I Shall Not Want: Week Three

Psalm 23:1–6 (ESV)

1  The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2  He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3  He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

How does someone become the kind of friend that you would call the best of friends?

You might be drawn to someone for a variety of—fairly surface-level—reasons.

Maybe they’re charismatic or gregarious.

Maybe they’re really good at a sport you love.

Maybe you share a common interest or hobby.

Maybe they’re just really good looking!

I’m sure none of you are that shallow, but many of us are.

During all that initial activity of meeting and getting to know someone, there’s a subconscious formula that’s going on behind the scenes.

There are unspoken benchmarks that the relationship passes through.

Most of the time, we don’t even recognize it when it’s happening.

But over time, you come to trust that person.

You find yourself calling them a good friend or maybe even a best friend.

You didn’t sign a contract.

You didn’t work out the details of your ongoing relationship with a lawyer.

You just have this peace when you think about them and being around them.

Even in the middle of a really difficult situation, you know they’ve got your back.

Good morning, Church!

If we haven’t met yet, my name is Mike Northrup.

I’m a part of the preaching team here at Broad River Church.

And on behalf of my whole family, we are so happy to be with you this morning.

Welcome Party Announcement

If you’ve been around Broad River Church for a little while now,

and have the sense that you want this to be your church,

or you just want more information about what it looks like to come close to the center of what’s happening at Broad River,

I want to invite you to Welcome Party, next Sunday.

This is a one hour gathering,

right after service,

right across the hall,

with childcare and lunch provided,

and you are welcome!

Make plans to join us as we:

talk about the visions and values of this church

and how you can become a part of it.

Just write Welcome Party on your Connect Card,

register through the Church Center app,

or just stick around after our 9:30 gathering next Sunday.

Today is week three of a series called I Shall Not Want

We’ve been peeling back the onion on one of the most famous parts of the whole Bible.

You’ve already heard it read this morning: Psalm 23.

If you’re using the Bibles we’ve provided, you’ll find it on page 458.

I say peeling back the onion because,

when you hear something as often as many of us have heard Psalm 23, i

t starts to become a little two-dimensional in our minds.

We start to take for granted—

or completely miss—

the poetic imagery,

the metaphors,

the prophetic arrows that point to Jesus.

We’re peeling back the onion on this ancient song written by King David,

and uncovering very real, practical application for our lives.

In week one, we examined verse 1.

My shepherd Yahweh is, so I have need of nothing.

Last week we looked at verses 2-4, where we uncovered that:

God’s plan for you is your complete restoration and fulfillment.

He leads, protects, and corrects you.

If you missed either of those weeks, go check them out online.

Today, we’re moving on to verses 5 and 6.

Let’s read them together:

Psalm 23:5-6 (ESV)

5  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Let’s Pray

Let’s look at Verse 5, together, again

5  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Does this seem like a change of scenery to anyone else?

I mean, we’ve been hearing about sheep in green pastures,

sheep beside still waters,

the shepherd’s rod,

the shepherd’s staff,

but now we’re at a table with a cup.

Some scholars and preachers attempt to sustain the shepherd metaphor.

But to me, it feels like the imagery has shifted.

You prepare a table before me

Here in verse 5, the ancient King David paints a beautiful picture:

The Table suggests the bounty of God’s generosity.

I’m thinking an overflowing cornucopia.

I’m thinking a high-end buffet.

Prepare suggests God’s foresight and care.

This is more than just the essentials of grass and water we saw in verse 2.

The word feast comes to mind.

I’m thinking of how my Auntie Dee would start baking for the family Christmas party a day before anyone arrived.

Before me suggests a personal connection.

In the Old Testament world, to eat and drink at someone’s table created a bond of mutual loyalty.

It often culminated in a covenant—a formal or sacred agreement between two parties.

We see this in Exodus when the elders of Israel beheld God‚ and ate and drank together.

In the New Testament—at the last supper—Jesus shared bread and wine with his disciples and called it “The new covenant in [His] blood.”

The shepherd imagery—

the image of the God who, like a father, tenderly provides and protects those under his care—

has served its purpose.

In it’s place, stands a new metaphor.

God as the generous host.

God as the thoughtful host.

God as the caring host.

God as the loyal friend.

Write this down:

1️⃣ God offers me friendship and loyalty.

God invites you and me:

Not just to be his guest

Not just to be an acquaintance.

He offers us his friendship and his loyalty.

Where does God prepare this table before us?

In the presence of my enemies

Hang on, Lord. What?

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies?

You invite me over for a feast and there’s arrows pointing at me?

When I stood here before you last month,

and we walked through Jonah 2 together,

one of the things I said was that:

A lot of us assume that when we invite God into our lives, we get a smooth ride to our chosen destination.

Real life, walking with Jesus, isn’t like that.

You have a very real enemy in the form of the Devil.

Sometimes—

with your negative self-talk,

and your keen awareness of your failures and shortcomings—

you might be your own worst enemy.

You might even be the office jerk and have people that actually hate you!

When you choose to follow Jesus,

when you choose to take your seat at the table that he’s prepared for you,

God won’t eliminate the presence of your enemies

but he’ll allow you to experience his goodness even in their midst.

God’s peace isn’t just about the end of conflict.

God’s peace carries you through the conflict!

Write this down:

2️⃣ God’s got peace for me in the middle of the chaos.

God’s not deterred by the presence of your enemies.

Nothing is going to keep Him from providing for and protecting the one He calls friend who sits at His table.

We can be confident of God’s friendship and loyalty towards us:

in moments of tranquility,

and when we’re being pressed by our enemies.

Charles Spurgeon put it like this:

“Nothing is hurried, there is no confusion, no disturbance, the enemy is at the door and yet God prepares a table, and the Christian sits down and eats as if everything were in perfect peace.”

You anoint my head with oil

Anointing was an ancient custom in Israel, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and other parts of the world.

They’d take olive oil, mixed with fragrant and costly spices, and pore it over the head, hands, or feet.

Human anointing was common for three reasons:

To coronate a king or queen.

To install a high priest.

Or as an act of courtesy and hospitality towards a guest.

We also know that shepherds anointed the heads of their sheep for two reasons:

To heal wounds.

To keep bugs and ticks of their ears and eyes.

Now, I could do a whole sermon on that called What’s Bugging You or What’s Got You Ticked Off, but that’ll have to wait for another day.

What we also know about oil from scripture is that it’s often used as a symbol for the Holy Spirit.

Just as the oil was used to heal the wounds of the sheep, the Holy Spirit wants to bring you healing.

Just as the oil was used to call out men and women to a higher purpose, the Holy Spirit wants to lead you to your purpose in him.

So write this down:

3️⃣ God pours out healing and purpose for me.

Let’s keep reading:

My cup overflows

In the early 1800s in a book called Oriental Customs, a Captain Wilson wrote:

“I once had this ceremony performed on me in the house of a great and rich Indian, in the presence of a large company. The gentleman of the house poured upon my hands and arms a delightful odoriferous perfume, put a golden cup into my hands, and poured wine into it until it ran over. Assuring me at the same time that it was a great pleasure to him to receive me, and that I should find a rich supply of my needs in his house.”

If you’ve got your Bible with you today, I want you to draw a line between the words my cup overflows here in verse five and connect it to the words I shall not want in verse one.

Do you see the connection?

Write this down:

4️⃣ God’s provision for me is more than enough.

My shepherd Yahweh is, so I have need of nothing.

Are you seeing this?

Verse Two: He provides for my physical needs.

Verse Three: He provides for my spiritual needs.

Verse Four: He protects me.

Verse Five: He’s my loyal friend.

He gives me peace.

He pours out healing and purpose for me.

He has more than covered the bases and my cup overflows.

God’s provision for me is more than enough.

Let’s move on to verse 6.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life

Allow me for a moment to nerd out.

For those of you who don’t know, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Greek.

Now, I can’t speak or read Hebrew or Greek.

And as some of you have sadly come to find out, I don’t speak or read Spanish either.

In fact, I can’t speak or read French all that well, and I took three years of it!

What I can do, though, it use my fancy-pants Bible software to dig into to Hebrew and Greek, because, despite my inability to learn a second language, I love nerding out on languages, especially if it helps us understand the Bible better.

The Hebrew word that is translated Mercy is pronounced kheh·sed and is used 245 times in the Old Testament.

It’s only translated Mercy twice, though.

198 times it is translated as love or steadfast love.

The Hebrew word that is translated Follow is pronounced raw·daf and is used 142 times in the Old Testament.

It’s only translated Follow eight, though.

114 times it is translated as pursue or chase.

So a better translation would actually be:

Surely goodness and steadfast love shall pursue me all the days of my life.

Write this down:

5️⃣ God’s love won’t stop pursuing me.

Someone needs to hear this today:

God in his goodness and love has been chasing after you all your life!

I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever

Dwell is another problematic word, here, because the Hebrew word shoob is almost always translated Return or Turn.

Do you remember our Jonah series?

Remember what Jonah did we he was in the belly of the great fish?

He turned and looked towards the hotspot of God’s presence at that time.

The Temple.

The House of the Lord.

Where is the hotspot of God’s presence now?

It’s Jesus!

If Dwell is a mistranslation and Return is better, this should read:

I shall return to the house of the Lord forever.

Write this down:

6️⃣ God’s table is always open and available to me.

If you follow Jesus:

God’s friendship and loyalty

God’s peace

God’s healing and purpose

God’s more-than-enough provision

God’s pursuing love

It’s always open and available to you.

If you’re not sure about Jesus yet,

if you’re still checking church out,

that’s okay.

This is a place that you can belong even before you believe,

but this word applies to you today, too:

God is ready to call you friend

He’s ready to pour out his peace on you

He wants to heal you

He wants to help you discover you purpose

His love won’t stop pursuing you

and you can take a seat at the table today.

Salvation Invitation

‌If you’re here today and you’d say

“Mike, I’m ready to take my seat at the table. I’m ready to follow Jesus.”

or maybe you’d say “I left my seat empty a long time ago, but I hear you saying that God is open and available to me now and I want to put my faith back in him today.”

If that’s you, with every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to invite you to raise your hand so I know with whom I’m praying with.

Salvation Prayer

If you raised your hand, I want to invite you to repeat this simple prayer with me.

Broad River Church, no one prays alone here. Join with us:

Lord Jesus, Thank you for coming for me. Thank you for dying for me. Thank you for your resurrection. And the new life I have in you. Now I give you my heart. Forgive me of my sins. I want to follow you. All of my days. In Jesus’ name. Amen.