Deo Gloria
Sermon for June 11, 2023
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Psalm 23
Theme: Psalm-things Never Change
The LORD is My Shepherd!
- He provides for me.
- He guides me.
- He protects me.
- He leads me safely home.
We’ve all seen it. The heavy sighs, the sad and forlorn look in the eyes of a child who is just about to burst into tears. Then the chin begins to quiver and the lower lip pops out and the fountains of the eyes open up with a flood of sultry tears. All of us can probably remember a time when we were younger that, as hard as we fought to control it, the old chin started trembling uncontrollably and the tears started flowing. But it isn’t just children who cry, is it? Because of sin, this world is often a valley of tears. Sometimes that trembling lip belongs to a teenager who finds out his or her parents are getting a divorce. Sometimes those heavy sighs belong to a tough, middle-aged man who is sitting in a doctor’s office, waiting for his next round of chemotherapy. Sometimes the tear-streaked face belongs to someone with gray hair, sitting at the bedside of a dying loved one. The faces which those tears run down change; but thankfully our God who dries those tears never changes.
For the next few weeks we are going to be looking at several portions of God’s Word in which the LORD especially dries our tears: the Psalms. We’ll see that while the circumstances change in our lives, Psalm-things never change. They comfort and uphold us as we travel through this vale of tears. Today we’re going to look at one of the most comforting psalms of all, the 23rd Psalm, a psalm that reminds us that the LORD is my shepherd.
Did you notice how the name Lord is printed in your service folder, that it is printed in all capital letters? When the name LORD is printed that way in all capital letters, it’s trying to represent a very specific Hebrew name for God. It looks like this יְהוָה in Hebrew. It’s a name that means “He is.” And it goes back to what God said to Moses when he appeared to him in the burning bush: “I am who I am”(Exodus 3:14). The LORD is the great I AM, the God of all eternity, the God who has always existed and will always exist. He is the God who never changes, who is always the same—yesterday and today and forever. And because he never changes, his word never changes either. He is faithful to his word. He always keeps his promises. And he is the God of free and faithful grace, the God who promised to send a Savior all the way back at the beginning after Adam and Eve fell into sin, and the God who kept that promise and sent his own Son to be that Savior, to suffer and die and rise again, in order to rescue us from sin and death. This is the LORD, the great and awesome God of heaven, the loving and faithful God of heaven, the God who loved us so much that he sent his own Son to be our Savior. And he is my shepherd. What a marvelous and comforting truth!
But how did he get to be my shepherd? How did I get to be one of his sheep? Well, it must be because of me, right? It’s because I was such a wonderful person, because I did so many good and wonderful things and I was so much better than other people that he just had to have me as one his sheep. He just couldn’t live without me, right? If only that were true; but I know it isn’t. When I think of all the wrongs in my life, all the sinful things I’ve said and done, I know I’ve done more than enough for God not to want anything to do with me, that he wouldn’t want me as one of his sheep, ever. Same thing true of you? So how did I get to be one of his sheep, then? And how did you? Because he bought us. That’s right. He bought us. He paid the price to redeem us from sin and death and to make us his. And it cost him a pretty penny too—not a million dollars or a billion dollars or even a trillion dollars. He paid for you and me with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death. And through the waters of Holy Baptism he washed away all of our dirty, filthy, stinking sins and adopted us into his family, made us his dearly loved lambs and his dearly loved sheep. Wow! The LORD really loves you and me that much? Yes, he really does.
And now because you and I are his and he is our Shepherd, he cares for us in a number of ways. I’m going to touch on four of them that are mentioned in this psalm. The first is that he provides for me. David describes the LORD’s faithful, providential care in the first three verses: “The LORD is my shepherd. I shall lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul.” The LORD provides for me day in and day out, week in and week out. He provides everything I need so I am never in want, so I never lack anything I truly need. So just a quick show of hands: How many of you did not have anything to eat yesterday? The frig was empty. The cupboard was bare. And you had nothing. Anyone? How many of you didn’t have any clothes to wear yesterday? How many of you didn’t have a bed to sleep in last night and roof over your head? Or how about last week? Or the week before that? Anyone? So we all have to acknowledge that the LORD has faithfully provided the necessities for us, the things we need to live. And in many cases he has given us so much more—cars and trucks, and campers and fishing boats, and computers and iPhones, and the list goes on and on. Like David, our cup is overflowing.
When David says that the LORD makes him lie down in green pastures, we probably picture something like this: sheep grazing with grass up to their belly or sheep lying down in a nice, green meadow with grass all around. The green pastures for a shepherd back in David’s day would have looked very different—mostly gravel and rock with little tuffs of grass scattered here and there—just enough for the sheep to have something to eat today. And tomorrow the shepherd would have to lead them to a different location where they could find more grass to eat for that day. Changes the picture, doesn’t it? It reminds me of something Jesus, our Good Shepherd, said once too, something he taught his disciples to pray: “Give us today our daily bread”(Mt 6:11). “Lord, give us what we need for today.” The green pastures in God’s economy of things are not a sprawling meadow of knee deep grass, but just enough grass for today, just enough food for today, just enough money to buy all the groceries and pay all the bills today. And tomorrow our loving Shepherd will give us what we need for tomorrow.
The quiet waters were the safe waters—not the water down in a gully somewhere where a sheep might be able to find its way down and get a drink but then not be able to get back out; not the stale and stagnant water that might be infected with some harmful disease, but a quiet, bubbling brook or a spring-fed pond, where the water would be clean and good and refreshing. Our LORD always provides what is good and wholesome for our bodies, what truly refreshes and satisfies.
And he does the same for our souls. Through his Word he feeds and nourishes our hungry souls. Through his Word he satisfies our thirsty souls with the refreshing waters of forgiveness and peace and life. And that’s exactly what he is doing right now. He is leading you and me in the green pastures and beside the still waters again today. Eat it up and drink it in. And enjoy your Shepherd’s loving care.
And second thing the LORD, my Shepherd, does for me is that he guides me. As David says, “He guides in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake”(v. 3). There are plenty of lousy shepherds out there these days, plenty of bad guides, people who will lead you into abusing drugs and alcohol, people who will try to convince you that God isn’t real and the Bible isn’t true, people who claim there is no such thing as male and female. And if you want to be something different, they can help you make the change. Don’t listen. Listen to the LORD, your Shepherd. He will never mislead you. He will always lead you in the way that is good and right and best—always. And most of all, he will guide you in the path of righteousness, the one and only path that leads to true righteousness and eternal life heaven—the path of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Listen to him, and follow him. And trust your Shepherd’s loving care.
Yet another thing the LORD, my Shepherd, does for me is that he protects me. In verse 4 David says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Have you ever had to walk through one of those dark and scary valleys in your life? I know I have. Maybe it was the valley of cancer and chemotherapy. Maybe it was the valley of divorce and the breakup of your family. Maybe it was the loss of your job or the loss of your business. Maybe it was the death of someone near and dear to your heart. If you haven’t had to walk through one of those dark and difficult valleys, someday you will. But remember what David said: You are never alone. Even when we walk through one of those dark and gloomy valleys, even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we don’t have to be afraid, because we are never alone. “You are with me.” The LORD, our Shepherd, is with us.
The rod was a young sampling that the shepherd dug out of the ground and then whittled down and sanded down till it was kind of like a baseball bat, a strong and sturdy weapon that could be used drive off a lion or a bear. The staff, of course, was a slender pole with a hook on the end that a shepherd could use to pull one of his sheep out of pit or off a dangerous ledge to safety. The LORD, our Shepherd, has instruments like that too, which he can use to defend and rescue us. The rod of his sturdy and powerful Word he uses to drive away our enemies, especially that evil wolf we call the devil, and keep us safe. The staff of his Word he uses to pull us back from the brink of danger, from the brink of despair, and bring us back under his loving care. Those tools are right here, friends. Our Shepherd’s rod and staff are right here, for your comfort, for your safety, for your protection. Be sure to use them and enjoy your Shepherd’s loving care.
A fourth and final thing the LORD, our Shepherd, does for us is that he brings us safely home. In their search for food and water, in their search for those little, green pastures and those quiet waters, a shepherd would typically take his sheep up into the mountains, especially during the summertime. There where the temps were cooler, they would graze on mountain slopes and drink from streams fed by melting snow. But that was only for the summer. When fall came around and the temperatures began to fall, it was time to head back home. But how would they get back home? The sheep didn’t know the way, but the shepherd did. He knew exactly which way to go. He would lead his sheep safely down the mountain slopes, safely through the valleys, safely back home.
The LORD, our Shepherd, does the same for us. Our journey through this life may lead up many a mountain and wind through many a valley, but our Shepherd is always with us. And his job is to bring us safely home. We could never get there on our own, but our Shepherd knows the way. He will lead us safely through this life. And when this life is over, he will take us safely to his place, the house of the LORD, the place where there are no more enemies, no more illnesses, no more dark and difficult valleys, no more tears—a place where we will enjoy perfect rest and perfect peace and endless joy under the perfect care of our loving Shepherd.
How blessed we are to have the LORD as our Shepherd! And how good it is to know that Psalm-things never change! Amen.