Nov. 10, 2019 - Ps. 23 - Part 3

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF MANCHESTER PSALM 23– THE AMAZING LIFE! PART 3 “PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS” THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD…VV. 3B PASTOR DAVID SAYLOR NOV3, 2019 Scripture Reading: Isa. 40:9-11 Psalm 23 (turn there (ESV) because we are going to read it together in a moment). Whole premise – this Psalm is built on a word picture - the Lord is like a Shepherd to us. We are like sheep to Him. He is the greatest, best, most caring, loving shepherd possible – He supplies all our needs. Now, let’s stand and read it together…PS. 23 Starts with a wonderful assertion – Yahweh is a wonderful Shepherd and he gives us all we need. Last time – the first thing the Shepherd provides for his sheep is REST. Rest and Restoration. Psalm 23:2–3 (NIV)2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. And that restoration of our souls happens because he’s leading us. We need to be lead, don’t we? Isn’t it great…a shepherd would lead the sheep…he would be in front of them, not behind, and there wasn’t a valley that the sheep would go through but that the shepherd had gone through first. That’s what it means to lead. And when we really recognize that he’s got our future in his sight and power, it leads to being able to rest in Him and the result – He restores our soul. NOW, when God/Jesus leads us, where is he leading/guiding us? He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. When our Shepherd leads, He lead us down righteous paths. Who remembers this?... Mary had a little lamb, it’s fleece was white as snow. And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go. (Mary is leading her little lamb) It followed her to school one day, which was against the rules. It made the children laugh and play, to see a lamb at school. Point? Mary may look cute, but Mary is not like God. I know I’m stretching this a bit, but Our shepherd God would NEVER lead His sheep to something that is against the rules. Unrighteous. He leads us only along paths of righteousness! That, I think is the point of this verse. God is out in front leading – and He, with perfect knowledge and wisdom and love, always leads us down the right paths, righteous paths. If you’re going down some unrighteous paths in your life – then you are not in step with your Shepherd. You’re a stray, wandering sheep. That is unfortunately one of the characteristics of sheep, they easily wander off. Some can be very persistent wanders. A few years ago a news story broke about Shrek the sheep. Shrek was a Merino sheep who lived in New Zealand. Shrek became famous because he managed to avoid being captured and shorn for six years. His wool continued to grow and thicken, and his eyes and legs were eventually hidden behind the thick coat. (he probably looked like a rolling cotton ball.) Shrek dodged the shepherds and the sheering by hiding in caves and running from his master. Once Shrek was finally captured and shorn, he carried 60 pounds of wool on his body, nearly six times the average amount. The wool on Shrek’s body was enough to produce 20 men’s dress suits. It’s easy to see why the Bible compares us to sheep. We are often like Shrek. We hide from God, clinging to the things that need to be shorn from us. We become weighed down with the burdens God could easily remove from us. When we wander, we put ourselves in danger. We are unprotected and defenseless and we get hurt. We hurt others around us too. Our enemies can attack and we can be injured. Sheep could fall into gullies and worse and could break legs and be unable to move. That picture we have all seen – of Jesus the Good Shepherd carrying a lamb on his shoulders. Have you seen it. I think that’s what it’s showing. A stray, injured lamb that Jesus has gone after and brought back to the flock. To rescue it and restore it. It might walk with a limp after that, but it’s safe. Some of us have limps from our wandering too. Central lesson of being a sheep is you must stay close to the Shepherd. You stay close to Jesus. Some of us have walked in here with limps. We’ve had our leg broken. We’ve had our hearts broken. Oftentimes God allows those things to happen so that we might now learn to stay close to Jesus. He leads us in paths of righteousness. We often follow the crowd, even when it leads to our own demise. According to an article in USA Today, 1,500 sheep fell off a cliff to their deaths in Turkey in 2005. One sheep fell, so the others followed suit and jumped. In the end, 450 sheep died. The ones that survived only lived because they were cushioned by landing on top of their fellow herd members. After all, they are soft! We stray from the shepherd who loves us and seeks to protect us. Wandering off the path, always results in consequences – consequences that God would help us avoid if we only let him lead us. AND THEY BROUGHT A PIG TO SCHOOL ONE DAY… This story is not about a sheep but about a piglet. And it’s not about Mary, but about one of my children when they were about to graduate from High School (I won’t say which one, but so as to prevent suspicion, I will say is was not my son Jesse (who is here today.)) Graduation was a week or so away. Graduation is a great accomplishment and something we parents are proud of too. Well one day here comes my son and two of his school friends with a cute little piglet in a metal cage. On it they painted in Glastonbury blue the graduation year in big bold letters along it’s back. They were planning a senior prank and were going to bring it to school the next day in a gym bag and release it in the hallways. They thought it would be great fun and no one would know who did it. Wrong on both counts. And now I knew about it – but well, I didn’t think it was all that bad either – goes to show you that a Shepherd-earthly dad is not always so smart. Well the next day came and all hell broke loose at Glastonbury High. I did not know that the principle had laid the law down about senior pranks -and had warned that anyone who did one risked graduating. They brought the pig in a gym bag. It didn’t cooperate and was squealing bloody murder and when they released it, it continued and screamed out in fear taking what I’ll call a pig-fetal position, laying in the hallway, crying and shaking as if it was having seizures. As I understand it, female students, when they saw Page 2 of 3 little piggy, they too in horror broke out in tears and screaming themselves. It was animal abuse. Soon the three stooges are in the principal’s office and they are suspended and told they could not graduate with the class. “They brought a pig to school one day, which was against the rules.” Seemed innocent….but there were consequences. It did seem like a innocent thing. I knew about it, I didn’t stop them! It’s funny, now in our town we are known even today we’ll meet someone and they will say, “Oh your last name is “Saylor”….was your child the one with the pig?” But isn’t it true, when we go down our chosen path and not the one God would send us down, we often don’t see the issues and consequences that it will bring until it’s too late? We need a shepherd that leads us down paths of righteousness. And He will – if we let him. BETTER or BEST? Not only that, but our Shepherd know what is BEST. How many times we come to those crossroads in our lives where we don’t know which way to turn? Two paths before us, AND sometimes it’s the difference, not between right and wrong, but between the better and the best. I want to do what’s best. “Which way? I don’t know.” Which way shall I take? Cries a voice in the night, I’m a pilgrim and weary, And spent is my light; To the right? To the left? Ah, me! if I knew— The night is so dark, And the passers so few. How wonderful at this point to be able to just commit your way to the Lord, and say “Lord, you guide me now in the right path. In the best way.” He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. FOR HIS NAME’S SAKE We need someone to lead us, don’t we? He will lead us, if we will let him. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. The fact that the Lord leads his people ‘For his name’s sake’ means that he guides them according to all that his name represents. In keeping with his holiness, his love, his faithfulness, his wisdom and all that he has revealed himself to be.1 And it’s “for His Name Sake.” Ps. 25:11 says He pardons our guilt “for His Name Sake.” Ps. 79:9 says he saves us and atones for our sins “for His Name Sake.” Psalm 109:21 (NIV)21 But you, O Sovereign LORD, deal well with me for your name’s sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me. All the wonderful things God does for us –When God acts on our behalf, it brings glory to His name! We exist to glorify God. Here’s a discipleship principle we all need to learn. It’s not all about us. It’s all about God. God doesn’t exist to glorify us. We exist to glorify God. But he glorifies Himself by being a Good Shepherd, a perfect Shepherd for us! Amazing! Amazing God. Amazing life! Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.” — John 10:14. John 10:10 (NIV)10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:11 (ESV)11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He laid down his life for you. He paid for your sins. Opens up the door to God and heaven. John 10:7 (NIV)7 Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the door for the sheep. You open the door by putting your faith in Jesus Christ. You can do that today. CONCLUSION We will pick up from here next time. Interesting that as soon as he talks about God leading us in the path, he immediately talks about us “walking thru the valley and shadow of death.” Psalmist was a realist and he knows that sometimes our path goes thru dark valleys. That is next. Don’t miss this… Can I ask you this? Who wouldn’t want a Shepherd God like this to lead them? A Shepherd who knows everything, controls everything – who takes glory in leading us to the things that are best? Who wouldn’t want that? Bob Dylan – You Gotta Serve Somebody – he’s right. We all serve somebody. You follow somebody. You can follow a crowd right off a cliff or you can wander on your own trying to be your own master OR you can come, limps and all and let the Good Shepherd lead you? Why would’t you do that today? Come or return… 1 Roger Ellsworth, Opening up Psalms, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, Page 3 of 3 2006), 47–48.