Earthly Blessings 2: Green Pastures, Quiet Waters

“Earthly Blessings 2: Green Pastures, Quiet Waters” 8/12/12 Psalm 23

I. Introduction
A. Last week: stuff He provides for us to compensate for what we’ve lost for following Christ: a hundredfold.
B. But today we’re going to talk about even better earthy blessings, from Psalm 23.
C. The older I get, the more I fall in love with Psalm 23.
II. Explanation of Psalm 23
A. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 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. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
B. Here we realize that our greatest earthly blessings are the invisible ones.
C. Greater than all the gifts God gives us in this life is the fact that He is there watching over us, tending to our needs, protecting us from danger.
D. (God’s work of protection)
1. Most animals have some way to defend themselves, but sheep are utterly defenseless. They have nothing with which to escape danger or fight back.
2. There is actually historical record of two dogs killing 292 sheep in one night.
3. Sheep are helpless. There is nothing they can do but run. And that doesn’t work too well if they are in a pen or if the attacker is faster.
4. So, sheep are easily spooked. It’s not an accident that we call a timid and easily-frightened person sheepish.
5. The point is that sheep are completely dependent on their shepherd to protect them.
6. That is one of many reasons why sheep need a shepherd, and in particular, a shepherd that cares about his sheep and is diligent, watchful, alert, as well as strong and skilled.
7. Sheep have many enemies: not only animals like dogs, coyotes, cougars, wolves, bears, but also sheep stealers, pesky insects, disease, cliff and crags, straying.
8. THEY NEED THEIR SHEPHERD!
9. We are as vulnerable as sheep, and just as defenseless. Our enemy is so much smarter and stronger and craftier than us. We really need our Shepherd! And boy, do we have a good One!
E. God’s work of restoration
1. 2-3 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.
2. Not just leading the sheep to green pastures. Sheep won’t lie down until they’re very comfortable. They need to be well-fed. They need to be free from any threat or fear. And they need to be free from any friction with the other sheep or with the shepherd. THEN they will lie down.
3. The Good Shepherd takes good care of His sheep. He provides for all their needs. They are not left wanting.
4. It reminds me of Psalm 3 when David has been chased out of Jerusalem by his son Absalom, who has usurped his throne. And David and his people are running for their lives. “O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; 2 many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. 3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. 4 I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. 5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. 6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.” (Psalm 3)
5. Sometimes a night of sleep is almost like a miracle.
6. Lying down in green pastures isn’t a constant state, but a place God sometimes takes His sheep.
F. God’s work of keeping us going
1. “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (2Corinthians 4:8-11)
2. Output and input
3. Work and rest
4. Stress and refreshment
5. Mingling toil with peace and rest
G. God’s work of keeping us in line
1. You know that sheep are prone to wander and that the shepherd has to keep them with the flock.
2. 4 “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
3. What are these?
a. Rod: protection and discipline
b. Staff: Guidance, keeping in line: prevention of wandering
(1) He goes after the one who strays and using his rod and staff brings them back & restores them.
c. Comforting when stressed, by laying the end of the staff on the animal: “Don’t worry. I’m here.”
4. He has the tools to get things done.
5. He can get you where you need to go.
6. He’s not a go-your-own-way-and-see-if-I-care kind of God, at least not with His sheep.
III. Conclusion
A. The Good Shepherd
1. Psalm 23 isn’t the only passage in the OT which speaks about how the Lord is our shepherd.
2. Ezek.34 is a prophecy against the human shepherds of Israel. In this passage God condemns these leaders of His people with strong language: “Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.” (Ezekiel 34:2b-5)
a. Then God goes on to say, I’m going to take over this job myself! (Ezek.24:11-22)
b. How’s He going to do this?
c. He tells us in v.23: “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.”
d. This is hundreds of years after David died. Who is this shepherd whom God calls “my servant David”?
3. Well, that question was answered when Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep... 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. , 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. ...27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10)
B. The reality of trouble
1. “the valley of the shadow of death”
2. “in the presence of my enemies”
C. BUT
1. Jesus is shepherding us
2. He loves His sheep
3. He knows what sheep need
4. So there’s no reason for the sheep to fear evil, for even when surrounded by enemies, we not only can count on our Good Shepherd to protect us, but He has promised to set a table full of blessing and make our cup overflow.
a. The key is keeping our eyes on the Lord who richly supplies us with all good things, instead of focusing on the enemies surrounding us.
b. Peter walking on the water: intimidated by the waves and winds, takes eyes off Jesus
5. Our job in suffering is to keep our eyes on the big picture, to view and experience our pain in light of everything else. The pain is only a small part.
6. Jesus is God with us. He is with you! He is your shepherd! He has a deep personal interest in you!
D. Heidelberg Catechism Q#1: What is your only comfort in life and death?
1. Answer: That I am not my own but belong — body and soul, in life and death — to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil and who watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my heavenly Father; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready from now on to live for him.