The Lord is My Shepherd - Part 3

The Good Shepherd leads us in obedience

Sheep are known for being creatures of habit. If left alone they will follow the same path every day to the same pasture every day and graze on the same pasture every day until the pasture is completely barren and unable to provide for the sheep.

But that won’t stop the sheep. Even after the pasture is barren the sheep will continue to follow the same path every day until it leads to destruction.

Sound like anyone else you know? Day after day following the habits of our sin nature. Day after day taking the same paths to our sin. Day after day leading ourself to barren pastures. Pastures with no hope of meeting our needs and providing us life.

But we are creatures of habit aren’t we? Even after we have learned how destructive that path may be without even thinking we find ourselves heading back down there again.

Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray everyone has turned to their own way.”

We’ve all turned away from God.

We need a shepherd. But not just any shepherd will do. We need the Good Shepherd who will leads us away from the path of sin and onto paths of righteousness.

If you are here this morning and you are one a well worn path of sin. Today is the day to repent and follow Jesus.

We won’t take the path of righteousness on our own. We must in humility submit to the leadership of our shepherd and let Him guide us.

Would you come to Jesus this morning? He is the Good Shepherd. He will lead you out of your sin and into paths of righteousness.

You don’t have to visit the same paths every day. There is hope. There is grace. His name is Jesus. Let Him lead you today.

You may be thinking but I’ve gone too far. I’ve walked away too much. He’s had to come find me too many times. Surely, He’s done with me. That is a understandable response. I’ve felt those things. I’ve said those things.

All that means is you don’t understand your shepherd.

Luke 15:1–7 (ESV)

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. You may be caught in a thicket of temptation. You may be about at rock bottom. You may be hiding. Too ashamed to come out. Too afraid to ask for help.

Be the shepherd is coming. Jesus is coming and he’s looking for you.

But look at what the verse says, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing

He will not give up. He will not stop coming for you. He will not stop searching for you. Until he finds you. And when He finds you He will reach down and pick you up and put you on his shoulders and lead you in paths of righteousness. And he will rejoice.

That’s our shepherd. The Lord is our shepherd.

He’s coming. He’s gonna leave you lost. He’s not going to leave you stuck. The shepherd is coming and he will find you.

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

But the text isn’t done. There is one more little phrase left and we cannot miss this phrase.

for his name’s sake.

Why does he provide all our needs? Why does he give us an abundant life? Why does he restore our soul? Why does he lead us in path of righteousness?

It could be easy to read these verses and think we are at the center of it all. We are the main character. But the verse explains why he does all of these things.

It’s for the sake of his name.

Psalm 31:3 says For your name’s sake you lead me and guide me.

Have you ever heard the difference between cats and dogs?

When dogs see you pet them, clean up after them, give them food and water they think your god.

When cats see this they think their god.

We must not do this. When we see all that God does for us it is easy to think that we are God. But were not. We are not the main character of our story. God is. Everything we do must be about God because everything God does is about God.

When we are so content in Jesus that all our needs are met. God is glorified.

When we are so overjoyed with Jesus that we have an abundant life. God is glorified.

When we are restored through the life giving water of Jesus. God is glorified.

When we are lead into paths of obedience for the sake of His name. God is glorified.

Everything is about God.

And God loves you.

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

Whose you shepherd this morning?

Conclusion:

This is the second week on Psalm 23. If you remember from last week the goal from for this two part sermon series on the Psalm 23 is not for you to become better acquainted with the Psalm. You already know the Psalm. It’s the most popular piece of poetry that has ever been written.

You already know the Psalm. I want you to know the shepherd. It’s my prayer that you leave with a better understanding of who your shepherd is.

The Lord is our shepherd. What an amazing thought. What an amazing truth to hold onto. I hope that little phrase has been ringing in your ears all week. The Lord is my shepherd.

Remember the big idea from last week.

The quality of our life depends on our shepherd and our trust in our shepherd.

But what makes the Lord a good shepherd. Why is it that we can trust Him? Why can we follow Him. What makes the Lord a good shepherd?

From last week we saw that the Lord as our Shepherd…

1. Meets our needs

2. Gives us abundant life

3. Restores our soul

4. Leads us in paths of righteousness

What you may have noticed from last week was a complete lack of down to earth life application. There was a reason for that. Application is a wonderful thing. We desperately need it. Application gives us direction. Application helps take the theoretical and makes it practical.

But application can sometimes become burdensome. It can be hard to hear again what I need to do differently. How I don’t measure up. What I need to change.

Sometimes we just need to look to Jesus for all that he is and let that change our heart. That’s how real lasting change happens anyways. That’s how behavior changes. IT comes from heart change.

Proverbs 4:23 (ESV)

23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,

for from it flow the springs of life.

Jesus tells us in Mark 7:21–23 (ESV)

Out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

We don’t change by looking at a to do list. We change when our heart learns to trust our savior.

I’m sure that I have shared this before but one of the things in my life that opened my eyes to this concept was foster care.

We were taught when you parent a foster child you need to spend less time disciplining wrong behavior and you need to spend more time meeting needs.

Now that sounds very new age. Very postmodern. But it really isn’t. That’s not to say that discipline isn’t important because it is. To not discipline a child is not love a child.

And If you come to our house sometime you will see us disciplining our children because we love them. But we’ve had to learn in through experience that it is actually more important to meet needs than it is to discipline.

Let me try to explain.

Every child has a need for safety or security and love. They need to know that they are both safe and secured as well as loved. But as you can imagine when a child enters the foster care system both of those needs go out the window. In a moment they are ripped from their home and their family.

Where even though they may not have been safe there they felt safe and secure because that’s what they knew. But in a moment they are taken from everything they knew and placed in a new and to them a scary environment where they don’t recognized their surroundings the smells are different, the people are different, the animals are new, everything is very different and that is an unsettling experience to put it mildly.

It’s scary to be somewhere new on your own with people you don’t know. They don’t feel safe regardless of how much safer they probably are.

Not only do they not feel safe they also don’t feel loved. Their parents although they may have loved them imperfectly they do normally love them very much and in an instant they are ripped from any connection to their loved ones and they feel alone, unsafe, and unloved.

As you can imagine when a child experiences something like this they typically act up in a variety of ways. They may scream at you, call you names, lie to you, hit and punch you, run and hide from you, break your things, kick your dog or just outright rebel and disobey you, or some mixture of all of those things.

And it is hard to parent a child like that. Because every fiber in your body wants to discipline them for those behaviors and there is “some” room for that. But the child is merely acting out in those ways because they don’t know how to constructively express their feelings so they act up.

But what we’ve found is that a much more effective way to deal with their behavior is not any kind of discipline, or rebuke, or punishment. If we gave them a list of things that they could do differently that would result in a better life. It would fall on deaf ears and blind eyes. Now Foster parents do all of that but even more important than discipline even more important than teaching is meeting needs.

Showing them that they are safe and they are loved. That they are secure and that they are cared for. And when a child feels safe and loved it is amazing the difference in their behaviors. And once they trust you it opens the door to productive teaching and discipline.

But here’s the important part. This a process not a one time event. We have to show them day after day, moment after moment that they are safe and that they are loved. It takes years for them to trust and it’s not a smooth progression. It’s two steps forward one step back. 2 steps forward three steps back. But if they child is going to grow and mature they must be consistently reminded how much they are loved and reassured that they are safe.

And hear this, the journey isn’t over after adoption. Being adopted doesn’t magically convince the child you will always love them. Sacrificing your entire life doesn’t magically convince them they are loved no matter what. They have to see it and feel it daily for them to really believe it.

Here’s the point. We are the same way. Think about all the ways the Bible describes us before salvation. We are lost. Enemies of God. Children of wrath. Slave to sin. Separated from God and guilty and deserving of eternal punishment.

Talk about trauma!

Now if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation then the Bible describes that as being adopted into the family of God. But just because we are adopted into the family of God doesn’t mean we always feel loved. Just because Jesus sacrificed everything for us doesn’t mean we believe that we will be loved no matter what. We must see it and feel it daily before it begins to change our heart. Then and only then will we experience lasting change. Then we can make progress on changing our behavior.

So again today there will be little application this morning. My goal, my hope, my prayer is that you leave this morning with a heart that trusts that the Lord is a Good Shepherd and that He loves you!

The Lord is my Shepherd.

Psalm 23:1–6 (ESV)

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

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.

5 You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

Three things the Good Shepherd does for His sheep.

We see the first one in verse 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.

The Good Shepherd Comforts us. We’ve already seen that the Good Shepherd gives us abundant life and leads us to green pastures. But we know that life isn’t always like that. That we often go through difficulties and this text reminds us that even in the hard times the Good Shepherd is there to care for us.

The text says even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Those are ominous words. The literal translation is even though I walk through the shadowiest of shadows. Even though I walk through the darkest most evil of days. These words are supposed to give you that pit in your stomach that you feel when you go through something difficult or scary.

Sometimes life feels like that doesn’t it. We’ve all had moments that feel like you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. That danger may lie behind any corner.

Maybe your homelife isn’t good. And at any moment the next explosion of anger may come and you feel like you’re walking on pins and needles. Or maybe that explains your job. You work for a boss who is constantly finding opportunities to drag you across the coals.

Maybe people are talking behind your back and you dread what the next person is going to say about you. Maybe you honestly have no idea how you are going to pay the bills this month.

Maybe you don’t feel like your walking through the valley of the shadow of death but rather you’ve set up camp there. Your life is in the valley with seemingly no hope in sight.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

I will fear no evil. How is that possible? How could this possibly be the case. How can will live in the midst of so much danger and have no fear?

The text is clear. It says, “for you are with me.” Remember from last week. Nothing calms the nerves of the sheep as much as knowing that the shepherd is near and nothing calms the Christians nerves as much as knowing that Jesus is near.

But lets pay special attention to what the text says, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. This morning you may feel like there is no hope in sight. That those green pastures we talked about last week are figments of our imagination. That we really have no hope to get through this valley.

But hear me in the kindest possible way. You are wrong. If Jesus is your shepherd then he will not leave you in the valley. It may takes weeks, or months, or even years to make it through but the Good Shepherd does not leave His sheep in the valley he leads them through.

He does not let them wander alone in the valley but he stays nears.

I said this last week but it bears repeating today.

If you are nervous this morning. If you find yourself anxious over something. If even now you are having a hard time focusing because there is something going on in your life that is causing you to worry that is causing you to fear.

Hear this, “our Shepherd is near, and He will keep you safe.”

Remember what Robert Murray said, “If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies.”

Take a deep breath Jesus is near and He will keep you safe.

You know how many times I’ve had to tells my children that. Daddy is here. I’m in the next room. I will protect you. I will keep you safe. You have nothing to fear. They have to hear it over and over over again before they believe it.

And so do we. Jesus is near. He will protect you. He will keep you safe. He will not leave you alone. He will lead you through.

But what I think is fascinating is the next part of this verse.

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You don’t have to be a seasoned shepherd to know this phrase is interesting. Your rod and your staff they comfort me. What were the road and the staff used for?

The staff was used for helping the shepherd walk and at times it was used to hook on to the sheep and pull it out of something so that makes sense. But the rod was not a pleasant tool. The rod is what the shepherd would use to discipline the sheep. To keep the sheep from wandering away. It’s safe to say that the rod was not a pleasant tool. It is definitely not a tool that brought comfort to the sheep.

And yet that is what the text says. But you understand that it was also the rod that the shepherd used to drive away danger. To fight off wolves or even lions if necessary. And therefore it was the rod that brought comfort to the sheep because the sheep knew that if the shepherd had his rod they would be safe.

Like a disobedient child fear the hands of his father because the father uses those hands to spank the child. What does the scared child reach up to grab when he is in fear? Those same hands. Because he knows it is the same hands that punish him in times of disobedience will also protect him in times of trouble.

Proverbs 3:12 (CSB)

12 for the Lorddisciplines the one he loves,

just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

Proverbs 13:24 (CSB)

24 The one who will not use the rod hates his son,

but the one who loves him disciplines him diligently.

That’s the relationship that we have with our father, our shepherd. Yes, he disciplines us. Yes, he uses the “rod.” But it is never abusive like has been modeled by many evil men. But it is an act of love. And it is that rod that will keep us safe in times of danger.

Some of my favorite times as a parent is when my children are scared. That’s terrible isn’t it… But what do they do when they are scared. They cuddle up next to me and let me hold them.

I love taking them to play ground or a big green field and watching them run and play and have fun. I love to watch them have that abundant life and yet there is something special about those times of fear when they look to me as their father to protect them to comfort them. Honestly it is a more personal, more intimate connection that just doesn’t happen when they are care free.

But it is in those moments of fear that they learn to trust and it is that trust that is the foundation for the good life.

The quality of our life depends on our shepherd and our trust in our shepherd.

Here’s the point. Don’t run from the shadows. Don’t run from the darkness. Trust in the shepherd. Let him comfort you. Let Him lead you.

The Lord is my shepherd and he is near.