Today, we see another well-known passage: “The sheep wander for need of a shepherd.” We see that the shepherds are not leading the sheep well at that moment. They are living for their own desires, not for the needs of the sheep. At this point in my life, I am no longer looking for dynamic or charismatic shepherds, for even the devil has those skills. I am looking for a shepherd who has the Fruit of the Spirit. That is the shepherd who is following after God. To those of us who are shepherds, let’s make sure we are working on that. And to those who are looking for a shepherd to follow, let’s remember first what we should look for.

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Good morning. It’s good to be with you on this Monday morning. It’s great to be together as we continue in our time in Zechariah. Hope you had a great weekend. We did at St. Matthews. We had our patriotic musical yesterday and it’s always a gift to see our choir and our musicians. I’m a little partial to one of the clarinetists, my daughter Sarah, who plays in the orchestra. And of course, my wife’s in the choir, so it’s always good to see them up there leading. It’s a real gift, a real gift that I get to experience through that.

That little, those first three verses of chapter 11, fall into line with what we see here. Real quick, there’s certain biblical words, phrases that you need to think this way: Lebanon. Open your doors of Lebanon, that your fire may devour your cedars. Okay, you’ve heard the phrase the cedars of Lebanon. There’s a biblical contrast, the Bible’s full of contrasts where you see this mountain is blessing, this mountain curses, light and dark, things like that. Part of what you see in one of these contrasts, particularly in the Old Testament, and even so in the New, is the contrast between the cedars of Lebanon and the olive trees. Remember Jesus prayed at Gethsemane, which is olive trees. Olive trees are giving. They give oil, they give wood, they are humble trees. The cedars of Lebanon are proud trees. So you see, anytime you see the word Lebanon or cedars connected with Lebanon, think pride. Think how God will destroy the prideful. So that’s a really interesting biblical concept to think about when you see. Anytime you see cedars, Lebanon, think in your brain pride.

This passage is also going to kind of follow up with something we’re going to read tomorrow. This notion of the shepherds. So verse 2 and 3, it says, For the terra fem odor nonsense, the diviners see lies, the dreamers tell false dreams, they give in to the consolation. Therefore my people wander like sheep. They suffer for lack of a shepherd. My anger is hot against the shepherds. I will punish the leaders. For the Lord cares for his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as proud war horse. That is, so when I was at a former church, I had a guy in my church who was one of the better Bible teachers, one of the better leaders, one of the frankly one of the most godly men I’ve ever known, who would have made a phenomenal Sunday school teacher. He had in my mind the gift and the ability to teach, but he wouldn’t do it. He got saved later in life. And he said, No, I was a teacher to doubly judge and I don’t want to take that chance. In my life, I was younger, I’m 48 now. I’m not super old yet, but I tell people, I’m probably closer to the old one, not probably. I am. I’m closer to the end of my ministry than I am to the beginning of my ministry. I started preaching when I was, took my first church when I was, do the math real quick, in ’99, so that had been 23. So I’ve been preaching this year for, you know, now I’ve got to do the math again, 25 years. If I, I won’t be preaching actively, I don’t anticipate. You never know if the Lord has a mind, but you know, 25 years from now I’ll be 70, 73. Mandatory retirement age in the UMC is 72. So maybe I’m, maybe I just turn the corner towards the end of my, the downside of my ministry. But I’m closer to the ending than I’m the beginning.

I used to want to follow charismatic shepherds. Leaders, you know, dynamic, strategic leaders. All the folks who do the Ted talks, all the folks who, who are these brilliant leaders. So I wanted to follow. So I wanted to be like shepherds. I just want folks who had the spirit in their life at this point in their life. I no longer, when I’m looking for wisdom and counsel, look for big numbers, amazing sermons, brilliant minds. I mean those things are good. I mean we all want to, I want to get better preaching a sermon. I want to be better with my strategic thought. I want to be better at these things. I look for the fruit of the Spirit. I look for love, joy, peace, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, mercy, self-control. Where do I see these things? And that’s the folks that I want to follow. That’s the folks that I want to be like. That’s the folks that I want to help shepherd and help lead me and frankly as a shepherd of my flock. That’s what I want to try to develop as best I can and I know I fail at it daily. But I want to try to live out the fruit of the Spirit.

These called shepherds we see here, my people wander like sheep. They suffer for lack of a shepherd. That’s a word to us who are leaders, particularly those of us who are pastors, to make sure that we are caring for our sheep first and foremost. We are shepherding them. We’re guiding them. And the shepherd, shepherd doesn’t lead with a whip. He leads with a stick, with a gentle crook. Sometimes to guide them back in place, sometimes you got the crook to kind of maybe kind of give them a little, you know, nudge where they need to be. Shepherd cares for the sheep. Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. That’s what Jesus is for us, he is our good Shepherd and he is the Shepherd that we stimulate. He is our shepherd of his flock, the Church. But in my life, at this point in my life, I just want to follow shepherds that have the fruit of the Spirit. If I see the fruit of the Spirit in your life, I’m going to listen to what you got to say, I’m going to follow you, I’m going to let you guide me. The devil’s got charisma. The devil’s got strategic thought. The devil doesn’t have the fruit of the Spirit.

If you’re in a place of responsibility for a flock, whether it be a church, whether it be a Sunday school class, whether it be a youth group, whether it be whatever, then work on the fruit of the Spirit in your life. Seek that first and foremost of all things. And then if you’re looking for a shepherd, look for one that prioritizes the fruit of the Spirit above all else. Because the longer I live, the more I follow, the more I try to be like Jesus, the more I try to lead well, the more I’m going to realize it’s about the fruit of the Spirit. That’s it. That’s what we need to be about. Anyway, all of us have a responsibility to shepherd those in our lives. So let’s make sure that we are having the Spirit develop these fruit within us that we can lead as God would have us.

Tomorrow we’ll continue talking about shepherds. So we’ll pick up tomorrow morning with Zechariah 11, verse 4. Have a great day. See you in the morning.