The Chief End of Man

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason -- August 15, 2004

Psalm 23:3  “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

Johnny and his mother were having a dispute about oatmeal. Johnny’s mother was doing her best to persuade the boy to eat his oatmeal, but he wouldn’t budge. Finally, in desperation, she said, “Johnny, if you don’t eat your oatmeal, God will punish you.” Still, Johnny refused, and his mother sent him to bed. Before long, a great storm arose. Lightning flashed like a strobe light and the wind whipped the rain against the house. Johnny’s mother rushed upstairs to comfort her son. “Johnny, are you okay?” she asked. “I guess so,” he replied, “but this sure is an awful fuss about a little oatmeal.”

The Westminster Confession makes this statement about the relationship between God and humanity when it poses the question:  “What is the chief end of man?” It answers the question with this: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”
Too many of us are like Johnny. We don’t want to eat our oatmeal!

The Lord who is our shepherd leads or guides us in the paths of righteousness.  Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” He did not say, “I have come to make you miserable, even more miserable that you already are.”
But we don’t always want to follow the path of righteousness. The phrase “paths of righteousness” actually speaks of the right paths. He will show us what the right paths are and then he will lead us in them if we will let him. 

WHY MUST THE SHEPHERD LEAD ME?

1. Sheep have no sense of direction. “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Isa. 53:6).
Did you by any chance see the film Cool Runnings? It came out several years ago. It’s the story of the first Jamaican bobsled team to go to the Olympics. John Candy plays a former American gold medalist who becomes a coach for the Jamaican team. The players grow to like their American coach and affectionately call him “sled-god.”

Later in the story, however, the coach’s dark history comes out. The coach too had been an Olympic bobsled gold-medalist. But afterwards, it was discovered that he had broken the rules by weighting the U.S. sled, bringing disgrace on himself and his team.

One of the Jamaican bobsledders could not understand why anyone who had already won a gold medal would cheat. Finally, he nervously asked his coach to explain.

“I had to win,” he said. “I learned something. If you are not happy without a gold medal, you won’t be happy with it.” 1

This is what many people discover in their lives. They spend their lives trying to get more and more, trying to find happiness and contentment in life, but they discover that in the end they have not really found happiness. They have only found things.

Psalm 23 captures the secret to contentment in life. It is to trust in God, rather than in things to bring happiness.

2. Sheep don’t know where to go. “We have turned everyone to his own way” (Isa. 53:6).

3. There are necessary places sheep don’t want to go. “When he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them” (John 10:4).

4. Sheep are not sure-footed.

5. The shepherd wants to encounter our dangers first.

6. The shepherd knows where to go, (direction).     How to get there (method), why we are going, (purpose) and when to move (timing). Sheep are notorious for destroying pasturage. If they are not moved around often they will gnaw the grass off down to the roots. One of the greatest protective things a shepherd can do for his flock is to keep them on the move. The shepherd knows where the flock will thrive and he will lead them there.

Sheep are also well known for going their own way and the result is always bad for the sheep. Think about people you know who have gone their own way. They have gone their own way and the results are broken homes, broken hearts and derelict lives. The result is ruin all around.

WHAT ARE RIGHTEOUS PATHS?

1. The word righteous scares us or doesn’t have any meaning. The original suggests right paths.

2. Since “he leads in right paths,” then there are wrong paths. He will lead us into the righteous paths and away from those that are unrighteous. He will not drive us; he will lead us as a shepherd leads his sheep.  We all have noticed that difficulties do arise in life. Why is this so? The promise of this Psalm is that the Lord is my shepherd and because of that I will not want.

Right?
We know the saying, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.”
The only way you can make a horse drink is by making it thirsty!
Will you feel a need to pray to God - if all of your wants are given you?
Will you feel a need for his angels if you don’t occasionally suffer a loss?
Will you want to drink of God’s eternal life if this life is so much fun?
No. The path of righteousness - Jesus’ righteousness - must lead us through the valley of the shadow of death.

FOR HIS NAME’S SAKE

When we consider all that Jesus had done for us through his life, death and resurrection, we should remember that while we do benefit from all of it, it is all for His Name’s sake.

1. The name of God represents the reputation of God.
     Therefore, you can depend on God to do what He promises.

2. People put their  name on their workmanship, i.e., Stradivarius, Baldwin, etc.
    God puts His name on us.
    “I will write upon him, the name of my God” (Rev. 3:12).

3. How dependable are the promises of Psalm 23?
As dependable as God Himself. “Faithful is He that calls you, who also will do it” (I       Thess. 5:24).  Elmer Towns

The Psalmist would have us understand that it is for Jesus’ sake that all this matters. Through everything that He has done and is doing for us right now seated at the right hand of the Father, He is going to be given glory and honor. The focus is on Him and not on us. Oh, we benefit from his love, mercy and grace. Absolutely! And while forgiveness and salvation and the new life we receive bless us wonderfully, it is to His honor and glory and not ours. This is not about us…but about Jesus, the Son of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the King of Glory.

We need to be faithful in treading out those paths of righteousness because it will give honor to Jesus. He will be glorified because of our faithfulness.

We know that the opposite is true. When we fail to walk those paths of righteousness, we dishonor the Lord. The enemies of God rejoice when we fail and fall into sin and embarrass Jesus.

Show me the man you honor and I will know what kind of man you are. 
Thomas Carlyle.

Ultimately, the Shepherd will lead us in the paths of righteousness. He will do it for His own reputation…his own name’s sake.
The issue for us is one of the will. We must choose to follow. It becomes a matter of obedience for us. Am I actually willing to do what He asks me to do when he asks me to follow his way?  If I am going to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ, it is simply a matter of the will. I must choose to follow Him. He is the Lord. He is the Good Shepherd who cares for his sheep. He will do what he does for his own name’s sake. It is His reputation that is as stake. Follow Him in those paths of righteousness and honor him with your life.

And when you do…you will discover that you can actually enjoy God and His touch on your life. The way to get God off your back is to get God into your heart! The greatest gift the Shepherd gives to his sheep as they follow the paths of righteousness is to fill their hearts with the Holy Spirit.
Seek God in Christ.
Approach God on the basis of grace.
Accept God into your heart by faith.
And then go out following those paths of righteousness, glorify and enjoy God forever.

--Dennis Gleason