Series: The LORD is my Shepherd Sermon Title: My Shepherd Restores Passage: Psalm 23:3 Preacher: Dan Weyerhaeuser Date: 5.21.17 It is funny how certain things stick in your memory. 1976 on a Jr. High field trip, I saw the film, “W. C. Fields & Me.” Everyone has favorite WC Fields lines, like “I usually cook with wine… sometimes I even add food,” or “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. But then quit. No use making a fool out of yourself!” I remember one scene from the movie, though, because it touched a nerve in me. Fields was in a hospital bed, detoxing from his alcoholism, near the end of his life, not having slept for days. His girlfriend was trying to help him get rest. But Fields said, “The only way I can get to sleep is if it rains. I can only sleep to the sound of rain.” He sent her home and then lay in bed miserable when suddenly the patter of rain starts hitting the roof. It had started raining. It was a “feel good” moment as he drifted off. What was memorable though was that as the camera showed the rain hitting the roof above him, it panned back until you saw that it wasn’t actually raining. His girl friend was on the lawn, spraying water on the roof with a hose.
That act of kindness left an impression on me I remember 41 years later. We were staring at a kindness that was exactly what a fragile friend needed to be restored. In the Bible, God gently restores His people like this, which is amazing! Matthew 12:20 says of Jesus will “bring justice to victory” which sounds like heavy combat. Yet this is the text that says, “A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick he does not snuff out… until He brings justice to victory.” Jesus can simultaneously defeat the forces of evil and yet not loose a fragile one of his own. David knew the LORD gently restores us too. A big reason why having the LORD as my Shepherd means “I don’t need anything else” is that… Main point: My shepherd revives me in my weakness If you have ever been stuck in a vulnerable, threatening place from which you are absolutely unable to extract yourself (including one you got yourself into by your own stubbornness) and you found your soul downcast, you will be helped by Psalm 23:3 at a very deep level. Turn to p. _______. CONTEXT: Psalm 23 was written by David, the second king of Israel. He was a remarkable man of God with a life FILLED with heroism and success. He vaulted the nation of Israel to the world stage! But no one would have said his life was easy. He was virtually invisible to his parents and older brothers growing up. His bravery and success in serving Israel’s first king, Saul, was perceived as a threat and Saul responded by spending 16 years trying to kill him. AS king, in a season when he let himself become self-indulgent, he committed adultery, and then murder to cover it up… YIKES! (Our capacity for darkness is remarkable!) When confronted, David DID repent and was forgiven by God. But he had to deal with the consequences, which included one of David’s children killing another and then rising up to dethrone and kill him. So David HAD hard and challenging days. YET, again and again the Lord revived him in his weakness. David wrote from experience… and wants US to experience the LORD’s reviving too. This is the point of Psalm 23:3. What we’ll see: He revives me by 1) Restoring me when I’m in distress, 2) Returning me to “right living,” and 3) Revealing through me His goodness. READ whole Psalm. David begins by saying… 1. He restores me when I’m in distress 3 He restores my soul.
Notice in v. 3, David describes something GOD does! Q: WHO restores our souls? A: The LORD does. HE restores my soul. HE is the Shepherd, HE makes me lie down in green pastures, HE leads me beside cool waters, HE restores my soul. David is describing something GOD has done in his soul. MORE, The LORD didn’t just restore him once, but again and again. David didn’t say, “He restored my soul,” but “He restores”… present, continuous tense… restoring is what God does.
2 Key: In restoring us, God does something we cannot do on our own. When we are stuck, He doesn’t hand us a self-help book. He doesn’t stand over us giving us advice. Like a broken car needs a mechanic to reach into the engine and fix it, like a plaque-filled artery needs a surgeon to reach in and remove it, we get into places of distress in our souls and we need the LORD to reach in and restore us. GRATEFULLY, He DOES! He is in the soul-restoration business. It is pretty amazing that God Himself would do this in us. If people have a serious medical need and find a renowned surgeon to operate, this is a big part of how they feel about the procedure. WE have the LORD of the Universe to restore our souls.
As David tells us this about the LORD, the picture in his mind is rich with visual meaning. God did in David’s own soul again and again what DAVID had done in his care of sheep many times. Sheep are NOT independent animals. They get themselves into distress easily. One of the most pathetic ways is what David has in mind here. If a sheep is at peace and well fed, he may lay down to rest. If he lies down anywhere near a depression in the ground, or particularly lush grass, he can move just enough for his legs to lift off the ground. This is all the more likely if the sheep is particularly fat, or if its wool is particularly thick. Every sheep is vulnerable to this. The moment that the sheep’s feet leave the ground, though, his troubles begin. When a sheep feels his feet off the ground, he immediately starts wiggling to get back up, which does the opposite of what he wants. The more the sheep wiggles, the more he rolls over onto its back, legs straight up in the air. A sheep that has done this is called “cast.” A cast sheep cannot right itself. It's pathetic!
WE can get “cast.” On one level, we are “cast” when we are stuck in a bad place and can’t get out of it. David was stuck in the loneliness of being invisible growing up and on long nights on the run from Saul… bad times he could not fix. Have YOU ever felt like a “cast” sheep in distress? Have you ever found yourself in a place that was NOT good and you were powerless to do anything about it? I spent a day in St. Louis this last week with my sister, Amy. 6 years ago, Amy’s husband, Gary, had a massive stroke. It is remarkable that he didn’t die. But that moment completely changed both of their lives. His life is not easy… he can barely walk, one arm and leg have little function, he has had repeated seizures, and all the sadness and anger that comes with losing so much so fast. And it has not been easy for AMY either… She is Gary’s primary caregiver, 24/7! Talk about feeling some days like a stuck, flailing, “cast” sheep! Some of US feel like cast sheep for different reasons. Finances are really tight with no change in sight, and for all of our carefulness, we are surrounded by people who have so much more which we don’t want to care about, but we do! Some of us have been hunting for a job and time and again have felt like we had it, but didn’t… and it raises the questions of “What is wrong with me?” Some of us have made bad choices that we feel have wrecked our lives and others and there is nothing we can do to be restored!
You are like a cast sheep when you are in the grip of harmful forces from which you cannot get free! On a deeper level, though, I think David even more has in mind here being stuck in the bad place of having my heart turned away from GOD, that I haven’t loved Him or wanted to trust Him. I say this because the root of the word restore is “turn back.” David says the LORD “turns back my soul.” He restores my soul… to Himself! TRUTH: there is NO version of a “restored” life that does not start with a living, loving, present, interactive relationship Jesus at the center. Loving and worshipping His glory and experiencing His love (and this alone) is what makes our hearts restored! We have to “turn back” to God! There was a moment DAVID needed God to restore Him. Q: What was David’s relationship with the LORD like in the days following his affair with Bathsheba? And THEN at some point he learned she was pregnant, what were THOSE days like. And then he sent for Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, how long did that messenger take to find him in a foreign land and bring him back? My guess… during those days, his soul was “cast.” And what was it like to be David in the days that followed when his plan to murder Uriah was being carried out? DAVID had felt like a cast sheep, stuck in a vulnerable place, broken in his fellowship with his Shepherd. A cast sheep is more than ridiculous. He faces two real dangers. For one thing, a cast sheep is utterly vulnerable to predators like wolves or wild dogs. If a pack is watching a flock from a distance and see a cast sheep, they are on him in an instant. But MORE, a cast sheep got himself into a MEDICAL emergency. As a sheep lay on its back, the gases begin to build up and fill the rumen (a chamber in his digestive track). If a sheep stays this way long enough, he won’t only get sick… he will die. On a hot day, this can happen in a matter of hours. “A downed sheep is a dead sheep.”
When David looked back at his life and saw places where HE had gotten into a distressed place, he
3 realized he’d felt stranded and in danger, like the sheep he used to care for. But here’s the good part: When we are in distress, our LORD, like a Shepherd, restores us to Himself. This too is visual!
A Shepherd is constantly scanning to see if his sheep are OK. When he sees a sheep down, he runs to where it is stranded. This is a code-red situation. He gets down on a knee beside the sheep that is flailing and unable to stand. I’m guessing to a cast sheep, the touch of the shepherd is VERY welcome. The Shepherd scoops up the sheep and puts him right side up. Immediately the internal problems begin to be righted. However there is another problem. A cast sheep’s 4 legs usually have no blood left in them. If the shepherd stands him upright and lets him go… the sheep will crumple on the ground. So the shepherd has to hold the sheep upright, legs on the ground, but bearing the sheep’s weight himself. And in that spot, the shepherd gently massages blood back into the sheep’s legs until the sheep can stand on its own.
David tells us, “The LORD will “turn back” your soul to HIM! Do you need this today? How does God do it? 2. He returns me to “right living” I say that because David goes on to say… 3b He leads me in paths of righteousness
I take this phrase to be an elaboration of the first part. HE (turns back) my soul AND leads me in paths of righteousness. Or He restores my soul BY leading me in paths of righteousness. Q: What does “righteousness” mean? Our English translation of the Hebrew word tsadiq (which is an important word in the Bible) helps us. In English, the root of the word is “right.” The “path of righteousness” is the path of “right-ness.” The Old English spelling used to be “Right-wiseness.” We “walk on the path of righteousness” when we live in conformity with a particular standard, with what is “right.” A “righteous” carriage is one that ran smoothly.
As God’s people, we “walk in paths of righteousness” when we walk rightly. This means we 1a) walk through life in a friendship with God WHO is with us and loves us, AND 2a) live in conformity with the character of God. 1b) First the path of righteousness is a path I walk WITH my Shepherd. We weren’t made to live our lives alone. Our days are SUPPOSED to be “days accompanied” by our Shepherd. When sheep can’t see the shepherd and think they are alone, they are not at ease! Neither are we! He is with us constantly and loves us, but wants us, like well-shepherded-sheep to r emember Him and love Him and enjoy Him. This is the “right-living” for which He created us! 2b) He also wants us to trust Him…which we do when we LIVE LIKE Him in character. G od doesn’t lie in order to misrepresent the truth… so we walk in the path of righteousness when we don’t lie either. God isn’t malicious in His speech: so we follow Him when we aren’t either. He IS kind, and faithful and just and yet gives grace to people who don’t deserve it, so we walk “in paths of righteousness” as He does when WE are kind and faithful and just and give grace to people in our lives who don’t deserve it. Jim Carey, in Bruce Almighty, is about to confront the gang that beat him up, but now with all the power of God. He tells them he wants to “continue walking down the path of righteousness” like it is fluffy, irrelevant, religious non-sense. But the path of righteousness HE leads us on is the path of worshipping and loving Christ and making decisions like His which is how we follow Him, and find in this a purpose in our lives which is to show how good HE is to the world…that IS the path to a life and soul restored!
“Living rightly” is more than just doing right things. Holiness is more than compliance to a set of rules. It is purity of heart. It is LOVING what is good and WANTING what is good and therefore joyfully CHOOSING what is like God! MORE, it is GROWING in godliness… not just getting to a certain level of “Christian habit.”
Sheep need to constantly be led to new fields. If they aren’t, they will destroy the old ones. If they are left in the same field, they will eat the grass to the dirt and then paw up the roots. What started as a lush place of nourishment they turn into a desert. They won’t move to the fresh side of the field because they are stubborn creatures of such habit. MORE, they will keep eating in the same spot where they have polluted and get sick, if they are not led to new fields. Shepherds are constantly leading their people to fresh nourishment!
TRUTH: God is leading us, not to repeat our obedience, but to grow in it, to make progress. Because what at one time was a radical decision to obey God can become an empty habit I keep doing, even when my heart is cold. If I’m not working on holiness, I’m probably growing cold.
4 Horatius Bonar in his book, God’s way of holiness, begins by saying,
It is to a new life that God is calling us; not to some new steps in life, some new habits or ways or motives or prospects, but to a NEW LIFE. For the production of this new life the eternal Son of God took flesh, died, was buried, and rose again...For the working out of this the Holy Spirit came down in power, entering (people’s) souls and dwelling there, that out of the old He might bring forth the new.
NOTE: The LORD will turn back our heart and lead us in paths of righteousness. He will do in us what we cannot do in ourselves. But We are not passive in this. We participate. How? If He leads us, it is implied that we must follow. And somehow as He leads and we follow, He restores our soul to Himself! For ONE thing, we follow Him when we TRUST Him! When a shepherd leads, sheep follow because they trust the shepherd. This is true for us in all following of our Father. When Jonathan was 4, Lisa was gone one evening and I thought I’d do something fun, so we decided to have chocolate chip cookie dough for dinner. Double batch, two spoons, cookie dough and “Bug’s Life.” We made the dough (huge mess) and were having great fun. When we finished, it looked WONDERFUL. Cookie dough “glistens” in the light. I downed a spoonful, but was immediately met with a terrible shock. The dough was not sweet at all, but bitter and salty… and TERRIBLE! I ended up at the sink, spitting out what I could and gargling… it was THAT bad. What had happened? Sam’s Club had recently opened, and Lisa had bought a bulk container of “Baking Soda.” I thought it was flour. I’d made the dough with 2 ½ cups of “Baking Soda.” That’s like a spoonful of Arm & Hammer with a chocolate chip on top. Still, though, the dough looked delicious. When I came back from the sink, Jonathan looked up at me and asked, “Can I have some?” I said, “Its up to you, buddy, but it doesn’t taste very good.” He looked at the dough, then back at me and said, “That’s ok dad, I trust you.” He obeyed because he trusted me!
The key in this is not that I imposed a rule. I gave Jon a choice and told him one path was “good” and one was “not good” and he believed me and obeyed. KEY: He didn’t deny His desire to be happy to follow my word… He trusted that my word would bring him more joy. THIS is what walking in the path of righteousness looks like. So we follow when we intentionally trust God. SECOND, we follow when we read God’s Word. Listen to what David said in Psalm 19… Psa. 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul;
These are the same words he used in our Psalm. God restores our soul and leads us in paths of righteousness as we take in and obey His Word. David elaborates… …the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. 12 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. 13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
We trust God, read and obey His Word from a pure heart, and HE will restore our souls and guide us in paths of righteousness. Something GREAT… when we do this, He unites our lives to something important! 3. He reveals through me His goodness 3 He restores my soul. (How?) He leads me in paths of righteousness… for his name’s sake.
God has staked His reputation on His care of us. As He cares for us, He reveals to the world His goodness displayed in our lives! When you see sheep in the care of a great shepherd, they are happy and healthy and playful. When you see sheep in the care of a neglectful shepherd, they are dirty and smelly and jumpy. The reputation or character of the shepherd is on display in the health of the sheep.
God knew when He chose to be our shepherd that His name would be made or broken by how His care for us made His goodness visible. That means in the plan of God, HE shows His goodness to the world through His good care of our transformed lives. A piece of advice: If you are looking for a job and find an add that says: “Wanted – person to receive the
5 great love and care of Jesus so that your life would show what a great Shepherd HE is” - you TAKE that job! Our lives raise the visibility of His goodness. I flew to St. Louis this week to see my sister. At the airport, I prayed for a chance to share Christ. Both trips (down and back) I did. On the way back, this young woman sat down next to me who was exactly like the Verizon girl… very attentive, very clear minded, very optimistic, a great listener, a clear communicator. I felt a little like her dad just in wanting to bless her. Our conversation turned to church and she said, “I really don’t know what the Bible teaches.” I asked if she wanted me to summarize it, and she said, “YES. THANK YOU!” I talked through its message that there is a God who we were designed to know but that something was wrong… darkness in our own hearts which effects our world. But Christ came to redeem us and bring His Kingdom if we would trust Him, which is a big but good decision. Her response: “Thank you! I really experience a peace in you. I don’t always experience that in other people.” POINT Somehow God validated what I shared by something in my life she saw.
As He restores us, HIS name is lifted up. That is the most meaningful thing you life could ever do! THIS is being revived. Response: 1) Do you need “reviving?” Is your soul “cast” these days, stuck in a bad place, including being turned away from Him? Look to Him. He will revive you, but it begins with you wanting Him to. Ask Him to restore your soul! TRUTH: This is what He wants in you. One of the most meaningful moments of my year happened in St. Louis. We played in a golf tournament on Thursday that was part of a fundraiser for a Christian ministry. Afterwards at dinner where about 300 people were present, we had a concert by Mercy Me. I was blessed by the richness, not only of the life experience they write out of, but the clear gospel impact they sing about. Amy stood next to me all night and danced, not just because of the music, but because of the lyrics of this worship band. I don't do “dancing” at concerts (I’m the male version of Elaine Benes…She must have gotten all of my dancing genes). The Lyrics of one of Mercy Me’s called “Shake” go like this. I just can’t believe / where my life was at / All that I know is my heart was broke / and I don’t ever want to go back. / Ain’t no explanation / how I saw the light / but He found me and set me free / and brought me back to life. / Blame it on the transformation, / changed down to the core, / His love is real, and I can’t sit still / became my name is “shame” no more.” / Great God almighty You have changed me, / Great God almighty You have changed me. / You gotta shake, shake, shake / like you’re changed, changed, changed, / brand new looks so good on you, / so shake like you’ve been changed.”
Why I’m telling you this? It was in the middle of this song, my sister, who for 6 years has walked the challenging path of caring for a stroke victim, grabbed my shoulder and said, “Before 6 years ago, never really KNEW Christ… you KNEW it. If it hadn’t been for these 6 years I never would have known Him!” She later said, “The only reason I’m upright is because of Him. I feel like there is something so much bigger – He has asked me to take care of Gary and that’s what I’m going to do
The LORD is my sister’s Shepherd. Through a terrible ordeal, He has restorer her soul and guiding her in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake! Question – do you need restoring? Do you need your heart turned back to Him? Ask Him to do it! 2) Do you need “returning?” Are there ways He is leading you in the path of righteousness that you need to walk in? Look to Him. God calls His people to whole obedience! Are you guilty of partial obedience? I don't mean do you ever sin? I mean even while in some ways you obey God, are there other areas in which you are living in conscious disobedience? No wonder the wind and fire of the Spirit is not surging in your heart! To obey is better than sacrifice! There must be no cheating, no holding back complete allegiance. There is the parable of the man who offered his house for sale for $2,000. His prospective buyer couldn't afford to pay the full price, so after the usual haggling, the seller came to terms: he would let his house go for $1,000 with two stipulations. First if he ever wanted to buy it back, the man would sell it to him. And second, He would retain ownership of a small nail that protruded from just over the door. That seemed reasonable enough, so the buyer took possession on these terms. Several years went by and the original owner decided he wanted his house back, but the new owner refused to sell. So the first man went out, found the carcass of a dead dog, and hung it from the single nail that he still
6 owned. The homeowner couldn’t touch it because it hung from the nail in the possession of the first man. The stench soon rendered the house uninhabitable, and the residents were forced to sell the house back to the owner of the nail. This teaches that “if we leave the devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotting garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ's habitation.” If doesn't take much to make a bad stench. Such foul-smelling things are not even to be mentioned, let alone done.
He stands ready today to restore your soul and turn it back to Him Who leads you in paths of righteousness for His name sake. Are you all-in?
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Small Group Leader Notes May 21, 2017 From Pastor Dan… Hello Small Group Leaders and anyone else using these notes, We continue in our walk through Psalm 23 this morning, now looking at how God protects us from ourselves. The challenge of a study of a single verse at a time is to wonder if there is enough material to make for a full study. I would suggest that this gives you time to practice “inductive” study where you let the text do all the talking. You might ask how each word contributes to the meaning of the passage, for example. This also gives you a chance to spend a good amount of time in personal response and application, which we always want to do anyways. Your study is precisely different from my message because we hope for everyone to engage with the text, discover what it says, react to it personally, and for your folks to share with each other how their journey with the Great Shepherd is going. May your time be blessed of God! He is what your people need. Warmly, Dan Our Scripture Study… Series: Message #: Sermon Title: Passage: Preacher: Date:
The LORD is my Shepherd 3 of 6 The LORD revives me in my weakness Psalm 23:3 Dan Weyerhaeuser 2017-5-21
SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS Getting to know each other: Who was your favorite teacher? Personal Study: As you study (read, reread, consider, ponder, reread) the passage, list observations you make from the text. What is the main point of this passage? How is the theme developed? What “Aha’s” come to you as you read? What questions come to mind? How do you respond to the God seen in these verses? Bring your observations and questions to your Small Group this week! ————————— Psalm 23:3 1. How did memorizing Ps 23:1-2 go? Did you think about these verses this week? Please be taking time with this, helping your folks memorize this Psalm. Perhaps a number of us know it… I’d challenge our folks to be rehearsing it at least once a day. God will use this Psalm to bless your folks through their day if it is before them.
2. Read all of Psalm 23 and then answer this question: Why do you think this Psalm has been so
8 powerfully used by God? Group reflection question.
3. Look at v. 3 closely. Sheep need to be “restored” when they literally “have fallen and they can’t get up.” What do we know about sheep that they need this? From the message: If a sheep is at peace and well fed, it may lay down to rest. If it is anywhere near a depression in the ground, or particularly lush grass, as a sheep lays there, they can move just enough for their center of gravity to lift their legs off the ground. This is all the more likely if the sheep is particularly fat, or if its wool is particularly thick or if a mother is pregnant. The moment that the sheep’s feet leave the ground, his troubles begin. When a sheep feels his feel off the ground, he immediately start wiggling and writhing to get back up, which does the opposite of what it wants. The more the sheep wiggles, the more it rolls over onto its back, legs straight up in the air. A sheep that has done this is called “cast.” A cast sheep cannot right itself. This sight is truly pathetic. David remembered moments in his own life where his soul was in a terrible place, downcast, in distress, and he was there because of his own choices. He felt like a wiggling sheep cast on its back. This is more than just silliness. A cast sheep faces a couple of dangers. For one thing, a cast sheep is utterly vulnerable to predators like wolves or bears or even wild dogs. If a pack are watching a flock from a distance and see a cast sheep, they are on it in an instant. But MORE, a cast sheep has gotten itself into a medical emergency. As a sheep lays on its back, the gases begin to build up and fill the rumen (a chamber in their stomach). If a sheep stays this way long enough, it won’t only get sick… this can lead to death. On a hot day, this can happen in a matter of hours. “A downed sheep is a dead sheep.” A Shepherd is constantly scanning to see if your sheep are OK. When he sees a sheep down, he runs to where it is stranded. This is a code-red situation. Then a shepherd doesn’t stand over the sheep and tell it to fix itself. A shepherd gets down on a knee beside the sheep that is flailing and unable to stand. I’m guessing to a cast sheep, the touch of the shepherd is VERY welcome. The Shepherd scoops up the sheep and puts him right side up. However there is a problem. A cast sheep’s 4 legs usually have no blood left in them. If the shepherd stands him upright and lets him go… the sheep won’t be able to stand.
4. In what ways are sheep like us in this? Group reflection question.
5. “Restoring” is something our Shepherd does to us. How is this different from “self-help?” Are there ways you are trying to “restore” yourself that only He can? While we DO participate in our Lord’s restoring of our souls (He leads, we must follow, He invites, we must accept), nevertheless this text describes God do something inside of us by His Spirit.
6. The second part of this verse does not begin a new thought, but continues the same one. If this is so, how might where our Shepherd guides us relate to His restoring our souls? The Lord’s restoring of our soul is linked to His leading us in paths of righteousness.
7. Can you name one place where the LORD wants to “guide you” to “live rightly” that you are not? NOTE: God will help you live more freely as He wants when you share a need and pray for each other. Take time to pray for each other about these things. Personal application question.
8. How does God’s restoring of me impact “His name’s sake?”
Apparently God has “staked” His reputation upon His care of us. This makes sense… the health and peacefulness of a flock of sheep is a reflection of the Shepherd’s care.
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9. Our role is to be a recipient of the LORD’s incredible care so that HIS great care would be on display. How do you feel about this? Group reflection question.
10. What does this tell us about how God makes His goodness known? It also means that God’s plan for displaying His goodness to the world is through our transformed lives that show Him!
11. What is one big thing happening for you this week?
