The Good Shepherd
Sermons on The Twenty-third Psalm by Rev. Ken Behnken
3. The Shepherd's Guidance
"The Lord is my Shepherd; 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." Psalm 23:1-3
Fernando D'Alfonso, a Basque sheepherder, and Max Lucado, a minister who writes Christian devotional material, are helping us to understand and to appreciate more fully what the Psalmist meant when he wrote, and what we mean when we say, "The Lord is my Shepherd."
Regarding "he restores my soul" D'Alfonso said, "In the Holy Land each sheep takes his place in the grazing line in the morning, and keeps the same position throughout the day. Once during the day, however, each sheep leaves its place in the line and goes to the shepherd. The shepherd rubs the animal's nose and ears, scratches its chin, and whispers affectionately into its ears. The sheep rubs against his leg or, if the shepherd is sitting down, nibbles at his ear and rubs its cheek against his face. After a few minutes of this communion with the master, the sheep returns to its place in the feeding line."
Everyone who owns and loves a pet knows that pets thrive on the attention that is lovingly given to them by their masters. So it should not be surprising that the sheep in a shepherd's flock also crave the attention of the shepherd – or that David referred to the effect of that attention as "restoring their souls".
Modern sheep ranching usually involves flocks of sheep that are too large to allow that kind of intimate, personal attention. They are no longer led by a single shepherd, but are gathered and driven in larger numbers with the help of sheep dogs. But the sheep in the smaller flocks with which David was familiar, flocks that were owned by the shepherd and his family, individually received such loving care that the sheep and the lambs probably thought they were pets, and loved it when the shepherd restored their souls.
When our grandson Nicholas was a toddler and would have some overnights with us he loved to have his Grandma read to him from his First Bible Story Book. One story was accompanied by a picture that showed Jesus holding a little boy close to his chest. One night as they talked about the story and the picture Grandma asked him, "Is that you, Nicholas?" And his reply was, "Yes, I'm his favorite boy." Now that's a boy whose soul was so restored that he saw himself as the Savior's pet! In the process, Grandma's soul was restored, too – and so was mine when she told me about it.
That's how all of us sheep and lambs in the Good Shepherd's flock should feel about our relationship with the Lord Jesus. He gave himself for all, but he also gave himself for each. As part of his description of himself as the Good Shepherd in John 10 Jesus said, "The true shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life."
A Daily Restoration – and More
The souls of the sheep in the shepherd's flock were restored daily. A certain pattern or discipline was involved to allow this healthful practice. Well, in his Word God invites us to find that same daily restoration of our souls by practicing the healthful discipline of daily Bible reading and prayer. Our Shepherd says, "Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and obey it." And he assures us, "I tell you the truth: my Father will give you whatever you ask in my Name. Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete."
Each sheep in the shepherd's flock had its own personal time with the shepherd – and you and I will find our souls' restoration most significant when we commune with our Shepherd one on one. He invites you to enjoy that kind of private, intimate interaction with him when he says, "Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is unseen, and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
There is something added, however, when our time with our Shepherd is shared with others in his flock. In our homes a shared restoration of souls is ours when together we carry out the discipline of family devotions. Why else would Jesus say, "Where two or three are together in my Name, there am I with them."? Still broader, and sometimes more spiritually exciting, is our worship together with the family of believers, our congregation. The Bible repeats the invitation in many ways: "Come, let us worship the Lord; let us sing unto the God of our salvation." From beginning our worship services "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" to leaving with his blessing upon us, the "grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit" is with us. He's here – to restore our souls with his forgiveness, to instruct us in his Word, to host us at his Table, to receive our prayers, praise, and thanksgiving.
Yes, sometimes it gets to be routine; sometimes we just can't get into it; sometimes we find ourselves wishing we were somewhere else – but then, by his grace, comes that stanza of a hymn, that phrase in a Lesson, that point in a sermon, that sense of his presence in the Lord's Supper, and we are touched again and renewed again. Our souls are restored, and we thank God that the discipline of regular worship has been part of our lives as sheep in the Shepherd's flock.
In Safe in the Shepherd's Arms Max Lucado says, "Our Shepherd majors in restoring hope to the soul. Whether you are a lamb lost on a craggy ledge or a city slicker caught in "the jungle out there", everything changes when your Rescuer appears. Your loneliness diminishes, because you have fellowship. Your despair decreases, because you have vision. Your confusion begins to lift because you have guidance and direction."
The Paths of Righteousness
In connection with this restoration, David added, "He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his Name's sake." There's that word "lead" again. Our Shepherd goes before us on the Way of righteousness that he has already walked on our behalf as our Savior. Now he calls to us to follow him. He leads us for the sake of his Name Jesus, which says he is our Savior, who atoned for our sins once for all, and has given us new life in the Holy Spirit. It is in the paths of righteousness that he leads us. He wants us to know that there will be many time when we will have to say "No" to ourselves as we "deny ourselves and take up our crosses and follow him". But he also assures us that there will be many times when we will say a happy "Yes" to the blessing of meeting him and serving him as we serve those around us.
In two places the Book of Proverbs says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." That's the way of the sheep who stubbornly resists the shepherd's guidance; the sheep who gets so involved with nibbling that it nibbles itself away from the shepherd and gets lost; the sheep who misses its opportunities to get close to the shepherd for restoring its soul. It's the way of the Christian who knows he shouldn't but does anyway, or knows he should but simply won't; the Christian who is so preoccupied with the cares and pleasures of this world that he gets lost in the weeds; the Christian who apathetically neglects his prayer time and his fellowship of worship with the congregation that restore his soul.
You and I know that at times we have taken that self-determined way, the way that seems right to us but is not our Savior's way. And so we are happy to hear Max Lucado as he introduces his devotional comments regarding "He leads me in the paths of righteousness". He reminds us, "The path of righteousness is a narrow, winding trail up a steep hill. At the top of the hill is a cross." Souls that hunger and thirst for righteousness are always drawn to the cross. There our souls are continually renewed and restored, for there the Crucified One meets us again and again to assure us that we are redeemed, forgiven, at one with him.
In My Utmost for His Highest Oswald Chambers reminds us that following our Good Shepherd as he leads us in the paths of righteousness is always a current, ongoing experience. It is not satisfied by being able to look back and say, "I grew up in a Christian home and was confirmed at Trinity Lutheran Church by Pastor Schmidt when I was a youth." Chambers wrote, "If you have put your 'hand to the plow' and are following Jesus in the paths of righteousness, there is no 'looking back' – the past is instilled into the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God. If you are not actively following Jesus, you become a sentimental Christian, and live only on your memories. Your testimony will have a hollow ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up a present refusal to follow Jesus in the paths of righteousness by recalling past experiences, when you did follow him."
In the Real World
We might like just to stay at the cross, receiving Jesus' ministry of salvation – like a sheep might want to be the only one in the shepherd's flock, and constantly receive all of his attention. But we find that the paths of righteousness lead beyond the cross, down the hill again, beyond the time of intimacy with the Shepherd, back into the real world, where "righteousness" is the challenge of our doing the right thing in Jesus' Name.
When we do step beyond the cross, however, we find we are not alone. There is our Shepherd, again leading the way. He is there to empower us to do the right thing in his Name in Christian discipleship. And he is there to bless us with Christian satisfaction and joy when we do.
Let me tell you, as you follow him day by day, receiving his continuing love and guidance, and responding to him in happy, productive discipleship, you will find day by day that your being sheep in the Good Shepherd's flock means more to you than it ever did.
Closing blessing for all sermons in this series:
May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the Sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in you what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
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