The Shepherd Who Leads

Transcript

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[0:00] Thank you, Clark. So today is nerd day. I hope you enjoy nerd day because we're going to look at some ancient words and it's going to be more like slides. So let's start with the first slide, which is just it's in our narthex sometimes. I just is so adorable. Is that us? I don't know. I feel it feels like us. Feels like sheep. You know, sheep. Victoria said sheep are dumb.

[0:25] Evidently, that was a myth that was started by cattle ranchers because they were a bit territorial. Sheep can be pretty smart. They can they can get themselves they can get themselves into trouble, but they can get themselves out of trouble, too. So it's a mixed it's mixed. But all the sheep I've met seem kind of dumb to me. They just don't seem that bright. So let's go to the next. We're looking at Psalm 23 today. We're going to read it from the New King James Version because it kind of preserves the poetry of the King James Version without the F sound, you know, the like make it where it just makes. But it's gonna be nice. But let's do the next slide. Steve's going to run a lot of slides for me today. But the next slide and I'm going to read this a book, a book of verses underneath the bow, a jug of wine, a loaf of bread and bow beside me singing in the wilderness. Oh, wilderness or paradise. Paradise. Now, who knows what that is? I know some of you do.

[1:24] This is. Yes. Very good. I knew Pam would know it. This is from the ruby of Omar Khayyam, who was a 12th century Persian philosopher, poet, mathematician. You know, those kinds of people every now and then history produces some of them. And the ruby is a series of four verse poems that he composed. And this is one of the more famous ones. It was translated into Hebrew. To English. And I love that it translated both the meter and the rhyme in this one.

[1:56] But I just want to draw your attention to it, partly because it's famous, but partly because this is what good poetry sometimes looks like. It's simple. It draws on images that we can easily connect with. So here you have the poet saying, I have a book of verses. I'm underneath the bow, the tree. I have a jug of wine and a loaf of bread. I have my picnic snack. Right. And I have you, my friend, my lover. I don't know. Probably my lover. You know, it's a lot of romantic poetry.

[2:29] Beside me singing in the wilderness. You know, here he's out. The two of them are out, you know, in the forest somewhere. And he's saying, oh, the wilderness is like paradise in this moment. You know, isn't that pretty? It's like, isn't this great that poetry can speak to us through the ages? And I bring this up because I want you to kind of think of Psalm 23 in this moment. And I want you to think of it this way, too. It's these very simple phrases that draw on physical images that are really accessible. And so I'm not saying that this is scripture. This is by no means scripture, but it's beautiful. Right. But when we look at Psalm 23, I feel like we're in that mode. Right. Where we're kind of hearing, we're kind of hearing God, the Psalmist David, just speaking this sort of praise of God for protection and just kind of in harmony with God. And I think that's what he's saying. He's saying, you know, I'm going to be kind of in harmony with God. I'm going to be kind of in harmony with the nature that he's in. So there's some simplicity and relatability and comfort in the Psalm. Psalm 23. We all know it well. Right. And I'm going to read it in the New King James Version. Let's go ahead and have that now. Psalm 23, a Psalm of David.

[3:36] The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.

[4:05] Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Let's pray.

[4:31] Father, thank you for your word. This word of comfort. This word of hope. We ask that you would add your blessing to it now in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, uh, it's, if, if, you know, I'm not going to read it all. Not to, not to sound weird because maybe you don't, but does anyone have a favorite psalm and this is their favorite psalm? It's okay if you don't. There's other great psalms out there. Yes, thank you, Zach, yeah. Um, it is really, it's six verses. It's pretty short. It's very simple. And it's pretty easy actually to memorize because it has its own cadence. It has all this vivid imagery, you know. It's, it's beautiful, right?

[5:12] So, I want to think about real quick why the psalm was written. Okay? And who, why David wrote it in particular. Uh, it's a psalm of praise of God for God's protection for sure, right? And we think about the life of David. He, he was on the run a lot. He was, he was in danger for his life. The Philistines were after him and when the Philistines weren't after him, King Saul was after him. Then he became king and then there were still enemies out there. There were enemies all around, you know. Then the world was, I was going to say the world was different back then, but the world is kind of the same still, still, you know. You can have, if you're a king of a kingdom, you can have enemies all around, internal and external. And so he, he wears his heart on his sleeve. He doesn't internalize all this anxiety about the fear that he has about other people coming for him. He lets it out in verse. And, and he lets it out in this confident verse about God's protection, you know. Um, so, but why does he say the Lord is my shepherd? You know, where, where does he say that? Where does, that's the, we sometimes call this the shepherd's song. The Lord is my shepherd. And that's a very interesting kind of opening move there.

[6:27] The Lord is my what? It could be Lord, it could be my anything, but he says the Lord is my shepherd. And, uh, there, um, I think it's interesting because David was a shepherd. Don't forget that David was a shepherd, right? And we talk about, you know, Saul, Samuel comes to anoint him king over Israel. He looks over all the older nations. He looks over all the older brothers. And God says none of these strong, handsome, tall men are fit to be king. And so Samuel says to his brothers, don't you have one more brother somewhere? And they're like, well, yeah, just little David. He's out, you know, watching the sheep. He's a shepherd. And, uh, Saul, even Saul says to him, how do you think you, how can you fight king, how can you go fight Goliath? Right? And David's like, well, I protect my sheep with my weapons. I can, I can fight this giant.

[7:18] David is himself a shepherd, and he knows what it means to protect his sheep. And then he, he switches the roles, though. If the Lord is my shepherd, then David understands himself to be a sheep, needing God's protection and needing God's guidance. And so already that self-awareness, I think is great for David, you know, that he's like, I need, I'm a sheep. I have sheep of my own, and as the king, I'm the shepherd of my people, but I'm a sheep in God's flock, and I need God's protection and God's guidance. So there's this beauty of how David kind of even flips the tables on himself. It says the Lord is my shepherd, right?

[7:56] Now, not all depictions of shepherds are negative in the Bible. That's one of the misconceptions that we have about the Bible. Definitely in the New Testament, we get the sense that shepherds are not well trusted. But in the Old Testament, God is likened to a shepherd. So if we go to the next slide, Genesis 49, 24, God is compared to a shepherd. And so, you know, we're talking about a shepherd. It says this, speaking of God, But his bow remained taut, and his arms were strengthened by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob, by the shepherd, the rock of Israel. So the shepherd here is God. God is the shepherd of his people. And even kings in the Old Testament times were sometimes called shepherds. They were shepherds of their people. And I think we all get this, that why was that passage from John read today? Because this is sometimes called Good Shepherd Sunday. In the lectionary, Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd. And so who, you know, it's all kind of coming together that Jesus is the shepherd and he lays down his life for the sheep, right?

[8:55] In the New Testament, the shepherds have a bad reputation. They're not trusted and they're not reliable witnesses in a legal proceeding. Their word isn't taken as the same value as somebody else's word. Now, God is very good at turning things upside down. So when Jesus is born, the angels appear to shepherds out in the field with their flocks at night. And they come and see Jesus born. And then they go out and they witness to what they have seen. And so why is God entrusting a witness to people who are unreliable witnesses? Because God thinks upside down. God has his own counsel when he decides who's reliable or not, right? We may have our own pecking order of who is respectable and reliable in this world. And we may have our own pecking order of who is respectable and reliable in society. And God says, that's all very nice. Let's put it in the package and put it over here. I have my own view. And I'm going to let the shepherds see the angels. And I'm going to let the shepherds be the first ones to see the newborn child. Wow. You know, so shepherds actually have a special place in God's heart. And he doesn't care about their reputation. So for those of us who have poor reputations, this is great news.

[10:06] And if you have a good reputation, I don't know what to tell you. But God is always turning things upside down. The first will be last. And the last will be first. Sometimes it's called the inverted kingdom. This is what the kingdom of God is like. Everything is a bit upside down.

[10:19] He keeps his own counsel on who is reliable and who isn't, right? And so maybe one of the challenges in reading the scriptures but in reading the psalm is to live in that upside down way as well. So that when we see people and we think we should respect them, we should respect everybody. But we think some people deserve more honor. We think some people deserve more honor than others.

[10:42] Maybe that's sometimes God is telling us to reverse that. And maybe we need to elevate the vulnerable somehow or the downtrodden. And we need to elevate them and give them great honor and respect. It would be an interesting idea.

[10:57] So I want to also go back to the idea of what does it mean that the Lord is my shepherd? He could have said the Lord is our shepherd or the Lord is the good shepherd. But he says the Lord is my shepherd, right? And I think every now and then it's okay for us to think individualistically about the scriptures. There's a mistake if you think the scriptures are only about you as an individual. You can make that mistake a lot of times. Probably the most famous is from Jeremiah where it says, I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord. But that you is a plural you. That's for the whole country. It's not for... But you know a lot of people write that in their yearbook or whatever. That's not an individual thing. It's really in their yearbook. It's not an individual thing. It's a communal thing. But if David says the Lord is my shepherd, that sounds awfully individualistic to me. And so sometimes the scripture is about you. And that's okay. And sometimes the scripture is about the whole community. And that's also okay. But it's never all one or it's never all the other. There's balance between. I think that's a good thing to remember is when you read scripture, how do we say, is this an individual invitation?

[12:06] Is this a communal invitation to me? Or is this a communal invitation to me? And we can have individual lament and we can have communal lament and we can have individual forgiveness and communal forgiveness and you can go on and on and on. But in this case, it seems like there's this very personal relationship between David and the Lord. The Lord is my shepherd. He guides me. He leads me. But he's going to call on a communal history in his verses about it. And we're going to get to that right next. So what does he say? I shall not want. You don't have to go back, Steve. It's fine. I shall not want. And when we hear that language, it sounds good. It means I want for nothing or I shall not have any great need. God will supply all my needs.

[12:50] But inside that is a connection to the story of the Exodus, which is really the defining story of the people of God. That they're brought out of slavery, redeemed out of slavery, and there's a cost involved. Right?

[13:06] And they're brought through the wilderness to a place that is the land flowing with milk and honey, where there's green pastures. So actually, David is tracing in a few short verses that his journey with God is like the journey of the Israelites as they left Egypt and came to the Promised Land. And so if we look at the next slide, we'll see in Deuteronomy 2.7.

[13:38] It says, For the Lord has blessed you in everything you have done. He has watched your every step through this great wilderness. He's talking about the Exodus, the journey. During these forty years, the Lord your God has been with you, and you have lacked nothing.

[13:54] You know, can you imagine like maybe a million people wandering around in the desert? What are they going to eat? They're going to run out of food and water and like, I mean, where is it? Well, they woke up one morning. There was food laying on the ground, right? Moses hits a rock and water with the staff and water comes out. So God provides for them for forty years. God is providing them quail and manna. And you have lacked nothing, God says. And there is. And that's what David says. I lack nothing. I shall not want.

[14:28] So telling the story of Exodus over again in Psalm 23. And I think. If this is personal, it's a personal story for Jesus, but it's a story for David, but also is calling on this communal story of being taken out of exile or taken out of slavery and into the promised land. Is there a personal Exodus? Is this a thought? Is there a personal Exodus? Is there some journey that the shepherd has me on? Is he trying to redeem me out of slavery and bring me to a place where he takes care of me? How does he protect me and provide for me and even correct me along the way? So that's a good question. Let's look at Exodus 1515.

[15:14] It says this with your unfailing love, you lead the people you have redeemed in your might. You guide them to your sacred home. And so now we're even getting echoes of the very end of Psalm 23. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Right. I'm going to this place that God has set aside for me. So but here I want to focus next on the next, I think is verse four.

[15:39] He leads me in the paths of righteousness. And we're going to go to the next slide. See, we're going to compare some of these words because here's the nerd stuff. So enjoy it. I think I hope my brother in law is watching because he's a linguist.

[15:53] But this word in Hebrew is Sadak. But that's the root. It has other kind of morphologies. So sometimes said a cop, which you can hear the root in there is about righteousness and justice and salvation. So that's what this word means. And this is what David is saying when he says he leads me on paths. Now, pay attention path, right? There's this journey, right? He's moving along. He leads me on paths of Sadak of righteousness, justice and salvation. The legal sense of this is that of Sadak is that you're conforming to laws and norms. You're a law abiding person. That's justice, right? You're acting in a just way. But it's also a relational thing so that you're in a right relationship with God and with other people. So there's this sort of there's this sort of wholeness to your life where you're not out of balance or in bad relationships with others. And Isaiah 11, 4 says this. He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions to the exploited for the exploited. And you get the sense in the Bible that this word, especially Sadak, talks about God's special character. He's not there for the vulnerable. This is the justice he will bring against people or for the sake of people who have been have been preyed upon by predators.

[17:12] We're going to get to that. The predators. Now, let's go to the I want to compare this word to some similar words that were all in that area at the same time. So around the same time, the Egyptians had a word called Mott, which is right order in nature and society as established by the act of creation. It's kind of interesting how these old sort of myths and and ideas really resemble the Bible, almost as if there was this sort of common knowledge about God at that time. People kind of understood it. So and hence it means according to the context, what is right, what is correct law, order, justice and truth. And so when people would translate between manuscripts between these times, this might be the word they would use in Egyptian to match what David uses. Next. Next is Mesaru from Akkadian, which is a Mesopotamian language, and it refers to the justice of a legal determination. So like somebody, a judge hands down a decree or the truth that a person speaks or the just order in the land. So you get this idea of order and conforming to laws is a big deal in these words.

[18:22] Hammurabi was made king to cause justice to prevail in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil, so that, among other things, the strongest of the people would be the king. And so the strong might not oppress the weak. Isn't it interesting that in the Mesopotamian context, whether it be Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, that there was even among them this understanding that the strong could oppress the weak. And justice was was trying to stop that. Justice was interested in stopping that. Next is Ugarit or Western Semitic languages. And it's the same root SDQ, Siddark. And so similar to Hebrew because Hebrew is also a Western Semitic language, as you can imagine, because it's on the western side of that area. And the expression bin, Siddark, and bin is like Ben in Hebrew, which means son, right? Probably refers to a legitimate son or heir. So you can have this idea of some kings had illegitimate sons. Some kings had legitimate or they also had legitimate sons. And how do you tell the illegitimate son from the legitimate son? Well, the legitimate son has this as part of their title, Siddark, right?

[19:33] Asit Awada boasts that of all the kings, he was elected to fatherhood because of his justice, wisdom, and the goodness of his heart. So although if he really was just, I don't think he'd be boasting like that. I don't know. So that's kind of an overview. But what I want you to get from that is it's kind of fun looking back in time and seeing words that are of a similar nature. You get the sense. You get the sense that all these civilizations, even though some of them were empires and really was like might makes right and they took what they wanted, inside of them still there developed this idea that we need some sort of justice. We need some sort of order. We need to stop chaos. And we need to protect the people who are being oppressed by those who are more powerful than them. All these societies developed these ideas. And this is an idea that is definitely in the scriptures. All over the place. And I think partly because fewer writings from those other civilizations survive in quite the same way that we have it in the Old Testament. But it's really well developed concept in the Old Testament that the strong should not oppress the weak. And the widow and the orphan and the stranger in the land need special protections from us.

[20:49] That's what God's justice looks like. Okay. So justice also in the Old Testament has a few meanings that we have kind of alluded to already. But justice is not just punishing people who steal or kill or lie. Those are all things that the Ten Commandments talks about. It is those things. And there doesn't seem to be like a carve out for – there's nobody, despite their circumstances, who can do those things and get away with them. There's just – nobody can escape God's judgment on this. And nobody can escape God's justice. So God cares about it when people steal from each other, when they kill each other, when they lie to each other. You think how prevalent lying is. But even some of these other cultures, they talked about how unjust it was to tell a lie. But justice in the Old Testament is also righting the wrongs in society. So if the poor are so poor that they can never stop being poor, right? They're so poor that they just can't get out of poverty. And the rich work to keep them that way. This is important. The rich aren't just disinterested in the poor. The rich are like, let's find a way to keep them there. Because when they're there, then they don't have any power and we can keep exploiting them.

[22:04] So that's really sinister when you think about it. That's the kind of justice that God really wants. God wants to bring justice against that kind of abuse, right? So that's the sort of injustice the Scriptures always speak against.

[22:18] Now, David says, you lead me on paths of righteousness. Or you could say, you lead me on paths of justice. And so what is a path to justice, right? And to me, it seems to be that this path to justice that David is talking about, is it surprising that this is a psalm of praise of God for his protection, but here David is talking about justice?

[22:45] It seems like a bit of a disconnect, but I don't think it is. That justice, path of justice that David is talking about, involves knowing what is right and trying to do what is right, protecting the vulnerable, and living in righteous and just relationship with God and others. So I think that's what this path of justice that David is trying to be on. And what's beautiful and comforting is that David is not saying, I'll try my best to walk in paths of sadaq, of righteousness and justice. I'll try my best. Or, I have, I've already arrived. I really know all of this. I know all about this. And I'm on this path because I chose this path. I know what it looks like. I have it all figured out. And this is one of those cases where poetry and theology are both beautiful at this point, and it shines a light on the authority of scripture because David says, he leads me in paths of righteousness. Not only is it that poetic beauty that the shepherd is leading the sheep in a path of righteousness, but he's also leading the sheep in a path of righteousness.

[23:53] And the way that he leads the sheep in a path of righteousness is that it means, I don't have it. I don't know exactly how this path of righteousness goes. The shepherd knows the way ahead, but the sheep just has to follow, you see? So this poetry just works. It works. The poetry works theologically, which I love. I think it's so exciting. So he leads me in paths of righteousness. He shows me the way to go. And I intend to follow him for his name's sake. And so the choice for the sheep is just to follow in this path of righteousness, just to follow along, follow the shepherd's lead. And what does that mean actually? Like, what does it mean in my life? It means that I don't know exactly where God's going to take me next, but I know that God's going to show me every twist and turn, and God's going to always put before me the correct choices between doing what's right and just and between doing what's wrong and unrighteous. And I have to keep following the shepherd. So the Christian life and even the life for David is, you could say it's complex, but in another way it's simple. It's just simply following the shepherd, and he will show you. So the commitment is just to follow.

[25:05] At the basic level, that's all it is in the Christian life is to follow. That's all you have to do. God will show you the way. God will protect you along the way. God will help you along the way. So where does the path go? The path goes through the valley of the shadow of death. It's not talking about death itself, but the shadow of death. That's an important distinction. It's the fear of judgment for my lack of justice and righteousness. I'm protected from that judgment because God is with me. He's showing me the path. The rod and the staff. Victoria was talking about this. What are they used for? And somebody did some research about Palestinian shepherds long ago. They normally carry two things, a rod and a staff. The rod was to beat. I wouldn't do it with my left hand. I would actually put it in both hands like a baseball bat. But the rod was designed to push predators away. So you'd beat up the animal that's coming after you, poke it. And then the crook or the staff was to guide and to control the sheep. So you'd put one on. You'd put the staff over here and to kind of get them to go this way and this way. And then every now and then there'd be two that were butting heads, and you'd put the staff between them.

[26:15] And you'd try to... Maybe you'd put the rod there too and just try to get them apart. I don't know. They're pretty strong though. So what does the shepherd do with these two things? He protects the sheep from predators. He protects the sheep from each other. Do you know that sometimes pastors have to protect sheep from other sheep?

[26:36] Yep, it's true. And it's not fun, honestly. And one question I would like to ask, and I'm not saying, you know... I would be asking God. God, do I need your rod today or do I need your staff today? Could I start my prayer life that way? God, do I need your rod today? Am I the predator? Do you need to push me away from the vulnerable? Or am I losing my way? Do you need to direct me today?

[27:10] Are we a threat to other sheep? Jesus has some strong words about that. Don't be responsible for somebody else losing their faith. It's a huge issue. I think of what we call now the Church 2 movement, where we have pastors and church leaders and even whole denominations in denial about harassment that has happened in churches.

[27:38] And maybe some lives have been lost, probably to suicide or something like that, but definitely faith has been lost. People have left the church because the church won't even own up to its own problems. And that's where the... You know, there was no shepherd.

[27:53] There was no shepherd working in those sheep pens. There was nobody protecting the vulnerable. And so the judgment on those who failed to act in those times, I think it's going to be immense. It's between them and God. I'm not going to tell you what's going to happen to them, but Jesus makes it clear that woe to you, if you let the sheep go astray.

[28:19] So that was heavy, sorry. But he leads me. He leads me through these paths. His rod and his staff, they comfort me. It's comforting that God can control things like that, that God has a hand in it, that God wants to guide and protect us. Then he says, you anoint my head with oil. Now David had a personal experience with this. Samuel came and anointed his head with oil, and made him the king. That word in Hebrew is mashal, which means to rub oil on something. That's where we get the word Messiah. So the word Messiah actually means the anointed one. So the Messiah is somebody who's had oil poured on his head. And I think as much as we would probably not like this done to this, if I had a bottle of Crisco and I was to come pour it on your head, you'd be like, nah, I'm good. I'm good. I don't want... I'm trying to get less grease in my hair, not more. So we don't do this. But to David, this was a sign of a blessing and of purpose. It was a calling, right? You anoint my head with oil. You bless me. You call me into your work, into your world. And you set me on my path, right? Then he says, I'm going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Is he talking about heaven? Is he talking about the tent of meeting room? The temple hadn't been built yet.

[29:38] Solomon. David had too much blood on his hands. So he was not ready to build. This is what God said. You have too much blood. You've killed too many people. You had to, I guess. So only your son can build the temple. Temple wasn't built yet. So when he's saying, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, is it heaven? Is it the tent of meeting that existed before the temple? Or is it this relationship with God? Is it this being in God's presence? Is it being in connection and community with God? This abiding and deep relationship with God?

[30:12] Well, I want to just take a few takeaways from this, and then we'll be done. One is that this is both a personal journey and a communal journey. If you want to walk through this, you could just say it for yourself. The Lord is my shepherd. Not David's shepherd. My shepherd, right? I shall not want. He provides me with everything I need. He protects me. He leads me. He does all sorts of things to help me, right?

[30:36] The other thing I would ask ourselves is, is this a path of justice and righteousness? This is important. Being on a path of righteousness and following the shepherd is an important thing that we want to develop within ourselves.

[30:52] And then I would ask, are we in a dark valley? Brian, you mentioned a little bit of it in the prayer time, is that there's darkness around us. There's darkness in this world. In each of our individual lives, there could be trials and troubles and darkness and valleys.

[31:09] And so, I would ask, are we in a dark valley? And so, there's a word of comfort in a dark valley. Are you surrounded by enemies? If you have a list of enemies, I'm a little worried about you, but in other words, but I don't doubt that it can feel that way. Like there may be some mornings you wake up and you feel like you have fewer friends than you have opponents, right? You might feel that way. I hope you don't, but you might. It's possible, right?

[31:32] I don't doubt that anyone could feel that way from time to time. So, we have this invitation in the Psalm. God wants to lead us on the path through the valley, past our enemies, to his home, both now and forever. That's the invitation of Psalm 23. God leading us on the path through the valley, past our enemies, to his home, both now and forever. And today, if this has gotten you thinking and you want to pray with somebody, come find me or Pam after the church service will be kind of up here in the corner. Hopefully it will be a little quieter. And we'll pray. And we'll actually mostly just listen to you and we'll pray for your protection, right? And your wholeness and your journey with God. So, the invitation there is also to, if you have something heavy on your heart, come share it with a brother or sister. Let's pray.

[32:26] Father, thank you again for your word. Thank you for this six verses of beauty that point us to you and lead us, Lord. We pray as always. As our shepherd, lead us, good Lord, in your paths of righteousness and justice. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.