God is Your Shepherd (Psalm 23)

Spring 2026 - 4/15/26

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff may comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, and my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Amen. Thank you, Malia. Let's pray, and then we'll unpack that passage together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. And who would have thought of you as a shepherd? Certainly none of us. But I thank you that you've revealed that to us and pray that that truth would hit home. That your word would do its work in our hearts tonight. And that you would speak, Lord. For your servants are listening. Amen. Any of you ever feel like you come in a large group or you go to church? Sometimes it might be more electric and cool than others. And you feel close to the Lord, and you believe the things we sing about. We believe that Jesus holds forever those he loves. You believe that we are bound for the promised land and your soul soars with these words. And then you go home and you feel like those realities, those things that you believed in that moment, one of my friends says it kind of feels like they in most of life are on audio and the rest of life is on video. Like everything other things seem more real. And the promises of God that you believe so firmly in and worship feel not as electric, not as life-giving. You ever feel that? Psalm 23, out of so many of the psalms, is a great psalm to teach us how to work through that. And so just two points tonight. First, the Lord is, and secondly, I shall. Those are two points. It'll make sense as we go. The Lord is. Blank. I want you to fill that out in your mind. In your mind. Don't shout it out. Who is God to you? That's the question. The Lord is. And I'm not asking you if you've memorized the Bible's answers to these questions. Like, oh wait, okay, the Bible says this, this is this. I'm saying, how do you relate to God? How do you instinctively think of him? Certainly in the room tonight there's going to be many answers. But how we relate to God is everything. Even if we relate to him by trying not to relate to him. This will change everything. And so some things that I see commonly and feel in my own heart. Does God maybe feel like sort of an every ever-present uh policeman? Like instinctively, if you're honest, do you feel about God a little bit like you would feel if you're driving and a police car pulls up behind you? And then it's just always there, making sure that you never have fun on the road? Or maybe you feel about God like you feel about your landlord or like the property management that you like never really see, right? You have that. Maybe you feel about God the same way you would feel if on short notice you found out your landlord was coming to pop in to check on things, right? Like, oh crap, I gotta clean up that giant stain on the rug and like hang a picture on the wall where I don't know, somebody punched a hole in the wall or whatever. Maybe you feel about God like that. Maybe God feels like an ever-disappointed parent who like needs you to be doing well, not because they just love you, but because if you're not doing well, then they are insecure. Maybe you feel that way about God. Or maybe differently, God feels like an always sort of toddling and affirming parent who'll always say whatever it takes to make you feel better about yourself. Look, all of our ways of relating to God, of what we think of him, contain these little ingredients of truth poisoned by lies and distortions. But the big message of the Bible, and certainly of Psalm 23, is that the way we relate to God, who God is, how we think of him, can change. It can change. The question is, how? And the answer is who God is for you, the Lord is, is our view of God, how we relate to God, can change by learning how God wants to relate to us. C.S. Lewis once said, uh, he wrote, he said, I read in a journal the other day, someone had written that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not. How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important, Lewis said. And he said, indeed, how we think of him is of no importance except insofar as it is related to how he thinks of us. Like, imagine, just silly, but some of you have had this experience. Imagine that, like a guy you've been best friends with or really good friends with for a while, you love hanging out with, like, one day reveals to you that like he loves hanging out with you. Like he, you know, he like likes you. That's how we used to put it. But like you imagine you find out that your friend likes you in that way. Like, I know you all are like, wait, that happened to me, or wait, that could happen, or like, who are you sitting next to right now? But like, imagine if you find that out, like, hey, how do you I've lost you. Alright, so I know it's happened. I know it's happened in this room, like to some of you. And I know some of you know this feeling. And I know it doesn't always go well, sometimes it does whatever, it doesn't matter. But what do you do? Like, do you carry on thinking about them the same way, relating to them the same way? No, of course not. That'd be impossible. Now, to put it more seriously, imagine that a like with human people, you can like, you can push back, you say no. Imagine a perfect person told you that they love you. And that, Psalm 23 says, is precisely our situation with God. And this has to change everything about how we relate to him. The Bible is revealing how God wants to relate to us, and therefore how we must relate to him. And Psalm 23 is saying that by his free grace, his undeserved kindness, that the Lord wants to be, the Lord is your shepherd. My shepherd. That's who God is. That's how we're to think of him. And so this means that we are sheep. We're prone to wander, we're vulnerable to attack, we're ruined if we stray off on our own or if we fall down and roll over on our backs. Sheep can't get up from that, actually. That's like a sheep thing. That's who we are if the Lord is our shepherd. But the Lord is shepherd, it means that he is both so high above us, like as high above us as a human being is from a sheep, except more. And intimately with us, as a shepherd is with his flock and tends to them. Power and presence. That is who God is. Shepherds, in their like categorically better wisdom and strength than sheep, they know their sheep by name, in fact. This is a shepherd thing. I'm just talking about real sheep right now and how the metaphor applies to us. In fact, shepherds develop a close enough relationship to their sheep that uh the sheep can actually distinguish their shepherd's voice among other voices. It's a really cool thing. Look it up on YouTube. Shepherds know their sheep. Shepherds also lead their sheep. Sheep on their own would like nibble and eat away all the grass in one area and then not where to go, and then just like shrivel up and die. They don't know where to go for the things that they need, but shepherds, the shepherd has a plan and he knows where to take them. He leads them. And then shepherds also they care for their sheep in all sorts of other ways. They go after them when they wander, they pick them up when they've fallen, and they protect their sheep from predators. King David, who wrote this prayer before he was ever a shepherd of people as king of Israel, he was a shepherd of sheep. And he actually tells us stories of how, as a shepherd, as a young man, he fought off lions and bears on behalf of his flock. Shepherds protect. And friends, who is God? He is your shepherd. And in this perfect combination of power above us and of presence with us, we are pointed in this image so beautifully to the gospel. That uniquely Christian way of relating to God. Because Jesus claimed this title for himself in John 10. I am the good shepherd, he said. And he knew full well what he was saying, and the people around him knew too. He was saying that he is the one who spoke these words in Psalm 23. He's the God whom David was talking about. And he said, The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. In him we see how powerful and how present God is, and only in him do we have that. None of us would have thought of God like this, and none of us do if we're honest. But if we do, this begins to change everything. The Lord is my shepherd. Beloved, you've got to remind yourself of that every day. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. And if you do, then you'll be transformed. If really, if if you buy what I'm what I'm saying, um, if you're buying what I'm selling, that how you think about God really, it changes everything, knowing how what he thinks about you, and then therefore changing how you think about him, it will change everything, then you'll be transformed by this. And so that's our second part of this this psalm. I shall. The Lord is, that's where Psalm 23 says, Psalm 23, one, I shall. The Lord is, therefore, because of who he is, what I shall not want. That's what the Psalm says in verse 1. In verse 1, by the way, I should have said this at the beginning. It's really the heading of this Psalm, and I'm not unpacking all the imagery of Psalm 23 tonight. We can do a whole sermon series on this. That sounds awesome, honestly. Um, but just the big idea, right? Psalm 23, 1 is the heading, and then the rest of it fills this out. We'll unpack a little bit of it in a moment. But because the Lord is my shepherd, your shepherd, you shall not want. This doesn't mean desire. This is a kind of old English word. It means lack. It means need or insufficiency. And the NIV translates it, well, it says, I lack nothing. I will not lack. If the Lord is your shepherd, Psalm 23 is saying, you will be completely taken care of. This is where that thing I told you about, like when sometimes God feels like he's on audio and all the other things in life are on video, this is where we see David start to like, he starts to fixate his eyes on what it really means that God is his shepherd and to fill that out, to make these promises become electric for him. It's what we need to do daily. He's teaching us how to pray. He says that if we'll do this, if we'll think about all that it really means for the Lord to be our shepherd, we'll have this radical change where we no longer fear, where we no longer worry, that we are completely, if we think about what it means for God to be shepherd, we are completely taken care of, not partially, like for us to fill in the areas where God can't get to, to protect ourselves from the things he can't protect, to provide the things he can't provide, not partially, not occasionally, as in there will be some moments in life that are really hard where God leaves you on your own, not occasionally. Also, not potentially, as in if you do enough for him, then your shepherd will show up, but he's got to see that you're putting in your part. But fully and completely your shepherd will make you not want, not lack. You're completely taken care of. And so, what are you afraid of lacking tonight, friends? What is it that feels more real than your shepherd? What is it that makes you think, like, if I don't have that, then I'm lacking? Is it a relationship? Is it is it family? Is it meaningful work? I don't know. Is it respect from others? Respect from your peers? Respect from mom and dad? What are you afraid of lacking? This psalm is teaching us that if you view God as your shepherd, you will lack nothing. This changes everything. David fills this out with three key metaphors, and then he gives us two seeming contradictions to say that nothing can undo this. Quickly he says, He makes me the good shepherd, the Lord is our shepherd. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters. This is an image, verse two, of being in a place that has everything you need and nothing you don't: food, water, refreshment, space, beauty. Friends, God made a world fit for us, but he is also redeeming a place for us. He's making a place for us right now. And that is real for us right now, even. Even though we anticipate the fullness of this, the green pastures are there. It makes me think of, you know, when our kids were firstborn, like the amount of work that Riley and I would do to like set up their bedrooms. Like building cribs, painting walls, decorations, toys, rocking chairs, all the things, everything that's needed. You know, the little safety bumpers you put on the corners of the tables and stuff so they don't like crack their head open. Everything that's needed. God knows how to set you up. Green pastors, and then he says, He restores my soul. This is an image of correction and counsel deep within us. Every soul that belongs to God knows the frustration of our own weakness and of our guilt as well, the shame of our guilt. We're weak in that we're wide open to all sorts of temptations and despair and doubt and worry. We're also guilty in that we've given in to those temptations. We've not loved God, we've not loved others, we're not worthy to be in this flock. But God, our shepherd, restores us. Jesus said he leaves the 99 and goes after the one who's straying. He will bring us back. He's not going to leave us. His spirit will come after us and convict us. He cares that much. This makes me think of, you know, not to overdo the parenting stuff, but like, you know, I can be pretty loud when my kids start to like wander out into the street to try to call them back. I'll call out. But when they get close enough to that curb, I'm not going to call out anymore. I'm going to run out and I'm going to grab them. And friends, some of you, even tonight, might feel like that. Like you've wandered from God, and like yet you feel this painful embrace of God. Like that's conviction of sin, and that is your good shepherd bringing you back. Even that, that's the good shepherd's work. He'll bring you back, he'll bring you back to himself, he'll restore your soul. Then he says, He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. This is just logically follows. If you have a restored soul, then you'll have righteous living. And even this, David says, isn't really you. It's God. You know, in Ephesians, Paul says that God actually prepares good works for you to do in advance. Some of you tonight are so worried that you're not doing enough for God. And you're trying to conjure up things to do for God, and you're trying to dream beyond what's right in front of you. God has good works for you to do right now, and He'll show them to you. Ask Him to. He'll lead you in paths of righteousness. Now, friends, on the one hand, I ask about this psalm sometimes when I think about it, is this a promise for the future? Or is this right now? And the answer is both. The psalm closes with the future. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. But it's also right now, all the verbs in verses two through three are present tense. Right now, you have green pastures. You have these things. Do you really believe that? In Jesus, there's no condemnation, there's the love of the Father, there is good works laid out for you, there's God's promise to sanctify you and make you better, make you holy. There's the Holy Spirit who indwells you. There's the communion of saints. There's the church present on this earth, broken as it may be. It's a place where you do come and you do get filled up. These are promises that are for the future, but also that are yours right now. And so, yes, we we hope for the ultimate green pastures, but we also know that they're true for us right now. It's like the hope, not of the couple that's dating, but the hope of the couple that's engaged. They know their wedding date is set. They know it. It's not an uncertainty. And so then David says, Yeah, look, I know that there are realities in life that make these things seem not that real. So he gives these two potential problems.

unknown 18:08

Right?

SPEAKER_01 18:08

He says, the valley of the shadow of death. Death. And all of the effects of sin and all of the brokenness, death and all of its, like all of the things that lead up to death. And enemies. Like a world that's still hostile. David is saying that these realities are true, even though there is still death and enemies. These are really true for you, and what do you need to do to embrace them? You need to do what David's doing here. You need to fill out in your mind, this is what prayer is, friends. It's not just asking God for things. I've said this before, it's making God your thing. It's thinking about what He has promised to you. It's thinking about the benefits and the blessings of Him as your shepherd, not just this generic, the Lord is my shepherd, but what does that mean? Like, I have green pastures right now. Yeah, I've got broken relationships, I've got struggles, I'm weak, I need help, I have sin that still dwells within me. My body is breaking down, I have sickness, I have family members who are sick, I have friends who are sick. All these things. That's what it means to be a sheep. That cannot negate or cancel out these realities. Prayer is all about doing what David's doing here. It's envisioning what God really is as your shepherd. I shall not want. If you think about that, that's where you can go. This can transform you. And I want to, in a way, send you into summer with that. We've covered a lot of territory this year. We've talked about relationships and uh we've talked about Ecclesiastes, which is a real bummer, and we've been talking about the Psalms. But like, what do you need to walk with God as we go from here, as we, you know, we have another large group, but you know, we're gonna go our separate ways in some ways, at least for a while this summer. Some of you seniors are gonna go and not have RUF. You'll have the church and you have the community of saints, you have these things. But what you need is this vision of God. Because without it, all that stuff won't be electric, it won't be alive for you. Who you think God is changes everything. And it's the only thing that can lead you to say, I shall not want. You really don't have to. Everything is downstream from that. And I'll close with this story. I remember when I was in Chicago as a college student, um, I got to do the this boat tour of the city, and they tell you about the city and its architecture and all these things. And um, one of the things you learn, maybe some of you know this if you're an engineering student or something, is that in the 1800s, Chicago had like a crazy public health crisis because um the waters of uh Lake Michigan, where they basically got all their drinking water from, were really polluted and nasty. Um because the Chicago River, which flowed into it, had all kind of garbage and waste being dumped in it from factories and homes all along the way. And so the river just flowed into their source of drinking water. And in 1892, like the city commissioned a team of engineers to come up with a plan to reverse the flow of the Chicago River. And they did it. I don't know how that works, I have no idea. But they actually did it, and it actually made a huge difference really fast. Like the source of drinking water became clean, and so the people became healthy. Friends, your Christian life is actually a lot like that. Everything in life, especially your spiritual life, is downstream of what you think of God. And the the waters that you draw from spiritually, that's like the lake, right? Lake Michigan. That's church, that's R UF, that's your prayer stuff, that's your community group, it's all the stuff you do to try to fill your Up. And friends, the real trick here though is understanding that if you don't get who God really is for you, even those waters won't make you healthy. You need to understand who God is and let that flow into all the things you do in the Christian life, all the things that nourish you. You're not doing them to try to appease a God who is disappointed in you, though he hates your sin. You're not trying to avoid a God who doesn't want you to thrive and enjoy life. You are being led by a shepherd who is the only one who can protect you, lead you, care for you, and make you say, I shall not want. Friends, think of God this way. Tell it to yourself every day this summer. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Amen? Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your grace tonight and for all the wonders of your word that we've seen, not just tonight, but this semester and this year. And I thank you for the souls that are here tonight. We know that so many of our hearts, though we know the truths of the gospel, continue to go back to lies about who we are and about who you are. Even when we read your word, we don't get it. Even when we go to church, we miss it. We miss what you're doing, that you're trying, you're calling for us, you're desiring for us to come to you as our shepherd. Help us to believe that tonight. Help us to allow you to lead us, to protect us, to give you all the glory. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.