Psalm 23: The Good Shepherd (6- Suffering With Purpose)

Good morning, it's so good to see you this morning.

Do me a favor before you sit down, find a couple of people and tell them hello and then you guys can be seated.

Good morning again.

I love, love, love, love.

Baptism Day.

Can we give some praise to God for those baptisms one more time?

Yes, man, babies and baptisms.

It always gets me, and everything else pretty much so well.

Good morning, it's so good to see you.

My name is Brandon Gillum and I'm part of the teaching team here and it's good to have you.

If this is your first time here, then I want to direct your attention to that worship guide and in there we've got a connect card and you can give us a little bit of information about yourself and we would love to connect with you.

And then also there's a prayer request on the back.

If you want some special prayer and you want to write those on there, those can be dropped in the offering box on the back wall on the way out.

But we're going to be continuing together today in our series called the Good Shepherd.

Now I showed this the last time that I was up here.

I want to make sure you guys see it again.

I don't want to be the I told you so guy.

But I told you so right.

We were here, had that second winter slash, flash flood.

Now we're moving on.

I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding.

Warmer weather's coming, it's on its way.

I just wanted to make the joke.

So we're in the Good Shepherd series this morning.

We're going to be continuing together in that and if we're going through the book Psalm 23, and if you've got your Bibles with you, you can go and then open those up and begin turning to Psalm 23.

Or if you also have your smartphone with you and you want to open up the Bible app, get prepared for that.

The basic principle of this series comes from a book that we've been showing you called A Shepherd's Look at Psalm 23, by an author, philip Keller, who was a shepherd himself.

Author Philip Keller, who was a shepherd himself, and in the book he gives a first-person view of the depths that David goes into in Psalm 23, from the point of view of a shepherd.

And if you're interested in reading that book and you haven't gotten one yet, we do still have some out at the Welcome Center and you can grab that on your way out.

It's a great read, it's an easy read.

Excuse me, there's another book out there I'd like you to read.

It's a great read.

It's an easy read.

Excuse me, there's another book out there I'd like you to read.

It's actually a collection of books 66 books to be exact written by 40 different people, and it's a great book as well.

Lots of action in there, lots of love, love story, and I don't want to ruin it for you.

But the good guy wins in the end.

So that book's out there.

Yes, amen, grab that one on your way out as well.

But the book is also the series.

The Good Shepherd is based on the Philip Keller book, and our hope for the series is that you begin to see God in a little bit different light.

David really goes through the characteristics of God, and our hope is that you can get a deeper relationship with God by looking at this.

So let's look at Psalm 23 together, as we do a quick review.

Psalm 23 reads like this.

I'll read it to you.

It says the Lord is my shepherd.

I have all that I need.

He lets me rest in green meadows, he leads me beside peaceful streams, he renews my strength and he guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.

Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.

Your rod and your staff protect me and comfort me.

You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.

You honor me by anointing my head with oil.

My cup overflows with blessings.

Surely, your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.

So let's do a quick review of where we've gotten to up to this point.

We've learned that the Lord is our shepherd, of course, and that was in verse 1.

And then we also learned he's our contentment, our peace, our restoration and our guide.

And what I want to focus on today is the first part of verse 4 that says Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.

And today I want to look at how the Lord is also our protector and the title of today's message, if you're taking and I'm going to keep it short, but I want us to break this verse down together it's very important and I want you to see some truths about suffering that the Bible tells us, and this is a very important part of the psalm for a couple reasons, one being this is the direct middle of the psalm.

The verse 4 is right in the middle and if you look a bit closer there's actually a change that happens here.

This is where the psalm takes on a new level in the explanation of the relationship between the shepherd and his sheep sheep and between David and our Lord.

Up until this point, david is very much describing the characteristics of God, the things that we went over, and at this point he begins to use words like I and you, describing then his personal relationship with God, then his personal relationship with God, and the whole psalm in its entirety, of course, is an image of the goodness of the shepherd.

But here, in verse four, we can start to uncover not only the goodness of God, which is very, very important of course, but the reciprocation in the relationship, meaning the reciprocation the sheep give to the shepherd.

Or what part do we play?

That's what I want to try and answer what characteristics the shepherd wishes the sheep to exemplify?

What characteristics, in this particular point, should we have?

And if you're not careful, you can kind of read through this and miss it.

It gets missed a lot.

I've missed it a lot.

But in these lines, these first few lines, we want to seek and learn to understand the importance.

And David reveals to us a very important aspect of the gospel that I don't think gets talked about enough.

But I believe the answer is also a little bit difficult of one, and it's because this psalm is normally read at a funeral, which it plays a part there too.

That's great, but for us, this idea of suffering, and for most unbelievers certainly, this is the hardest part of the gospel to grasp, this idea of suffering.

And the reason being is the question always comes up how do we serve both an all-loving God and an all-powerful God when there's suffering in the world?

How does that happen?

If he's truly both of those things, then what part does suffering play?

Why is there suffering?

And maybe even a more difficult question to answer is then why do Christians suffer?

If we're following God intently with our heart, then why are Christians still suffering?

Because if we serve a God that is all loving and then he doesn't take away suffering, it must be because he can't right, and that would make him not all powerful.

But if he's all powerfulpowerful and he can take away suffering, but then he doesn't take away suffering, wouldn't that mean that he doesn't care enough and that makes him not all-loving?

And the truth is is he is all-loving and he is in the same loving, and he is in the same all-powerful.

But the answers that are being sought can only be explained and understood if you understand the relationship with him, and that's the very thing that David is going over in Psalm 23.

The same exact link that explains the relationship of the sheep to the shepherd is the same link that explains the relationship of suffering to a believer, and that's what I want to look at today and what David is going to explain to us in this portion of the psalm.

But it's the psalm, excuse me, but it's very important that you see how it's written and I really want us to look at this together.

And important that you see how it's written and I really want us to look at this together and I want you to see it not from a heart of fear but from a heart of preparedness is my hope.

Okay, and the very first truth about suffering that's contained.

It's contained in the very first two words of this part of the psalm, of verse four, verse 4.

Even when, particularly when, even when I walk through the darkest valley, when I do.

That is so important, when, now, I looked up every single notable translation that I could and read it with a particular emphasis on this first part, these first two words, and I want you to know that there is not a single translation that I found that brings into question if suffering happens, there is nothing that says should it happen to you, or should suffering find you, or what if you have to suffer.

They all indicate this exact same thing right here when you do, when you do, when it comes, meaning it is coming, unfortunate, but the truth about suffering is this it is inevitable, suffering is inevitable and it's normal, and all I mean by that is nothing has to be wrong to cause suffering.

Matter of fact, if we're straightforward and honest about it, the Bible is very clear in this fact that when you give your life to Christ, you are to pick up your own cross of suffering, up your own cross of suffering, and you are to carry it, and you carry it in his name.

Last week, pastor Brandon went over his part of the psalm where he leads me along right paths to bring honor to his name.

The suffering brings honor to his name.

And that's not to say that the Lord is just raining down suffering on you.

All I'm trying to say there is that the path that he leads you on, this right path, the path of righteousness.

It's not always an easy path.

The Bible calls it the narrow way.

It is the minority way in the world.

Worth it, no question, absolutely Better For sure, 100%.

But easy.

Easy is never written in here.

The path is not easy.

You will be met with opposition, and that's never been hidden from us.

And just because you meet opposition and just because there's suffering involved, that doesn't always mean that you're on the wrong path.

As a matter of fact, I would bend the other way, in the opposite direction.

If you're met with opposition, it very well could mean you are on the right path.

And if your path is easy, is it the narrow one?

And I would encourage you to ask yourself is this the right path?

If you find it easy?

Because it's not.

Jesus tells the disciples directly in Matthew 10,.

If you remember when we were in Matthew, when we read it together, it says as a follower of mine, you are being sent out, sent out like sheep amongst the wolves, sheep amongst the wolves.

And there again.

Jesus himself calls us sheep and later he says the nations will hate you.

Hate you because you're a follower of mine and if anyone wants to follow me, they must give up their own way, pick up their cross.

They must give up their own way, pick up their cross and then follow.

It is not hidden from us that suffering is inevitable.

It is.

We're all going to face suffering and we're going to continue to face suffering, and we face different levels of suffering in different ways.

There's natural disasters all over the world.

There's wildfires going on right now.

People are sick, people have unhealthy marriages, people's families are falling apart, there's job loss.

All of that suffering is part of this world.

Dr Derek Thomas says it like this.

I love his quote.

He says Ever since the ancient revolt, suffering has been woven with perplexity and pain in the fabric of human existence.

We all live and move and have our being amid Eden's wreckage.

Affliction and evil, universal as they are real, haunt us, stalk us and plague us.

Suffering is a part of the world, because evil is a part of the world and there will always be evil, and because of that there will always be suffering.

Psalm 23 says even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid.

And this is the second truth that I want you to see about suffering, and it's found in this word, right here, through Meaning.

Suffering is not permanent.

For us, it is temporary, it is not a permanent thing.

Suffering has long been thought of as a punishment, and that's not always the case at all.

As a matter of fact, the disciples, speaking to Jesus when they were healing the blind man, asked him what sin has this man caused to make him blind?

What sin has his family done to give him this grief?

And Jesus looks at him and says this is not from his sin, but to exemplify the goodness of God, to show the goodness of the Father In suffering.

We are never meant to stay.

We're simply passing through.

We're simply passing through, and there cannot be a top of the mountain without a climb.

You can't get to the top unless you go through the valley.

You have to make the climb up the mountain and they go hand in hand.

And for a Christian, there is never a journey that ends in the valley.

It never stops there.

It's a Christian.

There is never a journey that ends in the valley.

It never stops there.

It's a hard climb, but should you endure it?

That is not your home.

Unfortunately, the Bible doesn't give us a specific time frame about suffering.

I don't know how long you will be sick.

I don't know how long you will be fill in the blank.

I don't know when your marriage will be healed.

There's no time frame on that.

It just simply tells us it's not permanent, but eventually the climb does end and eventually you get to the crest of the mountain and it's at the top of the mountain where you can look back and you can say the climb was worth it.

It was worth it.

You can see how far you've come and in that is where you will find the separation between worldly suffering and biblical suffering.

And the difference is simply this that Satan's intentions with every type of suffering are to destroy us.

He wants you to stay in that valley because he wants you to separate yourself from God.

But God's intentions with every type of suffering are to sanctify us, to draw us in closer and to know that we're simply passing through, we're just learning.

Now, that's not to say that the Lord takes pleasure in seeing us hurting Quite the opposite, actually but he does take pleasure in our growth.

He does take pleasure in us drawing close to him and that comes from overcoming difficult seasons, seasons of suffering, and it does bring glory to the name of Christ if his sheep stay the path, stay the course.

That's why Paul says it when he says we're meant to run the race of endurance to fight the good fight.

Paul suffered greatly and I've always thought that one of the greatest pieces of evidence that makes the Bible true is the suffering that the 12 disciples and the followers of Christ endured, brutally tortured, every single one of them Brutal deaths, and they were all killed and not a single one of them was boiled in hot oil.

That's terrible, but now we see, looking back, what a huge piece of evidence and glory that that has brought to his name in making his word true.

And it wasn't that the Lord wished that upon him, that he wanted that for him, but it was an honor that he called them to.

Nobody goes through that type of suffering for a lie.

Nobody even goes through that type of suffering for a good idea, but for truth, for love, certainly a worthy cause.

That's what they endured it for for the eternal relationship that they sought.

And if we were given the privilege to speak to any of them today, I'm certain that they would say well worth it.

Well worth it, and that it was temporary pain for the eternal relationship that they got.

And with every trial there is an unseen lesson.

And with every trial there is an unseen lesson.

And with suffering there is sanctification coming.

So the next time that you're met with it, I would encourage you, instead of asking yourself why is this happening to me?

Maybe you ask, lord, what am I not seeing here?

What are you trying to teach me in this moment?

What do you want me to learn from this situation?

And that's what I'm trying to change about myself.

That's what I want to try and start doing Instead of welling up with anger.

Look for the real reasons why it says even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid.

This is an important part, too, that we miss often as we think of it as David just making a statement.

But it's not just a statement.

This is David's confident declaration about his relationship with the Lord, and it's been tested time and time again.

He's voicing his trust in the Lord's guidance and protection that he's given him all through his life, and it's from his experiences that his faith grows.

But it hasn't come without suffering.

Actually, a lot of times when we read this psalm, we kind of naturally or at least I did picture David still as a shepherd and that he's laying in the green grass with his sheep, looking up at the sky, at the clouds, and just pondering the things of God.

But actually that's not when he wrote this psalm.

He wrote it much later in life and actually he wrote it amidst suffering, a great suffering, when there was a huge revolt going on.

That's when he wrote it.

There was a rebellion, and instead of responding in frustration, he responds in worship, the same as Job did during his suffering.

Because if you look at David's life, here is a man that's been to many battles.

He's fought many fights, including the one that started and made him the king, his battle against Goliath.

And so through these battles, if you think that he was unsure about whether or not he would lose his life or he could handle this suffering, you'd be wrong.

I'm sure that crossed his mind.

But also through those things, through that suffering, is where he learned to lean on the Lord.

And here we hear his song, not of sadness but of worship, his worship for the Lord, for his goodness.

And how did he get to that point except through the many trials of suffering.

And it was because of his suffering that I'm sure he was very much sure of this next part too.

For you are close beside me, I will not be afraid.

I won't, because I know you are close beside me.

Here's what I want you to see in this you have never once suffered alone.

Last week, pastor Brandon touched on the position that a shepherd takes with the flock that he would lead them from either the front or the side, walking beside them and comforting them and protecting them.

When the shepherd is in the forward position and he walks before the flock, it's because they're in unknown territory and they're skittish, and so he walks first because he knows they trust him.

But when they're in familiar territory, when they're a place they've been before, then the shepherd walks beside the flock because he knows they're more familiar and he guides them from beside.

One of the earliest memories that I have of my father was when I was really young and he was taking my sister and I to a haunted house that we were way, way too young to be at, but we were there anyways, and I remember being so terrified I mean terrified, but we were there anyways, and I remember being so terrified I mean terrified and I was begging not to go into this haunted house.

And I don't have a lot of pieces of great advice from my father and fortunately he led a very rough life but I remember exactly what he said to me on that day and he said when we go in there, get behind me.

He said just close your eyes, cover your ears.

And he said, if you want to, you can hang on to my shirt.

And then, right before we went in, he said he said, don't worry, they're not allowed to touch you.

And I remember that being so comforting to me and I don't know why that was comforting in that moment, but it was and we went into the haunted house and that's exactly what I did.

I stood behind him, I grabbed his shirt, I closed my eyes and I don't know if I hummed a song or what I did, but I made it through and I was fine and I feel like in the process, this process of sanctification, I feel like that's the posture that we need to take as Christians.

When opposition comes, when suffering comes, when our hearts are filled with fear, hearts are filled with fear.

It's important then to pull in, hunker down, close your eyes if you need to cover your ears and listen for the voice of the shepherd.

Keep the shepherd close and then just keep walking.

Keep walking, because nothing can touch you, it's not allowed without permission.

First, he's always protecting you, always guiding you on the safe path, and he's prepared for you, even those things that cause some temporary pain, some temporary suffering.

He's designed those things, he changes them, to be inherently good for you.

Good things will come.

And then I feel like, little by little, with each trial, each valley, each moment of suffering, then we begin to step out and walk beside God, because he no longer feels the need to shield us that there's evil in the world, because we know, but we know that suffering is inevitable, but it isn't permanent and we're never going to be in the valley alone and he's always going to walk closely beside us.

And that's what I love about this part of the psalm that explains that part of the relationship that is so hard sometimes to understand when you're hurting, when you're dealing with something that you don't understand and seemingly doesn't have a reason.

It says in the book of Zechariah not by might and not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord, my spirit and we are a broken people in a broken world and naturally we are inclined to lean on self-reliance sometimes.

And it is your willingness to let go of that self-reliance that is key, because what the Lord seeks in the valley, in these times of suffering, when you're hurting, what he's seeking for is your reliance on him, your dependence upon exactly what he talks about, his spirit, his guidance and his direction.

And this is the last thing that I want to give you on this.

We could make a whole other message just on this topic but as his sheep, what has God called us to do in suffering sheep, what has God called us to do in suffering?

Depend on His Spirit, but how do we do it?

I believe this to be one of the most important ways.

The next time you feel like you're passing through the valley, the next time you feel like you're approaching suffering, approach it from your position and not your perspective.

Your position and here's what I mean by that we are always going to live with a limited perspective, a limited worldly view.

That's the perspective we had.

We simply cannot see everything that God sees.

We cannot see the whole picture, and he doesn't give us the whole picture for good reason.

Only God can do that.

But it's in that that makes him both all loving and all powerful, and because we operate and we live in this world with limited perspective.

But we are also children of the most high God and we serve a shepherd that has no limits, that can see the whole picture.

He is sovereign over all things, all of them, and that's exactly what the Bible says when it says lean, not on your own understanding, but trust in the Lord with all your heart.

That's why we lean on his word.

Yes, he is our contentment, he is our peace, but he's also restoring you, he's guiding you, he's building a relationship with you, a relationship of trust and dependence that when sometimes you don't understand, you don't need to.

You just need to know that he's standing right beside you.

We are sheep in his flock, we are children of the great king.

That is your position.

That is how you should approach suffering.

Don't use your perspective.

It won't make sense.

Sometimes it doesn't seem fair, but inherently, in the end, when you look back, whenever that may be, it will be good that you see.

That's a promise that he gives us, and suffer is going to come from time to time.

But it also says it will end and we will never suffer alone.

And what I want you to see also and I'm not going to get into this today because we're going to get into it next week, but we also don't serve a timid God the Bible says he stands right next to us with his rod and his staff that we'll look at next week, and I promise you he is ready for battle.

He is ready for the fight and you do not fight alone.

And he is not timid and he has already won.

The Bible says the shepherd will die for his sheep, just as he already has.

It's why he leaves the 99 to go get the one and bring him back to the flock.

He wants good and the Lord sent his son to die on the cross.

And when he came, he didn't bring with him suffering, it was already here, but what he brought was a purpose for it, a way out.

He brought the end, the non-permanence of it, and he made it possible for us to escape ourselves and to live in an eternal relationship of love with Him, and so that when we do walk through the darkest valleys, there is no need to be afraid, because we do not walk alone and he walks right beside us and he walks right beside us.

That is, ironically, the beauty in suffering.

As hard as it is for us to understand, it can be good if you understand the relationship.

Let's pray together this morning.

Father, we are thankful to be able to come into your house and to look at your word together.

We're blessed to be able to be called your children.

Father, that you would guide us and shepherd us.

Father and Lord, even though sometimes we don't understand it, we know that you are guiding us through suffering and that you will work it out to be good, that you will not leave us, that you will always be with us and that it will not be permanent.

We thank you, lord, for the forgiveness of our sins.

And, lord, help us to see that the honor, the calling, sometimes in the suffering that we face, and help us to be relentless against it, to stand at the door, ready to fight, to continue to walk in your ways, to fight the good fight, to run the race of endurance, so that we may know at the end we will be standing with you in eternal light.

God, we are not worthy of this type of relationship, for this type of opportunity, but we give you all praise and all glory for seeing us fit.

Lord, we love you and we ask these things in your son's name, amen.

You know what's more difficult than suffering?

Suffering without a purpose, that's difficult.

Our purpose, jesus Christ, came with the greatest act of suffering and showed how difficult suffering for us.

But suffering also saved us.

It's what gave us a way out, it's what made it not a permanent thing for us.

And so he came and he suffered that way because it made him both all loving and all powerful and it sealed the fate of his people in an eternal relationship.

And if you don't quite understand that relationship, or you haven't found that yet, I encourage you to seek it out, because this is the only thing that will make any sense in this broken world.

And if you need more direction on that, if you just want prayer for anything, please, as we stand and worship and we close out the service, go to the back tables.

We'd love to pray over you.

Come to the front, pray, seek out the answer.

Let's all stand together and give praise to God.