05/09/2021
A SERMON PREACHED AT EMMASDEL CHURCH YESTERDAY DURING PASTOR JOHN MAJURU’S ORDINATION / AVAILABLE ON VIDEO AND VOICE FOR SHARING FREELY. GOD BLESS
Preambles
• Greetings and appreciation for what God is doing to grow His work in our Union territory in spite of unfavorable circumstances and conditions.
• I strongly believe that the key function of Christian leadership, especially in Seventh day Adventist at every level of the Church is to help members grow in their spiritual relationship with God and mobilize, organize and direct them to fulfill God’s agenda - which is “Gospel Proclamation.”
• Today we gather to worship God and also to remind ourselves of what it would take to live up to the calling God has given us.
• I have no doubt in my mind that, we are living in the last days, hence the need for us to purify ourselves and put on the righteousness of Christ.
• Let us pray
So You Are A Shepherd Too?
• Ezekiel 34:11-16
11For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. 12As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 13I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture (feed) them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. 14I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. 16I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.
For now ignore the proceeding verses and focus on verse 11 and 12 which reads as follows (reread the two verses).
I believe I am not the only one who more often than not after being introduced to people I have never met, I would hear those I am being introduced to ask in a show of surprise, - “So you are also a pastor?”
I don’t know what they see in me or about me when they hear that I am a pastor in the Seventh day Adventist Church.
Whatever the hidden meaning of that inquiry, it communicates some heart searching message to the one being asked.
Pastor Majuru after your introduction, there are people in this congregation who are asking you the same question, “So, you are also a pastor?”
The passage we have read brings out God’s mind about the ideals of the Church and the shepherds he would like to see in these last days.
Remember verses 1 through verse 10, God speaks against the irresponsible self serving shepherds.
• Who feed themselves instead of feeding the sheep
• They scatter the sheep instead of gathering them
• Instead of speaking healing to sheep, these irresponsible self serving shepherds make worse the wounds of the sheep.
Such shepherds God condemns.
If you are to paint a mental picture, what do you see? Who is a good shepherd according to God’s divine plan?
• A shepherd is a person whose preoccupation is in looking after the flock of Christ that he himself purchased with his own blood.
• He ensures that every sheep is protected and well taken care of.
• The Church should be a place where everyone feels safe and welcome regardless of their gender, ethnicity or economic status.
• A shepherd is usually alone with God and the animals he is tending.
• He sacrifices for the good of the sheep (Psalm 23).
• A shepherd loves all the sheep - the meek and the stubborn.
• A good shepherd does all these things with the full knowledge that he will in the end give an account to God of his or her stewardship.
In case you have forgotten, Mrs Ellen G. White reminds us that, “Christ the Chief Shepherd, has entrusted the care of His flock to His ministers as undershepherds; and He bids them have the same interest that He has manifested, and feel the sacred responsibility of the charge He has entrusted to them. He has solemnly commanded them to be faithful, to feed the flock, to strengthen the weak, to revive the fainting, and to shield them from devouring wolves.” EGW. Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 191
She again explains that, “As the shepherd loves his sheep, and cannot rest if even one be missing, so, in an infinitely higher degree, does God love every outcast soul. Men may deny the claim of His love, they may wander from Him, they may choose another master; yet they are God’s, and He longs to recover His own.” EGW. Christ Object Lessons 187
Saints of the living God, believe you me by becoming so much politically and so ethnically inclined or aligned, we risk risking the spiritual wellbeing of the sheep who form part of the body of Christ - the Church and what we exist for.
It is sad to note that politics and being politically inclined is diverting our focus from being shepherds who gather and comforts the flock of God to being dividers of the flock.
To prove what I am saying, just take your time and visit some of these social media groups and platforms. Your heart will bleed when you see how we are insulting each other, and the hate speech being used against each other all because one supports political party A and the other political party B.
Some are even going to the extent of suggesting that we should now have separate congregations according to our various tribes.
We should have only those who speak, think and live like us to be our leaders.
I am sure you will agree with me that, the republican president is trying hard to set the tone of how things should be in a liberated Zambia.
If we as Adventists Christians and leaders cannot obey what God has commanded us to do, we can can take a leaf from the president and begin to do and live right as God’s children.
This week I read a post on social media which read like this, “Their member (referring to the republican president) is trying to be more Christian than his Church.”
• It may not be entirely correct, but such is the perception we have caused ourselves.
Pastor Majuru, after insulting and back stabbing each other during the week, we come on a Sabbath like this one and sing together hymns like -
• What a fellowship what a joy divine leaning on the everlasting arms..
• In the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful shore.....
• We are children of the king
• Children of the Heavenly Father
Let me plead with you dear saints to keep the Church United, safe and attractive to everyone.
As we sing these songs and many others, we must believe and live the message contained there in and not just sing for the sake of just making noise.
Dear church, our work still remains the same, to reconcile the world to Christ (2Corinthians 5:18;19).
But the question is, “How shall we reconcile others back to Christ if we continue to allow these temporal things to divide us?”
• Remember as all this shuffling and jostling goes on - like when two bulls of the same kraal fight for space and control, the shepherd is rendered powerless.
God Loves Every Soul
Mrs Ellen G. White says, “As the shepherd loves his sheep, and cannot rest if even one be missing, so, in an infinitely higher degree, does God love every outcast soul. Men may deny the claim of His love, they may wander from Him, they may choose another master; yet they are God’s, and He longs to recover His own. COL 187
Jesus Christ still remains as the ultimate or perfect example of the Pastoral Work today.
As under shepherds, we should all measure up to Christ our chief shepherd in our day to day working with church members, the flock he purchased with his own blood.
My dear Pastor Majuru, Just as Christ’s work is to seek, gather and unite the flock, it is incumbent upon you and all of us under shepherds to seek, gather and unite the church for mission.
Ellen G White says, “When a great and decisive work is to be done, God chooses men and women to do this work, and it will feel the loss if the talents of both are not combined.” - Letter 77, 1898. . Ev 469.1
GC Working Policy Excerpts:
1. GC Policy L25 30, States that, “THE LICENSED MINISTER IS ORDINARILY ORDAINED TO THE GOSPEL MINISTRY AFTER HE HAS SATISFACTORILY FULFILLED A PERIOD OF PASTORAL / EVANGELISTIC SERVICE DURING WHICH TIME HE HAS GIVEN EVIDENCE OF HIS CALL TO THE MINISTRY. THE SPIRITUAL RITE OF ORDINATION CONSTITUTES THE OFFICIAL RECOGNITION BY THE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH OF HIS DIVINE CALL TO THE MINISTRY AS A LIFE COMMITMENT, AND IS HIS ENDORSEMENT TO SERVE AS A MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD.”
2. GC Policy L 35 50 - states that, “ORDINATION MUST NEVER BECOME SIMPLY AS A REWARD FOR FAITHFUL SERVICE OR TO BE CONSIDERED AN OPPORTUNITY TO ADD TITLE AND PRESTIGE TO AN EMPLOYEE. NEITHER IS IT AN HONOR TO BE SOUGHT BY THE INDIVIDUAL OR HIS FAMILY OR FRIENDS ON HIS BEHALF.”
3. GC L 45 05 - States that, “ORDINATION TO THE GOSPEL MINISTRY IS THE SETTING APART OF THE EMPLOYEE TO A SACRED CALLING, NOT FOR ONE LOCAL FIELD ALONE BUT FOR THE WORLD CHURCH AND THEREFORE NEEDS TO BE DONE WITH WIDE COUNSEL.”
An admonition to you church members:
Please get this admonition from the Spirit of Prophecy. Mrs Ellen G. White says, “To reject the Lord’s servants is to reject Christ Himself. . . . With a great show of prudence the rabbis had warned the people against receiving the new doctrines taught by this new teacher; for His theories and practices were contrary to the teachings of the fathers. . . . Thus many rejected the truth that would have proved the saving of the soul. Our condemnation in the judgment will not result from the fact that we have been in error, but from the fact that we have neglected heaven-sent opportunities for learning what is truth. DA 489, 490
I appeal to you the Church to take time to pray with and for your pastor.
Give him and his family the support they need at all times.
• Ministry has never been and will never be easy.
Pastor Majuru, I would like as to encourage you to remember what men and women who walked this path before us have said concerning the pastoral calling.
1. Devries Simon, J, states that, “FOLLOWING GOD INVOLVES STRENUOUS DEMANDS. THOUGH A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST MUST CONTINUE TO LIVE IN THIS WORLD, HE CAN NO LONGER BE OF IT. THERE IS ONLY ONE DIRECTION FOR A DISCIPLE TO GO FORWARD WITHOUT MISGIVINGS AND REGRETS. IF HE CANNOT MAKE THIS COMMITMENT, IT IS BETTER THAT HE SHOULD STAY HOME WITH HIS OXEN” -WORLD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY p. 240-
2. Dwight Eisenhower also says, “The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionable integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in any office.”
3. Last and key of all - Jesus has also said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (LUKE 9:61,62)
What is your response?
THREE ANGELS MESSAGE
