Tawa Baptist

God’s House

Scripture: Psalm 23:6b and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever

(With reference to John 10:7-10)

 

Title: God’s House

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The house of the Lord
  • Jesus is the gate
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

For most of this year we have been journeying through the 23rd Psalm together, exploring some of the ways it points to Jesus

–         Who can tell me the overarching message of Psalm 23? [Wait]

–          That’s right, the Lord is my security

–         And what are the two main metaphors that David uses to describe the Lord? [Wait]

–         That’s right, the Lord is a good shepherd and a generous host

 

In all of us there is a yearning for home, for a secure place to dwell – a place to belong, to put roots down and be sustained

 

And yet we live in a world which is highly mobile

–         People are more transient on the whole than they once were

–         We might travel a lot for work or move cities & countries for another job, leaving behind family, friends and community

–         Add to that the millions of displaced people in the world – those who are forced to shift by circumstance – the homeless and refugees

–         There is much in this life which works against our longing for home

 

Today we conclude our sermon series by focusing on the last half of verse 6…

–         And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for the length of days.

–         This verse speaks to the ache in our heart for home

 

Before we get into it though let’s read the whole Psalm together…

 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside still waters

He restores my soul

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake

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

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me

all the days of my life

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

For the length of days

 

May the Lord illuminate his Word for us

 

The house of the Lord:

In Maori culture when you are formally introduced to someone, they usually tell you where they are from

–         They might say, this is my iwi (or tribe), this is my hapu (or sub-tribe), this is my awa (my river), this is my maunga (my mountain) and so forth

–         Traditionally Maori feel a deep connection with the land and with their ancestors

–         So the place you’re from – both your geographical home and your biological house (your family) – are very important

 

In this way Maori culture is fairly similar to Jewish culture

–         Land and family are really important to the Jews as well

–         Where you are from, your house, your tribe & your piece of dirt, matters

 

What then does David mean by that expression house of the Lord?

–         Is he talking about a specific building?

–         Or is his emphasis more on being part of God’s family – his household?

–         Or is it both / and

 

Well, we might think the house of the Lord refers to the temple in Jerusalem

–         Just like we might think of this church building as God’s house

–         While God’s house can refer to a special building consecrated for worship (like this auditorium) it is not limited to this meaning

 

One of the problems with equating the house of the Lord (in Psalm 23) specifically to the temple in Jerusalem is that during David’s time the temple hadn’t been built yet

–         The ark of the covenant was housed in a tent or a tabernacle

–         And it wasn’t suitable for people to dwell in – it was a sacred space

 

The other problem with associating the house of the Lord with the temple or the tabernacle is that God cannot be contained in a building or a tent

–         He is far too big for that

 

In ancient Hebrew thought God fills the earth and indeed the universe with his presence

–         So the whole cosmos is God’s temple – not just this building, not just the Vatican in Rome or the temple in Jerusalem

 

Therefore, when David says, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord, what he probably means is that…

–         ‘I am at home with the Lord wherever I go. There is no escaping God’s presence’

–         In other words, David’s sense of belonging is not connected to a building or a specific location – it is connected to the Lord himself

–         ‘Wherever you go Lord, that’s my home’

 

Billy Joel has a song called “You’re my home”

–         There’s a great line in the chorus where he says…

–         “I never had a place I could call my own, but that’s all right my love because you’re my home”

–         The Lord God is David’s home – wherever he goes

 

And that’s quite striking when we remember how important the land and a sense of place is to the Jewish people

–         It’s like David is saying, ‘my river, my mountain, my turangawaewae, my ground of being, my security, is God

–         Or to use another illustration, it’s like David has taken the welcome mat at the front door of his home and turned it around so that it is facing out

–         Every time he walks out the front door he is reminded that he is at home and welcome with God wherever he goes

 

To make the point, if dwelling in the house of the Lord, means being at home with God anywhere in the world then David’s home would be a camper van – a mobile home

 

If dwelling in the house of the Lord in David’s mind also means, being in God’s family, belonging to God’s tribe, then this too is striking

–         Most kings in the ancient world (and in the contemporary one) are interested in making a name for themselves

–         Doing something to be remembered, creating a dynasty – leaving a legacy

–         But not David – he is more interested in God’s name than his own

–         Again it’s like David is saying, ‘my iwi, my tribe, is Ngati Yahweh

–         I belong to God’s household – his whanau

 

So dwelling in the house of the Lord means being at home with God anywhere

–         And it also means being part of God’s family

 

This idea that God is David’s home and his family would have been a tremendous encouragement to the Jewish people, especially when they were cut off from their land and had lost family, after the exile to Babylon

–         And it can be a tremendous strength to us also

–         Land & family can be taken from us, but no one can take God from us

 

What about the last part there?

–         And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for the length of days

 

Most of us are probably more familiar with and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever

–         But for the length of days is actually more accurate, even if it is more ambiguous

–         For the length of days can mean for the rest of my earthly life

–         But it can also mean forever – as in, for eternity with God in heaven

–         Heaven is of course God’s eternal house – otherwise known as the Kingdom of God

 

Whichever way you want to slice it, David’s point seems to be…

–         ‘I am at home with God, both in this life and the next. Because of the Lord my future is secure.’

 

Jesus is the gate:

Please turn with me to John chapter 10, verse 7 – page 132 toward the back of your pew Bibles…

–         Psalm 23 points to Jesus

–         Jesus is the good shepherd and the generous host that David spoke of

–         It is through Jesus that we are able to dwell in the house of the Lord for the length of days. From John 10, verses 7-10 we read…

 

7 So Jesus said again, “I am telling you the truth: I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All others who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever comes in by me will be saved; he will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life—life in all its fullness.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

This is a picture of a predator proof fence – like you might see at Zealandia

–         It’s not designed to keep the birds in – rather it is designed to keep the predators out (rats, stoats, opossums and so on)

–         If you are a native bird then you want to be inside the fence, especially at times when you may be vulnerable, like nesting or breeding season

–         But there is nothing to stop the birds coming and going otherwise

 

In John 10, Jesus (the good shepherd) refers to himself as the gate for the sheep

–         What does he mean?

 

Kenneth Bailey, who has been so helpful in this series, sheds light on what Jesus is getting at in John 10 [1]

–         He explains how in the Middle East, towards the end of the year and before the winter rains, when it is very dry, the shepherd must lead their flock further and further from the village to find pasture

–         This means it is harder for the flock to return to the relative safety of the village each evening – so they stay out in the wilderness overnight

 

To protect the flock, and get some sleep, the shepherd builds a rough enclosure using stones in the field

–         They might also put thorns on the top of the brick fence, like razor wire to keep the predators out

–         The enclosure doesn’t have a roof and there is no gate

–         The shepherd acts as a human gate by lying across the entrance way

–         If a predator or thief tries to enter the shepherd is woken and can protect the sheep from harm

 

Jesus is the human gate to God’s house (God’s kingdom)

–         He lets the sheep in, where we can have sanctuary, and he keeps evil out

–         All who enter by Jesus are saved

 

Verse 9 says, those who enter will come in and go out to find pasture

–         This verse speaks of the freedom and sustenance we have in Christ

–         Salvation does not mean the shepherd feeds the sheep from the safety of the barn or the stone enclosure

–         Rather, salvation includes freedom to go in for protection at night and out to the fields during the day to find nourishment for your soul

–         Like the birds at Zealandia who can fly in and out of the enclosure

 

But the main point here is that Jesus is the key to dwelling in the house of the Lord – he is our home security

–         Jesus is the good shepherd who provides sanctuary and acts as a human gate to God’s kingdom, wherever he may lead us in the world

–         So we can abide in Christ anywhere – even in the wilderness

 

On the night before he died Jesus said to his disciples, “Abide in me”

–         Trust me, dwell in me, remain in me, make me your home

–         When you do that you will be sustained and fruitful – like a branch connected to the vine

 

There’s a programme on Friday nights called, ‘The NZ home’

–         It’s a documentary type series looking at the history of NZ architecture

–         Last Friday they were covering the 1990’s when a lot of leaky homes were built

–         They took the cameras inside one of these leaky homes and the mould was so bad they had to wear suits and breathing masks

–         The house had become toxic and the occupants had been forced to leave

–         Really sad stuff

 

Our soul, our heart & mind, our inner person can dwell in damp, mouldy toxic conditions, like the leaky home

–         Or we can abide in Christ who sustains our life

 

What then does it mean to abide in Christ?

–         Let me give you some examples…

 

You can abide in the opinion of others – always a slave to what they think (which is toxic to the soul)

–         Or you can abide in the acceptance that Jesus offers (which is life giving)

 

You can abide in guilt & shame – always carrying out an autopsy on your mistakes, always trying to justify yourself

–         Or you can abide in the forgiveness that Jesus offers

 

You can abide in worry about the future – always anticipating the worst, always planning your escape

–         Or you can abide in the hope that Jesus offers

 

You can abide in loveless duty – always driven to do what you think you ought to do, not what you really care about

–         Or you can abide in the freedom that Jesus offers

 

You can abide in a fantasy world – always avoiding pain, grief & confrontation

–         Or you can abide in the truth and healing that Jesus offers

 

You can abide in bitterness – always feeling sorry for yourself, always taking offence where none was intended

–         Or you can abide in the grace to let go, that Jesus offers

 

You can abide in temptation – always looking over the fence, always imagining that you are missing out

–         Or you can abide in the simple contentment that Jesus offers

 

You can abide in your own abilities and cunning – always looking over your shoulder, always seeing your neighbour as a competitor, a threat

–         Or you can abide in the friendship that Jesus offers

 

You can abide in a treadmill of activity – always on the go, never able to be still long enough to enjoy anything

–         Or you can abide in the peace that Jesus offers

 

We could go on but you get the point – we can dwell in something toxic or we abide in Christ who is our life

 

Jesus says, “Abide in me” – trust me, make me your home

–         Jesus doesn’t leak

 

Conclusion:

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for the length of days means that God is our home and our family (our security), both in this life and the next

 

On the night before his crucifixion & death Jesus also said to his disciples…

 

Do not be worried and upset. Believe in God and believe also in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so. And after I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am.

 

These verses are often read out at funerals because they talk about our eternal home in God’s house

 

Jesus is the good shepherd who travels with us through the wilderness of this life – giving shelter and sustenance

–         He is also the good carpenter who goes ahead of us into the next life to build a home for us with God

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/14-august-2016-gods-house

[1] Kenneth Bailey, ‘The Good Shepherd’, pages 220-224.

Tawa Baptist

Comfort

Scripture: Psalm 23:4b – “Your rod and your staff they comfort me”

(With reference to Matthew 9:1-8)

 

Title: Comfort

Structure:

  • Introduction – comfort
  • The shepherd’s rod & staff
  • Jesus comforts the paralysed man – Matthew 9:1-8
  • Conclusion – The Comforter

 

Introduction:

On the wall here are some pictures

  • Some chocolate
  • A teddy bear
  • A sofa piled high with pillows
  • And a couple giving each other a hug
  • Looking at these pictures what seven letter word comes to mind?
  • Let people respond
  • That’s right: Comfort

 

These are the sorts of images we might ordinarily associate with comfort

  • Chocolate is comfort food
  • Pillows provide for comfortable rest
  • A hug communicates emotional comfort and security as does a teddy bear

 

Although we (today) might equate comfort with physical ease, luxury or even self-indulgence it didn’t always mean this

 

To comfort someone generally implies that the person receiving the comfort is in a state of pain or affliction [1]

  • Comfort causes us to feel less worried or upset [2]
  • Comfort eases our grief or trouble
  • And it gives strength and hope – it cheers up in other words

 

The word ‘comfort’ derives from two Latin words

  • Com – meaning with
  • And fortis meaning strong
  • So to comfort someone is to be with them in a way that fortifies them with courage – making them stronger & safer

 

Chocolate and pillows have their place but they don’t provide real comfort – because in the long run they don’t actually give strength or security

 

Other images which are closer to the original meaning of comfort might include

  • A life jacket – because this is a vestment of security; it makes you safer on the water
  • A walking frame – because this fortifies people, giving them strength & confidence to stand
  • A speed camera – because they actually make the roads safer
  • We can still keep the hug because physical closeness helps us to feel less alone and more secure
  • In the right context each of these things comforts us in the sense that they provide strength, courage and relief from anxiety

 

Okay, one more illustration to help us grasp the meaning of comfort

  • On the wall here is a picture of some cake batter being poured into a tin
  • Without the cake tin the batter would run out everywhere and the cake would have no strength to hold its shape
  • The tin comforts the cake in the sense that it gives strength to the cake – at least while the cake is baking in the oven
  • Once the cake is cooked you can take it out of the tin and it will hold together by itself
  • But until then the tin provides the comforting framework or the healthy boundaries needed for the cake’s strength

 

Today we continue our series on Psalm 23

  • The message of Psalm 23 as a whole is: the Lord is my security.
  • God looks after me like a shepherd looks after a sheep.

 

So far we have covered the first three & half verses…

 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside still waters

He restores my soul

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil

 

 

Today we finish verse 4, the centre of the psalm…

 

For you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me

 

This is primarily about the Lord’s comfort in the valley of darkness

  • Not comfort in the sense of ease & luxury – not chocolate & pillows
  • But comfort in the sense of strength, courage & security
  • Real comfort which makes us safer, relieving our anxiety & fear

 

The shepherd’s rod & staff:

So what does David mean by your rod and your staff?

  • How are these a comfort (or a strength) to him?
  • How do they provide security and relieve his anxiety?

 

Well, the rod and staff are two quite different tools of the shepherd’s trade

 

Kenneth Bailey observes that sheep have a special problem – they have no defences [3]

  • Cats have claws, dogs can bite, horses can kick, bears can crush, deer can run, but sheep have no ability to protect themselves
  • Without the shepherd, the sheep are completely vulnerable
  • The shepherd is their only security

 

 

The shepherd’s rod is one of his tools for protecting the sheep

  • It looks something like this…
  • [Show the rod]
  • I collected a couple of examples while walking on the beach up the Kapiti Coast
  • These are the closest I could find resembling a rod
  • As you can see a rod is relatively short and has a lumpy bit on the end – like a mace or a club
  • The rod is essentially a weapon
  • The shepherd uses his rod to protect his flock from predators – wolves and wild dogs and so forth
  • If a wolf threatens the flock the shepherd hits the wolf across the head
  • Good night wolf

 

The rod is a comfort to the sheep because it makes them more secure – it saves them from the wolf

  • David is less anxious knowing that the Lord (his Shepherd) is present with a rod to protect him

 

The shepherd also uses the rod for counting the sheep

  • When the flock return to the village in the evening the shepherd holds the rod over the sheep to account for each one
  • If a sheep or lamb is missing then the shepherd goes out to look for it
  • Knowing that the Lord counts his sheep with the rod also gives David comfort – he is less afraid of being forgotten or abandoned
  • So that’s the rod – it is never used against the sheep

 

Here we have a couple of examples of a shepherd’s staff

  • As you can see the staff is longer & thinner than the rod
  • Some are straight, like this one
  • And others have a curved bit (or a crook) on the end, like this one
  • If the sheep is about to fall down a bank or into a stream the staff with crook gives the shepherd extra reach to grab hold of the sheep and pull it back to safety
  • The shepherd uses the staff to gently guide the sheep back onto the path

 

In the wild Middle East where there are no fences and flocks roam in open country, the shepherd’s staff is like the proverbial fence at the top of the cliff preventing the sheep from going over the edge

 

So while the rod protects the sheep from predators, the staff protects the sheep from itself

  • David is comforted by the Lord’s staff because it keeps him on track – it stops him from going over the edge
  • In this sense the staff is a bit like the cake tin I showed you earlier
  • Like a cake tin the staff provides a framework (a healthy boundary) for holding us together while we are still growing into maturity

 

In some ways, children are like cake batter

  • They are comforted and strengthened and less anxious when they grow up with fair rules and consistent boundaries
  • We don’t need to be hard on our children
  • They don’t need us to hit them with the rod
  • But they do need us to guide them with the staff – to be firm and fair

 

The Lord’s staff, his tool for keeping us on track, is the moral law – the 10 commandments for example

  • There is something quite comforting about the staff of rules and tradition
  • Without the staff of rules and healthy boundaries (like uncooked cake batter) we won’t have the strength to hold together and keep our shape

 

In the Bible the staff is also a symbol of power, authority and journey

  • Moses, for example, used his staff to part the Red Sea and perform other miracles as he guided the people of Israel on a 40 year journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land

 

I mentioned last week that pagan gods are fixed in one location – in so called sacred places like temples or shrines

  • But Yahweh (the living God) is not fixed
  • Yahweh (the Lord) is free to move wherever he wants
  • That the Lord carries a staff (in David’s imagination) is a sign that God is with David wherever he goes
  • Knowing that God is with you (in close proximity to you) is a comfort – it gives strength and confidence and security in the darkest valley

 

For you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me

  • The Lord has the tools and the skills to take care of us
  • His presence gives strength & courage in dark and difficult places

 

Jesus comforts a paralysed man (Matthew 9:1-8)

The film Dolphin Tale was inspired by the true story of a dolphin called ‘Winter’ who lost his tale and had to learn to swim again with the help of a prosthetic tale

  • The doctor who made the prosthetic tale was working in a veteran’s hospital making prosthetic limbs and braces for returned soldiers
  • One soldier in particular, Kyle, was having a hard time adjusting to his disability
  • Kyle used to be a champion swimmer – but after his injury he had to give up that dream
  • When the doctor (played by Morgan Freeman) comforted Kyle, he didn’t do it with words of sympathy (with chocolates & pillows)
  • Instead the doctor comforts Kyle with words of strength

 

  • When Kyle says he is broken the doctor takes a glass and drops it on the ground so that it breaks and says, ‘the glass is broken – you’re not broken
  • Kyle still has options
  • There are a million other things he can still do, even with a gammy leg
  • Kyle is focusing on what he has lost so the doctor reminds him of what he still has – telling Kyle to go home to his family
  • In the long run, Morgan Freeman’s words have the effect of strengthening Kyle, so in that sense they provide more real comfort than sympathy

 

 

How then did Jesus, the good shepherd, comfort people?

  • How did Jesus inspire strength & courage?
  • Well, in Matthew chapter 9 we are given an example…

 

Jesus got into the boat and went back across the lake to his own town 2 where some people brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a bed. When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the paralyzed man, “Courage, my son! [Take heart] Your sins are forgiven.”

 

3 Then some teachers of the Law said to themselves, “This man is speaking blasphemy!”

 

4 Jesus perceived what they were thinking, and so he said, “Why are you thinking such evil things? 5 Is it easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 I will prove to you, then, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your bed, and go home!”

 

7 The man got up and went home. 8 When the people saw it, they were filled with awe, and praised God for giving such authority to people.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

 

Being paralysed the man in this story was basically defenceless, like a sheep

  • Not being able to move he was vulnerable, powerless

 

Fortunately this guy had friends to help him

  • The friends comforted the paralysed man by carrying him to Jesus
  • Their comfort wasn’t in the form of sympathetic words
  • Their comfort was in the form of practical action
  • Another version of this story in the gospels tells how the friends made a hole in the roof of the house where Jesus was and lowered the man down
  • The friends’ faith in Jesus (collectively) gave emotional strength and spiritual courage to the paralysed man

 

When Jesus sees their faith he speaks words of comfort to the man

  • “Courage my son. [Take heart]. Your sins are forgiven.”
  • Jesus’ words fortify the man’s inner being
  • We don’t know why the man was paralysed
  • It probably wasn’t because of any sin he had committed – otherwise we would all be in wheelchairs
  • But the social reality was such that most people listening to Jesus at that time would have assumed the paralysis was a punishment for sin
  • And it appears the man himself had bought into this lie
  • It appears the man believed he deserved to be paralysed

By saying, “Your sins are forgiven”, Jesus removes the man’s fear

  • Think about that for a moment
  • Forgiveness is a form of comfort – one of the most powerful forms of comfort in fact, because forgiveness takes away the fear of punishment
  • We can equate forgiveness to the shepherd’s rod because sin, guilt & shame are the enemies of the human soul
  • And forgiveness is the weapon by which Jesus, the good shepherd, protects us from sin, guilt & shame
  • Jesus’ rod of forgiveness comforts the paralysed man
  • The rod of forgiveness gives the man courage & permission to stand and walk without fear of punishment

 

Many people of Jesus’ day would have thought the Lord’s rod was some kind of weapon or military force to smash the Roman oppressors

  • But that’s not what Jesus came to do
  • Christ didn’t come to smash people
  • He came to smash sin and its consequences
  • And to guide people in the right path – the path of abundant life

 

By saying to the man, “Your sins are forgiven”, Jesus is making a startling claim – that he has divine authority to forgive sins

  • The scribes (the teachers of the law) are discomforted by Jesus’ claim
  • They begin to get off track thinking Jesus has committed blasphemy
  • So Jesus neutralises their fears and brings back onto the right path by healing the man
  • The miracle Jesus performs is like the shepherd’s staff – it is a symbol of Jesus’ God given authority – his right to forgive and to guide

Jesus wields the rod of forgiveness & the staff of healing with his tongue

  • It was by words spoken with power that Jesus, the good shepherd, brought real tangible comfort to people

 

 

Conclusion:

There is another way that Jesus comforts people and that is with the Holy Spirit

 

On the night before he died Jesus spoke words of comfort to his disciples…

 

The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you… Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

 

The Comforter, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, comes alongside us with strength and courage and truth to guide us, even through the darkest valley

 

Let us pray…

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort

[2] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comfort

[3] Kenneth Bailey, ‘The Good Shepherd’, page 49

Tawa Baptist

He Guides Me

Scripture: Psalm 23:3b – with reference to Matthew 15:1-20

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake

 

Title: He Guides Me

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Psalm 23:3b
    • The Lord guides me
    • Righteousness is a path
    • For his name’s sake
  • Matthew 15:1-20 – Jesus guides the people
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Over the past couple of months we have been journeying through the 23rd Psalm making reference, as we go, to the various ways in which this psalm points to Jesus, the good shepherd.

 

The message of Psalm 23 as a whole is: the Lord is my security.

  • God looks after me (personally) like a shepherd looks after a sheep.

 

So far we have covered the first two and half verses…

 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside still waters

He restores my soul…

 

‘Lying down’ is about God providing rest

  • ‘Green pastures’ is about nourishment
  • ‘Still waters’ is the peace God gives
  • And ‘he restores my soul’ has to do with rescue

 

  • When I am lost the Lord brings me back or rescues me
  • Rest, nourishment, peace and rescue – these are the ways in which God takes care of his people

 

Today we complete verse 3…

 

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake

 

This is primarily about the guidance or wisdom that the Lord offers

  • After bringing me back (or rescuing me) when I’m lost, the Lord then sets me on the right path, so I can carry on to find more green pastures

 

Psalm 23:3b

When we were young we used to play a game called Snakes & Ladders

  • With Snakes & Ladders you roll the dice and move your counter the number indicated on the dice
  • If you land at the foot of a ladder then you move up the ladder
  • But if you land on the head of a snake then you slide all the way down the snake and have to make your way back up the board again
  • Whoever gets to the end first, wins

 

Snakes & Ladders is entirely a game of chance – there is no skill involved and no choice – the dice determines your fate

 

Life is not exactly like Snakes & Ladders though

  • In life we can (to some extent) choose the path we will take
  • However we don’t always know where that path will lead us (at least not at first)
  • Sometimes what we think is a ladder turns out to be a snake & vice versa

 

 

The journey through life is more like travelling in a foreign country where you don’t know the language or the customs

  • You can try to do it on your own but that can be a bit hit & miss – you never really know if you’re landing on a snake or a ladder
  • If you’re smart you will find someone with local knowledge to guide you
  • With a trustworthy guide you can avoid the snakes and find the ladders

 

Returning to our key verse for this morning’s message – there are three main points to note in this phrase…

 

The Lord guides me:

Firstly, the Lord ‘guides’ me.

  • We are not guided by fate or the throw of the dice
  • We are guided by the Lord
  • The Lord is like the person with the local knowledge who shows us the way by walking with us through life

The Lord doesn’t force us or manipulate us or drive us – he guides us.

  • Guidance indicates a relationship of listening and trust
  • A relationship of freedom and respect

 

So we are not following a set of rigid instructions or a list of rules

  • We are following a person
  • The shepherd doesn’t give the sheep a map and a compass and then leave them to it – saying, “you’re on your own now mate”
  • The shepherd remains present with the sheep
  • He walks ahead of the sheep and the sheep follow the shepherd’s lead – his example

 

Righteousness is a path:

There is a new concrete pathway between Tawa and Porirua – running parallel to Kenepuru Drive

  • If you are starting from the Porirua end, heading south, then you come out at Findlay Street – by the Cricket Club
  • It is lovely to walk on and you have no doubt about where the path is
  • The way ahead is very clear

 

In the wild Middle East pathways are not so clear

  • There may be a number of faint trails in the wilderness but not all of them lead to a good destination
  • The shepherd knows which is the right path and consequently which other paths to avoid

 

I remember when I was 18, at the end of the 7th Form (Year 13), I wasn’t sure what to do next

  • In the end I decided to study business management at Waikato University
  • Most people in my family had a business background and so I followed the tradition of my ancestors
  • Unfortunately, at 18, I didn’t know myself very well
  • Truth be told I wasn’t really like anyone else in my family
  • I would have been better studying something like philosophy or sociology or something else in the field of humanities
  • The problem with those sorts of subjects is that they don’t have a clear career path – what would I do for a job at the end of the degree?

 

I thought that by doing business management I was landing on a ladder

  • Little did I realise that for me business management was a snake
  • Ironically the right path seemed wrong and the wrong path seemed right

 

Now I’m not saying that business management studies is bad – for some people it is the right path, it just wasn’t right for me

  • One man’s ladder is another man’s snake I suppose

 

In hindsight I didn’t really listen to God

  • In fact I don’t remember even asking for his guidance
  • For some reason I compartmentalised the different parts of my life
  • It didn’t occur to me as a young man and a new-ish Christian that I could ask God about career options
  • But even if I had asked for God’s input and he had answered, I’m not sure I would have had the faith at that age to step into a path which no one in my family had ever walked before

I battled my way through the degree with a B average but my heart wasn’t in it

  • Despite being on the wrong path God eventually brought me onto the right path
  • When I returned to Varsity some years later to study the Bible and theology I found my fit

 

Not that the business management stuff was wasted

  • As it turns out pastors these days spend a lot of time doing management type tasks
  • Perhaps there was some method in God letting me wander off on the wrong track

 

The second thing we note about our key phrase today is that David describes righteousness as a ‘path’

  • Think about that for a moment – righteousness is a pathway
  • For many of us righteousness is a destination – it equates to achieving some kind of moral or ethical standard
  • But in the Bible the destination is abundant life and righteousness is the path which leads to life
  • Furthermore the Bible teaches us that righteousness is by faith
  • So we walk the path of righteousness by faith – by trusting God

 

The right path is not always clear to us, is it

  • (Not like the pathway between Porirua and Tawa)
  • And so, because the right path is not always clear, it takes a certain degree of faith to walk in it

 

A path indicates movement, process, change and journey

  • The Lord’s guidance is not rigid or static – it is flexible and dynamic, appropriate to the terrain.
  • We don’t always know what’s around the corner and we may sometimes stumble or grow weary as we walk along the path
  • But we don’t trust in our own skill or strength – we trust the good shepherd who guides us

 

God is particularly interested in the inner pathways of our heart & mind

  • Where are our desires, our thinking and our feeling taking us

 

For his name’s sake:

The third point to note in this verse is that the Lord rescues us and guides us for his name’s sake

  • On a fairly superficial level “for his name’s sake” means for the sake of his reputation
  • But at a deeper level “for his name’s sake” means for the sake of his integrity

 

In other words, the Lord isn’t worried about what other people might think of him

  • The Lord rescues the lost and guides his sheep in the right path because he is a good shepherd and that is what a good shepherd does
  • The Lord could not live with himself if he did not take proper care of his sheep
  • By keeping his sheep safe & sound the Lord is being true to himself

 

For his name’s sake takes a lot of pressure off us

  • It means that God’s care of us does not depend on whether or not we are good enough
  • God’s care depends on his own integrity which is without question

 

Okay then – that’s the three main things David is saying in this phrase

  • The Lord guides me by his example
  • Righteousness is a path, and
  • God’s motivation for all of this is his own character – his own integrity

 

Matthew 15:1-20 – Jesus guides the people:

How then does this point to Jesus, the good shepherd?

  • Please turn with me to Matthew chapter 15 – page 22 near the back of your pew Bibles
  • There are many examples of Jesus guiding the people in the right path
  • I’ve chosen this one largely because it draws attention to the fact that the path of righteousness is not always as it appears to be
  • From Matthew 15, verse 1, we read…

 

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the Law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked him, 2 “Why is it that your disciples disobey the teaching handed down by our ancestors? They don’t wash their hands in the proper way before they eat!”

 

3 Jesus answered, “And why do you disobey God’s command and follow your own teaching? 4 For God said, ‘Respect your father and your mother,’ and ‘If you curse your father or your mother, you are to be put to death.’ 5 But you teach that if people have something they could use to help their father or mother, but say, ‘This belongs to God,’ 6 they do not need to honour their father. In this way you disregard God’s command, in order to follow your own teaching.

 

We are going to pause there – so don’t close your Bibles, leave them open, we will return to this reading shortly

 

Here we have two pathways

  • The path of righteousness according to human tradition, and
  • The path of righteousness according to the Lord

 

According to the Jewish tradition of that time righteousness was maintained by washing your hands frequently in a prescribed way

  • The thinking was that the world out there is contaminated
  • There are certain foods you can’t eat and certain people you can’t associate with and certain things you can’t touch
  • Because if you do you will become unclean and then God won’t accept your worship

 

To avoid the risk of contamination one must wash their hands in a particular way before eating – that was the tradition passed down by the ancestors

  • God did not require that – but tradition did

 

The original intention may have been good but over time what resulted was a very superficial form of righteousness

  • This pathway of righteousness, according to human tradition, didn’t lead to abundant life – it led in ever decreasing circles to a dead end

 

When the Pharisees (the guardians of human tradition) notice that Jesus’ disciples don’t wash their hands in the prescribed way they ask Jesus, why?

  • Presumably the disciples are following Jesus’ example
  • And Jesus doesn’t follow the path of human tradition

 

The Pharisees are on the wrong path and because Jesus is a good shepherd he wants to guide them onto the right path

  • But before he can do that Jesus has to show the Pharisees they are on the wrong track – so he asks them a question…
  • And why do you disobey God’s command and follow your own teaching?
  • Then Jesus gives the example of how the Pharisees say it’s okay not to provide for your elderly parents if you give the money to God

 

In those days there was no fortnightly superannuation payment from the government for those over 65

  • Your children were your superannuation scheme in the sense that you hoped your adult children would take care of you in your old age

 

The Pharisees were basically saying, give your money to God (or to the temple treasury, which we control) and you don’t have to take care of your parents

  • In order to make themselves rich the Pharisees made up a rule which effectively undermined God’s command to honour your father & mother
  • That was not the right path – that was not cool – and Jesus told them so

 

From verse 10 of Matthew 15 we continue…

 

10 Then Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand! 11 It is not what goes into a person’s mouth that makes him ritually unclean; rather, what comes out of it makes him unclean.”

 

12 Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that the Pharisees had their feelings hurt by what you said?”

 

13 “Every plant which my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up,” answered Jesus. 14 “Don’t worry about them! They are blind leaders of the blind; and when one blind man leads another, both fall into a ditch.”

 

15 Peter spoke up, “Explain this saying to us.”

 

16 Jesus said to them, “You are still no more intelligent than the others. 17 Don’t you understand? Anything that goes into a person’s mouth goes into his stomach and then on out of his body. 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these are the things that make a person ritually unclean. 19 For from his heart come the evil ideas which lead him to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others. 20 These are the things that make a person unclean. But to eat without washing your hands as they say you should—this doesn’t make a person unclean.”

 

May the Spirit of God illuminate this reading for us

 

There is a lot emphasis these days on keeping the environment clean

  • Now tell me, when it comes to a motor car – which is better for the environment?
  • Washing your car, so it’s nice and clean and sparkly on the outside
  • Or taking measures to improve the fuel efficiency – maybe getting a hybrid vehicle or an electric engine [Wait]
  • That’s right – taking measures to improve the fuel efficiency
  • Washing your car does nothing to help the environment – in fact the waste water may be bad for the environment
  • It’s what comes out of the car that really matters
  • It’s the engine (the inner workings) that is important

 

Returning to Matthew 15, Jesus could have dropped the subject after responding to the Pharisees, but he doesn’t

  • Jesus’ integrity won’t allow him to abandon the crowd to following the path of human tradition where that tradition is wrong
  • Jesus is the good shepherd so he gently (but clearly) guides the people in the right path saying…
  • “It is not what goes into your mouth that makes you ritually unclean; rather, what comes out of it makes you unclean.”

 

The disciples still don’t understand what Jesus means so he explains further…

 

“…from the heart come the evil ideas which lead you to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things… 20  These are the things that make a person unclean.” But to eat without washing your hands… this doesn’t make a person unclean.

 

To Jesus’ original audience this was a revolutionary idea

  • It was a radical reversal of what they had been led to believe was true

 

Jesus was effectively saying – the world out there is not bad, it is not contaminated

  • God’s creation is good – you can eat whatever you want

 

The problem isn’t out there with those who are different from you

  • The problem is in here – in the human heart – because that’s where evil comes from
  • You can wash your hands as much as you like but it’s not going to change what you think inside
  • You can polish your car till you can see your own reflection in it but that won’t change what comes out of the exhaust

 

Jesus is talking about inner pathways here

  • Where are your thoughts, feelings and desires leading you

 

Remember righteousness is a pathway – not a destination

  • When we look at the 10 commandments what we find is that they are talking about avoiding certain destinations
  • Do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not bear false witness, do not murder and so on
  • These are all destinations we should avoid
  • And the way to avoid those destinations is not to start on the path which leads to them

 

In Matthew 5, during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about paths of righteousness and paths of destruction

  • For example, he says (and I paraphrase a bit here) – don’t look at a woman lustfully, because that will put you on a path to adultery
  • And don’t stay angry with your brother and don’t call your sister insulting names, because that will put you on a path to committing murder
  • And don’t make an oath (don’t swear by heaven or earth), because that puts you on a path to bearing false witness
  • And don’t worry about money or food or clothes, because that puts you on a path to stealing

 

Instead you should love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you because that puts you on a path to God and to life

 

The problem isn’t out there – the problem is in here

  • It’s not what we eat that makes us unclean – it’s what we say and do that makes us unclean
  • And because what we say & do comes from inside us we need to take care with our inner pathways – our neural pathways
  • We need to make sure we are on the right track with our thinking
  • We need to be careful not to allow the desires of our heart to lead us in the wrong direction
  • We need to acknowledge what we feel without being led by what we feel
  • We need to let Jesus, the good shepherd, guide us from the inside out

 

Conclusion:

Many people these days think that it doesn’t matter too much which path you take in life – because all paths eventually lead to God anyway

  • I don’t believe that
  • That is not how life works in my experience
  • Some pathways lead to joy and peace
  • While other pathways lead to frustration and regret
  • They don’t all lead to God
  • But the good news is: God has sent his Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Christ) to show us when we are on the wrong path and guide us into the right path
  • What’s more God has a canny way of redeeming the time we spend on the wrong path

 

Let us pray…

 

Tawa Baptist

Rescue

Scripture: Psalm 23:3a   (He restores my soul)

 

Title: Rescue

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • He brings me back
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

This morning we continue our series on Psalm 23

  • The key message of Psalm 23 (as a whole) is, the Lord is my security
  • God looks after me like a shepherd looks after his sheep

 

The plan is to look at one aspect of the psalm each week

  • So far we have covered the first two verses…

 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside still waters

 

Today we start verse 3…

 

He restores my soul…

 

He brings me back:

On the wall here we have four pictures

  • Tell me, what do these four pictures have in common?
  • What is the one word tying them all together?
  • Wait for people to respond

 

That’s right – rescue

 

We often understand, He restores my soul, to mean something along the lines of

  • ‘I was tired or depressed and the Lord lifted me out of my sadness and gave me back my strength & joy’
  • However, this is not the primary meaning of verse 3

 

A more accurate translation of He restores my soul is He brings me back [1]

  • With this translation the sheep is lost and so the good shepherd goes after the lost sheep and brings it back
  • So, He restores my soul or (more accurately) He brings me back is primarily about rescue

 

When a sheep is lost it will hide under a bush or in the cleft of a rock and begin to quiver with fear and bleat so that someone will come to its rescue

  • In the wild middle east (where David was a shepherd) a lost bleating sheep was at risk
  • The shepherd had to find the sheep quickly before some wild animal heard it and killed it
  • Then, once the shepherd found the sheep, he would pick it up and carry it back – because it would be too traumatised to walk

 

So, he restores my soul really means, ‘I was lost and alone and scared but the Lord found me and carried me back

 

Henry Baker captures this idea in his hymn, The King of Love My Shepherd Is, where he says…

  • Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
  • But yet in love He sought me,
  • And on his shoulder gently laid,
  • And home rejoicing, brought me. [2]

 

Please turn with me to Luke chapter 15 – page 100 in your pew Bibles

  • This image of the good shepherd finding and bringing back the lost sheep reminds us of Jesus
  • From Luke chapter 15, verse 1 we read…

 

One day when many tax collectors and other outcasts came to listen to Jesus, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law started grumbling, “This man welcomes outcasts and even eats with them!”

 

So Jesus told them this parable…

 

Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them – what does he do? He leaves the other 99 sheep in the pasture and goes looking for the one that got lost until he finds it. When he finds it, he is so happy that he puts it on his shoulders and carries it back home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says to them, ‘I am so happy I found my lost sheep. Let us celebrate.’

 

In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 respectable people who do not need to repent.

 

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

 

During the week, early Tuesday evening, I got a call from Robyn saying she had lost her keys at school

  • As a teacher Robyn has a lot of keys and losing them is quite stressful
  • It would be an expensive and time consuming exercise to try and replace them all
  • One of the keys has an electronic chip in it which means it costs about $120 to get a new one
  • We didn’t really want to buy new keys – we wanted to find the old ones

 

Without the keys Robyn was pretty much incapacitated

  • For starters she couldn’t get into her car to drive home
  • So she called me to ask if I’d come and help

 

By the time I arrived Robyn had been looking everywhere for these lost keys but had no joy in finding them

  • We decided to go home and start the search again tomorrow
  • You see there is a child in Robyn’s class who has been known to hide things in strange places
  • It could be this child had hidden the keys somewhere

 

So the next morning Robyn very gently approached this 5 year old and said…

  • “I’ve lost my keys. Do you think you could help me find them?”
  • And the 5 year old said, “Yea, I’m really good at finding keys”
  • Then they went straight to the place where they had hidden them and restored them to Robyn’s hand

 

I got a text from Robyn shortly after to say she had the keys

  • Needless to say I was overjoyed

 

I like the way Robyn approached the child

  • She didn’t go in with all guns blazing
  • She didn’t make any threats,
  • She invited the child to help her
  • She made it easy for the 5 year old to do the right thing

 

Earlier we heard a parable of Jesus, about a lost sheep and good shepherd who went searching for and rescued the lost sheep

  • This parable is the first of three which Jesus tells, not to his disciples, but to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law
  • Following this parable Jesus went on to tell two similar stories – one of a woman finding a lost coin and another of two lost sons
  • All three parables have the same message essentially – something is lost and then is found or restored
  • We are just going to look at the first parable of the lost sheep

 

As I was saying, Jesus tells this parable to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law

  • That is, the religious leaders – the shepherds of Israel at that time
  • These were the men who were in charge – the ones who were supposed to take care of the people, at least in a spiritual sense

 

Sadly the Pharisees and teachers of the Law weren’t behaving like shepherds

  • They were not looking after the people – in fact they made life more difficult for the people with their man-made rules and traditions
  • And when Jesus welcomed outcasts & sinners they grumbled against him

 

On this occasion Jesus responded with gentleness

  • He didn’t go in with all guns blazing
  • He didn’t make threats or accusations
  • Jesus told them a parable

 

The Pharisees and Scribes were experts in the Hebrew Bible – what we call the Old Testament

  • So they would have known the 23rd Psalm back to front
  • They would be well aware that the Lord God is like a shepherd who brings me back (or rescues me) when I’m lost
  • Jesus was starting where they were at, with a metaphor they were familiar with, from a source they accepted

 

The parable Jesus told was both explanation and invitation

  • Jesus was explaining to the religious leaders why he was welcoming outcasts – because the outcasts were like lost sheep and that is what a good shepherd does – he rescues the lost
  • At the same time Jesus was inviting the religious leaders to join him in the work of finding and bringing back the lost
  • Can you help me find my keys?
  • Can you help me find the lost sheep of Israel?

 

Jesus begins the parable by saying…

  • Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them

 

There are a number of things to note in this simple phrase…

  • Straight away Jesus is saying, ‘you Pharisees and teachers of the Law are the shepherds of Israel’
  • And by implication, as shepherds, you have a duty of care for the people

One thing which is lost in translation is that the shepherd owns the sheep in this parable

  • He has a hundred sheep – means the sheep belong to the shepherd [3]
  • It is a closer (more invested) relationship than merely being a hired hand looking after someone else’s sheep
  • Jesus is saying to the religious leaders, these outcasts that you are grumbling about, they are actually part of your flock
  • The loss of even one of them is a loss to you personally and it’s a significant loss, like losing a $120 electronic key
  • You don’t want to get a new one – you want to find the old one

 

Another thing worth noting: 100 sheep at that time and in that place was a large flock

  • By NZ standards it is a small-ish flock but to Jesus’ original audience it was big – you would need to be quite rich to own 100 sheep
  • But even though the flock is large and the shepherd is wealthy the value of the one lost sheep is not less
  • The rules of supply and demand don’t apply with God
  • Each sheep is valuable in its own unique way

 

If Robyn had 100 keys on her key ring (she doesn’t have that many but she does have quite a few) but if she had 100 and she lost one of those keys, she wouldn’t say, ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter, I’ve got 99 more’

  • She would say, ‘I need to find that key because without it I can’t access the door which it opens’
  • You see, none of the other 99 keys will be able to do the exact same job that the one lost key can

 

Everyone is important to Jesus – everyone is valued by God – everyone has a particular purpose (a unique gift) which no one else offers

  • The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you”. And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you”. On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable… [4]

 

 

Jesus goes on…

  • …and suppose you lose one of them
  • Now this is quite a confronting thing to say
  • Normally in the Middle East, where there is a strong honour / shame culture, to preserve reputation, you would say something like…
  • ‘The sheep went astray’ [5] or, ‘the sheep got lost’
  • So it would be the sheep’s fault
  • You would never admit to losing the sheep yourself
  • And you certainly wouldn’t say, ‘You lost the sheep’
  • But that is what Jesus says here…
  • Suppose you lose one of your sheep

 

In a very gentle way Jesus is pointing out that the Pharisees and teachers of the Law have lost some of their sheep – the outcastes and tax collectors

  • As shepherds it is their responsibility to bring the lost sheep back

 

I say that Jesus is being gentle in his approach with the religious leaders because compared to the prophets of the Old Testament he is

  • In reprimanding the shepherds (or kings) of ancient Israel in Old Testament times Ezekiel writes…

 

The weak you have not strengthened

The sick you have not healed

The injured you have not bound up

The strayed you have not brought back

The lost you have not sought

And with force and harshness you have ruled them [6]

 

Ezekiel goes on to say that the Lord is against the shepherds of Israel and will put a stop to their tending of the sheep

 

As I said before Jesus’ parable to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law is both explanation and invitation

  • Jesus is inviting the religious leaders to join him in searching for and bringing back the lost sheep of Israel
  • He is making it easy for the religious leaders to do the right thing

 

Kenneth Bailey who I find so helpful in this study decodes what Jesus was saying to the scribes and Pharisees…

 

Gentlemen, you are not trapped by the past. We all know that the bad shepherds in the writings of the prophets who lost their sheep and failed to even try to bring them back were harshly punished for their failures. But you are not trapped into following that path. You are free. I have pioneered a way forward. When a shepherd loses his sheep he naturally goes after it until he finds it. He then carries it home and has a party. It is as simple as that. The lost that I am “bringing home” are sheep that you yourselves have lost. I know that you don’t like them and that you despise me for going after them. But when they are lost – you lose because they are part of your flock! When they are found, it is your gain!           …Can you join me in the great task of restoring the lost sheep of the house of Israel? …  [7]

 

Returning to Jesus’ parable we note how the shepherd leaves the 99 where they are in the wilderness to go looking for the one lost sheep

  • In reality a responsible shepherd in the Middle East would never leave his flock unattended in the wilderness
  • The original audience understood that the shepherd would leave an apprentice or another shepherd to protect the 99 sheep
  • So the 99 are not abandoned – they are cared for too

 

When it comes to searching for and bringing back (or rescuing) the lost sheep, it is the shepherd who does most of the work

  • The shepherd has to walk all over the place looking for the sheep, calling out to the frightened animal
  • And when he finds it the shepherd then carries the sheep home on his shoulders because the sheep is too distressed walk by itself

 

But although the shepherd does most of the work the sheep must still want to be found

  • Because the lost sheep will likely be hiding behind a rock or under a bush it must bleat and call out so the shepherd can hear where it is
  • If the sheep doesn’t make a noise, well, the shepherd is unlikely to be able to find it
  • Or if the sheep hears the shepherd calling and runs in the other direction then the shepherd can’t rescue the sheep

 

Perhaps the sheep’s bleating is equivalent to a human being praying – calling out to God for help

  • If we are lost we have to want to be rescued
  • It is a fact that we won’t call out to God until we realise our need for Him – until we become aware that we are lost

 

One of the key elements of this parable (and the two which follow) is the joy and celebration when the lost are found and restored

  • In verse 7 Jesus interprets his own parable saying…

 

In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 respectable people who do not need to repent.

 

The main point here seems to be: the Scribes & Pharisees shouldn’t grumble about Jesus welcoming sinners and outcasts – rather they should be happy that Jesus is restoring their flock

  • But it is curious, don’t you think, that Jesus talks about the respectable majority who don’t need to repent?
  • We know that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God
  • So we all need to repent – right?

Yes – precisely

 

Jesus’ parable finishes with the lost sheep safely home and the 99 respectable sheep still out there in the wilderness

  • The Scribes & Pharisees were themselves lost, only they didn’t realise it
  • They didn’t think they needed to repent but clearly Jesus’ parable indicated they did

 

Heaven, aka the heart of God, does not rejoice in self-righteousness or blindness

  • God rejoices in the truth
  • He rejoices in those who know they are lost and accept being found
  • Jesus was telling the Pharisees and teachers of the Law in a gentle way that the very people they despised brought more joy to God than they did

 

Whether we are part of the respectable majority or whether we are outcasts – at some point we all need to be found and brought back to God

  • But before we can accept being found we must first realise we are lost and believe God wants to find us

 

Conclusion:

Jesus is the good shepherd who searches for and brings back the lost sheep

  • This speaks to me of a God who pursues us with His love

 

[1] Kenneth Bailey, The Good Shepherd, page 44

[2] Quoted in Kenneth Bailey’s book, The Good Shepherd, page 45.

[3] Refer, Kenneth Bailey, ‘The Good Shepherd’, page 121.

[4] 1 Corinthians 12:21-22

[5] Refer Kenneth Bailey, The Good Shepherd, page 123.

[6] Ezekiel 34:4

[7] Refer Kenneth Bailey, The Good Shepherd, page 125.

Tawa Baptist

Green Pastures

Scripture: Psalm 23:2a (in green pastures) – with reference to Mark 6:30-44

 

Key Idea: Jesus nourishes the whole person – body & spirit

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • In green pastures
  • Jesus is the good shepherd who feeds us
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

This morning we continue our series on Psalm 23

  • The key message of Psalm 23 (as a whole) is, the Lord is my security
  • God looks after me like a shepherd looks after his sheep
  • A couple of weeks ago we considered how the Lord makes me lie down
  • In other words He makes it possible for me to rest
  • Rest is the very first need the Lord takes care of for us
  • We work best from a foundation of rest

 

Today we unpack the green pastures of verse 2…

  • ‘Green pastures’ speaks of feeding and nourishment
  • Before we explore this metaphor of ‘green pastures’ though let’s stand and sing the whole psalm together now…

 

♫       The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Crimond)

 

May the Lord illuminate His word for us

  • Please be seated

 

 

Green Pastures:

Food is essential to life

  • We need to eat in order to gain energy to move, repair & grow our bodies
  • In our society there is quite a bit of emphasis placed on nutrition and the quality of the food we eat
  • We are encouraged to have 5 plus (fruit & vege) a day and to buy food with the Heart foundation tick or with 3 or more health stars
  • Some fats are good for you and some are bad
  • What’s more we are warned against too much salt and too much sugar

 

With this in mind I thought we might have a wee food & nutrition quiz – here’s our first question…

 

Which is better for you?

  • A cup of rice
  • A cup of pasta
  • About the same

 

The answer is: about the same – okay next question

 

Which has fewer calories?

  • Baked potato
  • Brown rice
  • About the same

 

The answer is: baked potato – one potato has about half the calories of a serving of brown rice. A potato (with the skin on) also has more vitamin C than rice

 

Which has less sugar?

  • Apple juice
  • Orange juice
  • About the same

 

The answer is: orange juice. In fact apple juice has about the same amount of sugar as coke and there’s over 9 teaspoons of sugar in a can of coke [1]

 

Okay – one more

  • How long would you need to walk to burn off the calories in a Big Mac? [2]
  • 20 minutes
  • One hour and 20 minutes, or
  • Two hours and 20 minutes

 

The answer: about two hours and 20 minutes – slightly more in fact

 

As I said before our focus today is the green pastures of verse 2

  • Sheep eat grass and so the green pastures of Psalm 23 is a metaphor for food & nutrition – both physical sustenance and spiritual sustenance
  • As Jesus said, ‘Human beings cannot live by bread alone – but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God’ [3]
  • So ‘green pastures’ refers both to the food we eat with our mouths and the Word of God which sustains the human soul and spirit

 

Most farms in NZ have green grass almost all year around, except perhaps some of the large sheep stations in the South Island

  • But in the Middle East (where David, the author of this psalm, comes from) green pastures are only plentiful for about 2-3 months of the year
  • Most of the time green pastures are a delicacy and a delight

A skilled shepherd will know exactly where to lead his or her flock to find the best pasture, even during the dry season

  • So when David says, the Lord makes me lie down in green pastures, he is implying that God is an expert shepherd
  • The Lord knows exactly where to take his sheep for the best quality nourishment – the food God provides has a 5 health star rating

 

In our modern culture we have a saying…

  • ‘The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence’
  • Which refers to the way we tend to look at other people’s lives through rose tinted glasses
  • We imagine our neighbour has it better than us, when in fact s/he doesn’t
  • Bob Dylan captured this thought in the song lyric, ‘What looks large from a distance up close ain’t never that big’

 

I think we all have those ‘grass is greener’ moments don’t we

  • Times when we’ve had a few hard weeks (or months) and start to think,
  • ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we lived somewhere else or we had a different job’, or whatever it is we imagine the problem to be
  • The Big Mac over the fence looks more appealing than the rice salad right in front of us

 

Sometimes the grass might be greener and we can improve our lot by making a change – but in reality most of the time it isn’t

  • Generally speaking, ‘the grass is greener’ is a warning against thinking we’re hard done by

By saying the Lord makes it possible for me to lie down in green pastures David is implying: with the Lord the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence

  • God doesn’t provide second rate nourishment
  • The Lord knows where the best pasture is and how to lead us there
  • This speaks to His wisdom and skill as our shepherd

 

Of course, sheep in a Middle Eastern context don’t usually wake up to find themselves in green pastures

  • The sheep must often travel through relatively barren wilderness before arriving in green pastures
  • So we can’t expect green pastures every moment of every day
  • But we can expect them often enough to sustain us

 

The other thing to point out is that while the Lord provides the green pastures we still need to eat for the nourishment to have any effect

 

Let me demonstrate what I mean…

  • On the wall here is a delicious selection of food
  • Hmmm – look at that pork-chop and salad – yum
  • Or maybe you prefer the healthy burger
  • Imagine finishing with the freshness of that fruit salad
  • Or perhaps the smoothness of the marbled chocolate cheesecake

 

Are you feeling full looking at those images?

  • No – why not?
  • Because just looking at the food, just smelling it and being near it doesn’t nourish you
  • For the food to do any good you have to eat it – you have to actually take it in to yourself – right?

 

God will bring us to green pastures but we still have to feed ourselves

  • The Lord has provided His word for us but unless we take it to heart it won’t do any good

 

God’s word is available to us in a whole variety of ways

  • Sometimes God’s word comes to us in conversation with others or by listening to a sermon or through a sequence of events
  • One of the main ways we feed on God’s word is by reading the Bible
  • Not just reading it once over lightly but taking time to allow the message to sink in – meditating on it, digesting it

 

Sometimes reading the Bible can become just another chore that we tick off our list, like brushing our teeth or washing the dishes

  • We do it without thinking and are pleased when it’s over because then we can get back to what we really want to do
  • I don’t think that’s what God intends for His word
  • Reading the Bible in that way won’t nourish you much

 

When you read the Scriptures – read slowly – chew on the words

  • And when you come to a verse which resonates with your spirit – pause and linger over that verse – read it and re-read it
  • Savour it like a piece of chocolate melting in your mouth
  • Or crunch the words like an apple – enjoy the taste

 

The experience of reading the Bible and coming across a gem of a verse that just speaks to your heart can happen in the most unexpected of passages

  • Psalm 94 is a bit like that
  • It starts off, ‘O Lord, God of vengeance shine forth… give to the proud what they deserve…’
  • Then it carries on with the psalmist spitting tacks over evil doers
  • Not very uplifting or positive stuff
  • Just as you’ve had enough and are about to put it down you come to verse 19 – a ray of light…

 

“When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul”

 

I love that – it speaks to my experience and nourishes my soul

  • After walking through a wilderness of spleen venting we break out into a vista of green pastures
  • Not that all that talk of vengeance doesn’t have its place
  • If you’ve been badly treated or oppressed with injustice, like the psalmist, then ranting against evil doers might be exactly what you need to hear
  • It may be food for your soul to know you are not alone in your grievances

 

The point is, God knows what we need to sustain us and He is faithful in providing what we need

  • But we need to do our part too and take in what He is saying to us
  • Allow God’s word to register in your inner being & strengthen your hope

 

Jesus is the good shepherd who feeds us:

Please turn with me to Mark chapter 6 – page 53 in your pew Bibles

  • Jesus is our shepherd – he knows what sustains us and is an expert at providing it
  • On many occasions Jesus demonstrated his shepherding skills in his care of the disciples and the crowds that followed him
  • Mark 6, verses 30-44 describes one such occasion
  • As we read these verses I want you to listen for echoes of the 23rd Psalm
  • From Mark chapter 6, verse 30 we read…

 

30 The apostles returned and met with Jesus, and told him all they had done and taught. 31 There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn’t even have time to eat. So he said to them, “Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will be alone and you can rest a while.” 32 So they started out in a boat by themselves to a lonely place.

33 Many people, however, saw them leave and knew at once who they were; so they went from all the towns and ran ahead by land and arrived at the place ahead of Jesus and his disciples. 34 When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw this large crowd, and his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things. 35 When it was getting late, his disciples came to him and said, “It is already very late, and this is a lonely place. 36 Send the people away, and let them go to the nearby farms and villages in order to buy themselves something to eat.”

37 “You yourselves give them something to eat,” Jesus answered.

They asked, “Do you want us to go and spend two hundred silver coins[a] on bread in order to feed them?”

38 So Jesus asked them, “How much bread do you have? Go and see.”

When they found out, they told him, “Five loaves and also two fish.”

39 Jesus then told his disciples to make all the people divide into groups and sit down on the green grass. 40 So the people sat down in rows, in groups of a hundred and groups of fifty. 41 Then Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and gave thanks to God. He broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 Everyone ate and had enough. 43 Then the disciples took up twelve baskets full of what was left of the bread and the fish. 44 The number of men who were fed was five thousand.

 

May the Lord feed us with His word

 

Before you can swallow your food you have to chew it

  • Before you can ingest a passage of Scripture you have to understand the context

 

Previously Jesus had sent the 12 apostles out in pairs to preach to the people, drive out demons and heal the sick

  • The apostles had now returned to Jesus having experienced some success in their work
  • But while they were gone King Herod had killed John the Baptist – cutting his head off [4]

 

John the Baptist was regarded as a prophet by the people – the first prophet Israel had heard in about 400 years

  • So the common people were upset, confused and angry at what Herod had done
  • The atmosphere was tense – a powder keg ready to blow at any moment

 

John was also a blood relative of Jesus – so with John’s death Jesus lost a family member and a friend

  • Not only did Jesus have his own personal grief to deal with he also had to cope with the cultural & political pressure to avenge John’s murder

 

Verse 31 of Mark 6 says…

  • There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn’t even have time to eat

 

Kenneth Bailey observes that this is the only instance in the Gospels that speaks of people both ‘coming and going’

  • Why this sudden back-and-forth flow of people?
  • Because all across Galilee people wanted to know how Jesus planned to respond to this horrifying murder of John, his relative
  • They came to hear what Jesus intended to do and then went back to report his initial response [5]

To avoid the constant flow of interruptions, Jesus the good shepherd says to his disciples…

  • “Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will be alone and you can rest for a while.”
  • There we have an echo of Psalm 23 – He makes me lie down
  • Jesus makes it possible for me to rest, in other words

 

They get into a boat and cross the lake for a lonely place where they won’t be disturbed

  • But the people saw them and followed around the lake on land
  • When Jesus got out of the boat he saw this large crowd and his heart was filled with compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd
  • Sheep and shepherd – another echo of Psalm 23

 

The people followed Jesus because they were hungry

 

I imagine many were hungry for justice or revenge – ‘O Lord, God of vengeance shine forth… give to the proud what they deserve…’

  • Herod was supposed to be the shepherd of the Jewish people – at least in his province – but he was a bad shepherd
  • He abused & scattered the sheep
  • Herod shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this

 

I imagine also in the crowd those gentler souls who were too broken in spirit to pursue revenge – those hungry for joy – those craving some lightness and relief from the daily grind of poverty

 

So Jesus himself shepherded the people in their time of need and hunger

  • Verse 34 says that Jesus taught the people many things
  • In other words, he fed them with calm words of wisdom fitting for the situation they found themselves in

 

We don’t know exactly what Christ told the crowds but I expect he satisfied their hunger for justice by talking about God’s judgment

  • The measure you use for others is the measure God will use for you
  • So love your enemies, turn the other cheek, repay evil with good
  • Treat others the way you want to be treated
  • Don’t take matters into your own hands – vengeance belongs to God
  • Remember this world is not all there is – God will make all things right

 

Jesus’ integrity is impeccable

  • Jesus practiced what he preached
  • Naturally there was a huge wave of sympathy for Jesus
  • He could have easily raised an army of willing soldiers to march against Herod – but he doesn’t
  • Jesus himself turns the other cheek despite being under immense pressure to avenge John’s murder

 

For those who were hungry for some comfort and joy I expect Jesus had words of understanding and grace

  • ‘Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light [6]
  • Or perhaps, ‘A bruised reed he will not break and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory’ [7]
  • Or maybe, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ [8]
  • “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul”

 

Jesus cares about the whole person – both the spiritual and the physical

  • In fact he doesn’t separate the two – he holds the physical & spiritual together
  • After nourishing hearts, minds & spirits with the word of God, Jesus then nourished people’s bodies with food, by multiplying the loaves & fishes

 

In verse 39 we read how Jesus told his disciples to make the people sit down on the green grass…

  • The echo from Psalm 23 could not be clearer
  • Jesus is the good shepherd who …makes me lie down in green pastures
  • Jesus is the one who feeds me both with God’s word and with food

 

There are many other things we could say about this passage but that’s enough to digest for one day

 

Conclusion:

Jesus is the good shepherd who knows where to find the best pasture for his sheep

  • Jesus is not interested in leading a bloody crusade
  • He has compassion on people and feeds them with the wisdom which leads to peace
  • When we are hungry for vengeance Jesus satisfies our anger with a vision of God’s justice
  • And when we are hungry for joy, because the cares of our heart are many, the consolations of Jesus’ grace cheer our soul

 

Jesus nourishes the whole person – body & spirit

 

What is it you hunger for?

 

 

 

 

[1][1] http://www.livestrong.com/article/283136-how-many-teaspoons-of-sugar-are-there-in-a-can-of-coke/

[2] http://www.calorieking.com/foods/    (a Big Mac has 549 calories)

[3] Matthew 4:4

[4] I imagine that, on the one hand, the apostles were pumped (or excited) at all they had done. But on the other hand they were unsure if it was appropriate to express their excitement given that John had just been killed. It’s kind of like having a baby but not feeling like you can celebrate too much because someone else has recently died.

 

[5] Kenneth Bailey, ‘The Good Shepherd’, page 163.

[6] Matthew 11:28-30

[7] Matthew 12:20

[8] Matthew 5:3

Tawa Baptist

Rest

Scripture: Psalm 23:2a – He makes me lie down (also: Luke 13:10-17)

Key Idea: The Lord makes it possible for me to rest

Structure:
• Introduction
• The Lord (Jesus) makes it possible for me to rest
• Conclusion

Introduction:
This morning we continue our series on Psalm 23
– The plan is to look at one aspect of the psalm each week
– So far we have covered the first verse…
– The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
– Today we unpack the first part of verse 2…
– He makes me lie down
– To give us some context though let’s read the whole Psalm together now

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
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.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

May the Lord illuminate His word for us

The key message of Psalm 23 (as a whole) is, the Lord is my security
– God looks after me like a shepherd looks after his sheep
– A couple of weeks ago we considered how the Lord knows our needs and provides for them – therefore I shall not want
– Today’s focus is: He makes me lie down…
– Lying down in green pastures is the picture of rest
– So the very first need the Lord takes care of for David (and for us) is rest

He makes it possible for me to rest:
On the wall here are pictures of four creatures…
– A dog, a tiger, an elephant and a dolphin
– Who can tell me what these four animals have in common?
– [Wait]
– Yes, that’s right – they can all be trained to do things, like sitting, rolling over, fetching stuff and so on

Okay, what about these two animals – what do they have in common?
– A cat and a sheep
– [Wait]
– Yes, that’s right – they can’t be trained
– A cat and a sheep might follow you but if you ask a cat to sit they will probably walk off in the other direction
– Likewise there is no telling a sheep to lie down

Aesop was an ancient Greek story teller credited with a number of fables
– One of my favourites is the fable of the wind and the sun

The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger when they saw a man coming down the road
– The Sun said, “I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveller to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin.”
– So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveller.
– But the harder he blew the more closely the man wrapped his cloak around himself, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair.
– Then the Sun came out and shone in all its glory upon the traveller
– Soon the man found it too hot to walk and of his own volition freely peeled off his cloak

Verse 2 (of Psalm 23) begins with the words, ‘He makes me lie down…’
– The phrasing here, ‘He makes me…’, can give the impression that some kind of force or coercion is involved, as if God were making David do something against his will, like the wind in Aesop’s fable
– But there is no force involved here – God is more like the sun, creating an environment in which David can relax

A better way to convey the meaning is: God makes it possible for me to rest

As Kenneth Bailey observes…
– “A dog can be trained to sit and lie down. [but] Not a sheep”
– No one can force a sheep to lie down.
– Sheep will only lie down when they have had plenty to eat & drink and are feeling safe
– We are similar to sheep in this respect – if we are hungry or thirsty or feeling anxious or threatened by something we won’t be able to rest
– God not only provides time off to rest but also the environment to rest
– He takes care of our needs and concerns so we can let go enough to relax

Interestingly the very first need which David talks about God taking care of is the need for rest
– We might expect rest to come last but it comes first

About 10 years ago now a TV advertisement came out for Mallow puffs
– ‘Have you done enough for a mallow puff’
– In that ad there was a father and son mowing the lawns
– The back lawn was quite large and they only cut a small patch of it
– But it’s enough to spread out a couple of deck chairs, sit back for a break and enjoy a mallow puff

In many ways this ad goes against the grain for us kiwis
– We are not like this at all
– We find it hard to relax when the job isn’t finished
– We just want to get the job done and then we will feel like we can rest
– We see work as the star of the show and rest is just an optional extra
– In our mind rest might be the icing on the cake but it’s not the main thing

We may have this back to front
– In the Bible, rest is the foundation on which our work is built
– It’s not the icing on the cake – it’s the tin in which the cake of work is baked
– Rest supports work
– So the makers of the mallow puff ad may be on to something
– We don’t just rest from our work, we work from our rest

When rest is the foundation (or the container) supporting work, then work goes better

Neuro science would agree with this
– There are different parts to our brain
– The frontal cortex is where we do our best thinking
– While the brainstem is where our survival instinct comes from

The more stressed or anxious we feel (and therefore the less rested we are) the more our brain stem (or survival instinct) takes over
– And the more our brain stem takes over the less we are able to engage our frontal cortex
– When one is up the other is down

By the same token when our brain stem is calm & rested we have greater access to the higher reasoning powers of our frontal cortex
– The more we use our cortex, the better our decision making and so the better the quality of our work

In other words, starting with rest (as the foundation) actually helps us to work smarter

He makes me lie down means the Lord calms my brain stem, he settles me down
– The Lord God doesn’t want us to be stressed or pressured or over worked
– He wants to bring us to a place of rest, where we are not anxious about our survival
– He wants to bring us to a place of trust in Him
– From that place of trust and rest we are better able to function as God intended – better able to make choices which serve God’s purpose

The fact that rest is important to God is seen in the way God provides a Sabbath day of rest once a week

Pastor and writer, Peter Scazzero, gives a helpful definition of Biblical Sabbath
– Pete reckons there are essentially four main elements to Sabbath…
o Stop work – find your off button
o Enjoy rest – kick back and relax (feet up)
o Practice delight – do something that you really enjoy
o Contemplate God – don’t think about work, think about God’s goodness

The Sabbath is more than just a day off from paid work
– Taking a day off to catch up on chores around the house is not a Sabbath
– Sabbath is meant to be a day of enjoyment & delight – a little slice of heaven on earth, each week

For the sake of integrity I need to say that I don’t do Sabbath very well
– It’s a foreign concept to me
– I’ve been a Christian for a while now but I’m only just scratching the surface of what true Sabbath means
– Sadly I’ve majored on sacrifice at the expense of Sabbath – which is something Jesus warned against
– Yes, there is suffering involved when we follow Christ (pick up your cross and follow me) – but there is also meant to be joy & delight
– God has given us divine permission for freedom, joy and delight but we are sometimes slow to give ourselves that same permission

Interestingly, Jesus had a bit to say about rest
– In fact he seemed to intentionally perform many of his miracles on the Sabbath as a kind of sign of what God intended for humanity
– Please turn with me to Luke chapter 13 – page 98 toward the back of your pew Bibles
– Luke 13, beginning at verse 10 and continuing to verse 17…

One Sabbath Jesus was teaching in a synagogue. 11 A woman there had an evil spirit that had kept her sick for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called out to her, “Woman, you are free from your sickness!” 13 He placed his hands on her, and at once she straightened herself up and praised God.

14 The official of the synagogue was angry that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, so he spoke up and said to the people, “There are six days in which we should work; so come during those days and be healed, but not on the Sabbath!”
15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Any one of you would untie your ox or your donkey from the stall and take it out to give it water on the Sabbath. 16 Now here is this descendant of Abraham whom Satan has kept in bonds for eighteen years; should she not be released on the Sabbath?”

17 His answer made his enemies ashamed of themselves, while the people rejoiced over all the wonderful things that he did.

May the Spirit of Jesus gives us ears to hear

This is a story of a woman who could not rest for 18 long years
– For 18 years she had been without joy or delight, without genuine Sabbath

The religious leaders of that time had a whole lot of rules about what you could and couldn’t do on the Sabbath and healing people was against their man-made rules (the synagogue ruler majored on sacrifice)
– It wasn’t against God’s law though and so Jesus reminded the people of God’s purpose for the Sabbath by healing the woman
– Jesus made it possible for her to rest by releasing her from the evil spirit
– Now the woman could delight in God – now she could enjoy life again

This miracle of Jesus didn’t just set the woman free – it set everyone in the room free
– Now the people were able to enjoy the Sabbath without guilt or fear of breaking the Pharisees’ rules

Conclusion:
He makes me lie down – he makes it possible for me to rest

There are many things that might prevent us from resting
– Sometimes we stay busy to avoid the emptiness we feel inside
– We are afraid to stop because then we will have to face that emptiness
– Perhaps we can’t rest because we don’t really believe we are loved
– We think we have to be constantly achieving things in order to be accepted
– Or maybe we don’t give ourselves permission to rest – maybe we’ve majored on sacrifice at the expense of enjoying God and His creation

As I said before I’m not really qualified to preach on this subject – not from my own experience anyway
– The most I can do is point to Jesus
– Jesus came to set us free from whatever it is that might prevent us from resting

Jesus is the good shepherd – He is the one who gives us rest
– The one who calms us and settles us down so we are better able to enjoy God and live for His glory

Tawa Baptist

My Shepherd

Scripture: Psalm 23:1a

Key Idea: The Lord is my shepherd

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The Lord is my shepherd
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

In a moment we are going to read a psalm together

  • A psalm is basically a song or a poem
  • The words of the psalm will appear on the wall
  • I invite the men to read the words in plain type and the women to respond by reading the words in italics
  • From Psalm 23 we read…

 

The Lord is my shepherd,

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside still waters,

He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

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.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

 

May the Lord illuminate His word for us

 

Today we continue our new sermon series on Psalm 23

  • The plan (God willing) is to look at one aspect of the psalm each week
  • Last week we began with the opening phrase of the psalm – perhaps the most well-known verse in the Bible: The Lord is my shepherd,
  • And so you might expect this week’s message to focus on the second part of that verse, I shall not want
  • But that will have to wait till next week because we still haven’t finished with the Lord is my shepherd

 

The Lord is my shepherd:

Last Sunday we considered the meaning of the word ‘shepherd’

  • What did King David (the author of the psalm) mean when he called the Lord God his shepherd?
  • Well, very briefly, he meant the Lord is my security
  • God looks after me like a shepherd looks after his sheep

 

This week the focus is on the Lord as my shepherd – with the emphasis on my

 

Don’t you find it interesting that thousands of people in the world suffer every day, in a whole variety of ways, and yet for the most part that suffering doesn’t really touch us or affects us?

  • It’s only when we know someone personally, when we have an attachment to them, that their suffering moves us

 

We can watch children starving on the TV news and feel sad and maybe even send some money to help them

  • But if we knew those kids personally – if they were our own children – then we wouldn’t just send money
  • We would get on a plane with some Weetbix, find them, feed them and bring them home with us
  • That’s the difference a personal connection makes
  • Personal relationship has a powerful influence on our soul

 

It is quite striking really that David says, The Lord is my shepherd – singular

  • We would expect David to say, The Lord is our shepherd – plural
  • After all, sheep normally get taken care of as part of a flock, together with other sheep – it doesn’t make sense (economically) to have one shepherd for each individual sheep
  • Not only that but in Middle Eastern culture, where this psalm was written, people are far more community minded – they are more inclined to think in terms of we as opposed to me
  • Generally speaking in the west today we are the opposite – the focus for us tends to be more on the individual

 

 

It’s not that one way is right and the other is wrong, we need to value the importance of both the community and the individual at the same time

  • There might not be an ‘i’ in ‘team’ but there is an ‘i’ in ‘community’

 

Anyway, David, who was brought up in a culture where the sense of community was so strong that the importance of the individual could be neglected, [1] he says, The Lord is my shepherd

  • In other words, I have a personal relationship with the Lord
  • I know, from my own personal experience, that God can be trusted to take care of me
  • This was something David knew to be true, not just because he read it in a book or inherited the idea from his parents or the society he grew up in, but because he lived it and owned it for myself

 

So when Goliath challenged the army of Israel, David’s default setting was, “I’m not afraid of this Philistine. The Lord is my security”

  • And when Saul was trying to kill David, David did not get scared and take matters into his own hands – David trusted the Lord with his future
  • And when the Ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem, David didn’t worry about what people thought of him
  • He danced before the Lord in worship because his security was in the Lord, not in public opinion
  • David wasn’t perfect as we know, but he did trust in the Lord

 

Sometimes in science fiction movies the characters learn new skills, new languages, new ideas simply by having the information downloaded into their mind with a computer

  • So in the film The Matrix, Neo learned Kung Fu in a matter of minutes by being plugged into a computer and having software fed into his brain
  • But in the real world, that we live in, learning is a process which takes time – often years
  • David learned to put his security in the Lord the hard way – through real life experiences – not just through a download of information
  • It’s the same for us – simply listening to a sermon isn’t enough to make God your personal security

 

Bloom's Learning Taxonomy

 

In the 1950’s an educational psychologist by the name of Benjamin Bloom did some research and found there are different categories of learning – some learning happens at a deeper level than others

  • For example: memorising something so you can remember it and repeat it by rote is a superficial form of learning
  • Understanding what you remember and being able to apply it, is a deeper level of learning again

 

A person might remember that the 23rd Psalm starts with the words, The Lord is my shepherd, and still not understand what those words mean

  • If you listen carefully to the sermon you might gain some understanding and learn that The Lord is my shepherd means The Lord is my security
  • If you are really keen you might go home and analyse the psalm yourself and discover other nuggets of meaning
  • The ultimate form of learning though is doing something creative with the psalm
  • Perhaps finding a new and inventive way of teaching the psalm to a group of Flock Sunday school kids
  • Or becoming less anxious in life as you place more trust in the Lord

 

Benjamin Bloom’s classification of learning has undergone a number revisions and adaptions over the past 60 years

  • Here’s another way of looking at it…
  •  Learning Pyramid

[2]

 

This version shows the different stages of learning to integrate a new idea or a new belief into your life

 

The first stage is simply becoming aware of the new idea

  • ‘Hmm, the Lord is my security, that’s interesting. I hadn’t thought of Psalm 23 in that way before’

 

The second stage is pondering the idea, finding out more about it, getting to grips with it in your head

  • This might involve going home after the service and meditating on the psalm in light of that word security
  • You might get your Bible out and look for the word shepherd in the index and consider other passages where the shepherding metaphor is used
  • Or you might do some other form of research into security and risk

 

The third stage is valuing the idea – agreeing with it, perhaps even telling others it’s a good idea.

  • Stage 3 normally begins with great enthusiasm for the new concept
  • ‘Wow, the Lord is my security, that’s so cool. That means I don’t have to worry because God has got my back. I feel really good knowing that.’
  • What we notice here is there is often a gap between agreeing this is a good idea and acting on it
  • There’s a gap between talking about it and doing it

 

Although stage 3 (the valuing stage) often starts with great enthusiasm, it normally ends with a deep sense of conviction – a feeling of guilt & remorse

  • Eventually this new idea that we are so excited about bumps up against reality – it is tested
  • ‘The Lord is my security’ is easy to say when things are going well
  • But when we experience some kind of loss, that’s when we really discover whether the Lord is my security or not
  • I might think the Lord is my security but then I might lose my job and start to worry about how I will pay the mortgage
  • I might also lose my confidence and not try applying for other jobs
  • At that point I realise, ‘actually my job was giving me a greater sense of security than the Lord was’
  • Not a nice feeling to be humbled like that but it’s the beginning of stage 4

 

Now, losing a job is just a random example

  • We could use other examples too – like losing health, or losing a loved one, or leaving home, or a marriage break-up, or anything else that might challenge our sense of security

 

The fourth stage is when we start to apply the idea

  • We reprioritise our life so the new idea actually becomes integrated with a new lifestyle and new behaviour

 

In the case of losing my job, reprioritising so the Lord is my security, and not my work, could mean…

  • Not allowing fear to rush me into things, but pausing long enough to commit my way to God in prayer
  • Reprioritising could also mean reviewing my expenditure and setting a new budget
  • Or not measuring my worth by how many job interviews I get
  • Reminding myself that I am valued by God and was loved by Him before I was born – that is, before I had achieved anything

The final stage (at the top of the pyramid there) is when we own the new idea or belief

  • Owning it means it is properly integrated into my daily life
  • So all my decisions & actions are based on this new idea – this new belief
  • The hard work of re-prioritising is over and I have a new default setting.
  • When I own the belief that the Lord is my security, I’m not concerned about being fully employed or unemployed
  • I’m not worried whether other people think I’m a success or a failure
  • I am content with little and with much

 

Why am I telling you all this – you may be wondering

  • Well, we can’t hide behind someone else’s faith – whether that’s the faith of our parents or our spouse or the faith of one of the pastors or whoever
  • We can’t assume that simply coming to church and listening to sermons will make the Lord my security
  • If we are going to follow Jesus (the good shepherd) then each of us must integrate the practice of trusting Christ into our lives
  • Each of us must be able to say honestly: ‘The Lord is my personal security’

 

This process of learning to own something isn’t just a modern idea

  • The process may have been articulated in the 1950’s but it’s been around a lot longer
  • We see it in the gospels over and over again
  • People don’t normally get what Jesus is saying straight away
  • It takes time for God’s word to sink in
  • And even more time for it to bear fruit in our lives

 

Take Nicodemus for example [3]

  • Nic, as he was known to his friends, was an important man
  • He was a member of the Sanhedrin – sort of like a Member of Parliament
  • He was one of the leaders of the people
  • He was also a Pharisee – a learned and morally upright man
  • Highly respected and not inclined to suffer fools gladly
  • Nic was in a very secure position in his society – or so he thought

 

One day Nic became aware of a young Rabbi in his 30’s teaching the people with real wisdom and performing all sorts of miraculous deeds – healing the sick, casting out demons and making people freer in themselves

 

Nic ponders this & eventually concludes that this Jesus fellow must be from God – how else could he perform all those miraculous signs?

  • The idea that Jesus is sent from God is thrilling to Nic – he gets a bit excited by it and in his enthusiasm goes to meet Jesus
  • The problem is Nic’s Pharisee mates don’t like Jesus much and so Nic decides the most prudent thing is to visit Jesus by night – in private
  • That way no one will find out about it – after all he does have his reputation to think about
  • At this point Nic is at stage 3 of the learning process – he values the idea (in his head) but isn’t ready to change his life for it

 

Nic opens the conversation with Jesus by sharing his belief that Jesus must be from God

  • Jesus then challenges Nic to act on this new belief saying…
  • No one can see the kingdom of God without being born again
  • This confuses Nic
  • He had been born and raised a Jew, one of God’s chosen people,
  • Wasn’t he automatically accepted into God’s kingdom because he was a descendant of Abraham?
  • What does Jesus mean by being ‘born again’?

 

Jesus goes on to say, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”

  • In other words, ‘Nic, your security is misplaced. You think being a Jew and being a Pharisee makes you secure (safe), but it doesn’t
  • You can’t rely on the faith of Abraham to save you
  • And you can’t rely on your good deeds to save you either
  • You must have your own personal faith in the Son of God to be saved.’

 

Nic had come to Jesus like a triumphant school boy, certain he had solved a difficult problem and Jesus just seemed to be giving him more homework

  • Apparently there was a gap between what Nic said he believed about Jesus and what he was prepared to do about it

 

As time passed the hostility toward Jesus increased

  • Most of Nic’s Pharisee mates didn’t think Jesus was from God, like Nic did – they saw Jesus as a threat & wanted to arrest him
  • But Nic tried to stand up for Jesus saying…
  • “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing”
  • The other Pharisees shouted him down though

 

Nic wasn’t ready yet to re-prioritise his life around his new found belief that Jesus was from God

  • He wasn’t prepared to completely abandon his career as a Pharisee
  • But it was a first tentative step in that direction
  • Nic was attempting to bridge the gap from stage 3 (valuing) to stage 4 (re-prioritising)

 

Eventually the Jewish leaders had their way with Jesus

  • They manipulated the Roman governor and the crowd to have Jesus crucified
  • Nic didn’t go along with it – but there was nothing he could do to stop it
  • I imagine he felt a deep sense of conviction at this point
  • I imagine he felt guilty and ashamed at what his mates had done

 

Jesus was dead and so Nic went with Joseph of Arimathea to claim Jesus’ body for burial

  • Finally Nic ‘came out’ and identified himself with the crucified Jesus
  • This was a huge risk – to show support for Christ in his death
  • Not even Jesus’ closest friends were prepared to do that
  • Nicodemus finally owned his belief that Jesus was from God
  • He made Christ his security

 

Conclusion:

Today is the first Sunday in Lent

  • Lent is the 40 days (or so) leading up to Easter
  • It is a time when we re-prioritise our life in order to follow Jesus more closely
  • Lent is about bridging the gap between stage 3 (talking about it) and stage 4 (actually doing it).

 

What idea or belief do you personally need to integrate into your life?

  • What is it you need to re-prioritise in order to follow Jesus more closely?

 

Let us pray…

[1] Kenneth Bailey, The Good Shepherd, page 38.

[2] Peter Scazzero uses this adaption of Bloom’s taxonomy in his book ‘The Emotionally Healthy Leader’ page 44

[3] Refer to John 3:1-21; John 7:50-52 & John 19:38-42

Tawa Baptist

Security

Scripture: Psalm 23:1

 

Title: Security

 

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The Lord is my security
  • Conclusion

 

Introduction:

Today we begin a new sermon series on Psalm 23

  • Some of the inspiration for this series comes from Kenneth Bailey’s book The Good Shepherd
  • The plan (God willing) is to focus on just one verse or one aspect of the Psalm each week
  • Today’s focus is the first part of verse 1: The Lord is my shepherd,
  • But, to get us into gear, let’s read the whole Psalm together, antiphonally
  • Which means I will read the words in plain type and you are invited to respond by reading the words in bold italics
  • From Psalm 23 we read…

 

The Lord is my shepherd,

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside still waters,

He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

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.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

 

May the Lord illuminate His word for us

 

The Lord is my security:

NZ has changed a lot in the last 40 years or so

  • It seems to me we have become a more anxious society

 

When I was a kid growing up in the 70’s it was nothing to disappear for the day with my mates and not turn up again until dinner time

  • My parents didn’t worry about me or need me to text them – cell-phones weren’t invented
  • Some of the stuff we got up to was semi-dangerous I suppose by today’s standards but consequence is a great teacher
  • When I was five I walked to school 2 or 3 kilometres by myself – no worries
  • On holiday my cousins and I would walk to the beach by ourselves to go swimming & fishing – no sun block, little (if any) adult supervision
  • It wasn’t that our parents didn’t care – they did care very much – it’s just that people felt more secure, safer somehow
  • We didn’t feel the need to lock our houses or our cars during the day
  • And we didn’t have ads on TV every 10 minutes warning us to avoid some kind of danger

 

Don’t get me wrong – NZ is still a great place to live – it’s probably safer in many respects than most other parts of the world

  • It just seems that despite our advances in technology people are more anxious and less secure on the whole
  • These days there seems to be a lot more fear around
  • People are generally less trusting and less inclined to take risks
  • In fact we have a lower tolerance for risk

We try to eliminate risk in a whole variety of ways

  • Security cameras
  • Security lights
  • Security guards
  • Security alarms
  • Security clearance
  • Cyber security, anti-virus software & fire walls
  • Police checks
  • Warrant of Fitness checks and code of compliance certificates
  • Occupational safety & health procedures
  • Hazard management plans
  • Road safety messages
  • Insurance and so on

 

These things aren’t bad in themselves, they are quite sensible really – but I’m not convinced they make us any more secure – not deep down where it matters

 

Psychologically speaking security is a fundamental human need

  • We need to feel safe and secure in order to be able to function properly
  • Interestingly the Bible has quite a bit to say about security

 

As Kenneth Bailey notes, the predominant image of God found in the psalms is one of security.

  • Many psalms describe God using words like: shield, high tower, fortress, refuge, rock, stronghold or horn of salvation.
  • Psalm 18 includes many of these images…

 

I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised and I am saved from my enemies...   [1]

 

These images are understandable in an ancient Middle Eastern context where living out in the open made one very vulnerable.

  • People naturally felt a compelling need to reside in a well-fortified enclosure on the top of a hill to provide some security against Bedouin raiders or an invading army.
  • Yet overuse of such ‘homeland security’ language could produce paranoia and a siege mentality. [2]
  • And so the psalter offers other (less common) images of God which inspire security without the paranoia
  • One of those images is God as a Shepherd

 

Yes, the security God gives can be likened to something hard and unyielding like a high tower or a fortress or a rock or a shield

  • But God (and the security He offers) can also be understood in more personal, relational terms, like a shepherd

 

As New Zealanders we probably think we know all about sheep but actually the way we care for sheep is quite different from the way shepherds operate in the Middle East

  • In NZ our sheep are relatively safe
  • They are fenced in on farms and don’t normally face that many threats
  • But in Palestine sheep are far more vulnerable
  • They are literally led out into the wilderness to find pasture
  • In those trackless, fenceless open spaces the shepherd and his sheep are alone and at risk of bandits, wild animals, snakes and extreme weather
  • The shepherd and the sheep are without police protection [3]
  • It is a more dangerous environment than a NZ farm

 

The various kings of Israel throughout the Old Testament were referred to as the ‘shepherds’ of Israel

  • Why?
  • Because it was the king’s job to take care of the people – like a shepherd takes care of sheep
  • As head of the army the king was head of security for the country

 

Psalm 23 is attributed to King David

  • Before becoming the shepherd (or the king) of all Israel
  • That is, before becoming the guy in charge of security for his country, David was a shepherd of actual sheep
  • So he had a very grass roots insight into shepherding

 

 

When David writes, “The Lord is my shepherd…”

  • What he means is, The Lord God is my King
  • Yahweh is my security
  • The Lord isn’t just my security when I’m behind the well-fortified walls of Jerusalem
  • He is my security in those situations where I must leave the safety of the fortified city and journey through the wilderness, unprotected

 

In other words, as my shepherd the Lord gives me the sense of security or the confidence to step out of my comfort zone and to go into new and unfamiliar environments – wilderness places where I am not in control

 

The Lord is my security when I step out into the unknown

  • The Lord is my security when my employment is uncertain
  • The Lord is my security when my health is uncertain
  • The Lord is my security when I start a new school and I don’t know anyone
  • The Lord is my security when I leave home for the first time
  • The Lord is my security when I have to leave my homeland to settle in a new country and the language is different and the customs and different
  • The Lord is my security when I become a parent and there is no manual
  • The Lord is my security when I leave a comfortable lifestyle to follow God’s call on my life

 

Let me tell you a story – about a guy named Pete [4]

  • Pete was a fisherman
  • He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed but he was honest
  • You always knew where you stood with him
  • Pete didn’t have a filter – he had an unfortunate tendency to speak before thinking and it got him into trouble on occasion

 

One time he was out in a boat with his mates, at night, and it was getting pretty rough

  • As a fisherman Pete was used to a bit of chop but this was different – this was scary, even for him
  • This was a wilderness experience – a situation in which they had no control over the environment

 

As they were fighting against the wind and the waves, people in the boat began to notice this figure, walking across the water

  • Seeing someone walking on water was something completely outside their experience and so they didn’t know how to interpret it
  • I’m not sure about you but when I’m faced with something new and unfamiliar I tend to think the worst – Pete & his mates were no different
  • They jumped to the conclusion that they were seeing a ghost
  • Not Casper the friendly ghost but something more sinister
  • Some kind of omen of death
  • They were hysterical

 

The figure on the water was actually Jesus

  • Pete and his mates followed Jesus wherever he went
  • Jesus taught them how to be human – that is, how to trust God
  • In an attempt to calm them down Jesus said…
  • “Courage. It is I. Do not be afraid”

 

At which point Pete spoke without thinking…

  • “Lord, if it is really you, order me to come out on the water to you.”

 

Really?

  • He had to say that?
  • Couldn’t he have said something less risky like…
  • ‘Lord, if it’s really you, tell me what’s the first thing you ever said to me’.
  • Or something else no one but the real Jesus would know
  • Instead he had to risk his life by saying, ‘order me to come out on the water’

 

Perhaps I’m being a bit tough on Pete

  • Perhaps his first instinct was good
  • Perhaps this shows he was willing to think the best in this situation

 

In any case, Jesus liked where Pete’s head was at and said…

  • ‘Sweet – do it – come to me’

 

At this point Pete had a choice – either he could step out of the safety of the boat or he could stay put

 

In his book, ‘Take the Risk’, Dr Ben Carson (a gifted surgeon) assesses the risk in any given situation using four simple questions: [5]

 

  • What is the best thing that can happen if I do this?
  • What is the worst thing that can happen if I do this?
  • What is the best thing that can happen if I don’t do it?
  • What is the worst thing that can happen if I don’t do it?

 

(In many ways this is similar logic to Pascal’s wager)

 

The best thing that could happen, if Pete stepped out of the boat to walk on the water, is that he wouldn’t sink – he would know it was Jesus and everything would be alright again

 

The worst thing that could happen, if Pete stepped out of the boat, is that he could drown and his mates in the boat could drown as well

 

The best thing that could happen, if he stayed in the boat, is that he would survive but have to live with the shame of making an offer he couldn’t follow through on

 

The worst thing that could happen, if he stayed in the boat, is that he and all his mates would still drown anyway

 

Clearly, by this best / worst analysis, not taking the risk and staying in the boat was a worse option than taking the risk and leaving the boat

 

I don’t know if Pete thought it through like this or not but in the end he made a good choice – a courageous choice

  • On some level Pete had the imagination to believe that Jesus could do this
  • He had the faith to hope for the best and so he stepped out of the boat

 

At first things went well – Pete actually did walk on water

  • But when he took his eyes off Jesus and paid more attention to the strong wind he lost his confidence – he became afraid and began to sink
  • Interesting thing, even though he was sinking Pete still hoped for the best
  • He still believed this figure standing on the waves was Jesus and he said,
  • ‘Save me Lord”
  • So Jesus reached out to grab hold of Peter

 

Now the thing about Jesus is that grace & truth go together

  • You can’t have one without the other
  • The grace of saving Peter came with words of truth
  • “How little faith you have. Why did you doubt?”

 

This seems like an unkind thing for Jesus to say

  • I mean, it was a big deal for Peter to get out of the boat
  • He put his life on the line, not just to satisfy his own curiosity but for the sake of his mates as well
  • If Peter didn’t have much faith then the other disciples had even less – no one else was prepared to take the risk
  • I imagine Jesus’ words would have stung a bit – not just Peter but everyone else in the boat too, because they had all doubted

 

Jesus wasn’t being unkind though – he was simply being real, being honest

  • The truth is their faith (plural) was small
  • No point in pretending otherwise
  • Another word for lack of faith is insecurity
  • The wound of their insecurity had to be cleansed with the antiseptic of truth

 

Conclusion:

To say ‘the Lord is my shepherd’ and really mean it is to say that our security is in Christ – that we trust him in every situation – including those times & places when we are not in control of the environment

 

Please understand me – stepping out of the boat, leaving your comfort zone is not always appropriate

  • There are times when we need a fortress, a safe place, a refuge
  • But there are other times when we are better off to take the risk
  • Learning to trust Jesus as our shepherd (our security) takes time – it’s a process
  • Fortunately for us the Lord is patient

[1] Psalm 18:1-3

[2] Kenneth Bailey, “The Good Shepherd”, page 36.

[3] Kenneth Bailey, ‘The Good Shepherd’, page 37

[4] Refer Matthew 14:22-31

[5] Ben Carson, Take the Risk, page 105.