The Good Shepherd
Notes
Transcript
WELCOME:
Members meeting after service today (It will be short and sweet)
Wednesday we will start Romans chapter 5 and we will have chili and pimento cheese sandwiches
Yard sale Oct 18th (this is a tentative date). But mark your calendars
SCRIPTURE READING:
Psalm 24 “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it. For He has founded it upon the seas And established it upon the rivers. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord And righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face—even Jacob. Selah. Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, And lift them up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah.”
LET US STAND AND WORSHIP!
“The Goodness of God”
Words and Music by Hillsong’
PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR WHO GOD IS
Lord, thank you for your constancy. For never turning Your back on us, for never getting frustrated with us, for forgiving our sins, for allowing us to be part of Your plan. We ask that You would look down upon this gathering of people and fill our hearts with great joy today as we focus on You. Amen!
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS
Lord, give us ears to hear Your voice and eyes to see Your glory. Would you this morning illuminate Your Word and make it known to us? Help us no to make application to others peoples’ lives, but to apply every Word to our own lives. Amen
SERMON
INTRODUCTION:
Scripture uses many metaphors to teach us who God is and what God is like
In Psalm 19 that we studied last week, God is called the “Rock and Redeemer”
He is also called the Father
He is called the Potter
He is called the King
He is called the Lord
And here David said in Psalm 23, David says, “The Lord is my shepherd”
This is a Psalm opens up the heart of our Lord us to see His loving kindness, to see His care for us, to see how trustworthy and caring He is. It is a Psalm that teaches us that the Lord is a trustworthy Guide in this life, taking us places to receive what we need. It uses the Shepherd/sheep metaphors to help us see the intimate relationship between God and his children. It presents a good Shepherd who is not distant from His flock, but who knows their every need better than they themselves know and makes sure their needs are met.
This is NOT a Psalm describing how God relates with humanity as a whole. It is a Psalm that shows how God relates to those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Notice David says, “My Shepherd”. That is a personal. Not a shepherd, not the Shepherd, but my personal Shepherd who shepherds me through this life.
We are going to break this Psalm into three sections each heading coming straight from these verses.
I shall lack nothing (v 1-3)
I shall fear nothing (v 4)
I shall dwell forever (v 5-6)
I shall Lack Nothing
I shall Lack Nothing
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
Explanation:
“THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD I SHALL NOT WANT”
The NASB translation is a little misleading because it suggests the idea that those who are under the Shepherd’s care will never have any wants or desires.
And when we hear that, we say well there are things that I want right now and I do not have!
Yesterday Ashley and I were talking and she was telling me about something she wanted. And I leaned over and whispered to her “The Lord is My Shepherd, I shall not want” and she said, “but me wants it”.
God is not saying to us that under the Shepherds care we will not have wants. If you are human, there will be things that you want that you may never get.
There are two kinds of wants in this life: there things we want that we do not need and there are things that we want that we need!
The Hebrew verb “want” here means “to lack nothing.” “The Lord is My Shepherd, I lack nothing”.
The Shepherd supplies EVERY NEED of His sheep
The Shepherd supplies EVERY NEED of His sheep
To know the Shepherd personally in this manner is also to know (and be reminded) that we have a constant supply of every need in this life.
Everything necessary to live in the will of God will be supplied to us by the Good Shepherd.
Just like sheep in the Shepherd’s field
who are so vulnerable, so needy, so stupid at times, so lost without a shepherd, yet so wonderfully taken care of because their shepherd is with them.
God as our Shepherd makes sure we have everything we need to live a good life in the center of His will
What does the Shepherd provide?
(v 2-3) “He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul, He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake”
First, notice that in every one of these phrases it is the Lord who is doing the work.
He makes me lie down
He leads me beside
He restores my soul
He guides me in paths of righteousness
When we become united with the Shepherd, all the pressure to make all the right decisions and meet all of our needs and stay in all the right places is taken off of us and becomes the responsibility of the Shepherd.
Just imagine the sheep of this fold who had not a worry in the world.
They are not stressing over where they would find the next green field, or how they would locate a stream to drink from.
They ate and drank in peace and dwelled in peace because all the worries of this life were placed upon the shepherd
When we are united with Christ, in covenant with Christ, as a sheep and our Shepherd, all the responsibility of our needs are placed upon Him. And as the Good Shepherd he gladly takes them and says I will be the One who takes care of you! And all we need to do is simply trust Him.
What needs? Our physical needs and our spiritual needs become His responsibility.
“He makes me lie down in Green Pastures, He leads me beside still waters” (lit waters of rest”) .
Green pastures would be how he fed the sheep.The Shepherd would move them from field to field leading them to place where they could eat and be satisfied.
In the same way he would lead them to streams of water so that they could have all the water they need to drink. And even a place to rest under the care of the Shepherd.
These are our basic necessities for this life. God is not saying to us that we will have everything we want, He is saying that we will have everything we need!
“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Application:
I wonder in light of these verses how many of us are still living like we are our own shepherd? That we act as though we are the ones who put food on the table, that we are the ones who have make ends meet, and we live our lives independently.
And we hoard our money and we hoard our possessions and we hoard our time and we ignore the clear principles in Scripture that God calls us to do with the excuse that we cannot because we have to make sure our needs are met!
And God is saying right there to us church THAT WE CAN TRUST HIM! WE CAN LOOK TO HIM TO MEET YOUR NEEDS! WE CAN PUT HIM FIRST AND HE PROMISES TO MEET EVERY NEED WE HAVE!
I’ve been out on my own, I’ve found my own pastures and I am telling you the green pastures Jesus leads me to are a thousand times better than my own!
He not only meets our physical needs but he meets our spiritual needs…“He restores my soul”
Sheep Illustration
Can we for a minute imagine a sheep out on his own. And wandering around from field to field searching for green pasture searching for water with little success. And the effects of being without a shepherd begin to take effect on him and he becomes weak and tired and malnourished and even to the point of death!
And then he stumbles upon a good shepherd and that shepherd takes him in his fold and he makes him lie down in green pastures and leads him besides still waters and that sheep after being with the shepherd has had his life renewed! He has been revived. he has been restored! He has been made whole by the care of the shepherd
And so it is when we come to the good Shepherd and we have been walking through this life on our own, doing it our way, He revives our life and makes it worth living!
He takes what is dead and makes it alive, he takes what had no purpose and breaths life into it, He restores the years the locusts have eaten!
Jesus said it like this:
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
“He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake” (lit “tracks of righteousness”)
The right path in life is NOT one we make of our own free will. The best life lived is not the one who is so determined to make their own way, to cut their own path, to do it their way!
The best life lived are by those who walk in the tracks of Jesus. They follow Him! They trust Him. They depend upon Him.
THE SOUL IS NOT RESTORED BY CARVING OUR OWN WAY IN LIFE! The soul is not restored by getting what we think is going to make life worth living!
Refreshing comes by following the Guide through life, by listening to the voice of the Shepherd.
It is walking down paths of righteousness, not paths of prosperity! Not paths of sinful pleasures! Not paths of disobedience! Not paths of comfort! Not paths of worldliness!
It is paths of righteousness!
Application: And then we are to ask ourselves naturally here: What path are we on? Are we truly following in the tracks of Jesus!? Are we truly walking through this life the way the Savior did? Or are we trying to make our own path?
the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
I will fear no evil
I will fear no evil
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
The valley of the shadow of death (OR the valley of deep darkness)
Most of the time when we read this verse it instantly makes us think of death. But David is alive and well at this point in his life. This is a sweet time in his life as he reflects upon his life under the care of the Shepherd, this Psalm is a happy Psalm of joy and peace.
But David’s life has had many dark valleys in it. Times when his life was on the line and he walked through valleys of deep darkness.
Standing before Goliath as just a young man. He could have easily been killed and would have been killed had not the Lord been there with him. With certain death standing before Him, the enemy even laughing at him prevailed with only one small stone.
Or when Saul pursued him for all those years, blood thirsty and willing to lose everything just to kill David, and David fled for years his life.
Or when David sinned with Bathsheba and then after his son was born he would watch him die and bring him great grief
Or when his son Absolom took over the Kingdom, sent men to kill his own father and David’s own general Joab even after he gave the orders to spare him, and with great grief he cried out “Absolom, Absolom would I have died instead of you”
All of these are valleys of deep darkness. And if you have not yet found yourself in one of these valleys yet, YOU WILL.
See every person who walks down the path of righteousness eventually winds up in the valley of deep darkness! And at times it is Jesus who is leading us there! Not because He is mean and cruel but because he provides every spiritual need for us and suffering is a part of our spiritual growth!
Suffering, depression, terrible difficulties, illnesses, heartbreak, and even death are some of the valleys of deep darkness we face..
But listen to these words of David: “I fear no evil, for You are with me”
Nothing can compare to a person who is all alone. All alone in darkness, all alone in the presence of evil, all alone when our world is crumbling to the ground and it looks as if everyone around just continues on with their life, and all alone when we prepare to take our last breath and enter eternity ALONE.
But not those who are united to the Shepherd!
What makes the difference in the dark valleys has nothing to do with ourselves! What matters is whether or not the Shepherd is with us.
What great strength and comfort it brings to know that the very One who walked through the shadow of death Himself, conquering death and sin, is walking with us through the dark valleys.
And here is the promise: he will never leave you. For as long as we are there, He remains there with us until we walk through it.
“For your rod and your staff, they comfort me”
The rod was a short stick used as a weapon to protect the flock from animals or human thieves. It was also used as an instrument for counting sheep. At the ned of the day the shepherd would hold the rod up at the sheep gate and count each sheep as he went in.
The staff was a longer wooden stick with a hook on the end. As the rod was used as a weapon, the staff was used as a guide. If the sheep wandered off the wrong way he would take that staff and hook that sheep with it and pull him back in line.
When we are in the dark valleys, Jesus is not just there with us in our hearts, or in some kind of feeling, but that He is actually present there with us and making a difference in our walk! David said He was actively defending him from evil and actively correcting him when he went astray, and so He is with us!
Again he takes absolute claim over our lives and is there in those dark places, taking us through those valleys. Even if it seems like He is 10,000 miles away, we are reminded here that He is not, and will always be able to look back and see His hand was upon us.
Application:
Some of us want Jesus to protect us from the enemies but we do not want Jesus to lead us with His staff!
We want Him to take away the trouble, but we want Him to let us do as we please.
That’s not the way it works. We don’t get to choose how He guides us, we don’t get to choose to which attributes of His leadership we will allow. It is all or nothing! We take Him, all of Him, or we get none of Him!
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Now it seems like David changes the scene here. And we move from a shepherd and the sheep in a field to David and the Lord at a table. But the point of the entire Psalm is the same: it is the great care that the Lord bestows upon David.
It is like a Shepherd and a sheep, but it goes beyond that to a host taking of his guest. We move from the fields and pastures to a cup overflowing and his head anointed with oil. We move from the field to a house at a table.
BUT WHAT STAYS THE SAME IS DAVID IS THE ONE RECEIVING AND THE LORD IS DOING. The Lord’s care for us goes even as far as treating like His special guest in His home offering us more than we could ever receive.
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies”
Our minds can run 10 different ways with this line. Some to even think it may even be a little naughty to prepare a lavish dinner for us while our enemies are looking on and drooling.
But I don’t think that is what this means. I think what we can take away from this is that even when people are against us, and enemies are rising up against us, Jesus is for us and with us.
And even during the conflicts we endure on earth, our Good Shepherd never leaves, nor abandons us, but continues His loving care of us.
“You have anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows”
When people come into our homes, we would take their jackets and hang them on the coat rack, and welcome them in to sit down and then offer them a drink. That is how we offer a warm welcome in our culture today.
Well in those days, things were different. They would welcome the guest into their home, and wasHe their feet and annoint their head with oil Perfume). We see this when the Jesus was anointed with expensive perfume on his head as he reclined at the table.
Not only is David treated like a fine guest, but he is given a cup that “overflows”.
The cup is not just fills, but overflows meaning that Jesus gives Him far more than he could ever receive. His cup never runs dry.
There was a specific time in David’s life when David failed miserably. And God sent Nathan the prophet to confront him about his sin. And the Lord said this to David: “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul.I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these (2 Samuel 12:7–8)
That is the way the Lord treats us. This wasn’t just David who received an abundance, but all of those in Christ have their cups overflowing. God gives and all we can do is receive.
“Surely goodness and loving-kindness will follow me all the days of life”
These are like two of God’s attributes that have been attached to David’s life and go with him wherever he goes: goodness and loving-kindness.
And we can just imagine David looking back over his life and seeing God’s goodness and loving-kindness showing up over and over again in his life. Even when he failed God, even when he strayed away, in both the good times and in the bad times, God’s goodness and loving-kindness were always pursuing David.
Those who live under the care of the Shepherd can look back over their lives and see that in the good things and in the bad things that God is ALWAYS GOOD. And the goodness of God is always after us!
“And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever”
I want us to just think about those words: “dwell” and “forever”. What David describes here: this sweet fellowship with his Lord is something that goes all the way into eternity. It never ends, yet only gets better as move from this natural world into eternity.
Not only did David experience the goodness and loving-kindness of God on earth, but he would experience it forever in the Lord’s house when he crosses over.
CONCLUSION:
CONCLUSION:
What about you?
Do you know the Lord as your Shepherd. Not the Shepherd, not the Shepherd who shows up at church on Sundays, but your personal Shepherd who leads you daily through this life and cares for you?
The NT tells us that the Shepherd is Jesus:
John 10:7–11 “So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
Jesus is the Shepherd and Jesus is the door of the sheep. Jesus said if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved.
Come to Jesus. Come give your life to Jesus today. Come lay down before Jesus today and look to Him as Your personal Shepherd, come under His care, come under His guidance, come under His leadership and look unto Him and you will find rest for your soul.
~Prayer~
Business Meeting
Business Meeting
Opening Prayer
Reading of last months minutes
Any Questions?
Vote to approve last months minutes
Treasurers Report
Any Questions?
Vote to approve the treasurers report
Unfinished Business
New Business
Any other new business?
Meeting adjourned
