The Lord Is My Shepherd pt.2
Notes
Transcript
Anybody here ever been scared of the dark? Anyone here still scared of the dark? I used to be scared of the dark until my older brother convinced me that the dark could not harm me. I realized the logic of that statement, and for a few minutes, I was no longer scared of the dark. But then another logical conclusion hit my mind at the age of four, the dark couldn't hurt me, but it could hide all sorts of things that could hurt me! And so, my fear of the dark was replaced by my ever growing imagination of what could be in the dark.
I shared this with those that were here on Wednesday, so don't spoil it for those who haven't heard it yet.
Last Tuesday I was up here in my office and it was getting a little late. Tahsha had been running some errands, or something like that, and she needed to do one more. She came to the church to pick me up and sent me this message: I am here, please hurry. So I turned off my laptop, grabbed some things and hurried out of the office. As I came downstairs I was turning off lights, and when I got to the section outside of Mrs. Laretta's office, I turned off her light and realized everything was really dark. But I was in a hurry and continued at a light jog into the darkness and right into the column that sets in the middle of that area. I hit that thing square in the face! My glasses went flying, the inside of my top lip was scraped and bleeding a bit, and for a little while, I was wondering if I had damaged one of my front teeth. Needles to say, I got out my phone, turned on the flashlight, and went the rest of the way out of the building using the light of my phone to guide the way.
Fast forward to Friday night. I had come up here pretty late to do do some more prep for today, and when I decided to leave it was again dark. I turned everything off, and as I left the office and started turning off lights, I walked down the stairs and into the area where I had hit my face just 3 nights before. The lights were already off there and it was pitch black. And guess what I did? NO! I did NOT run in the dark again, how dumb do you think I am? Don't answer that... I turned my flashlight on (cause I was scared to try walking in the dark again) and walked safely to my van and went home.
September 11, 2001 is a day that many of us can remember. If there was ever a time that we as a nation walked in the valley of the shadow of death, that was it. Attendance was up in churches over the next couple of months, and even of those that did not go to church, almost 90% said they turned to prayer as a way to cope with the fear, loss, and uncertainty that followed the September 11th terrorist attacks.
This morning we will continue our study in Psalm 23 as we look at the final 3 verses. But let us all together read the whole psalm to start off with.
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.
So we open up today's message with verse 4:
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.
The valley of the shadow of death - dark moments of the soul
I urge you to remember the man that David, the man who God used to write this psalm, was very acquainted with this valley of the shadow of death. And if we live long enough, we will also become acquainted with these valleys.
As David gets to this part of the psalm he says "Even though..." Not, "If and when." He knows, because life has taught him well, that he will again revisit the valley of the shadow of death. It is a certainty that we will go through dark moments of the soul when we feel sad, lonely, attacked, helpless, and lost. But David doesn't stop there.
Notice that David says "Even though I walk through..." The thing to note here is that David is saying that even though God in His wisdom and in His plan has no intention of rescuing me from this valley, of pulling me out of this valley, fear is unnecessary. We have studied and I have preached about times where Jesus rescued His disciples by calming storms. We here stories like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into a fiery furnace and God making them impervious to the flames and smoke, or Daniel being thrown to the lions and God shutting up their mouths. We like those stories, but those are many times the exception. Miraculously being pulled out of trying and dark times is the exception. More often than not, I believe, God allows us to go all the way through a trial. But even then, the Lord is my shepherd. The thing is, these dark, heavy, and trying times are coming, whether you know Jesus as your shepherd or not. The psalmist says here in verse 4 that when these times come, he has no reason to fear because God is with him.
Last week we focused on a couple things about the shepherd in this psalm. We saw that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Jesus Christ is the shepherd in this psalm. We focused on two things that this shepherd does throughout the first three verses: He Satisfies and He Leads.
We studied that as we spend more and more time with the Good Shepherd, we are able to more easily recognize His voice. He calls to us, He leads us to green pastures, still waters, and along paths of righteousness for His name's sake. As we follow Him, He restores our weary souls and grants us a rest and satisfaction that can only come through Him.
Those are nice images. They lead to feelings of peace and tranquility as we think about it, but to say that life after becoming a Christian is all rainbows and butterflies would be an outright lie. So I am glad that David includes verse 4 in this psalm.
The Valley
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. There is a definite change of scenery here. David is no longer in green pastures. He is no longer resting near still waters. The relaxed atmosphere in verse 2 has changed dramatically here in verse 4.
Now we enter a dark valley. A place where sunlight does not reach and grass is not plentiful. The shadows hide unknown predators waiting for the right moment to pounce.
But though the scenery, the surroundings, and the situation have all changed, there is something that remains the same: THE SHEPHERD IS STILL THERE. THOU ART WITH ME.
THOU ART WITH ME.
This is the principle that we will focus on today. The Lord is my shepherd - He Is With Me.
Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be born and He would be called Immanuel, or God with us. When Gabriel announced to Joseph that Mary was to give birth to the Messiah, he told Joseph to name the baby Jesus and that he would be called Emmanuel. The first thing about Jesus we need to know is that He is God and came to be with us.
David understood the presence of God in his life. He was not a prefect man by any stretch of the imagination, but David did pursue his relationship with God.
David understood that throughout these dark valleys, where there was little or no sustenance to be found, where predators would abound, where he couldn't make out the path, he had no reason to fear.
This is not a message that says we should enjoy the valley, but it is a message that conveys that we can be confident in the valley, we do not fear what is in there because we know that even though we may not see what is coming, God sees it, He is with us, and He is under control.
This reminds me of a scene in the movie The Lion King. Simba, a young lion cub heir to the kingdom, is told by his father, Mufasa, that he is not to go into a region called the Shadowlands. It is off limits. There in this shadowy land are hyenas that would love to rip young Simba to shreds. Of course, Simba heeds the voice of his curiosity and along with a friend, goes into this region. As they explore an elephant graveyard, they are surrounded by hungry hyenas. Just when all hope seems lost and looks as though Simba is about to become hyena lunch, Mufasa enters the scene with a mighty roar and fights off the hyenas who scamper away, powerless against such a mighty foe. Simba and his friend are rescued and escorted to safety in the presence of the mighty Mufasa.
That is the picture I have in my head when I read this verse. Going into this valley, there is nothing to be afraid of. It may be dark and desolate, I may not see the light at the end, but it is OK because I have the shepherd with me.
He is with His sheep in every valley and no matter what happens, He cares for us. 1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
But let's say I go into this valley as I follow the other voices. Remember, last week as we compared Psalm 23 with John 10 we read about other voices, strangers, thieves, and robbers that try to get us to follow them. They have no good intentions for us. These strangers are our own desires that conflict with where the Good Shepherd wants to lead us, culture, and relationships. If I allow these strangers to guide me instead of the Good Shepherd, when it comes a time when I find myself in a valley of the shadow of death, surrounded by enemies, surrounded by predators, these voices, or hirelings as John calls them, will flee.
John 10:11-13 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13 -- The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
If we are not with Jesus as we enter the valley of the shadow of death then there is reason to fear. Because let's say you entering this valley as you are following money and material possessions, what is going to happen when those things can't get you out of the valley?
See, no amount of money in the world can buy back your health or the life of a loved one. The fulfilment you thought you had vanishes.
If you built your life around being healthy, what is going to happen when troubled times come and no matter how healthy you have kept yourself, the diagnosis from the scans says you have cancer.
What happens when the social circle that you have invested the time and effort to build collapses?
What happens if something comes along that prevents you ever from working at your career that you have so carefully and meticulously planned out. You've spent the overtime hours trying to find fulfillment in your job, building a career, sacrificing everything else on the altar of work and now, because of some accident, because of the companies mismanagement, it all comes crashing down, and you are left with with nothing. You look around and you find yourself in a valley of despair, the shadow of death looming over you.
But we don't have to worry about any of that when the Good Shepherd is with us. See David continues this verse, I will fear no evil for thou are with me... and he mentions two things that none of these other hirelings, robbers, thieves, or strangers have: a rod and a staff.
Rod - Small club to defend the sheep
Staff - The long staff used to guide the sheep
(These were NOT used to break a sheep's legs.)
When you find yourself smack dab in the middle of a dark valley, where do you run?
Alcohol, food, pornography, bad relationships, shopping, video games? If you are running to anything else than Jesus, you are going to be awful lonely in that valley, because nothing else can protect and guide you like Jesus. In these times, when it is not peaceful and quiet (v2), is He still your shepherd?
Do you realize that one of the purposes that Jesus came was so that He could be called Emmanuel, God with us? He desperately wants to be with you, and we desperately need to walk alongside Him.
We continue into the next verse.
Life Groups:
- What comes to mind when you hear the phrase "valley of the shadow of death"?
- What experiences do you have or have witnessed in others that would fit what that phrase suggests?
- If Psalm 23:4 paints an accurate view of reality, do you believe Christians have a good understanding of what the Bible teaches about suffering? Why or Why Not?
2 Cor. 12:7-10 is an example of Paul understanding the purposes of suffering. It produces humility as we realize we have no control over it, it produces (should produce) dependency on Jesus, it brings us closer to God, and it showcases His strength and grace.
- Based on the following verses, John 16:32-33; Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2-4, does suffering seem to be an optional experience for Christians in this world?
- In what ways should your faith in Christ be strengthened by the truth that the creator of the world cares for you?
- How does God's presence remove the fear of evil?
11SEP22@GNBC
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Welcome back to Psalm 23 part 3, or in reality: Psalm 23 part 2, part 2.
We have been studying about the Lord, Jesus Christ, as our Good Shepherd. David wrote this amazing psalm describing God's provision and protection. As we looked at verse1, we studied that Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd in John 10. We noticed similarities from Psalm 23 & John 10, namely that the Shepherd provides, cares for, and leads the sheep. Though I did not specifically mention it this way, can anyone tell me the primary way that the Shepherd leads His sleep? His voice.
We saw that there are other voices that try to lead us astray and away from the provision & protection that only the Good Stepherd, Jesus, can give us.
We discussed three; can anyone tell me what they are?
- Self: desires, goals, etc.
- Culture
- Relationships
These voices are tempting, but we must understand that they are all theives, robbers, & strangers.
John 10:10 is very clear that their purpose is to steal, kill, & destroy.
However, the Good Shepherd has come to give life in abundance.
Last week we studied through Psalm 23:4, and we came to the realization that life has dark times. We also read that the Good Shepherd knows the way through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and that as long as we follow His voice there is no need to fear, for He is with us.
His presence alone is enough, but He shoulders our fear and our burden.
As if that were not enough, He provides protection with His rod and guidance with his staff.
Jesus is the only shepherd that does this, every then voice that tries to lead you will and up abandoning you as soon as enemies show up or the valley begins to darken.
This is the comfort of the presence of God with us.
So, those strangers and theives who have very convincing voices sometimes, are actually predators. Jesus wants to protect us from them.
And today we go even deeper than that as we finish off with verses 5 & 6.
Let's read Psalm 23 for the beginning, all together as we have in previous weeks, but this time we are going to immediately add John 10:10 to the and and read that as well. If you're worried about your flipping speed, feel free to follow along with the screen as we read.
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.
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
If you are of the practice of writing notes in your Bible and have not done so already, I encourage you to write beside the beginning of Psalm 23, John 10.
And right beside verse 5, John 10:10.
Let's take a look at Psalm 23:5 -
Psalm 23:5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
As we come into this verse, remember where we have just been: the valley of the shadow of death, surrounded by darkness, evil, and predators.
Now we find ourselves at a table.
The Table
Ever since I was a kid, I have had a picture in my head every time I read this verse. It is a picture of a banquet table in the middle of a battlefield. Arrows and spears flying everywhere, but there seems to be a bubble of tranquility surrounding this table. A soldier, dirty, tired, and bloodied by battle is sitting at the table just chowing down as the host continues to fill his plate and his cup. All the enemies observe in awe that at a time when he should have his guard up, he is sitting down eating and drinking.
This is reminiscent of V.3 when David says "He restores my soul." This feast that David is alluding to is one of those feasts that would last for days.
Not only that, it is not a private feast, it is a public feast. After the dark night of the soul (v4), God prepares a feast in front of the enemies and the predators that aimed to cause so much fear and uncertainty and damage.
But the fact that it is a public feast also means this: God is unashamed of who we are. WOW!!! Any of you parents ever been embarrassed by your kids? Any teens ever been embarrassed by your parents? Sometimes you don't even want to admit that they are your kids or parents, right? But hopefully you do...
But isn't it amazing that Jesus not only calls us His own (at least four times in John 10 Jesus calls those that have believed in Him "my sheep" and makes statements that He knows His sheep).
He, in Psalm 23:5 is making it clear not just to us, but to everyone watching, that we are His, and He prepares this table for us.
The tendency may be to read through this part quickly, but I beg you not to skip over those part! And since your listening to this sermon, unless you completely ignore this part, you don't have much of a choice today!🙂
This is a table that is prepared for just two. It's a sit down meal. But to often we are in too mich if a hurry or too anxious to sit and eat. We are satisfied with grabbing a bite or two as we stand amd rush off to do our thing or fight our battle. The thing is, all around this table are enemies. All around this table are predators. And if God is calling you to intimate relationship with Him in the presence of all these things.
He didn't set this table in the green pastures.
He didn't prepare this table by the still waters. He prepares it when it is hardest for us to actually sit and feast.
It's easy to relax in the pasture by the still waters. It is natural to not have a care in the world when things are going well.
But when I am anxious. When the voices of self-deprication, or depression, or the insults and lies that others hurl at us, or the voice of culture that says you should be preparing your own table, or what ever other voice is out there. Those voices make it hard to sit with my Shepherd. So thatbis when Jesus says, "Come, sit, relax, eat, drink, and enjoy my presence. I've prepared this table with you in mind." We are accepted, we are made once again to be restored and leave our anxiety.
Anointed With Oil
But not only are we accepted at this table and at this feast, notice that those that belong to this Shepherd are marked as the guests of honor; once again, in public view of everyone.
He anoints us with oil. This is to show that we aren't just some random person invited to the feast, but the person that was anointed with oil by the host was the guest of honor. We are a prized relationship.
Let's not jump past this quickly, let's park it here for a second. If you are saved and you are one of the Jesus' sheep, God doesn't just tolerate you. He LOVES you!!
You don't exhaust Him or disappoint Him; He wishes to show the world that you are a prized relationship.
My Cup Runs Over
Look what else He does: He thrusts a cup into your hand and He begins to pour into it until it is overflowing. This is a symbol of His love and grace and mercy and goodness. He delights in you. One of the places that we see this most clearly is in the parable of the prodigal son. Luke 15.
The son who has wasted all after grievously insulting his father, comes back, not out of repentance so mush as out of desperation, but the father is waiting. I think this parable depicts a father that knows his son is going to mess up royally and have to come back. And when He does, he doesn't wait at the door with an "I told you so" ready to fly, instead he runs to his son, as soon as he sees him, and throws himself on him and begins to kiss him and embrace him.
What happens next? The father dresses his son, elevates his status from a servant to a household member by putting shoes on his feet, elevates his status even more by giving him authority in the house (symbolized by the ring), and then what? He throws a party! He kills the fatted calf. The calf that was being saved for just the right person to arrive.
In fact, I wonder how many worthy visitors this father had while he waited for his son to come back. How many times did the servants say, "So-and-so or such-and-such is coming for dinner, should we kill the fatted calf?"
Really, as I prepared for todays sermon, I wondered for the first time how many times the father went out to check on the prized calf, as he thought to himself that this was going to be saved for the day his son came home.
Listen, you can't earn God's love! You will wear yourself out trying to earn God's love and favor. He has already bestowed it, and continues to do so. So much that you can't possibly contain it.
We saw in V3 that it is for His name's sake and it is as we walk with Him that we find righteousness. Too often we depend on our goodness to please God, when He just is pouring out His goodness and mercy and chasing us down with it.
Goodness and Mercy Shall Follw Me
Psalm 23:6 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.
This is a beautiful verse. The song Goodness of God has apart in it that says, "Your goodness is running after, it's running after me."
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me- God chases those that belong to Him, not with vengeance and judgment, He chases us with goodness and mercy. Sometimes the goodness of God presents itself in discipline, but we must understand that it is goodness.
In the context of the imagery of Jesus being our Good Shepherd, I can imagine a poor sheep running after some other voice, or straying off to some other place that is not the green pasture, or perhaps trying to run scared through the dangerous valley of the shadow of death; and I see in my mind the shepherd running after it. Calling after the sheep. And the more the shepherd calls, the more the sheep runs to the places, the voices, and the directions that will end up hurting it.
Anyone here ever had a dog slip out of its leash or sneak out of the yard? And not that it was a bad dog, but it was just eager to go and explore on its own. Sometimes it seems that the more you call after it, the further away it runs, the more you chase it, the more the dog avoids you. But you chase it, and you call it because you know that it could very well run into a busy road, or fall in a ditch, or get into a fight with a bigger dog. The dog thinks it's finally free, but it has put itself in grave danger. Out of goodness and mercy, you run after it, and when you finally catch it, you love on it.
We do the same thing. There we are: saved sheep of Jesus' flock. When all of a sudden, we hear a voice that seems rather enticing, and off we go!
Maybe it's another scenario. Maybe as we are being led to the green pastures and still waters, we see something else that seems like it will satisfy more.
My son, Ian, has a sulcata tortoise. It is small right now, but it will eventually grow to be around 80 or 90 pounds. Sulcatas grow to be the third largest tortoise in the world! But sulcatas are very curious. They like bright and shiny objects. Years ago as I did research before we bought this kind of pet, I was reading a blog about a man that had raised a sulcata. This tortoise got so big that the man built an enclosure for it in the backyard. One day while the owner was gone to work, the tortoise noticed a shiny spec on a column inside the man's house. The tortoise rammed the fencing of his enclosure until it gave way, crawled up the stairs to the back patio, broke the sliding glass door and by the time the owner arrived at home, the tortoise was head-butting and biting at the column trying to get to the shiny spec to a point where he had bloody scrapes on its head.
The owner did not chip the speck out and give it to the tortoise, that would have harmed it. What he did instead was to put the tortoise outside and repair the enclosure.
Sometimes you an I do that though. God sets boundaries and tries to lead us places, but off we go trying to get something or someone that will ultimately harm us.
Or possibly, we are running scared. Instead of sticking with the shepherd through the dark valley of our life, we are running, franticly trying to exit the dark valley on our own.
So what does the shepherd do? He runs after us. He calls us and relentlessly pursues after us. And like that dog that has slipped his leash, we hear Him call and see Him chase and we run even farther and faster, thinking that if we give in, then we will live miserable or boring lives. Not knowing that Jesus is chasing us with goodness and mercy.
I do not know where this idea of "If I just do what God wants of me, my life is going to be boring, or my life will be miserable."
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
It is the thief that will lead you to misery; the shepherd will give you an abundant life. And this is not talking about heaven. It is talking about now!
It is when you finally surrender, when you finally stop running, when you finally turn to face the shepherd's voice, you will see that He has goodness and mercy with Him.
Dwelling With Him Forever
We saw the principle in verse 4 in the middle of dark times, but now we see it again in this verse. The principle is GOD WITH US. This is the story of the Bible. Genesis starts with the creation, and we see that He walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. He was with them! Then sin entered into the world through Adam, and man was separated from God.
The rest of the story of the Bible is God preparing the way for Jesus so that He could once again be called GOD WITH US. The story of the Old Testament is about how Emmanuel was going to come. The story of the New Testament is about the change brought about when Jesus became the way to have God once again with us.
I like that David closes with this principle, God with us. But the focus is a little different. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever is more Us with God. This is NOT only future tense. It is present tense. If you are saved you can know that God dwells within you and you have full access to Him. So you can dwell with Him, as closely as you would like.
These last two verses have really highlighted how we, as Christians, are to thrive. So often we go through life merely surviving, but in Christ, with close fellowship with Him, we thrive.
It makes no difference is He's prepared a table for me if I am not willing to go and sit at it. It makes no impact in my life if He is wants to dwell with me if I don't want to abide with Him. We become like the prodigal son, having a father that loves us, a home, provision, protection, support, calm, safety, but we run away to a far land because we think there are greener pastures.
And when we realize we aren't satisfied the way we thought we would be. When realize it has all been a scam, so often we have the audacity to blame the Father, instead of run to the Father.
Or, we look at the Shepherd and realizes that He is running after us, but we get scared and try to run further away, not realizing that He is coming at us with goodness and mercy.
Invitation:
Where are you today? Can you truly say that you are following the Shepherd?
Are you seated at the table?
Are you dwelling with Him?
If today you are feeling unworthy and unaccepted and worried that you can't measure up, understand that if you are a child of God, if you are saved, you have a place at the table as a guest of honor. God cherishes your relationship with Him.
Just go back, stop running away. He's got nothing but goodness and mercy for you.
Can you honestly say that you are dwelling with Him every day? Are you abiding in Him?
Are you saved? If not, you are not part of His flock of sheep. But you can be today.
Sing Goodness of God as congregation.
