The Lord Is My Shepherd

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason -- July 18, 2004

Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I have everything I need.

      "Dr. Andrew Bonar told me [Dwight L. Moody] how, in the Highlands of Scotland, a sheep would often wander off into the rocks and get into places that they couldn't get out of. The grass on these mountains is very sweet and the sheep like it, and they will jump down ten or twelve feet, and then they can't jump back again, and the shepherd hears them bleating in distress. They may be there for days, until they have eaten all the grass. The shepherd will wait until they are so faint they cannot stand, and then they will put a rope around him, and he will go over and pull that sheep up out of the jaws of death. 'Why don't they go down there when the sheep first gets there?' I asked.

   "'Ah!'He said, 'they are so very foolish they would dash right over the precipice and be killed if they did!'

     "And that is the way with men; they won't go back to God till they have no friends and have lost everything. If you are a wanderer I tell you that the Good Shepherd will bring you back the moment you have given up trying to save yourself and are willing to let Him save you His own way."   Moody's Anecdotes, pp. 70-71.

       This Psalm was written by David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. David was himself a shepherd and was intimately acquainted with the nature of sheep and their relationship with the shepherd. It was out of that experience that the Holy Spirit speaks through David to the people of God then and now. Who is the Lord? Jehovah…the God of Israel. The creator of heaven and earth, the universe and everything in it. God the Father is the author of creation. He originated creation…first the thought and then the act of creation itself. Jesus, the Son of God, actually created everything…actually brought into being everything that had originally been conceived in the mind of God.

       The Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus created all things natural and supernatural in Colossians 1:15-20:

15Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. 16Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. 17He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together. 18Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead, so he is first in everything. 19For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross.

The Holy Spirit presents these facts to our minds and hearts and spiritual understanding so that they become real to us individually. God repeatedly refers to the imagery of a shepherd and sheep in his Word. He is a Father to His children and a Shepherd to His sheep. Jesus confirms this when he tells us: “I am the Good Shepherd…” And so David says “The Lord is My Shepherd…”

This statement implies a dynamic, practical relationship between God and David; between a human being and his Maker and links us to divine destiny and purpose. It also means that we as mere mortals have become the cherished object of God’s interest and concern. Think of the implications of this statement: “The Lord is my shepherd…” God in Christ is deeply concerned about us individually. That fact gives me and my life meaning and purpose…you and your life meaning and purpose while we pass through this world as mere pilgrims. We are on our way to a better place, but there is purpose and meaning for us as we make this journey.

Notice also that here is David, the Psalmist, man after God’s own heart. He speaks to us not as a shepherd, even though he was one and a good one at that, but as a sheep. He sees himself as one of God’s own flock. His statement: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” is one of pride, devotion and admiration. He is pleased to be able to say: “Look at who my shepherd is. Jehovah is my owner, my master. How fortunate am I!”

David understood quite well the reality that under one man sheep could starve, be diseased and suffer endless hardship. While on the other hand sheep under another shepherd who was selfless in his devotion to his flock would prosper and flourish. Last week we considered the fact that God is good and that Satan attempts to get us to either deny or doubt that goodness. That goodness is the underlying fact of creation. God created everything in heaven and earth and he saw that it was good. Knowing something of God’s character then gives me confidence in that character and His ability to care for me.

Over the past week or so, NASA’s most recent satellite success story has centered around the satellite that has spent 8 years making the journey to Saturn. With my own telescope it has been possible to see the rings of Saturn. The pictures sent back by the Satellite have been stunning in their beauty and reveal some interesting complexities about that planet. It took only 8 years to travel there! And this satellite has remained within our solar system.

And there are billions of galaxies through out the universe. Earth is just a speck of matter whirling around a small, undistinguished star that is out on the edge of our own galaxy. To give you an idea of how small the earth is in this thing we call the universe, if you were to transport the most powerful telescope on earth to Alpha Centauri, the closest star to our solar system, and pointed it at the earth, you would not be able to see the earth at all.

God has created the universe which is so vast that we can barely comprehend it. This God is aware of you and is concerned about you and me. He calls Himself my shepherd. He invites me to call myself his sheep. He says He will take care of me. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Who better than the God who created us and all that exists to have as our shepherd. This God…in the person of His Son Jesus Christ…says “I am the good shepherd.”

We should wonder what is expected of us. The answer to this expectation is that God simply asks us to acknowledge his ownership over us. He made us as an object of his affection. Who better could care for us? We briefly considered the sin of Eve and Adam in the garden of Eden last week. Their sin disrupted their relationship with God. The result of their sin was that death and decay entered this world because of their sin and the resulting consequences of that sin. God took the step of attempting to restore the relationship between sinful man and God who is righteous and holy.

Isaiah 53:4-6 tells us that God himself suffered the penalty of our sin. “By His stripes we are healed the Scriptures tell us. 4”Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins! 5But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! 6All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.”

Take note of what God tells us through Isaiah here: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Even straying sheep have an owner. However far a sheep wanders, it never ceases to have an owner.

Our shepherd will either be the devil or God. The choice is ours.

So it is that I must recognize that I belong to Him. No one can say “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want until he gives up the notion that he can control himself or manage his own interests. For we tend to think that our reason can rule our desires. We tend never to doubt our own power to accomplish our intentions or that by a bit of maneuvering we can extricate ourselves from almost any difficulty. We are not our own. He paid the price for us on the cross of Calvary. He came looking for us. He caught us. He put us on his shoulders and carried us home. Because of this…or For this reason He can say, “I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”

We need a shepherd. We need to be convinced that we can give up steering our own ship and let God handle the rudder. If you know anything at all about sheep, you know that sheep do not just take care of themselves. More than any other livestock sheep require endless attention and meticulous care. It is no accident that God calls us sheep. Our mob instincts, fears, timidity, stubbornness and stupidity are all parallels to sheep of profound importance. Sheep will go anywhere but the right direction. They will pass through a lush pasture to get to a barren one. They know how to go astray, but never how to get back home.

In spite of all of this…Christ Jesus chooses us; buys us; calls us by name; makes us His own; delights in caring for us. He lays himself out for us all the time. He intercedes for us. He guides us by His Holy Spirit. He is ever working for us to ensure that we will benefit from His care. How many times when no one could help you, when no earthly skill could offer relief have you felt that God provided for you?

Remember the words of the song “Here I raise my Ebenezer…” An Ebenezer was a pile of stones that was to be a reminder of the Lord’s help in time of need. The word Ebenezer in the Hebrew means: “The Lord has helped me.” “The Lord my shepherd is”…says David. And with confidence he adds “I shall not want.” Because of this fact he says “I shall not want.” He cares for his sheep. Tell Him what you need and he will supply it. Ask in faith believing and he shall give you what you desire.

That is the promise that comes with the Good Shepherd.

-- Dennis Gleason