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  BEAUTY AND BONDS
  by Dick Brogden
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Summary: The sermon emphasizes the importance of having a generous
heart, modeling life on the Good Shepherd, and prioritizing love and
truth over unity and grace.

Topics: "Generous Heart", "Christian Leadership"
Scripture References: Zechariah 11:7, Zechariah 11:16, Acts 10:2, Acts 11:23

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DESCRIPTION
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Dick Brogden emphasizes the importance of having a generous heart that
God blesses, contrasting it with a stingy heart that restricts ministry
and seeks to minimize influence. He highlights Barnabas as an example of
a generous heart and Diotrephes as an example of a stingy shepherd. The
wise, generous shepherd cares for all, seeks the young, heals the
broken, feeds the strong, and models his life after the Good Shepherd.
Brogden stresses that grace and unity are not just goals but tools to be
used in service of God's love and glory, warning against valuing them
over the person of Jesus, as seen in the example of John the beloved.

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CONTENT
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Generosity of heart is a prayer that God answers (Acts 10:2, 4). A
gracious heart takes the greatest joy when others walk and grow in the
truth (3 John 4). A stingy heart restricts the ministry of others and
seeks to minimize their influence. Barnabas is a classic example of the
generous heart God blesses (Acts 11:23), while Diotrephes "who loves to
have the preeminence" is an example of a stingy shepherd (3 John 9).
Zechariah reveals what qualities make up the wise, generous shepherd: He
cares for the cut off, he seeks the young, he heals the broken, he feeds
those that are strong, he does not attack his own, and he does not
abandon the flock (Zech. 11:16-17). The wise shepherd models his life on
the great Good Shepherd, who carries two staffs: Beauty and Bonds (v.
7). The Masoretic text uses the word "grace" for "beauty" and "unity"
for "bonds." The wise shepherd feeds his flock using grace and unity. We
usually think of grace as something bestowed and then displayed on the
wall of our hearts rather than something we feed on as fuel. Grace is
what we spiritually eat to survive. To receive grace is to ingest and be
energized by it, not to display it on some interior wall. Grace has to
get into our blood stream, into our psyche, into our subconscious, into
our emotions, into our innermost being. Grace must fuel how we think,
react, move and have our being. The efficacy of grace is in the eating.
Unity is not primarily a result, but an energy, a motivation. We do not
reach the world so that we become unified; we reach the world because we
are unified.

When either unity or grace become the goal (rather than the love and
glory of God), perversion inevitably follows our tolerance and
concessions. Love and glory bring truth. Loving truth demands unity be
forged on the immovable nature of Christ, Christ alone. Truth requires
grace be given and received on God's atoning terms. Unity and grace are
not the goal (attractive as those goals can be). Love and truth are the
goal for the glory of God. This is why the brotherhood (v. 14) and the
covenants (v. 10) sometimes need to be broken. God will give grace and
unity-but not at cost to His own nature, His own glory. For us to value
unity and grace over the person of Jesus is to sin. There is no better
example of this shocking reality than John the beloved. In 2 John, this
loving man calls for grace, mercy, and peace (v. 3). John reminds the
elect lady and her children who he loves in truth (v. 1) that loving one
another is an ongoing command. John (to whom love and unity are so
central, see John 17) then pivots sharply and says: "If anyone does not
abide in the doctrine of Christ. . .do not receive him into your house
nor greet him" (vv. 9-10).

Grace and unity are tools, not goals. If your overarching goal is to
grace people or unify them, you are in danger of corrupting both them
and yourself. If you overarching goal is God's love and glory, grace and
unity will feed and fuel you well.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/dick-brogden/beauty-and-bonds/
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