For the generation older than me, Kennedy’s assassination was probably THE defining moment. Every American in their 50s can probably tell you where they were when they heard about it.

My generation will probably do that with the tragic events of 9/11. I was in Denver, sitting in my graduate course on Advanced Hermeneutics, when we heard that something was happened in New York. We found a television and watched in horror as the second plane went into the buildings. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. This kind of thing simply didn’t happen in America. This is the kind of thing that happens elsewhere — in Beirut or Bosnia, not in America.

For weeks, many Americans just couldn’t get their minds around what had happened. What in the world was going on? How? Why? We thought God would protect us. We’re a Christian nation, right?

Now, imagine you’re among those 10,000 folks living in exile near the Kebar River with Ezekiel. There were folks who were saying, “This will all be over in a little while. You watch. This will be over soon, and we’ll all be back home sleeping in our own beds and making sacrifices in the temple in Jerusalem.”

But days turn to weeks turn to months turn to years. And more than a decade passes. You begin to doubt the prophets who claim this is going to be over soon. What if it never ends? What if you end up spending the rest of your life out here in the middle of nowhere? No, you think to yourself, you simply cannot allow yourself to think those kinds of thoughts.

And then the unthinkable happens. A stranger wanders into town; he says he’s run all the way from Jerusalem. That’s 700 miles he’s come to give the news: Jerusalem has been destroyed.

You think, I must not have heard that right. Did he say Jerusalem? Destroyed? But Jerusalem is the City of God — the place where God put his name. We built him a house there with his own room. What about that house and that room? The temple is still standing, right?

No, the temple has been burned to the ground along with the rest of the city. There is nothing left but smoldering rubble and ashes.

How can this be? Has God forgotten his promises? Has he given up on us? Did he change his mind?

We all find ourselves asking questions like this. At one time or another we all end up wrestling with the gap between life as God has promised it and life as we experience it. So, how do you survive during those times? Faith seems pretty easy on a day like today. It’s about 70 degrees with a slight breeze. Things are blooming. My kids are relatively healthy. My wife is lovely. I’ve got good music playing in the background (Kurt Elling singing “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing”).

But how do you get through life when the promises of God seem a million miles away?

Welcome to the new blog site. When Rick Hazelip and I first started talking about doing something like this (was it really almost a year ago, Rick?), we never dreamed it would become this nice or this big this quickly. Several people have stepped up with financial support. The book is selling like crazy. Speaking requests are coming in. Whoduthunkit?

The story of the last four years has really been one of those “only God” stories. I’ll have to sit down and write it all out for you some time.

But for now, look around. Let me know what you think. I’ll get back to writing about Ezekiel some tomorrow.

I have been asked by an organization here in Atlanta to participate in a really great event. They are going to rent out a theatre for a private showing of THE DA VINCI CODE on Wednesday, May 24, and I am going to speak immediately afterwards for about 40 minutes. Those of you in the Atlanta area who are interested can register here:

http://www.priorityassociates.org/Atlanta/web/L2.asp?SID=1&CID=117

Space is limited to (I think) the first 250 folks, so you might want to register soon.

Are you ready?

The Da Vinci Code movie opens in three weeks, and some churches are trying to get folks ready for the watercooler conversations that are sure to happen on Monday, May 22.

I’m interested. Is your church doing anything? Sermon series? Small groups? Classes? Resource center?

Let me know.

In the story of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, several key characters play the roles of prophet, priest and king. But they were just acting. They weren’t really shepherds; they simply played that role for their own benefit.

First, Jesus was taken to the house of Annas the priest. Here’s a great example of a shepherd who neglected God and God’s agenda for the sake of his own personal agenda. The Bazaars of Annas in the temples were infamous for their ridiculous exchange rates — bordering on extortion, really. There was one place in the temple where Gentiles could come and pray to YHWH, the God of the Israelites. This was where Annas placed his Bazaars — keeping the temple from being “a house of prayer for all the nations” as God had commanded.

The position of high priest seems to have been kept in a tight family circle, and at this time, the position was held by Annas’ son-in-law: Caiaphas. When Jesus stood before Caiaphas, surrounded by elders and teachers, this shepherd of Israel stood by while God Incarnate was slapped and spat upon. He had been given the task of leading people in the worship of God; instead, he led them into violence against God.

So, Jesus was sent from the priest to the king — a man named Herod. Here’s a king who abused his power by ordering the execution of John the Baptist (a true prophet). Herod responded to the word of God, as it was faithfully delivered by the prophet of God, more like a butcher than a shepherd. He was supposed to defent and protect God’s people from their pagan enemies; instead, he offered Jesus up to the Roman governor: Pilate.

As the governor of the land, Pilate’s responsibility was to establish truth and administer justice. Though he wasn’t a prophet, he did receive a revelation from God — in a dream to his wife. But when Pilate spoke with Jesus, he knew his decision would have little to do with truth and more to do with popularity and pragmatism. His decision about Jesus wasn’t based on justice but on the prevailing mood of the people. Pilate washed his hands and went with the popular vote.

So, as we said yesterday, the Good Shepherd became like a sheep and was “led like a lamb to the slaughter”. He sufffered under the shepherds who abused their power, compromised the truth and neglected the Lord. And on the cross he became the sacrificial lamb who would take away the sins of the world.

But on the third day….

Are there any better words than that?

On the third day he rose from the dead. Death is like a dark valley, and Jesus has travelled through it. It may still be a dark place, but it is now a safe place for all who will trust and follow the Good Shepherd through the valley of death. We fear no evil, for he is with us and has promised to see us through to the other side.

Two things today, and I’ll probably post something more about Israel’s shepherds in the time of Jesus later.

First, Chuck Colson’s Breaktpoint Commentary featured our book today. You can read it here:

http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=2171

I actually saw the book in a bookstore this afternoon. It’s pretty exciting to see it like that!

Second, the website is almost all the way up now. Go check it out, and let me know what you think:

http://www.faith20.org

God gave very low marks to the shepherds of Israel. He looked at their work and saw terrible abuse of power, a deliberate compromise of truth and a blatant neglect of God. God’s flock was malnourished, uncared for and unprotected. The situation was so intolerable that God decided to intervene. But he did so in a very unexpected way. God told Ezekiel, “I myself will tend my sheep” (Ezekiel 34:15).

Ezekiel must have thought, “That sounds great and all, but how exactly is that going to happen? God is way up there beyond the azure blue, and we’re stuck down here by the Kebar River.”

Roll the clock forward 600 years.

When Jesus was teaching the sheep of Israel, they were still living under the kind of religions leadership that abused its power, compromised the truth and neglected the heart of God. At one point, Jesus looked at the people and saw that they were “like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).

A little while later, Jesus blasted the shepherds of Israel. He said, “All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers” (John 10:8). They used their authority to pursue their own agendas. Then Jesus identified himself as the Shepherd spoken of through the prophet Ezekiel: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

As the Good Shepherd, Jesus would do a number of things for the sheep. First, he would feed the sheep with God’s truth. Second, he would seek out the lost sheep. Third, he would lead the sheep and protect them from their enemies.

He went on to say, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

But the shepherds in Israel didn’t really like what he had to say about them or about himself. They did not like the truth he taught, the way he led or the life he offered. So, they treated him like a sheep. They abused him, compromised the truth about him and rejected him.

And the most amazing thing is: He took it. He let it happen. The Good Shepherd became like one of his sheep, and like a sheep he was led to slaughter.

God grades out the shepherds of Israel through his prophet Ezekiel. And they do not receive favorable marks.

“The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not the shepherds take care of the flock?”‘” (Ezekiel 34:1-2).

Ezekiel was serving a community of 10,000 people who had been uprooted from their home in Jerusalem and marched 700 miles away. They were living as exiles near the Kebar River near Babylon, and they must have wondered, “What did we do that was so bad? Why did we get taken away while others got to stay home? Why not previous generations? Were we that bad?”

God wants them to understand that this punishment is not for the sins of one generation. There has been a pattern of disobedience, disloyalty and dishonor. And, as the old saying goes, the fish stinks from the head down. God had trusted the shepherds of Israel with the tremendous responsibility of leading his people, and they had done a terrible job. Disaster came upon the people of God because of a massive failure in their leadership.

Specifically, God brings three charges against the shepherds of Israel: (1) the abuse of power; (2) the compromise of truth; (3) the neglect of God.

I think it’s interesting that he chose those three charges. The leaders of Israel were certainly guilty of a number of violations — multiple wives, blatant immorality and sinful behavior. Why do you think God would focus in on these three charges?

The people who published my book THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE DA VINCI CODE wrote a nice article about it here:

“New B&H Book Sets Record Straight on Worldview Behind The DaVinci Code”

And thanks to all the folks who ordered pre-release copies, they have had to print more. But that’s what they do, right?

Also, here’s my first embarrassing story about being an author. I’ve had several people ask me to autograph copies of the book for them. And, like most Christian authors, I figured I was supposed to sign my name and write some Bible verse under my name. Very classy.

The problem is there are two books in the Bible I always confuse: 1 & 2 Peter. I honestly cannot tell one from the other — it’s a mental block or something. So, the verse I wanted to write under my name is the verse where Peter says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). I figured that would be a good fit for this particular book.

Unfortunately, what I actually wrote under my name was not 1 Peter 3:15 but 2 Peter 3:15.

I imagine there were several confused people who went home and looked up the following: “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.”

In the Bible, all three of these leadership roles (prophet, priest and king) come together in one word-picture that encompasses all three dimensions of biblical leadership: Shepherd.

A shepherd feeds sheep — that’s the role of a prophet, to feed the people of God a healthy diet of the Word of God.

A shepherd seeks sheep — that’s the role of a priest, to find sheep who have wandered off or are injured.

A shepherd leads sheep — that’s the role of a king, to give direction and protection to the flock.

So, when God talks about shepherds, he’s speaking about all three dimensions of leadership together — revealing, reconciling and ruling; preaching, pastoring and leading — everything that is involved in leadership among the people of God. He is probably not thinking of one person filling all three roles. Few people in history have ever been able to fill more than one at any given time (Moses, Deborah, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah — anyone else in the Old Testament?).

The shepherds of Israel would have included some who were prophets, some who were priests and some who were kings. Together they provided leadership for God’s people. And, as we shall see tomorrow, they did a pretty lousy job of it.

For today, let’s think about these three distinct roles and try to apply them to our churches. Most churches expect one person to fill all three roles at once (even though they’ll only pay him for one role at a time). Or they want one person to fill the first two roles while a group of men fills that third role and act as if they are “above the law”. If the “kings” of a local church don’t like what the “prophet” has been saying (or how well he has balanced his prophetic duties with his priestly ones), they fire him and get someone else who is foolish enough to sign up for two jobs’ worth of responsibility with no job’s worth of authority.

Hmmm…I’ve stared at that last paragraph now for about five minutes trying to figure out whether that’s appropriate for publishing or not. I think that is an unfortunately accurate assessment of many churches I’ve encountered. I know there are churches out there who have a healthy balance of all three roles in place. Thank God for those churches. But the majority of churches I know are struggling with this. So, I’m going to keep that paragraph as is, and I eagerly await the avalanche of email I’ll get about this one.

Understanding these three roles, and the balance they provide, allows a church to ask itself some helpful diagnostic questions:

Is there a good, healthy diet of teaching here? Does some of the teaching we hear make us uncomfortable? Does it merely re-affirm what we already believe or tickle our ears with what we want to hear? Does it make sense biblically? Does it help us live more Christlike lives? Are people being spoken to on behalf of God?

Is there a place where people can bring their needs and have them lifted up to God? Are lost people being sought? Are wounded people being helped and healed? Is prayer a vital part of our church’s life? Is God being spoken to on behalf of people?

Is there clarity of purpose? Are things well-structured and organized and administrated? Is our church practicing good stewardship? Are people being protected and guarded? Is the whole church pursuing the purposes of God?