
in and they were about to take out the northern kingdom. They were about to ravage Jerusalem. And then after that,
the Babylonians were going to come and bring even greater destruction. But who is it that Micah picks a fight with? He
picks a fight with Israel's leaders because they've become wealthy through
theft and greed. The prophets of God's
people have become corrupt through receiving bribes to give good prophecies. Promises of God's protection
to anyone who can afford to pay them. Leadership through threat and coercion.
See, Micah promises a real leader who will come after a season of oppression.
It's not just the words, but the meaning behind them. And if that meaning behind
them was important to understand Jesus as shepherd and ruler, then it has to be
true today for us. And no wonder crazy King Herod goes ballistic.
He ends up killing all the kids two and under. Why? Because he's threatened.
He's threatened by real leadership.
There was a a season about a year ago. Um, I was talking and interacting with a
pastor here locally and he was just talking about his own story and there I
could just sense as he was talking there was just this this tiredness in him and
as he was talking he shares this analogy and he said it's analogy that has profoundly impacted him and it's an
analogy that has carried with him through all of his years of ministry and it was this it was something said to
him by another mentor that says, "If your sheep are so starved and hungry that they're attracted to the
next pen and the next shepherd, that's on you."
And I thought, "Okay." So, instead of being threatened, recognize your your
flock, your people, see where they're at. And I walked away from that meeting and I it dawned on me that very analogy
is why he's so tired. Because that analogy,
the whole premise of it is predicated on his ability to lead well.
And it is entirely predicated on him being the shepherd.
And friends, I love you deeply. I pray for you often,
but I cannot be the one who leads and moves and heals
and keeps us all together and never becomes jaded and knows perfectly what
to do all the time to provide for the people. That's not my job.
My job is to point to the one who can. And this Christmas season, as I look
around this room and I see people who are worn, I was talking to two other pastors this
week who are facing a lot of the same things. I don't know what it is. I think it's the enemy because the enemy wants
to steal joy at Christmas, but there is more loss, there is more death, there is
more grief, there is more pain, there is more job loss around this time of year
than any other time of year. And as I'm talking with these pastors and we're all looking at each other saying, "I don't I
I don't know because it's not my job."
If we are going to understand the voice of the father, if we are going to understand the qualities of him that we
all need, we have to understand it is only him who can lead and move and
provide and bandage up the wounded and keep us together and keep us moving
forward. I don't have all the answers, but I know who does.
And it is our job to create space for the God of the universe to meet people
where they're at to give them what they really need.
Do we have wounds that need to be tended? Is there a threat that you're wandering
away from the flock? Are you being flooded with dangers and enemies? Are
you being oppressed by poor leadership? Are you feeling lost? There is a real
shepherd who can attend to our very soul.
And it is imperative in the Christmas season that we understand that the
character of God as shepherd ruler
is pivotal to our understanding of Jesus and that we get to cry out to that part
of who he is. We get to pray that name, that power, that authority. The God who
doesn't manipulate, the God who doesn't coersse, but the one who has real power and authority. And we get to pray that
name into the situations of our lives because it's only him who saves
Jesus as shepherd ruler. When you pray to the Lord, your shepherd, you are
praying to the one who watches over your very day and night, feeding you and
leading you safely on the paths of righteousness.
I love that the journey isn't over. The difficulties
don't go away. Following Jesus is not a get out of jail free card.
Following Jesus is hard because following the shepherd in the ancient neareastern wilderness was
treacherous and difficult. But he was always faithful and protected and
guiding guided his sheep. And that's why Micah can claim though all the peoples
will each walk in the names of their God, we will walk in the name of the
Lord our God forever and ever. the name of the Lord our God. Not just
hey God, but the very person, the very essence, the very character. We're going
to walk in that name. I don't have all the answers to the
deepest pain and anguish. I don't know how to write what's wrong in the world around us. I don't know all
the paths this body of believers needs to take both individually and corporately on this journey of faith.
But I know who does. And I want to cry out to him this morning. I want to call on the name of
Jesus, our shepherd, our king.
Heavenly Father, as I think about this room this morning,
as I think about all the things that are going on this Christmas season, and yes,
we're going to come together on Christmas Eve, we're going to celebrate. We are going to have fun. But Lord Jesus, we also have to recognize and
understand that authentic real faith means that we can cry out to you in the midst of grief and anguish.
And Lord, there is a room full of people this morning who is sitting in all of their own stuff today. And we're just
going to allow you, Lord, to just be with us. And we're going to cry out to you, Lord.
And we're going to ask Jesus, our shepherd, will you be with me in this?
And we're just in the quietness of our own souls. We're going to name it. Lord Jesus, our shepherd, our provider. Will
you be with me in this?
Lord, there is no shame in grief. There is no shame in naming the things
in our lives that threaten to overwhelm us. And I think of the courage of the wise
men to stand up and say, "But he will be the shepherd, the ruler of the people,
Israel." And we're asking, Lord, our shepherd,
our ruler, our good king, will you lead us in the path we should
go in the midst of our grief? We're going to trust you that we don't
have to have all the answers right now. We're going to trust you even though we
can't maybe see the end, but we're going to choose this moment today, right now, to to allow you to
lead us through it. And as we go from this place today,
Jesus, we're going to ask for the courage to
come back to you again and again and again and again.
It's not a one and done. It's real life.
And we need your living water. We need you to move us when we need to
move to lead us when we need to be led. We need you, Jesus, to provide for us. We
need you, Lord Jesus, to keep us together. When everything in me wants to run from community, Lord, we need your
help to keep us together. Lord, will you tend to our wounds,
carrying us if we need to be carried? And Lord Jesus, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for never becoming
jaded with us. It's you and only you who can give us
what we need this Christmas season. May we carry that spirit with us from
this place today. And as we leave, may God bless you and keep you.
May his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. And as we scatter out
into the community until we gather again as a family, may he turn his face towards you and give you what? His
peace. And all God's people said, "Amen." I love you, church family. God
bless you. Have a great week. And maybe we'll see you on Christmas Eve.
