Sermon
A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23
September 1, 2002
Pastor Donald Sheley

Throughout the summer we've been talking about the Psalms and I'm going to extend the summer into September because Psalm 23 is so rich and there is so much for us to learn from this glorious passage. So we're going to spend the month of September in Psalm 23, and I think I can get it finished by the end of September.

I'll read it for you: "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; 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."

Now the parallel that we read along with this passage is the New Testament passage in John chapter 10, because Jesus picks up the theme of the good shepherd, and this is what Jesus says; "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."
Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."

Now before we go back to the 23rd Psalm, let's just observe here what Jesus had to say in this particular passage. You have to understand some of the circumstances that surrounded that scene 2000 years ago because we live in a metropolitan area; we don't live in pastoral land and not many of us are acquainted with the characteristics of sheep or shepherding. But you'll notice that he begins the passage by saying that there is a sheepfold and anybody who tries to get into that sheepfold is a thief and a robber.

In the eastern lands, homesteads were normally built with an enclosure around them, a large wall, and it was made there for protection. So what would happen is when the shepherd would bring the sheep home at night, they would bring the sheep inside and then close the door, and that would protect them from any wild animals, and also, hopefully from any of the thieves that would come and steal from the flock.

Now in ancient days, and I think it's still true today, most of those shepherds only have between 20 and 30 sheep. So they have a close affinity to those sheep. If they are near a home they can protect them in the courtyard, but frequently they are out on the hillside, and in the summer they take them up through the gorges and up to the plateau area, and there's where they get their forage for the summer. So what the shepherd has to do is to build an enclosure of some kind that at least wards off wild animals and forms some kind of a protection. So what he does, he finds stakes and broken trees, and limbs and bushes, and stakes and rocks, and whatever he can to build this enclosure that discourages any wild animals from attacking his flock.

And right here He leaves an opening. He drives his little flock into this enclosure and then he sleeps in the doorway. He is the door, and a sheep cannot come out from that little enclosure unless it crosses his body, and nothing can enter into that enclosure unless it goes through the shepherd. Now if it's a thief or a wild animal, he has the sacred assignment that he must protect that flock if it costs him his life. He knows that. And thus, when Jesus said I am the door, he is seeing himself in that enclosure which encloses the flock of God, and that's you and me. We can only come to God through Jesus Christ.

There is only one way to heaven. There is no other name given among men where by we can be saved. There's only one way, and that is through the door, through Jesus Christ. What Jesus is saying is, I am the door and he that comes through me will be saved.

Now there are some other things -- last Sunday we talked about the Lord, the Almighty, who in loving kindness selects us to be a part of his eternal flock.

Let me tell you some things about the shepherd. In the eastern lands usually the shepherd is selected in a family from the youngest of the children, a male child. You remember that when the prophet went to Jesse's house and was seeking for the person to anoint as king, David, the lad, was out with the sheep. He was the youngest. That was customary.

And what would happen is those eastern lands is the assignment would be given to this young teenager as early as his father felt that he could take that responsibility. But a heavy responsibility it was, because that shepherd must be with those sheep 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 12 months out of the year, through good weather and through bad weather. And his assignment was to guide them, to find pasture for them, to protect them against their enemy, and to make sure that they were productive sheep.

You see, the reason that sheep were so important, they didn't raise sheep then for the slaughter pen, they raised them for the wool. And thus, it was imperative that the shepherd would always be protected, find the finest pastures that he could find, so that that would be a very healthy sheep. Because of that, being constantly with those sheep, day in and day out, there grew tremendous friendships between animal and its owner, or its shepherd. In fact, they learned to talk animal talk.

You say, is there such a thing Pastor? Yes there is. Many, many years ago I was in Palestine and we were down on the banks of the Jordan River and I was watching as the shepherds would bring their little flock and the flocks would all be getting their water there from the Jordan River. And all the flocks would be together. There was a great number of shepherds and they had all their little flocks together. Then when it came time for the shepherd to head for home, he would get away from the river, and away from the sheep, and then he would give this very, very interesting call -- sheep language. I can't mimic it, but I can sure remember it. I can't talk that way, but it was interesting.

He's standing here: a sheep from here, the sheep from there, sheep from over there, and it wasn't very long until all the sheep gathered around him. They knew his voice and he knew them. So when Jesus says, my sheep know me, and I know them, that is a very real experience in a shepherd's life. There is a close affinity that builds over those many years together.

Now a shepherd -- let's talk about his equipment. First of all, he has a little leather bag, and this is where he carries his food. And his food consists primarily of a little bit of bread, some cheese, some olives, and probably some dried fruit.

Then secondly, he had what was known as a sling. It was a leather pouch tied with strings on both sides. And into that leather pouch he would put the stone and then start swinging that sling, and he'd let one side of the strings go, and wherever he released it... And in the book of Judges we are told that a good shepherd with a slingshot can hit a hair falling through the air -- absolutely precise.

Old David, you remember, he knew how to handle that slingshot -- puts his little stone in there, start twirling that thing, and he aims it right where the helmet does not cover the giant, and strikes him right off. But, there was another interesting usage that a shepherd had for the sling. At times when one of the sheep, or two of the sheep, would start wandering off, and here's the flock over here, and they're just kind of rebellious and stubborn, what the old shepherd did is put a rock in this sling and he'd land a stone right in front of the nose of that sheep. Just miss it, and that old sheep knew he was going in the wrong direction; he'd quickly turn and come back. In other words, they didn't have sheep dogs then, and the shepherd used his sling just to tell the wayward, you're going the wrong way -- and they'd turn around and come back. So that's the sling.

But the next thing -- I didn't realize that all my years of ministry I had something all mixed up. I thought the rod was the long piece of wood that had a clump of wood on the end filled with nails. I thought that was the rod. But, I picked up Barclay, who's a brilliant scholar from the University of Scotland, and here's what he says. He talks about the rod and the staff.

He starts with the staff. He said, he had his staff. It was a short wooden club with a lump of wood at the and often studded with nails. And all the time I thought that was the rod. But a man much smarter than me tells me I'm wrong. He said it's the staff which was the wooden club and it usually had a slit in the handle at the top through which a thong, that's a piece of leather, was tied through then he could strap it to his belt.

This staff was the weapon with which he defended himself and his flock against the marauding beasts and the robbers. He just took that staff, this long piece of wood with a knotted, nailed end it, and started beating them.

His rod, though, which was like the shepherd's crook. With it he could catch and pull back any sheep which was moving to stray away. And at the end of the day, when the sheep were going into the fold, the shepherd held his rod across the entrance quite close to the ground and every sheep had to pass under the rod, and as it passed under the rod the sheep was quickly examined to see if it received any injury during day.

So here's the shepherd -- he's got a little bag for his lunch, he's got a little sling, he's got his staff, and he's got his rod. But the most important thing about the shepherd, he has a sacred assignment. Because according to ancient law, way back in Exodus, he had to protect those sheep with his life. That was his assignment. In fact, in the book of Exodus we are told that if a sheep was killed, he had to bring home the evidence, that he did not neglect his duty, that it was taken by an animal. He had to bring home the fleece or one of the bones, otherwise they would have accused him of being a poor shepherd. That's how sacred the assignment was. You guard those sheep with your life.

And when you read the stories that come out of the Eastern countries you'll find that time and time again, shepherds give their lives to protect their sheep. Just remember they've been with these little animals for years. They love them intensely. They have built up a friendship, and they're going to protect them. When you put that in the context when Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. He said, that's why the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And he laid down his life for us at Calvary. He said I am the good shepherd.

Now there are two other aspects about that story in John that I find interesting. He said there are those who came before me and they're nothing but thieves and robbers. What Jesus was referring to that down through history there have always been false leaders. Jesus said there will always be false leaders. But he also could have been referring to the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Then, he brings up a subject in verse 12, he starts talking about the hireling. What's a hireling? Now remember the shepherd is the lad who's grown up and has had that assignment, has that sacred obligation to give his life for the sheep. But a hireling is a man who works just for his paycheck. He's not really concerned. If an animal is coming, or a thief, or a robber wants to take the flock, the first thing a hireling does is run. Because he doesn't own those sheep, and his commitment is very, very limited to those sheep. His only commitment is to pick up his paycheck on Friday evening.

Jesus said, I'm not a hireling. What I do, I don't do, not for any reason other than love. Now I pause at this one just for a moment. I'll tell you why. When you read the Old Testament you'll find that almighty God is often called the shepherd of Israel. He refers to himself as a shepherd. When you get to the New Testament, Jesus says, I am the shepherd. When you get to the writings of Peter, Peter says, we are the shepherds.

In other words, those who lead the flock of God. When you call me pastor, you're using a Latin word, which says a pastor is a shepherd. That's the meaning. And the assignment that I have as a minister over the flock of God is a very, very sacred thing to me. I think one of the griefs that I carry with me in the ministry is to realize that not every man who stands in the sacred pulpit is a shepherd. They are a lot of hirelings.

They're involved in ministry simply because of convenience or prestige, but when the way gets rough they run. Just this week I heard of two congregations where the hireling has run.

Oh you say, but pastor, there are a lot of things that may take place within the flock. I know that. But the shepherd with that sacred sense of obligation stays with the sheep and protects them. Because I've watched it over and over again were the hireling flees and the sheep are scattered, and oft times the church is deeply, deeply hurt.

So to be a shepherd is a very sacred responsibility, and I sense that as your pastor. When I started the ministry I went back into the early pages of church history and I realized that those apostles were truly shepherds. Old John went up to Ephesus and he was there until he died at about 100 years of age, but he stuck right there through thick and thin. John was a shepherd up there in Ephesus.

And if you study the history of India, you'll realize that Thomas traveled to India and he was the shepherd. If you study some of the religion of South India you'll find that Thomas played a great role in Christian influence in the early years of history. The point is this -- the shepherd had a sacred responsibility, guide those sheep, protect them, give your life if necessary, make sure they've got good pastures, and make sure you love them.

Now that's all well and good, that's a shepherd. But he called us sheep. And I get a little upset about that. I would have been fine if he had called me an elephant, or if he had called me a lion, or even a dog because there's more intelligence in those animals. Do you know that the dumbest, and this is known in the animal world, the dumbest, the most stupid of all animals is sheep? And he chose to call us sheep. So when you think you really are something, look in the mirror and say, I'm just a sheep.

Sheep are so stupid they don't even know when they're lost, and they don't have any sense of direction to get back home. They don't know what's good food and what's not. They'll eat poisonous weeds. They're so stupid they don't even know what's freshwater. They'll drink their own urine. They're stupid folks. That's why they need a good shepherd, because the shepherd must guide them. The shepherd must care for them. The shepherd must make decisions for them. That's why it's important we have a good shepherd. That's why David said, the Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

And so now we have the scene: God almighty is the shepherd, we are the sheep, and because of all of our natural timidity, and our selfishness, and our stubbornness, and our stupidity, we need somebody who knows the way home -- and that's the good shepherd.

Now I come to the next four words of the Psalm. David says, the Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Now if we are reading that in the Hebrew text, it would read like this: the Lord is my shepherd and I shall never be, I shall never lack anything. That's very interesting.

Some of our prosperity preachers have picked up on this line and suggested that if he's our shepherd, then all of us Christians should be wealthy, never have to be in want. I read the other day of a guy who wrote a book, 160 pages, proving that Jesus was wealthy. I don't know how he did that. I don't know how he could waste that many pages.

He didn't have a place to lay his head. The birds have nests, the foxes have holes, Jesus said, he didn't have a place to lay his head. When they buried him they had to borrow a place to put him, his body. They had to borrow a donkey to get him into town. You tell me he's wealthy? No. This is not a promise of wealth and prosperity.

When David thinks of this surely he knew the responsibility of the shepherd to help provide for that, but I believe that in the New Testament context that which is provided for us in our relationship to the shepherd has to do with our spiritual needs. I shall never lack with my spiritual needs.

You can go to David he was hungry at times. You can follow the footsteps of the apostle Paul, he said that he hungered at times. You read the eleventh chapter of Hebrews and you realize that the great saints of all time, they went through times of destitution. Part of this earthly journey is having times of deprivation, and that's also for Christians. He never promised that would always have a big bank account, but he's promised never to leave us nor forsake us. That's what he's promised.

But all of us have certain needs. The writer of Ecclesiastes, which was Solomon, Solomon says, every man has eternity, chapter 3, in his heart. That's interesting. What's he saying? He said all of us are spiritual beings, and all of us live with a hungry that's deep within us that only, only God can satisfy. What I believe Jesus was saying as our good shepherd, you shall never want for spiritual nourishment.

I'm now at page 5, and I'm in the middle of the page. Notice our need -- spiritual nourishment. Jesus said: "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

The good shepherd is saying, to meet the spiritual need of all of us, he's that bread of life and there's more than sufficiency from him. Listen to old Isaiah: "Ho, Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance."

The good shepherd says you'll never want for spiritual nourishment because I've given you my word. I am the bread. Notice for peace; we all want peace. Jesus said: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Isaiah says, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."

Psalms says, "The Lord gives strength to His people, the Lord blesses His people with peace" Proverbs says, "Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble." Philippians says, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

All of us go through experiences in life where our peace is disturbed and almost taken from us, and we hunger for that peace. And I have to be honest with you, I've traveled through an experience of recent days and my peace has been really disturbed. The other day I was sitting in my office and studying this text, and I said, Jesus, you're my good shepherd. I need you to bring me some peace in my heart. And next door to me is Peter's office and he has a CD player. I don't have one. And I went in and plugged in one of his CDs. Do you know the first song that was being song? When peace like a river attendeth my way -- and I started to cry. When we hunger for peace, he's promised to give it to us if we'll draw close to the shepherd.

We need rest. Jesus, our Good Shepherd, said: "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." The Lord replied, and this is the promise he made to the children of Israel as the traveled out of Egypt, he said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

I'm on page 6 and I'm down about one-third. The next thing we need is guidance. Often we are perplexed as to what is our right path; and even when we have found it there are so many by-paths on either side that we are constantly liable to go astray. Psalms says, "He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way." Isaiah says, "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

And again Isaiah says, "I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them." And Jesus says, and when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you.

So when I was reading those Scripture verses I quickly went to the Scriptures and said, are there illustrations where God guides His people? And old Isaiah says he guides me with a strong arm. Implied -- there are some times God's just got to take us and say, look at, Sheley, it's going to be my way this time. Because so many times it's our will. And there are some times God just has to almost take us and hold us to guide us, because we'll scurry off in some direction that we selfishly have planned.

Isaiah says, he holds me, he guides me by his strong hand. Now David said something very interesting. David says he guides me with his eye. Now that's interesting. How do you guide somebody with your eye? Yet I realize there are wonderful communications between eyes. I watch you folks. I watch the eyes of the husband or the wife, and there's a lot of communication that goes on there just looking at each other. Right?

Some of you get a nudge, but some of you all the wife has got to do. And if I'm sitting across the dinner table and that's not the subject, my wife lets me know through her eyes; shut up Pastor, you've gone too far.

What's David saying? If you're close enough to the shepherd you can watch him, be sensitive, follow. But there's another way he guides us, and that's through hindrances. Remember Paul in chapter 16 of Acts, he says I want to go to Mysia and then off to Bithynia. And God says no, the Spirit of God says he hindered me from going. In the next voice it says he got a message you go to Macedonia. No, I want to go to Mysia. No, I want you to go to Macedonia. All right to Macedonia.

Why to Macedonia? Because when you look on your map, if he had gone too Bithynia there wouldn't have been an expansion of the gospel, but by going into Macedonia when you read church history it was for Macedonia that all of Europe was evangelized. And that's what God had in mind. And old Paul, the Holy Spirit puts up this hindrances and says if you go this way then my purposes are achieved.

I think one of the great secrets of learning in life, and I haven't learned it at even 70 years of age, and that is to mark those moments when God puts up the hindrances. You know oft times we get real spiritual and you say the devil's trying to mess up my plans. No he isn't, maybe not, he gets credited for too much sometimes. Sometimes God is putting in that roadblock so we'll stop. He wants to guide us. Now I'm great at kicking over the roadblocks. I mean I'm going to...my way or else. And most of us are like that.

If we would learn to realize that in gentleness he wants to guide us, and he often does it by saying here's the wall -- just stop. I've been wrestling with something, and it keeps coming back to me, that verse, just be still and know that I am God. I am God. He wants to guide us, if we'll let him, as a shepherd.

The last is protection at the bottom of page 6. Again the words of our Good Shepherd: Jesus said, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in My Father's name speak of Me, but you do not believe because you are not My sheep. My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hands. That's protection, isn't it?

Look at Psalms 91, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is My refuge and My fortress; My God, in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence, He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler."

Protection? And he's our shepherd. He provides spiritual nourishment for our hungry souls. He provides peace for our disturbed minds. He provides rest from the weariness of the journey. He provides guidance for our pathway, and protection. One of these days he'll guide us home. Now I can walk out of that door today realizing God Almighty, the creator of the universe, who has all power in heaven and earth, has chosen to be my shepherd and I'm the object of his nourishment, his protection, his rest, his peace, and his provision, and my heart should be at peace. Amen?

Father, thank you for your word and thank you for being our shepherd. We often let those words just slip across our tongue but do not stop to realize how powerful they are. You, the Almighty, have chosen us to make us the object of your eternal attention. That's amazing. That is amazing, dear God. And we thank you for that in Jesus' name, amen. God bless you all folks. God bless you.