The Good Shepherd

We’re going to be doing a study of the 23^rd Psalm for the next few weeks.  We will be using Phillip Keller’s book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 so if you have that book in your home library I encourage you to get it out and study it.  Then you will be able to help me teach it for the next few weeks!!

But today I want to talk about 2 experiences I had last week and see if we can get some perspective on sheep.

I was heading to yard sales and as I turned into the subdivision I saw a sign that said “yard sale” but it wasn’t on the street that I knew the sale to be on so I continued.  As I went on down to the correct street and found the sale, I realized that I could have turned at the first sign and it would have led me to the sale by a shorter route.

I went on then to a 2^nd sale.  Again, the same thing happened, saw the sign, thought I knew the way, took the longer way and ended up at the sale but it was the longer route.

So what is all this saying to me??  How can I use this in our lesson today?

Today we’re actually going to study the 23^rd Psalm.  I’m sure most of you can quote it.  We learn that one right along with John 3:16 as children in Sunday school.

But lets look a little closer at the Psalm.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

How is the Lord described? As a Shepherd

David we know was a shepherd so writing this, he knew what sheep were like and he knew what a shepherd’s job was.

What did shepherds do? What was their responsibility?

To make sure the sheep had enough food, water, and to keep them from predators.

Does anyone here know anything about sheep?

Have you ever watched sheep first-hand? Are they intelligent? Well-mannered? Easily trained? Talented? Assertive? Self-confident? Self-sufficient? Disciplined? How would you describe sheep?

Have you seen their behavior in a petting zoo???  No manners there!! And from what I’ve read, the shepherds always had to keep the sheep moving or they’d graze the ground till it was bare.  They are also very good at wandering off.  What does that say about us??

So If the Lord God is my shepherd, what does that imply about me?

That I’m a sheep, or at least I act like I need the help of somebody stronger and smarter than myself.

In Keller’s book he tells of buying his first 30 ewes.  It was during the depression and he had labored hard for these sheep.  He talked about earning that money with his own “blood, sweat & tears”.  He felt like he had in a sense laid down his own body for those sheep.

He was drawing the parallel here of Jesus, our good shepherd laying down his life for us, the sheep of his pasture.

Our “good shepherd” says Keller, was the most balanced and beloved to ever enter the society of men.  Born amid most disgusting surroundings, member of a modest working family, he always carried himself with great dignity and assurance, had no special advantages as a child, either in education or employment yet his entire philosophy and outlook on life were the highest standards of human conduct ever set before mankind.  Had no economic assets, political power or military might, yet no other person ever made such an enormous impact on the world’s history.  He was gentle, tender and true, but also righteous, stern as steel and terribly tough on phony people.  He came to set men free from their own sins and their own selves, their own fears.

This is our Good Shepherd.

Keller goes on to tell of when he had to “mark” his ewes.  Every sheep-man has to earmark, literally, his sheep.  He does this by taking a sharp knife, take the ewe, lay it’s ear on a wooden block and notch it deeply and distinctively so much so that the shepherd could immediately recognize his sheep.  It was a mark of ownership that could not be erased and from that time on, every sheep he owned had that same mark.

Remember in the Old Testament, when a slave was set free but yet chose to remain with their master, they took an awl and pierced the slave’s ear showing he was a freed slave that chose to remain with his master and he was marked for life.   Duet. 15:16-17

So for us, we must recognize the claim of Christ in our lives and give allegiance to His absolute ownership of us.  We must bear his mark, the mark of the cross.

Unfortunately, there are many who have never come under the shepherds direction or management claim that “The Lord is my Shepherd.”  So today, the question is, do you know him as your shepherd?

Do I really belong to Him? Do I recognize His right to me?  Do I respond to His authority and acknowledge His ownership? Do I find freedom and complete fulfillment in this arrangement? Do I sense a purpose and deep contentment because I am under his direction?  Do I know a sense of exciting adventure in belonging to Him.

If so then I can say with David, the Lord is my Shepherd.

So let’s go back to my yard sale story at the beginning of the lesson.

I saw the signs; if I had followed them I would have gotten to the sale much quicker and might have found a bargain! ( By the way, I didn’t find anything at either of the sales)

So what about our lives as Christians?  God puts many signs along our path, but we being stubborn sheep, want to go our way.  We spend a lot of time and energy going about things “our way”.

So today, as God has extended grace to us through his son Jesus Christ who laid down his life for the sheep, let us embrace that forgiveness that is ours, and follow those signs along our pathway and look to our Good Shepherd for directions.