The True Shepherd | Carlos Velez | Calvary Church

Uh, so if you have your Bibles, turn to

the last chapter of Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Uh, if you

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

don't own a Bible, we have some here in

Solderton and also in Quakertown. Uh,

just raise your hand in Quakertown. You

can go get them in in Seron. They're in

the seat racks. Take them home if you

don't own one. It's our gift to you. We

believe that the Bible is filled with

life-changing truth. So, if you're

looking at uh one of the Calvary Bibles,

it's on page 461.

Ecclesiastes 12, starting at verse 9.

Not only was the teacher wise, but he

also imparted knowledge to the people.

He pondered and searched out and set in

order many proverbs. The teacher

searched to find just the right words,

and what he wrote was upright and true.

The words of the wise are like goats.

their collected sayings like firmly

embedded nails given by one shepherd.

Be warned, my son, of anything in

addition to them, of making many books.

There is no end in much study wearies

the body.

Now all has been heard. Here is the

conclusion of the matter. Fear God and

keep his commandments. For this is the

duty of all mankind.

For God will bring every deed into

judgment, including every hidden thing,

whether it's good or evil.

So, you ever get like to the end of a

book

or the end of a movie and and and it's

concluded, but you're like, it's not

resolved, right? Like you get to the

end, you're like,

I've invested so much time into this

story. I've invested so much time into

these characters. I in and it's done,

but it's not done. You're like,

something's missing here.

And then you discover that there's an

epilogue

or an end credit scene, right? And in

the epilogue or the end credit scene,

everything's finally explained. What you

were kind of like, hey, this is

unresolved is kind of resolved in that

epilogue or end credit scene. What we

just read was the epilogue of

Ecclesiastes.

Actually, the tone shifted. The speaker

shifted. It's no longer the teacher

writing. It's actually someone

commenting on what the teacher has

written. It's an actual epilogue.

And in that epilogue, we learn so much

things. In that epilogue,

we learn about the journey that the

teacher has gone. We learn about uh how

he's collected these these proverbs. We

learn about all this. We're celebrating.

We're we're examining the teacher and

his works. But then something happens.

Then we get to verse 11. And in verse

11, we're introduced to something, a

concept that we really need to

understand in order to understand the

whole book of Ecclesiastes. In verse 11,

we are introduced to the fact that there

is a shepherd who speaks. There's a

shepherd who speaks.

Let's take a look at verse 11 again. The

words of the wise are like goats.

They're collected sayings like firmly

embedded nails given by one shepherd.

All right. And if you don't know what a

goad is,

because growing up in the city, we knew

about goats all the time.

Not at all.

A goad is a sharp object. It's like a

stick. Okay. And it's used by the

shepherd or the farmer to move an animal

further, to move them forward, to direct

them. Right? The animal's not going. You

hit the animal with the goat. It moves.

All right?

Now, that's not only sharp object in the

verse, though. There's also nails.

And nails firmly fix something in place.

They provide stability and permanence.

So you have these sharp goats and you

have these sharp nails. And what's

happening here is that we're learning

that true wisdom does two things. It

moves us forward and it keeps us

anchored. It moves us forward and it

keeps us anchored.

And that's that's good to know. But

that's not the most important part of

the verse. The most important part of

the verse isn't the goats or the

shepherd.

The most important part of the verse is

the source of the wisdom.

What does it say? All true wisdom comes

from one shepherd.

The wisdom that we've been learning

about from the teacher the whole time.

That wasn't something that the teacher

created. That wasn't the wisdom of the

teacher. It was the wisdom of the one

shepherd.

And what we learn in that and what we're

learning as we you look at that

statement is that this wisdom is coming

from God. Not only that, there's

something even more interesting, more

gives it more depth as we examine it.

This phrase one shepherd is very

important.

Sydney uh Gradanis is a a scholar and

and he notes and he says that there's

only two other times where this phrase

is used. There's only two other times

where this phrase is used in the Old

Testament. This phrase one shepherd uh

it's first used in Ecclesiast um in

Ecclesiastes. It is used in

Ecclesiastes. We just read it. Uh it's

used in Ezekiel. Too many E's. Ezekiel

34 23 says, "I will place over them one

shepherd, my servant David, and he will

tend them. He will tend them and be

their shepherd." Again, in Ezekiel verse

uh 37:4, it says, "My servant David will

be king over them, and they will all

have one shepherd. They will follow my

laws and be careful to keep my decrees."

The phrase one shepherd isn't just

referring to God. It's referring to a

promised shepherd king that the people

of Israel throughout the Old Testament

wait and longingly wait years and and

and wi with just like this expectation

and for years they're waiting for this

shepherd king. And in John chapter 10,

John 10 · chapter mention

Jesus stands up in front of a crowd and

he declares that he is the true

shepherd.

And Jesus is the fulfillment of

everything that those promises were

pointing to. Jesus is the fulfillment of

everything that those promises

anticipated. He is the shepherd behind

the wisdom. He is the one shepherd

behind the wisdom. All of the wisdom of

Ecclesiastes. And that's where the

tension point comes in. That's where the

tension point comes in.

Jesus is the one shepherd. He's the one

true shepherd and he's speaking through

his wisdom. And that's where the tension

point comes in.

We get together on Tuesdays uh as a

teaching team to go over uh what we're

looking forward to in the series coming

up. We look at uh sermons from the past

week. We look at the uh sermon going

forward and we send our manuscripts to

each other. Uh and so Steve's there and

Charles and and all the teachers there.

And um then we invited the student

ministry guys in Frank Dorenzo, Frank

Roman and Aaron Breer from from

Quakertown and they come in and they

shared with us also this past week they

shared what they're going to be studying

but we give them their our manuscripts

as well. And here's the deal. There are

two people who by far give me the most

feedback on my manuscripts. Actually

like write like book reports on them.

The first is Charles

He wants to go over everything that I

did wrong.

The other one is Frank Roman, uh, who

oversees our middle school students. He

always writes stuff. He's always giving

me feedback and it's really good

feedback. I ignore Charles and I listen

to Frank usually.

But Frank says something. I I take out

my phone when he's talking because I

take notes. And he said something. I

took notes on this. He says this about

the tension in regards to the one

shepherd. He says this. Frank said, "We

like the idea of Jesus as our shepherd."

We do, right? We even have like things

on our nursery walls of of of of a

shepherd, and we we like that picture.

We like the idea. So Frank says, "We

like the idea of Jesus as our shepherd,

but we don't like the idea of us being

sheep.

We want to pursue what we want as

opposed to following Jesus where he

leads us."

It's like, "You should be preaching.

That was really good. And it's such a

He's like he's he looks at me, he goes,

"Lean into that tension. Lean into that

tension." And I I think he's right

because if we look at sheep, sheep

wander. Sheep get lost.

Sheep are vulnerable.

Sheep were never designed to guide

themselves. Never.

Who wants to be a sheep?

But that's what you are. We're all

sheep.

And we try to find meaning, purpose, and

fulfillment by also remaining in charge.

And that's the tension in Ecclesiastes.

The teacher acknowledges is that's

what's going on.

We want the blessings of the shepherd

without surrendering to his leadership.

But the shepherd is speaking.

The shepherd is speaking.

The question is, are we listening?

Are we listening?

The world constantly tells us to trust

ourselves, to define ourselves, to

follow our hearts

wherever our hearts lead us.

The shepherd tells us to follow him.

To follow him.

So the question is whose voice is

shaping your life?

Whose voice are you listening to?

The voice of the shepherd or the voice

of self.

You see, Ecclesiastes reminds us that

there is life, meaning, and wisdom only

when we stop trying to shepherd

ourselves and begin listening to the

shepherd.

And that's so important because if we

lean into that, what we learn is that

there is a life that matters. There's a

life that matters because after all the

searching, all the questioning, and all

the experiments,

the book arrives at its conclusion.

We have read this verse throughout the

series over and over again. We have

continued to read this verse.

We're going to read it again today and

take a deeper look into it.

Ecclesiastes 12:13.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

Now all has been heard.

Here is the conclusion of the matter.

Fear God and keep his commandments for

this is the duty of all mankind.

First thing that that word duty is is

not it's actually not really a good

translated word for that. It's actually

not really a job we have. It's actually

our very essence.

This is the essence of being human.

This is the destination of the entire

book. This is the destination. The

teacher has examined life from every

angle and the conclusion is remarkably

simple.

Fear God and keep his commandments. Fear

God and keep his commandments.

And to fear God doesn't mean to live in

terror of him. It means recognizing who

he is and responding appropriately.

It is reverence. It is awe. It is

worship.

It is trust.

It is joyful submission to the God who

made us.

There's an old hymn that kind of

captures

the essence of the verse we just read in

Ecclesiastes chapter 12. It captures the

Ecclesiastes 12 · chapter mention

essence of what it means to fear God and

keep his commandments.

Listen to the I'm not going to sing it.

Nobody wants to hear that.

Listen to the words from this hymn.

When we walk with the Lord in the light

of his word,

what a glory he sheds on our way.

While we do his good will, he abides

with us still and with all who will

trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there's no other way

to be happy in Jesus but to trust and

obey.

Fear God and keep his commandments.

Trust and obey. Trust and obey.

The key is we The God we fear is the God

who loved us so much. The God we fear is

the God who gave himself for us.

And that changes the nature of

obedience. We do not obey in order to

earn acceptance.

We obey because we have already been

accepted through Jesus.

We are not loved because we obey. We

obey because we are loved.

There still seems to be a struggle to do

that, right?

At least for me, there's a struggle to

do that. There's a struggle to trust and

obey.

Why? Why is that internal struggle still

something that we we just deal with

every day of our lives?

It's because obedience is ultimately a

worship issue.

It's a love issue.

The we reason we wander from God is

because we keep falling in love with

rival shepherds,

good shepherds,

good things that God has placed in our

life. family,

comfort,

provision.

We chase after these shepherds,

these rival shepherds and and and what

ends up happening is that success

becomes our shepherd and comfort becomes

our shepherd. Money becomes our

shepherd, approval becomes our shepherd,

productivity becomes our shepherd.

You see, the issue is not whether we

worship or not. The issue is who we are

worshiping.

The issue is who we will follow.

Which shepherd are we listening to? The

one true shepherd is speaking. Which

voice are we listening to?

And if I were to ask myself, what is it

that I cling to to give my life meaning?

If I really were to ask myself, if I say

just just pause for a second, stop

listening to me, and just think, what is

it that gives your life meaning?

What is it?

The answer may reveal the shepherd

you're actually following.

You see, the question is not no longer

merely what do I do.

The question is whom do I love?

Whom do I put first? Whom am I

following?

Because whatever captures your heart

will ultimately direct your life. And

the life that matters is the life lived

in reverent love, in joyful love, in

obedient love, in joyful obedience to

the shepherd, the one true shepherd.

We have to understand that has to be our

response. Not a response of obedience

out of guilt, not of a response of

obedience trying to earn acceptance, but

a response of obedience out of gratitude

and joy, knowing that we are loved by

the true shepherd.

And this is the life we are called to be

to live. We are called to trust and

obey, to fear God and obey his

commandments

because because because

one day

there's a judgment that will come.

One day there's a judgment that will

come.

The book ends with that final reminder

in verse 14.

For God will bring every deed into

judgment, including every hidden thing,

whether it is whether it is good or

evil.

This is the last verse of the entire

book of Ecclesiastes.

And it's not there by accident.

The entire book has been moving to this

reality

because if there's no final judgment,

if there is no final judgment, then evil

ultimately wins.

Justice never arrives.

Hidden wrongs remain hidden forever. The

oppressed never receive vindication. The

wicked escape accountability.

And the longing for justice that lives

in every human heart is nothing more

than illusion.

If that final judgment never comes, then

everything is meaningless.

Then everything that the teacher

vocalized

in despair throughout the book is true.

But Ecclesiastes refuses to leave us in

that moment.

And it ends by saying there is a judge.

There is a judge. And every act matters.

Every choice matters. Every sacrifice

matters. Every injustice matters. Every

hidden thing matters.

And what we need to understand is this.

Biblical judgment is so much more than

individual accountability.

It's so much more than individual

accountabilility.

It is cosmic restoration.

It is cosmic restoration. Judgment is

God setting things right. He's restoring

things to the way that they were

supposed to be.

Everything that sin has broken will one

day be addressed. Everything crooked

will one day be made straight.

Everything hidden will one day be

revealed.

And in John chapter 5, it tells us that

John 5 · chapter mention

Jesus is the judge.

The shepherd is the judge.

And so, while yes, this ultimate

judgment creates a warning, it also

creates a promise.

It creates a promise.

The warning is that every person

throughout human history,

you, myself, every single human will

stand before the judge one day.

Every single person will stand before

him.

But there's also hope

because the judge

already stood in the place of his

people.

The judge already stood in the place of

his people. The shepherd became the

lamb.

The shepherd became the lamb and he bore

our judgment.

The comfort of the gospel is not that

judgment disappears.

The comfort of the gospel is that

judgment has already fallen on Jesus.

At the cross, justice was not ignored.

It was satisfied.

And so for those outside of Jesus,

judgment remains a warning.

For those in Jesus, judgment becomes a

promise.

A promise that the shepherd judge, the

shepherd king, the one true shepherd

will make things right.

This is the whole point of Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes is is interesting. It

starts off in Ecclesiastes chapter 1

Ecclesiastes 1:2

verse 2. It says this, "Maningless,

meaningless, says the teacher. Utterly

meaningless. Everything is meaningless."

In Ecclesiastes 12:8, it says, "Meaning,

Ecclesiastes 12:8

meaning meaningless, meaningless, says

the teacher. Everything is meaningless."

Those seem to be the bookends of this

entire book.

But then there's an epilogue.

But then there's an epilogue

and it says, "Now all has been heard.

Here is the conclusion of the matter.

Fear God and keep his commandments. For

this is the duty of all mankind.

How do we get to there? How do we move

from meaningless to there? What has

changed?

What's changed in the epilogue is that

we are lifted from life under the sun to

life before God.

The answer to meaningless is not better

circumstances.

The answer is not more success.

The answer is not more pleasure.

The answer is not more control.

The answer

is Jesus.

The answer to all of Ecclesiastes is

Jesus.

The answer to life under the sun is the

shepherd over the sun.

The answer to the question of is there

more is yes.

Yes,

there is a shepherd who speaks. There is

a life that matters. There is a judgment

that will make everything right and his

name is Jesus.

So the final question of Ecclesiastes is

not is there more.

The greater question is will you

continue to try to shepherd yourself

or will you finally trust the one true

shepherd? Let's pray. Lord, we thank you

for your love. We thank you for

reminders of who you are.

The true shepherd, the final judge,

the one who is victorious over

everything.

God, I struggle

often with letting you be the shepherd

of my life.

Even today, my heart has wrestled and

and been filled with just anxious

thoughts or or just just different

things because I want to be in control.

Even today, as I'm supposed to teach

this message, I struggle with it.

I thank you for reminders, not just from

your word, but even from the

music and worship that we sang together.

I ask you that these will not be empty

words

that we read or learned about or empty

words that we sang today,

but that they would stir our hearts,

that they would stir my heart

to be filled with

just reverence and joy,

boldness and obedience

and the peace that comes from that.

We love you so much.

Pray this in Jesus name. Amen.