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I WILL SEEK THE LOST
Ezekiel 34:11-24
July 15, 2007
Pastor Graig Flach 
SERMON CONTEXT: ZAMBIA
I bring you greetings from Siabaswi Village in Sinazongwe, Zambia. The villagers send their love and thanks for 5 good years of partnership. You can see the faces of some of the people of Siabaswi on your bulletin cover, as they watched DVD retrospective of all 5 years. It was quite an event for a place that has no movies. I think there were as many as 4-500 people crammed together in the utter darkness, behind Jim McClelland’s laptop and a rented projector and a brand new Honda power generator in a place where there are no electrical outlets. It was the close of an amazing week that I’ll tell you more about it in a moment.
First I want to thank you for the support of your prayers and the contributions many of you made to make the trip possible. Thanks, too, for the great team you sent. We ranged in age, as I learned, from 17 to 67, and every member of our group pitched in hard and well. They embraced the Zambians with energy and joy. I don’t think I have ever been with a team that so effectively transcended the cultural differences and the discomfort of dust and dirt and odd food and long hours of intense “fellowship” and intense odors and swarming kids with snotty noses, bugs and lizards in our beds, and monkeys on our roofs, and hippos snorting in the dark, and… well, you get the picture. This group was not intimidated! You can be proud of them. They represented you and our Lord well, with a constant demonstration of gracious, generous Christian love to our Zambian friends and to each other. They really shone! I was so honored to be one of them.
After six trips to Zambia, I think I have finally figured out why our Zambia travelers enjoy these visits much. It crystallized for me this trip. We love it because we experience God’s kingdom while we are there. There are moments of connection with Zambian Christians, moments of insight from their faith and values that confirm our faith in God’s eternal plan and strengthen our own hope that in Christ, one day indeed all will be well. That’s why we like to go there. We experience God there.
So I’d like to share with you some examples of our foretaste of God’s kingdom from halfway around the globe. The biblical concept of “the least and the lost,” a phrase we have been using in recent months here at LGPC, will help me. It’s a phrase that refers first to compassionate outreach to those burdened with the weighty challenges of things like poverty or illness or abuse or oppression – reaching out to the neediest, the “least.” And it also refers to our evangelistic outreach to people – whether here at home or far away – who are somehow detached from God’s redeeming love and its eternal destination (even though it is always there to receive). They are the “lost.” Because Zambia is largely a Christian nation where most public events are opened in prayer in the name of Jesus, we tend to think that this partnership is less about “the lost” and more about “the least of these, my brothers and sisters in Christ” (Mt 25). But Zambian churches, like American churches, have church-goers who don’t know the Lord.
So we reach out to both the Least and the Lost in Zambia. But often after we have been there, we return wondering who is more lost, our own people or theirs, and wondering why it is that in the face of overwhelming challenges like poverty, drought and hunger, and illnesses like AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, these people who appear to have “the least” creature comforts in the world appear also to have so much in the way of joy and contentment and even generosity.
EZEKIEL’S WORD OF THE LORD
I am charged with sharing about Zambia today. But let me offer some quick keys to reading this text from Ezekiel, whose words were aimed at Israel near the end of the exile, 2600 years ago, when they were returning from Babylonia to Palestine. These words must have reassured them.
But how do they apply to today’s people of God? After first trying to understand the text in its original context – a default principle for interpreting the Bible – I encourage you to read it from our own American perspective and also from a Zambian perspective. How does the prophetic message sound to American Christians, and what would it mean to Zambian Christians? Please listen to the Word of God through the prophet Ezekiel:
Ezekiel 34:11-24
For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As 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. I 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 them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I 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. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down,” declares the Sovereign LORD.
“I 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.”
“As for you, my flock,” this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?”
Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says to them: “See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.”
ZAMBIA: HOW DID WE GET HERE?
The text is full of warnings, and I am relieved that I don’t need to explain them all today! But one part of what Ezekiel seems to be saying is that the so-called “haves” are to have regard for the “have-nots.” This certainly applies to our partnership in Zambia. Lake Grove joined World Vision in Zambia because God seemed to be saying to us, “It is time to do your part to come alongside those suffering from the monster pandemic AIDS. An effective place to do this is Zambia, where World Vision’s development work helps prevent infection. In addition, you can encourage local churches and schools to stand up and be a part of the ministry, not only comforting the sick and bereaved, but helping build awareness toward prevention. At Lake Grove, you understand partnership. You can strengthen and encourage My people in Zambia.”
And that is what we have been doing for 5 years now. Our obedience to God’s call and our commitment as partners in this three-legged partnership stool comprised of World Vision, Lake Grove, and Sinazongwe are paying off in progress. We have watched the HIV infection rate inch downward as the confidence and self-sufficiency of the local Zambians inched upward. In the midst of step-by-step development in the areas of clean water, food security, health care, education, and micro-economic development, the faithfulness of Christ’s body from our side of the world to those on the opposite side of the globe has helped Zambians know that God has not forgotten them. Vital faith and the healthy functioning of God’s family are crucial constant factors in the development process, and can mean the difference between success and failure. And this year, I feel more confident than ever that Sinazongwe will succeed in becoming self-sufficient under God. And the people of Siabaswi asked me to tell you that they are grateful for the jumpstart and confident they have the resolve to continue and succeed.
TOWARD SELF-SUFFICIENCY: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Here’s one example. Micro-economic development, or “MED”, was one of our focus areas this year. We visited about half-a-dozen micro-entrepreneurs. Every one of them was like a text-book case for success. They had all started with loans of around 360,000 kwacha, roughly $100, and they had all paid back the loans ahead of schedule, and all were working on the next level of loan. Some were already working on their fourth increased-level loan, quite a feat, since the program has only been in existence for about fifteen months.
One case especially touched me. We had visited this little roadside store last year, just a mud structure, smaller than most American kitchens, run by a couple named James and Maria. It’s located on a connecting road-path somewhat off the beaten track. I remember thinking last year, “If the key to business success is location, location, location, this shop is fighting an uphill battle.” I wondered if James and Maria would make it. They have made it. But when I noticed that the shop looked about the same as last year, I asked him with some trepidation how business was. James said, “Very good! We have a second shop now. And this week, because multiple schools are competing in athletic games at the Makonkoto School, I have set-up a temporary snack stand next to the school.”
My heart was warmed. Here was another example of the development program succeeding, moving this family toward prosperity. Economic viability is crucial to sustain development, especially when the benefactors leave. We have another 5 years or so before World Vision will withdraw from the area. All the indicators I saw this year point to success in the efforts to help these folks become self-sufficient, if we stay the course.
UNITY IN CHRIST
Let me say a bit about the importance of the church in Zambia. The unified work of the collective church can be the foundation and the glue that cements the work of development. God is clearly at work in the various Christian communities in Sinazongwe, and their growing unity is a powerful thing.
Early in our trip we worshipped with multiple denominations in an open square near the World Vision office. Unity in Christ could be seen by who was there: Americans and Zambians, whites and blacks, Presbyterians and Pentecostals, Roman Catholics and Seventh Day Adventists, all focusing on their oneness under the lordship of Christ. There was an American preacher and a Zambian preacher. There were all ages and both genders. English was the predominant language, but several Zambian languages were sung and spoken, too. There were traditional hymns and praise songs with motions and choreography. The unifying factor was the desire to glorify Jesus Christ and submit to Him. This made our differences insignificant.
We experienced such oneness in Christ, not just during worship but at other gatherings as well, and in other one-on-one conversations, with World Vision staff and villagers, with sponsor kids and their parents, and with Chief Sinazongwe himself, a man of faith who bears great burdens for his flock.
Perhaps the sweetest example of Christian unity came on our last evening in Sinazongwe. We have developed the custom of honoring the World Vision staff with a banquet. We worship a little together, and we eat well. Then Lake Grovers affirm these phenomenal brothers and sisters who are doing the developmental work of Christ day-in and day-out all year ‘round. We give them small gifts and build them up with words of encouragement about how each of them does their important work. Every Lake Grover honors one or two of the World Vision staff, and they encourage us, too.
This year Lake Grove did its part well. The team really was very articulate. I was proud of how our group honored these remarkable people in personal and fitting ways. Then I was curious to see what the World Vision staff would say about each of us. But they did something unexpected that took the celebration to another level. They didn’t say anything about us. In fact, without a word they rose and left the room. We looked at each other, wondering what was going on. Then the music started, and our World Vision brothers and sisters re-entered the room two-by-two in lines, pro-cessing forward in the kind of gentle dance cadence we have grown to know and love in Zambia. How to describe it? My first visit to Zambia came just a few months after a visit to Senegal, where I saw energetic dancing – often by individuals strutting their stuff to the beat of exciting drumming. When I saw the Zambians and their much more relaxed group-style dancing, it seemed so laid-back that it was almost boring. But I have grown to understand Zambian dancing better and to love it. For one thing, it characterizes the gentle Zambian people. For another, it is often accompanied by beautiful singing. And for Zambians dancing seems to be a group activity in which everyone is doing the same thing together, but often in unique ways. The participants remain individuals even as they form a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s a visual example of the Body of Christ.
So, in danced Lutangu and his team, smiles of joy on each face and a little packet under each arm, wrapped in newsprint. When they were all in, they seemed to ignore us as they continued in their dance, retaining their formation while relating to one another. Then gradually they peeled off one by one and danced toward the 12 of us from Lake Grove. They presented us with shirts of Zambian fabric, custom-made by local tailors trained to support orphans and vulnerable children, the ones who do NOT have the benefit of sponsorship. (Hold up shirt.)
They never said a word, and words were not needed. One by one we put on our shirts and joined the dance. Inhibitions melted, we laughed and we cried as we felt our connections and our unity, realizing somehow that these were kingdom moments, and that the music was glorifying the Lord of the music and the dance, and that the very Shepherd Who sought us and found us and Whom we were all seeking to know better and to serve was there in our midst. The One Whose purposes forge disparate parts into effective tools for His redemptive purposes, Who draws His fold together into a powerful flock, was leading the dance. As in today’s Scripture, the Shepherd was “looking after” us. We were tended and nourished. We were one, and joy and power surged into us from Him, as it had been flowing through us to others and to each other all week. Finally we closed into a tight group of concentric circles and prayed for one another. And then, after many hugs, we dispersed into a dark night that felt bright because we were aglow. Hallelujah: the Body had been built up. And each of us was closer to the Shepherd and more ready for the road of ministry ahead than we had been before.
HOPE IN THE SHEPHERD WHO SEEKS US
I close with this recurring observation from Zambia Go-Team members. After we have absorbed the cultural and material differences and the disparity in challenges faced between ourselves and our Zambian friends, Zambians no longer seem to be among “the least” or “the lost.” We start our trips with the hope that we’ll be able to make a positive difference among them, an intention which can be tinged with a bit of condescension. But we return with a sense that in God’s eyes, the Zambians actually have more than we do, and that in God’s flock they are closer to the Shepherd and less at risk of going astray or getting lost than we are. We wonder if we, not they, are the Least and the Lost.
This is humbling, but it need not be discouraging. We may be tempted to degrade ourselves because our distracted discipleship is not as deep or direct as what we see in our Zambian siblings. American affluence affords a complicated life that does distract our efforts to follow Jesus. Zambians are relatively free of such complications and they understand their dependence on God better than we do. So time spent with them reveals to us that although we go to Zambia knowing that our church is trying to help them, we come away from these trips feeling like the primary beneficiaries.
The good news is that, though we may be distracted, though we may stray, though we may lose our way and get lost, the Shepherd seeks us at all costs. Just as He reaches out to those suffering under the impact of poverty and its diseases, He also reaches out to us in the jungle of our cluttered and confusing lives. He seeks us when we are lost. We need merely to hear the call and come home, to let His rod and His staff “comfort” us. The Lord brings back His own. This means YOU… and me. When you feel lost, listen for His call, and follow it home. Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift grace, a Shepherd Who continues to seek us… in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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