|
"The Good Shepherd"
February 22, 2004 The Rev. Dr. John Ward
The Old Testament lesson this morning is the twenty-third Psalm.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters; he restoreth my soul He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death; I shall fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and they staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my head with oil my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
And from the New Testament John chapter 10 verse 11 and verses 27 through 30. Jesus says:
I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. . . My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and the Father are one.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
It's good to be back from vacation. As you know, I took time off--eleven days. The commitment of that in my own heart was to say good-bye to the past and hello to the future. You know, to say good-bye right after we got the annual meeting and I had a few days after that. I really wanted--for one thing, I was kind of burning out, so it was time to take a break. But I really wanted to do this mentally and in my heart say good-bye to Gary LeTourneau and Will Eisenhower and Faith Presbyterian Church as we knew it, and to have a space to be able to say hello to Chris Carlson and his leadership and to let Chris have the place for 11 days to himself. When I came back, it was still in one piece.
When I came back as well, a couple things happened. I'll tell you, it's the new church already! I came back on Tuesday to find out I was scheduled for a Friday funeral and I was going to preach this Sunday. That wasn't the plan! Now, I keep telling you all, would you let us know ahead of time when you plan on leaving this planet so we can schedule you in properly? For some reason, you never listen to that one. And as well, Chris needed to get down to Houston, so he had asked me to preach. I was scheduled, actually--in about 5 minutes I'm scheduled to be down in room 7 starting the two-week class on forgiveness, but Sue Griffin came in and is my substitute. You know the saying: "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans for the day." And I couldn't help but think, "OK, Lord, what did you really want to happen this week?" I was all ready to buckle down and get ready for that lesson plan for the forgiveness piece, and then came the request for the funeral, and then came the request for preaching. I'm going, "Wow! This is 'welcome to the new Faith Church.' " This is the one where you keep your feet running.
But it's interesting, because on the two Sundays that I was gone, the first Sunday I actually did a busman's holiday--I went and preached at another church, Eden Prairie Presbyterian Church. Their Senior Pastor has resigned and is now gone, so now they are in the process that we just finished up. I let them know that I'm praying for them and I gave them a word of encouragement. It's easier for me, because pastors don't know what to do with themselves when they're not in leadership. So when I was offered the opportunity to preach at a guest church, it made me feel better than trying to find a church to go worship at because, you know, I'd probably go sit in the back and I'd probably fiddle around and really not know what to do with myself, because I'm used to being up front. So it was actually easier for me to do that.
The second Sunday, we did as a family what we normally do when we're on vacation, and that's do a family worship service. We gear that around our little kids, which is really exciting, you know. Jacob is in fourth grade. Hannah's in second grade. We had them memorizing the books of the Bible. Jacob is through all 66 books. He's got both New Testament and Old Testament books memorized. Hannah right now is just finishing up learning the books of the New Testament. And so as part of our worship service, then, we had them read the verses. And so these are the verses, actually, that I chose for Hannah to read out of the New Testament, because she could find John chapter 10 and read those verses. And this is also the passage--the twenty-third Psalm--that I picked for Jacob to read for our worship service at home last Sunday.
Now, I thought it was very interesting--a "God-incidence"--that innocently, as I was preparing to come back to Faith Church on Tuesday to work on my process, that God had already been working in me the process. He knew what I was going to be facing as I came back. He knew that there was a funeral that I would have to be at, a funeral where the family chose the twenty-third Psalm as their message. And he also knew (and Chris didn't know that until this weekend) not only did he get to go to Houston, but he got to have bronchitis. See, the Lord just takes care of this stuff, doesn't He? And so, as I first hear I'm going to be preaching, I think, "Oh, my gosh. I've got to choose something to preach upon." Already God was working in me last week by working through with my children and our little home service the twenty-third Psalm and John chapter 10. He already began to work on that when Joe McFarlin passed away and we needed to plan a service that would honor God and remember Joe appropriately, which we did on Friday.
It seems to me that this is no coincidence, friends. Perhaps what God wants more than anything else right now in this week and today is that we know that we have a shepherd. It wasn't by accident that the choir had been working on this anthem that they just have done so wonderfully. How long ago did you all start that? That wasn't just this week, was it? You've been working on that for a couple weeks, haven't you? I didn't know that. God wants us to know that we have a shepherd, somebody here needs to know that. Perhaps it's all of us. Perhaps specifically it's one or two of you. I don't know, but I'm just going to do the smart thing and listen to God's leading here.
Let's go back to the twenty-third Psalm. Feel free to look in your Bibles, if you'd like to. I'm reading from the New American Standard Version--a little different. In fact, it's different from what I recited. I recited the old King James version because I think that's the one we're most used to hearing. But I'm reminded about David in his need for a shepherd. We know that David wrote many of the Psalms, and as it says here in our Bible, Psalm 23 is attributed to David. David rightly believed, from the very earliest times in his life, that his security came from God. And we read about that in his wonderful statement of belief against Goliath where David was bold enough to go up against Goliath.
Saul, the first king of Israel, wasn't. And David's brothers and the rest of the armies weren't. They were waiting for something to happen. David came up rather arrogantly and said, "I can take care of this." But why was it that he was willing to do so? It's because he believed that this Goliath and the rest of the armies were armies that were against God, and spoke against God, and blasphemed God. And so David, in his security that the Lord would indeed be his shepherd, David stood up to Goliath with a sling, a few stones, but a heck of a lot of faith. And he could not handle the fact that this Goliath, this giant, was blaspheming the Creator of the universe. And with that, he was willing to face him.
He needed security, David did. He needed assurance. Where did it come from? It didn't come from the armor that Saul and the rest tried to put on David. You remember the story where they put Saul's equipment--and Saul was a big man--onto young teenage David, and of course he couldn't move, he was so full of armor. He had to take it off. His security wasn't going to be in the armor of Israel. His security couldn't be in the Israeli army at that point because they were afraid of Goliath. He stood there only with what he had, with what God had gifted him with--and he used it appropriately. He did so because he trusted in a Shepherd, a Shepherd he talks about: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." I have no need for anything other than my security to be in God.
On Tuesday our staff was meeting, kind of for a first long-range planning. We were there from morning until into the afternoon. And as we had our first opportunity to kind of get to know one another with Chris, Chris had asked us some questions, and part of that was about our childhood, growing up. I was reminded of security as a child when asked that question. What brought me security when I was a kid? We lived in Kincaid Way in Sacramento and we had this one kind of a wall heater that heated the entire house--just one little thing with a pilot light. But I remember at night if I would wake up and stir a little bit, I would wake up and I could see out my door to my bedroom into the hallway with the door open and I could see that flame and I could always hear that little heater kicking in. That brought security to me--as long as it was combined with one other thing: my father's snoring. Because my parents also kept their door cracked open for my security. I had my door cracked open, they had their door cracked open. If I could hear my Dad snoring, then I felt secure. That was the representation of security in my life as a child.
As you know, in my family life there was divorce and there has been alcoholism and a lot of chaos, and that security was taken away at a very young age and I was left without security until I had the opportunity to claim Christ as my Shepherd as well, and to find total security in that. God promises to be with us when we need Him most--in our most calamitous times as well. And David, as he writes about this, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil for thou art with me." See, David remembered that God promised to be with him when he needed Him most, and David needed Him most when he was continually being loyal to King Saul, though King Saul was jealous of David for his mighty works and, indeed, tried to kill him more than once. David remained faithful to God, remained loyal to a king who was trying to kill him, but he continued, once again, to remember that God would be with him every step of the way. So when David was running from his own nation and hiding from other people, he was secure in his faith with God, knowing the outcome would be good. David calls upon God to be his total security.
And there were times when David failed, and we know about that. There were actually three times. We only hear of the one. That's kind of the shock stories we're used to in life. It happens all the time in the news. It happens even in Scripture itself. Actually, it doesn't happen so much in Scripture--it's what we do with it. We know about David and Bathsheba, the adulterous relationship. We know when David was in places he shouldn't have been, making decisions that he shouldn't have been, and he paid for that. We know of that great sin, when he failed God, when he turned away from the Lord. He did it two other times, though, and we need to know about those as well because those were also very disastrous times. In fact, the last one was even more disastrous than the adulterous affair. The middle one is when his renegade son Absalom was killed. David grieved for him (which was appropriate), but he grieved for him so much so that it cost him some loyalty of his own armies, because, see, Absalom was trying to overthrow David. So he had a son who tried to overthrow him, who fought against his armies, and though it was appropriate for him to grieve, he began to grieve at the expense of his own army and that was considered a loss for him.
The third one was at the end of his life. Remember again David comes into the picture of Scripture as a faithful teenager whose total security was in the Lord. At the end of his life, David ordered a census. You can read about it at the end of 2 Samuel. And this census was a bad thing. You wouldn't know that until you began to read the Scripture and you understand that Joab, David's Captain, said, "Do you really want to do this, David?" David says, "Yes, I do." Joab, indeed did have a census of all the armies of David. And as soon as the census was reported to David, David woke up and said, "Oh, I have sinned greatly." Do you know why that was a sin? That was represented as a sin because David was transferring his security from God to his own armies. And as soon as that number was reported to David, he confessed his sin. And friends, again, you can read about it at the end of 2 Samuel. But that cost the lives of 70,000 people of Israel, that mistake of David's.
When we make conscious decisions, friends, to forget our security is in God, there are consequences to that that will affect us and others as well. It is important for us to find security in our lives. We can't live without it. But if it's going to be a paycheck, or if it's going to be a certain lifestyle, or if it's going to involve certain relationships, if we need anything to shore us up other than the love of God who intends to be known to us as a shepherd, then we will fail. We will fail ourselves. If we do this as a group, we will fail as a church. If we do this individually, we will fail not only ourselves, but those around us. Our security is offered to us by the Good Shepherd, and by none other.
And this is what Jesus tells His disciples in John chapter 10: "I am the Good Shepherd." The Shepherd that David claimed as his is the very Shepherd we are able to claim because we're the disciples of this century. Jesus said, "God wishes to give you security, and He does so by being a Shepherd for you, one who loves you and is so loyal that He will lay down His life for you," as He did in Jesus Christ. Not only that. As we begin to trust in God, we develop a relationship where we hear His voice and we know Him and He knows us. And so when the Shepherd calls his sheep, they hear. And this Shepherd is so dedicated that nothing can snatch us away from Him.
Isn't that a secure thought? God Himself, in Jesus Christ says, "My sheep hear my voice. Nothing can take them away from me." Nothing in your life, friends, nothing will ever, ever be able to wrestle you out of the hands of God. And I have a feeling with all of these God-incidences occurring this week in terms of the twenty-third Psalm being the message from God today, that somebody needs to hear that. That some of you are facing the reality that you're very frightened with your future or your present. Somebody is out to get you. Somebody is hurting you. Something threatens you. A relationship scares you. Or you're finally coming to your own senses that everything in which you've put your security has just fallen underneath you and now you're out there floating. God says to you, "I hear you. Follow me."
How does that happen? As you and I begin to develop a listening ear for God. Just as sheep can hear the voice of a shepherd. And we're called out of the chaos and into the path of righteousness for His name's sake.
This reminds me of a quote I heard from Paul Harvey. It was about a year ago in his radio show. It was actually February 28th of 2003, entitled "Ugandan Cows Know their Names." This is what Paul Harvey had reported:
Cattle rustling is a major problem in Uganda. The Ugandan army daily attempts to reunite cattle with their owners. The biggest difficulty lies in proving ownership. This article recounts how one elderly lady settled the issue. The BBC's Nathan Etungu witnessed the process beginning in a village north of Undali. He told the BBC's Network Africa that when an elderly woman stood before the herd, a remarkable thing happened. She called her cows by name. To the amusement of the soldiers, as each cow heard her voice, it lifted up its head, turned, and then followed her. As far as the army was concerned, it was as strong proof as possible of ownership as anyone could find. So as the lady left and that group of cows followed, the army let them go
It's important for us to understand that as strong as David was in his sense of call, in his giftedness for not only Psalm-writing, but also in military might, that when he continued to remember that the Lord was his Shepherd was when he was at his height. When he was at his lowest point was when he forgot that and sinned greatly. But he was restored each time because he heard the voice of his Shepherd when he needed it most, and that was right after the consequences he suffered from his own mistakes.
God promises to be with us now and forever. And He promises to be calling you now. If you've been far from Him in your life, if there's something that you've been doing that you're not proud of at all and you understand that that has gotten in the way of your relationship with God, you can let that go now, because Christ is calling for you. And He's calling you away from that mess. Hear His voice and follow Him. Understand that God loves you, that nothing--nothing--can wrestle you away from Him. He won't let it. He may have let you suffer a little bit in your decisions. Part of that is the disciplining of God. Part of that is to grow us up, to let us know the difference between what we think is enjoyable at the moment (for all sin is enjoyable at the beginning), but then to see that it is totally, totally false and shallow, and it drives us back down to the Shepherd.
If David, as great as he was, needed a Shepherd, you and I need a Shepherd as well. If you need security, trust in God, who is loyal enough to be a shepherd for you and me, so much so as to lay down His life for us, to restore us to Himself. If you're looking for security, that's the place to find it. If you're looking for a relationship with God, see it in the way that God chooses to reveal it to us, and that is as a shepherd who leads sheep.
You may rebel from that a little bit. Sheep aren't the smartest animals on the planet. Sheep scatter. That's why there's a rod and a staff, the dual use of the shepherd's crook. Every time you think of a shepherd's crook, don't you think of the little staff with the little hook on it that we see kids carrying around every Christmastime? Well, the staff and the rod. The staff is that which saves us. The rod is that which can discipline us, or the shepherd can use that against those enemies that try to get at us. Trust in the Shepherd, in God who reveals Himself to be one who guides you and me. Be honest about who you and I are as sheep who do go astray, who do think perhaps that we can do this without God's help. But God will never let us go.
And then finally, friends, in order to be secure, I want you to develop hearing the voice of Christ, the Shepherd who calls you. You do that by being a disciple of Jesus Christ, by growing in your faith in Him. You may be asking, "How will I know the voice of God?" Well, if you don't know that now, begin to develop your ear towards that and grow in Him. Study His Word. Join in groups that study His Word. Be in groups with people who are willing to walk to the foot of the cross together with you. Grow in your discipleship and you will hear that voice. And when He calls you, it will be distinct, and it will call you out of any mess that you've ever gotten yourself into.
Would you pray with me? Thank you, Lord, for your Word. Thank you for guiding this flock towards hearing the twenty-third Psalm and also the words from Jesus from John 10. Lord, thank you for allowing us to hear your voice. You've been planning for this much longer than any of us ever thought. I thank you for those God-moments, Lord, that remind us that you are in charge and in control. Lord, I ask that we continue to remember that. You are a Shepherd for every situation. You are a Shepherd for this church when we need you. You are a Shepherd for each of us individually, Lord God. You will help us to indeed be in your house forever. In Christ's name we pray. And all God's people said, "Amen."
The Rev. Dr. John Ward Associate Pastor for Discipleship Faith Presbyterian Church Minnetonka, Minnesota
[Transcribed from an audiotape of the 9:00 a.m. worship service on February 22, 2004.] |
|
|