The Sheep

Inside out 2 trailer

Has anyone seen inside out 2 yet? If you haven’t basically the premise of the movie is about a girl named Riley,

And inside Riley are these core emotions of joy, sadness, anger, fear and disgust.

And up until now joy has been the one who has mainly ran Riley, but now Riley is becoming a teenager, all of these new emotions are coming and now instead of joy being the main emotion running Riley, there is a new emotion that is taking over called anxiety.

And basically anxiety has kicked out joy, and it gets to a point in the movie where Joy looks at the other emotions says this line:

“I dont know how to stop anxiety, maybe we cant, maybe this is what happens when you grow up, you feel less joy.”

I don’t know every persons story here, but I imagine that every single one of us has had a time where it feels like joy in our life is long gone, and has now been replaced with other things.

And if I had to guess there are some of us going through things right now, where its been days, week, and months and there has been very little joy, or peace or really anything positive.

And today we are in a psalm 23 and this might sound a little familiar because I used it at the start of the service last week,

But what I love about this psalm (and this is my prayer for us this morning) is that it breaks into the places of anxiety, fear, and uneasiness that we feel in life, and it gives us peace.

In fact I love what I heard about another Pastor who spoke on this psalm.

He said this psalm is the psalm that Christian Marters would recite as they faced unimaginable persecution

This is thee psalm Abraham Licoin recited during his depression in the civil war

and even in recent history it was the psalm that George bush addressed the nation with on 9/11

And so lets dive into psalm 23 and we will be dividing this passage into three sections: the pasture, the valley, and the shepherds house.

And so we will start in verses 1-3. It says this:

Psalm 23:1–3 (NIV)

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

for his name’s sake.

So you will notice before anything this psalm refers to us as the sheep and God as the shepherd.

and you might know this but sheep our very dependent on the Shepherd.

In fact if you look up should I buy sheep? It says make sure you have a lot of quality time to spend with your sheep, because they need a ton.

And so David starts out this Psalm saying the “Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing”

I love this because David is not going, the lord is my shepherd and I am stuck with Him,

But He says the Lord, Is my shepherd, and he is the best shepherd.

I heard this from another Pastor, but Its kind of like how there are people that own dogs, and there are some that take normal care of their dog right?

I mean they treat them like dogs, and then there is a few levels up where these dogs are spoiled.

The dog sleeps in their bed, they buy outfits for their dog, they make them food instead of just buying the regular dog food.

And what I want us to get is that God is not the shepherd that goes, they are sheep, ill treat them like sheep,

But he is the shepherd that goes all out,

And this is why David goes “I lack nothing”

In fact other translations say I shall not want,

Meaning before anything David in building this foundation of God is so good, and is with me so much that him and him alone, is all I need.

And this is not taking away from our situation, but its putting our focus on God.

Because verses 2 and 3 that we read tell us God is leading us along green pastures, he takes us to still waters, He guides us,

I remember when I was in Africa a few years ago, we went on a Safari, and they give every group a guide, because first off they know the best way to make sure you do not get eaten, but secondly they know the best places to find animals.

And in a way we have a God is is guiding us on the best path and he leads us away from things that are harmful to ourselves and others and leads us to places of beauty.

And lets look at the next part in verse 4 because the tone shifts a little bit. It says this:

Psalm 23:4 NIV

4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

So this is a little odd, because I just said God guides us to these beautiful life giving places right?

And then it says Even though I walk through the darkest valley, some translations say the valley of death,

And you go why am I here?

And there are two parts of this, the first is one that I mention a lot. We live in a fallen world.

Things are not how God desires them, there is brokeness, pain, heartache, sickness, drama, and its because our world is broken.

If you have anything with a motor you know that the smallest thing can cause the biggest issue.

last year the church tractor wasn’t starting up and there wass this tiny little circle thing that got stuck in the fuel line.

The smallest thing, causing a huge issue.

And when sin entered our world we see it doing that, because things aare not running how God has created them to run

But the beautful part is the shephard is navigating us through these broken places.

And I love this part becaause in Biblical times when it got hot, the shephards would take their sheep in the valleys becaause it was cooler they would get to water, and pastures that were not scortched.

But the sheep would be terrified, because they had bad eye sight and this would have been scary.

But here is the author of this psalm is going I am scared to death, but even in the darkest valley I will follow my shepherd because I trust Him.

The guy that wrote this was King David and they do not know exactly when he wrote this during his life, but if don’t know Davids story,

Before he was a king he was a shepherd and a prophet annointed him the next king, and when the king discovered this he wanted to end Davids life

And so literally there were points where an army was hunting down David as He hid in a cave.

And even later in David life one of his songs tried to take the kingdom from him and essentually led a civil war

and the list could keep going.

But its out of these places that David goes “I will fear no evil, because the Lord is my shepherd.”

I dont know about you guys but I have not had an army try to hunt me down in awhile,

But there are things in life that in my head its probably been close to as stressed.

Because I relate to the sheep, sometimes I can’t see whats next super well,

I am not sure how to navigate it, I jump at every noise or little thing that happens

But the beautiful part is David goes God is with me, so what am I afraid of?

Its amazing what happens when we keep our eyes fixed on the shephard, because we feel unsure, but he knows exactly where He is leading us.

And even when we feel like we are in the valley of death, we have a shepherd that goes with us.

Lets look at this last section, because Davids been in the pasture, the valley and now He goes to His masters house.

And you might notice they this Psalm in the middle of the last verse shifted from a poem to a prayer, because he was saying “The Lord is my Shephard” to know where He is going “you… (Fill in the blank)” as if he is now talking with God.

Look at verses 5 and 6 because he comes out of the sheep metaphor and is talking with God. It says this:

Psalm 23:5–6 NIV

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

I want you to notice because David is going God these conditions are not good.

in fact I am surrounded by my enemies but he goes you prepare a table in the middle of me being surrounded by enemeies.

you annoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

And really he is talking about the hospitality of God, that He is a good host,

in fact in Biblical times when someone would have a long journey part of what someone would do is take them in, clean them up, annoint their head and give them a drink.

And they are going God is doing where even when we have the worse day of our life, even when we are in the valley of death surrounded by people who want to harm us,

He here and is ready to have us sit with Him.

And if we look at the charecter of God when we come to his table their are times

that God weeps with us,

There are times where he has anger over whats happened

He is always listening

And always with us

And by sitting at the table he is going I aam with you.

In fact in verse 6 if you look at the original language there is a little bit of reflection happeing her , because David goes

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.

David is looking back and going God has been faithful and He is looking at the rest of his life and going if God was faithful when this happened he is going to be faithful in this situation.

You know this morning as we get ready to close I think I am a person that needs this reminder, because I am a sheep, and I am not always the brightest sheep either.

But I have a really good shepherd who meets me in the middle of those really tough places.

And that gives a lot of peace.

And as we close I want to finish because one reaction when a sheep get scared is they run

And when a sheep runs they do this thing where once they get tired they lay down and what happens is they will occasionally tip over and get stuck on their back (show picture) And whiles its cute this is actually very dangerous.

because the when a sheep is like this, they are exposed to preditars, and not just that but if they are like this to long gasses begin to build in their abdomin and it starts to cut off circulation

And unless a shepherd comes by the sheep will most likely die.

And I dont know about you but the theme of todays message is “I am a sheep” because in life it gets that way

And when a sheperd would find a sheep like that he would restore it back onto its feet.

Whether the its the sheeps fault or somthing happened where the sheep got their on its own.

This morning do you need to be restored like how verse 3 God restores David.

What does it look like to sit at his table, to experience His peace, His joy and to be revived by His word, even in the middle of life.

Will you pray with me?

As I pray pray the psalm

Psalm 23:1–6 NIV

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, 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 your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.