Is the Lord Your Shepherd? (2)

Big Idea

Only the Good Shepherd can lead us through life to our eternal home.

Key Verse

Psalm 23:1 The Living Bible

Because the Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need!

We

The Many Changes in Margaret’s Life

As I prepared this message, I was thinking about what changes Margaret must have seen in her lifetime.

Experts tell us that advancing technology, unprecedented world population growth and even faster economic growth mean that the pace of change has quickened during the time Margaret was with us.

More change has taken place in her 87 years than took place in the 4 million or so years before them.

It was only during Margaret’s early years, in the 1930s, that the telephone, invented only 15 years before she was born, started to become the common method for communicating over long distances.

Now, of course, most of us have a phone in our pocket.

It was only halfway through Margaret’s life that businesses began to use the fax machine for sending images over radio signals to each other.

Now, most businesses have dispensed with the fax machine and just attach images and documents to each other via email.

If you wanted to send a short message quickly in the 1930s, you would send a telegram.

Now, we simply get the phone out of our pocket and send a text.

Margaret and James would have courted, going for walks or appearing in dignified public places together.

Nowadays, dating is much more intimate.

Even public displays of affection are OK!

And that’s not to mention online matchmaking services, something Margaret wouldn’t even have dreamed of when she started courting.

Fuji started to make cameras, lenses and film in the 1930s, with all the focusing and developing that involved.

Nowadays, we pull that phone out of our pocket and snap away, not always at objects or people in front of us - often, we turn the camera on ourselves and take the modern invention of a selfie.

The first television broadcast by the BBC was made in the year Margaret was born.

Now, we have a plethora of channels, and companies like Netflix and Amazon, and there’s still nothing on TV!

How Do We Navigate the Journey of Life?

A huge number of changes.

And a pace of change so quick, that the experts tell us that it threatens to overwhelm the management capacity of governments and other institutions, and is putting a huge strain on the world’s resources.

So, in the fast-paced, ever-changing world, how do we navigate through the journey of life?

What guidance did Margaret follow to help her through her long journey through all those changes I’ve outlined, and more?

Well, no doubt, during Margaret’s life, there was more than one occasion when she came across a new invention.

And the only way you can know how to use a mobile phone, a fax machine, email, text, a smartphone camera and a TV system with hundreds of channels, is through the creator or the owner’s manual.

It’s the same with life.

You can speculate, of course.

Some people can be heard saying, “Well, I think life is about ...”.

What they really mean is that’s the best guess I can come up with.

But Margaret discovered the best way of navigating through life is to speak to the Creator, and ask God.

Only God can tell you the meaning and purpose of your life, because he created you.

Only he can truly guide you on your life’s journey as the world continues to change around you.

God

The Journey of Psalm 23

The psalm I read a few moments ago, is one of the most well-known.

And it is a journey.

It’s a journey with a Shepherd who cares for us and ensures we have everything we need.

It’s a journey that takes us through meadow grass and beside quiet streams.

It’s a journey that leads us through the dark valley of death, like today.

But we need not be afraid.

Because the Shepherd is close beside us, guarding and guiding us all the way.

Through his death, Jesus, the Good Shepherd has destroyed death.

Through his resurrection he promises us life.

Just as Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, we too can have new life.

That’s the comfort we find in the crucified and risen Shepherd, on days like today.

Our destination lies ahead: a delicious banquet, overflowing blessings, a place where God’s goodness and unfailing kindness will be ever present.

Where there is no more mourning and tears.

No more conflict.

No more separation.

No more death.

Our eternal home, forever.

You

Margaret Knew the Shepherd

Margaret knew and loved her Shepherd.

She would say, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want”.

She would be able to say, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me”.

Jesus Can Take You Through Death and Mourning

Margaret understood that Jesus is the one – the only one – who can lead you through the valley of the shadow of death.

How?

Because history tells us he didn’t just die like the rest of us.

He died and rose again!

Today we mourn the loss of Margaret, our sister, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and friend.

The loss of someone we love is distressing.

The Good Shepherd stands ready to be with you in your sadness.

He stands ready to be with you in all the life you have before you, just as he was with Margaret.

Do not push him away.

Do not try to silence his voice.

Do not simply go on your way without him.

He is ready to give you courage in your loss.

He is ready with strength in your weakness.

He can cleanse your heart with forgiveness.

He can be your rod and your staff in all the confusion and anxiety of life and death.

Do You Know the Shepherd?

There seems little point in getting together like this at a time like this, if we don’t really believe the words of the psalm; if we cannot say that the Lord is our Shepherd.

Jesus is the only one who makes sense out of suffering.

He is the only one who takes the sting out of death.

It is Jesus’ death and resurrection that makes sense of us sitting together today around Margaret’s casket.

That’s why this psalm is known to so many people.

That’s why the words resonate with us.

Because in many ways, we are all sheep.

Sheep, I’m sure you are aware, are not the brightest of animals.

They seem to have a way of constantly getting lost.

One minute, they are quietly grazing on meadow grass, beside the quiet stream, and the next they have wandered off somewhere.

Somehow, the grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence.

Jesus recognised this trait in us.

A long time ago, on the side of a hill, Jesus looked out at a huge crowd of people who had gathered to listen to him, and he felt sad.

Matthew records:

Matthew 9:36 NCV

When he saw the crowds, he felt sorry for them because they were hurting and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

His response was to sit them down in the green pastures and to prepare a table for them; a banquet.

You may remember the story of five loaves and two fishes.

And he dishes out the food again and again until they have all had enough; until their baskets overflow.

Jesus is saying to you this afternoon: here I am.

The Good Shepherd.

He who makes you rest in the meadow grass, who provides delicious food for you, who can provide everything you need.

Jesus is saying to you:

I’m the one the psalm is talking about, the one you speak of when you say, “The Lord is my Shepherd”.

A day like today, a loss like the loss of Margaret brings us face-to-face with our own mortality.

It forces us to re-evaluate our lives.

To reorder our priorities.

To decide what is important to us.

To check that we have the right guidance in this fast-paced, ever-changing world.

There are those who would peddle false guidance: psychic hotlines, palm readings, astrology, fake healers and quack cures.

But inevitably, false guidance leads us down the wrong path.

So where do you look for guidance on a day like this?

Margaret knew the best place.

She placed her trust in the Lord, her Shepherd.

Jesus, the one who says:

John 11:25–26 NCV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will have life even if they die. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Martha, do you believe this?”

Jesus can say that to you.

Because he’s been there.

He is the Shepherd who walks with you through the valley of death.

Friends, I cannot recommend too strongly that you take Jesus seriously.

That you find out more about what he said.

That you look closely at what he did.

And then ask yourself if he who should guide you through your future.

If the Good Shepherd is who you should trust with the rest of your life.

So that then you can truly say the Lord is your Shepherd.

And then when that day comes for you, like Margaret, you too can follow him with confidence through the valley of the shadow of death.

My prayer for each one of you today is the prayer the Apostle Paul said for his friends in Rome:

Romans 15:13 NCV

I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and peace while you trust in him. Then your hope will overflow by the power of the Holy Spirit.

May God bless each one of you.