God: Shepherd

Welcome to week four in our nine-part series on worship.  The title of the series is Sing and Tremble.  Carl shared with us during the introduction these verses from I Chronicles which form the basis for our series:

Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim His salvation day after day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and joy are in His dwelling place. Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and come before Him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness. Tremble before Him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” –I Chronicles 16:23-31

The goal of this series is to explore worship together.  We not only want to increase our head-knowledge about worship, but also open wide our hearts in worship, experiencing depth and richness in our relationship to God.

In the series introduction, Carl included several quotes about worship.  Those quotes were all quotes of action about the effect of truly worshiping God … how worship changes us more into the image of God (Isaiah wooden idol), how worship propels us into deeper obedience, how we are being fashioned into an instrument of praise, how our desires (desires for beauty, unity and relationship, being part of something greater than ourselves) stem from our need to be worshipers, how our belief and faith in God are strengthened in the act of praise and worship.

Carl also shared a detailed definition of worship.  You can go back through the message archive on the church website if you’d like to see it in full.  The definition stressed the comprehensiveness of worship.  Worship seeks to take in the fullness of God and marvel at God’s working:  past, present, and future.  In summary, the author was saying that we follow the teachings of the New Testament in how we worship, that we see the New Covenant in Christ as a fulfillment of the Old Testament sacrificial system, and that we eagerly await the wedding of the Lamb, of a future eternity to be spent with Christ including worship of Him.

This definition also included the basis and action steps of worship:  (1) Worship is the proper response to God because He is worthy of it; (2) Worthy includes adoration and action, and (3) we are to worship as individuals and together as a body of believers.

God is not some figment of our collective or individual imaginations.  He is real.  And a growing awareness of His strength, His purity, and even of His perfect love leaves us awestruck.  Trembling is included in the series because it is kind of scary to come face to face with this realization, even as a Christian. God is not “tame” or “safe,” as C.S. Lewis wrote in his Narnia books. Our God holds power over life and death. He is holy, perfectly holy, and we are not.

For the Christian, for one who has put his faith and trust in Christ to save him, it is no longer necessary or appropriate to cower in fear because of what God might do to us, but it is appropriate to think about the perfect holiness of God and, still, to tremble.  As believers we face God “covered” by Christ, but it is still God we face, and in the glory of His holiness.  Carl gave us the example of riding a roller coaster and the feeling you have at the top of the biggest hill.  Having that feeling that your stomach has risen up into your throat is an appropriate response. Worship in song and with trembling.

Let’s pray before we get into the main focus of our message:

Lord God, I pray that our hearts would be tuned to you as we talk about how You care for us.  It is right and good for us to worship You continually.  Please give us grace and understanding in how we are in relationship with You.  You are perfect and holy.  We worship You.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Today’s message is one of four messages where we hope to reflect “devotionally” on God and His character.  The previous two messages were God as Creator and God as Savior.  Next week, we will gaze upon God as Father.

Carl shared about our Creator and how His vast, beautiful and overwhelming creation shouts to us of His worthiness and His glory.  Brian shared about our Savior and how there is only one Savior (Isaiah 45:21), how he saves us from enemies (Deuteronomy 20:4), dangers (2 Samuel 22:3, Psalm 72:13-14), ourselves (1 Timothy 1:15), and ultimately from the righteous wrath of God (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.  –Titus 3:4-7

Praise God!  That’s good news.  Because God is Savior, that is who we are:  heirs of eternal life.

Today, we will talk about God as our Shepherd.  A neat connecting verse between God as our Savior and God as our Shepherd is Revelation 7:17 which says,

For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; “He will lead them to springs of living water.” “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” –Revelation 7:17

God is the one who meets all our needs.  As Creator, He made a beautiful universe for us to live in.  He gave Adam and Eve a beautiful garden to live in.  When they disobeyed God’s command, sin entered the world, their relationship and our relationship to God was broken.  There was nothing anyone could do, except for God.  And then, God became our Savior when Jesus gave up His life on the cross.

As I was thinking about how God has done everything for us, a line from a story came floating out of a old memory.  The quote as I remembered it was, “Nothing was done except what He had done Himself.”  Does anyone know where the quote comes from?  Do you want a hint?  What if I say, Jane Austen? … Pride and Prejudice?

The quote does come from Pride and Prejudice.  And to be fair, I didn’t give you the quote accurately in the beginning.  I said it as I had remembered it.  It is actually, “Nothing was to be done that he did not do himself.” (Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 52, Jane Austen) The quote comes from a letter which Mrs. Gardiner writes to Lizzy about Darcy’s rescue of Lizzy’s sister Lydia.

For those of you who don’t know the story, I’ll spare you the telling.  But the thought behind it seemed to fit this point in our series.  In worshiping God, we are in the midst of attempting to take in a view which encompasses the wide variety of ways in which God has revealed Himself and His love for us.  God has taken care of, is taking care of, and will take care of everything.  Nothing was done except what He had done Himself.

Even now, if God had stopped at being Creator and Savior, it would not be enough for us.  We still need more.  We are not able to live this life in our own strength.  At least, we are not able to live this life in a way that is at peace with God and our fellow men and women apart from God’s constant working among us.  We need a shepherd to see us safely through each day!

I’ve shared at least one comic with you from an artist named Adam Ford in a previous message.  During the time I was preparing for this message, one of his comics also came to mind.  Do you know what animal does the Bible compares us to?  Let’s look at it together: http://adam4d.com/happy-sheep/ 

This animal reveals the truth about us, and really the truth about all people.  The Bible does not call us brave lions.  Wouldn’t it be cool to be a lion or a tiger?  But, that’s not who we are.  The Bible doesn’t call us smart crows.  I don’t know what the square root of a circle is.  Maybe that’s because I’m not a smart crow.  (I did see where someone had asked about it in response to a twitter post from Adam Ford, but up till now, it hasn’t been answered.)  Nevertheless, we’re not brave, strong lions; we’re not savvy, fluttering crows.  The Bible doesn’t call us fierce sharks.  We don’t cut through the water with power and strength.  No, that’s not us either.  In fact, what the Bible does call us, is sheep.

 “Sheep are not the smartest specimens in the animal kingdom.  Sheep have been known to follow each other off cliffs by the hundreds, and chase each other around in circles until they keel over.  They’re helpless.  Defenseless.  They have [virtually] no survival skills.  They’re completely dependent on their shepherd for everything from food to protection.”

“This is why I love this metaphor, and love the fact that I’m like a sheep.  Left to myself, I’m an idiot:  true.  Left to myself, I’d follow any number of idols right over a cliff:  true.  Left to myself, I’d run myself to exhaustion chasing the Joneses around a never-ending circle:  true.  But …”

 “Jesus says, ‘I am the good shepherd.’ ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

 “I happily acknowledge being totally dependent on the good shepherd.”

What about you?  What do you think about your own situation?  Do you think you are a lion or a sheep?

Brian mentioned a question that many people he has talked with seem to struggle answering.  “Why do you need a Savior?”  I’ve never tried it, but I suppose we could add another question to it with similar results.  “Do you need a shepherd, someone to watch over you and provide for you and show you what to do and when to do it, someone to rescue you and set you back up on your feet when you fall over and can’t get up by yourself?”  I’d guess most people would say that they are doing “just fine” on their own independent of how they’re really doing.

Strangely, I think those questions are often hard to answer because of God’s grace toward us.  There is a general kind of grace which extends to everyone.  The Bible talks about how the rain falls on the good as well as the wicked.  We all enjoy the blessings of God in His creation.  We here today enjoy the blessings of the prosperity of this nation because of God’s grace.

God knows what He’s doing.  I’m certainly not going to advise Him on how best to reach the world.  However, the tipping point to awareness of need of Savior and Shepherd seems to be a point of crisis.  It doesn’t have to be a major crisis, but often receiving Christ as Savior and following Him as the good Shepherd depends on us recognizing that we can’t do it on our own.  Recognizing that is not something that means we’ve changed in our ability.  It’s not that we turn from a lion into a sheep.  We were sheep all along.  And, we’re still sheep now.  It’s just that we’re finally ready to admit it.

And fortunately, there is a good Shepherd.  Let’s consider a few more passages about Him.

In the NIV, the word shepherd occurs 67 times.  Of that, 26 refer to God as Shepherd.  Many of the other verses refer to shepherds whom God provides to take care of his people, like Moses and David and other leaders whether kings or priests or other roles.  The word pastor is also taken from the word shepherd.

You can find the thought of God as Shepherd all the way back in Genesis.  When Jacob was blessing Joseph and his two sons, he began by saying,

May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day … may He bless …—Genesis 48:15

The verse on your bulletin today comes from the years in the wilderness …

… the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd. –Numbers 27:17

In the book of Isaiah, the prophet writes of God and how God understands us and our need for provision and comfort …

He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.  –Isaiah 40:11

God takes care of us.  He knows our problems and our needs.  He carries us close when we cannot go on ourselves.  He leads us gently.  God understands where we are and what our abilities are.  Do you believe that?

In Ezekiel 34, the entire chapter describes how God takes over as Shepherd.  God rejected those who had been the shepherds of Israel, saying that they only took care of themselves.  He says He will hold them accountable and remove them as shepherds.  God then takes over that responsibility Himself (there was nothing done that He didn’t do Himself) …

For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered … and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them … I will tend them in a good pasture … There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture … I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD.  I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak … I will shepherd the flock with justice. … I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. …Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I will make a covenant of peace with them … They will know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. They will no longer be plundered … They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. … You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD." –Ezekiel 34: 11-31

Isn’t that a comfort?  Doesn’t it enkindle a desire to worship Him, our Shepherd?  The reference to David is, of course, a reference to Jesus.  As we already read before, Jesus is our good Shepherd.  That is also foretold in Micah 5:2-4 and quoted in Matthew 2:6 …

But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. –Matthew 2:6

Let’s go ahead and look at a few verses from the New Testament, as well.  The prayer which closes the book of Hebrews says …

Now 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 us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.  –Hebrews 13:20-21

Our Shepherd equips us to do His will.  Jesus is our example.  He didn’t do anything except that which was given to Him by the Father to do.  If we listen to Him, obey Him, follow Him, we will be able to accomplish good.

Here are a couple of verses from I Peter.  These link together with God as our Savior and as our Shepherd.

When they hurled their insults at Him [Jesus], He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. "He himself bore our sins" in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by His wounds you have been healed." For "you were like sheep going astray," but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. –I Peter 2:23-25

If you do not know Jesus as your Shepherd, this verse makes it clear that all you need to do is turn around and return to the Shepherd.  Come to Jesus, and you too can be healed.

And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.  –I Peter 5:4

That crown of glory is only for the sheep that belong to Jesus.  In the Ezekiel 34 passage, the Lord said that He would judge between the sheep and the goats.  This is explained more fully by Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46.  It’s the passage where Jesus says that the sheep have fed, given drink, invited in, clothed, cared for, and visited the least while the goats had not done those things but instead had ignored the least.  Let us open our eyes to those around us who are the least in the kingdom of God and seek to serve them.

I told Melissa yesterday morning that I didn’t really know what I was supposed to talk about today.  Usually, God “sets me up” the week before a message.  Something will happen to me, or God will show something to me that says, “Hey, this is what people need to hear!”  If I’m completely honest with you, I don’t feel like God is being a very good shepherd for me right now.  I’ll spare you the details, and it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to share most of it anyway.  But suffice it to say, I don’t have an area of my life where I feel like things are going like Ezekiel 34 says:  “lying down in good grazing lands, healed, strengthened, never afraid.”

Now, notice how I said what I said.  I said, “where I feel like.”  I think that’s usually the point where we can get bent out of shape for the wrong reasons.  I already know my feelings are treacherous things.  When I’m angry, I’m prone to make mistakes.  I got frustrated about a situation at work which was well … it was frustrating.  I took action in my frustration.  When I was reviewing the issue to a colleague later, I realized that I had made a simple math mistake, but my simple error caused my calculation to be off by a factor of 10.  Fortunately, the physical consequences were small.  However, it did cause me to have to point out my mistake to someone a couple of levels above me.  It was embarrassing and unnecessary.  However, I did get to share a proverb with them.   Proverbs 29:20:  “Do you see a man who is hasty in his words?  There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

So, what do you do when God shepherds you into a low place, a place of no regard, a place of endless demands, and even a place with feelings of hopelessness?

Fortunately for us, the Bible contains more than a few situations where people faced really difficult circumstances.  We read earlier the first mention of God as Shepherd from Jacob.  Jacob certainly did not have the smoothest life.  He created great animosity with his brother to the point that he had to flee for his life.  He ran far away to his uncle, a journey of more than 300 miles.  He had conflict and difficulty and was betrayed more than once while he was there and fleeing in secret and then pursued.  He wrestled with God.  He produced great rivalry among his own sons which led to unimaginable treachery and deceit including one of his sons being sold into slavery.

Now Jacob made a lot of that trouble himself.  The valleys he walked through often came about because of his own sin.  One thing to keep in mind when we’re in a valley is that sin does have consequences.  Grace means that we don’t get what we deserve, that God won’t hold those sins against us at the judgment.  But, our sins do create problems which take time to heal and recover from, sometimes taking years.  Some of the difficulty I’m facing fits in that category.  It’s kind of a “you’ve made your own bed, now you get to lie in it” situation.

At the end of his life, Jacob said that God had been his Shepherd his whole life.  Looking at the difficulties, how could Jacob say that?  I think that even when Jacob was in the valley, he came to realize that God was right there with him.  He wasn’t alone in facing the consequences of his sin.  God would work out those situations to Jacob’s good.  And in the case of Joseph, God worked it out to the good of the entire world.  If you’re facing something like that, remember that God is with you, too.  “He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

There’s another category of difficulty that we end up walking through.  Those are the difficulties which are not our fault.  We didn’t do anything to bring that situation about.  It’s like it just fell onto us sometimes as a complete shock.  II Chronicles 32:1 reveals a story like that. 

After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself.  –II Chronicles 32:1

King Hezekiah had been faithful.  Hezekiah endeavored to be a devoted follower of God and a good shepherd to the people of the nation of Judah.  And what happened to Hezekiah?  He was attacked by a powerful enemy.  In fact, it was the same enemy who had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel.  What?!

God ultimately delivered Hezekiah and Judah miraculously and so powerfully that Assyria never came to attack Judah again during his reign.  But in the crucible of that crisis, I don’t think that Hezekiah was always feeling so great about God’s shepherding, do you?

In the midst of the siege though, the king and Isaiah the prophet cried out in prayer about their situation.  God heard their prayer and answered it.  Whether the answer seems to come quickly or slowly, I think our response needs to be the same.  We need to cry out to God.  And, we certainly shouldn’t renounce God or even think He’s given up on us.  Because according to His Word, He will never do that.  He will never give up.

Our true example of how to live in the darkest valley is Jesus Himself.  He lived the perfect sinless life, and He didn’t deserve any of the bad things which happened to Him.  At the last supper, Jesus had much to say and do.  At the same time, He knew already that Judas would betray Him.  He knew that Peter would disown Him.  He knew that all the other disciples would abandon Him.  He knew that He was going to be killed.

Have you ever experienced an overwhelmed feeling to where you can hardly think?  It’s not really a panic attack exactly.  It’s just the awareness of too many things going on at once combined with you feeling like you’re responsible for everything.  Then right about that time, something blindsides you, an emotional strain or an unexpected demand or emergency.  At that point, it’s like one more pebble is going to cause you to be undone.  I think the emotional weight that Jesus felt at that moment could have been something like that.

And at this critical time, the most surprising thing happened.  John 13:3 says …

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so … —John 13:3

All power was given to Jesus in the flesh.  He could have chosen anything He wanted.  He could have escaped from the crisis at a moment’s notice.  Later in the garden, Jesus would tell Peter, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” 

And so … what does He do in response to such an awesome awareness and reality?

He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. –John 13:3-4

Even at this epic time, Jesus simply does what is for Him the next thing to do.  He just gets up and proceeds to wash the disciples’ feet.  Serving them and setting the example for them.

And so, I want to follow Jesus’ example in my own circumstances.  And my circumstances are certainly nothing like what Jesus faced. 

What’s weird is that things are not going nearly as badly as I feel like they are going.  I’m pretty sure that I’m right in how I’m feeling.  The things that are happening to me are not in my imagination.  However, the outcomes are not aligned with how I feel.  God is shepherding my circumstances, but it’s just not going the way that I had hoped or expected that it would.

I’ve always suffered from an acute case of delusions of grandeur, so in the midst of my trials, I always tend to think that, “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.  Nobody knows my sorrow.”  I’m sure that’s not the case.  I’m sure that Jesus knows trouble and sorrow far more than I will ever know.  And I imagine that some of you feel in some ways like I feel right now.  Maybe you’re asking yourself whether or not God is really your good shepherd right now?  And, what do I do now?

I’ve said it a couple of times already, and I can say it again. 

God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 

So, we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?”  --Hebrews 13:5-6

Let us trust in the Lord and depend on Him even in dark valleys.

Let’s stand together and read Psalm 23 aloud together:

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul;

He guides 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, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You have anointed my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Amen.

Keep standing, and let me pray for you:

Lord God, these saints are Your flock, and You indeed are the Good Shepherd.  I pray for each of us.  God grant us courage and confidence in You.  You will not leave us or forsake us.  We may face trials and difficulties of many kinds, but You will be right there together with us.  I pray for breakthroughs in each circumstance and each heart.  Sometimes that may be deliverance and sometimes that may be endurance and patience.  Help us each one to worship You with our lives in every situation.  We look to You for provision, direction, and Your continual help.  All this we pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.