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The Lord Is My Shepherd
A sermon
by Dr. James Flamming
Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Part of a series from favorite Psalms, “Lift Up Your Eyes!”
Psalm 23
What an astounding
influence Psalm 23 has had upon all believers, everywhere. Harold Kushner, who
has written many best selling books, as I was reading through one of his later
ones, I was surprised to find out, he says his life turned around when he began
to take seriously Psalm 23. In the late 80’s, when we were privileged to go to
China right after the so called cultural revolution when the Christians were
persecuted unmercifully, we would ask those Christians who had survived, “How
did you survive that incredible time?” And they would often reply, “Psalm 23:4 -
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil for thou art with me.” Consider. An American author whose life turns around
because of the 23rd Psalm, and persecuted believers on the other side
of the world who survived because of the 23rd Psalm. But there is one
danger in me mentioning that. You see, this psalm is for you. Not only for the
Chinese and not only for those who publish books. See, what we do with Psalm 23
is what we do with 1st Corinthians 13. We put it on a pedestal and we
use it at special events. This psalm is the faith of the scripture in one
chapter. In 57 Hebrew words, there is a full theology of faith and if you put
that into English words, it’s about twice that many. But let me, let me say this
another way. If I were to ask you, could you quote a whole chapter of the Bible,
most of you would just be overwhelmed, well, I can quote a verse or two here and
there, John 3:16, a few others. But you would be surprised how many people can
quote Psalm 23. It’s a full chapter. Let’s look at it. Begins, “The Lord is my
shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” “I shall not be in want,”
says the NIV. Others, “I will lack nothing.” One translation I love very much
is, “If I have the Lord, what more do I need?” The Lord is my shepherd. You see
what has happened here is that in this psalm; almost all of the bases of life
are touched. If we are anxious, the psalm gives us the answer to overcoming our
fears. If we are grieving, it is comfort that it walks us into. If life has not
turned out to be as we expected, it teaches us how to deal with the unexpected.
If the world threatens to wear us down, the psalm points to how the good
shepherd restores our souls. If we are upset because of what we lack, it teaches
us to be thankful for what we already have. And most of all is the sturdy
promise that no matter what happens to us, the Lord will be there. “Thou art
with me.” This pearl among pearls, this diamond among diamonds is a psalm for
all seasons.
Now the psalm breaks
into two parts. And the first part has to do with this life. The second part has
to do with the life that is to come. The first part, God is the shepherd and we
are the sheep. In the second part, God is the host and we are the guest. The key
word in the first part is “follow;” the key word in the second part is
“celebrate.” Let’s look at that. “The Lord is my shepherd.” We gravitate toward
people who guide us, who shepherd us, who form us, who shape us. We do. I got a
call this week from my oldest son. He had been to a celebration of the
retirement of his track coach in high school, in high school. Now this guy is
almost 50. I said, “Do you mean to tell me that Glen Petty is still around?”
“Yup.” I said, “Well, I just think that’s so neat, that a few of you would get
together and you would let Glen how much, know how much you appreciate him.”
Glen Petty, track coach par excellence, diligent Christian, member of a
congregation that I pastured, Glen Petty, retiring. “Dad,” said my son, “there
were over 200 people who came from all over the nation.” And he said, “Because
it spans between 30 and 40 years, a lot of us didn’t know each other, but it
really didn’t matter, because all of us know Coach Petty.” See the difference?
One who can shape and mold and influence us makes, now, if that’s true of human
beings, how much more is that true of our Lord?
No wonder Jesus said, “I
am the good shepherd.” And no wonder his earliest words to his apostles were
these, “Follow me.” Not only says, “The Lord is my shepherd,” it says, “I shall
not want.” As I said, this probably means because in, in the 16th
century, 17th century when the King James was made, “want” meant what
we mean by “lack” or basic need. Ah, was in the grocery store and little child
was saying, “But I want that, I want that, I want that.” Sounded like an echo of
the whole culture. That’s not a basic need. And that’s what this word means.
This Hebrew word means, if you don’t have it, you’re gonna die. OK. When you’re
looking at a basic need, the Lord is my shepherd, the Lord is going to meet my
basic needs. I told you once that on a Sunday morning, I was invited to bring a
devotional of all places in those days. I was young and pastoring in Dallas and
the Dallas Cowboys were trying to get going and everybody was beating up on ‘em.
And all of you who hate the Cowboys would have rejoiced it. All Redskin fans
would have just whooped and hollered. But they did have a few good players and
one of them was Bobby Hayes. He was called the fastest man in the world in those
days because he had won the Olympics, the sprints. He was now split end. On that
day when they asked me to bring the Sunday morning early devotional to the team
before they played that afternoon, oh, did I ever prepare. Man, I had funny
stories, and I had some jokes, and etc., etc. When I got there, I knew I
couldn’t use any of them. It was like a war zone. Tense, severe, no smiles. It
was like these guys were going into battle. They were, if you think about it. I
decided what often I do when I can’t think of anything better. I just quoted
scripture and I stood there and said, “I, I don’t know to identify with you
guys. Never been there, but I know the Lord knows and let me give you some words
from his word, and I start quoting scripture. When I got to 23, Psalm 23, Bobby
Hayes, who was sitting about right there, started quoting it with me. Somewhere,
in his boyhood and in his background, somebody had taught him the 23rd
psalm. Quoted it word for word and after it was over, he came up to me and he
said, “Thank you for being here this morning. I had forgotten all about the 23rd
psalm until you quoted it. And all of a sudden I realized where my real strength
comes from. And I hadn’t thought about it for a long time.” 23rd
Psalm. Don’t put it on the shelf. Take it with you every day. The Lord is my
shepherd, I shall not lack anything that I basically need.
Then it says, “He
restores my soul.” Many people think that God is kind of a CIA agent, checking
up on us all the time. That’s nonsense. God, if he’s God, already knows us.
Already knows what we’re doing. So if he’s gonna cast us off, we’re done. But
just suppose that God is a god who knows all about us, but loves us anyway.
Suppose God is not about snooping but about restoring. That’s what the psalm
says. He restores my soul. How? He leads me in paths of right, that are right
for me. He leads me in green pastures and beside still waters, almost poetic
language, he is saying, “There is something about being with the good shepherd
that will put you back together again.” Evan Isenberg has made a distinction
between mountain cultures and tower cultures. Mountain cultures, he says, live
in God’s world and they regard nature with reverence and they find nourishment
in being near there. They find nature as being a reminder of the bigger things
of life, in, in, ah, contrast, Isenberg says we live in a tower culture where we
use nature to fashion what we want to do with it. And in using nature, we no
longer reverence it. And not only that, there isn’t anything particularly
restoring about what we come up with. Anybody here been restored by an asphalt
street? A concrete walk? A computer screen? Hear me, when the Lord gets about
restoring the soul, very often he begins with what he has already created.
Then he says, “Though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me.” Now we have switched to the valley time. Dr. Joseph Sitler knew a
lot about religion because he was in the seminary. Had taught many students and
had sat through more chapels than he could count. His eyes began to fail and
they were told, he was told they will not get better. Dimmer and dimmer. The
shadows came but he discovered one thing that he hadn’t anticipated. Now that he
couldn’t see much, he listened a lot. And as he listened, it was as if things
opened up for him. One day in chapel, a student was reading the 23rd
Psalm and came to “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death…” For the first time, he heard the word shadow and this man who was going
blind heard it and he understood that what the psalm was saying is not only that
the Lord will walk us from this life to the next life, that we don’t need to
fear death. But he was saying, when the valley times hit us and they are full of
the shadows, he will be there, and he will walk with us and we don’t need to
fear. He wrote later, “It is not simply that God will be with us in the
experience of death itself. It is that God will walk us through all of life, a
life over which sometimes trouble casts a shadow.” Listen to me, if you are
walking through a valley of the shadow this morning, open yourself to the
possibility that the shepherd can walk you through that.
Now, dear friends, the
scenery changes. Now, you’re changing from this life to the next. “Thou
preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.” Enemies? I wonder
how many people in this room, if you were to ask and I would be one of them,
have had to deal with cancer. Just think. When you get to heaven, that’s done.
The valley of the shadow has been dealt with and now all of the enemies of this
life have been put down and a banqueting table has been given and God is the
host and we are the guest. When you have a family reunion at your house, isn’t
it preparation time, food time, banqueting time, it is. OK, picture that for
you, with the Lord, in that day as it comes. “You prepare a table before me in
the presence of mine enemies.” My detractors. “You anoint my head with oil.” It
is the old way of saying, “Roll out the red carpet.” “My cup overflows.” You may
remember, I told you once about Shirley and me being in East Africa, mission
trip, taken way out into the bush, in a little bitty place, little bitty home,
we’d call it a hut. And we were the special guests. We went in, we sat down. The
hostess served us a native dish. It is called their ugali. And then came tea
time because of the British Commonwealth background, tea. And you’re always
grateful because you know the water’s been boiled. And the hostess came around,
we all had little tin cups, the hostess came around and filled everybody’s cup
personally as if to say, “I want to do this myself.” As they got, as she got
around to us, she filled our cups to the brim like she had everyone else’s and
then she came back, and first to Shirley and then to me, with great expertise
and a lifetime of practice, she added just enough to where the cup overflowed.
It was her way of saying, “You are my honored guests.” It was only a hut but she
was a child of God. Just think about the fact, that’s what the Lord’s gonna do
for you. With the expertise of the centuries, “My cup overflows. Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” Goodness and mercy. They are
in the maternity ward where love and life is birthed. “And I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever.” God has a great interest in place. He gave Abraham
and his descendents a place. We call it the Holy Land. Jesus was born in a
place, Bethlehem. And Jesus said, “I am going away to prepare a place for you
and I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may
be also.”
Oh, I left out
something. Earlier, it says, “He leads me in paths that are right for me.”
Intersections of life, maybe you’re at one. Maybe you’ve been grappling with
whether or not all of this business of having a living relationship with God is
possible. It is, but you’re at an intersection. And it’s time for you, perhaps,
to just say, “Come in, Lord, you’ve made a place for you if I believe in you. I
want to make a place for you, now, in my heart.” God, the god of place, will
come in. And some of you need a place to worship, a church home. And I hope you
will look at the possibility that this day the place could be yours.
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