Jesus is My Shepherd - Goodness

Well, let's pray.

Father, we do thank you for bringing us all together this morning.

We thank you for adopting us as your very own children.

We praise you for that.

Holy Spirit, we thank you for being our teacher and our counselor.

We ask you to teach us this morning that as we look at your word, that you would speak to each of us, that each of us would leave this morning with something that we know is from you and for us.

Jesus, we thank you for loving us, for being our shepherd, for being our Savior.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.

We're taking a few weeks to be encouraged by one of the greatest songs that's ever been written.

It was written 3,000 years ago.

It was written by a guy who lived quite a life.

He was a neglected child.

He was a teenage shepherd.

He became an unexpected war hero.

And then he was the king of Israel.

He had a high-profile moral failure.

And then he was restored.

He was also a prolific songwriter and musician.

David wrote what we call the 23rd Psalm.

A Psalm was a worship song.

And we call it the 23rd Psalm because it was the 23rd song in a book of songs.

And David wrote the song from a unique perspective.

It wasn't from the war hero or even from the broken man in disgrace.

It was from his time as a shepherd.

And Jesus says in John 5 that you search the scriptures because you think that they give you eternal life.

But the scriptures point to me.

This is such a beautiful example of what Jesus was saying because this song perfectly describes you and I's relationship with Jesus, our shepherd.

Jesus himself calls himself the good shepherd.

Bible says that we're all like sheep that have wandered off from time to time, but have returned back to our shepherd.

And the 23rd Psalm is, of course, more than just a song.

It's a gift.

It's really a gift to each of us because it's encouraging and it's comforting, but most of all, because it's true.

And the song starts The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, 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.

Then what comes next is what we're going to look at today.

It says you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

One of the things that makes this psalm so interesting is how David uses the metaphor.

How at the same time it is both an accurate description of how a shepherd was with his or her sheep, but it's also an accurate description of how Jesus is with each of us.

A good shepherd at the time of David would take a sheep that was tired and weak.

He would lead the sheep from good pasture to good pasture.

Be a lower pasture in the winter that was warmer, and a higher pasture up in the hills that was cooler during the summer.

And it was dangerous from getting from one pasture to the next.

They would go through dark valleys.

The shepherd was strong, but that didn't scare the sheep.

It comforted them.

His rod and his staff was there to protect them, to save them.

And eventually they would get to the higher pasture.

And the higher pasture was called a mesa or a table land.

It's like a plateau.

And there the shepherd would literally prepare a table for the sheep.

The shepherd would go ahead, there'd be poisonous weeds, and he would go and prepare the pasture.

He'd pull all the weeds.

He would drive the predators and the enemies out of the pasture into the hills.

He would make sure that they had plenty of minerals and they had plenty of water and that they were thriving.

He would take great pride in the fact that they had more than enough to eat.

And it wasn't that the sheep didn't have enemies, it was that their enemies could only watch as the shepherdly, as the shepherd openly blessed his sheep.

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

And we don't usually think about it this way, but uh we all have enemies.

People that are against us, spiritual forces against us, people that would harm us or have harmed us, they would harm us again if we let them.

Jesus doesn't say that we won't have enemies.

He taught that we should love them, that we should forgive them, be kind to them, and we should leave the avenging up to God.

As a quick aside, the Bible taken in context in context does not say that we should continue to be taken advantage of or keep ourselves in a place to be abused by enemies.

It's just the opposite.

Paul was beaten in a Roman jail.

And he said, you know, you can't do that to me.

I'm a Roman citizen.

And the man that did it just, you know, pleaded.

He said, Oh, I'm so sorry.

Can you give me a pass on this one?

And Paul said, No.

I have rights as a Roman citizen.

I'm going to appeal this all the way to Caesar.

You are God's children.

You are God's son and his daughter.

He does not want you to keep yourself in a place to be harmed or abused.

But there's still going to be times that we are.

And our reaction to that is going to make all the difference.

If we will, we can trust our good shepherd to vindicate us.

In Romans 12, it says, this is verse 17, don't hit back.

Discover beauty in everyone.

If you've got it in you, get along with everybody.

Don't insist on getting even.

That's not for you to do.

I'll do the judging, says God.

I'll take care of it.

All of us have been hurt.

And all of us are going to be hurt again in one way or another.

But we don't want to live our lives that way in anger, in bitterness, in resentment, wanting revenge.

We can forgive.

We can move forward trusting Jesus.

Trusting that Jesus will take care of it.

And trusting that Jesus will show everyone openly that you are his sheep.

He does.

Soon everyone sees the richness and the abundance in our lives.

I'm not talking about money, although he does provide force, but I'm talking about the richness in relationships, joy in small things, peace in tough times.

People can see it.

Everyone can see it.

How Jesus is changing us from the inside out.

How Jesus is openly taking care of his sheep.

There are a lot of people here this morning because they saw Jesus in someone's life.

They wanted to come and check it out for themselves.

Jesus said that your Father, who sees in secret, will openly reward you.

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

You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over.

Shepherds anointed each sheep with oil.

They made a mixture of oil and it was olive oil and sulfur and spices, and they put that on the head of every sheep.

It had several purposes.

It was an insect repellent.

We talked the first week about how sheep are so irritated with flies.

Sheep would and do actually kill themselves by banging their head against a tree to try and get rid of the flies.

I've banged my head against the proverbial wall.

So have uh some of you.

See, I banged my head against a golf putter, against a tennis racket, accidentally against a car door, a curb, bottom of a pool, and probably a host of other things that I don't remember because I banged my head so many times.

It's just another way that I am like a sheep.

But this oil mixture would protect the sheep from the irritants and the insects and the flies, it would allow them to rest.

It also would keep uh wounds and sores on their heads, it would heal them.

And it did something else, it would protect them from each other.

You know, sheep tend to butt each other in the head, you know, particularly during mating season.

The rams start showing off and they're butting each other.

And so the oil would actually make their head slippery, and they would just have glancing blows.

And so the injuries would not be severe or permanent.

A shepherd anointing his sheep with oil was a demonstration of his or her love and care for their sheep.

But David could speak to an even deeper meaning.

You know, when David was young, his family didn't really recognize him or see the good in him, the prophet Samuel came to him, told him that God had picked him to be king, and he anointed his head with oil.

Now, the oil didn't make David king.

In fact, it would be many years before he was king.

The oil was a sign, a recognition that God had a special plan for David.

That David was destined for greatness.

You can see that at the end of David's life.

When David was dying, there were two sons vying to replace him as king.

There were kind of two factions in the kingdom.

One wanted his son Adonijah to be king.

The other wanted Solomon to be king.

And so they're afraid the other one would get there first.

And so even before David died, they rushed and anointed each other with oil, saying, okay, this is the one that would be king.

And on his deathbed, David intervened and said, No, it's Solomon that will be king.

It was a recognition that he was destined for a great plan, for a great purpose.

He anoints your head with oil.

He protects us from frustrations.

He heals us.

He tries to keep us from hurting ourselves and each other too much.

But mostly, it's a recognition of a special plan and a purpose for you.

In Ephesians 2.10, it says, For we are God's masterpiece.

He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.

You know, chances are you don't like exactly how God created you.

You know, we're all like that.

You know, if we we we wish that we were different in some ways.

But you are God's masterpiece.

He took great care, great time.

He created you in his very own image.

He has great plans for you.

He anoints your head with oil.

Goes on to say, my cup runs over.

You know, it's David's way of saying it's just too good to be true.

It's more than I can take in.

That Jesus is for me, that he makes me lie down and rest, that he gets me through the toughest times.

He protects me.

He's got a special plan for me.

You know, it's too much for us to grasp, it's too much for us to understand.

At the risk of uh sounding preachy, sometimes that's attitude and perspective.

That's why Nate Snow's family can be so thankful.

Even though Nate is slowly recovering from a horrific car accident, each time I see them, what they want to talk about is how thankful they are to what God is doing, how thankful they are for what you are doing to help them.

He is continually saying how he can't believe he is so blessed.

I am so blessed.

He has a wonderful wife, a great family, including three children that they've adopted.

He's got a good job.

His cup runneth over.

Now, sometimes I might focus on the flies or the enemies or the valleys and not notice that my shepherd is taking care of me, that he loves me, that he's leading me, that he's getting me through.

As another translation puts it, my cup overflows with blessings.

David finishes this verse with one bold line that sums up all of the 23rd Psalm so far.

It says, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

Surely, for sure, definitely, without a doubt, guaranteed, goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life.

Every day of your life.

David certainly had troubles.

He went through dark valleys, but it was God's goodness, it was God's love, it was God's mercy that overcame them all.

It was God's goodness, his love, and mercy that got him through them all.

You know, we don't have to live just waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Thinking our lives are going to go from problem to problem, from calamity to calamity.

You know, some of us are in dark valleys now, some of us are facing troubles now, but they will not define you.

And they will not define your life.

Goodness and mercy is going to define you.

Goodness and mercy is going to define your life.

Jesus is speaking in John 10.

He says, All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the true sheep did not listen to them.

Yes, I am the gate.

Those who come in through me will be saved.

They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.

The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.

My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

About 475 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah talks about a time to come.

This is what he says, Isaiah 65.

No longer will babies die when only a few days old.

No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life.

No longer will people be considered old at 100.

Only the cursed will die that young.

In those days people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.

Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses and confiscate their vineyards.

For my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.

They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune.

For they are people blessed by the Lord, and their children too will be blessed.

I will answer them before they even call to me.

While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers.

Isaiah prophesies, he says, No longer will people be considered old at 100.

The average life expectancy when Isaiah wrote those words was 28 years.

Not the life span, the life expectancy, meaning the baby born when Isaiah lived, on average, could expect to live twenty eight years.

A few weeks ago, when introducing the psalm, we looked at how Jesus announced his ministry.

It was by reading a different prophecy from Isaiah.

When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the scriptures.

The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him.

He enrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come.

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down.

All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently.

Then he began to speak to them.

The scripture you've just heard has been fulfilled this very day.

It made the religious leaders so mad they tried to kill him right then.

But it was true.

The time of the Lord's favor had come.

When?

That very day.

It is still the time of the Lord's favor.

Twenty-eight years.

The same as in the days of Isaiah.

In medieval Europe it was 30.

In modern Europe it was 35.

At the turn of the last century, it was 40.

The day before yesterday was announced that the life expectancy is now at an all-time recorded high.

70 years.

In the U.S., it's currently 78.2 years.

In spite of what you've heard, in spite of what we're constantly told, the world is not getting worse and worse and worse.

It was up until the moment that Jesus Christ announced, I am here.

And since that day, it's gotten better and better and better.

Diseases are being cured, poverty is being addressed.

Just in this country, slavery's been eliminated.

The oppression of women has been eased.

There's so much less racism.

Just 75 years ago, children were abandoned.

There were orphanages all over the country.

Today, couples wait in line and pay thousands of dollars for the opportunity to give a child a home.

There are more followers of Jesus alive this moment than at any time in the history of the world.

There's more followers of Jesus alive today than all people that were alive the day Jesus made that proclamation.

There are more people in a life-giving relationship with our God and Father than any time ever.

And Jesus is transforming this world by transforming people.

And the time of the Lord's favor has come.

When Jesus taught us to pray, he said, Pray like this: thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

What is his will?

It's Jeremiah 29, 11.

For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.

They are plans for good and not for disaster.

To give you a future and a hope.

It's what we read in Isaiah 65: health, long life, blessings for you and your children.

That is his will for you.

Jesus said, pray that his will is done on earth, like it is in heaven.

And it won't be.

It won't be completely done until Jesus returns.

Then we'll see the totality of his love.

Then we'll see how wonderful his plan and his future is for each of us.

But until then, he is transforming the world by transforming people.

Us, his sheep, one by one from the inside out.

Now God is not mad at you.

He is not fed up with you.

He hasn't written you off.

He loves you.

He cares for you.

Your life is not destined to be one bad event after another.

In fact, the absolute opposite is the truth.

He prepares a table for you in the presence of your enemies.

He anoints your head with oil.

Your cup runs over.

Surely, for sure, God's goodness and mercy will follow you every day of your life.

It's because Jesus is our shepherd.

If the worship team will come up, we're going to finish in a minute.

We'll sing one more song together.

Being under the care of our shepherd is simple.

We ask him in our own words, in our own way, Jesus, I need you.

Jesus, help me.

Jesus, save me.

I want to follow you.

And with that, we walk into his pasture.

And our spirit comes alive, and his spirit fills us.

And he does most of the heavy lifting.

Because he starts transforming us from the inside out.

You know, if you haven't done that, you can do it today.

You know, the 23rd Psalm reminds me a little bit of a firework display.

Let's actually stand and we'll get ready to sing this last song.

The reason it reminds me of a fireworks display is, you know, you're like here on the 4th of July, and the first firework goes off, and you go, wow.

That is something.

And it keeps going and going, and then you think, man, that was wonderful.

That must be the end.

But then it's the grand finale.

His goodness and mercy following us every day of our lives.

Wouldn't that be a great summation?

Wouldn't that be a great end?

But it's not.

We've still got the grand finale.

And that's what we'll look at next week.

Let's pray.

Father, we praise you, we love you, we thank you.

Jesus, we thank you for being our shepherd, for restoring our souls, for leading us, for protecting us, for guiding us, for overflowing us with your blessings, for anointing us with oil, for pursuing us with your goodness and mercy each day of our lives.

Jesus, we thank you.

We trust you.

Help us each to trust you more.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.