The Lord Is My Shepherd pt.1
Notes
Transcript
Intro: Anybody here ever gotten lost? Probably everyone, at some point or another; although men don't ever get lost. We simply take the scenic route...🙂
Anybody here ever get lost as a child? perhaps separated from family or from the school group that went on a field trip.
There is a difference when you are an adult and you get lost going somewhere and getting lost as a kid. I say this because I have experienced both. In fact, I regularly get lost. I am so grateful for GPS and Google Maps, because they help me tremendously. But I got lost once as a kid, and there is a big difference in how you feel and you respond when you get separated from the people that love you and take care of you. This is how it happened:
I was about 6 or so, and my and I were doing some shopping at the mall. This gets boring pretty quickly for kids like me, so my siblings and I had come up with this game. How many of you remember those little plastic clips they used to put on clothes (especially pants) back in the day. It kept them looking straight and good on the hangers while they were out on display. The thing is, whenever you would take the item of clothing off of the hanger, the little plastic piece would fall on the floor. I guess that is why they don't have those anymore... But the game that my brother and sister and I had was this: we would walk around the mall collecting those little plastic pieces, and whoever had the most when we walked out to the car was the winner. Well, my brother, being the oldest, usually won, because he didn't have to hold onto Mom or Dad's hand like I did.
But this time I was determined to win. We had walked through the mall and we were at the best store now to find these little plastic clips: Sears. Depending on when the you walked through the clothing section at Sears, you could find hundreds of these clips all over the floor near the racks where the clothes hung. This was our last store for this particular mall trip, and I was losing. However, Sears was the great equalizer in this competition. I convinced my parents that they I did not have to hold onto their hands and that I would follow closely. At first, as we walked through the various sections of this store, I would only stray a few steps away from them to collect plastic clips and put them in my pocket. The realization that my brother was picking up quite a few made me a little bolder, and I began to stray more and more. Finally, I found the jackpot! It was on of those things where they hang the clothes but it is in a circle. These places usually had tons of clips in that center part because people would take the clips off and throw them into the circle. Because they were there, the daytime cleanup crew wouldn't usually get those picked up. I stuck my head in between the curtain of dresses, and I realized that I had hit the motherload! As I began to stuff my pockets with these clips, I poked my head out to look for my family. I could see them walking down an aisle not to far from where I was. I continued to stuff clips in my pockets and noticed another rack of dresses. I poked my head in, and there were tons more! Not only was I finding the clear and white clips, I was getting black clips and other colors too, which were rare, btw! I was going to win!
I went from rack to rack finding more and more clips. My pockets looked like chipmunk cheeks, ready to burst with all the clips I had found.
When I stepped back into the main aisle where I had seen my family, they were no longer anywhere to be seen. I ran around Sears looking for them. I began to panic. My heart felt like it was in my throat. I had heard of kids being kidnapped, so I avoided getting close to anyone as I continued to look for my parents. I did this silently, choking back sobs and blinking back tears, so that no one would suspect I was a lost child, ripe for any potential kidnappers to make their move. After what seemed like hours of looking all over Sears, although it was probably just a few minutes and likely in just one small area, I found someone that worked there and told them I could not find my parents. He asked for their names and a description of what they looked like and what they were wearing. He then got on the PA system and called for them, announcing to the store what department we were waiting for them in.
Well, I had given the absolute wrong description of what my parents were wearing, and as they came around a corner, I tried to run to them while the employee was holding me back telling me that those were not the clothes I described. That all got cleared up soon enough, but i was finally reunited with my family.
I know the question that is going through all of your heads right now: "Did you win the competition?" And the answer to that is "no." At the height of my panic, I decided that it was uncomfortable walking around with clips poking my legs through my pockets. I realized at that time that I probably looked pretty dumb too. If I emptied my pockets, I'd be more comfortable and free to run around the store unimpeded. So, emptied my pockets of the scores of clips that I had collected, thereby losing any hope of winning that competition.
Can anyone tell me the reason I got lost and separated from my family? Because I was not following them.
Today and next week we are going to look at a passage of scripture that is very familiar. Psalm 23 is one of the most memorized and quoted scriptures in the world. It is probably familiar to everyone of you in this building. I have met people that have never gone to church before that know part or even all of this psalm. Why don't we all read it together out loud. You can follow along in you Bible or read along up on the screen behind me.
Psalm 23
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
There is a phrase that is used often, "Familiarity breeds contempt." But I think another true phrase would be that familiarity breed complacency. We see this in singing often. We sing the same song over and over again, often to the point of when we sing them, we don't even think about the words that we are singing. It happens with scripture as well. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we know these stories so well that if we aren't careful we fail to see the relevance of them because we are so familiar with them.
I think another area of scripture that this applies to is verses or passages that are familiar like Psalm 23.
Psalm 23 does not give us details about events that happened; what it does is tell us about God and His relationship with us. Since I believe most of you are surface-level familiar with this particular psalm, we are going to do a deep dive into half of it today, and the second half next week. I hope that if you can stay for the life group time that you will, as it is during that time that we will be really applying these scriptures and looking at the relevance of them to our lives today.
When you read or when you hear this psalm read or referenced, of what does it make you think?
What sort of emotions does it evoke?
Normally, it makes us think of peace and calm and quiet. It speaks of rest and provision.
Would it be a little worrisome if I asked0 those questions and someone said, "It makes me think of betrayal, murder, loneliness, confusion, war, lies, and hatred?" We'd probably start calling a psychiatrist or something if someone answered that way! right?!
If so, I guess somebody needs to go ahead and call a psychiatrist then, because this is exactly the things that we should be having in the back of our minds as we read this psalm.
The writer of this Psalm was David, the second and best king that Israel ever had. But David never lived on easy street. First off, he was the youngest of eight brothers. He had the not-so-glamourous responsibility of being a shepherd to his father's sheep. But then, the family receives a visit from a man that tells him that he has been chosen by God to be Israel's next king.
Well, the only thing is is that he has no relation to the current king who is still very much alive and already has a son who is heir to the throne. Naturally, this causes friction between them, and King Saul tries to murder David on several occasions. His hatred toward him is so strong that he uses his army to track David with the purpose of killing him on two separate occasions.
But David does eventually become king. His life is not all easy here either. He is constantly at war with neighboring nations, mainly the Philistines. He commits adultery with a wife of one of his best warriors, then has that warrior murdered to cover up his sin. And that is not normally something we think about when reading about how God leads us in paths of righteousness, right?
Years later, David has to go on the run again because one of his sons has organized a coup and is trying to kill David and take over the throne. During many of these times David gets lonely and doubts God. This is not something we regularly think of when we are reading this psalm, but we need to understand who wrote this and what went on in his life.
David starts off this Psalm in verse one by giving God a title. He says, "The Lord is my shepherd."
If you have ever done a study on the names of God (and if you haven't, I highly recommend it) you will notice that there are so many names that denote His glory and majesty and holiness.
- Elohim - supreme being
- LORD - self-existent, eternal
- the Lord our banner
- the Lord our righteousness
- the Lord is there
- the Lord who sanctifies
- the Lord of hosts
- God almighty
- Ancient of Days
- the Holy One (of Israel)
- God most high
But David brings all that to a ground level relationship as he begins this psalm with "The Lord is my shepherd." It is done on purpose. This is a psalm of intimacy. Everything after this initial phrase, "The Lord is my shepherd," hinges in intimacy with this shepherd. On Wednesday nights we have been studying about intimacy with God. What it means to be a Christian. David nails this imagery of close, intimate fellowship with God in 5 words: The Lord is my shepherd. And David would understand exactly what he was talking about too, as he was a shepherd himself before he was a king.
This psalm is not a prophetic psalm about Jesus, what we would call a "messianic psalm," but Jesus would adopt the same imagery in John chapter 10 as He refers to Himself as the "Good Shepherd". Today we will be going back and forward from Psalm 23 to John 10, so if you want to put a finger in both those locations in your Bible it will be beneficial to you as we compare these two chapters.
Look at Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
John 10:14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
So we see here first that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. In John 10, Jesus describes the difference between Himself as the good shepherd and thieves, robbers, and bad shepherds.
Lets go back to Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd. Jesus is this shepherd. He is God the Son, co-eternal with and possessing the same divinity as the Heavenly Father.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD SATISFIES
V.1b I shall not want - In following Jesus we find satisfaction. We find truth to Psalm 84:11 that says For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. As we see in 1 John, to follow Jesus is to have fellowship with Him; to have fellowship with Him is to walk uprightly. To follow the shepherd, to walk uprightly, is to be satisfied knowing that He will withhold nothing good from us. Every good comfort, every good cross, every good chastisement, every good realization and revelation, and every good moment in our lives comes from the Good Shepherd. James 1:17 Every good... and perfect gift... cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD LEADS
It is in following Jesus that we find this satisfaction. Notice Psalm 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: What are the next three words?
he leadeth me
We see that this shepherd leads. We will cover where he leads later, but look at John 10:3-4 To him [the shepherd] the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
sheep hear voice and Jesus leads them. He leads His sheep where we are designed to be, and as we grow close to the shepherd, we understand that these are the places that our hearts desire to be (v.4).
4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
As Jesus' sheep, we will desire to go with Him and be with Him.
John 10:5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
There are other voices that call to us, but once we have a knowledge of the good shepherd ["they know his voice" v.4. They know that voice because they have spent time hearing it.] once we have a knowledge of the good shepherd and His voice, we know not to follow other false shepherds that attempt to pull us from the closeness we have with and the protection we have under the Good Shepherd.
What are other voices that would draw us away?
- our own inward compulsions (Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life 1 John 2:16); our own desires to do what we want despite what God says
- culture - I think it is pretty obvious that our culture, what the John refers to as the system of this world, or simply "the world," tries daily to pull us away with its philosophies and practices that are clearly not in agreement with the Bible.
- others
- family
- friends
- other relationships
In listening to these voices, we rob ourselves of Psalm 23:1b - I shall not want. All the other voices will leave us wanting more. There is no permanent satisfaction outside of Jesus.
These other voices are also called thieves and robbers (John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber). They mislead us to places where there is no care, comfort, peace, or provision.
So exactly where does Jesus lead us?
Psalm 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Jesus leads us to green pastures.
Typically in Israel there are two rainy seasons a year that would make these pastures grow. Around these pastures, it was dry and arid. The idea is that the Good Shepherd leads us into these pastures away from the dry wastelands where there is want.
From what I have heard, the shepherds would take their sheep to these pastures and just let them stay there for several hours. The sheep were free to eat, drink, and relax in these pastures until the shepherd took them back to the safety of the fold. Note that pastures and waters are both plural. The idea here is that God will consistently take us to refreshment and relaxation. It is not a one time thing. This is a habitual rest for our souls.
Sheep don't need still waters. For a long time I had heard that sheep won't drink out of a stream of running water, but that is not true. They can swim, they don't fear crossing running creeks. But the imagery given to us by still waters is an image of peace and quiet rest. Jesus said to come unto Him all those who are burdened and heavy laden and He will give rest unto your souls.
This is a rest away from all the other voices that are running about. Voices of people that say you need to be more of this and less of that, or start this and stop that.
Those voices are around us constantly telling us what success looks like, what it takes to be a winner, what it looks like to be grown, and it begins to feel crazy and frantic and even like you're lost. Unless we withdraw to a place of rest with our Savior and Shepherd, how can we ever expect to find rest?
Another thing in life besides those thoughts and the voices of culture around us that wears us down is just life itself. All the things we have to do, the responsibilities that we have, the errands, the job, the chores, the projects.
Among all those things we try to see where we can fit Jesus in. But the thing is, Jesus said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." That word added means that it is not the base layer; those things are not the foundation. Some of you need to strip all those things away and build your life upon the foundation that is Jesus, then start adding those things.
"But then I won't be able to fit everything in!" What's more important? Fitting everything in, or spending time following the Shepherd?
The invitation from the Good Shepherd is to follow Him to rest. You might say, "I can't afford rest." I say, "You can't afford not following Jesus."
John 10:7-9 7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
Jesus is the door to that green pasture. You will not find rest in money, relationships, food, work, stuff, binge watching the newest Netflix series, or anything else. The door to rest is Jesus. If your looking to rest by making money, you won't find it. If you're looking to find rest by prioritizing relationships, you won't find it there either. Jesus is the door. Anything or anyone (to include yourself) else that tries to get you to go out their way is a thief and a robber.
God even has something to say about the internal voices that try to take you away, the voices that tell you that you're not good enough, perfect enough, righteous enough to be loved and cared for by the Good Shepherd. We just studied in 1 John 3:20 that even when our own heart turns on us, God is greater and wiser than our hearts, and we can have a restful confidence in Him.
So what happens when we follow the shepherd?
Psalm 23:3
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
We are led to green pastures and still water, but now we see that our soul is restored. That frantic feeling you get when you think you aren't going to make it, that nervousness about all the things that can't possibly get done, that feeling of insufficiency, and the weariness of life, the feeling of being lost and not knowing what step to take next; all that is taken away. In place of it, we find rest for our souls (Matthew 11:29), or as Psalm 23:3 says, we get restored. It is a refreshing of the soul. A strengthening of it. You can focus and be centered, and in that focus on Jesus we can be led by Him in paths of righteousness.
And this isn't talking about merely external righteousness. This isn't about buckling down and grudgingly "doing the right thing." This is about freedom from the inside out. God is not after just moral transformation; He is after transformation of the heart that is rooted in salvation and in His love that then affect the way we behave.
This is what we have been covering more in depth on Wednesdays as we study through the book of 1 John. This is what we have been discussing since July. God wants a close and intimate relationship with His children, with His sheep.
If you are trying to go along the paths of righteousness on your own, you cannot hope to make it far. We must be led by Jesus. And it is all about His goodness, not mine. It is about God's glory, not what others can see of me. This verse end with a phrase that is so important. "For His name's sake." It is all about God; it's all about Jesus. It always has been!
If I am following the path of righteousness for my name's sake, then what happens when I fall? That is when those thoughts of doubt settle in that say I am not good enough; I'm not strong enough; I might as well give up because this is impossible. When all the while it isn't about my goodness or strength or glory; it is about God's goodness and strength and glory.
When I understand that and I fall, then I can get back up, because though others may want to condemn me and though my own heart may want to condemn me, God is greater and by His goodness, for His glory, and in His strength I can get up and continue to follow Him in righteousness. Not because I deserve it, but because He is good!
Invitation: (Eyes closed)
This whole sermon so far has been directed at those that have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It has been for what another psalm calls "the people of His pasture, the sheep of his had." Psalm 23 is a beautiful psalm, but it is not universal. It only applies to those that are born into the family of God. Maybe you are here this morning and you are not sure about your relationship with God. You aren't sure about your salvation or whether you would go to heaven when you die. Today you can be sure.
Would you say by an uplifted hand, "I need to be saved today." Or, "I don't know about my salvation, but I would like to talk to someone."
The only way to that satisfaction and to that rest and to true righteousness is through Jesus. Church membership is good, reading your Bible is good, getting baptized is good, but none of those things will get you to heaven or give you rest. Have you personally and in faith asked Jesus to save you from your sins, believing that only He can fully forgive you?
If not, today you can do that. Please, reach out to myself, my wife, or anybody here at the church after this service. If you ask someone and they don't know what to tell you, they will gladly find someone who can talk to you about this.
There hasn't been much of an application as of yet. We will get into that heavily during life group time, but I hope this has caused you to think on what it means when we read or when we say "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want," as Tahsha sings this song.
For Life Groups
What comes to mind when you think about God as a Shepherd? Intimacy. A Shepherd spent most of every day with his sheep.
As we saw in John 10:3, 4, 27, we should know and be following Jesus' voice. What does it take to know God's voice?
What specific things can you do to ensure you are hearing God's voice daily?
What other voices do you notice call to you? (Make this a very pointed question. Encourage them to share personally relevant answers, not simple generalities.)
Of those voices, which are false shepherds, which ones have the strongest draw on you personally?
How would realizing and understanding that everything and everyone that is not Jesus and is calling you to do things outside of Jesus is a thief and a robber and their goal is to steal, kill, and destroy you (John 10:10) change how you respond to those voices?
Who struggles with following Jesus? Would the understanding that Jesus is the ONLY one who can and wants to give you rest and provision and protection (Psalm 23:1-2, John 10:10b-11) and an abundant life change the way you follow Jesus?
How?
How can you make sure that you can keep this in mind throughout your week?
Psalm 23:3 - We are invited to follow Jesus not just to obtain rest, but to be restored. Suffering, conflict, anger, bitterness, sadness, loss, and disappointment all take their toll. These are heavy burdens to deal with, and when someone goes through these things it is not uncommon to refer to them or us as "broken." Jesus has the ability and the desire to lighten our load and restore our soul.
Another thing that takes a heavy toll and is an uncomfortable burden that we were never meant to carry is the attempt to live righteously in our own strength or for our own recognition. Would anyone like to describe a time when living your life fulfilling a set of rules ever left you tired, burnt out, and frustrated?
Often, we are told "Do the right things, and everything will be alright. Do what is right and God will give you joy." How are these statements misleading? Manipulative?
What brings true joy and an "abundant life" according to John 10:10? Jesus. That is it. Having fellowship with Him brings more joy and peace and fulfilment than we could ever imagine.
