Psalm 23 - Our Shepherd's Personal Care
Notes
Transcript
Pray
Pray
Father, thank you for your Word.
We know that you will not let it return to you void, so we ask that you would use it and the power of your Spirit to change us into the likeness of your Son.
As we move to the preaching of your Word, I pray that you would do this even more, and use me to glorify your name as we hear the glory of Christ proclaimed.
I am unable to do this on my own, Lord.
I am unable to change anyone’s heart, least of all my own.
So, I pray that you would do a work among us today.
I pray that you would show us our need for you and how you have perfectly met that need in Christ.
We ask this in his holy name. Amen.
Intro
Intro
Have you ever considered how much we need the personal care of Jesus in our lives?
We are going to be looking at Psalm 23 today, a Psalm that probably most of us are familiar with.
Regardless of our familiarity, I am going to read through this Psalm to refresh our memories, a Psalm that’s all about our Shepherd’s personal care for us.
A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
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.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
To the Jews coming out of exile, this psalm would be a reminder of God’s personal care for them throughout exile.
It would also be a hopeful promise of the coming Messiah who would lovingly shepherd his people.
We read earlier what Jesus said in John 10:1-18, that he is the door of the sheep and the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.
The Lord in Psalm 23 who is the shepherd, is Jesus.
Now, I have absolutely zero experience caring for sheep...
but I understand that there are some similarities between sheep and people when it comes to spiritual things.
For instance, sheep are really dumb…
I mean REALLY dumb.
I won’t get into all the different ways that sheep are dumb, but they basically have no sense of self-preservation.
There are countless stories of sheep getting themselves into trouble, and the only reason they haven’t gone extinct is because they have a shepherd caring for them.
Likewise, spiritually, we run headlong into sin.
And we would have no sense of spiritual self-preservation without the Holy Spirit working in our hearts.
We would not survive were it not for the spiritual care Jesus gives to us.
Nor would we survive without his physical care for our needs.
His care is NOT simply a general goodwill toward all of mankind to be accessed at our whim, like a vending machine.
This is not what the Bible teaches, it’s not what is revealed in Psalm 23.
His care is also NOT some distant provision set up at the creation of the world working out like a clockwork machine.
Again, this is not what we read in the Bible.
Jesus’ care of his people is personal and intimate as we are going to see in Psalm 23.
This Psalm shows us three ways that Jesus, as our shepherd, personally cares for us.
He cares for us as our provider, our protector, and our peacemaker.
The first way that this Psalm shows Jesus’ personal care for us is as our...
I. Provider (1-3)
I. Provider (1-3)
He provides everything that we need.
David says in verses 1-3,
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
The very first phrase that we are met with in this psalm is that Jesus, the Lord, Yahweh himself, is our shepherd.
David wrote this in a way that emphasizes God’s intimate relationship with him instead of a broad or abstract relationship.
He didn’t write, The Lord is everyone’s shepherd, and he didn’t write, The Lord is Israel’s shepherd or the shepherd of the elect.
He wrote, “The Lord is MY shepherd.”
At the end of the day all that matters is that you understand that the Lord Jesus is YOUR shepherd.
Is that true of you right now?
Can you legitimately say, “The Lord is MY shepherd?”
I think many of us, including myself, try to be our own shepherd all too often.
But if you’re saved, then he IS your shepherd whether you act like it or not.
Well, David was so excited that the Lord was his personal shepherd that he goes on to explain what it means that the Lord is HIS shepherd.
He says that because the Lord is his shepherd, he shall not want.
The fact that the Lord is his shepherd means that he will have no lack of anything that he needs.
The same is true for us as well.
Think about it...
The sovereign ruler and creator of everything has taken it upon himself to care for your every need.
Wow.
This begs the question, “what exactly do you need?”
Do you need a six-figure income?
Do you need financial stability, and to pay off your debts?
Do you need a new vehicle, or even just a reliable vehicle?
Do you need the newest tech gadget?
Do you need a safe and secure neighborhood to live in?
Do you need to get into a particular school?
Do you need that promotion at work?
Do you need that business deal to work out?
Do you need a shoulder to cry on?
Do you need someone to sympathize with you through sleepless nights?
Do you need to be healed from your terminal illness, or your loved one to be healed?
There are a lot of things that we may think are legitimate needs, and God may determine in his sovereignty that they are needed for his purposes.
But ultimately, they’re not our needs… they’re simply our desires.
In Psalm 23 only two categories of needs are addressed, our physical needs like food and shelter, and our spiritual needs like the state of our heart and our obedience to God’s Word.
In his shepherd metaphor in verse 2, David depicts The Lord providing for our physical needs.
He makes us lie down in green pastures and he leads us beside still waters.
This shows that the Lord provides for the physical needs of his sheep whether they are at rest or moving where the shepherd leads.
David will address the times when it appears like our shepherd does not provide for our physical needs in a bit.
But here we see a depiction of when life is good and prosperous.
This is the very time that we are most vulnerable to try being our own shepherd, to rely on our own strength and achievements instead of relying on God’s strength.
David reminds us that even when things are going smoothly God is still sovereign and he has led you beside those still waters to that green pasture because he loves you and cares for you.
In his sermon on the mount, Jesus spoke about our heavenly Father providing for our physical needs in Matthew 6:25-33.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Jesus said that our heavenly Father is the one who provides for all our needs, both physical and spiritual, and that we should pursue our spiritual needs first.
David also reminds us that the Lord provides for our spiritual needs as well.
Back in Psalm 23:3, we read that the shepherd restores our soul, and that he leads us in the paths of righteousness.
Our spiritual needs are both inward and outward.
The inward state of our heart and the external behavior, or fruit, of obedience which indicates that inward state of our heart.
The restoration of our soul is nothing less than the spiritual regeneration of the Holy Spirit which gives us a new nature that is no longer contrary to God.
That regeneration of the Holy Spirit is only available because Jesus, the Son of God, died on the cross in our place, was buried, and rose again according to the Scriptures as 1 Corinthians 15:3 says.
One of the main Scriptures Paul was referring to is Isaiah 53:1-6
Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
We were all running away from our shepherd, trying to be our own shepherd.
God the Father brought us back to the sheepfold through the blood of his Son, Jesus, restoring our soul by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, to walk down the paths of righteousness rather than the paths of sin and destruction.
The internal restoration of our soul enables us to be externally led down the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
It’s for his name’s sake because our righteousness is not of our own doing, it’s God’s doing.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
God gets the glory when we walk the paths of righteousness because he is working his righteousness through us.
God provides for all of our legitimate physical and spiritual needs including our good works.
All we have to do is rest in God’s sovereignty and respond in loving obedience.
So, the first way that our shepherd personally cares for us is as our provider, and the second way is as our
II. Protector (4)
II. Protector (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.
This is when it may look like your shepherd is not providing everything that you need.
But he is still providing for you and protecting you in the midst of your difficulties.
Let me draw your attention to the term translated as “the valley of the shadow of death”
In Hebrew this term does not exclusively refer to death.
It’s more like a valley of gloom or depression.
The world says that when you are going through the valley of the shadow of death, you just need medication and a therapist to talk it out.
But that doesn’t fix the problem, it only masks the problem.
Like putting makeup on a cut instead of a medicated bandage.
It doesn’t look good, so we’ll make it look better instead of actually treating it to fix it.
The problem is not a feeling of depression, the problem is sin which causes depression, and only Jesus Christ crucified and risen can cure sin.
Now, depression can also come from loss, but regardless of where the depression comes from, the comfort of Jesus Christ is what is needed.
Psalm 23:4 has been used by many to comfort those who are dying or to comfort those who have recently lost a loved one.
While death is certainly a time where comfort is needed, death is not the only time that comfort is needed.
Do you need comfort when you have lost your job?
Do you need comfort when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from?
Do you need comfort when you total your car?
Do you need comfort when your child walks away from the faith?
Do you need comfort when your parents reject the gospel again and again?
Do you need comfort when you are literally being shot at in a fox-hole on a battlefield?
Do you need comfort when you return from war but your friends didn’t?
Do you need comfort when the painful memories of past horrors haunt your thoughts?
Do you need comfort when a loved one reveals that they have been abused?
Do you need comfort when a close family member decides to transition their gender?
Do you need comfort when your past sins catch up with you and you have to spend time in jail?
Do you need comfort when you are overwhelmed with shame because of the inappropriate website you just visited?
Do you need comfort when you find yourself in a mountain of debt because you gambled all your money away?
Do you need comfort when your kids are out of control and you don’t know what to do?
Do you need comfort when lose your temper and punish your kids out of anger rather than out of love?
Do you need comfort when your loved-one runs to alcohol to hide from their pain instead of running to you or running to Christ?
Do you need comfort when your spouse decides to leave you for another?
Do you need comfort when your parents divorce after decades of faithfulness?
All of these are depictions of the valley of the shadow of death.
These are the low points in life when we are overshadowed by difficulties, pain, and the evil that exists in the world because of sin.
Sin in others and our own sin that still plagues our lives in this world.
The glorious truth that David has found and written here, is that regardless of the difficulties, pain, and evil that we inevitably walk through in life, our shepherd protects us.
He protects us from all evil simply by being present with us and leading us through it.
David says, “I will fear no evil, for YOU are with me.”
He doesn’t push us through it, or simply command us to go through it while he stands aloof.
He goes before us leading us and comforting us in the midst of the evil that permeates our lives.
It’s important to remember that God is sovereign even over these valleys.
We may be tempted to think that he’s stopped caring because we are going through these valleys.
Kind of like Job’s wife did in Job 2:9 where she told her husband to “curse God, and die.”
She thought that their valley meant that God had abandoned them.
Job never thought that God had abandoned him.
He had a slightly deficient view of God’s purposes, but he understood God’s sovereignty in the midst of his valley as he said in Job 1:21, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
These valleys are not outside of God’s sovereignty, in fact, he actually provides the valleys ultimately for his glory and your good.
That’s because he grows us through the valleys, and he displays his power and goodness within them.
God’s power and goodness are more gloriously and beautifully understood in the face of evil than they would be in the absence of evil.
In fact, his power and goodness were displayed the most gloriously and beautifully in the face of the greatest evil the world has ever seen.
When the Son of God was murdered by the hands of lawless men, God’s ultimate power and goodness were displayed in bringing spiritually dead sinners back to life and reconciling them through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus.
His power and goodness are felt in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death through the comfort of our shepherd’s rod and staff.
The shepherd’s rod and staff are the tools he uses to keep the sheep safe.
The rod is for protecting the sheep from predators, and the staff is for correcting the sheep’s bad habits and behavior, essentially protecting the sheep from itself.
Both of them are comforting when we go through these depressing valleys of life because we know that we are helpless, but God protects us from all evil.
Evil from without and evil from within.
Going through these hard times with our shepherd grows us in our knowledge of him and our faith in him.
He uses these times to prove his faithfulness, to teach us that no matter what, it is well with our soul.
The only reason it is well with our soul is that Jesus died on the cross in our place so that we could be reconciled to God.
The comfort of our shepherd’s rod and staff is the same comfort of the cross.
Through the cross, Jesus protects us from sin, and he protects us from death rendering it only a shadow.
Sin and death have been defeated.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:26 “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
Then in verses 54-57 of that same chapter he wrote,
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ death and resurrection have defeated sin and death, so we don’t have to fear anymore because our shepherd protects us.
Did you notice that in verse 4 here, David switched from speaking about his shepherd in the third person to speaking to him in the second person?
He was speaking as if he was telling someone else about how his shepherd provides for him, but he switched here to refer to God much more personally as a prayer or direct conversation with God.
Instead of saying “he” he says “you.”
It’s as if the Lord has used the valleys in David’s life to get his attention back on his shepherd rather than on his circumstances.
So often God uses our valleys to get our attention back on him because we’ve forgotten him.
And we tend to tell others about how the Lord is blessing us, but when we go through the valleys we don’t go to others.
Sometimes we just keep it to ourselves, but sometimes we cry out to the Lord.
When we cry out to him in these valleys, his personal care is more evident.
But how does he comfort us when we cry out to him?
He directs our hearts to his love and faithfulness written in his word and recited back to us by our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
We should not ignore each other when we are going through difficult things in life.
Instead, we should willingly and readily tell each other so that our shepherd can comfort us through each other as we remind each other of his love and faithfulness written to us by the Lord himself in his Word.
Our shepherd’s comfort comes when we remember who he is in the midst of our valley, and we can comfort others by reminding them who our shepherd is as well.
So, we saw that Jesus personally cares for us as our provider, and as our protector, and now the third way that he personally cares for us is as our
III. Peacemaker (5-6)
III. Peacemaker (5-6)
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
This Psalm progresses in its intimacy with God from the first verse all the way through to the end.
In this section David shifts his metaphor from a shepherd and sheep to something more closely resembling real life.
The metaphor he uses here is kind of difficult to understand at first glance because it doesn’t translate well from the Hebrew language to English or from David’s culture to our own.
The metaphor he uses is that of a table set before him in the presence of his enemies.
In that culture, this image carried the idea of the means and opportunity for peace between two enemies.
This is a table designed to facilitate reconciliation not for eating a meal.
The Lord has set a table for negotiating reconciliation and peace between us and our enemies, and then he anoints our head with oil.
The anointing that David refers to is different from the typical use of anointing that set apart a king or priest for service.
This anointing was more medicinal or refreshing, like a face-lotion.
This is similar to how Jesus instructed regarding fasting in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:16-18
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
This anointing causes us to remain respectable and peaceful amidst our attempts at reconciliation at the table.
How does God do this?
He causes our cup to overflow with the peace that surpasses all understanding.
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The context for these verses from Philippians is the reconciliation of two enemies, Euodia and Syntyche!
Now, reconciling with our enemies can produce a lot of anxiety, especially if they have done things that we may find difficult to forgive.
When we pray giving our anxiety over to God asking him to give us peace and to help us forgive, he answers, and fills our cup with so much peace that it overflows to grant peace and forgiveness to our enemies at the table.
Sometimes our enemies sit down at that table to be reconciled, but we don’t rely on God’s peace, and our reconciliation fails.
That’s on us.
We’ve got to rely on his peace, or it won’t work or last.
Sometimes we aren’t reconciled with our enemies because they refuse to even sit at the table in the first place.
When that happens we can still forgive them from the heart as we have been forgiven and keep trying to reconcile.
Sometimes the strife between you and your enemy is less about your relationship with them and more about their denial of Christ.
In that case we pray for them to be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus.
Sometimes those who are enemies of God behave like enemies to us.
But this doesn’t mean we write them off and stop trying to have peace.
It just means that peace must begin with the gospel.
It’s ironic that the only way to have true peace with others is through the gospel which is aggravating to the world.
We cannot have true peace with others without peace with God.
In the next line David highlights the character traits of goodness and mercy.
This is not David’s goodness and mercy.
This is also not our goodness and mercy.
This is God’s goodness and mercy that persistently, doggedly, and relentlessly pursue us.
So often we are pursued by guilt and shame over our sin...
but Jesus took our guilt and shame at the cross...
now we are no longer pursued by them!
They’ve been replaced by God’s goodness and his hessed, his unfailing covenant love, his mercy.
Our peace with God through the atonement of Christ is the product of his goodness and mercy.
And his goodness and mercy are most clearly seen in the face of Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life and died in our place so that we wouldn’t have to.
His goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives because no matter what happens, both Jesus and God the Father will never let us go.
Jesus said as much in the passage just after our Scripture reading earlier.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
Paul also wrote about this in...
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And the goodness and mercy that has been shown to us compels us to show goodness and mercy to our enemies as we seek peace with them.
The final statement of this psalm shows the ultimate goal of our peace with God.
The word translated as “dwell” is kind of like returning home.
We were created to worship God for eternity, and we get to return to God’s presence to do what we were made to do, forever!
The night before he was crucified Jesus said,
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
John gives a beautiful description of what it will be like to dwell with God in eternity at the end of the book of Revelation.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
This is what we look forward to and what we live for.
We get to live forever in the very presence of our almighty triune God, being cared for by him personally, and all those valleys that we talked about earlier will be gone like a shadow as we live in the light of perfect peace with him forever.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We saw how David depicted the Lord’s personal care for us as a shepherd.
We know that Jesus is our shepherd.
He’s our provider, our protector, and our peacemaker all for our good and his glory.
He provides for our physical and spiritual needs...
He protects us from sin and death through his death and resurrection and the empowering of the Holy Spirit...
And he grants us overflowing peace to be reconciled with our enemies and live with him forever.
I think Horatio Spafford was likely reading Psalm 23 on the ship just before they stopped over the place where his children had drowned when their ship sunk because when they stopped, he wrote these lines:
When peace like a river attendeth my way
That sounds like verses 1, 2, and 3 as our shepherd provides for all of our needs...
When sorrows like sea billows roll
That sounds like the first half of verse 4 as we are led through the valley of the shadow of death...
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
That sounds like the second half of verse 4 as our shepherd’s rod and staff comfort us and teach us...
It is well, it is well with my soul
That sounds like verses 5 and 6 as we have overflowing peace with God and we are secure in our eternal life in his loving presence.
When all is going so well, and we may be tempted to think that we can do it on our own, remember that Jesus Christ has provided those green pastures and still waters and we should rely on him and give him the glory.
When we are tempted to think that our righteous deeds are ours to boast in, remember that it is Jesus Christ who leads us in the paths of righteousness by restoring our soul in the first place.
When we go through hard times and we may be tempted to think that God doesn’t care, remember that he is sovereign even over those hard times and he leads us through them for his glory and our good all the while protecting us from sin and death through the blood of Jesus Christ.
When we are tempted to hold a grudge against our enemies, remember the goodness and mercy of Jesus Christ that chased us down and reconciled us so that we can offer the same forgiveness and overflowing peace to our enemies.
When the cares of life become so overwhelming that we are tempted to look only at this life and not to eternity, remember that we will not live here forever, we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
If Jesus is not your shepherd, then I beg you to believe in him, that his death and resurrection is the payment and promise of forgiveness and eternal life.
Believe it and turn from your sin submitting to his sovereign rule over your life.
Romans 10:9 says, “… if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
It doesn’t take a magical prayer or walking an aisle, or even speaking to a pastor…
all it takes it faith in Jesus and submitting to him instead of submitting to your sin by confessing that he is in charge of your life.
So, in the words of Jesus in Mark 1:15,
“the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Pray
Pray
Father, thank you so much for caring for us through your Son, Jesus and through your Spirit.
Because of your care for us, we have everything we need, we’re protected from sin and death, and we have peace with you and with each other.
And we have all of this because you sent your Son to live a perfect life and die in our place and rise from the dead three days later.
This gift is beyond anything we could ever think or imagine.
We are so grateful to you that we are no longer your enemies… we are now your children, adopted into your family.
Please help us as we go to remember these simple truths and to help each other remember them as well.
Because we need to remember your goodness and mercy when life is hard and when life is good.
We thank you and praise you in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Communion
Communion
We are going to move right into our time of communion now.
So, the men can come forward and pass out the elements.
This is a celebration for believers to remember what Jesus has done for us, so if you are not a believer yet, then just let the elements pass you by, but still pay attention to what’s said and done here.
If you are participating with us, then hold onto the elements when you get them, and we will all take them together after I pray.
In Psalm 23 we saw how Jesus has provides for our spiritual need of salvation, he protects us from sin and death, and he has made peace between us all through his death and resurrection on our behalf.
Now we celebrate those same things as we are reminded very vividly of his body broken and his blood shed so that we could be provided salvation, be protected from sin and death, and have peace with God to live with him forever.
Paul explained the significance of communion to the Corinthian church in...
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Jesus willingly gave up his body unto death for us.
He also shed his blood to bring in the new covenant, the new relationship with God where Jesus has taken our sin and given us his perfect righteousness and cleansed us from all of our sin and given us eternal life in him.
And Paul says that as often as we do this, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
This is a hopeful and eternity looking celebration of our new life in Christ, and our eternal life in his presence when he comes again to make all things new.
Pray
Pray
Father, thank you for sending your son to die in our place and rise again so that we could spend eternity with you.
Thank you for providing for us, protecting us, and making peace.
We know that the cost was infinitely high, but you willingly paid it because of your great love for us.
We are grateful beyond words, and we celebrate our new life with you now, by remembering your sacrifice until your Son comes again.
We look forward to that day because then your glorious plan will be complete and all our sorrow and sin will be gone like a shadow.
Thank you that Jesus is our good shepherd, and that nothing can tear us away from you.
Lead us as the good shepherd that you are into the paths of righteousness for your name’s sake.
It’s in Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.
