Duck rather than Shoo (Is 17:7)
In my days as a farmer I ventured from dairy husbandry of that of deer. Now red deer are quite different to handle in fact, and if you deal with them like cows or bulls you will suffer some damage. The first time I handled my deer I asked an experienced neighbour to help me but prepared to yard the animals before his arrival. They yarded well but for a gate which they pushed around to limit their space so that one hind shot back out and met me centre lane at speed. Being proficient with dairy cattle I raised my arms to shoo her back into the pen but to my total bewilderment she crouched at speed and launched herself, I can only guess, to jump me. However she did not gain the required altitude necessary and consequently kissed me on the lips, dropped me to the ground in this moment of passion, and I spent the next few minutes picking deer hair out of my front teeth while she disappeared somewhere over the hill behind me. From that day on tension filled the pit of my stomach each time I had to crest that hill while yarding the deer. But I learnt from that incident and rigged a rope and pulley from the top of the hill so that I could close the gate from a less amorous and safer position. If you want deer to go somewhere then head them in that general direction but allow them to shift their focus from you to the gate by dropping out of sight. When you look up again you will see they have disappeared to where you want them to go. I have learnt that you cannot push deer and neither can you push people. Once you could push people but in this day and age of individualism and disenchantment with institutions you are well advised to duck rather than shoo. The unfortunate thing about this situation is the lack of salvation being achieved by those of us in the know, so to speak, who are aware of the dire situation facing those who do not find Jesus Christ’s redemptive offer in this life-time. As with the deer which may well starve and die of worm burden if not shifted and drenched so too people need to be guided and healed for their own well-being. So, here we are wondering what to do.
Isaiah has more than enough snippets of wisdom, and in chapter 17 we find an accurate summary of the human condition when he says in verse seven, “In that Day a man will look to his Maker and His eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.” Believe me when I say this that a deer has respect for the farmer the day it walks up the shoot to the slaughterman and man will respect his Maker in the day of judgement. We who have this knowledge of impending peril are remiss if we do not educate the masses of their plight. If we don’t believe the perils of judgement then we are not Christians at all but as Spurgeon once said, “Sinners walking on rotting covers above the fiery pits of Hell.” It is our mission to be proclaimer’s of this truth that Jesus Christ is the way to salvation from the fiery eternal torment. And this way includes some awesome benefits along its passage as we actively engage with God in worship. It is my job to help you, as if to become Doctors of Deer Husbandry in a modern age of individualism and distrust of institutions. In effect I have to move you from being skilled sheep farmers to proficient people movers. People movers who know where they are going and can lead others into green pastures without the burden of worms. I should teach you when it is appropriate to duck and when is time to shoo. You see when you’ve got them heading in the right direction you can do the shoo. When to duck and shoo is otherwise known as wisdom and God’s wisdom is more valuable than gold. You see God uses gold for street paving but His currency is love. You are wise then take the advise of Paul who once thought himself as wise, “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
Nelson Mandela is a man like us but an extraordinary man in the history of our modern world. Mandela appeared to be so courageous yet he lived with fear everyday. He has many lessons for the everyday fearful Christian soldier. He says, “Courage is not the absence of fear.” He disarmed people with his smile, pretending to be who he wanted to be, and to them he was. You see courage is just feigned boldness in the presence of that fear, it is a pair of overalls made of knowledge and preparedness you put on to cover up in the yukky stuff. Every time I yarded those deer I dressed myself in overalls of boldness, not allowing the deer even close enough to smell my fear because what I knew and they did not was that I had a rope and a pulley prepared to shut them in from the top of the hill. I have this single vision to yard them all. I see them released from the burden of their worms, I see them shifted to green pastures and still waters, I see them content in the respect of their Maker, not a feigned and distant acknowledgement of a religion but an intimacy with their Father in Heaven.
I submit that we have got to be that cunning in our knowledge and so well prepared that the enemy is incapacitated and decapitated in our yarding of his own. We must have the plan and the training to achieve the goal set before us. I submit to you that Jesus shows us the lane, the Spirit of God our rope and pulley, and that our Father in Heaven is well able to bring respect from His own. We are to yard, drench and move them to those still waters and green pastures within His promises of love and hope. What I ask of you is to follow me as I also follow Paul, as Paul also follows Christ, to fix our eyes on the goal and let no other distraction, no poorly positioned gates, no rouge deer or misguided jumpers get in the way of the work of the mission of Jesus Christ in this place. I now ask you to be vigilant in turning back any foul talk, any rumours and fables because a divided people will fail. I am placing this on you that our success will be determined by the elders support of it, to show what it is to be regular worshippers, to read your scriptures, tithe and place under harness the tongues of any opposition. You are being asked to love your neighbour and those who are deer to God. I have set before you a vision that you can hold to carry us through this task. So lets get them yarded.
Isaiah has more than enough snippets of wisdom, and in chapter 17 we find an accurate summary of the human condition when he says in verse seven, “In that Day a man will look to his Maker and His eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.” Believe me when I say this that a deer has respect for the farmer the day it walks up the shoot to the slaughterman and man will respect his Maker in the day of judgement. We who have this knowledge of impending peril are remiss if we do not educate the masses of their plight. If we don’t believe the perils of judgement then we are not Christians at all but as Spurgeon once said, “Sinners walking on rotting covers above the fiery pits of Hell.” It is our mission to be proclaimer’s of this truth that Jesus Christ is the way to salvation from the fiery eternal torment. And this way includes some awesome benefits along its passage as we actively engage with God in worship. It is my job to help you, as if to become Doctors of Deer Husbandry in a modern age of individualism and distrust of institutions. In effect I have to move you from being skilled sheep farmers to proficient people movers. People movers who know where they are going and can lead others into green pastures without the burden of worms. I should teach you when it is appropriate to duck and when is time to shoo. You see when you’ve got them heading in the right direction you can do the shoo. When to duck and shoo is otherwise known as wisdom and God’s wisdom is more valuable than gold. You see God uses gold for street paving but His currency is love. You are wise then take the advise of Paul who once thought himself as wise, “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
Nelson Mandela is a man like us but an extraordinary man in the history of our modern world. Mandela appeared to be so courageous yet he lived with fear everyday. He has many lessons for the everyday fearful Christian soldier. He says, “Courage is not the absence of fear.” He disarmed people with his smile, pretending to be who he wanted to be, and to them he was. You see courage is just feigned boldness in the presence of that fear, it is a pair of overalls made of knowledge and preparedness you put on to cover up in the yukky stuff. Every time I yarded those deer I dressed myself in overalls of boldness, not allowing the deer even close enough to smell my fear because what I knew and they did not was that I had a rope and a pulley prepared to shut them in from the top of the hill. I have this single vision to yard them all. I see them released from the burden of their worms, I see them shifted to green pastures and still waters, I see them content in the respect of their Maker, not a feigned and distant acknowledgement of a religion but an intimacy with their Father in Heaven.
I submit that we have got to be that cunning in our knowledge and so well prepared that the enemy is incapacitated and decapitated in our yarding of his own. We must have the plan and the training to achieve the goal set before us. I submit to you that Jesus shows us the lane, the Spirit of God our rope and pulley, and that our Father in Heaven is well able to bring respect from His own. We are to yard, drench and move them to those still waters and green pastures within His promises of love and hope. What I ask of you is to follow me as I also follow Paul, as Paul also follows Christ, to fix our eyes on the goal and let no other distraction, no poorly positioned gates, no rouge deer or misguided jumpers get in the way of the work of the mission of Jesus Christ in this place. I now ask you to be vigilant in turning back any foul talk, any rumours and fables because a divided people will fail. I am placing this on you that our success will be determined by the elders support of it, to show what it is to be regular worshippers, to read your scriptures, tithe and place under harness the tongues of any opposition. You are being asked to love your neighbour and those who are deer to God. I have set before you a vision that you can hold to carry us through this task. So lets get them yarded.
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