Psalm 23: Agitated but Anointed

Well, good morning.

So we are working our way through Psalm 23 this fall.

We're just going phrase by phrase.

And if you've noticed, we've been building our reading as we've been going, and hopefully that can build some reflection if you've been with us of like, oh yeah, I'm starting to understand the context of that and this and this next one.

Because what this really popular and well-known chapter is, is it's about a shepherd and sheep.

And King David, who wrote this, was a shepherd.

So when he's writing about this, it's just filled with this rich imagery for us of a fiercely loyal and caring shepherd that takes care of his sheep.

And they're on a journey because it begins with the shepherd and the sheep at the home ranch in the low country where there's provision, there's green pastures, there's still waters.

And then it starts to turn halfway through the Psalm, and the shepherd begins to take the sheep through dangerous valleys, and then up to the high country, which we got to last week, the table prepared before them.

That's that high country, high up in the mountains, where during the hot summer months, they would have provisions.

So the shepherd is taking them where they need to go for the season they need to be in.

And up in that high country, they would have provision, they would have grass, food, clear, running springs through the hot summer months.

And so just when we think everything's okay for them, it ends up, it's not.

It's not bliss in the high country.

We learn that there are agitations that just won't go away.

So let me reread Psalm 23, 4 and 5.

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.

All right, so they're through the valleys, they're coming up to the high country.

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

And then today, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

And point number one is this this is not new news, by the way.

It's just accurate.

There will be agitations in you and around you.

Amen.

Yep, just this week, this morning, uh, there just will be.

Last week I told you about a hike I went on this past summer in North Carolina.

I drove up through the valleys, I drove up to the saddle in between two mountains, I hiked this beautiful grassy ridgeline, a table in the high country of North Carolina.

Here's the picture I showed you last week.

Sorry I'm not better looking, but the land behind me is beautiful, right?

Just focus on the land, okay?

So I was hiking this beautiful, incredible trail.

I mean, it's 65 degrees, there's a breeze, it's there's nobody else out there.

I mean, it is so quiet.

My ears were trying to find something.

You know what I'm talking about?

You've been somewhere where like it's so quiet.

Your ears are trying to find noise, which is just crazy.

It's beautiful.

I mean, this is this is heaven for me.

Quiet, no rush, no schedule, nothing's frantic.

I end the hike, this kind of big rock up there on the table, and I climb up on the rock and I got my lunch, and so I'm eating my lunch, and then I finish my lunch, and I'm gonna take a nap.

I'm like, I have nowhere to be.

It is beautiful.

I kind of prop up, start my nap.

We're napping people.

I don't know if you're napping people.

I'm already thinking about my nap this afternoon.

I woke up thinking about my nap.

Sometimes it's the only reason I do wake up is so I can go back to sleep later in the day.

It's the the one joy before me is that I can go back to sleep just to wake up again to think about going back to sleep.

And so I'm settling in, and it, I mean, it is beautiful.

It is beautiful.

Just about to fall asleep, and then the flies start.

Get bit a few times.

Big horse flies.

And then there's mosquitoes.

You know, like the size of a dime, you know, where you just smear blood when you get pop.

I mean, this is where I dream to be.

Like this, I mean, this is this is like if I can only get there.

Like, you know, like on a on a crazy busy week where there's all kinds of stuff, you're thinking, man, if I could be, man, if I could just have a quiet lunch up in the mountains, I'm gonna fall asleep, I'm gonna take a nap.

And like even here, even here in the dream, in the high country on a summer day, even then there's these flies.

There's agitation, right?

I know you don't feel bad for me.

It's a pretty average sermon illustration, to tell you the truth.

But you get the point.

You get the point that even when we get somewhere we hope to be, there's still agitation.

So the sheep get to the relief of the high country, but then the flies would start in on them.

These flies would fly up the sheep's nose and agitate them.

The flies would lay eggs.

Worms would come.

The worms could infect the brain.

The sheep would become so frantic and agitated and afraid.

They would hide in the brush rather than being with the rest of the flock.

The sheep would bang their heads against the ground because of the relentless agitation inside of them.

They could become blind, they could die.

They're just looking for relief because all of their peace is gone.

And you know agitation.

Because you worry about your health or your kids or your marriage or that one friendship you thought it would last, and for some reason it's not.

We can worry about the stock market, right?

It's easily done.

Worry about your career or your lack of career or your future, how something might play out or not play out.

We can worry that we don't have control or we won't be respected, or we won't be safe, or we won't be secure, we won't be cared for, we might not be loved, or we just might not be enough.

It's even possible to worry that God doesn't love you.

Or that you'll never shake this sense of condemnation or shame.

It's also possible that you could worry, you know God loves you, but you could worry that he doesn't like you.

Yeah, theoretically loves me, but I'm not sure if he actually really does like me.

Rats keep coming up on my back porch.

They poop all over my back porch.

We built this back porch like a year and a half ago.

Finally get it.

And there's rat poop.

So I've become an expert rat trapper.

I caught one last night.

I mean, you would have thought I won a national championship, like the touchdown at the end of the game.

I get so excited when I catch one of these rats.

And I won't tell you what I do with them.

He's no longer with us, but I won't tell you the process.

But because he's he's my enemy.

Um he poops all over.

And so, why can't my like why can't my house just exist?

Like, why can't why can't it just be somewhere I live?

Like, why does why does it have to be complicated?

Why do rats have to come up on it and poop all over the place?

Like, why can't why just why can't everything be okay, right?

Like, whatever.

You have your thing, whatever it is.

Why are all these agitations, why do they all exist?

So we are agitated.

But we are anointed.

And that's the good news.

And that's what Psalm 23 tells us, verse 5 you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

Intimate language back toward the shepherd, because that caring shepherd, these sheep are in that condition, they're agitated with the flies, up their nose, messing with them.

And the caring shepherd would come with oil.

And he would pour oil over that sheep's face, over their head, their neck.

He would rub it in to their face, their neck, ears, up their nose.

And the oil would protect them from the flies.

And so, point number two is this our anointing is an immeasurable endowment of Christ's goodness inside of us.

Our anointing is our immeasurable endowment of Christ's goodness inside of us.

It's what He pours over us and into us.

John helps us understand this in 1 John chapter 2.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

But you have, this is verse 20, but you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.

Now, anointing, that word, comes from the word chrisma, meaning smearing or special endowment.

You can see the imagery there in Psalm 23.

The smearing over, this intimate relationship with the shepherd.

John is saying that you have the Holy Spirit in you.

You've been anointed, and it is secure because it is God to you.

It's an inner endowment that does not run out.

That word anointing carries with it this image of the sheep, but also the image extends to the oil that would be poured over kings and priests in the Old Testament.

So, you and I are like sheep, but we're also like kings, and we're also like priests.

So we could say it this way: we have both a dependence on Christ and an internal, internal, limitless endowment from God in Christ.

So let me just remind us like what does this mean?

Let me just remind us of our inner wealth that we have that's going on even while we have all these agitations.

And I'm pretty sure I stole this from somebody.

I don't know who I stole it from, to be honest.

It could be you.

Good job.

Great job if you wrote these sentences.

But let me just remind us.

You may feel unworthy, but in Christ you are loved by God.

This is what it means to be anointed.

You may feel guilty, but in Christ you are spotless.

You may feel rejected, but in Christ you have been chosen by God.

You may feel condemned, but in Christ you are righteous.

You may feel lonely, but in Christ you are never alone.

You see, we are agitated.

We have agitation.

All sorts of agitation in our lives.

But we are anointed.

Point number three is this Knowing your identity in Christ is the place of rest and growth.

I mean, this is one of the biggest values of our church that we say over and over again.

The way that you rest and the way that you grow is knowing your identity in Christ.

Back to 1 John, 1 John 2, verse 27, he says, but the anointing that you receive from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you, but as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true, and is no lie, just as it has taught you abide in him.

1 John 2:27

So John is not saying that teaching means nothing.

I hope not.

I wouldn't have a job.

John is saying that we're not dependent on human wisdom or opinions.

That's really good news for me because I'm always wanting an opinion, particularly affirming me, and I'm always wanting the next book, some bit of extra knowledge, because if I just know something else, then I'll be okay.

And John says that the Holy Spirit in you, the Holy Spirit in you is what makes you okay.

And he is your seal and your source.

Not me, not some other leader, not some other person, not some opinion.

But the Holy Spirit is your seal, meaning you have the Spirit of God in you.

You are secure in your position with God.

You are already anointed.

And he's your source.

That we have the gift of a God who wants to live in us and speak to us, to the core of our being.

And learning to hear how God speaks to us inside of us is incredibly powerful.

Now back to our verse, Psalm 23, 5.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

I love the story in the Old Testament book of Zephaniah or King Manasseh.

He has led Judah into idolatry.

Then his son comes to reign, Amon.

After two years, the son's assassinated, bit of a soap opera story.

Then Josiah, he becomes king.

At age eight, he becomes king.

And the people are in full rebellion to all the ways of God.

At age 16, Josiah's in the temple, sort of like an Indiana Jones discovery moment.

He discovers the scroll of the law, he begins to read it, and he realizes, oh my gosh, our people are not even living close to the ways of God.

No wonder this is all of a mess.

So he discovers that, he begins to restore his people.

Now, during this whole time, Zephaniah is a prophet speaking to the people.

Their lives are a mess.

Jerusalem's about to fall.

And at first, Zephaniah, if you read the book, judgment toward the people.

Rightful judgment over their sin.

Destruction awaits you.

But the judgment is in preparation for the word of grace.

It always is.

The judgment is real, and the grace is the relief.

In our sin we deserve judgment, but in God's grace we receive delight.

Listen to it in Zephaniah 3, 16 and 17.

This is a new living translation.

So if you have your Bible, it might be a bit different.

On that day, the announcement to Jerusalem will be cheer up Zion, don't be afraid, for the Lord your God is living among you.

He is a mighty Savior.

He will take delight in you with gladness.

With his love, he will calm all your fears.

He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.

It's almost as if Zephaniah knew about a caring shepherd, so loyal, so caring, to delight over his sheep and his people.

Point number four is this living in our anointing is rest and growth with a quieted heart.

I can remember 13 years ago, 14 years ago, we had our first baby.

Lose track.

First year of her life.

We were working downtown, living downtown.

I was working to church downtown.

We lived on a schedule.

We were scheduled people, and some of you aren't scheduled people, non-schedule baby people.

We judge schedule people, schedule people judge non-scheduled people.

I know how, I know how it is.

Well, we were scheduled people.

And our baby slept wonderfully.

We'd like to report that.

Scheduled people like to report that.

But Sundays presented a problem.

Schedule people, you know what I'm talking about?

You're worried about it right now.

Schedule people the baby, right now, you're worried because you're just not quite sure.

Will he preach late?

How will this affect everything?

Will we make it home?

Will we not?

Do we have time to stop for food?

So many things.

So normally church ended at 12 if the preacher was long-winded.

Sometimes it would end at 12:15.

We'd get out to the parking lot at 12.30, and it was past her nap time.

We were in danger zone.

It was a 20-minute car ride home.

Cranky baby.

Baby's wailing.

I'm hungry.

Christy's hungry.

I can't say anything correct to Christy.

Christy can't really say anything correct to me.

We love and hate each other.

It's like, you know, we're just like, we gotta get, and we're napping people, okay?

So all this is about protecting the naps.

The babies nap so that we can nap, okay?

Let's I mean that's what's going on here.

Because we just know if we can just get, if we can get the nap, like our marriage will survive.

We will be okay.

And we don't want the baby to fall asleep in the car.

I know your baby transfers, and you tell everybody how easy it is.

Our babies don't transfer, they never transfer.

So that baby has to stay awake.

So Christy's in the backseat, cold water on the feet, windows are down, cold play blasting.

Baby hates us.

We don't care.

Because that baby's gonna nap.

And we get home and we get her into her room, and we lay her in her bed, and we turn on the sound machine, and you close the door.

Right, parents?

Wonderful moment.

And the house is quiet, and you're quiet, and that busy, frantic heart is quieted.

Now that's the power of a napping baby.

Don't mess with a napping baby.

It's an image of how something can powerfully affect us.

We can go from a very busy frantic heart in just a moment.

It's amazing how quickly our hearts can be calmed.

Zephaniah's talking about that quieted heart.

All that fear and agitation that was going on, it gets quieted down.

Zephaniah says, and I like where the ESV translates this idea of calm your fears in verse 17 and says, he will quiet you by his love.

And think about the shepherd, these agitated sheep.

And the shepherd would know his sheep so well that he knew when they were being agitated.

And he would go to them.

He would anoint them.

He would pour oil over them.

And be with them.

And everything would change.

The flies still existed, there would still be agitation, but the shepherd was active.

His love and care quieted their frantic hearts.

Psalm 23, 5.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

So the anointing with oil has an effect.

There's a response.

My cup overflows.

Point number five.

Abundant joy is the fruit of resting in the wealth of our anointing.

So maybe you know there's a drought out west.

Maybe you don't know.

Maybe you don't care.

It's possible.

We don't live there.

But Lake Mead is the reservoir above the Hoover Dam.

It's the largest reservoir in the U.S.

It provides water to Arizona, California, and Nevada.

So it's at historic lows right now.

Here's a picture of Lake Mead out there.

And so this is Lake Mead at full pool, or just what we would hope it would be.

Okay.

Now here's a picture of it at drought stage where we are at now.

Okay.

Now, in 1983, it overflowed like crazy.

Now here's a side-by-side picture.

I love this image.

So on the left is a full pool, overflowing, and on the right is last year and what it looks like today.

Let's just contemplate this image.

Just look at this image because maybe you have felt half full.

It's easy to feel empty.

So agitated, you're just worn down.

Whether that be condemnation, whether that be guilt, whether it be shame, whether it just be stuff and schedule.

Exhausted.

Now maybe you feel that way right now, or maybe you can remember a season you felt that way.

Or maybe it's gonna happen next Tuesday.

Good.

And we all want to be full and overflowing.

Like we all want to be the side of the image on the left.

We're full and overflowing and there's enough in us, right?

Well, Psalm 23 gives us the gospel this morning of how, not as a perfect equation, but as the fruit of the gospel, as resting in our anointing, that response becomes an overflowing joy.

The key to overflowing is nourishment.

The key to nourishment is resting in your anointing.

That's what Psalm 23, 5 gives us the gracious goodness of who we already are in Christ, that we have been anointed.

The good shepherd fully knew his sheep, fully loved them in their hiding, in their hurting, in their agitation, in their exhaustion, and he went toward them.

He was drawn to their weakness, drawn to their exhaustion and their messiness.

He intimately knew them and went toward them to restore them, to pour oil over their inability and their exhaustion.

They were agitated, but they were anointed.

This is the cross.

This is the cross.

Christ to us while we are still messy sinners.

Taking on our sin on the cross, giving us his righteousness, pouring over us a secure anointing as the beloved.

So we are always righteous and always loved and always forgiven.

Beloved, we may be agitated.

You may be agitated, but you are anointed.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you that in your goodness to us, not our goodness to you, that you chose to anoint us.

That we have an inner endowment, such great lavish wealth inside of us of identity, that we are fully forgiven, fully yours, fully righteous.

Help us only to trust in you more, to rest more in your sufficiency as the great shepherd who knows us, moves towards us, dies for us, and even lives inside of us.

Help us to learn to rest in your goodness, of your work for us and not our work for you.

Help us to learn what it means to hear your spirit in our hearts to convict us and to comfort us, to give us great relief when we were agitated.

God, as each of us sitting here this morning, we have our own form of agitation.

And would we have open hands to let you minister to us this morning?

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.