Rick Warren - How Jesus Treats His Sheep—Part One

Hello, everybody. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.

I'm really glad you're here.

Today.

We're continuing our series from Psalm twenty three called Living

in the Goodness of God. It's all about how God's

goodness meets you right where you are and brings hope

even in difficult seasons. Now here's part one of a

message called how Jesus treats his Sheep.

Today we're going to continue in our study of the

most famous chapter in the Bible, Psalm twenty three.

It is the.

Most compact explanation of the goodness of God. And we're

in a series called Living in the Goodness of God.

It only has six verses, but there are ten benefits

or ten ways that God's goodness wants to show up.

In your life.

We've looked at about half of these, and now we're

starting the second half of the series, and I want

us to begin by actually reading Psalm twenty three aloud together.

So let's read it together. Very familiar passage. The Lord

is my shepherd. I have everything I need. He makes

me lie down in green pastures, He leaves me beside

still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in

the right path for his name's sake. And even when

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 comfort me. You prepare a

banquet for me in front of my enemies, and you

anoint my head with oil, and 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 forever. Thank you. Now, there are a lot

of metaphors in this passage. David is a shepherd, and

he's using the shepherd motif talking about all the ways

that God wants to bless your life. And today I

want us to focus on the meaning of verse four,

which is this phrase, your rod and your staff they

comfort me. Now, what in the world does that mean?

Your rod and your staff these are clearly two kinds

of sticks. How in the world can they bring comfort

to your life? How does that bring comfort to you

at all?

What in the world does this mean?

It raises all kinds of questions, and of all the

verses in Psalm twenty three, this little phrase, your rod

and your staff comfort me requires the most explanation. I mean,

what is a rod and what is a staff? And

what do they symbolize and what benefits do they represent?

And how in the world can these two tools that

a shepherd uses a sheepherder and you know, shepherding sheep,

how in the world can they bring comfort to our

lives about you know, several thousand years later. Well, I

need to give you a little bit of background. So Tom,

would you give bring me my rod and my staff

because I want you to see these. I actually have them.

You know, the word pastor is the same word for shepherd.

So I'm a shepherd and here is my rod and

my staff. Let's think the great attendant.

Here, thank you.

That's what I'm This is a rod and this is

a staff. These two tools are ancient tools that have

been used by shepherds for thousands and thousands of years.

This is the defensive tool that you use against predators,

you use against wolves and anybody who's trying to.

Attack your sheep fold.

It was actually given me by a shepherd. And I'm

not sure what country has my name, Pastor Rick Warren.

So if you're bad, I'm getting on you right now, okay,

And you can actually use the rod two ways. You

can hold on this in and this you know, you're

shoeing away coyotes and people aren't much of a threat

to you, and you can use it for things like that.

Usually about a foot and a half long, maybe two

foot long. If you've got a serious predator like a

mountain lion, you've got something to really work with. But

this is a defensive weapon. This this so the rod

you use on enemies of sheep, the staff you use

on sheep. Now, I want to explain to you how

they were used literally physically and just for a second,

and then how they are actually symbols of two ways

that God wants to work in your life. So let's

first talk about what they actually are used. For. A rod,

you might write this down, is used for guarding the sheep,

for guarding and protecting guardian protecting the sheep. Sheep are

essentially defenseless animals. They have no teeth, they don't have

any you know, claws, they don't they don't run fast,

you know, their teeth are not very sharp because they

eat grass. So they're pretty defenseless. They're slow, and they're

really pretty dumb, and so without a shepherd they are

prey to any kind of predator, wolves or anything else

I like that, and so somebody's got to protect them.

And the rod is a defensive tool to fight against

predators or enemies or adversaries and things like that. Now,

a staff, while a rod is for guarding and protecting,

a staff is for guiding, okay, guiding and directing. Guarding

and guiding, protecting and directing. That's what these two different

tools are used for. Sheep have a tendency to wander,

and so a shepherd's staff has a little crook in

it and you can pull them with a crook or

you can poke them with a staff. So it's by

hook or by crook you're controlling them, and you are actually,

you know, saying get along, little doggies, only not little doggies,

and you can direct them. Sheep have an ability to

graze on extremely difficult terrain. They can stand on a hillside,

you know, at almost you know, fifty to sixty seventy

degree angle. Cows could never graze on what sheep can

graze on. But while they can be on mountains, and

they can be on cliffs, and they can be near edges,

they often fall off and they often get out of balance.

And so this end of the staff, the crooked part,

the shepherd's crook, you would use either around a sheep's

foot or their neck. And so for instance, if they're

about to fall off, you can grab them by the

neck and you can pull them back by you're not

getting near the edge of the cliff. Or if a

sheep goes into a bramble bush with a bunch of

you know, thorns and things that would be really painful.

As a shepherd, you don't want to go in there,

So you would reach in there with your shepherd's staff

and you grab them by leg and you'd pull them out.

This is a tool of rec it's a tool for

for your protection. It's a tool to get you out

of a tight jam. And now universally the shepherd's staff

is a symbol of that. So that's what they're used for,

and they've been used that way for literally centuries after century.

What's the meaning of these two tools. What's the symbolism

behind these metaphors? Well, I want you to write this down. Uh,

the rod represents power and authority. Power and authority because

it says I'm in charge here and I've got more

power than you, and I'm in control. The shepherd's staff

and the rod are both found in as far back

as Egyptian hieroglyphs. Look up here on the screen you

can see a picture. Here's here's an Egyptian king holding

a shepherd's staff. All of the pharoes. When you see

pictures of the pharaohs, they they're they're like this, and

they've got a rod in one hand and the in

the other. Sometimes they're called a flailing or some other term,

but it is a rod and the staff. Let me

show you. Here's King tut high Tuddy, and notice he's

got the shepherd's staff in one hand and he's got

the rod or flail in the other. Same thing. It's

one is used to fight off enemies and the others.

He's saying with this, I am both the protector of

my nation and I am in charge. I'm the authority

of my nation. I both care about my nation, and

I can be tough. I am an authority. And you

find this all throughout history and a lot of different

different cultures. So write this down. The rod represents power

and authority, which, by the way, in Christian history for

the last two thousand year of the church. Of course,

Jesus said, I'm the good shepherd, and he had the

shepherd's staff. And so today if you'll often see a

bishop in a lot of different denominations of Catholic and Lutheran,

lots of denominations will have a bishop's staff. It's called

the crows, and you'll see the bishop walking like this,

which basically says, I care for the flock of God,

but I'm also the one in authority. I have the

authority over the flock of God. In this area, it's

called the crozier. And they can be very elaborate or

they can be very very simple like this. So the

staff represents care and compassion. You might write this down.

The rod represents power and authority, and the staff represents

care and compassion.

Now what does that mean for you?

And what does it mean when he says you're rod

and your staff they comfort me. How do I get

comfort out of that? Well, let's look first at what

Jesus says and what it says about him in the Bible.

Hebrews chapter thirteen, verse twenty says this Jesus is the

great shepherd of the sheep circle that on your notes

great shepherd of the sheep. He's called the great shepherd,

he's called the chief shepherd. Word, he's called the good Shepherd.

In the next verse, John chapter ten, verses ten and eleven.

That whole chapter is about the good shepherd, and Jesus

talks about his ministry in caring for the sheep. Throughout

the Bible, sheep are a symbol for God's people. The

church is called the flock of God, and the Bible

says we are his sheep. Okay, we are his flock,

and we are the sheep of his pastors. It says

that in Psalms, and in John ten ten and eleven

it says this, I came so that my sheep will

have life. This is Jesus talking. I came that my

sheep will have life and everything they need. I am

the good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives his life

for his sheep. That's the good God's word translation. The

good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Now Jesus

is the good shepherd. We need to figure out what

that means. How does Jesus treat his sheep If we're

supposed to be the flock of God and he's the

good Shepherd. What does that mean? As we look at

the goodness of God? And in Psalm twenty three, we're

listing ten different things that the good shepherd does in

your life. The Lord is my shepherd. And so how

does the Lord respond to you? What just as a

physical shepherd use the physical tools of the rod and

the staff for direction and protection, for guidance, okay, and

for guarding. God wants to do both of these things

in your life. He wants to guide you and guard you.

He wants to protect you, and he wants to direct you.

I want us today to look at the actual words

of Jesus in these areas, and we're going to look

at five ways Jesus wants to treat you if you'll

trust him. So let's write these down. Number one. The

first thing we learn about the good Shepherd is that

if I bring him my hurts, Jesus shows me compassion.

If I bring him my hurts, Jesus shows me compassion.

When I come to God, I say, God, i've got

a problem in my finances. So I've got a problem

in my emotions. I've got a problem in my relationships. God.

I'm really hurting here I'm weak, or I'm depressed, or

I'm anxious, or I'm angry, or I've been hurt, I've

been betrayed, somebody's been unfaithful to me. When I bring

in my hurts, Jesus responds, how well, he doesn't scold you.

He serves you.

He doesn't put you down, He lifts you up. He

doesn't hassle you. He heals you. Matthew, Chapter nine, verse

thirty six. It says this, when Jesus saw the crowds,

his heart was filled with compassion for them because they

were hurting and they didn't know where to get help.

They were like sheep without a shepherd. How you look

at people determines a lot and tells us a lot

about what's in your heart. When I look at the crowd,

I often find I think of irritation, I think a

loss of privacy. I think of a lot of things.

But the Bible says when Jesus looked at the crowd,

he was moved with compassion because they were hurting, they

were helpless. They were like sheep without a shepherd. And

that's the way God looks at your problems, and he

looks at your your hurts. He's compassionate. Now what does

that mean. Well, there's them between empathy, sympathy and compassion.

Sympathy means I'm sorry you hurt. You can send a

sympathy card. I'm sorry you hurt. A little bit deeper

commitment is empathy. Empathy means I hurt with you. When

I empathize, it's more than I'm sorry you hurt. It's

I'm hurting with you. But compassion means I will do

anything I can to stop your hurt. And the Bible

repeatedly says that when Jesus looked at people who were

in pain, he was moved with compassion. I will do

anything it takes to stop your hurt, even if it

means dying on the cross, even if it means having

nails nailed through my hands and feet. That's compassion. I

will do whatever it takes. I will do any and

it takes to stop your pain. In Matthew twenty verse

twenty eight, Jesus said, this is why I came. I

came here not to be served, but to serve others,

and to give my life as a ransom for many.

He came to show compassion. He says, you know, I

came to serve and to give. And if you circle

those two words, that is what it means to follow

Jesus Christ. That is what it means to be a

true Christian. Giving and serving define a Christian life. If

you don't give, if you don't serve, how in the

world can you follow Jesus Because he said, that's my

whole purpose. You know, it's interesting. The paradox of this

verse is that when it comes to your relationship, God

says it's not about you. Life is not about you,

that you only find your meeting and giving your life away.

And he says, for you, it's not about you. It's

really all about God and other people. The first sentence

and purpose of life is it's not about you. But

when it comes to God, it's the exact opposite. With Jesus,

it's all about you. He came to earth for you,

he died for you, he suffered for you, he sacrificed

for you. It's all about you. From God's point of view.

God is unselfish, and God wants you to be like him.

He wants you to be Christ like Christ was not

thinking of himself, He was thinking of others. And the

same thing is true with you. God wants you to

not think of yourself. It's not about you, It's about

God and it's about others. But I bring him my hurts,

I know that Jesus is not gonna ras me or

put me down, or scold me or intimidate me. He's

going to show compassion because he did that throughout his ministry.

Number two, Not only if I bringing my hurts, Jesus

shows me compassion, but number two, if I choose to

follow him, Jesus leads me in the right direction. He's

not going to lead you in the wrong direction, but

he's going to lead you in the right direction. If

you say God, I'm going to follow your son Jesus Christ,

he becomes your guide through life. I don't know if

you've ever gone to a city like London or Tokyo

or some Paris and taken a guided tour, But if

you've ever done that, you know you learn a whole

lot more about a city if you have a guide

that if you just walk through Paris, you don't know,

you're going to miss all kinds of important things because

you don't know what they are. It helps to have

a guide. You learn more, you see more you experience

more if you have a guide taking you through a city.

The same is true with your life. You need a

guide through your life. If you're just walking through your

life on your own, you're missing a whole lot. If

you're just going through your life without a guide, without

a shepherd, without somebody showing you the ropes, without somebody

who's more experienced in life than you are, you're missing

a whole lot in your life, stuffs passing by you

that you would have caught if you had had a

guide with you. And so Jesus says, if you're going

to choose to follow me, I will be your guide.

I will be your shepherd, and I will lead you

in the right direction now as a shepherd. A shepherd

always knows more than the sheep does always, and Jesus

is always going to know more about your life than

you do because he created you, he made you. He

knows your purpose even when you don't know your purpose.

So what do I do in this situation? Well, Psalm

twenty three, verse three says this, he Jesus leads me

in the right path, the right path for.

His name's sake.

As I said, He's never going to lead you in

the wrong way. And in John ten, verse four, Jesus says,

the good shepherd walks ahead of the sheep, and they

follow him, for they recognize his voice. Now I want

you to notice something circle the word or the phrase

walks ahead. The good shepherd walks ahead of the sheep.

They follow him, and they recognize his voice. In shepherding,

the shepherd always goes first. Why he's the model, he's mentoring,

he's leading by example. This is very different than being

a cowboy. A cowboy and a shepherd are two different things.

You drive cattle, but you lead sheep, big difference. You

drive cattle from the back, you push them forward. And

if you've ever watched a TV Western, you know on

a cattle drive they're pushing the cattle from the back.

So you drive cattle from the back, but you lead sheep.

You get out front and they follow you. Now here's

a point. Jesus is not going to push you through

your life. He's not going to push you into doing

things you don't want to do, you're not interested in doing.

He's never going to force you to do something you

don't want to do. But as a shepherd, he's going

to lead the way, and he's going to say, watch

how I do it, look where I go. And if

you follow his lead, oh man, your life's going to

be a whole lot easier, a lot fewer problems, a

lot less stress if you'll follow the lead of your shepherd.

If I bring him my hurts, he shows me compassion.

But if I choose to follow him, he says, I

will lead you in the right direction. Now, how do

I know he wants to lead me in the right direction? Well,

he says it, and the Bible says, and so I'm

twenty six verse three. Your constant love, Lord is my guide,

and your faithfulness always leads me. Now David wrote that

same guy who wrote the Lord as my shepherd, And

he says, Lord, when you lead me, you lead me

with your love. This is very important. Jesus always leads

you with love, not with laws. Let me explain this.

The reason why a lot of people are afraid of God,

the reason why a lot of people fear God. The

reason a lot of people don't want to follow God

is because they think He's just going to give them

a set of rules. Do this, this, this, this, this, this,

this and this, and don't do this this this, this, this,

and this, and yet the Bible says, God says, I

will lead you with my love, not with my laws.

I lead you out of love. Wow.

Some powerful words from Pastor Rick today. And now this

is really one of my favorite parts of the broadcast.

This is letters from our listeners and now here's Rick Hi.

Today, I want to share a very powerful letter from

a listener named Michael. Michael experienced terrible trauma as a child,

but he says that Daily Hope is helping him overcome

his past and now he's looking to the future with

his kids. Let me read you just a little bit

of Michael's story. Dear Pastor Rick, you and Daily Hope

have brought God into my life and it has saved me.

I am a twenty nine year old father of five children,

and I try my hardest to teach my children to

know God and to love Jesus and how to pray.

And I do my best to be a good example

and be worthy of all the good gifts that God

has given to me. But you know, because of my

childhood and the insecurities and abandonment issues that were created

in my life from years of mental abuse, physical abuse,

verbal abuse, and yes, even sexual abuse. I've always had

a hard time trusting God. I woke up every day

feeling unworthy, and I suffered from feelings of anxiety, and

I felt like God couldn't possibly love me because no

one else had ever loved me. And I carried that

pain inside of me for so long, craving for a close,

better intimate relationship with God. Now listening to Daily Hope

has helped me achieve that and more. I'm not only better,

but I'm now better for everybody else around me. Spreading

all that I've learned and the good news of Jesus Christ.

I know God better than ever, and I now have

more faith than I ever knew possible because I feel

His love. Thank you so much. Daily Hope does such

a great work in the name of Jesus, and I

will forever be in your debt for bringing the fire

of faith into my heart and helping me know God.

I love you, and I hope you continue to bring

change in the world through the message of Jesus Christ.

You know, Michael, I absolutely love how you're teaching your

five kids to know Jesus. That is a real man,

a real dad, a real father. It's so important to

pass it on to the next generation, and I'm encouraged.

The Daily Hope is helping you with the trauma of

all your past and helping you work through those issues

and keeping you growing in the love of Jesus Christ.

You know, stories like the one you wrote to me

are what keep me going. It's why we do this

change lives. Now. I want to pray for you. I

want to pray, Dear Lord, pour out your love on Michael.

Help him to sense your love so that he never

doubts it. Pour out your blessing and your peace on

his family. I pray that they will continue to grow

in their faith and that they will experience the peace

that passes understanding as they follow you God. I want

to thank you for his faithfulness in Jesus name, I

pray Amen. You know if God is blessing you through

Daily Hope, would you share your story with me? Write

me rickatpastorik dot com.

Be sure to join us next time as we look

into God's word for our daily hope. This program is

sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.