A Pastor's Heart (Romans 1:8-16, Ezekiel 34:1-24)
Rev. David Huffman, June 9, 2024Part of the Series On Romans series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
Paul was set apart for salvation and ministry before his birth. His ministry was to preach and spread the Gospel: the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ person and work was affirmed by the resurrection. Paul, the messenger, bore the message, acknowledging the work of Christ in establishing the Roman church around AD 30. Those whom God loved and called constituted the church. Paul alluded to this in Chapter 10. The Gospel was being spread among both Jews and gentiles, fulfilling Jesus’ promise to build His church. Believers were discipled and then shared the good news, and the Church spread. Paul emphasized the importance of faithful pastors. As such, he prayed for the believers in Rome even before he met them. He gave thanks for those he was writing to and for God’s grace in calling them together. He then gave thanks for their faith and their relationship with God and by extension with himself. His God was their God. He gave thanks through Jesus Christ, through whom access to God always takes place by the mediation of Christ. All are saints by the grace of God. The Roman church’s faith had become known throughout the known world. It is through obedience to God’s commandments that churches become known as true. Faithful churches will stand out, although they may be scorned by the world. We must thank God for His grace here and far away. Paul prayed for the Roman church without ceasing. Prayer and preaching marked Paul’s ministry. Paul prays because he cares for the people of his churches. Prayer is at the heart of the pastor in caring for the saints. Without the pastor’s persistent prayers, the sheep will suffer (Ezek. 34). The pastor acknowledges his and the sheep’s dependence upon God. His prayers are marked by compassion, tenderness and boldness. It is a responsibility of the congregation to listen to the pastor’s words and to compare them with God’s Word. Paul takes an oath (vs. 9) to pray unceasingly for his sheep, an oath that is carried on by the good pastors that follow. Paul’s zeal to visit them was providentially hindered, necessitating patience on his and on the people’s part, waiting on God’s good pleasure. Paul and the people’s strength grew by sharing each other’s faith (vss. 11-12). Through the Word, they would learn of spiritual gifts brought among them by the Holy Spirit, developing a greater understanding of Jesus within the church for their mutual benefit and encouragement. There was tension within the groups in the Roman church, yet the Gospel brings unity, freedom and life. An outgrowth of this would be fulfillment of Paul’s desire to carry the Gospel to Spain. Good pastors must be constant proclaimers of the Gospel. They must be reminded and exhorted as necessary that their purpose is to see that the lost are won to Christ.
| Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
|---|---|---|
| « A Gospel Greeting | None | The Saving Power of God » |
Romans 1:8–16 (Listen)
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
(ESV)
Ezekiel 34:1–24 (Listen)
34:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; 6 they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.
7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 8 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 10 Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.
11 “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 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. 13 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. 14 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. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. 16 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.
17 “As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? 19 And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?
20 “Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, 22 I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken.
(ESV)