Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, that's a good way to get church started, isn't it?
[00:00:10] I want to thank the church.
[00:00:14] You gave $80,747 for the prime, the pump offering, and it's going to make it possible for us to do some remarkable things we couldn't otherwise do. And I want you to know I really, really appreciate your generosity, and I know that your heavenly father will reward you richly.
[00:00:42] Dear Heavenly Father, we are so affected by our physical lives that sometimes we lose the beauty and the mystery of our true internal life.
[00:01:05] And I pray this morning that you could remind us of this profound desire you have to shepherd our souls.
[00:01:18] And as we understand that, in a way, I pray that we would seek you with all our heart. In Christ's name, amen.
[00:01:29] In 1925, Percy Fawcett was funded by the Royal Geographic Society, and he went on an expedition into the Amazon.
[00:01:47] He was looking for a city that he had read about in a diary of one of the conquistadors.
[00:01:58] The first mistake he made was he went with only his son, who was in his early twenties, and his son's friend.
[00:02:12] The second mistake he made was he fired the guide.
[00:02:19] He fired him and said, we won't be needing you.
[00:02:23] And he wandered into the Mazzo grasso area of Brazil and was never seen again.
[00:02:37] They sent out several expeditions to try to find him, and he was never seen again.
[00:02:46] It turns out that when you're on a serious journey, having a guide is very valuable.
[00:02:59] And the Bible tries to teach us that in one of the most famous scriptures that everyone's heard of, but rarely do we really understand what it means. The 23rd psalm.
[00:03:15] The 23rd psalm is a poetic way of saying that the Lord Jesus Christ is a guide for your soul.
[00:03:33] People read the 23rd psalm like it is a meal ticket, and it's only about our physical life.
[00:03:46] And it's a little ringy to me, guys, and it's not meant to be that at all. It's meant to be an explanation of how Christ guides our souls through life. And we're going to look at it that way today.
[00:04:08] The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.
[00:04:13] He makes me lie down in green pastures.
[00:04:16] He leads me beside still waters.
[00:04:19] He restores my soul.
[00:04:22] He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake.
[00:04:28] In this poetic image, we have a representation of Christ being the good shepherd for our soul.
[00:04:39] I need to give you a little history lesson today.
[00:04:43] The Old Testament was translated into Greek about 250 years before Christ.
[00:04:51] Ptolemy, Philadelphia in Egypt, paid 72 hebrew men to translate the hebrew text into Greek, primarily because very few people could read Hebrew, and Greek was the common language of the mediterranean world.
[00:05:10] It's called the Septuagint because 72 people translated it.
[00:05:16] When you read the New Testament and it quotes the Old Testament, the majority of those quotes are from the Septuagint. They're not from the hebrew text.
[00:05:29] Even Augustine said that the Septuagint was more clearly understandable and more reliable than the hebrew text.
[00:05:39] So when I use the Septuagint, I'm not using something that the church hasn't always used.
[00:05:45] In fact, I'm using what the church has most commonly used, this hebrew translation into Greek of the Old Testament. And this phrase in the Septuagint is not the Lord is my shepherd. It is the Lord shepherds me.
[00:06:02] That's the reason why I don't lack anything.
[00:06:07] Is that interesting to you? It turns it into an active verb. The Lord is actively, day by day, shepherding my soul. And that's the reason why my soul doesn't lack anything.
[00:06:25] When we look at this poem, there are five ways that. There are five ways that Christ guides our soul. Let's look at them individually.
[00:06:42] The first is he guides our soul so we don't find ourselves empty on the inside all the time.
[00:06:51] Have you ever felt empty on the inside?
[00:06:55] This means yes. This means no.
[00:06:59] We've all had those times where we just felt empty on the inside.
[00:07:07] It is a. It's a giant warning sign that I've been too far away from Christ when I feel empty on the inside. Because when the Lord shepherds me, my soul is not empty.
[00:07:24] He doesn't leave me. In those terrible moments where my inside is hollow and life doesn't seem valuable and beautiful, I want to remind you that the very same Lord who shepherds you so that your soul is not empty, he's the very same lord who says, ask and ill shall be given unto you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock, and it will be open to you.
[00:07:54] When your soul is thin and when the inside isn't right, that's the time to say to the good shepherd, I need a little shepherding today.
[00:08:09] I need a little work in my heart today.
[00:08:13] And we're going to read that he does that. He restores our soul.
[00:08:18] The second thing is he makes me lie down in green pastures in the Septuagint. This line is, he causes me to dwell where the grass is fresh and green.
[00:08:34] All right, now remember, we're thinking about the soul. The Lord shepherds my soul. He makes my soul dwell where there's something fresh to provide for my needs.
[00:08:49] God is a God of freshness. He is not a stale God.
[00:08:56] God is a God who causes our souls to be refreshed, because he makes our souls dwell in a place where he's capable of giving us the freshness that he has to offer to our souls.
[00:09:12] The Lord shepherds me. I don't have a hollow inside, because day by day, he's making my soul dwell in a place where he feeds me in a fresh and beautiful way.
[00:09:28] The third statement is, he leads me beside still waters.
[00:09:34] The septuagint. This is he restores me, or he nurtures me beside the still waters.
[00:09:44] Ah, do you remember that Jesus called himself the living water, the New Testament? He said, I am the living water. Anyone who drinks of me will never thirst again. Listen, the Lord is my shepherd.
[00:10:00] He is the living water that nurtures my soul.
[00:10:05] If your soul is dehydrated, you need a good drink of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:10:14] And then four. He restores my soul. When life wears me out, Christ refreshes and restores my soul.
[00:10:23] He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake.
[00:10:29] I don't have to figure it out all myself.
[00:10:33] There is a good shepherd who cares for my soul, and he's looking to guide me in the right path day by day.
[00:10:43] There's something else about this. When the Lord guides me in the right path, I get better.
[00:10:51] You see, when I walk in the right path with Christ, I have fellowship with him, and that fellowship makes me a better soul.
[00:11:00] So the first stanza of this poem is saying this.
[00:11:06] Lots of souls get lost in life.
[00:11:10] They wander off the path. They end up depressed and discouraged. They end up empty and hollow. But it doesn't have to happen to you, because you have a Lord who cares for your soul. He knows how to nurture your soul. He knows how to refresh your soul. He knows how to renew your soul. He knows how to guide your soul in the ways that make you a better person.
[00:11:37] And so we have to start with the premise that if my soul is going to be healthy, I have to have a healthy connection to Jesus Christ. Without a healthy connection to Jesus Christ, I don't have a chance of having a healthy soul.
[00:11:56] The second stanza of the poem is interesting because the circumstances change drastically. The first stanza of the poem, it's good.
[00:12:07] I'm where the fresh grass is. I'm where the best water is. The Lord's renewing my soul. I'm on the right path.
[00:12:16] But sometimes, because life is what it is, we have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
[00:12:27] And when we do, we don't have to fear evil because you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. In this stanza of the poem, it gets dark.
[00:12:42] I'm in the shadow.
[00:12:48] It's the phase of life. Where life is difficult are days of struggle.
[00:12:58] Things aren't going the way we want them to.
[00:13:02] We're disappointed with outcomes.
[00:13:05] And when my soul goes through the shadow, the psalmist wants me to hear, you're not in the shadow alone.
[00:13:16] Your good shepherd is walking with you through the shadow.
[00:13:24] Don't feel like Christ has abandoned you because you're in the shadow.
[00:13:32] The shadow represents these difficult times.
[00:13:36] And you know what the psalmist is saying? Christ loves you as much when you're in the green pasture as he does when you're in the shadow.
[00:13:48] Christ's love for you doesn't change because your circumstances changed. Christ's care for you is as rich in the shadow as it is in the green valley and beside the still water.
[00:14:03] So I don't have to fear when I'm in the shadow.
[00:14:08] You do know that we make bad decisions when we're afraid.
[00:14:13] You know, it's easy to go astray when we're afraid.
[00:14:18] In the times of life where I tend to be afraid, the psalmist is saying, don't be afraid. Look to the good shepherd.
[00:14:32] Stop focusing on the thing that makes you afraid and start focusing on the one who's going to guide you through this shadow.
[00:14:41] Do I need to remind you of our sermon series several years ago? The Bible says, 66 times, do not be afraid.
[00:14:51] Now that's what I call a theme. If it shows up 66 times, somebody's repeating it for a purpose. Now listen, listen. When I go through the shadow and I have a tendency to fear, I need to turn to the good shepherd because he's going to say to me, you don't have to be afraid. I'm here.
[00:15:19] I've been with you, some of you families, when you've been through very hard times, very hard times.
[00:15:30] I have.
[00:15:36] I've been to the graveyard with many families in this church.
[00:15:41] Many of you have fought a good fight against a sickness, and many of you have been through a variety of trouble.
[00:15:53] But here's what I want to say.
[00:15:56] When you're in the shadow, you mustn't ever believe that this is God punishing you in some way. In fact, it's just the opposite. The Lord says, you are in the shadow, but I'm in the shadow with you. You don't have to be afraid.
[00:16:13] You can't see your way forward, but the good shepherd can see his way forward.
[00:16:19] In him is light, and there is no darkness at all.
[00:16:24] There is nothing, there is nothing that he is not ready to handle when he leads us through the valley of the shadow of death.
[00:16:36] And then the image is, you are supposed to imagine the shepherd standing there, and he has a shepherd's crook in one hand, and he has a staff in the other hand, the rod, the staff that's used primarily for defensive purposes. When animals would attack the sheep, the shepherd would whack them with the rod.
[00:17:09] It was his way of defending the sheep from predators.
[00:17:15] Church, there are predators in the world. There are bad people out there. They have a bad agenda, and they are servants of evil. And if you think that is old fashioned, I don't care. I am a firm believer that evil is a real thing, but I am also a firm believer that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
[00:17:41] When my shepherd shows up with the rod, evil flees.
[00:17:47] When you read the gospels, when Jesus showed up, demons cried out for mercy. Don't ever get it in your head that somehow or another, the unholy one is as strong as God, and they're kind of fighting it out for the world. That is a myth.
[00:18:07] The unholy one is nothing compared to our infinite Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:18:14] And then the staff is a guiding tool.
[00:18:18] The crook, the shepherd's crook, is a guiding tool.
[00:18:22] The shepherd would bump sheep back into line, or he would hook them and pull them back from the edge of the cliff.
[00:18:32] It's a guiding tool. My shepherd knows the way, and he has the gentleness of personhood to guide my soul through the most challenging moments and the most challenging situations.
[00:18:47] The Lord shepherds me with his rod and his crook.
[00:18:54] Then the psalmist changes the image in a totally different way. These first two poetic images are, you're supposed to imagine a shepherd guiding your soul.
[00:19:07] Then the poetry changes. And now the poem wants you to imagine a giant banquet.
[00:19:17] Can you remember the last wedding reception you went to? Tables everywhere, food everywhere, beautiful cake.
[00:19:28] The poem wants you to imagine the last big banquet you went to, the last really wedding reception. That's the image.
[00:19:42] You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
[00:19:49] The word for enemies in the septuagint is the ones who oppress and afflict me.
[00:19:55] They're oppressing me and afflicting me. But you're creating a banquet for me over here.
[00:20:02] They're trying to, they're trying to discourage me and turn my heart around you're creating a banquet and honoring me and inviting me to be your guest of honor.
[00:20:18] That's the image that the psalmist wants us to see.
[00:20:25] You prepare a table before me in the presence of those who afflict me.
[00:20:31] Do you know the Lord is inviting you to his banquet?
[00:20:37] Can you believe that?
[00:20:40] But Jesus told us in the gospels that he invites a lot of people to the banquet and they don't come because they make excuses. Do you remember the parable? A great king made a great reception and he told people weeks in advance when the reception was going to be and when the day was there he sent his servants out to say to everybody the banquet is ready, the food is all ready, the tables are all set, all you have to do is come and enjoy my banquet.
[00:21:16] But one of them said yeah, I'm not coming.
[00:21:20] I just bought five yoke of oxen and I'd rather go look at my oxen than come to your banquet.
[00:21:30] And another one said yeah, I'm not coming either.
[00:21:36] I bought this new piece of land and I'd like to go spend the day on it.
[00:21:40] And then the sorriest excuse of it all, I got married and my wife doesn't want me to come.
[00:21:49] Brothers, that's a sorry thing to do, hide behind your wife. Just alright.
[00:22:03] He invited them to the banquet but they had other things that they would rather do.
[00:22:12] I mean that parable is about everyone in this room, me included.
[00:22:19] How many times has it been that Christ invited me? He said spend a little time with me, I've got something special for your soul.
[00:22:29] I want you to be my guest of honor today. And I said yeah, but I got appointments, yeah but I got to do this and I got to do that.
[00:22:40] He prepares the banquet church but it's up to us to show up. Can you hear it? It's up to us to show up.
[00:22:52] Christ has something rich for your soul every day but you have to show up at the banquet.
[00:23:02] And then the psalmist says he anoints my head with oil.
[00:23:12] This anointing with oil is a showing of favor.
[00:23:19] We don't do it in our culture anymore but it used to be a normal thing in Christ culture. When you invited somebody over to your house you would make sure that when they came in you washed their feet and if they were a guest of honor you would anoint their head with a little bit of oil. And you were saying to everyone I favor this person. So when the psalm says he anoints my head with oil it's saying he favors you.
[00:23:48] You are his favored guest.
[00:23:52] He wants you to know that he feels special about you.
[00:23:59] And then my cup overflows. This is interesting. In the Septuagint, it says, you give me the best drinking cup.
[00:24:13] All right, now I want you to imagine the ancient World Cup. A very rich person invites you over, and you're not really used to drinking out of expensive cups. You're used to drinking out of clay cups.
[00:24:29] And the person who gives the banquet says, I'm giving you the best cup I have in my house. I want you to know I favor you and I'm honoring you. That's the image of this. You're at the banquet, and the Lord says, the best cup I have in the house, I'm sharing with you today.
[00:24:55] The poem changes one more time, and it changes from the destination.
[00:25:05] It changes from the journey to the destination.
[00:25:09] Listen what it says. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
[00:25:19] The poem transitions from a journey through the wilderness to home in the journey of the wilderness. He summarizes it this way. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.
[00:25:37] God has something good for you every single day of your life.
[00:25:44] Tomorrow, God has something good for you. Tuesday, God has something good for you every day of your life.
[00:25:52] Every day of your life. He has a green pasture to lead your soul into every day of your life. He has still water to refresh you every day of your life. He is looking to restore your soul every day of your life. He's got a good plan to lead you in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
[00:26:13] God has something good for you every single day.
[00:26:18] But it's not just goodness, it's also mercy. Mercy is God's solution to my misery.
[00:26:26] Mercy is God's answer to my misery.
[00:26:30] God has mercy for me every single day. The psalmist said, his mercies are new every morning.
[00:26:39] God has mercy. When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, his mercy makes it possible for me not to fear anything bad because he has a rod to defend me and a shepherd's crooked to guide me.
[00:26:58] And then the poetic image ends with us glimpsing beyond life and looking into the celestial city.
[00:27:10] The poem ends with us looking past the pearly gates and seeing into the city of God.
[00:27:19] And the poet says, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
[00:27:28] This soul journey is very temporary.
[00:27:33] This soul journey is a fleeting thing. This soul journey will pass much more quickly than you think.
[00:27:44] Ah, but it's supposed to pass. The journey isn't supposed to last forever.
[00:27:51] And our good shepherd says, I know how to get your soul home.
[00:27:58] I know how to get you through the wilderness. I know how to get your soul to the place that I have prepared for you. That where I am, there you may be also.
[00:28:09] The Lord shepherds me, and so my soul doesn't lack anything on its journey to the city of God.
[00:28:19] Our dear heavenly Father, I hope in you. I trust in you.
[00:28:26] I look to you for favor.
[00:28:29] I pray for myself and I pray for this church.
[00:28:32] I pray that there's something fresh about Jesus Christ that would call to our soul today.
[00:28:39] I pray that something renewed would be renewed in our soul today. And we would find ourselves longing for you.
[00:28:48] I pray that your spirit would wash over our souls one more fresh time.
[00:28:54] And our faith would not be boring, but our faith would be renewed. And we would find ourselves looking for you. Day by day. We would find ourselves turning to you and asking, where is the green pasture? Where is the still water? Where is the path of righteousness? We would find ourselves reaching out to you when we are in the shadow and saying, you are my shepherd. Please guide me through this difficult time.
[00:29:26] We would look forward day after day to sitting down at the banquet that you prepare for our souls, that we would feast in your presence, and that the bread of life would be something true to us. And the living water would be vital. We could feel honored by you.
[00:29:45] And then, Father, I pray that day by day we would look for your goodness and mercy as you guide us to your home. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
