The Way of Enoch - Spiritual Intimacy

Welcome

Well, good morning Lifepoint!

New to LP Instruction

Offering Story - Bryan and Sarah

Series Set-up

Alright, let’s go ahead and get started.

Over the last few weeks, we have been in a series called, “Broken Mirrors” in which we’ve been looking a whole host of stories and characters that show up in the New Testament book of Hebrews, chapter 11.

This section is often called the Hall of Faith because the author references all of these stories of people from the Old Testament who, somehow or another, model for us what a faithful life looks like. And the really interesting thing is that, over and over again, the people referenced have some baggage. They are not perfect. They are broken. And yet, they are still able to reflect part of God’s goodness back to us. They are like broken mirrors…and so are we!

We’ve also been exploring how these characters also highlight our core values at Lifepoint - and we’re finishing up today with final core value of Spiritual Intimacy.

Enoch to Psalms

Now, today, we’re going to deviate from the normal pattern of this series. And I think the easiest way to explain this is for me to just walk you through my thought process. Here’s what we’ve been doing.

Each week, we’ve started in Hebrews 11 — which as been a bit like a portal we’ve jumped through back to a larger story from the Old Testament — and we’ve spent all our time in that story. We’ll today, we’re going to make one more jump. Because Hebrews 11 references a pretty mysterious character — one that we, frankly, don’t know much about: a man named Enoch.

Here’s the only mention of him in the Old Testament:

Genesis 5:18–24 ESV

18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch. 19 Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died. 21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

Here’s the phrase we’re focusing on: Enoch walked with God.

What does that mean?

What does that look like?

You see, I found myself, more and more drawn back to another passage that I think illustrates this with some of the most memorable words in the English language. And what we will see, is that to walk with God is a powerful metaphor for the value we’re highlighting today: Spiritual Intimacy.

And my hope today is that you walk away with far more than just an aspirational idea have stronger relationship with God…but my desire is that God’s word give a fresh vision for the deep and profoundly meaningful relationship HE wants with us.

Introduction

Today, we’re looking at what is not just the most recognizable Psalm, but one of the most recognized and familiar passages in the entire Bible.

I mean, these are words that have been read over and over again by millions of people throughout the last 2500 years at least; words that have been memorized, recited, reflected on, written about. They’re words that show up in movies, on cards, tattoos, tombstones, and adds.

They’ve been prayed, sung, painted, portrayed, and written about for generations.

I’m talking, of course, about Psalm 23.

And on one level, it’s a little bit daunting to try write a sermon on Psalm 23…the shear level of attention that’s been given to this Psalm makes it hard to feel like I have anything meaningful to say about it. And at the same time, it feels like the things I could say about it have already been said so many times before that I run the risk taking something that is really quite profound and turning into a long string of theological niceties that you’d expect to find on a bumper sticker.

No offense if you’re a fan of bumper stickers...

But as I was working on this, I began to wonder…you know, for how familiar these words are and all that has been said and done with them...how many have actually believed them?

How many people have not just read, prayed, recited…have even been encouraged, inspired, or impacted in some way…but have looked to Psalm 23 and have been absolutely floored by the kind of life it’s describing—life to the full—life the way it’s meant to be lived—and have then received the invitation experience…to live this new kind of life?

One of my favorite authors, the Philosopher Dallas Willard writing about Psalm 23 says this:

Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23 Introduction

One of our greatest needs today is for people to really see and really believe the things they already profess to see and believe. Knowing about things—knowing what they are, being able to identify them and say them—does not mean we actually believe them. When we truly believe what we profess, we are set to act as if it were true. Acting as if things are true means, in turn, that we live as if they were so.

And so as we open up Psalm 23 this morning, and only scratch the surface, it is my hope that we would be awakened to the reality of what this Psalm is teaching…that all of hear would move beyond knowing, seeing, and hearing what is said here…but believe these words.

So if you’re not there yet, open with me to Psalm 23. It’s on the screen behind me. Fair warning…for many of you, this is not going to sound like what you think it should sound like because we’re reading in a different translation for this message…and part of the reasons is so that things will pop out to us differently…especially in a Psalm like this.

Psalm 23 (CSB)

A psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need. 2 He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He renews my life; he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, 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 Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

Let’s pray.

PRAY

Reframing our Relationship

Alright, let’s ahead and get started.

The first thing we see in this Psalm is that David, the author, is framing the relationship between us and God. And it’s so easy for us to miss this because I think we’re used to hearing things like this.

He says, “The Lord is my shepherd”.

And what’s what’s so profound about this statement is that it does two things at once. It invites us to image both God and ourselves in a specific way. To say that God is our shepherd is, at the same time, to say “I am a sheep”.

Which on one level is kinda of a strange metaphor, especially in our modern, urban context. We don’t understand it. It’s not familiar to us.

But when these words were written, a couple thousand years ago, the idea would have been quickly picked up.

The Shepherd

See, the shepherd was seen as a defender and protector of a flock of sheep. It was their role to guide the sheep to what they needed, to protect them, to care for them, to defend them.

The Sheep

The sheep really need the shepherd. By themselves, they’re not particularly capable creatures…they seem to be, by nature, animals that don’t do well in isolation. They can survive without a shepherd…but they don’t thrive.

And what we’re meant to see in in the very first line of this Psalm is that this a relationship of dependence.

This is how we’re supposed to view our relationship with God.

And I think this is one of the reasons why so many people fail to really believe what this Psalm is talking about…because we don’t like to think of ourselves being dependent.

We don’t.

We can throw that word around…and talk about being dependent on the Lord with this spiritual vibrato…but we’re almost never talking about entire seasons of life when we want this. I talk about times when we’ve had nothing else to hold on to and so I’ve had to depend on the Lord. Dependence is not really a positive quality in our minds…it feels weak. Like we shouldn’t have to be dependent. It’s not surprising, one of our greatest values, culturally, is independence…the ability to do it on our own…to get after it ourselves…to make something of ourselves!

How many of you struggle to receive help from someone else? Even in little ways? Like when you’ve got something hard going on in your life and maybe someone in your Lifegroup offers to watch your kids for an evening…or make a meal…or pick up groceries. How often do we end up saying, “no.” And it’s not because we don’t want the help, it’s because we don’t want to need the help…even when we desperately do!

Do you see how antithetical dependence is to us?

And yet this is the first thing David describes when he talks this new kind of life in Psalm 23. See, he is not just talking about a season…when we’re going through hard things…he is talking about a worldview…and way to think about all of life! Like sheep are to a shepherd…dependent…that is what our relationship with God is supposed to be.

All the time.

And he says it like a good thing!

“The Lord is my Shepherd.”

This is the kind of relationship David is talking about...

Impact

But notice, out of that relationship flows everything else David talks about in this Psalm.

And it’s summed up perfectly in the second half of v. 1 (Psalm 23:1)

Psalm 23:1 (CSB)

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need.

I feel like contentment is one of the hardest things to teach my kids. Anyone else experience this? In our family, we sit down for dinner together and our kids always get the same thing we’re eating…unless we we’re eating something real good…then they get chicken nuggets because what we’re eating is ‘too spicy’...

We get their plates ready, get it all cut up, set it down and finally get a chance to start talking as a family. And then they finish the one thing on the plate they want…and they start saying it, “Can I have more?” Daddy, can I have more?

And my first thought is almost always, ‘No!’ Because what I am supposed to eat after you all go to bed? At least I think to that to myself.

But Courtney is so patient in this area. She gets down on their level and they repeat together “I get enough.” And at first they don’t want to do it…but after a few times saying it, things start to calm down… “I get enough.”

And normally I’d get frustrated that we have the same conversation like every night! But, honestly, I don’t think I’ve actually learned that lesson yet…to believe that…that I get enough...

You know what I mean? And it’s not just me...

Our thing usually isn’t food…but we do crave more of something, right?

I’m not trying to knock having a side-hustle…making some more money on the side. But maybe there is something else we’re ‘feeding’ with that side hustle…what if there’s something else we’re actually feeding with a new job or new, bigger, better, [FILL IN THE BLANK]. What if what we’re doing is actually the same thing many of kids do…only we don’t ask our parents…we’re asking God for more.

And what that reveals is that in our heart of hearts, we believe we don’t have enough…that I don’t have what I need.

But I almost do.

And yet here is Psalm 23, again, in the first verse, confronting some our most ingrained and deepest desires and values! That out of this kind of relationship…where we are dependent on him…we have what we need.

Psalm 23 is a picture of a life free from chasing more and more, always. Psalm 23 talking about a life of contentment. Which, by the way, is not the same as settling or compromising! David is talking about here and now knowing and believing that because our shepherd knows what we need, we now have what we need.

And the rest of the Psalm showcasing this…how our Shepherd gives us what we need.

Our Shepherd Satisfies

He says our shepherd satisfies. Look at v. 2 (Psalm 23:2-3)

Psalm 23:2–3 (CSB)

2 He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He renews my life; he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

He starts of with this imagery of satisfaction…of being full. I think when we image sheep, we tend to think of them grazing and eating…and I think David is picking up on that same mental image, just flipping it a little. Because he says we are like sheep who have already had their full…who are already satisfied…and so they can lie down in green pastures.

He says the Shepherd, “Renews my life.”

That word life, or some of your translations might have the word soul…is translated from the Hebrew word נפשׁ. It’s a word that speaks to the totality of a person…what we would break down into the categories of body, mind, soul, spirit is all summed up in this word. They way we would say it today is, ‘He renews me.’ All of me. All of what is broken, wounded, hurting…he renews, or returns it to the way it should be.

And what David is saying is that when we are in this kind of relationship with God…one of dependence, not momentarily, but a complete lifestyle of dependence on Him…he satisfies.

He Guides

More than that, David says our shepherd guides. Look at v. 4 (Psalm 23:4

Psalm 23:4 (CSB)

4 Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me.

Again, we’re at a verse that is so familiar to many of us…and it sounds a little different in this translation…but the point is the same…that we will experience deep valleys in this life. Seasons of pain and sorrow…anxiety and fear. This is a part of life as we know it.

But notice, God does not start becoming our shepherd when we get into the valley…He is our shepherd long before we get there…the point is that when we are in the valley, he sticks with us. He does not move along, he does not walk away, he does not shout back, “I told you not to go that way.”

No, he guides us through the valley.

And I use that word intentionally…guides. Because when I think of a guide, I think of someone who is doing what David is talking about. Who is walking along side me, pointing things out, helping me make sense of what I’m seeing…and ultimately, there is a trust you have with a guide because they’ve been there before and they’re walking with you now.

This is what our shepherd does in the darkest valley, He does not leave us alone. That whatever our Dark Valley might be…and some of us have some dark valleys we will walk through…long standing family issues…health issues…financial...

Friends, when the Lord is your Shepherd, he walk alongside you, guiding you through that valley.

He Provides

Finally, our shepherd doesn’t just satisfy, and he doesn’t just guide us through some of the most challenging and painful seasons of life, our shepherd provides. Look at v. 5 (Psalm 23:5-6)

Psalm 23:5–6 (CSB)

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

Notice that David’s switched now from talking about his Shepherd, to talking to his Shepherd…it’s not He, but You.

The metaphor he’s been working with is over and David is back talking about his actual life and experience…and that in that experience, the Lord meets him and provides more than enough for what He needs. He says, my cup overflows...

And the point with all of what David has been talking about is that this is the kind of life we actually want to live. He says in v. 6 that this is what he wants to experience forever!

DO I HAVE IT?

And I think that really begs the question for us…like do we, now, in this moment, have that kind of relationship with God

HOW DO WE GET IT?

I think this is the real question. How do we enter in to this life? The problem, like we’ve talked about is that this kind of relationship of dependence is so contrary to what we value…the inability to say, “I get enough”…baked into our very nature! So how is it that we actually step in to this to experience what David is experience?

See what I love so much about Psalm 23 is that it so clearly points forward to another shepherd. It points forward to the one who embodies all of what’s said about the Shepherd! It points forward to Jesus, who is Psalm 23 in the flesh. It points to Jesus who is, in fact, the Good Shepherd who himself satisfies, guides, and provides for his people!

And you see this all over Jesus life and message!

He is the one who calls people to himself to experience the soul satisfaction of new life! When he says:

Matthew 11:28 ESV

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Jesus satisfies with living water and the bread of life!

That’s Psalm 23:3! And the promise is we find this life in following Jesus…in taking on his way of life…in coming to Him!

More than that, Jesus is the guide who walks through the darkest valleys we experience WITH US…because he has first gone through the dark valley FOR US! And for Him, it was not just a shadow of death, it was real. His valley lead to his death on the cross, Jesus died the death that humanity had earned in our inability to feel enough…for our insistence of our own dependence. He died the death that we deserved for our sin and failure to live the way God had created us to live. And yet, Jesus rose again from the dead showing that He was victorious over death! Meaning we don’t need to fear death we don’t need to fear the valley!

Even when we are walking through it, because His promise to us is that He will never leave us…that he will be with us always.

TODAY IS THE DAY TO BELIEVE

PRIME THE PUMP - Reading Psalm 23 each morning for the next week.

Resources for Growth

-Gentle and Lowly book give away -Lifepoint Devotionals

This is what it feels like to go through hard things alone, but this is what it’s like when Jesus is with you.