Leading and Providing Message given on the Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost, September 15, 2013 Psalm 23. 1-3 and Luke 15. 1-7 All scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Today we begin a series of three messages that will provide us with a close look at the 23rd Psalm. The portion that we heard in the scripture reading today is the focus for today’s message, but if you are like me, it only gave me a hankering to hear the whole thing, and if possible, in the King James Version. So, if you will, please take your hymnal once more and turn to number 137. There you will find the entire text of Psalms 23 in the King James Version, and I’d like us to share in this reading responsively please. Psalm 23. 1a: 1a “The LORD is my shepherd.” If we were not to read any further in this Psalm, this would be all we would need to know. Why? These five words define for us the relationship between God and ourselves. God is described as a shepherd. But God is not just any shepherd. As Jesus twice described himself in the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John, God is certainly “The” Good Shepherd. A good shepherd leads his sheep, and a good shepherd provides for his sheep and a good shepherd protects is sheep. Today, we will look at the first two of these tasks, and later on we will consider what it means that God our Shepherd also protects us. Sheep are easily distracted. When they put their heads down to eat, all they are looking for is the next tuft of grass that they can munch on. They do not look up to take in the big picture, and they can easily wander off into all kinds of hazards, or simply get themselves lost. Left to their own devices, sheep will do exactly that, time and time again. Sheep, by the way, seldom learn from their past errors, but become prone to repeating certain errors again and again. So the shepherd is there to lead the sheep, to keep them together, and to make certain they do not wander off and expose themselves to some kind of hazard or doom. When the shepherd leads his sheep out to pasture, its the shepherd who knows where they are going and how to get there. The older sheep may have been there before, but they are unable to find their way back. The sheep depend on the leadership of the shepherd. God leads us in the same way. Particularly if God has recently invited us to consider taking a new path of ministry or to engage in a new way of godly living. The way is unfamiliar to us. But God knows the path he desires us to take. God has been there before, and God knows the way we should go. So we depend upon God to provide us with the direction and the path for us to take. Fortunately for us, God does not send us on our way alone. Jesus has gone before us, trodding the earthen paths of Galilee and Judea long ago. Today, the Holy Spirit is our constant companion. As God dwells in our heart, we become able to hear the voice of God as the Lord tells us what to do, where to go, when to do it, and when we get there, what to say. Before we go on, I think that its important for us to acknowledge that some people take offence at being categorized as a sheep. Sheep are notorious for their ignorance. They try the patience of shepherds as they prove again and again that they cannot learn basic lessons of safety. For instance, in Psalms 42 and 43, the Psalmist asks the question, “Why are you cast down, o my soul?” Well, “cast down” is a shepherding term, referring to a sheep who has rolled over onto their back. When a sheep finally lies down to rest, many prefer to find hollows of ground into which they can lie. These hollows help them stay warm as they fold their legs up under themselves. But for some reason, some sheep just don’t get the hang of how to lie down in a hollow. Some sheep, not all, but a few, will habitually lie on the side of the depression, instead of the very bottom. And as they lay there, they s l o w l y begin to tip over. Does the sheep become alarmed and rise to their feet? No. They lay there until they have tipped over completely. Then they are vulnerable to internal problems and predators. Once on their back, a sheep cannot rise to their feet on their own. As they lay there, gastric gasses become trapped inside their internal organs, and unless they are righted, within hours they can die of internal hemorrhaging. Of course, they will die much sooner if a wolf or fox or coyote comes along and finds their necks exposed. The only help for a sheep in this position, if for the shepherd to find them upside down, and roll them over. It is necessary, and the only way that the sheep’s life can be saved. Shepherd report that it is necessary for some sheep to be rescued from this predicament many, many times over. So, back to our feeling insulted by being compared to a sheep in this Psalm. The fact of the matter is, most folks we know are very smart, quite intelligent, and have acquired a vast array of knowledge about a variety of subjects. We are accomplished in our home life, and in our chosen professions. How is it that such capable people as ourselves then get labeled a “sheep?” The answer lies in the fact that we are not talking about the gathering of worldly wisdom, but spiritual insight. When it comes to our spiritual nature, we find it very necessary to rely on God as our Shepherd because we don’t easily learn spiritual lessons. Spiritually speaking, many of us are in a time of early childhood development. Anybody who is raising a three-year-old child has had the experience of telling them, “Now, don’t do this particular thing.” And then just a few minutes later we find ourselves exasperated because almost immediately they have gone ahead and done it. And then we ask, “Didn’t I tell you not to do this thing?” And they reply, “Uh-huh.” And then we ask, “Then why did you do it? And they say, “I don’t know.” When we are engaged in habitual sin, God could very well be having the same conversation with each one of us. Yes, folks, spiritually speaking, we are well to be compared with the sheep of the pasture. And so it seems all the more appropriate that we give thanks for God being our Shepherd. Because God is our Shepherd, we can go on and say, Psalm 23. 1b: 1b “I shall not want.” Now we can all admit that when we were children, this phrase confused us. If God is our Shepherd, then why would we go on to say we did not want God? That’s what this phrase sounds like every time you read it fast. As a remedy, I like to put a noticeable pause in the phrase, and make it sound like the two different comments that they are. Psalm 23. 1: 1 “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” I shall not want is the second most important thing being said in this Psalm. Because God is providing for us, we have all we need. God will provide. God will make sure we do not go without. Sometimes we get tested around this issue when it comes to our prayer life. Asking for clergy to serve as Spiritual Directors on an upcoming Women’s Walk to Emmaus. The sheep in the Good Shepherd’s pasture have all they need. The Shepherd leads them to green grass. Psalm 23. 2b: 2b “He leads me beside still waters.” The Shepherd leads them to still waters. Busy, bubbling streams frighten sheep. Even if they were dying of thirst, they would not approach a rapidly moving river because the noise and the activity would make them fearful. Sheep are easily made afraid. And so it is that the Shepherd leads them to “still waters,” where they can drink without their fears being aroused. Sheep will not lay down until all their fears are calmed and all their needs are met. The last need sheep have is to be free of pests and predators. Shepherds have ointments that they put on their sheep’s noses to keep flies and mosquitoes out; otherwise, they will be attacked and bitten until they begin to run in mad circles trying to get rid of them. They will not lay down to rest while they are being tormented. And they will not lay down if they fear the presence of a predator. The shepherd has done their job well when the sheep are laying quietly. It means they are well fed, they have drank sufficiently, and they are feeling safe. Only then will they be able to declare: Psalm 23. 2a: 2a “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” God gives us peace. Peace comes to our soul when we realize we have all we need. That God has either supplied us, or we have faith that God will supply us. And in that realization comes rest, tranquility and refreshment. We can sleep the “sleep of the righteous.” There is more than simply our receiving God’s material blessing. Psalm 23. 3a: 3a “He restores my soul.” God makes us whole from the inside out. All of us know what it is to feel pain in our heart. God’s promise is that he has come to bind up the brokenhearted. He makes the rough places plain. He can rebuild that which crisis and trouble have torn down, beginning with our innermost being. After all, it is the soul within us that God has promised eternal life. Finally, God loves us. Luke 15. 4-7: 4 “[Jesus said,] ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and 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.’” When we were lost, Jesus sought us, and when he found us, he rejoiced over us. He rejoices to this day that we have found a right relationship with God. Even one that must be restored again and again and again. Because “all we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53. 6). But God seeks us out. He sent Jesus to find us and bring us back to safety within God’s own fold. Psalm 23. 3b: 3b “He leads me in right paths for His name’s sake.”
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 21:21:59 +0000
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