Sermon: Ezekiel 34:11-16, May 23, 2021, The Installation of Rev. Joseph Polzin

A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on May 23, 2021 at Christ Our King Lutheran Church in Saline, MI, on Ezekiel 34:11-16, on the occasion of the installation of Rev. Joseph Polzin. You may play the audio of the sermon here.

A mostly unedited transcript of the sermon follows the jump:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The text this day is from the prophet Ezekiel, the 34th chapter: 

“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

Thus far the text.

Dear Saints of Christ Our King, Joseph, guests, family, friends, and my dear friends in Christ,

     It is a sincere honor to be invited to preach the Word to you this day, and I’m so glad to do it, especially on the occasion of this installation. It’s a joy to have my very brother as a brother pastor. I helped ordain and install him in his last call, and it’s wonderful to see him take this call, following where the Lord would have him. And, while Joseph lacks the magnificent beard of his brother, he makes up for it in many ways, like his very fine head of hair. You will love him very much, and he will love you.

     To the text, God does not mince words through the prophet Ezekiel: the flock of Israel is messed up. The shepherds of Israel had led the sheep astray. These men that God had placed over them, the priests and the so-called prophets, had taken God’s people and scattered them, driving them to despair, to seek after false gods, to just walk away. They were starved by these men, not by lack of physical food, but of doctrine, of the substance of life. Well, not everyone was starved; there were some who became so puffed up with pride and knowledge that they abused the other sheep, doing to them only what they saw their shepherds doing. 

     What a deplorable, miserable condition this is. This is not the way it is to be. This is not how God wants His sheep treated. But, when a shepherd begins to think of himself too highly, when he begins to think that he is the source of the answers to life, the universe, and everything, he will abuse the sheep by taking them away from God’s care, and when sheep are out from under God’s care, only misery can await.

     Now, this is something that people don’t like to hear, but it is something that is absolutely true: the shepherds take care of the sheep by feeding them right doctrine and surrounding them with right practices. If God demands perfection from how we live, perfection according to His Law, and we know we don’t measure up, why would we think He would demand less than absolute truth and purity when it comes to His Word and how He desires we study it, learn from it, believe, teach, and confess it? God doesn’t feed us with pizza and ice cream. He doesn’t feed us with experience and happiness. He feeds His sheep with what He’s promised will fill them into all eternity: forgiveness, life, and salvation, which come through Word and Sacrament. These are where He’s placed His promises. But, some so-called shepherds don’t care, or they lose the plot. They are the ones that God will destroy and reduce to ruin. They are of no use to the sheep except to lead them astray. God permits them for a time, that His sheep may turn back to Him, that He may go and find them, but the day is coming when God will destroy these weak men and His sheep will only ever follow Him.

     Most of the time, shepherds are hired hands, especially back when Ezekiel wrote down God’s Word. There was the owner of the flock, and you could certain...