Sheepish Grins Pt. 2

I Shall Not be in Want…

So, since the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want. The word “want” here has a greater meaning than just physical need. We see here that the Shepherd takes such good care of the sheep that their needs are taken care of and they are utterly content. Again, they delight in being the sheep of the good shepherd.

In fact, they are so satisfied in being this Shepherds sheep that their desires for other things shrink because they know how good the Shepherd really is. They could not fathom needing anything else. They have all they need and they trust the Shepherd with the things they don’t have. It really is that simple.

We often times wrongly believe that following Christ makes things perfect or that following Christ will mean material prosperity. In fact, whole theologies are wrongly structured on the idea that following Christ will make you materially wealthy and rich. In fact, the Bible shows the complete opposite sometimes and there were rich people, poor people and middle class people, biblically who followed, served, and glorified Christ with their lives.

Adversity was and is always part of life. The point here is that these people, the sheep, are content with whatever adversity comes. We see over and over that following Christ, loving and knowing the Good Shepherd, means that whatever winds may blow or storms may come, our needs are met and we can be content to know He is with us and will never forsake us.

So how do we demonstrate this contentment in the adversity? The sheepish grins on our faces of course. Seriously, have you ever been in a situation that is overwhelming you and you just know that somehow, there is a Good Shepherd loving you through this?

We felt this since last April. It was then that we knew that God was calling us away from Richmond and to here. We began doing work on our house to get it ready to sell when suddenly the bottom fell out of the economy and the housing market. There literally was not a worse time to put a house up for sale in the last 20 years. When things began going south in April, we began to pray about this being the right thing to do and we sensed God confirming this calling. I walked away content and confident that despite what would come, God would work. April turned to May and May turned to June and so on. As money ran out and got tighter and tighter, especially as we moved here and had to pay rent and a mortgage, God always blessed. We continued to pray and trust God in His calling us to this ministry. Each month, some money that we were not expecting would come in and we would be able to make a mortgage payment. Finally in November, no extra money came in and I had to have some serious discussions with our mortgage company. We entered December and did not see anything else moving or happening and faced the new year 3 month behind on mortgage payments. Through each part of this process, people would call and want to know what was happening with the house and I would always simply tell them that nothing had happened, but also convey the content that I felt in knowing that God was at work. Usually these conversations would happen with a sheepish grin on my face as I realized the coinciding craziness and faith in that statement. Two weeks ago, we got a call from our realtor in Virginia and he said he had a call from someone interested in renting the house with a possibility of them buying it later. On Christmas Eve, he called and told us that the agreement was a done deal. The rent that we are charging for the house is about $100 less than the mortgage payment. We were very happy to be this close, but we still didn’t have the extra $100. In looking at some of our donor income, however, we began to see one donor who upped their donation by $100.

You see, it is the contentment in knowing whether we sell the house in April, December or the thing goes in total foreclosure, we are His sheep and He is good. I was confident that God was moving and working and there would be an amazing story to tell that would echo His Amazing Grace.

“He Makes Me Lie Down in Green Pastures…”

Sheep are a strange animal. They are very sensitive and the slightest hint of fear or intimidation sets them off and the shepherd must know how to best take care of the sheep. There are 4 requirements that must be met for sheep to lie down:

1. Freedom from fear

2. Freedom from friction with other sheep

3. Freedom from internal parasites or external pests such as flies

4. Freedom from hunger

Shepherds go to great lengths to meet all of these requirements and often the sacrifice of time, energy and money is nearly overwhelming. The work of a shepherd is so the sheep can live fully and ultimately to his glory as he sells them.

We are no different. We suffer from the same fear, friction, pests and hungers that keep us from true rest. Only in the presence of the Shepherd can we find relief and true comfort.

Fear rocks sheep like nothing else. Ewes, heavy in lamb, will abort their baby if the slightest hint of harm or harassment happens. Shepherds must watch over not only the flocks, but the areas around the flocks for any possible predators such as cougars, wolves or dogs. Once a predator has been found or even a clue hinting that predator is in the area, the Good Shepherd hunts down the predator and destroys it.

It is the same with Jesus. As His sheep, He knows the wiles of Satan and the affect of sin in our life. He will not allow it to destroy us. He pursues us and convicts us of that sin. Remember when He cleared the temple? It was to clear the House of His Father from the distractions and predators that stood in the way of genuine worship of His Father. He hunted and destroyed for the sake of genuine worship.

Sheep will often times engage in turf wars with one another and could even kill one another over patches of land. They do various things to intimidate one another and send signals of aggression. If these conflicts exist, it can affect the sheep greatly and keep them from resting. Do you know what the remedy for this conflict is? The simple presence of the Shepherd.

The analogy is clear that sheep are those who follow the Good Shepherd, Christians. Christians are no different than sheep. We claim our territories and attach unnecessary feelings and emotions to things of little importance and then we will fight to maintain that importance with other Christians. These disagreements and conflicts often times distract and destroy us and keep us from true rest and peace with Jesus. Like sheep, we respond to the presence of the Good Shepherd. When we put ourselves aside and worship Him (He must increase and I must decrease), we truly are set free to rest and live.

Flies and internal parasites absolutely drive sheep literally crazy. When these things are bothering sheep, the sheep are disoriented, annoyed and restless. A good shepherd “anoints the sheep’s head with oil” to keep the flies and parasites from pest. However, the shepherd can only do this if the sheep allow Him to examine them. The sheep develop a pattern of daily or every other day making it a point to “check in” with the shepherd to ease their own mind and the shepherd takes the opportunity to examine them for these bothersome pests.

We all have affects of our past or present and maybe even fear of our future that we live with. These internal fears haunt and intimidate us and paralyze us from true joy in Christ if we do not allow the Good Shepherd to examine us and begin to help heal us from these things. David again wrote what we now can model in Psalm 139 when he begins the Psalms by saying:

“You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.” (Psa 139:2-6)

So David shows that God already knows everything there is to know about him, but still at the end of Psalm 139 he says:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psa 139:23-24)”

David is aware that God knows everything already, but by the end of the Psalms, he delivers himself once again to the Good Shepherd in submission to His examination and knows that it is for his best that he is examined in this way.

Finally, sheep must be free of hunger. Notice that the shepherd makes the sheep lie down in green pasture. In the Middle East where this was written, green pastures are not as common as we expect. In fact, for a pasture to be green and suitable for sheep grazing, much work and effort on the shepherd’s part had to be done to prepare the field. Often these pastures are in remote areas and not easy to get to. However, the shepherd makes the effort and the sheep, once free from the other annoyances, can lie down and have their hunger met.

Meeting our hunger needs is no different. It cost Jesus a lot to be our Shepherd and to prepare a proper place for us to rest. Christ works hard to prepare the soil of our faith to yield His fruit. He delights in preparing us to enjoy Him, but He will not settle for sharing us with someone or something else. He is a jealous God, because He is the only Creator. Everything else is created and not worthy of such worship and consumption.

Sheepish Grins Pt. 1

The following is the manuscript of the sermon I preached at MERCYhouse on January 4.

Last week, Steve Mirigian broke down scripture in a very academic and intelligent way. Now that I am preaching this week, I am afraid that I will sound like Elmo trying to explain nuclear fusion compared to him. (“Look Dorothy, nuclear transmutation!” That joke killed with my 3 year old.) So anyway, I was asked to preach on the 23^rd Psalm. As many of you may know, Psalms 23 is a Psalm correlating us to sheep and God to the Shepherd. So I had the task of meditating on the theme of sheep. Since Steve brought up the theme of Monty Python last week, all I could think of when preparing for this sermon was this video.

Thank God that I was not asked to talk to you on my own, or you would get utter silliness like that and we would waste everyone’s time today. However, I was not asked to come speak to you on my own today. I was asked to seek the Holy Spirit to be given a message to bring to you in regard to Psalms 23. So hopefully, here is God’s Word.

Psalms 23 is a loved and well known passage of scripture that has meant a lot to a lot of people. Usually when this happens in today’s American society especially, you will begin to see it used for capital gain, such as these things: Psalms 23 t-shirts, hoodies, boxer shorts and even thong underwear. Merry Christmas, only 360 shopping days left till Christmas, beat the rush and order the thongs now.

I grew up in Oklahoma, which is really in the heart of what is called, Tornado Alley. Every Spring and Fall, we could count on anywhere between 3 to 10 tornadoes approaching where we lived. It was part of the culture to deal with tornadoes. So much so that many people in Oklahoma were forced with the choice of putting a swimming pool in the back yard, or a cellar. Now for those of you who do not know what a cellar is, it is basically a large cement room that is dropped in a hole and covered up with dirt so only the door sticks out. Now my family growing up chose to get the swimming pool and even though I am sure that cellars would have been fun for all kinds of scientific experiments, I am sure my parents made the right choice. My social life certainly developed because of it. However, when tornadoes would come through we would have to find a neighbor or family member that would let us in their cellar. When we would get in there, it was usually the most spiritual time of our lives. Commonly, we would pray, however more commonly, we would sing hymns or quote Psalms 23. We would hear the thunder roar and the hail pound the door. We would feel the rain drench and the winds pound and Psalms 23 would bring comfort.

So with Psalm 23 being so popular and common, I wanted to bring a different perspective to it this morning. I began reading a book called A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 this week and much of what I am going to present today is taken from this book. It gives some amazing insight into what it meant to be a shepherd during the time this Psalm was written as well as how this would have been culturally understood during that time. Especially here in the Valley, there is an understanding culturally of farming and some of the lifestyle cycles that farming brings, but even with our advanced knowledge, we can’t understand all of the intricacies of being a shepherd during this time, so lets look this morning at the 23^rd Psalms from a Shepherds perspective.

The Lord is my Shepherd…

David begins writing this Psalm by proclaiming that the Lord is his Shepherd. So, it begs the question, Who is the Lord? David is referring to Jehovah the Lord God of Israel. Jesus confirmed this statement as He was God incarnate and declared emphatically, “I am the Good Shepherd”.

In Colossians 1:15-20, we see that it was Jesus who was responsible for the creation of all things both natural and supernatural. Understanding this and seeing what David is in turn saying here, we see that Jesus is our Shepherd. When we reflect on the life and achievements of Jesus, we gladly state, “HE is my Shepherd!”

Saying this links us with divine destiny. It is a big statement that claims to others, “Look at my owner! The God that made all of us and all of this is my owner.”

Not only do we make that claim, but it is Christ, Himself Who calls us His sheep. He invites me to consider myself His sheep. We are His special object of His affection and attention. On top of all of that, all of this was His idea! I belong to Him simply because He deliberately chose to create me as the object of His own affection.

Not only that, but when I turned and ran away to follow another master who tempted me with false hope and joy, It was Jesus Who pursued me and bought me at an incredible price with His own blood at Calvary.

There are similarities to sheep and humans in many ways. It is no coincidence that God has chosen to call us His sheep. We, like sheep, suffer from our mass mindset (mob instincts), our fear and timidity, our stubbornness and stupidity; our perverse habits are all parallels of profound importance.

Yet, despite these things; in fact, with these things in full view, Christ chose to buy us, call us by name, make us His own and delight in us. It is in this delighting in us that allows us to know and be known by Him. He has given, is giving and will give Himself to us and for us. As I live in His offering of Himself to me and eat of, live from and dwell in His goodness, I emanate His glory. John Piper said it best when he said, “God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him.”

How do others know that we are satisfied in Christ? When a shepherd buys sheep, the first thing he does is round the new sheep us and put his mark on their ear. It is a distinct mark that can be seen from far away and identifies them with the shepherd. As believers, we are the same way. The Spirit of God living in us is the mark for all to see. The Spirit lives in us and guides us and shows us things about ourselves and others that only can come from God. The Spirit is our mark that links the emanating glory to the Lord Jesus Who is our Shepherd.