Naylor Community Christian Church
I. Introduction
--
turn in Bible to Psalm 23
1The Lord is my shepherd; I shall
not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in
green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy
rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup
runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
for ever.
--
about 10 years ago, Richard and Maria Price adopted a kitten from a rescue
organization in New York -- their new kitten, which they called Mimi, had been
feral -- it had grown up outside on the streets and roamed New York with a
community of other cats -- eventually, it was captured by the rescue
organization, neutered, and put up for adoption
--
Mimi had lived with Richard and Maria for about two years when they went on
vacation -- and the family member they had house-sitting for them accidentally
left the door open and Mimi escaped -- when Richard and Maria got back, they
searched everywhere for their lost cat, but couldn’t find her at all -- for a
full year, they put up flyers, checked the shelters and the vet clinics, and
kept an eye open for their missing cat, hoping to bring it home again
--
but time went by, and Mimi remained missing -- Richard and Maria figured it had
reverted back to living on the streets or maybe someone else had found her and
taken her in -- eventually, Richard retired, and he and Maria moved to Spain
with the three cats they had since adopted
--
well, you can imagine their surprise this past December when they received a call
from an animal shelter in New York that Mimi had been found -- ten years after
she had gone missing! -- it turns out that Mimi had been living on the street
for the last ten years, finding food and shelter where she could -- she turned
up regularly at a home not far away from the Price’s old home, where the owner
fed her, along with several other cats who lived in the community
--
after his death, the house was sold, and the new owner continued the practice
-- he noticed Mimi’s fur was matted and thought something was wrong with her,
so he managed to capture her and took her to a vet -- they scanned the cat and
discovered a microchip, which gave them Richard and Maria’s name -- and, just
like that, Mimi was home again1
--
I think all of us can identify in some way with Mimi -- although we were made
to live in harmony with God, the Bible tells us that all of us have sinned and
fallen away from His glory -- separating us from God and from our place with
Him -- and, like Mimi, we are cast out into this world -- lost and alone and
trying to live our lives the best we can, while always aware that we were made
for a better place
--
but the good news of the Bible is that even though we are lost and don’t know
the way home, God reaches out to us -- He calls to us -- He pours out His grace
and His presence in our lives -- calling us to come home -- calling us to come
back to Him
--
and no matter how far away you wander -- no matter what you do -- no matter the
sins you pile up and the distance you put between yourself and God -- God is
always waiting to help you find your way back home to Him again
--
that's the heart of the gospel message -- that's what we proclaim when we sing,
“I once was lost, but now am found,” in the hymn, "Amazing Grace" --
you can always come home again
--
while we don't usually think of it in this way -- and while we don’t very often
hear this Psalm taught from this perspective -- the 23rd Psalm is a message of
hope for those who are lost -- for those who are wandering in far off lands looking
for home
--
we find in this Psalm a message of hope and a promise of salvation and
redemption for the lost wanderers, because in this Psalm, God promises restoration
and home-coming to those who wander -- to those who turn from their ways and return
to their God once again
--
let's take a few moments and look at this Psalm together as we consider the
message of hope and home in this familiar passage
II. The Lord is Our Shepherd
--
verse 1
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I
shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in
green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
--
everyone knows this psalm as the shepherd’s Psalm -- because David uses the
relationship between a shepherd and his sheep as an illustration of the
relationship God has with His people --in fact, in the original Hebrew, David
constantly uses the name, Yahweh Roeh -- Jehovah, my Shepherd -- as he refers
to how the Lord relates to him
--
now, we're pretty familiar with the concept of shepherds, even though we don’t
have a lot of sheep here in south Georgia -- but we all know that a shepherd is
a person who tends sheep -- someone who raises sheep and looks after them and
keeps them from harm -- but a shepherd in our day is not the same as a shepherd
in David’s day -- their jobs and their roles and their relationships with their
flocks of sheep are different
--
during David’s time, shepherds weren't merely people who periodically looked
after their sheep and kept them from harm -- being a shepherd meant a lot more
-- shepherds identified with their flock -- they lived with their flock -- they
spent every moment of every day with their flock
--
for the shepherds in ancient Israel, their flock became their family -- and
every member of that family -- every individual sheep was important -- the loss
of a single sheep from the flock might be the difference between the shepherd
making it through another year or losing all that he had
--
in our day, shepherds don’t spend that much time with their sheep -- rather
than staying with the flocks and watching over them night and day, modern shepherds
keep their flocks in fenced pastures, trusting in the fences to keep them safe --
periodically checking on them and making sure they have food and water and are
taken care of
--
but during the time when this Psalm was written, there were no fences to keep
sheep in -- sheep are not the brightest animals -- I’ve heard from shepherds
that sometimes the sheep just start feeding and start walking and if you don’t
have them fenced in, they just wander away because they’re not paying attention
to where they are
--
that was a worry to shepherds in David’s day -- if you weren't careful, the
sheep would just wander off, away from the flock -- before long, they could get
lost or find themselves in danger -- either from physical hazards, such as
rushing water or rocky slopes, or from predators who were seeking to eat them
--
so, the shepherds never left their flocks alone when they were out feeding and
moving from pasture to pasture -- they would stay with them and make sure their
sheep were safe and protected from all harm -- and the sheep came to know their
shepherd -- they trusted that the shepherd would take care of them -- they didn’t
have to worry about anything -- the shepherd would make sure they had green
pastures for rest and for forage -- the shepherd would lead them beside still
and quiet waters where they could drink without worrying about predators
sneaking up on them or worry about drowning in raging rivers -- the shepherd
was always there for them -- protecting them -- guarding them -- taking care of
them
--
as you know, David was a shepherd early in life -- and he understood that
relationship between the shepherd and the sheep -- and he came to realize that
the way the shepherd watched the sheep was the same way that the Lord watches
over us
--
so, here in this Psalm, David makes that analogy -- he tells us that the Lord
is our shepherd -- He takes care of us just like a shepherd takes care of a
flock of sheep -- providing for our needs and protecting us and giving us the
peace that comes from knowing that He is in charge and that nothing will happen
to us without His knowledge
--
when David says that the Lord is my shepherd, he is referring to our
relationship with God -- when he says that he will not want -- that is recognizing
that in God all our needs are met -- when he says that the Lord makes us lie
down in green pastures, he’s referring to the rest and the peace we have with
God when we are in relationship with Him -- and, finally, David ends verse 2 by
saying that the Lord leads us beside the still waters -- that is refreshment
and protection
--
when we are living in harmony with God -- when we are in a relationship with
Him -- He protects us and guards us and meets all our needs, both physical and
spiritual
III. The Lost Sheep
--
but sometimes, sheep get lost
--
normally, if the shepherd noticed that one of the sheep was starting to feed
off too far or was starting to wander away, then all he had to do was call out
-- the sheep would hear his voice and come back -- as Jesus pointed out in John
10:27, His sheep hear His voice and follow Him
--
but occasionally, sheep did wander away and get lost -- who knows why? -- maybe
they just kept straying so far away that they couldn't hear the shepherd's
voice and didn't notice they were separated from the flock -- maybe they just
had a rebellious streak and chose to ignore the shepherd and wandered away on
their own -- or maybe they just thought they knew better than the shepherd and
thought that if they followed their own path, it would lead to even greener
pastures and even better places to drink
--
for whatever reason, sheep sometimes strayed and wandered away and became lost
-- and when this happened, the shepherd would go and search for the lost sheep
and try to bring it home again -- in Matthew 18:12, Jesus said, "If a man
owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the
ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?"
--
it is not the will of the shepherd that any of the sheep should be lost -- he
goes out and tries to find the lost sheep so that He can bring them home again
-- he wanders through the wilderness and calls out to the wayward sheep -- in
the same way, God calls out to us when we stray away from home -- when we stray
away from our relationship with Him
--
in the church, we talk a lot about God’s grace -- and we recognize that we
experience God’s grace in three main ways -- we call these prevenient grace --
justifying grace -- and sanctifying grace
--
prevenient grace is the grace that goes before us -- “pre” means before -- “venient”
means “to come” -- so, prevenient grace is the grace that we experience before
we come to God -- it is God calling us to Him -- wooing us back home to Him --
God reaching out to wandering sinners before we are ever aware of Him and His
great love
--
justifying grace is the grace of the cross -- the grace that makes us holy
before God -- the grace that makes us justified in His eyes and that brings us
home again -- justifying grace can be remembered as the grace that restores our
relationship with the Father -- just as if I never sinned -- justifying
--
the final grace is sanctifying grace -- this is the grace that works in our
life, primarily through the action of the Holy Spirit within us, to make us
holy -- so that our actions and our thoughts and our lives begin to look more
and more like that of Jesus -- so that we might become holy as He is holy
--
in this passage, as David uses the illustration of God as our shepherd who
calls out to us and saves us when we wander from Him, we God’s prevenient grace
in action -- the grace that goes before us -- the grace of God calling to us and
bringing us back into relationship with Him anytime we stray -- anytime we
wander -- anytime we get lost
--
even as Christians, we sometimes drift away -- we backslide -- we sin -- we
turn away from God -- but God doesn’t leave us alone -- as our Good Shepherd,
He continually reaches out to us and calls to us before we stray too far away
from home -- before we stray too far away from the flock
--
it is God's prevenient grace that works in the lives of all of us who have
slipped and wandered away
--
and the good news of God’s prevenient grace and His great love for us is that no
matter how far we stray -- no matter how far we may wander away from Him -- we
can always come home again -- all we have to do is respond to His voice and
turn from our ways and turn back to Him, then He will gather us back into His
flock once again
--
look at verse 3
3 He restoreth my soul: he
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
-- God restores my soul -- He brings
me back to the place of righteousness -- the place of right relationship with
Him -- to the safety and security of the flock -- He restores me when I wander
--
through prevenient grace, He guides us back from the far-off country -- from
the wilderness of life -- and back onto the path of righteousness -- if we
listen to His voice -- if we follow His voice -- He will lead us back home
again
--
we started watching the TV show Survivor again last year after a long break
from it -- and every season, they have a similar challenge -- all of the
contestants are blindfolded except for one person, whose job it is to guide the
others and direct them through a maze until they reach the finish line -- the
only way the blindfolded contestants can find their way to the end is to listen
to the voice directing them and guiding them down the path they should be
following
--
in the same way, David points out here that the voice of our shepherd will always
guide us down the paths of righteousness -- but we have to know Him and we have
to know His voice -- and we have to listen and respond to His prevenient grace
calling out to us in order to find our way home
--
verse 4
4 Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy
rod and thy staff they comfort me.
--
this verse speaks of a person who is on the path of righteousness and headed
back home -- they are walking through the valley of the shadow of death
--
now, that's a curious phrase, isn't it? -- the valley of the shadow of death
--
note that death is not a threat to them -- the only thing in the valley is the
shadow of death -- but if you are a Christian -- if you have been saved by
Christ and have responded to His call and have accepted Him as Lord and Savior,
then death has no power over you
--
the shadow of death may still fall over your life -- unless the Lord comes back
in our lifetimes, all of us in here will one day die a physical death -- but,
as Christians, death holds no fear for us because death is just the door
leading back home to God forever -- death is our entry into eternity with
Christ -- as Paul writes in 1 Cor 15:55, "Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"
--
for a Christian, there is no fear of death or evil or the evil one, because
Christ has overcome death and sin and Satan through the power of the cross --
all that is left on this side for a Christian is the shadow of death, which is
not to be feared
--
note also that this verse says that we pass "through" the valley --
we're not called to stay in the valley because that is not our home -- our home
is with God -- and the Good Shepherd will lead us all the way back to Him
--
these verses go on to say that the Christian is comforted by the rod and the
staff of Christ -- the rod alludes to the shepherd's crook -- the shepherd uses
this to guide the sheep as they feed in green pastures -- as they pass by, he
uses it to count them to make sure none are missing -- the rod is security for
the sheep
--
some scholars suggest that the word "rod" in this context may also
refer to the word of God or the gospel message -- Solomon used the same word
when he wrote, "spare the rod and spoil the child" -- in both
instances, we could take this to mean that staying close to God's word --
living life in close proximity to the Word of God -- will keep us from wandering
away and will restore us when we do stray
--
the staff refers to the protection of the shepherd -- the staff was used to
fight off wild dogs and other predators that might harass the sheep -- if we
remain in the protection of the Good Shepherd, then we have nothing to fear,
because His staff -- His presence -- will keep us safe
--
verse 5
5 Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup
runneth over.
--
here we see a picture of a sheep rescued from the wilderness and living under
the protection of the Shepherd -- even though enemies may encamp all around us
-- even though we may be walking through the valley of the shadow of death --
God is with us -- protecting us and providing for us
--
even here in this world, He prepares a table for us and anoints us with oil --
our cup overflows from His goodness and His mercy and His grace -- this
overflowing cup points out to us that we have grace to offer to others
--
years ago, I heard the comedian Louis C.K. say something in one of his shows
that stuck with me -- he was talking about the difficulty in parenting his two
young daughters and how they would always fight at breakfast -- one girl would
look at the amount of cereal in her sister’s bowl and complain, “she has more
cereal than me”
--
he told them, “The only time you should be looking in someone else’s bowl is to
make sure they have enough to eat”
--
God provides all that we need in life -- He provides everything we need to the
point that our cup overflows -- His grace is sufficient for us, and we need to
take what the overflow of what He has given us and share His goodness and His
grace with those around us who don’t have enough in their bowls because they
are not living in relationship with the Shepherd
--
we need to tell them the good news of the gospel -- we need to point the to the
Savior and the Good Shepherd -- we need to tell them the way home -- so that
they might come back and be with their Lord and Savior again
--
verse 6
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
--
and here we find ourselves back where we started -- God promises us that we
will one day be at home with Him forever
--
if you come to Jesus as your Lord and Savior -- if you trust Him not only to
save you but also to take care of you and to provide for all your needs -- then
you will find yourself at home with Him in heaven
IV. Closing
--
maybe some of you have strayed -- maybe some of you have wandered away from
where you should be in your life with Christ -- maybe you've drifted far away
and don't know if you can come back
--
the message in this Psalm is quite clear -- you can come home again -- His
grace and His voice are calling out to you this morning -- and if you just
reach out and take hold of His hand, He will lead you back down the paths of
righteousness and back into His fold once again
--
as I was preparing this message, I thought about the life of Franklin Graham --
if there ever was anyone who believed in the fact that you can always come home
again, it was Franklin Graham -- we know Franklin as the fiery preacher
following in the footsteps of his father, Billy Graham -- we know him as the
president of Samaritan's Purse -- but, before all that, Franklin was a prodigal
son
--
during his teenaged years, Franklin rebelled against church and against God and
against his family -- in his book, "Rebel with a Cause," Franklin
tells how he spent his teen years drinking and partying and wandering in
far-away lands -- just like the son in the parable of the prodigal son
--
Franklin left home physically and spiritually because he resented his father's
ministry and he felt like God had taken his father from him -- for years,
Franklin wandered about far from home -- but finally, just like the prodigal
son -- just like a sheep that has wandered too far away from the fold -- he
found himself hitting bottom -- he looked around and realized that he was lost
-- that he had wandered away from the Good Shepherd
--
when that happened, Franklin was in a hotel room and he opened up the drawer by
the bed and found the Gideon Bible there -- he turned to the gospel of John --
and began reading again the good news of Jesus Christ -- and, as he read, he
heard the voice of his Shepherd, calling out to him -- and at the age of 22,
Franklin made a decision -- he turned around and headed home -- and he found
that both God and his family were ready to take him back again -- just as this
Psalm promises, you can always come home again for your Shepherd is waiting for
you and looking for you
--
maybe you’ve been where Franklin Graham was that night in the hotel -- maybe
you’re there now -- but know this -- God is calling out to you -- His
prevenient grace is reaching out for you -- and if you hear His voice this
morning, don't turn away from Him, but turn around and come home
--
maybe God has been speaking to you in a different way -- maybe you are in a
relationship with God -- maybe everything is right in your spiritual life and
you’re walking with Him and listening to His voice and following Him as He
leads
--
but maybe you know someone who has wandered away and is lost -- maybe God is
calling for you to intercede for that person this morning -- maybe He is
calling for you to go out and bring them back in -- to witness to them and
share with them the good news of Christ that "you can always come home
again"
--
as our cups overflow with God’s grace and goodness and love, we can be His
agents of grace in this world today -- sharing with them what God has given us
and pointing them to the Good Shepherd who is waiting for them to come home
--
regardless of what God is saying to you this morning, I would invite you to
respond to His word as you feel led
--
let us pray
----------------------------
1 [“A cat named Mimi went missing in
2012. She just turned up at a shelter.” Praveena Somasundaram, The Washington
Post, December 16, 2022]
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