Reversing The-inward Spiral 1980

Those of you who were at the coffeehouse last night, don't panic, you're not going to hear the same thing again. But I'm going to read a passage I read a couple of times there, and I'd like to begin today by reading from Ezekiel 34. First six verses.

The word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, even to the shepherds, thus says the Lord God.

Ho, shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding yourselves. Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed.

The crippled you have not bound up. The stray you have not brought back. The lost you have not sought.

And with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd. And they became food for all the wild beasts.

My sheep were scattered. 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.

When we come into the kingdom of God, it's like finding our purpose for the first time in our lives. At last I know what I'm here to do. A man who's been sick for years and years, lying around in hospitals, rotting in his living room, who is now suddenly brought back to health and able to go out once again and earn his living, doesn't complain about the weather.

He doesn't care whether the sun is shining or whether it's bitter cold or bleak and rainy. He gets up singing every morning because he's so glad once again to be able to go out and do something in this world. The refreshing thing about having a constant influx of new believers in a fellowship is that they see more clearly than anybody else how wonderful it is to be called by the Master and sent to work in his kingdom.

There's such joy in them. And their joy and their enthusiasm infects and wonderfully inspires and catches on to everybody else. Who of us, when we see this joy in a new believer, doesn't pray, God give me a new taste of that.

So while they keep pouring in, God bless them, thank God for them and thank God for their enthusiasm, those of us who have been around in the kingdom for a while and have perhaps passed beyond the honeymoon stage and have gone through some battles and passed through some valleys of trouble of one kind or another, tend to go in the opposite direction. Here they come, just elated, crashing through the front door with such confidence and boldness, whereas we, who have been around for a while, take a rather jaundiced view sometimes of their enthusiasm. After all, they'll mature and we have a tendency to be kind of weary and cautious and we become more and more and more concerned with ourselves.

Oh, shepherds of Israel, and that includes every member of the body of Christ, not just the preachers anymore, because in the kingdom of God everybody's a preacher, everybody. Oh, shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding yourselves, should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep. Lord, you know, I've paid my dues.

Give me a break. I want to do some things for myself for a change. So then we begin to dream about that nice, quiet plot of ground we would like to have on the edge of some beautiful lake and raise some chickens and some cucumbers.

And maybe we never quite get there, but we may not arrive at our little dream spot on the sunny side of a faraway hill, but we begin to withdraw into our own lives, into our families, into our careers, or into our TV, or into our favorite appetite, or even into our resentments. Thus begins what could be called the inward spiral. It's at first like riding around on the rim of a whirlpool, and it seems great.

Look, I don't even have to row my boat anymore. It goes by itself. And the circle is so wide, I don't even realize I'm going around in a circle, and that the circle is getting smaller and smaller and smaller, and I don't even know what's going on until I'm sucked way down into this thing, and I now can't even, with all the rowing I've got, all the strength in my muscles, I can't make any headway.

My life is now caught in an inward spiral where more and more of my energy and thought and strength is consumed on myself. Now, when a person who once served the Lord with joyful abandon, curves back in on herself or himself, so that all thought is really locked in on self, what can this be but a foretaste of hell? I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge, the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word, be urgent, in season and out of season, convince, rebuke and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry, for I am already on the point of being sacrificed.

The time for my departure has come, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, not only to me, but also to all who love his appearing. Do your best to come to be seen, for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica, Cretans has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, Luke alone is with me. See, against the background of people who are getting sucked down into the whirlpool of self, are falling in love with this present world, wandering off into myths, giving up the kingdom to do their own thing, Paul keeps the faith and urges Timothy to stay out of that whirlpool.

Preach the word, be urgent, in season and out of season. Always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. But what about those of us who feel that we're already halfway down in this whirlpool? We know that we're caught up in ourselves and that we have lost the zeal we once had.

How can we reverse this inward spiral? There was a critical point shortly after the resurrection of Jesus when some of the disciples were strongly tempted to go back to their old life. Now they'd been through some really strenuous days. They had seen their Lord mobbed and killed.

Terrific shock. Then came the joyful shock, but shock nevertheless, of seeing him alive from the dead. Now they're a little bit punchy.

They're kind of at loose ends. They're back in Galilee. And Peter is now tempted to return to the life he left with such joyful abandon three and a half years before.

Maybe not permanently, maybe just for tonight I'm going to go back. You know, maybe just for tonight, maybe just for an hour. Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing.

They said to him, we'll go with you. They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. The tendency to go back to what was familiar to us before, to crawl back inside ourselves.

Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach. Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, children, have you any fish? They answered, no.

He said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in for the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord.

When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his clothes, for he had been stripped for work, and sprang into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish. For they were not far from the land, but about 100 yards off.

When they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it and bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you have just caught. So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them.

And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. And the only one who can get them out of this inward spiral that they are beginning to fall into, is the Lord himself.

And notice he doesn't do it by chewing them out. What's the matter with you guys? Here you go fishing again. Didn't I tell you that you are going to be fishers of men? I'm hardly out of your sight and you are right back into it.

Look at this. He calls them with a sign. The same sign he had given them at the beginning, the loaded net.

Only you can imagine that now this sign has about 100 times more impact than it had in the beginning. Then he invites them to come and eat. And every time they eat with him, their attention is shifted from themselves to him.

Only after all this tremendous encouragement does Jesus get down to the point. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? This fish, this boat, this net, your own life. He said to him, yes Lord, you know that I love you.

He said to him, feed my lambs. The second time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, yes Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my sheep.

He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. What's it going to be Peter, your own life or me? Is it going to be these things or me? Lord, you know that I love you.

All right, if you love me, get your eyes off yourself and get them on me and get on with the work that I gave you to do. My sheep. Now for those of us here, and who of us isn't included in this, who have in some way gone back to our old fishing of our own.

The message is exactly the same. Jesus is standing on the shore and he hollers out to us. Have you caught anything? How's it going? And we holler back, not so good.

And then he gives us a sign. Cast the net on the right side of the ship. He gives us some sign of his presence.

Some of us here already today have had such a sign recently. And that may even be why we're here. Others of us are about to receive some sign from the Lord, some evidence that he's really there.

And that he is in fact calling us once again to drop all the stuff we got ourselves tangled up in and move toward him. As we do this, he says, come and die. And in the breaking of bread, we have fellowship with him, which restores his peace to our hearts.

May that happen to us today as we eat his body and drink his blood. Then comes the question. Do you love me more than the old life you've begun once again to dabble in? Lord, you know that I love you.

Then feed my sheep. Go out there and serve me by serving them. And notice Peter didn't say, what sheep? What are you talking about, Lord? He knew.

And so do we. They're waiting at our gate. They line the path of our daily life.

They press in on us in our prayers. They haunt us even in our sleep. His sheep, these people who need the word we already have and who are desperate for the encouragement we had the power to give.

The word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, even to the shepherds, thus says the Lord God, O shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves, should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat.

You clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened.

The sick you have not healed. The crippled you have not bound up. The stray you have not brought back.

The lost you have not sought. And with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered.

Because there was no shepherd and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered. 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. Now, if we will, we can come out of this inward spiral. We can break loose from this prison of self and we can get back into his fishing instead of our own and his sheep instead of the monotony of self.

Here's a question for each of us. Do you love me more than me? Yes, Lord. You know that I love you.

Then tend my sheep and feed my lambs.